By Ali Abdollahi

Former QB runs the Cardinal offense

Sitting in an office just minutes away from his birthplace, it was clear Mike Sanford was home.

Fate and the course of his football career - which started in the sandlot fields of Los Altos - had brought him back to the Peninsula to serve as the new offensive coordinator of the Stanford University football team.

Born in 1956 in Stanford Hospital (then called Palo Alto Hospital), Sanford, it seems, has come full circle. Raised in a golden age for Bay Area sports, in a family where sports were as much a part of life as school or church (both of his older brothers received football scholarships before him), Sanford has returned to the place where it all started.

Sanford never played organized football before he entered Los Altos High, but even he realized he had special gifts long before that. A regular participant in youth Punt, Pass & Kick competitions, Sanford’s love and talent for the game were evident at a young age.

“It was probably when I was playing in those sandlot games,” said Sanford about spotting his own talent, “and then I realized it even more my freshman year.”

It did not take long for the coaches at Los Altos to recognize that same talent. By the beginning of his sophomore year, Sanford was the starting quarterback for the Eagles’ varsity squad. Already an impressive feat, Sanford bettered that and wrote one of the first chapters of his impressive career by leading the team to a Central Coast Section championship. He still refers to that as the highlight of his prep career.

Individual honors would soon begin to accompany his team’s success. Although Los Altos failed to repeat its championship feat the next year, Sanford was named the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Offensive MVP for his efforts.

With a CCS title and a league MVP under his belt before his senior season, the bar was set high for Sanford entering his final year at Los Altos.

“I had very high expectations for my senior year, both from myself and from the outside.”

One preseason publication had Sanford listed as its first-team all-state quarterback. However, just two games into his final season, Sanford had what should have been a banner year yanked out from under him, when a collarbone break wiped out the rest of his senior season and effectively ended his prep career.

The injury partially helped determine his future football route. It caused some of the schools courting him, including Stanford, o reduce or reneged their scholarship offers. One school that maintained its offer was the University of Southern California and Sanford took it.

In a sense, Sanford’s coaching career began shortly after arriving at USC.

“Going in to USC and early in my time at USC, I always had a dream of being a pro football player,” Sanford said, “but when I went there and there were a lot of other guys that were really good, I realized I wasn’t going to be a pro football player. (But) I love the strategy of football, and I also like working with people, and the opportunity to work with young people later on, that’s why I decide to go into coaching.”

Although his path was somewhat set, Sanford’s playing days would yield several more memorable moments. He was a vital contributor to some of USC’s legendary teams from the 1970s, including the national championship team of ‘74.

Sanford played with several all-time greats, including pro football hall-of-famers Anthony Munoz and Lynn Swann.

Later, Sanford was the position coach for former USC receiver Keyshawn Johnson, now a star in the NFL.

Sanford considers USC’s 1996 Rose Bowl victory over Northwestern the highlight of his coaching career.

Sanford has coached at several schools - including Notre Dame, Long Beach State and the Virginia Military Institute - and helped those teams to numerous bowl games and offensive records.

After repeatedly proving himself in the college ranks, Sanford earned the opportunity to become the receivers coach for the NFL’s San Diego Chargers. It didn’t take long for Sanford to pick up on the precision of the professional game.

“The games are awesome. The level of coaching and preparation is just incredible, and I learned a ton.”

Sanford hopes to use what he learned to one day become a head coach.

“But right now, my No. 1 goal is to win at Stanford - do everything I can to help coach Teevens and our staff and our team win games,” he said. “If God wants me to be a head coach, I’ll be a head coach.”

With their two children grown, Sanford and his wife Melinda have returned to his roots, where the coach said he hopes to “bloom where I’m planted.”

This is exactly where he belongs. At least for now.