Hardin Didn't Duck Pain Of Broken Leg

EUGENE, Ore. - For offensive tackle Steve Hardin, Oregon's improbable trip to the Rose Bowl will cap the happiest pain-filled season of his football career.

It started in the Ducks' 22-7 win over USC Oct. 1. The 6-foot-7, 329-pound senior from Snohomish had leg-whipped his opponent and limped off the field with excruciating pain in his right leg. He told coaches it felt broken.

"They said, `No way, you didn't break your leg,' " remembered Hardin. "So, I kind of stomped on it a little bit and went back out and played."

Later, doctors discovered a fractured fibula, but the injury was announced as a severe bruise. It was all part of a plan, said offensive line coach Steve Greatwood.

"If somebody thought he had a fractured bone, they might go after it," Greatwood said.

Hardin sat out three games, until linemen Tasi Malepeai and Paul Wiggins were injured on the same play against Arizona. Armed with a doctor's OK, a shot of Novocain and a will to win, out went Hardin to do his part in Oregon's march to the Rose Bowl.

"It was ugly, but I got the job done," Hardin said. "I'd tell my leg to do something and it wouldn't do it, so I just kind of dragged it around."

On the front page of a newspaper the next day, Hardin was pictured weeping after Oregon's dramatic 10-9 win.

"Those weren't tears of joy, I guarantee you," Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said. "Those were tears of pain."