Jim Mora remembers Oxy roommate Jack Kemp

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Jack Kemp has been on Jim Mora’s mind a lot lately.

Kemp, a former Republican vice presidential candidate and football standout who died Saturday, roomed with Mora at Occidental College in the mid-1950s, long before they could know they would both carve out careers in professional football. A third roommate was Ron Botchan, who went on to play linebacker for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers (where he played with Kemp) and later became the greatest umpire in NFL history.

Mora, who would go on to coach the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts, remembers Kemp’s unwavering focus on reaching the pros, even when that goal seemed more like a pipe dream for a small-school quarterback.

Back when very few players lifted weights, Kemp was hoisting makeshift versions of them. The Oxy “weight room” was the musty basement of the gymnasium and featured metal bars that suspended buckets of hardened cement. But the quarterback was in there every day.

“He kind of felt like, `Hey, if I work hard enough I can be a professional quarterback,’ ” Mora said. “And he ended up reaching that goal. That’s kind of how he was. He’s always been a committed guy, a confident guy, a leader, a guy that felt like he had strong beliefs and philosophies.

“That’s how he lived his life and one of the reasons he was so successful.”

Really, Mora should have had an inkling Kemp was headed for bigger and better things.

“At night, I would read Sport magazine, and he read U.S. News & World Report,” Mora said. “There was a difference there.”

-- Sam Farmer