KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior safety
Marques Anderson owes his ability to intimidate on
the field, to his family’s love.
By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Reporter
Marques Anderson’s athletic destiny seemed to be written
out in DNA code.
There is an Olympic gold medal, football scholarships and dozens
of other athletic successes floating around in the Anderson gene
pool.
This was supposed to happen.
That rationale and expectation brings up the age-old debate
between nature versus nurture, whether genetics or upbringing
dominates how a person will turn out. In the case of Anderson,
UCLA’s free safety, there is a healthy amount of both, and
the mixture has turned out to be quite a success.
Anderson grew up in a very sports-oriented household. When he
and his sister Andrea, a two-time All-American at UCLA, traveled
all over the country for track and field meets, their own private
cheering section was never far behind.
His mother Susan and his father Maurice, who was a running back
for the Oregon Ducks, were with them when Anderson won the junior
national long jump championship at age 13, when Andrea won a gold
medal in the 4×400 relay at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, and
for every football game during Anderson’s senior season.
The two children were always competing for their parents’
attention through athletic achievement. The competitiveness came
naturally because of the small differences in age and athletic
ability. This closeness locked Anderson and his sister into a
sibling rivalry that has now matured into a tight relationship.
“We’re like best friends,” Andrea said.
“We’ve developed a relationship now where we tell each
other everything. It’s like he knows what’s going on
inside my head. Being athletes, we can relate to whatever the other
is going through on the field as well as off of it.”
Anderson feels just as strongly.
“Watching her work hard when she was at UCLA gives me a
lot of incentive to go out and do my best,” he said.
“Seeing Andrea juggle her biochemistry major, run track and
compete in the Olympics was amazing to me. I really look up to
her.”
Not only has Anderson experienced the good times, he has also
trudged through the trying ones. In 1999, Anderson was suspended
for the entire season due to unspecified disciplinary problems. For
the first time, Anderson put his dreams in jeopardy. During a time
when he was at his lowest point, his family was still there to show
him the way.
“Sometimes experience is the best teacher,” said
Maurice, who believes the 1999 incident was a blessing in disguise.
“You’re going to bump your head against a wall a few
times before you realize that it hurts.”
Anderson was at a crossroads. The path he chose would go on to
determine the rest of his football career.
“I feel like it was a big step in my life,” he said.
“That year really humbled me and put everything into
perspective. It gave me an outlook on how much I really love the
game.”
“When I came back from that I realized that I have to take
every play, every down, and do it at full speed, because you
don’t know what can happen,” he continued. “If
it’s not getting suspended, I could get hurt. So now I take
every chance that I get to play and play hard.”
The Marques Anderson who emerged in 2001 had the same genetic
gifts that he always had, but added a mature intellect to his game
that has made him one of the best safeties in college football.
Anderson logs more than three hours a week in the film room along
with daily strategy meetings ““ all before he ever goes to
practice.
When Saturdays roll around, Anderson takes his new attitude and
confidence to every game as if it were his last.
“Something just comes over me when I take the
field,” Anderson said. “I see the fans, I see the green
grass ““ it takes me back to the essence of football and what
I love to do. I love to be aggressive, hit hard and leave
everything I have on the field.”
No matter where his on-the-field success takes him, Marques
refuses to forget the unconditional support that allows him to play
like he does.
“A lot of people think that they are self-made, but I know
that Marques Anderson isn’t,” Anderson said.
“I’ve had tremendous support from my family, my
teammates and my coaches ““ all of whom have helped me to get
me where I am today.”
Though it seems ironic, the only way Anderson could have become
the hard-hitting intimidator that he is stems from the
unconditional support of his family.