QB streak

The Norman Transcript

October 20, 2006 12:49 am

— By Michael Kinney
Transcript Sports Writer
At first glance, Cynthia Circle looks like any other Norman cul-de-sac. It has spacious, neatly kept homes, large University of Oklahoma banners flapping in the wind and basketball goals in driveways.
The area could be taken from a Norman Rockwell painting.
But there is one claim to fame this cul-de-sac has that possibly no other street in the city can boast. In a span of 11 years, five Norman High School quarterbacks have grown up on this street.
With more than half the houses in the circle not having any children whatsoever, the fact that five basically came from a few homes still astounds the residents.
"We just found it the weirdest thing," said Julie Taylor, the mother of former Tigers Zac and Press Taylor. "Half the houses on the street don't have kids."
But the story of Cynthia Circle is more than just how a group of kids turned themselves into high school quarterbacks and college athletes. It really harkens back to the old days of how a community took part in raising each other's children.
When Zac leads his Nebraska Cornhuskers' squad down the field for a touchdown, it's not just his parents and siblings beaming with pride. Neighbors who watched him grow up sport wide smiles on their faces.
"It is just so fun," said Nancy Noles, the mother of another Cynthia Circle quarterback, Jade Noles. "When I see Zac on TV I swell up. And Danny (Noles) said, 'Well, it takes a village.' We all kind of take pride when we see Zac out there."
While Zac may be the most well-known and athletically accomplished of the group, he was not the first. That honor goes to Jade. The line of succession then fell to Brian Hartsock, Zac, Press and, finally, Sam Tullius, the current NHS signal caller.
Noles, now a land developer in Edmond, was a starting cornerback on the 1992 NHS state title team. He didn't get his chance to take the quarterback reigns until his senior season in 1994. Yet he set off a string of playcallers that had their own unique talents and style of play.
"You could always tell they were good athletes," Noles said. "Jake Hartsock, who is my cousin, and I would be outside everyday playing catch. We had so many kids growing up on our block. I just remember us being out there running routes and playing catch. Then all of sudden all the kids in the neighborhood would be out there and a game would break out."
While Noles' success could have sparked the others to follow his path, their parents felt it was in their genes.
"We knew Sam and Press would be quarterbacks," Julie said. "They were just waiting in line. We just kind of always knew. They played quarterback all the way through. It wasn't a shock they are quarterbacks. The weird thing is they all came from the same cul-de-sac."
While the young men grew up playing on the concrete of Cynthia Circle, another location was used to hone their athletic skills. A big lot behind the houses was the perfect spot for pickup football games. To this day, they return home and form neighborhood games on Liddell Field.
"I played Liddell Ball," Tullius said. "We have this Liddell field where we played every day. We all just played. I remember I was always the little one, along with Press. We would be wide receivers and run down the field. We would never get the ball much. But playing with them taught me to be tough and to never give up."
What also makes this group special is four of them went on to compete at the collegiate level. Jade hung up the shoulder pads and played baseball for OU while Jake was a walk-on for Sooner football. Press is in the midst of his redshirt freshman season at Butler County Junior College.
Zac began his career at Wake Forest where he redshirted in 2002 and played as a backup in 2003. He then transferred to Butler County and passed for 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns. After leading Butler to a junior college title, he transferred to the University of Nebraska and in his first season threw for 2,653 yards and 19 scores touchdowns.
"I went on a road trip with the Taylor family to watch Zac play OU last year," Tullius said. "It was so funny that he lived three houses up from me and here he was talking to ESPN's Kirk Herbstreet. That might be the first pro athlete from Cynthia Circle."
Tullius has a chance to make it five for five when he completes his senior season at NHS. Right now he has a chance to do something none of the previous four quarterbacks could do. With their win against Lawton Eisenhower Thursday, the Tigers improved to 8-0 this season and are two games away from finishing the regular season undefeated, which no NHS squad has ever done.
"That would be a great thing to do," Tullius said. "When Zac was quarterback they were like 3-8. But I couldn't take the credit because my team has always won games. We lost one game since we played JV."
Tullius' success reflects not just on him, but also the quarterbacks who came before. It would be a perfect finale to something that began more than a decade ago -- if it is the end.
"Sam is the end of the road," Julie said. "But, there is a boy that just moved on the street. He is 6. So we will have to see about him."

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.