College football: Sacramento State QB inspired by his blind father. ‘He’s my hero’
His father comes to every game, a routine since Jake Dunniway was a little boy growing up in the Central Valley town of Tracy. Father and son played catch with a baseball and football until their arms nearly fell off, and still can talk up sports until their ears nearly fall off.
Erin Dunniway remains a constant in the life of Sacramento State’s senior quarterback who has been paramount in the Hornets’ 7-0 start and No. 2 ranking. But the elder Dunniway cannot navigate his way through the cluster of people in the parking lot or the stands without assistance. He is blind, the victim of a condition his doctors cannot fully explain. His vision has faded to almost nothing in recent years. He can see some colors and light but he cannot make out faces.
His father serves as a powerful inspiration to Dunniway, who is moved and motivated to make his pop proud.
“My dad’s been my hero my whole life,” Dunniway said Tuesday after practice as the Hornets prepared to host Idaho on Saturday in a battle of Big Sky Conference unbeatens. “He was always my coach, football and baseball. He was always around, taking care of us, an amazing father. He’s the one who drove me to love football the way that I do. With him having his visual impairment, that’s not going to stop him from coming to games.”
Dunniway said that even though his father cannot see the action, he can certainly sense it.
“He can hear what’s going on; he can feel it,” Dunniway said.
The feeling was of elation last week when Sacramento State scored the game’s final 17 points to stun Montana 31-24 in overtime. A season-best crowd of nearly 16,000 rocked Hornet Stadium, and a flood of fans poured onto the field afterward.
Dunniway, per his norm, sought out Dad. They embraced. They cried. They shared thoughts.
“I get emotional for sure,” Dunniway said. “My dad went through the majority of his life with vision. He understands what I’m talking about and can visualize it when I talk about this guy ran this route or this guy did that.”
A Bay Area native, Erin Dunniway was in the Air Force for 26 years. He saw his son sparkle at St. Mary’s High School in Stockton, passing for 6,650 yards and 72 touchdowns. He saw his son celebrate league and section championships. But by the time Dunniway reached college, first at UC Davis as a walk-on and then at Mesa College in San Diego, Erin Dunniway’s vision faded to almost nothing. He was powerless to stop it. He underwent surgery, “he was one of two people in the world to have that sort of surgery,” Jake Dunniway said.
“I feel for him. It was a huge change for him and our family. It’s a rare condition, and doctors don’t know what it is or how he got it. He has no depth perception. It’s blurry. You can be face-to-face with him and he can tell there’s a person there but can’t tell who it is.”
Dunniway’s first big moment at Sacramento State was in 2019, when he filled in for injured starting quarterback Kevin Thomson and engineered a remarkable rally at Northern Arizona. He tossed two touchdowns in the final minutes to win it. Erin Dunniway felt that game, too. Dunniway’s mother, Kim, is also a big fan and never misses a game.
The Hornets went on to win their first Big Sky championship, didn’t play because of COVID-19 in 2020 and repeated as Big Sky winners last fall, when Dunniway and Asher O’Hara seamlessly split quarterbacking duties. Those quarterbacks still work hand-in-hand as the Hornets have won 15 consecutive regular season games.
Against Montana, Dunniway shook off two interceptions to fire some of the best passes of his life — and his Dad felt it with the roar of the crowd and family patting him on the back. Dunniway passed for 284 yards and two touchdowns, and his spectacular throw to Jared Gipson on fourth-and-4 on the Montana sideline late in regulation allowed the Hornets to push the game into overtime. Typical of his class, there was Dunniway cheering on his pal O’Hara as O’Hara ran in the tying touchdown and then the game-winner.
“Before every game, I pray and ask God to help me play to the best of my ability and to make my family proud,” Dunniway said. “I play for my family, 100 percent.”
Sacramento State coach Troy Taylor said Dunniway impresses him with his leadership, his football IQ, his selflessness and the love he has for family, teammates and football. The coach would not have called what Dunniway described as a “ballsy” pass attempt if he didn’t believe in his quarterback.
“It was a beautiful throw,” Taylor said, before offering a little coach speak. “I knew (Montana) would be squatting on the sticks. I knew he’d make the throw.”
When O’Hara transferred into Sacramento State before the 2021 season after excelling at Middle Tennessee State, Dunniway never wavered. He welcomed O’Hara in. They bonded. Both quarterbacks graduated but stuck around to chase more championships as they seek master’s degrees.
“When we signed Ash, sometimes that can throw guys for a loop,” Taylor said. “He didn’t blink. Not only did he not blink, but Jake embraced Ash as a teammate, helped him learn the offense. It’s rare to find guys who are fierce competitors but also really good people.”