Derek was the San Francisco city player-of-the-year his senior year at Riordan High School and was recruited by UCLA, Arizona, Washington, Washington State, the Ducks, and Nebraska. Derek still has his letters of intent from Nebraska and Oregon, the two schools with which he seriously considered signing. Loville was attracted to Nebraska, but when he asked the Cornhusker players what they did in the off-season they basically said that they

did nothing but workout. UCLA wanted Derek as a defensive back. Loville had a great trip to Oregon even though he admitted that he really didn’t even know where Eugene was before his trip. He liked its relatively close proximity to his San Francisco home as well as the fact that the running back position was wide open after the graduation of Tony Cherry. Coach Gary Campbell told Derek, “If you come in here ready to play, pick up this offense (Bob Toledo was then the offensive coordinator), and show us you can play at this level, we’ll let you play. Derek saw the Duck program as a “diamond in the rough” and a great opportunity to play. Derek worked hard to, in his words, “get his body developed and adapted

to the size and speed of college players.” Loville contributed right away

as a true freshman running for 544 yards and returning kickoffs for

686 yards. His amazing hurdle over a OSU tackler and run to the endzone in the 1986 Civil

War in Corvallis will be etched for a lifetime in the minds of many Duck fans. Derek became the main running back during Chris Miller’s senior year and then took it to another level as he was in the backfield with Bill Musgrave for three years. Looking back he remembers that his teammates “gave everything they had”. Derek and his

teammates were rewarded in Derek’s last year with a trip to Shreveport and a victory in the ‘89 Independence Bowl.

During his senior year

Loville became creative with his endzone celebrations. He told his teammates that he was going to do a front flip if he scored in the Arizona State game. They didn’t believe him but he “got up the courage to do it”. In the rain in Tempe Derek had his best game against a Pac-10 team running

for 203 and 3 touchdowns and executed his front flip to per-

fection. In Oregon’s victory over UCLA a few weeks later Derek performed his Hollywood pose. Playing well and beating UCLA was very meaningful since

UCLA didn’t want Derek as

a running back. That form of rejection motivated Derek even more in his professional career.

Despite setting all the rushing records at Oregon and a performance in the Japan Bowl all-star game, where the coaches were impressed with how advanced and ready Loville and Terry Obee were for a pro-style offense, he was snubbed in the NFL draft. Loville credits Rich Brooks for giving him his big NFL break. Brooks told Seattle Seahawk offensive assistant John Becker (an assistant with Brooks at UCLA in 1970 and Brooks’ assistant at Oregon from 1977-79) “give this kid a shot and

I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” Loville did not disappoint as he wound up as the starting running back at

Seattle late in his rookie year against the Chicago Bears and Mike Singletary. The ‘49ers picked him up in 1993 and he had a good year as a back-up in 1994. He was on his way to Denver after the ‘49ers 1995 Super Bowl victory if it weren’t for the intervention of San Francisco head coach, George Seifert. Seifert’s offensive coordinator was Mike Shanahan who had just accepted the Denver head coach position and wanted Loville to come with him. Derek accepted a contract offer with the Broncos but Seifert, who grew up in San Francisco, called Loville and told him, “I can’t let a city kid get away from me.” Derek became “the man” for the ‘49ers in 1995 running for 773 yards and catching 87 passes for 662 yards. Derek still ranks 5th in NFL history for receptions by a running back with those 87 catches.

Derek calls playing in his hometown with the Super Bowl champions “a dream come true”. Derek got another Super Bowl ring as he moved to Denver in 1997. Shanahan got his wish as Derek became a Bronco and backed up Terrell Davis. So, Loville went

from taking hand-offs and catching

passes from Steve Young to John Elway. Derek took a lot of pride making sure there was no “fall-off” when Davis was out with an injury. In 1998 Loville contributed in

a major way to make sure Denver made it to the playoffs. In 1999 Terrell Davis blew his knee out, so the starting job was Loville’s. After a great first game the next week in practice Derek suffered a major hamstring injury and his career came to an end. Even though Derek out performed a number

of name players in tryouts with other teams Loville said he left with a bitter taste in his mouth as it showed him that “the better man doesn’t always win.” Loville is one of the very few running backs to have had a 10-year NFL career. It is even more rare for a player who was not drafted. “I took it one year at a time and played with a chip

on my shoulder. I was constantly trying to prove that I belonged,

not being drafted. I made sure

that everyone knew they’d made

a mistake and that good players sometimes fall through the cracks,” Derek explained. Loville said that Dan Fouts always made an effort to speak to Loville at the games Fouts was announcing. He would come up to Derek and say: “Hey, Duck.”

Derek describes Eugene as

a great college town. He would like to come back to Eugene and help the Ducks program in any way

he could. He still stays in touch with Terry Obee, Steve Kemp, J.J. Birden, Anthony Newman, and Daryl Reed to name a few Ducks from his era. Derek moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1992 and has been there ever since. In 1997 he married his wife Nina and they have two children: Derek II who

is four years old and Jade, 1 1/2. Derek says the Ducks are exciting to watch and he plans to come

up for the Civil War game. About current Duck running back Onterrio Smith and his 285 yards against WSU Loville had a one word response, “Yikes!” Maybe about 15 years from now Loville will be in an elevator alone with Onterrio Smith and...

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