Scott Wolf inside USC

The body of USC kicker Mario Danelo was found Saturday at the bottom of Point Fermin Park cliffs in San Pedro.

Danelo, 21, was missing for at least a day according to USC officials before his body was found and rigor mortis set in when authorities reached the scene Saturday night.

``It’s extremely sad,’’ USC special teams coach Sam Anno said. ``No. 1, because of the person that Mario was and the kind of guy he was. And also because of the kind of player he was, he worked hard at his craft and succeeded.

``I’ll never forget the first game this season when Arkansas tried to burn him with three timeouts and he still nailed a 44-yarder. That was Mario in a nutshell.’’

Park visitors spotted Danelo’s body at 4:37 p.m. and about 40 firefighters responded to the scene, about 200 yards west of the Point Fermin Lighthouse. Firefighters led police down a 120-foot cliff to the body.

Danelo’s roommate, USC wide receiver Chris McFoy, was shocked by the news Saturday night.

``It was unexpected,’’ McFoy said. ``He’s a funny guy. A warm, loving guy. It’s a shock something like this would happen.’’

McFoy said he last spoke to Danelo after the Rose Bowl and the kicker seemed fine. Other witnesses said Danelo attended a post-game party and while a little down about missing two extra points against Michigan, was otherwise fine.

``He was OK. He was smiling, had a drink in his hand and he stopped and chatted people,’’ said a student who did not wish to be identified.

Danelo called USC kicker Troy Van Blarcom on Saturday but did not leave a message, sources said.

USC coach Pete Carroll was out of town and could not be reached for comment. A USC spokesperson released a statement on behalf of Carroll.

``We're stunned to hear about this tragedy. This is a great loss. Mario was a wonderful young man of high character and he was one heck of a kicker. He was a key ingredient in our success these past few years. The thoughts and prayers of the entire Trojan Family go out to the Danelo family on this sad, sad day.’’

Danelo enjoyed a stellar career at USC, making 26-of-28 field goals, including a streak of 15 consecutive successful field goals and 127-of-134 extra points.
In 2006, Danelo converted 15-of-16 field goals, including a two 26-yarders in last Monday's Rose Bowl win over Michigan, and was 44-of-48 on extra points. He converted four field goals in the Washington game and three at Arkansas.
In 2005, he set NCAA season records for extra points made (83) and attempted (86). His 10 extra points made against Arkansas was a USC game record. He also was 11-of-12 on field goals.

``He was very supportive of the other specialists,’’ Anno said. ``And his record spoke for itself.’’

Danelo’s father was former NFL kicker Joe Danelo, who enjoyed a 10-year career with the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and Buffalo Bills.

Mario Danelo was an All-City Section linebacker at San Pedro High who walked on to the USC team. He was awarded a scholarship and winning the starting job prior to the 2005 season. He capped the season with a career-best 43-yard field goal in the Rose Bowl against Texas before setting a new record in the season-opener against Arkansas this year.

According to the South Bay Daily Breeze, Danelo’s dad arrived at the park as authorities strapped the body into a gurney. Joe Danelo asked fire officials if the body had a shaved head and was told that he was wearing a beanie and then added, a USC sweatshirt. In disbelief he shouted, ``SC, SC’’ and walked off.

Comments

What the heck happend? Does anyone know if he did it because of school related issues or was it personal?

Posted by: Mr. Picks | January 6, 2007 08:43 PM

Updated: Jan. 6, 2007, 11:12 PM ET
USC kicker Danelo found dead at bottom of cliff

ESPN.com news services

Mario Danelo, a kicker for the USC football team, was found dead Saturday in San Pedro, Calif.

Danelo's body was found at the bottom of White Point Cliff in San Pedro, according for a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. Police did not release further details.

Danelo, a redshirt junior, walked on with the Trojans in 2003 and earned a scholarship in 2005, according to the USC athletic department's Web site.

He was 15-for-16 on field goals this season and made 44 of 48 PATs, leading the team in scoring with 89 points.

Danelo is the son of former NFL kicker Joe Danelo.

Posted by: Kelphus | January 6, 2007 08:54 PM

Scott:

If this death is not a suicide attempt, you will resign from the paper and journalism on the whole.

I will personally go after your career and make sure you are hounded out of the business if your 'attempted suicide' report, which no one else is saying, is false.

Be prepared.

Posted by: Trojanhoya | January 6, 2007 09:52 PM

How can you possibly post a cause of death without citing your sources. That is incredibly irresponsible.

Posted by: scfan | January 6, 2007 09:59 PM

The sincere condolences to the Danelo family. Today is a sad day in the land of Troy. Let's forget ALL our disputes and together pray for this young man and his family.
El Capitan

Posted by: El Capitan | January 6, 2007 10:23 PM

Agreed - I'm with the captain on this one.

Posted by: Greg B | January 6, 2007 10:38 PM

Scott, how could you possibly justify yourself in saying that it is an apparent suicide? You should be ashamed of yourself!!! How dare you! Leave him alone!

Posted by: USCnationalchamps1 | January 6, 2007 11:55 PM

Taken from http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-danelo7jan07,1,792158.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

"I have no indication per se that it was a criminal event," said Lt. David Pierson, commanding officer of the LAPD Harbor Division detectives. "But we exhaust all leads to ensure that we're making the right categorization of the case."

Asked if it was being investigated as a suicide, Pierson said, "I don't have anything to indicate that it was that."

Posted by: Greg B | January 7, 2007 12:09 AM

That link doesn't look like it's going to work, but that story is the one being run on the latimes.com's sports page tonight.

Posted by: Greg B | January 7, 2007 12:12 AM

"Asked if it was being investigated as a suicide, Pierson said, "I don't have anything to indicate that it was that."
Great find Greg! I was looking for that.

Hey Scott, you are a jackal! How cold hearted does a person have to be to unnecessarily call it an "apparent suicide"?

Posted by: USCnationalchamps1 | January 7, 2007 07:56 AM

OK Scott:

RETRACT YOUR POST!
________________

"I have no indication per se that it was a criminal event," Lt. David Pierson, commanding officer of the LAPD Harbor Division detectives, told the Los Angeles Times. "But we exhaust all leads to ensure that we're making the right categorization of the case.
...
Pierson said police had no information as to whether Danelo had been drinking and that there was no evidence he committed suicide. Martha Garcia of the Los Angeles Police Department said the body showed signs of traumatic injuries."
(From Fox Sports News, posted this a.m.)
______________

Retract this post Wolf! There was no evidence of "apparent suicide".

Posted by: Kelphus | January 7, 2007 10:19 AM

Scott!,

Why don't you justify your actions? Go ahead, give a reason for your idiotic comment!

Posted by: USCnationalchamps1 | January 7, 2007 11:04 AM

I'm a former newspaper editor and I also wondered about calling it "suicide." Certainly leaves oneself open to a lawsuit by the family, if incorrect. However, perhaps worse are the silly posts by people like Trojanhoya who obviously feel very powerless in the world and respond with demands and threats. Perhaps he plans on buying the newspaper and firing Mr. Wolf. I wonder why so much anger? If the post ends up being incorrect we have a process in society to compensate for injury; vigilantes are best left to less developed societies. As for Trojanhoya, should he cause Mr. Wolf trouble, should remember that he can be held liable as well. As a journalist I'm assuming both Mr. Wolf and the publisher have some indication that it was a suicide.

Posted by: john74 | January 7, 2007 11:04 AM

NO, I don't think Scott had any reasonable basis to state that the death was an apparent suicide.

I'm not a former editor, but I am a lawyer, and if I was one of the paper's lawyers I would worry about whether Scott's post was sufficiently irresponsible so as to be actionable.

But forget about the legal risks, how about good old fashioned responsibility, or integrity, or sensitivity?

What is next Wolf, you gonna dredge of photographs of the body and post those also?

Right is right Scott, you should apologize and soon.

Posted by: Kelphus | January 7, 2007 11:13 AM

OK, Scott Wolf, thank you for substantially revising this posting. The various comments to the post now don't make sense, since they were all reacting to the now corrected post. But thank you for fixing the post.

Posted by: Kelphus | January 7, 2007 02:50 PM

Mario Danelo Dead

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