Fair Catch: When the Huskies' Greatest Punter Saw Don James One Last Time

Rich Camarillo considers himself a fantasy tale, growing up in a part of Los Angeles where no one dreams of playing in the NFL. In real life, he envisioned himself working in construction, same as his father.

Camarillo even had to be talked into joining his El Rancho High School football team after coaches saw him punt a football and make a thunderous connection. He was adamant about not shaving his head, which was tradition, or he wouldn't play. There were many reasons for this not to happen.

"I'm just a Spanish kid from Pico Rivera," he said of his neighborhood southeast of downtown L.A. "Nobody from my area played pro sports. There was nobody to look up to, nobody walking around the streets and stuff."

Now retired and living in Phoenix, Camarillo, 61, can look back on a 16-year NFL career, one that made him the most successful punter to emerge from the University of Washington. He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection. He played in the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sun Bowl.

While he's a dedicated family man, raising two sons, taking care of aging parents and becoming a grandfather, it took a final meeting with his legendary UW coach Don James to turn him into a kid again.

Camarillo forever had a classic photo hanging on his wall at home of him punting as a Husky and James timing him with a stop watch.

While visiting the Seattle area in 2013 and spending time with Tim Cowan, the former UW quarterback and his college roommate, Camarillo mentioned this photo and how he'd like to have it signed someday by his old coach.

Cowan pulled out a phone and made a call on the spot. He said they'd be over in 10 minutes. To Camarillo's great surprise, they walked to James' nearby condominium that overlooks Lake Washington. They all talked for the longest time.

During the conversation, James said he'd be happy to sign that old photo, to just send it to him.

Prior to that, the former Husky coach unexpectedly had shown up and greeted Camarillo and ex-UW quarterback Chris Chandler at the Kingdome after their Arizona Cardinals had played the Seahawks.

"That meant a lot to me," he said. "Because he was Don James, he was able to get into the locker room."

Yet the conversation at the James condo was the longest the punter had shared with his coach. Camarillo confessed to him how he had been too intimidated as a player to enter his UW office and speak to him, even with an open-door policy in place.

The punter remembered how noisy rooms filled with Husky players, and even assistant coaches, fell instantly silent when James entered.

"He had that Vince Lombardi respect from everybody who played for him," he said.

Back home in Phoenix, Camarillo received the cherished photo of him and the coach in the mail, signed by James, and he proudly put it back on his wall.

It was inscribed: "Best to you Rich. It was great seeing you. You were the best. Don James."

Two months later, James was 80 when he died from pancreatic cancer.

Camarillo immediately realized how lucky he was, as that rare player from Pico Rivera, to have had a final interaction with his football coach and to get his signature on their moment together as a keepsake.

"It was just cool the way everything went later on in life and I was able to spend time and really talk to him," Camarillo said. "He was just a good man. I was so happy to get everything signed, that I met him and that I got to play for such a legend."

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