At the Dairy Bowl his sophomore year for Ricks when he made some of his spectacular catches, USU quarterback coach Jim Zorn, the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback, approached Cahoon after MVP honors were given to Ricks' quarterback. "Those things always go to quarterbacks, but you were the best player on the field today," Zorn said.

Cahoon always wanted to go to BYU so his family and friends could see him play, but his highlight video got buried in the Cougar football office. It wasn't until his father-in-law, Gary Herbert, showed it to one of LaVell Edwards' best friends, Stan Collins, that the Cougar hierarchy took notice. Even then, BYU wanted Cahoon to walk on and earn a scholarship.

In negotiations that had Cahoon explaining he was married with certain responsibilities, Edwards promised Cahoon a scholarship if he'd nickel up himself and pay for one semester that included spring practice in 1994.

Even then, it wasn't easy. Then Cougar offensive coordinator Norm Chow had recruited another junior college receiver named K.O. Kealaluhi and wanted to feature the native of Maui with a JC quarterback named Steve Sarkisian. After spring, Cahoon redshirted and even in his two years at BYU, he was not considered a "favorite son" of those in charge of the offense. His Cougar career became a sliver of what it could have been.

For whatever reason, no NFL team gave Cahoon a look. So, off Cahoon went to the CFL, and the rest is history.

I've seen how Cahoon's handled all this adversity. He's a golden character man.

I remember standing outside the locker room in Cougar Stadium after the final home game of Cahoon's career. He clutched that traditional blanket given to all seniors who endured. He stood by one of his best friends, Dustin Johnson. Both had sweet and bitter feelings. For Cahoon, his college career could and should have been much more. But he said nothing, even though his tears told a story he'd never verbalize to the likes of me.

Cahoon is a survivor in a sports world that eats people like him for breakfast and spits them out to the street and lives of selling insurance, real estate or some other business while their activity turns to golf or playing city league flag football.

Cahoon made it. He's been playing professional football for six years, drawing a paycheck while making headlines to the screams of delighted fans echoing in stadiums across our northern border.

Cahoon is seen as a hero, a man you could respect, a guy you'd want your son to become and your daughter to marry.

But equally impressive, he is a record-breaking star.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com