This feature originally appeared in the Spring edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to calbearbackers@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.
After the Carolina Panthers routed the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game in January to advance to Super Bowl 50, head coach Ron Rivera had some immediate and pressing matters to attend to.
You know, like checking the Cal basketball schedules.
Rivera was an All-American linebacker at Cal during the early-1980s and his wife, Stephanie, played basketball at Cal. With Super Bowl 50 being played in the Bay Area at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, one of the first things the Riveras wanted to do was find out whether there would be a chance to see the Bears in action during Super Bowl week.
It turned out they were in luck. Cal's women's basketball team had a game scheduled at Stanford, and the Riveras were able to attend the event at Maples Pavilion.
“When we knew we were going out there, one of the first things I did was look to see where the men and women were,” Ron said. “To be there and experience that was a big thrill. It was a neat deal to be able to cheer for Cal – especially against Stanford.”
Three decades have passed since the Riveras attended Cal, but their passion for their alma mater is still as fiery as ever. They buy season tickets for football and both men's and women's basketball every year, and since they now make their home in Carolina-land, they make sure friends and fellow alums use the tickets. Ron set up an endowed scholarship for football and spoke at the program's career development dinner last spring. The Riveras also donate a meet-and-greet at a Panthers football game as an auction item for the football program's annual golf fundraiser in which they provide airfare, lodging and a chance to spend time with the coach after the game.
“We try to support as much as we can,” Stephanie said. “We're always checking the schedule to see if any Cal team is coming to the East Coast and possibly try to go see them – no matter what sport it is. We are both so proud that we graduated from Cal.”
Ron Rivera has joined a long list of high-profile Cal alums after taking the Panthers to their second appearance ever in the Super Bowl. He was also named NFL Coach of the Year for the second time in three years.
But Rivera didn't suddenly become an accomplished coach just because he was an All-American in college who went on to a successful nine-year pro career with the Chicago Bears, which included a Super Bowl championship in 1985. Rivera started from the bottom and now he's here, beginning his coaching career doing defensive quality control for the Bears in 1997. He eventually served stints as defensive coordinator with the Bears and San Diego Chargers before getting his first head coaching job in Carolina in 2011.
“The guy had an all-pro career and was a Super Bowl champion, but he realized to get into coaching he'd have to go back to (the beginning),” said Cal director of football career development Ron Coccimiglio, friend and former Cal teammate of Rivera's. “That's what he did. He was always doing it through preparation. He knew he had to work hard to get where he needed to go.”
Ron Rivera may have ascended to the top of his very high-profile profession, but he hasn't come close to forgetting about his time in Berkeley that he gushes about with pride-oozing enthusiasm. That was apparent in a Tweet he posted the morning of the Armed Forces Bowl in December, with him wearing a “colorful” Cal sweater and wishing the Bears luck against Air Force.
“I bought him an ugly Cal sweater for the holiday season,” Stephanie said.
The Riveras have stayed involved with Cal in other ways. While on campus last spring to speak at Cal's career development dinner, Ron ran into women's swimming & diving coach Teri McKeever in a hallway at Haas Pavilion.
“I really wanted to meet him,” McKeever said. “I just stood there and said, 'Hi, Ron. My name is Teri McKeever. I'm the women's swimming coach, and I just really wanted to meet you.' He says, 'Hi, Ron Rivera.' Then his wife jumps in and starts asking if we're going to win another championship.”
As (more) luck would have it, the NCAA women's swimming & diving championships were being held a week later in Greensboro, N.C., about a two-hour drive from Charlotte. Ron and Stephanie met the team at a restaurant in Greensboro and then spent close to three hours visiting with the student-athletes and staff at their hotel. Ron gave McKeever and former assistant coach Kristen Cunnane a Carolina jersey with each of their names on it.
“That was a tremendous experience,” Rivera said. “I was truly honored to be asked to speak to them. Then they went on and became national champions.”'
At the team hotel, they gathered in a conference room and Rivera had every woman on the team introduce herself and ask questions.
“The girls were amazed he spent so much time with us,” McKeever said. “He didn't know any of us 48 hours before. But because we were Cal, he was willing to spend that much time.”
Stephanie's promising basketball career was hampered by an ACL injury her freshman year at Cal. She has gone on to coach basketball, including a stint as an assistant with the Washington Mystics of the WNBA.
And it was on the Harmon Gym floor where the Riveras' romance began. Ron had spotted Stephanie at Yogurt Park on Durant Street in Berkeley and introduced himself to her. Stephanie, who had no idea Ron was a football player, asked if he and any of his friends could come play pick-up basketball at Harmon.
“I didn't know who he was, but I could see he was a football player because he was wearing some gear,” Stephanie said. “Sure enough, he showed up with four guys and we played pickup. Then they showed up the next day and played again. The third day, he shows up and after we played we finally started chatting.”
The Riveras have been together ever since. Now, Ron's nephew, Vincent “Bug” Rivera, is a wide receiver for the Bears. Ron and Stephanie try to watch Cal football games when they can, but many times kickoff is too late for their liking on the East Coast.
“The games start very late out here,” Stephanie said. “Usually we are in bed, especially because usually it's the night before a game.”
Ron took over the Panthers in 2011 after they had gone 2-14 the previous season and he went on to lead Carolina to a better record in three straight seasons, culminating with the first of three consecutive NFC South titles in 2013. As Carolina improved and became realistic Super Bowl contenders, the Riveras kept their eye on locations for upcoming Super Bowls. They couldn't help but notice the one scheduled for the Bay Area.
“As our team was ascending the past few years, we always would look to see the locations of the Super Bowl,” Stephanie said. “We obviously thought that would be a great one to go to. Just getting to go back to the Bay was huge.”
The Riveras were met by some of Stephanie's former Cal teammates at the basketball game at Stanford. Meanwhile, some of Ron's former Cal teammates visited the team hotel before the Super Bowl.
“I think the whole connection is just the great experience I had going to college at Cal – the friends I've made, the professors, the coaches, my teammates, my roommates,” Ron said. “It was a tremendous experience that I feel very strongly about. I feel a very strong bond to the university.”
There have been other examples of support. When Cal's women's basketball team advanced to the Final Four in 2013, Stephanie tried to round up as many fellow alums as she could to make the trip to New Orleans.
“We called up as many fellow alums as we could and told them this is so special and so hard to get there we need to get as many of us to go as possible,” she said.
Not surprisingly, the Riveras aren't showing any signs of losing interest in supporting the Bears anytime soon. During this year's NCAA women's swimming & diving championships in Atlanta, Ron wished the team good luck in a tweet that featured Stephanie and him wearing Cal women's swimming & diving national champion jackets from the year before.
“It means a lot to me to be a graduate of the University of California,” Ron Rivera said. “It's one of those things that speaks for itself. So many people know what Cal is. The university stands for so much. I'm proud of the fact I got my degree there.”
