Thirteen years ago, quarterbacks coach Steve Clarkson and a group of families whose sons he tutored, including Matt Leinart, Jimmy Clausen and Ben Roethlisberger, decided to make a Memorial Day weekend getaway to Santa Barbara.
“They had an annual chalk festival over at the mission in Santa Barbara,” Clarkson said. “So we were really going for the most part just to go hang out by the pool and go look at some art and throw a football around.”
In between, Clarkson and his college proteges instructed a group of young quarterbacks. It was a small, mostly casual event.