Rocky Whitworth recalls the high school version of Rich "Goose" Gossage's menacing fastball.

"He was always throwing that heater," said the Glenwood Springs High School football coach, who in the 1960s took the diamond alongside Gossage at Colorado Springs' Wasson High School. "He'd throw that ball three-quarters speed and it felt like if it hit you, you were in trouble. He was throwing in the high 80s and 90s in high school."

Whitworth, whose father coached both he and Gossage's summer legion team, recognized the legendary baseball reliever's potential back then. So, when Gossage had at last had his Hall of Fame ticket punched last week, shock was the furthest thing from Whitworth's mind.

"You knew it was going to happen," he said. "He was such a powerful force, you know, as a reliever. When he came on to the scene, he was something else."

Whitworth, who's spent the past 30-plus years as a football coach and is a member of Wasson's Hall of Fame for his exploits in football, hockey and baseball, knows a competitor when he sees one. Gossage fit the bill early on.

"He just had such natural talent, and the thing about him was he's a competitor," said Whitworth, who spread a collegiate football career between the University of Northern Colorado and the University of New Mexico. "All athletes have to have that one piece of the puzzle. That competitiveness has to be there. And with his natural tall, lanky build and God-given talent, those things came together. That's why he was a pro athlete."

Gossage and Whitworth grew up together. They played sports together. Their families knew each other. It's easy to sense Whitworth's immense respect for Gossage. Quite simply, you can hear the pride in the coach's voice.

An amazing baseball career surely left anyone ever associated with Gossage proud.

He filled virtually ever role you could possibly ask of a pitcher during his 22-year career (1972-1994) that saw him grace the rosters of nine different teams.

In his prime, Gossage stood among the game's elite closers. And that was before gazillion-dollar contracts and babied arms. A save often required three innings of work to earn. Nowadays, a one-inning save is the norm. Gossage finished with 310 saves.

He even spent the 1976 season as a starter for the Chicago White Sox, and earned an All-Star selection for his work.

In the twilight of Gossage's career, he served effectively as a setup man.

And all that with pretty much just one pitch in his repertoire - that devastating fastball. But it was a fastball that topped out in the low 100s at its best and routinely hovered in the upper 90s.

In 22 years of chucking that ridiculous fastball, Gossage struck out 1,502 batters, carved out a 3.01 earned-run average and compiled a 124-107 record in the major leagues.

"My father was a college pitcher as well as a hockey player at Colorado College," Whitworth noted. "So he'd work with Rick. People were always talking to him about throwing the curveball way back in those days. My dad said, 'Don't even worry about it. Throw the ball as hard as you can like you always do.'

"That's what made (Gossage) such a special guy. He could come in - it didn't matter the situation - and be so aggressive toward throwing that ball as hard as he could."

Whitworth hasn't talked to Gossage since learning his old friend's election to the Hall of Fame, but he's sure he'll run into him sooner or later.

"I haven't kept in strong contact with him the last few years," said Whitworth, who was a year ahead of Gossage in school. "I'm sure I'll run into him here soon at one of our high school deals. We'd get together from time to time. I know he's ecstatic about it, and it's well-deserved."

Clearly, Cooperstown's getting a good one in Gossage.

Contact Jeff Caspersen: 384-9123jcaspersen@postindependent.com