Eric Tye played three years of football and baseball at Napa High. He played on junior varsity teams as a sophomore and starred on the varsity teams in his junior and senior years. He was All-NBL honorable mention in 1973 for the co-champion Napa baseball team, and was Captain and second team All-League in 1974. In football, he received All-League honorable mention as a junior and as a senior, was Captain, Most Valuable Player, All-North Bay League, All-Redwood Empire and High School All-American. Tye played two years of football at Napa Junior College and earned All-League honors in both seasons. Tye finished his education at U.C. Davis where he played two years on great teams. The 1977 team went to the semi-finals of the national championship and the 1978 team was a quarter finalist in the national championship tournament. One of his teammates at Napa High said of Tye, “He’s like having a coach on the field.”
