By: Fabian Anguiano
We all know the principal of this school, Dr. Gridiron, but do you know that he played football, even for Fresno State? This story will cover how one sport shaped Dr. Gridiron into who he is today.
On what inspired Dr. Gridiron to play football, he said, “You know what, I always was an active kid, sports was always an interest of mine. I had a cousin who was really, really good at football in our family. He later on played in the NFL for several years. He was an inspiration to all of us. His name was Ricky Manning, and we would just go to his Pop Warner football games and watch him practice, so I knew that was something that I wanted to do.”
Dr. Gridiron’s cousin Ricky Manning played as a cornerback in the NFL for teams like the New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders.
“When I was a little boy, my mom was driving down past my high school, which wasn’t my high school at the time because I was only ten or nine, but it said football sign-ups, so I asked my mom if she could sign me up and that’s when it started.”
Dr. Gridiron proceeded to go to high school where he found success, although it required a bumpy road.
On the culture of a high school locker room, Dr. Gridiron says, “You know what, back in that time the camaraderie from sports was really huge, I mean you had kids you know who would horseplay as any teenager would be, but the coaches made a big emphasis on building chemistry and team building with each other, and so you know our coach at the time really harped on that, like how we act and how we conduct ourselves on campus and how we conduct ourselves In the locker room is a reflection is the type of student you’re going to be on campus.”
The community of a team can reflect how they are as students.
“I’ll be honest as a kid growing up, I wasn’t the greatest student. It was my freshman year that my coach, coach Sharp, pulled me out of a scrimmage game because we had a progress report, and my progress report I had a 2.3. He knew that I could do much better than a 2.3. He told me if I was not going to have better grades than this, then I wouldn’t play football for the team. I was shocked because that had never happened to me. Playing Pop Warner football you didn’t have to worry about grades, you just pay to play, but when he told me that I was like ‘well all you need is a 2.0, why do I need a 2.3?”
Although you may just do the required work, sometimes you must do extra work.
“That pushed me at that point you know it completely changed for me I got the highest grades I could ever get, 4.0 was the standard at that point and so I just pushed myself even harder. I credit him for doing that.”
Dr. Gridiron stopped at COS for 1 year then transferred to Fresno State where he continued to play college football.
On the transition from high school football to college football, “The pace is much faster, that was different for me. In high school, you practiced Monday through Thursday and you played on Friday, and at my high school we had Saturdays and Sundays off, [and] when I got to college we practiced Monday through Friday, Saturday’s the game, and then Sunday film and rehab. So it was Monday through Sunday and I was all like ‘when do we get a break?”
Photo N.Miller/Gigantea
Although the work seemed never-ending, it would get easier over time.
“It was hard for me to adjust to the fact that life was gonna be different. It was gonna be all football and I hadn’t really prepared for that, so it was really hard for me to acclimate to college … but once I adjusted the game became slower and then it was right back to high school [and] Pop Warner and I got it. I knew what I was doing and it was easier for me to make plays.”
Dr. Gridiron did not play his senior year, but during those two years he had many experiences that impacted him both on and off the field.
On how the college experience impacted his life, Gridiron says, “Oh absolutely, I didn’t play my senior year, which I regret. The college experience had a great impact on my life because I got to meet so many different people.”
The people Dr. Gridiron met along the road are still connected to him to this day.
“I still have friends to this day that were from different parts of the country that I met In football. I have coach Anderson over at Golden West, he was a teammate of mine in football … coach Araxel over at CVC … Nico Herron’s over at Hanford, he was a fellow teammate of mine at Fresno state. There [are these] bonds that we have, I still see guys to this day, once we connect and link back up that instant brotherhood is back, so it was awesome.”
It is insane how one sport can teach so many lessons and change your life completely, and in Dr. Gridiron’s case, it did exactly that.
Fabian Anguiano
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