Football Hit by Culture Blocks
On game nights not too long ago, the blue and white of the Titans would blanket the San Marino High bleachers. The ritual often extended into the playoffs, once stretching into 14 weeks as the team reached the championship game.
"It's what you did Friday nights," said D.R. Moreland, the school's rookie coach who played Titan football from 1987 to 1991. "The whole town shut down."
But as Moreland looks out onto the field as his players practice this summer, he sees a changed community -- where the demands of football aren't often aligned with the aspirations and expectations of the San Gabriel Valley's Asian immigrant families. To them, football is as familiar as competitive badminton is to most Americans.
"For Asians, it's never been about football," said Alex Chen, a sleek, 5-foot-6, 130-pound senior taking a break during a recent practice. "It's always been about other sports like tennis or volleyball."
The 17-year-old is aware of San Marino's glorious gridiron past: the nine consecutive playoff appearances beginning in 1987, the successes of the late '70s and the championships in the 1950s. It may be impossible to reach such heights again, he said.
"We're outsized and out-strengthed," he said. "Asian parents don't support sports, especially at San Marino. It's always been about education. That's why we're dropping in [the California Interscholastic Federation]. It's majority Asian in San Marino."
Seventy percent of the school's 1,200 students are Asian, to be exact. When Moreland was a student, it was closer to 40%. The football team has grown increasingly Asian as well: from a third of the squad 15 years ago to about half today.
This is not to suggest that all Asians are small or new to football. The presence of quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo with the Oakland Raiders, and many other Samoans playing college ball or in the NFL, is proof of that.
Neither is sports entirely a novelty. Many schools in the San Gabriel Valley boast healthy tennis, golf and badminton squads. But deciphering the Xs and O's of American football, especially among immigrants, is another matter.
So Moreland faces a daunting task when his goal is to reclaim the Rio Hondo League title for the first time since 1995. The team hasn't had a winning season since 2001 and posted a 4-7 record last year.
"Asian people are quick and have good technique, but we're shorter," said Chen, who's trying out for quarterback. "It's all about putting effort in. We all know we're not going to play college football."
