Never Been Scared
I fell in love with football because of my dad.
You would have thought he played at some point in his life but that was never the case. He simply was a fan, liked to watch the game, and knew enough to teach me about it when I had questions.
My dad, Jack, grew up in the San Francisco/Bay Area and his favorite National Football League (NFL) teams were either the San Francisco 49ers or the Oakland Raiders. My mom moved to Littleton, CO for her junior and senior years of high school and was a Denver Broncos fan.
I was, and continue to be, infatuated with football; the uniforms, facemasks, helmets, visors, the organization, the plays, and the execution of it all. Above all else, it’s the details. I love the details of the game. I had the classic football player figurines from the early 1990’s that we would buy from our local toy store in Dillon, MT called ‘Kings.’ I loved to take the players’ helmets off and put Lego motorcycle helmet visors in the helmet and pretend that they had that color visor. I also loved switching the helmets around with other players and mixing a matching as much as I could.
Growing up in Dillon there was never a “hometown team.” There were various contingents in the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings, but also regionally, the Seattle Seahawks are the closest team next to the Denver Broncos. So I ended up liking the teams my parents liked but danced around liking a majority of the other NFL teams based on the football cards I had. In 1997 though, when I was in 4th grade at Parkview Elementary School, the Broncos updated their uniforms and went on to win two Super Bowls in a row. The uniforms, the championships, my mom growing up in the Denver area, and my grandparents still living in Littleton sold me. I’ve been a fan ever since.
Athletically, I get it from my mama, Louise. She ran track and cross country in high school at William S. Hart High School in Newhall, CA (sophomore) and 2 years at Heritage High School in Littleton (junior and senior). My mom had multiple scholarship offers from Nothern Arizona, Stanford, Montana, and other schools in the West. Ultimately, she chose the University of Montana in Missoula, MT because of her major and love for the outdoors but also to be far away from her family (sound familiar?).?Once at U of M she ran her freshman, sophomore, and part of her junior seasons of college before deciding to focus on school and finish her degree. Since then, she’s always been active and even in her 60’s will occasionally do what she calls “spontaneous endurance events” without much training.
My younger brother, Kyle, and I always played football together and have been athletic. Any chance there was a grassy area at a rest stop or an empty room, we would find a way to play. Whether it be a pickup game or a wide receiver/cornerback game we called “Pass interference” where one of us would run a route and the other would cover them with dad acting as the quarterback.
Those games lead to recess football at Mary Innes Elementary (1st grade), Parkview Elementary (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades) and Dillon Middle School – DMS - ?(6th, 7th, and 8th grades). The Dillon Football League (DFL) started when I was in 5th grade and I played two seasons of flag football before finally being able to play organized football with pads and helmets in 7th and 8th grade.
A lot of people talk about “Friday Night Lights” and how towns shut down in Texas. They talk about how big football is in Florida and California. And don’t get me wrong, football is huge there and that’s where a lot of the world’s best football players come from. But Montana is one of the most under recruited and under rated places in the country when it comes to football players and athleticism. Football is life for a lot of Montanans too.
Dillon is one of the football meccas of the state. If you’re a football player as a kid in Dillon, then you couldn’t wait to put on the gold helmet and navy-blue jersey (Beaverhead County High School – BCHS - has uniforms similar in color to Notre Dame) and play under the lights. That was my dream growing up like so many others.
BCHS is always a team that makes a deep run to the playoffs and competes for State Championships. I was fortunate to be a part of two of the first 3 State Titles in Dillon in 2003 and 2005.
Head Coach, Terry Thomas, started as head coach in 1987 (the year I was born) and over the course of 27 years in Dillon earned his way to a Hall of Fame spot, multiple playoff appearances, and 5 State Championships. He created the winning culture and the standard of BCHS football.
Crazy enough, you would think that the middle school program was just as robust. It’s more so now, but when I played at DMS for the Cougars, we had 3 games each season and only played each other. The grade was split into two teams, we practiced for 5 weeks, and played 3 games. Back then, there also wasn’t even goal posts so extra points and field goals didn’t even factor into our game until we went to BCHS.
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We learned the fundamentals of tackling, blocking, and learning a basic playbook. We all had the same helmet (white with gray facemasks), same pants (white canvas), and then practiced and played in the same 80’s style game jerseys (short waist, long sleeves). In 7th grade the colors for the season were yellow with blue numbers and blue with yellow numbers (old school BCHS Beaver colors). I was on the blue with yellow team and wore number 13.
I chose 13 because my second favorite NFL team was the Miami Dolphins because of my then best friend, Patrick, who was a year older than me. 13 was Dan Marino’s number of course. I played running back on offense and Safety/Cornerback on Defense. That season, my team went 0 – 3.
In 8th grade, we were red with black numbers or white with black numbers (University of Montana – Western Bulldogs colors). I was on the red with black numbers team and wore number 29. Why did I choose that number? No real significance other than it was a good Running Back number but also could be a Safety/Cornerback number. That season generated a 1 – 2 record.
Two seasons and I was a part of a 1 – 5 record in organized football at DMS. Yes, we kept score, but the system was more about learning, practicing, and execution than it was wins and losses. Despite the basics of the operation, we were a well-coached group of kids by the time we were moving into BCHS football.
Through recess and DMS, I was garnering a reputation of being a hard hitter on the field. Not the hardest or the strongest, but I always have been able to throw my weight around. Being small, back then probably 5’3” and 5’4” respectively, and 100 to 105 lbs, my ability to hit was always deceiving. Something I prided myself in and maintained throughout my playing days.
I loved playing football and love(d) being underestimated. It really is one of the reasons I have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to anything I do in life. “You don’t think I can do this?” Watch me and end up on your back not knowing what hit you.
Even though my dad was the one who introduced me to the game, he also taught me something about mentality and mindset. He didn’t intentionally teach me, but he told me everything when I would ask “daddy did you play football?” The answer was always “no, I was too small.”?Huh?
?I would ask my Uncle Ron (my dad’s brother) if he played football and he said the same thing “no, I was too small.” Even as a little kid with no perspective, I always remember thinking that that was an excuse. “I’m small” I remember thinking. “But I’m going to play football” is always the attitude I brought every time I lined up and played.
I’m going to do this no matter what. No matter my size, no matter my athletic ability, no matter what, I’m. Going. To. Do. This. Football is the first lesson I learned in mindset and positive thinking. I was athletic but not gifted, I was strong but not the strongest, I was smart but not the smartest, but I was a worker. And I worked at being better at technique, building strength, and learning in order to give myself an opportunity to play all the while using the strengths I did have to make plays.
If you want to do something then your mindset and your work ethic is more important than your inherited talent. Hard work maximizes everything.
Yes, I was usually the smallest guy on the team, but that didn’t stop me from having an 8 year-career in the sport (including college and after college).
So when you look at your life and what you want to do, are you too small? Or are you going to do it?
Because for me, I’ve never been scared to line up against someone bigger than me and give them everything I have……..
Keep Climbing
Alex deGolia