This team is a reality TV show.” – David Roundtree, special team’s coach for the LA Valley College Monarchs
Boy, is it ever.
The punter is a 31-year-old ex-bartender who has lost 40 pounds this year turning his life around. The field goal kicker is a 19-year-old autistic kid with a dynamite leg.
Several players are ex-gang members, and two more are homeless – living in their cars eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and taking showers in the locker room facilities
The Monarchs first-year head coach is Lester Towns, who played on the Carolina Panthers 2003 Super Bowl team, and spent six years in the NFL before joining Nick Saban’s staff at the University of Alabama.
He’s gone from pro football’s penthouse to the lowest rung of college football for this head coaching job – inheriting 22 players, barely enough for a team. The roster has since grown to over 40, but most of them are a walking MASH unit.
“I’m just one play away from not having an offensive line,” Towns says. “And I’ve got a homeless problem.”
Nick Saban never had a homeless problem.
The LA Valley College Monarchs were beaten so soundly by Hancock College – 70-3 – that one player had to go to the hospital. The rest of the team was so banged up Towns had no choice but to forfeit the next game against Long Beach City College to get his guys healed up.
The players could have said “enough” by now, told Towns “Hey, coach, thanks, but I’d like to live to see 35.” But that’s not in the DNA of this team. When you’ve been in gangs or homeless or born with autism, you’re used to fighting everyday to gain a couple of yards.
As banged up as they are, that’s just what the Monarch’s are starting to do. They beat Pierce College the week after the forfeit, then beat LA Southwest College last week without their starting quarterback, who was on the concussion protocol list.
It was a big win, but a costly one. Two players from the offensive line are so banged up they won’t be able to play against West Los Angeles College this week, so now Towns is down to three offensive lineman.
What’s he going to do? “We’ll figure something out,” he says.
Towns often shows up at practice with home-cooked meals he’s made the night before for his homeless guys, while David Roundtree supplies the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Roundtree’s an actor and director by trade, who excelled at college sports and now works with special needs athletes. He’s been coaching Alec Messing, the autistic field goal kicker I wrote about a few years ago when he kicked a 32-yard field goal on the last play of the game to win the Valley Mission League championship for San Fernando High School.
He actually went to Bridgeport High in Sherman Oaks, an autism spectrum disorder school, but since it had no football team CIF rules allowed him to play for his home team, San Fernando High.
When Roundtree asked Towns at the start of this season if it would be OK for him to keep working with Alec, the new head coach said sure, he could use all the help he could get. In fact, why don’t you coach all our special teams players?
It may be just a football game to most people, but to the guys taking the hits and nursing the bruises, this community college football team is their ticket to the future.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on with our team that you don’t associate with a typical college football team,” Roundtree says, in a classic understatement. “Overall struggles our guys are going through. Their goal is to get out of here and better their lives. Football gives them a potential chance to further their education.”
It’s the carrot in the school of hard knocks. To play, they have to go to class, pass tests, and open their minds to learning. For guys living in their cars or trying to escape the gang life, that’s a challenge worth every bruise on their black and blue bodies.
Winning is important for any football coach to move up the ladder in his profession. Towns knows that. But it’s not more important than the health and future of his players. That comes first.
“I think I was put here for a reason,” he says, not elaborating, but it’s pretty clear what he means.
As a player, he’s been to the pinnacle of football, the Super Bowl. As an assistant coach, he’s been on the staff of the perennial best team in college football, Alabama, where Nick Saban never had a homeless problem.
Towns knows all about winning, but to be a great head coach you need to know how to handle losing, as well. So, he begins his own future here at the bottom rung of college football with a team that could be a reality TV show. Coaching guys who know something about losing, but very little about winning.
It’s the perfect match. Lester Towns was put here for a reason.
Barring any more injuries, the LA Valley College Monarchs next home game is Saturday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. against undefeated Chaffey College. The campus is located at 5800 Fulton Ave. in Valley Village, just in case you want to come out and root for some inspiring young men and their new head coach, punching their tickets to the future together.
Dennis McCarthy’s column runs on Sunday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com
