Pablo Pedroza never played a sport before he met Hudson’s Bay football coach Ray Lions four years ago.
A Discovery Middle School student at the time, Pedroza listened to Lions’ pitch about joining the football team. He initially rejected the offer.
Then he got a tap on his shoulder.
“You’re going to sign up, right?” Lions queried.
Pedroza reluctantly agreed.
Years later, signing that slip of paper indicating his intent to play football changed the now Hudson’s Bay junior’s life.
A little more than a year ago, Pedroza’s mother was sentenced to nine months in jail. Pedroza would have to leave the connections and friends he made and move back to California with his father.
Lions intervened. He offered his home as a place to stay.
“If I didn’t play football, I wouldn’t be here,” Pedroza said. “I would be in California doing who knows what.”
Pedroza isn’t the first kid Lions, who is in his fourth year with Hudson’s Bay football, has opened his door to, and he likely won’t be the last.
Lions lives by what he teaches.
When a student is struggling – whether it be in the classroom, at home or on the football field – Lions is there to help.
Hudson’s Bay’s football team is as diverse as any. The athletes come from myriad backgrounds – Black, white, Latino, Pacific Islander. Many share a common story, though: They’ve had to overcome life’s biggest struggles.
Senior linebacker Hayden DeGrandpre’s father died of a heart attack; he felt lost in middle school while grappling with the aftermath. Senior quarterback Raven Barnes’ saw his 6-month-old brother die of pneumonia before he immigrated from Guam, where his mother still lives. Senior running back Jamarion Hinton’s parents live in Tacoma; he doesn’t see them as much as he’d like. Junior linebacker Levi Mikaele is adopted; he only recently connected with his biological father.
When Lions rattles off the kids who have gone or are going through struggles at home, it takes him minutes, not seconds.
Those shared experiences, the strife so many Eagles’ players have faced in life, has forged tight bonds at Hudson’s Bay. At a practice, when the Eagles were 0-3 this season, players roared triumphantly and celebrated ankle-breaking runs and pinpoint passes. A bystander on this particular Wednesday afternoon might have thought the team was preparing for a state championship the way the energy emanated from the screams and cheers.
At the heart of Hudson’s Bay’s family-like atmosphere is Lions, a school counselor and lifelong lover of football.
“There was a point in my life where I had nowhere to stay, and he took me in as his own son,” Mikaele said. “There’s not a lot of people in this world that would do that. He has three kids and a wife; that’s asking a lot.”
Lions invites players to his house for dinner frequently. He’s taken some on family camping trips. He will buy food when a student can’t afford a meal, or give a player a ride to practice when they don’t have money for gas.
“It’s exhausting. There are tough days,” Lions explains. “But when I get to enjoy this day and smile and be with them, all those tough times, it’s worth every second.”
Eagles’ players couldn’t pinpoint what made them trust Lions to the point they were comfortable opening up about their lives’ greatest trials.
Perhaps, it’s the way he’s always approachable, or how he’ll pull a student aside when he suspects something might be going on, and talk to them one-on-one. Maybe, they can feel the effort he puts in trying to teach them perseverance.
Whatever it is that makes them trust in Lions leads them to believe in the Eagles.
“There’s no other team I’d choose to be on than this team,” Hinton said.
Hinton works at Safeway to support himself. He lives with a friend and only has time to speak to his mother, who lives in Tacoma, over the phone. He still finds his way to football practice each day, something he couldn’t have said two years ago.
“Back in freshman and sophomore year, I didn’t really care,” Hinton said. “Honestly, coach Ray, he helped me and turned a lot of things around for me.”
Hinton, who once was failing out of school, is now on track to graduate by the end of the calendar year.
In seventh grade, DeGrandpre’s father died of a heart attack. He struggled to understand why, and lost his motivation to go to school.
“I just derailed,” DeGrandpre said. Football was his only solace. At Hudson’s Bay, his teammates could relate to what he was going through.
“We’ve all had our own heartbreak and our own situations where empathy and sympathy comes into play,” he said. “That’s really what makes this place a brotherhood.”
On the field, the Eagles have struggled too. In Lions’ first year, Hudson’s Bay made its first playoff appearance in nearly two decades. Since then, the Eagles are 6-16, including 1-3 this year. The losses are always hard, Lions says.
“The truth is, though, that life is going to hit you way harder than a loss,” Lions continued. “The most important lesson is to get back up.”
The Eagles always do.
When Lions boards the bus after a game – win or lose – his players are still eager to fight for him. They’re back at practice Monday, smiles on their faces, ready to go to battle once more.
Said Lions: “All things considered, that’s a success.”
