By Jason Cruz
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Welcome to another edition of The Layup Drill. In the end of the year edition, we look at college football’s standout players and an honor for Filipino Veterans at last month’s Seahawks game.
College football’s brightest stars
Taylor Rapp and JoJo McIntosh helped the Washington Huskies earn a bid to the 2019 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Both starting defensive backs for the Huskies are Asian American. McIntosh is part Cambodian and Rapp is of Chinese heritage.
In an interview with the Pac-12 Networks earlier this year, the two talked about their Asian heritage and what it means to them. McIntosh said it was pretty cool to have family around growing up. His mother is from Cambodia. Rapp agreed.
“It was nice to see my grandparents around,” said Rapp of his two grandparents that came from China. Rapp’s mother is Chinese, and he said that his grandparents grew up in China under the Mao Tse Tung revolution and heard stories about how it was hard. “It makes me realize how good I have it here.”
Similarly, McIntosh noted how his mom grew up in the Khmer Rouge era in the 1970s.
Rapp said that growing up, there was no one else to look up to in football that was Chinese or Asian American.
“Going to [football] camps, I didn’t look like the typical football player.” But, Rapp stated, “[W]e can do it. We can play sports at a high level.”
“They would discredit me,” McIntosh explained when people realized that his mother was Asian. The perception that McIntosh could not play because he was Asian meant that he had to work that much harder to prove people wrong.
While both have experienced the struggles, they have also benefited from learning about their cultures, including the great food their families made.
Both Rapp and McIntosh are projected to play in the NFL after their college careers. They are not the only college players making names for themselves.
Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa is one of the front-runners to win the Heisman Trophy, the award given to the nation’s best college football player. He is the quarterback for the nation’s number one college team. The native of Hawaii made his splash onto the college football landscape in the National Championship game last season. Tagovailoa replaced the starting quarterback in the second half to bring Alabama back to a victory over Georgia in the title game.
This season, Tagovailoa has picked up where he left off, as he’s taken over the reigns as starting quarterback. Going into the Southeast Conference Championship game against Georgia, Tagovailoa had not thrown an interception all season, but had thrown 35 touchdowns. A staggering stat for the sophomore quarterback. He’s also thrown for over 3,000 yards, completing an average of 70 percent of those passes with an average completion of over 11 yards. Tua has found himself sitting on the sidelines in the 4th quarter in most of his games because there is no need for him to play at that point. The Tide has rolled to an undefeated season and has blown out all of its opponents on its way to another chance to win the National Championship.
Certainly, with the remarkable passing statistics and Alabama’s undefeated season, Tagovailoa is certain to be one of the finalists for the award and perhaps the first Pacific Islander to win the award since the University of Oregon’s Marcus Mariota.
University of Oklahoma redshirt junior quarterback Kyler Murray has led the Sooners to an 11-1 record and a chance to play for the College Football Championships. Not only is Murray a standout quarterback, he was drafted in the first round by Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s this past year. A’s executive Billy Beane called Murray one of the most dynamic athletes the A’s have signed.
It’s rare that such a highly-drafted baseball pick decided wrong.
While both have experienced the struggles, they have also benefited from learning about their cultures, including the great food their families made.
Both Rapp and McIntosh are projected to play in the NFL after their college careers. They are not the only college players making names for themselves.
Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa is one of the front-runners to win the Heisman Trophy, the award given to the nation’s best college football player. He is the quarterback for the nation’s number one college team. The native of Hawaii made his splash onto the college football landscape in the National Championship game last season. Tagovailoa replaced the starting quarterback in the second half to bring Alabama back to a victory over Georgia in the title game.
This season, Tagovailoa has picked up where he left off, as he’s taken over the reigns as starting quarterback. Going into the Southeast Conference Championship game against Georgia, Tagovailoa had not thrown an interception all season, but had thrown 35 touchdowns. A staggering stat for the sophomore quarterback. He’s also thrown for over 3,000 yards, completing an average of 70 percent of those passes with an average completion of over 11 yards. Tua has found himself sitting on the sidelines in the 4th quarter in most of his games because there is no need for him to play at that point. The Tide has rolled to an undefeated season and has blown out all of its opponents on its way to another chance to win the National Championship.
Certainly, with the remarkable passing statistics and Alabama’s undefeated season, Tagovailoa is certain to be one of the finalists for the award and perhaps the first Pacific Islander to win the award since the University of Oregon’s Marcus Mariota.
University of Oklahoma redshirt junior quarterback Kyler Murray has led the Sooners to an 11-1 record and a chance to play for the College Football Championships. Not only is Murray a standout quarterback, he was drafted in the first round by Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s this past year. A’s executive Billy Beane called Murray one of the most dynamic athletes the A’s have signed.
It’s rare that such a highly-drafted baseball pick decided to play college football. But the Texas native has excelled in both, and the Oakland A’s have given Murray the blessing to play. Murray has 37 passing touchdowns, in addition to 11 rushing touchdowns, which shows his athletic prowess as a dual threat in passing and running the ball.
Even with such a great season playing for Oklahoma, Murray has indicated that he will play baseball for the A’s after this season, although he might be having second thoughts after such a great season. There have been other athletes that have chosen football over baseball. For instance, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was drafted to play baseball, but decided to forego that dream to play in the NFL. Murray was the 9th player selected overall in the first round of the MLB draft, whereas Wilson was chosen (actually twice in different years) in later rounds.
Murray’s grandmother is South Korean and he has written about his multicultural heritage. He’s indicated that he would like to take his mom back to South Korea to visit someday.
Murray and Tagovailoa were two of the three college players selected to attend the Heisman Trophy ceremonies in New York on Dec. 8.
Seattle Seahawks honored Filipino American veterans
The Seattle Seahawks honored Filipino American veterans at the Thursday Night Football game in November against the Green Bay Packers. The on-field honor was made as part of the Seahawks’ Salute to Service Halftime Show. The Seahawks honored five Filipino veterans during halftime. In 2017, they were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is the highest civilian award in the United States. Many Filipino veterans and/or their families traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend a formal ceremony.
There were other ceremonies held locally in the state of Washington.
A prepared video tribute was played in which Thelma Sevilla, the deputy director of the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project, gave some historical facts and background on the Filipino veterans. Vitaliano Batenes, Jesse R. Castro, Gregorio Garcia, George Shinze, and Scotty Gallerosa were on the field to receive the honor. Each man waved to the many Seahawks and Packers fans in attendance.
The Seahawks have made a point of ensuring that they honor veterans. Last year, members of the Seahawks staff visited the Nisei Veterans Committee Memorial Hall in the International District as part of their “Salute to Service.”
Jason can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.