Jun
DB George knows there is rhyme and reason to pursuit of spot with Lions
Courtesy Vancouver Province:
The stories Trestin George of the Lions can tell about his upbringing are not radically different than those of a number of fellow imports on the CFL team.
He can talk about his days growing up on the hard streets of Berkeley, Calif., where for many his age the only way of avoiding a life of crime was football.
He can talk about how he wants to give back so that others might avoid the wrong fate. And he can hope that one day he might be able to put his actions on film so as to better illustrate his point. He would not be the first to talk a good story.
But winning a backup role as a defensive back or special-teams returner with the Lions out of training camp in Abbotsford would do more than give a 25-year-old, who struggled to find the right way as a teen, the platform to serve as a role model.
It also would most likely put a smile on the face of his mother, who will never again see her son play but will only hear of his career successes.
George’s relationship with his mother, Renee, is the kind of stuff that should belong in a motion picture or documentary, which is already in the planning stages. It wouldn’t be the first cinematic project for the smallish cornerback, who clearly has views on life that go beyond hitting people for a living.
A 2001 stroke victim who suffered congestive heart failure and was declared legally blind, George’s mom is also on dialysis at home in Hayward, Calif. Her plight was at the forefront of George’s decision to snub scholarship offers from Notre Dame and Michigan and stay close to home to attend San Jose State, where he was among four players who appeared in the PBS documentary Playing For Keeps, a football version of Hoop Dreams that chronicled transitory college life.
A few years later, George was contacted by a film producer, who has sporadically followed his career with the idea of capturing his life story for a possible submission to the Sundance Film Festival or the sports networks one day.
If GM/coach Wally Buono gives George a job, he may well have to eventually deal with vanity trailers in the parking lot at practices.
It’s a story that would not have gone past grade school had George not resisted the temptations in front of him growing up.
“All the street has to offer is crumbs and bullets,” he said Monday. “As a young kid it was the drug dealers who would give you cleats and gloves, and you think it’s cool.
“To me, playing football is sending a message that it’s fine to be polite, to have manners and be an outstanding individual. To a lot of people, if you go to college, you’re a punk. Guys fail in college because they feel they have something to prove to guys back home. The truth is you don’t have anything to prove to anyone but yourself. You can go to college, get an education and take what you learned to improve your environment back home.”
Much of what George learned to survive came playing Pop Warner football for the Berkeley Cougars, one of many mileposts in his life honoured in the form of tattoos on his upper body.
They may remind George of where he’s from, but to help others who wish to change, George and his former coach, Todd Walker, started taking Berkeley players on an annual tour of an Oakland mortuary to remind them of former teammates who made life-ending choices.
Clearly, the Lions have someone in George who is willing to think in ways that go beyond the survivalist aspects of his current job.
As a 19-year-old, he was invited to participate in the International Society of Poets contest for a poem he wrote about entering high school life, called Intro (see box at right).
“What you see is what you get with Trestin,” said Lions receiver Rufus Skillern, a San Jose State teammate for four seasons who watched George become the first two-way starter in school history as a corner and running back.
What the Lions see on the field in practice, however, is nothing like what George is like at his Columbia Bible College dorm room.
By day, George is cramming to understand the Lions defensive concepts, having only joined the club late last week. By night, he is talking with a mother who is as supportive of her son as he is of kids who may choose to follow his career path.
“I sang to her Sunday night, but mostly we just crack each other up,” said George, who played the last two years with the San Jose Sabercats but was forced to find work further from home when the Arena League suspended operations last fall.
“She’s dealing with a lot but before I left I sat down with her and she said to take this opportunity. I wouldn’t want to come here in vain.”
It certainly would ruin an inspirational tale.
GEORGE’S POEM ‘INTRO’
‘Surely these days
have went past quickly
as the eye of society gradually
reveals its face.
I am sure to find a mate
for my poem’s abduction,
as the words in this poem
are just an introduction.
I recognize success
as I reveal my heart
written in fancy bickery,
as you understand my heart
by reading the words you’ll find a faithful victory.’
