Pinoy heavyweight playing in NFL

Last Sunday’s column about Philippine-born Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow prompted a reaction from a Filipino reader in California who volunteered the information that a full-blooded Pinoy is now playing for the Tennessee Titans in the National Football League (NFL).

Unlike Tebow who just happened to be born here, Eugene Amano is as Pinoy as adobo. 

Amano, 25, is a 6-3, 310-pound offensive lineman who broke into the majors as the Titans’ seventh round pick in the 2004 draft. He’s in the record books as the first Filipino NFL player. US-born Roman Ildonzo Gabriel, Jr. who is half-Filipino and half-Irish American, played in the NFL from 1962 to 1977 and was previously the only footballer with Filipino roots.

Amano was born in Manila and moved to San Diego when he was two months old. His father Eugene, who served in the US Navy for 25 years, and mother Aida, a nurse, were stationed in the Philippines when he was born. Younger brother Fred also plays football and is a defensive tackle with the San Diego State varsity. An older sister Allison is enrolled in a San Diego nursing school.

Amano was an all-star in basketball, football and track at Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego. But it was in football where he excelled, claiming all-conference honors as an offensive and defensive lineman in his senior year.

Despite his prep credentials, Amano was ignored by NCAA Division I schools. He planned to try out for the varsity at either San Diego State or the University of New Mexico when a coach from Southeast Missouri State called one of his high school mentors looking for junior college prospects. Amano’s name came up in the list of candidates and he wound up getting a football scholarship at Southeast Missouri State.

As it turned out, Amano shone brightly in college. He played every game for Southeast Missouri State, starting from midway in his freshman year until his final outing as a senior. Amano wound up being named to the All-America first team and won the Dave Rimington Award, given to the top center in college football at each level of competition.

In his last two varsity seasons, Amano boosted Southeast Missouri State’s offensive clip to more than 380 yards and averaged 90 touchdowns.

Amano’s physical feats are remarkable. He has done 30 repetitions of 225 pounds, performed a 620-pound squat, lifted a 396-pound power clean and run  the 40-yard dash in 5.16. 

But Amano is revered as a role model more for his recognition of the importance of education than his physical attributes.

Amano was 27 credit hours short of earning a diploma in criminal justice at Southeast Missouri State when he entered the NFL.  Unlike other major leaguers who put education in low priority to focus on their playing career, Amano continued to work on his degree through on-line courses, independent study and an internship with a police department

  where he worked with detectives in a campaign against drugs during the 2006 offseason.

In May 2006, Amano was rewarded for his efforts as he received his degree in criminal justice from Southeast Missouri State. When his playing days are over, Amano  hopes to become a federal agent or join the FBI.

By the way, Amano loves Filipino food and picked former San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson as his all-time sports hero.

Now in his fourth year with the Titans, Amano has seen the NFL team metamorphose from a 5-11 doormat in 2004 to a playoff contender this season. 

Gabriel, 67, was the first Asian-American to start as an NFL quarterback. The 6-4, 235-pound two-time All-American from North Carolina State was inducted into the college football Hall of Fame in 1989. He was the Los Angeles Rams’ first round pick in the 1962 draft, the MVP of the NFL in 1969 and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 1973.

Gabriel was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is also where Michael Jordan and Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon are from. His father Roman, Sr., an Ilocano, immigrated from the Philippines in 1925 and worked as a laborer in Alaska and California before settling down in North Carolina.

“My dad is my No. 1 hero in my lifetime,” said Gabriel. It was his father who encouraged him to take up sports at an early age. Gabriel was a star in baseball, basketball and football in high school and wasn’t expected to go to college because his parents were poor. But when scholarship offers came in, Gabriel decided to enroll at North Carolina State.

Gabriel appeared in two movies, became a TV commentator and even had a brief forgettable stint as head coach of the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks in the World League of American Football. The Skyhawks posted a perfect losing record, 0-10, in 1991-92 and were promptly disbanded.

In the last 20 years, Gabriel has raised over $4 Million for charity with his wife Lisa. He has promoted fund-raisers for the Special Olympics, Salvation Army and victims of multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, leukemia and blindness.

In the NBA, the only player with Filipino roots ever to suit up was former Golden State and Indiana guard Raymond Townsend whose mother was from Balayan, Batangas.

In major league baseball, Bobby Balcena of the Cincinnati Reds, Benny Agbayani of the New York Mets, Chris Aguila of the Florida Marlins and Bobby Chouinard of the Colorado Rockies are the known swatters with Filipino heritage.