Aldo Infante looks out from Hollywood High Football Stadium and sees history: The Roosevelt Hotel, El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood Sign, School Hall.
“I know this is where everyone wants to come,” he said. “People come for opportunities. Many of the Stars, actors and comediansThey came here and made their dreams come true.”
Infante has lived in Hollywood for most of his life starring in a sports fable that is far from Ellie Manning’s portrayal of the Chad’s legendary powers.
Somehow, somehow, in his senior year of high school, with no prior experience playing any team sports, Infante, at quarterback, led Hollywood to a record 5-4. Last season, the elders went 0-8.
How a 6-foot-205-pound person could walk around campus unnoticed and not be recruited to play any sport until he showed up for lawn football trials last summer is simply unbelievable. But what happened.
Attending Fairfax as a freshman, he said he asked to play football after the season started but was told it was too late to join. COVID-19 is in its second year, so no sport. When he was young, he moved to Hollywood. He wanted to try soccer but said trying to get fit didn’t happen. The doctor was very busy. Infante will appear to watch matches at home where Hollywood has gone unbeaten.
Enter head coach of the year Alistair Jones, who hasn’t coached since he was an assistant at Lynwood Firebaugh in 2015. He did auditions last summer. A player asked Infante to join the Zoom call for people interested in playing. He appeared for auditions in a park. There were three players behind.
“I was, ‘Oh my God,'” Jones said. “Of the three, he was the best with his height and arm.”
Infante had no problem picking up plays. He had a hitch in the throwing motion which was corrected. Then it was time to see how he was playing football.
“I remember the first time I dealt with it was hard for me,” he said. “I didn’t know how to handle. I was, ‘Oh, I have a big body. I have to use it. Then everyone started hitting me and people smaller than me were hitting me.’ I was, ‘Okay, that’s a lot harder.'” In my first match, when someone hit me, I didn’t feel it but I was, ‘Stop, it happened so fast’.
Infante’s football career almost ended after two matches. Against Van Nuys, during the 7-0 loss, he wanted to enter the game late to play a defensive end in an effort to help the team. He began arguing with Jones loudly on the sidelines, with fans able to hear.
Put me in place, said Infante, I’m better than them all.
Jones replied, “I am the coach, you are the player. If you want my job, you have to apply.”
Infante was sent to the locker room not knowing if his football career was over.
It was a moment that might have changed his life. He didn’t know how to express himself when he was frustrated. He did not have a father and did not play any team sports. Baseball coach, Chris Dickerson, spoke to him. So did the athletic director. Three days later, Jones spoke to him.
“It was a teachable moment,” Jones said. “That’s why I coach football. Some of these kids don’t have dads. I’m not trying to be the dad. I try to be the role model. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy.”
Infante said that removing him from the game, then returning him to the team, was a life lesson he will never forget.
“Since that day, I’ve been listening more and taking his advice,” Infante said. “Everything has an effect – all sequences.”
Unfortunately, the Hollywood season is over. The Elders were not selected for the City Division playoffs.
Whether Infante continues to play football remains uncertain, but what he has learned this season is something he will take with him on his next job, the next relationship, and the next awkward moment.
“I think being an orphan was hard because I didn’t have that person to guide me,” he said. “The coach was kind of my dad’s personality, he taught me things.”
As the school’s quarterback with the most famous stadium in Los Angeles, Infante was a true Chad Powers player at the school known for producing stars out of nowhere. After playing without sports for three years of high school, he plans to play soccer and baseball as well.
What a Hollywood story.