Golden Bears develop love for football — thanks to genetics, osmosis or both
By Dan Barnes,
Edmonton Journal
Damon Fraietta doesn’t have to search for his father’s influence.
When he comes home from another physically demanding football practice, it’s right in front of his eyes.
“I have a bunch of his old jerseys on my wall,” said Damon. “They remind me of where he went and where I want to get to.”
Emilio Fraietta went to the Canadian Football League. So did Greg Marshall, Danny Bass, Jacques Chapdelaine and Pete Lavorato.
Five of their offspring, including
Damon, are teammates on the 4-2
University of Alberta Golden Bears, who host the 5-2 University of Saskatchewan Huskies at 7 p.m. tonight at Foote Field. By way of osmosis, genetics or both, the sons have developed a love and an aptitude for the game. Some of them may well be just one admittedly large step from following in their relatively
famous fathers’ footsteps. It’s a circle of life thing.
“I remember throwing the ball to him,” Pete Lavorato said of his son Luke. “He’d just run patterns. His favourite word was ‘again,’ meaning we never stopped. He just loved it. I’d show him how to run a post or a post corner. He loved the repetition and I was thinking, if he ever plays football he’s going to be a receiver.”
He’s in his fifth year, playing slotback for the Bears.
Danny Bass Jr. transferred from Northern Michigan University and is one of the best college linebackers in western Canada. Little wonder, since his dad Danny had a Hall of Fame career with the Calgary Stampeders and Eskimos. Matt Chapdelaine is a wide receiver, his father was a B.C. Lions slotback and is now the team’s offensive coordinator. Brian Marshall is a backup offensive lineman. His father Greg, now the defensive co-ordinator for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, was a standout defensive lineman for the Ottawa Rough Riders in the 1980s. Emilio Fraietta played defensive back for five years with the
Eskimos, while Damon is a slotback who leads the Bears with 29 catches for 368 yards.
The sons’ stories may not all end in the CFL, but they started the same way, at the right hand of their fathers.
“He came to some of the practices and he did the waterboy thing when I was coaching in junior football,” Greg Marshall said of his son. “When I was coaching in Edmonton he was up in the booth charting (plays) for us. He did a good job. So he’s had an interest in the game for quite awhile.”
By the time Luke Lavorato was old enough to take an active interest in sports, Pete’s CFL career was over and he had begun coaching high school players. Juggling a demanding job with the joys of fatherhood, Pete took his son to practice with him in Gilroy, California, where Luke snuck into every team picture, and later at Archbishop Jordan High School in Edmonton.
“I never really thought ‘I want my son to be a football player.’ He was just always around it,” said Pete.
It’s the common thread that links each son’s story to the next. As the offspring of CFLers, they were all immersed in the game at an early age, given access that their friends and rivals were rarely if ever afforded. It had an unmistakeable and lasting impact.
“My first memories are of him giving me a football and showing me how to throw it,” Damon Fraietta said of his dad. “When he coached at the U of A I’d come and hang out at practice. He introduced me to the game. I don’t know if I would have been as into it if he hadn’t.”
Danny Bass Jr. took up the game at age seven and his coach followed him home every night from practice.
“Every coach I have ever had influenced me,” said the younger Bass. “But the fact he was my father/coach influenced me a lot. He coached me through bantam and helped me a lot. I look at it as a plus. He helped me get to where I am now.”
But the fathers are adamant that’s all they did, offer support and encouragement. And the sons back them up.
“I didn’t push him into it,” Greg Marshall said of Brian. “I told him I thought it was something he would enjoy. Obviously it was something I enjoyed and had a lot of great experiences doing.”
Luke Lavorato had two strong parental role models, since his mother was a highly skilled dancer. He chose football, but was apparently free to go either way.
“Luke probably wouldn’t tell you this, but he’s a really good dancer,” Pete said from Atherton, Calif. where he is still coaching high schoolers. “If he’d become a dancer, I would have accepted him. I always told him, first I love him no matter what and second I accept him.”
Exposure to the game and a love for it are certainly important factors. So is dogged determination and hard work, and they all exhibit those traits. But at some point along the way, genetics must have played a role.
“He’s got the physical stature to play the game,” Greg Marshall said of his son. “He wasn’t built for being a marathon runner. It doesn’t hurt, the genes he got.”
