By Julie Buehler
There are plenty of reasons to fail in life. And excuses tell us most of them begin with someone else.
There are plenty of reasons to succeed in life. And motivational speaking tells us most of them begin with your self.
But for Edgar Segura, born in Medota, California, a poverty-stricken town in a dusty region downwind from Fresno in Central California, he couldn’t know if his success or failure would be decided by anything but circumstance.
According to the average life in Mendota, people woke up before dawn, worked in the fields digging, pulling, harvesting, bending, reaching and striving for anything but the life of their parents.
Unemployment raged, immigration raids ravaged families and the line to pick up governmental assistance from a food truck was the longest line in town.
Except maybe for the Friday night football games.
Where the whole town of Medota would come watch Edgar play football.
He wore #10 and broke every meaningful section record for a running back in his senior year for Medota High School.
He rushed for 51 touchdowns and caught 6 more. He was the star of the town, but also the star of a national media spotlight cast by an ESPN 30 for 30 production.
They told the story of Medota football and Segura beautifully. They outlined the plight of the people, the power of the game and the tenuous success the team enjoyed balanced on the back of kids and community working in a fruit field.
The one thing it didn’t touch on: Segura’s inability to read or write in English.
Segura’s family spoke Spanish at home, so while he could speak English well and communicate effectively in X’s and O’s, he didn’t like to read and could only write enough to pass a class.
But barely.
Colleges caught wind of his gaudy stats on the field, watched the same 30 for 30 documentary and reached out to him. But his grades weren’t good enough to attend a 4-year school.
Another professional athlete sought him out after seeing the national media attention and took him on recruiting trips to Pac-12 schools where Segura once again failed academic requirements to advance.
On the field of play, he was special. In the eyes of Medota, he was irreplaceable. But in the classroom, to a university, he was inadmissible.
While the media attention had made Edgar an even more popular name in town, it seemed he was running on a hamster wheel looking for a college education. Exerting tremendous effort with no results. All motion. No progress.
Then Segura got a phone call. From his high school coach. The conversation went something like this: “Hey Edgar, a doctor wants to help you.” Edgar said, “What? With what? How?”
A few days later Segura and his coach were in Rancho Mirage where they met Dr. Jerry Argovitz and his wife Loni.
The couple were not only offering financial assistance to help Segura land a football scholarship at a university, but they were also offering life training, tutoring, academic family to see the young man through.
Dr. Argovitz, a dentist by trade, had been an NFL agent and business man for decades before he began assisting local youth in achieving their goals.
Segura moved to Southern California, was admitted to Mt. San Antonio College and is thriving with his new surroundings.
In his first year at Mr. SAC, Segura struggled in language arts, but received a B in math. He gray-shirted for the football team and will be on the squad next year as they prepare for a title defense, but he knows his grades are now of paramount importance.
He’s taught life lessons from Jerry, taught about reality from Loni and when asked to offer a few words to describe the couple, Segura said, “Family. Passion. Belief.”
This couple has taken a young man in that created a media stir, but that couldn’t finish a college application and are helping him advance in life in more ways than he can comprehend currently.
Segura has a steely stare and listens to everything around him. There’s an intensity to the young man. One that comes from having reality beat out a numbing drumbeat of utilitarian expectations. Those who produce, have value. Those who don’t, don’t. When he watches something, he watches ONLY that. There’s no darting eyes or wandering gaze. He imbibes visuals as though there’s nothing else to see.
But he can see his future clearly now, and it’s his for the taking. Beyond any circumstance or excuse.
Julie Buehler hosts the Coachella Valley’s most popular sports talk radio show, “Buehler’s Day Off” every day from 3-6 on 1010 KXPS, the valley’s all sports station. She can also be seen every morning between 6-7am on KMIR sharing the coolest stories in sports. She’s an avid gym rat, slightly sarcastic and more likely to recite Steve Young’s career passing stats than American Idol winners. Tune in M-F 3-6 pst at www.team1010.com or watch “Buehler’s Day Off” on Ustream and KMIR.com for her sports reports.
