Back on familiar territory

Danny Pulido stood before the Newport Harbor High football team for the first practice this fall a largely forgotten legend, and, some might say, a cautionary tale.

Few among the Sailors players, Pulido said, had the slightest inkling that the 1997 Newport Harbor graduate who played three seasons of varsity football and competed in two CIF Southern Section title games, left the program as its all-time leading receiver, with a scholarship to the University of Oregon.

Pulido, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound receiver, outside linebacker and safety, who also started as a freshman on the varsity basketball team and played multiple seasons on the varsity baseball squad, was one of the most decorated athletes to come out of Newport Harbor in the 1990s. The Newport-Mesa Male Athlete of the Year as a senior, he departed for Eugene with hopes of becoming a tight end for the Ducks.

After reporting for the winter semester after the 1997 football season (he worked as a varsity assistant at Newport while waiting to enroll, as to allow him maximum eligibility options), Pulido soon found himself near the top of the depth chart as a freshman in 1998.

But he also found himself becoming more and more frustrated by his lack of speed (4.9 seconds in the 40-yard dash, a time surpassed by many Division I linemen).

“I was playing, basically, by default,” said Pulido, who saw action in every game that 1998 season, including a memorable performance in an overtime thriller against UCLA at the Rose Bowl. “A couple of our tight ends were hurt, and a few other guys just weren’t ready to play at that level. I did OK and I had a few good moments, but I caught maybe two passes.”

Practices were even more frustrating than games for Pulido, who despite his devotion in the weight room, or, ironically because of it, simultaneously bulked up and slowed down.

“I had always joked with my friends that I suffered from TMT, too much torso,” Pulido said. “My legs were short and I just didn’t have the same stride as other guys at that level. I was literally 2 1/2 steps slow. I couldn’t catch up to the football, let alone get open. The more I lifted, the more top-heavy I became. There were times when I wanted to throw my helmet and walk off the practice field.”

Pulido, along with input from his position coach, realized he was destined for a diminished role in the program. His gridiron dream had stalled in second gear, as his peers sped past in daily workouts.

“I figured I could keep playing, but that I would basically be running into a brick wall every day,” Pulido said. “I didn’t think I would see the field. I had always been involved with sports and on that path. I decided I wanted to expand beyond that and try to experience some other things, while I was still young.”

Initially, Pulido stayed in school, working for the football program by videotaping practices and games. He thought of becoming a firefighter, which led him to a community college, where he studied to be an Emergency Medical Technician.

He took up rugby, playing for Oregon’s club team. He worked toward a degree in history, while forging a new social history that included a penchant for partying typical of many college students.

“A lot of the choices I made were based on opening up my life experiences,” he said.

Eventually, he chose to leave Eugene. He worked as a guide on a rafting river, a bouncer at local bars and even a taxi driver.

He also coached one season at Mountain View High in Bend, Ore.

He returned home last spring, thinking he had finished work on his bachelor’s degree (though he was later deemed one class short, a deficit he vows to take care of as soon as next spring).

Still unsure of his career path, he planned to rejoin high school teammate and friend Joe Urban as an assistant coach for the Newport Harbor freshman football team, a team coached by Joe Urban Sr., who was Pulido’s first coach in Junior All-American Football.

But when he expressed his desire to coach to Urban Sr., word was soon relayed to varsity coach Jeff Brinkley, who quickly talked him into filling the void left when defensive line coach Mike Bargas left to become head coach at Estancia High.

“I was planning on coaching with the freshman team, but when Coach Brinkley talked to me, I told him I’d do anything I could to help the program,” Pulido said.

Pulido said his prep statistics (143 career receptions), including double digit catches in the 1994 CIF title-game win over Servite — Newport fell to Carson Palmer-led Santa Margarita in the 1996 CIF title clash — don’t matter much to defensive linemen awaiting his expertise on winning battles in the trenches.

But Pulido said he is thrilled to be back at Newport Harbor and he vows to do what it takes to learn the ins and outs of down line play.

He also holds no regrets about pursuing college football and is thankful that his football talent, and the resulting scholarship, opened the door to a collegiate opportunity he might not have otherwise had.

As far as advising players weighing opportunities to play college football, Pulido said he would not try to dissuade anyone.

“To each their own,” he said. “Some people really enjoy the game and their talents dictate [a collegiate future]. I tried college football, but then I decided I wanted to just go where the wind took me, for a little bit.”