Blood west side10/13/2023 ![]() And that doesn't leave time for school, much less football. Misaalefua explained to his stepson that gang life offers money, respect and family-but you have to rep your set and be willing to lay down your life. So when Jack began to dress in red from head to toe as a seventh-grader, Jessica begged BadBoy to talk to him. But in LA, football is only one alternative for Fa'a Samoa. Misaalefua coached his kids to play like warriors, treating each individual battle on the field as a matter of family honor. Once he has gained the trust of his chief, or matai, he receives a tattoo across his lower body, administered with a hammer and shark's tooth, to signify his new warrior status. As a teenage foot soldier, or aumaga, the boy guards the village during the hour of prayer and must be prepared to deliver beatdowns to unannounced intruders. In the islands, Fa'a Samoa-the Samoan way-requires a boy to prove himself with chores and feats of skill. Most of his players came from Carson's 3,000-strong Samoan community. Jerry even coached Jack's Pop Warner team, despite having no training beyond attending a free weekend clinic as a teenager. They bonded while watching football, rooting for the waves of cousins who played in Carson's black and powder blue, following USC on TV and scouring NFL rosters for Samoan names. And he knew to cry out when his 6-year-old auntie was nearly kidnapped from the backyard.īut no matter what happened, Jack saw his stepfather as calm and in control. Growing up, whether his family lived in a house or a shelter or a relative's garage, Sula knew to hit the floor when he heard gunshots. Two years later, when BadBoy and Jessica met, BadBoy embraced her toddler as his own. She was a second-generation banger with Rancho San Pedro, the gang that ran the San Pedro projects near LA harbor. Sula's 15-year-old Hispanic mother, Jessica Arce, was fresh out of juvie. When Sula was born, his 16-year-old Samoan father, Jack, was in a gang and behind bars for dealing drugs. "Daddy," the pudgy kid said while tugging Jerry's long red shirt, "I want to play football like that." Amused, Jerry crouched and, softening his gritty baritone, asked, "You want to play tackle?"įear inhabits this LA suburb every day. Jack's dark eyes lit up with every collision. WHEN JACK WAS 7, he watched his older cousin Chui play Pop Warner on the Carson High field. While other men watch their sons fax signed letters of intent to USC and LSU and Michigan, Jerry mails out Jack's highlight videos, hoping to find his stepson a ride out of town. And nobody is more feared in Carson than this 40-year-old man they still call BadBoy, even though he has dropped his colors. Jerry says WSP now has 300 local members, and "branches" from Seattle to Okinawa and Samoa. As always, the 300-pound Samoan feels people staring at his jailhouse ink, which tells the story of his 29 years running a Bloods-affiliated gang called West Side Piru (Pimps in Red Uniforms) that he formed before reaching puberty. Later in the afternoon, Jack's stepfather, Jerry Misaalefua, stands in line at a nearby post office, with padded envelopes wedged under his massive, heavily tattooed arms. 6, 2008, national signing day-his cell phone sits as silent as the empty bleachers. ![]() His TD proved to be the game's only score when, as a linebacker, he ended a last-minute drive by nailing Franklin in the backfield on a goal-line stand. He scored a first- quarter touchdown, and the home crowd shouted his name. ![]() But Sula, with only a handful of mid-major offers, was hell-bent on proving he belonged in the Pac-10 too. UCLA recruit Johnathan Franklin, of rival Dorsey High, struggled for all of his 39 yards. In his final game here this past November-LA's city semifinal-the six-foot, 205-pound senior rumbled for 193 yards through several inches of mud. The unlit scoreboard casts a shadow as Jack Sula hauls his workout bag across Carson High's patchy turf. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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