KFDM COOP Posted December 6, 2007 Report Posted December 6, 2007 Friday Night Lights changed player's lifeMIDLAND — Heralded in the book Friday Night Lights, portrayed in the movie and now an Odessa defense lawyer, Brian Chavez says he might not be where he is without having heard his grandfather go to work each day.As a little boy growing up in El Paso, the sound of his grandfather's truck took on a powerful meaning, said Chavez, 37."Seeing the work ethic he had to provide for the family always stuck with me," he said. "My granddad, Reynaldo Perea, is 83 now and has a cane, but he still gets up at 4:30 a.m., turns on the dump truck and goes to work."Chavez considered practicing corporate law in big cities and working at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.But studying Hispanic culture resolved questions raised after he played on Odessa Permian's 1988 football team, which led to the publication of Buzz Bissinger's Friday Night Lights."When I got to Harvard University, people asked, 'What are you?' meaning what ethnicity," he said. "I would say, 'Mexican,' and they'd ask, 'Are you from Mexico?' I wanted to know who I was and studied Mexican history, art, culture and border issues."Most meaningful was the family orientation and how close relationships are. I saw everything this country and world could offer and made the conscious decision that Odessa's where I want to be."Friday Night Lights was like having your senior yearbook be a New York Times best-seller. The movie was hard to swallow, and changing my number from 85 to 4 affected me. You hear about getting 15 minutes of fame? Mine has lasted 15 years."Chavez' father, Tony, graduated from the University of Texas-El Paso while working as a police detective, then earned a Texas Tech law degree. His mother Irma was a principal.The elder Chavez was indicted in 1998 in a drug conspiracy case and served 19 months in federal prisons. Today he is the office manager for Brian and his brother Adrian, both Tech law school graduates, and next year will seek reinstatement to the Bar.Chavez played rugby at Harvard and competed in the NCAA semifinals as a senior. He took part in the World Series of Poker last June in Las Vegas, finished 79th and won $6,800.
82 5A State Champs Posted December 7, 2007 Report Posted December 7, 2007 WOW....that's a neat story. I have read the book and I did not realize that his number had been changed for the movie!
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