Sometimes you get lucky. I was asked to introduce John Skelton Sr., the father of National Football League players John and Steve Skelton, at the monthly breakfast of the Cathedral High School Alumni Association last week.
What an honor. And what a spellbinding talk by the elder Skelton. He gave us step by step insight into what a father goes through in helping and developing two pro athletes.
AS READERS know by now, John Skelton Jr. became the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals last year. On top of that, his brother was signed as a tight end.
It would seem like that would be a dream come true for a father but their father said he had never dreamed his sons would be playing football, period. They started out playing baseball. But they grew and grew. John Jr. is listed as 6 feet 6 and Steve at 6 feet 5. So they turned to football as well as other sports.
And oh, how they shined at Burges High School.
BUT SOMETHING strange happened along the way. John had received letters of interest from several colleges but his father didn’t see them until there was a coaching change at Burges. “The only college that had contacted me personally was Texas Tech,” the elder Skelton said, “but there was a coaching change there, too, and I never heard from them again.”
How about UTEP? John Sr., a former UTEP lineman, is an outspoken man. He was quoted in one article as saying, “I’m just the opposite of John (his son). I wear my emotions on my shoulder. I’ll get in your face in a heartbeat and tell you how the cow ate the corn.”
And he did that when UTEP came around with only a “preferred walk-on” offer for his quarterback son. John Sr. tore up the printed offer in front of the UTEP representative and told him that if he ever came around again “I will kick your butt.”
STILL, YOUNG John had no place to go. However, his mother, the former Anna Loya, had a brother, Javier, who had attended Columbia University. He suggested that he and John’s father take a tour in that area.
They visited several campuses but found little interest except at Fordham University. John Sr. and Javier left a video of the young quarterback and returned to El Paso.
Guess what? The Fordham coach kept calling and calling and one day actually showed up at the Skeltons’ doorstep.
THE REST is history. John Jr. became one of Fordham’s greatest quarterbacks, setting passing records right and left.
Pro agents began to contact his father. There were many but the elder John was impressed with one whose last name was Schwartz. “With a name like that, I knew he’d be a good one,” John Sr. says.
Sure enough, The Arizona Cardinals picked up John Jr. and later his brother. Last year John got a chance to start seven games because of injury to the No. 1 signal caller and went 5-2. Not that he’s necessarily going to become the No. 1 quarterback – yet. As his father pointed out, John Jr. is getting $450,000 and the starting quarterback $2 million. “Who do you think the Cardinals will start?” he says.
IT HAS BEEN quite a ride for the Skelton family. The younger John has already set a precedent. Some former quarterbacks who played at UTEP have started in the NFL but John is the only quarterback born in El Paso to do so.
And El Pasoans will have another Hispanic NFL quarterback to follow. John Jr. grew up speaking both English and Spanish. He speaks the latter fluently. In fact, his first interview after joining the NFL was on a Spanish station.
Any hard feelings with UTEP? Maybe. But another of Mrs. Skelton’s brothers is Mike Loya. Yes, he’s the Mike Loya who donated $10 million to UTEP last year.
What a family!