This week is a perfect time for Tito Harper to be thankful for his time as a Wilson High School Bruin.<\/p>\n
Harper graduated over the summer after playing football at Wilson, and that connection gave him a chance to continue his education with a better outlook on life.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the world is going to be against you so you have to use your mindset to stay on the straight and narrow,\u201d Harper said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I live by.\u201d<\/p>\n
That outlook is even more impressive in light of the fact that Harper lost his mother, LaShonda, to COVID last year. He\u2019s had to step up and help take care of his younger brother, Ire, who is currently playing football at Wilson.<\/p>\n
Harper is now pursuing a business degree at Cal State Dominguez Hills with the help of a scholarship that came from his connection with Wilson.<\/p>\n
Mike Lanterman\u2019s sons, Kyle and John, went to Wilson just before Harper got to the varsity level. In the summer of 2020, Lanterman and three fellow alums from University High School in Los Angeles wanted to start a scholarship for underprivileged kids who wanted to go to college.<\/p>\n
Lanterman said it took a while to get his grassroots idea to grow into Opportunities For Youth, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which can give out one scholarship a year to a high school senior involved in sports, music or drama.<\/p>\n
Opportunities For Youth gave its first scholarship to a University High student, and then Lanterman contacted Wilson football coach John Janzen to find the next possible awardee. Janzen mentioned Harper, and Lanterman contacted him to get the process started.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is the essay we have them write about their own story,\u201d Lanterman said. \u201cTito\u2019s was a tearjerker. Everyone said that we just have to get this kid a scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just me typing me,\u201d Harper said of the essay. \u201cIt was just my story. I just typed from the heart and put it all on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harper was born and raised in Long Beach where he grew up playing as many sports as he could. He always wanted to play football but had to patiently wait until his mom let him join a tackle football league. That meant when he got to Wilson he had only one season under his belt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was playing tight end at first, but then one day a coach called me over to the offensive and defensive line at practice and I stayed there,\u201d Harper remembers. \u201cIt made me more of a man, in a way, because you can\u2019t be soft playing on the defensive and offensive line. If you\u2019re soft you won\u2019t make it. I think that\u2019s where I got the mindset and strength to get me where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harper entered his senior year as a two-way starter for Wilson, but weeks before the final game of his high school career, he got COVID. Eventually, his mother and younger brother he lived with would also get sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom got it bad because she had high blood pressure,\u201d Harper said. \u201cOn my birthday she wasn\u2019t feeling good and had like purple lips so we called the ambulance. \u2026 They came and said everything was OK. But that night she was like cold and still had purple lips. \u2026 I woke up in the night to use the bathroom and we found her. She was all purple. It was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paramedics returned and tried to resuscitate LaShonda, but they were unsuccessful. It was up to Harper to alert the rest of the family while caring for his younger brother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings happen and you just have to take it day by day,\u201d said Harper, who reiterated that he knew he couldn\u2019t drop out of school or stop playing football. \u201cMy mom taught us that what we start we have to finish. That\u2019s why we\u2019re still in school and keeping a happy mindset. She came to one game because she usually couldn\u2019t because of work. \u2026 Every time I look over there (where she sat that night) it makes me just want to keep playing because she always loved the game and I loved it because of her too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harper finished his high school football career on Senior Night as most of his family came to support him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people go years of going through adversity in their daily life, not everyone has the perfect life, but my parents always kept me and my brother comfortable,\u201d Harper said. \u201cWe always had to work for it. But life is too short, because anything can happen. Tomorrow ain\u2019t promised and you have to live it up now.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Harper put in his scholarship application essay, and that\u2019s why he was chosen by Lanterman and the rest of the Opportunities For Youth board.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could have quit and dropped out,\u201d Lanterman said, \u201cbut he didn\u2019t, and now he\u2019s a good role model for his little brother who is on the Wilson football team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scholarship was originally for $500, but now the organization is continuing to raise money for Harper in the hopes of getting him a car, Lanterman said.<\/p>\n
These days, Harper takes two buses to Cal State Dominguez Hills for classes where he wants to major in business and possibly study the culinary arts because of his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer cooking was something different,\u201d Harper said. \u201cIt was that cooking that makes you know you\u2019ve been at home. I\u2019ve been asking Granny to write down her stuff because it\u2019s the closest (recipes) to my mom\u2019s. \u2026 We would watch Food Network together and always be in the kitchen \u2026 especially on Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harper and his family are spending their first Thanksgiving without LaShonda, but she won\u2019t be far from their thoughts and their hearts.<\/p>\n