High family standards
Anthony Gonzalez strives to reach the bar set by his parents, grandparents
Friday, October 13, 2006
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
</IMG> Jenna and Eduardo Gonzalez proudly wear the number of their son Anthony, a key member of the Ohio State offense.
Forty-five years ago, Jose and Lourdes Gonzalez and their young children fled Fidel Castro?s Cuba and came to America.With little money and no grasp of the language, they managed to find jobs and raise their family.
About 30 years ago, one of their six children, Eduardo, took a job driving trucks to support his soonto-be-wife, Jenna, and their future family. Eduardo ended up founding his own company and now is president of a thriving business.
And that is why Anthony Gonzalez gets a little uncomfortable when he is praised for his accomplishments. In short, the Ohio State junior receiver doesn?t yet feel he has achieved much compared with the legacies of the relatives who paved his way in this country.
So, even as he experiences a breakout season on the field and keeps up a fine academic record, Gonzalez has an almost pathological fear of complacency.
"I feel like if you start accepting (praise) and believing it, maybe you won?t work as hard," said Gonzalez, 22, whose family calls him Tony. "And in all honesty, the only way I?ve been able to do anything of value has been through hard work, whether it was in the classroom or on the football field."
He learned these values directly from Eduardo and Jenna but indirectly from his grandparents.
When Jose and Lourdes married in the late 1940s, they honeymooned in America, rented a car and drove around "until they ran out of money in Cincinnati," Anthony said.
They got jobs and raised enough money to go back to Cuba to start a family. In 1961, when Eduardo was 7, the family fled Castro?s regime and ended up back in Cincinnati. Eduardo attended Elder High School and went to Michigan on a football scholarship. He was a reserve tailback and graduated with a degree in economics.
Back in Cincinnati, he was engaged to Jenna when a friend?s father offered him a truck-driving job for a steel company in Cleveland.
"We thought, ?OK, we?re engaged, we have no money, this would be a good thing,? " Jenna said.
Eduardo became a supervisor, and by 1983 he had learned enough about the steel business to start his own company. Today, Ferragon Corporation lists six companies under its umbrella.
Eduardo was gone a lot when his four children were young. (Anthony has two older brothers, Nick and Joe, and a younger sister, Cristina.) But the work ethic rubbed off. Eduardo placed plaques in his kids? rooms extolling the virtue of persistence and hard work.
"He has always said the only way to get what you want out of life is to work harder than anybody else," Anthony said. "And that?s something that he does in his life, and that?s led to his successes, and I didn?t fully appreciate it until I got here (to OSU).
"In high school, you can get by with things on natural abilities, but once you get here you really have to start doing things the way they need to be done, and that?s just one he?s always harped on."
Gonzalez was productive as OSU?s third receiver a year ago, but this season he has taken off. Through six games, he has 27 catches for 404 yards and four touchdowns. After Gonzalez?s two-TD game at Iowa, Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz raved.
"This guy, are you kidding me?" Ferentz said. "He knocked my socks off. He blocks like a tight end, he?s got excellent receiving skills, he?s a great runner and he?s a tenacious competitor.
"I was thinking about this earlier: If somebody said you had to choose between Braylon Edwards, Lee Evans, Ted Ginn and Gonzalez ? we?ve had some good guys in our conference, and this guy belongs in that class."
Just don?t direct such praise Gonzalez?s way. Any fan e-mail gets forwarded directly to his mother.
"And he gets angry at me if I forward anything back to him," said Jenna, who makes scrapbooks, anyway. "I don?t know what it is. It embarrasses him."
This is what it is: Gonzalez feels his accomplishments don?t mean much compared with what his family has been through.
"I don?t think I?ve done anything, I really don?t," he said. "There?s real hardship in the world, the perfect example within my own family."
Eduardo readily agrees with his son that sports aren?t that important.
"There are much more significant things in the world than playing ball or even what I?m doing, like peace in the Middle East," Eduardo said. "He is wellgrounded in that sense."
Gonzalez also enjoys staying in touch with his Cuban heritage. The family spends time in Miami, where the widowed Lourdes now lives with Eduardo?s extended family.loves to cook Cuban food, and he calls Lourdes every week before games.
"She?s a real sports fanatic," Eduardo said of his mother. "It?s funny, this 84-year-old woman and she?s all about watching ESPN."
But the most important thing Gonzalez gets from his family is perspective and the will to make his own mark in the world.
"I?m horrible about talking about myself, but when it comes to (his father) in particular, I?m just so proud and happy for what he did and accomplished, because I think there?s a lot of value in it. To say that you come from a different country, you don?t know the language, practically forced from your home, to go from that to the point where he is now is something I take a lot of pride in.
"That?s one of the inspiring things. It?s a good story because it has taught me a lot and kind of given me confidence: ?OK, if he can do all that, I can do my little part, I guess.? "
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