BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | THE MONITOR
PHARR — PSJA North senior running back Vonzell Griffin began playing football in a much different environment than many of his teammates.
During the cold, snowy winters in Chicago, Illinois, Griffin and about 20 of his fellow 8-year-olds would play football on a plot of grass. Their field was surrounded on all sides by government housing high-rises. The familiar dark-red exterior of those high-rises served as the backdrop for many of Griffin’s earliest memories.
Running around on that frosted grass was safer than what many kids his age were getting into.
In 2015, there were 11,081 violent crimes committed in Chicago, according to the FBI’s Annual Crime Report. In 2016, that number grew to 13,729. Similarly, the 2015 and 2016 murder totals of 213 and 317, respectively, mark the highest totals for any city in the United States, according to the report.
“It’s unavoidable,” Griffin said. “You don’t have to go looking for the trouble. It can cross you at any time and any place, just because that’s how the people are up there.”
The violence in the city is the main reason why Griffin now resides in the Rio Grande Valley. He has family in the Valley, and when his grandmother reached out to ask him if he wanted to relocate to Texas, he gave it some serious consideration.
“When she asked me, the first thing I thought of was (the crime),” Griffin said. “That’s one of the big reasons I came. It’s just a lot of violence, a lot of crime. And then I thought to myself, ‘Texas has to be way better.’”
This past summer, Griffin transferred from East Chicago High to PSJA North.
Griffin was on the outer vestiges of the city’s violence growing up. He was studious and focused on his grades. He played football, the game he loves, and had plenty of friends who were his teammates all the way from that field in the projects to East Chicago’s Pete Rucinski Field as members of the East Chicago Cardinals.
“It was hard growing up in Chicago,” Griffin said. “You hear about the violence and whatnot. I lived close. If you know who you are cool with, then you are good. I had fun out there, because I wasn’t a troubled kid or nothing.”
Despite his efforts to avoid danger, Griffin was not exempt from being affected by the violence.
“Anything you can think of, I have had it happen to people around me: jail, murder, all of that,” Griffin said.
Griffin also lost his father when he was 14. Given all the pain in his past, it is easy to see why Griffin runs with so much anger when he’s on the football field. The former linebacker hits the hole with explosive energy, and any defender in his way is in for a seismic collision.
Through two games this season, Griffin has carried the ball 19 times for 134 yards and a touchdown.
“Von is doing a great job of blocking and running,” North coach Marcus Kaufmann said. “He’s a very smart guy. He is picking up (the offense) very, very well. He listens to you word for word — very coachable kid.”
Typically, the Raiders running game centers around the three players in the backfield: Griffin, senior running back Juan Elizondo and senior quarterback Randy Reyna.
Griffin and Elizondo line up side by side on the field, and they are often side by side off the field.
“Juan helped me a lot when I first got here,” Griffin said. “We chilled when I first started coming. We chilled at his crib and my crib. Everybody is really cool here. I like the team a lot.”
The ties that bind Elizondo and Griffin together are rooted in similar tough upbringings. Like many of the Raiders, Elizondo wasn’t born with a silver spoon.
“He’s pretty cool. He’s a funny guy,” Elizondo said of Griffin. “We have been through some similar things in our lives. We both know what it’s like to come from a difficult upbringing and try to do the best we can.”
He may be new, but Griffin is invested in the Raiders’ season. Before PSJA North had its open week in Week 3, the team suffered back-to-back difficult losses, and no one was more upset than Griffin.
“I was devastated,” Griffin said. “It’s really tough, because it was mental errors, and we just lost the groove we had. … That’s my ammunition. That’s my fuel going forward.”
The Raiders host the La Joya High Coyotes at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at PSJA Stadium.
Griffin, Elizondo and the rest of the Raiders are ready to get their first win of the season.
“They are ready to go,” Kaufmann said of his players. “They are learning. I feel good about this group, because they care. These guys here, they grew up watching Raider football. They know what it means to play football at PSJA North. So they are trying. Other places I have been, after two losses, it would be infighting and blaming, and no one would get along. Here, it’s not like that. They all love each other, and they all get along. So they are ready to go out there and fight together and get that first win.”