Football: Former Barnstormers get into AFA HOF

For the majority of his football career, Bryan Smith got out of the huddle before putting his hands underneath the butt of Jose Rodriguez.
They played together at San Benito High and for the semi-pro football Central Coast Barnstormers. Through it all, they’ve been able to share a lifetime of memories. Now, they’ll get to share one more.
On June 27, Rodriguez and Smith will be officially inducted into the American Football Association Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Dave Clapham, who was inducted into the AFA Hall of Fame in 1996, will be at the induction dinner as their presenter.
The three are all longtime Hollister residents and connected in many ways, mostly through a love for football. Clapham was an assistant coach at San Benito when Rodriguez and Smith were players there, and years later all three were re-united on the Barnstormers.
“It’s a pretty big honor, awesome actually,” Rodriguez said.
As an AFA HOF member, Clapham has the ability to nominate people into the HOF.
Even though he was inducted into the AFA HOF 18 years ago, Clapham was unable to attend the induction dinner due to a pressing family matter.
Now Clapham gets to experience the HOF events with two of his favorite pupils. They’ll be on the same flight to Canton, which of course is also home to the NFL HOF.
“The fact that I’ll be there with two of my favorite young athletes I’ve ever coached, I can’t tell you how thrilled and happy I am for them,” Clapham said.
Rodriguez, 38, first met Smith when he was a fourth grader at R.O. Hardin Elementary School. Smith, who was in the fifth grade at the time, wore his Pee Wee football jersey to school on Fridays, which Rodriguez immediately noticed.
“That’s when I wanted to get into football,” said Rodriguez, who works for his family business at R&R Labor to go along with his duties as the owner of the semi-pro football team Salinas Valley Spartans. “I was this Mexican kid playing soccer, but when I saw Bryan and all of the other kids wearing those jerseys, I wanted one of those, too.”
Rodriguez admitted he wasn’t very good at first—“In my four years in Pop Warner I was a third-string guy,” he said—but he worked hard to become an all-league lineman at San Benito.
In Rodriguez’s senior year, he weighed just 175 pounds. But he could move well and get under the pads of opposing linemen. Rodriguez played 14 years of semi-pro football, retiring after the 2013 season.
One thing stood out wherever Rodriguez played: The offensive lineman rarely missed a game. Rodriguez played in every game during his junior and senior year on the varsity, and in 14 years at the semi-pro level, he missed only five games—four due to family commitments.
Smith enjoyed a stellar nine-year career quarterbacking the Barnstormers—his final season was in 2009—leading the team to a 73-31 record. Smith, who was named an All-American in 2006 and ’09, set team records for total passing yards and touchdown passes.
A 1993 San Benito graduate, Smith excelled at the game at an early age.
“Bryan has always been the man,” Rodriguez said. “He was always the cool guy.”
Smith played in a couple of games at Gavilan and spent a year at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo before finishing up his schooling and earning a degree at Chico State. He’s a special education teacher at San Benito, and has been the varsity team’s offensive coordinator since 2007.
Early last week, Clapham told Smith there would be a good chance that he would be inducted into the AFA HOF.
“I was excited and fired up at first,” Smith said. “But I didn’t receive confirmation until I got an email the next morning saying congratulations. I’m like, ‘Is this really happening?’ The fact that I’m going in with Jose and Dave will be there, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Even though Rodriguez and Smith have been lifelong friends—they were both the best man at each other’s wedding and Smith is the godfather to Rodriguez’s youngest daughter—the two had plenty of healthy squabbles on the field.
“When I first started playing and I messed up, he wasn’t afraid to tell you that I messed up,” Rodriguez said. “But when I got better and we were teammates on the Barnstormers, I would respond back, ‘Hey, screw you. Look how big that guy is. You go block him.’ We were both very competitive.”
And that’s what made their relationship on the field so unique. Quarterbacks and centers have to be thinking as one, or the offense has no chance to be productive.
“When something had to change before the snap because of what the defense was doing or how they were lined up, Bryan and I were on the same page,” Rodriguez said. “If he wanted to change something, I knew exactly what he wanted to do. Everyone called Bryan the general, because he was a commander on the field.”
Smith was quick to point out that he couldn’t have accomplished anything without the help of some great teammates, especially Rodriguez, who provided Smith with a sense of peace and calm in a game that can be downright chaotic.
“Jose was my security blanket,” Smith said. “I could rely on him 100 percent of the time whether I was under center or in shotgun, and that made things easier because it gave me one less thing to worry about presnap. We had chemistry, and I knew I had the best guy in front of me.”
Smith was proud to point out the fact that he and Rodriguez were both undersized players who often triumphed against bigger players.
“We approached the game from a more mental aspect thinking along the lines of how were we going to beat a team that was more athletic than us,” Smith said. “We knew we had to practice harder.”
Not much has changed since Rodriguez and Smith were kids, as they still exchange barbs without the fear of the other person taking it personally. On their Pop Warner playing days, Smith said Rodriguez often played the “fifth quarter.”
All joking aside, Rodriguez and Smith both agree that Clapham is the type of coach players need in their lives.
“We were very fortunate to be under Dave’s guidance and leadership,” Smith said. “He always had our best interests at heart.”
The humble and understated Clapham is one of the best athletes to ever come out of Hollister. During his senior season at the University of Nevada-Reno, Clapham was named to the Associated Press’ All-American small-college team in 1973.
In his two years at Nevada—Clapham transferred from San Jose City College—he was also the team’s best heavyweight boxer, going undefeated in conference action.
Clapham was good enough to earn free agent tryouts with the Niners and Colts—he appeared in several preseason games—but did not make either team.
Now retired, Clapham worked for 30 years in the probation department with Santa Clara County, aiding in the gang prevention unit.
As the original coach of the Barnstormers, Clapham can hardly wait to see his two former pupils get honored. For Clapham, the trip to Canton is a long time coming. Unable to go in 1996, Clapham said he can’t wait to attend the ceremonies and visit the NFL HOF at the same time.
“As a coach, you like to see young people reach their full potential, academically and athletically,” Clapham said. “To see Bryan and Jose reach their potential, it can really get emotional.”