Life’s a Kick for Three Sons : The Velascos Maintain Family Tradition by Negotiating the Straight and Narrow

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. Welcome to the Burbank Family Circus, home of the incredible kicking Velasco brothers.

Placekickers all, these three daring young men send balls flying through the air--and usually through the uprights--with the greatest of ease.

In Ring No. 1, big brother Alfredo, 20, a redshirt sophomore at UCLA who has made 18 of 22 field-goal attempts this season, including all 17 from inside 44 yards.

In Ring No. 2, middle brother, Sal, 19, a second-team JC All-American at Glendale College who was 10 of 13 on field-goal attempts and converted all 26 extra points he attempted this season.

And in the center ring, baby brother Abo, 18. As a freshman at Cal State Northridge, he converted 5 of 11 field-goal attempts and 28 of 31 extra points.

The Velascos. They are brothers in arms, each walking football’s version of the tightrope with a robust right leg.

“Kicking is definitely a pressure position,” said Alfredo, who will play for the Bruins against Florida in the Aloha Bowl on Friday. “You’re expected to make every one, but inevitably you’re going to miss. You have to be strong. Being part of this family helps.”

The Velascos believe there is strength in numbers. Thus, kicking as a family affair extends beyond the three boys.

Jeanette, 16, a junior at Burbank High, often holds for all three brothers during four-hour practice sessions in the summer.

“The first time I did it, I was scared because I thought they were going to hit me,” she said. “But now, it’s no problem.

“You should see them. They’re always practicing their leg swings in the living room. I’ve seen them practice so much, I can tell when they slice the ball during a game.”

Alfredo Sr., their father, occasionally shags balls during practice and offers constructive criticism after games.

“He’s kind of like our coach these days,” Sal said. “We come home and he says, ‘You did this wrong, let’s analyze it. My mom says, ‘You’re all great.’ ”

Olivia Velasco knows her sons’ kicking techniques better than just about anyone. She’s been studying it from the time they were in the womb.

“They were all active, but Alfredo was something really hard to take,” said Olivia, who gave birth to all three boys in Mexico before the family moved to the United States in 1970. “I’ve seen and talked to a lot of women who have been pregnant, but this was something that took a lot of work.”

With three children playing a position where the margin for error is so slim, Olivia Velasco continues to labor.

“Sometimes, I don’t know if it’s harder for them or me,” she said. “On Friday nights, it’s hard for me to sleep because I’m waiting for Saturday and I’m praying and wondering how they feel.”

Sal and Abo, who live with their parents, and Alfredo, who lives in an apartment in Westwood, all agree that dividing time among schoolwork, football and a social life is easy compared to the time-sharing practiced by their mother.

If UCLA is playing at home, the family attends the game at the Rose Bowl in the afternoon, waits for Alfredo to shower and then goes to North Campus Stadium to see Abo or to wherever Sal and Glendale are playing.

And when Mom can’t be there in person to see her boys boot, in steps electronic gadgetry to save the day--and their performances. Olivia Velasco juggles VCRs and tape recorders like she was the mother of the Brothers Karamazov.

Take, for example, last Oct. 31.

Olivia, Alfredo Sr. and Jeanette piled into the car, rambled out to Moorpark College and watched Sal kick a game-winning field goal for Glendale in the pouring rain with less than a minute to play. As the family strolled back to its car through the mud, the tape rolled in the VCR and captured Alfredo’s 32-yard field goal for the Bruins in a nationally televised win at Arizona State. That evening, Cal State Northridge beat Santa Clara, 7-6, at North Campus Stadium, Abo kicking the decisive extra point, and Olivia taped the game from the radio.

“After Saturdays are over, we all come together and say what we’ve done right and what we’ve done wrong,” Alfredo said. “It’s like a family reunion every week.”

Kicking as a tradition runs deep for the Velascos. This is a family with a big-time case of athlete’s foot.

Alfredo Sr. was a talented soccer player in Mexico before a knee injury ended his career at the semipro level. Efren Velasco, his younger brother, was a kicker at East L. A. College and the University of Utah.

“When my uncle got a scholarship to Utah it made a big impact on my family,” Alfredo said. “It showed us that football could provide a lot of opportunities.”

Dave Carson, the football coach at Burbank High, was the person who gave the brothers their initial opportunities. The Velasco connection began, Carson said, when a player on his team remarked, “Coach, I have a friend who can kick.”

The friend turned out to be Alfredo, who showed cool under pressure as a junior with a last-second 21-yard field goal that gave Burbank a 24-21 win over cross-town rival Burroughs in 1983.

Next came Sal, who played quarterback and kicker, and Abo, who was a running back and kicker. All three had a school-record five field goals in their senior years until another member of the family--cousin Eugene Saldana--broke the record this season with six.

“I’ve always tried to compare them, but it’s impossible,” said Carson, who last season retired the No. 10 worn by all three Velascos at Burbank. “They’re all great athletes. When the game was on the line, they would always come through.

“Every time one of them moved on it was like, ‘Where’s the next one? Bring him on.’ ”

A key to the Velascos’ success is their association with Ben Agajanian, the kicking coach of the Dallas Cowboys for 23 years.

Alfredo first met Agajanian at one of his weekly kicking clinics in the spring of 1984 at Millikan High in Long Beach. During the clinics, Alfredo studied Cowboys kicker Rafael Septien and UCLA All-American John Lee.

“He listens,” said Lee, who worked with Alfredo at UCLA in 1985. “He’s not one of those guys who lets things go in one ear and out the other. His brothers have learned from him. They’re all good.”

Agajanian, who uses Alfredo for kicking demonstrations, said the Velascos compare favorably to the Zendejas family--Max, Louis and Tony, all of whom have worked with Agajanian and played college and pro football in the past few years.

“Discipline, concentration and dedication are the keys to kicking,” Agajanian said. “The Velascos have all of those qualities. They come to every clinic and work.”

The brothers also attend Agajanian’s four-day camp at Cal State Long Beach every summer, where about 100 kickers of all ages come together to kick, kick . . . and kick some more.

After breakfast, campers observe a demonstration of fundamentals. They then break into groups for the first of three daily sessions, during which they each will make three kicks from the 10-, 20-, 30-, 40- and 50-yard lines. Every kick is charted. At night, the whole camp watches films in a large auditorium.

“It’s a really big learning experience,” Abo said. “Ben presents it like no one has ever kicked before. That’s what you have to do. The repetition is beneficial.”

However, the greatest advantage the Velascos enjoy is each other.

The brothers, so close in age, always have been competitive but rarely combative. About the only arguments they get into concern whom, at an almost identical 5 feet, 10 inches, is taller.

As youngsters, they all took violin lessons, played youth soccer and squared off in all-day one-on-one basketball tournaments. These days they play tennis.

“Abo is the most competitive,” Sal said. “He’s always had to compete against what we’ve done. He’s had to measure up.”

Sal, who is weighing offers from several Division I schools, is characterized as a mediator--the calm, laid-back middle brother who, along with Abo, defers to Alfredo for advice.

“Alfredo is a leader, an authority figure,” Abo said. “He broke all the barriers for us. He has the experience. He’s very intelligent and he goes to UCLA so they have to teach him something. He’s the mind, the wise old owl.”

After the Aloha Bowl, Alfredo, Sal and Abo will begin their off-season program and work toward increasing their strength, distance and accuracy. They will seek out a set of goal posts, take out a big radio and begin to kick. For the brothers Velasco, there is no time to kick back.

“You can’t stay away from it for too long or you begin to lose the feel,” Abo said. “Like they say, ‘The show must go on.’ ”