PREP NOTES : With Help From a Friend, Running Back Reunites With Father

After scoring two touchdowns against Santa Ana Valley Saturday night, University High running back Jerry Apana was taken out of the game early in the third quarter.

Apana, a senior, wondered why he was coming off the field so soon. But after a friend motioned him toward the man standing alone at the 20-yard line, he had his answer.

Jerry Apana Sr., who lives in Hawaii and had never seen his son play football, was waiting with outstretched arms. Without saying a word, the boy rushed to his father, and the two embraced for more than a minute.

The crowd gave the Apanas a standing ovation.

The special reunion was made possible by Brian Vail, a UC Santa Barbara freshman who quarterbacked the Trojans last year. During a bus ride to a game last fall, Apana had told Vail that his father had never seen him play sports, partly because he couldn’t afford the flight to the mainland. Apana said he missed his dad dearly; his parents’ divorce has kept them separated the past four years.

Last summer, Vail put aside money each week from his job as a youth baseball coach and a pizza restaurant employee. Finally, he had saved $600, enough for a plane ticket and a hotel room for two nights. Vail told University Coach Mark Cunningham about his plan, and when the moment was right Saturday night--Uni had a 35-0 lead--Cunningham took Apana out of the game. Vail took over from there.

“I told Jerry to take his helmet off,” Vail said. “But he’s always really into the game, and he was like ‘No, I can’t, I have to keep concentrating!’ So I dragged him over, and then he saw his dad. . . . It was incredible.”

Cunningham said the scene brought tears to his eyes, as it did to most of the Trojan players and their fans, who all knew of Vail’s plan.

“I have never seen anything more powerful,” Cunningham said. “It was just a tremendous, fantastic thing.”