He Teaches How to Win--in Life : Prep football: Coach of Lindsay, Calif., team has produced success on the field, and in his fight against leukemia.

This citrus-farming community, located in Tulare County about halfway between Fresno and Bakersfield, was in need of a boost.

Last winter’s record freeze devastated Lindsay’s economy, virtually shutting down Central California’s citrus industry, the lifeblood of the area. And the drought and subsequent water rationing caused further gloom.

But spirits in what is billed as “the friendly city” have been lifted this fall by the high school football team and its coach, Frank Schiro.

It’s not merely that the football team is winning on the football field. More important, Schiro, 41, is winning against leukemia.

In small San Joaquin Valley communities, the high school football coach is frequently the best-known person in town--and either the most popular or most unpopular, depending on how the team is doing.

Schiro, who has been at Lindsay High since 1975 and held the job of head coach since ‘87, fits into the most-popular category, but not merely because Lindsay has become a small-school football power.

Schiro was voted the Chamber of Commerce’s man of the year in 1988, as much for his teaching skills as for his coaching skills.

Talk to students who have taken one of his classes--he specializes in history and social studies--or their parents, and you hear only good things.

“People in this town have tremendous respect for this man,” said Janie Tillery, whose daughter, J.J., was a cheerleader at Lindsay High and both a student and student aide of Schiro’s before moving on to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “The influence he has had on the students at Lindsay High goes way beyond the football field.

“The year J.J. was his aide, she often came home with stories about how much Mr. Schiro got out of his students, particularly the ones who were struggling the most.”

Last May, there was shock and sorrow in Lindsay when it was learned that Schiro had leukemia.

Rather than let his students find out secondhand, Schiro told them directly.

At first, there was disbelief. It couldn’t be--not Frank Schiro, the picture of good health.

Schiro, who is from Upland, was an all-Santa Fe League two-way lineman at Damien High in La Verne in the late 1960s, then went on to play linebacker at Santa Clara on a team that had Dan Pastorini at quarterback.

He has always emphasized clean living and physical fitness.

Nearly a year ago, toward the end of the football season, Schiro noticed a bruise on his arm. He thought that one of his players must have accidentally hit him with a helmet during practice, causing the injury.

He also had successive cases of strep throat, which prompted him to see his physician in Lindsay, Bruce Hall, who prescribed antibiotics.

Still, Schiro felt weak. Last April, he ran in Lindsay’s annual triathlon, and his time was 12 seconds slower than it was the year before. And he felt more tired. He began to sense that something was wrong, particularly after large bruises showed up on his legs.

“These, I couldn’t explain,” Schiro said.

Hall sent him to a specialist in nearby Visalia, Nagen Bellare, who on May 24 diagnosed Schiro’s ailment as chronic myelogenous leukemia.

“Leukemia patients have a choice,” Schiro said. “They can either let the leukemia run its course and maybe live three, five, 15 years, or they can go for the cure.

“They may not survive the treatment, but if they do, they’ve got a good chance for a full life. I chose to fight it. I was young and in good health and had a good donor for a bone-marrow transplant.”

Schiro’s donor was his brother, Steve.

“Things happened very fast once the diagnosis was made,” Schiro said.

He visited James Gajewski at the UCLA Medical Center on June 3, and as soon as it was determined that Steve was a good match, the bone-marrow transplant was scheduled for July 5.

Schiro checked into UCLA on June 24. He was released on July 27. In between, he went through what he described as “my own personal Dante’s Inferno.”

Before the bone-marrow transplant, he underwent five days of intensive chemotherapy.

“I was on a lot of painkillers and don’t remember a lot of things, but what I do remember was awful,” Schiro said.

He lost his hair and more than 50 pounds. When Schiro was first released from UCLA, he and his wife, Jean, had to stay close by, so they rented an apartment in Santa Monica and later stayed with Schiro’s mother, Lorraine, in Upland. They got approval to return to Lindsay on Sept. 13.

At that time, Schiro could barely stand up, and then only for a few minutes at a time. He was simply too weak.

Now he is getting stronger with each day, and his hair is growing back. Initially given a 60%-to-80% chance for survival, he now believes he has won the battle. He won’t know for sure until next summer.

Schiro, who took the entire school year off from work, turned the football team over to assistant Jeff Munter.

But Schiro has been there to provide inspiration, giving the players pregame pep talks and leading them in prayers. He hasn’t missed a game, home or away.

For most games, he has watched from a bed in assistant coach Jeff Hall’s motor home, parked behind one of the end zones.

But Schiro was strong enough on Nov. 22 to walk on the sideline during Lindsay’s 25-0 playoff victory over Parlier.

The Lindsay Cardinals, seeking their third Sierra Division San Joaquin Valley championship (one of the two previous titles was a co-championship), played at Coalinga Friday night in a game marred by the blinding dust storms that resulted in traffic fatalities 30 miles to the north.

Lindsay lost, 10-6, to Coalinga High, its East Sierra League rival which, during the regular season, handed Lindsay its only other loss, 19-8.

Schiro said this season’s Lindsay team, which had a 32.6-point average going into the playoffs, is one of the best in the history of the school. He should know, since he has become an expert on Lindsay and its past.

When he first moved here, he read through back issues of the Lindsay Gazette, the town’s weekly newspaper, to learn more about the place where he had chosen to raise a family.

The story of Schiro’s battle against leukemia has been publicized throughout the San Joaquin Valley, and he has received hundreds of letters, many from friends and acquaintances, many others from strangers.

“I can’t tell you what those letters have meant,” he said. “You read them and you cry.”

Before a regular-season game against Strathmore, which Lindsay won, 51-0, Schiro and his wife were given a special citation, and received a huge ovation.

It was parents’ night, so they were introduced twice more because their daughter, Katryn, 16, is the head cheerleader and their adopted son, Fernando Benitez, is the team’s starting quarterback.

How Benitez became a member of this family, which now consists of five children, is a story in itself.

Two years ago, Benitez was a troubled youth with a poor home life and bad grades.

Schiro saw the wasted potential, both athletically and academically. He knew all Benitez needed was guidance.

The Schiros took him into their home and adopted him. Now he is leading the team his father is unable to coach.

“He’ll probably go to Fresno State to play baseball,” Schiro said. “But if he signs a pro contract, maybe he’ll go somewhere else. But he will go to college.”

Benitez is a high school football star, but he is a pro prospect as a catcher, according to many who have seen him play baseball.

It hasn’t been easy for Benitez to turn his life around, but lately he has received inspiration in heavy doses. He hasn’t had to look far.