Tackling the Odds : Football: Nissim Leon’s program in which he shares his passion for the game has kept more than 50 children off the streets and out of trouble.

The words recognition and notoriety are not a part of Nissim Leon’s everyday vocabulary. He is more apt to talk about pride, community and, his favorite topic, children.

Leon is president of the Boyle Heights Youth Football Assn. of the King Football Conference.

The reason Leon founded the year-round program seven years ago remains his motivation: to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble.

“If we can do that through football,” he said, “then we’ve won.”

Leon believes football taught him to be a winner, and he hopes it can do the same for the 7- to 15-year-olds.

“My goal is not to make professional football players out of these kids,” he said, “but if that happens, that’s great. I just want them to be productive citizens in their community.”

Leon, 26, played varsity football at Roosevelt in 1984 and ‘85, two 2-A City Section title seasons for the Roughriders. That football experience has provided Leon the lessons he tries to pass on to the 50 to 60 youths in the program.

“I learned discipline, persistence and gained self-esteem during my years as a football player,” Leon said. “These are all things that these kids need to learn to survive in this community.”

The neighborhood harbors a sizable gang population and is racked by poverty, a potentially dangerous combination for young minds. So Leon offered football as a solution.

“There was never any football program in Boyle Heights, but now the kids are out here doing something positive,” Leon said. “They need an outlet and they need someone to care about them.”

Alongside Leon in his fight to save the children of Boyle Heights are some of his childhood friends and teammates, such as Miguel Quintero.

Quintero, 25, who played varsity football at Roosevelt from 1984-86, has been involved in the youth program since its inception.

He can remember having to travel three miles to Salazar Park as a kid just to play a pickup game, because there was no program in the community. “When I was growing up, we went far away to play football,” Quintero said. “Now these kids have a place in their neighborhood.”

With such a worthy cause, it might seem that sponsors would be clamoring to be associated with the program. But that hasn’t been the case.

“This program owes itself to two people: Manuel Rojas and Nate Holden,” Leon said.

Rojas, owner of the local El Tepeyac restaurant, donated $1,500 to get the program started. “I cared because this is my neighborhood,” Rojas said. “They told me if I helped them out, (the program) would last forever.”

Holden, the 10th District city councilman, was instrumental in getting $1,500 over seven years from the Amateur Athletic Foundation.

Despite such meager funding, Leon keeps the program running.

Each boy pays a $30 sign-up fee that covers insurance. Each year, the program finds a medical facility, such as Northeast Clinic this year, to offer free physicals.

Practice is held at Roosevelt High from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. Much of the equipment--shoulder pads, pants and jerseys--are donated by the Roughriders. And Leon stores the equipment in his garage.

And the program’s organizers, including Leon, work without pay.

The lack of parent participation has nagged Leon over the years: “Parents don’t help out much because many of them are first-generation Latinos who don’t understand football or don’t care.”

Leon does some impressive juggling with his own daily duties to supervise the program. In addition to being a full-time student at Glendale City College, he supervises a child and family program at County-USC Medical Center. Then he heads over to Roosevelt to instruct future Roughrider prospects.

“I want to play football, probably for Roosevelt,” said Edward Lavoy, who plays for the Midget Team. “I like the sport; it’s a good experience for me.”

Lavoy, who attends Hollenbeck Middle School, lives in the Aliso Village housing project. Although he is just 13, Lavoy seems to understand the importance of the program: “This keeps me from being at home bored or out in the street.”