A Season for His Father : Sylmar’s Seidler Vowed to Win Title After Dad’s Death

James Seidler’s nerves were raw. The earth continued to shake beneath him without warning.

His family’s home was in shambles. The kitchen was a mess. Broken glass was everywhere. Sirens screamed in the distance. And there was no help in sight.

Amid the chaos caused by January’s 6.8 earthquake lay James’ father, Emil Seidler, on the living-room floor.

Sitting in his favorite recliner, Emil Seidler suffered a heart attack about 9 a.m. on Jan. 17, while James and his mother, Kathleen, worked to clean the kitchen. Despite the efforts of James and a neighbor, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Emil for 15 minutes, Emil died.

An ambulance arrived about an hour later. The coroner followed at 11 a.m.

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Sylmar High’s 38-6 victory over Crenshaw in the City Section 4-A Division championship game last week was bittersweet for James, a Spartan senior linebacker who knocked down two passes in the title game.

Emil Seidler, who was 65, is the reason his son James donned football pads for the first time, in his sophomore year. James didn’t like football--and he certainly didn’t understand it.

“He’s the one that drove me to play football,” said James, who was content playing baseball and basketball until his father began the prodding. “One day he sat me down and said, ‘Are you gonna play football?’ But it was more like, ‘You are gonna play football, right?’ ”

Despite James’ initial ignorance of the game, he flourished at Sylmar as a two-way starter at outside linebacker and tight end. And his father, who always encouraged his son to “do better,” deserves some credit. As punishment for not earning a starting position as a sophomore, Emil ordered his son to run home from practice every day in order to improve his speed.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder improved his speed, not to mention his college potential. He is making plans to visit Oregon, Oregon State and Utah on recruiting trips.

But his father’s death almost prompted James to quit playing the game his father loved so dearly.

“I had a real hard time with school,” he said. “I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t want to lift weights. . . . I’d have to drag myself to practice.”

James was clearly depressed and withdrew from classmates and friends. He frequently skipped class, opting instead to stay home and sleep.

“It hit him pretty hard,” Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said. “He just kind of moped around and really, he’s an outgoing type of guy.”

James refused to talk to family or friends about his father’s death until his older brother Todd encouraged him to refocus his anguish and dedicate the season to his father, who had anticipated a prosperous year for his youngest son.

“He was really looking forward to it, especially with all the colleges looking at me,” James said.

Once James committed himself to winning a City title for his father, everything started to fall into place. “He started to lose himself in (football),” Engilman said. “He started working out real hard. And maybe that is what drove him so hard.

“You’ve got to let a kid work his way through it.”

Despite a separated right shoulder, which he injured in practice in mid-October, James missed only one game this season, remained focused on his task and recorded 11 sacks. As a reminder and personal tribute, Seidler wrote in big black letters on his taped wrists for every game the word ‘DAD’ and the acronym ‘DIFD,’ which reminded James that he was “Doing It For Dad.”

Although Emil was not in attendance for the championship game last weekend, James would like to think he was there in spirit.

Early in the fourth quarter, James left the field when his injured right shoulder popped out. After a doctor tended to his shoulder, James had the feeling that his father was not pleased that his son was sitting on the bench.

“I think he was sitting on my shoulder, saying, ‘Get back in there,’ ” James said.

Off he went, back into the game his father wanted him to play.