STANDING GUARD

It didn’t take much convincing to get Gary Lewellyn out for the Orange Coast College football team.

Somebody just had to ask, really.

It didn’t matter that at age 31, Lewellyn would line up with and play against players at least 10 years younger. Nor did it matter that he would have to mix football into a schedule that included working full-time as a deputy in the Orange County Sheriff’s Dept.

Lewellyn would make the necessary sacrifices, punishing his body six days a week in football practices and games; racking his brain three days a week as a full-time student, and balancing both with work on the graveyard shift four nights a week at a 2,000-inmate county jail.

He would do all this for football, the game that drew him in as a child, lodged in his heart as an adolescent, then abandoned him as a high school senior, leaving behind only a shredded knee and dreams of what might have been.

So when Lewellyn enrolled at Orange Coast and a member of the coaching staff approached him with the opportunity to rejuvenate his career, Lewellyn, once a Division I college prospect with hopes of playing professionally, didn’t need to be asked twice.

“Football has always been a part of my life,” Lewellyn said. “I just love to compete, and now that I am doing that, it’s worth it. I’ve loved football all my life and with the XFL, Arena football and NFL Europe, who knows where this could lead?”

The starting left guard for the Pirates, the 6-foot-5, 300-pound Lewellyn is among the oldest players in California community college football history.

At first, he hesitated to tell his family and friends of his decision, preferring to defer the scrutiny that was sure to follow. He told everyone he was helping coach the Pirates, but eventually, the truth came out.

“I was shocked at first,” said his wife, Nicole. “But I think he’s pretty brave to go after his dream. Not too many people have the courage to do that at this stage in their life.”

Most 30-something married men with full-time jobs don’t have the time, but Lewellyn somehow manages a whirlwind daily schedule that includes a little of everything, except sleep.

The Daily Grind

At 8:30 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays, right around the time most people begin their days, he clocks out from a 10-hour shift and escapes the unsavory corridors that house suspected murderers, child molesters and rapists at the Theo Lacy jail in Orange.

He has just 30 minutes to make the transformation into student and drive 20 miles to Costa Mesa for 9 a.m. class.

After class, it’s home by 11 and into bed for a three-hour nap. He drives back to campus for football practice at 3 for three nonstop hours of blocking drills, scrimmages and wind sprints.

He returns home shortly after 6 p.m. and is greeted by his wife, a grade school teacher who last saw her husband when he left the house the night before for his 10:30 p.m. shift.

With a four-hour window, they grab a bite to eat, then Lewellyn naps until heading back to the jail for the briefing that begins each shift.

Wednesdays, there is no evening nap. He has class from 6 to 9 p.m. Dinner is usually a sandwich from the local deli eaten in the car on the way to work.

The young couple grab time together wherever they can. Friday after football practice is a good date night since Lewellyn is off. Nicole goes to the Saturday games, even if it means a road trip of an hour or more, to support her husband. But it’s also one of the few times they both have off and Gary isn’t sleeping.

She arrived at a recent game carrying a change of clothes for her husband to wear at a postgame party. It was one way to make sure she’d get to spend the evening with him.

“If he went home to change, he’d go to bed,” Nicole said.

Lewellyn said he walks around in a daze sometimes, but has gotten used to a life with little downtime.

“Early in the season, I was like, ‘What am I doing? How did I get roped into this?’ ” Lewellyn said. “But it’s gotten easier. I’m getting used to functioning on less sleep. Some days I feel lot better than others. Other days, I’m fighting to put one foot in front of the other. But I’m stubborn. My hardheadedness keeps me going.”

And his love for football.

A standout lineman for a Westminster High team that was a Southern Section Big Five Conference semifinalist in 1985, Lewellyn, then 6-3 and 260, had attracted the attention of several Division I college coaches.

But a knee injury that season led to two surgeries--the second one a reconstruction of his anterior cruciate ligament. The colleges stopped calling.

Lewellyn tried playing at Golden West College the next year, but his knee didn’t hold up. He didn’t return the following season.

Between 1990 and ’95 he worked for a plumber and spent time as a mechanic, working in the pit crew of race car driver Robbie Gordon. Tired of manual labor, he took a friend’s suggestion and joined the sheriff’s department in 1996.

That career change led to a rekindling of Lewellyn’s football career.

The Orange County Lawmen, a team that competes against other law enforcement groups from around the country, was looking for players. Lewellyn’s knee didn’t have a problem with the once-a-week practices and a five-game schedule.

Last year, modern medicine changed everything. Lewellyn heard about a new surgical technique and decided to try a second ACL reconstruction. After rehabilitation, the knee was stronger and more durable than it had been in 13 years. Lewellyn felt like a kid again, so he decided to act like one.

The quarterback for the Lawmen is former Edison High and Santa Ana College quarterback Phil Cooper, who also happens to coach the quarterbacks at Orange Coast. Cooper knew Lewellyn was enrolling in classes this semester and asked if he wanted to play for the Pirates.

“I said, ‘Heck, you are going to be in school anyway, why not?’ ” Cooper said. “We just threw it out there as an opportunity to see where it could go.”

Esperanza High Coach Gary Meek, who coaches the Lawmen, thinks Lewellyn could go far.

Meek, who has coached 24 Division I college offensive linemen--including one who made it to the NFL--in 25 years at Esperanza, said Lewellyn is one of the better linemen he has coached.

“He can play the game,” Meek said. “He’s big and strong and he moves really well for his size. Can he play professionally? That’s a possibility.”

Friends say that Lewellyn was well on his way to a pro career when he was cheated by the knee injury. The 1985 semifinal loss lingers as a stinging and bitter memory to all who played on that team and they feel there is unfinished business on the football field.

They razz him about playing, as do co-workers, but they acknowledge that there is jealousy behind the jokes.

“There’s not one of us who wouldn’t want to join a team again,” said Bob Gladney, 31, who played with Lewellyn at Westminster. “There are a lot of unclosed chapters for all of us. We’re a bunch of Al Bundys reliving our high school games with all the ‘what ifs’ and ‘shouldas, wouldas and couldas.’ Gary is doing something about it and we’re totally living it with him.”

Leadership Role

Right now, Lewellyn is charged with bringing maturity to an Orange Coast team that started 0-3 but has won its last four games and is 2-0 in Mission Conference play. Pirate Coach Mike Taylor said Lewellyn’s influence has been immeasurable.

“He’s more responsible than most players, no doubt,” Taylor said. “He’s a step or two slower than when he was in his prime, but he’s still a talented player. He’s getting his speed and stamina back. You have to remember that he hasn’t played at this level for 10 years.”

When Lewellyn first showed up at Orange Coast, the team didn’t know much about him. He kept to himself. The coaches didn’t let on about Lewellyn’s age or his occupation.

“I thought he looked a little older, but a lot of guys look older,” said Pirate running back Jared Kemp. “He was just somebody on the team that I didn’t know.”

Soon enough, word began to spread. With most players in the 18 to 20 age range and experiencing the freedoms of young adulthood, they were taken aback knowing there was a cop in the locker room.

“They were a little standoffish,” Taylor said. “They didn’t know what to make of him.”

They steered clear in the early weeks until they saw that he was out there to play football and worked just as hard as they did--if not harder.

Eventually, he was accepted, though he still commands extra respect from teammates because of his age, his size and his job.

“When I found out he was a sheriff, I didn’t want to mess up on any plays,” Kemp said. “Not when there was somebody who could arrest me in the huddle.”

Work and Play

Lewellyn is careful about mixing work and play. He doesn’t show up at practice in uniform, tries not to talk about what he does and doesn’t look for things around the locker room.

“I realize that not everyone is an inmate,” Lewellyn said. “I’ve always tried to judge people as individuals and give everybody an equal chance. I don’t walk around beating my chest about being a cop, so it’s really not that hard. I’m proud of what I do, but it doesn’t carry over too much into my personal life.”

At work, it’s a different story.

He doesn’t like talking about the jail, fearing that he might say the wrong thing and taint the public image of police. The sheriff’s department would not allow Lewellyn to be observed at work by a reporter.

But one short statement by Lewellyn pretty much sums it up.

“Stuff happens in jail,” he said. “There are a lot of colorful people in jail and when I go in there, I gotta perform.”

Lewellyn acknowledges that there is fighting among inmates on a daily basis, but said that most of them steer clear of him.

“I’m one of the bigger guys in there,” he said. “If they are going to mess with someone, it’s not going to be me. The inmates respect me a little more because of my size.”

Working the graveyard shift is less dramatic than other shifts. Inmates are locked down for much of the night. Lewellyn spends much of his time sitting in a cubicle constructed from bulletproof glass with a 270-degree view of the prison cells, preparing paperwork for inmates going to court the next day and release papers for the lucky ones.

But that’s not to say he isn’t ready for something to happen.

“You have to be prepared to deal with anything,” Lewellyn said. “You don’t get psyched up or anything like for a football game. It’s a lot more mental. You have to think things out. We’re really trained to avoid situations.”

Lewellyn hopes that one offshoot of being around the younger generation on the football field is that he can help bridge the gap between police officers and 20-year-olds. Several players have approached him with questions about his job and have expressed interest in law enforcement.

“A lot of the guys . . . were distanced from [cops],” Lewellyn said. “Now they see that I’m just a normal guy and that I can be pretty fun sometimes.”

Saturdays are the most fun for Lewellyn. Game days are what makes all the hard work worth it. Sundays are pretty good, too. On his one day with no work and no football, if it’s nice out, he will hop on his Harley Davidson Road King Classic and cruise out to the Ortega Highway.

Most Sundays, however, Lewellyn spends watching NFL games. He cheers every Warren Moon pass and each Darrell Green interception.

He is a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, but the Kansas City Chief quarterback and the Washington Redskin defensive back hold a special spot in his heart.

It’s not because of their playing credentials, though each is a good bet for Hall of Fame induction. Lewellyn roots for them because Moon, 43, is the oldest player in the NFL and Green, 40, is second-oldest among non-kickers.

The old guys give him hope.