There are few people more influential in a person’s life than teachers, parents, and coaches. Coaches especially have an opportunity to create a special bond with their players that inspires greatness. One such California coach is doing so, one dance at a time.
Alonzo Carter is a football coach at San Jose State who has a unique background. In the late 80s and early 90s, he was a backup dancer and choreographer for MC Hammer. Recently a video of him doing the “U Can’t Touch This” dance after practice one day, went viral. In the video, you hear the song come on in the background, and the players and coaches immediately start egging him on to dance. Carter jumps in willingly with everyone cheering him on. You can tell it’s a tight knit group of players that love their coach.
Carter auditioned for one of Hammer’s videos in 1989 between his junior and senior football seasons. MC Hammer wasn’t well known to the world yet but was well known in the Oakland music scene, so Carter and some of his friends choreographed a routine that combined hip hop dancing and fraternity stepping to perform for Hammer. They got the gig and spent what they thought was just a summer touring with Hammer as his backup dancers. Soon after, MC Hammer’s popularity soared, so Carter had a decision to make. Should he go back for his last year at college, or continue as part of Hammer’s entourage? How do you say no to an opportunity to go on an international tour as a dancer? For the next three years, Carter traveled the world and even performed at the Grammy’s.
Eventually, he decided that dancing wasn’t a great long-term career solution and came back home to the Oakland area. He eventually became a track and football coach at his old high school McClymonds High School. He had gained experience with coaching while on tour because he oversaw all the dancers making sure they were in good enough shape to continuously perform during MC Hammer’s three-hour performances.
Over the past two decades, Carter has risen as one of the top high school football coaches in the East Bay area and was most recently the head coach at Contra Costa College. He’s coached many players to the NFL including, most recently, Takkarist McKinley. McKinley originally signed on with Cal but had to spend a year at Contra Costa because he was told he was an academic non-qualifier. After a year he was able to go on and play for UCLA and eventually be drafted by the Atlanta Falcons.
Carter wanted to move on to be able to coach Division I football, but the fact that he had never finished college was holding him back. To coach Division, you had to have a degree. He was encouraged by his friend and fellow coach Brent Brennan to finish his last year of college. Carter finally graduated from Cal State East Bay. Six months following his graduation Brennan received the head coach position at San Jose State and asked Carter to be a part of his staff. Brennan has nothing but praise for Carter’s coaching abilities. As a coach, you have to have the ability to influence people, and when you’re coaching kids, you also have to set a positive example which, according to Brennan, Carter has done. You can see this bond as you watch the video, that he is well liked and respected by his peers and players. Dance on Coach Carter!
Watch His Most Recent Video Here!
Video Courtesy: YouTube via Mercury News
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Source: ESPN
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