By Otila Castaneda Posted March 20, 2020
During Gratian Dawson’s four years of high school, he has played football, baseball, and run track. It’s hard to play sports as well as maintain a GPA all while dealing with the pressures that come with being in high school. Dawson is no different.
The older he became, the more he excelled in playing football. He worked hard and advanced up the totem pole that is high school football.
“I played on the freshmen team, then JV and varsity my junior and senior year,” said Dawson.
Everyone has a role model. Gratian describes his dad as his role model. He credits his father’s influence and attributes it to his well-natured manner.
“Probably my father, he is always pushing me to strive better and to make the right choices in life,” said Dawson.
During his time in high school, he had many different coaches, including Tyrell Lucas, one of his football coaches. Lucas describes Dawson as a dedicated, hard-working person who has great things coming to him.
“As a player, he is an extremely hard worker, very dedicated to his craft,” said Lucas. “He does everything he needs to improve himself and his teammates around him, and as a person, he is a real stand-up citizen. He does things without being asked to do them, and he is a very quality person.”
Lucas describes Dawson as a good team member and a quality person.
“The best quality he brought to the team was that he put the team first; he is a team-first person, not worried about his individual statistics or anything like that,” said Lucas. “He is a great team player. He is a great teammate, he always tries to build up the people around him, and he leads by example.”
“All of my friends and memories I made growing up,” said Dawson to what he is going to miss from high school.
Gratian is going to continue playing football in college. He has signed and is committed to Eastern Oregon University and says he will enjoy it there.
“I have signed with Eastern Oregon University to play football; it’s a smaller NAIA college with a good football program,” said Dawson. “I love the people there, and it makes me feel like I never left home.”
In the end, Lucas expects great things in Dawson’s future.
“I think given his work ethic and the way he dedicates himself to whatever it is that he is doing, he will do just fine, he’ll excel in college,” said Lucas.
Sports have always been praised for the lessons that come from them. Dawson has learned a lot from being a part of athletics. Football, specifically, has taught Dawson that you will get nowhere unless you work together.
Lucas isn’t the only one who has been impressed; Cababat has also been one of Dawson’s football coaches and describes him as a good teammate, player, and person overall.
“He works hard, obviously, as a person that translates into what he does in the weight room and outside of the weight room, good kid,” said Cabatbat. “He worked hard, he was selfless, he was all about the team first, and did his best to improve others around him and himself. He has that personality where he will be able to grow and be successful. Might start off a little slow just because of the type of talent he is about to see is going to be different for him, but I think with his attitude and his desire, he’ll be better and successful in the end.”
Dawson is going to college for four years and will study fire science. He hopes to gain a fire training experience and a brotherhood with friends. Dawson plans on becoming a firefighter.
