MOVIE HAS A ROCK-SOLID CHARACTER.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer MALIBU - Before he was ``The People's Champion'' or the ``Scorpion scorpion, any arachnid of the order Scorpionida with a hollow poisonous stinger at the tip of the tail. Scorpions vary from about 1/2 in. to about 6 in. (1–15 cm) long; most are from 1 to 3 in. (2.5–7.6 cm) long. King,'' before even ... the eyebrow eyebrow /eye·brow/ (-brou) 1. supercilium; the transverse elevation at the junction of the forehead and the upper eyelid. 2. supercilia; the hairs growing on this elevation. , Dwyane ``The Rock'' Johnson was a screw-up. You probably know the story of how Johnson went from Warren Sapp's backup at the University of Miami This article is about the university in Coral Gables, Florida. For the university in Oxford, Ohio, see Miami University. The University of Miami (also known as Miami of Florida,[2] UM,[3] or just The U to World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, Internet, and live events), and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources star, but have you heard the story of how he went from troubled juvenile delinquent juvenile delinquent n. a person who is under age (usually below 18), who is found to have committed a crime in states which have declared by law that a minor lacks responsibility and thus may not be sentenced as an adult. growing up in Hawaii to college football player? Yep, arrested eight times before he was 14, on charges from theft to assault. ``And that's just the stuff I got caught for,'' he said. ``I was making bad decisions, hanging with the wrong crowd and getting in trouble. But I wouldn't change a thing, because that's what made me the person I am today.'' It's also what drew him to the role of Sean Porter, the tough-love football coach who turns a hardcore group of teenage gang-bangers from Camp Kilpatrick juvenile detention facility in Malibu into a high school football team in the new movie ``Gridiron Gang,'' which opens Friday. ``We all make movies for different reasons. I've made some comedies, some action movies, but this was just a great opportunity to tell an incredible story,'' Johnson said. ``I was one of these kids. I know what it's like to fail and be expected to fail. I know what it's like to be called a (screw-up). ``Fortunately, I had a Sean Porter figure in my life too. My arresting officer said, `You're going to stop messing up. You're going to play football. At first I just did it to appease ap·pease tr.v. ap·peased, ap·peas·ing, ap·peas·es 1. To bring peace, quiet, or calm to; soothe. 2. To satisfy or relieve: appease one's thirst. 3. him. Like, `If I go out for football, maybe he'll take it easier on me the next time I get arrested.' It wasn't until much later I realized how much that meant to me.'' Turns out, Johnson was pretty good at football. Within a few years the burly bur·ly adj. bur·li·er, bur·li·est Heavy, strong, and muscular; husky. See Synonyms at muscular. [Middle English burlich, from Old English *borlic, excellent; see 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end was a hot recruit. He ended up earning a scholarship to Miami, where he was part of the Hurricanes' 1989 national championship team. After college, he tried to start a professional career, but a back injury derailed his dream. During the filming of ``Gridiron Gang,'' which was shot on location at Camp Kilpatrick, Johnson shared his story with the wards, telling them to use his story as an example for themselves. Like many in the facility, he came from poverty and fell in with the wrong crowd. His youth was spent moving around and worrying about eviction The removal of a tenant from possession of premises in which he or she resides or has a property interest done by a landlord either by reentry upon the premises or through a court action. letters. ``We all have a tough-luck story,'' he said. ``We had no money, we got evicted twice. But I always got consistent love from my mom and dad. That was the constant. Without that, I wouldn't have turned into the man I am today.'' When the script for ``Gridiron Gang'' came across his desk a few years ago, he was immediately drawn to the role of Sean Porter. The story had been out there since Lee and Linda Stanley's 1993 Emmy-award winning documentary of the same name that chronicled the 1990 Kilpatrick football team, which advanced to the Southern Section Div. X championship game in its first year of 11-man football. But producer Neal Moritz had sat on the story until he found the right actor to play Porter. ``He embodies all the qualities of who Sean is,'' Moritz said of Johnson. ``Sean Porter was a troubled kid himself, and playing football saved him.'' Johnson and Porter have grown close through the production of the movie, and more than anything, Johnson said he was motivated to make Porter proud of his performance. They talked on the phone often and lunched to go over notes. Johnson watched the documentary to study Porter in action. In fact, many of Johnson's lines in the film come straight from Porter's mouth. Monday night at an exclusive screening of ``Gridiron Gang'' for the 112 wards at the camp this year, Johnson deviated from his standard stump speech Noun 1. stump speech - political oratory oratory - addressing an audience formally (usually a long and rhetorical address and often pompous); "he loved the sound of his own oratory" of thanking the producers and probation officers probation officer n. 1. An official usually attached to a juvenile court and charged with the care of juvenile delinquents. 2. An official charged with supervising convicts at large on suspended sentence or probation. of Camp Kilpatrick and addressed the kids directly, sounding a lot like a certain coach. ``There's one thing I want to challenge you guys to do. After the movie tonight, when you get back in your beds and it's lights-out time. I want you to think about something,'' he said. ``I want you to think about, when you get out, what type of man you want to become. What type of man you want to be.'' ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Dwayne ``The Rock'' Johnson was a lot like the kids he helps mold mold, name for certain multicellular organisms of the various classes of the kingdom Fungi, characteristically having bodies composed of a cottony mycelium. The colors of molds are caused by the spores, which are borne on the mycelium. in his role as football coach in the movie, ``Gridiron Gang.'' (2) ``I was one of these kids. I know what it's like to fail and be expected to fail,'' said Dwayne ``The Rock'' Johnson of the movie, ``Gridiron Gang.'' COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES |
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