Emerson High School head football coach Eddie Marinez had just returned from a trip to Florida last weekend when his cell phone started ringing wildly.
"I could tell that something was wrong," Marinez said.
Sure enough, one person after another wanted to inform Marinez that one of his all-time favorite players, Orlando Perez, was tragically stabbed to death during an altercation on a Union City street corner. Perez was just 21 years old.
"As a coach, you always bring kids into your heart and home, but Oly was just a special kid," a deeply saddened Marinez said. "When I was teaching at Robert Waters, he was there all the time. I saw him grow up playing Pop Warner football. I lived right around the corner from where he lived. He was on the first team that I coached that helped turn the program around."
Orlando "Oly" Perez gained another nickname during his football playing days.
"When he was in Pop Warner, they called him the ‘Little Scooter’ because of the way he ran," Marinez said. "Then, when I was coaching first at Union Hill, Oly was our water boy. He just always wanted to be around us. He just wanted to be around football."
Perez graduated from Emerson in 2000, helping the Bulldogs to climb back to respectability during his playing tenure as a defensive back and wide receiver.
The Bulldogs were a floundering team, but with people like Perez, Mark DeBrecki, Jonathan Rodriguez and Rudy Rodriguez (no relation), the Bulldogs were able to become respectable again. Two years later, in 2001, they were playing for the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV state championship.
"Oly helped to turn the program around," Marinez said. "He wasn’t the most talented kid, but he did a great job and worked his tail off for us. It’s an unfortunate thing, a tragic thing."
Added Marinez, "This is not supposed to happen to 21-year-olds. It just doesn’t happen."
Marinez relayed a story that was told to him by his fifth grade teacher, Ellen Ryan, at Robert Waters School.
"Ellen said that she had her students write a book of their thoughts back then, and Ellen was so impressed with Oly’s that she kept the book for all this time," Marinez said. "That shows how special of a kid he was to everyone. This teacher kept something Oly wrote 11 years ago."
At the funeral, Ryan presented the book to Perez’ mother.
Marinez has been trying to come to grips with the loss. Incredibly, he lives right around the corner from the intersection of 21st Street and West Street, near the old St. Michael’s Monastery off Bergenline Avenue – the spot where Perez was mortally wounded.
"Every time I will go by that corner, I will always think of Orlando," Marinez said. "I’m looking at a picture I have on my office wall right now, and there’s a picture of me screaming at Orlando. I will always remember the way he said my name properly, in Spanish, saying ‘Coach Mar-een-yes.’ "
Marinez then paused to reach for another word.
"It’s tragic," Marinez said, his voice cracking with emotion. "It’s just wrong."
Bruce Naszimento was the Emerson head football coach before Marinez. He also had a strong relationship with Perez.
"He was a great kid, a tough kid," Naszimento said. "He was the toughest kid we had. I wanted him to play on all the meat and potatoes units, because no matter where he played, he was solid and gave his all every day."
Naszimento said that he also enjoyed Perez’ personality.
"I liked the fact that he was a smart ass," Naszimento said. "He always had this smart-ass laugh. It sticks in my mind. It’s just a waste. It’s a huge waste."
Naszimento doesn’t know what took place that fateful early morning.
"I’ve heard about three or four different stories about what might have happened," Naszimento said. "We may never know what happened. The people who did this may never get caught, and that’s a real shame. But if there is a message to come out of this, it should be to walk away from any altercation."
Added Naszimento, "This is not the movies. This is real life. At that time of the morning, anything can happen. I’m 50 and I have enough street sense to walk away from that. It’s not going to be a normal fight. There’s going to be a knife, a gun. You don’t know who you’re coming across. These kids have to have enough sense to walk away."
Marinez echoed those sentiments.
"Young people don’t think anything can happen to them," Marinez said. "It’s 2:30 in the morning, so that’s when a lot of these things happen. They have to stay away from the evils. When people hang out in groups at that time, it just looks evil. Someone comes up and challenges you, you have to get away from that. This is proof that the evils happen. A good kid is gone. A mother has pain in her heart. When are these kids going to learn?"
Added Marinez, "It all comes down to people, places and things. It’s up to the people you’re with, the places where you are and the things that can happen. At that time, anything can happen. That should be the message that comes from this."
Marinez then stopped, his voice cracking one last time.
"I think we’ll always remember No. 11 [Perez’ uniform number]," Marinez said. "I know I’ll miss him." – Jim Hague