The story of the Grant High Pacers, a struggling inner-city school with only a fraction of the resources of suburban rivals, is the story of Alberghini and his lessons. Grant can be an uneasy place. A campus visitor might witness teens fighting on the street corner. The school banned Friday night football games in 1996, after gunshots were heard during an evening game. Yet Grant has created one of the best high school football teams on the West Coast, winning three Sacramento City Championships, three Sac-Joaquin Section titles and more games than any other area team in the 1990s.
Grant stands alone in another way.
If not for the Grant football squad, there would be no local team made up primarily of young people of color who can compete with anyone. Accordingly, Grant football games are about much more than football. So Grant football is our source of pride. It's the one area where we are just as good as anyone else in town. The secret of Grant's success is no less complex than the makeup of its students.