Why this part of Glendale will always be Kansas City Chiefs country

There’s a diehard group of football coaches in L.A. County who feel just fine that the Rams and Chargers aren't playing in the Super Bowl this year.

But don’t run them out of town. There’s a reason why.

“My family, my wife, my mother-in-law who lives with us, my son, my daughter, we're extreme Chiefs fans. And I mean, by default, we're Andy Reid fans,” said Chris Cicuto, associate dean of athletics at Glendale Community College.

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Cicuto is not a Kansas City transplant. His fandom is literally and figuratively part of the DNA of the Glendale College football program that goes back to 1976, when Reid was recruited to play at the school after graduating from nearby Marshall High School in Los Feliz.

“He was one of our most intelligent players we've had,” said Jim Sartoris, who was the head football coach at Glendale College when Reid started playing as offensive tackle there.

“He loved the intricacies of our blocking schemes,” Sartoris said.

When Sartoris, Cicuto and others watch Andy Reid coach on Sunday, they’ll see something not many people realize: that much of the foundations for Reid’s current success were laid in the classrooms and football fields in L.A. County schools half a century ago.

Academics first and football as 'icing on the cake'

Despite his track record, football wasn’t always Plan A for Reid. His mother was a radiologist, and his father was a scenic artist for Hollywood movies. Reid graduated from Marshall High in 1976 with his sights set on higher education.

“We talked all the time about having an opportunity to go to a four-year university and graduate from there ... and then football was icing on the cake,” said John Cicuto, Chris Cicuto's father. The elder Cicuto was defensive coordinator on the Glendale College football team when Reid began playing there in 1976.

A year later, Reid transferred to Brigham Young University.

In the mid-1970s, Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, was a student at Glendale Community College and played on the football team.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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Head coach Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Gregory Shamus

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Getty Images

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Andy Reid may be far away, but he returns to this roots

Before Glendale College inaugurated the new Sartoris Field on the hillside campus twenty years ago, the team had shared a playing field with the local high school. The scoreboard carries Reid's name and was built with money donated from him and his family.

"You never know how a person is going to turn out and certainly couldn't have predicted that he would have the career that he had,” Sartoris said.

Reid has invited his Glendale coaches over the years to watch his teams train and to other league activities. The Chiefs mastermind is also known to keep in touch with his Glendale coaches, replying to their texts promptly.

“He's given back to the college. ... He doesn't forget his roots,” Sartoris said.

John Cicuto said he remembers stepping into Reid's home office years ago on a visit.

“You notice anything about the trophies?” Cicuto remembers Reid asking him.

And there, nestled among many NFL awards and hardware, was a small trophy recognizing Reid as offensive player of the year during his short time at Glendale College.

Cicuto remembers Reid telling him that his experience on the college team meant everything to him.

Now Reid will be on the world’s biggest football stage, again, this Sunday, with a contingent of L.A. fans rooting for him — and by extension, for the Kansas City Chiefs.