Rancho High School Athletic Director Anthony DiOrio shows off some of the new sports and athletic equipment that was purchased using a recently awarded $100,000 grant to the school, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019.
Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019 | 2 a.m.
Anthony DiOrio was watching the holiday parade with family in Downtown Summerlin last month when an unknown person approached him. DiOrio, the athletic director at Rancho High School, was sporting Rams green and white apparel, which caught the eye of the stranger.
“He came over to me and said his uncle went to Rancho,” DiOrio said. “Then someone else saw me and came over saying, ‘I went to Rancho.’ That was pretty cool to see that connection to the school.”
Rancho, which opened in 1954 and is one of Southern Nevada’s oldest high schools, was a contender in many sports through the mid-1990s. Championship trophies and other awards are displayed in a case near the school’s gym to serve as a reminder of the Rams’ successes.
The successes haven’t been as frequent over the past two decades, which is the result of new schools opening in North Las Vegas, limiting the areas from which Rancho draws students. And the neighborhood near the downtown Las Vegas school has deteriorated, meaning fewer students to fill its athletic rosters and limited financial resources available to build its programs. The Rams were desperate for help to level the playing field.
Gabrielle Crawford, the assistant principal in charge of athletics, may have found the answer.
She applied in the fall for the $100,000 High School Equipment Makeover from Keurig Dr. Pepper’s Let’s Play initiative. Crawford’s expectations of receiving the grant were low. Even when she heard back with news that Rancho was one of 10 finalists out of 40 schools nationally — guaranteeing the school at least $1,000 in gear — she didn’t allow herself to begin imagining what could be upgraded.
Then, at home one night while she was making pasta, Crawford received a call from a Texas number she didn’t recognize. It turned out to be an official from Good Sports, an equipment company providing gear through the program, with the school-changing news: Rancho’s story, which was delivered through a 90-second student-made video in the application process, was the one that resonated most with the selection committee.
Rancho would be getting the much-needed face-lift, everything from two new sets of Nike football uniforms, equipment for physical education classes, a scorer’s table for basketball and wrestling, and shot puts for the track and field team. The total grant wound up being $120,000, which brought 17,000 items — with Crawford making sure every team’s needs were included. Boxes loaded with the new equipment were delivered daily for about two weeks, which “was like Christmas every day,” DiOrio said.
“When we got the $1,000, we were high-fiving each other,” Crawford said. “That seems like a small amount, but for us, it’s not.”
Rancho officials last week had an assembly to celebrate the grant. Tables with the equipment were on display, and students were given the opportunity to try some of the gear. Crawford and DiOrio sense the haul has already piqued the interest of some to join a team.
That’s especially true for Rancho’s football program, whose struggles were so bad in 2014 the school decided to play an independent schedule with hopes of building the roster and breaking a 29-game losing streak.
They broke the streak but still aren’t competitive. They haven’t won the “Bone Game” rivalry with Las Vegas in more than 20 seasons — and usually lose by the mercy rule of a running clock — and finished 2018 with just 17 players on the team.
But they have a new coach — and not just any coach. Leon Evans, who won playoff games coaching at Desert Pines and Centennial, took over earlier this month. More important, Evans is a Rancho High graduate and was part of the Rams’ 1988 state championship team. He knows firsthand that games can be won at his alma mater and is telling anyone willing to listen that it will happen again.
A look at some of Rancho High School's trophies and awards the school has won over the past years, Thurs. Jan, 24, 2019.
He’s so passionate about the school that he got a Rams’ football helmet tattooed on his shoulder in the mid-1990s, long before tattoos became trendy.
“This was the only school for people in North Las Vegas. This was our school,” he said. “There was pride because this was our neighborhood. Winning football games was the expectation here.”
At his first team meeting, 65 students attended, saying they were interested in playing.
The grant, which also produced helmets, pads, field gear and weight room equipment, surely contributed to the interest.
Some of Rancho’s other teams — baseball, softball, girls track and girls volleyball, for instance — have competed for championships in recent years. Most of them, though, are composed of students in Rancho’s aviation and medical magnet program, not from the neighborhood.
Those families, many of whom qualify for free and reduced lunch, aren’t able to afford joining a team. Others simply don’t participate because they are working to help make ends meet at home.
“You definitely have to get creative (with budgets) because we don’t get some of the community support that (other Las Vegas) schools do,” DiOrio said.
The grant process called for applicant schools to submit a video showing what needed to be updated. For Rancho, that was easy because it lacked so much: The soccer scoreboard isn’t functioning, football practice jerseys are ripped and some teams didn’t have enough balls for practice. What they did have that was serviceable was severely outdated.
“We told the kids to find things that need repair, find things you’d like to see better at the school with athletics,” said Jason Flener, who heads the Rancho video production program.
The new gear brings new hope. Sure, looking better and feeling better won’t immediately equal wins, but administrators know it’s a step in the right direction. And, most important, it gives students a better high school experience.
Soon, especially if Evans has his way, Rancho will again threaten for championships and restock the trophy cases.
“We want everyone around here to have that Rancho pride,” Crawford said.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21
