McALLEN — McAllen Memorial senior David Alegria had to overcome more obstacles than most of his peers to realize his dreams on the football field.
Alegria faced considerable adversity when he first picked up the pigskin learning the intricacies of the game as one of the few deaf football players across South Texas.
But nothing, not even injuries or the COVID-19 pandemic, could slow down the Mustangs’ running back from progressing on the gridiron.
Alegria cleared another major hurdle Wednesday, signing to play collegiately at Gallaudet University — a Division III school in Washington D.C. — during a ceremony at McAllen Memorial High School to become the Rio Grande Valley’s first deaf college football signee since Raymondville’s BJ Flores, who also signed with Gallaudet in 2012.
“I was just super excited and my family was so happy. Everyone was so proud of me. I worked so hard all these years to get here,” Alegria said. “I want to be an inspiration to both deaf and hearing people because I’m the first deaf kid from the Valley to get (to play) at Gallaudet, especially for the deaf.”
“David has brought so much to our program through the years,” McAllen Memorial head coach Bill Littleton said. “We’re very excited and proud of everything he’s accomplished here.”
Alegria, a Donna product, first started learning the ins and outs of the game from his older brothers who played at Donna High.
Efraim Tijerina, a former defensive back at Donna High and one of Alegria’s older siblings, taught his younger brother everything from how to throw and catch a football to how to develop flawless footwork and encouraged him to pursue his passion within the sport.
“I would see him being so successful and getting all these tackles. It would just motivate and get me excited seeing my brother work so hard,” Alegria said. “He would be a beast out there, but one time I was wondering and doubting myself because I was deaf. My brother would say, ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re deaf. You just keep doing it because there’s nothing wrong with it.’”
Throughout middle school and high school, Alegria and Tijerina would spend early mornings and late nights at Solis Park in Donna.
Tijerina accompanied his brother before and after work to teach him the ropes of the sport and refine his technique before hitting the high school level.
“We were always there at the park at night and doing it early in the morning. Then when he would get busy from his job, we would still go out there at night,” Alegria said. “I feel very blessed and thankful for my brother, who’s been with me through all these years and all this time.”
Alegria moved on to McAllen Memorial, which serves as the Regional School for the Deaf for students from Mercedes to Roma, where he helped the Mustangs’ freshman football team capture a district title in 2017 as a first-string running back.
He graduated to Memorial’s junior varsity squad for his sophomore season, where he was the program’s lone hearing-impaired player, and began contributing as a two-way player at both running back and defensive back following in his brother’s footsteps.
Alegria’s high school football journey, however, was thrown into jeopardy when the Mustangs’ back suffered an ACL tear near the end of the regular season. The career-defining injury sidelined him from both football and wrestling for months, making the sophomore eager and antsy to return to action.
“I just wanted it to hurry up and be over with. Everyone was concerned and I would just go to the gym to try to keep doing squats,” he said.
“I felt fine, but Coach (Littleton) kept warning me that I could still play but I was going to have to sit out for a little while. For one year, I missed football. … The (ACL) tear alone was just so shocking and made me so angry too. I wanted to play and it just felt like too much time to wait.”
Alegria finished rehabbing his knee injury nearly a year later during the summer before his junior season. He was cautioned to take it slow while gradually ramping his way back up physically and learned to run more efficiently by watching other running backs in action.
He helped McAllen Memorial capture a share of the District 30-6A championship as a junior and before the pandemic forced him to adapt again in unique ways.
“I was always reading lips perfectly before, but once we started using masks, it became very challenging for me,” he said. “I kind of had to go to the side and look to an interpreter (on the sideline) at the line of scrimmage. The quarterback learned some sign (language) for me too. He couldn’t show it to me super clear, so he would always secretly do these little things that helped me know what play we were going to run.”
Alegria’s position coach put together a highlight tape that was obtained by Gallaudet, which offered the Memorial senior a football scholarship shortly thereafter.
Now after years following in his brothers’ footsteps, Alegria is set to embark on his own path and become a trailblazer for future deaf athletes across the Rio Grande Valley.
“There was one point where I thought I should quit, but my coaches never doubted me and everybody told me I should keep going. They just motivated me,” he said. “I love football so much and I’m so excited and motivated now that I get to keep playing it.”
