Childhood
The early years
I grew up in Los Angeles. My dad owned an air freight forwarding company built on a simple idea: undercut the big carriers on shipping rates. It worked, and for a while life was comfortable.
Business was only half of my dad. The other half was football. He was a phenomenal coach, quarterbacks especially, and I know I'm biased, but I think he was one of the best in the nation. Luck just never put him on an NFL sideline. He had a genius eye for talent and a soft spot for people who had nothing, and he would drive through the roughest neighborhoods of LA to find kids with nothing going on and give them a team, structure, and a sense of family. His Pop Warner team, the Beverly Hills Bruins, was known all over the city.
My mom deserves her own paragraph. I used to tell her, "they don't make them like you anymore." She's one of the nicest people I've ever known, supportive, full of energy, sharp, with a huge vocabulary and a book always open. She fought her own battles, and the hard years made them heavier, but that was never the real her.
I spent a lot of time on the sidelines watching my older brother train with my dad. It paid off. He became the quarterback at Beverly Hills High and went on to play for the University of Houston. Outside of football we were a family in motion, dirt bikes and jet skis, and I was riding a YZ50 at five. I was lucky with friends too, a really good group, and we adventured all over Los Angeles.
My younger brother went through serious health complications when he was really young and came out the other side. I truly believe he's an angel watching over this world.
Then September 11 happened. New security rules changed air shipping overnight, and the only companies that survived were the giants with their own planes. My dad's company went with the rest.
With seven kids, everything can turn into not much very quickly. By middle school we were moving from apartment to apartment, all of us sharing one room, and my dad did whatever it took to keep us inside the Beverly Hills school district, even if it meant living on the edges of town.
School was its own world. Most of the kids I sat next to went home to mansions. I went home to a rental, and I made excuses when friends wanted to come over.
High school is where it got heavier. I came home one day to police officers at our place, and my four sisters were removed from our family after reports that they were being mistreated. The story became public. Some of what was written is exaggerated, and some of it is very true.
My sisters were not treated well. I also watched my parents carry a level of stress I wouldn't wish on anyone. They could have done better, and I also understand.
I was different from my siblings, drawn to MMA, wrestling, paintball, anything with a little risk in it. When I was 17, my parents left the state, and from then on I took care of myself.
Last updated September 1, 2026
