Jawanna Jefferson sat hunched over, her elbows glued to her lap, her hands propping up her head.
The William Rolland Stadium crowd hushed. The mother gazed onto the field, focusing on her son, Cortez Espinoza, a then-freshman cornerback with Cal Lutheran’s football team.
“I thought it was his shoulder again,” Jefferson said.
She was no stranger to Espinoza’s injuries. From dislocated shoulders to broken fingers to knocked-out teeth, she said she had seen it all.
When Espinoza slammed helmets with a La Verne lineman in October 2016, Jefferson said, all she could think about was the movie “Concussion” starring Will Smith.
But she was thankful for one thing: that he was close.
“I didn’t want him to stay in California (for college),” Jefferson said. “I wanted him to go out and see what else was out there. But in that moment, I was glad he didn’t go out-of-state because I was able to be with him.”
Espinoza suffered a mild concussion. He missed two games before returning to play the remainder of his freshman season. After recording just seven tackles all year for the Kingsmen, the Oaks Christian High graduate’s first collegiate football season would be his last.
His sports career, however, was far from over.
MOTHER-SON BOND
Jefferson was a 22-year-old single mother juggling multiple jobs when she gave birth to Espinoza.
The daughter of a white mother and Black father, Jefferson grew up around an extended family of Salvadoran and Filipino descent. After experiencing financial burdens and racial discrimination during her childhood, Jefferson said, she was determined to raise her son to be proud and confident in himself.
“There’s an understanding in our culture that there are different things in the system that may not allow people of color to get ahead,” Espinoza said. “You can’t control the system that you’re in, but you can control what you do within that system.”
Jefferson made Espinoza complete book reports. She taught him how to write thank-you cards when he received gifts. She bugged him to take Spanish so that he could one day be bilingual.
“I remember summers when most kids were just out playing fun, she made sure that I was either reading a book or doing math workbooks,” Espinoza said. “Just because you’re not in school doesn’t mean you can’t be learning.”
The two lived in San Francisco for more than a decade before moving in 2014 to Simi Valley, where Espinoza, who started playing T-ball at 3 and flag football at 4, attended Oaks Christian.
After moving from a diverse neighborhood up north, Jefferson said, the family had to adjust to the new surroundings.
“(My mother) has instilled the idea that, in society, there may be things that people are able to do, but just because of your circumstances, you’re not going to be able to do that,” Espinoza said, “but she always said if I work hard, be respectful and honest, that nobody can ever take that away.”
Espinoza said education and sports were two arenas where he felt he could fully express himself.
On an academic scholarship at Oaks Christian, Espinoza lettered in baseball and football for three years at the school. He helped the Lions football team go undefeated in the regular season during his senior year in 2015.
There isn’t a day where Jefferson isn’t in the stands at Espinoza’s games, nor is there a day where she forgets to remind him to attend his professors’ office hours.
Espinoza said his mother has served as a role model for him on and off the field and that their relationship is the glue to their deep understanding of each other.
“Growing up in a single-parent household, my mom has fulfilled so many roles—not only just being my mom, but also being that person of support,” Espinoza said. “She’s always wanted me to express how I feel. . . . She wants me to be able to reach out to her and feel that it’s a very safe and open space.”
DROPPING FOOTBALL FOR BASEBALL
Espinoza attended Cal Lutheran on an academic scholarship in the fall of 2016, where he was recruited to play football for the Kingsmen.
Days after the football season ended, he showed up to baseball tryouts.
Still a freshman, Espinoza earned a roster spot as a walk-on and was part of Cal Lutheran’s NCAA Division III title squad in 2017.
“He brought a lot of the athleticism of speed and quickness,” said Marty Slimak, Cal Lutheran’s baseball head coach. “I like those football-baseball guys because they just bring a different part of the game with them, so it worked out.”
Espinoza—who was heading into what would have been his second season on the gridiron— was working part-time at a local CVS Pharmacy, interning at Westlake Physical Therapy and serving as a resident assistant.
As his busy schedule intensified, he hung up his football pads for good.
The center fielder also said the baseball team’s championship culture and welcoming environment made his decision to drop football easier.
“I decided to just play baseball because I felt very included and part of a brotherhood,” Espinoza said. “I knew that was something that I wanted to stay part of.”
After not playing football in the fall for this first time in his athletic career, Espinoza went on to lead Cal Lutheran with a .529 batting average in the second half of his sophomore season. The center fielder logged at least one hit in 13 of the final 14 games in 2018.
The defensive standout registered 14 RBI, 15 runs and five stolen bases the following spring.
Espinoza, however, continued to battle injuries on the diamond. Injuries cost him 14 games his sophomore year, 15 games in 2019 and 11 games this season.
Despite missing chunks of each season, the center fielder found ways to contribute by mentoring younger players.
“Cortez was a quiet guy,” Slimak said. “He just did his job, and a lot of the younger guys that he was mentoring, he just helped them out, even the freshmen that had some starts over him.”
Espinoza helped Cal Lutheran’s baseball squad (16-1 overall, 8-1 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference)— which was ranked No. 1 by D3baseball.com—surge to its best start in school history before the coronavirus pandemic halted its season in March.
Espinoza said he stays in touch with the players he’s mentored.
“We keep in contact with each other pretty much every day,” he said. “We knew that we had each other, and just because it’s the end of our baseball season, that’s not the end of our relationships.”
ASPIRING PHYSICAL THERAPIST
Injuries are part of the game.
Neither son nor mother remember how many injuries Espinoza has endured.
“Even though sports were pretty much my life . . . I knew that was something that would come to an end one day,” Espinoza said. “I needed to have another focus.”
Espinoza—who majored in exercise science—spent countless hours rehabbing at physical therapy clinics for much of his athletic career, and he said it was the perfect opportunity to learn more about the subject.
He participated in COPE Health Scholars, a statewide pre-health program, and he volunteered at Adventist Health Simi Valley four hours a week his sophomore year. His clinical hours shifted from the hospital to Westlake Physical Therapy.
The entire time, Espinoza showed up at baseball practice and maintained strong grades.
“Personally, I just couldn’t tell you how he did it,” Slimak said, “but he was able to do it because he’s a pretty locked-in kid.
“He’ll be successful no matter what he does.”
During his third year at Cal Lutheran, Espinoza was inducted into the inaugural cohort of Ronald E. McNair scholars, a research program for low-income, underrepresented, first-generation students interested in pursuing a doctoral degree.
The eventual four-time Cal Lutheran scholar athlete learned about his field from Travis Peterson, an assistant professor of exercise science who specializes in biomechanics. Espinoza’s research project looked into the effects of how ankle tape and ankle braces impact athletes in cutting movements.
“He’s a leader by example,” Peterson said. “If you ever met Cortez, it’s instantly recognizable that he has this magnetic personality. . . . People end up looking to him for guidance.”
Espinoza will attend Azusa Pacific’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program this fall. He aspires to work for a professional sports team as a physical therapist after earning his degree.
All those book reports, Spanish lessons, and time focusing on schoolwork has paved the way for Espinoza to thrive in his next act.
He knows who to thank.
“My mom always made sure I not only had an A plan, but also a B plan all the way down to a D plan if those things don’t come into play,” Espinoza said. “It’s about having a backup, something that I can always put my passion towards.”
Follow Acorn sports intern Joy Hong on Twitter @Joy__ Hong.
IN A NUTSHELL
Cortez Espinoza, 21, a former center fielder for the Cal Lutheran baseball team, recently graduated with a degree in exercise science. The four-time scholar athlete out of Oaks Christian High had a one-year stint as a cornerback on the CLU football team in 2016.
Cortez’s favorites
• Movie: “Get Out”
• TV channel: ESPN
• Book: “The Alchemist”
• Team: San Francisco Giants
• Athlete: Stephen Curry
• Musician: Leon Bridges
• Food: Barbecue ribs
• Destination: Australia