Alumni Athlete Spotlight | Austin Gallegos ’13

July 7, 2017

While we recently said goodbye to the Class of 2017, former Rams around the country recently received diplomas from their colleges and universities. One of those recent college graduates is Austin Gallegos ’13. After excelling on the gridiron for the Rams, Austin found his way to Hobart College, where he played linebacker for the Statesmen. Playing time was tough to come by early on for Austin, but his final year of play saw him compete in eleven games while recording five tackles. Individual stats aside, it was the great team play that stood out to Austin about his career in college football. “We always had a winning season. We won our league championship three out of four years. During those three years we earned spots in the NCAA playoffs advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in 2013, the Elite Eight in 2014, and losing a close game in the first round in 2016 to Mount Union, a D-III football powerhouse,” Austin said.

The building blocks for Austin’s athletic career were laid here on the Mesa. During his time at Cate, Austin was a three-sport star, playing basketball and lacrosse when not on the football field. While his heart was in football, his time on the basketball and lacrosse fields served as a great classroom. “Bryan Rodriguez, my basketball coach, taught me how to trust the process. We sometimes disagreed on things but he taught me to trust the people above me, work hard, listen and that things will work out. This was especially important during my first couple of years in college when I was not on the travel team.”

“I couldn’t mention a life lesson I learned from Cate sports without mentioning my former lacrosse coach and Director of Alumni Relations, Andrew MacDonnell. He taught me very valuable lessons, but my favorite has to be his phrase “control your controllables.” He taught me the value of focusing only on the things I have the power to control in life, my attitude and my effort. He helped provide a continuous positive outlook on life and this transitioned onto the sports field as well,” Austin said.

Austin made many memories on the athletic fields during his time on the Mesa. As many Rams would, he said some of his best memories came against playing rival Thacher. “If I had to narrow it down to two memories it would absolutely be beating Thacher at home in lacrosse my senior year, knocking them out of CIF contention and then beating them at their place during football season to continue a historic senior season,” he said proudly.