Like father, like son

BRADENTON — They would ask him his name, and he would say, “Ace Sanders.” And they’d ask, “You Tracy’s boy?” And Ace would say yes. And they would tell Ace all about his dad, the quarterback who led the Manatee Hurricanes to their first state football title back in 1983.

“I hear that all the time,” Ace Sanders said. “It’s exciting to hear them say, ‘Your dad could do this. Your dad could do that. He could play everywhere.’ ”

Same thing happens to Deonte Hornes, whose dad, Faron, was an all-state defensive back on the 1985 championship team.

Same with Prince Matt, whose dad, Prince, played for the Manatee Hurricanes in the late 1970s and Florida State in the early ’80s.

There are five other players on the Hurricanes roster who are sons of former Hurricanes: Nick Galati (Carmine), Darius White (James), James Robinson (James), Clinton Heaven (Clinton) and Brion Carnes (Lorenzo).

There are players, like Quenton Bundrage, Ryan Brown and Craig Carnes, who followed brothers and uncles and cousins.

“I was raised on Manatee football,” Robinson said. “I heard all about it. I knew when I got to high school, I was going to be a Manatee Hurricane.”

Being the oldest high school in the county, it’s no surprise the football team would be full of legacies, as coach Joe Kinnan calls the second and third generation Hurricanes. Yet some of those legacies, like Hornes and Sanders had an opportunity to play at another school but opted for their fathers’ alma mater.

Tracey’s wife, Twanda, is a Southeast grad. So is everyone in her family. Twanda’s side of the family would always talk up the Seminoles to Ace at family gatherings, telling Ace what it would be like when he played at Southeast.

“They did that to get a reaction out of me,” said Tracy, now the Hurricanes defensive backs coach.

Tracy said he knew he was raising a future Hurricane.

“Without a doubt,” Tracy said. “It was kind of ironic. I was coaching here at Manatee and was at practice when Twanda went into labor with Ace.”

For Robinson, becoming a Hurricane is a link to his father, who passed away when Robinson was 6.

“The first time I put on my jersey was like slipping into my father’s shoes,” he said.

Former Hurricanes stop by the field house to tell the current crop of Canes about the glory days. The players watch tapes from the championship years before big playoff games. The Hurricanes’ four state title banners hang in the field house.

The past is always alive at Manatee. And it continues once the players reach home.

Take Heaven. Not only did his dad play at Manatee, so did his uncles Sonora Harvey, Sam Simmons and Charles Taylor as well as his older brother, C.J.

“We’re all Canes,” said Clinton’s mom, Tundra, herself a Manatee grad.

Matt used to search the sign inside the Hawkins Stadium that contains all the district, regional and state championships won by past Hurricane teams. He wondered if his dad’s team left behind some numbers, but they didn’t.

With a win tonight against visiting Venice, Matt and his teammates can add another district title to the sign.

“I want to see ’09 up there,” Matt said.

Matt has another goal.

“I’d like to maybe come back and be a coach,” he said.

He wouldn’t be the first. Assistant coach Steve Peebles and Steve Gulash are not only former Hurricanes, but sons of former Hurricanes.