Like most mothers, Anne Conte worried about her son Chris playing football when he was growing up. So she made a deal with him that if he was still interested in the sport when he reached high school, she would allow him to play. The Pacific Palisades native and Loyola High alum is now the starting free safety for the Chicago Bears as a rookie, having worked his way into lineup just six games into his first season at the pro level. ’He didn’t really play football besides flag until he was in high school because I didn’t want him to,’ Anne Conte said. ‘I didn’t want him to get hurt.’ Part of that decision was based on advice Anne and her husband Mark received from Chris’ pediatrician, who recommended that their son wait so that he didn’t break a growth plate. When Chris finally played competitively on the gridiron, it was quite evident that he had a bright future in football. He excelled at Loyola and was recruited by UC Berkeley and UCLA, ultimately choosing to attend Cal. He began his collegiate career as a cornerback but was moved to safety for his senior season under his defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, a transition that proved fruitful when Chris was drafted by the Bears in the third round of this year’s draft. ’He’s a very determined kid, and he gets on this big stage and somehow he can just handle it. We’re really proud of him,’ said his mother, a teacher at St. Martin of Tours in Brentwood. His father works as a film editor on the CBS show ‘Person of Interest.’ Conte, officially listed at 6-2, 210, has made an immediate impact on the Bears defense, as the team is 5-1 since his addition to the starting lineup. They have forced 16 turnovers in those six games, including 12 interceptions. In his second career start on October 23 at London’s Wembley Stadium, Conte picked off Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman at the 2-yard line to thwart a Buccaneers scoring drive with his first career interception. For some, Conte’s quick ascension could be considered a rarity, but not for his former high school coach. ’I don’t think anybody is surprised, because his skill set is such that he can just be a dominant player in the secondary,’ said Jeff Kearin, who coached Conte at Loyola and is now the head coach at McMinville High School in Oregon. ’In terms of the prototypical NFL evaluation process, Chris fits the bill for every bit of it in terms of size and strength, speed, break on the ball and those kind of things.’ Growing up, Conte enjoyed playing sports on the streets in the El Medio bluffs neighborhood with his older brother, Kevin. Anne recalled Chris wanting to play hockey and getting roller blades for Christmas. ’He was always playing with older kids. They made him the goalie,’ she said. Perhaps the biggest challenge Chris would face came just after he was drafted in late April, when the true uncertainty of his future settled in due to the impending NFL lockout. Players and coaches were prohibited from having any contact, and the rookies could not have access to their new playbooks to learn their teams’ offensive and defensive systems. For Conte, that literally meant getting a last-minute call when the lockout was lifted in late July, saying to pack his bags and hop a plane to Chicago in a matter of hours. As such, normal offseason training activities and training camps were completely compromised, and rookies had a steep learning curve in preseason games. Anne and Mark attended their son’s first preseason game in August, a 10-3 win over the Buffalo Bills in which he recorded three tackles. They also went to his first regular season game against Atlanta, and spent some time with him in Oakland last weekend prior to his game against the Raiders. But the reality is, with their work schedules, it is hard for the Contes to see their son play in person very often. ’He’s busy, but I do try and talk to him,’ Anne said. ‘I always text him right before the game and he always texts me back and says I love you, that kind of thing. His dad does the same thing.’ For coach Kearin, keeping in touch with Chris has proved to be a bit of a challenge, but he strives to keep close tabs on his former player. ’I talked to him after he got drafted and then after that Sunday night game [Chris’ first start against Minnesota]. I was really proud of him,’ he said. During his school days, Conte also had other coaches outside of high school to help him train and work on various parts of his game. Conte ran track and was a hurdler, so he often worked with his track coach Gary Cablayan, in addition to his defensive backs coach Derrick Davis. In his early youth, Conte also played baseball and soccer. He attended Corpus Christi before moving on to Loyola. After high school, he was faced with a decision on college. He could stay close to home and attend UCLA, Anne’s alma mater, or go to Berkeley, where he had initially committed. On national signing day, Conte chose Cal. It was there, under Pendergast, that he made the seamless transition to the safety position after three seasons at cornerback. That placed him on pro teams’ radar screens and raised his draft stock, which was aided by a strong performance at the Scouting Combine. Philadelphia, San Francisco and Kansas City were among the teams that worked him out, but Bears defensive backs coach Jon Hoke attended Cal’s Pro Day after his friend Pendergast recommended he see Conte’s abilities up close. ’He really liked him,’ Anne Conte said of Hoke’s initial impression of her son. ‘But [Chris] had no idea that the Bears were going to draft him or anything like that.’ On draft day, Chris was at home with his agent and some friends watching things unfold on TV. After a prolonged waiting period, he finally received a call from the Bears as the end of the third round neared with the 93rd pick. ’I think there was a lot of nervousness,’ Anne recalled. ‘They projected him as high as the third round, anywhere between the third and the fifth, and he ended up getting picked in the third round. So they called from the Bears, and he was ecstatic of course.’ With Conte proving to be quite a find, the Bears are feeling pretty ecstatic as well.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
