The son also rises

11-20-2005

By Tom Shanahan, Chargers.com

Please excuse Ray Preston if you see him wearing a Buffalo Bills hat Sunday for the Chargers game at Qualcomm Stadium.

He’s still a Charger who looks forward to Alumni weekend, which this year features the retirement of NFL Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Lance Alworth’s No. 19 jersey. The Bills hat simply means the retired Chargers outside linebacker from the Air Coryell years is a proud father.

His son, Duke, returns home with the Bills (4-5) to face the Chargers (5-4).

“I’ll still be wearing my Chargers alumni jersey,” said Ray, who played for the Chargers from 1976 to 1984, a period that included three AFC West titles and a fourth trip to playoffs as a wild-card entry in 1982.

Duke, a Mt. Carmel High alumnus, is a rookie offensive lineman for the Bills as a fourth-round draft pick out of Illinois. The 6-foot-5, 311-pounder has seen playing time in eight of nine games and started once at right guard on Oct. 9 against the Miami Dolphins as a replacement for the injured starter.

“It’s exciting that he made it in the NFL,” Ray said. “I always felt confident he could do it, because that was a goal of his. It’s very exciting for me and my wife (Susan) to watch the fulfillment of his dream. It was a little disappointing he wasn’t drafted the first day (the first three rounds), but he got the call early the next morning.”

Coincidentally, Duke is not only playing a homecoming game his rookie year, it’s Alumni weekend when Ray and other retired Chargers will be on the field at halftime during the ceremony to retire Alworth’s number.

“It’s going to be weird to see my husband and son on the same field,” said Susan. “It’s one of those things you never could imagine would happen.”

Added Ray, “How special is that?”

Once football season arrived and Duke made the Bills’ roster, Ray said he realized he needed to upgrade his TV setup at home. Previously, he had just a standard cable deal. Now he has a Direct TV NFL package he bought that allows him to tune into all Bills games.

“I missed getting the Padres games, because Channel 4 isn’t on Direct TV, but I can watch any Sunday NFL game,” Ray said.

As you can see, there are certain sacrifices a father must make for his family. Ray has traveled to Buffalo for Bills home games, but when the Bills played at the Oakland Raiders on Oct. 23, Ray and a friend decided if they were going to sit safely in the stands amongst Raiders fans it might wise to dress in black and temper their cheering for Duke and the Bills.

Yes, he understands wearing black is sacrilegious for a Charger, but he had little choice in the Black Hole environment.

“I wanted to be incognito and as safe possible to enjoy the game,” Ray said with a chuckle. “I was with a buddy. We were punching each other on the leg when Duke or the Bills made a good play.”

Duke, born Raymond Newton Preston III, was an All-CIF center as a senior at Mt. Carmel in 1999 before accepting a scholarship offer from Illinois, where he was a starting center and graduated with a degree in speech communications.

Although Duke grew up in a city where his father played in the NFL, Susan says the close relationship between her husband and son mitigated any outside pressure Duke might have otherwise felt from others.

“Ray and Duke are like best friends,” Susan said. “They talk every day, but they never talked about expectations. They are always going at it since Duke plays offense and Ray played defense.”

Duke getting drafted by the Bills also is a family homecoming of sorts since Ray played at nearby Syracuse University in western New York and was an All-American pick on the Kodak team. But Ray and Susan were firmly entrenched in San Diego by the time his nine-year career with the Chargers came to an end and they remained here.

“San Diego is our home,” said Ray, who works as a vice president for Balboa Thrift and Loan in Chula Vista. “Our son and daughter were both born here and raised here.”

But for one Sunday this year Duke’s Buffalo Bills career means the Preston family will be torn between cheering for the teams of father and son.