Sal Ortiz:  

For folks that didn't know me. As a Lancer footballer, wearing #60, I started and played Middle Linebacker on the Varsity and JV football teams. And Outside Linebacker for the Bee football team. I was also Co-Captain on the different teams besides being one of the shorter guys and very under weight. Not the fastest, nor the strongest but tons of endurance, and alot of heart and determination to win, got me through the weekly football battles. I played both first string Offense and Defense. As the smallest Offensive lineman, I'd line up against Defensive opponents "two and three heads taller than me", as my brother would say. LOL And on Varsity Defense, I was not the original starting Middle Linebacker as shown in the yearbook, but I shortly took over that starting position of Middle Linebacker early in the season because the original starter was getting winded and out of breath playing Fullback on Offense, so Coach Driggs made me the new starting Middle Linebacker. I was constantly making great plays and efforts, as my friends would later recall and remind me of my good playing abilities afterwards. And they felt I should've gotten the Defensive Player award. But surprisingly I learned much later of the politics in high school sports and not tooting your own horn could deprive you of well deserved recognition. Not one to draw attention either or do attention getting things. Maybe that's why I didn't appear in random school yearbook pictures or become buddy buddy with the yearbook photographers. I was just a quiet, reserved and easy going guy around campus then aggressively taking on anyone, any size, with reckless abandon on the football playing field. Sort of like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde LOL What have I done since graduation of 1972? Here's some highlights and overview after my BG High graduation, as a 17 year old kid: 1.) US Army Military Intelligence: Sgt. TS 2.) Defense Intelligence Agency: Cpt. shhhhhh 3.) Burroughs Corp.: Systems Engineer 4.) General Electric Calma CAD/CAM Division Systems Engineer, 3x Engineer of Quarter 5.) Computervision: Engineering Supervisor/CAD CAM Tech Support for sponsor of Penske IndyCar race team. 6..) IBM: CustomerField Eng 7.) UCLA grad: Television Development and Entertainment Law 8.) I've worked in front of and behind the television cameras (The Nanny, Tales from the Crypt, Equal Justice, HBO Newsroom + others), part of and worked with many television entities ie AFTRA, SAG, Television Academy, Sony Studios, TriStar,, CBS, ABC Television, Fox Sports West, Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox, DirecTV. etc. Been a member of the SAG AFTRA guild since the late '80s and the Television Academy since 1990. I've been to the Daytime and Primetime Emmys several times, dressed in a tuxedo, looking like a penguin. Tons of pre-Emmy FYC parties too. LOL I still get residuals to this day from past TV performances. (And this was supposed to be only a "side hustle" while working as a Systems Engineer.) LOL 9.) I currently have several TV shows in Development ie 1- Western, 1- Sitcom, 3- Dramas 10.) I worked the 2015 World Games Special Olympics in Los .Angeles.: (volunteer) Broadcast Media Liason (Gymnastics competition at UCLA for athletes from all over the world with Downs Syndrome) 11.) I'm still active in the TV industry in various capacities., ie Technical Consultant, Writer and Producer Got ideas for TV shows? What are your favorite TV shows? Television has a weird way of inspiring us to do things. As a kid habitually watching the ABC TV show, "Combat!", I had an inclination to join the Army and be like the small squad of recon soldiers (ie Long Range Recon Patrol type) on the ABC TV show, Combat!, led by Sgt Saunders (Vic Morrow). Also after watching the popular CBS TV show, "Mission Impossible", I was drawn into the mysterious world of covert intelligence spy activities, so my interest paved the way for working in Army Intel, then later, Defense Intelligence Agency. During my last and Senior year at B.G. High, an Army Recruiter from the 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" Division, (Air Assault), came to recruit guys and plant mental seeds. I fell for it. I wanted to join the 101st Airborne and become a Long Range Recon patrol guy, (LRRP) who parachutes or gets dropped by helicopter deep behind enemy lines. From my school sports training, athletically, I could have joined a Ranger level group like L.R.R.P. Except my mom wouldn't have it. She said no to Combat Arms type jobs (ie Infantry, Artillery & Armor branches where alot of bullets fly and lots of bombs explode). If I did join one of those groups she said she'd have a nervous breakdown. I didn't want that. Considering Walter Cronkite was reporting every day on CBS TV News from the jungles in Vietnam. To make matters worse, the news crew always showed footage of wounded soldiers being carried away on stretchers. Luckily my Army test scores, plus taking 3 years of French language classes at Bell Gardens Junior High and being able to speak Spanish, qualified me along with advice from my older brother, allowed me to pursue a non-combat arms but an essential job instead. That put me on a different Army career path to Army Intel. Unfortunately being in Army Intel was not a safe haven either as I previously thought and expressed to my family.. On my way to my first duty station, after a long scenic train ride from Frankfurt, Germany to my assignment in Munich, I found out. Within my 1st hour of arriving at the train station in Munich and on my way to check in my unit, I was informed of a car bomb in a parked Mercedes, in our path, next to the entrance of my Army base I was to report to, just a few yards away from me. The special activities at that base were known to our opponents and enemies and made us a target. I realized I was in a different type of war, known as the Cold War, which emphasized terrorism. I would periodically hear random zings of flying bullets near me also. This was a year after the famous '72 Olympics terrorism fiasco in Munich. Also being in Army Intel near the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, added to elements of concern, But I was able get through it to learn how to jump and parachute out of perfectly functional aircraft. And how to repack the chute for future jumps. Funny how things worked out I've traveled all over Europe, lived in England 2yrs and Germany. In December of 1975, (before internet induced tourists), I visited EMI Studios, St. Johns Wood, London, (aka Abbey Road Studios) and interviewed for a job after leaving the Army, but they couldn't hire me to work there because they were still analog and not digital yet. But I impressed them enough and was honored that they contacted, recommended and endorsed me to CBS Recording Studios in Tottenham Court, London. I interviewed at CBS in their Control Room, at their Neve audio console, while a popular rock group named Uriah Heep, was in a recording session in front of me. So while watching the recording session and being interviewed, I got the Engineering job but I was unable to accept the post ARMY work assignment due to a timely snag in the administrative process for a "European out" (separation) from the military there in London. I was super thrilled just being at both of those studios, given personal tours of the famous facilities by famous folks in the music industry and getting hired. Had I stayed and worked there, I'd probably have hair down to my butt and been in and out of rehab like other music industry folks. LOL I saw alot of big name rock concerts in England, ie The Who, Led Zeppelin, Robin Trower, Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Blue Oyster Cult, ZZ Top, Bad Company, Cat Stevens and others, at historic venues like the Odeon Hammersmith, Ronnie Scott's Club, the Marquee Club, Earl's Court, Wembley Stadium, the Reading Festival near Oxford and other locations. My best concert seat ever was FRONT ROW CENTER at the original Wembley Stadium, London, 1975. To watch Elton John, The Beach Boys, The Eagles, Chaka Kahn and Rufus plus another group I can't remember. It was a $40 (20 pounds UK) bribe to a stadium usher who said I could sit anywhere in the stadium! Ha ha ha Over 100,000+ people showed up that day. Ha ha ha. The music business has been fun for me. I remember joining the rock group, Toto, upstairs in the bar of the small, private and quaint, VIP Room, of the old House of Blues on Sunset Blvd., after their performances downstairs. The bouncer at the stairs must've liked me as he let me in. That was cool. One year, I remember being in London on business, but while walking afterhours at BBC Studio near the Thames River, I tried to bribe the guard to let me and one of my Engineers, to a private party inside the studio where the famous rock group, Simply Red, was performing. The guard wouldn't let us in. Then about 2-3 weeks later, a few thousand miles later, I accidentally ran into Mick Hucknall, lead singer of Simply Red, in Hollywood, at the old Virgin Records on Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights Blvd.. Is that a small world? Hahaha Music from the '70s and '80s still rock! After the Army, as a civilian I traveled alot for work. (The old Hertz commercial with OJ Simpson running through the airpor...Expand for more