Football player from long line of athletes in Salem inspires team as captain

SALEM - A high school football player comes from a long line of athletes in Salem, Massachusetts and now he's honoring his family's legacy and making his own mark as high school football captain.

Football in his blood

For Rocco Ryan, football is simply in his blood. If it wasn't for the Witches, the Ryans may be the Salem High School mascot. Even his great-great-grandfather was the team doctor and several trophies are named after the Ryan family.

"My father is one of 14 and so he had seven brothers and six sisters. They all played football, all the brothers played football here," said Ryan.

Leading by example

How does the next generation set himself apart? If you ask Head Football Coach Matt Bouchard, it's his leadership.

"If I had to pick one quality that I would want to spread like wildfire, it would be the attitude," said Bouchard.

"A good saying for life, if you go the easy way, you're going to get the easy result, you're never going to get the thing you want," said Ryan

Ryan has been a captain since his sophomore year, learning to develop as a player and a young man. Now a senior, it's an aspect he hopes to use in college while studying business.

"Leadership's lonely, there's a lot of people who once you're declared a captain, a leader, as a team, they look up to you," said Ryan.

This is harder to do, when you aren't the quarterback but the receiver.

"I try to preach, 'lead with me, don't look to me to lead, lead with me,'" said Ryan.

It's inspired the team to join him, to take that harder path.

"He became, basically, the leading receiver here at Salem High School," said Bouchard. "He's broken all the records at Salem High School and that's beating his uncles."