ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280044
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD.
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE NEW LEFT TACKLE for the Washington Redskins has been a fighter all his life.
At age 9, he fled a revolution. After a 3 1/2-year odyssey, he arrived in the land of his parents' dreams, America, only to be bullied and fought virtually every day at school.
He learned English watching ``Gilligan's Island.''
Vivacious and witty at age 26, Shar Pourdanesh sits outside the Washington Redskins' training camp locker room and recites his history, the tale of a man who will become the first Iranian-born player to make an NFL roster.
His wide eyes convey his sense of wonder as he reflects on how different his life would have been had he stayed in his native country.
``I sit back and say, `What would have I done? What would have happened to me?''' Pourdanesh said.
Fleeing the chaos
In 1979, Shahriar Pourdanesh was living the typical carefree existence of a youngster in upper-middle-class Tehran, playing video Pong and soccer and riding his bike.
Then came the revolution. The Shah was overthrown. Western values were decried by the Ayatollah Khomeini and the new Islamic government. It was too overwhelming to grasp.
``I knew it was chaos,'' Pourdanesh said. ``And I knew it was different from the way it was supposed to be. But I didn't know the consequences, the world-wide consequences of what's going on in our city. You can't imagine when you're a 9-year-old.''
His parents, unsettled by the country's direction and unsure of their future, decided to leave their extended family and flee Iran.
``I probably would have ended up in the army'' if his family had remained, Pourdanesh said. ``My cousin died in the [Iran-Iraq] war, and he was just 15.''
Pourdanesh's two sisters immigrated directly to the United States, but he and his parents had to detour through Europe. They lived out of hotels.
``We went from city to city, trying to get visas to the U.S.,'' Pourdanesh said. ``Zurich to Bern to Paris until we finally settled in Hamburg.''
Visas secured, the family settled in California, first in Costa Mesa, then Irvine. They found a country still wounded from the Iranian hostage crisis and deeply distrustful of Iranians, even those who fled the revolution.
An isolated teen-ager, Pourdanesh spent his hours - and learned the language - watching ``Gilligan's Island'' and other reruns.
``I was a castaway,'' he said. ``I was locked in my room all the time.''
Fighting for survival
The hardest part was school. Eighth grade was the worst year.
``Every day walking from class to class, somebody would bump me,'' Pourdanesh said. ``They'd say, `You Iranian. You want to fight? Meet me after school.' With my mind, I got so much pride I can't back down. `OK, I'll meet you after school.'''
It happened almost every day. Sometimes one-on-one. Then five-on-one, even 10-on-one. Pourdanesh would beat off his challengers, who would then go off and return with older brothers and bigger friends.
``Believe it or not, I never got beat up,'' he said. ``I always took the biggest guy and took care of him. When you get in a fight every day, you kind of get good at it.
``And then you have all that rage. I would get so angry. What is the problem? Why are they doing it?''
Pourdanesh counted only three friends who stuck by him. Yet despite his troubles, he never wanted to desert his new country.
``You don't go through four years and live in hotels in that country and this city so you can finally get to the U.S. so you can leave again,'' he said. ``I knew what we had to go through and what we left behind to come here, so there was no turning back.
``I didn't dislike the country. I didn't like the people that were doing that to me. And I thought it was ignorant, because I thought they didn't know anything.''
Finding a niche
What turned things around was football.
Pourdanesh's 6-foot-plus frame was starting to fill out during his sophomore year, and one day a football-playing friend went to lift weights.
``I said, `Coach, you mind if I lift with my friend?' He said, `What! You don't play for me?' He goes, `Oooooh, son!' He puts his arm around me. He gave me this big bull story. `Don't you realize you can get a scholarship and get your school paid for? And that after that you can play professional football and maybe even sign a million-dollar contract someday? He was just b.s.-ing.''
Being on the team made Pourdanesh a part of a group for the first time. Teammates stood up for him. He learned to love the game and passed up several wrestling scholarships from big-name schools to pursue his only football offer: from Nevada.
``In direct contrast to the way high school was in the beginning, in college I was very popular,'' he said.
Although he was a standout at Nevada, Pourdanesh was a bust when invited to the Cleveland Browns' training camp in 1993 and got cut. Although he couldn't wait to get back to his friends in Nevada, when he returned he realized he had made a career mistake.
``I didn't realize how much I loved this sport,'' Pourdanesh said. ``Then I saw my friends playing in an exhibition game and thought, `My God, what have I done? What have I done?'''
After finishing up his degree in business and marketing in Reno, Pourdanesh headed to the Canadian Football League a became a star - at least by CFL standards.
After two seasons with the Baltimore Stallions, Pourdanesh was named the league's Lineman of the Year and earned a spot on the CFL all-star team.
Earlier this year, Pourdanesh drove to Montreal, where the franchise relocated, to watch his former team's home opener. On the way home, he was stopped for 20 minutes at the U.S. border when officials learned he was Iranian.
He's learned to take such experiences in stride, knowing that for many Americans, Iran and terrorism are inextricably linked.
``It kind of makes me feel bad, because that's the first thing I think of, too, when I hear of a bomb,'' he said. ``I think, God, they're going to say `Shar, your family planted that.'
``It's just jokes, but I try to put it in the back of my mind and not think about it because it is a negative.''
A quick learner
This spring, Pourdanesh was preparing to play in the World League. He was on his way to the Iranian Embassy in Washington to get a visa when the Redskins called.
``From the get-go, the first minicamp, he showed a lot of good things,'' offensive line coach Jim Hanifan said. ``He's smart, he's coachable, he's dedicated. ... The key is, the guy's a tough kid.''
Pourdanesh, 6 feet 6 and 313 pounds, was a timely addition for the Redskins following the retirement of veteran Jim Lachey.
Despite lagging in run blocking because of his experience in the pass-happy CFL, Pourdanesh quickly began closing the gap on Joe Patton in the battle for Lachey's spot at the vital left tackle spot, the position responsible for protecting the quarterback's blind side.
He was impressive enough that he'll start at left tackle in Washington's season opener Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Right at home
Tensions between Iran and the United States have eased since the revolution. Pourdanesh's parents make regular visits to their native country, and the friends Pourdanesh left behind in Tehran were excited to hear him interviewed on Iranian radio earlier this year.
``I have a mixed culture, so it would probably be very difficult for me to go over there and live there,'' he said. ``But I would love to go back and visit.''
Pourdanesh has a fiancee, wants to buy a house in northern Virginia and hopes to become an American citizen. He already considers himself a flag-waver.
``Yes I am, but I'm also a proud Iranian,'' Pourdanesh said. ``I don't know if that makes sense or not. I'm extremely proud of my heritage, my culture, but I'm also very proud of this country. I live in the best country in the world.''
LENGTH: Long : 155 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Shar Pourdanesh (right) did lots of pushing andby CNBshoving before making his way to the NFL and the Washington
Redskins. color.