DOUGLAS — The Roses should have known they had something special when their little boy Blaze was just a baby.
When he was 13 months old, a family friend gave him a pair of baby cleats, and he wouldn’t take them off. He’d go to sleep with them on, over the onesie, of course.
Maybe they should have known sooner. It’s in their blood.
The Douglas High School senior quarterback comes from a prestigious lineage of Bulldog greats.
Father David Rose was the Douglas quarterback in the late 1980s, grandfather Tony Rose was an all-state running back for the Bulldogs in the early 1960s and cousin Tony Cortez Rose is a Douglas legend, with three first-team all-state honors in the mid-1970s and a then-state record 5,281 career passing yards.
Maybe they did know sooner. It’s in his name.
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You don’t name a kid Christopher Blaze Rose and expect him to go unnoticed.
“My dad always wanted a unique name,” Blaze says. “He’s a David. He didn’t want it to be David. David who? He wanted people to know who I was.”
The story behind the name isn’t all that juicy.
A friend, frustrated at the cooing over name after name, grabbed the baby name book and pointed.
“I’m tired of all this guessing,” he said, while pointing to Blaze. Christopher was already set, in honor of mom Lucinda’s youngest brother. But Blaze fit, too.
Still does.
Every time he takes off from out of the pocket, he’s liable to make people shout it.
He has more than 1,200 career rushing yards, to go along with more than 3,000 passing yards for Douglas.
He is small — listed at just 5 feet 7 inches and 160 pounds — but nimble.
His passing numbers are up and his rushing numbers are down a bit this year as he’s relied more heavily on his arm.
When he needs to go, though, he goes, throwing himself into the fray.
Two weeks ago, winless and desperate, he led the Bulldogs to a 7-6 victory over Cholla, scampering for a 35-yard, game-winning touchdown. The Bulldogs lost at Pueblo last week and host Catalina tonight.
“He’s a quiet kid, but he’s got some fire to him,” Douglas’ first-year coach Riki Valdez said. “Pound-for-pound he is the strongest kid on our team. He likes the challenge of being a little undersized for a quarterback.
“He lives up to his name.”
A year ago against Cholla, it wasn’t Rose’s legs that did the damage, but his arm. He tied a nearly 40-year school mark set by his cousin, Tony Cortez Rose, with four passing touchdowns, and added a rushing touchdown to boot.
The Roses are a familiar name around Douglas, where the family has lived for decades.
Blaze’s paternal great grandfather worked as a smelter at the nearby copper ore facilities, and he introduced his children to football.
Athletic talent runs in the bloodlines. Lucinda’s brothers were all wrestlers, with two state champions among them. One of David’s brothers won a state golf championship.
Family keeps the Roses in Douglas. Dad is a cop and mom is a fifth-grade teacher.
Blaze is also a standout baseball player, and he could try to play in college.
He is an excellent student, ranked in the top five in his class, with a near 4.0 GPA. He’ll have options.
“I love it here. This is a great town,” he says. “I have a lot of respect for this town and the people. It has a lot that other places don’t have. I could be wrong, though. I don’t want to be stuck in a shadow. You need to go out and see the rest of the world.”
He’s done some traveling, vacations and such. But, he says, “I’ve always come back here and liked it more. You’re out in a big city, and everyone’s a stranger. It doesn’t seem as exciting as to live here.”
His family is happy with whatever decision he makes, and surprisingly, Valdez isn’t sweating it.
Why would he?
There are two more coming up the pipeline. Younger brother, Easton, is a freshman, and the youngest, Trey, is in seventh grade. Both play quarterback.
For Valdez — and Douglas — everything is coming up Roses.
