Kathy Herrera finds the real life heroes portrayed in running movie

There was a time, in the late 1980s, when famed actor Danny DeVito and a production crew scouted La Conner as a setting for the dark comedy film “War of the Roses,” an eventual Golden Globe nominee for Best Motion Picture.

Alas, the Hollywood suits chose Coupeville – often a high school sports rival of La Conner – for the film shoot.

But fast forward more than three decades to last weekend and the sweltering San Joaquin Valley city of McFarland, California, which did land a movie nod in 2015 for its role as a high school cross-country hotbed.

Kathy Herrera, formerly of Shelter Bay and now on a leave of absence from the La Conner school district, where she served as an administrator and director of athletics, was in McFarland on Saturday for a cross-country meet in her current position as athletic director for Wonderful College Prep Academy in Delano, California.

“I’ve been a part of athletics for decades,” Herrera said afterward, “but today’s event will be one that ranks in the Top Five.”

While in McFarland, Herrera was able to hear remarks from Danny Diaz, one of the high school runners portrayed in “McFarland, USA,” which starred Kevin Costner as coach Jim White, who built the high school cross-country powerhouse there.

Herrera said White moved to McFarland before it had a cross-country team and was able to develop a program by enlisting primarily Latino youths with little distance running experience, but who enjoyed strong family ties, shared an exceptional work ethic and were committed to the team concept.

“The thing that sticks out to me,” Herrera told the Weekly News Monday, “was listening to Danny Diaz speak about coach White this weekend. He said that coach White brought together boys who picked in the fields and taught them many valuable lessons. He said: ‘We won championships along the way and we celebrated, but the greatest thing he gave us was showing us that we could be champions in life.’

“Boy, oh boy,” said Herrera, “did that grab my heartstrings.”

Herrera said Diaz noted that many of the McFarland runners have found success as adults, a number of them having returned to their hometown as teachers and coaches to help give to the school’s student-athletes what had been given them –hope.

“I did a lot of reflecting after I left on Saturday,” said Herrera, “because this wasn’t about seeing famous people. This was about hearing their stories and their testaments to an amazing coach and the things they have been given by having him impact their lives.”

Herrera said she found Diaz and others depicted in the film to be as inspiring in real life as their characters came across on the big screen.

She found White’s story one to be emulated.

“I thought about coaches that have impacted my life and helped make me a better person and the coaches who have impacted my children throughout their lifetime of sports,” she said.

Her daughter Morgan Herrera, a La Conner alum, introduced her to “McFarland, USA.”

“I watched it because Morgan told me I had to see it,” Herrera recalled. “Well, she was right. It is a heartwarming, tear-jerking story about coach White moving to McFarland and becoming a cross-country coach. Cross-country was something that had not been established (in McFarland) before he arrived.”

Herrera described her time in McFarland as a “revitalizing moment” that allowed her to witness the tremendous impact one coach can have on many people.

“I thought about all the athletes I have coached over the last 31 years,” she said, “and my hope is that I have had a positive impact on them and helped them understand how important they are and that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to do.”