Carlos Linares,
A Hero In Our Midst

Carlos Linares is a 36-yr old attorney with the Recording Industry Association of America and is a young man on the move. (Literally). Linares, an army brat, lived in Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Colorado and Nebraska when he was growing up. He now makes his home in Texas.

His dad, who was from a long line of musicians, instilled a love of music in Carlos who won a music scholarship to LSU and has been the trumpet player in an 8-piece band “The Pie Tasters” based in Washington, D.C. for 10 years. After Carlos graduated from law school, hoping to combine his love of music with the practice of law, he got his dream job—as an attorney with the Recording Industry Association of America.

When Carlos passed that hurdle, he resolved to give back to the community because of the blessings he had received. He remembered seeing a commercial for Big Brothers when he was a kid and it made a big impression on him, so he opened the Yellow Pages and dialed the number.

Carlos was subsequently matched with Ray Alake, who lived with his mom who is from Nigeria. Ray, now a high school senior, was almost 13 at the time of the match. Ray’s love of music is what caught Carlos’ attention, as he looked at the write-ups of possible little brothers, and without hesitation, the relationship was sealed when the two met. Carlos first remembers his little brother as a 6’2” eighth grader with a sparkling smile and an open heart.

What began next was a 5-year journey that took Ray from a hardscrabble neighborhood of North Arlington, Texas, to a starting varsity assignment at Summit, one of the historically strongest football programs in a state crazy about football. Ray and Carlos both saw football as a possible next step onto a college education. However, Ray stumbled badly along the way when the school district was re-zoned and Ray was sent to a new school with no team, no history and no recruiters.

Defeat instead of possibilities overwhelmed Ray and he stopped going to school, started hanging out with the wrong crowd and was headed for disaster. A turnaround in Ray’s life came when Carlos asked him at one of their weekly dinners if they could “talk” about Ray’s current poor choices he was making. After a long and supportive conversation, Carlos encouraged Ray to meet with the football coach of the new school.

By the end of his first football season, Ray was the center of his team’s defense and began receiving recruiting letters from college football coaches. This year, he is the captain of the team, but the Division I scholarship eluded him. His SATs scored weren’t high enough.

Again, Carlos swung into action. He and Ray poured through ACT prep books and good news came just weeks ago, when Ray learned that he was academically eligible to be recruited by the NCAA and started receiving offers.

Ray will graduate with his class on time and recently accepted an offer from the University of Houston, where he will begin this fall.

This summer Carlos and his new wife will be moving to Washington DC, where Carlos has been promoted to the Recording Industry Association’s headquarters With them will be their new baby boy, who is expected this March. However, one thing is for sure: Carlos will be there for Ray at his graduation before heading east from Texas.