Summary "Longest Yard" When he was 19, Mike Pendergast was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison after being involved in a Vallejo, Ca., crime spree that included carjacking, kidnapping and armed robbery. He received a 14 years to life prison sentence, but, he became a model prisoner, using sports to help break down the racial barriers in the notoriously segregated prison yard. After getting paroled last year, after 10 years in jail, the 31-year-old pendergast is the oldest freshman to play on the Solano Community College football team, in Fairfield , Ca., playing defensive line while putting his violent past behind him. Mike outside the prison walls of Solano Federal Detention facility in Vacaville where he spennt 10 years of his life.

Michael Macor, San Francisco Chronicle