But Lopez was about three years old when a baseball bat was first put into his hands. Basketball and football soon followed. It all just ensued naturally. That's the way things happen when you're a kid growing up in Weehawken. You just naturally play sports.
"It was a big part of me, playing in the parks, in the streets, with my friends," Lopez said. "That's how I grew up. I guess I was just born with it. I just played everything. I wasn't the biggest kid in the world, but I was always able to run."
Lopez knew that he was blessed with blinding speed when he was playing baseball in Weehawken at the tender age of 6.
"I got teased by the other parents in the league," Lopez said. "They told me to bunt and get inside-the-park homers. They'd say, 'There's Danny, flying around the bases again.' I would really bunt and get inside-the-parkers."
But there was no way that Lopez could have ever dreamed he would eventually reach such high standards as an athlete, especially since he is still not the biggest guy in the world and he played for one of the smallest high schools in Hudson County.
"Sometimes, I sit here, and I say to myself, 'Did I really do all that?' " Lopez said. "I guess I even amaze myself."
Lopez has every reason to be amazed, because he evolved into perhaps the finest all-around athlete in the history of the school.
Lopez was a four-year letter winner in baseball, earning Hudson Reporter All-Area honors three times, earning All-Group I honors by the Newark Star-Ledger twice and was a Third Team All-State performer in 2003. During his tenure, Lopez led the Indians to three straight Bergen County Scholastic League National Division championships. He batted over .550 twice and although he slumped a little during his senior year while batting a foot injury, he was still a dominant force.
Lopez was a two-year varsity letter winner in football, after beginning his career as a soccer player. With the football team, Lopez became the premier running back and kick returner in the BCSL National. He rushed for more than 1,600 yards during his senior year and scored 23 touchdowns, leading the Indians to the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I state playoffs, only the second state playoff berth in school's history.
During last football season, Lopez had perhaps one of the finest all-around performances in the history of Hudson County football.
In a 37-14 victory over Harrison, a game that clinched the state playoff berth for the Indians, Lopez rushed for 211 yards on 11 carries and scored two touchdowns of 50 and 35 yards, returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown and had another punt return of 40 yards, had a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown and returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, only to have the play nullified because of a penalty.
In that game, Lopez also kicked a 28-yard field goal, added four PAT kicks, made nine tackles in the secondary and caught two passes. That was a career encompassed in just one game.
His legacy doesn't stop there. As a point guard for the basketball team, Lopez averaged nine points, five assists and five rebounds for the Indians, who won 23 games and captured the school's first BCSL National title in seven years.
When you throw into the mix that for the first two years of high school, Lopez was the best soccer player in the school, scoring nine goals and adding 17 assists as a sophomore center midfielder, you can see the versatility and talent that is Danny Lopez.
For his achievements, Lopez has been selected as the 2003-2004 Hudson Reporter Male Athlete of the Year. It marks the 13th straight year that the Hudson Reporter newspaper chain has presented the award to someone for being the finest athlete participating in more than one varsity sport in Hudson County. Lopez is the first honoree in the history of Weehawken High School.
This year, for the first time, the Hudson Reporter is honoring both a male and a female athlete. In years past, there was only one award, but Hudson Reporter Co-Publishers David Unger and Lucha Malato agreed that the time had come to honor two athletes at the end of the scholastic sports year.
"What better way can an athlete end his career than by receiving this award," Lopez said. "I'm truly honored, and it's a statement that no one from Weehawken ever earned the award before. It doesn't get any better than that. It shows you that no matter what size your school is, no matter how big you are, you can still have a future in sports."
All three of Lopez' coaches sang the young man's praises. Not only is Lopez a brilliant athlete, one for the ages, but he is also an excellent student and recently graduated as the No. 4-ranked student in his senior class.
"He's a natural athlete," Weehawken basketball coach Jake McNish said. "It reminds me of when I coached [United States National soccer team great] Tony Meola in high school [at Kearny]. That kid could do anything. So could Danny. Danny excelled at everything he did. As a basketball player, he made himself into a good player. He worked hard. I opened the gym three nights a week during the off-season and Danny was one of the first ones there. And I'd have to run him out of the gym at the end of the night. I just can't say enough good things about him."
"From the minute you first saw him as a freshman, you knew he was something special," said Weehawken baseball coach Tony Colasurdo, who recently retired from coaching. "He's definitely the quickest kid we ever had. He also had an unbelievable presence about him. He was intimidating. You couldn't hold him down. I think that presence is what I will always remember. No question about it, he's one of a kind."
Weehawken football coach Anthony Stratton believes that Weehawken will not see another Danny Lopez.
"Athletes like Danny Lopez only come around once in a while," Stratton said. "We're not going to see another one like him again for a long time. You can't even measure what Danny Lopez meant to Weehawken. I think I'll remember his loyalty more than anything. I remember him going to [soccer coach] Tim Gordon and asking him if he could play football. To have loyalty like that is rare today among kids. He's clearly one of the best athletes to ever come out of Weehawken."
Lopez credited the efforts of his father and his uncle, Manny, who followed him through every step of the way.
"Just being there for me all the time meant so much," Lopez said. "My dad was probably the biggest influence on me, but my uncle would work with me all the time, telling me what I was doing wrong. My dad was my first coach and introduced me to sports. He took me to play soccer. He put the Wiffle ball bat in my hand. Once he put the bat in my hands and saw me hit, he said, 'Let's go that way.' "
It's also the way that Lopez will go in college, because he has signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at Seton Hall University in the fall. The versatile portion of Danny Lopez' life is over.
"Sooner or later, it will hit me that it's all over and I'll never be able to do all that ever again," Lopez said. "But at least I feel like I've accomplished something great."
Like a legacy of greatness, one that will last through the ages.
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