Emerson Castaneda is a 2012 graduate of St. Francis High School in La Canada. He lettered in basketball for the Golden Knights for three years. He earned first team all-league as a senior '12 and earned second team all-league as a junior '11. Emerson also represented the Vaqueros for two seasons. He averaged 12.4 points per game as a sophomore and was shooting 43% from the three-point line. After his two years at Glendale, Emerson went on to play for a division II school in San Diego, Point Loma Nazarene University. He graduated in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. During the summer of 2017, Emerson was given an opportunity to play professionally overseas in El Salvador for half a season. There he averaged 15.6 points a game and shot 40% from the three-point line.

In 2018 Emerson returned to the states to continue his studies and pursue a master's degree. He attended Alliant International University and graduated in 2020 receiving a master's in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Emerson Castaneda started his coaching career with the Vaqueros in 2021 and is now beginning his second year coaching at Glendale, looking to improve from last year.