Byron Gettis, TE, Southern Illinois University
On Saturday night, I went to my first college football game, strolling over to the campus of Northern Illinois University to catch their home opener against Southern Illinois. It was a pretty remarkable game for a number of reasons, including a 20-point, fourth-quarter comeback by the visitors, but it was a 10-second stretch in the third quarter that struck me. After an incomplete pass, the stadium announcer came over the PA system ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú ?¢‚Ǩ?ì... pass intended for number eighty-four, Byron Gettis.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù I thought it was just a coincidence at first, but then I started wondering. Nearly ten years ago, when the Royals signed Gettis, he was a huge football star with Big Ten scholarship offers, and he was from... the southern part of Illinois. He struggled for years in the minors before suddenly coming alive in 2003 with a .302/.377/.473 season in the Texas League. The next season he spent 21 games in the big leagues, going 7-for-39, but by the end of 2005, he was coming off a .189/.265/.292 showing for the Tigers?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ Double-A affiliate, and was done. I wondered if it was really the Gettis that I saw play in the Midwest League some six years ago, and as number eighty-four came off the field, he was built just like the Gettis I knew?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú-bowling ball-esque if you will?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú-and once he took his helmet off, I was certain. Now a 26-year-old freshman with the nickname ?¢‚Ǩ?ìGrandpa,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Gettis isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t necessarily looking for a pro football career as much as he?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s just going to school, and getting his life in the real world going. According to his SIU bio, he?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s also writing a book about his baseball experience; I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m looking forward to reading it.
Kevin Goldstein
This is too cool to not share ...
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That reminds me of the beautiful story of Paul Blake.
Blake was a former high school all-star who gave up on his college ambitions to tend to his father's farm. Years down the line, he was approached by the coach of Texas State University Fightin' Armadillos, a team just coming off of NCAA sanctions.
With a surrounding cast that included professor/grad student, a female kicker, and a cast of characters who volunteer to play the team slides to a winless start - up until the second to last game of the season when the team ties Kansas.
Their final game, vs. the Texas Colts, Blake led them to a tremendous come-from-behind victory against the undefeated and archrival Colts - to the angst of a vicious Dean Miller who was rooting against them the whole time.
In all sincerity, that really is a tremendous story for Gettis - hope everything keeps moving forward for him...
Blake was a former high school all-star who gave up on his college ambitions to tend to his father's farm. Years down the line, he was approached by the coach of Texas State University Fightin' Armadillos, a team just coming off of NCAA sanctions.
With a surrounding cast that included professor/grad student, a female kicker, and a cast of characters who volunteer to play the team slides to a winless start - up until the second to last game of the season when the team ties Kansas.
Their final game, vs. the Texas Colts, Blake led them to a tremendous come-from-behind victory against the undefeated and archrival Colts - to the angst of a vicious Dean Miller who was rooting against them the whole time.
In all sincerity, that really is a tremendous story for Gettis - hope everything keeps moving forward for him...
