For just a few minutes, we East Coasters need to forget about our well-documented bias and pay attention to the other side of the country. When San Jose State hosts Nevada in football on the Left Coast tonight, something amazing is going to happen. Ordinarily, this game would not even be a blip on our collective radars, but tonight one man might be rewriting the definition of a comeback athlete.
That young man, Neil Parry, is a walk-on for the San Jose State Spartans football team and he will be playing in his first game in three years when he goes out for the punt return unit.
Big deal, right? Lots of people walk-on in college athletics. They do not get the publicity that he is getting. Why should we take notice of this guy?
Well, those other walk-ons did so on two legs. That is exactly twice as many legs as Neil Parry has.
Parry was playing football for San Jose State in October 2000, and in a game against Texas-El Paso, Parry suffered a compound fracture in his right leg while covering on a kick-off. Nine days after the injury, Parry's leg became so infected that doctors were forced to amputate just below his knee to save his life.
For most of us, we would hear a message, loud and clear, that it was time to focus on something else; but not Parry, he just wanted to play football again.
He was so determined that he has spent the last three years preparing for tonight. During his long recovery, Parry drew his inspiration from Lance Armstrong's comeback from cancer and he watched movies such as "Rocky" and "Rudy" over and over.
But simply wanting to play was not going to make it happen. The physical aspects of Parry's recovery are remarkable. He has had 25 surgeries and has been fitted for numerous prosthetic legs. Multiple complications with both the nerves around the amputation and discomfort with previous prosthetics meant only for running, not football, have delayed his return. Parry's obstacles, however, were not restricted to medical complications either.
In August 2002, Parry's insurance carrier threatened to cancel his coverage if he returned to the gridiron. Two days later, Mutual of Omaha modified their policy and removed the barrier.
After all the obstacles and setbacks, Parry's dream of a return has never wavered. He did as much as possible by continuing to workout with the athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches at San Jose State.
Finally, Parry has come all the way back with profuse amounts of determination and a little help from a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg. In fact, the technology was not even around when he was first injured. Parry's new leg is secured with a strong suction cup and is protected further with a bulky knee brace. It is actually impossible to tell that he has the prosthetic with all the padding, he looks just like any other player for the Spartans.
Still not convinced that Parry is doing something amazing? Are you thinking that maybe San Jose State coach Fitz Hill is just putting him on special teams as a nice gesture for his hard work? Not a chance, Hill has reiterated that he would not do something that could have adverse consequences for the team's chances to win football games. And do you really think Parry would accept any gestures of the sort? Parry is not looking for handouts; he wanted to earn his spot on the field.
After tonight's game, when people talk about inspirational stories, they will probably think of Lance Armstrong first; after all Armstrong's chances of survival were well under 50 percent and he came back to win the most grueling cycling event five times. But he also had some degree of financial security, like a lot of athletes that suffer serious injuries or setbacks. Parry, however, did not have a large bank account to fall back on; all he had was he desire to play football. Maybe Neil Parry should become the new poster boy of against-all-odds athletes.
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