Posted on 07/22/2002 6:25:42 PM PDT by willieroe
The dream comes to Neil Parry often. In it, the San Jose State special teams player sprints down the field on a kickoff. He "blows up" the opponents' blocking wedge, breaking through to the ball carrier.
When it is suggested that the perfect end to the dream sequence is him making the tackle, Parry says, "You're reading my mind. I think about that all the time, too, man."
The significance of this nocturnal fantasy is that the 22-year old body of Neil Parry is not whole. Thirteen centimeters below his right knee, doctors removed his leg in late October 2000. A freak injury led to a tragic result.
Two years ago he was covering a kick against Texas-El Paso. A teammate rolled over Parry's leg in a pile. The replays showing Parry breaking his leg were bad enough. Bone could be seen poking through the skin. Parry's own brother Josh, then a Spartans linebacker, was so freaked out that he turned away from the scene and walked -- screaming -- toward the Spartans sideline.
But that's all it was at the time, a broken leg. Then in infection set in, an infection doctors still can't explain. Eleven days after the injury, doctors said the leg would have to go.
"I still, to this day, don't know what happened, where it came from," Parry said. "I don't want to dwell on that."
As rare as the situation is, Parry's dream is about to give way to an almost impossible reality. It's not a case of if Parry will return to the field, it's when. Twenty operations, debilitating pain and endless rehabilitation have led the junior from Sonora, Calif., to circle Sept. 28 on his calendar for his return to the field.
On that day the Spartans will be at home against those same Miners, 16 days short of the two-year anniversary of the injury.
"It's where it happened, Spartan Stadium," Parry said. "It's El Paso. If there's anything telling me when and where, that's it."
The college football world hasn't picked up on the feat yet. But it will. For two years, Parry has said he planned to return. Now there is an anticipated reality to the bravado. Former president Bill Clinton, who met Parry during a speaking engagement, has promised to return for his first game back. The 20th surgery was a new procedure to strengthen the bones at the end of his leg. There is a rush to find a prosthetic that will fit and is comfortable.
"He's set his mind to it since Day 1, that he was going to return to play," San Jose State associate trainer Jeb Burns said. "Every single step he's taken, his goal is toward that. He functions completely normal."
That's normal as in playing as many as 36 holes of golf in a day. Biking, running, working out.
"If he can run down on kickoffs, and he says he's going to blow somebody up, I believe him," second-year coach Fitz Hill said.
The NCAA will have to sign off on Parry's use of a prosthetic but there is precedent. The last player to play with a prosthetic leg is believed to be Texas Tech kicker Brian Hall. Hall kicked for three years in the mid-1970s with an artificial foot.
But that was different. Hall was a kicker, football's version of a fragile porcelain mouse. Parry, 6-feet and 180 pounds, intends to return to his position on kickoff coverage, where he came to the program as a walk-on before eventually earning his scholarship. This isn't a stunt. It's that dream morphed into reality.
"I've got two more years left," Parry said. "I'm finishing my career. When they have senior day I want them calling my name: 'Neil Parry, No. 32, is graduating.'"
No one who knows him is doubting Parry. Former coach Dave Baldwin was fired after the 2000 season and has since moved on to become offensive coordinator at Baylor. Hill inherited Parry and his story but is no less amazed that the previous staff.
"They say he plans running down on kickoffs," Hill said. "He told me the only way he wouldn't play is if he lost his other leg. Who wouldn't want that around?"
Hill didn't think twice about letting Parry pursue his dream. Part of the reason Hill left Arkansas, where he had just built a new house as a valued member of Houston Nutt's staff, was a comeback story of his own. The San Jose State job put him now closer to his mother Mary Hill, who lives in nearby Berkeley. Mary Hill suffered a stroke in 1984 and hasn't walked or talked since.
"I spent a year in the hospital with her," Hill said. "When somebody says they're going to do something, no matter what that's my role to support them. I love Neil Parry. This football team needs him and he needs this football program."
San Jose State actually needs a bunch of Neil Parrys. It's a commuter school that plays in the WAC and suffers from exposure and attendance problems. This year it's playing nine of 13 games on the road, in part to balance the budget with lucrative paydays looming at Washington, Stanford, Illinois and Ohio State. In an area inhabited by 49ers, Giants, A's, Raiders, Sharks and Warriors it's not insensitive to ask if Parry's comeback is some sort of publicity stunt.
To walk again is one thing, but to risk injury on a football field raises other issues:
Will Parry be safe? As safe as any other player. He has outrun some teammates in drills, getting an unexpected boost out of the prosthetic. Parry ran a 5-flat 40 last year and plans to get to down to 4.7 or 4.8 before the season starts.
Will teammates and opponents be safe? Braces holding the artificial leg onto Parry's stump will have to be cushioned the same way a knee brace would for any other injured player.
Will Parry actually help the Spartans? He earned a scholarship in the first place because of his wild, wedge-breaking abilities. If he can play, it can't hurt. San Jose State defends a lot of kickoffs. It finished last in I-A defense last season.
"I let him talk to the team throughout last season," Hill said. "He would say, 'If you want to see somebody who wants to go out there who really wants to play football, just wait. Watch me when I go hit somebody.'"
Those armed with only the slightest sense of good taste can only hope that the inevitable books and movies do Parry's comeback justice.
The early indication of infection started with a 104-degree fever that doctors were initially clueless about.
"The doctor kept saying, 'Everything went well and you should be out of here in a day or two,'" Parry said. "A day or two goes by and I'm still in the hospital. More and more doctors kept coming in. All of the sudden I'm in the intensive care unit."
Doctors eventually asked Parry's father, Nick, how to break the news. Nick Parry took it upon himself to offer the options: Lose the leg or keep it and have less than a 10 percent chance that it can be saved. Even if he retained the leg, Parry probably would never walk normally again.
Nick Parry, a Navy nurse since 1972, laid out the options, then was shocked by his son's reaction.
"After the amputation my dad was next to me and we were watching TV in the hospital," Neil said. "I asked, 'Do you think I'll be able to run again?' He looked at me and said, 'I don't see why not.' Then I asked him again, 'If I can run, why can't I play football?' The look on his face was priceless."
There was a battle with morphine. At one point, Parry was so drugged up that he couldn't keep food down. Finally, he told doctors to lessen the dosage. He could put up with a little more pain.
Then there were the operations, more than the vast majority of people will ever endure. There was a financial drain on the family, with insurance covering only so much. There were social concerns. Would any girl want a relationship with a guy sporting an artificial leg?
"There have been times, I'm not going to lie to you, when I asked 'Why am I doing this?'" Parry said. "When all I can do is just lay there. I can't even really get out of bed to go to the bathroom."
What ultimately motivates Parry is what motivated him almost two years ago when his life was changed forever. Why walk when you can run? Why run when you can hit? Why dream when you can do?
"I just love the game," he said. "Any kind of football. When you're playing in a game, that's 100 times better than anybody can ever tell you. I have to get back and play because I love it."
Helluva an inspirational story.
I can't help but thinking the opposing team will not be able to get over the idea of having "pity" on Parry and he will be excluded from play to eliminate this factor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.