Field Of Dreams: The Michael Santucci Story

Yesterday was a big day for the 2010 Nashville Storm football team--- we had our first full-team practice of 2010 over at the Stratford High School practice field, and then had our annual team cookout over at Una Recreation Center. And one of the visitors to the cookout was one of my all-time favorite former Nashville Storm players, a young man named Michael Santucci, who played for the 2007 Nashville Storm team.

The Nashville Storm have built an 8-year W-L record of 98-17 with 4 NAFL South Championships and 2 appearances in the NAFL National Championship Games. A key part of that record is that we've won 23 consecutive road games, with our last loss in a road game coming in early June of 2006. Michael Santucci was the hero of one of those 23 games, making a play that turned around a game that was seemingly headed to a Storm defeat.

The Nashville Storm built our record with a great coaching staff, but that record was also built on the abilities of a lot of highly talented football players---- on an annual basis, between 50-70% of the Nashville Storm roster are former college football players, and many of the Nashville Storm players that DIDN'T play college football were outstanding high school players who didn't play college football due to academic problems. In spite of this, the Nashville Storm are a true Nashville community team with an "open door" philososphy--- our coaching staff has a saying I'm very fond of, and the saying is "If you can really PLAY, we don't care where you've been". We hold between 2 and 4 open tryouts every spring that are open to all comers, irregardless of a player-applicant's past football resume'. 3 years ago, this "open door" philosophy attracted the attention of Michael Santucci, who came through our open tryouts.

Michael Santucci wasn't a former college football player.

Michael Santucci wasn't a former high school football player.

In fact, Michael Santucci wasn't even a former MIDDLE-SCHOOL or YOUTH football player. Michael Santucci had never played football before.

Michael was a pretty decent athlete, but in terms of football skills, the most descriptive adjective was the word "raw", which, in light of Michael's lack of previous football playing experience, probably shouldn't have been a surprise. However, Michael was a hard-working player on the practice field, and earned a spot on the Nashville Storm's kickoff coverage team.

Which brings us to a certain 2007 mid-season game in Indianapolis against a very good football team called the Hoosier Hurricanes. In 2005, the Hurricanes, in their first season, had gone undefeated in the old OVFL and won the Minor League Football News' AA National Championship Game. In 2006, the Hurricanes went AAA and joined the NAFL--- in '06, they finished their regular NAFL season with a 9-1 regular season record and the #1 playoff seed in the NAFL North. In July of 2007, the Nashville Storm headed to Indianapolis to play the Hurricanes for the first time.

The Hurricanes boat-raced the Storm for nearly 40 minutes of football, leading 20-0 at halftime and 27-7 midway through the 3rd quarter. Then, the Storm scored a touchdown late in the 3rd quarter to cut the Hurricane lead to 27-14---- but then faced a kickoff to a Hurricane team that wasn't having much trouble scoring in this game.

Enter Michael Santucci. On the ensuing kickoff, Michael met the Hurricane returner, stripped the football from him and then fell on it, recovering the football for the Storm deep in Hurricane territory. A few plays later, the Storm scored another touchdown, cutting the Hurricane lead to 27-21. The Storm ended up winning the game 37-34. Without Michael's big play, the Storm would have left Indianapolis with a defeat.

It would have been nice to say that this was the first of many game-changing plays for Michael Santucci as a Nashville Storm player, but it wouldn't be true. In the Storm's very next game, Michael tore his ACL on the opening kickoff, ending his career as a Nashville Storm player.

Fast forward to April 17, 2010. Michael showed up to our team cookout about 10-15 pounds heavier than in his days with the Nashville Storm, but not from inactivity----- from work in the weight room. Michael's decided to finish his college education at Cumberland University in Lebanon, and he is now in school there.

And--------- Michael's on the Cumberland University football team. Just finished his first spring practice there. Michael's a college football player.

It's never too late to do something you love. Just ask Michael Santucci.