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below. Austin American-Statesman
Arena players scatter, take on off-season job
The
off-season for the Austin Wranglers' Richard
McCleskey starts with a rooster crow.
McCleskey will work on his father-in-law's farm near Lincoln, Neb.,
rising early to feed the pigs, tend the cows, spend time with his wife
and baby girl -- and pass another day before the Arena Football League
season starts again.
For arena players, the off-season starts in a variety of ways and in a variety of places. For the Wranglers, it started after Saturday's 69-68 loss at New Orleans concluded a 6-10 season. A few players -- such as former Texas Longhorn Aaron Humphrey and quarterback John Fitzgerald -- will stay in town, but most will scatter and pursue their other careers.
Some will coach. Some will work manual labor. For most of the players, the football job simply isn't enough.
All AFL teams must contend with a $1.6 million salary cap (it will increase by 0.3 percent this year), and the cap includes costs for the players' apartments and general living expenses. With such a tight payroll, the Wranglers players earn an average of $30,180 per season, meaning that most players pick up other jobs for the other half of the year.
Fitzgerald will get married in August, before finishing up some prerequisite work for the medical school he hopes to see in his future. Lineman Angel Rubio is a "silent investor" in a cookie store with his wife's family. Backup quarterback Scott Dreisbach owns a construction company in Florida, fueled by the hurricanes that pound the state each summer. Humphrey spent last fall working in the Texas football weight room and then traveled to the Rose Bowl with the team. Former Longhorn Greg Brown hopes to do something similar this season.
Some jobs carry an element of danger, like Daniel Kegler's gig as a corrections officer at a prison near Albuquerque, N.M. Kegler says he's witnessed fights, had a brick kicked at his head and seen more drugs inside the prison than out.
"Basically I baby-sit a bunch of grown men," Kegler said. "A lot of inmates will get out and immediately get arrested and put back in -- within the hour sometimes."
Two-way star Charlie Davidson will spend his off-season with a real baby -- he will be a stay-at-home dad for his five children, including his new baby daughter, Alexandra McKenzie.
"I think the Mr. Mom stuff is harder, because it's a full-time gig," said Davidson, who grew up in Austin. "In football, we practice and play and then it's over."
Some jobs are inspiring, like P.J. Winston, who devoted last fall to working for the Family and Youth Program in New Mexico. Winston is assigned to spend time with two to eight underprivileged kids a day, mentoring them, meeting them in their schools and homes and guiding them down paths to success.
"We've all been kids, and know how hard it can be," said Winston, who is interested in getting involved with a similar program in Austin. "The backgrounds these kids come from are amazing."
All the jobs, McCleskey said, serve as constant reminders that the way the players spend their springs is something special.
"I'm living my dream as long as I can," said McCleskey about the arena game.
