R-Kal Has Name Recognition
Mary-Ann Williams
Saturday August 18, 2001
“I was thinking something like Tru’,” the Rookie of the Year said. “Maybe Luck? I don’t know. What do you think?”
I think that at 6’5” and 267 pounds, I’ll call you whatever you want me to call you, Mr. Truluck.
Okay, that’s what I should have said to him. Instead, I felt pretty comfortable telling the gentle giant what I really thought.
“What do you need a nickname for? You have the best name already,” I said. “R-Kal True-Luck. What a great name. Where did it come from?”
The big man looked at the floor and grinned, looking a lot like my seven-year-old son when he’s heard a compliment he didn’t expect. “Thanks,” he said. “It’s Swahili for ‘The Ruler.’” He looked up with an even bigger grin and said, “That’s me. What do you think?”
I agree, R-Kal. And so do a lot of other people, apparently. The Detroit Fury lineman showed up in Grand Rapids because he had to. He was up for four different awards at the ArenaBall, the annual dress-up awards ceremony held each year during ArenaBowl weekend.
Besides the Rookie of the Year, R-Kal could have walked away with Defensive Player of the Year, Lineman of the Year, and the Built Ford Tough award. When I asked him which award he wanted more he said, “All of them. I wanted a clean sweep. But I guess the truck would have been enough.”
He almost sounds ungrateful for the award he did get, but that’s not true.
“I feel incredibly honored that my peers and the coaches and everyone thought enough of me to give me the award. I was humbled by my experiences with the St. Louis Rams. I thank the (Fury) for giving me the opportunity to play for them.”
St. Louis Rams? Yes, R-Kal worked out with the Rams last season after finishing his third year with the Saskatchuwan Rough Riders in the Canadian Football League. He was called in to practice with the team in February and lasted three full months before they decided that he didn’t fit with the chemistry of the rest of the team.
“It wasn’t because I wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t because I wasn’t talented or couldn’t do the job,” he said. “It was because of my personality. That was hard to take. You can’t change that. I don’t know if they thought I was trying too hard to fit in, or what, but I walked away pretty upset about the whole thing.”
Luckily, his line coach knew a good thing when he saw it and called Fury head coach Mouse Davis. R-Kal not only gelled with the Fury, he thrived there, mounting 13 tackles and eight sacks, five on Grand Rapid’s star, Clint Dolezel. And now he’s looking ahead.
“I want to understand the game more to be more effective,” he said. “It’s so fast! If you blink, you’ve missed six points. I’m not used to that yet. I want to learn the pass rushing a little better. I would like to be the most dominant player in the league.”
If his rookie year is any indication of what he’s capable of, there’s little doubt in anyone’s minds that "The Ruler" will be one of the best lineman to ever play Arena Football.
SIDE NOTES
Mom Finds Out
R-Kal called his mom this morning to let her know about his award. When he muttered a complaint about not winning the truck, his mom responded with, “Who cares! You beat the offensive players for that award. That’s so great!”
He shook his head when he told me the story, saying, “That’s true. Linemen aren’t the flashy players. We don’t win awards like this. That’s great that this year it went to a lineman.”
Canadian Days
When R-Kal showed up in Saskatchewan for his first game, the hometown crowd booed him. It turns out that he had taken the spot of the team’s hero, Bobby Jurasin, the greatest pass rusher ever. Not only that, but Jurasin, who had retired by request of the team only a week before, was playing on the opposing team!
R-Kal walked away the winner of the night, though, as the Saskatchewan team beat the Toronto Argonauts 19-10. The defense was the deciding factor of the game, with R-Kal offering up four sacks and nine tackles on the night.
What’s Next?
“I don’t have high expectations. I just want to go out and play; go out and have fun. I’ll be signing a contract pretty soon with the Fury, and I’m going home to Saskatchewan for the off-season. I want to do a good job for myself and my team. That’s pretty much it.”
Mary-Ann Williams lives in Chicagoland with her four children, Carter, Jackson, Jeremy, and Riley Jade. As a freelance writer, she`s written articles for the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Daily Herald. She also serves as editor of the AFL-side of Arenafan Online, and covers the Chicago Rush.
