Boilermaker to Give Peoria a Try
Matthew Pickut
Wednesday March 20, 2002
After graduating with a degree in Child Development with a emphasis in family enrichment, Conard stayed in the Lafayette area to be near his son. He moved into his current position after interning at CFRC and has coordinated center activities for the past two years. “My biggest thing was that since I have a two year old boy I want to try and stay as close to home as possible,” recalled Lamar, “I kind of set a geographic range of where I wanted to stay, granted if I would have gotten picked up by an Arena team I would have went, but with the financial things with af2 I prefer to stay as close as possible.” Peoria was not Conard’s only choice; af2 teams in Jacksonville, Columbus, and Carolina also showed interest. “I started doing some research and watching a few arena games, from there I did a little scouting and got an agent to see if anybody could give me any positive feedback,” said Lamar, “and we sat down and discussed some things – they got me in contact with several teams.”
He credits the job and being close to Purdue for his staying in football shape. “I stayed around Purdue after [graduation], I’d go there and work out every now and then hang out with a lot of the player who still played, kept myself in pretty decent shape,” said Conard “and I play basketball all the time here and play around with the kids, because I knew I wanted to play.”
Being close to Purdue gave Conard the chance to workout in front NFL scouts with Purdue standouts like Akin Ayodele and Tim Stratton which gave him the chance to gauge his talent. Conard still runs the forty in the 4.5 range and looks like he can still hit, which he says is his favorite part of the game. According to the scouts, his size (5’ 11”) might hold him back at his preferred position of safety in some systems, but he has cornerback quickness. Given the success of af2 players (i.e. Cornelius Coe, who Lamar reminds me a lot of) moving up to the AFL, Conrad’s dream of playing professional football remains very much alive.
The kids at youth development remain unresolved about Lamar’s dream, “Quite a few of the kids know about it, they don’t want me to leave, but they want me to play football so its kind of 50/50.” Conard’s employers for their part support his dream, “They’ve been really supportive, that’s been one blessing of working in social services they want you to follow your dreams, and never give up on them – they want you to uplift the community and become a better person. For me I am fortunate, they are willing to work with me. I feel blessed to be at a place were I can take this opportunity.”
As a three year starter at Purdue, Conard is confident he can make it in the af2. Still, if Lamar doesn’t make the team at least he’ll still have fans. They may be smaller and younger, but at least he won’t have to worry about them spilling beer on him after he makes a tackle.
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
