Garner Gets His Kicks in Albany
Jeff Foley
Tuesday June 27, 2000
There hadn’t been a kicker in camp so far. Don Silvestri, who spent three years with the Firebirds, retired after helping Albany capture ArenaBowl XIII in 1999.
A closer look at the helmeted player trotting across RPI’s turf with a kicking tee in his hand reveals that Nelson Garner is back. Nelson tried out for the Firebirds in 1999, playing in a preseason game against the Milwaukee Mustangs, but the James Madison University graduate didn’t finish the season in Albany.
“After that Milwaukee game, Don Silvestri came back,” Nelson says. “And Coach Dailey put me on the developmental squad … He kept me around because Don had some things going on with his wife being pregnant. He thought he might have to miss a game. So I hung around here for about four weeks, just kicking during practice. And then I got an opportunity to go to training camp with Edmonton in the CFL. So I went up there and was competing with another guy for the job. I had a real good preseason. During practices we were pretty much neck and neck. And in the first preseason game up there, we alternated field goals. I hit my first one. But the guy I was competing with, his second attempt was a 53-, 54-yarder, and he nailed it. The media jumped all over that, so I got released from there during training camp.”
Out of a job, Nelson headed back home to Charlotte, North Carolina. The kicker had been released before – he went through training camp with the Baltimore Ravens in 1998 and 1999, only to get cut before the start of the regular season – and he knew that another opportunity would probably pop up.
So Garner bided his time by leading a normal, civilian life. He got a job at a bank, saved up some money, bought an engagement ring and proposed to his girlfriend. Jessica said yes, and life was good, but wearing a suit and tie to work was not Nelson’s idea of living each day to the fullest.
“It was quite frustrating,” he says. “I wasn’t ready to hang it up. I still felt like I had lots of good years left in my leg. I just turned 24 last month and I felt like it’s too young. I have the drive and desire to play somewhere, and I’ve been in three different leagues and I haven’t gotten a chance to stick yet. I just haven’t found a home yet.”
But Garner stayed focused. He put in full days at the bank, helped with wedding plans and continued to work out. Good and bad news found the kicker at the same time late in 1999.
Nelson discovered that the AFL was awarding an expansion team to Raleigh, North Carolina – the Carolina Cobras – just minutes from his home. But then doctors told him that he had torn a meniscus. Nelson says he has know idea how he injured the cartilage; he just began feeling knee pain one day.
“When I found out Raleigh was getting the Cobras, I immediately started making calls to their personnel people, just being really persistent, hoping to get a shot. I thought that’d be great, an expansion team right near my hometown. So finally, after a lot of work, I got a private tryout with them. All along I knew I was going to have this surgery too, so I actually worked out for them December 14. I had a real good workout for them. My knee was messed up, but it was good enough. I then went under the knife the next day. I was trying to time it out just right – have a good workout for them and then be ready for training camp.”
When Garner checked into the hospital, he was under the impression it would be just a minor surgery – a meniscus shaving. He figured doctors would fix him up and he’d be kicking again in a month. But when Garner came to, the doctors told him the tear was worse than they’d originally thought, and it had required extensive surgery. Nelson couldn’t even put weight on his leg. And while he healed, the Carolina Cobras decided they wanted a kicker with substantial AFL experience, and picked somebody in the expansion draft.
“I was pretty dejected after that. I figured that was pretty much it. If I didn’t play this season, I was never going to get anyone to give me another chance. But I kept making calls, hoping to squeeze in somewhere, and then one day I got a call from Coach Dailey saying that Don had retired.”
Garner was invited to the Albany Firebirds’ 2000 training camp. With Silvestri gone, and Nelson having spent five weeks with Albany during the 1999 season, his prospects looked good. But there were more stumbling blocks.
First, if Nelson made the trip to New York, he’d have to pray that his knee held up. And more importantly, he’d have to leave his wife of about a month behind. He and Jessica were married on February 19, 1999 – just 33 days before the start of training camp.
“I wouldn’t have come up here unless I had complete support from her because no matter what your dreams are, they’re not worth … my No. 1 responsibility is to my wife and to my marriage. And if I didn’t feel like she were supporting me, then I wouldn’t have done it … She knew I wasn’t happy doing what I was doing and that I really love playing football.”
Even with his wife’s support, Nelson says the distance will be difficult.
“It is tough. It can be a strain if you’re not careful.”
Coming into last year’s tryout with the Firebirds, Nelson’s main objective was to get to the NFL. Now, he says, his perspective has changed. If his knee stays healthy, he’s decided that where he plays is not so important as making sure that he does play.
“I just want to play somewhere. And this league’s getting better and better. I just want to stick somewhere and play a season, just do what I love to do. Whether it gives me an opportunity to go on and play at a higher level or not, it’s a good place to play. Not many guys can even say they do this, getting paid to do something they love. Just being out and working in the real world made me realize it more. I just wanted to come back to it. I have a competitive spirit. I like to be involved in the heat of battle, the camaraderie with the guys, all that stuff.”
Note: Nelson Garner did indeed make the Firebirds squad and has handled every extra point, field goal and kickoff for Albany during the 2000 season. Against the New Jersey Red Dogs on June 16, in front of a national television audience, he booted a 58-yard field goal, the longest in Firebirds history.
Jeff Foley was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2001.