Samuel Shocked by Release From Fire
Kevin Sedelmeier
Friday July 30, 2004
If you’re wondering where Louisville Fire kicker Marc Samuel has gone, in a way – so does he. The kicker who has weathered the drastic roster changes of the past two seasons would still be kicking for his hometown Fire if it was up to him.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Samuel said after being cut last Tuesday. “I’m not leaving on my own free will,” he added. This week, Samuel is busy taking the New York bar exam, but he doesn’t want fans to think he has become too busy to play arena football, either. So what happened to precipitate the release of Samuel and the signing of kicker Danny Kight?
“Well, Marc couldn’t travel with us to Hawaii,” said Head Coach Tommy Johnson. “We brought Danny Kight in. Danny did an outstanding job for us in Hawaii. The team felt good with him, so we felt like we wanted to stay with him.”
According to Samuel, that is exactly what he was told as well when he received the news. “They called me on Tuesday, and said he (Kight) did a good job out there, and they were going to go with him the rest of the year.”
Frankly, these things happen often in the business of professional sports, and Samuel knows that well. Just two years ago he was cut buy the Buffalo Bills during the exhibition season. But Samuel is disappointed that right before the team left for Hawaii, Johnson told him that he would still have his kicking job when the Fire returned to the mainland. So, Samuel booked his plane ticket to Louisville for last Saturday’s Green Bay game. It was a ticket he wouldn’t need.
So what happened to change Johnson’s mind? Well, it’s always a coach’s prerogative to change his mind, to rethink a situation, or a roster move. And if anybody knows there are no legal, binding agreements in a coach’s comment or promise to a player, it’s Samuel, a lawyer working in New York. Still, Samuel was miffed. “I was completely shocked,” he said. “It (being cut) never even crossed my mind. When Coach Johnson gave me his word, I thought it was golden.”
Although Samuel has good things to say about Kight, who has played in the NFL, (“I’m sure he’s a great kicker” and “I was very happy the guy did well”) he seemed to expect a little more loyalty and sincerity from the Fire. “My experience with Tommy until now has been positive,” Samuel says, calling Johnson a “stand-up” guy. But Samuel was also quick to add that Johnson, “Promised to personally reimburse me for the ticket (the unused plane fare to Louisville).” That certainly sounds like the Tommy Johnson Fire fans have come to know.
What, as first seems a bit out of character, however, was the fact that Johnson wasn’t the one to call Samuel and tell him he was cut. Instead, Offensive Coordinator Chris MacKeown did the job. He left a message, and when Samuel returned MacKeown’s call, he also spoke with Johnson who was back in the office at that time, and as always, Johnson was affable and polite on the call. So, why didn’t Johnson call him personally? “I just wasn’t there,” Johnson said. “I was doing some speaking engagements. We needed to get this done so he (MacKeown) called.”
But did the Fire give Samuel any other reasons as to why they let him go aside from the fact that Kight did a good job in Hawaii? According to Samuel, there were two other reasons the team gave him for his release. The first reason was that he didn’t come to practice – but then again he never has been able to do that. Since he started kicking for the Fire, Samuel has lived out of town, and it was agreed that he would fly in just for games. But, it didn’t seem to be a serious issue until now. Ironically, if Samuel passes the New York bar exam, he would have been available to come to practice for the rest of the season.
The second reason, according to Samuel, was that Assistant Coach Adam Shackleford suggested Samuel was a “distraction” to the team. After the June 12 Peoria and June 25 Manchester games, Samuel raised questions in the locker room about the snapping and holding of kicks. A series of injuries to holder Dennis Fryzel (who Samuel calls “an incredible holder”) and snappers Brandon Dyson and Sam Maverick meant other players unfamiliar with the positions had to fill in, and apparently the coaches didn’t have them practice much at those spots in the weeks between games. This troubled Samuel, and he voiced his concerns. After going 17 of my 23 for field goals inside the 50 dating back to the second game of last season, Samuel had gone 1 of 6 during the recent stretch that included the before mentioned rash of injuries. Still, Samuel doesn’t want to make excuses, but when the kicker with the second highest PAT percentage in all of arena football goes cold, there may be a reason. Samuel has great regard for his teammates, but hoped those players filling in for the holders and snappers would have been offered some extra reps in practice.
Perhaps a fair rebuttal to this lack of practice argument would be – how do you practice holding for a kicker when there is no kicker around to practice with? In fact, Schackleford asked Samuel, “How many kicks does a kicker take in practice?”
But calling Samuel a “distraction” seems like a stretch. The Fire has had its share of distractions the past four seasons. Without mentioning names, there have been bails to be met, egos to coddle, and other temperament issues. This year’s team, however, has been one strong on character. One that plays hard, not dirty. One that is filled with solid, decent guys; guys fans can be proud of and really respect. So, a kicker questioning the lack of practice players unfamiliar with a position are getting doesn’t sound exactly like an Allen Iverson or Milton Bradley clubhouse outburst.
None of this is a knock against Kight, a strong-legged kicker who played for the Indianapolis Colts in 1999 and 2000, kicking 23 touchbacks during that time. He’s also been with the CFL’s Ottawa Renegades and the Rhein Fire, holding NFL Europe’s record for longest field goal with a 56-yarder.
Still, aside from the roster move, there were other issues with Samuel that didn’t seem to be handled in the most professional manner by the Fire. Some confusion over the specifics of the Hawaii ticket purchase and Samuel’s availability surfaced, and earlier this year in Peoria, when Samuel arrived, they hadn’t reserved a hotel room for him.
Since he travels on his own, he has used his game checks to go toward covering his travel expenses over the last two seasons. Samuel says when he signed with the Fire, he was told by management that he would be reimbursed for travel expenses that exceeded his earnings. However, Samuel says that at the end of last season, he was down over $600 in expenses the Fire never reimbursed him for. More recently, though, Samuel went to Fire owner Will Wolford to recoup some expense compensation, and Wolford immediately gave him half of that money. “Will’s a good guy,” says Samuel. Indeed. Wolford is a fine man, and there are few professional athletes and executives more friendly and assessable than Wolford.
Looking back on the recent events, Samuel believes that perhaps “some of the guys on the team were frustrated with me not coming to practice,” but he is quick to follow that up with “the players on the team mean a lot to me.”
Coach Johnson has similarly kind words for Samuel. “I love Marc to death,” says Johnson. “It was a decision as a team.”
So, the Fire will battle Quad City this weekend for what could be the franchise’s first playoff appearance, but they will do so without Samuel. Still, Samuel hopes his former teammates do well Saturday. “I wish them the best for the rest of the year and in the future.” Fire fans wish the same thing for Samuel, who has represented the Fire extremely well on and off the field for the last two years.
Kevin Sedelmeier is a native Louisvillian. A graduate of the University of Louisville with a B.A. in Communication and M.A. in English, he works as a technical writer and has written fifteen screenplays and numerous short
stories. He lives with his wife Elizabeth, son Lukas, and their dog Springsteen.