Progress followed from afar
INDIANAPOLIS — Tony Curtis has an extra reason to remember the date Sept. 11.
Three years to the day after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Curtis found out his father, Pete, was being dispatched to Iraq. Pete Curtis is not only Tony’s biggest fan, but his mentor.
The 46-year-old is in Iraq now, serving as a cook, and Tony has settled for detailing his pursuit of the NFL dream via e-mail and infrequent phone calls from his dad.
“At first we didn’t think he’d have to go,” Curtis said at the NFL combine. “We thought he’d just be in Virginia helping the troops get ready to go overseas. He was in the reserves, but he had been out since 1992.
“It’s really kind of weird. I was looking forward to him watching my last year in college.”
Instead, Pete Curtis shuttled from army base to army base in the States before heading overseas. He missed all but one of his son’s games for Portland State last season.
When the Vikings played at Sacramento State in October, Pete Curtis sat in the stands. He arrived after the game began, so Tony had no idea his father was on hand.
“We blew them out,” Tony said of the 31-0 win, “and when I saw him it was a real nice surprise.”
It would be a real nice surprise if Curtis, a tight end, goes before the second day of the draft. While he has good size at 6-foot-6, 269 pounds, he isn’t one of the top prospects at the position.
“I think he’s a second-day person,” said Gil Brandt, the NFL’s draft consultant. “He won’t be hurt by the school — if you look at the Super Bowl this year, 17 players were from Division I-AA or lower. And schools like Montana and Portland State, they do a good job of developing players or getting some good players because of the scholarship limits at the bigger schools.”
Curtis, a second-team All-Big Sky choice, held his own at the Hula Bowl and Gridiron Classic. He believes those performances, his workouts at Make Plays, Inc., in Phoenix — the same place where Donovan McNabb trains in the off-season — and his work at the combine have gotten him noticed and will get him drafted.
“They saw me at two All-Star games and they scouted me at school,” he said. “My first time in the All-Star game, I felt maybe there would be a difference in the competition (level), but I held my own. I thought that would be harder than it was. I was in with the Division I guys and I was as big or bigger.
“We weren’t on ESPN and all that, but the ultimate goal is to get to the (All-Star) games and to the combine and to get drafted.”
If Curtis does get chosen on April 23 or 24, it’s unlikely his father immediately will be aware of it. It could be days before Pete Curtis finds out.
When Tony is at home, he speaks with his father a few times a week. But when the youngster is at school, it’s more of an e-mail exchange and it doesn’t occur very often.
“It’s always in the back of my mind where he is,” Tony said. “I’m relieved he doesn’t have to go out and fight, but he tells us he can hear the shots and gunfire sometimes.
“I don’t know when he’ll hear about the draft. He has to call us and I doubt he can watch it. I’ll just have to wait for a call.”
Tony Curtis, 22, is used to the military life, even though he’s never served in the armed forces. He was born on the Fort Lewis, Wash., army base and grew up in Tacoma.
Pete Curtis played prep football in New York and attended the University of Florida, but never played for the Gators. Instead, he joined the Army, never thinking he’d be in a war zone at age 46.
Tony said his father always believed his son could play football on the highest levels. After Tony played defense at Fresno Community College and injured his ankle, none of the major schools recruited him. When a recruiter from Portland State came to a Fresno game to scout another player, he noticed how effective Curtis was and offered a scholarship.
Curtis switched to tight end, where his main strength was, well, his strength. He’s a solid blocker and most scouting reports say he needs to work on finding the dead spots in defenses and on being more effective after catching the ball.
His size and athletic skills make him attractive, though. When told one scout likened Curtis in build to Chiefs star Tony Gonzalez, Curtis smiled.
“I’ve modeled my game after Tony Gonzalez,” he said, “so that is a real compliment for me”
If Curtis doesn’t make it in the pros, he would like to open a restaurant. He already knows a real good cook to run the kitchen.