Bridge to success

INDIANAPOLIS – One summer job required Rob Ninkovich to wear a harness while suspended over water as he worked on a bridge off Interstate 57 during the 12-hour overnight shift. Another project called for Ninkovich to help his father, Mike, an ironworker, hang beams on a building 20 stories high.

These were not the heights Ninkovich’s parents had in mind for his future – the point of the family-arranged apprenticeship before his final year at Joliet (Ill.) Junior College.

“It was kind of scary,” Ninkovich recalled Tuesday at Super Bowl XLVI media day. “But it opened my eyes that I didn’t want to be an ironworker the rest of my life.”

The career Ninkovich forged in football after that revelation suggests you can take the kid out of the blue-collar lifestyle, but you can’t take the blue-collar lifestyle out of the kid. Ninkovich will start for the Patriots at outside linebacker Sunday, and going from a forgotten prospect in New Lenox, Ill., to a fixture in New England took all the steely resolve his brief ironworking days revealed.

“I’ve always had to prove people wrong,” Ninkovich said.

Every time he does shows how right NJCAA Hall of Fame coach Bob MacDougall was to take a chance on a player nobody wanted.

With no college scholarship offers and iffy grades, Ninkovich faced trying to walk on somewhere or following the footsteps of his father and grandfather as an ironworker. But MacDougall, then the coach at Joliet, called.

“I hadn’t even thought of junior college before that,” Ninkovich said.

What did MacDougall see that nobody else saw?

“He played tight end in high school and was a terrific athlete, so I knew he was destined for something great,” MacDougall said. “He had great ‘stick-to-itiveness.’ He’s a great example of what junior college is all about.”

Both men credited Ninkovich’s two seasons under MacDougall, which included a 2002 NJCAA championship, for preparing him mentally and physically for the uncertainty of an NFL career.

“I wasn’t really the biggest guy and needed to develop and mature,” Ninkovich said. “It really just made me hungrier to continue.”

That appetite for challenge only increased. Ninkovich picked Purdue to complete his college career despite the presence of two established pass rushers and impressed coaches with the versatility that first attracted MacDougall. Besides registering 16 sacks in two seasons, Ninkovich also caught two touchdown passes as a short-yardage tight end.

Finally, Ninkovich’s future appeared as limitless as his parents had hoped after the Saints drafted him in the fifth round in 2006 and he opened eyes early. But just when Ninkovich began ascending the depth chart three weeks into training camp, he suffered a season-ending knee injury.

A year later the Saints waived Ninkovich, landing him in Miami for another seminal moment. After the Dolphins went 1-15 in 2007, he asked former coach Cam Cameron why he was inactive for 12 games.

“I can remember sitting in his office and asking him straight up why wasn’t I able to contribute anything, and he just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think you have the skills,’ ” Ninkovich said. “It was more motivation for me.”

Even more fuel came from Saints coach Sean Payton, who signed Ninkovich off the Dolphins’ practice squad in December 2008. Payton told Ninkovich he saw him lasting in the league only as a long snapper.

“I didn’t think he was seeing me the right way as a football player,” Ninkovich said.

Luckily for Ninkovich, Bill Belichick did. Three seasons later, in 2011, the three-down linebacker justified Belichick’s confidence as one of two players with at least six sacks and two interceptions. It earned Ninkovich a two-year, $4 million contract extension through 2013.

“I could write a book about the ups and downs and injuries and how emotionally tough it’s been,” Ninkovich said.

Working title?

“ ‘Make It Happen,’ ” Ninkovich answered, pointing to his bracelet carrying those words. “Anybody who looks at my story, just work hard and once you get your chance, make the most of it.”