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Gary’s Biography:

1969 – 1973 – Played sandlot football with the Madison Avenue Ridgefield Raiders for 1/2 kegs of beer on Sunday afternoons during the fall… Our home field was Ridgefield Park in Albany NY. We were unbeatable and believe it or not, I was only 15 years old when I started for the Raiders and this is the only reason I did not play football in High School…. To me, being a Raider carried far more prestige’s. My nickname was “Fleet” because of my quickness and speed. This nickname stayed with me throughout my football years

1973 – 1st year playing organized ball with the Metro Mallers…. What a team this was… The best of local talent mixed with a couple of dozen players who were just released from NFL and CFL teams… I was 18 years old and became a defensive starter at cornerback 1/2 way through the season… I felt like a kid playing with a bunch of crazy old men in uniforms. Dave Fleck and Mike Robochick were 2 of them.

1974 – 1976 – Continued playing for Metro Mallers… In 1975 Dave Fleck was Head Coach and owner with Ralph Drake… I received All-League Defensive honors and was also named as the Punt and Kick Return Specialist for those years. I was also honored as the Metro Mallers Defensive Player and also the “Outstanding Player” awards in 1976. A lot of great area ball players were with these team’s which was led by one of the best Quarterbacks and Offensive Leaders I have ever been around, Bob Barron. In a game against the Johnstown Colonials I had the treasured hat trick in football. We won 28-24 and I scored 3 touchdowns, on a Kick-off return (90 yards), a Punt return (84 yards) and a Interception return for 65 yards. With other return yards during that game I had accumulated over 284 total yards which at that time was said to have been a record between the NFL and all Semi Pro Football leagues.

1977 – This was a strange year… Ownership of the Mallers dissolved and our Head Coach Dave Fleck went across the River to become the Head Coach of the Uncle Sam’s Football Club… 12 of the starting Mallers including myself went with the Coach… Some called us the “Dirty Dozen” while others affectionately called us the 12 Apostles. This team went undefeated (15-0) and won the Empire Football League while posting 8 shut-outs against the opposition. I think Johnstown scored 16 points against our defense (1 touchdown after an offensive fumble returned for a touchdown and 3 field goals). Even though we won, I can remember feeling devastated that a team scored 16 against us. I was named to the EFL All Star Team in 1977 and Punt and Kickoff Return Specialists.

1978 – I was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals thanks to a phone call from Walter Chapman (former Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Lineman from the 1960’s era). He knew the Defensive Backfield Coach Charlie Winner (former New York Jets Head Coach) and I was flown out for a free agents work-out in February… After an intensive 1-1/2 hours of defensive drills, I ran two 40 yard sprints that kind of popped Coach Winners and the Defensive Coordinators eyeballs out of their heads… I ran 4.45 on my first one and 4.48 on the second… After that, it was a trip to the President’s Office, Mike Brown, where he negotiated 3 one year contracts with me… I went through the entire camp and pre-season with the Bengals (10 weeks) until my release in the finale cuts… Paul Brown sat with me in his office discussing some options he wanted me to pursue, one of them was to go to the Canadian League and give the CFL a shot… He thought it would be a great experience and a platform to continue to learn which would help me on a return to the NFL… I was in a state of shock while clearing my locker and for most of the day because I truly had believed I was going to be a Cincinnati Bengal for the 1978 season.

I flew home and on that same day after being released, as soon as I walked into my house, I was given a message to contact Dick Shato the General Manager of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League… Mr. Shato told me he hopes I would be as good a player as the person who contacted him had told him I would be. That person was Paul Brown himself.

The following day, I was on my way to Toronto… I was signed for a 10 day contract in which I had 10 days to beat someone out who was already part of the team. Within two weeks, Toronto signed me to a Player’s Contract for the remainder of the season. The person they released was Dwight Hicks, former Defensive Captain for Michigan or Michigan State, I’m not sure which… 3 years later, Dwight Hicks was the starting Free-Safety for the 1982-Super Bowl XVI Champions, San Francisco 49-ers. Sometimes it is just being in the right place at the right time… Dwight was a very good, crafty, and disciplined defensive back. However, it sometimes goes without saying as a player, it doesn’t hurt to have a little luck where you land.

I started at Inside Right Safety in the next 2 games for Toronto and ran back Punts and Kick-Offs with Terry Metcalf as my return partner…. We made it to the playoffs that year but lost on the road to the Hamilton Tiger Cats in the first round.

1979 – I left the CFL for a return shot with the NFL’s New York Giants… Once again, I was pretty much a part of the team until the very end of the pre-season schedule and was let go with only a week left of camp. I didn’t really want to go back to the CFL and was hoping I would receive a call to return to the Giants or any other team. Unfortunately, I got a little hungry to play ball and returned to the Uncle Sammies to play in one game before heading back to Toronto. On the first punt return of the game against the Hudson Vikings, while hauling in the ball, I was hit very low and broke my leg… This was pretty much the end of my dream to play pro ball ever again…

1980 – The leg was OK but didn’t really heal perfectly. I could run straight ahead without a problem but my stopping and go quickness seemed to suffer a bit. I had also lost my desire to play but really didn’t know anything else. So back to Uncle Sammies I went.

1981 – Jumped over to the other side of the ball and decided to play offense for the first time in my organized football career… I started playing Quarterback that season because there was nobody else. This would be a bad outing for the first year team known as the Tri City Giants… Things were not the same with Semi pro football in the area. The interest did not seem to be there with the fans or the players and the Capital District was not supporting two Minor League clubs very well.

1982 – Out of the blue, I receive a call from Ray Rhodes (former NY Giants defensive back player) who was now the Defensive Back Coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Ray told me that he and the Defensive Coordinator (Chuck Studley) were discussing some players to bring in who they felt deserved to be playing in the NFL who may have missed a finale cut because of numbers or politics. Well Ray said my name came up and Coach Studley told Ray to “get him signed” without asking any questions. It just so happens that Coach Studley was the Linebacker Coach for the Cincinnati Bengals the year I was there in 1978. Talk about an open door to the NFL and the Super Bowl Champion 49ers with two Coaches pulling for me and no politics to worry about anymore because I had the experience now that I had lacked earlier in my career… Also, I had previously beaten out the 49’ers All-Pro Free Safety Dwight Hicks 3 years before up in Toronto. There was only one problem, my physical skills had diminished slightly from the broken leg in 1979 and my quickness of foot was not the same, especially at the NFL level of competition. I still signed with them went out there and competed as best as I could. Unfortunately, I was not the same ballplayer I once was and I got released after the 3^rd pre-season game. I KNOW, if I had been able to perform at the same level I had with the Giants and Bengals, I would have made the 49er’s… Just being in the right place at the right time, with the right people on the inside pulling for you is all it would have taken. “The door was wide open for me and I just didn’t have it physically anymore” “This was truly the BIGGEST BUMMER of my football career”.

1983–1987 – Football was obviously a very big part of my life. I returned to the Metro Mallers and played a little QB at the beginning of 1983 but I was not really a Quarterback. I moved to wide receiver and found a home for the rest of my career playing split end and flanker while accumulating 3 or 4 more All League Honors as an Offensive Receiver for the Mallers under Jim Baker as Head Coach. We enjoyed some great runs for titles in the Eastern Football League while playing against some very competitive teams throughout the Northeast. I enjoyed the last 5 years playing offense. The change in position to play wide receiver helped my competitive adrenaline. I wanted to contribute to the team at a high level of and play. The knowledge I had acquired from NFL receivers made this transition a lot of fun and Touch Downs.