Sept. 14, 2010
On September 15, 2007, Davis Rodriguez was starting as the Leopards' placekicker for just the third game of his career. But only Rodriguez himself knew at the time that the non-conference tilt at Penn could have been his last.
The freshman Rodriguez entered the game at 0-for-3 on field goal attempts, though two of those attempts came from beyond 40 yards away. He had split the uprights early in the contest against the Quakers, but then missed a field goal early in the third quarter that would have made in the difference in what was now a 7-5 Penn lead late in the fourth quarter. As the Leopards were driving down the field and the clock ran down to less than one minute remaining, a chance at a game-winning boot became more and more likely. Then, with just five seconds left and with a 27-yard field goal attempt looming, a timeout from each sideline gave Rodriguez plenty of time to think.
"I was thinking that, if I miss, I don't think I want to play football anymore," said Rodriguez. "Whether it was soccer, basketball or baseball, I was always one of the top players in high school... and I didn't want that to change".
A missed field goal would have been crushing for the Leopards as well, as a national ranking and their first 3-0 start since 1988 rested on the foot of a 19-year-old kicker who was just 1-for-5 in his collegiate career.
"I'm always hard on myself when I miss a kick," Rodriguez said. "But when I have time to think about it after the game, I can put it in a different perspective".
Rodriguez gained that extra perspective through his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. For one week each summer, he volunteers at a camp near his hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla., providing 24-hour care for a child stricken with muscular dystrophy. Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that weaken the muscles that move the human body. The various forms of MD are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the degeneration of muscle cells and tissue.
At the camp, volunteers are assigned a child for the week and provide one-on-one care that includes assistance with bathing, eating and getting dressed. "It's a humbling experience, helping them do basic things that I take for granted," said Rodriguez.
Aside from aid with day-to-day tasks, the 24-hour care also allows Rodriguez to interact and relate with young children afflicted with MD. While physical activity is severely limited by muscular dystrophy, days are filled by playing games, watching shows and simply talking to one another.
"It's very rewarding," said Rodriguez, "to make somebody so happy just by being there as a friend. I catch myself starting to tear up a lot during the week". Rodriguez's community service ventures are far from limited to one week each summer. On visits home during the school year, including Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, he and his family volunteer at the Saint Vincent DePaul soup kitchen. His family has also been long-time supporters of an orphanage in Costa Rica. While his parents made frequent trips to the orphanage, Rodriguez himself finally had a chance to travel to the Central American country three years ago and visit the place that had been a part of his life for so long.
"I always remember my parents saving our old clothes and collecting clothes from our friends to send down [to the orphanage]," said Rodriguez. "It was gratifying to finally see it in person and interact with the children we had been helping".
Rodriguez has also been active in the Lafayette community, participating in Lauren's First and Goal Football Camp. The camp, organized by Leopards' defensive coordinator John Loose, is a part of the Easton-based Lauren's First and Goal Foundation for pediatric brain tumor research, cancer services and family support. The 2010 instructional camp, which featured nearly 1,700 high school football players traveling to Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex from 15 different states, collected over $67,000 in donations.
Back at Penn in 2007, the Lafayette football faithful already know how this story ends. Rodriguez drilled the kick with just five seconds left, and Leopards were off to their best start in 20 seasons.
"It was a confidence builder", said Rodriguez. "Like a lot of things in sports, hitting that first big one can start you on a roll".
And that roll has continued ever since. Rodriguez made 7-of-8 field goals from that point forward in his freshman campaign (and he's quick to mention that the one miss was actually blocked) and then earned both All-Patriot League and honorable mention All-America honors as a sophomore.
But for Rodriguez, the player who was one 27-yard field goal away from walking away from the game, the success and accolades are simply par for the course.
"I have always been competitive," Rodriguez said. "Playing well enough to be All-League and All-America is what I expect of myself".
Doing more than what is expected of him as a member of a community in three locales as different as Easton, Pa., St. Petersburg, Fla. and Costa Rica is what sets Davis Rodriguez apart.
