Munoz family-class act

[jjakq27]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...280387/1082/SPT

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Not good enough for the NFL? Too good is more like it

By Paul Daugherty

Enquirer staff writer

The irony was more obvious than a pancake block. Three days after the NFL snubbed his son, Anthony Munoz honored 18 high school athletes Wednesday, for their wins off the field. The Senior Scholar-Athlete Luncheon was about games, too. But when each student was asked to invite to the program his or her most influential teacher, almost none picked a coach.

Character counts. Good deeds and good grades mean something, at least in the high-minded, hopeful world of Anthony Munoz. Not so much in the NFL. What do you say about a league that will take a chance on Maurice Clarett but not on Michael Munoz?

One guy's a two-time All-Southeastern Conference player, someone who won a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship for being the country's top scholar-athlete. The other guy is a self-centered miscreant who ratted out his school and sued the NFL.

But Maurice Clarett sure can play. They think.

The league didn't think Michael Munoz could play. The league thought so little of him, nobody drafted him. The league thought so little of his dad, nobody called him ahead of time to tip him off and save his family the beating it took over the weekend.

"I have no bitterness," Anthony Munoz said Wednesday. Maybe not, but you could hear his hurt from here to there. "All the close friends I have in the game. Owners, GMs, head coaches, assistants. How hard would it have been to pick up the phone in February or March and say, 'Anthony, Michael might not be drafted'?"

It might have saved Michael Munoz a lot of hard work.

You see, Michael was so injured, he and four other linemen worked out every day with Anthony between January and the draft. Weights, speed, conditioning, technique. "I've never seen anyone work harder," Anthony said.

I asked him if either of his son's injuries - knee several years ago, shoulder last season - were chronic or degenerative. "Your guess is as good as mine," Anthony said. None of Michael's doctors had suggested that, "and the league never mentioned anything like that," Anthony said. "Michael played three years on that knee, never missed a game."

And so it goes. Clarett gets a shot, Munoz gets the door. Talent wins. If there's a choice between a player with a little more talent and a little less character, and one with a little less talent and a little more character, Mr. Talent wins.

In the NFL, it's preferable to rehab a head (case) than a shoulder or a knee.

Coaches might say different. They might even believe it. Most coaches, in any sport, come with the savior gene. They all think they'll be the one to turn a player's life around. Two of the Bengals' top three draft picks had character issues. Linebacker Odell Thurman and wide receiver Chris Henry expressed gratitude that Bengals coaches took the time to "understand" them.

What Bengals coaches - or any coaches, for that matter - understand best is 4.4 seconds to run 40 yards and a 37-inch vertical leap (Henry) and 65 tackles in nine games (Thurman). They figure they can deal with the rest. Perhaps they're right. But the next time a coach tells you good character is mandatory, your next move should be for the door.

Michael Munoz will be fine. Anyone who ever has tried to guide teenaged children through the beautiful mess of their blooming lives knows what a miracle Anthony and DeDe Munoz pulled off in raising Michael and his sister, Michelle.

Imagine: A Hall of Fame football player who raised his football- playing son to see the game as only a snapshot in his photo- album life. An NFL legend who saw his son grow bigger than he, more accomplished earlier on than he, and still was able to offer that kid the perspective he'd need for the rest of his life.

"Football isn't who I am," Michael Munoz said the other day, when he walked away from football and toward a business world where he has already been offered several jobs. No greater tribute could a son pay his mom and dad.

"This wasn't only a lesson for the Munoz household, but for young people around the country," said Anthony. As usual, he was good at finding the good, even in this fiasco. "You can't put all your eggs in one basket. Michael understood that, and acted upon it. As much as he loved the game, he knew it would end."

Anthony Munoz stood on the dais Wednesday and shook the hand of every scholar-athlete. Then he posed for pictures with them. He made sure the kids' teachers were in the photos. Every one of them.

[jjakq27]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...80336/1020/EDIT

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Muñozes show toughness, grace

Editorials

Early 20th-century writer Thomas Wolfe once said: "Man's youth is a fleeting thing: It is so full of anguish and of magic and he never comes to know it as it is, until it has gone from him forever."

Sometimes there are exceptions. The children of Bengals legend Anthony Muñoz may be two of them.

Michael and Michelle Muñoz both announced this week that they are moving on with lives after promising sports careers. Michelle, 22, was Ms. Basketball twice in Ohio, and Michael, 23, was a two-time All-America offensive tackle at the University of Tennessee.

But injuries have hobbled them both. Michael, once projected to be a first-round choice, wasn't selected in last week's National Football League draft. Michelle, who has gone through three ankle surgeries in three years, decided to retire from college basketball with one year of eligibility left at Ohio State University.

Good for them, we say.

We realize people make more difficult decisions every day in not-so-public ways that affect the rest of their lives. But the Muñozes have lived their lives publicly. They were the star-athlete children of a star-athlete dad. And many of us expected them to follow his footsteps, almost by default. After all, both kids were can't-miss college sports prospects, and Michael had grown to be bigger and stronger than his Hall of Fame father.

But here's the real beauty of their decisions. In an era when great old pros (Jerry Rice) don't know when it's time to quit, and the potentially great sue to play professional sports before they can legally do so (Maurice Clarett), Michael and Michelle will bow out gracefully, with little regret for the fame and money that successful sports stars attract.

That's an important lesson for all young athletes, and their parents, to learn.

Anthony and DeDe Muñoz clearly did a good job of rearing their kids in the sometimes harsh glare of fame.

"If I stop now, I'll be able to run, exercise, play occasionally, be healthy," Michelle told The Enquirer. "I chose my health." She will graduate with a degree in fashion in June.

Michael, meanwhile, has finished his degree in political science and is in graduate school. In December, he won the Draddy Trophy, which came with a $25,000 scholarship, as the top academic athlete in the country.

"I had fun playing football," he told The Enquirer. "But I never found my identity playing football. Football isn't who I am. I knew the day would come when I'd have to walk away from the sport, and I'm fine with that."

Only a razor-thin percentage of college athletes go pro. The Muñozes are reminders of that, but more importantly they offer a valuable lesson about the importance of preparation and knowing when to move on when the time comes. That applies to any aspect of life.

[Kirkendall]

Great piece by Daugherty.