Date: Fri 29-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Pat-Reilly-Feature

Full Text:

FEATURE - Pat Reilly

B Y T.W YATT

The minute he stepped onto the Newtown High School athletic fields as a

freshman, two years ago, the whispering began. " Watch him, he's gonna be a

good one. "

Coaches and fans instantly expected great things from Patrick Reilly.

In his sophomore year he was named All-WCC in football, developed into an

impact player on the basketball court, and became one of the top track and

field athletes in the area as well.

When he showed up at football practice this fall, as a junior, it was obvious

to everybody that Patrick Reilly had blossomed. Newtown's Six Million Dollar

Man was bigger (at 6-foot-3), stronger (at 200 pounds), and faster (4.7 in the

40). But before the hype that surrounded him ever got the chance to unfold,

everything came crashing down in one untimely second for Mr Reilly.

On the very first play of Newtown's very first scrimmage game, Reilly took a

handoff, spun off two tacklers at the line of scrimmage, and weaved his way

through the rest of the defense. Thirty yards later he was headed up the

sideline with one man to beat.

" The kid was kind of small, " Reilly remembers, " so I thought I'd turn my

shoulder and run him over. But when I did, he fell to the ground and grabbed

onto my leg. My cleats caught in the dirt and I fell on my back in a strange

position. My knee turned wrong, kind of like a GI Joe, and I heard a loud POP.

" Reilly didn't feel any pain on the play, but when he looked down at his leg,

he knew that something was wrong. He had severed his anterior cruciate

ligament (ACL).

" It was the scariest moment of my life, " he says. " All I could think of was

the season. It just didn't seem real. "

But after an MRI, a second opinion, and a third, it was as real as could be.

Reilly's 1995 football and basketball seasons were over.

" It's like somebody pulled the rug out from under him, " said NHS football

coach Bob Zito. " This year was going to be his coming out party. He would

have surprised a lot of people around here, not in this building, but around

the league and the state. He had some big goals set for himself, and he

certainly doesn't deserve something this. "

Having returned from a successful showing at the University of Massachusetts'

summer basketball camp this summer, Reilly seemed to have all of his ducks in

a row. He was to start this football season at fullback and linebacker for the

Indians, while terms like All-State and State championship were being uttered

along with his name. Dozens of letters from big Division I football schools,

meanwhile, piled up on the dining room table at his home on Gelding Hill Road.

" It's no secret that we had high hopes for him this year, " Zito said. "

Athletes like Pat Reilly don't come around too often. He's so strong and

explosive. Offensively, he has the speed and ability to go around you, and the

power to go over you. And on defense, he's our hardest hitter. "

But while Zito and his coaching staff feel the loss of perhaps their best

player on the football field, they feel worse for Patrick Reilly personally.

Despite his superior athletic standing, Reilly is quiet, humble, and a friend

to all who know him. His emotional pain is visibly etched on his face as he

stands on the sidelines and watches his team play without him.

" The worse thing about it, " he says, " is that I could probably still get

out there and play with a knee brace. It's one of the toughest decisions I've

ever had to make. But the doctors said the risk would be fifty/fifty. If I got

hit again, I could have a complete blowout and that would be it forever. "

So Reilly will go in for reconstructive knee surgery on September 29, which

will be followed by six months of rehabilitation. This type of knee surgery

usually results in one-hundred percent recovery.

In addition to ending his junior football season, though, that six-month

sentence also washes out Patrick's junior basketball season, where his

personal goal was to climb into the top ten on the school's all-time scoring

list. Pat's older brother Sean is 25th on that list with 469 points, while he

himself scored 102 as a sophomore last winter.

Reilly was to combined with seniors Brian Wassman and Mike Storms this season

to create one of the best NHS frontcourts in school history. During summer

camp Reilly averaged better than 20 points per game as the threesome helped

Newtown to a 10-0 record blowing teams out by 50 points at halftime.

With Reilly, the Indians' pending basketball season would have also seen the

re-emergence of the electrifying dunk shot for the first time since Randy

Gunther hung from the NHS rims way back in 1981. Coach Kevin O'Sullivan,

though, still holds out hope for a speedy return.

" I'm going to remain guardedly optimistic, " O'Sullivan said. " Sometimes

17-year-old kids have a way of healing quickly. Obviously Patrick has to walk

for the rest of his life, and that's priority, so even if he does have to miss

the season he'll still have his senior year. We'll just have to hope for the

best. "

Reilly doesn't need crutches to get around the hallways at NHS as he walks

with an almost-undetectable limp. The knee that had betrayed him doesn't cause

him much pain in the physical sense. But beneath that backwards baseball cap,

and above those shoulders that were supposed to help carry the load, there is

pain. " When I'm out watching our games and practices, and reading the papers,

it really hurts, " Patrick said, looking off over the field at Bruce Jenner

Stadium. " It's so hard to stand there on the sidelines and watch. It seems

like a bad dream. All I can do is just think about what might have been. "

That thought, in fact, is what the whole town of Newtown has been left with as

well. " Hopefully his surgery will go well and he'll come back stronger next

year, " Bob Zito concluded. " I know he's all upset right now, because he

wanted to get some college exposure, but next year will be the year for him.

If he's good enough, and he is, the schools will find him. "