REAL PEOPLE/NEVER TOO LATE
Playing College Football at 50—and Winning
When National Guardsman Ray Ruschel decided to finally get a degree, he had no idea it would come with gridiron glory
ON THE FIRST DAY of practice camp last summer, the other football players thought I was a coach. I mean, it’s a college team, and I was 49 years old.
When I told them I was trying out for the squad, they thought it was all a joke. Then we got our pads on and they saw that I was serious.
I had played football in high school, but I never went to college. Instead, I went into the military. As part of the Army National Guard, I have been deployed both domestically and overseas. Between deployments, I work as a mechanic at a sugar-beet processing plant.
A couple of years ago, I figured an associate degree would help me get a promotion at the plant. North Dakota State College of Science is only six blocks from my apartment in Wahpeton, and I have military benefits that would make it very affordable, so I thought, Why not?
Since it’s a two-year school, I didn’t expect them to have a football team, but they do. And it’s a really good one. I figured I might as well try out.
My National Guard squad had already been training for our annual combat fitness test, and when the guys found out I wanted to go out for football, they got me whipped into really good shape. At the practice camp, I made the team as a defensive tackle.
Ruschel greets teammate Aaron Grant, then a freshman, on the field.
I’m not a starter, but I do get in games. And every time I do, I say to myself, “Concentrate and don’t screw up.” I make tackles. I make plays. I feel amped. My adrenaline is flowing. I don’t really feel the aches or pains while I’m on the field. A couple hours after practice is a different story, but it’s nothing major. And I couldn’t be playing with a better team; the guys treat me like one of their own.
Last year, we made it to the national finals in our division and lost the championship in a heartbreaker: The score was 14-12. This year we’re planning to go all the way.
Playing football is probably a 30-hour-a-week commitment on top of school and my night-shift job, but it’s worth it. It has made me understand that there’s nothing you can’t achieve if you put your mind to it, no matter your age. My advice is, go after your dreams—especially that one thing that you didn’t think you could do. —As told to Andrea Atkins
Ray Ruschel, 50, lives in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where he works at the Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative and studies business management.