Reuniting Under the Arch

For most Harvard graduates, it’s not uncommon to enter into a profession frequented by their peers. Most often, they graduate, enter the workforce, and some point down the line, their paths cross again.

But for some, that path is slightly less traveled, slightly more difficult, and much, much more unlikely. Just ask Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 and Isaiah Kacyvenski ’00. Because for these two Crimson alumni, it’s not the fact that they work together that surprises many, it’s where they work—for the National Football League.

No, they’re not owners, accountants, or agents poised to one day become commissioner. These guys play.

“When coach [Tim] Murphy recruited me to come to Harvard, he made it very clear that if you were a good enough player, the NFL scouts were going to find you,” says Fitzpatrick, currently the third-string quarterback for the St. Louis Rams. “That being said, I didn’t feel as if it was a realistic possibility for me to play in the NFL. It wasn’t until after my junior year when I started receiving calls from agents that I realized I had a shot at playing at the next level.”

Once that shot came, Fitzpatrick, a late seventh-round draft pick, took advantage. He was thrown into the fray early in the second half of his rookie season, coming off the bench in a game against the Houston Texans with the Rams down 17-3. The Crimson’s all-time leader in total offense went 19-for-30 for 310 yards and three scores in leading St. Louis to a highly improbable 33-27 victory.

And though his opportunities on the field have dwindled since, at least early on, people were quick to remind him of his alma mater on all matters, of an academic nature or otherwise.

“I earned the nickname of ‘Harvard’ during preseason,” Fitzpatrick recalls. “But once people learned my name, it was slowly phased out. I got a lot of comments about Good Will Hunting, a few ‘how ’bout them apples’ comments thrown my way.”

As Fitzpatrick continued to acclimate himself to the offense, taking snaps with the third string and waiting for his number to be called, this year brought a very welcome—and improbable—surprise.

Key injuries on the roster of the Seattle Seahawks, most notably to 2005 MVP Shaun Alexander, forced the Seahawks to cut someone from the roster to make room for a new acquisition at running back. Kacyvenski, a seven-year pro at linebacker who played his entire career in the city, was the victim. But just days later, what looked like a case of unemployment revealed itself as a reunion of arguably the best offensive and defensive players in Crimson football history.

“I didn’t want to leave—I had been [in Seattle for] seven years,” Kacyvenski says. “[Seahawks coach] Mike Holmgren gave me a shot, and it’s always been my hope and dream. He’s been like a father figure to me.”

Six teams made offers for Kacyvenski’s services, but it turned out that St. Louis was the best fit. Fitzpatrick’s presence was just an added bonus.

“My wife and I had to weigh our options,” Kacyvenski says. “But two Harvard guys on one team is pretty cool.”

“I was extremely excited to be playing with Isaiah,” Fitzpatrick agrees.

Maybe most excited of all was Harvard coach Tim Murphy, whose tenure has encompassed both players’ time in Cambridge.

“It’s funny, because both of them called me the other night within an hour of each other,” Murphy said soon after the Rams signed Kacyvenski to a one-year contract. “Isaiah’s message was, ‘Coach, I’ve got to tell you, I’m looking for a job for the first time in seven years.’”

The search didn’t last long.

“Then an hour later, Fitzy said, ‘Hey coach, I don’t know if you heard the news, but we just picked up Isaiah,’” Murphy says. “They’re both ecstatic.”

Ecstatic because of the unlikelihood of two Harvard players being on NFL sidelines, let alone the same one.

Only three former Crimson football players are currently on NFL rosters—Fitzpatrick, Kacyvenski, and all-pro center Matt Birk ’98 of the Minnesota Vikings—and they’ve all come within the last 13 years, the time in which Murphy has been at the helm of Harvard football.

“He’s a real good friend of mine,” Kacyvenski says of Murphy. “He’s a great leader, and he showed me that the first time he ever showed up at my house.”

In addition to his tutelage as a friend, Murphy’s on-the-field instruction is evidenced in the success shared in St. Louis.

“Coach Murphy has put an emphasis on recruiting nationally as well as recruiting against Division I-A scholarship schools,” Fitzpatrick says. “He isn’t intimidated to recruit against a Cal or Stanford or Northwestern.”

It’s true that I-A schools like Northwestern do have a relationship with the Crimson. After all, the Ivy League’s recently-crowned career rushing king spent a redshirt freshman year at the Big Ten school before transferring to Harvard.

So what about Clifton Dawson’s pro prospects?

“Being from a I-AA school, the most important thing he has to do is become noticeable,” Fitzpatrick says. “That’s only half the battle for a smaller-school guy, though. He’ll have to test well for the scouts, which I have no doubt that he will do.”

But this year, it was the Rams who scouted Kacyvenski.

St. Louis coach Scott Linehan told the Associated Press that he “didn’t expect a player of this caliber to be available.”

Since joining the team’s roster, the former Seahawks special teams captain has made five tackles, mostly on kick coverage, as he and his family adjust to a new city and a new team.

It’s not his first time getting adjusted to new surroundings. Calling Kacyvenski’s upbringing difficult is more than an understatement—his mother died before he finished high school and his father was an abusive, though now reformed, alcoholic—and he didn’t exactly grow up expecting to become his college football program’s all-time leading tackler, let alone a Harvard graduate.

But that’s what makes where he’s ended up all the more sweet.

“Coming to Harvard was probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my life,” Kacyvenski says, “besides asking my wife to marry me.”

“To see a guy like Isaiah go where he’s gone despite his extremely limited background in terms of what it takes to go to a real select college, it’s inspiring,” Murphy says. “It’s harder for those guys. Why is it harder? Because they don’t have as many breaks, they don’t have $200-an-hour tutors, all those things.”

For Kacyvenski and Fitzpatrick, things have come together in St. Louis, at least for the rest of this year. And on New Year’s Eve, things will come together for all three of the Crimson’s pro footballers, when Fitzpatrick and Kacyvenski’s Rams travel to Minnesota to play Birk and the Vikings in both teams’ regular-season finale.

“When I first got to Harvard when I was a freshman, my number was 49 and [Birk’s] was 50, so we were next to each other in the locker room,” Kacyvenski says.

“I kept asking him questions like where the jockstraps were, where the bathroom was, little things like that. He told me, ‘Be easy there, buddy. When it comes to questions, you can’t ask me more than 10 a week.’”

There will be little question as to the significance of the Rams-Vikings clash in just over a month. In addition to the fact that both teams may be fighting for playoff spots, it means that just one more thing is necessary to make the Dec. 31 meeting the pinnacle, for a few hours at least, of the Harvard football universe.

Murphy explains, “Fitzy said, ‘Coach, here’s the deal. You’ve got to make it to the game, because there are going to be three Harvard guys in NFL uniforms.’”

“What could be a better way to bring in the New Year than watching a game with three Harvard guys on the field at one time?” Fitzpatrick says. “He’s meant a great deal to all three of us, and I think it would be a special thing for him to see.”

Until then, though, the Crimson’s legacy of football greatness will sit below an arch, more than a thousand miles away from Harvard Stadium.

“It’s such a great situation,” Kacyvenski says of being in St. Louis. “It’s a different atmosphere, but we’re glad to be here.”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.