For Todd Lisi, the city where he has played football for years has suddenly transformed into a different world.

The charter planes switched to buses, Carrier Dome crowds of 40,000 replaced by sparse gatherings of 500 people and catered pregame meals in luxurious hotels supplanted by trips to the Ponderosa Steak House. Consistent through it all though has been Lisi’s smile and his energetic desire to work.

Last Saturday night in Steubenville, Ohio, Lisi boarded the Syracuse Soldiers team bus. With a blue hooded sweatshirt covering his mane and a 3-day-old beard covering his face, the former walk-on on the Syracuse football team and 2005 graduate fell back in his seat, grinning from ear to ear and cracked open a Budweiser. The Soldiers, a first-year franchise in American Indoor Football League, had just won their first game ever (43-31), and Lisi couldn’t have been happier.

‘This win was so big for us,’ Lisi said. ‘It was huge, especially after the week we had (in practice). It’s tough going 0-5; driving down six, seven hours isn’t easy, so we were under a lot of pressure.’

Pressure from themselves, but nonetheless Lisi and his 17 teammates celebrated the win (rosters are 18 players; on-field action is 8-on-8) with a few cold ones, a couple of movies (the 50 Cent gem ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin”) and a seven-hour bus ride that wouldn’t return the men – ranging in age from 23 to 35 – back to Syracuse until almost 7 on Sunday morning.

They don’t do it for the $200 game check ($50 bonus after a win like Saturday night) and they certainly don’t do it for the attention. Lisi says it’s a love/hate relationship with the game, and an urge inside him to prove he could do this.

‘I had something to prove to myself,’ Lisi said, ‘I feel like I didn’t get that chance at Syracuse to really prove myself, and when I left it really bugged me.’

Lisi began his college career at Hartwick, but after an injury he decided to walk-on for SU. The defensive player spent three years, primarily on the SU sidelines, as a walk-on who earned a spot on the travel roster his junior year.

‘Syracuse was great and I’d never take it back,’ Lisi said, ‘But I know when I turned 60 or 70, I’d regret it if I hadn’t tried to prove to myself that I could do this. I’m very happy now.’

Happy as well as exhausted as a semi-pro football player. Lisi is currently a teacher and a graduate student on top of being a two-way player – cornerback and wide receiver – for the Soldiers. Teaching in the Westhill school district, his day begins at 7:30 a.m., where until 3:15 p.m. Lisi is teaching physical education at both the Onondaga Hill Middle School and the Cherry Road Elementary School.

Class with third through eighth-graders is followed by graduate classes at Le Moyne from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Then, already working on a 13-hour day, Lisi heads to practice three days a week, usually from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m.

‘Todd’s schedule is tough,’ said Kirby Dar Dar, the Soldiers’ head coach and a former SU wide receiver. ‘He’s trying to come through his grad school, his classes are scheduled in the evening and he’s been able to handle that hectic schedule because of what his upbringing and Syracuse has taught him. Playing Division I football is a full-time job in itself, and because of everything in college, he’s able to pull this off now.

‘I told him to take care of that education first, because in the long run that is important for you.’

Dar Dar, who spent two seasons with the Miami Dolphins after his days as an Orangeman, discussed the SU bond.

‘Every time he makes a big play,’ Dar Dar said, ‘I yell out to him ‘SU,’ and he knows what that means. After every game, I tell him he’s makes me proud to be an SU alumni. The way he plays and how much he has improved for us, it’s been a great surprise. Todd Lisi is slowly becoming one of the better players on this team. Secondary and on the defense, he’s had a real contribution. I really appreciate his ability to juggle both things.’

The team itself has struggled after announcing it was coming to town just six weeks prior to its first game. Marketing for the Soldiers has been very limited and few know the record (1-5) or home arena (War Memorial) for the inaugural squad. During the ups and downs, Lisi has maintained his positive outlook, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by his coach.

‘He really just wants to be here,’ Dar Dar said ‘He has an uncanny desire to be a part of this. I’m not sure if it’s the catches and the running around, or if its being a part of the team.

‘I know for him though, the relationships between players and coaches to the relationships between the players are very important. The relationship between him and his secondary is important. Knowing that these guys are rallying around him and that he is a major part of this is very rewarding to him.’

Published on April 10, 2006 at 12:00 pm