Blazing His Own Path

Nick Blay has always had the passion for football.

As a child, he played with friends on an empty lot on near the Thomas D. Murphy Building.

Rain, snow, blistering heat, it didn’t matter. Blay and his friends played.

Blay’s love of football grew throughout middle school, high school and on to Simpson College.

Shortly after his freshman season at Simpson, playing wide receiver, Blay re-aggravated a lingering foot injury. After surgery, Blay’s football and track career at Simpson ended.

Nearly nine years later, Blay, a former Red Oak High School athlete, returned to the game of football as a tight end for the Des Moines Blaze.

His team eventually went on to win the Midwest Football Alliance championship game against the Sioux Falls Stallions.

The Blaze defeated the Stallions 42-27, winning the league title and completing a triumphant return to a game he’s loved since those marathon games on Market St.

“I just thought I was going to be on special teams here and there and just be a practice guy,” Blay said. “As the season went on, I kind of moved into a permanent role at the tight end position.”

Blay, 27, played some flag football in his hiatus, but 2013 was the first full season of football for the Red Oak High School standout since his freshman season at Simpson College in 2004.

On a whim last year, Blay tried out for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League.

Though he didn’t make the team, Blay received interest in the audience from representatives of the Des Moines Blaze. A couple months later, Blay tried out and made the Blaze, playing predominantly as tight end as part of a spread offense.

“To be completely honest, I didn’t expect to play at all,” Blay said. “I expected to be a special teams guy and get on the field once in awhile.”

He caught nine passes this season for 173 yards (fifth most on the team) and two touchdowns.

A Career Cut Short

Blay’s collegiate career at Simpson ended when he found out the cartilage in his left foot had degenerated. The injury dated

back to his senior year in high school, just before the state track meet, with a shooting pain in his left foot.

He fought through the pain to finish seventh at state in the 400-meters.

After the state meet, Blay met with a doctor, who thought it might have been tendonitis, telling him to take a break.

Blay followed doctors orders, rested the foot and then played football that fall at Simpson where he also took part in the indoor track season.

However, the hard indoor track proved to be tough on Blay’s foot. An examination by team doctors revealed the cartilage was gone between a few of the bones in his foot.

Visits to multiple specialists followed. Most hadn’t seen the type of injury before and many were hesitant on how to fix it.

One doctor recommended fusing the bones together to cure the problem.

“I found a doctor in Des Moines who said, ‘hey lets get in there and at least see if we can make you pain free’,” he said. “So he went in and fused the bones together on top of my foot.”

The fused bones in Blay’s left foot left him with decreased mobility.

After the surgery, Blay continued to work out, but he dedicated much of his time to schoolwork as he pursued a Bachelors Degree in Biology.

“I went to college not to play football or track, but to get a degree and pursue a career,” he said. “I spent a lot of my time doing independent research as an undergraduate, I was a teaching assistant with the lab, I just got real involved in academics.”

Blay never again football for the Storm.

Prior to Simpson, Blay was a multiple letter-winner in track and football for Red Oak, graduating in 2004.

His parents are Bob and JoBeth Blay, who both live in Red Oak.

In his senior season for Red Oak football, Blay had 203 yards receiving with four touchdowns and 19 tackles on defense.

Lacrosse career

After graduating with a degree in biology, Blay continued his academic career at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, pursuing a masters degree in natural resources.

By 2008, much of the pain from the surgery had subsided and Blay was interested in competing athletically again. It was at UW-Stevens Point that he took up lacrosse.

One of the fastest growing sports in the United States, lacrosse involves teams carrying around long sticks with nets attached at the end, trying to throw a small rubber ball into a goal. Similar to hockey, without the puck and ice.

Blay tried out for the club team. It wasn’t an easy game for him to pick up though. A natural athlete, Blay took to the physical side of the game even if the rules eluded him early.

“I had never actually watched lacrosse, until I competed in my first game,” Blay said. “It was just something you catch on Sportscenter and it looked like it was really fast and really competitive.”

He settled into a defensive role and earned rookie of the year honors his first year on his club team. His second year, he was named a captain.

Blay took the defensive skills he learned playing football at Red Oak and applied it to lacrosse.

“You transfer some stuff over from football, but lacrosse is a game of its own,” he said.

Lacrosse was the only sport Blay played at UW-Stevens Point, juggling the late night practices and his academics.

“It was easy for me to get my graduate work done, but at the same time be able to play lacrosse,” Blay said.

Blay graduated from UW-Stevens Point in 2010 and returns to Simpson this fall to teach biology.

He also works as a manager for Ophidian LLC, which specializes in producing and selling captive born and bred exotic reptiles.

Blay continued his lacrosse career as he played in the Central Iowa Lacrosse Association.

Blay enjoyed lacrosse but football nagged at him. It was his first love.

“I played [lacrosse] and was satisfied for a little bit, but I always missed football,” Blay said. “I didn’t like going out the way I did.”

Blay has one more football game this season. His Des Moines Blaze team plays in the Midwest Regional Bowl Oct. 5 at Des Moines North High School against the defending GMFL Champions, which will either be the Illinois Chargers or the Muskegon Stallions. The GMFL Championship game will be played Saturday in Chicago.

Blay said if his body allows him to, he’ll play for the Blaze again.