Story about a walk-on Zip

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Rajek's heart on a new team Zips receiver learned football as foreign-exchange student Friday, September 22, 2006Elton AlexanderPlain Dealer Reporter Viktor Rajek is about to fulfill another dream. On Saturday, he will wear his No. 82 Akron Zips jersey for the first time in the team's home opener against North Texas. Rajek, a native of Pezinok, Slovakia, picked up the sport playing eight-man football as a junior foreign-exchange student at Freedom High School in Oklahoma. As a senior, he returned to Slovakia and paid to play football on a club team. Then, after having taken up bobsledding on a dare from his father, he competed for Slovakia at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. Now listed at 6-4, 216 pounds, Rajek is a freshman walk-on wide receiver for the Zips and hopes to earn a scholarship either at Akron or somewhere else down the road. Akron coach J.D. Brookhart is not expecting Rajek to be the next Antonio Gates, but he is still impressed with Rajek's passion and the will to play and to learn. "I think it's a great story," Brookhart said. "You talk about appreciating things. This kid walked in, saw his name on his locker and started crying. He couldn't believe it. He had to pay to play football [in Slovakia], had to wash his own uniform. He couldn't believe it here." Freedom High eight-man football wasn't much better. The Oklahoma high school currently has an enrollment of about 30 and does not have football anymore. After he graduated from Freedom, Rajek started training for the Olympic bobsled. He went to Italy as an alternate on the two-man sled, but wound up as a brakeman for one team and a pusher for the other. Rajek's four-man team finished 20th overall; his two-man team was 25th. After the Olympics, Rajek, 22, came back to the United States, hoping to get a toehold into professional sports. "I wanted so badly to be in the United States to play professional sports," he said. "I love NHL, NBA, NFL, all the professional sports. Our kids, like American kids, are watching ESPN at home. I kept dreaming about this. Watching TV, watching football all the time, reading books about football. "After the Olympics, I worked on how to get into college. I got a contact from a guy from Denver. I wanted to go to any college in the states. I wanted him to help me to tell me if I'm capable of playing college football or not." Rajek sent him tapes showing him running and jumping. Then Rajek, who had a friend training for the NHL in Colorado, joined him to train. "I had to pay for everything," he said. "Tough, very tough." He also began looking for a college home. "I wanted to go to junior college first," Rajek said. "I looked at going to Louisiana. But then coach Brookhart heard about me, and I agreed to come see the school. I was amazed. It was a dream, and I was living a dream." Brookhart, a native of Colorado, credits an old friend with telling him of Rajek. "He took a trip [to Akron], liked it, then took the bus back to Colorado," Brookhart said. "We just worked it out and he's got basically a year to see if he can make it." According to Brookhart, Rajek has been the scout team player of the week about every week and is challenging for a second-team spot on special teams. "I think he could eventually help us in some areas," Brookhart said. "He can run, and he'll hit you." To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253 Source LINK© 2006 The Plain Dealer© 2006 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.