Where I Come From: Art Carmody on his favorite Louisville Cardinal

This post is sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

Today's EA Sports topic is favorite players. There's really no mystery as far as who Card Chronicle's all-time favorite football Cardinal is, but this obvious answer begs a more complicated question: Who is the gold-footed godsend's favorite U of L gridiron hero?

Ladies and gentlemen, your favorite Lou Groza award winner and my favorite Chronicloid: MR. ARTHUR M. (maybe his middle initial, maybe not) CARMODY...

One of the beauties of college football that I love and at the same time hate is that you only have four years, and in some instances three years, to enjoy the talent that you see on the field. Every game is magnified that much more and the memories of those games stick that much longer. When the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) blogger himself Mike Rutherford asked if I would possibly make my first guest blog appearance on Card Chronicle, I said absolutely, because just like with Bobby Petrino or Charlie Strong, when Mike Rutherford asks you to do something, you don’t say no. 

Today’s EA Sports series is all-time favorite players. I spent most of my day at work going over this topic with my colleague Jonathan Boudreaux (a great south Louisiana name if there ever was one). I threw out some names to him and he did what all Louisiana football fans do when put in this situation: immediately compare them with past LSU football players. While in debate, I realized that I couldn’t name my favorite players because, with this being the best Cardinal blog out there, I was pretty sure nobody wanted to read about why I rooted so hard for Ron Powlus and Derrick Mayes for Notre Dame back in the mid-'90s. That’s a completely different story for later. Instead, I decided to tell you about my favorite Cardinal teammate from my 2004-2007 career.

With apologies to Dane Mattingly, Rod Council, Stefan Lefors, Adam McCauley, Justin Deeley, the entire 2005 offensive line, Elvis Dumervil, Montrell Jones, Trent Guy, and my college roommate Brian Brohm (sorry Brian, I could devote a whole page to you if Mike would let me), my all-time favorite is a guy that not only made many great memories for Cardinal fans, but was on the field helping me make many of my own. That guy would be none other than Harry Douglas IV. 

 

Everyone knows Harry as one of the best receivers in Louisville football history. I am going to talk about Harry Douglas, my holder. I first met Harry and his family in August of 2003 when, as freshmen, we reported to the Bettie Johnson Hall. Harry was asking every guy what position they played and was already talking trash about his skills on the field. When he got to me the first thing he said was: "small white guy, you got to be a kicker, right?" I went in for the white guy handshake and he immediately stopped me and told me I had to give him a little "dap" which would be a big part of our future relationship. 

In the summer of 2005 Coach Petrino tried every possible holder to replace Stefan Lefors and, against my wishes (like I really had any opinion), he stuck me with Harry and said make it work. During two-a-days, I had a few practices where I was struggling badly and couldn’t quite figure out why. One night at dinner after practice, Harry grabbed me aside and said he had figured out why I was missing. It was because there was no "dap" before I took my approach. We came up with a quick little handshake that would be performed before every kick. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Harry was one of the hardest working guys I played with. He was constantly working on his craft, trying to get stronger, and working his way into one of the best receivers in the country. No matter how tired he was after summer workouts or in the bitter cold of winter, he would always stay after if I needed him to hold some kicks for me. He would complain about it for a little while, but nevertheless he would stay as long as I needed him. He also would always have a comment on any big field goal I attempted from my sophomore to senior year. After winning the 2006 Lou Groza Award he was one of the first guys that I called to thank and the first words out his mouth were, "hey man, I am real proud of you and all, but why didn’t you mention me on national T.V.? That is pretty messed up, Art." 

He was a huge part of my football career at Louisville, and before and after every season I would take him and my snapper out for a steak dinner to thank them for all of their hard work. He was also the only guy I knew that would want to go to Red Lobster for a steak. I am pretty sure he was trying to flirt with one of the waitresses that worked there but I have no proof. After the 2007 season he went off to train for the combine and I didn’t get a chance to take him for that steak dinner. I owe you that steak dinner Harry, and thanks for being my all-time favorite Cardinal.