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Hometown Hero Returns Home

May 13, 2003 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release


It may have been a long road for OS/WR/LB Ira Gooch to make it from his old stomping grounds of Davenport West High School to Ellsworth Community College to Central Michigan University and to return home to the Quad Cities to continue his passion of playing football for the Quad City Steamwheelers, but Gooch could not be happier.

"This is ideal for me," Gooch said. "If you want to play in the af2, it doesn't get any better than playing in the Quad Cities where the people love this game."

Gooch started out growing up as the second oldest of four to two of the "best parents," Benita and Ira, Sr., in Davenport. The 24 year old Ira is preceded by his 27-year old brother Brian with a sister Erika, who just recently turned 21 and youngest of them all, 19-year old brother Andre.

Growing up in what Gooch calls the "perfect environment," Gooch fell in love with football, and it would prove to be a perfect passion to have.

"You've got to love this game and you have to make sacrifices to get where you want to get," Gooch said. After playing three years "second fiddle" at Davenport West High School, Gooch shined in his senior season, enough to open the eyes to the coaches of Ellsworth of Community College. Gooch went onto Ellsworth, a school where there are only 500 students, to play for two years before getting to do what Gooch called the "chance of a lifetime.

"I had a lot of great coaches at West, they taught me the do's and don'ts of the game of football," Gooch said. "I can't really describe Ellsworth, you would have to go there to understand it. It was a learning experience and I have some memories from there that I wouldn't trade for the world.

"It was a dream for me to play Division I football and Central Michigan offered me a scholarship and I got the opportunity," Gooch said.

Gooch got the opportunity to play at the NCAA Division I level, something that he had dreamed for since he was young. As a senior, led the Chippewas with 992 all-purpose yards, including team bests in kick returns (15 returns for 331 yards and a 22.1 yard average) and punt returns (16 returns for 211 yards and a 13.2 yard average). He caught 24 passes for 392 yards and a team-leading 16.3-yard average and rushed for 438 yards and two TDs his junior year. He also threw two passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns and had an 82-yard kick return for a TD.

Then former ‘Wheelers head coach Frank Haege gave Gooch the opportunity to tryout with the then New York Dragons. Things didn't work out for Gooch and Haege, but for Gooch's luck current Steamwheelers head coach Rich Ingold was at the camp and gave Gooch his business card.

"Coach Ingold saw me workout, gave me his card and told me to give him a call if things didn't work out," Gooch said.

It was December 2001 prior to the 2002 season when Gooch called up Ingold to see if there was still an opportunity to play with the Steamwheelers. Ingold gave Gooch the okay to play and it proved to be one of the best decisions that Ingold made in his first season at the helm of the ‘Wheelers.

"I called Coach Ingold sometime in December right before the season started and told him I wanted to go ahead and get on the ball with the game," Gooch said. "After that, the rest is history.

Gooch than returned home to his old stomping grounds and made his Steamwheelers debut on April 6th versus the Bossier City Battle Wings. In his first game in a Steamwheelers uniform, Gooch caught five passes for 40 yards.

Gooch would then tear through the af2 breaking records like it was his job. He set the record for most games with 200 or more all-purpose yards with ten games at that mark or better and the season record with his 3,472 all-purpose yard performance in the 2002 season.

The opportunity then came again for Gooch in the AFL, this time it was the Indiana Firebirds calling. However, Gooch was competing against long time AFL vet Eddie Brown, who has many AFL records himself. So in Gooch's eyes he was competing for a job that wasn't available.

"It was an opportunity but not an opportunity," Gooch said. "They had me down there and I really wasn't even being evaluated.

" Unfortunately things didn't work out," Gooch said. "It just wasn't my time.

Then came the 2003 season, what would Gooch do? Well it took about as long as it did for Gooch to decide to come back as it did for him to get started.

He contacted Ingold in and was invited to camp, the rest is all but history.

This time around things would be a little different. He would decide to try the two-way game playing the WR/LB position, something Gooch was not used to. In his first game at his new position, Gooch caught three balls for 29 yards, one kickoff return for 19 yards and had five unassisted tackles on the night.

"It was a tough transition. When you are a little guy and you have to take on blocks it's an adjustment," Gooch said. "It's just a whole different world. It teaches you to fight and I try to make the most of it.

After Randall Land and Jeff Hewitt had rough starts at the OS position, Ingold decided that he would give his original OS a chance at his position again. In Week 6 against the ‘Wheelers biggest rival, the Peoria Pirates, Gooch caught 11 balls for 181 yards and had four returns for 75 yards, giving him 256 all-purpose yards for the game.

It was in the next game on the road against Wichita, a team that he lit up a year ago in the same building, the Kansas Coliseum, Gooch came up three yards short of the af2 single game record for all-purpose yards in a game with 397 all-purpose yards. He caught 11 of QB Tony Zimmerman's passes for 187 yards and returned eight kicks for 208 yards.

The "Scared Rabbit" as Ingold and Zimmerman like to call him, came from what he does after he catches the ball. It almost seems as if the guy is a "Scared Rabbit" once he gets his hands on the ball, he leaves defenders guessing and falling down trying to tackle him.

Now one has to think that if Gooch continues to put up these types of numbers, that one of the AFL teams will notice and give Gooch the opportunity to move up? Gooch seems to think that if the opportunity is presented to him, that he would be hard pressed to pass it up.

"You want to move up to the next level as long as you are making progress.

Everybody can't make it to the NFL but everybody wants too," Gooch said.

"My favorite quote is ‘Aim for the moon because if you fail you'll still be among the stars.

"God has a plan for everyone and some things you can't control ," Gooch said.

Now as for what will happen next season if Gooch does not make it to the next level, what will his plans be?

"I'm young, but you can't play this game forever. There's a time when you have to hang it up," Gooch said. "I just want to take the season one game at a time and worry about next season when this season's over.

Life in the "Deuce" (as the af2 is known) is not easy on players, especially when they are making $200 per game. Gooch also works at GNC Nutritional Center as his "other" job while maintaining his job with the Steamwheelers.

"It's working out great. I don't have any conflicts as far as football," Gooch said. "It's a job but it's definitely not my career."

So what else could be in store for Ira Gooch? The future will only tell, but for the time being, this cowboy is back in the saddle again and has high hopes of making it to the next level.

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