He insists this is it. One last season with the Missoula Phoenix before the 42-year-old former Griz wide receiver - who fell famously from grace one night almost 20 years ago and then rebuilt his life from scratch - walks away from the game for good.
It'd be nice to cap that three-decades-long career with a championship, Garza says, and Saturday night he gets his chance when he leads the Phoenix into the Rocky Mountain Football League title game against the rival Bitterroot Blaze.
He adds this weekend's championship game - which features two area teams that defeated foes from Utah to advance to the final - should earn Montana some much-needed kudos in the regional semi-professional league.
“Ever since the RMFL started, Montana has never gotten any respect,” Garza says. “We've always been at the bottom of the barrel. They've always said we don't have the athletes or the speed or the size or this or that. There was always something (said) to degrade us. So this is huge for both teams, both Bitterroot and Missoula.”
He came to the Phoenix this year after three seasons with the Helena Titans and immediately assumed the role of a player-coach. Compared to his responsibilities in Helena, juggling his career, family life and football in Missoula has been a breeze.
“Last year (in Helena) I was the head coach, offensive coordinator, played wide receiver, defensive back and punter,” Garza says. “I was also the general manager for a while before I got a managerial board to take over.”
The Phoenix's only two losses of the season have come against the Blaze - one at home, one on the road - but Garza says Missoula will be ready to go come game time.
“The pressure is on them, they have everything to lose, we don't,” Garza says. “We're the underdog. So we're just going to step up with our gameplan and go 100 percent.”
Today, Garza doesn't shy away from talking about May 23, 1988. In fact, in retrospect he says stealing Larry Krystkowiak's car was one of the best things that ever happened to him.
At the time, it was difficult to see beyond the facts of the case.
After a night of drinking, Garza - just one year removed from his senior season at UM - and some buddies got ahold of the keys to Krystkowiak's 1986 Porsche and boosted it off West Front Street for a joyride.
“We had a little too much to drink and it just got out of hand,” he says. “It got a little crazy.”
Before the incident, Garza was one of the top receivers on legendary coach Don Read's first two pass-happy Montana Grizzly teams.
A native of Moses Lake, Wash., he transferred from Wenatchee Valley Community College before his junior season to play for one of the masterminds of the West Coast Offense.
He caught the first pass in the first-ever Cat-Griz game in Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 1986 after some vintage Read trickeration. Quarterback Brent Pease faked a dive and found Garza streaking past the Cats' lone safety for a big gain.
“Just hearing the roar of the crowd on that huge play right off the bat, still resonates in my mind,” he says. “Always, even to this day. It was just amazing.”
But after police recovered the stolen Porsche on July 1 when Garza was pulled over during a routine traffic stop in Napa, Calif., he was saddled with six years probation and a hefty bit of restitution to pay Krystkowiak, who at the time played for the Chicago Bulls.
He says the hardest part was facing his former coach.
“The thing that hurt me the most was just to see Coach Read's face,” Garza says. “It really hit me hard just to see the disappointment in his face. I really look up to him. I mean, he's a huge father figure for me. I love the man like I love my own father, so it hurt me really deep to see him disappointed.”
Garza set about the complicated process of putting his life back together. He got married and had two sons. He went back to school, graduating from UM in 1995. He now runs a successful business in Missoula refurbishing homes.
Today he is the picture of a model citizen, a lot of ground separating a mature and confident man from the 23-year-old kid that caused that mischief.
“I regret it because I hurt Larry and he's great guy,” Garza says. “But truly it was a life changing event for me Š So when I look back on it, I wouldn't take anything back because it altered my life for the best.”
He is committed to making a difference in the lives of young people and is looking forward to coaching high school receivers for the Spartans next year. He works with Little League kids and Little Grizzly teams and is interested in mentoring athletes at the university, where maybe he can use his own experiences to keep kids on the right path.
It's also one of the reasons why his final season with the Phoenix is so important to him.
“It's really special to me,” Garza says. “When I graduated from Moses Lake High School, one of the things I quoted in the yearbook was that I either wanted to play in the NFL or coach football Š I enjoy it. I enjoy teaching these guys everything I've learned in this game.”
The Garza family has always enjoyed longevity.
Grandmother Irene played fastpitch softball in California against 20-somethings when she was 62 years old. Dave Garza has the news clipping to prove it. He calls her his idol and says his copy of Irene's story is one of his most prized possessions.
“Every once in a while if I'm feeling down, I just bring that out,” he says “I've got it framed and everything. I just read the whole thing and it picks me back up.”
Garza says the secret to his own ability to keep up with guys half his age on the football field isn't really a secret at all.
“Hard work,” he says. “Just working out, maintaining my body and mind is really important to me.
“(Playing football) brings the youthfulness out of me. I love the challenge, that's the biggest part for me. The challenge in life in any event in anything that I do, it brings the best out of me.”
He caught a pair of passes for 30 yards in the Phoenix's semifinal win over the undefeated Utah Vipers last week. For that game, Missoula traveled to Davis, Utah, to play a team that was supposed to be too big, too fast and too talented for the upstart Montana squad.
“That was like playing a championship game right there,” Garza says. “Ten hours on the bus to play an undefeated team with the second-best defense in the league, it was outstanding.”
The Phoenix broke a 21-21 tie in the third quarter and held on for a 38-24 win to force a third meeting with the Blaze in the championship game.
Garza says if Missoula can manage another win against a team that is supposed to be too good to beat, there's a possibility the Phoenix could get invited to one of the many semi-pro national invitational tournaments.
So Saturday his teammates will be battling not only for a championship, but to earn just one more game for the Old Man.
“They tease me almost every day Š,” he says. “They ask me, ‘Where's your cane?' or ‘Where's your walker?' Just stuff like that, we have a lot of fun with it.”
The RMFL championship game is Saturday at 7 p.m. in Darby.
Reporter Chad Dundas can be reached at 523-5361, or at chad.dundas@missoulian.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)