Last night my wife and I went to a wedding of a kid Victor who played for me many moons ago on a travel baseball team I coached. At the table was Dr. Mertz who remembered me from Raritan HS Baseball over 43 years ago.I asked about his son a Rutgers recruit that went to Northwestern. He told me his son was granted a 6th year this year, but surgery already ended his season. Then he went on to tell me about the recruiting process. Said he was an under the radar kid at Raritan even at 6'7" and then about 290lbs, but as scouts came to see Bennett Jackson,{Notre Dame team captain Senior year} they saw him. Schiano had the Rutgers team mascot and Rutgers band march down college ave to greet Shane Mertz, pulling out all the stops. Dr. Mertz who was a Rutgers Alum wanted his son to go to Rutgers, so it looked good, even had great things to say about Kyle Flood, then OL coach.Greg arrived at Raritan HS in a helicopter as a final effort to sign him.The side story to this, as it hit me as he said the helicopter story, was and I told Dr. Mertz, I have a story that always connects your son to my family, and you probably never heard it. As many of you know on here, Bob Connell is a very active member of the Touchdown Club, has been for many years. He knew of my nephew Danny, wheelchair bound since birth with Spina Bifida, and very close to me, had taken a turn for the worse with kidney complications.Bob, had told Coach Schiano his story, and almost came to Danny's house to hand him, what Bob instead gave me to hand him a signed Rutgers Football. That football, put into a glass case, stayed over his bed till the day he passed, and went with him forever.When I was done telling Dr. Mertz the story, with obvious tears in his eyes, he excused himself, and told me he needed to tell the story to his son, who he talked to just a few hours ago, and could tell he was a little down after his recent surgery and the premature ending of his college career. When people say it's a small world, they have no idea just how small it really can be.
