Gargiulo hopes to make jump from Dartmouth to the Stampeders
By Jean LeFebvre,
Calgary Herald
If Anthony Gargiulo was job-hunting in a suit and tie, he’d be in wonderful shape.
The young man from Neshanic Station, N.J., holds a degree in classical studies from prestigious Dartmouth College, graduating at the tender age of 21. He’s so electronically adept that he built computers from components for himself and his family. And he once worked as a summer intern at a Ladenburg Thalmann, a brokerage house in midtown Manhattan.
That background, however, doesn’t carry a whole lot of weight when he tapes up his hands and slips on cleats and helmet.
“In the working world,” said the Stampeders training camp hopeful, “the Dartmouth education helps a little more whereas in football, it’s almost detrimental. People see it’s 1-AA, it’s an Ivy League school and they question the competition. And rightly so. You’ve just got to prove yourself.”
Gargiulo, a defensive end, was pretty darn good with Dartmouth’s Big Green — he led the conference in quarterbacks bagged during his final two seasons — but “Ivy League sackmaster” just doesn’t have much of a ring to it.
In trying to make the cut as a professional player then, Gargiulo is counting less on his resume and more on his training camp performance.
“For me,” he said, “it’s like a job interview here in camp.”
Gargiulo is in Calgary after taking a one-year breather from the pigskin wars.
“I was very small when I graduated — I was only 230 pounds — and I wasn’t really sure how I’d fit in at the next level,” he explained. “I took a year off, worked a little bit and grew and matured a little more. I was a year ahead in school so I was only 21 when I graduated. Now I’m 22, a little bit bigger (a shade over 250 pounds) and a little more mature.”
Gargiulo is one of a slew of imported newcomers — Calvin Thibodeaux, Tearrius George and Alonzo Jackson are also in the mix — battling for the defensive-end vacancy created by the departure of Demetrious Maxie and Rahim Abdullah.
This is hardly a place Gargiulo imagined himself being when he was a youngster. His parents, as a matter of fact, never allowed him to play football until he got to high school.
“I was playing soccer and baseball and having a great time doing that,” he chuckled, “so I didn’t know any better, I guess.
“When I was high school, I hadn’t thought much about college ball. In college, I hadn’t thought much about ball past college until scouts started coming around the school and looking at me and talking with me. I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I should do it.’ I love football, obviously, but it’s something that I never imagined could be possible. Now here I am. It’s a great opportunity and I’m really happy to be here.”
Gargiulo learned enough about the CFL game to come to the conclusion he and the league might be a good match.
“I realized that as a 250-pound defensive end,” he said, “I wouldn’t be ridiculously undersized as I would be in the NFL. This fits well into my skill set. I’m pretty quick, I like to run. I think I’m doing a pretty decent job adjusting (to the pros and to the Canadian game), but it is quite different.”
As for the so-called real world, Gargiulo has no idea when or how he’ll put that degree and his diverse skills — he also worked construction as a teenager — to use.
“I’ll cross that bridge when I get there,” he said. “I hope to play football as long as I can, as long as I can stay healthy. After that, we’ll see where things go. There’s a lot of great connections that can be made here, there were a lot of great connections made at Dartmouth. I’ll be exercising all of those when I get into the business world.”
