By Carwyn Holland
Though the sport of American football is not played here a Guyanese has managed to make it to the final of tomorrow’s Super Bowl showdown between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.
The storyline for tomorrow’s showdown might be between quarterbacks Eli Manning of the New York Giants and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots but the eyes of every Guyanese watching the final will be on Defensive linebacker Clay Kriston Eversley Nurse of the New York Giants.
It is doubtful whether Nurse who grew up in Guyana ever knew he would end up in the Super Bowl.
An old boy of Queen’s College, Nurse had tried his hand at other sports disciplines namely cricket, soccer and basketball with some measure of success.
But the former Broad Street, Charlestown lad, who migrated to the US at the age of 15, has developed into one of the most promising defenders in the league.
The six-foot, three inches player was born on August 1, 1988 to Guyanese Marcia Leitch and Charles Nurse of Georgetown.
He has one brother and one sister but had very little playing time in High School football in the US after he migrated.
The 260 lbs muscular Guyanese, majored in Kinesiology and plans to be a physical therapist after his professional football career comes to an end.
Nurse sports a colourful high school career record playing outside linebacker and led his team in tackles and sacks under coach Greg Hill.
Nurse also won awards in basketball and track and opted to attend Illinois over Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse, Connecticut, Akron and Kent State.
As a freshman there, he played three games before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the rest of the 2006 season.
In 2007 he played in five games and the
following year football became his main focus, while he became the focus of many scouts.
He played in all 12 games, primarily on special teams posting one tackle against Northwestern in the season finale and had a career high game against Indiana, recording the first quarterback sack of his career.
He also had six tackles. He became a junior in 2009 and earned honorable mention, playing in all 12 games with six starting spots, posting one tackle. He also had a career-best seven tackles, including a career-high four quarterback sacks in his teams’ win over Minnesota to cap off an incredible season in which he earned the Faculty Award for exemplary leadership in classroom, community, and on field.
The year 2010 was another dream year for the South American who played and started all 13 games at defensive end and had 23 tackles, four sacks, four TFLs, eight QB hurries, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. Nurse was awarded the I-BELIEVE Key Contributor award at the postseason banquet.
The inform Guyanese was selected and played in the NFLPA All-Star game in San Antonio following the season and registered a sack and three tackles playing for Texas Bowl against Baylor. He continued his dominance on the field thereafter and it was only time for him to land the big contract.
Last July, Nurse was signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent and that was his door to the ‘Big Ten’ where his legacy begins. Once again Guyana celebrate on the international stage.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”- Vince Lombardi.
The above quote is an apt one for Nurse who is set to make history tomorrow by becoming the first Guyanese to play in the ‘Big Ten’ on American football’s biggest stage.
