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October 11th, 2008
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Glimpse of the big time

Three Praguers compete in NFL combine, lament game's lack of traction

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 6th, 2008 issue

Photo by MICHAL SRP
Miloš Hildebrand of the Prague Panthers was invited for a second look by NFL scouts.
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KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Big Josef Fuksa and Prague Lions teammate Jan Dundáček joined Hildebrand at the NFL camp in London.
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#86 Miloš Hildebrand
Age: 21
Team: Prague Panthers
Position: Wide receiver

#85 Jan Dundáček
Age: 22
Team: Prague Lions
Position: Wide receiver

#63 Josef Fuksa
Age: 23
Team: Prague Lions
Position: Offensive line

He spans 40 yards in a blur — 4.6 seconds, to be precise. From a standing position, he can spring almost three feet, straight up. And he flings weight around like it’s a minor annoyance, pumping 225 pounds from the bench.
Miloš Hildebrand puts up some impressive numbers, his package of speed, agility and power spelling ‘promise’ to scouts from the National Football League.
Indeed, the 21-year-old Prague Panthers wide receiver attracted enough attention at a NFL player development camp in London Jan. 26–27 to earn a second look at an upcoming workout in Barcelona Feb. 24.
Despite all his promise, Hildebrand is a little lost at the moment, wondering what position he should be playing.
“I was changing shirts and a scout from the Bengals came up and said, ‘You’re not a wide receiver,’” he recalled. “He wants to see me at strong safety or outside linebacker.”
Hildebrand was one of three local players invited to the NFL camp, part of a program allowing U.S. teams to evaluate athletes in Europe, Asia and Central America through a series of “combines” that test basic abilities. Several hundred players from across Europe attended this round of workouts.
“It was tough but good,” said Josef Fuksa, a monster offensive lineman — 6 foot 5 inches, 309 pounds — for the Prague Lions. “The camp showed that we have talent.”
But will raw talent and solid numbers be enough?
“They are not preparing you, you are preparing yourself,” added Jan Dundáček, wide receiver for the Lions and the third invitee. “It’s difficult to get to the NFL level that way, when you have to work or go to school at the same time.”
That NFL scouts recognized their talent and invited them to the camp is enough, to be realistic.
“I think this means I have some potential,” Fuksa said.
Without solid coaching and a more competitive league schedule, young athletes playing in Europe have little chance to sign more than a practice squad contract — becoming fodder for starters to pound on, week after week.
“I just hope that one day American football will become more popular in the Czech Republic,” Fuksa added.
Native sons
American football is still in its infancy here, and only three native-born Czechs have seen playing time in the U.S. premier football league, including Will Svitek, a reserve offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs, who escaped communist Czechoslovakia with his family at the age of two.
What many may not know is that men with Czech heritage have played influential roles in American football’s history. Papa Bear himself, George Halas, was a first-generation Czech-American. Hugo Bezdik, originally from Prague, coached Penn State to the Rose Bowl in 1923. Others with Czech backgrounds include George Blanda, an Oakland icon during the 1960s, and Jay Novacek, who played for the Dallas Cowboys during their dynastic run three decades later.
This heritage has not filtered back to the homeland, where only approximately 700 Czechs take part in supervised, full-contact games, compared with almost 17,000 in neighboring Germany. Players in the eight-team organization known as the Czech Association of American Football (ČAAF) pay for the right to participate, and scramble to find adequate practice facilities.
Last year’s cancellation of NFL Europe by the commissioner’s office wiped out roster spots allocated for non-American players, and clipped some of the hopes held by local stars.
National leagues elsewhere in Europe, meanwhile, receive greater financial support than the ČAAF. Europe’s leading team, the Vienna Vikings, has even picked up a sponsorship from Raiffeisen Bank.
The Vikings draw close to 5,000 fans each game. Austrian television frequently broadcasts their regular season games, as well as the Austrian Super Bowl. With virtually no advertising, the Lions and Panthers rarely attract more than 800 people for their games, and few camera crews.
“In countries like Germany, Austria and France, kids start to play earlier,” Dundáček said. “As a result, they learn skills at a younger age.” On the other hand, he said, “natural talent is the same all over the world.”
Preseason training is already under way for the upcoming ČAAF season, which begins in April.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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