http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=5465783 CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Starting when he was 12, Matt Slauson taped five index cards to the wall behind his bed. He wrote a specific athletic goal on each one, targets for weight lifting and running. When he hit the number, he replaced the card. "I can't tell you how many times I heard, 'Dad, we need to make a new card,'" Slauson's father, Rob, recalled. It was a nonstop cycle of bigger, stronger, faster. Matt Slauson was one of those do-everything kids, but there was one thing he couldn't bench press or outrun. As a young boy, he was diagnosed with a pronounced disfluency -- a fancy term for a severe stuttering problem. Even now, as the front-runner for the left guard position on the New York Jets, Slauson still stutters. He's OK with that, and the reason is because, a long time ago, he learned to look beyond the index cards. His true inspiration, he figured out, was on the other side of the wall, in the next bedroom. • • • On Oct. 3, 1981, Nancy Slauson gave birth to identical twins, Chris and Nick. Chris would go on to become a rocket scientist (quite literally), earning a degree in astronautical engineering from the Air Force Academy. He's an Air Force captain, a C-17 jet pilot who has flown three tours in the Middle East. Nick suffered a prenatal brain injury. His oxygen was cut off, the placenta calcified and his brain was underdeveloped. One womb, two dramatically different outcomes. But are they really that different? [+] EnlargeMatt Slauson Zack LaneMatt Slauson is in the middle of one of the NFL's best offensive lines. Overcoming struggles that would defeat many, Nick leads a productive life in Lincoln, Neb. He has a driver's license, a full-time job, a wedding date next month and an indomitable spirit that has galvanized the Slauson family, which also overcame a difficult period 15 years ago when Nancy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. (The disease is in remission.) Nick also happens to be a decorated athlete, the proud owner of 16 state high school swimming titles "He's the most successful person I've ever met," Matt said during a break at Jets training camp. "He's had a rough go. He's had so many obstacles in his path, but every single day he wakes up with a clean slate. He wants to attack the world and be as successful as he can." • • • One brother plays for the Jets, another flies them. Matt and Chris have realized their dreams, and if Matt can nail down a starting job in his second season on arguably the best offensive line in the NFL, he'll be flying above the clouds, just like his older brother. Matt is a "big, mean dude," according to coach Rex Ryan, and he plays the role well. He's 6-foot-5, 315 pounds of rock, with a shaved head, a bushy beard, tattoos across his upper body and an intense look on his face. Give him some black leather, and he'd look perfect on a Harley. But beneath the tough-guy image is a sense of vulnerability, apparent whenever he speaks. At times, it's difficult for Slauson. Always has been. Even though he was always the biggest kid in school, he was teased because of his stuttering. His grandfather also stuttered, but he became a judge and it never was an issue once he put on his robes and stepped into a courtroom. Likewise, Slauson doesn't struggle around teammates, but it surfaces in unfamiliar settings, such as when he's talking to the media. "There are days when it's tough," he said. "It's been real frustrating. Sometimes I can't even say anything, stumbling and stammering. It just sucks. But I look at my brother and see what he has to deal with every day, and how successful he is. He doesn't even worry about it. I'm not going to hide it. I just go about my business and be like him." [+] EnlargeMatt Slauson Zack LaneIt's not a stretch to say that Matt Slauson could become a long-term solution for the Jets. Nick struggled in school, especially with computation and writing. He speaks clearly, but maybe a hint slower than normal. As a child, he tried to play team sports, but it was hard for him to understand the various strategies. "I could hear some people snickering," said his father, a school principal in Lincoln. Nick was playing water polo as a freshman when the swimming coach noticed his smooth, powerful stroke. Actually, he learned to swim before he could walk, thanks to his mother, a competitive swimmer and a sprinter who once was invited to the U.S. Olympic trials. So Nick tried out for the swim team, the coach promising his parents he'd take care of him. Turns out Nick took care of the team. He became a star, dominating the state championships in Oregon (the family's home before Lincoln). He captured 16 titles over four years, teaming up with Chris to shatter state records in relay events. "All his special-education teachers said he'd never play sports with regular kids," Matt said. "They said things would be too intense for him, too fast." The only thing too fast was Nick. "It was very hard for me at times … but I think I've done amazing things," said Nick, displaying an athlete's swagger -- the kind of 'tude that would fit in nicely on his little brother's team. • • • Nick overachieved in everything, not just swimming. His teachers said he'd never be able to get a driver's license. Undaunted, he passed the test for a learner's permit. That's awesome, his parents told him. Three months later, Nick came home with his license, taking the driving test without telling his parents. Awesome, they said again, never wanting to discourage him. Naturally, they figured the whole driving thing would end there, but Nick bought a used car on his own and started tooling around town. Currently, he's driving for a moving company in Lincoln. Jets blog Jets Looking for more information on the green and white? ESPNNewYork.com has you covered. Blog You see, Nick had his own goals, not on index cards, but in his heart. On Sept. 3, he will be married in the Nebraska state capitol, another milestone in a remarkable journey. "He's kicking fanny and taking names," said Rob Slauson, who could've easily been talking about his football-playing son. Matt, who started for three-plus years on the Nebraska offensive line, will make his first professional appearance Monday night against the New York Giants. He was supposed to be a stopgap at left guard, holding the spot until second-round pick Vladimir Ducasse is ready, but Slauson isn't conceding to anyone. That's not in his DNA. That's not how Nick would do it. Matt Slauson is trying to keep pace with, as he put it, the most successful person he's ever met. Told his little brother described him that way, Nick replied, "That makes me feel awesome. It definitely brings a tear to my eye." Those eyes will be in front of the TV on Monday night, glued to No. 68 on the offensive line. Nick will make a DVD of the game and add it to his collection. He owns a DVD of every game in Matt's career, dating to junior high school. He adds music to each one, making it feel like a highlight video. Nick Slauson has a way of making everything -- and everyone -- better. Rich Cimini covers the Jets for ESPNNewYork.com. Follow him on Twitter. More from ESPNNewYork.com » Found a new player to root for. Awesome story. Hope this isnt a repost.
I really liked Slauson when we got him, but kind of forgot about him until we lost Faneca. Great read about his family, they seem awesome.
Very good read seems to be making the rounds with the beat writers. Jenny Vrentas wrote a very good one too. http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2010/08/matt_slauson_inspired_by_famil.html CORTLAND, N.Y. — There’s a standing rule in the Slauson household, extended to each of Rob and Nancy’s four children, no matter if their lives take them to the Middle East or Florham Park. Don’t call us for our benefit, the parents say, just call when you can. But when the phone rang one night last week in Lincoln, Neb., this was a conversation they had been waiting and hoping to have. On the other end was their 24-year-old son, Matt, who had just been named the Jets’ starting left guard for Monday’s preseason opener against the Giants. “When you see Matt being successful like he is right now, it’s one of those deals where you feel safe saying, ‘What would you expect?’ ” Rob Slauson said. “After what he’s been through, what direction would he go in?” The race for the opening-day starting job, to replace nine-time Pro Bowler Alan Faneca, is not over yet. The competition is second-round pick Vladimir Ducasse, who has both higher draft status and abundant physical gifts. But Slauson, a sixth-rounder in his second year out of Nebraska, has taken the lead two weeks into training camp – even after separating cartilage in his ribs in one of the first practices, he revealed, leading to sharp pain and uncomfortable breathing he’s labored through. His early edge has to do with a year in position coach Bill Callahan’s complicated system and an “instant” re-dedication when the contest was opened this offseason. But it also speaks to a resolve derived from his mother, a former world-class sprinter who battles multiple sclerosis, and older brother Nick, who was born with brain damage but became an eight-time state champion swimmer in Oregon. “I’ve got a lot of inspiration there,” Slauson said, “and I have to pull my weight here to meet them.” His mother was the one who encouraged him when he was teased for his stutter in first grade. She taught him an even greater lesson about resilience and faith, when she was diagnosed with the chronic neurological disease about 15 years ago. Its symptoms are varied and unpredictable, but her body began to shut down. Her husband had to carry her to the bathroom and bring her meals in bed. Matt’s other older brother, Chris – now an Air Force captain who recently returned from his third deployment to Afghanistan — helped out by loading his siblings in an old farm truck and driving them to school when he was only 14. It was a “dark period,” both the father and son say – until something changed when Slauson was in middle school. Around the same time his mother was added to a national prayer chain through the Knights of Columbus, her disease went into remission. “We’re careful not to call it a miracle,” said Rob Slauson, a high school principal in Lincoln. But to the Catholic family, it felt like one. Once invited to the track and field Olympic trials, Nancy began walking in a pool, then swimming, and now can swim two miles. She has never since struggled the way she did early on. The pool, interestingly, also gave respite to Nick. When he was in his mother’s womb with twin Chris, he was cut off from the nutrient supply and part of his brain shorted out. School was difficult for him, and he was told he would never live alone, would never hold down a job, would never drive a car. But in eighth grade, he began to swim. Once a Special Olympics athlete, he became a varsity star. The family thinks he still holds two high school state records back in Sweet Home, Ore., where the family lived on a small farm with steers, horses, pigs, sheep and goats for a decade-and-a-half. Nick Slauson now works for a Lincoln-based moving company and is getting married in September. “The way I was raised is you’re going to be up against a lot of large odds all the time,” Slauson said. “My mom and my older brother, they’ve dominated. They’ve been successful all the time. That’s the way I’ve tried to live my life.” That’s the way Slauson approached the battle for left guard, too. Second-round picks are supposed to start. Sixth-round picks, not so much. But after the Jets released Faneca, hours after drafting Ducasse, head coach Rex Ryan told Slauson he would have a chance to compete for a place on one of the best lines in the league. Slauson immediately changed his mentality. He was in the hot tub an hour before morning lifts, and in the cold tub late at night. He watched film voraciously. He added strength to his powerful 6-5, 315-pound frame — a seemingly direct genetic tie to his Yugoslavian great-grandfather, a 250-pound longshoreman in California at the turn of the century. “It was obvious,” right guard Brandon Moore said. “His attitude toward the weight room, the amount of weights he lifted, his workouts when we ran. You could definitely see this was a guy that was getting ready to compete for a starting position.” Even more obvious was the fact that he didn’t want to win by stunting his competition. As Ducasse began the quantum leap from Division 1-AA UMass to the NFL this spring, he routinely mentioned Slauson as a willing guide. The root was a conversation in the spring, when Slauson pulled his teammate aside. “Look, we’re competing for the same job,” Slauson remembers telling Ducasse, “but I’m not going to throw you under the bus. You can always come to me.” Ducasse, he said, thanked him. Slauson, who was recruited by Callahan at Nebraska, has even more than a year jump start. But he is honest as he admits that Ducasse, blessed with long arms and quick feet, can do things he never can. That doesn’t mean he’s simply keeping the seat warm until Ducasse catches up. “Could he be the long-term solution there at guard?” Ryan said of Slauson. “I believe he could. Slauson’s ready to be a starter in this league.” The first step is the preseason. Slauson hopes the regular season is next. In Nebraska, a phone and a family will be anticipating that call, too. Jenny Vrentas: jvrentas@starledger.com
