Making a Division 1 college football team is no easy task.
If you’re 32 years old and with a wife and three kids, it seems almost impossible. But Tom Hruby, a junior at Northwestern, is used to overcoming the unthinkable — he’s an active Navy SEAL.
Hruby has served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is currently a SEAL instructor at Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois. With all of that under his belt, Hruby is now looking to make the Northwestern football team as a defensive end.
“I don’t feel like where I’m at today is some outstanding or amazing thing,” Hruby said, via the Chicago Sun Times. “It’s just more of a challenging route. … The way I kind of think about finding and accepting and trying to take on these challenges that most people would probably say are impossible, one, or very unlikely or just plain dumb.”
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has been impressed by Hruby’s determination and excellent work ethic on and off the football field.
“I know I couldn’t do it,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a man’s man. He was relentless, absolutely relentless, like you would suspect from a SEAL.”
Hruby has gone through hours of training and combat to become the incredible individual he is today. He plans on using his previous experiences to power his way into regular playing time on the field.
“What’s the next step? How do we get out of here? And you’ve just got to stick to those thoughts, stick to what’s important, stick to what you know and just kind of have an attitude,” Hruby said. “We all have an attitude of we’re always going to survive. There’s almost nothing that can beat us.”
Photo via Twitter/@LostLetterman
