by Nathan Bural
Stephenville Empire-Tribune
It's a story that has the makings of a great movie plot.
A good high school football player commits to a major NCAA Division I university where the sky is the limit.
Then, out of nowhere, comes a mysterious ailment that appears to end his football career forever, before a miraculous procedure puts him back on the field.
After stepping back on the gridiron, he begins putting up record-breaking statistics, leads his team to the playoffs and proposes to his girlfriend following the final regular season game.
Tarleton State University quarterback Scott Grantham's college career has been one that will leave Steven Spielberg chomping at the bit.
Grantham, 22, will lead the Texans to their first NCAA Division II playoff appearance since 2003 when they visit rival Texas A&M-Kingsville at 1 p.m. Saturday, but it hasn't been an easy road to the promised land for the signal caller from far West Texas, who has overcome adversity to notch his place in the Tarleton history books.
Grantham passed for 3,344 yards and 28 touchdowns in his senior season at Franklin High School in El Paso, earning district and city MVP honors before committing to play for New Mexico State.
Then, in a voluntary summer workout in 2006, his life suddenly turned upside down.
"That night after practice I called my parents and told them I was having really bad headaches," said Grantham. "That's when I knew something felt pretty off to me. I tried to sleep it off, but in the middle of the night, my dad rushed me to the emergency room. I kept blacking out and was in pain. It was the worst pain I've ever had in my life. It kept me on medicine for about two to three days."
Grantham was diagnosed with an Arterio-Venous Malformation, or an AVM, which is an abnormal collection of blood vessels in the brain that can cause seizures or persistent headaches.
"I had never had headaches like this before," he said. "It's not hereditary or anything so it was very scary and very weird."
After the midnight rush to an El Paso emergency room, Grantham sought a second opinion from Dr. Kris Smith, a specialist at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, and was faced with a major dilemma - risk the loss of his eyesight and continue to play, or give up the game he loved, likely forever.
"From El Paso, the doctors sent me to Dr. Smith in Phoenix. Apparently the option would be to have the AVM removed by surgery and then I could play again,” Grantham said. “But because of where the AVM was located, doctors said there was a 50-50 chance I could lose half my vision.”
Following this evaluation, doctors in El Paso and at New Mexico State no longer felt comfortable with the idea of Grantham playing football.
Just like that, his playing career appeared to be over.
"My family was great about it. They've always been very supportive, but they know it's just a game," said Grantham. "But it was hard for me to accept."
He continued to further his education and stayed on the Aggie staff as a student assistant coach, but wasn't allowed to participate in physical activity.
About two weeks following the NMSU regular season, Grantham received a call from Dr. Smith saying he was the perfect candidate for a new procedure known as gamma knife radiation, which utilizes highly focused radiation technology providing customized treatment for certain tumors.
Doctors told Grantham the AVM would be gone within two to three years, and he reported he has not had a headache since. He still undergoes an MRI every six months.
"After the procedure, Dr. Smith said he felt comfortable with me playing again and that no trauma would affect this again," Grantham said. "I immediately went back and called the coaches. They were all excited. Since I wasn't officially back on the team I still couldn't practice, but I was watching film and studying the playbook."
Unfortunately, returning to the gridiron didn't go as smoothly as Grantham expected.
"The NMSU doctor said he didn't know enough about the procedure or the problem and he didn't feel comfortable with the liability of letting me play," Grantham said.
The doctor's decision left Grantham with mixed emotions - the joy of being able to continue his football career, and the disappointment of having to do it elsewhere.
Grantham was faced with a pair of options – transfer to another Division I program or drop a level to Division II.
"I couldn't go to Division I because of the 'clock-start' rule. Once I started taking classes, the clock started. Plus if you go from DI to another DI you have to sit out a season, so if you add that to my redshirt year then I would have only been able to play for two years,” Grantham explained. “By going DII, I could start classes immediately and play immediately."
The New Mexico State coaches hit the phone lines in search of a team in need of a quarterback.
Much to Tarleton fans' dismay, Lone Star Conference rival West Texas A&M was the frontrunner for Grantham's services.
"They ran the exact same offense as NMSU," said Grantham. "Plus Coach (Don) Carthel is really good friends with the NMSU coaching staff."
Tarleton, however, made the trigger puller an offer he couldn't refuse.
"Tarleton was the first school I visited. I was impressed with everything and Mac (head coach Sam McElroy) made my decision easy," he said. "After I visited I didn't want to go anywhere else. I came in January about two weeks before classes. I was in class the first day the spring semester started. I lifted (weights) and did spring ball because I was a little rusty. I hadn't thrown a ball in six months."
How did the rusty playmaker respond? By completing one of the top five seasons by a Tarleton quarterback in the school's history, joining the likes of former All-Americans Cliff Watkins and Steve Kelly and Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame member Kevin Vickers.
Grantham passed for 2,882 yards and 24 touchdowns and led the Texans to a 9-2 season in 2007, but it wasn't enough to get the team into the national playoffs. Tarleton was passed over in favor of an Abilene Christian team that went 10-1 in the regular season but has since had its record wiped clean due to various NCAA violations.
"I was really thankful for everything (that first year). It all made me realize how lucky I was to even play again," said Grantham. "I had a great coach, in (then offensive coordinator) Dave Weimers. He took the time and put me in good situations and helped me have a good season. Plus my parents came to every home game from El Paso. It was a blessing.”
Two years later, Grantham, who completed his degree in business management in August and is now working on his master's, has become the school's all-time leader in touchdown passes with 54. The 6-2, 218-pound field general is also third on the career chart in passing yards, with 7,372. Now, he and the Texans are finally back in the hunt for a national championship.
"I think everyone at some point or another has thought about (competing for a national title) and is excited about it," he said. "But it's one step at a time. We have a great group of seniors and everybody stays focused on one game at a time. But it would be great for this university."
National championship or not, for Grantham, just getting to play has been the greatest gift of all.
Another note on Grantham: Scott graduated in August of 2009 and is working on his graduate degree while playing as a junior. He will return for his senior season before graduating with his second degree in December 2010.
