thedrifter
07-07-07, 06:34 AM
Jul 6, 2007 11:05 pm US/Eastern
Former Steeler Joins The Marines
(KDKA) PITTSBURGH A man from Shaler who used to play for the Steelers will now wear a uniform of a different kind.
Bob Dzvonick, 27, joined the Marines and says football is now a distant memory.
He chased his dream of playing professional football until he was 26, and even played one season for the Steelers in the NFL Europe league.
But minor injuries often left Dzvonick sidelined. For a while he worked with Allegheny County District Attorney Stephan Zappala and thought about applying to law school, but walked into a Marine recruiting office on March 15.
“He came in and really motivated me. I am supposed to motivate them,” Recruiter Dan Black said. “He came in and told me he was on a professional football team and wanted that sense of pride, that sense of brotherhood back.”
Dzvonick found what he was looking for at Marine boot camp in Paris Island, South Carolina.
“I don’t even think of football anymore. I was told there is a football team in the Marine Corps, but I am watching the M-1 Abrams tank and I want to be on this tank as a gunner, driver, machine gunner,” he said. “I am going to master that. Down the road I want to shoot for OCS School. I would love to be commanding a unit of tanks.”
Dzvonick says for the first time in his life he feels like he’s accomplished something. He leaves Monday for combat training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Ellie
Former Steeler Joins The Marines
(KDKA) PITTSBURGH A man from Shaler who used to play for the Steelers will now wear a uniform of a different kind.
Bob Dzvonick, 27, joined the Marines and says football is now a distant memory.
He chased his dream of playing professional football until he was 26, and even played one season for the Steelers in the NFL Europe league.
But minor injuries often left Dzvonick sidelined. For a while he worked with Allegheny County District Attorney Stephan Zappala and thought about applying to law school, but walked into a Marine recruiting office on March 15.
“He came in and really motivated me. I am supposed to motivate them,” Recruiter Dan Black said. “He came in and told me he was on a professional football team and wanted that sense of pride, that sense of brotherhood back.”
Dzvonick found what he was looking for at Marine boot camp in Paris Island, South Carolina.
“I don’t even think of football anymore. I was told there is a football team in the Marine Corps, but I am watching the M-1 Abrams tank and I want to be on this tank as a gunner, driver, machine gunner,” he said. “I am going to master that. Down the road I want to shoot for OCS School. I would love to be commanding a unit of tanks.”
Dzvonick says for the first time in his life he feels like he’s accomplished something. He leaves Monday for combat training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Ellie