1/3 Derek Rackley spends his days laboring under the gaze of football heroes. They stare at him from the Wheaties boxes that adorn the employees' cubicles at General Mills. There's John Elway, on a framed box in a room where Rackley is explaining a project to his boss. Walter Payton's cardboard likeness overlooks the file cabinet in Rackley's corporate cubbyhole.
Rackley holds no pretensions about seeing himself stamped on a cereal box. He's perfectly content with his low-key role as the Gophers' long snapper, which he juggles with his job as a sales management associate and his graduate studies at the University of Minnesota.
Rackley, 22, thought his athletic career ended when he graduated last spring and went to work at General Mills. But Gophers coach Glen Mason, who says Rackley is the best long snapper he ever has seen, asked him to return this fall for his final year of eligibility.
That placed Rackley in a unique position, standing with one wing-tipped shoe in the corporate world and one well-worn cleat on the football field. The mix of meetings, practice, classes and games leads to many long days, but Rackley loves emulating the guys on the Wheaties boxes while working for the company that makes the flakes.
'When I was offered the job, part of me said, `This is a great opportunity. Don't let it pass you by,' ' said Rackley, who is from Apple Valley. 'I was ready to move on to the next stage of my life. Then this summer, the coaches said they could use me back. I wanted to do it because I haven't been to a bowl game, and this team has a very good chance.
'I go home tired most days, and I still have work to do and a 5-month-old puppy to take care of,' Rackley said. 'But you're only young once, and you only get to play Division I ball once. I couldn't pass this up.'
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The road to snapping
Rackley began his football life as a quarterback at Apple Valley High School, where he discovered he could throw a spiral while bending over as well as he could while standing up. That led him to try long snapping, and he became so good at it that he asked Gophers coaches if he could fill that role while he toiled as a reserve quarterback. Rackley's snapping skill, his athleticism and his 6-foot-5, 238-pound frame convinced them, and after he was redshirted in 1995, he became the Gophers' top long snapper in 1996.
College enabled Rackley to develop his other abilities, too. A management major, he won Gophers scholar-athlete awards in each of his four years at the school and was named to the Big Ten all-academic team from 1996-98. Rackley didn't play much at quarterback or at tight end, where he moved to in 1997, but he developed into an outstanding snapper.
He didn't expect to use that skill again after he began his General Mills job in July. But because he was redshirted as a freshman, Rackley retained one more year of football eligibility - and Mason wasn't ready to let him go. The coach and Rackley's supervisors at General Mills agreed to let Rackley attend practice whenever his work schedule allows and take four half-days of vacation to travel to road games.
'We knew it would be unrealistic to expect him to be at every practice,' Mason said. 'Actually, he's been here more than we thought he would. He's a good cover guy, he's big and he's awfully good at snapping. And he presents a built-in role model for us; he came through our program, got a degree and a good job, and he's had a very positive experience. You don't find many like him.'
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The workday
Rackley usually arises at 6 a.m. By 8, he's at his office at Minnetonka's Carlson Center. He spends his day analyzing statistics and preparing reports for General Mills' sales representatives, ensuring they have the information they need to sell their products. When his workday ends in the late afternoon, Rackley heads to the `U' and joins practice, often staying late to get in extra work with holder/punter Ryan Rindels and kicker Dan Nystrom.
On some days, Rackley must lift weights or watch film of opponents before he heads home. On others, he studies for his two graduate courses. He attends one class - issues in youth development and leadership - on Thursday evenings, and he does research for an independent study class in kinesiology.
'The key to making it all work is setting priorities,' said Rackley, who is taking eight credits and is considered a full-time graduate student. 'I don't have much time to go out, but I haven't wanted to. This isn't a big shock to my system; every summer, I worked 40 or 50 hours a week at internships and still worked out and went to summer school. So I got used to corporate life and being busy. And football isn't a drag. The way I look at it, when I leave work, I get to go play.'
Most of Rackley's co-workers know about his alter ego. He's decorated his cubicle with a Gophers football and pictures of the team, and a Big Ten scholar-athlete certificate sits next to a box of business cards and a photo of his lab puppy, Tyson. On Mondays, fellow employees often ask him about the Gophers' games.
Two weeks ago, they showed special interest. In the Gophers' 55-7 victory over Illinois State, Mason put Rackley in at tight end and ran a play for him. Rackley made a 44-yard catch, his first college reception, but he was stopped at the 2. Monday morning, he arrived at work to find a note taped to his computer that read: '44 yards and no TD? Did you forget your Wheaties that morning?'
Teasing aside, the play delighted Rackley's co-workers, parents Lance and Betsy Rackley and the Gophers players. 'It was awesome,' Nystrom said. 'He's a friendly person and a hard worker who's really dedicated. He doesn't get a lot of recognition, but he means the world to our kicking game. You know that snap is going to be perfect every time.'
Rackley's teammates and coaches have begun encouraging him to try his snapping in the NFL, and he said he would be interested if the opportunity arises. Mason has jokingly lobbied for another goal: making Rackley the first General Mills employee to get his picture on that esteemed Wheaties box. Rackley, for his part, is willing to settle for selling cereal from his office chair rather than from the supermarket shelf.
'I hear a lot of comments like that around the office,' Rackley said. 'But you look at these boxes every day and see people like Walter Payton and Michael Jordan. Let's just say I'm not banking on it. '
