Former EWU player is first to have jersey number retired
It was a fittingly strange journey in an oddly strange game that made Raul Vijil a hero in his new hometown.
For a kid that grew up in his real hometown of Pasco, Wash. dreaming of being a star in the other futball — soccer — Vijil realized a surreal dream of now seeing his No. 15 jersey will hang from the rafters of the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
His jersey retirement May 16 at halftime of the Spokane Shock’s Arena Football League game with San Jose proved to be the only thing fans had to cheer about in a record 83-28 beat down at the hands of the Sabercats.
And those who opted not to head to the concession stands in search of something to get the game’s sour taste out of their mouths got to see and hear Vijil make it just moments into his impromptu acceptance speech before emotion took over.
But as he had done for six years in the punishing game of arena football — where the playing surface is first-generation artificial turf on concrete, and chest-high boards are the jolting reminder of when you are out of bounds — Vijil finished strong.
“Do what you love and love what you do,” he told many of the 7,000-plus fans who gave “The Thrill,” one last standing ovation. After all, he’s somewhat of a rare species to have played six years with the Shock, a team whose roster might churn more than a washing machine at times.
American football was the last thing Vijil thought would help chart his path through life.
“Growing up playing soccer I had aspirations to play at the college level and MLS (Major League Soccer) level, the Olympic team, those were my goals that were written on my wall, those are what I had in mind,” Vijil said.
Then came his senior year in high school where Vijil was coaxed to come out for Pasco High School’s other football team; one that just happened to finish its season a perfect 14-0 as 2000 state 4A champions. In their win over Bethel, Vijil set a state record with 204 receiving yards, a number that stands to this day.
The offer of a scholarship to play college football at Eastern Washington and have his education paid for was too good to pass up.
“I did have some scholarships to play college soccer but they weren’t (the same) money like Eastern was,” Vijil said.
Vijil played in the shadow of the likes of Eric Kimball at Eastern but finished his senior season with 72 catches for 1,080 yards and eight touchdowns from future Shock teammate, Erik Meyer.
His next unlikely move came when it was announced in 2005 that Spokane would be home to a new team in Arena2 minor league indoor football. Vijil got a call from then-Shock coach Chris Siegfried.
“I didn’t know exactly what that was all about,” Vijil said. “I said, ‘Hey, why not.”
The Shock had been recruiting local names out of Eastern, WSU and the University of Washington in hopes of attracting fans to the game. Vijil was among nearly a dozen players with Northwest college ties who were on the roster opening night, March 30, 2006 versus the Stockton Lightning.
Their last-second 41-40 win over Stockton, witnessed by more than 9,000 fans, flipped the switch that ignited a spark that began one of the strangest and most successful journeys of any area sports team.
And Vijil, now 32, was there for the best of it, including three league championships and a near miss in another in his half-dozen seasons with the Shock. In four af2 seasons Vijil emerged with career records for yards (3,869) and touchdowns in a game with seven. He’s been an af2 first-team all-star in 2008, and even has a bobble-head of his likeness.
He hung it up following the 2011 season, but hesitated on truly retiring from the sport. Vijil hesitated on signing the forms because he thought “What if, what if,” he wanted to make a comeback? “Maybe I can play a little bit more (so) I kind of held back on that,” he said. But he then realized the time was right.
Vijil said he debated on whether to have a written speech, but decided, “I’m just going to say it from the heart.”
Perfectly put for an athlete whose heart and desire put him — and his jersey — in a special place.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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