opinion

Whitney: Transitions in life for Chad Greenway

When the Super Bowl kicks off Sunday in Arizona, Chad Greenway will be at home in the Twin Cities with his wife and three daughters, pondering the next stage of his life.

The Mount Vernon native and Minnesota Vikings linebacker is coming off a turbulent season that saw him lose his father to a prolonged cancer battle while Greenway suffered through injuries that sidelined him for the first time since his rookie year.

The two-time Pro Bowler wants to return to Minnesota for a 10th season, but his contract is not guaranteed. If the Vikings choose to clear salary cap space, they can ask Greenway to restructure his deal or release the former University of Iowa standout they drafted 17th overall in 2006.

Either way, the end is drawing near for a football success story that started in small-town South Dakota and ultimately turned Greenway into one of the most celebrated athletes in state history.

"One thing you realize is that it's not going to last forever," says the 32-year-old Greenway, who was in Pierre last week to support ethanol production at a legislative social. "The NFL isn't into charity. If you can produce on the field, then you'll stick around. My goal has been to finish my career in the same place it started, and sometimes you just have to put your ego aside and let it play out."

Greenway missed four games during Minnesota's 7-9 season with setbacks that included a broken hand, broken ribs and a late-season knee injury suffered two days after his father passed away at age 56 after a bout with leukemia.

The veteran linebacker finished with 93 tackles, failing to lead the team in that category for the first time in seven years as rookie standout Anthony Barr and up-and-comer Gerald Hodges showed promise in new coach Mike Zimmer's defensive scheme.

Rather than showing frustration, Greenway maintained a positive attitude and level of leadership that impressed teammates and close followers of the franchise.

"I was in awe of how he handled everything," says Vermillion native Ben Leber, a former NFL linebacker who played alongside Greenway with the Vikings from 2006-10. "It's one thing to go through what he did physically, but I have to imagine that the situation with his dad really weighed on him. He had to mentally power through a lot of pain."

Greenway didn't do it alone. He and his wife, Jennifer, have a growing family since daughter Blakely was born four months ago to join older sisters Maddyn, 7, and Beckett, 4. The helpless feeling of losing a parent was only partly eased by the relentless responsibility of having children of his own.

The thought of uprooting that family is uncomfortable, but Greenway is ready if the situation arises. Retirement isn't far off, but the former high school quarterback isn't quite ready for his small-town success story to end.

"To come from where I come from and be able to play nine years in the NFL, that's a big deal," he says. "I'm a realist, but at the same time I still have things I want to accomplish. My agent told me, 'If you want to go out on your terms, get out one year before they want to kick you out.' But I'm still looking ahead."

Dream takes shape

Greenway's unlikely journey found its footing during long days on the family's cattle and hog farm, where he followed in his father's athletic footsteps.

Alan was a skilled football player and wrestler who graduated from Mount Vernon High in 1976. That same year, he married high school sweetheart Julie Schoenfelder, a match that meshed two families with proud sports pedigrees.

By the time Chad entered the scene, his two older sisters already had made their mark in track and basketball. Determined to make the biggest impact of all, the youngest Greenway played endless hours of basketball on the family's gravel driveway.

"People think you need to go to the gym all the time to be a good player," Julie said during Greenway's high school days. "But we had a basket stuck on the garage, and he'd take a broom and sweep the gravel out and spend countless days in front of that thing."

When Alan wasn't working on the farm or taking care of his rural mail route, he would work with his only son and proudly assess his potential. With a population of less than 500, the town embraced its budding star.

"Chad could have played college basketball," says Mount Vernon activities director and boys basketball coach Eric Denning, who took over the program when Greenway was a freshman in 1997-98. "But after a while it became obvious that football was his real strength."

Alan watched his son spark Stickney-Mount Vernon to a pair of 9-man football titles before moving to star at Iowa, where he was named first-team all-Big Ten as a senior and met Jennifer (Capista), a track athlete from Illinois who accepted his proposal of marriage at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

The night Greenway was drafted by the Vikings was a festive occasion in Mount Vernon, even though the town's shaky cell service almost prevented the team's phone call from going through. When the pick was official, the hometown hero laid down the law in the high school gymnasium.

"I know we've got some Packer fans around here," Greenway told the assembled throng, "but you're going to have to switch over. To be honest with you, you're going to have get rid of that Packer crap."

The former Hawkeye's rookie season was wiped out when he injured his knee playing special teams in the first quarter of the 2006 preseason opener at the Metrodome. He avoided injuries after that and became a defensive leader while rising to fourth all-time on the team's all-time tackle list.

Greenway has more tackles than any other NFL player since 2007, and he never forgot where it started. When Alan was diagnosed with leukemia in summer 2012, the NFL star was staggered by the changes he saw in the man who had showed him the way.

"Alan served on the school board and was a strong representative of our community," Denning says "He was sort of the alpha male, so it was difficult to see him slowed down. But in a lot of ways, it became encouraging for folks to see him take it on the way he did."

As Alan made numerous trips to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and eventually underwent a stem cell transplant, extended family and neighbors turned out in droves to help harvest soybeans on the Greenway farm that might otherwise have been in jeopardy.

"When things like this happen, you learn more about the fabric of where you come from," Chad says. "My dad was my favorite person ever. He was my hero and a legend for me. To see him go through what he went though and do it with a workmanlike mentality was very inspiring. At some point last season, it got very serious very quickly. He was doing well, and then he hit a road block."

Town pays tribute

Alan Greenway died on Dec. 19, a Friday, which created a quandary for his son. The Vikings were scheduled to play that Sunday in Miami, and Chad wasn't sure if he should make the trip.

After spending time in Mount Vernon and missing Friday practice, he decided to rejoin his team and travel to Miami on Saturday to play in the game.

"When you go through something like that as a family, you second-guess every decision," Greenway says. "A lot of it was, 'Dad would want you to play,' which sounds like a cliché, but it rings true because it's not just a game. It's a career and you do what you have to do continue your livelihood."

It was a discouraging trip for Greenway, who banged up his knee before halftime and never returned to action as the Vikings allowed 23 fourth-quarter points in a bizarre 37-35 loss to the Dolphins.

"I remember that Brett Favre has that amazing game after his father passed away, and I envisioned doing something like that," he says. "I was really disappointed that I couldn't finish the game, because it sort of puts a damper on the experience. By the end, I was ready to get back home and be with my family."

The visitation and funeral in Mount Vernon were a true testament to Alan's impact. Among the hundreds of attendees were Sen. John Thune, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman and quarterback Matt Cassel, joining an extended family that stretched far and wide.

"It was a two-hour wake, and the Greenways are notorious talkers, so the line stretched for a block and a half outside the church," recalls Chad, who also lost his grandmother on Jan. 19. "People were talking about farming, pigs, cattle and football. You realize the effect that (Alan) had when you see Kirk Ferentz waiting in line outside the church to talk to my mom and remember my dad."

After the funeral, talk turned to Chad's future and he joked with Thune about entering politics. It wasn't an outrageous statement, since Greenway has advocated for ethanol at numerous events and has political bloodlines.

His great-grandfather, Franklin "Red" Lyon, was a state legislator and his grandmother, Laska Schoenfelder, was elected to three terms as public utilities commissioner before her death in 2001.

"You never say never," says Greenway, although Sunday he will be focused on football. Watching the Super Bowl can be painful ever since an overtime loss in the NFC championship game following the 2009 season against the Saints in New Orleans, where controversial calls and a late Favre interception prevented the Vikings' first Super Bowl trip since 1977.

"I can lie to you and say it doesn't, but it hurts," Greenway says. "I've been fortunate enough to make the playoffs three times, and we had a great shot in that game. You almost want to go back and replay it, because the memory of just missing the Super Bowl is something you have to live with. But the reality is that we didn't make enough plays to get there."

Now the goal is to extend the dream a little longer and find the best possible ending. For the player and his family and the people of Mount Vernon, the words Greenway shared on that memorable draft night still ring loud and clear.

"This doesn't happen to every small town in the world," he said. "But it happened to us."

Argus Leader Media city columnist Stu Whitney can be reached at swhitney@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter @stuwhitney