Dominique Curry returns to Philadelphia with Soul

It wasn't a simple thing, to get the 2010 St. Louis Rams to win at home. Winning at all had become something of a chore, as the team had not done so more than once in their last 28 games.

In the Rams' Week 3 matchup, the Redskins weren't exactly ready to steamroll them. By the end of the day, Washington had amounted only 116 yards rushing, and an injury to their punter had forced kicker Graham Gano into duty on any fourth and long. The day was lining up to have an incident on special teams, and on Gano's first punt of the day, the Rams' Dominique Curry saw a hole.

Despite what happened on the subsequent offensive drive - Sam Bradford overthrew a pass that was easily intercepted - the odds were tilted enough in the Rams' favor that they were able to stop their home losing streak at 14, and got only their second win in just under 30 tries. It may have been a blip of a play in a game between two flaccid non-contenders, but for Curry, it was one of the sole highlights of an all too brief NFL career.

Curry, who grew up in Northeast Philadelphia with Donovan McNabb posters all over his bedroom, is a graduate of George Washington High School. Years later, as he stood on an opposite sideline from McNabb as a Ram, and his fandom was easier to shake than he thought.

"Every pro athlete has their favorite team that they grew up on. It just so happens that they can't pick a team when they get to that [pro] level," Curry says. "It was just a great feeling to play against my home city, the team that I grew up watching. Being able to play Donovan McNabb... You still have respect for those people, but at the end of the day, it's a job."

That job started for Curry at GW, where he was a three-sport athlete being scouted by schools like Rutgers, Hofstra, and Morgan State. He chose to attend Cheyney University, where his father was the men's basketball coach. The smaller institution provided a calm backdrop for Curry's college career, one that was free of the mindless hysteria that can haunt NCAA athletes.

"At a lot of schools, they treat you differently," he reflects. "But at Cheyney, they treated us like we were regular students. We didn't have to worry about people running up to us or anything like that. We were able to just be ourselves."

Curry starred in basketball and track as well, but, became a three-time All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East selection for football, catching 134 passes for over 2,200 yards. As a freshman, he was named Conference Rookie of the Year, thanks to his 1,035 yards of receiving and seven touchdowns.

On the court, Curry was introduced to Cheyney's rivalry with Lincoln University, which put him in the highest profile sporting event he had ever played in at that point: the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) basketball Classic.

"They're so close, it's a rivalry that's been growing over the years," recalls Curry. "I played in front of family members that couldn't make it out to Cheyney [and] friends that followed me in high school that couldn't make it out to Cheyney. But now I was gonna play in front of my city. So that was a great feeling as well."

After transferring to California University of Pennsylvania in western PA for his senior year (where he had four catches for 64 yards, as well as 13 tackles and two blocked kicks), Curry signed as an undrafted rookie wide receiver with the Rams in May 2010, for whom he appeared in two games (one of which featuring a blocked punt). Though he was active for the entire 2011 season, he was not targeted for a reception.

In the following years, Curry went through a stint in Detroit with the Lions, then switched to arena football, playing for the 2014 San Jose SabreCats, who lost the AFL championship to the Arizona Rattlers. Curry appeared in 14 games for San Jose, making 50 catches for 588 yards and 25 touchdowns.

In order to wrangle some better positioning for claim orders, San Jose traded Curry to the Soul this past December, returning him to his roots; a change that he welcomes. "I don't have to get used to a new city or find out how I'm gonna get around," he says with a laugh. "I know where everything's at."

No word, however, on whether those McNabb posters have come down off the walls.