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Santiago and Bill Gramatica helped each other through their identical knee surgeries.
By PETE YOUNG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 25, 2002
TAMPA -- Major reconstructive knee surgery, and the grueling rehabilitation that follows, is an athlete's purgatory.
Isolated, lonesome rehab sessions. Separation from your teammates. Incessant doubts about returning to top form.
Basically, it's a long, nasty experience. Not so for Santiago Gramatica. Sure, the South Florida kicker worked through the physical torment like everyone else. But his rehab was aided by an amazing coincidence: Brother and best friend Bill was going through the identical experience.
The kickers had surgery on the same day, performed by the same doctor, for the same injury, to the same leg (the plant foot, Bill's right, Santiago's left). They encouraged each other.
"Everything was the exact same thing for both of us," Santiago said. "I honestly, seriously, don't know how I would have made it through without all that help I had with Bill by my side. We were pushing each other.
"The whole summer of rehab, being with Bill, it helped a lot."
The result: 10 months later, Santiago is better than ever.
After a freshman season in which he missed eight field goals, eight extra points and never looked confident, Gramatica has been rock-solid. Through seven games he is 10-for-13 on field goals and 21-for-22 on extra points.
In other words, the youngest of three kicking brothers -- Santiago for the Bulls, Bill for the NFL's Cardinals, Martin for the Buccaneers -- has performed like a Gramatica.
"I just feel much more relaxed, much stronger," he said.
Late last season, Gramatica, 19, suffered a knee injury. Surgery to repair the torn cartilage revealed he had suffered something much more serious some time ago: a torn ACL.
"I have no idea how it happened," Gramatica said. "They just knew it had been a while because my ACL was attaching somewhere else."
Bill, a former USF standout, had suffered a freak injury. Late in his rookie season with the Cardinals, he leaped to celebrate a field goal and came down awkwardly.
In early January, Bill and Santiago had surgery, in succession.
"He was coming out, I was rolling in," Santiago said.
"Gramatica Incorrect" is the quip when a Gramatica misses a kick. It is rarely heard at USF.
Gramatica was flawless on extra points this season before missing Saturday at East Carolina under extenuating circumstances. A personal foul penalty on Hugh Smith for removing his helmet after a touchdown made the PAT a 35-yarder.
"I understand (what Smith did) completely," Gramatica said. "I'm glad my teammates are emotional. I'm emotional. He came and told me he was sorry, but it was my fault, I should have made it."
Gramatica also missed a field goal against ECU, but his newfound resolve shined through on a careerlong 41-yarder that increased the lead to 46-30 with four minutes to go.
"It was a huge kick," said USF coach Jim Leavitt, who has stuck with Gramatica and has been rewarded. "A lot of people kind of ride the wind. He has a bad year the first year so he can't kick, or a guy has a good year, so he's great. I think how good you are is a test over time."
For Gramatica, the season has been gratifying.
"I felt so bad last year. I felt like I was letting the team down, the coaches, everybody," he said. "When they send you out there to kick a field goal, they expect you to make it. That's the only way I can help my team out -- that's what I do. ... I wasn't doing my part. That's what was killing me."
An undiagnosed injury likely was a major factor.
"Freshman year is hard, and especially kicking with a torn ACL is not easy," Leavitt said. "That just shows the toughness of that young man."
"I don't want to use the injury as an excuse," Gramatica said. "I just feel much more comfortable now. It's just that mentally I'm more mature, I guess.
"And it helps that kicks are going through this year."