Ex-Ralphie handler Sale 'can't ask for anything more'

By B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 14, 2008 at 11:18 p.m.

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Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky

University of Colorado junior defensive tackle Tyler Sale, with mascot Ralphie V, hasn't gotten in on any game action this season.

Had it been only the camaraderie that suddenly was absent from his life, well, Tyler Sale was learning to cope with that. He had discovered more than an adequate replacement source by running with the beast.

The Ralphie crew - the guys and gals who steer (or otherwise hang on to) the University of Colorado's buffalo mascot for an exhilarating stadium run before home football games and the start of the second half - is about as tightknit as any group on campus.

Except maybe the football team . . . and Sale couldn't deny it: That's where his heart was. Of course, he wanted to follow his heart. But he never could have imagined the path to his goal would be laid out by an 850-pound female buffalo.

Sale, an Arapahoe High School graduate and better-than-average defensive lineman (he was a two-year starter and an all-state selection his senior year), has been a CU squad member for nearly a full season.

He has yet to see his first game action, that prospect evaporating in the opening win against Colorado State when a late interception brought the Buffaloes offense back onto the field and kept Sale, a junior defensive tackle, on the sideline.

But he continues to plug away in practice. He dresses for home games - the final one of 2008 is tonight against No. 11 Oklahoma State - and has been on the traveling squad for a couple of games. The odds of him playing today, or maybe ever in the prominent role he held in high school, are long.

"It's a pretty big logjam at defensive tackle," position coach Romeo Bandison said, ticking off the names of the scholarship players ahead of Sale - George Hypolite, Brandon Nicolas, Curtis Cunningham, Eugene Goree, Eric Lawson, Taj Kaynor.

"But he's done better than I thought he would," Bandison continued. "He's improved a bunch from the spring to the fall. He's traveled to games, he's been on the bus.

"He works hard. When he's on scout team against the offense, he does a great job. He directs traffic and gets everybody lined up. He's done an excellent job for us."

Bandison's critique of Sale, who is studying environmental engineering and hopes to use his final season of eligibility to earn a master's degree, doesn't surprise Mike Campbell, Sale's coach at Arapahoe High School.

"The first thing I'd say about him, and remember most about him, is his love for all competition and athletics," Campbell said.

Those words are based on what Campbell saw Sale sacrifice in his senior year. Early into his sophomore season, Sale tore the meniscus in his right knee but played the remainder of the football and basketball seasons before having it checked.

The prescription: a cleanup via arthroscopic surgery and six weeks of rehabilitation. He was able to play both sports and compete in track his junior year, but he needed another "scope" at the end of the football season.

Aside from the knee damage already done, his senior season was injury free. But college recruiters - they were from a sprinkling of Ivy League schools and other Front Range Division I-A schools - who had taken early notice "just sort of dropped off," Sale said.

That didn't have to happen, said Campbell, who along with Sale's dad, Terry, a teacher in Arapahoe's language department for more than two decades, spoke with Tyler about having knee surgery after his senior season in football.

"But he wanted to put it off to enjoy one final experience of competing in basketball and track," Campbell recalled. "He just enjoys the competition. He loves being a teammate, loves that camaraderie. There are not many guys like him."

Forgetting football

With most of Sale's football options depleted, he enrolled at CU in 2005.

Walking on to the football team was a thought, but doctors had told him the right knee was "wearing down," and resuming football might not be a good idea. What's more, Sale said, the knee "was still pretty sore."

Not sore enough, though, to prevent him from playing pickup basketball with his CU freshman friends. He was enjoying that until he tore the meniscus in his left knee.

"It was kind of like, 'Now that's bad luck, there,' " Sale said.

So he went to football games and sat in the student section, watching the Buffs run onto Folsom Field behind Ralphie IV. He had more than a passing interest in watching the famous mascot run; his roommate, Cody Meuli (pronounced Miley), was a Ralphie handler, and he frequently told Sale what a thrill it was.

Sale, who had met Meuli at a high school leadership conference when they were sophomores, then played against him in football (Meuli attended Ponderosa), could see his roomie was being truthful.

"I said, 'Why not? It would be a great experience while I'm here in school,' " Sale remembered. "Just knowing what a huge tradition it was, not only here at CU, but across the country. We've got one of the best mascots in the nation. Being able to be a part of that was incredible."

But with the exception of horses and cows on a relative's farm near Fort Collins, Sale said he never had been around such a large animal. Or cleaned up after one; freshman Ralphie handlers draw the short straw (or shovel) and do buffalo waste removal during the twice-a-week practices and on game day, if necessary.

Running behind her was another experience altogether.

Five handlers - two on each side, one in the back - run with Ralphie V, who nearly has completed her first season as Ralphie IV's replacement. Sale ran the "loop position" - or the rear "brakeman" spot.

He was challenged to identify the bigger thrill - that of running with Ralphie or running onto the field with the Buffs: "I don't know that you can compare them; they're both incredible, to be honest. They're both great traditions."

In the "loop position," Sale said, he "never really was in any danger . . . being behind her, there's really not that much chance of falling (and being trampled). But when she's coming around that backstretch (and making the turn toward her trailer), she just takes off.

"She really picks up speed. But I was really never getting whipped around."

Not physically, anyway.

Close, but so far away

Sale had rediscovered the camaraderie he remembered from his high school athletic career. The Ralphie handlers do their jobs because they love the work. No scholarships are involved.

"We got free T-shirts and free shoes, though - and we were happy to get those," Sale said with a laugh.

On game day, Ralphie's handlers are together from breakfast, through the game and until the buffalo is taken home to a Front Range ranch (the location is a secret).

"Just going through that daily process, it's like in any other sport team, it builds community through our own activities and our own struggles," Meuli said. "The buffalo is what creates that common bond. It is a pretty tightknit group. We like it."

And Sale certainly did; on Ralphie's Friday practice runs before home games, he usually returns to Folsom to watch and spend what time he can with Meuli and the other handlers.

But Sale isn't happy as a spectator. Despite his knee problems, the idea of playing football never really was put to rest, and spending time on the sideline on Saturdays merely rekindled the dream.

"It was really hard; knowing I might have had that opportunity (to play in college), that hurt," Sale said. "And it almost hurt worse, doing the thing with Ralphie and being right there on the field, watching (the players) warm up and everything.

"I was close to the game, almost there, but really not."

Added Meuli, a junior majoring in secondary education and English: "You could tell he missed playing, missed the experience (and) some of the opportunities he would have had, had he not gotten hurt."

Sale's dream, though, was about to materialize once more.

Perks of buffalo work

On the whole, Ralphie's handlers never will be mistaken for linebackers, safeties or defensive linemen.

But running with a nearly half-ton buffalo that can reach speeds up to 25 mph calls for strength, speed and agility. To stay in shape, Ralphie handlers have access to the weight room and conditioning equipment in CU's Dal Ward Athletic Center.

And that's where Sale got acquainted with serendipity.

As a Ralphie handler, Sale, at 6-foot- 3 and about 225 pounds at one point in his sophomore year, stood out. His weight had dropped significantly since he gave up football, but his physique still was fairly impressive, as was the poundage he lifted at Dal Ward.

Jeff Pitman, CU's director of strength and conditioning, noticed: "He looked every bit as strong as any of our football guys, mainly in his upper body. He had always worked hard (and) he really was slinging the weight around."

After speaking with Bandison, Pitman approached Sale and asked, "Hey, you ever thought about playing ball? Come give it a shot."

Sale spoke with Campbell, his high school coach, and his parents. Campbell followed up with a letter of recommendation and sent a highlight tape to Pitman and Buffs coach Dan Hawkins.

Sale didn't make Pitman ask twice; he accepted the offer.

When word of Sale's return to football reached Meuli and the others, "We were all excited," Meuli said. "That made us very proud; to have one of our own go and play D-I football is really cool. It's like having a guy being called up from the minors to go play in the show, you know?"

That was in November. When Sale reported for spring practice in April, he was well on his way to his current weight of 275. But there was the matter of him not having played football in almost three years, and Sale and Bandison use the same word to describe Sale's comeback: "rusty."

"I saw a guy who hadn't been in pads for a long time," Bandison recalled. "But he works hard, shows up every day and does what he's supposed to do. That's why he got so much better in the fall."

Said Sale: "I'm just trying to be patient with it and give it time."

Time is precious; he has one more season of eligibility and two more opportunities this season to get on the field - if he is on the traveling squad for the final regular-season game Nov. 28 at Nebraska.

Playing would be the ultimate reward, but maybe it's not as important as the mere return.

"It's definitely been a grind, but it's definitely been worth it," Sale said. "Having that time off and being away from the game, missing it . . . now, just walking out on the practice field - it's one of the best places in the world.

"I'm playing football; I can't ask for anything more."

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