Bruce Reimers

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Bruce Reimers (born September 18, 1960 in Algona, Iowa) is a former American football guard who played ten seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League.

High School Career

From 1975 to 1979 Bruce dominated high school football. Starting out weighing 225 pounds, Bruce earned 1st team defense honors and also has been acknowledged by his achievements in high school and was nominated into the IHSAA football hall of fame.

College career

Bruce played four years at Iowa State University. During his first year of college he was switched from defensive line to offensive line due to injury. He believes that this career change was crucial to his success later on in the NFL. While playing offensive guard he put on 45 pounds, going from 225 to 270 from his high school career to the end of his college career, and now felt he had enough strength and experience to enter the NFL draft. Bruce was drafted 204th pick overall in the 8th round of the 1984 draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Life in the NFL

Bruce was drafted in the 1984 draft, and played in 15 games for the Bengals that season. He led them to an average 8-8 season, but fell short of the playoffs. Bruce played mostly offensive guard and occasionally offensive tackle the majority of the games throughout his first three years for the Bengals. He led them to an unforgettable 7-9 season in 1985, and a close playoff berth 10-6 season in 1986. In the 1987 season, Bruce was plagued by an ankle injury only playing in 10 games where the Bengals went 4-11, but bounced back in the 1988 season. In this season Bruce played in all 16 games of the regular season, as well as led his team to an AFC central championship, divisional championship, AFC championship, and on to super bowl XXIII where they faced the San Francisco 49ers. He played in all the championship games as well as the super bowl game, where unfortunately they lost 20-16.

Bruce led the Bengals to another average 8-8 season in 1989 playing in 15 games. The worst of Bruce’s career came in the 1990 season. He only played in 12 games due to another severe ankle injury, but led the Bengals to an AFC central championship and lost in the division championship playoff game to the LA Raiders 20-10. Bruce finished his career with the Bengals in the 1991 season where they went 3-13, and was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he played in two more seasons going 5-11 in each of his last two NFL seasons.

Bruce held his own as a lineman, being 6 foot 7 inches tall, weighing 300 pounds at the end of his career. Bruce now found it was time to retire after 10 seasons, 135 games played in the NFL. Being an offensive guard/tackle, you do not get the famous stats that most people remember you by. Bruce did finish his career with two fumble recoveries, but what Bruce did best was keeping the defensive line from getting to his quarterback.

Life after the NFL

Bruce has had a career every younger aged athlete dreams of. After Bruce retired from the NFL, he came back to his hometown where he is now the offensive and defensive line coach for Humboldt High School. He is giving back to his community by providing younger athletes with the knowledge he has gained throughout his career. The knowledge he has brought back to the community helped lead the 2006 Humboldt Wildcat football team to a state championship title. I personally have had the opportunity to gain from some of Bruce’s experience, graduating from Humboldt myself. This shows me that stats do not mean everything in sports, what you gain and what you can give back to the younger athletes is more of a satisfaction in the end.

References

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