Duke City Gladiators happy to have kicker back for 2024

RIO RANCHO –Ernesto Lacayo is literally getting his kicks this winter, working hard almost every day to prepare for the IFL’s 2024 season, which kicks off March 23.

His goal is simple: “I want to be the best kicker in this league.”

The Duke City Gladiators, who have already signed Lacayo, 34, to return to that role, open that evening at 6:05 vs. the San Diego Strike Force in the Rio Rancho Events Center.

“I have a great inspiration in my father, who was a professional soccer player in the late 70s, early 80s,” Lacayo said in a telephone interview from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. “I thought, being the only boy in the family, that was the route I’d have to go.”

Spanish is his original language, and he was born on Cinco de Mayo 1989; he speaks perfect English.

His original goal of being a pro soccer player dissolved because, “My sisters were a lot better soccer players, and once I found football, I had my own niche.”

That niche now is putting up points for the Gladiators: He can get one point for a kick through the uprights after a touchdown; two points for a deuce, which is kicking the ball through the uprights to open a quarter or after his team scores a TD; or three points, for a field goal. There’s no punting in the league.

“In high school my freshman year,” he said, “I was told I could get a scholarship and move on to play college football and see where the dream takes me.”

It took him to a lot of places, which you’ll see shortly.

Last season was his first with the Gladiators, after he previously played with the Arizona Rattlers.

“Once I really kinda saw how things were going with my football career and then in college, I knew I wanted to play professionally,” he said, a lifelong San Francisco 49ers fan. “I would always go to 49ers games and watch my hero at the time, (kicker) Joe Nedney, through binoculars during warmups, and eventually he became my coach and good friend.”

He played safety on defense and was the third-string quarterback during his days at Tennyson High in Hayward, Cal., while he was watching those 49ers back in the day, also recalling San Diego’s John Carney, who also played with the Saints, and former Cowboys kicker Luis Zendejas.

He’s had personal instruction from several of them, plus a former University of New Mexico kicker who played in the NFL, Ben Agajanian. Agajanian, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 98, had a unique style.

According to a story in the New York Times shortly after his passing, during his days with the Lobos “he held a job with a soft drink bottling company to help with his college costs. One spring day in 1941, he was riding in the company’s open freight elevator when a concrete wall crushed his right foot, severing four toes.”

Told he would walk with a limp – and never play football again, Agajanian became “known as the pros’ first career kicking specialist, kicking field goals and extra points for nine teams in three leagues over 13 seasons with a specially designed square-toe shoe.”

“He was my first coach; I was a sophomore in high school,” Lacayo recalled, meeting the former Lobo at a camp in San Jose. “I remember him telling me, ‘You know kid, if you keep this up, you have a really long career in front of you.’”

Speaking of the Lobos, Lacayo once trained with UNM kicker Jason Sanders, now with the Miami Dolphins, before Sanders was drafted at John Carney’s facility.

Agajanian had also been Zendejas’s coach with the Dallas Cowboys.

He also learned that another 10-year 49ers kicker, Ray Wersching, had anxiety in that role, “the worst trait to have, but when you have Joe Montana holding for you …”

Being a kicker, he said, “can be glorifying at times but it’s also a job that everyone wants as practice; it’s not as grueling as everything else. But nobody wants the job during the game because of the pressure.

“It’s such an individualistic position bred into a team sport, because of the old cliché, ‘Control what you can control.’ When it comes to a kicker, you depend on your snapper and your holder and your (offensive) line – everything to come together for you to be the finished product.

“You’re going to lose your mind at some point,” he cautioned, with the goal to “be better than you were yesterday and tomorrow even better – and you’re only as good as your next kick.”

He has a degree in history, “So I want to be a historian at some point.” He watches a lot of athletes in various sports to try to discern what makes them tick.

“(My dad) always told me, you have to listen to the greats to understand what makes them tick and be the best they can be.”

Although you might not think kickers can get hurt, you’d be wrong.

“There’s been many injuries during my career, simply because having that defensive background, I always wanted to go tackle as a kicker,” he said, listing injuries such as a damaged eye, torn upper pecs and dislocated shoulders, “but it never really deterred me from keeping my path, at the same time taking care of my body, to be the best person I can be … and continue to grow as a football player.”

When his kicking days are over, there‘s a chance he can either be a kicking coach or a history teacher, and with Lacayo, you probably can’t rule either or both wide right.

He has a “side mechanic” job and a hobby: “I like restoring old VWs, and making sure I let people know there are more reliable than anything else.” (That small VW collection includes a VW bus, which he has used as his residence during his nomadic existence as a kicker.)

Now, close to his mid-30s, considered ancient by many when you’re a professional athlete, “I know where my career is at, being a veteran and being able to help the younger guys understand what it’s like being a professional, what to expect in arena football and what they can do to build their brand at the same time, prolong their career as they long as they want it to be.”

As he posted on his Facebook page recently, “From a 14-year-old boy to a 34-year-old man, I am truly blessed to have a had a long career and to continue inspiring those of my hometown and for the many dreamers of tomorrow. Let’s see what 2024 brings.”

The Gladiators hope it’s an IFL championship.

THE ROAD TO DUKE CITY

From 2009 to 2010, Lacayo set all the kicking records at Hastings College in Nebraska but went un-drafted in the NFL draft in 2011. His college career began with two seasons at the College of San Mateo.

Shortly after the draft, he signed with the Nebraska Danger in the IFL.

2013:, Lacayo’s journey led him to the Louisiana Swashbucklers in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL). (The Swashbucklers folded that year.)

2014: Signed with the Wichita Wild in the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL), where he set an All-Arena/indoor record by making 30 field goals in a single season and kicked a CPIFL record 55-yard field goal, as well as a 51-yard game-winning field goal against the Dodge City Law, propelling the Wild into the CPIFL Championship.

2015: Had a workout with the 49ers, and signed with the Wichita Force in the Champions Indoor Football (CIF). He played in only 10 games before receiving a call to join the Las Vegas Outlaws in the arena football league. During his 11 games with the Outlaws, Lacayo led the league in point-after-touchdown percentage, connecting on an impressive 91.5% of his attempts.

2016: Signed with the Portland Steel in the Arena Football League (AFL).

2017: He had a workout with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL).

2018: He had a workout with the Chicago Bears and worked for them administratively.

2019: He was with the IFL’s San Diego Strike Force.

2020: Signed with the Seattle Dragons, but his contract was terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, due to COVID.

2021-22: Lacayo signed with the Arizona Rattlers in ’21 and was named to the 2021 All-IFL Second Team, showcasing his continued excellence in the indoor football scene.

Dec. 3, 2022: Lacayo signed with the Gladiators of the IFL for the 2023 season. He’ll be with them again in 2024.