Navy quarterback Rafi Montalvo remembers flying home to Florida on Thanksgiving Day last year, but the memories of what happened to him late that November night are still a little fuzzy.
It is probably for the best.
The last thing Montalvo recalls was going out for McDonald's with his good friend Chris Herrera, and Herrera pulling his car into a gas station a couple of miles from Montalvo's Coral Gables home. Montalvo said he also has "little glances" of being whisked by medical helicopter to the Kendall Medical Center nearby.
It was there where Montalvo was admitted in critical condtion for a head injury sustained after Herrera's car crashed into an abandoned house at the end of a dark, foggy street.
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Said Rafi Montalvo: "It definitely made me enjoy the little things, from getting a question right in therapy, to being able to do one pullup in therapy working out. Being able to hang out with my brothers, working out with [Nicholas] and playing basketball with my little brother."
There is one major step to be taken, one that will come only if Montalvo is cleared to play.
"Being able to play football again, that would be amazing to me," said Montalvo, who also played on Navy's JV team last fall. "Every little step I take on the football field, I would cherish every moment. I think I took it for granted before."
