Kicking not Belmonte’s ‘real’ job

CEDAR RAPIDS - For most players in the Indoor Football League, bye weeks are a chance to rest up and get home to see family and friends.

But for Cedar Rapids Titans kicker Rockne Belmonte, a week away from football often means the real work is just beginning.

As a first lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves, Belmonte travels back to Fort Custer outside of Augusta, Mich., to train his platoon of Army reservists who specialize in transporting military gear to the front lines.

'There has always been a debt instilled in me to serve the country,” Belmonte said during preparation for the Titans second road game of the season Friday at Nebraska. 'I was just trying to figure out how I wanted to serve and best fit, and being an officer in the Army is where it led. I'm not a kicker over there. I'm an officer in charge of my troops.”

A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Belmonte spent a year as a preferred walk-on with the Eastern Michigan football team, but soon quit in frustration. A couple of friends in his dorm encouraged him to research the school's Reserve Officers' Training Corps, a program for training commissioned officers of the armed forces of the United States.

'I couldn't just be a college student,” Belmonte said. 'That's just not me. I'm too competitive.”

After a chance meeting with a Northern Michigan University assistant coach familiar with his family, Belmonte decided to give football another try. He transferred and successfully juggled school, football and the ROTC. In 2011, he set a Northern Michigan record with 15 field goals.

Belmonte quickly adjusted to the narrow goal posts of the IFL and has had a successful three-year career in Cedar Rapids. An all-IFL kicker in 2014 with a league-leading 24 field goals, Belmonte's 13 field goals this season again leads the league. Three of his kicks have been from 50 yards or longer, including a 50-yarder at Billings on March 15 that forced overtime in a game the Titans eventually won.

'I really like the challenge,” Belmonte said. 'That's where I feel most comfortable. That's where it is the most challenging for me, and so far I've been lucky enough to rise to the occasion.”

Belmonte was named after legendary Notre Dame Coach Knute Rockne by his father Bob, a standout golfer for the Fighting Irish in the 1970s. His fiancee, Nicole Miller, shares his military career aspirations. She is a West Point graduate and an active-duty transportation officer stationed at Fort Sill, Okla. After the season, Belmonte will take over as company commander and should reach captain status within a year-and-a-half.

'Personally, it's made ne better all the way around on and off the football field,” Belmonte said. 'It puts football in perspective. This is our job, but at the end of the day it's a game. My real job is the Army.”

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com