QB dad gets credit for Reisner's rise

MARION - Allen Reisner always had an advantage when it came to learning how to catch a football. Maybe that's why he turned out to be a Division I college starting tight end.

It helps when you've got a hall of fame quarterback throwing you passes in the backyard about every day. At least that's what Harley Reisner, Allen's dad, always pretended to be.

“Ever since I can remember, he'd be throwing me the football, and I'd be running back and forth from our neighbor's garage to the other side of our fence,” said Reisner, an Iowa Hawkeye senior. “He'd just throw me pass after pass. He's left-handed, so he'd pretend like he was Steve Young. I'd pretend I was their tight end ... or Jerry Rice.”

Young to Rice. Father to son.

Life was never real easy for the Reisners. Harley and Jaci Reisner divorced when Allen was in second grade.

Jaci moved to Missouri, where she raised twins Aaron and Alyssa. Allen and older brother, Andy, stayed with dad.

“It was really just me and him. My older brother lived with us, too, but me and my dad just always had a special bond,” said Allen, who also has an older sister, Amanda. “We were always together doing stuff. That really helped me through high school and college, too. I'm sure it was hard raising two boys on his own. Working nine to 12-hour days. He worked six days a week.

"I'm sure it was hard for him when we were growing up, him trying to raise my older brother and I.”

But there was always football. Some basketball and track and field sprinkled in there, too.

“I guess I was a mom and a dad,” Harley Reisner said. “Sports really pulled us together. I think he counted on me being there, and I counted on him playing. I know it was tough for (Allen and Andy). They missed their mom.”

“Harley and Allen, those two are very close,” said Marion football coach Tony Perkins. “Harley has been there for Allen through good times and bad times ... Allen has always had a good relationship with his father. Harley did such a fantastic job. If anyone shaped and molded Allen into what he is today, it was Harley.”

Harley Reisner was there that night four years ago when Reese Morgan phoned. The Iowa assistant coach told dad - sitting in the stands in Van Horne watching Marion and Benton Community play basketball - he had someone who wanted to talk to him.

The phone was handed to head coach Kirk Ferentz.

“How would you like your son to come play for the Iowa Hawkeyes?” Ferentz said.

That was an easy one to answer. Northern Iowa was the likely destination for Allen, maybe Western Illinois.

But this was the Big Ten.

“Allen didn't have his best game,” Harley remembered. “But it was a super night.”

“Coach Ferentz gave me that call and everything changed,” Allen said. “Sometimes I can't believe how fast it has gone and how I got here. It's been a really great ride, and I'm really going to miss it.”

But he's got another full season first as Iowa's unquestioned No. 1 tight end. There are passes to catch, blocks to be made and games to be won.

Mom will be around to watch considering she's back living in town again. Dad being there, too?

Well, that was always a given.

“You know what, I just feel really blessed,” Harley Reisner said. “I got to carry on four more years of watching Allen play football ... It's been awesome. I've gotten to meet a lot of great people. It's been one adventure after another. It's been just great.

“I could die now and be a very happy man.”