Senior Day was an emotional experience for Baker University football player Jeremiah Gress last fall.

This year’s Senior Day, however, may seem more like the movie “Groundhog Day” because of its inevitable feeling of dejá vð.

Gress, a Free State High product, was classified as a senior when he played linebacker for the Wildcats all through the 2005 season. Then one day last winter, he started thinking he might be eligible for another year in uniform.

“Football has always been the love of my life,” Gress said.

A 5-foot-10, 225-pound linebacker, Gress had played in only one BU junior varsity game as a freshman in 2002, and his parents encouraged him to look into the possibility of earning one more year based on a medical hardship.

“He talked to another player in another sport at Baker who had taken a red-shirt year,” said Cindy Gress, his mother, “and he wondered, ‘Why not me?'”

Gress played in only one JV game because of a congenital sinus condition that had plagued him ever since he was in grade school.

“When he was real little,” said John Gress, his father, “we took him to Denver and Dallas for surgeries because they had doctors with more experience in operations that close to the brain.”

First at age 7

Jeremiah was seven years old when he underwent his first sinus operation. He was 13 when he had his second surgery. Then when he was playing baseball during his senior year at Free State High, Gress suffered a relapse.

“It all came back,” John Gress said. “He got another infection.”

That round of sinus woes resulted in a third operation, yet only a couple of months later Gress was practicing with Baker’s football team.

“He shouldn’t have been playing football that year,” BU coach Mike Grossner said.

Grossner didn’t become the Wildcats’ head coach until prior to the 2004 season, and he knew nothing about the fact Gress had played in only one JV game in 2002.

When at the Gress family behest Grossner went to search for program records detailing both participation and medical information about Jeremiah, the BU coach found a sketchy trail.

“I’ve had red-shirt requests made after six months, but not four years later,” Grossner said. “The main problem was that we had had three different trainers during that span.”

Nevertheless, Grossner was able to come up with enough information about Gress’ sinus problems to submit a medical hardship request to both Heart of America Athletic Conference officials and to the NAIA.

“It was legitimate,” Grossner said. “He had a real serious situation.”

HAAC yes; NAIA no

The HAAC agreed and granted Gress another year of eligibility. But the NAIA cracked a tougher whip and, stressing the documentation wasn’t sufficient, the national body ruled that Gress could not play again.

Here it was the middle of July and Gress figured that was it. He was done.

“I was pretty much heart-broken,” Gress said. “At that point, I didn’t think we could do anything else.”

Ah, but the NAIA has sort of its own Supreme Court, a National Eligibility Committee that serves as a last resort, and Grossner and the Gresses decided to make a last-ditch effort.

This time the Gresses obtained more information from the doctors who had worked on Jeremiah.

“We submitted some more paperwork that contained clarification about his treatment,” Cindy Gress said.

All they could do now was wait. And wait. And wait. Meanwhile, preseason football practice had begun and Grossner informed Jeremiah he was cleared to participate in drills while he waited for the final ruling.

So Gress showed up in early August for the grueling workouts even though he was unsure he would ever play again. He can laugh about it now, but at the time Gress realized his situation.

“I figured this’ll be the worst time of my life,” he said, chuckling, “if I have to go through two-a-days and don’t get to play.”

Still no word

Two-a-days ended. Still no word. Two days later, with the season opener just eight days away, Gress was on the practice field when he and his teammates saw BU athletic director Dan Harris running toward them.

“He had his arms out like an airplane,” Gress said about the moment, “and he came up to me and said, ‘You made it.'”

The other Baker players let out a cheer, and surrounded Gress like he had just slugged a walk-off home run.

“I was in shock,” Gress said. “I was definitely in shock.”

BU defensive coordinator Jason Thoren, for one, won’t ever forget the moment.

“We had been on pins and needles,” said Thoren, a former Lawrence High and Kansas University standout. “That was a happy day on the practice field.”

School record holder

Thoren was a direct beneficiary of the ruling because Gress is one of the Wildcats’ best defenders. A third-team All-HAAC selection last year, Gress established a school record by making 25 tackles in a 28-17 victory over Culver-Stockton.

“The thing about Jeremiah,” Thoren said, “is he’s such a good leader.”

Added Grossner: “I’m just happy for him. He’s a guy who gets crucial stops. He’s our leader out there.”