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Nimitz High grad Darrell Stewart now has in hand the German Football League (GFL) championship that he always saw for himself.
"I remember Week 1, when I first got here the main thing I said before I even touched the field, I was like ‘We're going to the German Bowl,’” Stewart told Click2Houston.com after his Dresden Monarchs team pulled off the feat. “'We're going to win the German Bowl,' I said that every game. Fortunately, I had an amazing team around me. Great group of guys."
After starring at Michigan State and stints with the Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, Stewart found himself in the German League following an Instagram conversation with Robert Cruse, an individual he had never met before.
Cruse, who serves as the offensive coordinator of the Monarchs, was direct and to the point, quizzing Stewart about what he thought of the idea of coming to Germany and joining the Monarchs.
Not only had Stewart never traveled out the country, the thought of football abroad was totally unfamiliar to him.
"I didn't even know that people balled like this in Germany," he said. "My mom was terrified. Half of her was like 'I want you to go to get the experience' but the other half [was nervous].”
Both sides are now clearly better for the experience, with the Monarchs finishing 10-1 in the regular enroute to their aforementioned GFL title in team history and Stewart, who scored a touchdown, now feeling as if he’s a step closer to achieving his NFL dreams.
On the 13 game season, he finished with a team-leading 1,369 yards, 82 catches and 22 touchdowns, averaging 16.7 yards per catch and 105.3 yards per game.
"I feel like I did well," he added. "As a person, who always wanted to be the best, you always want to see things that you can get better at. Winning the German Bowl was one of the things I wanted to do. So, I checked that off."
And along the way, Stewart learned a lesson, or at least reaffirmed one.
"Being comfortable isn't going to always get you what you want," he said. "Sometimes you just have to try things. Coming from Nimitz High School and Texas high school football to Michigan State and then to the GFL, is a humbling and an amazing experience. I'm not quite [fluent] in German but I know a few words. In 10 years from now, I will be very grateful that I was able to say I came here, won a championship and experienced something that a lot of guys would love to experience.”