Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports 

IOWA CITY – Jason Wagner knew he had to be home on this particular work day in September.

It was the Wednesday after the Regina football team had hung on to edge Clear Lake 21-20 on Sept. 4, a game in which his son, despite being injured, had played a key role, including making a tackle on a two-point conversion attempt to secure the impressive road victory.

The thrill of victory had faded, though, because Jason’s son had injured his right knee on the first play of the third quarter and he was expected to learn the severity of the injury on this day.

The call finally came and the news was horrible, but all too familiar.

Nick Wagner, a muscular and physically gifted 6-foot-5, 245-pound multi-sport athlete, had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee for the third time. He also had torn his meniscus for a second time and suffered cartilage damage.

Wagner’s once-promising high school sports career was over before it ever really had a chance to start, and Jason knew that he had to be with his son during this devastating moment.

“I think he knew the results weren’t going to be what we wanted, but we were holding out hope,” Jason Wagner said. “So yes, I wanted to be there so he wasn’t alone when he got the call. I was hoping they wouldn’t tell him by himself because it was the third time.

“The second time was tough, (my wife) Traci and I were there with him. This time was going to be tough, too, just because there was no next year. That’s why I wanted to make sure that I was home with him.”

Nick Wagner, nearly two months later, still remembers the call as if it happened just minutes ago.

He expected the worst, but that still didn’t make it easier when he learned the extent of the damage, and that his high sports career was over.

“I was at home with my dad, luckily,” Nick Wagner said. “If he hadn’t been at home, I don’t know what I would have done. But I just remember I was standing in the kitchen and they called and we’re like, ‘it looks like you tore your ACL again and your meniscus again and you’ve got some cartilage damages in there, too.’

“And I just remember, I didn’t react to it at first and then I kind of sat there and I just almost collapsed because I just went through a year-and-a-half of physical therapy and I had to endure this entire past summer of not even knowing if I was going to be able to play football because of Covid.

“So I had that whole thing to worry about, too. So it was just like I can’t catch a break, I’m just really unlucky,”

Wagner tried his best to not feel sorry for himself, but it was hard after the third time.

“I’ve tried to avoid that,” he said. “I let myself feel sorry for myself the rest of that day.”

Three injuries in three different sports

In many ways, Wagner is unlucky because there is no way to predict a serious knee injury or to prevent it from happening.

“The way I have torn it all three times has been in all of those situations out of like a thousand scenarios the one time that you would tear it,” Nick Wagner said. “So really just unlucky.”

All three of Wagner’s ACL tears happened without physical contact and with him participating in three different sports.

It was the summer between his freshman and sophomore year of high school when Wagner jumped to grab a rebound in an AAU basketball game in Minneapolis, something he done countless times in his life before, when he landed awkwardly.

“I just went up for a rebound, came down and it just buckled on me,” Nick Wagner said. “It didn’t even hurt. I just felt my knee buckle and it kind of felt like something popped. And I just kind I sat there on the floor for a second and I was like, ‘oh, that’s weird.’ So I got up and told my coach, hey, that didn’t really feel right.”

Wagner was then examined by a trainer near courtside who said that he might have injured his hamstring.

The pain still was tolerable so Wagner was inserted back in the game and he played the rest of way, but was hardly himself.

“I couldn’t like cut or jump, but I just stood there and got rebounds and came straight down, and then just ran a straight line up and down the court,’’ Wagner said.

Wagner’s second injury happened during his sophomore season of track and field. He had just spent seven months recovering from the first knee and was eager to participate in all of his favorite sports.

Wagner had been cleared to participate near the end of his sophomore basketball season, and then he played well during a brief appearance in the state tournament.

“I actually got cleared less than week before that game and spent that entire week conditioning like crazy because I knew I probably wasn’t going to play that much,” Wagner said. “But hopefully, I could get in and I did get in and played a little bit. And it felt really good.”

Wagner’s successful return in basketball helped to convince him to participate in track and field that spring.

Wagner was running in a relay event when he reached to hand the baton to a teammate.

“It was actually at the second meet of the year and I was making a hand off,” Nick Wagner said. “And I made the hand off and I kind of overextended a little bit to make that hand off, and then I tried to catch myself instead of just going down and I took a couple big, awkward steps and it felt completely different from the first time. Of the three, none of them have hurt. It is so weird.”

Hoping for breakout senior season

Wagner knew all too well what he was up against, another grueling, lonely and frustrating rehabilitation.

The summer between his sophomore and junior year would be spent much like the summer between his freshman and sophomore year, recovering one day at a time.

More standing and watching as his friends and high school teammates lived out their childhood dreams as Regina Regals.

But Wagner never wavered.

His goal was to be fully recovered for what he hoped would be a breakout senior season. Wagner spent his entire junior year recovering and preparing for his one last shot at maybe earning a football scholarship.

He felt strong, healthy and confident, and he made it through the season opener against Pleasant Valley without any setbacks, and while playing both offense and defense.

Clear Lake was next on the schedule, and during the first half, Wagner was fine and the Regals were playing well despite the near three-hour road trip.

Regina started the third quarter on offense and senior quarterback Ashton Cook completed a pass to Wagner on the first play.

“I just remember they had called like a bubble route for me from the inside slot to the trip side,” Wagner said. “And I remember I saw the (cornerback) to the outside, so I thought instead of getting like a full head of steam and just going, I would kind of not go slow, but kind of slow it down and try and get going up the middle.

“And when I caught the ball I turned back around and he was right there and he wrapped up my good leg, so then kind of just without thinking about it, I just stuck my brace leg out to try and catch myself, and looking back on the film you can see it kind of buckle in a little bit.”

But just like with his previous two knee injuries, Wagner didn’t feel much pain, so he kept playing against Clear Lake, and he not only helped make a saving tackle on Clear Lake’s two-point attempt, but also recovered the onside kick to end the game.

“He gets hurt on our first play of the second half against Clear Lake and comes out and limps a little bit and we’re not sure what‘s going on,” said Regina head coach Marv Cook. “We think he might have tweaked a meniscus or something. We’re not sure what the deal is. But he’s still mobile and they checked and it felt like it seemed stable.

“So he ended up going out and making plays and was one of the tacklers on the two-point conversion for them to win the game. And then he’s the one to cover the onside kick to seal the victory for us.”

Nick Wagner said he still felt fine after the game, but was warned to watch for any swelling that might occur over night.

He then woke up the next morning and knew he was in trouble, for a third time.

“It was locked stiff, just straight out, I could barely bend it at all and it was not a comfortable feeling at all,” Wagner said of his right leg.

Less than a week later Wagner would learn what he already had suspected.

His right knee was severely damaged and his high school sports career was over.

But Wagner will always remember the Clear Lake game and the way it ended with him making two key plays.

“That game was probably the most fun I’ve ever had because I kind of knew in the back of my mind that this might be it for a while,” Wagner said. “I knew that something wasn’t right.”

Still part of the team

Regina has since gone on to have a successful season and is considered one of the favorites to win the Class A state title.

Nick Wagner still is very much a part of the team, and he serves as inspiration for the players and coaches.

“He’s been as captain since day one,” Marv Cook said. “He’s the guy that goes out for our coin toss. We get one guy to put out for our coin toss. That whole group has put in an unbelievable amount of hours into this thing and for them to share that with Nick and they know that he’s every bit as important to this team as they are. Whether he’s playing sixty snaps or zero snaps, it doesn’t matter. His importance to the team is very critical to us.”

Unfortunately, for Nick Wagner, how much he plays does matter when it comes to getting a scholarship. It was always Nick’s goal to play football in college, but he now realizes that almost certainly won’t happen.

“The most frustrating thing, I mean I got a chance, but not having the full season to get the chance and see what would happen,” Nick Wagner said.

For Jason Wagner, one of the worst things is watching his son having to watch from the sideline during games.

Jason Wagner appreciates the support from the Regina community, and the friendships that his son will have forever, and how they’ve tried to keep Nick from feeling lonely or left out.

But it still hurts Jason to see Nick on the outside looking in while his teammates and friends enjoy the thrill of competition.

“That’s the hard part for me as a father,” Jason Wagner said. “That’s tough because on the sideline I see him and a big play happens and everybody is all excited and happy and guys are running off hooting and hollering and there’s time in his mind where I can just see he doesn’t feel part of it, and that’s where the loneliness comes in.

“For me, that was the fun part of sports, just being part of the group. Being part of the team and enjoying all of that stuff. So I’m glad he doesn’t feel lonely. That makes me feel good.”

Like any typical senior class at Regina, the current one in which Nick Wagner is so proud and thankful to be a member has life-long friends who grew up together playing sports and just hanging out.

Marv Cook has seen it up close, with his son, Ashton Cook, one of Nick Wagner’s closest friends. They have spent countless hours together, not just Nick and Ashton, but both families thanks to the bond that connects through sports.

From playing youth baseball to AAU basketball, and of course, football, Nick Wagner has friends from high school that he will cherish forever because they’ve stuck by his side and helped him persevere through the physical and mental anguish.

“That’s the hardest part,” Marv Cook said. “This senior class has been doing Saint Patrick’s Irish basketball together since first grade, and Regina baseball and youth baseball and basketball and football. They’ve done it all together and they’ve done it for 12 years now. And, unfortunately, for Nick, the last three’s he’s been out of it. But honestly, he hasn’t been out of it because he’s still been at practice.”

Nick Wagner now serves as an inspiration for the younger kids at Regina. His determination and resolve have earned him respect and admiration.

He also takes time to work with the younger kids and reminds them that there is more to life than just sports.

What could have been

Nick Wagner’s lost potential is another hard part to his story.

Marv Cook knew early on that Nick was a special athlete with a motor and toughness to match.

Nick was good enough to play on the offensive line as a freshman, but Marv Cook had big plans for him as a tight end and defensive end, or maybe as a linebacker or a fullback.

“He could have been one of the best,” Marv Cook said. “To me, he’s one of the best players in the state.”

Nick Wagner certainly looks the part of a Division I football player. He carries 245 pounds on a muscular 6-foot-5 frame, and has a rare combination of power strength and finesse when healthy.

“I knew I had the D-one caliber body, I just needed to put it together on the field, which I had confidence in myself coming into this year,” Nick Wagner said. “I had spent so much time working in the summer out there with my brace on it didn’t feel like it was hampering me at all.

“So I was really hoping to just get looks from anybody and anything I got I was going to be grateful for because I knew the odds of not having sophomore and junior film.”

It’s been really difficult for Jason Wagner to watch his son, with all of his talent and dedication, struggle while others in Nick’s senior class from around the area have been able to achieve their goals of earning scholarships.

Jason is happy for the success of others, he just wishes his son could’ve have had the same opportunity to prove himself.

“That is the hard part because a lot of these guys that are getting recruited, he played against, played well against, held his own, did better than some of them,” Jason Wagner said. “He dominated some of them. Some of them got the better of him. But that’s the hard part because he knows he can compete against these guys. He worked to get his body into a D-one athlete body, with exception to the knee, obviously.

“That’s the hard part because he knows other than the knee he would get there. He would be able to do it because these guys that are making it there. He knows that he’s every bit as good as them.”

Nick Wagner knows more about how a knee works, and how it doesn’t work, than he would care to as an 18-year old high school senior.

He now wonders if the problems with his right knee are somehow related to a deep bruise that he suffered on the knee after colliding with a classmate in eight grade.

“Looking back now, we’re kind of thinking I had a knee injury in eighth grade on this knee,” Nick Wagner said. ‘I didn’t tear my ACL but I had a bone bruise in the spot that you would normally tear the ACL. So I think that might have weakened it a little bit maybe. But we didn’t get anything else checked out because we didn’t really think about it at the time.”

A new outlook on life

Thankfully, there is a silver lining to come from Nick Wagner’s story of personal setbacks and despair.

He has been so touched and inspired by those who have helped him recover from and cope with three serious knee injuries that he now wants to study physical therapy, or as he call it, “PT,” in college.

Nick had previously wanted to major in engineering, and still felt that way after his first knee injury.

But then after the second and third injuries, Wagner had what he sort of describes as a calling.

He already has been accepted at the University of Iowa and looks forward to embarking on a new challenge.

“Ironically, the two-and-a-half years of basically on the job training for physical therapy kind of pulled me into that area,” Nick Wagner said. “And both of my parents were like if this is your calling to go into physical therapy.

“I was thinking engineering even after the first ACL. I want to be able to help other people. I can’t stress how important they’ve been, not only from getting me back physically, but mentally, too.”

Nick Wagner’s mother, Traci, works for the Iowa Sports Information Department and is the granddaughter of Dale Howard, who donated $5 million to the Iowa Athletic Department in 2008. Dale Howard passed away in 2015, but his legacy lives on through his kindness, and through his family.

Nick Wagner was raised as a Hawkeye fan, and like so many other kids from Iowa City, he dreamed of being a Hawkeye football player.

And who knows, with some better luck, it might have happened because Nick certainly has the physical tools, and the right work ethic, according to Marv Cook, who was a consensus All-America tight end at Iowa in 1988.

“He’s done everything right, Marv Cook said. “The time, the effort, the attitude, everything you want in a football player. And unfortunately, to not be able to get the prize at the end of the rainbow may seem like a frustrating thing.

“But I actually feel confident and comfortable with it because I know all those things that he’s done and the way he lives his life, he’s going to be extremely successful in whatever he chooses to do.”

Jason Wagner said his wife has stayed strong throughout her son’s struggles.

“She’s actually handling it pretty well because it’s different for her,” Jason Wagner said. “She never wanted to think that okay, he could go play college sports somewhere because he’s Nick. He’s not going to go into that world and it doesn’t matter if he does.

“She’s upset for him, but she’s actually handling it pretty well because she knows your athletic career is fleeting anyway. At some point it’s going to end.”

Jason Wagner has tried, with help from his wife, to keep things in perspective for Nick, and to remind him that he still has it pretty good compared to some others.

“Some days are good and some days are bad,” Jason Wagner said. “You think about just the whole journey with him has been part of the fun. It was never about the destination. It was always about the journey. And now it’s over, so it’s kind of hard, sometimes. But then you see what’s going on in the world and you’re like. Yeah, that’ okay.”

Nick Wagner’s situation is terrible in so many ways, but he knows it could be worse, and is sometimes reminded of that, including when he left the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics after his third surgery.

“When we were leaving after the surgery that day he was in a wheelchair and was out of it a bit,” Jason Wagner said. “And we’re walking through the UIHC and there’s a guy with a prosthetic from knee down coming in and that’s when for me it was like, yeah, this is okay.” It’s tough, though. You understand that there’s obviously bigger things going on. But for him, it’s tough.

“It’s just that whole time it’s been okay, rehab and get back for next year. Rehab and get back for next year. Rehab and get back for next year. Now there is no next year for him, so that’s the hard part. But it’s a blip. It’s a small speck of time that he’ll be okay.”

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