Young man going west
Gangarossa’s dream of playing pro football moves one step closer to reality
Chris Gangarossa, the 50th player taken in the Canadian Football League draft last week, has always been No. 1 on the depth chart when it comes to single-minded determination.
In pursuit of a dream to land an NCAA Division 1 scholarship, the Fort Erie native left Lakeshore Catholic High School in Port Colborne after one year. He wanted to compete at a level high enough to attract interest from universities south of the border.
“That’s what I wanted to do, I wanted to play NCAA football,” recalled Gangarossa, who was picked in the sixth round by the Edmonton Eskimos in last week’s draft. “I wanted to have the full scholarship.
“You can’t get full scholarships in Canada.” He thought Niagara Football Academy would be the answer, but that just raised more questions of “what to do now” when the prep program folded midway into his Grade 10 year.
Down though not beaten, Gangarossa picked himself up and set out to turn lemons into lemonade. For the next two years, he travelled back and forth across the Peace Bridge each day to attend Canisius High School, a private Jesuit educational institution in Buffalo.
“It was a long journey but it was worth it,” he said.
“I always knew if I stayed in Ontario I probably wouldn’t have had those opportunities.”
Canisius went 12-0 on the way to a New York state championship in his senior year. It finished the season among the top 30 in the national rankings.
Gangarossa was a winner, too. He received a four-year scholarship to play Division 1 at Wagner College in New York City.
His path to the Big Apple required a detour through New Berlin, N.Y. Gangarossa spent a year hitting the books at Milford Academy, a prep school in the Syracuse suburb.
“I needed to get my SAT score a little higher, and I got my scholarship within the first two weeks attending Milford,” he said.
The son of Tony and Dawne Gangarossa of Fort Erie played in 41 games in his four-year career at Wagner. He started all 12 games for the Seahawks in a senior year in which he played both left guard and left tackle.
“I prefer tackle. It is one of the harder positions on the O-line be- cause you’re more by yourself,” Gangarossa said. “You’re on your own island, which is what they kind of say at times.”
The six-foot-six, 298-pounder isn’t fazed by the responsibility that comes with the position.
“On tackle, if you mess up, you’re getting the quarterback hit. It’s more of a demeanour playing tack- le,” Gangarossa said. “You want to be the best, you want to be the better player. You want to be a leader on the team.”
He certainly was a leader for run- ning back Ryan Fulse two years ago. With Gangarossa helping to pave the way, Fulse finished second in the Football Championship Subdivi- sion conference with 1,710 yards.
Mock drafts heading into the CFL draft projected Gangarossa going in the second or third round. He had to wait hearing was “I talked looking until his to the name around almost sixth called. every round second, team. before third I round, but I did drop to the sixth, which is OK,” said the 23-year-old, who graduated from Wagner with a business administration degree. “It really doesn’t matter what round you go, what pick you are. As long as you’re on the team. “I’m playing professional football now. It doesn’t matter who was first pick, second pick or third pick. We’re all on the same team now.” He wasn’t disappointed that he was overlooked in the National Football League draft. “I knew where my potential was. I think I’ll have a great, long career in the CFL,” he said. “Obviously, everyone wants to go to the NFL. There are a lot of Americans who would take my position over me. “I just have a good opportunity in the CFL to have a long career.” For the first time since his lone season playing high school football at Lakeshore, Gangarossa will be on a team playing the three-down Canadian version of the game. Even the Fort Erie Longhorns, his Niagara Regional Minor Football Association team growing up in Fort Erie, had four downs to make a first down.
He expects the only adjustment he will need to make is getting used to the faster pace of the Canadian game. “The only thing that really makes a difference between Canadian and NFL football, apart from some of the rules and the field, is just that it’s a little faster. Canadian football is just a little bit faster,” Gangarossa said.
“You have two downs to make a first down and, if you don’t make it, you have to kick the ball — or go for it.”
The scheme of the game is essentially the same on either side of the border. “It’s not going to matter if it’s a run or a pass,” he said. “The only thing that’s going to matter is if we make the first down.”
From what his agent has been telling him, the Eskimos expect prospects to be ready when they get the call saying training camp is opening.
“Stay healthy, stay in shape. You know, like the whole nine yards about being ready to go whenever we’re called,” said Gangarossa, a part-time associate at the Fort Erie Walmart. “But, right now, nobody really knows what is happening.
“It all depends on the government, it all depends on how long this COVID-19 is going to last,” he said.
That time can’t come soon enough for Gangarossa now that he’s one step closer to putting in the hard work to make his dream of playing pro football a reality.
“I got picked and now I’m ready to go,” he said.
Gangarossa is the third Wagner grad to be taken in the CFL draft in as many years.
In 2019, defensive lineman Charbel Dabire was taken by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the sixth round, 44th overall, and linebacker Mathieu Loiselle went to the Toronto Argonauts in the sixth round the year before with the 60th pick.
Two of Gangarossa’s former teammates were added to CFL rosters earlier this year. Defensive lineman Julian McCleod signed with the Argos in April and Fulse joined the B.C. Lions in February.
Canadian football is just a little bit faster. You have two downs to make a first down and if you don’t make it, you have to kick the ball — or go for it.” CHRIS GANGAROSSA EDMONTON ESKIMOS DRAFT PICK