Antonio Garay Jr. (born November 30, 1979) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
nose tackle
A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...
. He was drafted by the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
in the sixth round of the
2003 NFL Draft
The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. T ...
. He played
college football and wrestled at
Boston College. He was a Wrestling All American placing 4th at the NCAA Championships his sophomore year at Boston College.
Garay was also a member of the
Chicago Bears,
San Diego Chargers, and
New York Jets.
He is notable for his outrageous hairstyles and for driving a Hello Kitty-themed
smart car
Smart (stylized as smart) is a German automotive marque. Smart Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Mercedes-Benz AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2019 and aimed at producing Smart-badged cars in China to be marketed gl ...
.
Early years
Garay is Jewish.
Garay's mother is Jewish and his father is a Catholic of Jamaican, Costa Rican, and Puerto Rican descent.
He was exposed to both parents' faiths. He attended
Rahway High School
Rahway High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Rahway, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Rahway Public Schools. The high s ...
in
Rahway, New Jersey
Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is southwest of Manhattan ...
, and was a standout offensive and defensive lineman. He was also the NJSIAA . state and national wrestling champion in 1998 and a high school All-American, winning the National High School Wrestling Tournament in Pittsburgh in 1998.
College career
He played
college football and wrestled at
Boston College. He was a Wrestling All American placing 4th at the NCAA Championships his sophomore year at Boston College in 2000, and that season was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the
East Coast Wrestling Association
East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to ...
Tournament (ECWA) for the second year.
Professional career
Chicago Bears
Garay spent two seasons with the
Chicago Bears and was a member of the
2006 NFC Championship team. In a December 2007 game against the
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
, Garay was injured by an illegal block. He was placed on injured reserve for the remainder of the 2007 season. On March 8, 2008, the Chicago Bears announced that they would part ways with the defensive tackle, and he became an
unrestricted free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...
on February 29, 2008.
New York Jets
On October 20, 2009, the
New York Jets announced that they had signed Garay to their practice squad.
San Diego Chargers
Garay was signed off of the New York Jets'
practice squad on December 9, 2009, by the
San Diego Chargers. He was re-signed to a two-year deal on March 6, 2010. Garay was able to earn the starting job at nose tackle for the bulk of the 2010 season, and he finished 2010 with 48 tackles and 5.5 sacks, leading all San Diego defensive linemen in both categories.
Second stint with the Jets
Garay was signed by the
New York Jets on March 15, 2013. He was released on August 31, 2013.
See also
*
List of select Jewish football players
References
External links
New York Jets bioSan Diego Chargers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garay, Antonio
1979 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Rahway, New Jersey
Players of American football from New Jersey
American football defensive tackles
Rahway High School alumni
Jewish American sportspeople
American people of Jamaican descent
American people of Puerto Rican descent
Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople
Boston College Eagles football players
Cleveland Browns players
Chicago Bears players
New York Jets players
San Diego Chargers players
21st-century American Jews