Chris Massey knew that joining the defending NFC Champion Rams was a possibility in 2002. Their nine-year veteran long snapper Jeff Robinson had left as a free agent. And their special teams coach Bobby April had traveled to Marshall University to work him out.
That possibility became a reality when they chose him in the seventh round of the NFL Draft.
"It was always a dream of mine, since I was a little kid and first got into the sport, to have your name called on draft day," Massey said. "And to be surrounded by my family, my parents, and to see the excitement and proudness on their faces… My fiancé was able to be there with me and we're still married 23 years later. It was just special.
"That they had just played in the Super Bowl [XXXVI] was even sweeter. I was like, 'Man, I'm going to the best team in the league in the Rams, and the 'Greatest Show on Turf.' Marshall (Faulk) and Kurt (Warner), Orlando (Pace), Torry (Holt) and Isaac (Bruce), all the big-time players. I was just elated."
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Massey made the final roster. Primarily the long snapper, he was also the upback on the kickoff return team, and the emergency fullback.
The rookie found out what "emergency" meant midway through the third quarter of the Rams' Week 6 game against the Raiders when, let's just say, his presence was requested on the field.
"When it's the first down, I go over and warm up, throw a couple snaps and get ready. Chris Hetherington was the H back, and he strained something," Massey said. "Well, it's first down, and Coach (Mike) Martz is screaming my name. And I'm like, 'What the hell is he hollering at me for? It's first down. It's not third down alert yet.' So I hustle over and he says, 'Get in the huddle!'
"Honestly, I ran scout team. I went to the meetings. I knew the plays, but I never, never took a rep in OTA, never took a rep in training camp, and here I am in the huddle. Marc (Bulger) was the quarterback and Marshall was the tailback. Marc called the play, 'I Right 80 Bend,' and I'm like, 'Oh, I know that play. I cut the end man on the line of scrimmage,'
"So I got down in my stance and they shifted. The end man comes down and it's Bill Romanowski. I ended up kicking him out and Marshall hit the hole for a 12-yard gain. There's a saying, you always take mental reps in practice. Well, that right there is a reason why you take mental reps. You never know when they're going to call your name."
After having gained valuable experience in the 28-13 win over Oakland, Massey didn't need to have the coach shout at him the following game against Seattle. He was in the starting lineup, but still would have liked to have heard his name called out.
"I was hoping they would introduce the offense that game so I could jog out of the tunnel as a starter, but they introduced the defense," Massey laughed. "And so I started that game and had 37 or 38 plays. Marshall ran for 183 yards and three touchdowns, and I graded out at 97 percent on offense."
Massey got straight A's on special teams, too. And in 2006, his fifth season with the Rams, he was named as a team captain. It was a role he cherished, and a role that came with the responsibility of keeping himself and his teammates motivated. Which was easier said than done for a few years beginning in 2007 when victories, only six times out of 48 games, were hard to come by.
"Just having that opportunity to be a team captain, that spoke volumes to me on what not only the coaches, but the organization thought of me as a player and a person," Massey said. "So what I tried to focus on was keeping everybody's morals high, because we play for a lot more than that. When we were struggling, what do you play for? Do you only play for yourself? Or are you playing for a family member?
"For me coming from West Virginia, I was playing for the small town where I grew up. I was playing for my high school. I was playing for all my buddies that didn't have the opportunity that I did. Ultimately, I was playing for the name on the back of my jersey that was given to me by my parents. Stuff that you can't take away. I'm sitting here and getting chill bumps just thinking about those reasons.
"There's always a driving force behind every player that plays in the National Football League. Those are the situations that you've got to focus on when things ain't going your way, how to conduct yourself and get things back on track. Because it's easy to fall in a trap, and it's easy to go, 'Aw, here we go again.' You've got to be able to handle adversity and overcome it. That's what the true measure of a man is, and how you develop your character."
With the Rams for nine seasons, Massey played in 138 regular-season and playoff games and snapped the ball for 283 field goal attempts, 268 extra points, and 644 punts.
To put that another way – he passed the ball between his legs and backwards – for 14,068 yards! That would place him 177th on the NFL's all-time career passing yards list.
What are among his fondest memories from those days?
"After my first contract was up, (the GM) Jay Zygmunt and I were pretty good buddies, and I was trying to negotiate a little bit more of a signing bonus because I played fullback," Massey said. "And he started laughing, 'Massey, you only average about 12 to 14 plays a game. I'm not paying you as a fullback, too.' It was kind of funny. I was like, 'Well, you don't ever get anything unless you ask.'
"St. Louis is such a great sports town. The organization was unbelievable. The community was great. I started my family there. Just the opportunity that they gave me and the respect they gave me; I'll cherish that forever. They gave me an opportunity to live my dream."
Following one season with Chicago, Massey retired from the game in 2012. And after earning a master's degree in athletic administration, he "kind of bounced around a little bit." He took a job in commercial insurance sales, but that wasn't really for him.
Massey then spoke with someone he knew from the Marshall days who owned a company in Huntington, WV, Champion Industries.
"He said, 'You like what you're doing?'" Massey recalled. "I said, 'No.' And he said, 'Why don't you come work for me?'"
And so he did. Nine years later, Massey's still with Chapman Printing, a subsidiary of Champion Industries, as a sales rep based in Charleston.
"Chapman Printing is the printing side of it. And there's Stationers, which is the office supplies, and Capital Business Equipment, which is office furniture. So there's five or six different items I can offer," Massey said.
"I can get into a lot of businesses and companies, more so than other people can, just from my connections with playing football for Marshall and playing in the National Football League. So it's really been a win-win for me.
"I've been the No. 1 salesman in the company over the last few years and I've taken that same mentality that I had when I trained and played football and applied it to this role. And it's kind of worked out well."
Massey is also using that mentality from his playing days and applying it to the role of an assistant coach at Winfield High School.
"In '22, the high school had a coaching change, and the guy that got the job played with me at Marshall. He called and said, 'Hey, do you want to coach?' And I said, 'Sure'" Massey said. "It was my daughter's senior year, so I knew most of the boys that were on the team, and knew what kind of opportunity that they had. And I knew what they were lacking in years prior because the high school kind of struggled for about 35 years"
With nowhere to go but up, Massey originally coached the fullbacks on offense and outside linebackers on defense. He was then the special teams coordinator, and last season, became the defensive coordinator. He'll be doing the same this fall.
Making their home in Winfield, Massey and his wife, Sarah, have three children. Maddyx, who will be a senior at Marshall University; Maybre, who will be a high school junior; and Jaxsyn, who will be in the seventh grade.
And what's among the best things about being Chris Massey today?
"Being a father and trying to instill what was instilled in me. Hard work. Having a great attitude. Being tough. All those things that made me a football player has made me a better person off the field," he said. "And not only my kids, but now that I'm coaching football, to be able to give back to the community and share my knowledge of the game, and really just try to turn these young athletes into men as they continue to get older. Because life's not easy, it's hard.
"Football is the greatest sport on earth. It's the only place where you get knocked down every single play and you've got to get back up. And that's kind of how I've always been. It's kind of how I've always talked to my kids, how life's going to go."
