By Matt Hickman

Herald/Review

SIERRA VISTA — When Wayne Durham is back home in Sierra Vista, he gets noticed.

But for the most accomplished collegiate athlete Buena High has produced in years, that’s not always a good thing.

Mark Levy•Herald/Review Former Buena athlete and current Adams State College football and track standout Wayne Durham at Loveless Stadium in Sierra Vista.

“Sometimes, when I’m out in public, people recognize me,” Durham said. “Some talk about me from afar. I don’t know if what they’re saying is positive or negative.”

Durham’s infamy stems from one night in 2004 when he was traveling back from Tucson with the Buena boys volleyball team. The senior was later charged with assault and sentenced to 18 months probation for his role in a “hazing” incident that, suffice it to say, went way too far.

In the aftermath, Eastern Arizona College rescinded a football scholarship it had offered Durham, but head football coach Scott Dean and his staff were able to persuade Division II Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo., to give Durham, who still holds the school record with a 53-yard field goal, a chance.

“It was a minimal one, just to help me out,” Durham said. “But when I started as a freshman, they upped my scholarship.”

Durham said he felt he was treated fairly upon arriving in Alamosa.

“(The coaches) knew what happened and they didn’t treat me any different than any of the players,” Durham said. “They’re definitely on top of things. Our school’s pretty strict as well.”

Since becoming the Grizzly Bears’ starting placekicker, punter and kickoff man, Durham has expanded his horizons to become one of the Rocky Mountain Conference’s top decathletes.

“I was brought in to triple jump by (assistant track) coach John Wallin,” Durham said. “He saw my body type — long legs, short torso.”

Durham spent the spring of his sophomore year with the jumpers on the track team.

“That workout was fairly easy for me at first,” Durham said. “I think coach saw in me a 400 runner wanting to come out.”

Durham began running the 400, later dabbled with the javelin and last summer was introduced to the pole vault.

“I slowly learned to hurdle and I slowly became a decathlete last summer,” Durham said.

Durham placed as high as fifth in conference meets and set the school record in the 400 meters, running just over 51 seconds as part of the indoor heptathlon last spring.

On the gridiron, Durham was named second-team all Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as a punter. He thinks he was passed over for first team because the voters felt his 44.0 average was aided too much by Alamosa’s 7,544-foot elevation. He also kicked a 51-yard field goal at Northern Arizona University and booted the game-tying and game-winning field goals in a 34-31 double-overtime win over Mesa State.

Durham said the influence of elevation on kicks is largely a myth.

“It actually doesn’t (make the ball travel further),” Durham said. “It’s just that the air resistance is different and it makes the ball fly prettier.”

Able to look back with some perspective and success, Durham said the events that made the close of his senior year at Buena a nightmare, were a blessing in disguise.

“I think it’s been a motivation, actually,” Durham said. “When everything happened, everybody just assumed I would end up giving up sports and end up one of those guys who goes to school here, stays and works here. So when I went up there and started doing well, I knew there were people who were upset that I was doing well. That kept me wanting to do well.”

This fall, Durham heads back to Adams State as a senior in football and a junior in track. He hopes to get a look from some NFL scouts after the season and if he gets an offer, may forgo his senior season of track to become a professional punter.

“(NFL scouts aren’t) looking so much for booming balls going 90 yards, but consistently going 50 to 60 yards with five-second hang-time. They also want to see your get-off speed, the time it takes you to get the ball from hands to foot,” Durham said. “I’m undecided as of now. I would prefer to have my degree before I move on, but if I do get picked up by a team, I can always come back and get my degree. But I’m a little more inclined to stay at Adams — track was actually what got me into shape to kick as well as I am now.”

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Durham said he is pursuing a degree in physical education with the aim of becoming a certified strength and conditioning specialist.

Durham said track is a more enjoyable season at Adams State, mostly because of the travel opportunities it affords.

“In track you get to travel all around the country, that’s one of the things I look forward to,” Durham said. “Last year the team went everywhere — Washington, Boston, Pennsylvania, California and the decathlon team went to Scottsdale. In football, you just kind of stay in the Colorado area. We have to go to Nebraska for football and this year we’re going to Wichita Falls, Texas, but it’s just a long bus drive and no one likes going there.”

Earlier this month, Durham was picked as a preseason Division II All-American by Lindy’s, a prestigious preseason college football magazine. Last season, he closed his sophomore year on the track at the Division II national championships in Charlotte, N.C. where an ankle injury slowed him but he still finished ninth in the decathlon, seven points shy of earning All-America honors.

So what would he to his detractors if given the chance?

“I wouldn’t say much,” Durham said. “I’d just put my stats on the table and let them decide.”