re: Tide Football Thread in honor of TidalSurge

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He was big, so they said try football. But Curt Jarvis never gave up on his dream.

By Rick Karle

It was 1976, and the bedroom walls of the 11-year-old dreamer told him exactly what he wanted to become.

They were right there, next to his Farrah Fawcett poster -- pictures and posters of airplanes everywhere -- F-16s and F-15s.

He was going be a pilot, and nothing would hold him back.

He was a big kid, so many of his friends and neighbors in Gardendale urged him to get serious about football.

Oh, he liked football, but he loved airplanes. And when he was taken on his first airplane flight and was invited into the plane’s cockpit? When he saw all the buttons and levers? When he saw the pilots in their sparkling uniforms? Curt Jarvis picked up a pen and a piece of paper.

The 11-year-old dreamer wrote to Delta Airlines.

“I was shocked when the Delta people wrote me back,” Jarvis told me. “They told me exactly what had to be done to become a Delta Airlines pilot. It was quite a demanding list.”

Demanding? Demanding was what Curt Jarvis did best.

It was the fall of 1983, and Curt Jarvis was headed to The Capstone -- how could he say “no” to Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, who had recruited him months before?

After all, Coach Bryant had several times visited the Jarvis house and had dinner with Curt, his parents, Curtis and Susan, and his sister, Claire.

Jarvis would be a nose guard -- a monster lineman who joined a monster program to play alongside Derrick Thomas, Cornelius Bennett, Mike Shula, Kerry Goode and Van Tiffin.

Coach Bryant passed away before he could coach Curt Jarvis, but he had recruited one of the best before he went to Heaven.

Curt Jarvis was among the best nose guards in America -- if he doled out a hit, it hurt -- but along the way he kept dreaming.

“It was funny, but as serious as I was about playing football, whenever a helicopter or airplane flew over practice I would stop, look up into the sky and admire them,” Jarvis told me. “It gave me an adrenaline rush.”

It was 1990, and a four-year stay with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Bucs was coming an an end -- Curt Jarvis had suffered a neck injury that cut short his pro career. Yet during his time with the Bucs, the dreamer took flying lessons.

“A man named Chuck Brown introduced me to sea planes as I began taking lessons in 1987,” said Jarvis. “On our first flight he let me take the controls as we took off, and it’s something I will never forget.”

As Curt Jarvis was saying goodbye to Tampa in 1990, he faced the media at the Buc’s training facility, which was next to the airport.

“What will you be doing with your life now that you are retiring from football,” asked a reporter.

“I’m going to fly one of those,” said Jarvis, pointing toward a huge airplane.

The media people laughed, but little did they know that Jarvis had earned his commercial license during his time in Tampa.

And those cackles from the media? A fire was lit.

It was 1991, and the former Bama nose guard went back to Tuscaloosa to finish his course work -- he received his undergrad degree in Criminal Justice in 1991. Jarvis took a few years off -- he flew choppers and kept dreaming. He went to work for Bama Coach Gene Stallings in 1993 as a grad assistant coach.

“Me and Dabo Swinney were the two GA’s,” said Jarvis. “Coach Stallings was not happy when after the 1994 season I walked into his office.”

Curt Jarvis loved football -- he just didn’t love coaching it. So, he followed his heart and flew some more. He was a retainer pilot for Publix Super Markets. Sure, it only paid him $350 a week, but it gave him seat time.

He worked three years for ComAir, a regional airline. He kept working and dreaming of piloting the big birds.

It was January of 2000, and the 11-year-old dreamer had turned 34.

“You are interviewing with Delta?” Jarvis’ mother, Susan, asked. “Let me get that letter Delta sent you 23 years ago -- you can show them.”

“I didn’t think I had a shot with Delta,” Curt told me. “But something magical took place during my interview.”

The interview process was long and pressure-packed -- Curt Jarvis did his best to stay calm and collected.

“Near the end of the interview, one of the Delta people turned to me and asked, ‘Why should Delta Airlines hire you?’” said Jarvis.

“I reached into my briefcase, pulled out the 23-year-old letter and said, ‘When I was 11 years old, you sent me this letter outlining everything I needed to do to become a Delta pilot. I have completed every one of these requirements. I am ready.’

“A Delta interviewer looked at me and said, ‘Now, that was good.’ I was hired a few days later.”

Curt Jarvis is approaching his 25th year flying commercial jets for Delta. He has flown 737's, 757's, MD-88's. The 59-year-old is currently the captain of an Airbus 320 stationed in Atlanta -- in the next month, he will begin piloting an international Airbus 350, one of the biggest, widest, fanciest passenger jets in the world.

“I’m calling the Airbus 350 my retirement plane, as pilots can only work until they are 65 -- I’ll be retiring in a little over 5 years,” Jarvis told me.

Curt Jarvis has had an amazing life -- from football to flying, he’s breathed it all in.

“I have flown to South America, Amsterdam, London, Paris and Germany,” said Jarvis. And the feeling he gets every time he taxis the runway and waits for “go”? The thrill returns.

“When I push those thrust levers up and feel the power and magnitude of taking that plane into the sky, it reminds me that my life is incredible,” Jarvis said.

The story of how an 11-year-old dreamer grew up to live a wonderful life adds more chapters as Curt Jarvis travels the world.

“Years ago, I flew into Paris and had a layover,” said Jarvis as he relayed a wonderful story.

“It was very early the next morning and I decided to take a jog,” Jarvis continued. “Just as the sun was coming up, I stopped to catch my breath and I looked up. I was standing under the Eiffel Tower on a beautiful morning. I thought to myself, ‘Not many kids from Gardendale, Alabama, have had an experience like this’.”

Forty-eight years ago, an 11-year-old dreamer sent a letter to Delta Airlines, and years later saw his dream come true.

“I tell kids today that they can become anything or anyone they want to be,” said Jarvis.

“Just dream it,” he added.

“Dream it like me.”

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