Kamler Knows All About Turning the Other Cheek
WASHINGTON — Brian Kamler thought his nose had been broken. Lying in pain on a soccer field at Loyola Marymount 14 months ago, blood streaming down his face, the pain in his head intensifying, commotion all around him, the D.C. United player grabbed his nose to check for damage. Strange, he thought, everything seemed in place.
Then he slid his fingers an inch to the left.
“It was like gravel,” Kamler said. “I didn’t have a cheekbone.”
Kamler’s face was shattered in seven places by a punch thrown by an opposing player. One bone fragment threatened his eye sight. Others were depressed into his skull. It was as if the left side of his face had imploded.
After nearly four months of recuperation last year, Kamler resumed playing and now the injury is barely detectable. A slight line that looks like a wrinkle below his eye is actually an incision, he explained, and a bump visible when he raises his eyebrow is one of the five metal plates that remain to support the bones.
Although the physical scars have virtually disappeared, the repercussions of the incident have not.
Kamler, 26, has filed suit against Jake Dancy, 20, the U.S. under-20 national team player who, according to police records and eyewitnesses, punched him during a preseason exhibition against D.C. United. The suit also names the U.S. Soccer Federation, which oversees all national team programs. Kamler is asking for $7.3 million in damages. A trial probably won’t take place for at least 18 months.
In addition, Dancy was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office with assault, a felony. If Dancy is convicted, the penalty would range from probation to four years in jail. A trial has been scheduled for May 18 and Dancy, who pleaded not guilty, is free on personal recognizance.
Dancy, now a reserve defender for Major League Soccer’s Kansas City Wizards, said through a Wizards spokesman that he did not want to comment. Dennis Cosso, Dancy’s attorney in the criminal case, said: “Not only is Jake not guilty, he is innocent. He’s done nothing. It was self-defense. Mr. Kamler was the aggressor.”
USSF spokesman Jim Moorhouse said that the Chicago-based organization did not want to comment. As the legal matters move forward, Kamler has experienced extreme highs and another low early this season.
After playing in only five MLS games a year ago, he began this season as a key reserve for United, winner of the only two championships the league has contested. When injuries and suspensions stung United’s lineup, Kamler became a starter. His defensive work was adequate, but more striking was his effectiveness joining the attack and creating scoring opportunities.
“We were really hoping Brian would come through this year because we desperately needed to replace the guys we had lost” in the offseason expansion draft and through other moves, Coach Bruce Arena said. “He was one of the critical players who had to show improvement. We’d be in a tough spot if Brian wasn’t ready to play this year.”
Now, however, Kamler can’t play because of another injury. On April 11 at RFK, Kamler and Colorado Rapids forward Paul Bravo collided in the penalty area late in the first half. Kamler fell hard on his right shoulder. Despite unrelenting pain, he played the rest of the game. But two days later, X-rays showed he had fractured the shoulder. Kamler won’t be available to play for at least a month. “I can handle this,” Kamler said matter-of-factly. “At least it’s not like last year.”
Prior to the 1997 season, Kamler hoped to earn more playing time after being used sparingly in 1996. He showed he could shift from an attacking midfield role--which he filled as a three-time all-American at Creighton University from 1990 to 1993--to playing left back on defense.
Arena was in need of defensive help because Mario Gori had torn up a knee on the first day of spring training and Clint Peay was having knee problems.
Late in February of 1997, about a month before the MLS season opener, United stopped in Los Angeles to prepare for friendly matches in Japan and Hong Kong. On Feb. 23, United played the U.S. under-20 national team. It was a very physical game for a scrimmage, Arena and other United players recalled, and there were a lot of hard fouls. In the closing minutes, with United winning, 3-0, Kamler was tripped.
On the police report, United trainer Rick Guter was listed as a witness. The report said: “Guter stated he observed the victim and suspect running after the soccer ball when they collided. The victim fell down and the suspect stood by the victim with his fists clenched in a fighting stance. The victim stood up and the suspect hit the victim with his right fist to the victim’s left eye and cheek area.”
Arena said in an interview that he remembered the incident this way: “Brian got [his feet] clipped, if I’m not mistaken, by this player [Dancy] from behind and [Kamler] got up quickly on his feet and ran after [Dancy]. In defense of the player, I think his reaction was to protect himself, but protecting yourself would have meant putting your hands up. When Brian got up and ran toward him, [Dancy] hit [Kamler]. Brian’s momentum was coming into that punch. That’s what caused so much damage. Certainly he punched him, but Brian was running full speed into the punch.”
Cosso, Dancy’s attorney, does not deny his client made contact with Kamler, but said Dancy acted in self-defense and that the damage resulted from Kamler’s movement toward Dancy.
“As soon as he hit me, I thought I broke my nose,” Kamler said. “Then I started feeling my nose and I was like, “This doesn’t hurt.’ Then I went over to my cheek and it was all soft. I don’t think he hit me all that hard. He caught me in the right spot, and I was going into it.”
Kamler was taken to Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, where doctors who first examined him wondered if he had been involved in a head-on auto accident. Four days later, Kamler underwent surgery. The bone under his eye had been crushed, so doctors removed a piece of his skull from the back of his head to help rebuild it. The recovery process was slow.
“I started wondering if I’d ever be able to head a soccer ball again,” Kamler said. “It was a tough time. But I was bound and determined to get back and hopefully start where I left off.”
The headaches and dizziness began to subside, and after six weeks, Kamler was allowed to resume physical activity. He was fitted with a clear mask to protect his face.
In May, in his first United practice since the injury, midfielder Marco Etcheverry kicked a ball that hit Kamler on the left side of the mask. Kamler was terrified at first, but there was little pain--a much-needed confidence boost.
“It took me a good couple months to get back into it--thinking on the field, not flinching when someone came by me or when the ball hit my mask,” said Kamler, who didn’t shed the mask until near the end of the season.
Finally, on June 8, he was activated by the club. Nine days later in Richmond, in an exhibition against United’s minor league affiliate, Kamler entered the game in the 60th minute. His first MLS appearance came a month later at Kansas City, again as a second-half substitute.
Dancy didn’t join the Wizards until Aug. 18, after being called up from the minor league Orange County Zodiac.
MLS Commissioner Doug Logan said that the league -- which handles all player contracts -- was aware of the incident before signing Dancy. If Dancy is convicted, Logan said, “Then we will have to look at his status” in the league.
As for the civil suit, Kamler said: “I don’t want to ruin the guy’s life. He’s 20 years old and he has a bright future ahead of him. We all do stupid stuff, but you just can’t do that and walk away and say, ‘Oh, well.’ ”
Meanwhile, Kamler is eager to make another return, this time from the shoulder injury, and try to help United win a third consecutive title. To his teammates and coaches, his first comeback was enough of an inspiration. “Sometimes in business you need to put aside winning and losing because there is a human side to it,” Arena said. “With Brian, it’s a great personal story and comeback.”
