Happy football season to all those who celebrate the freshly cut grass, the crunch of shoulder pads hitting, and the oblong ball flying through the air. Park City obviously does not have a professional team, but that does not mean we don’t have any professional players. Several NFL players have made a home here (at least part time) over the years, including all-time greats like Steve Young.
But we have also had some homegrown talent turn pro – like lineman Barry Sims. Sims was a solid player for Park City in the early 1990s, playing both sides of the ball in the trenches (offensive and defensive lineman). He was not often mentioned in the newspaper, as lineman are often ignored in favor of the quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers, but he had at least one Player of the Game award for his dominance as an offensive lineman and he made an All-League team.
Coming from a small school at the time, Barry was not highly recruited, even by our state universities. He received a scholarship from Dixie Junior College in St. George (later Dixie State University and now Utah Tech University) and played there for two seasons, making a solid impression on coaches around the region. He ultimately signed to play with the University of Utah for his final two seasons in college.
The Utes were not a spectacular team in his two years as a starting offensive lineman, but Barry was a good player. For his senior year, he got hype as a potential all-conference player. He had a nice season and was selected to the Hula Bowl, a showcase of seniors for NFL scouts. Unfortunately for Sims, he dislocated his knee during practice and spent two years rehabbing before being medically cleared to try and go pro again.
Credit: Park City Historical Society & Museum
By then, NFL scouts were not very interested in the 6’ 5” lineman. But luckily for Sims, the developmental NFL Europe league was in the prime of its third and final stint as a professional league. Sims decided to try his luck there and played in Scotland for one season, proving to NFL teams that his knee was fine and that he was back in football shape. The then Oakland Raiders signed Sims for the 1999 season, where he eventually became a starting lineman.
For the 2002 season, Sims became the starting left tackle, one of the most important positions in football, as you are protecting the blind side of the quarterback (usually). He was the starting left tackle for their appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Sims had made it from Park City, through a stint in junior college, through a massive injury and going undrafted, all the way to the starting left tackle for a Super Bowl team.
Ultimately, Barry played for 12 seasons in the NFL (the average for offensive lineman is about 3.5 years), playing in 174 games and starting 141 of those. Without spending hours calculating the career length for every player to ever play the game, take my word when I say a very small percentage of NFL players have ever played 12 or more seasons in their careers. Especially at a position as brutal as offensive lineman. He played nine seasons for the Raiders and three more for the San Francisco 49ers.
It’s no surprise, then, that Park City High School decided to honor Sims in some way. The field was not named after him, as was considered for Jack McKissick (who is the namesake for the annual MVP trophy for football players at PCHS), but he instead became the first ever former Miner to have his jersey number (#72) retired by the school. He attended Senior Night in 2009, where the retirement ceremony took place and the football team impressed him with a 63-0 win over Union High School. Sims called it an “honor” to be the first person to have their jersey retired for the school.
Sims returned the favor to PCHS when he presented his alma mater with a golden football, created by the NFL for every player who had ever played in a Super Bowl (through Super Bowl 49 in lead up to the 50th game) to give to their school.
He remains the only player to have his jersey retired by the school, but has said on multiple occasions that he wishes he were not alone in that accolade. Perhaps the school could honor McKissick as well, or Barney McGarry (our only other alumnus to go pro in football) rather than waiting for another legend to emerge.
Credit: Courtesy of the Park Record. Photo by Adam Spencer.