THE FRONT ROW with Jason Elliott Sept. 21, 2013
When talking about the best offensive linemen in the history of Post Falls High football, the discussion starts with Joe Tofflemire.
Almost two years since his passing, his legacy remains around the Arizona Wildcat football program as well.
TOFFLEMIRE WAS recently tabbed seventh in a list of the Top 50 players in Arizona football program history by the Tucson Citizen newspaper.
"They said he was the most accomplished lineman in school history," his mother Anna Tofflemire said. "Being from Post Falls, Idaho, that's a big thing. He started in the ninth grade and was a kicker and where he got the nickname 'Joe The Toe'. Coach (Nick) Menegas took a shine to him and Joey started working out in the weight room and really built himself up. Coach Menegas wanted him to play center, but Joe had the stuff to play on the defensive line. He really built himself up from a skinny kid to a huge man, and it was all muscle. It was amazing. We never thought anything about it except it was something he loved to do. The fact he was playing at that level at that age was amazing too. We went everywhere with the team."
Tofflemire started all four years at Post Falls and then moved on to Arizona, where he was the starting center for three years.
"It was wonderful," Anna Tofflemire said. "Watching him play there were the best years of our lives."
Tofflemire had interest from many Division I schools, except for the one he actually wanted to attend.
"He really wanted to go to the University of Washington," his mom said. "They just didn't want him. A few years later, their coach (Don James) said that it was one of the biggest recruiting mistakes he'd ever made."
After his senior season at Arizona, Tofflemire realized his dream of playing in the NFL, being selected in the second round, 44th overall, by the Seattle Seahawks.
"All my boys love football," Anna said. "I've got two older boys, but Joe and (his younger brother) Paul - who started at center for Arizona after Joe went to the NFL - just lived, breathed and ate football. As kids, they knew everything about the Los Angeles Rams."
WHEN JOE retired from the NFL after the 1994 season, injuries had begun to take a toll on him.
"By the time he'd retired, Joe had seven concussions during his NFL career," Tofflemire said. "He'd told me he was afraid that he was getting dementia, because he was having problems with stuttering and losing his train of thought. He planned to get tested for dementia, but he just never did. He told me he felt really physically crummy."
Joe passed away on Sept. 27, 2011.
"I can watch the games, but when you're a mother, you never can get over losing a son, and I never will," Anna said Friday, nearly two years later. "I think of him every day. I still watch the Seahawks, but not with as much interest as I did when Joe played. But I'm really happy that they're doing well again."
Tofflemire wasn't among the list of retired players that sued the league after suffering injuries during his playing days.
"I talked to a lawyer and they said they wouldn't take the case," Tofflemire said. "I don't know why, it's on record and football is what killed him. Joe was getting to a point where he was getting afraid of getting dementia, but he never wanted to worry me. He was only 46 years old and it's something you never expect to happen, what happened to him."
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.