Kearney, Neb. - Starting in May 2014, a new feature called "Loper Reconnection" will profile former UNK student-athletes. Student Andrew Hanson asks the chosen Loper a series of questions.

The 11th subject is former tight end Jay Dostal.

Wrestlers Bryce Abbey and Brian Hagan, Darcie Berry (softball), Justin Coleman (football), Jenni Luke (volleyball), Diane Davidson Rouzee (softball & volleyball), Nick Svehla & Mike Hancock (men's basketball), Jade Meads (women's basketball) and Karol McKenzie Nelson (track) were previously profiled.

Dostal was a tight end in the late 1990's and early 2000's, twice earning Academic All-RMAC (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) honors and helping the Lopers win 26 games.

Name: Jay Dostal
Hometown/High School: Omaha, Neb./Westside H.S.
Years: 1996-00
Sport: Football


When Jay Dostal was offered the chance to become principal at Kearney High School in 2010, the choice was an easy one.
 
Not only was it his first opportunity to be a principal, but it also served as a homecoming for Dostal as he was a tight end on the University of Nebraska at Kearney football team from 1996-2000.
 
The Kearney connections didn't stop there, either.
 
Dostal's father, Dave, played for the Lopers in the mid 1960's and his mother was also a Kearney State College graduate. Not to mention the fact that his grandfather was a professor at KSC as well.
 
Maybe there's something about Kearney or perhaps it just happened fortuitously, but when Dostal first chose to come to Kearney in the summer of 1996, the decision was just as easy.
 
"My senior year of high school my dad said you can either go to the University of Nebraska Omaha and live at home with your parents or you can go to UNK," Dostal said.
 
Deciding he didn't want to live at home, Dostal looked to UNK. He added, "Fortunately for me, Coach (Claire) Boroff let me walk on to the football team."
 
Playing a plethora of positions in high school, Dostal walked on at UNK as an offensive guard. The grind of two-a-days caused him to lose quite a bit of weight, though, and he was moved to tight end -- a move which also came with a scholarship.
 
"My cousin was an All-Big Eight tight end at Iowa State, so the position was not foreign to me. I always had good hand-eye coordination, so I could catch," Dostal said on the position change.
 
Despite bulking his 6-foot-5 frame up to 300 lbs., Dostal joked that he was more valuable on the catching side of things as a tight end than blocking. "If you were to talk to Coach Boroff he would say that I couldn't block anything," Dostal joked.
 
"We had tackles like Brett Wetton (who received a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks after graduating) on both sides to clean it up for me," he added.
 
The offensive line wasn't the only strong point for the offense Dostal played in.
 
The wide receivers he played with were some of the best in Loper history, a list that included Mike Smith, Trevor Weston and Ryan Bedlan. His quarterback was Division II's all-time leading passer Justin Coleman, too.
 
Since Coleman was a long-ball thrower and he had down-field targets like Smith and Weston, Dostal usually had to wait for backup quarterback Mike Muma to catch passes early in his career.
 
"Tight ends usually get the dump off so I had to wait for Mike to come in," Dostal explained. "Mike was a little bit smaller and got more outside the pocket. He was typically on the run, and when he's throwing, he's throwing to the tight end."
 
In fact, Muma was the quarterback from whom Dostal caught his first college touchdown. "It was 1997 and we were playing Wayne State. We were up big and probably shouldn't have been throwing the ball, but Mike had an opportunity to come in and play and he threw it to me. I was open and caught it," he said.
 
Although Dostal caught his fair share of balls from Muma, that's not to say he didn't benefit from UNK's Harlon Hill Trophy runner-up quarterback Coleman.
 
On the snowy November afternoon in 2000 at Foster Field, Dostal was right there in the trenches helping Coleman during their final game as a Loper against Western State.
 
Heading into what was dubbed the "Snow Bowl," Coleman needed about 250 yards to become Division II's all-time leading passer.
 
Coleman threw for 378 yards that day.
 
"That day was a blizzard. They had cancelled all of the other games," Dostal said. "We actually made SportsCenter. It was an awesome day. Hardly anybody was in the stands, but it was just a great way to end a career."
 
The fact that Dostal got to be a part of Coleman's record setting career was pretty special, too. "I caught a couple balls in there, so I can say I was a part of history," he said with a laugh.
 
So when Dostal had the chance to return to a place that meant so much to him happened in 2010, he didn't have to think much.
 
"It was pretty special. This place holds a very dear place in my heart. I've got family members in town. It's a great community to raise a family," Dostal said. "I love the school system. We're building a brand new high school, we've updated all of our elementary schools, we're updating our middle schools. You don't get that in a lot of places."