Loss doesn’t mean losing

It was a quiet morning in the Mundwiller household, the kind of quiet that creates uneasiness. It was on this morning senior wide receiver Andy Mundwiller first learned what it meant to lose something.

The house was still as his then-4-year-old sister Emily Mundwiller rifled through the fridge, trying to find something for her and 2-year-old Andy to eat as they waited for their mother Brenda Mundwiller to emerge from her bedroom.

They were waiting for a moment that would never come. Brenda passed away in her sleep because of kidney failure.

Life had just taught Andy about loss and given him his first chance to chose how he would respond to it.

Phil Mundwiller, Andy's father, said his son has never felt bad for himself.

"One of the things the doctors told me right after I lost my wife was the kids can succeed in anything they want in life and not to use the fact that they lost their mother as a crutch, to fail or accept failure," Phil said.

Overnight, Andy became a child living in a single-parent household where he and his sister had to take care of one another and household chores while their father was working a full-time job.

Phil said losing his wife drew him and his children together and allowed them to grow closer than they might have otherwise. One of the ways the family spent time together was playing and watching football.

"Me and my dad and my sister grew up very close," Andy said. "Even [Emily] would throw the ball with us. ... We always played football. Me and Dad would watch football every Sunday and [Emily] was there. We'd all watch it together. Grew up just loving football together I guess, as a family."

Football wasn't exclusively a leisurely activity for Andy — it was part of his pedigree. As a child he spent time around two cousins on his mother's side of the family, who played at NCAA Div. I Northwestern University [Ill.] and Indiana State University.

Andy said being around people who loved football so much taught him to love the game too.

 When he entered the fifth grade, Andy got out of the backyard and onto a real field, playing linebacker and running back in a youth football league in his hometown, Washington, Mo.

Mundwiller said he slowed down slightly as he grew, which triggered the first position move in his career. By the time he enrolled at St. Francis Borgia High School he was playing quarterback and some safety.

"Great tradition at Borgia so you always got a lot of support," Andy said. "So I guess being a quarterback you kind of are the center of attention. It was awesome. It was a great experience to have under my belt."

He said he still remembers leading a game-winning drive as a high school quarterback, leading his team down the field and finishing the drive by throwing a go-ahead touchdown to one of his best friends on a deep come back route in the endzone with 24 seconds remaining.

While Borgia provided Mundwiller with good memories, he also failed to reach the state final during his time as a Knight.

Borgia won a district title his junior year, but fell short his senior season, losing in the district final to Owensville High School. Owensville went on to the state final, but Andy said he thought his team had the potential to perform well at the state level and that losing to Owensville was terrible because Borgia had won the district his junior year and had entered his senior season feeling like the team had the talent to go far in the playoffs.

"You see all the district champ [banners] almost year in and year out they have hung up outside of our field," he said. "It was kind of like a huge letdown to see that and not see '06 which was my senior year. I guess that was pretty tough on me."

Andy said an early exit from his final high school postseason acted as motivation as he entered college.

Bulldog hall-of-famer and former Truman football player Dale Gildehaus coached Mundwiller at Borgia.

"He had a lot of influence on me," Andy said. "I know he helped me out a lot getting into Truman and just playing here."

Andy has been listed as a wide receiver for the past two seasons but as a redshirt freshman during fall 2007 he entered as a quarterback.

After redshirting during his first year with the program and not seeing a snap his freshman season, Andy found himself under center for the first time as a college quarterback during his sophomore year. The same year former Truman head coach Aaron Vlcko decided to switch Andy to defensive back.

"Came in at quarterback and had some great quarterbacks above me in [alumnus] Matt Ticich and Phil Davis," Andy said. "My time was getting a little bit faltered."

After spending time in the secondary, he was then asked to return to quarterback during week eight of the 2009 season after the Bulldogs experienced a rash of quarterback injuries.

During his one and only season at quarterback, Mundwiller played eight games under center going 16-34 with 212 yards, but his career as a college quarterback would end for good during his start against Southern when he tore his rotator cuff after being hit on a quarterback scramble.

Gregg Nesbitt, current Bulldog head coach, took control of the team during spring 2009 and decided to move Mundwiller yet again this time to wide receiver.

Emily said her brother never complained about having to change from a position he once said he couldn't imagine being removed from when he first got to Truman.