When rookie tackle Aviante Collins took the field for the Vikings’ Aug. 27 preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, Hurricane Harvey was weighing on his mind.
The hurricane had ravaged Collins’ hometown of Houston, where his father Bill Collins lives with the tackle’s stepmother. The only news Collins had received that day was a text from his brother Lavon saying his family was fine.
Yes, Bill and Stephanie Collins escaped the storm to safety. But their home was severely damaged by flood waters, and they ended up sleeping in their car for three nights. That’s where they were the night the Vikings defeated the 49ers 32-31 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“We had 2 1/2 feet of water inside the house and we were fortunate to be up early in the morning to start stacking things up to salvage some of it when the water came in,” Bill Collins said of his 2 a.m. salvage efforts on Aug. 27. “When we left the house, we couldn’t get out of the area. We only could get about a mile in our car to a gas station that was on high ground. Everything else was flooded.”
Bill and Stephanie Collins spent the remainder of that night and two more nights in their car, eating granola bars and bananas they had brought with them from home. Eventually, the gas station opened back up with some food available. Finally, on the morning of Aug. 29 they were able to drive to a hotel a few miles away, and a room unexpectedly came open when they arrived.
Bill Collins said he received messages on his cell phone from his son Aug. 27, but he did not return them because he didn’t want to disturb him the day of a game. Aviante Collins, an undrafted free agent from Texas Christian, had his hands full trying to make the Vikings’ 53-man roster. Five days later, he did.
“He got a little upset with me that I didn’t tell him what was going on,” Bill Collins said. “I probably should have. But he was trying to make a team, and I didn’t want to bother him, so I just told Lavon to text him that I was fine, but that dad’s just concentrating on other things and I was busy.”
Collins finally heard from his father the day after the game.
“I said, ‘Dad, why didn’t you tell me? I know we’re playing a game, but you’re my father,’ ” Collins said. “It was important to me. But the most important thing is that he got out and he’s alive and he’s healthy.”
Bill Collins, 66, was ranked among the 10 best sprinters in the world in the 1970s, and still competes, holding 13 age-division world records. He is in TCU’s hall of fame and works as a trainer in Houston; he spent several days last year doing speed drills with then-Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.
Collins’ mother, Robin Collins, lives in Missouri City, a Houston suburb. Collins said she emerged mostly unscathed from the hurricane, with her home only losing a few roof panels.
Collins spoke with his mother the day of the 49ers game. And even though Bill Collins’ intent was to not distract his son, Collins said not being able to talk to him made it tough to focus on the game.
“It really was,” Collins said. “It’s tough because I’m way up here (in Minnesota) and I can’t do anything. It’s not like I can go home and help them.”
Collins played well against the 49ers, getting a rating of 73.7 on 43 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. And last Saturday he got the news that he had defied the odds by making Minnesota’s 53-man roster.
“I just sat there in silence with my head between my legs, thanking God for the opportunity,” Collins said.
Collins then called his father.
“He said, ‘Dad, are you sitting down?’ ” Bill Collins remembered. “I’m thinking he didn’t make it and they were going to put him on the practice squad, but he said, ‘Dad, I made it.’ He put me in tears. That was the best news I’d heard in a while.”
Bill Collins said the hurricane resulted in about $40,000 damage to his home and personal belongings, including antique furniture and clocks. He and his wife are living with friends until the home is repaired. They don’t have flood insurance, but Aviante Collins, making the NFL minimum rookie salary of $465,000, plans to provide financial assistance.
“My dad doesn’t want me to help him out, but every little thing helps,” Collins said. “I’m not going to say, ‘Let’s remodel the whole house.’ But fixing the sheet rock, fixing the wood panels on the floor, I can help with that.”
In the meantime, Bill Collins has maintained his sense of humor. An All-American sprinter at TCU, he and a partner owned five sporting good stores in Texas from 1975-89.
“They were called Hurricane Sports,” he said. “I’m serious. That’s the closest I’d come to a hurricane before.”
