The King of American Football in Europe is an Oregonian
By Mark Gilman, Gilman on Sports
Story with additional photos on Substack
SALEM, Ore. -- He cut his teeth playing football in Keizer, but these days, 47-year old Chris Calaycay BA'98 is half a world away from his childhood home in Oregon's Willamette Valley — serving unofficially as the best American Football Coach in all of Europe. The sport has exploded in popularity in the old world—and Chris is the king of the gridiron realm there after claiming the continental championship in 2022. His personal journey to the year 2023 has been a fascinating one.
In 1994, Calaycay graduated from McNary High School after playing his prep football as a receiver and defensive back for longtime Celtics coach Garry Swanson. He moved on to nearby Willamette University to play small college football as a DB. Chris also took a break from school along the way and went to play some American football in Europe—Paris to be exact. He was a defensive back and helped coach the defense, but was pressed into service as a quarterback late in the spring season when the team's signal caller was injured. It was fun and challenging—and Chris was hooked on the European experience.
Calaycay did return to Salem and worked as a Willamette football graduate assistant coach for two years under coach Mark Speckman. Chris was also playing spring football in Vienna, Austria where he eventually met and married his wife, Michaela. After three seasons in Vienna as a player and coach, he then moved on to Cal-Berkeley, attending graduate school and coaching for the Division I Golden Bears program for two seasons.
It was at Cal that Chris decided that D-I college football wasn't (necessarily) where he wanted to work. He mentions the intensity of college football, the frequent lack of civility, and the uncertainty of employment as reasons to look elsewhere. Instead, Calaycay received an offer from the longtime president of the Vienna Vikings organization to return to coach with the team in Europe. He didn't hesitate in saying yes. That was in 2004. He has made Austria home ever since.
"This position provides some stability for me and our family," says Calaycay positively. He and Michaela are still raising three kids, with their oldest Noa headed for Idaho State as a walk-on player for Cody Hawkins—the son of Chris's Willamette coach, Dan Hawkins. And even after 19 seasons, Chris still enjoys what he does in Vienna—which has included lots of winning.
"Winning keeps people happy, and we been able to sustain that," says a smiling Calaycay.
The most recent football prize captured by the Vikings came last season, when they won their first championship in the fledgling European League of Football (ELF)—the first all-European football league since the NFL's leagues of the 1990s. The first season of the ELF in 2021 was limited to only German teams, but 2022—as COVID restrictions were lifted, allowed for expansion to 12 teams in five countries—including Vienna—for the 2022 season. Calaycay took the reins of the team in the expanded league, and guided them to the championship. Vienna won the Central Division title with a record of 10-2, and nabbed the ELF title with a 27-15 win over Hamburg.
This season, the ELF has 17 total teams from nine European nations. Calaycay says after jumping into the league with both feet last year, the entire Vikings organization is better prepared for the challenge. After signing a new contract for this year, he is excited about this year.
"We know a lot more about what to expect in this second season … in terms of signings, building of the contracts, improving management and organization — trying to take it to the next step."
It does help that about ninety percent of the players from last year's championship team have returned for the Vikings. ELF teams are limited to just four American players on their rosters, and six, non-native players from other European countries.
The Vikings are off to a good start in 2023. After a first week bye, they are 3-0 in the new ELF Eastern Division with decisive victories the last two weeks. They face the Fehérvár (Hungary) Enthroners this weekend.
Calaycay is quietly confident about his team's chances this season. It is that same confidence which won him European Football Hall of Fame honors from the Touchdown Europe organization in 2014 as an outstanding Vienna coach during their time in Austrian-only football. The Vikings regularly won the Austrian championship (13 of 20 in Vikings history), and have also won five Euro Bowls during Chris's seasons as an assistant and head coach in Vienna. Calaycay's winning percentage for his career is at 79 percent. He was inducted into the Touchdown Europe Hall of Fame in 2014.
The years of exposure to the European culture, and the aging process in general, has mellowed Chris a bit.
"I was a brash young man … very confident, ultra-competitive," he says with straight-faced honesty.
"Getting over to Europe and growing up… and having a bigger world view… got me out of my comfort zone."
Calaycay says the change of scenery helped him to better appreciate his own experiences. And while wins remain very important to him, there are other aspects of the sport to appreciate.
Chris speaks fondly of two of his longtime Austrian players who have landed their dream of playing in the NFL. Bernhard Raimann, who played collegiately at Central Michigan, was selected in the third round of the 2022 draft, and started at left tackle last season for the Colts. And Bernhard Seikovits, a 6-6 tight end who has bulked up, entered the NFL's International Pathway program, and is now on the practice squad for the Arizona Cardinals. The pride is evident in Calaycay's eyes as he speaks about them as evidence of how far European football has come since the 1990s. He regularly serves as an analyst for NFL games aired in Austria.
He also enjoys the role as a German language television analyst of NFL games shown in his adopted country. There is a twinkle in Chris's eye as he talks about being the German-language version of Troy Aikman.
Calaycay on the Vienna sidelines.
Calaycay also talks about the Vikings organization like extended family. The European team he now coaches is a separate entity from the club teams, but they all co-exist together in Vienna. 600 active members between all the coaches, and youth and adult players, and the support staff. He is doing what he loves, and enjoys being big where he works.
Calaycay still finds time to get back to the States here and there.
His parents moved from Keizer to Boise to better follow the college football exploits of younger brother Nick — who famously kicked the winning last-minute field goal in McNary's high voltage 51-48 victory over Beaverton in Oregon's 1997 state championship game. Nick continued to impress as a kicker for Boise State and was a Lou Groza finalist as one of the best kickers in the nation. Nick later went on to coach high school football and baseball. These days, he is working with his own kids in Little League baseball. The extended Calaycay family got together last Thanksgiving.
Even in the midst of an intense European football season, Chris Calaycay appears to be at peace with himself and his life in general. He is comfortable with the pinnacle of his success in the very big world of American football.
That we all could be so fortunate in our own lives.