In the last couple of years NFL commentators have been asking the rhetorical question, "Where have all the tight ends gone?" The answer is, they're all playing power forward in the NBA. Troy Stevenson of the Bellingham Eagles has gone against the flow and used his basketball skills to become one the NWFL's premier tight ends.
A Bellingham native, Stevenson grew up playing basketball. He was a four year starting center for Sehome High School, and received a scholarship to play at Everett Community College where he moved to power forward.

Stevenson's first taste of contact football actually came with the Eagles during their inaugural season in 1996. He began the year as the starting quarterback and then moved to TE when Rob James turned out. "I remember being in the locker room just before our first game at the Vikings. Everyone thought I was going to start at quarterback but to everyone's surprise the coach announced Rob as the starter," he commented about that first season. "Not starting that first game motivated or sparked something in me and now I always have a good game against the Vikings."
The Eagles had a successful season that year, finishing 4-1-1. Stevenson primarily played special teams the first two games before beginning to split time with Adam Brown, who had played tight end at Central Washington University.

The Eagles joined the NWFL in 1997 and Stevenson responded by being the league leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns among tight ends. Overall, he finished tied for 4th in the league with 16 catches, and 9th in receiving yards with 226. All this was achieved while playing in the shadow of 1997 NWFL receiving leader Corey Hawkins who had 42 receptions, 56% of the Eagles' total. Stevenson's numbers are even more impressive when one takes into consideration that Stevenson filled in at quarterback for 3 games after James was injured. With very little practice time, he finished as the leagues 8th ranked passer while throwing for 243 yards and a pair of scores.
Although Stevenson had a break-out season in 1997, the Eagles faced a lot of adversity through their 0-9 season. "A lot of people did quit and the one's who stuck together were those who just wanted to play and had a lot of heart. We knew it couldn't keep going so bad. Something had to break for us but it just never did that season. We'd get close and then something would happen and we would screw up a game," he remembered about the Eagles hard luck season. "We were up 19-0 at halftime against the Thunderbolts. We started the second half with an onside kick and they ran it back for a touchdown. Things snowballed from there. At the end of the game we had two chances at the game winning field goal and missed them both."