Alex LaBella's football journey went from Huntington to Hobart to Italy to Germany

Meet the Long Islander playing professional football in Europe.

Not fútbol, but football. The American sport with helmets, pads, first downs and touchdowns.

Alex LaBella, a Huntington High School and Hobart alum, embarked on an unconventional journey this year. He began his pro career in Italy in February and signed with the Potsdam Royals in Germany last month. The sailing hasn’t exactly been smooth for the 24-year-old receiver, but he is living a once-in-a-lifetime experience and dreaming of bigger things.

“In a nutshell, it’s been life-changing,” LaBella told Newsday. “It’s been everything you could imagine in terms of experiencing new cultures and being away from home. People spend thousands of dollars to come to Europe and hang out, but it’s a whole different vibe being able to live here and make money at the same time.”

Julie LaBella, Alex’s mother, added: “He’s not in the NFL, as he says, ‘yet.’ ”

In early February, he signed a contract to play for Guelfi Firenze of the Italian Football League. Two days later, he flew to Italy — his first time in Europe — as a team member.

Italian Football League teams can have only three Americans each on the roster. LaBella, who has Italian heritage, went through the long, harrowing and seemingly impossible task of tracking his ancestry to eventually be granted dual citizenship — and with it, a better chance to play.

“It was so detailed that it was like, forget it, we’re never going to get everything we need,” Julie LaBella said.

The process started through Julie’s maternal great-grandfather from Sicily. Much documentation was required: passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates and authentication forms.

“I saw him go through it,” Julie LaBella said. “We just felt so bad because maybe his dreams weren’t gonna happen. And he’s like, ‘Nope, I gotta just keep going. I gotta trust the process.’ ”

As LaBella awaited his opportunity, he had to stay physically ready. Every day for more than a year, he would train with two-time Super Bowl champion wideout Chris Hogan at Evolution Physical Therapy and Fitness in Farmingdale. Hogan taught LaBella everything from route-running to taking care of his body.

Hogan had an unusual pro path himself. He played lacrosse for Penn State from 2007-10 before playing one season of football at Monmouth in 2010. He did not play his first NFL regular-season game until 2013 with the Bills but wound up catching 19 touchdown passes in nine seasons.

“It’s not all sunshine and rainbows trying to make it to the NFL,” said Hogan, who played for the Jets in 2020. “For some guys, maybe it is. But for guys like Alex and I, it’s definitely not. There are a lot more downs than there are ups.”

They still communicate. Hogan will analyze LaBella’s game film and give feedback.

LaBella proved his worth in his first professional game, posting 113 receiving yards and three first-half touchdowns. He tore a hamstring in the second quarter, though, and the injury sidelined him for about nine weeks. He returned for the playoffs and the Italian Bowl, the league’s championship game, which Guelfi Firenze ultimately lost.

“You could just feel it that people are starting to really love American football all over the world,” LaBella said.

Football aside, the Italian experience was a change of pace for LaBella, who lived in Fiesole. He went from “work-oriented” New York to “laid-back” Italy, where people can go home at 3 p.m. for a lunch break with family before resuming work at 5 p.m.

But undeniable challenges existed in Fiesole, a “very local” area with a lack of English-speaking people. LaBella downloaded Duolingo, a language-learning app, and — always surrounded by his Italian teammates — was fiercely committed to picking up as much as possible. Other small details in the living experience, such as hang-drying laundry with no dryer to use, also provided a “little newsflash.”

As far as getting American news stories, Europe provides a “totally different world.” LaBella said he gets his news either through social media or from friends in America.

LaBella said he earns more in the higher-end German league than in Italy and is “able to survive and travel and take care of myself and take care of others, which is important to me.”

There are many benefits, he said. Housing is paid for. Medical care is taken care of. And he gets to travel on flights costing only 50 or 60 Euros.

LaBella joined undefeated Potsdam halfway through its season and plans to prove his doubters wrong.

“There have been countless amounts of people in my life who said, ‘Oh, you’re not going to make it anywhere. You play D-III football. You’re just going to graduate and get a desk job,’ ” he said. “And I’m already playing pro in Europe a year after.

“I just want to show people that you can do it.”

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.