Wednesday, March 14, 2012 was a day that had been circled on Giorgio Tavecchio's calendar months in advance.

It was the date of Cal's pro day where professional scouts come watch the Golden Bears perform quintessential drills prior to the NFL Draft. When the date came, however, the late blooming kicker was left in the rain.

“Everyone had gone inside to do their drills,” Tavecchio recalled. “When I saw scouts were leaving, I decided to go out on the field and go through my routine. Maybe a couple would catch me kick as they left, but by the time I was five or six kicks in, all of them had left.”

As he trudged through his precise routine on the water-soaked Witter Rugby Field, the only people who watched were three teammates and their team chaplain.

“I made it a point to do it and finish what I had set out to do regardless if anyone was watching,” Tavecchio added.

As a walk-on and four-year starter at Cal, Tavecchio finished his collegiate career making 75 percent of his field goal attempts, despite making just 68 percent through his first three years. If he ever makes an NFL roster, he would become the third Italian-born NFL player since 1966 and the first since 1987.

But what drives Tavecchio to keep trying is deeper than the notoriety or the game.

As he went through his routine in the rain, one of the three teammates that stuck around to watch was roommate and fellow Italian-born kicker Vincenzo D'Amato.

It was by complete coincidence the two Italians ended up playing on the same college team, and the two have become the best of friends.

“We're two very different people, but our time together where we would just sit at Grizzly Peak overlooking the Bay and talk about our dreams I think brought us together,” D'Amato said.

Tavecchio is a fashion forward epicurean. He was voted best dressed at Campolindo High School in nearby Moraga and is a regular at some of Berkeley's Mediterranean restaurants. When he's not kicking at California Memorial Stadium, he's usually at Café Strada in the heart of the Cal campus drinking a cappuccino.

“Don't give Giorgio a cappuccino in a paper cup,” said former San Francisco 49ers' kicker David Akers, a teammate of Tavecchio's during the 49ers' training camp in 2012. “It's that fine passion for even a cappuccino that you see translate onto the field and really anything he wants to pursue.”

During a majority of his time in college, Tavecchio lived with his family at their home roughly 12 miles northeast of campus. So instead of constantly commuting home, Café Strada, with a cappuccino in a glass, of course, became his second home.

Tavecchio often sits at Café Strada with his laptop, in which he has designed a spreadsheet with the name of every kicker that graduated with him in 2012. The spreadsheet tracks each kicker's football career.

Of all the kickers from the 2012 class only five were active in 2015 NFL training camps. Tavecchio is the only one of the five yet to make a regular-season roster.

“I saw him day in and day out work his tail off and get better every day he came,” said Akers. “I'd like to see him get a chance, but kicking is hard. Sometimes you just have to wait for the wind to blow in the right direction and for the right door to open.”

For Tavecchio, riding the wind's breeze has opened doors to many opportunities on the football field.

A standout high school soccer player committed to play at UC Davis; Tavecchio didn't take football placekicking seriously until his senior year of high school. When UC Davis wouldn't offer Tavecchio an opportunity on the football team he reached out to Cal.

“I was fresh,” Tavecchio said about his workout with the Bears the summer before his freshman year. “The other kickers were extremely talented but my leg was a little fresher.”

Offered a spot on the team, Tavecchio was named the starting kicker for the 2008 season opener against Michigan State, just a couple months after his workout.

Shortly following his Pro Day disappointment in 2012, another chance came knocking. Looking for a way to get in front of scouts, he managed to find his way into the San Francisco 49ers local tryout where he was the only kicker.

“I don't think I even signed up,” Tavecchio said. “I think I just showed up.”

Luckily for Tavecchio, the kicker for the 49ers at the time, Akers, was also left footed. Not wanting to have to use two different place holders, then-San Francisco special team's coach Brad Seely opened another door for Tavecchio by offering a spot in training camp following the 2012 NFL Draft.

“I began to see a lot of myself in Giorgio,” Akers said. “He showed a real passion for the game, for the process and for life. I think his passion helped him get better each time he went out there.”

Both Akers and Tavecchio said there's an unsung rule in the NFL that 'one good day earns you two more days and two good days earns you three more.'

For Tavecchio, the opportunity and success he had with the 49ers opened doors for him to join the preseason rosters for the other teams and, most recently, the Oakland Raiders.

“He's had so much preseason experience he's earned a full regular season as a kicker,” Akers said. “Once he gets that chance I know he'll take it far. I'm rooting for him.”

Since being cut from the Raiders in August, Tavecchio has had two workouts during the season with NFL teams, most recently with the Houston Texans. A tryout can be a hectic experience that involves a last-second phone call and sometimes an immediate round trip across the country that in total takes less than 24 hours.

But it's what keeps Tavecchio going.

“That craziness, that's the uncertainty of this business that's part of the challenge, but that's part of the journey,” Tavecchio said. “So if you have the right perspective, it's beautiful. It's such a blessing to just be called in the first place. I've found a lot of richness in these experiences.”

Back in Berkeley, in a completely empty California Memorial Stadium, is Tavecchio. He's going through his kicking routine as he does three days a week preparing for the next opportunity. This time, though, he's wearing full pads, including a mouthpiece and even a girdle.

“It's not what you do when everyone is watching but what you do when no one is watching,” D'Amato said. “Giorgio, like kicking, exemplifies that.”

Tavecchio's outfit on this day is anything but Milan trendy. He is wearing his Cal football helmet and shoulder pads, high school football practice jersey, football pants from the Lions' training camp, an undershirt from the Raiders' camp, one sock from the Packers, the other from the Lions and his mouthpiece he never actually wore in a game because it once made him gag.

“This is what living the dream looks like,” Tavecchio said with smile. “I'm a smorgasbord of this journey.”

From standing in the rain kicking on his pro day in front of no scouts to flying around the country trying out in front of many, the journey has made the supposed “struggle” all worth it.

 “I don't know if I'll make it,” he said. “But I definitely see this journey for me to be something more than just kicking footballs. It's a purpose to be the right kind of person that gives himself and inspires other people to be the best they can be.”