First off, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?
I retired in 2003. After football I started working at a small company – the Suma Enterprise Group – I started there after two years in New York.
I started learning all the facets of business planning, marketing and sales there – it was a good experience. It was a start-up so they threw me into a lot of different scenarios. I was a jack-of-all-trades, master of none!
My uncle Tom was the CEO of Walmart – I saw him rise up the ranks. He gave me some good advice – he told me to start with a reputable company. I took a job with Cintas and worked there for four years and developed my sales skills there and got more experience. After that I joined forces with Garland Company and have been there now for 15 years. After seven years there I moved up to sales manager but I’m still selling – I’m sort of a hybrid salesperson and manager.
In my personal life – I’ve been married now for over 17 years and have three boys who all want to play sports. My oldest is a long snapper at the same high school I went to – St. Ignatius. My middle son is a golfer – he’s smart not to play football! And my younger – he’s a big boy – he wants to play football too.
What about football helped you in the business world?
Football players get a bad rap – many people think players are big and strong but not the smartest. But I have a team of 16 sales reps and I look for athletes. Athletes understand how to be prepared – they prepare their minds and bodies to be ready for everything. They also hold themselves accountable in ways that maybe others don’t.
Every Tuesday we were on the chopping block in the NFL if you didn’t do your job well. So being prepared translated well into business, for sure. I wrote goals for myself every year since seventh grade – I still do. That accountability was important in football – you expect your teammates to have your back and vice versa. If we lost it was never one person to blame. And in business – if our region isn’t doing well I don’t just look at my sales reps – I look at myself. Did I train them well enough….?
Did anyone help mentor you when you got to the NFL and stated your career?
Jay Riemermsa was a Christian guy – a man of faith like myself. He helped keep me grounded. I sat next to him in the locker rom and he checked in with me a lot.
In Pittsburgh Mark Bruener – he was one of the classiest guys I ever met. He was the same way. A man of faith who was like a brother. He told me he was there for anything I needed – I could call him anytime. That was another life lesson – when you’re on a team it’s like being in a family. That was one thing about Pittsburgh I experienced more than any other team. They built a great culture there and it started from the top with the Rooneys.
How did you end up in Pittsburgh?
I was drafted by the Bills but in my second year I had a back injury in training camp. I didn’t know if I could play again – but I made it through camp. They released me though and I did some rehab and got healthier. Tennessee picked me up and put me on their practice squad for a couple of weeks. But Mike Schneck got hurt in Pittsburgh so they went to Tennessee and said they wanted me. Tennessee had the rights to keep me but they didn’t have a need for me there, so the Steelers picked me up for their practice squad. I snapped for Pittsburgh until Mike was healthy and returned. I wish I could have stayed there, which is tough for me to say as a Browns fan!
How did you adapt so quickly after joining the Steelers that late in the season?
You have no choice – you have to perform – there are hundreds in line waiting for that chance. As a long snapper, it’s all about preparation and routine. I had to learn the blocking schemes, but long snapping is long snapping.
I also wanted to meld well with the other guys – the holder and punter – and find good chemistry. Technique is natural – but learning the playbook was tougher since I was a long snapper and tight end.
When I was signed by Pittsburgh I got there Thursday and had to start soon after on Monday Night Football. John Allred and Jerame Tuman were hurt and they started with a two-tight end set – they played with that 70% of the game. So I had to learn the entire offense quickly. That was my shot – my dream. I wanted to be a Pro Bowl player but I fell a little short of that!
Justin Kurpeikis was there and that helped too. It was cool to unite with him. I played against him in the Big 33 game – me from Ohio and he for Pennsylvania. We knew who each other was then. Unbeknownst to us we trained together with Ken Shaw before the combine. We were also on the same team – co-captains – in the Hula Bowl. I had no idea he was on the Steelers. I knew no one else on the team, so when I saw him there it was a good feeling.
Any good stories of your time in the NFL?
When I was signed by Tennessee – I first flew out there with nothing more than a backpack for the tryout. I had maybe two sets of clothes. I made the practice squad and my mom drove my car 10 hours that night from Cleveland to me to get my car to me and help me get set up there. Then she flew back on a one-way flight to Cleveland.
I was in Tennessee for two weeks before the Steelers signed me. I drove my car to Pittsburgh – got there at four a.m. At six a.m. I had my physical done and at 10 a.m. I was at practice.
You spoke before about being a man of faith. How did that impact your career?
I think everything happens for a reason. In football you have to have a lot of trust. You put your body and mind through so much – you’re tested mentally, physically and emotionally. If anyone said they were never on the brink of quitting at some point – especially those like me that were fighting just to make the team – I’d say they are lying. I can’t understand making it through all of that without having faith. Established guys can take a couple of practices off, but guys tying to make it have to fight through pain and doubt to make it. And that also translates well into the business world.
Any thoughts on what’s happening to special teams in today’s NFL with the rule changes?
Right after I retired they changed the rule where you can’t hit the long snapper. I thought for a short while “Maybe I should go back and play!” I can show you film of me getting plowed over and somersaulting backwards after getting hit.
But it had to happen. It’s a smart way to play – protecting players. We love the hits but there are too many horrible stories of what happens to players suffering from CTE and concussions.
Any other good on-field stories of your time in the NFL?
When I was on the scout team in New York I was facing Michael Strahan – and it was like he knew what I was doing every play. I couldn’t figure out how. He pulled me aside and told me he wanted to tell me this so I could improve. He noticed that when my fingernails were white he knew I was run blocking – I was distributing all of my weight on my fingers and the fingernails turned white. So when he saw that he just stood up and let me fall forward. When they weren’t white he knew I was pass blocking and would just bull-rush me.
It’s those little clues that can make you so much better.
Another good one was in that first start versus the Colts, Tommy Maddox missed me when I was wide open in the endzone and I gave him a hard time about it. It was a bootleg left and I was the backside tight end. I was jumping and flailing my arms in the endzne but he didn’t see me. When we got in the huddle I told him I wanted to run that play again!
So having been a Browns fan but a Steelers player, where do your loyalties now lie?
I’d just say be good to the Browns! The Steelers fans have always been humble, I noticed that. I was born and raised in Cleveland – I am a Browns fan through and through. I will say though even as a Browns fan, the Steelers are a class act organization. I would have loved playing there for 10 years if I could.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
