Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your NFL days?

I got a job doing maintenance work. After football I’ve had issues with bipolar depression – that all really began after football.

Have you gotten support?

People have helped me, yeah. Playing football kept me busy – kept me focused so it didn’t really affect me as much until after I stopped playing. School was the same way – it kept me focused I guess so it didn’t really affect me until after I was done playing.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Wide Receiver Moses Ford, 1987”

First off, can you let me know you’ve been up to since your playing days?

I’m a private wealth advisor now with AllianceBernstein. We have $650 billion under management but we act more like a boutique firm. The firm is based in Nashville but I work out of Columbus, Ohio. I don’t target athletes, funny enough, but I do get calls from them as I work through my coaching networks.

We’re the first financial management firm to be recommended by the NFLPA on their website. When agents talk to players about their financial needs they are supposed to refer to the site first – though I don’t think they all do that!

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Fullback Brendan Joe, 2006”

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since you stopped playing?

Since my playing days I went to work in finance. I spent one-and-a-half years in corporate finance then took an opportunity to work as an asset manager and have been doing that for the past 16 years. I’m in Austin and lead a big part of our business where we create investment solutions for financial advisors.

Was the post-NFL transition difficult?

That goes back a ways, but I’d say it was fairly smooth. I was able to find a job quickly. I was from Seattle and had a lot of interest from companies when I was done, but I wanted to stay close to Seattle at first. I just needed a job to help me get started in the corporate world. I had a lot of friends from college who already had three or four years of experience,  and I was starting fresh. So getting my foot in the door at first was unnerving and challenging. But it all worked out for the best.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Safety Erik Totten, 2002”

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

Actually after my time in Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay I moved back to Kansas City and started up a handyman service here. I’ve been doing that for the better part of 15 years. I took two years off after my time in Pittsburgh before moving back here.

I grew up in Louisiana and this was the type of work I always did with my father, so that’s what drove me to get into this line of work.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Tight End Tracy Greene, 1995”

First off, what have you been up to since your playing days?

I went through a real rough patch – it was a tough transition. Really rough. But I’m a single dad now with two daughters. I love being a father. I also started a BBQ business – Kickback Kitchen and Grill here in Houston. I started that with a cousin from the University of Texas. We’re trying to get that up and running now.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Cornerback Curtis Brown, 2011-2103”

First, I know you have your hands in so many things since you retired. Tell me a bit about from the three-hundred foot level on what you’ve been working on that you want readers to know about?

When I was out of football I moved from Denver to Southern Louisiana and have been there since 2002. I’ve been in the oil and gas business – I started by working for a man named Bill Jenkins.

I’m now at Troy Construction in Houston in the pipeline industry. It was hard to leave Bill but it was a career move to work at one of the best pipeline construction companies. I’ve been blessed to work for some great people and organizations – the Steelers, Broncos and Bill Jenkins. In Pittsburgh I met a lot of great people and a lot of them helped me to make this transition.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Bubby Brister, Steelers Quarterback, 1986-1992”

First, what have you been doing since your association with the Steelers?

Well, that ended in 1977 and there is a lot between then and now!

I started in Pittsburgh as a game day assistant in 1970. In 1972 I started working for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton but would work every Sunday for the Steelers on gamedays.

In 1977 NFL Properties hired me and then I went to work for the NFL Alumni Association in Ft. Lauderdale. But I decided I had to get the hell out of Florida – the heat and humidity were too much – especially after having lived in L.A. when I was with NFL Properties.

I moved back to Pittsburgh and that let me be with my parents who ended up needing some help anyway. I did some freelance writing and wrote a book on the Steelers-Raiders rivalry with Ed Gruver called Hell with the Lid Off: Inside the Fierce Rivalry between the 1970s Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers .

That was really my last writing assignment.

Continue reading “Exclusive with James Campbell, Game Day Assistant for the Steelers 1970-1977”