Tag: Steelers

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”

Let’s start with football? I know you were a very good track athlete as well as football player in high school- why did you choose football?

It’s funny – I didn’t want to play football, really. I didn’t want to get tackled. I just wanted to do something that would get me out of the house. I was fast but not fast enough for the Olympics or anything like that. I was successful playing football so I stayed with that.

Were there coaches early on that helped you then?

I was a loner in high school, so I didn’t get much help. My mother would give me some advice on life – my uncle too. But I was really on my own. I stayed with my auntie and she didn’t really know I even played football then.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Running Back Eric Wilkerson, 1989”

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

I moved back to Wichita after I was done playing and taught high school algebra to teenagers. I did that for 10 years and started flipping houses in the Summer. That morphed into a house flipping business – I quit teaching and bought more homes and now that’s my business. Now I have 25-to-30 employees in Wichita and we manage our own rentals as well as that of 30 other investors.

The company is Goshen Property Management – we’ve been doing this for over 25 years now.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Tight End Russ Campbell, 1992”

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

After the Steelers released me, I had a unique opportunity to run track. I was an All-American in high school and ran track at Georgia. I ran track professionally after the Steelers. I barely missed the Olympic trials in the hurdles – by six-tenths of a second.

My wife was in medical school in Austin at the time I was training there in Austin. After a while I decided to get my Masters in Theological Studies while she was in school. I also became an assistant track coach for the women’s track team at Texas. My sister was on that team – she actually made the Olympic trials!

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Wide Receiver Cedric Goodman, 2009”