Purposeful Service

After the spring RFL season, there were no calls for NFL contracts and the checks I had been saving had bounced. I needed to find work.  Fortunately my roommate, a fullback who spent his college years blocking for a Heisman trophy winner and competing for a national championship, was also like minded. He had come from a small farm community that played 9-man football and had likewise been grateful for the opportunity to play for pay, even if it wasn’t much. 

We were both offered a job by a team administrator (whose salary had probably not been honored either) who had transitioned to the position of headmaster at a local private school that had been in a tailspin, due in part, to a shooting that occurred outside its gate. We were hired as part teachers, part roving security detail and in addition to a very moderate salary, we were offered a classroom in which to live. It was an advantageous relationship wherein we provided the school with cheap teaching labor and added security on campus after hours, while having full access to the weight room, locker room, and football field right outside our door.

Although our lives still revolved around our football workouts, we taught together and coached football and basketball, which rekindled a desire to influence others in a positive way.  During college, I primarily focused on myself, committing most of my time to my personal development in athletics and academics. Despite being a dedicated teammate, I created very few opportunities to serve others and my time with the Pride had been more of the same. 

Before college, however, my summer job had been at a unique boys’ summer camp that attracted a motivated and talented staff. Together, we had made a real impact on young boys’ well-being and positively contributed to their personal development.

Despite the Pride’s lack of financial success, the community had embraced the team, and young people all over the city of Jackson looked up to its athletes. The amount of influence a professional athlete has over people, especially youth, is significant and, subsequently, the potential of serving a community from the platform of a professional football player became a key motivating factor to continue the journey.

How can your craft fill a need in service to others? This is the ultimate motivation – Spiral up