By Eric Geisse
NFL Player Engagement
When is enough, enough? It’s a question that every athlete must face at some point in their career. For some, it’s an easy decision. Their senior season may have come to an end or they have no more desire to lace them up and head to practice every day. For others, the decision is simply not that easy. The promise of bright lights, the roar of the crowd, and the unified sense of purpose that accompanies being a part of a team pushes people to the brink of both their physical and mental abilities. While we as a society hold up these athletes to the highest of standards, an important goal we have in Player Engagement is to highlight the stories of people who have had to make the difficult decision to leave the game they love, even on its biggest stage.
Cue Terrance Ganaway. The six foot, two hundred-thirty plus pound running back from DeKalb, Texas has one of those stories. Growing up in east Texas, football had always been a huge part of his life. Playing four years of high school ball and getting a scholarship to the University of Houston was a huge accomplishment, and when he walked onto campus he knew he didn’t want to play anywhere else. Sometimes however, life is just not that simple. His senior year of high school his mother had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, and after about a year she finally succumbed to the disease. Like anyone else who has lost a parent, it was an intensely emotional time and ultimately concluded with Terrance leaving Houston to attend school closer to home at Texarkana College.
When it came time to return to the game, Terrance decided to reunite with the University of Houston coaching staff, now at Baylor University. Over the next two years he tore up the field, culminating in his senior year when he rushed for more than 1,500 yards and 21 touchdowns. After he received his undergraduate degree he was drafted in the sixth round by the New York Jets in the 2012 NFL Draft and was ultimately picked up by the St. Louis Rams on waivers after the preseason. Just two games into the 2013 preseason, Ganaway made the decision to retire and pursue an advanced degree in Administrative Medicine. When asked why he decided to make the change he humbly said, “You know, I have my brothers arguing with me every day telling me I should go back to the NFL… My mom passed away and my love for the game didn’t change, but my perspective on life did. It just made things more important outside of the game. I was offered a golden opportunity by being able to enter the health care field and I researched it deep and long and was able to find some meaning and significance in it that meant something to me.”
In the end, this is our ultimate goal for every football player at every level: to understand that playing this game is an experience. To enjoy every moment of the crunching tackles, two minute drills, and all the beautiful Sundays marked off as game days; and when the experience has passed, to find a meaning and inspiration outside of football that will help define life going forward. Terrance Ganaway has certainly accomplished this feat, and we at NFL Player Engagement wish him the best of luck going forward.