By John Ingoldsby | Engagement Insider
Football’s loss on the field 15 years ago may now become among the game’s biggest gains off the field.
In 1999, when a knee injury prematurely ended Charles Way’s days as a player, he immediately told his team he wanted to stay in the game and hopefully work with them.
That team, the New York Giants had liked his community work while he was in their backfield and created a position to keep him in their iconic family.
Now, suddenly, his football family just grew from one team to all 32 as he tackles his new position as the head of the NFL’s Player Engagement Department.
“I am going to bring the family atmosphere from the Giants to the League,” said the Northeast Philadelphia native. “The environment I came into there helped me become the person I am today.”
An individual who as the first Giants’ Director of Player Programs began the new century by asking, “What can I do to help players on and off the field?”
That genuine caring contributed to the team’s legacy of “once a Giant, always a Giant,” a philosophy which will now blend both League and team Player Engagement departments.
“My vision is to have all 32 team Player Engagement Directors on the same page so we can add even more value to the organization and its players,” emphasized the University of Virginia graduate. “I want every organization to see the importance of the PE position, and how it positively affects the performance of players on the field, and off it as well.”
A win-win approach that has been the foundation of PE for 25 years, but like everything in the NFL, is always evolving.
“My mantra is that change is really evolution with a purpose, and PE will continue to evolve so we can all see the fruits of our labor,” he stated, adding that the goal regarding players is always, “How do we make them better?”
An admirable mission that Way has honed since he was one of the first Giants’ rookies ever to start on opening night as a sixth-round draft pick, not knowing if he would even make the team.
He did that and more, of course, as he played in the backfield for five years and then added his impact in the front office for 15 more years.
“It was a growing process, but thankfully former General Manager Ernie Accorsi and ownership trusted me with great resources,” remembered Way.
So as he got his feet on the ground with the purpose of making his players the best professionals they can be both on and off the field, Way was fortunate to also “be around great players who wanted me to be the best.”
A situation that Way maximized by kicking off new initiatives, like developing an introduction to coaching high school football, so coaches could “teach young adults about life and how to become men.”
The idea worked, and grew to what today is 10 schools participating regularly in a high school coaching internship program, which culminates with a 7-on-7 tournament held at professional football facilities with pro athletes sending the same message that “if you work hard, you will be successful.”
Success that Way constantly pursued for his players by pondering incessantly the question of, “What can we do to get the guys to think about life after football?”
No easy task to ask of young men making millions, but one that is top priority, as Way well knows.
“It’s a tough transition for anyone to leave the game, and someone who says it’s easy is not telling the truth,” according to Way. “We all miss the camaraderie and the teamwork, as well as the excitement and energy with the games and the fans on Sundays.”
So to help them maintain the achievement they found in football, Way took the framework of PE’s long-time Business Management & Entrepreneurial (BM&E) Program and turned it into its own success story.
“We wanted players to know what Fortune 500 companies look for in candidates, so we taught them how to write an executive resume, prepared them for interviews, and had corporate executives mentor them for up to two years. We had six players participate and they had a tremendous experience,” Way proudly proclaimed about the program’s first group, who just graduated in March.
And now he can take innovative thinking like this to Park Avenue and implement ideas for the greater good.
“I am excited for this opportunity and look forward to the challenge,” declared the resident of New Jersey, whose wife Tahesha is an administrative law judge in the state where they raise their four children. “We just had our fourth child and I just got this new job, so these are exhilarating times for our family.”
And for his new and expanded NFL family as well.
“For me, it was an honor to play in a great League like the NFL, where only a few thousand have made it,” he noted.
Now, all those thousands and many more to come will benefit beginning immediately from Way’s commitment to family and football.