By Jim Gehman | Engagement Insider
A three-time Pro Bowl safety, you played 12 seasons with Dallas, Miami and Detroit. And then in 2005, you left football and despite having no experience, you chose to become a blueberry farmer in Ocala, Florida. Why?
“When I retired I prayed and said ‘Okay, God. What am I going to do? And I really don’t want to miss football.’ So lo and behold, I was given a blueberry farm. It was kind of run down, kind of nothing there. I revamped it, made it productive and was growing blueberries. And to be honest with you, I’d never even tasted a blueberry before I owned a blueberry farm.
“It was quite a task. It was fun. It was a learning experience. You learn all about farming, learn about the weather. Actually, I thought of myself as a meteorologist at times, trying to figure out what the dew point’s going to be. You’re at the mercy of the elements of Mother Nature. You could do everything right and still have a bad crop. You do could absolutely nothing and have a great crop.”
After nine years of tending to the crops, you and the family headed north, hung a left, and ended up in Portland, Oregon. What led you to the Pacific Northwest?
“We have always wanted to come back here. We’re originally from the west coast. My wife, Keri, grew up in Modesto, California, and I grew up in Bakersfield, California. All of our family is on the west coast. When my wife left to go to college, her parents moved to Oregon. She’d been back to visit, but she hasn’t been back ‘home’ and neither have I.
“My mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. It was in remission. And then just last year, it poked its little head out again. So at that point, my wife said, ‘We’ve got to move back because I need to go spend time with my mom.’ So the purpose of moving back is family.”
And you’ve decided to go back to school and study at NPTI, the National Personal Training Institute.
“I did. It’s fun. It’s a brand-new chapter. Could I have gone out and decide to become a personal trainer without going back to school to get certification? Yes. I played in the NFL for quite some time. I think that speaks loud enough for itself. I kind of know what I’m doing there in terms of training.
“But I wanted to know the science behind it. What muscles are we dealing with? What’s the body’s composed of? Why are the muscles sore? What muscles lead to other muscles? How can I train someone from injury and try to get him back healthy in the right way, in the functional way?
“When you hurt yourself you establish a pattern of dysfunction because your body works to try to get you back correct. Even though say your ankle is twisted a little bit, you won’t walk the same. You may think you are, but you won’t. Your brain just remembers that. So learning that all things in the body are connected, I can understand the science behind it.”
You’re proof that it’s never too late to learn. But how is life as a student different now than it was 20-something years ago?
“You care more about it now than you did 20 years ago. When you’re 18-, 19-years old, you don’t have a clue. [Laughs] You think you know what you’re doing. I guess the only thing I did know I wanted to do was play in the NFL. I’m sure there are other 18-, 19-year olds that say they’re going to play in the NFL and it just doesn’t happen.
“Now the difference is that I’ve got a purpose for what I’m trying to do. I feel like I can help someone if you’re injured. Whether you’re a banker or a fireman or a policeman, whatever your sport may be, if you get injured I believe I can help you by educating you on what your body is doing, how your body is related to your injury, and making you functional before you start doing something and hurt yourself again. And that’s my goal. That’s my purpose right now, to help a person acquire their goals and for them to understand what their body’s doing.”