We're not all superstars: So you think NFL players—with millions of dollars stashed away—retire to a life of leisure? Think again. The majority of them have to find jobs when they're done playing, and many are unprepared to do so

Football Digest, Jan, 2003 by Kenyon Rasheed

EDITOR'S NOTE: Kenyon Rasheed was an NFL running back from 1993 to 1997, with the New York Giants and New York Jets. He now is CEO of Rasheed & Associates, a company that moves technology products in and out of the sports marketplace. He also works with a number of retired athletes across the country, helping them make the transition from sports into business.

I DIDN'T HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE to announce my retirement, no tears were shed, and no one asked me how I would spend all the free time my retirement would afford me.

I guess the media and fans simply assumed I was going to wile away my days playing golf and spending more time with my family (the generic "SportsCenter" line from an athlete who's retiring). Well, that might be the case for a very small group of NFL players--but most of us are retiring from football, not from working.

To many of you, I am not a household name. But I am a retired NFL player who has gone on to be relatively successful in corporate America. If you are like most football fans, you have seen the emotional retirement ceremonies of NFL superstars like John Elway and Marcus Allen and Dan Marino. But the harsh reality is, Elway, Allen, and Marino represent a minority of NFL players who retire on their own terms, with so much money in the bank that they don't have to work again. The majority of players--and I fall into this group--don't have that option when they turn in their playbooks. They have to go out and get jobs.

As I embarked on my search for a new career, I noticed there were very few job listings that called for knocking the crap out of someone. Players like me have to come to terms with the following fact when our playing days are over: We now will be treated like most of the rest of America's work force. And without job experience, it's awful difficult to earn a decent living.

What to do?

First and foremost, NFL players can't wait to plan for life after football until life after football actually begins. Instead, it's imperative that they address the issue before their time in the spotlight expires.

The place to start is in college, where they are the Big Men on Campus. Participating in the high-profile football program at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1980s and early '90s, I knew my visibility could help open some doors for me--and I wanted take advantage of that. For example, instead of accepting the summer job the athletic department got for me (unloading trucks for $14 an hour), I contacted every TV' and radio station in the area and applied for a paid internship. My search yielded a job as an on-air sports reporter with the ABC affiliate in Oklahoma City.

So while my teammates spent their summer in 100-degree heat unloading trucks, I worked inside with air conditioning, making twice the money I would have otherwise. This demonstrates that doing things for yourself--as opposed to waiting for someone to hand you something--can pay big dividends while you are still playing.

Before they arrive on campus, all football recruits (as well as their parents) must understand what drives college football: wins and losses. College coaches make money from their records on the field, not from their graduation rates. Regardless of how many times they say they want their players to graduate and have post-career success, no coach has ever received a raise based strictly on those accomplishments. The raises come from winning football games, and the coach will make his decisions accordingly. If a player is aware of this bitter truth, he'll be more likely to make informed decisions that will benefit his own future, as opposed to the coach's future.

When I entered the NFI, as an undrafted free agent with the New York Giants in 1993, I knew my chances of making the team were not particularly good. Luckily for me, I had sent resumes out to various companies before I arrived at camp, just in case I was cut. I was fortunate enough to make the team, but I still was looking ahead. I knew I could use my status as an NFL player to open doors.

My numerous off-the-field endeavors made me look like an oddball to most of my teammates in both college and the NFL Following workouts in the NFL off-season, I often would hear my teammates on the Giants and then the New York Jets laughing as I got on the bus from those teams' training sites at the Meadowlands and Hofstra University to go to internships with Citibank, Sprint, Woolworth Corp., and the NFL league office. I chose to spend my spare offseason time getting a better sense of what I wanted to do when I retired. Many of my teammates, in contrast, were rushing home after workouts to play video games.

During my career, the NFL player program division (which helps place players into internships and return to college for degrees) made it mandatory for players to have college degrees to be considered for internships. This eliminated about 70% of the players. While the purpose of this policy was to push players to return to school, those who didn't go back had few other avenues to prepare for retirement. An internship can provide a spark for a player, allowing him to identify his interests and skills.