October 11, 2022 • 35 mins
NFL hall of famer Tim Brown joins The Bag to share his insights on why a sponsorship for a college athlete might be a lot to live up to, creating his own shoe brand during his playing days, why Reggie Bush deserves to get his Heisman back, and why he wants to join the NASCAR worldSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Never, Never Big. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of
Sports Illustrated and iHeart Radio's Bag with me Linday McCormick
(00:23):
and in my amazing co host for Sean Jennings. The
Bag sits at the intersection of sports and business, delving
into the headlines and behind the scenes of athletes, entrepreneurship,
and enterprise. For SHOD today, we're sharing a legendary guest
with everyone. Hall of Fame wide receiver and Heysen winner
Tim Brown, a massive impact on both amateur and professional sports.
(00:45):
We fout a doubt and we had an opportunity to
cover a slew of topics, one of which is Reggie
Bush should he get a chance to receive back his
Heisman Trophy, also the potential issues with n IL. Listen
to tune in check it out. You're not gonna want
to miss this. We are talking to an anomaly. Tim Brown.
(01:05):
You're someone who has such a massive impact on both
amateur and professional sports. As the line blurs between the
two and college athletes are making money, how do you
feel about all the changes taking place? You know, I
was having a conversation with a group of guys today
and he was talking about all the money that the
n c A is making, and you know, they're making
(01:27):
seven billion dollars made making all this money, And I
just asked a simple question. Do you want college football
to be semi pro or do you want it to
be collegi collegian football? You know, I mean, are we
trying to make it semi pro or what? What are
we trying to do? You know? I mean, uh, look,
I get it, you know, I get there's a lot
(01:48):
of money being made out there. I get people say
education is what it is. But at the end of
the day, man, I think you're just sending a bad
precedence by you know, making this thing about the highest bidder.
You know, So now that the schools are with the
most money, they're gonna they're gonna be Look, truth be known,
that's been the way that's been anyway. Hey, that's how
(02:11):
it's been, right, It's just they just formalized it right
now now that everybody you could do what you want
to do. It's it's it's it's okay if you do that.
So but you know, I don't necessarily agree with that. Man.
I just think you're you know, um, I mean, I
think even before you know there were there were the
halts and the half nuts. But my god, I mean,
(02:33):
you're talking about the in college eighteen nineteen year old
kids making hundreds of thousands of dollars, a million dollars,
a couple of million dollars a year. I don't know.
I just I don't see it. But you know, I'm
just too old to see it, I guess, because it's
it's past me for sure. Yeah. No, man, I love
for you to dive into that a little bit more
because you know, I'm sure you've probably heard that your
(02:56):
viewpoint is against the grain almost at this point, because
a lot of people are feeling like, hey, these young
athletes are getting paid, you know, and um, everybody wants
any and everybody to be able to earn income and
get their value. But you see, it could be a
little bit more troublesome. And I wanted to ask, you know,
from from a vet, from a Hall of Famer, from
(03:18):
a Hosman Trophy winner, as a father, you know, where
do you see the issues coming into play and how
they could roll over, um into long term Well, you know,
I mean, I think the biggest problem, man, if you're
trying to win, if you're trying to have a cohesive
locker room, you know, if you know, like I hear,
(03:38):
there are a couple of colleges out there. Everybody's getting
the same amount. Everybody's getting fifty thousand dollars a year whatever.
I'm actually okay with that. I'm okay with that because
nobody's in the locker room going you only got fifth
k you know what I mean. And I'm rolling around
in my bidley or whatever, you know, my beds or whatever,
you know. So I just think, man, you know, it's uh,
(04:01):
you know, brother, the first couple of years of college
are tough anyway. I mean, that's trying to adjust your
life away from home and trying to you know, get
your education, trying to you know, play major college football.
And now on top of that, I gotta deal with
who's making the most money. I don't know. I just
think it's an unnecessary evil, man. And not until something
(04:22):
bad happens, you know, there's a big fight or something
crazy happens, and people are gonna realize. I mean, the
n c A a couple of couple of months ago, Hey,
they put out, hey, can you college just help us
raining this thing in? No, they can't and they won't.
But what why would they? This is exactly what they wanted.
(04:43):
What advice do you have for these young athletes looking
to make wise decisions about business off the field with
all this new money? Yeah, you know, I mean I've
had the opportunity to talk to a couple of kids,
not just kids potentially going to know the name. I mean,
I got friends, I got you know, who want me
to speak to their kids. I just held him. Look, uh,
you know, and it's probably not fair because their parents
(05:05):
are doing fairly well, you know. I mean, they're not hurting,
they're not coming out to the bottom of the bottom
of the neighborhoods, you know what I mean. So, um,
so it's a lot easier for them to say, Okay,
I'm good, you know, we can move on. But I
think at the same time, you know, um, you know,
the these these kids have to be aware of what
(05:26):
they're getting themselves into because, uh, because what I hear
and I don't know, I haven't seen one of these contracts.
If you're not playing well, you're not gonna get all
that money, you know what I mean. It could be
a one year deal, you know. So you know, so hey,
what what you what you want to tell these kids
is you better read the fine print, you know what
(05:46):
I mean, this is not a four year deal. This
is almost game by game, you know. So uh it's
it's amazing man that you got you know, kids or parents, Um,
you don't have to make these incredibly tough decisions man,
you know, I you know, my my parents wouldn't have
been in a position to make a decision like that.
(06:08):
I mean from a financial standpoint of what to do,
what not to do, you know, I mean, it would
have been been very difficult, you know, for them to
make that decisions. So, speaking of your parents, you mentioned
before in an interview that your mom did not want
you to play football, and in fact, you started playing
football without her even knowing, and she thought that you
(06:30):
were going to band practice. Did she eventually come around?
And and I mean, you know my mom, sweet sweet lady,
she is I mean she's eighty two years old now,
she's thankfully doing doing well. Uh No, she never came around.
I mean every year when I came home, she would say, baby,
(06:52):
you proved to them that you can do it. You
can retell, now you can quit. Now you know you
don't have to go back. I mean that was every
year and til I beat her too in my seventeenth year,
when I told her mom that was my last year.
I'm not going back, you know what I mean. So,
but yeah, no, look, she's she's a very religious woman,
and you know, back in those days, they really thought that,
(07:15):
you know, sports can become your god. And in a
way they can, no doubt about it. But I think
her and my dad had done a great enough job,
a good enough job with me that I understood that
there was more to life than football, you know what
I mean. And yeah, I was happy to be playing
and having a good time and all that kind of stuff,
but I knew that there was a bigger meaning to
life than you know, I'm not on this her to
(07:38):
be a heisman chop for one in in NFL Hall
of Fame. You know, God has bigger and a better
place to me. So uh So, I think once she
realized realized that I I did understand. You know, she
laid off me a little bit, but every year she
would ask me, baby, are you gonna quit? Now? Want
to know when she's gonna get her baby back? Right
(08:00):
right right right? So you know, my sisters and brother
they um you know when I left, you know, she
had a two week morning period, you know. So they
were always like, can you please call your mom because
she won't talk to anybody that this she talked to you.
So but it's all good, all good, And you talked
about that. You feel like you're here on earth to
(08:22):
do so much more. So I would love to know
now that you have so much more time right now,
what are you doing in your business venture that is
making Tim Brown a success? Yeah? You know, well a
couple of things. Man, Um, I think I'm going to had.
I don't know what had I put it up and
on my Yeah, I don't even know what had I've
been had on the day. Um. So this right here
(08:43):
HTG is Heisman to to the Hall. There are only
ten guys who have won the won the Heisman and
in the NFL Hall of Fame. Uh So, what we
decided to do that was that, Okay, the legacy on
the field, you know, really it can't be matched or
it can be beaten anyway, but let's let's leave an
(09:04):
incredible legacy off the field. Right So, you know, we're
teaming up with companies around the country. Man. We have
a foundation that you know, we want to be president
when things are going on like what's happening in Florida.
We're not set up yet, but you know, we want
a representative. It may not be me one of the
other seven eight guys, uh, because we got we got
(09:25):
ten guys, one guy, two guys passed away and unfortunately
my boy o j is uh for son and not
non grata. Right, He's a part of the story but
not a part of the platform, is like what we
like to say. But you know, but we feel as
if because we're talking about Heisman to the Hall, we
have the ability to bring in hides and winners and
(09:47):
Hall of famers also to help us out. So um.
So you know, I think in the future, man, you
know what we hope is you're gonna see this logo,
you know, showing up with red cross and showing up,
you know at Chiuldre's American Network somewhere saying hey, look
on behalf for you know, the ten guys who have
won the Heisman in the Hall of Fame. Here's a
check for fifty thousand dollars, a hundred thousand dollars or whatever.
(10:08):
So I think that's one of the things that I'm
working on man, that is obviously a really feel good project.
And and you know, we have some heavy hitters out there. Man,
I think that wants you, uh you know, get involved
with this. So I think from that standpoint, it is
a beautiful thing. So so that that's a non profit thing.
Uh as far as for profit, you know, about five
(10:30):
or six years ago, Man, I was playing golf with
one of my buddies, and uh, I knew he was
in the fuel industry, but you know, I didn't know
that there was a problem in the fuel industry. So
in the middle of the fairway, Man, well, I think
we're gonna last old. He said to me, bro, I
need your help. I need for you to take a
look at this field, this fuel business. And when we did,
(10:51):
we realized there was not one minority company that could
move fuel from coast to coast. It was only one
company that was that was of record, a company out
of Ohio. If I got just just met him for
the first time yesterday at the deal we were at
for Delta um and they're doing their whole thing. But
(11:12):
all the seven eleven's uh uh fed X is a
ups is all those folks, none of them had at
business women, arties, and they all have mandates in their
in their in their bottles or whatever to do their
business with minorities. But there's no there was no one
to do it. So. Uh So after going through sixteen
(11:36):
and realizing all that we incorporated in seventeen, took a
couple of years and learn their business. I was ready
to go in twenty in the world change right with
the pandemic, but we got going to end of twenty man.
So we've been moving field for ups and Delta, Allegiance,
A T and T, and uh you know, we got
(11:58):
a couple other big ones that that's coming up here
to next a couple of months. Man. So and we're
just getting going. Man. It's an incredible opportunity and um,
you know we're going to keep pushing it, man because
the government has uh a forty nine set aside of
of all the fuel they do and just so you
(12:18):
know what we're talking about. You're talking about a billion
billion with a b gallons of gallons not not dollars gallons.
Uh you know that they have for minorities, and nobody
is taking the manager of I mean, but it's it's
you know, it's tough because you know, if you want
a hundred million gallons and you gotta you gotta have
three hundred million dollars cash and your bake, you know,
(12:39):
in order to do that. And so so that's what
I'm doing now, man, And uh, I got four other things,
five other things I'm doing, But I think those suits
things from a nonprofit and for for for profit is
where where my head is most of the time. You
mentioned the H to H Foundation and being CEO of
Elite Team Holdings LLC. What are some other business ventures
(13:04):
that you've taken part of in the past, or maybe
ones that you declined that people might not know about. Well,
two things. One, when I was my second year league,
I tore my knee up and the doctor, the Raiders
doctor told me, Tim, I don't know, man. You know,
you may have three maybe four more years with that knee,
(13:25):
but I highly recommend that you use that great Notre
Dame education and started looking at life out of football
because you know, by the time seven you're gonna be done.
So obviously that scared me to death, right, but at
the same time, I was happy that I had gone
to a great university and I graduated and I knew
(13:47):
that I had a future, you know, away from football.
But you know, I got the bright idea. I was
supposed to be signed a deal with Adidas going into
my second year. They were holding out, holding out, and
when I got hurt, they dropped me like, you know,
like a hot potator. They said, oh no, we're not
gonna deal with you now, you know. So so I
(14:07):
went to the foot locker and told them I wanted
to start my own shoe company, and and I did,
the name of the shoe was Pro Moves and our
little tagline was run by pros and so I actually
for three or four years, I wore my own shoes.
And not only did I wear Marcus out and wore
my shoes, Eddie Anderson, the big safety uh see Burline,
(14:31):
Willie Golf, they all wore my shoes on the field.
So um, the NFL was having a fit but Gene
up show because I was a big part of the
NFL p A also, uh he was fighting for me,
and he wouldn't he wouldn't let them take my shoes
off the field. So uh so that was an incredible project. Man.
You know, we end up doing some really good business
(14:55):
and you know, them folks up in Oregon and the
running me out of business, So I'll just put it
that way. But uh so it was it was hard
to go through where we went through at the end
because it was super unfair. In today's world, they would
have never got away with it because Benja mccrump would
ate him up. But but back then, they were able
(15:17):
to do it. And really, um, I mean they took
care of they They bought out my from what I
hear what I was told, the manufacturer, everybody, they bought
everybody out and then they just left us high drive.
So it was a tough deal to go through. Uh
that was something that I really enjoyed. And you know,
people will come up to me all the time said,
(15:38):
hey man, you know you need to rerun running back
run Pro moves back then. Uh so we're thinking about it,
but we'll see what happens. But they're one ventured that
I looked at getting into and I ended up not doing.
Um and it's it's coming back around now because I
got three or four guys who were getting into it
(15:59):
is now scar When I retired, that's what I wanted
to do. I wanted to be I wanted a NASCAR
team and um we got for speed? Man? What's that speed?
For speed? Brother? Need for speed? You know? And I'll
tell you what you ever been to a race? Man?
You see them cats coming around that corner. That's a
different kind of speed and power, you know, the beginning
(16:24):
when those engines are starting up, I get you going.
Uh And you know, so every time I would go,
I would be down. You know, I would be down
there right there on the track. You know, so I'm
ducking when you know they spin out. They got these
luck nuts flying everywhere. Brother, it's crazy, crazy down there.
But yeah, so we uh we had to bount actually,
(16:44):
you know, I think we would have got it done,
but two thousand and seven and the seven two thousand
eight is when we had the big financial crash and
uh so everybody was bowing out, and you know, the
team that we were with, um, they said, Tim, we're
not gonna be able to do it. So so I
wish I hadn't got that down because I think Emmett
(17:04):
now is doing something NASCAR. To think a couple other
African Americans are doing something in NASCAR now, Yeah, Tim,
I do I do want to ask man, because we're
talking to an anomaly I want to get to know
how your brain works, because something is going on and
differently in your head than most right, not just physically,
but mentally. And so I want to ask a question
(17:26):
because I've seen an interview and it might quote this wrong,
so help me out. That you were looking into what
college you was gonna go to, and you said that
education was important, and you are, you know, student first,
and you went out to Notre Dame and I think
it was a kickoff or a punt return, a punt
return that you dropped, you fumpled, you dropped, you muffed
it and went on the sideline, and the coaches that
(17:48):
you know, kind of like what was that? What was that?
And your response was, well, I told you I'm here
for education, and so I have to ask you what
what did you go to school to major in? Because
again I want you to know how your brain works. Yeah,
well I wanted to Uh, I wanted to do computer
(18:10):
science is what I wanted to do. And and until
my counselor told me, Tim, you know, that's great, but
instead of whatever the normal credits was, I had to
get like thirty six more hours, which was you know,
almost like two full years, you know, and so that
meaning my workload would have been you know, twenty twenty
(18:31):
four hours or semester to get it done. And you
know that was just gonna be way too much. Uh.
So I end up. Uh no name had a Arts
and letters business administration degree that you can get, so
I got sociology and business management is what my degree
is in. So uh but but yeah, man, you know
(18:51):
I think, um so to to tie all that together
what you just said, it was open to kickoff versus
perdue my freshman year. I followed it. I got in
front of you know, they squipt kicked the ball. I
got in front of it, picked it up, start running.
And I don't think anybody hit well, I do not that.
I don't think I know nobody hit me. I just
(19:13):
dropped the ball because I was my hand was myself
and and uh and they recovered and kicked the field goal.
We lose the game by three points. At three points
that that I caused the team to to lose or whatever.
But yeah, so, so that statement wasn't made to the coaches.
It was made to the media afterwards. So and the
(19:38):
coaches they didn't like that too much, and they weren't
too happy with me. I was being truthful, but yeah,
they weren't too happy about that. Like Rashad mentioned, you're
part of such an elite group being a Heisman winner.
I'm curious here take on this because this has been
(19:58):
in the media a lot lately. Is now that athletes
are getting paid in college football, should Reggie Bush be
given his Heisman back? And it's easy for me as
a fan to be like, yeah, give him. Everybody knows
he wanted that year. But it's someone who's part of
such an elite community of Heisman winners. I'm curious your
(20:19):
thoughts on this. This is very simple. Absolutely, he should
be giving his eyes and back. I mean, we we
tried to fight not and we probably should have been
public with it, um, but when it happened, we we
thought it was it was wrong with him at that
particular point because, uh, the way we understood the narrative
(20:40):
in the story, it was his parents who who came up,
you know what I mean, they had a new house.
Now he may he may got a little cash, but
you know, I mean unless you had notre Dame, who
wasn't getting cash at that time. But so no, I
didn't think I didn't think I thought they were wrong
for doing what they what they did, and and certainly
(21:03):
now with what's going on in college football, I mean,
how how can you look this man in And you know,
I love what Wendy's is doing with these commercials. I
don't know if you guys saw the commercial where there
they started commercial by saying Reggie Bush had something very
important taken away from him and uh so, and they
(21:24):
got this hamburger that's on the Heisman stands and they
presented to him. He starts crying and all this stuff.
It's it's pretty funny. But then at the end they said,
Reggie doesn't know we're gonna have to take this back
from him. But no, you know, look, I mean I
think that you know, the Heisman folks, man, Look we
(21:47):
you know, the Heisman folks are tough, tough group, tough
group to deal with, you know. I mean, even with
this h to h man, we can't get those guys
who really be a part of what we're what we're
trying to accomplish, which which is really ridiculous you think
about it, but it's a fact. So um so, I'm
not surprised by what they did. But you know, if
there's a way we can push to make it happen.
(22:08):
I think we we're definitely trying to make that happen.
But you know, Reggie knows he's you know, when we
we don't discount him, when we we don't skip over
five like the Heisman trust Us when they were when
they're talking about Heisman win Us, they don't even mention
two thousand five, which I think it's ridiculous. Yeah, I agree.
I think he should get his Hisman trophy back as well.
(22:30):
He earned that one fair where he earned it. I
do want to ask you something, uh, in hindsight now
looking back at your at your career, you know this
is a financial them I want to ask you. In
was a first round draft pick, six overall, and I
believe what I found on the internet is your signing
bonus was eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars roughly. That's
(22:53):
in nineteen two thousand, twenty two six round draft pick
overall was seventeen point two million dollars. I saw you
restructure a deal in two thousand. You gotta sign and
bonus of two point four million dollars. I was back
in two thousand the top receiver this year two thousand
twenty two, DeVante Adams. His sign and bonus was nineteen
(23:18):
point five million dollars. So I asked from a vet
um sees vet very mature business savvy, if you, if what,
what advice would you give to the younger guys that's
bringing in that type of income immediately on how they
should diversify what they should do with Yeah, it's really tough, man,
(23:40):
you know, because, um, you know, I'm talking to some
guys or through I'm talking to some guys through some
guys I should say, Uh, they are in the league
now who are looking at what I'm doing and want
to really want to get involved because they know, man,
you know, the field business. You can talk about renewable
(24:01):
fields and all that. It ain't going anywhere in time soon, right,
and uh, but you know they're they're financial people are like, no,
that's outside of our box. You can't do that, you
can't do that, you know. So um, so you know,
they they're gonna probably end up missing out a lot
of stuff unless literally unless they take all their money
out of somebody's banking and do what they want to do,
(24:22):
which I don't really recommend them doing that, but Um.
At the same time, you know, you can put the
money in the bank and do two percent all you want,
you know, a year. Um, you know, but you know
one is asking for anybody to invest all their money
and something crazy. But at the same time, I think, man,
with the opportunities that they have, you know, I mean,
(24:44):
you look at what these basketball guys are doing. You know,
they're starting recording labels and doing all this stuff. You know,
even if even if a bunch of guys got together
to do some stuff, I think it would be incredible
because I mean, this money that they're making is the
next level, you know what I mean. And but if
they find a way to get something and do something
with it, you know, um, you know, it could be
(25:07):
an incredible legacy for their for their families forever. We
have one more question for you to bring it full circle.
You've had experiences in your life that people can only
dream of. Winning the Heisman, the success you had in
college football, the success you had in the NFL. Being
a part of such a prestigious organization is the Hall
(25:30):
of Fame, and being a member of that, You've had
these exclusive opportunities in your life and these moments that
people can't even fathom what has been the biggest thing
you've learned throughout your life during all of these experiences. Um,
you know, I have to tell you a little story
(25:52):
and maybe maybe that I'll answer your question. Um, when
I was eighteen years old, we uh my freshman year,
we we were in Aloha Bowl Bowl game and I, um, yeah,
(26:12):
I'm born and raised here in Dallas. And you know,
we got a lot of dirty lakes around here, but
we don't have no beautiful oceans. And man, I got
to Hunolulu. I saw that ocean. I was like, oh
my god, you know. And I like to tell people
I'm a little bit of a numbly. I'm a brother
who can swim, So the water don't scare me, right. So,
um so, man, we get off that bus. Man, I
(26:34):
run upstairs. I give it my my swim trucks, my
swim trunks, man, and I'm heading down to the beach.
And all my boys, Man, they look too timmy t
they calling me everything. Come back, man, you can't get
under water. Man, he's brother scared the water man. Forget
about them. I'm just out there in that water. I'm
just out there, man, I'm out there. I'm having a
(26:54):
good old time me by myself. But then I turned around,
and when I turned around, my boys are about that big.
So now you know, I'm thinking about the Jaws movies.
You know, I got the ugly going on. I'm scared
to death and I literally barely made it back and
(27:16):
felt like and my boys came into the water ten
or fifteen feet man and and and drugged me out.
And I was laying on the beach. But this is
what this is what was dropped in my spirit at
eighteen years old. Of course I don't I don't have
a clue, um what's going on? Uh? You know, Heisman,
(27:37):
I don't know. I'm eighteen years old. But I'm laying
on the beach and I hear just like, you got
too far out in the water naturally, so spiritually you
can get too far out there you can't get back. Now.
I mean, I had no clue with that, man, I
(28:00):
absolutely no clue what that meant. But as the life
kept going on, that kept coming up because I kept
been getting put in situations where if I went too far,
I didn't know that I was gonna get back right.
And I'll just tell you this one last story that
in regards to that in n UM. You know, I'm
(28:24):
a date myself here. Brother. You know I had a beeper, Bro.
I had a beeper on my hit bro. You know
what I mean. Yeah, that pager bro got pay for right. Hey,
you gotta get to if you gotta find out what
and if you got a thirty two dot dot dot
that was a magic, that was magic. You had to
(28:45):
find out what was happening. Hey. I called them Magic's people. Imagine.
They said, hey, Tim, have you been invited to the
party of all parties? Magic is having a party. And
I was like, I'll be there. And man, I got
all dressed up, you know, I was like, man, this
is gonna be it. And I got to the door,
(29:06):
opened the door, and what I saw for a young man,
it was a beautiful thing. Hmm. But that that's saying
that that it hit me at eighteen, said if you
get too far out there spiritually, so you won't get back.
And I just tell people I'm not the best dancer,
(29:28):
but I did by best Michael Jordan Man Michael Michael
Michael Jackson and moved up right on out the room.
Now let you on. A couple of months later, the
biggest announcement that inny athlete has ever made was made
by Magic Jop and I had about eight or nine
teammates who had gone into that and who would have
participated and what was happening uh in that party that night?
(29:52):
By fact in my seventeen years would Magic made that announcement.
It was a Thursday, brother, I think it was. We
had to counsel actice because we had so many guys
who was so distraught because they thought that they were
coming down with the same thing Magic had, you know.
But that That's what I've learned over to the years
(30:14):
is like I said, you know, I knew at the
beginning or at some point in my career that God
had his hands on what I was trying to accomplish
and whatever it was gonna be. Man, I played with
twenty different quarterbacks. You know, who makes a Hall of
Fame playing with twenty different quarterbacks? You know what I mean? Who? Who? Who? Who?
(30:41):
Who becomes the first wide receiver to win the Heisman?
How is that possible? Only only one? You know? I mean,
so at some point I had to realize this was
bigger than me. It was bigger than me. God was
doing all these things put me in a position so
I can turn around, and when I'm thirty five, thirty six,
(31:01):
thirty seven, thirty eight years old in the NFL, I'm
in the locker room literally old enough to be some
of these guys daddy, you know. And these cats come
up to me like Tim Bryant, never heard you curse.
But I can tell them about them early days in
California when I said curse everybody out coaches, teammates, definitely,
(31:22):
the referees, they definitely got cursed out of every game.
You know that, you know, But I can tell them,
but they didn't know. But but then I can say,
if God can take that away from me, you can
take it away from you too, you know what I mean.
So I believe God wanted me to be there to
show guys you can play this game at a high
level and still live a great life. And uh so,
(31:43):
I think those are the things I learned that you know.
First of all, this was much bigger than me. I
was just a vessel being used, and as long as
I was willing to be used, I think, you know,
great things are gonna happen. And I think I tried
to do the best I could with what God was
to me, and and things worked up for me. I've
(32:03):
got one more follow up. You're just a wealth of knowledge.
What is the best business advice you've ever received? Um,
let me think about that for a second. Trying to
go back and in time, I had a guy, Mr
Jim Jack. Um he uh, he's a no not dame
(32:29):
guy passed away suddenly about five years ago. It was
really heartbreaking, But um, he should say to me all
the time that the opportunity that I'm getting to play
uh football early on in my career was something that
men had dreamt about for years and years, you know,
(32:51):
and only a certain amount of guys get that opportunity.
And and he said to me, whatever you do when
you walk away from the game, make sure that you've
given a game everything that you've given, you know, because
you know you're not gonna you're not gonna walk into
another opportunity where millions of dollars are you know a
(33:16):
year are going to be available to you. You know. Um,
so you know, and I always thought about that because, um,
you know, that's not the reason why I played thirty years.
I mean I made the Pro boy at thirty five,
you know, I was still playing good at thirty six,
thirty seven, and then the Raiders he had a coach
and change and the coach start I had too much power,
(33:37):
so he wanted to get rid of me. And uh
so that was you know, that was a drag that
was hard to deal with, but you know I got
I did get everything out of me when I walked away.
I didn't have any regrets about my NFL career, and
uh so, you know, I know we're talking about the
business of football and not not regular business, but at
(33:58):
that time, you know, I always thought about that every year.
You know. Um, I never thought I was going to
retire until my seventeenth year, when I felt like, you know,
after I went down to Tampa that this would probably
be my last year. But up until then, you know,
I gave a game great respect, you know, if it
was But if I if I was supposed to work out,
(34:20):
I worked out. I mean in seventeen off sixteen off seasons,
I can probably tell you, you know, five days that
I didn't work out on days I was supposed to.
Now that may be overdoing it, you know, it may
be overdoing it because people, you know, say you don't
have to do that. But if you're trying to accomplish
something big. You can't say, oh, I'll do that tomorrow
(34:42):
and think that you know it's gonna work out for you.
You know. So I did what I was supposed to do.
I protected my protected the game, um as far as
what I was supposed to do, and U and it
it rewarded me. Well, well, thank you so much, Tim
for your time and your wisdom. This this was one
(35:03):
of the best. It's not every day you get to
talk to someone with a resume like yours, and this
has been such an honor. Yeah, notice what when life,
when life is thrown at you, you're catching it, baby,
Keep on catching it man. Thank you for listening to
Sports Illustrated and I Heeart Radio is the bag. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart
(35:24):
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Never, Never Big. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of
Sports Illustrated and iHeart Radio's Bag with me Linday McCormick
(00:23):
and in my amazing co host for Sean Jennings. The
Bag sits at the intersection of sports and business, delving
into the headlines and behind the scenes of athletes, entrepreneurship,
and enterprise. For SHOD today, we're sharing a legendary guest
with everyone. Hall of Fame wide receiver and Heysen winner
Tim Brown, a massive impact on both amateur and professional sports.
(00:45):
We fout a doubt and we had an opportunity to
cover a slew of topics, one of which is Reggie
Bush should he get a chance to receive back his
Heisman Trophy, also the potential issues with n IL. Listen
to tune in check it out. You're not gonna want
to miss this. We are talking to an anomaly. Tim Brown.
(01:05):
You're someone who has such a massive impact on both
amateur and professional sports. As the line blurs between the
two and college athletes are making money, how do you
feel about all the changes taking place? You know, I
was having a conversation with a group of guys today
and he was talking about all the money that the
n c A is making, and you know, they're making
(01:27):
seven billion dollars made making all this money, And I
just asked a simple question. Do you want college football
to be semi pro or do you want it to
be collegi collegian football? You know, I mean, are we
trying to make it semi pro or what? What are
we trying to do? You know? I mean, uh, look,
I get it, you know, I get there's a lot
(01:48):
of money being made out there. I get people say
education is what it is. But at the end of
the day, man, I think you're just sending a bad
precedence by you know, making this thing about the highest bidder.
You know, So now that the schools are with the
most money, they're gonna they're gonna be Look, truth be known,
that's been the way that's been anyway. Hey, that's how
(02:11):
it's been, right, It's just they just formalized it right
now now that everybody you could do what you want
to do. It's it's it's it's okay if you do that.
So but you know, I don't necessarily agree with that. Man.
I just think you're you know, um, I mean, I
think even before you know there were there were the
halts and the half nuts. But my god, I mean,
(02:33):
you're talking about the in college eighteen nineteen year old
kids making hundreds of thousands of dollars, a million dollars,
a couple of million dollars a year. I don't know.
I just I don't see it. But you know, I'm
just too old to see it, I guess, because it's
it's past me for sure. Yeah. No, man, I love
for you to dive into that a little bit more
because you know, I'm sure you've probably heard that your
(02:56):
viewpoint is against the grain almost at this point, because
a lot of people are feeling like, hey, these young
athletes are getting paid, you know, and um, everybody wants
any and everybody to be able to earn income and
get their value. But you see, it could be a
little bit more troublesome. And I wanted to ask, you know,
from from a vet, from a Hall of Famer, from
(03:18):
a Hosman Trophy winner, as a father, you know, where
do you see the issues coming into play and how
they could roll over, um into long term Well, you know,
I mean, I think the biggest problem, man, if you're
trying to win, if you're trying to have a cohesive
locker room, you know, if you know, like I hear,
(03:38):
there are a couple of colleges out there. Everybody's getting
the same amount. Everybody's getting fifty thousand dollars a year whatever.
I'm actually okay with that. I'm okay with that because
nobody's in the locker room going you only got fifth
k you know what I mean. And I'm rolling around
in my bidley or whatever, you know, my beds or whatever,
you know. So I just think, man, you know, it's uh,
(04:01):
you know, brother, the first couple of years of college
are tough anyway. I mean, that's trying to adjust your
life away from home and trying to you know, get
your education, trying to you know, play major college football.
And now on top of that, I gotta deal with
who's making the most money. I don't know. I just
think it's an unnecessary evil, man. And not until something
(04:22):
bad happens, you know, there's a big fight or something
crazy happens, and people are gonna realize. I mean, the
n c A a couple of couple of months ago, Hey,
they put out, hey, can you college just help us
raining this thing in? No, they can't and they won't.
But what why would they? This is exactly what they wanted.
(04:43):
What advice do you have for these young athletes looking
to make wise decisions about business off the field with
all this new money? Yeah, you know, I mean I've
had the opportunity to talk to a couple of kids,
not just kids potentially going to know the name. I mean,
I got friends, I got you know, who want me
to speak to their kids. I just held him. Look, uh,
you know, and it's probably not fair because their parents
(05:05):
are doing fairly well, you know. I mean, they're not hurting,
they're not coming out to the bottom of the bottom
of the neighborhoods, you know what I mean. So, um,
so it's a lot easier for them to say, Okay,
I'm good, you know, we can move on. But I
think at the same time, you know, um, you know,
the these these kids have to be aware of what
(05:26):
they're getting themselves into because, uh, because what I hear
and I don't know, I haven't seen one of these contracts.
If you're not playing well, you're not gonna get all
that money, you know what I mean. It could be
a one year deal, you know. So you know, so hey,
what what you what you want to tell these kids
is you better read the fine print, you know what
(05:46):
I mean, this is not a four year deal. This
is almost game by game, you know. So uh it's
it's amazing man that you got you know, kids or parents, Um,
you don't have to make these incredibly tough decisions man,
you know, I you know, my my parents wouldn't have
been in a position to make a decision like that.
(06:08):
I mean from a financial standpoint of what to do,
what not to do, you know, I mean, it would
have been been very difficult, you know, for them to
make that decisions. So, speaking of your parents, you mentioned
before in an interview that your mom did not want
you to play football, and in fact, you started playing
football without her even knowing, and she thought that you
(06:30):
were going to band practice. Did she eventually come around?
And and I mean, you know my mom, sweet sweet lady,
she is I mean she's eighty two years old now,
she's thankfully doing doing well. Uh No, she never came around.
I mean every year when I came home, she would say, baby,
(06:52):
you proved to them that you can do it. You
can retell, now you can quit. Now you know you
don't have to go back. I mean that was every
year and til I beat her too in my seventeenth year,
when I told her mom that was my last year.
I'm not going back, you know what I mean. So,
but yeah, no, look, she's she's a very religious woman,
and you know, back in those days, they really thought that,
(07:15):
you know, sports can become your god. And in a
way they can, no doubt about it. But I think
her and my dad had done a great enough job,
a good enough job with me that I understood that
there was more to life than football, you know what
I mean. And yeah, I was happy to be playing
and having a good time and all that kind of stuff,
but I knew that there was a bigger meaning to
life than you know, I'm not on this her to
(07:38):
be a heisman chop for one in in NFL Hall
of Fame. You know, God has bigger and a better
place to me. So uh So, I think once she
realized realized that I I did understand. You know, she
laid off me a little bit, but every year she
would ask me, baby, are you gonna quit? Now? Want
to know when she's gonna get her baby back? Right
(08:00):
right right right? So you know, my sisters and brother
they um you know when I left, you know, she
had a two week morning period, you know. So they
were always like, can you please call your mom because
she won't talk to anybody that this she talked to you.
So but it's all good, all good, And you talked
about that. You feel like you're here on earth to
(08:22):
do so much more. So I would love to know
now that you have so much more time right now,
what are you doing in your business venture that is
making Tim Brown a success? Yeah? You know, well a
couple of things. Man, Um, I think I'm going to had.
I don't know what had I put it up and
on my Yeah, I don't even know what had I've
been had on the day. Um. So this right here
(08:43):
HTG is Heisman to to the Hall. There are only
ten guys who have won the won the Heisman and
in the NFL Hall of Fame. Uh So, what we
decided to do that was that, Okay, the legacy on
the field, you know, really it can't be matched or
it can be beaten anyway, but let's let's leave an
(09:04):
incredible legacy off the field. Right So, you know, we're
teaming up with companies around the country. Man. We have
a foundation that you know, we want to be president
when things are going on like what's happening in Florida.
We're not set up yet, but you know, we want
a representative. It may not be me one of the
other seven eight guys, uh, because we got we got
(09:25):
ten guys, one guy, two guys passed away and unfortunately
my boy o j is uh for son and not
non grata. Right, He's a part of the story but
not a part of the platform, is like what we
like to say. But you know, but we feel as
if because we're talking about Heisman to the Hall, we
have the ability to bring in hides and winners and
(09:47):
Hall of famers also to help us out. So um.
So you know, I think in the future, man, you
know what we hope is you're gonna see this logo,
you know, showing up with red cross and showing up,
you know at Chiuldre's American Network somewhere saying hey, look
on behalf for you know, the ten guys who have
won the Heisman in the Hall of Fame. Here's a
check for fifty thousand dollars, a hundred thousand dollars or whatever.
(10:08):
So I think that's one of the things that I'm
working on man, that is obviously a really feel good project.
And and you know, we have some heavy hitters out there. Man,
I think that wants you, uh you know, get involved
with this. So I think from that standpoint, it is
a beautiful thing. So so that that's a non profit thing.
Uh as far as for profit, you know, about five
(10:30):
or six years ago, Man, I was playing golf with
one of my buddies, and uh, I knew he was
in the fuel industry, but you know, I didn't know
that there was a problem in the fuel industry. So
in the middle of the fairway, Man, well, I think
we're gonna last old. He said to me, bro, I
need your help. I need for you to take a
look at this field, this fuel business. And when we did,
(10:51):
we realized there was not one minority company that could
move fuel from coast to coast. It was only one
company that was that was of record, a company out
of Ohio. If I got just just met him for
the first time yesterday at the deal we were at
for Delta um and they're doing their whole thing. But
(11:12):
all the seven eleven's uh uh fed X is a
ups is all those folks, none of them had at
business women, arties, and they all have mandates in their
in their in their bottles or whatever to do their
business with minorities. But there's no there was no one
to do it. So. Uh So after going through sixteen
(11:36):
and realizing all that we incorporated in seventeen, took a
couple of years and learn their business. I was ready
to go in twenty in the world change right with
the pandemic, but we got going to end of twenty man.
So we've been moving field for ups and Delta, Allegiance,
A T and T, and uh you know, we got
(11:58):
a couple other big ones that that's coming up here
to next a couple of months. Man. So and we're
just getting going. Man. It's an incredible opportunity and um,
you know we're going to keep pushing it, man because
the government has uh a forty nine set aside of
of all the fuel they do and just so you
(12:18):
know what we're talking about. You're talking about a billion
billion with a b gallons of gallons not not dollars gallons.
Uh you know that they have for minorities, and nobody
is taking the manager of I mean, but it's it's
you know, it's tough because you know, if you want
a hundred million gallons and you gotta you gotta have
three hundred million dollars cash and your bake, you know,
(12:39):
in order to do that. And so so that's what
I'm doing now, man, And uh, I got four other things,
five other things I'm doing, But I think those suits
things from a nonprofit and for for for profit is
where where my head is most of the time. You
mentioned the H to H Foundation and being CEO of
Elite Team Holdings LLC. What are some other business ventures
(13:04):
that you've taken part of in the past, or maybe
ones that you declined that people might not know about. Well,
two things. One, when I was my second year league,
I tore my knee up and the doctor, the Raiders
doctor told me, Tim, I don't know, man. You know,
you may have three maybe four more years with that knee,
(13:25):
but I highly recommend that you use that great Notre
Dame education and started looking at life out of football
because you know, by the time seven you're gonna be done.
So obviously that scared me to death, right, but at
the same time, I was happy that I had gone
to a great university and I graduated and I knew
(13:47):
that I had a future, you know, away from football.
But you know, I got the bright idea. I was
supposed to be signed a deal with Adidas going into
my second year. They were holding out, holding out, and
when I got hurt, they dropped me like, you know,
like a hot potator. They said, oh no, we're not
gonna deal with you now, you know. So so I
(14:07):
went to the foot locker and told them I wanted
to start my own shoe company, and and I did,
the name of the shoe was Pro Moves and our
little tagline was run by pros and so I actually
for three or four years, I wore my own shoes.
And not only did I wear Marcus out and wore
my shoes, Eddie Anderson, the big safety uh see Burline,
(14:31):
Willie Golf, they all wore my shoes on the field.
So um, the NFL was having a fit but Gene
up show because I was a big part of the
NFL p A also, uh he was fighting for me,
and he wouldn't he wouldn't let them take my shoes
off the field. So uh so that was an incredible project. Man.
You know, we end up doing some really good business
(14:55):
and you know, them folks up in Oregon and the
running me out of business, So I'll just put it
that way. But uh so it was it was hard
to go through where we went through at the end
because it was super unfair. In today's world, they would
have never got away with it because Benja mccrump would
ate him up. But but back then, they were able
(15:17):
to do it. And really, um, I mean they took
care of they They bought out my from what I
hear what I was told, the manufacturer, everybody, they bought
everybody out and then they just left us high drive.
So it was a tough deal to go through. Uh
that was something that I really enjoyed. And you know,
people will come up to me all the time said,
(15:38):
hey man, you know you need to rerun running back
run Pro moves back then. Uh so we're thinking about it,
but we'll see what happens. But they're one ventured that
I looked at getting into and I ended up not doing.
Um and it's it's coming back around now because I
got three or four guys who were getting into it
(15:59):
is now scar When I retired, that's what I wanted
to do. I wanted to be I wanted a NASCAR
team and um we got for speed? Man? What's that speed?
For speed? Brother? Need for speed? You know? And I'll
tell you what you ever been to a race? Man?
You see them cats coming around that corner. That's a
different kind of speed and power, you know, the beginning
(16:24):
when those engines are starting up, I get you going.
Uh And you know, so every time I would go,
I would be down. You know, I would be down
there right there on the track. You know, so I'm
ducking when you know they spin out. They got these
luck nuts flying everywhere. Brother, it's crazy, crazy down there.
But yeah, so we uh we had to bount actually,
(16:44):
you know, I think we would have got it done,
but two thousand and seven and the seven two thousand
eight is when we had the big financial crash and
uh so everybody was bowing out, and you know, the
team that we were with, um, they said, Tim, we're
not gonna be able to do it. So so I
wish I hadn't got that down because I think Emmett
(17:04):
now is doing something NASCAR. To think a couple other
African Americans are doing something in NASCAR now, Yeah, Tim,
I do I do want to ask man, because we're
talking to an anomaly I want to get to know
how your brain works, because something is going on and
differently in your head than most right, not just physically,
but mentally. And so I want to ask a question
(17:26):
because I've seen an interview and it might quote this wrong,
so help me out. That you were looking into what
college you was gonna go to, and you said that
education was important, and you are, you know, student first,
and you went out to Notre Dame and I think
it was a kickoff or a punt return, a punt
return that you dropped, you fumpled, you dropped, you muffed
it and went on the sideline, and the coaches that
(17:48):
you know, kind of like what was that? What was that?
And your response was, well, I told you I'm here
for education, and so I have to ask you what
what did you go to school to major in? Because
again I want you to know how your brain works. Yeah,
well I wanted to Uh, I wanted to do computer
(18:10):
science is what I wanted to do. And and until
my counselor told me, Tim, you know, that's great, but
instead of whatever the normal credits was, I had to
get like thirty six more hours, which was you know,
almost like two full years, you know, and so that
meaning my workload would have been you know, twenty twenty
(18:31):
four hours or semester to get it done. And you
know that was just gonna be way too much. Uh.
So I end up. Uh no name had a Arts
and letters business administration degree that you can get, so
I got sociology and business management is what my degree
is in. So uh but but yeah, man, you know
(18:51):
I think, um so to to tie all that together
what you just said, it was open to kickoff versus
perdue my freshman year. I followed it. I got in
front of you know, they squipt kicked the ball. I
got in front of it, picked it up, start running.
And I don't think anybody hit well, I do not that.
I don't think I know nobody hit me. I just
(19:13):
dropped the ball because I was my hand was myself
and and uh and they recovered and kicked the field goal.
We lose the game by three points. At three points
that that I caused the team to to lose or whatever.
But yeah, so, so that statement wasn't made to the coaches.
It was made to the media afterwards. So and the
(19:38):
coaches they didn't like that too much, and they weren't
too happy with me. I was being truthful, but yeah,
they weren't too happy about that. Like Rashad mentioned, you're
part of such an elite group being a Heisman winner.
I'm curious here take on this because this has been
(19:58):
in the media a lot lately. Is now that athletes
are getting paid in college football, should Reggie Bush be
given his Heisman back? And it's easy for me as
a fan to be like, yeah, give him. Everybody knows
he wanted that year. But it's someone who's part of
such an elite community of Heisman winners. I'm curious your
(20:19):
thoughts on this. This is very simple. Absolutely, he should
be giving his eyes and back. I mean, we we
tried to fight not and we probably should have been
public with it, um, but when it happened, we we
thought it was it was wrong with him at that
particular point because, uh, the way we understood the narrative
(20:40):
in the story, it was his parents who who came up,
you know what I mean, they had a new house.
Now he may he may got a little cash, but
you know, I mean unless you had notre Dame, who
wasn't getting cash at that time. But so no, I
didn't think I didn't think I thought they were wrong
for doing what they what they did, and and certainly
(21:03):
now with what's going on in college football, I mean,
how how can you look this man in And you know,
I love what Wendy's is doing with these commercials. I
don't know if you guys saw the commercial where there
they started commercial by saying Reggie Bush had something very
important taken away from him and uh so, and they
(21:24):
got this hamburger that's on the Heisman stands and they
presented to him. He starts crying and all this stuff.
It's it's pretty funny. But then at the end they said,
Reggie doesn't know we're gonna have to take this back
from him. But no, you know, look, I mean I
think that you know, the Heisman folks, man, Look we
(21:47):
you know, the Heisman folks are tough, tough group, tough
group to deal with, you know. I mean, even with
this h to h man, we can't get those guys
who really be a part of what we're what we're
trying to accomplish, which which is really ridiculous you think
about it, but it's a fact. So um so, I'm
not surprised by what they did. But you know, if
there's a way we can push to make it happen.
(22:08):
I think we we're definitely trying to make that happen.
But you know, Reggie knows he's you know, when we
we don't discount him, when we we don't skip over
five like the Heisman trust Us when they were when
they're talking about Heisman win Us, they don't even mention
two thousand five, which I think it's ridiculous. Yeah, I agree.
I think he should get his Hisman trophy back as well.
(22:30):
He earned that one fair where he earned it. I
do want to ask you something, uh, in hindsight now
looking back at your at your career, you know this
is a financial them I want to ask you. In
was a first round draft pick, six overall, and I
believe what I found on the internet is your signing
bonus was eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars roughly. That's
(22:53):
in nineteen two thousand, twenty two six round draft pick
overall was seventeen point two million dollars. I saw you
restructure a deal in two thousand. You gotta sign and
bonus of two point four million dollars. I was back
in two thousand the top receiver this year two thousand
twenty two, DeVante Adams. His sign and bonus was nineteen
(23:18):
point five million dollars. So I asked from a vet
um sees vet very mature business savvy, if you, if what,
what advice would you give to the younger guys that's
bringing in that type of income immediately on how they
should diversify what they should do with Yeah, it's really tough, man,
(23:40):
you know, because, um, you know, I'm talking to some
guys or through I'm talking to some guys through some
guys I should say, Uh, they are in the league
now who are looking at what I'm doing and want
to really want to get involved because they know, man,
you know, the field business. You can talk about renewable
(24:01):
fields and all that. It ain't going anywhere in time soon, right,
and uh, but you know they're they're financial people are like, no,
that's outside of our box. You can't do that, you
can't do that, you know. So um, so you know,
they they're gonna probably end up missing out a lot
of stuff unless literally unless they take all their money
out of somebody's banking and do what they want to do,
(24:22):
which I don't really recommend them doing that, but Um.
At the same time, you know, you can put the
money in the bank and do two percent all you want,
you know, a year. Um, you know, but you know
one is asking for anybody to invest all their money
and something crazy. But at the same time, I think, man,
with the opportunities that they have, you know, I mean,
(24:44):
you look at what these basketball guys are doing. You know,
they're starting recording labels and doing all this stuff. You know,
even if even if a bunch of guys got together
to do some stuff, I think it would be incredible
because I mean, this money that they're making is the
next level, you know what I mean. And but if
they find a way to get something and do something
with it, you know, um, you know, it could be
(25:07):
an incredible legacy for their for their families forever. We
have one more question for you to bring it full circle.
You've had experiences in your life that people can only
dream of. Winning the Heisman, the success you had in
college football, the success you had in the NFL. Being
a part of such a prestigious organization is the Hall
(25:30):
of Fame, and being a member of that, You've had
these exclusive opportunities in your life and these moments that
people can't even fathom what has been the biggest thing
you've learned throughout your life during all of these experiences. Um,
you know, I have to tell you a little story
(25:52):
and maybe maybe that I'll answer your question. Um, when
I was eighteen years old, we uh my freshman year,
we we were in Aloha Bowl Bowl game and I, um, yeah,
(26:12):
I'm born and raised here in Dallas. And you know,
we got a lot of dirty lakes around here, but
we don't have no beautiful oceans. And man, I got
to Hunolulu. I saw that ocean. I was like, oh
my god, you know. And I like to tell people
I'm a little bit of a numbly. I'm a brother
who can swim, So the water don't scare me, right. So,
um so, man, we get off that bus. Man, I
(26:34):
run upstairs. I give it my my swim trucks, my
swim trunks, man, and I'm heading down to the beach.
And all my boys, Man, they look too timmy t
they calling me everything. Come back, man, you can't get
under water. Man, he's brother scared the water man. Forget
about them. I'm just out there in that water. I'm
just out there, man, I'm out there. I'm having a
(26:54):
good old time me by myself. But then I turned around,
and when I turned around, my boys are about that big.
So now you know, I'm thinking about the Jaws movies.
You know, I got the ugly going on. I'm scared
to death and I literally barely made it back and
(27:16):
felt like and my boys came into the water ten
or fifteen feet man and and and drugged me out.
And I was laying on the beach. But this is
what this is what was dropped in my spirit at
eighteen years old. Of course I don't I don't have
a clue, um what's going on? Uh? You know, Heisman,
(27:37):
I don't know. I'm eighteen years old. But I'm laying
on the beach and I hear just like, you got
too far out in the water naturally, so spiritually you
can get too far out there you can't get back. Now.
I mean, I had no clue with that, man, I
(28:00):
absolutely no clue what that meant. But as the life
kept going on, that kept coming up because I kept
been getting put in situations where if I went too far,
I didn't know that I was gonna get back right.
And I'll just tell you this one last story that
in regards to that in n UM. You know, I'm
(28:24):
a date myself here. Brother. You know I had a beeper, Bro.
I had a beeper on my hit bro. You know
what I mean. Yeah, that pager bro got pay for right. Hey,
you gotta get to if you gotta find out what
and if you got a thirty two dot dot dot
that was a magic, that was magic. You had to
(28:45):
find out what was happening. Hey. I called them Magic's people. Imagine.
They said, hey, Tim, have you been invited to the
party of all parties? Magic is having a party. And
I was like, I'll be there. And man, I got
all dressed up, you know, I was like, man, this
is gonna be it. And I got to the door,
(29:06):
opened the door, and what I saw for a young man,
it was a beautiful thing. Hmm. But that that's saying
that that it hit me at eighteen, said if you
get too far out there spiritually, so you won't get back.
And I just tell people I'm not the best dancer,
(29:28):
but I did by best Michael Jordan Man Michael Michael
Michael Jackson and moved up right on out the room.
Now let you on. A couple of months later, the
biggest announcement that inny athlete has ever made was made
by Magic Jop and I had about eight or nine
teammates who had gone into that and who would have
participated and what was happening uh in that party that night?
(29:52):
By fact in my seventeen years would Magic made that announcement.
It was a Thursday, brother, I think it was. We
had to counsel actice because we had so many guys
who was so distraught because they thought that they were
coming down with the same thing Magic had, you know.
But that That's what I've learned over to the years
(30:14):
is like I said, you know, I knew at the
beginning or at some point in my career that God
had his hands on what I was trying to accomplish
and whatever it was gonna be. Man, I played with
twenty different quarterbacks. You know, who makes a Hall of
Fame playing with twenty different quarterbacks? You know what I mean? Who? Who? Who? Who?
(30:41):
Who becomes the first wide receiver to win the Heisman?
How is that possible? Only only one? You know? I mean,
so at some point I had to realize this was
bigger than me. It was bigger than me. God was
doing all these things put me in a position so
I can turn around, and when I'm thirty five, thirty six,
(31:01):
thirty seven, thirty eight years old in the NFL, I'm
in the locker room literally old enough to be some
of these guys daddy, you know. And these cats come
up to me like Tim Bryant, never heard you curse.
But I can tell them about them early days in
California when I said curse everybody out coaches, teammates, definitely,
(31:22):
the referees, they definitely got cursed out of every game.
You know that, you know, But I can tell them,
but they didn't know. But but then I can say,
if God can take that away from me, you can
take it away from you too, you know what I mean.
So I believe God wanted me to be there to
show guys you can play this game at a high
level and still live a great life. And uh so,
(31:43):
I think those are the things I learned that you know.
First of all, this was much bigger than me. I
was just a vessel being used, and as long as
I was willing to be used, I think, you know,
great things are gonna happen. And I think I tried
to do the best I could with what God was
to me, and and things worked up for me. I've
(32:03):
got one more follow up. You're just a wealth of knowledge.
What is the best business advice you've ever received? Um,
let me think about that for a second. Trying to
go back and in time, I had a guy, Mr
Jim Jack. Um he uh, he's a no not dame
(32:29):
guy passed away suddenly about five years ago. It was
really heartbreaking, But um, he should say to me all
the time that the opportunity that I'm getting to play
uh football early on in my career was something that
men had dreamt about for years and years, you know,
(32:51):
and only a certain amount of guys get that opportunity.
And and he said to me, whatever you do when
you walk away from the game, make sure that you've
given a game everything that you've given, you know, because
you know you're not gonna you're not gonna walk into
another opportunity where millions of dollars are you know a
(33:16):
year are going to be available to you. You know. Um,
so you know, and I always thought about that because, um,
you know, that's not the reason why I played thirty years.
I mean I made the Pro boy at thirty five,
you know, I was still playing good at thirty six,
thirty seven, and then the Raiders he had a coach
and change and the coach start I had too much power,
(33:37):
so he wanted to get rid of me. And uh
so that was you know, that was a drag that
was hard to deal with, but you know I got
I did get everything out of me when I walked away.
I didn't have any regrets about my NFL career, and
uh so, you know, I know we're talking about the
business of football and not not regular business, but at
(33:58):
that time, you know, I always thought about that every year.
You know. Um, I never thought I was going to
retire until my seventeenth year, when I felt like, you know,
after I went down to Tampa that this would probably
be my last year. But up until then, you know,
I gave a game great respect, you know, if it
was But if I if I was supposed to work out,
(34:20):
I worked out. I mean in seventeen off sixteen off seasons,
I can probably tell you, you know, five days that
I didn't work out on days I was supposed to.
Now that may be overdoing it, you know, it may
be overdoing it because people, you know, say you don't
have to do that. But if you're trying to accomplish
something big. You can't say, oh, I'll do that tomorrow
(34:42):
and think that you know it's gonna work out for you.
You know. So I did what I was supposed to do.
I protected my protected the game, um as far as
what I was supposed to do, and U and it
it rewarded me. Well, well, thank you so much, Tim
for your time and your wisdom. This this was one
(35:03):
of the best. It's not every day you get to
talk to someone with a resume like yours, and this
has been such an honor. Yeah, notice what when life,
when life is thrown at you, you're catching it, baby,
Keep on catching it man. Thank you for listening to
Sports Illustrated and I Heeart Radio is the bag. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart
(35:24):
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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