Ndamukong Suh

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the dark, Cold Nebraska winner of two thousand and eight.
When the bowl season was playing out minus Nebraska, the
Huskers had just finished five and six and fired their
coaching staff for the second time in four years. One
of the players was feeling pretty low. All of the
promises were broken. He decided to transfer or just out
of the NFL draft that spring, even though his first

(00:21):
two seasons at Nebraska were quite unimpressive. Went to see
the new coach, a no nonsense dude from the Steele
Mills town of Youngstown, Ohio, tough place best known for
a boxer. It produced ray Mancini, the lad I'll be
at anything but at six four, two hundred and ninety pounds,
laid out his plans. The new coach said, I've been

(00:42):
watching your film. We're not going to miss you, or
said the coach. You can stick around, learn how to
play from us, and with your athletic ability, might have
a chance to play. A chance to play. Those words
were like bunker busting bombs to the ears of Endomicon's.
He stayed more than played, transformed. The position had the

(01:05):
feet of a ballet dancer, the strength of a back hoe,
and the ferocity of a t Rex. It all came out.
By the end of his senior season, Sue was the
best player in the game, the most decorated Husker of
all time, and a future can't miss professional. Fifteen years
later and Doomakon retires from football, following up his Husker
career with all pro seasons in the NFL, millions of

(01:28):
dollars earned, and a Super Bowl ring. And he is
still wowing us with a remarkable fusion of loyalty, humility,
and pursuit of excellence. He retired over the weekend on
a specific date, one year to the day his beloved
father died, whose last wish was that in Domakin leave
football because there is so much more to you. It

(01:51):
was a means to another end. Time to find it.
We may have been misled into believing in Damakin. Sue
became the greatest player in a generation. For the glory
or the riches of the notoriety, not even close. It
was about fulfilling a legacy that dates back three generations.
You see family and Sue go back aways hard to

(02:11):
believe from where Endomikin got his considerable size. His late
father was just five foot eight. Well, it dates to
his great grandfather the first Indomkin sue in Cameroon over
one hundred years ago. A boy was born, and he
grew and grew and grew, finally topping at seven foot three,
joined the Cameroon Army and fought the Nazis across North Africa.

(02:34):
When he returned, the family, with the country struggled. His grandson,
Michael our Endomakin's father, heard of a better life in
the United States settled in Portland, Oregon, where he met
and married a beautiful young nurse. They had a daughter
and then a son, which is where the legend begins.
Our Endomicon was eleven pounds at birth and five foot

(02:55):
eight at age eight. He loved games and taking things apart,
first machines and then quarterbacks in sports. His first unrequited
love with soccer outgrew that football was a natural next
for the man boy. His size and ferocity would fit well.
Unfamiliar with the game, his parents said no again and again.

(03:16):
Finally relenting, he started on both offense and defense. As
a high school sophomore, heavily recruited, saw the promise of
the stellar two thousand and five recruiting class, and believed
Nebraska was destined for a return to glory. The Callahan departure, though,
was fortuitous. While Sue built his muscles and physical prowess,

(03:36):
the Polines trained his mind lost in Indomkin's mighty talents
is an indisputable truth. He's always been the smartest player
on the field too. Football was a passion for Sue,
but mostly a means to the next thing, be the best,
most dominant player on the field. As preparation, while at Nebraska,
he asked Tom Osbourne one day to arrange an introduction

(03:59):
to investor Warren Buffett. Would he see Sue for half
an hour in his Omaha office. He said yes, Sue
got there two hours early. They met for two hours.
Buffett discovered Sue's powerful muscle, the most one was between
his ears. The physical play, the labeled dirtiest player in

(04:19):
the NFL, was every bit the psychological edge for him
as the physical. While Nebraskans will fondly reflect on Sue's
remarkable Saturday feats, father and son must be thinking we're
just getting started.