Prelude to Kickoff: The Handball Specialist

It turns out snakes have many lives too.

Former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer retired several years ago, having tired of the football routine, with its anti-inflammatory diets, the increased physical pain and getting worn down by Broncos coach Mike Shanahan1.

In search of a better lifestyle, and one more suitable to Plummer’s personality, he walked away from a well paid gig in the NFL and started doing other things.

Those other things included mountain biking, boating, fishing and hiking to name a few.

But he didn’t give up the need for competitive sports.

It turns out that Plummer is an avid handball player, competing in tournaments and even hosting his own invitational.

Plummer believes that his decision to walk away and try other sports show others that alternatives exist: “My ultimate goal is to get coaches to stop specializing their athletes, telling them they can’t play other sports because it’ll hurt their football. I played all three sports and handball whenever I could. That’s why I made it in the NFL — that rounded me out as an athlete.”

Another part of Plummer’s story that is worth noting is his close relationship to the late Pat Tillman2, as the two were teammates at Arizona State University from 1994-1997 and also ended up together with the Arizona Cardinals when they turned pro.

After Tillman’s passing, Plummer spoke of his friend with great regard: “More people today think of him as a war hero but I just think of him as a great friend and a guy that can teach you, number one, something real simple: how to just be a better friend, and Pat had a lot of great qualities and he is worth remembering.”

Plummer has denied that Tillman’s death influenced his decision to retire early, claiming that he had made his decision the year before.

But one can’t help but make the connection.

Whatever reasons they were, Plummer saw a life after football that he couldn’t wait to pursue, and so he went ahead and did it; it’s refreshing to hear if only because many athletes don’t get that chance, or do and squander it once they go back to the real world and find it impossible to fit in.

I’m happy for the snake.

photo via SI Vault

Footnotes:

1Plummer said this of Shanahan: “I had a coach that, regardless of how well I thought I was playing or how well the majority of fans across the country thought I was playing, it was never good enough for him, and that kind of gets frustrating. It just seemed like every game I could have completed these four more passes or these five more shots here and it would have been perfect. And that just wasn’t my personality. But Shanahan wanted perfection and he wore a lot of us down there.”

2 If you are unfamiliar with Tillman’s story, please watch The Tillman Story.

Posted on 23 September, 2012

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