NASSAU, The Bahamas – John Mackey, who led the NFL Players Association during its first strikes in 1970 and 1974, went on to the Hall of Fame. Mike Kenn moved on from the presidency of the NFLPA to politics as Chairman of the Fulton County (Ga.) Commission.
Current NFLPA President Domonique Foxworth is taking a different path. A player rep at 23, an Executive Committee member at 25 and President at 28, Foxworth will serve the final six months of his term while a first-year student at Harvard Business School.
“I’ve had my transition out of football in mind since before anyone but me thought I was going to be in the league,” said Foxworth, 29, who was chosen in the third round of the 2005 draft by Denver and also played for Atlanta and Baltimore during his seven-year career. “I’ve always had other interests outside of football, which I think we all do.”
Foxworth, an American Studies major at Maryland who relishes the mental tests that come with being a union leader, said the negotiations to end the 2011 lockout convinced him to take courses at the business school of Loyola (Md.) University and then apply to Harvard.
“Before the negotiations started, I kind of looked at team owners as almost different beings, those really smart guys while I was just a football player,” Foxworth explained. “But during the meetings, I realized that I was just as smart, if not smarter, than they were. I bought a couple of business textbooks and I would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning teaching myself the terminology and basic negotiation strategy that I would use that next day. Before the meetings began at 8, I would listen to the most aggressive music I could find like it was a game day. That competition was fun. When we would move the ball, metaphorically, it would kind of feel like we were actually moving the ball. Quite a few owners told me they were really impressed with me. That helped give me the confidence to take the next step.”
Foxworth’s surgically repaired right knee also helped prompt him to make the move out of the locker room.
“Midway through the ’11 season, I kind of realized I was done,” he said. “My knee told me it was time to move on. I expected to have some jealously when the Ravens won the Super Bowl because that’s something I always wanted to do, but I was so happy for my [former] teammates. I haven’t missed playing. I always imagined that my playing career would be preparation for something greater in life.”
But until his term concludes next March, Foxworth will keep fighting for the players.
“I got involved in the NFLPA because I recognized the need for a union and I had issues with some of the things that were happening,” Foxworth said. “Rather than be cowardly and throw stones from a distance, I wanted to get involved and fix the things that I wasn’t happy about. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in a leadership role of this organization for a long time. I never feel satisfied. That’s bad for me, but it’s a good thing for any project that I’m involved in because I’m always pushing to get better. That’s a mindset of a lot of successful people. As a player, you always have to get better at something. I feel the same way about my role as President and about the role of the Players Association. We’re really great in a lot of areas, but we need to get better in other areas.”
Life in Cambridge, Ma. won’t be a new experience for Foxworth’s wife Ashley, a Harvard Law graduate who’s currently staying at home with their children, daughter Avery, 2, and newborn son Declan.
“I’m a little worried about what I’m walking into, but I’ve faced a number of challenges and succeeded,” said Foxworth, who earned a lucrative contract from Baltimore in 2009 after excelling the previous fall despite being traded by Denver to Atlanta just four days before the opener while also interviewing candidates to succeed the late Gene Upshaw as Executive Director of the NFLPA.
“I assume a lot of my [future] classmates have been tremendous students their whole lives, but in football, you’re forced to deal with failure. That gives me an advantage. I have experiences that none of them have. … I don’t know what I’ll do when I graduate. It’s liberating, but it’s kind of painful, too. I would hate to throw away all the relationships and the respect that I’ve gained in this industry, but I don’t know if I want to be in sports [again]. I want to meet people and build a network outside of sports.”
By David Elfin NFLPlayers.com
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