Al sings to new Toon: former Jet opens bank, Burger King outlets in Midwest.

All-pro wide receiver Al Toon retired from professional football and the New York Jets in 1992, after eight years of pounding took a terrible toll on his body, and repeated blows to the head forced his premature exit from the game.

While finished with the business of football Toon has a blossoming career as an entrepreneur and investor. Between running a real estate operation from his Wisconsin home, and acquiring his fourth Burger King franchise, the retired football star recently joined a group of eight investors to open a new independently owned bank in Madison.

"After I retired I was prepared from a financial standpoint, so it gave me time to devote exclusively to my investment strategy," Toon says. The Wisconsin-based investors will open Capitol Bank's new headquarters early this year.

Toon says the business climate in Madison, where man local banks have been acquired by larger, out-of-state banking institutions or have closed altogether, left the community hungry for a stronger local banking presence.

"The market has grown in such a way that banking here had become much less personal. Customers started complaining, so we created this to be able to serve people more personally right here," he says.

Capitol Bank, a full-service commercial operation, will initially have five employees, and three additional staffers will be hired by the end of the year. Toon says the bank will emphasize increased customer service, not steer patrons toward ATMs. Although he won't have any day-to-day responsibilities, Toon will sit on the bank's board.

Over the last four years, Toon has also been acquiring Burger King franchises in the Midwest and West. He's an investor in two franchises in Wisconsin and two in Utah. Toon acquired his first Burger King outlet four years ago. "The most obvious thin is that they make money. It's a well-known entity and I trusted [Larry Mialik, a former college team-mate] whom I was going to be partners with," he says.

Toon maintains a demanding schedule in spite of his post-concussion syndrome, a result of the nine concussions he suffered over the course of his eight-year career with the New York Jets. Symptoms include periods of dizziness, fatigue and sporadic instances of impaired concentration. Although Toon left football because of the severe injury, he says his time as a pro athlete geared him for success after his career in sports was over.

"The main reason I'm only an investor is because of the post-concussion syndrome. I don't think I'd be able to work with different employees on a daily basis and deal with tense job situations, just because of the stress involved," he says. But Toon's observers note that despite his condition, his 10-year-old real estate business is thriving, and his keen business sense seems to never let him down.

"There's a maturing that one goes through when everything you do is under a microscope, and your job security is based on your daily performance," Toon says. "It's a situation that gears you to succeed if you take advantage of it."