Off-season professionals.

In the world of competitive team sports, two-career athletes are rare. Most everyone knows Bo--Vincent Jackson--who successfully juggled the demands of a football and baseball career, until a hip injury left his future uncertain. Or perhaps "Neon" Deion Sanders, who does a neat balancing act by playing outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and defensive back for the Atlanta Falcons.

But Sean Jones may be the rarest two-career athlete of them all. Not only is Jones a defensive end for the Houston Oilers, but he is also a firmly established stockbroker with the Beverly Hills division of the Dean Witter Financial Services Group Inc. in Los Angeles. Even as Jones begins the 1992-1993 National Football League season, he is busily preparing for a profession beyond his sport.

Jones has definitely played it smart. In football, where 90% of the players play on contingency, there is a 25% turnover in players every year, and the average career lasts only about four years. "Life and business are not different," Jones says. "I have always been a go-to guy. I want to be on the field if the game is on the line. I want to challenge myself, I want to do more than play the game. I don't want to wait to be fired,"

Set For Life?

Any athlete will tell you that segueing into a second career is not easy. Sure there are success stories: the Mel Farrs, Drew Pearsons, Dave Bings and Gale Sayers who have gone on to build BE 100s companies, as well as the Quinn Buckners and O,J. Simpsons who have established solid broadcasting careers.

But much more common are those burned-out athletes who must adjust to the sometimes painful financial and social consequences--not to mention the stress--that come with any major life change. Additionally, these athletes have to wage a private war against the public's and the sports industry's perceptions about who they are and what their personal agendas and lifestyles are supposed to be. Because they are highly paid--salaries average $420,000 in football, $850,000 in baseball and $1.1 million in basketball in 1992--professional athletes are perceived to be "set for life" as soon as they sign that coveted pro contract. Players are not always encouraged by coaches, agents, team owners and managers to think about or prepare for the day when they will have to call its quits. And even when they are encouraged to think about post-sports career planning, too many athletes fail to act on the suggestion. Indeed, Jones charges that "the system does everything to discourage players from becoming self-sufficient. When people complain that not enough is being done to prepare the players for life after football, the response is often, `Well, he makes enough; he shouldn't have to worry about it.'"

But should players worry? In football, for example, the average player plays four years before sustaining a career-ending injury. He grosses between $1 million and $1.3 million during that period. His taxes are anywhere from 28% to 31% of his income, which brings his yearly income to less than $200,000 a year. "The issue then," according to M.J. Duberstein, director of research for the National Football Players Association, "is lifestyle, especially for a young player. How much of the discretionary income is available for investment or job creation?"

Craig Curry, a former NFL player and now a financial planner for Shearson Lehman Brothers in Houston, argues that the player who makes upwards of $1 million a year, especially early in his career, usually has an extremely high debt service. Curry estimates it to be 50% to 75% of the player's net income. He also estimates that a player making that kind of money usually spends $500,000 on housing, which means a down payment of about $100,000, and another $75,000 on transportation in the form of luxury car(s).

"After the player has paid Uncle Sam (usually about $400,000 a year)," says Curry, "and then takes out $250,000 a year for lifestyle choices, and another $120,000 for basic budget necessities--he ends up with $230,000 for investments and to plan for his retirement."

"The problem is players don't look that far out. They see all this cash today, and they want to spend it today. They don't see the knee injury right around the corner. And when it happens, they have a very small income, while their debt continues to rise."

Social Death

Planning for life after sports is imperative, especially for black athletes, who are not always offered the same sports-related job opportunities as their white counterparts. Moreover, too many black athletes are neither academically nor vocationally prepared to compete in the job market with their nonathlete peers, who have spent time acquiring the requisite skills and experience. Some researchers have begun to use the term "social death" to describe another major consequence of the transition out of sports. Keith Lee, director of the western regional office for the National Consortium for Academics and Sports at the University of Nevada-Reno and a former NFL defensive back who retired of his own volition, remembers the experience as "the closest thing to witnessing my own funeral."

"Everywhere I went," he recalls, "people would come up to me and say, `Didn't you used to be Keith Lee?' or `Weren't you Number 22?' Every time they referred to me it was in the past tense. It was like I was a question mark."

In 1984, while still active in the NFL, Lee enrolled in the National Consortium for Academics and Sports, a division of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, which helps athletes return to school to earn their degrees. He received a bachelor's degree in health, sport and leisure in 1991. After retiring in 1986, Lee took a job at the center working in community outreach. His concern was to build for the future, he says.

Jones and Lee both took the path less traveled. They took charge of their lives by focusing on building careers and on acquiring the education, experience and skills needed to facilitate their professional development. They are important role models for other athletes--especially those in the arenas of football and basketball (67% of football players and 75% of basketball players are black). The typical player has some college education; plays for about four or five years; and leaves the sport with significant damage to his knees or ankles. These same athletes will also experience financial, personal and familial problems and will need role models who have successfully negotiated the transition to a life after sports.

Part of the challenge lies in a system where the athlete's every want and need is often taken care of by others. Many have never done a load of laundry, made a travel reservation or balanced a checkbook. Len Elmore, a retired 10-year NBA veteran, and now an attorney in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Temple, Pearson, Elmore & Grady, says, "Today's athlete is coddled, even semi-deified. Often the people around the athlete don't tell him what he needs to know; they are too busy patting him on the back, wanting to be a part of the entourage."

"Reality has to land sometime," says Elmore. "And it's usually in the final years, when it's almost too late. The athlete has gone through his money, has no marketable skills and now has to compete with peers who have been in the work force for a while and have gained the experience he lacks."

The pampered, out-of-touch athlete often becomes this way because of the high-altitude ride on which.many athletes embark long before they turn professional. "Many athletes say to themselves `I was good enough to get here, and I'm good enough to stay.' What they don't realize is that there may be an injury around the corner. And there is always competition coming up behind them. Someone is trying to take their place every year--no, every day," argues Ron Sayers, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Professional Athletes' Career Enterprises (PACE), a San Diego firm specializing in facilitating athletes' transitions to life after sports.

And for the black athlete, who wrestles with the "dumb jock" stereotype and racism, the transition to a post-sport career is twice as difficult. Kenneth Shropshire, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, recounts the story of a baseball Hail of Famer who, having become a wine connoisseur, was interested in developing a business opportunity in the wine industry. "People weren't receptive," Shropshire says of the player's attempts to gain industry support for his endeavors. "They didn't believe a black man, a baseball player, would have any expertise in this area."

But things could be changing. Shropshire argues that a wide range of opportunities are available to the athlete after his career is over. These opportunities have been brought about, in part, by the various sports leagues themselves, which have finally begun to devote some attention to helping athletes make that inevitable leap.

Beyond NBA Hoops

The most progressive program to help players negotiate the transition to "real life" is the NBA's Vetoran's Transition Program. Instituted four years ago, the program helps players to focus on interests they might wish to pursue once their sports careers have ended. The program also provides career counseling to players during their transition periods. Players are exposed to career paths as varied as business, education and hotel management.

Charles Grantham, executive director of the NBA Players Association and a former dean of admissions at the Wharton School of Business, is largely credited with the NBA's commitment and success in this area. In 1982, he helped to develop PACE Sports as a model of career planning, rather than placement. Today, 44% of the NBA's athletes plug into PACE in some form or fashion. The program has helped 27 players attend summer school in the off-season. Grantham believes the program is successful if it creates in the player's mind just one option outside of sports.

But PACE's success depends mostly on the attitude of the players, their ability to determine their needs and their willingness to seek help. Grantham believes that players must be encouraged to plan their finances in anticipation of a lengthy transition period (taking anywhere from one to three years). This is a period of exploration and adjustment, allowing the players to learn how to look at the workday differently and decide what they want to do.

Football Is Not Enough

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association and a former defensive star for the thenOakland Raiders, believes that the NFL cares very little for helping football players make the transition to second careers. "The emphasis in football has always been on maintaining a competitive edge," he observes. "Coaches and owners want all the players in the camp. They monitor athletes year-round; put them on weight training and running programs. They believe a second career isn't necessary; that football is paying the athlete enough."

Sean Jones, who has an undergraduate business degree from Northeastern University, "stumbled" into football when he was picked in the second round of the draft by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1984. The senior account executive for Dean Witter, who manages close to $11 million, knows from what Upshaw speaks. Having weathered the storm for four years as both a football player and a financial adviser in the off-season, Jones is in a unique position; he is the exception rather than the rule in a sport that has been slow to respond to players' career-preparation needs.

With the establishment of the NFL's Player Program, those attitudes will perhaps change. The voluntary, year-old program focuses on career and financial planning, as well as family assistance. It also vigorously encourages athletes to return to school and take advantage of internships the NFL set up in entertainment, business and both the public and private sectors. According to Greg Aiello, NFL director of communications, players are most enthusiastic about the continuing education and career internship programs. Of the several hundred members participating in the first year, 120 players went back to school, and 36 were involved in internships in areas as varied as business, community service and coaching.

One such internship was a Reebok-NFL sponsored initiative, which provided a 10-week, 40-hour-a-week, paid internship opportunity for 10 NFL players. Nine players were black. Leslie Mays, Reebok's director of cultural diversity, says the project was undertaken for a number of reasons: "We were looking for a new source of ideas, in part because we are developing a line of cleated footwear, but also to identify potential job candidates."

Seen by the company as an opportunity for players to learn and gain practical work experience, the internship afforded players with an undergraduate degree and a sense of their own personal and professional growth through an intensive orientation at Reebok International headquarters in Stoughton, Mass. The interns then received field assignments, usually in an area close to the players' homes. "Players spent the off-season working with our account executives," Mays says. "They made calls on a variety of clients, rolled out public relations initiatives and gave product presentations. Their assignments reflected the real needs of the company."

One of the participants was Buford McGee, a nine-year NFL veteran and a running back with the Green Bay Packers. With a bachelor's degree in business administration and hopes of becoming a franchise owner, McGee's responsibilities during the 10-week period were in marketing and sales. "It was a great opportunity to see the whole structure of the business," he says. "I started at the bottom. I went to different stores and learned how to call on retailers, brainstorm ideas and tie in local retailers with the national corporation."

The internship also came with a generous dose of harsh reality. "It was kind of frustrating at the beginning," McGee admits. "Here I am, almost 30, and there are [younger people] ahead of me, telling me what to do. It's okay once you realize they're trying to help. It's also been a long time--since college--when I've had somebody give me an assignment, and I was supposed to do it and come back with it."

McGee's experiences are not out of the ordinary. Industry observers argue that such frustration often stops athletes in their tracks. The fear of not being the best, of not feeling able to compete, nearly paralyzes them. But such "real-world" experience is a very good thing to have. It exposes the athlete to the possibilities available to him and forces him to deal with the regimentation of the work world.

Such real-life experience forces the athlete to confront the stereotypes as well. Jones says that while his dual-career status has been accepted by his teammates, who see him as the cerebral type, he has faced opposition not only from Oilors' management, but also from some of the other players around the league. But he says his clients, of whom only a small percentage are football players and who usually come to him through word of mouth, know better. "What I bring to the table is not genius," he asserts. "I didn't reinvent the wheel. What I offer my clients is service, and I do it with integrity and conviction."

Meanwhile, Jones, who monitors his accounts with the help of a Los Angeles-based partner and the use of a Dean Witter office in Houston, hopes to be promoted to an associate vice president (he will clear $245,000 in sales this year). He has other irons in the fire as well. His 3year-old company, Basic Hardwear, handles black college licensing for T-shirts and other merchandise. Eventually, he wants to apply to law school. Jones, whose football salary for the 1991-1992 season was reported to be $800,000, concludes: "It's important that I see myself as a person. I've got to keep moving. Football is a great sport, but it's just a stop along the way."

Baseball Bats .000

Of the team sports with significant numbers of African-American players, Major League Baseball has not yet committed itself to helping its athletes nurture second careers. According to Jim Small, the Major League's manager of public relations, no formal program on career transition currently exists. "Often the player's agent will help him plan for the end of his career," he explains, "or a specific club will offer assistance to its players."

There may be several reasons for this seeming neglect: the often tense relationship between the players' union and the League office, which, according to Small, is steadily improving; or the recent upheavals in the League itself with regard to corruption and collusion. But, perhaps the most important factor is that the players themselves don't want such a program.

"The problem we've run into," says Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Players Association, "is that the younger players aren't interested and the veterans never retire when they think they're going to; it's always sooner."

Fehr says the Major League Players Association piloted two separate programs in the early to mid-1980s dealing with career planning and placement; both were frustrated by a lack of player interest. "Let's face it," he adds, "these players are making tremendous salaries, and the feeling is nobody needs the money right away."

In addition to the professional athlete's youth or general sense of invincibility, another obstacle may loom in front of a baseball player wanting to look ahead: his level of education. Unlike football and basketball players, most baseball players lack any college-level experience, since they tend to be signed straight out of high school. This may limit their perception of the possibilities available to them.

But there are other reasons why baseball players may not immediately view the end of their career as an end to their involvement in the sport. Says Fehr, "Another thing that separates baseball from basketball and football is that there are more opportunities for employment, so that a player is not necessarily required to leave a game in which he has spent maybe 15, 20, 25 years of his life."

This option, however, may not be as available to blacks and other minorities as it is to whites. Despite the fact that blacks are nearly onefifth of the player population in Major League Baseball, they represent only 9% of front-office employees.

Terms Of Transition

So what does it take to make a successful career after sports? Several ingredients are essential no matter what the sport and whether a formal career-planning program is available. First, the athlete has to want to take responsibility for his future, despite a system that promotes dependency on others. Second, he must be willing to prepare himself for a labor force where 42-inch vertical leaps and 90 mile-per-hour fastballs don't cut it on the resume. Third, the athlete has to exploit career-building opportunities and influential contacts offered by the sports world in order to succeed at whatever endeavor he chooses to undertake. Athletes need to turn their on-field charisma and popularity into off-field assets.

"When an executive from IBM or Coca-Cola walks up to the athlete to shake his hand and the athlete only shakes his hand, then he has missed an opportunity," Sayers of PACE asserts. "What the athlete should do is say that he would like to set up a meeting with the executive to learn more about the executive's business. Not only will the executive sit down with the athlete, but the meeting will probably open all kinds of doors as well."

However, the most important element in a second-career transition lies in the athlete's attitude toward himself. "The athlete has to realize that he has skills and abilities beyond a great slam dunk," says Sayers. "You have to look at sports as a business."

"Take the example of basketball and how the game was marketed to the United States and the rest of the world," he continues. "There were short-range goals and long-range goals. There was a plan of action and specifically defined outcomes. The athlete has to do the same thing when planning his future."

PREPARING FOR THE LAST OFF-SEASON

The process of preparing an athlete for life after sports begins long before he or she signs a letter of intent for college or a pro contract. The following organizations and programs have been established to generate post-athletic career development information and opportunities, as well as related lifestyle adjustment services, for athletes:

* National Foundation for Athletic Transition. The Foundation, through its Center for Athletic Care, is currently establishing the first rehabilitation facility in the United States for the care and treatment of retired and active athletes and their families. Services include clinical care and educational programs.

The Palm Springs, Calif.-based Foundation sponsors the Athletic Transformation Group, a six-week residential program that helps athletes cope "after the glory." Clinical services include "decompression," which helps disengage the athlete physically and emotionally from the sport. The athletes are taught how to cope with the stress, anger and confusion that accompany retirement and receive career placement services. The Family Program, which is affiliated with the Foundation, teaches stress management techniques to the spouses and children of athletes. For more information, call Research and Services at 619-8649022.

* Northeastern University 's Center for the Study of Sport in Society. The center, located in Boston, has established the National Consortium for Academics and Sports, which provides educational opportunities for athletes seeking to return to college. The center works with 85 colleges and universities, spanning the 48 contiguous states and Canada, that belong to the consortium. Scholarship athletes who did not graduate are given the opportunity to return to school. Participating universities include St. John's University in New York City, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Nebraska and the University of Colorado. This program focuses on the transition from athlete to businessperson.

In addition to providing academic opportunities, the center offers individual counseling aimed at finishing the athlete's role on the playing field. The university pays the athlete's tuition; in exchange, the athlete agrees to perform community service upon graduation. Community services include outreach presentations for school-age students that stress the importance of balancing academics and sports, avoiding steroids and other drugs and mending race relations. For more information. call 617-437-4025.

* Professional Athletes Career Enterprises (PACE). PACE is a human resources company located in San Diego, Calif., that focuses on career planning, training and development, degree completion and family relations for the elite athlete. Established in 1982, almost 44% of the NBA's players work with PACE.

PACE conducts counseling programs designed for professional athletes, amateur athletes, trainers, coaches and students. The athletes range from boxers and baseball players to basketball stars and even ballerinas. PACE prepares the athlete for the transition from sports to another career. Through counseling and skill "rededication" PACE has helped more than 2,000 athletes find new career paths. For further information, call 800-222-7223.

* Reebok International Ltd. Reebok in conjunction with the National Football League offers a 12-week intern program geared toward preparing professional football players for a second career outside the sports arena. During the off-season, the athletes assist Reebok sales and marketing account executives "in the field." For more information, call Reebok 617-341-5800.