Butch

Pretty damn cool . . . I would have **** my pants when I got the message . . . by the way, no link because WSJ.com is a subscription service

Wall Street Trainee
Is Tapped by Steelers
For Super Bowl Duty

Grant Bowman Had Given Up
His Pro Football Career;
Lehman Brothers Cheers
By RUSSELL ADAMS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 1, 2006; Page A1

Grant Bowman was settling into the rhythm of his new office job, arriving at Lehman Brothers' midtown Manhattan offices every morning at 6:30, sitting at the global futures desk and studying for his final round of Securities and Exchange Commission exams.

Then, a week ago Monday, his cellphone buzzed with messages from his mother, his agent and the Pittsburgh Steelers. They all wanted to tell him the same thing: Pack your bags for the Super Bowl.

Mr. Bowman, 25 years old, was tapped at the last minute for a slot on the Steelers' practice squad. At scrimmages this week leading up to the game, he is playing the role of opposing Seattle Seahawks players to help Pittsburgh's first-stringers get ready. Though he isn't likely to play in the big game itself, he will earn a Super Bowl ring for himself if the Steelers win Sunday.


For Mr. Bowman, it is a roller-coaster ride that will put him back -- at least temporarily -- in a career that he had given up after his glory days at the University of Michigan and a failed attempt at making it in the pros with the Steelers.

"I'm still trying to figure out why I'm here. I'd sort of hung [my cleats] up," says Mr. Bowman, a 6-foot-1, 281-pound defensive tackle. He adds that he expects to be back on the trading desk at Lehman Tuesday morning.

Even 24 hours before the fateful call, Mr. Bowman didn't have a clue that he might get one more shot at the pros. At home with his wife, Teresa, he watched the Steelers beat Denver to advance to the championship. He admits to feeling jealous of them. "I'm not going to lie," he says.

Teresa Bowman, Grant's high-school sweetheart from suburban Columbus, Ohio, and now a neonatal intensive-care nurse in New York, says she could tell that the Steelers win was a bittersweet moment for her husband. He had hoped to build his pro career in Pittsburgh before he was cut by the team in September. He joined Lehman Brothers Holdings in December, training to become a financial analyst.

"He was so excited they had won, but those thoughts were running through his head: If only this could have been last year," says Ms. Bowman, who had been planning a Super Bowl party at their apartment in Brooklyn so Grant could invite his Lehman friends over to watch.

Since joining the Steelers squad last week, Mr. Bowman has been taking a fair amount of ribbing from his teammates, mostly about his weight. The problem: Despite a crash diet of pizza and ranch dressing, he still is well below his onetime playing weight of more than 300 pounds. He also has heard his share of requests for stock tips. "I've even had a couple of guys ask me for my business card," he says.

Several players have become stockbrokers after ending their playing careers. Some financial-services companies give special consideration to National Football League players, including Merrill Lynch & Co., which has an internship program Mr. Bowman took part in a year ago. Mr. Bowman says some of the things that helped him in football -- discipline and attention to detail -- have carried over to the financial world. "I can see why there are a lot of athletes working on Wall Street," Mr. Bowman says. "And you're more marketable to these people having played football."

He had spent the 2004 season on the Pittsburgh practice squad and was under contract for another year with the team, but he already was thinking of life after football. "He was the only Steeler to take advantage," says his mother, Carroll.

After that, Mr. Bowman tapped the Michigan alumni network and lined up about a dozen interviews in New York. Lehman offered him a job, and Mr. Bowman and Teresa moved to New York.

"At first, I didn't want to go in there as a football guy," Mr. Bowman says. "But they sent out an email the day before I got there. That kind of shot that. It definitely differentiates me a little bit."

For Mr. Bowman, making it to the sidelines at the Super Bowl will cap a football career that began in earnest back in his Ohio high school. He led St. Francis DeSales High School in Ohio to two state championships. "He's probably the strongest kid we've ever had in the weight room," says DeSales head coach Bob Jacoby, who remembers Mr. Bowman squat-pressing 765 pounds as a senior.

At Michigan, Mr. Bowman was a starter for three seasons and was elected defensive captain his senior year. He made the second-team All Conference squad as a defensive lineman. Meanwhile, he was earning a general studies degree and took business courses.

After graduating from college in 2003, he hoped to build a pro career. Undrafted, Mr. Bowman was signed by the Tennessee Titans but was cut before training camp began. He quickly found a place on the Steelers' practice squad. The Steelers dropped him before this season began -- paving the way for his Wall Street career.

He would be watching the markets at Lehman this week if it weren't for a pivotal incident in the Steelers' victory over Denver Jan. 22. In that game, backup linebacker Andre Frazier broke his ankle making a tackle on a kickoff return. To fill Mr. Frazier's slot, the team promoted another linebacker, Arnold Harrison, from the practice squad to the regular roster. That created the opening Mr. Bowman now fills.

His bosses at Lehman gave Mr. Bowman two weeks off, and he left for Pittsburgh the next day.

During the rare free moments between practices, meetings and media appearances in the days before the Super Bowl, most players use the time to eat, nap or play videogames. Mr. Bowman thumbs through the latest edition of the Treasury Bond Basis, a 320-page text covering the relationship between the Treasury bond market and Treasury bond futures. He also keeps in touch with his office. "I've been calling back and checking in, and they've been telling me not to, to enjoy the experience," he says.

He hopes this weekend will bring some closure on his football career. "I'm almost taking this like my retirement party," he says.

Write to Russell Adams at russell.adams@wsj.com1

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Memo

That's pretty cool, especially if he ends up getting a Super Bowl ring.

speedracer120

That would be sweet little ending to his football career.

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Off in La La Land

bachviet

That's sweet.

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RIVERWIDOW

Good for him. I am crossing my fingers for the Steelers. It just proves good things happen to good people.

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My grandkids are cuter than yours !
Rock on Chargers !

Lets go Padres !! All the way in 2009

Thesifer

Maybe not an ending. Wouldn't they still need a replacement on the practice squad for atleast a little while? Or is it possible to just come back from a broken ankle and jump right back in? They don't take time off after the season do they?

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kgsilvas

He's even got a player page on NFL.com. No stats, but it's official. Something to put in his football scrapbook.
He was Co-Captain of his University of Michigan football team. Here's his photo:

Now I'm really rooting for the Steelers!

theorangeone

The team takes time off after the Superbowl, but the players usually continue to work out. Camp starts in August.

Butch

Really crazy, but now this guy is in my cluster at business school!

I posted the story nearly three years ago and now we're in class together every day.

I didn't realize my classmate was the guy in the article until today. We actually have two former professional football players in our cluster, but today someone from another cluster asked whether Grant was the guy who was mentioned in the WSJ article from a few years ago - all fit together pretty quickly after that.

He's a great guy - really nice and smart . . . makes it all an even better story.

DarkFury

Heh... Butch just "golden shoveled" his own post.


I was sitting here reading going... WTF??? SuperBowl??? Then I looked at the date of the post and went

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guiseppewv

I guess if you have an update - no problem.

It is sad that some football greats never sniffed the SB or a ring but this guy has one. At least he got it with a REAL team!

gear02

Don't play flag football with this guy...or at least lock him up on your section's team now!

Btw which bschool?

Butch

Columbia . . . Neither he nor the other former NFL player we have in our cluster plays on the intramural teams, unfortunately.

ShawnLee

Could you imagine the awesomeness of playing intramural with former NFL players?

I knew of a few former pro-baseball players in grad school with me, but never got to play with them or anything. Never really said much more than "hi" actually.

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eSDee

I missed that story before. Pretty sweet!

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~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 days ~ Willie Nelson

3 days I dread to see arrive
3 days I hate to be alive
3 days filled with tears and sorrow
yesterday today and tomorrow