I’m crying, when my mom takes my face into her hands and says, “Everything happens for a reason, son.” I’d just been cut from my 8th-grade volleyball team.
I was team captain, and my friends asked me to find out when the coach
would make final cuts. She cut me for asking.
Suddenly with nothing to do after school, I went to watch my little brother
play the U.S. version of football, entirely unpopular in the small town where
I was growing up in Canada. A few practices later, the coach asked me to
play, and it became a sport I did each year.
Where I come from, the most likely path is working as a “Rig Pig,” in the
oil fields.
I was team captain, and my friends asked me to find out when the coach
would make final cuts. She cut me for asking.
Suddenly with nothing to do after school, I went to watch my little brother
play the U.S. version of football, entirely unpopular in the small town where
I was growing up in
Canada. A few practices later, the coach asked me to
play, and it became a sport I did each year.
Where I come from, the most likely path is working as a “Rig Pig,” in the
oil fields.
One day, in high school, I’m with my football buddies, and for the first time ever, we’re watching a college football game on T.V. It’s the Rosebowl.
We’re in awe of the stadium crowd; 112,000 fans. Our games draw no more than seven people willing to watch us play in the snow.
My buddy says,
“I’m GOING to
do that.”
…Even though no ONE from my province had EVER played U.S. college football.
… No one in my town knows a thing about how to get on a college football team
…Even though no ONE from my province had EVER played U.S. college football.
… No one in my town knows a thing about how to get on a college football team
WSU offers me a full scholarship, and then 30 other NCAA schools follow their lead.
I have offers from the best football programs in the country.
I choose WSU; I know so little about NCAA football that I don’t know they are dead last in the PAC 10 conference.
I felt loyal to the fact that they believed in me first. And my family was so poor they
couldn’t buy me an airline ticket; I’d be riding my scooter to college. Washington State was
the closest.
Like the scene in Dumb and Dumber, I load up my backpack and ride my 50cc scooter to
the United States, right through the snow-covered Rockies, with $33 to my name. When I
arrive on campus, I find out my scholarship and housing won’t start for a month.
So I sleep in the team locker room every night for three weeks, secretly. Teammates
think I’m the first to arrive every morning. But one day the captain figures it out and offers
me his couch. We’re friends to this day.
I start every game as a freshman, and we go from worst to first.
WSU offers me a full scholarship, and then 30 other NCAA schools follow their lead.
I have offers from the best football programs in the country.
I choose WSU; I know so little about NCAA football that I don’t know they are dead last in the PAC 10 conference.
I felt loyal to the fact that they believed in me first. And my family was so poor they
couldn’t buy me an airline ticket; I’d be riding my scooter to college. Washington State was
the closest.
Like the scene in Dumb and Dumber, I load up my backpack and ride my 50cc scooter to
the United States, right through the snow-covered Rockies, with $33 to my name. When I
arrive on campus, I find out my scholarship and housing won’t start for a month.
So I sleep in the team locker room every night for three weeks, secretly. Teammates
think I’m the first to arrive every morning. But one day the captain figures it out and offers
me his couch. We’re friends to this day.
I start every game as a freshman, and we go from worst to first.
I’m walking onto the field to play at the Rosebowl, same stadium that I told my buddies I was going to play in.
I’m overwhelmed with emotions.
I’m walking onto the field to play at the Rosebowl, the exact bowl game and same stadium that I told my buddies I was going to play in.
I’m overwhelmed with emotions.
Fast forward…
Two monumental things happen during my Junior year of college. (I’d transferred
to BYU).
I’m living on a $380 a month scholarship. My rent eats up $250 of it. And since I am eating 5000 calories, a day…. scrounging every free meal I can get.
I get an idea.
I find a 5 bedroom home for sale. Of course, I don’t have the money or credit to buy
it. But my friend’s dad had money, and he was a big BYU football fan.
I entice him to breakfast with sideline passes to our next game, and I pitch him. If
he’ll co-sign and put up the down payment, I’ll pay the mortgage by renting out the
rooms and fix it up. After college, we’d sell it and split the profits.
He says yes.
The rest of that year, I’m a full-time student, full-time athlete, and I work a 20 hour
a week job at the campus carpenter shop to learn how to fix up a place. And at
night, I renovate the house.
I’m busy, but I live rent-free and make an extra $1k a month. At the end of my
junior year, I sell the house for a $120k profit.
My share is $60k, a crazy amount to me; Far more money than my parents ever
made in a few years combined.
Two monumental things happen during my Junior year of college. (I’d transferred
to BYU).
I’m living on a $380 a month scholarship. My rent eats up $250 of it. And since I
am eating 900 calories a day, I’m scamming every free meal I can get.
I get an idea.
I find a 5 bedroom home for sale. Of course, I don’t have the money or credit to buy
it. But my friend’s dad had money, and he was a big BYU football fan.
I entice him to breakfast with sideline passes to our next game, and I pitch him. If
he’ll co-sign and put up the down payment, I’ll pay the mortgage by renting out the
rooms and fix it up. After college, we’d sell it and split the profits.
He says yes.
The rest of that year, I’m a full-time student, full-time athlete, and I work a 20 hour
a week job at the campus carpenter shop to learn how to fix up a place. And at
night, I renovate the house.
I’m busy, but I live rent-free and make an extra $1k a month. At the end of my
junior year, I sell the house for a $120k profit.
My share is $60k, a crazy amount to me; Far more money than my parents ever
made in a few years combined.
I take that $60k and buy two more condos to flip – the unofficial start of Wags Capital.
I take that $60k and buy two more condos to flip – the unofficial start of Wags Capital.
The second monumental thing that happens my Junior year is I meet my wife Candice. (We’ve been married for 17 years and have 7 children together).
After college, I get signed by
the N.Y. Jets.
The second monumental thing that happens my Junior year is I meet my wife Candace. (We’ve been married for 20 years now and have 7 children together).
After College, I sign a free agent mini camp deal with the N.Y. Jets.
I’m walking out on the NFL practice field in a Jets helmet, my emotions running high, and I remember…
I remember the day on my steps back home in Canada in 8th grade, crying in my mom’s lap…
I remember my mom looking me in the
eyes and saying,
“Everything happens for a reason, son.”
There’s no way I could have played football, made it to the U.S., gotten a scholarship, met my wife, created the relationships I have today… if I hadn’t been cut in the 8th grade.
People call me an optimist, but I’m not an optimist.
timist
