As you sit in your easy chair and watch your favorite sports team perform, do you ever dream about being one of those professional players who seem to have it all? Well the fame and fortune for some of them isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and you might be surprised to know that they are compelled to connect themselves to the rewards of farming. Here are some well-known names and their agricultural ties:
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Adam Timmerman: Played football for the Packers and Rams and retired in 2007. He is now back in Cherokee IA where he farms with his brother and nephews. He’s also a shareholder and general manager of a chain of implement dealerships in northwest Iowa.
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Jason Brown: Walked away from a multi-million NFL contract with the Rams in 2012 to farm in North Carolina. He donates his products to local food pantries and actually learned much about running his operation by watching numerous YouTube videos.
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Wade Davis: Pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs. Davis spends his off-season on a 160-acre farm in Marlboro, New York.
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Jordy Nelson: Wide receiver for the Packers, spends as much time as possible on his family’s farm in Riley, Kansas. He’s known to put in 12-hour days there growing wheat and raising cattle.
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Ross Ohlendorf: Pitcher for a half dozen major league teams, spends a fair amount of time on his family’s cattle ranch outside of Austin Texas. He once interned for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and spends his time weaning calves and mending fences on a 2,000-acre farm started by his father, a fifth-generation farmer/rancher.
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Giovanni Carmazzi: A third-round NFL draft pick in 2000, now has a small goat farm in Northern California.
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Raef LaFrentz: Former NBA basketball player who retired in 2009, owns a farm in his home state of Iowa.
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Brian Sutter: NHL legend and a family of seven brothers. Six of them have played professional hockey and have gone on to coach or manage NHL teams. The oldest (supposedly the best player of the family) stayed on the family dairy farm in Alberta, Canada to help his parents. Brian says they were all raised to be farmers and not hockey players, so all of them maintain their agricultural roots.
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Will Witherspoon: Former NFL linebacker, now owns and operates Shire Gate Farm in Owensville, Missouri. Grass-fed beef and laying hens are what he focuses on.
So, if you think what those pro athletes have is enviable, think again. There are many of them who strive to have what farmers have. They don’t ground themselves in an athletic field – instead they choose the grounds of agriculture. Consider yourself a champion they look up to.
-Terry Olson, Titan Machinery
References:
https://www.agriculture.com/news/two-time-super-bowl-champ-is-back-on-the-family-farm?utm_source=ag-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=todaysnews_112517&did=194415
https://modernfarmer.com/2015/11/professional-athletes-farmers/
www.shiregatefarm.com/