Deciding to play College Sports is not a 4 or 5 year decision. It is a 40 or 50 year decision. The impact can be felt for decades.

I once delivered “College Recruiting Simplified” at the Accelerate Football Combine in Greensboro, N.C. I struck up a conversation with a man standing at the fence watching the athletes do Combine drills. His name was Henri Fitzgerald. When I found out that he had played College Football, I asked him to share his story.

“Charlie, I played football at Emory and Henry College in Virginia, a Division 3 school,” he said. “My education there was 100% paid for. I owe it all to football.”

Now, Division 3 schools don’t offer athletics scholarships, but there’s a slew of different ways for athletes to get all, a big chunk, or a decent chunk of their education paid for at that level.

“Being involved in community and charity activities in high school really helped me,” he said. “I got the Bonner Foundation scholarship and that opened the door to all kinds of other scholarships. I majored in Political Science and Business Management. I later got my Juris Doctor at Wake Forest. I am now Vice President/Senior Planned Giving Advisor for Wachovia Trust. I do Investment Management for Non Profits. Again, I owe it all to College Football.”

Henri played receiver at Emory and Henry College. Playing College Sports gave him a distinct advantage in the job market over people who were just regular students in College.

“Having that I played College Sports on my resume was very important,” he said. “When I did my job interview with the Senior VP, he noticed that I had been a College Athlete. That’s mainly what we talked about in the interview. The College Athlete brings so many things to the table character-wise.”