Professional Football Player walks away from a $37 million contract to start a farm to help feel the hungry.
At one point, number 60, Jason Brown, was one of the best centers in the NFL. At one point he had a five-year, $37 million contract with the St. Louis Rams.
And at one point he decided it was all meaningless – and just walked away from football, to do, of all things, become a farmer!!!
Although, after doing my homework on this story, the premise that he “walked away from $37 mil” is both true and not true.
Basically, he signed a 5 year, $37 million contract with the St Louis Rams, was cut/released halfway through the contract, although the contract netted him $20 million in so called “guaranteed money”.
After being released from the Rams, he was courted by other teams, and probably would have made the balance of his $37 million if he continued to play, as well as untold millions from future play in the NFL after that contract, but instead, chose to retire from the game.
Nonetheless, as I understand sports contracts, he left by choice a small fortune of future income on the table, to peruse a different calling.
“My agent told me, ‘You’re making the biggest mistake of your life,'” said Brown.
“And I looked right back at him and I said, ‘No I’m not. No I’m not.'” So what could possibly trump the NFL? You wouldn’t believe…..FARMING!!!
Jason Brown quit football to be a plain, old farmer — even though he’d never farmed a day a in his life.
Asked how he learned to even know what to do, Brown said: “Get on the Internet. Watch YouTube videos.”
Yep! He learned how to farm from YouTube!!!
Thanks to YouTube and some good advice from other farmers in Louisburg, N.C., Jason finished a five-acre plot of sweet potatoes.
This was [I think] his second farming season, harvesting 100,000 pounds, that’s 50 TONS [WOW!!] of sweet potatoes, and 10,000 pounds of cucumbers!!!
These were from his second harvest as I understand it, his first “rookie” farming harvest was not very successful.
But, like any true “baller”, he worked on “his game” , and if there were such an award, for this harvest, he would have to get the “Farming MVP” award 🙂
“When you see them pop up out of the ground, man, it’s the most beautiful thing you could ever see,” said Brown. He said he has never felt more successful.
“Not in man’s standards,” said Brown. “But in God’s eyes.”
Says Brown: “When I think about a life of greatness, I think about a life of service.”
His plan for this farm, which he calls “First Fruits Farm,” is to donate the first fruits of every harvest to food pantries.
…which is where that 50 tons of sweet potatoes is headed, NICE!!! (and such a healthy veggie BTW)
“It’s unusual for a grower to grow a crop just to give away,” said Rebecca Page, who organizes food collection for the needy.
“And that’s what Jason has done. And he’s planning to do more next year.”
Brown has 1,000 acres here, which could go a long way toward eliminating hunger in this neck of North Carolina.
“Love is the most wonderful currency that you can give anyone,” said Brown.
More on Jason Brown’s farm and organization can be found at the
“First Fruits Farm” Website
some of text, and the inspiration for this article is from an article I ran across on CBSnews.com
~stay healthy~
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Ron Finley: The “Gangster Gardner”
He plants food and gardens in Vacant lots in South Central L.A.
Food for Thought:
NFL Football’s John Urschel walks away from NFL,
to pursue passion of “Making Mathematics Cool”
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