Most of the time when you hear about an athlete going back to college, it's usually a player who is finishing a degree during the offseason or their spare time. But for former Arizona Cardinal Jason Wright, it came down to a choice; go to school to help others or play football to help himself and his family.
He chose the former option.
Wright, a seven year NFL veteran, was a Cardinal special teams captain during his two season in Arizona, but when he was given a full scholarship to the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, he saw the opportunity to do something bigger than play a game as a profession, he had the change to change lives.
Wright plans to get an MBA and degree in Public Policy that would prepare him to open a charter school for inner city children, even as a contract worth more than $1 million a season was waiting for him in Arizona. General manager Rod Graves said he would give Wright a bigger contract, the Northwestern graduate sat back and took a long, hard look at why he was playing football:
"What's the motive behind me playing longer? What is it in there that draws me? So people would know my name? For me, it was superficial. For me and my family, and our belief in God, it wasn't a good enough motivation."
The NFL needs more stories like this, showing the average fan that not all football players just care about the bottom dollar or the next contract, they want to better themselves and others as well.