NFL legend Willie Roaf guest at health fair luncheon

By CASEY COLLIER
Former New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Willie Roaf played 13 seasons in the NFL, as well as earning several titles of honor from a distinctive college football career.
He is an NFL Hall of Famer, played in the Pro Bowl 11 times, was selected nine times for the All-American team, was on the 1990’s All Decade team, was on the 2000’s All Decade team and is in the College, Louisiana, and Arkansas Football Halls of Fame; and now, he can also say that he was asked to address students at Franklin High School, and was the keynote speaker at Fit, Fun and Fabulous’ Health and Wellness Luncheon, held Thursday at the Lamp Post reception hall.
After all, he says his dad would have been proud to see it.
Roaf opened the address with a synopsized version of his career history. He was born in Arkansas, but played college ball for Louisiana Tech University. After which, he played nine seasons for the Saints after being chosen as the eighth pick in the first round of the 1993 NFL draft. He was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002 prior to suffering a season ending injury in 2001. Once in Kansas City, he played for the Chiefs for four seasons.
He touted the fitness utilities of the Fitbit fitness tracker he was wearing, and gave a nod to his wife, who he met while playing for the Chiefs, and who was seated at an adjacent table. He said that meeting Angela was the best thing he did in his life.
He spoke briefly of the recent death of his father, who was his role model, and how he had been affected by that. “My dad was more proud of my manager and me, for getting closer to God, than he was about football,” Roaf recalled. “We really miss him, and he’d have been proud of me being here, because he was a hard-working man, and I was telling those kids that ‘You’d better make sure you take care of that school work, and you make sure you put God first, in your life. And if you don’t have a father at home, you make sure you find somebody you can look up to and who can help guide you in the right direction.’”
Roaf opened the floor to questions, and fielded several. One of which, was “What’s the biggest misconception young men have about getting into the NFL?”
“You really don’t need to be thinking about pro ball if you are in high school,” Roaf said. “If you get to college and start having some success, I don’t care if you are going to Alabama or one of these other big schools, you are still just one play away from getting injured, and it could be all over. The average expectancy of any guy in pro sports is only two or three years, anyway. You’ve got guys who have played 15 or 20 years. But the average of those who make it to see the field, they only stay for two or three years. There are lots of guys who go to those big schools and they play at those big schools but they don’t reach their potential (scholastically). Those are the guys that when they are job hunting, they don’t adjust too well to life after football.”
Roaf was asked who he thought would win the Superbowl this year, and he admitted that while he knew that his current audience wanted it to be the Saints, that he was keeping his eye on the as yet undefeated Chiefs to win the big game.
When asked if he plays fantasy football, he simply chuckled and said, “No.”
He was also asked if he thought college athletes should get paid to play college sports, and said that he thought that they should get paid to play, and that maybe a hypothetical payment system could consist of a fund in which the athlete’s earnings stay unused, and could be made available to the athlete on their graduation. He remarked that under the current restrictions, it appears to him that the athletes are already reaping financial benefits from their college athletic careers anyway, whether through diversionary channels, or in the form of gifts.
To the question, “What, if any, differences in values did you find between your personal values, and those of the NFL?” Roaf answered, “It is a business, you know? You get a lot of guys who get an attitude, especially coming in having never tried to do it, themselves. They may think they are better than you, that they can do a better job. Well, we’ll see when they get down in the fire. The way it is now, these guys, their attitudes and the way they are acting is different. So, you have to handle it a little differently, you know? They think they’re entitled, whereas we came through an old school, working hard. These guys, these kids, now they are a lot more entitled. Just like the generation that grew up using cell phones is entitled. They don’t understand. I didn’t have to go through what my father went through. So, I didn’t understand. They are out there on social media every day, and it’s messing up these kids’ heads. This new generation is watching the Kardashians. It’s in everything they see. And, I know that that family makes a lot of money, there. But, they (the new generation) have got to figure it out.”
Roaf didn’t leave before accepting an honorary certificate of appreciation from Franklin Mayor Raymond Harris Jr., and the thanks of the executive board of the event.
Roaf also stuck around after the conclusion of the luncheon to sign autographs and take pictures with fans.