While with the Buffalo Bills, Don Beebe lost 4 Super Bowls and is widely known for his Super Bowl XXVII play. The Buffalo Bills were down and the Cowboys Leon Lett picked up a fumble and was running toward what would have been an easy touchdown and a new Super Bowl record for most points scored. But Don wouldn't allow it, running and swatting the ball out of Lett's hands at the half yard line, making Leon Lett look like a child. Don Beebe has been a spiritual leader on and off the field and has taken his love of the game and Lord to coaching. This is Don Beebe. This is his Purpose...
Deborah Martinez: What are a few of the things that you do to give back to your community? Don Beebe: After my career in playing football I felt led to be a part of kids lives in a positive way, so I started a company called House of Speed that trains athletes and it’s certainly given me a lot of avenues and positions to speak to kids. And so then I wanted to be a part of kids’ lives on a more intimate level, which is day in and day out and so I got into coaching. And so now I’m the head coach at Aurora Christian HS and certainly now I can be a part of kids in a day in and day out basis. So I feel that I played in the National Football League to give myself a platform to do what I do today.
DM: What athlete was your biggest influence growing up? DB: Walter Payton because he played the game the way it was meant to be played. He had a passion and love not only for his game, but for people. Even though he was a superstar he was the hardest working, humble…would shake your hand and sign autographs at any point in time. I don’t think I ever saw Walter Payton in a bad mood.
DM: Do you know that everybody else has said that too?
DB: He was a huge inspiration for me not only just as an athlete, but as a person.
DM: How important is the role of family in your success? DB: Family is everything. For me goes like this: Faith, family and then friends, and then job. So I really focus on family a lot because the fact the family I grew up in was all about a great mom and dad, two great older sisters, two great younger brothers. Even still today we take a great family vacation to Minnesota. This will be our 38th year and nobody in the immediate family has ever missed. It’s a very close knit family and I think it gives me the morals and values to be able to do what I do today.
DM: How do you manage to stay out of the negative headlines? DB: It’s kind of like when I tell a kid that’s having issues. Whatever the issue is, you stay away from those issues. If you’re an alcoholic, you stay away from bars. If you have other issues as far as the internet, stay off the internet. It comes down to where you’re spending your time. If you want to keep away from trouble then stay away from trouble. I had friends for example, two friends in high school, they were both drinkers. One was successful where they never drank when they were driving and they never forced the issue on anyone else, who didn’t want to drink, which I was that person. I never wanted to drink. So, I found out who my true friends were when it came to being at a party or being around friends when alcohol was there. One of my friends said, hey he doesn’t want to do it. The other one would say, “well, how come, you think you’re better than that?” Well, that person ended up living in a box in Milwaukee, getting high on drugs and alcohol, which is kind of sad. My other friend’s a very successful businessman in Chicago. So, I just stay away from trouble, or where trouble is.
DM: What is hardest part about being a professional athlete? DB: The hardest part is dealing with the stigma of people around you and what they perceive you as. They don’t look at you as human. We’re just people playing football just like any other normal person that does whatever they do for a living. Our society has put athletes such on a pedestal, that when they falter, it’s major news. That’s the toughest part, just dealing with who I am. I’m just a guy. I just chose football as my living. It’s not that I changed, when I made it to the NFL, it’s that the people around you change. They perceive you differently.
DM: So do think that because of that, because athletes know that so many people look up to them that they should be good role models? Like you said, you are just a regular guy, doing your job, so why should you have to change who you are. Or do you think that because all of these people are looking up to you, it is your responsibility to be a good role model? DB: Most of all successful business people that become tops in their business have to be able to understand what really makes a relationship go. And that’s caring about them, loving them, unselfishness. And so when you’re an athlete and you make it you become a name on an NFL team or professional team and people’s perception of you changes you can’t let that change who you are. You still have to be the same guy you were when you were in high school. It’s all based on what your character is. Bring your kids up right, with the right morals and values so if and when they become a dad or a husband or an employee one day that they know how to treat people as far as relationships. That’s who your most successful people are; the people that know how to deal with people and be unselfish; the fact that you think of others before you think of yourself.
DM: What coach was your biggest influence? DB: I would say, two people come to my mind. My high school coach instilled the love of football in me in my teenage years. He came in at the latter part of my high school career. I wasn’t really passionate about football, I was passionate about basketball. He changed that perspective for me, so I owe a lot to him for instilling that. I loved playing in the back yard as a kid just the guys getting together and beating each other up. But, organized football, putting on a helmet and going out there and sweating and all that, I wasn’t crazy about, but because of coach Jorgensen that passion changed. Now the other person that I would certainly hold in high regard, and the most humble, Hall of Fame coach, is Marv Levy. Still to this day, coach Levy; if you call him he will call you back within minutes. When he writes you a letter it’s not an email or a text or a phone message, he actually hand writes you a letter. This guy is one of the most quality men I have ever met.
DM: What would your advice be to first year pros? DB: Well my advice to them would be: understand that your life hasn’t change. Everyone tells them that their life has just changed. Why? Because now you are going to make more money and more people are going to congregate to you? You are still the same person that you always were. Certainly now you may have more responsibility, so you better take that to high regard, that now kids are going to be looking at you as a role model, so give them a good example. Those are things I would talk to them about. Also, I would tell them, be careful who you choose as companions and friends, because you are going to be a product of the people that you associate with. I can give you plenty of examples in the NFL history of guys that have gotten in trouble because of those people that they hang around with.
DM: What was your most memorable moment? DB: Well I have several. Certainly the ones that come to my mind right at the moment, when I stepped on the field for the first time in a Buffalo Bills uniform; against the Houston Oilers in the Astro Dome my rookie year. The first pass that ever came my way went for a 65 yard touchdown on a nationally televised game, so that was quite a way to break into the NFL. And then finally winning the Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, after losing 4 with Buffalo, and knowing what that felt like…the feeling of standing on the field behind Brett Farve the last 10 seconds and watching that clock tick down, and then getting the game ball from Brett as he knelt down and gave me the ball right after that, and I shared a moment with my wife and carried my kids off in my arms, after being Super Bowl champions, man it doesn’t get any better than that.
DM: Should athletes be more involved in their communities? DB: Without a question. I will use myself as an example, when I first made it I was kind of a shy, bashful guy, I wasn’t one for standing up in public and speaking, it just was not my gift. And so one off season I felt really conflicted that I had a lot of doors opened for me and a lot of people helped me and God just said. "hey, I have blessed you with this", and in my mind I’m thinking, and I am not going out there and promoting that. And so after my second or third year in the off season I just went to the Chaplain of the Buffalo Bills and said, "you know what, every engagement that you want me to do, I will take it, and any thing that you can't find anyone to do, I will take it too.’" So, I had growing speaking engagements on my table and appearances because I had a great message to tell kids and tell parents and people that God has given me, so it has certainly given me a great platform to do that.
