Byline: Mike Lucas
While Al Johnson will be gaining national exposure this fall as a member of Playboy Magazine's 2002 preseason All-American team, the University of Wisconsin senior is being exposed to a much different world this summer; the business world, where many investors have been getting sacked for big losses.
Johnson and UW teammate Jason Jowers have been working as interns at the Madison office of Morgan Stanley. They know something, too, about the aforementioned football metaphor and what can happen when the protection breaks down in the trenches. Both are starting offensive linemen - Johnson at center, Jowers at right tackle.
And, fittingly, they are being guided through their internship at the brokerage firm by a fellow Badger, a fellow lineman, Derek Engler, the starting center on the 1996 team. Given the turbulent business landscape, how has Engler, a rookie, managed to survive?
'I've got to be honest with you, I'm fresh, I'm just starting out,' he said. 'I'm not a senior broker that has an existing book of portfolios that are just blowing up. I'm starting at the bottom, and, to me, that's the most opportune time.'
Timing is everything.
*
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Derek Engler had two associates on the phone. His former agent was on one line, and a business recruiter was on the other. His career was on hold. His eyes were fixed on a television screen.
Engler was in limbo.
After spending four seasons with the New York Giants - 36 games, nine career starts - Engler was rehabbing a damaged shoulder, starting a family and looking for work. Maybe a new line of work.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Engler continued to stare at the TV screen. He couldn't believe his eyes.
'I'm on the line, talking about entering into a new career as a financial advisor,' he recalled, 'and I'm watching the financial capital of the world come crumbling down.'
9-11.
'For the next 72 hours, my eyes were glued on the TV,' he said. 'and I can't tell you how many times I cried. It really shook me up. I had friends down there.'
One of his good friends was beginning his first day of work in New York City, some four blocks from the World Trade Center, when the first plane crashed into one of the towers.
'All the windows imploded in his office, throwing people 50 feet across the room,' Engler recalled of their conversation the following day.
'He said it turned into a war zone. Once he went outside the door, he had to step through two feet of dust, concrete, and glass, and he had to run with his head up, because of falling debris and body parts.'
Shortly after the 9-11 tragedy, Engler traveled to New York to get his shoulder examined. While he was there, he looked up some of his former Giants teammates. 'It shook up a lot of emotions,' he said.
Upon returning to Madison, Engler, then 27, had to make a decision on his future. Although he had been the victim of a numbers crunch in New York, he was happy with what he had accomplished as an undrafted free agent.
His goal was to play three seasons in the NFL to qualify for his pension. He played four with the Giants, highlighted by a trip to Super Bowl XXXV. So he was very content to go in another direction.
'There would be no looking back, no turning back,' he told his wife. 'And I don't care if I get a call from another team tomorrow morning.'
Sure enough, he got that telephone call. Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin wanted to sign him because of an injury to the Jaguars' starting center. Engler said thanks, but no thanks. A month later, he said the same thing to the Bears.
He told them his shoulder was about 70 percent and he was committed to moving on with his life. Morgan Stanley gave him that opportunity. Like any rookie in any profession, he's going through a learning stage; experiencing the requisite growing pains of a first-year financial advisor.
But he's used to bouncing back up on his feet after getting knocked down. As a player, Engler, a St. Paul, Minn., native, was a self-described late bloomer. He didn't start until his senior year at Wisconsin, making a successful transition from backup guard to starting center.
Engler earned his undergraduate degree in sociology. He also received a certificate from the criminal justice program. He has worked as a summer intern at a juvenile detention center. And he once planned on becoming a teacher.
During one of his off-seasons in New York, he even became certified to teach social studies. But he didn't follow through, though some day he would like to coach high school football. For now, he's got his hands full. This job has been quite an education.
'I had some friends, former NFL teammates, who got scammed by agents-slash-financial advisors,' Engler said.
To this end, he has become heavily involved with the National Football League Players Association and its new financial advisors program.
Over the Fourth of July, he renewed his friendship with a few of his old Badger teammates: Jerry Wunsch, Jason Maniecki and Jamie Vanderveldt. They all took part in a coaching clinic in Alaska.
Wunsch was just named this week on The Sporting News annual list of 'Good Guys.'
Wunsch helps sponsor a five-day outdoor trip in Wisconsin for 25 to 30 kids with cancer and sickle cell anemia.
Another former UW football player, Troy Vincent of the Philadelphia Eagles, made the 'Good Guys' list for his sponsorship of prep athletes.
The fact that Engler recently was in the company of Wunsch (Tampa Bay Bucs) and another good friend, Ron Stone (San Francisco 49ers), made him a little homesick. It's that time of year again. Pro training camps will be opening this weekend.
'I don't miss waking up on Monday mornings and taking a half-hour to go 10 yards to the bathroom,' Engler said.
'But the part that I miss is going through the hell with those guys because it creates a bond that you always remember. At the same time, I'm thanking God that I don't have to go through another August. That is hell. It really is.'
Making him perfectly suited, perhaps, to go through August in his new environment.
