TAMPA, Fla — Derrick Brooks and football seem to go hand in hand. But would you believe that this decorated Superbowl champ had a different vision for his life as a kid?
"I did not grow up wanting to be a professional football player. For me, football was a means to an end. I wanted to be an insurance man because that's who, in my neighborhood, I saw that he dressed nice with a suit, he drove a BMW and he collected money," he said.
But football and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers eventually came calling and Brooks answered.
After a 14-year NFL career, Brooks transitioned to working in the hockey world on the business side of Vinik Sports Group—which owns the lightning.
He now leads the group's Corporate and Community Business Affairs Division.
"A lot of behind the scenes with our strategic planning and execution of growing our asset portfolio for Vinik Sports Group and at the end of the day just trying to keep people excited about investing in ice in Florida!" he laughed.
And as the team he now works for fights for another Stanley Cup in game five Brooks shared this advice from his time as a pro-athlete.
"Take every minute by minute, second by second, period by period, and just concentrate on that. Just zero in on this game," he said.
It's advice that he said could bring the bolts and himself some unique bragging rights.
"Obviously having two Stanley cup rings as an executive and one super bowl ring and one hall of fame ring, it's like 'man, if you are fortunate enough to have a third one, you'll have more hockey rings than then you do football rings!' And you know what? I want to have that problem, believe me!" he laughed.
