Leonard Marshall: From Franklin to NFL Legend

Sharmin:
[00:00:17 - 00:01:52]
Welcome to the Transforming Lives panel podcast. I'm one of your host sharmin, and Mitzy's here with me and we have a special guest. But before we continue, just join me in taking a few deep breaths so that we can become centered and grounded. And if it's safe and you're comfortable, you can close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. And take another deep breath in through your nose and hold that breath at the top and just think of all the things that happen during the day and let go of everything that hasn't served you. And as you let go of it, just exhale, just let it go. Take another deep breath in and let go of the things that you have to do that will keep you distracted for the next 30 or 45 minutes. While you're here with us on the podcast, take another deep breath in and just focus and center on the breath. It is such a privilege to breathe in and out, in and out. And thank you for joining us in this grounding exercise. And you can join us back into the room. Mitzi, welcome and over to you as you introduce our guests. 

Mitzy:
[00:01:52 - 00:02:41]
Wonderful. Thanks, Sherman. Well, I am very excited. We have with us today Leonard Allen Marshall Jr. And that name might sound familiar to some of you listeners. He is a, well, he was a professional football player with the NFL. He was a defensive lineman. He played in the super bowl. And then he transitioned into being an amazing businessman working at Rockefeller Capital, where they manage over 160 billion in assets. So, Leonard, if you could tell us a little bit about where you started from kind of little Leonard, growing up, and take us through, you know, how you became a professional football player and then how you transitioned from being a professional football player afterwards. 

Leonard:
[00:02:42 - 00:07:24]
Sure. So my life began on the bayous of Louisiana. I'm from probably the most southern, the southernmost, deepest point in Louisiana, which is along the bayou called the Bayou Teche. I'm from a town called Franklin, Louisiana. The city, the town got its name from Benjamin Franklin back in the 1800s, probably as early as the late late 1800s. If not, yeah, if not late 1800s, early 1900s. And I'm the general, I'm a member of the third generation of, of my family, which was a slave influence family or a family left over from slavery. Louisiana is a sugar mill town. And parts of Louisiana, especially along the south, hold large deposits of both sugar, sugar byproduct, as well as salt mines. So I, you know, as a boy growing up in that area, I saw the landscape of what was going on around me at an early age. I went to an all boys Methodist school as a. As a young man, from the age of five through age seven, I attended a black all boys Methodist school called Sager Brown Elementary. And from that being that I grew up right in the heart of segregation schools, then became desegregated. At the age of 8, I went to a fully integrated school, W.P. foster. My second grade in elementary school was at W.P. foster. I grew from that school to another desegregated school, Carl Elementary School. And that's when I discovered sports. Around the age of 9, 10, 11, 12 years old, basketball was my sport. It was my first love. I got introduced to the game by a guy named Ray Landry, who loved me enough as, as a kid and said, you know, I want my son to mix and mingle and play with African American kids, because I wanted to play the game of basketball with heart. So his son and I probably played against each other in their driveway probably every afternoon as kids from the age of nine all the way until we were 12 years old. So that man had a major impact on my love for sports because he just thought that he could find a way to teach me some things that I needed to learn and create a competitive edge in me and make a difference in my life, which he really did, because, you know, I love the competition that sports taught me. I love the discipline that sports taught me. I love the team and the framework of it to play sport, which he taught me. So those early adolescent years were very critical in my life. Through middle school, all the way into high school, I was a competitive kid. Everything I did was about competition, whether I played baseball, football, basketball, my grades, whatever. Everything to me was a competition. So as I'm going through puberty and going into high school, I see myself doing greater things. I see myself not being a product of my environment. I see myself soaring to greater heights. And as a result of it, I threw myself into football and basketball. It became my way out of Louisiana. I achieved a scholarship to play football. I got offers from several schools. University of Alabama, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, LSU, University of Oklahoma. I had to pick of the litter where I wanted to go to school, because I put the work in in the classroom, and I also put the work in on the football field. So I made sure I covered every base as I was approaching the next level of my life. That led me to lsu, which led me to the New York Giants, where I spent 10 years of my life and another two years in the NFL at two different other teams. So my take, my greatest takeaway from athletics is nothing ventured, nothing gained. Learn from the theory of nothing and be the best I could possibly be for Leonard Marshall, which would be the best I could be for my family, my friends, my loved one, and now my children and my spouse. So I'm happy where I grew up, how I grew up, and it pretty much changed my whole, the trajectory of my life. Pretty much. 

Mitzy:
[00:07:26 - 00:07:44]
That's great. I mean, so you really said that you seized upon and realized that sports and academia where your ticket out of your situation and that you could take control and transform your life by applying yourself to these two critical areas. 

Leonard:
[00:07:45 - 00:07:47]
Exactly, exactly. 

Mitzy:
[00:07:47 - 00:08:33]
Now, I mean, when you go into something like football and you're playing for a major team in the NFL, obviously there is a ton of sort of looking for. I mean, you're famous, you're, you know, everybody wants to see you touch, you know, you. And then when you shift from, you know, you're retiring out of that, your, your life must take a very big change, going from sort of like that hustle and bustle and fame to now having to transform and reinvent yourself again. So can you talk a little bit about mentally, emotionally, what it was like, how you decided to, it was time you were ready to leave football and then what your next part of life was going to look like. 

Leonard:
[00:08:33 - 00:11:21]
Well, when you do what you love, and I love the game of football, I love sports, I love competition, I love athletics, I love every life lesson that I learned along the way in becoming Leonard Marshall, the Hall of Fame type football player. Everything I did in the game, I've been able to do outside the game because of the discipline that I learned from playing the game, you know, and I'll take that in small steps here with you. From training camp. When you start off every season, you work out for months on end to get your body in the best shape to go to training camp. You come through training camp and you work through training camp to get your body in shape to play a season. You play a 16 game season and then at the end of the 16 weeks, you take a look back and look at what you did right, what you did wrong, what you could have done better. And then did you have a great year? And if you had a great year, look at the steps you made and the measures you achieved while achieving that greatness. And if you didn't, then you go back and you check the box. I can do those things better. I took on the personality or, or I adopted this old adage that as long as you're green, you'll continue to grow, because when you think you're right, you'll begin to rotten. So every year I got better at doing something. I did very well in perpetuity till I became an All Pro player of my position, which means now I'm the master of technique. I'm the master of my fate. I'm the captain of my. My soul. I'm the captain of the next direction in my life. So I wanted to become an All Pro player early so that I demanded respect in my locker room, respect from my peers, and respect for my teammates. I was successful at it. So all I did with football, in life, after football was apply the things that I love a lot, which is getting ready to play the season, preparing to win games, play the game at a high level, accept the challenge and responsibilities associated with that, and then apply that to what I do now in life, which is to provide for my family. So I've never really gotten away from that. All I've done was just take it up to another level. When you do what you love because you love it, it never appears to become work. It'll never be work as long as you love it. It's work when you don't love it, because then you feel like, oh, it's something I got to do. It can't be that. Because if it's that, you're not going to love it. And if you don't love it, your heart's not going to be. Your heart's not in it. Hell, why not do it? Why not? Don't do it. Go find something else to do. Find something you love to do, and it'll never be worked. 

Sharmin:
[00:11:24 - 00:11:34]
Thank you so much, Leonard. I want to. I want to go back to your introduction because you mentioned the theory of nothingness. 

Leonard:
[00:11:34 - 00:11:35]
Yes. 

Sharmin:
[00:11:36 - 00:11:47]
And I have never heard that term. So I would like you to expand on that because I think there are principles that everyone can learn from it. 

Leonard:
[00:11:47 - 00:13:50]
Oh, sure. So I have a friend that's probably one of the best, most successful college football coaches in the history of college football. His name is Nick Saban. And I have learned from Nick Saban and peers of Nick Saban, like the guy that taught me the game in the NFL, Bill Belichick. So I'll go back to the theory of nothingness. When you wake up every day and you begin to start your day, what are you entitled to? Nothing. At the end of the day, you go through your whole day doing what you do every day routinely, and you sit down at your table. And when you go into deep thought and you look at your kids, you look at your spouse, you think about your house, and you think about the things that are most more important to you in the course of a day. And you look at back and you say, what did that truly accomplish today? And if you come up with nothing, who do you have to blame? Only yourself. So when you learn from your work and what you do and what you put into the day in terms of your work, and you come up short on fulfilling the task that you want to take on that day and achieve and check the box on everything you want to achieve and at the end of the day, not have a box unchecked. If you come away with unchecked boxes, and what do you have? Nothing. So that nothingness feeling that people feel as a, as a result of not accomplishing their daily goals, because it's the small steps and it's the little things that you do in terms of becoming who you are that are really critical in terms of your success or lack thereof. And you have to take inventory of that on a daily, nightly, weekly basis. That's called owning your behavior. You have to own it in order to be successful. 

Sharmin:
[00:13:55 - 00:13:59]
How has that been a driving force in your life, that theory? 

Leonard:
[00:13:59 - 00:15:27]
Oh, it's been a, it's been a big time driving force because like I said, There's 1855 players that play in the National Football league. Of that 1855, they represent 1% of college athletics the year they were drafted. So there's 3.2 million players that play college football, but less than 300 players are drafted to play in the NSL. So you represent that body of people, you represent that 1%. Now you go to the next level, it even becomes more minute. Then you put yourself in the category of becoming an all pro player, which means you're the best in the NFL. That's, that's even a smaller fraction. So now you look at a guy who plays the game. The average life of an NFL player is 3.2 years. I played 12 years, 12 years by the grace of God. So I stayed healthy enough, I trained my body well enough. I got heavily compensated for what I did. And along the way, I got my college degree, I got my mba. I did things that I needed to do to take care of Leonard. Football helped me to do that. This athletic body I built helped me to do that. But most importantly, what's between my ears helped me to do that. And then good people like you, so. 

Mitzy:
[00:15:27 - 00:16:02]
I value that, you know, you Brought up a really great point which is, you know, that sort of, that narrowing of the funnel, just how few people make it into the NFL and then fewer still, you know, make it to the peak of the peak. So it's building that confidence, that consistency and keeping your head straight. I mean, I remember when I first started dating my husband who is a die hard football fanatic. Like I'm a football widow. 

Leonard:
[00:16:02 - 00:16:05]
So he still is. 

Mitzy:
[00:16:06 - 00:17:27]
He still is. He absolutely, absolutely is. I remember when I first met him, one of the things that he showed me was this website that had the days without an arrest for the NFL and very rarely did it ever go past zero. So I mean, there was a lot of, there's obviously a lot of people who, when they get into an environment where they're all of a sudden making a lot of money and they have a lot of fame and everybody's wanting them and treating them like they're royalty, a lot of people can mentally get caught up in that and, you know, make some serious mistakes. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, obviously right from the get go that was not who you were, but can you kind of talk about, you know, seeing that within the league and how you avoided it and kind of talk to a little bit about that? Because I think that that's one of the things when people start to accomplish. Some people really, what's the word I'm looking for, they, the, the, you know, the money and the fame, all of a sudden they lose sight of being a good person. They get overwhelmed or caught up in it or whatever. Can you talk a little bit about that? 

Leonard:
[00:17:27 - 00:19:54]
It's very easy to become self consumed. It's very easy to think that you're bigger than the world, especially in a game that is so glorified and glamorous. In the United States, pro football players are looked at as gladiators. Most of them are real warriors of what they, in terms of what they do. There's bigger, if not bigger rock stars than guys in the WWE or the World Wrestling Federation or music or anything else that's out there. I think the thing that kept me so even keel was I was grounded. I came from a family of seven. I came from a two parent household. My father was a construction worker and a bar owner. My mother was a housewife. They both kept their thumbs on all seven of us. I never forgot where I came from. It took a hell of a lot to get where I got. And I'd be damned if I'm on that one minute of fun spoil a Lifetime of work. I worked my behind off to get to the National Football League. I work my behind off International Football League to become a great player. Not too many players can see their names in stadiums for the rest of their lives. None of them. Too many players can see their names in the ring of honor with organizations they work for. Not too many players can call themselves a Pro Football hall of Famer. So I knew that going in that if I put it in, I could certainly get it out, but I had to put it in. And so I'd be damned if I was going to let somebody else deny me of that. I refuse to not let that happen. I played with the greatest, probably two of the greatest linebackers in the history of pro football, Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson. And the guy I first mentioned had more problems than anybody you ever want to see. However, he never let it affect his play on the field. He never let it affect his work ethic in the locker room. And he never let it become a cancer to us as a football team. That stuff always happened away from us. It never trickled in. That's hard to do. However, we as a football team, we learned from that, and we never let that stuff become a deciding factor in terms of our growth and development as a football team. And believe it or not, it helped me. It helped me get my 12 years. It helped me get my flowers and everything else I'm receiving today. 

Sharmin:
[00:19:57 - 00:20:12]
Wow. So, Leonard, tell us about your transition out of football and what was the next level. Where did you go? 

Leonard:
[00:20:13 - 00:21:51]
That's funny. In 1995, my daughter was born. My child is now 29 years old. It's hard to look back, but she was a change of light baby for me. Because I was tired of football. I had accomplished everything in the game that I wanted. I won two championships, three Pro Bowls, two defensive linemans a year, three MVPs. I did everything I wanted to do in the game of football. I went back to school while I was playing football, and I also kept a job in the off season while I was playing football. So I didn't blow all my money. That change of life, baby, made me look at things a lot more objectively. I said, what do I want her to remember when she really grows up and how I want her to remember me. So I'm a guy that always was about continuing to grow. I always, always wanted to better my best. However, that whatever that meant, if it means becoming a better parent, a better father, a better friend, a better dad, a better husband, a better whatever. Today, my wife and I, Lisa, and I have the greatest relationship because I have stayed that grounded and I have given everything I possibly could to be the best I can be, not only for myself, but for them. So 95 changed my life. 2019 was another life changing moment for me. 2009 was another life changing moment for me. I guess through all of it, I just stayed grounded. 

Mitzy:
[00:21:56 - 00:22:06]
When you left football, did you go right away into the career that you're in right now, or was there something that you did in between? Between, or. Can you kind of talk a little bit about that? 

Leonard:
[00:22:06 - 00:23:26]
Oh, sure. I've been involved in several businesses I've. I've done. I can't tell you how many charities I helped raise money for, how many millions of dollars I've raised for charities, how many millions of clothing pieces of clothing I put on the backs of children, how many meals I've fed for people. I've done so many things. In 95, when I quit, I went into the brokerage business. I then transitioned from the broking brokerage business into making NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball licensed merchandise. I then sold that business and went into the finance business and running a mortgage bank. I ran a mortgage bank for six years. I then transitioned that into teaching at Seton Hall University and doing some things there. I then went on to coach high school football for a minute because I felt like I could give a little bit more back to the game and helping young men develop and become talented and become killers for their families as if. As if I did it for mine. It then led me back into the world of finance, which is where I not only help people, but I make money for myself and they make money perpetuously. So I love what I do. Now I'm probably representing some of the wealthiest people in the world and I love what I do. I love what I do. 

Mitzy:
[00:23:27 - 00:24:26]
That's fabulous. If you could sort of summarize, what do you think? Are you mentioned the young gentleman whose father was very influential on you when you were younger, and it kind of reminded me of Robert Kiyosaki's Rich dad, Poor Dad. That sort of having that somebody who's not related to you, but who cares and reaches out and tries to be there as a mentor and a support person. Can you sort of talk. And obviously you have paid it forward many, many times from all the charitable work and everything that you've been doing. Can you kind of summarize and maybe hit some of the highlights for us of some of those sort of key things that you think are really important? You know, when kids are starting out and they're laying their path forward, some of those key things that you'd like to drive home for them. 

Leonard:
[00:24:26 - 00:26:51]
Sure. So I made a major decision in 1979. I had an opportunity to attend the University of Alabama to play for one of the greatest football coaches in the world in the history of college football in Bad Bryant. Paul Bear Bryant was this gentleman's name at the University of Alabama. I also got recruited by the University of Oklahoma and another great football coach in the name of Barry Switzer. I turned down both of those schools to stay home and play at Louisiana State University to represent my home state, to be the first African American child in my family to get a college degree, to send three of my siblings to college meritlessly, and to be able to see my sister achieve her dream was to obtain a PhD in music, teach for 39 years in Louisiana school system. Probably a couple of my greatest accomplishments. I attribute that to the decision I made at 17 years old to stay home and represent my home state. By doing so, I took everything from my childhood. Every doctor, every businessman, every professional person that I knew in Franklin, Louisiana. It's tough to name names because some of them are dead today. However, most of those guys that touched my life, especially Richard Dick McCloskey, who's the only hall of Fame coach in the state of Louisiana from Franklin, Louisiana, and who motivated me as a kid via athletics. I mean, this guy encouraged me to play the game of football, to play it at a high level, to do everything I did. Anytime I wanted to go to a gym, he made a gym available. Anytime I wanted to get off the street and stay out of trouble and do something positive, he gave me an opportunity to work for him. Anytime I needed a friend to talk to other than my dad, he was that guy. So today I honor Richard McCloskey and I honor all the people of Franklin, Louisiana, who touched my life as a boy. I hope I did them proud. I'm in the Louisiana State hall of Fame as well, and the LSU hall of Fame because of all my work down there. And that's the thing that, that, that is very humbling to me at this point in my life, because everything I put into this life, I've been able to give it back. And I'm very proud of that. Very proud of that. 

Sharmin:
[00:26:55 - 00:27:09]
Wow. You said everything that you, you, you were given, you give back. I think that is so noble. 

Leonard:
[00:27:11 - 00:27:12]
Yes. 

Sharmin:
[00:27:12 - 00:27:20]
What do you attribute to that quality, that nobility? 

Leonard:
[00:27:25 - 00:28:29]
My parenting. The way I was raised, the community I was raised by. I mean, it Took a, it took a community to raise me. You know, I got so many friends that touched my life. I could name them Dorothy, Brent, Lera Brent, rusty, cliche, Terry, bro, C.J. shakes. I mean, I don't want to forget anybody. Just, just a number of people. Carlos Snell grow. I, I, I could sit here, just names of people who have stayed in touch with me for years, people I invited to the Super Bowl. When I got a chance to play the super bowl, you know, how many, you know, how many kids dream of playing in the, in the pro football, the greatest game in pro football, the super bowl, that never achieved that. You know, I got a chance to do that twice. That's like to play for a world championship and a sport that I learned as a boy and to play in front of 30 million people on television. I got a chance to do that twice. Most kids dream, so I'm just living my dream. 

Mitzy:
[00:28:31 - 00:29:41]
You know, I think you really, you hit on some really key points, which is, you know, in growing up, parents influence on children is so important, but some children aren't lucky enough to have amazing parents, but they can reach out and look for and find other mentors and other people who have good character and will help guide them if they're not, as you were so lucky to have a good family, as well as pick up good mentors. And they think, you know, when you see so many kids and things go off the rails, that sometimes they don't have that support system and they end up reaching out. And that's when the games and the things can get a hold of them. And it's finding people who really do have your good, your best interest at heart and aligning with those people and following them, you know, and I think that's where, you know, churches, synagogues, it can also come in team sports. It helps build that strength and that community and that good mentorship to help people. 

Leonard:
[00:29:42 - 00:29:51]
You are right on target. Right on target. That's exactly where it happens. 

Mitzy:
[00:29:52 - 00:30:07]
Are there any other things that you want to, any other highlights that you want to share with our, our viewers and our listeners as we sort of get ready to wrap up on listening to this amazing transition as you've gone through so many transitions. 

Leonard:
[00:30:07 - 00:30:08]
Yeah. 

Mitzy:
[00:30:08 - 00:30:10]
No. And what, and what's next for Leonard? 

Leonard:
[00:30:10 - 00:32:05]
Well, what's next for me now is continue to do what I can to, to, to be the best I could possibly be, not only to myself, but to my family. Right now, I'm, I'm loving what I do at Rockefeller Capitol. I'm working with a gentleman out of Canada right now by the name of Brad Miles, who is I think just north of you in what they call Wasauga Beach. Am I right? Okay. Which I have a cousin that resides in Wasaga Beach. We have a transdermal patch, a device that we're using to disseminate a drug called Dronabinol. We're trying to get that through FDA approved process to deliver this medication to people dealing with Parkinson's. I'm hoping that Michael J. Fox something that can help him live out his best life as he continues his journey in life. And people like Michael J. Fox who have Parkinson's. My friend and I met in a unique way. It was actually the same night I met your husband and at an event for Parkinson's in Greenwich, Connecticut. And I love what we're doing at pike dx. I think we're going to change the world. I think we're going to help a lot of people. So that's one of my P's right now, aside from helping wealthy families stay wealthy and helping young athletes learn how to save their money. Because there's going to be a day and time that if you do this the right way and you play the game of football, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, whatever your sport may be, and you play it as long as I did, and you play it because you love it as much as I did, you'll make a whole hell of a lot of money. But most important, you'll save a whole hell of a lot of money if you work with me. 

Mitzy:
[00:32:08 - 00:32:24]
Leonard, thank you so much for spending time with us, sharing the great insights and inspiration for all those kids that are holding on to a football and wanting to make their dream come true and any and every other sport. 

Leonard:
[00:32:25 - 00:33:28]
Thank you so much for joining us today on Transforming Lives Panel Podcast. We hope that you receive some nuggets of wisdom and seeds to plant along your journey of transformation. If you enjoyed what you heard today, we encourage you to let us know and to share us with those that matter in your lives. If you would like to connect with anyone from the panel or our guest speaker, you can find all of the ways to connect in our show. Notes. We have so much gratitude for you and we are so thankful to be a part of your day. Until next time, take great.