NFL football legend and sports broadcaster Joe Theismann greeted U.S. pork producers during a keynote address on March 9 of the National Pork Industry Forum in Louisville, Ky. His message: Be proud of who you are and what you represent. Theismann, who spent 12 seasons with the Washington Redskins, suffered a career-ending injury in 1985 that forever changed the course of his future. He learned how to think, analyze and reinvent himself in the face of adversity and change.
Farm Journal’s PORK sat down with Theismann at Pork Forum. Here’s what he had to say about pork, football and goals.
Q. What’s your favorite way to serve pork?
A. I love pork. It’s my meat of choice to cook. I like pork chops – especially the thick cutlets. I can grill them real quick. I’m not a fancy gourmet guy. I like things simple. If I have green beans, applesauce and a pork chop, I’m a happy man.
Q. What’s something people may not know about you?
A. I had a really good junior year playing football. Going into that spring, some writer mentioned offhandedly to Roger Valdiserri, our public relations director at the University of Notre Dame, “Oh, is that Theismann like in Heisman? Everybody laughed. Roger put it away in his little memory bank. So, the beginning of my senior year, he called me in to his office. He said, “How do you pronounce your last name?” I said it’s THEES-mann. He says, “No, it’s actually pronounced THIGHS-mann.” I said, “No, it’s actually pronounced THEES-mann.” And he said, “No, Joe, your last name is pronounced THIGHS-mann.” So, I asked him to give me the phone. I called my dad back home in New Jersey. I got my dad on the phone and said, “Dad, I got a question for you.” And he says, “Fire away.” I said, “Dad, how do you pronounce your last name?” There’s dead silence for about 30 seconds. He goes, “Are you all right, Joe?” I said, “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll explain later. Just how do you pronounce your name?” He said THEES-mann. I hung up the phone and turned to Roger and said, “It’s THEES-mann.”
He turned to me and said, “Joe, there’s a trophy out there called the Heisman Trophy. It goes to the best college football player in the country. We think you have a chance to be able to win that trophy, but we’re not just going to count on your athletic ability nor the reputation of the University of Notre Dame. We think by just simply changing the pronunciation of your last name from THEES-mann to THIGHS-mann, we can get you that trophy.”
That was really one of the first times that anyone has ever put a campaign together to try and get somebody a Heisman trophy. Since then, there have been a number of them. But this was one of the first times anybody basically said, “OK, this is what we’re going to do to try and get you the trophy.” I finished second to Jim Plunkett that year. But it was an interesting year, because Archie Manning came out that year from the University of Mississippi, Rex Kern out of Ohio State, Dennis Dummit out of UCLA, Chuck Hixson out of SMU, Jim Plunkett out of Stanford, myself out of Notre Dame. So, we had a heck of a lot of quarterbacks that later went on and played in the NFL.
Gene Noem shares a laugh on stage with Joe Theismann during the Q&A following his speech at Pork Forum.
Q. Why did you decide to write a book?
A. I’ve had an incredible career and there have been so many stories, so many people that influenced my life in such a positive way. That’s why I enjoy doing the speeches and wrote a book called, “How to Be a Champion Every Day.” The book is based on the world of sports, the world of business and our own lives, all paralleling one another. I discuss things like opportunity, goals, attitude, customer service, teamwork and motivation.
Q. If you had one minute with a pork producer, what would you tell them?
A. Focus on what you want and then don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t get there. We’re always going to have obstacles put in our way. I’m a pretty “up” guy. I’m very high energy and I enjoy life. And people say to me, “Joe, you’re always up.” But I’m not always up. I’m like everybody else. I have my ups and downs. Life has peaks and valleys. You’re flying along at the peak and all of a sudden, something happens and you’re in the valley. I choose not to stay in the valley. Other people do. They want to sit there and feel sorry for themselves. You can sit there and feel sorry all you want, but nobody’s coming to save you. It’s up to you to pull up the bootstraps and go after what you want to go after. I would say, “What do you want?” That’s why I ask people to write down goals. Write down goals. There was a study I think where 96% to 97% of people in this world today refuse to take a pen and write down a goal. The question is: How do you expect to achieve what you want if you haven’t identified what you want? It doesn’t matter whether you’re a pig farmer, a transporter, a football player, a mechanic, it doesn’t matter. Just give your life some direction. It’s amazing how it starts to go in that direction.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK at Pork Forum:
From Joe Theismann to Real Pork: Producers Share Hot Topics at Pork Forum
We Can Always Be More Prepared, Says National Pork Board President
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Despite Industry Challenges, Pork Producers Join Together in Unity
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Forum Delegates Adopt Task Force Recommendations, Adjust Checkoff Rate
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