- When you're growing up and you're dreaming about
playing in the NFL, you dream about
playing on the football field, and being on TV,
and hopefully winning some Super Bowls.
But you don't think about all
the things that can come with it.
I was fortunate to have a 12-year career in the NFL.
Now, here I am, retired for over a decade,
and the game is still presenting me
with a huge platform to impact people.
This is so much bigger than even what I dreamed
way back when, when I dreamed of
being a professional football player.
I got into coaching really because my kids play.
And as I had my boys growing up and playing football
I thought, "O.K., here's a great opportunity
for me to help them," because both of my boys
have had the same dream that I had when I was their age.
See that, E.J., while they were stacked?
That's why I'm saying you almost gotta let Kenny -
you gotta get on your horse on those shallows.
You gotta let him pass,
and then read that guy.
When the teacher would ask you in third and fourth grade,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
And, obviously, a lot of the answers were
a policeman, or a fireman, or teacher, or doctor.
I was always gonna be an athlete.
As long as far back as I can remember,
that's what I wanted to do.
Oh!
That was on your receiver coach,
he's gotta make that catch.
When I went through some of the other struggles -
sitting on the bench for four years in college,
and cut by the Green Bay Packers -
that was probably the first time
where I really had to come to grips with,
"Maybe this isn't going to happen."
That's when I said, "O.K., I gotta get a job."
- I remember one night I said,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
And he said, "I want to be in the NFL."
And, honestly, I thought, "Until we can't make it work,
I'll follow you and I'll support you."
- As you go through year after year - and you're 25,
you're 26, you're 27 - in the back of your mind
you're going, "O.K., I know I can still do this,
and I don't want to let my dream go."
But at the same time I have to be realistic
and go, "O.K., what if I never get that call?
What's it gonna look like?"
- There were times that I remember going to my mom
and dad, when Kurt wasn't around, and saying,
"He thinks he's good enough,
good enough for us to get off food stamps,
good enough for us to get a house. How do I know?"
- Brenda's been there from Day One.
She shaped everything, from my perspective on life
to helping me to just grow up
and see things from a bigger picture.
It was fast and furious
that I went from being nobody to being the league MVP,
and winning the Super Bowl, all in one year.
It wasn't until I actually made it
that I started to see the kind of platform
that playing professional sports presented you.
And I think that's when the wheels started turning
a little bit like, "O.K., this is so much bigger
than just throwing touchdown passes
and winning football games.
We've got an opportunity to truly impact people."
Now it was like, "O.K., how do we do it?"
- It's not a complete circle because this is open,
so it's a big hook.
It starts here and then comes around.
So that is a heart.
- A heart.
- Do you see the heart? - Yeah.
- I saw the heart when I created it for you.
And it's almost as big as your heart.
- Our son Zachary suffered a traumatic brain injury
when he was four months old.
And so every day he dealt with struggles
and with challenges in everything that he did.
I think like a lot of families that
have a child with disabilities it was like,
"O.K., he'll just come and he'll just stay at home.
And we'll try to see what the future looks like,
and we'll do the best we can from there."
We realized for the first time
that we were holding Zach back
because we didn't have the opportunities to
allow him to spread his wings.
We need to build a place where Zach can live,
and have peers, and be able to experience
what all of our other children experience,
and also be able to pursue a purpose in life.
And that place became this, became Treasure House.
- The mission of Treasure House is to
have an independent living community
for young adults with cognitive disabilities.
With the real point being that they can have
the most vibrant lives possible.
- Treasure House is all that I had dreamed.
And it's bigger because I didn't realize
the impact, how far it goes.
From parents coming up to me saying,
"I now can dream. My son is 10 years old
and I was already worried about what's his future.
Now I have some place to dream about."
- What people don't realize is that
these young men and women, or these individuals,
that are dealing with these disabilities
are such a huge treasure to those that know them.
So our dream is that every family like ours
has the opportunity to dream for something bigger.
As long as these doors are open,
and as long as it presents us opportunities
to continually impact people,
I'm not gonna let those doors close.