Former New York Jets linebacker Ricky Sapp is continuing to make plays. Now retired from football, Sapp is delivering the hits as a children’s book author.
For a player who followed his childhood dream to play football at the highest level in the NFL, Sapp’s life is now led by a different purpose.
Following a playing career that included three years as a linebacker with the Jets, Sapp started coaching high school football in South Carolina, where he would become a substitute teacher in Myrtle Beach. He then joined the coaching staff at his alma mater, becoming a strength coach at Clemson.
On the side, he had been doing some motivational speaking. Through appearances at community events, schools and youth groups, Sapp began to hear feedback about his life story. A common thread began to emerge, which would lead to another career change for the former NFL linebacker.
As much as he loved coaching football, he wanted to go into motivational speaking, this much he knew. But the parents attending his events began telling him that he should write a book about his life.
So, Sapp took a leap of faith a couple of years ago, going all-in on his life story. In Dream Big (released this summer through the Ricky Sapp Foundation), Sapp details his life beginning as a nine-year-old boy.
“The book talks about how when I was young, my mom would drive me past South Carolina State University Bulldogs football stadium to go pick my dad up from work,” Sapp told Jets Wire.
“Well, when I was a young kid, I’d never seen a stadium like that in my life. So when I rolled by and I saw the stadium, my mom saw how excited I was, and I was like, ‘Mom, you know, what the heck is that?’ And she told me what it was, so she would drive me past the stadium all the time and I would stare out the window.”
He told his mother that one day, he would play in a stadium like that.
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Weeks after that drive, Sapp was in the car again with his mother. Staring out the window, he saw Pop Warner football practice. He asked again about what was happening and she stopped the car.
Sapp ran out the door and asked a coach if it was too late to play. The coach said that Sapp could play if he had the $10 registration fee.
His mother did, and Sapp’s football career began that day. He began playing on the offensive line, eventually transitioning to running back. Even in those early days, Sapp made an impression on the football field.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing from there for Sapp.
He was kicked out of school in eighth grade, with Sapp saying that he was looking for attention the wrong way and with the wrong people. Because he was kicked out of the eighth grade, a school rule said he wasn’t eligible to play freshman football either.
One day, one of his teachers pulled him aside and told the high school freshman that he was a leader, but he was using this leadership ability in a way that didn’t life up others.
For his sixteenth birthday, Sapp finally got to see a South Carolina State football game with his church youth group. By that time, he was beginning to generate big-time interest from major college programs.
The gameday experience at South Carolina State enthralled him and helped fuel him to continue his path toward major college football.
Sapp would eventually end up at Clemson, earning All-ACC honors at linebacker as a senior. The Philadelphia Eagles selected him in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL draft.
“And towards the end of the book, I just talk about how I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. I was the first person in my hometown to go play in the NFL,” Sapp said.
“I was the first to get over 50 Division 1 offers…I talk about how kids can dream big, just like I did, and I tell them that they can be the first person to do something just like I was the first. So that’s kind of the story – that’s how I tried to encourage the kids that if you got a big dream, you just got to believe it.
“When I was young, I told my mom and dad – once I saw that stadium, that once I started playing football, that one day I’d be in the NFL. My mom and dad said nothing. They didn’t try to discourage me. They allowed me to go with that. And what I realized as I got older is that I didn’t need my mom and dad to believe in me, you know? I just needed myself believing in me.”
Sapp would play six years in the NFL with four different teams.
Oh, and in 2008, Sapp played for Clemson against South Carolina State. Talk about a full circle moment for Sapp to play against the team that played in the stadium which started his football dream in elementary school.
“I didn’t think about this until I got out of the NFL,” Sapp said. “Until God showed me my purpose was to work with kids.”
Sapp is planning to write a follow-up to Dream Big.