Check, Please

Every year, dozens of East Texas high school athletes move on to the next level at junior colleges and four-year schools all over the country. Most hope that one day, they’ll be turning pro. Oh, and the paychecks? Yeah, that’s part of the dream, too.

It may seem unromantic to think of it, but when these student-athletes cross over into the professional realm, they’re suddenly jumping into a whole new income bracket, too. When Longview’s Bobby Taylor was drafted by the Eagles in 1995, he found his first paycheck staggering.

“I looked at that number,” Bobby said, “and I was just blown away. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure somebody wasn’t going to come up and take it away from me.”

Hallsville’s Roddrick Muckelroy was a two-time All Big 12 player at Texas, and went in the fourth round of the 2010 draft to the Cincinatti Bengals. When he played in his first game, he admits he wanted to see the rewards.

“That was the first thing I wanted to do Monday after the game,” Muckelroy told me, “get that check stub. That first gameday check, I held on to it for a long time. I put it in my dresser drawer for a while … Just to see my name on that check, and to get a chance to see the numbers that were on that check, it was amazing. You’ve been working for it for so long. It’s really exciting.”

Gilmer’s Manny Johnson was a state champ and a three-time Big 12 Champ at Oklahoma, and had to work his way up from the practice squad to the main roster of the Dallas Cowboys this season. He saw his paycheck as tangible proof he had finally made it.

“It felt good,” Manny said. “That’s what everybody looks for, that game-day check. You don’t realize how much it is until you actually get it in your hand and it starts adding up. It’s amazing, but it’s a tribute to hard work. For me it was just being patient and getting everything to work out.”

It’s not just the NFL players, former Longview Lobo, Chris Davis, went to the major leagues with the Texas Rangers. The jump to the show came with a jump in his bank account.
“At the time, I was in the minor leagues. You don’t make a great living there, you just kind of live paycheck to paycheck. My first paycheck, I was like ‘Are you for real? I just play baseball. Is this what I get paid for it?’ … It was definitely cool, but that’s just a bonus because we get to do what we love. We get to play baseball on TV every night in front of millions of people. It’s a blessing, that’s for sure.”

It’s not just the NFL players, former Longview Lobo, Chris Davis, went to the major leagues with the Texas Rangers. The jump to the show came with a jump in his bank account.
“At the time, I was in the minor leagues. You don’t make a great living there, you just kind of live paycheck to paycheck. My first paycheck, I was like ‘Are you for real? I just play baseball. Is this what I get paid for it?’ … It was definitely cool, but that’s just a bonus because we get to do what we love. We get to play baseball on TV every night in front of millions of people. It’s a blessing, that’s for sure.”

With the rise in income comes a rise in stature, as John Tyler’s Teddy Williams learned. Williams went from being a college track star to the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, and then to the main roster this season. Being a Cowboy helped him get established in a way he had never dreamed of.

“When I went to purchase my first vehicle in my own name, and they asked me for my employer, and I said ‘Jerry Jones,’” Williams recalled. “People were just like ‘wow.’ It was crazy.”

Reid Kerr is the host of the appropriately named "SportsRadio Live With Reid Kerr" on 99.3 Talk FM in Tyler, writer, musician, poet, songwriter, ne'er-do-well, comedian, television nimrod, radio play-by-play man, searcher, nihilist, and insomniac.