I was born January 12, 1951, and grew up in South River, New Jersey. I was the third of seven kids, with three brothers and three sisters. My father pushed all of the boys into sports and made it easy for us to participate, by saying that if we did not go to practice after school, then we would have to go to work.

Growing up, I was only interested in baseball, basketball, and football. I read every sports section and followed all the players, even ones on local high school teams. I found ways to play baseball by myself by going to the schoolyard with a sponge ball and throwing it against the wall at a strike zone that I had drawn. In my mind, I would strike out the entire New York Yankee team, beating a lineup that had Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

Our family had a strong faith, and my mother was the leader in this regard. I would sneak out of church to play ball, so finally she worked out an agreement where I could play on Sundays if I went to church on Wednesdays.

I was recruited by several universities to play football, and I shocked a lot of people by choosing to attend the University of Tulsa, which was a smaller school. After my freshman season ended, the coach told me I could start as a quarterback but I chose to play receiver instead because at the time, there were not many black athletes who were getting the chance to play quarterback in professional football.

After graduating in 1973, I made the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. The pinnacle of my professional career was playing in the Super Bowl. I was proud of our team because we worked hard and overcame so many barriers throughout the season. Stepping out of the tunnel to run onto the field at the Super Bowl, and hearing the crowd cheer for me, gave me a feeling of invincibility.

Being on the winning side of a Super Bowl, and having performed at that high level, was a tremendously satisfying feeling because I had accomplished the ultimate goal I had set for myself. To be able to say, "I have reached the top, there is no more I can do and there is no next game to play" is fantastic.

Towards the end of my career, my teammate and friend Billy Joe Dupree said, "Everything that Drew touches turns to gold," which seemed to be true, as everything was falling into place. At the time, I was playing in Super Bowls, getting individual recognition, and living a charmed life. This was about to change quickly.

In February of 1984, my wife and I divorced. I gave her almost everything because I did not want our two kids, who were nine and five, to suffer financially. I could afford to do that because I knew I had tremendous earning power. At the time, I was negotiating a new contract with the Dallas Cowboys that would put me in the upper echelon in the league as far as salaries went.

One month later, on March 22, 1984, I was involved in a car accident and lost my youngest brother, Carey, who was riding with me. I was ripped up internally really badly, hemorrhaging, and in critical condition for three or four days.

Trying to deal with the loss of my brother, and with the guilt of why it was him and not me, was very tough. I really did not care that because of the injuries, I had to give up my football career. If that was what I had to sacrifice, so what? It seemed like a very trivial thing to lose. My brother had to give up his life.

It was the lowest point in my life. My family was my support group. They came down to Dallas after they buried my brother in New Jersey and were there the whole time for me. My mother and I had some great talks where she put the tragedy into a religious perspective. This comforted me because the guilt was so heavy. I felt like I was responsible for taking Carey away from my family. Without a doubt, my faith helped me through this time by providing constant encouragement, as I prayed and asked for forgiveness.

After I retired from football, I was picked up by CBS Sports as an announcer, and voted rookie of the year by USA Today. However, after the first year, CBS decided not to renew my contract. Terry Bradshaw was coming along at the same time, and they decided to cultivate him instead of me. This bothered me tremendously because if I was good enough to be the best rookie announcer, I thought I should have a chance to get better in the second year. I started to wonder what I was going to do.

I worked hard to get back into shape, thinking I might have a chance to make a comeback with Dallas. In the team physical, both the doctor and a national liver specialist approved me to play. The specialist said the odds were 99% that if I got hit and hemorrhaged, I would be OK, but in my mind, to be the player I had been, I needed a 100% endorsement.

Coach Landry asked me to assist the receivers in training camp and to stay on as a coach during the season. Football coaches are unappreciated and work very hard. I helped out, but realized I did not love football enough to continue coaching.

I decided to contact two guys who had been asking me to join them in starting a sport apparel business. That is when Drew Pearson Enterprises, which later became Drew Pearson Marketing, Inc. was born. We decided to sell only headware because everyone was selling T-shirts, and we did not have the resources to handle a wide variety of products.

Our office was in one of the partner's homes when we started. There were serious times when we were not making money, had no salary or cash flow, and could not pay our three-person staff. My partners, Ken Shead and Mike Russell, kept saying, "We will make this work; our time will come."

We were close to folding the business when we received the good news that the 1988 U.S. Olympic committee had chosen us to be their supplier. We were shocked and looked at each other and said, "Now what do we do?" It gave us instant credibility and opened up doors for a deal with Disney, which came next. In July 1989, after six months of negotiating, we signed an agreement with an apparel company that infused significant capital into our business, which helped us turn the corner.

Adversity is part of life. We could be white, black, red, green, big or small, right or left handed, but one thing we have in common is that in our lives we will have to face adversity in some form or shape.

I look at adversity as an obstacle, and try to see what I can do to make myself better or stronger, so I can overcome it. When you are facing difficult times and it does not look like you will make it, that is when you need to keep pulling and plugging, because you never know when that one additional phone call or extra effort will get you over the hump. I am a perfect example of that, because in business, we could have folded the tent a long time ago and we would never have known how close we were to making it happen. A lot of people give up when a little extra effort or push is all that is needed.

Faith is, without a doubt, a critical factor. You have to believe in something that is greater than yourself. It certainly played a key part in helping me overcome everything I have faced.

I think of adversity through a football analogy: If I catch a pass, and the defense tries to tackle me, I never go down on the first hit, because I always try to give that extra effort and get the additional yard. It applies to life, too. You are going to get hit, but you do not need to go down. Keep trying, and you will get the extra yard or maybe score the touchdown.

Today, Drew Pearson Marketing, Inc. is a flourishing organization. It has had yearly revenues reaching $77 million and been rated as high as the fifteenth largest Black-owned business by Black Enterprise Magazine.

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