DAYTON — At one point in his life — a time when you would think E.J. Junior would be dreaming of playing in the NFL — he was really hoping to become an architectural engineer.
“I wanted to design buildings like (this) National City Bank (now PNC),” Junior said Monday, Aug. 31, as he stood in the downtown bank’s atrium, which was designed by the world-renowned I.M. Pei.
“If you had told me when I was in the eighth grade I was going to play in the NFL for 13 years, I’d have said you were crazy, because those guys are way too big, run too fast and hit too hard.
“That’s what I wanted to do (be an architect), and I haven’t done that.”
Junior hasn’t done that because he was such a good linebacker at Alabama. He became a first-round draft choice in the NFL, eventually playing those 13 years for the Cardinals, Dolphins, Buccaneers and Seahawks, although he does have an undergraduate degree in public relations.
Then he became a coach. Junior just began his first season coaching Central State, which plays its second game of the season Sunday in the Dayton Classic V against Virginia Union at Welcome Stadium. He was promoting the game during a media conference at the bank.
He says staying on his players to get their education will help his team.
“To be successful, you’ve got to go beyond what you normally would do,” Junior said. “It’s what catches the boss’ eye. If I’m a janitor and I just dust the floor and don’t polish the brass, I’m not going to have a job long.
“But if I go beyond and do the little things that will get attention, that’s what will get you the promotion. Instead of just doing a paper, make sure you do a bibliography that goes into more detail. Go beyond what the teacher asked you to do. The great football player goes beyond what we’re asking him to do.”
Junior, who said he is about 30 hours away from that degree in engineering — and helps his wife, who is an engineer — said someday he expects to return to school and earn his master’s degree.
“A lot of (players) are caught up in the glitz and glamour ... focused on playing in the NFL, playing in the NBA,” Junior said. “It’s a possibility. The reality is, it isn’t going to happen.
“It’s just that God sent me in a different direction. When I got to high school, I got a lot of scholarship offers to play football, and I said okay, this will pay for my education. It wasn’t until my senior year in college that I was told I had a chance to be a No. 1 draft choice. I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’
“But that wasn’t my goal. I just loved to play the game, and my parents always stressed academics.”