In football, and in life, Joe Theismann is an outlier. The former NFL quarterback, now 76, has reached some of the greatest heights an athlete can achieve. Theismann was a first team All-American at Notre Dame University, a two-time Pro Bowler in the National Football League, the 1983 NFL Most Valuable Player and a Super Bowl champion with the Washington Redskins. Theismann has also hit rock bottom on the playing field—in 1985, he suffered a gruesome career-ending injury. Afterwards, Theismann carved out multiple careers, as an Emmy award-winning sports analyst, entrepreneur and speaker. This past March, the Tidewell Foundation—the philanthropic arm serving Sarasota’s Tidewell Hospice and nonprofit Empath Health affiliate organizations—brought Theismann to The Ritz-Carlton to serve as the keynote speaker for the Foundation’s 17th Annual Signature Luncheon. Ahead of his talk, Theismann sat down with SRQ Magazine to discuss what he’s learned about leadership, resilience and perseverance throughout his career. 

What is the main message that you want to convey in your talk today? JOE THIESMANN We're gathered here for a very important reason: to help others. The good Lord put us on this earth to serve others, not to be served. It took me a long time to figure that out. I’ve received a lot of accolades and have accomplished a lot in the world of sports—sooner or later, you start to think that you’re pretty important. You think that the world revolves around you, but then I found out that that’s not the way life is, nor is it the way life should be. What we’re doing here today is giving an opportunity to everybody to be able to help somebody else. To share what they have as people, individuals, to financially help others. My mom and dad used hospice, so I understand how important it is to a family when hospice is available. 

What does it mean for you to be here in Sarasota, speaking on behalf of the Tidewell Foundation?  This means an awful lot to me. I believe that the good Lord gave me certain skills and I became a “recognized” individual. So what do you do with that notoriety, what do you do when somebody gives you that ability to reach out and help people? For me, it’s an opportunity to try and help others. You can’t get around the fact that we need money to be able to do the things that we need to do. What I’m going to ask the people today to do is to dig down deep and take a look at what their life is like. I was touched by hospice care with my mother, so for me, this is personal. I appreciate everybody in this room, I appreciate them coming to this luncheon, I appreciate their donations and I appreciate Tidewell for what they do to provide these opportunities for so many families.

You led the Washington Redskins to a victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII. What leadership lessons from that experience apply to life outside of football?  I wrote a book called How to Be a Champion Every Day: 6 Timeless Keys to Success, and in the book. I take the analogy between the world of sports, the world of business and our own lives and there's successful keys in it that apply to everyone. Everybody has to have goals. You need the right kind of attitude. You need to seize the opportunity. You need to work together as a team. You need to be motivated to do those things. Those things apply in every aspect of life, not just in business and sports. What you have to understand as a quarterback is it's not all about you. Leadership is not about the leader. It's about the people you lead. When you stop and think about the quarterback position, it’s the single most dependent position on the field. If the offensive line doesn’t block, if the receivers don’t catch, if running backs don’t run, if your defense doesn’t stop the other team and heaven only knows that if kickers don’t make kicks, you’re not going to win. As quarterback you are one integral part of the team, but it’s not all about you. It’s about the people that you work with.

Were there different moments throughout your career that led you to that realization?  It happened as I grew older. When you play Pop Warner football, the kid that has the ball in his hands is probably the fastest. So it doesn’t apply there. In high school, I had the opportunity to play on an undefeated team—in fact, my wide receiver was a kid by the name of (2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee) Drew Pearson. I was blessed to have teammates like him. At the University of Notre Dame it hit me that I was just one part of the puzzle. I became the starting quarterback eight games into my sophomore year when Terry Hanratty got hurt. I was just a sophomore and Notre Dame had gone to a national championship game the year before and won a national championship two years ago. Suddenly, I was just inserted into that position and I learned then how important it is that the people around you do their jobs efficiently, for you to be able to do yours.

What are you most proud of—both in your athletic and broadcasting careers?  In football, it is having had a chance to play with incredible guys and representing an unbelievable city and organization. Coach Joe Gibbs taught me so much. I was blessed to have great leadership. George Allen brought me to Washington. Jack Pardee gave me a chance to play, and Joe gave me an opportunity to play in a system that was just phenomenal. In broadcasting, it's the same thing. It's all about preparation. I constantly hear people ask, where does confidence come from or how do you deal with pressure? You deal with pressure in a couple of different ways. You anticipate situations. You educate, work hard, and then all of a sudden, you prepare. In broadcasting, I’d spend 60 hours a week getting ready for a football game. Now, if it was a good game, maybe I’d use 15% of the notes that I put down on my board and if it was a bad game, I’d use 60%, but I never wanted to take the chance that it was going to be a good game or a bad game. I just wanted to be ready. Preparation is such a key to everything we do in our lives.  

Your playing career was infamously cut short by a career-ending injury on Monday Night Football in 1985. What did that moment teach you about resilience?  I took the same approach after I left the game of football that I did with my life and have tried to do in my businesses. I’ve had essentially three different careers. I had a professional football career, a broadcasting career and I’ve done speeches and presentations for 45 years. I’ve had the opportunity to share stories with people—I  like to share stories that can hopefully affect others in a positive way. Perhaps there’s something that I’m talking about that can help an audience member with whatever it is that they are going through. It’s like (legendary football coach) Lou Holtz. We lost an incredible human being over the last couple of days. Lou was probably the greatest storyteller I’ve ever been around, he was so charismatic. When you listened to his stories, you’d start to lean forward because you wanted to hear more. That’s something I’ve aspired to in my presentations.  The careers that I’ve had, however, have all been the result of working hard and loving what I’m doing. That’s the other thing that I tell people—don’t do something that you don’t love. There’s something out there, whatever it might be, that you absolutely love. Find it. Because when you get up in the morning and say “oh geez, I got to go to work,” that’s not the way to live. If you look forward to the day, if you look forward to the opportunities in life, it makes life a lot more fun. 

You mentioned earlier, skills that you believe were bestowed upon you by God—is the ability to connect with people part of that skillset? He gave me the ability to play the game and I was fortunate to be around great people. When I played for Toronto in the Canadian Football League we went to a Grey Cup, I went to two Super Bowls when I was in Washington and in college, I came close to winning the Heisman Trophy. I’ve had all these different lessons in life where I managed to get to a point where people recognize you and the things you do. It set a foundation for me to be able to move forward and do the things that I want to do. 

In the beginning, it was all about me. I made these achievements about myself and I then I learned life doesn’t work that way. I get more satisfaction from putting a smile on somebody’s face or by seeing the look in people’s eyes when I do something for them, than anything I could do for myself. When I was growing up, my father used to tell me two things. He said, “Joe, when you meet somebody, look them in the eye and give them a good, firm handshake to let them know you’re there.” To this day, that’s how I judge people. It’s how you gauge an encounter with somebody, are you 100% there? Are you listening to what I’m saying, are you paying attention and by the way, here I am. It’s a great way to connect with people, so I hope that the stories I tell resonate. I carry Jimmy Valvano’s speech from the ESPY’s many years ago with me, where he talked about three things. He said you have to think, you have to laugh and you have to bring your emotions to tears within a day. I use that as a guideline in my presentations. I want you to think about how this applies to your life, I want you to laugh—I hold the record in the National Football League for the shortest punt in the history of the game, that story’s always told—and there are going to be emotional moments in my talks as well. If you can do those three things, Jimmy V said you’ve had a heck of a day. That's been my mission and goal through all of this. SRQ