10 of the most inspirational second careers of professional athletes
by Gabbi Shaw
- When athletes retire, many focus on business ventures, careers in Hollywood, or endorsement opportunities.
- Dwayne Johnson has become the world’s highest-paid actor since leaving wrestling behind.
- Becky Hammon became the first full-time female assistant coach in all four of the major US sports.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
We hear the phrase “second act” a lot in regards to athletes. Almost all of them retire before they’ve even hit middle age – they have decades left to do something productive with the money they’ve made and the fame they’ve accrued.
Kobe Bryant, though his second act was cut short this year, was in the process of using his retirement to make a difference. He broke barriers in Hollywood, formed a foundation with his wife to help people experiencing homelessness, and founded a sports academy.
Keep scrolling to learn more about 10 athletes who didn’t let retirement slow them down.
Kobe Bryant’s second act was tragically cut short, but before his death, he won an Academy Award, founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, and launched the Mamba Sports Academy.
After solidifying his legacy as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Bryant set his sights on his post-NBA career. Most famously, he became the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for “Dear Basketball,” which he wrote and narrated. Bryant was also the first professional athlete to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Before his death, Bryant was also involved in numerous business and philanthropic ventures. He wrote books, granted over 200 Make-A-Wish requests, and started a foundation with his wife, Vanessa, that is dedicated to “helping young people in need, encouraging the development of physical and social skills through sports and assisting the homeless.” He also founded the Mamba Sports Academy, which focuses on “educating and empowering the next generation of kids through sports.”
Mo Vaughn is a managing director of a real estate company that renovates dilapidated housing and keeps it affordable.
Vaughn, a former baseball player, is a co-managing director and co-founder of OMNI New York. According to the New York Post, Vaughn has “focused his energy on helping revive economically distressed communities after retiring from pro sports.”
By 2007, OMNI had “already bought and rehabilitated 1,200 units of distressed housing in the metropolitan area, including three projects in The Bronx and another in Brooklyn’s East New York.”
Mary Carillo started out as a professional tennis player, and she is now a Peabody Award-winning journalist.
Carillo, alongside her childhood friend John McEnroe, won the French Open for mixed doubles in 1977 – an impressive feat. She retired from professional tennis in 1980.
That didn’t keep her away from the sport, though. Carillo has made a second career as a journalist. She was once called tennis’ top analyst by Sports Illustrated, regularly covers the Olympics, won a Sports Emmy, and has earned two Peabody Awards: one for co-writing the HBO documentary “Dare to Compete: The Struggle of Women in Sport,” and the second for co-writing a Billie Jean King documentary.
Magic Johnson has become a prominent HIV activist in the years since his retirement.
The former LA Laker revealed he was HIV-positive in November 1991, and immediately became a vocal activist. That year, he founded the Magic Johnson Foundation, which aims “to support community-based organizations that serve health, educational, and social needs of children residing in ethnically diverse urban communities” through its “scholarship program, community empowerment centers, HIV/AIDS granting and social programs.”
Jim Bunning is the only person to have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as well as the US Senate.
Bunning was an MLB pitcher in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. He pitched the seventh perfect game in MLB history in 1964 – he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996.
After his retirement from baseball, Bunning pivoted to public service. He began his political career in local government in his home state of Kentucky. He eventually made his way to the US House of Representatives, where he served until 1999. That year, he switched over to the US Senate, where he remained until 2010. He died in 2017.
Before his death in 2010, Manute Bol was involved in activism in his home country of Sudan.
According to the LA Times, Bol ended up donating most of his earnings from his 10-year NBA career to his foundation, the Ring True Foundation, which focused on providing aid to Christians in Sudan, a persecuted group.
Bol did multiple publicity stunts to raise money for the country, including suiting up as a horse jockey – at 7 feet, 7 inches, probably the tallest jockey of all time – and lacing up ice skates to play a game of hockey.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson used wrestling to jump-start a career in Hollywood. He was the world’s highest-paid actor in 2016.
While Johnson has never fully left wrestling behind, he may be the biggest crossover star in Hollywood history. After making his film debut in “The Mummy Returns” in 2001, his star has only continued to rise. He made it into a Disney film (“Moana”), was named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, starred in an HBO comedy for five years (“Ballers”), and made his way into the “Fast and Furious” franchise – he even got his own spin-off with Jason Statham. In 2016, he made $64.5 million.
In other words, Johnson proved that one’s talents don’t have to be limited to a single sport – Johnson is a fully formed A-lister now.
Bill Bradley pivoted from the NBA to three terms as a US senator and a run for the presidency.
Bradley spent his entire professional career with the New York Knicks. He played on the team from 1967 to 1977. He also earned a gold medal.
Right after he retired from the NBA, he ran for senator representing his adopted home state of New Jersey. He was re-elected twice, in 1984 and 1990. He left the Senate in 1997 to attempt to win the Democratic nomination, though he lost to Al Gore.
Becky Hammon, a former WNBA player, became the first female assistant coach in any of the big four American sports leagues.
Hammon played professional basketball for 13 years, from 1999 until 2012. After an injury took her out of the game, Hammon was approached by the San Antonio Spurs to become an assistant coach, making her the first full-time, paid female assistant coach in NBA history – Lisa Boyer worked as a volunteer with the Cleveland Cavaliers and John Lucas in 2001.
After 13 years in the NFL, Jack Kemp made his way into the White House and on to a presidential ticket.
Kemp was a quarterback for the Lions, Steelers, Chargers, and Bills before he retired in 1969. He then pivoted to politics, and served in the US House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989.
But the real crowning achievement of his political career was making his way into President George H.W. Bush’s cabinet in 1989. He served as the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Bush’s entire tenure as president. He was then appointed the vice presidential nominee alongside Bob Dole in 1996.
Kemp died 2009. Later that year, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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