The odds are one-tenth of a percent that a football player from very humble beginnings will make it to the pros. That’s according to Bobby Houston, who thankfully, didn’t know any better.
“I came from very humble beginnings and experienced things people can only dream of,” reminisces Bobby Houston, who debuted in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and later rose to fame as a Linebacker with the New York Jets.
“(But) if I’d known the odds, I wouldn’t have tried,” laughs a somewhat-serious Houston.

GROWING UP, GETTING ROBBED
Houston grew up in Washington D.C., a city which didn’t have lots of entertainment options for inner city children.
“We didn’t have posters of accountants on the walls, we didn’t have posters of med. students,” says Houston, who found his heroes were athletes long before he lived a glamorous life filled with stadium lights, cheering fans, and media attention.
For Houston, it was a natural transition to sports. He lived near RFK stadium and saw it everyday. Plus, his mother wanted to keep him busy doing something safe.
“As a reward for earning MVP in the little league, I was once offered a job selling peanuts at the stadium,” says Houston about a childhood memory which forever burned into his memory.
A man crept up behind the little league star, said “don’t turn around” and proceeded to rob him. From that moment forward, Houston’s childhood was primarily spent enrolled in self defense classes. His black belt was a parental prerequisite to playing ball.
“That was the last time I stepped foot into that stadium, until I returned to play years later,” says Houston who soon found his career was on an unstoppable path.
As a student at North Carolina State, Houston played running back and then linebacker.
His abilities surpassed his own expectations and he quickly left to go pro. However, he never lost the drive and ambition to reach his original goal – and when he tired of playing ball, Houston returned to college to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, just as his mother had done years before.
Bobby Houston can’t remember his childhood without thinking dearly of a tight bond he shared with his mother. In the late ‘90s Barbara Houston lost a 3-year battle with breast cancer, but not before sharing some tender and proud moments with her son.
“My mom had me drinking milk every night,” reminisces Houston, a fan of whole milk.
The evening glass of milk is a comforting tradition Houston carries on today, long after the worries and fears of remaining a small child are but a distant memory.

WINNING THE GAME, LOSING TOUCH
At 246 pounds and 6 feet 2 inches, it’s unexpected that a former ball player would speak so freely about the love he has for those who brought joy into his life throughout the years.
“I had all the big things. The money, the toys, the big things,” says Houston about his life in early retirement, before marriage to wife Lakisha Houston. “But the simple things were completely missing.”
“I used to pray that I just wanted to be normal,” says Houston who is father to 14-year-old daughter Taylor and two sons: 8-year-old Bobby Junior and infant Tré.
When you live the lifestyle of an athlete, you’re in a different social group. Houston says he had a void in his life, because his lifestyle kept him from doing little things like going grocery shopping, walking around Wal-Mart, or going to the park.
Today, Houston lives a busy life in the suburbs of Raleigh. He has a wife and three children.

A NEW GAME TO WIN
When Houston retired, he got away from ball because losing his mom took the thrill out of the industry. At that time, everyone wanted him to coach and he couldn’t. Fortunately, he had several other interests that had nothing to do with sports.
Today he manages the sales team at the Lifestyle Family Fitness located in Plantation Point, North Carolina.
“He never brings up the fact that he played professional sports, and you would never know unless you knew previously,” says Rick Belden, the regional sales manager who has overseen the athlete’s career in retirement. “The thing that makes me laugh the most is how humble he is. He played nine years in the NFL and to be as humble as he is, it’s extremely impressive.”
Houston’s wife led him to his current career and lifestyle.
“She told me ‘The Bible says if a man doesn’t work he shouldn’t eat.’ and I said ‘What if he’s rich?’. She said “It doesn’t say anything about that. You should work. Your children should see their father get up and go to work.” Houston agreed.
Today Houston keeps the check stub from his first Lifestyle Family Fitness paycheck. It was for about $450 and it was the first normal, hourly check he ever received in his life.
“Sometimes I hear up-and-coming athletes say ‘I will make a million dollars’,” says Houston. “And I say ‘and then what?’”
“There are a lot of empty millionaires out there.”
These days Houston is often spotted tossing the ball around the yard with his children, who are very active in sports. His daughter wishes there was an NFL for females and his eldest son plays everything from basketball, to t-ball, to football.
Houston’s story is not yet complete, as many achievements lie ahead in the years to come, but it is likely that if Houston’s parents were alive they would be proud of his down-to-Earth values and on-going achievements.