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Johnny Quinn article in UTA paper


Harry

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Johnny Quinn, Olympic bobsledder and former player in the National Football League, said throughout college, his biggest goal was to play professional football. Once that goal was reached, it came to an end a few years later and Quinn took a surprising turn to bobsledding. Though his career changed unexpectedly, he took on the challenge headfirst.

“When an unexpected opportunity presents itself, I was ready,” Quinn said. “It sets into motion a new dream and new goals.”

Quinn said he started playing football as a kid and his love for football was only strengthened by the fact that he grew up in Texas, where football is a big sport. During his time as a student at the University of North Texas, he played football and had dreams of becoming a professional football player.

“I was a little undersized for my position as a wide receiver,” Quinn said. “If I even had a chance, I couldn’t take it for granted. I would see my goal daily, and I knew there was a bigger picture.”

He reached his goal of going pro at age 22 with the Buffalo Bills , but after four years in the NFL, he had been cut from three different teams, lost $2.6 million and blew out his knee playing.

“At 26 years old, my career was a train wreck,” Quinn said. “Unfortunately, my NFL career didn’t go the way I wanted, but I knew I still had more to give athletically.”

A month before Quinn was supposed to go to his next football training camp, his agent called and told him there was an opportunity to compete as a bobsledder for the United States bobsledding team in the U.S. Olympic team trials. Quinn had never really given bobsledding much thought, but wanted to take advantage of a new athletic opportunity. His first time on ice was at that trial, and his team placed third.  

 “My whole life changed after that, and I put my focus onto this new adventure I was in,” Quinn said. “I was now a part of the United States Olympic team for bobsledding. I got to compete in The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which was an amazing experience.”

Throughout his athletic career, Quinn said hard work, determination and his faith kept him afloat.

“Sometimes you can work your tail off and things just don’t work out,” Quinn said. “Instead of living there, use failure as something different. Use it as a way to start a new set of goals.”

read more: http://www.theshorthorn.com/life_and_entertainment/start-year-off-right-by-making-goals-sticking-to-them/article_7cebae16-bbc6-11e5-a1a9-271d1164ae56.html

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10 hours ago, greenjoe said:

I've always been a (Go) Johnny (Go) Quinn fan.  But how did he lose $2.6 million ?

When he came to my school to speak to our students, he referred to the contracts he couldn't fulfill because he was cut from the Bills and Packers, and then from the CFL

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