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by: Aaron Stern

When former Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jon Runyan (R-NJ) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives last month, he became the latest in a long line of former college and professional football players and coaches who have jumped into politics. That nearly all of them have done so as Republicans is curious, but may not be coincidental.

The trend of former football stars who have entered the political arena dates back at least as far as Jack Kemp, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback from the 1960s who went on to a long career in Congress that included a run at the White House as the vice presidential candidate alongside Bob Dole in 1996. The list includes names like Steve Largent, Lynn Swann, J.C. Watts, Tom Osborne and Sam Wyche. All have run for or served in political office as Republicans. Heath Shuler (D-NC) is the notable exception to this rule, yet he is still far more politically conservative than most of his fellow Democrats.

Runyan is just the latest in this succession, though he wasn’t the only ex-NFLer campaigning on the GOP ticket this fall: Former Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jay Riemersma came up short in his own bid for a House seat as a representative from Michigan. (His campaign website was dubbed the ‘Riemersma Redzone’ and featured a link to his ‘Policy Playbook: Five for Freedom.)

So why do former football players turned politicians tend to share the political ideology of the Republican Party? The answer likely has to do with the upbringing of these men as well as their exposure to the game of football itself.

Joel Whalen, associate professor of marketing at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University in Chicago, suggests it’s because a football team – like the Republican Party – is a patriarchal organization that emphasizes discipline and rewards those who follow rules.

“There’s a value system that’s the same,” says Whalen. “They share many of the same, core fundamental beliefs in respect for authority, hierarchical organizations, command-and-control decision making, a belief that things are predictable, that there are rules that you follow. All these things are taught in football and are certainly exemplified by much of traditional Republican politics.”
The common values may also derive from a cultural lineage, as many of these former players grew up in the South or went to Southern schools, where they had contact with wealthy, politically connected boosters.

“I think the basic answer is regional,” said Chris Brown, editor of the Smart Football website, in an article on this trend in Politico last year. “Many of these guys are Southerners, … which happens to be both the part of their country where the politics are generally more socially conservative, and their football celebrity is the most help in getting elected.”

I reached Whalen by phone during an event at DePaul, and he passed the phone to Ron Griggs, a member of the DePaul athletic Hall of Fame (as a golfer, class of ’83), and now a senior executive at Accenture. Griggs offered his two cents, noting that football players are hardly the only former athletes who have dived into politics (Bill Bradley, Jim Bunning and Jim Ryun are just a few other notable ex-jocks turned legislators).

The cutthroat competition of the political arena likely appeals to former athletes used to competing at a high level, says Griggs.
Factor the experience of those who have live in the dog-eat-dog world of the NFL – where the average career lasts less than three-and-a-half seasons, the contracts aren’t guaranteed, and players can be dumped without a moment’s notice – and you’ve got a potential breeding ground of men who readily identify with an ideology that rewards winners and lets them keep what they earn.
“If they want money they’re not depending on anyone else,” says Griggs. “They’re not looking for anyone’s help or any social program.”
Regardless of political orientation, a life in professional football has a way of steeling people for political futures, as Kemp once noted.
“Pro football gave me a good sense of perspective to enter politics,” he said. “I’d already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded and hung in effigy.”

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