An Injury Ended His NFL Career: So He Became An Opera Singer

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Ta’u Pupu’a came to the United States from Kingdom of Tonga at the age of five. He grew up in a home of modest means in Salt Lake City, Utah and started playing football at the age of ten.

Legendary football coach Bill Belichick discovered him while he was playing for Weber State University and he joined the Cleveland Browns as a defensive lineman. But in his second season, a nasty injury ended his NFL career.

Despite almost no formal musical training, he decided to follow a new dream to become a professional opera singer. After struggling in New York City for five years, Ta’u met opera superstar Kiri Te Kanawa at a book signing at the gift shop of The Metropolitan Opera. And she helped him earn a scholarship to The Julliard School, America’s most prestigious music conservatory.

In the spirit of the opera world, we’re telling Ta’u’s story in four short acts.

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To learn more about Ta’u Pupu’a and listen to some of his recordings, here’s a link to his website.

Tennis Anyone? Leaving Boeing To Become A High School Coach

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Joe Tedino had a long career as a journalist and public relations executive. But tennis was always his passion. So when he finally opted to retire from a senior position with Boeing, he decided to invest the time to get certified as a tennis professional. And that helped him land a position as Assistant Coach at St. Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit high school in the heart of Chicago.

He’s been working with the boys and girls teams there for the past year and he couldn’t be happier with the change.

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And here’s a link to an article which Joe penned for Kiplinger Magazine about his move from the “Corporate World to Coaching.”

Changing His Tune: Dr. Arnie Rosen Is Now A Band Grandpa

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Today’s episode takes place at the Lincoln Middle School in Rockford, Illinois. I spent the morning here with Arnie Rosen, a retired doctor, and 80+ seventh and eighth graders in the school’s band room.

Dr. Rosen loved his 27-year career as a gastroenterologist in this Midwestern community. But when he finally retired two years ago he had a plan for what he wanted to do. He wanted to become a “band grandpa.”

If you’ve never heard that term “band grandpa” before, don’t feel out of the loop. Dr. Rosen actually created it two years ago.

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Special thanks to John Groh, President/CEO of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, for suggesting this episode.

And here’s the full photo of Dr. Rosen with his beloved tuba (taken by fellow band grandpa Russ Stoneback).

 

The Man Who Sends College Students To Prison: Jim Farrin’s Second Act

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In this episode, we meet an incredible man named Jim Farrin. After a highly successful career as a globe-trotting, corporate executive, Jim helped start an organization called The Petey Greene Program.

In a nutshell, the program brings volunteer students from top colleges like Harvard, Brown, University of Pennsylvania and Columbia into prisons to serve as tutors. They help prisoners get a high school diploma/GED. The program was piloted at Princeton University and has spread to 29 different colleges and universities across the Northeast.

Jim is 82 years old today. Last year, he was one of five individuals awarded the prestigious Purpose Prize by the American Association of Retired Persons. But he is hardly retired. By his own admission he is working harder than he ever has before. And he has never been happier.

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Click here to learn more about the amazing work of The Petey Greene Program.

Don’t Retire, REWIRE! 24 Minutes with Author Jeri Sedlar

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Career expert Jeri Sedlar wrote “Don’t Retire, Rewire!” back in 2002 with her business partner and husband Rick Miners. They were largely responsible for blowing the lid off our traditional view of American life — the “education first” – “work career second” – “retirement third” phasing.

In August 2018, they came out with a third edition of “Don’t Retire, Rewire!” based on new research and interviews.

Simply put, I loved this updated book and found it incredibly valuable in my own journey as a fellow that will hit 58 years of age in the year ahead.It definitely goes in the “Best Books About Second Acts” section of this website.

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Telephone Repairman Follows A Life-Long Dream: Designing Women’s Shoes

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When I first heard Chris Donovan’s story I thought to myself, I don’t care what it takes. I have to interview this man.

It took several months and a dozen or so email exchanges. But last month, I traveled to Massachusetts with only one thing in mind: interview the telephone repairman who is now focused solely on the one thing he always wanted to do in life: design women’s shoes.

Since his junior year in high school, Chris Donovan has been sketching women’s shoes. It’s been his quiet obsession for the 30+ years. But at the age of 50, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. And he knew it was time to leave his safe job at the phone company to pursue his lifelong dream. “I need to follow this. I need to find out why I have this passion for shoes.”

Based on the recommendation of European shoe designer Aki Choklat, he was accepted to Polimoda, one of the best fashion design institutes in the world. He enrolled in an accelerated masters program and packed his bags for Florence, Italy. And while his first few months were difficult, he ended up graduating at the top of his class.

In January, 2019, he will launch a new line of shoes at Chris Donovan Footwear. Take it from Tim Gunn of Project Runway: it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

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Check out Chris’ new line of shoes on his website.

Finally, here’s a photo of Chris Donovan and his incredibly-supportive partner Steve Wierzbicki.

Identifying Your Ideal Second Act: Nancy Collamer and the 25 Questions

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Nancy Collamer is the author of Second Act Careers: 50 Ways to Profit From Your Passions During Semi-Retirement. She is a recognized expert on career change and writes a monthly blog for the PBS site NextAvenue.org.

Our interview with Nancy focuses on an especially, powerful resource from her website (www.mylifestylecareer.com). “25 Questions to Help You Identify Your Ideal Second Act” details a series of questions in four major areas: 1) Values, 2) skills, and experience, 3) strengths, gifts and talents, 4) hopes, dreams and impossibilities, It’s a terrific exercise for anyone considering a second act.

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GET THE “25 QUESTIONS” FROM NANCY COLLAMER’S WEBSITE

 

A Gambler Gets A Second Chance: The Fall And Rise Of Terence Gerchberg

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Terry is a compulsive gambler who hit “rock bottom” at the age of 30 when he lost nearly $1 million in a 36-hour period in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. But he got himself into rehab, shifted gears from gambling to running and got his life together. This Fall he will run his 16th consecutive New York City Marathon.

Terry’s love of running extends into his new position/career as Executive Director of the New York Chapter of Back On My Feet. As Terry describes it: “Back on My Feet combats homelessness through the power of running and community support to help our members get employed and housed. Our members run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:30 to 6:30 in the morning. And if achieve a 90% attendance record in the first month, they get into our Next Steps program. That’s where the secret sauce is. That’s where we really can help overcome barriers to self-sufficiency.”

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Click here to learn more about Back On My Feet.

Exiting the Courtroom: A Trial Lawyer Finds Nature Photography

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Over the course of a 40+ year legal career, Richard Turner served as Governor Ronald Reagan’s personal attorney and then as a high-powered trial lawyer. But at the age of 60, he had a series of epiphanies during a month-long sabbatical wandering around the Western United States. And he eventually left the bar and became a nature photographer. And a pretty successful one at that.

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Interested in checking out Richard Turner’s photography? Click here to visit his website. And here’s the photo — taken at an Idaho campsite during a month-long sabbatical — that launched his career. The “Richard, this is terrible” feedback offered by a respected portrait photographer motivated him to learn how to take better photographs and ultimately launched his “second act” as a nature photographer.

The “little moose/big pond” photo that launched Richard Turner’s second act.

 

Not Just For Kicks: NFL Place Kicker Returns For Diploma 33 Years Later

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Kevin Butler had a dazzling football career that began at the University of Georgia. He then played for 13 seasons as a place kicker in the NFL from 1985-1998. In his rookie season, he was part of Chicago Bears that won Super Bowl XX.

But he always regretted not graduating from the university. And he told his three children, that he’d get his degree “when you are all done.” On May 5, 2018, some 33 years after leaving the University of Georgia, he finally made that happen.

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Special thanks to Andrea Clement Santiago for connecting me with Kevin Butler and making this episode possible.