Podcast #4 – From NFL Star to Entrepreneur, Macey Brooks’ Mission Possible Journey
Doug Dvorak (00:00.996)
Good day Mission Possible podcast community. I’m your host Doug Dvorak and I’m extremely excited to bring you inspiring stories from incredible guests. These individuals are on a mission to create remarkable possibilities that not only enhance their own lives but also make a lasting impact on the communities around them and the communities they serve. Stay tuned for some truly amazing conversations. My guest today is former NFL player Macey Brooks. Hey Macey.
Macey Brooks (00:31.566)
How are you? Thanks for having me.
Doug Dvorak (00:32.502)
I’m my pleasure. Happy New Year to you and happy new year to all the mission podcast community. I’m from Idaho and we’ve got about 200 inches already. So I needed to reframe my mission possible mind mindset for Aloha Fridays wishing I was on a beach in Maui. But really what a high honor and privilege Macey. You’re quite a guy. You’ve lived three years already and you’re still a young man.
But you’re a husband and father of four ladies, born in Phoenix. You spent over a decade in Germany and Hampton, Virginia. Some of the universities you attended was James Madison University and DePaul University, with a focus on health administration. Also, quite an entrepreneur. Could you share with the community some of your local businesses and what you’re doing now post-NFL?
Macey Brooks (01:30.734)
Sure, Yeah, I always had that little entrepreneurial spirit within me from a young age. just moving forward, I’ve tried to do things that think people can just get value out of in their life. So I’ve created a music festival. I’m a big coffee drinker myself, so I’m a partner in a coffee shop.
learned about pickleball and it bit me. I thought I was just going to be learning about a game, but it was way more than a game. so with that, just dove in head first. And so I have an apparel company. I coach, I’m certified, and we’re looking for facilities. So we’re doing all kinds of stuff. Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (02:26.906)
So not only are you involved locally with several businesses, but you’ve also been heavily engaged in your local community. You served on the Oswego YMCA board and a lot of other, really that dedication to local businesses, mentoring, I’m sure, young people. Former professional athlete, fourth round pick played for the Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears, the Oakland Raiders.
I mean I could spend 45 minutes on just your accomplishments, but in high school you were a four sport letterman, football, baseball, basketball, track, a senior, you tallied 27 receptions for 620 yards, eight touchdowns, and in all area, all peninsula, great, all eastern, regional, and honorable mention, all state honors as a wide receiver, and also the runner up to Allen Iverson for the Daily Press Peninsula.
Macey Brooks (02:58.658)
Yeah.
Macey Brooks (03:18.04)
Good luck.
Doug Dvorak (03:24.704)
athlete of the year. And then you went to James Madison. You had a great college career. Then you went into the NFL. And a couple things happened that really caused you to reset, recalibrate your mindset to one of mission possible. Can you share with the listeners some of your career obstacles that happened, I think, in that second year?
Macey Brooks (03:49.55)
Yeah, actually my first year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So was drafted, went through training camp, was actually doing well, was slated to play during the season. So I wasn’t just going to be sitting on the bench as a rookie. And then the fourth preseason game, the last preseason game, fourth quarter, I broke my arm. It was out for the season. Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (03:52.068)
Was it your first year?
Doug Dvorak (04:12.758)
and it was a pretty bad, bad break, right?
Macey Brooks (04:16.238)
Yeah, I mean, it was a clean break, but it was bad enough to keep me out for the rest of the season. So, or for the entire season. that was my first.
Macey Brooks (04:31.18)
you know, a time where I, athletics was kind of taken away from me. Which was a different, just a different perspective, right? Cause I played baseball, football, basketball, so I was always in season, so to speak. And so to now have a whole year as an off season, it just was a different, different place for me to be. So.
Doug Dvorak (04:52.75)
and so that was your first season and obviously you wanted to put together as many years in the NFL what was sort of your mindset when you had that injury that mission possible mindset
Macey Brooks (05:06.846)
you know.
Macey Brooks (05:11.778)
Honestly, to tell the story correctly, I have to back up a little bit. And yeah.
Doug Dvorak (05:15.522)
Why don’t you? Sure.
Macey Brooks (05:21.358)
I played a lot of athletics, I played lot of sports, I was good at them, but I’m not necessarily a fan.
Doug Dvorak (05:30.829)
Interesting.
Macey Brooks (05:31.764)
And so I played the sports for the competitive components of the sport. I didn’t play the sport because I was loved the sport. Right. And since there was some ability, it allowed me to further my competitive or I should say, you know, ride my competitive drive. But in terms of athletic IQ, I can’t say that I was it was high for me.
because I didn’t watch the games after practice. I was not a fan of a team, so I didn’t follow a team. I grew up in Germany, so I probably watched more soccer than any other sport than most Americans do. you know, my passion was not athletics. It was competition, right? And it was using my…
body and sometimes my mind, especially when it came to entrepreneurial stuff, to just be competitive. Even as a kid, I was entrepreneurial and competitive at the same time, not knowing what I was doing. anyway, moving that conversation forward from not necessarily being a fan and maybe not knowing some of the…
the gravity of the moment, all I could just focus on was just get back on the field. I didn’t, I didn’t, and it’s probably actually to my benefit that I didn’t go into the rabbit hole of thinking about.
know, what was potentially me, you know, what could potentially happen now that I broke my, I didn’t even think that far. I was like, my arm’s broken, okay, how quickly can this mend and how quickly can I get back on the field? That’s all I had in my head. So there was no, you know, backwards thought, there was no lack of confidence. It was just like, okay, I got time. I’m going to have an off season, which I’ve never had in my life. I’m gonna get stronger.
Macey Brooks (07:41.07)
I’m going to get faster and I’m just going to heal as fast as possible. So what, what can I put in my body to heal fast? So I got very green and you know, and, nutrient rich and all that stuff, you know, and, try to get bone dense. But you know, other than that, you know, I, I wasn’t, I, you know, this wasn’t my dream. So I was blessed with ability and I was blessed with a high competitive spirit.
competitive spirit and then even going back to some of what Rick says, almost have to have a non, you just can’t be satisfied. Satisfaction is just not.
Macey Brooks (08:29.792)
It’s not part of the language of an athlete or a high level athlete. Satisfaction is not part of the language of a high level athlete.
Doug Dvorak (08:39.674)
love that. So you’re in the NFL and here comes you know April some 2002 and your career ends. you know I’ve read articles, stories, ESPN on professional athletes, had fun two years, five years, ten years, their career ends, the identity issue and
Macey Brooks (08:55.278)
Thank you.
Doug Dvorak (09:05.376)
and no plan. Did you have a plan and what was that transition from being a you know ostensibly a gladiator in in in the arena to that stops you’re not going training hard.
you have that competitive nature, it’s the end of your NFL career, then what? How did you, did you do some planning? How was that transition for you? Because I know then you eventually got into coaching and becoming a serial entrepreneur. Can you walk us or unpack that for us?
Macey Brooks (09:36.302)
Sure, you know, think that’s a good question because, you know, it happens different for a lot of people and I think it’s based on your support system and the information that you have around you. Okay, and so the more information, bigger, not bigger the support system, the information coming from your support system, that can help prepare you.
If you don’t have, you can have the biggest support system in the world, but if they’re not providing you information that can help you after they’d have failed, then you’re not thinking about it. And being a young guy in it who never really could get settled, right? Every year, you know, in college, I’d never got injured, right? So was always healthy, got to the pros. Yeah, I got to the pros. And then all of a sudden, every year I’m injured. So every off season after I broke my arm my first year,
Doug Dvorak (10:23.972)
Really.
Macey Brooks (10:32.786)
my off season was not set up for me to be able to get stronger faster, right? And better and master my skill. It was just to heal and get back to zero to try to build again. And then now I’m only a month from the season. know, so it’s, it’s just a, it was a tough rat race when it came to having injuries, trying to also, compete, compete.
Doug Dvorak (10:47.213)
Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (10:57.946)
Yeah. So you grew up in Virginia and Germany. What were some of the biggest obstacles you faced in pursuing your dream of becoming a professional athlete? Maybe not for the love of the sport or sports, but for the competitive nature. What was an example that you could share that tested your resolve?
Macey Brooks (11:24.863)
My
Macey Brooks (11:30.374)
8th grade year, was it 8th grade? 7th or 8th grade? And with all the head injuries, some of this is gonna be a little foggy. 7th or 8th grade, I was not applying myself in school, and so my mother didn’t allow me to play a season of something.
Doug Dvorak (11:40.032)
Hahaha
Macey Brooks (11:54.21)
That was the first moment that I realized that.
Macey Brooks (12:03.636)
Athletics, sports, that community, what I got from it, the enrichment from it, the feelings I got from it, could be taken away. One, if I didn’t apply myself as a good person. So that’s one.
Two, for some reason it made me realize just how important it was to me. Like, sitting out…
And this is at a young age. I realized, where are you gonna get… Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (12:32.388)
Macey, growing up in Virginia and in Germany, what were some of the biggest obstacles you faced in pursuing your dream of becoming a professional athlete? And can you share a specific moment that tested your resolve, please?
Macey Brooks (12:40.652)
No sweat. You got it.
Macey Brooks (13:01.1)
Yeah, and we’re gonna go back, we’re going way back. One of the most pivotal moments was seventh or eighth grade, I was not necessarily applying myself in school and my mother didn’t allow me to play a season of something. I don’t even remember what it was. But I realized, one, that athletics can be taken away.
And so you should cherish it. And then even behind that is what I realized about why it should be cherished. It’s just, it’s a community like no other. It provided a sanctuary that is nowhere else. And then the information in terms of just life, you’re not necessarily getting those
You’re not getting that type of speech every day. There’s no place that’s telling you to give your half-assed effort, excuse me, give half effort, expect high results, and then complain when it doesn’t go your way. That is not what they’re saying, right? They say give everything you got that day, regardless of the results, right? It ain’t about you.
It’s bigger than you. There’s something bigger than you’re building something how to be disciplined right how to be a good teammate Right like how to be a leader. There’s just there’s just you know, there’s there’s a there’s just so many And even interpersonal relationships right because in every team you’re gonna have friends you’re gonna have so you also learn that and so I just I feel like it’s You know, I just think it’s it’s like
I think sports teams are huge when it comes to building our youth and helping train our youth and helping mentor our youth and helping them be leaders. usually, I’ll speak to a group of young men, women, and one of the first questions I ask them is, who’s the leader here?
Doug Dvorak (15:00.836)
building our youth.
Macey Brooks (15:19.926)
Right? And they always look around and they, you know, there’s that kid that’s real good or he was the quarterback or he’s the pitcher or he’s the somebody. He’s the coaches kid. And then they look at him and then he raises his hand and I’m like, okay, wrong answer. So I’m going to ask that question again. All right. And I expect to see every single hand in here raised. Okay. So now I turn around and then I turn back around behind Macey. So who’s the leader here?
Right? And then now I got right every single hand up in the air. I said, absolutely. You’re every single one of you are leaders. So and then I go into my spiel. But just the just so just like that. Right. And I’m an athlete talking to other athletes. Where are they getting that message from? Where are they getting that from? And so for me, you know,
Doug Dvorak (15:54.638)
That’s great.
Macey Brooks (16:07.148)
I try to say all the things that weren’t necessarily said to me all at once. And I’ve sat in front of 50 people talk to me and 25 coaches and you know what mean? And blah, blah, blah, blah. And so now I didn’t have that before. Once again, I wasn’t a fan. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t live it. I wasn’t dreaming it. By no means was I dreaming it. If anything, I was dreaming about being Jacques Pepin.
Doug Dvorak (16:35.204)
The chef. Yes. Yeah.
Macey Brooks (16:36.238)
The chef, yes sir, the French chef. You know what I’m saying? Like, if I could go and hang out with Jacques, then that was my dream, right? Okay, so, you know.
Coming full circle, I cook a lot, right? luckily, yeah, there you go. Love it, love it. mean, and so spending time in Europe, spending time in Europe, my mom was instrumental in teaching me and mentoring me and me just getting to watch and then putting me to work and all that stuff. she, you we were in Germany for 11 years. Sometimes she would go to France for a month and just to learn how to.
Doug Dvorak (16:51.428)
Well, that prompts the next question. Do you love to cook?
Any specific?
Macey Brooks (17:18.545)
cook 10 escargot dishes right and then come home yeah yeah yeah go ahead well yeah yeah and then yeah and then share and then share it but yeah
Doug Dvorak (17:21.626)
Wow. Well, I love, go ahead, go ahead. No, I love what you, go ahead.
Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything more my wife and I enjoy more than cooking a dinner for friends, having them over, and just conversation amongst good friends with good food. And I love what you said. Breaking bread, yep.
Macey Brooks (17:46.606)
And breaking bread, right, it’s in the Bible, right? It’s highly important, right? And then for me, and coming from how my mom, it just was always about love, right? So it didn’t matter if it was just a peanut butter jelly sandwich and some chips, or she’s making pate and all the things. It didn’t matter, but it came from
such a caring place. that showed me, okay, this is an easy way to show people how you care. Like, right off the bat. So if I’m making a ham sandwich for my girls, I might cut it a little different. Or I might roll the ham a little different. Or I’m gonna try to do something, you know I’m saying? Just to give them little nod that like, yeah, I care about that for you. Yeah, 100%, yeah.
Doug Dvorak (18:32.119)
Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (18:37.774)
made with love. I love it. Let’s transition. played baseball and football at the highest collegiate level at James Madison University. What challenges did you face in balancing these two sports and how did this dual sport experience shape your character?
because that’s two full-time jobs plus being a student.
Macey Brooks (19:02.946)
You know,
Macey Brooks (19:09.454)
Bye.
Macey Brooks (19:13.646)
I didn’t have to make a lot of decisions. I just kind of went with the flow, right?
Macey Brooks (19:22.294)
I didn’t have the eagerness of most athletes because it wasn’t my dream. So I got to look at it from a very, very small vantage point. And that was, Doug, if you were across from me, I just wanted to beat you. That’s it. That’s as simple as I kept it. If you were in front of me and we were in a drill in a line.
and we were doing the same drill, if you did the drill and the coach told you, you did great, good job, Doug, nice feet, guess what I’m gonna come and try to do? I’m gonna try to do it as good, if not at least as as good or better. I’m competing all the time, even in a drill. So, I didn’t, there was just a lot of noise that I didn’t hear.
There’s a lot of noise that I didn’t hear because I wasn’t concerned with that part. I just needed to beat you now and then that was it. And then after I beat you, we can be friends. But before I beat you, we’re not friends, Doug. Like, I’m just sorry. Like, I came from that crazy coach that would have you banging your head in the locker and you hated the other team and you came out there and you played hard. That was where the passion came from. So even when it came to professional, and I might be going getting a little off track, but just…
Side note, like even just my personality, I played for the coach. I played for my coach. I looked for his approval, right? And so, because once again, I wasn’t a fan, so I wasn’t looking at me. I didn’t think about it as a me thing. This was coaches asking me to do something. I’m on his team, so I’m gonna go do it, but I’m gonna do it.
Macey Brooks (21:06.264)
better than what he asked me to do it.
Macey Brooks (21:16.334)
It was busy, but I’d always been busy. I played three sports in high school, and all the things. So that wasn’t different. And it wasn’t, the challenge was…
Macey Brooks (21:34.478)
IQ is where I didn’t have an offseason to learn more about one of the sports. You know what mean? Like, yeah, or there’s other opportunities where it’s football season, but then I was asked to go and try out for the Olympic team on a weekend that I had a football game. You know what I mean? Baseball. Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (21:42.521)
Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (21:56.27)
Wow. What event? What event? Baseball. So here you are. It’s 97-ish. You leave James Madison University. You’re drafted in the fourth round by the Dallas Cowboys. How do you deal with that level of intensity and focus from a mental, spiritual, and physical and a…
family relationship. I mean it’s it’s mock-fi with your hair on fire each and every day. How did you deal with all those physical, mental, and emotional demands and spiritual demands?
Macey Brooks (22:33.08)
You know, so you’re, so I’m a spiritual God and I’m son of God. And so I stay there. And so I anchored in and I would work and look up and he says, yep, keep going. So I just keep going. And left it, I keep it simple, keeping it simple. And if there’s roadblocks, I’m asking like.
Doug Dvorak (22:56.74)
Keep it simple.
Macey Brooks (22:59.186)
Is this roadblock for me or is this a challenge or something that I need to get by or is this about me and then just work through it? And so that was the baseline of it, right? And then when it comes to the work and the mental part.
That was, so since I wasn’t a fan, some of that was strange to me. Fans are strange to me. That type of energy. so, and I’m, it’s odd because I love people, but I’m a little bit of a loner. I’m a little, yeah, a little bit, a little bit. And I think it’s just because I do have older siblings. They left when I was young, coming back to the States. I’m still in Germany. And so I had,
Doug Dvorak (23:37.102)
Really?
Macey Brooks (23:48.716)
You know, a lot of years where I was by myself and I was kind of raised as like a single kid.
And I was in athletics, so I was around people all the time, all the time. And so I was okay with being by myself when I could. But anyway, yeah, go ahead.
Doug Dvorak (24:09.274)
Great. Hey Macey, the NFL is known for its intense physical and mental demands. Can you walk us through your most challenging day as a professional athlete and how you overcame it?
Macey Brooks (24:22.092)
Challenging day. Every day was challenging. Being the Dallas Cowboy and trying to keep the star on your helmet. Every day is challenge. I think one of my biggest challenges was trying to fast track my understanding of the sport.
IQ IQ there’s a lot of reps. There’s a lot of reps Mental reps that you can take just by watching the game, right? There’s a lot of cues and information and the commentators stay say stuff and just just just by absorbing that information Well, I was not that guy, know what mean? And so There was there was just a lot of missing
gaps in my information. The ability was there, but the knowledge base wasn’t there. Give me a playbook and I’m going to be the best one in the room with playbook. I’m good with that. However, just some of the nuance of being a wide receiver, being an NFL player. Now, okay, and then this is why I alluded to me doing things for my coach is because once you get in the NFL, some of that’s gone.
So I came in, got drafted by Dallas, and I was drafted under Barry Switzer. Well, that summer he got fired. So the coach who wanted me there is no longer there. You know what mean, right? So I come to the Bears, Dave Wonstadt signed me. Got fired that summer. So it’s another coach that comes in that’s not, don’t know Macey Brooks, right? You know what I’m saying? Raiders, I went to the Raiders.
Chuckie! I said Chuckie.
Doug Dvorak (26:19.162)
I’m of that little horror character, Chucky.
Macey Brooks (26:24.622)
That’s bad nickname for him. yeah, again, but anyway, so literally every pro team that coach that brought me in was left before they could actually coach me every single one of them. So then it’s a whole nother system. They brought me in for a system. Now that system is now gone. you know, so that’s OK, because I’ve also like I said, I have that foundation.
Doug Dvorak (26:30.314)
We’ll edit that out.
Macey Brooks (26:51.562)
And so that let me know, that’s okay, this may not be… You’re here maybe so you know that you could do it, but maybe that’s not what you’re supposed to, this is not your life, right? Maybe that’s just supposed to give you some certain level of maybe influence to now go and help people. And so my life has really been about service. I mean, I was literally…
As soon as I got to the Chicago Bears, I went around to the locker room. People I don’t even know these guys yet. I’m asking them for a dollar, and I’m gonna take this dollar, go buy McDonald’s coupons and gloves and socks and take them to South Asian Army. It was weird of me to do it, but then I’m like, we gotta do something, somebody gotta do something. I know everybody’s got a charity, but let’s just go do something right now. Let me get myself involved in this community right now.
by just giving something. So, yeah. Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (27:49.146)
That’s great. Macey, as an NFL player, you were in a high pressure environment where mistakes were heavily scrutinized. How did you develop the mental toughness to perform under such intense pressure?
Macey Brooks (28:04.524)
I didn’t. no, okay. So it’s not, would say not the pressure of playing in front of people or anything like that. It’s more so the pressure that is put upon oneself. And so super competitive guy, not satisfied. So think I’m a base. I think if I play baseball, you think I’m gonna get struck out?
Doug Dvorak (28:06.645)
Really? Unpack that for me.
Macey Brooks (28:33.282)
You think I’m ever gonna get struck out? Yeah, I don’t, didn’t like it. I didn’t like that. And for some reason I thought I should never strike out. Right? Do you know what mean? And so, but a strikeout would affect me though. That would affect my ability to go play defense. It would affect the next hit back. Right? It would affect the other people around me. And so,
At some point, I’m not sure what it was, but I realized.
They are looking at you.
They’re looking at you. And so what you put out there is going to be the energy that they feed off of. Good, bad, or indifferent.
Doug Dvorak (29:22.042)
Excellent.
Macey Brooks (29:22.382)
And I think everybody could kind of think if they thought that way, you would walk out and think differently.
Macey Brooks (29:34.07)
It’s a team and it’s personal, right? You go through the trenches in practice and you’re doing a bunch of stuff that you generally don’t wanna do sometimes, but you do it together. So it builds a bond, you know what saying? You do it in the rain, know, all that stuff. And so you start to realize that, you know, you all are leaning on each other. And so, you know,
And there was actually a point where I would have tantrums. Tantrums if I struck out or if I didn’t get the ball or if it didn’t go my way, right? Because it was the competitive part. I didn’t beat them.
And it felt like a sense of failure to the team. And so there was, for me, you know, I’m a rabbit hole guy. So I’ve got all these things tumbling inside me at the moment that I walk you back to the dugout. So I’m going back to the dugout. I’m cussing myself out. Do you know what I’m saying? Like, I’m that guy. And unfortunately, it was allowed sometimes because I was good. And so I realized that they’re watching. And you need…
to be the other kid in the back raising his hand and saying, I’m a leader too, right? And so how I walk and what I do matters. And so at some point that clicked. And so I tried to start walking better, good, bad, or indifferent.
Doug Dvorak (31:05.804)
know, Macey, many professional athletes struggle with identity after their playing career ends. What was your biggest challenge in transitioning out of professional sports, and how did you navigate that period?
Macey Brooks (31:16.747)
Yeah, yeah, and that was back to your plan question. Did you have a plan and? I had a small plan right follow your your your my major. But there’s also you know, there’s it’s it’s tough because there’s also a saying while you’re in well if you’re thinking about what you’re going to do when you’re out and you’re already out.
You know me so you hear that you’re like damn should I not be planning that but yet it’s like well God But when I get there, I ain’t got nothing set up. So it’s like So once again that comes back to that network, but how I actually felt it was
Doug Dvorak (31:38.884)
Yeah.
Macey Brooks (31:55.264)
Naked?
insecure
Macey Brooks (32:13.023)
Yeah, and I think depressed. And so I think, yeah, and.
Macey Brooks (32:22.766)
So I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have a And I didn’t know what I wanted to do. know? Mm-hmm.
Doug Dvorak (32:26.714)
competitive nature, having that data from your support, your family, your coaches, your community, and somehow it turned out okay. It turned out okay.
Macey Brooks (32:39.774)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I try not to pause too long, but yet it didn’t necessarily come easy because I think…
Like I was also the guy when I was playing ball was always thinking about business and entrepreneurship and stuff like that. And I would actually talk to the guys. I was that guy in the locker room talking about other stuff, know, or, you know, but that wasn’t most people’s MO. You know what I mean?
I mean, when I was driving to Dallas, I bought a smoothie shop at the health club that was behind our practice facility.
So, know, like, I was kinda, and so when I say I didn’t have a plan, I kinda had stuff I wanted to do, but I didn’t have a plan. Like, I didn’t know, like, okay, as soon as I’m out, I’m gonna start executing this, this type of thing. But.
Doug Dvorak (33:40.89)
but you’re always curious as an entrepreneur even while you were in the NFL.
Macey Brooks (33:44.736)
Yes, very much so. And I wish I’d have been more curious. And that kind of goes back to one of the questions you sent me. said, what would you tell your former self? What advice would you tell kids? It’s ask the questions. Ask the questions. Ask, ask, ask. The dumb ones, the ones you think that are dumb, you’ve got to find a safe place to say it. And if you don’t have a safe place, just say it out loud to somebody, and someone will hopefully help you.
It’s if someone tells you that’s dumb. That’s okay, too. That’s okay. It’s okay that it’d be a dumb question Just get it answered though. That’s the thing You don’t want to be walking around with a whole bag of dumbass questions that you never got answered Right like now who’s the dummy? The one that’s carrying around the bag with no way with no answers You know me so make sure you get the dumb ones answered because sometimes that will flow into a higher or deeper level question that
Doug Dvorak (34:33.124)
Right.
Macey Brooks (34:43.648)
You didn’t know you wanted to know, but you needed to know, which will link you to something else. Or someone else will be interested in your conversation and then will help you with whatever it, so that stuff. Sometimes mentors come from the weirdest places and a lot of times it comes from asking a question.
And I didn’t ask those questions. I wish I asked way more questions when I was younger. When it came to athletics, when it came to business, when it came to school, ask the questions. Ask the questions because the information is everything. It’s everything. It allows you to make decisions. It allows you to feel better about making decisions. It allows you to be a better person, honestly.
Doug Dvorak (35:25.496)
Yeah, and I
Doug Dvorak (35:35.736)
Really, what I hear though is those questions, the driver of that was curiosity, unending curiosity. And I’m a graduate of Second City in Chicago. I attended that in the early 90s. the cardinal rule of improv is saying yes and to an idea and building that scene, the arc of a story. And if I look on those critical inflection points,
Macey Brooks (35:42.093)
Yes.
Doug Dvorak (36:02.742)
in my life when I said yes and that was prompted by honest curiosity, hunger, and ask those questions, opportunities unfolded just because I was there and I came from a place of curiosity. So I love that. Action button.
Macey Brooks (36:17.57)
Yep, and then the action button, then the action button pops up. You know what saying? Then you can be like, punch, right? You don’t know what’s gonna happen after you punch it, but sometimes you just, sometimes you gotta punch it just to get into the action, to get the experience of what it’s gonna be about. Sometimes you gotta figure it out of what you don’t know on the fly because you’ll never know it all anyway. but yeah, no, that’s, yeah, yeah.
Doug Dvorak (36:37.058)
Yeah. Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (36:41.816)
Hey Macey, looking back on your journey from Virginia to Germany to James Madison to the NFL to a serial entrepreneur, what do you consider your greatest personal victory that had nothing to do with sports?
Macey Brooks (37:00.664)
personal victory. Today.
Doug Dvorak (37:06.17)
Sure, today, last year, yeah.
Macey Brooks (37:07.512)
Today, well, no, today. Being here, arriving, being on screen right now, being able to talk to you, hopefully enriching somebody, today, right? That’s the first, today. other, right now, right now, absolutely. And I got four, yeah, I got four wonderful girls, you know what I mean? And so, yeah, so when I was in third grade and they, you know, there’s that,
Doug Dvorak (37:11.3)
Just.
Doug Dvorak (37:21.9)
Living in the eternal now, today, being present. I love that.
Great answer.
Do you really?
Macey Brooks (37:37.23)
You write that biography and they say, what do you want to be when you’re going to grow up? And everybody’s writing about the fireman and the cowboy and pro player. I wrote about being a dad. So I wanted to be a daddy. Oh yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah. And so I got four girls and keep being as much a daddy as you ever want to be.
Doug Dvorak (37:49.496)
Really?
Doug Dvorak (37:59.45)
I bet that’s great. Macey and your story exemplifies you know a lot of things but one is perseverance. What advice would you give to someone facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles in pursuing their dream?
Macey Brooks (38:22.259)
know,
Macey Brooks (38:29.314)
Let’s just say when you have challenges or what some people deem as failures, they’re actually opportunities to lean actually in and to understand more about yourself and learn. failures aren’t necessarily.
defined by how it is in the dictionary. It’s more so that it’s an experience that you actually get to learn from. And so…
It’s truly just perspective. And I think if you’re going through life trying to learn, then you don’t look at failure as failure. You look at it as, okay, don’t go left, you go right. Right? And so sometimes you have to turn down a wrong street to know that you’re not supposed to go down that damn street. And so that’s okay. You’re not a failure because you did that. You just learned something.
That’s all. And so I think once again, it comes back to.
trying to find a way to be of service, because generally energy comes back to you that way. Ask the questions. if you can, wherever you are, if you can be a leader, then there’s also gonna be another leader in front of you that you can also kind of emulate, or they’re gonna look back at you and help you. know, I think we’re all beacons, and I think some people just need to hit the button.
Macey Brooks (40:09.774)
I just don’t, I don’t believe that everybody thinks they’re a beacon and we are. And so, yeah, as soon as everybody can kind of see that button, right, and build that button in their mind and actually, you know, and feel confident about it. Actually, you don’t even have to be feel confident about it. You don’t have to be confident to be a leader. You don’t. You don’t even have to say anything. You don’t have to talk to anybody. You can just walk. You can just walk. You’re a walk.
How you live, how you deal with people, how you speak to people, that’s leadership. Because that shows people that’s another way to do it. So it has nothing to do with even conversation. It’s just really about trying to be a beacon.
Doug Dvorak (41:00.706)
I love it. love it. Boy, 42 minutes have flown by. We’re going to get to the rapid fire round of questions now. These questions require quick one word or short phrases, whatever comes to your mind. Are you ready? Drum roll. OK. Toughest opponent you ever faced.
Macey Brooks (41:08.146)
Macey Brooks (41:13.998)
I don’t know about quick, but I’ll give you an answer.
Macey Brooks (41:25.368)
John Lynch, let’s see. No, no, no. Toughest opponent, Deion Sanders.
Doug Dvorak (41:31.094)
Excellent. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received.
Macey Brooks (41:38.252)
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Doug Dvorak (41:40.836)
Great pregame ritual you couldn’t live without.
Macey Brooks (41:49.55)
Go-
Doug Dvorak (41:53.242)
Just say it.
Macey Brooks (41:57.038)
All right, poop into my coach’s bathroom before the game.
Doug Dvorak (42:00.538)
Okay
Macey Brooks (42:02.542)
I just read the pregame manual and had to be in his office is what it is. I’m sorry.
Doug Dvorak (42:10.298)
biggest fear you overcame.
Macey Brooks (42:13.55)
Macey Brooks (42:17.344)
Spiders.
Doug Dvorak (42:19.384)
Most memorable touchdown.
Macey Brooks (42:22.958)
I had a couple one handed grabs. A couple of them got me on ESPN, so those were pretty much.
Doug Dvorak (42:32.836)
Hardest hit you ever took.
Macey Brooks (42:35.416)
From John Lynch.
Doug Dvorak (42:37.902)
best coach you ever had.
Macey Brooks (42:40.184)
Rip Shearer at JMEU.
Doug Dvorak (42:43.63)
best, most important quality for success.
Macey Brooks (42:50.53)
Resilience.
Doug Dvorak (42:52.772)
Favorite workout.
Macey Brooks (42:57.56)
Bodyweight stuff.
Doug Dvorak (42:59.854)
Dream job as a kid besides football.
Macey Brooks (43:10.19)
Dad?
Doug Dvorak (43:13.656)
Most valuable possession.
Macey Brooks (43:18.092)
My four girls.
Doug Dvorak (43:20.836)
Biggest game day superstition.
Macey Brooks (43:26.35)
Besides the pooping in my coaches bathroom, praying in the end zone right before the game.
Doug Dvorak (43:33.654)
One word to describe your NFL journey.
Doug Dvorak (43:43.63)
best post-game celebration.
Macey Brooks (43:48.814)
I would run by the referee and throw the football to him behind my back.
Doug Dvorak (43:57.358)
most inspirational teammate.
Macey Brooks (44:06.338)
Man.
Macey Brooks (44:10.126)
That’s tough. I’ve had some really good teammates. I couldn’t pick one. There’s there’s a lot of them. I’ve just had, I got a lot of brothers when it comes to athletics. And I even tell you that I was a loner, but I got a lot of brothers in game from sports.
Doug Dvorak (44:18.714)
Fair enough.
Doug Dvorak (44:29.144)
Macey, these 45 minutes have flown. Anything you’d like to leave our Mission Possible podcast community?
Macey Brooks (44:37.038)
Doug, I appreciate you having me. I wish that the community all a great year and find your beacon button. Hit your button, be a beacon. You never know who’s watching, somebody’s watching. And just be a leader from exactly where you are.
Doug Dvorak (45:02.81)
Excellent. My guest has been a former NFL great Macey Brooks, serial entrepreneur. Macey, if some of our listeners want to get in touch with you, they live, reside in the Chicagoland area, they want to play pickleball, walk us through how they can reach out to you if they want some of your great pickleball apparel or a lesson. How can they reach out to you?
Macey Brooks (45:23.682)
Yeah, so my pair of line is. Don’t pickle. Don’t pickle so literally. Played the first time play pickleball played my first game and got crushed by two ladies in their 70s. Walked off the court and was smiling and had. Just was literally elated by behind the level, the competition and.
Doug Dvorak (45:40.538)
Ha ha.
Macey Brooks (45:55.52)
It just how much fun I had. It was just, it was a wonderful experience. can unpack it. That’ll be in a whole nother podcast episode. But it just, I just thought it was dope. I honestly thought that everything about it that I just felt and experienced was dope. And so that’s where the line came. So you can reach me at dopepickle.com. got apparel. You can reach me for instruction. I travel. We are.
also consulting on tournaments and other things so there’s lot going on so. My man, there you go Doug.
Doug Dvorak (46:30.508)
And if they want a great cup of coffee, where should they go?
Macey Brooks (46:39.0)
There are three other places as well in Illinois, but please come see us. We do have wonderful coffee. We roast our own single origin and it’s roasted with love. So, Crema with a K, K-R-E-M-A.
Doug Dvorak (46:52.568)
Excellent.
Doug Dvorak (46:56.026)
great and that’s in North Aurora where are the other two locations?
Macey Brooks (46:59.275)
Lockport, Tinley and Plainfield.
Doug Dvorak (47:03.322)
Excellent. Macey Brooks, thanks. Have a great 2025 health and happiness to you and your family. Podcast Nation Mission Possible. Check us out at Mission Possible podcast. Carpe Diem.
Macey Brooks (47:17.602)
God bless.