One of professional footballs most versatile linemen during the 70s and 80s, Ray Pinney parlayed his degree in finance from the University of Washington into a broker position with Acordia (formerly Pettit-Morry Co.) in Seattle.

After earning All Pac-8 honors as a three-year starter at Washington, Mr. Pinney started at all five positions on the offensive line. His career in the NFL included opening a hole for Franco Harris to score the winning touchdown when Pittsburgh topped Dallas in Super Bowl XIII.

An avid golfer, Mr. Pinney took a serious look at a career in insurance when he noticed a disproportionate number of agents and brokers playing golf during the middle of the week.

“The risks and rewards in business are similar to football. An individual needs to go beyond their normal comfort zone in both to achieve his desired lifestyle,” he said.

“With football, time in the weight room is an opportunity to improve. With insurance, the opportunity is filling a need that provides better service to a client.”

Innovation has paid dividends to Mr. Pinney in his second career. His Super Bowl moment in the insurance industry took place when he helped brand software errors and omissions coverage for Acordia endorsed by the Washington Software Alliance.

Andy Kosco

Golf also played a major role in the transformation of Andy Kosco from major league first baseman to the proprietor of an insurance agency near his home in Youngstown, Ohio.

Mr. Kosco met Nick Goulish, the agencys owner, on a golf course near Philadelphia toward the end of his baseball career. Mr. Goulish made Mr. Kosco a partner when he retired from the game in 1971, then moved on five years later, leaving the hard-swinging ballplayer in complete control of his own destiny.

“It was my hometown. So name recognition helped the first few years. To me, insurance meant a chance to play more golf,” explained Mr. Kosco. “I was pretty good at socializing, but clients renewed because I prepared myself every day for the challenges that might be waiting at the office.”

Mr. Kosco played for seven teams during his major league career. But his footnote in history took place on Feb. 10, 1971, when the Los Angeles Dodgers traded the veteran to Milwaukee for pitcher Al Downing. Al Downing went on to win 20 games for the Dodgers that year, and two years later he gave up Henry Aarons record-breaking 715th home run.

Goulish & Kosco Insurance now employs 12 people in three offices.

Ron Sellers

Insurance had been in Ron Sellers game plan since his playing days as a wide receiver for Florida State University in the late 1960s. But his career in risk management was delayed when the New England Patriots selected him in the first round of collegiate draft. He worked as a stock broker in Boston during the off season, in his words, to keep his “finger on the pulse of business.”

After a five-year career that included playing in the Super Bowl for the Miami Dolphins in 1973, Mr. Sellers founded the Sellers and Associates agency in Winter Park, Fla., specializing in commercial lines, life, group health, retirement and financial planning.

Thirty years after his playing days at FSU, Mr. Sellers looks determined when asked to compare football with insurance. He credits NFL coaches Tom Landry in Dallas and Don Shula in Miami for teaching him how to motivate a sales force with a tough combination of enthusiasm and determination.

“Both men had a personal relationship with every player, but that did not stop either of them from demanding perfection on and off the field,” Mr. Sellers recalled. “They preached the importance of being prepared for every opportunity. Physical errors were tolerated, but neither one of them would stand mental mistakes.”

Mr. Sellers has also tried to duplicate the teachings of Joe Gibbs, the offensive coordinator in Miami who went on to coach the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl. Mr. Gibbs demanded focus on the goal at hand (getting a first down) with a vision of the bigger picture (winning the football game).

Mr. Sellers recently merged his firm with the Kuydendall Insurance Agency of Palm Beach to form one of the largest privately held independent agencies in Florida. The merger added the expertise of small commercial lines and surety bonds to the combined agencys portfolio.

Dick Anderson

Dick Anderson played with Mr. Sellers on the Miami championship team that went undefeated in 1973. Mr. Anderson played strong safety for the Dolphins for nine years, played in three Pro Bowls and was named Defensive Player of the Year in 1973.

“Sports is selling,” said Mr. Anderson, who is now part of the team at State Farm. “Each requires huge amounts of persistence and purpose.”

He compared his first day of cold calls to walking onto the practice field as a rookie in 1968. Mr. Anderson said only time and repetition allowed him to improve at each. He credits the philosophies of Ross Perot and Jack Welch for his success in business as much as Coach Shula for his glory days on the football field.

Mr. Anderson is motivated to be the best-prepared person at every business meeting–a lesson he learned the hard way during his athletic career.

“Using his organizational skills and methods of evaluation, Jack Welch could have been a great football coach,” said Mr. Anderson. Then after a pause, he added, “And Shula could have been one hell of a CEO.”

Jerry Lyscio

Toward the end of his playing days, big league pitcher Jerry Lyscio took note of how injured players placed on the disabled list were given time to rehabilitate in the minorswith full paybefore being asked to face major league opponents again. After retiring, he sought a sales position with AFLAC, the only insurance company at the time that provided living expenses to its policyholders while recovering from an injury or illness.

“Here was an opportunity to give something back to the people in my hometown,” said Mr. Lyscio. “Today there are other companies offing similar service, but I still have only myself to sell.”

“Just like pitching, this insurance is my way of helping my community.”

Mr. Lyscio became a hometown hero 40 years ago when he pitched Brainerd (MN) High School to a 4-0 victory in the high school championship game in 1963. That year he was a first-round draft choice of the old Houston Colt 45s. Years later he was the first player selected from the roster of the Minnesota Twins in the expansion draft that helped create the Kansas City Royals in 1969.

“That was the Minnesota Twins team that featured future Hall of Famer Rod Carew,” Mr. Lyscio said proudly.

Tim Cowan

Being a hometown hero is what propelled former University of Washington quarterback Tim Cowan into his career as an account executive with USI Northwest (formerly Hurley, Atkins & Stewart).

After setting a bundle of passing records and being named the Most Valuable Player in the 1982 Hula Bowl, Mr. Cowan continued his football career north of the border in the Canadian Football League. He returned to Seattle in 1986 after six years of playing quarterback in British Columbia and Toronto.

He was recruited into insurance by another Washington alum, with an offer he could “quarterback his own team to a championship in the business arena.”

“At first, I was resistant to the idea of insurance,” said Mr. Cowan. “But when the program was described in detail, I learned how I could use the same discipline and determination from football for a career after football.”

That was 14 years ago. Today No. 14 of the Huskies leads a combined team from three of the premier insurance agencies in the Northwest. USI Northwest was the first company to integrate financial services with a full range of property and casualty insurance programs.

Jerry Augustine

Communication has been the one element that former Milwaukee pitcher Jerry Augustine has taken from the pitchers mound to life after baseball.

After 10 years in the majors, Mr. Augustine went back to his adopted hometown to open an insurance agency and become the head baseball coach at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. He implemented many of the techniques he learned from his coaches and managers in Milwaukee to his new vocation.

“When managers come to the mound to talk to a pitcher, every eye in the stadium is on that conversation. Your words need to be direct and to the point,” Mr. Augustine said. “The same is true when I talk to clients. I learned to be direct and always be honest. It helped me learn as a player. And it has helped me succeed in business.”

Mr. Augustine owns and operates the independent Jerry Augustine Insurance Agency in Milwaukee. The walls of his office are filled with memorabilia from his playing days.

“Name recognition was important when I started, and it remains important today,” he said. “If people do not recall my name from my days with the Brewers, theyll be reminded the moment they walk through the door.”

Mr. Augustines best year as a pro was in 1978 when he won 13 games as a starter, had three shutouts and six complete games. As a coach, he led the UWM Panthers to consecutive league championships and four appearances in the NCAA tournament.

Born in Green Bay, Mr. Augustine grew up in nearby Kewaunee and was drafted by Milwaukee in 1974.

Tommy Maddox

Occasionally, the scenario of athlete to insurance agent works in reverse. Former UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox gave up his 9-5 job of selling life insurance for one more chance at glory on the football field.

Mr. Maddox followed his fathers footsteps and began working for Allstate after the Atlanta Falcons cut him in 1997. He began selling insurance with the same determination that led him to be a first round draft choice after only two seasons of playing college football.

“I thought insurance was something I could really get into. I knew it would allow me to support my family very well for the next 20 or 30 years,” said Mr. Maddox.

The unemployed quarterback also enjoyed the idea of having Sundays to be with his family, go to church and play golf near his home in Dallas. He actually enjoyed the fact that the golf courses were unusually empty on Sunday afternoons when people were glued to their television sets watching football.

Mr. Maddox sold insurance for three years in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and went six full seasons without taking a snap from center. But the attraction of playing football was too much for him to ignore.

He accepted an invitation from the New Jersey Red Dogs of the Arena Football League to play again in 2000. His 3,800 yards passing and 64 touchdowns earned him an invitation to try out with the Pittsburgh Steelers a decade after his playing days at UCLA.

What started out as an insurance policy and a backup quarterback for the Steelers turned out to be a good deal for both parties. Three games into the 2003 season, Mr. Maddox came into the game for the winless Steelers with four minutes left on the clock. He drove his team 77 yards to the tie the game. Pittsburgh eventually won the game in overtime.

Mr. Maddox ended up starting six games for an injured Kordell Stewart that year, winning four and tying one game.

His taste of success on the field has put his insurance career on hold. Mr. Maddox is looking forward to his second full season of his second tour of duty in the NFL this fall.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, August 4, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.