By Jim Gehman, Engagement Insider
Raised in Oklahoma, you went to the University of Nebraska before being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. Was it just fate that you were chosen by an NFL team based in the Midwest?
“I don’t know about fate, but I think it worked out really well. It didn’t matter where I played; I just think it was a chance for me to get an opportunity.”
A guard, you didn’t miss a single game during a 14 year career. Was dependability important to you as a player?
“I think it was more or less the simple fact of being that guy that, ‘Hey, this is my job. This is my spot.’ I didn’t want anybody else in it ever.”
What else was important to you?
“The opportunity to play itself was, for me, the honor within itself. To be able to say, ‘I’m actually playing at the highest level.’ Also the simple fact that it was part of making a living, trying to get to that point to where you can take care of your family. And to me, that was also really important.”
Selected to play in 12 consecutive Pro Bowls, a first-team All-Pro twice, and named to the NFL’s All Decade Team for the 2000s. All that said, what makes you most proud of your football career?
Images by Kansas City Chiefs
“There are a lot of little things that you can be proud of. But I don’t know if there’s just one particular thing. The awards are good, the stats are great, but I think I’m most proud that I got the opportunity to do something unique and to be able to play the game.”
During your rookie season, you and your wife, Senia, founded the Will to Succeed Foundation. [www.willtosucceed.org] What led to that so early in your career?
“I had great mentors beforehand. One was (Nebraska Coach Tom) Osbourne basically starting us off by having us do different things in the community in Lincoln, Nebraska. And actually see that you do make a difference by being an athlete.
“By me being an offensive lineman, you’re thinking, hey, you know, not too many people want to really listen to what you have to say. You might not feel you have a voice, but then once you go out there and be a part of it, you figure out that you can make a difference.
“And when I got to the Chiefs, there were 17 different guys that had different foundations. And what I noticed is that those guys were all considered pillars of the community. They were doing good things and providing a caveat for people to get the word out what they were doing and how they’re doing it. They were all veteran players that had been there for a while.
“For me to be a part of that group, I had to do some of the things that they were doing just so that I can put myself in that position to say, ‘Hey, I plan on being here for a long time.’”
Do you think the veterans recognized your confidence that you’re going to be there for a while?
“I think so. I think it more less came after the beginning of the season because just like anything else, when you’re a new guy stepping into the community, they’re trying figure out what is he really about? What is he going to do? How’s he going to help our team win some games?”
And now 22 years later, the Will to Succeed Foundation is still succeeding. Why has it been so successful?
“The simple fact of being truly involved in it. From day one, developing what it’s going to be, how it’s going to be and what you wanted to accomplish. Those things make it more important across the board than being a person that’s just the face or a figurehead.
“It was me and my wife’s goal to be able to help people in the community, and we were hands-on. Some of our first events, it was us two and three of our friends who put it together. So starting it from grass roots, I think, really helped.”
What makes you most proud of the Foundation?
“That we’ve been able to help so many different people and different caveats. Even though our Foundation was built for battered and abused women and children, we’ve been able to build different programs to help with child care, obesity, literacy, as well as just other little nuances within the whole gamut of building up positive self-esteem one way or another.
“And that it’s been going as long as it has, that it’s still recognized and being supported today even though I’m no longer playing for a current team.”
It’s coming soon. In August, you will be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Are you getting nervous? Excited? Both?
“I’m doing okay with the nervousness. I think I will be certainly more nervous the day we actually get there and you get your (gold) jacket and you start going through that. That’s when the nerves will kick in, when you see all the other guys that’s already been there before you.
“I’m excited that I get the opportunity to be a part of the Hall of Fame and to be a part of this class. To me, that’s an honor within itself. It’s one of those things that you worked hard to do what you wanted to do.
“But this is something that wasn’t on your bucket list. It wasn’t on something that you put down 10 years ago; I’m going to be this, that or the other. You sort of take it as what it is and say this is a great honor to have.”
What’s the best thing about being Will Shields today?
“The best thing for me today is watching my kids [Sanayika, Willie, Shavon and Solomon] grow up, and being able to see them starting to do great things within their lives. That’s a blessing within itself.”