A few of us are fortunate to be in the league for 8-10 years.
However, the majority of us often are not on NFL rosters or practice squads for much more than 8-10 months.
Ethan Hemer falls into that latter category. The University of Wisconsin lineman was signed as a rookie free agent by the Steelers after he was undrafted in 2014. He spent most of that season on the team’s practice squad. His experience was similar the next season before he was released. As the late Chuck Noll liked to say, it was time for Hemer to ‘get on with his life’s work’.”
Hemer’s life’s work these days is in collegiate athletics. He is the Associate Director of Development for a Big Ten school…Michigan State. Some of his family and friends back home in Wisconsin understand…but, not all of them. He is very much involved in MSU’s Spartan Fund which is the fundraising arm of the athletic department.
“After the Steelers cut me,” Hemer recalls, “I knew I was done. I was a short-armed, slow defensive lineman and I knew there were dozens like me available. I looked for something new and found my passion in fundraising. It was liberating to get away from the stress and anxiety of being a football free agent and, instead, find something new to be passionate about.”
Hemer’s first stop after playing was at Marian University in Indianapolis in 2016. He ultimately served as the Assistant Athletic Director for External Development for the private NAIA school. Hemer was responsible for ticket sales, sponsorship, marketing, and fundraising for the athletic department. He moved on to Michigan State in 2022.
Hemer has positive memories of his brief time with the Steelers and, in particular, the skills of Mike Tomlin as a head coach.
“I kept a notebook of Tomlin’s quotes and concepts,” Hemer recently told Ron Lippock of the Pittsburgh Sports Daily Bulletin. “He was great at the X’s and O’s but it was more than that. He was a master at building a culture. You could see why people wanted to play for him and followed him. He had the ability to hold anyone accountable—he was a master at that—no matter who you are. He’d talk to guys like (Maurkice) Pouncey, Antonio (Brown), and Le’Veon (Bell) differently than say a back-of-the-roster guy, but he was masterful in how he handled either one.”
We at NFL Alumni wish our 32-year old brother Ethan Hemer much success with his life’s work. Any Wisconsin Badger who can smoothly transition to another Big Ten school is truly himself a “master”.
