Super Bowl Week always is a busy time in the league and this year’s series of events in New Orleans proved to be no exception.
However, one NFL-related note that may have been underreported last week did not occur in New Orleans. NFL alum Scott Turner, who played nine years in the league (1995-2001, 2003-04), was confirmed in Washington D.C. as the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in President Trump’s cabinet. He was approved on a bi-partisan vote of 55-45 by the U.S. Senate.
Turner, 52, played defensive back with the Redskins, Chargers, and Broncos. He played his college ball at the University of Illinois and was selected as a seventh round draft choice by the Redskins and played there for three seasons. Turner then moved out to the West Coast where he spent three more years with the Chargers. He finished his NFL career in Denver in early 2004.
“Playing for nine years was a great honor and a blessing,” Turner recalls. “I always prayed that the platform I had as a player would increase when I retired so that I might reach more people. I’m very fortunate to have had the opportunity to fulfill my dream of both playing and being a servant leader of people.”
Turner, a native Texan, served in the state legislature there for two terms. He also has been Associate Pastor at the Prestonwood Baptist Church outside of Dallas. He and his wife Robin established a family foundation to help provide after-school programs in needy communities. During Trump’s first term in the White House, Turner served as the first executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council where he oversaw 16 federal agencies. Four years later, that appointment proved to be an important stepping stone to his current HUD status.
Turner’s new position is the same as previously held by another NFL alumnus. The late Jack Kemp, who served as HUD Secretary under President George H.W. Bush from 1989-93, also was a nine-term Congressional member representing upstate New York. Kemp played quarterback in the 1960s with the AFL Chargers and Bills and was a two-time AFL Championship Game MVP with Buffalo.
We at NFL Alumni are proud of our brother Scott Turner and wish him much success in his Cabinet post in the new administration.
