Speaker 1: Wind down with Janet Kramer an I'm Heeart radio podcast.
Speaker 2: I want to introduce you to On the Job and
Speaker 2: host Avery Thompson. Avery shares stories of people making changes
Speaker 2: in their professional and personal lives. Whether it's a successful
Speaker 2: athlete transitioning into a new career off the field, a
Speaker 2: fly fishing tour guide trying to introduce a new segment
Speaker 2: of folks to the joys of the outdoors, or a
Speaker 2: stadium beer and hot dog hawker who doubles as a
Speaker 2: CEO of a red hot startup. We'll find out what
Speaker 2: drives them and what lies ahead. These are heartfelt stories
Speaker 2: of people finding their lives. Work on the Job is
Speaker 2: brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. This week, Avery
Speaker 2: talks to a former offensive lineman about his Express franchise
Speaker 2: in Iowa.
Speaker 3: Welcome to On the Job. On today's episode, we're speaking
Speaker 3: with Pete McMahon over in the ames Iowa Express office,
Speaker 3: who for the past two years has been working alongside
Speaker 3: his wife Katie. If you were to walk into the
Speaker 3: Express office in ames, Iowa, I'd find yourself thinking, geez,
Speaker 3: that's a big guy over there, and that's the same
Speaker 3: thing that the football coaches at the University of Iowa
Speaker 3: thought when Pete McMahon walked onto their field back in
Speaker 3: two thousand as an incoming freshman.
Speaker 4: Guy was six seven, two hundred and ninety pounds as
Speaker 4: a senior in high school, and back then that was
Speaker 4: pretty big. So that was attraction from the Iowa program.
Speaker 3: As a born and raised Iowan, it had always been
Speaker 3: Pete McMahon's dream to play for the Hawkeys. But even
Speaker 3: as big as he was, that dream wasn't going to
Speaker 3: come easy.
Speaker 4: For those that don't know what is being a walk
Speaker 4: on mean? You can join the team, We'll give you
Speaker 4: a uniform, you can hold this tackling dummy. And that
Speaker 4: was me. So I was not a scholarship kid. I
Speaker 4: wasn't even a recruited walk on. I was a first
Speaker 4: what they would call first day walk on.
Speaker 3: And while I can't get over the injustice of that,
Speaker 3: Pete didn't seem to mind. If anything in motivated him
Speaker 3: to work that much harder in the weight room and
Speaker 3: hit that much harder on the field.
Speaker 4: I grew up in a blue collar family and if
Speaker 4: you didn't have something, you went out and you worked
Speaker 4: for it. You got it.
Speaker 3: Pete McMahon came into his own as a Hawk guy
Speaker 3: and went on to have an impressive college career.
Speaker 4: It was a team captain and you know, two Big
Speaker 4: Ten Championship rings. We finished in the top ten three
Speaker 4: years in a row.
Speaker 3: So when it came time for graduation, there was no
Speaker 3: question in Pete's mind what was next.
Speaker 4: You're gonna play at the next level.
Speaker 3: By the end of the first day of drafts, Pete
Speaker 3: still is unsigned. And then finally, in the sixth round
Speaker 3: of the two thousand and five NFL Draft, the Oakland
Speaker 3: Raiders select Pete McMahon for their offensive line. Do they
Speaker 3: still get the sixth rounds that comically giant check.
Speaker 4: I didn't get the big check. No, they didn't do
Speaker 4: that for me, but I would have liked that.
Speaker 3: And very quickly Pete learns what it's really like in
Speaker 3: the pro league.
Speaker 4: Two days later they cut me.
Speaker 3: Fortunately, soon after getting released from Oakland, Pete manages to
Speaker 3: get on with the Cleveland Browns and spends the season
Speaker 3: with them.
Speaker 4: In that offseason that summer, I had gotten married.
Speaker 3: So Pete and his wife arrived back in Ilewa, and
Speaker 3: the very next day he gets a call from the
Speaker 3: New York Jets saying pack your bags.
Speaker 4: I look like a really good husband. Just took my
Speaker 4: law's daughter out of their house, brought her back a
Speaker 4: week later. Oh ya, And in that time we bought
Speaker 4: a new puppy.
Speaker 3: So then Pete goes to New York in Buffalo, and
Speaker 3: Miami and Jacksonville and New England and Hamburg, Germany, of
Speaker 3: all places, and then back to Jacksonville. You played for
Speaker 3: a lot of teams in the NFL, Yes, I did.
Speaker 4: People ask me what teams do you play for? I'm like,
Speaker 4: I don't know you name one. I probably was with them.
Speaker 3: But eventually Pete decided that as much of a dream
Speaker 3: as it was to play in the NFL, enough is enough.
Speaker 3: His wife, Katie had gotten involved with Express Employment Professionals
Speaker 3: by buying an office in Ames, Iowa.
Speaker 4: We dove in. Never been in the staffing industry before,
Speaker 4: knew nothing about it.
Speaker 3: Did you have any reservations about working with your wife?
Speaker 4: You know? Lots of people ask me that. Honestly, no,
Speaker 4: we work really well together. We always have.
Speaker 3: And of course Pete McMahon knows firsthand what it's like
Speaker 3: to have little to show for yourself besides unwavering dedication.
Speaker 3: You're that football recruiter. Now you're on the other side
Speaker 3: of it, and you're seeing potential in people I had.
Speaker 4: You know, coaches in the past say hey, we want
Speaker 4: folks that are going to work hard and want to
Speaker 4: be there, need teaching the rest. We're all about giving people,
Speaker 4: you know, another chance to be successful.
Speaker 3: What Pete McMahon does it Express is look for people
Speaker 3: like himself, fellow walk Ons, just waiting for an opportunity
Speaker 3: to prove themselves for on the job. I'm Avery Thompson.
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