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Keith Sutton
Hothead Technologies, Inc.
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Hothead Sports and ProStart Academy share common goals when it comes to positioning our youth for future success. Below is an article, courtesy of the Birmingham News, that highlights Hothead Sports partner, ProStart Academy and its founder and CEO, Gary Burley.

`Pro Start is a unique sports, academic and life-skills academy that helps student-athletes develop athletically and academically while becoming socially responsible.'

Sunday, July 13, 2008
ROY L. WILLIAMS
News staff writer

Gary Burley says he was unprepared for the financial and business pressures of playing pro football when drafted in 1973.

This spring, the retired NFL lineman kicked off the first season of Pro Start Academy, a Birmingham-based, life-skills training camp he started to help prepare student-athletes for successful business careers after sports. Burley's yearlong camp on the Miles College campus features a curriculum that officials from Samford University and Birmingham City Schools helped develop.

Burley shared his goals for the camp and what it was like to play in the 1981 Super Bowl with the Cincinnati Bengals. He also talked about what brought him to Birmingham from Atlanta - his marriage last year to Alabama Power executive Bobbie Knight. What is Pro Start Academy? Pro Start is a unique sports, academic and life-skills academy that helps student-athletes develop athletically and academically while becoming socially responsible. There are 35 student-athletes participating.


Right now, we do football and basketball and will move into other sports. The cost is $2,000 per year, but we have scholarships available for inner-city kids who qualify. Russell Athletics is our main sponsor. What are the goals of the program? To create an environment for student-athletes to develop and enhance their physical mechanics - such as speed, agility and form; to enhance their mental training and personal management; to improve scholastically; to manage their health and their behavior; and to market themselves to college coaches and scouts for scholarship consideration.

Our goal is to use Birmingham and Atlanta as models for the program, then duplicate our model in other cities with strong retired-player bases. I understand financial management was added as part of your program. Explain why. You've heard the old adage that a fool and his money are soon parted. That is very true, especially with professional athletes. We start out showing kids what $1 million really is after taxes, agents' fees, friends and family, unwise investments and lavish spending.

They learn that you could very easily be in debt and broke if you don't have the skills to manage your finances. We have all seen players that are not prepared for life after the cheering stops.

We have positioned our student-athletes to circumvent that by learning how to be successful now. Dr. Franz Lohrke from Samford University's Brock School of Business has customized his entrepreneur class at Samford and teaches our students about personal finance. We believe that if kids can master video games, they can learn about personal finance that will position them for success in the future. How did you come up with the vision? As a senior in high school, I had no scholarship offers but was fortunate to meet John Hicks and Jack Tatum, at the time two players for the Ohio State Buckeyes' national championship team. After I beat them in a foot race, they asked me where I was going to college. When I told them I had no plans to go, they took me on as a project.

John introduced me to several folks who helped me develop my interview, public speaking and academic skills to help me market myself for a college scholarship. This approach resulted not only in a scholarship, but I ultimately became a four-year collegiate All-American.

I assembled a team of former pro athletes and other professionals to mentor kids and help them become better athletes, better students and better citizens. I basically took my own experience and developed a systematic approach to help young student-athletes who fly under the radar increase their opportunities for scholarship consideration. What lessons did football teach you that you count on as an entrepreneur?

Discipline, hard work, leadership, team-building, listening and learning. You must learn to use your sport as a tool to enhance your opportunity for success in life. For me, football is a good conversation starter but after that you have to be able to show that you can contribute immediately to the bottom line. Student-athletes learn to cultivate relationships and friendships that have the potential to enhance their lives and careers beyond sports. Sports can be a character-builder and a stepping stone. What was it like playing in the Super Bowl? We got to the Super Bowl and I remember 2,500 media representatives gathered from around the world. The day of the game, I was on the sideline speaking to Diana Ross. I could not believe we were there. It was surreal.

It was one of the most exciting times of my life. Once the ball is kicked, you forget about all the pageantry and go into win mode. How did you and your wife, Bobbie Knight, meet? My good friend, former Auburn University and NFL great Joe Cribbs, asked me to assist him in getting former and current professional athletes to play in his annual golf tournament.

I agreed, and reluctantly decided to come to Birmingham for the tournament. It was my first trip to Birmingham and I must admit that my expectations were low.

While having lunch with Mike Rozier, Eric Curry and several local people who played in the tournament, this lovely woman joined our table. Lucky for me she sat at the one seat left at our table, and it was next to me. I introduced myself and during our conversation discovered that she had recently lost her mother.

I shared with her my experience dealing with the loss of my mother and we just seemed to connect. I moved here from Atlanta because of her career. I fell in love with her and with Birmingham. We recently celebrated our first anniversary.

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ABOUT HOTHEAD TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - Hothead Technologies™, Inc., is an Atlanta based company offering a patented and proprietary monitoring solution termed the Heat Observation Technology™ (H.O.T.) system. It aids in the prevention of heat-related illness in athletes. Within the upcoming years, Hothead Technologies will target additional segments that use biosensor technologies such as public safety, military, industrial, and other markets. The Hothead Technologies, Hothead Sports, Heat Observation Technology (H.O.T.), Hothead Technologies logo and Hothead Sports logo are trademarks of Hothead Technologies, Inc. Hothead is a registered trademark of Hothead Technologies, Inc.

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contact our office at 678-870-1136.