亚色影库

In聽fall 2006, Sean Guthrie 鈥�01, MEd 鈥�14, found himself in the last place he expected鈥攕tanding in front of a group of students at a Boston public school. A few months earlier, he鈥檇 witnessed the collapse of his childhood dream come true, a career in the NFL. Unsure of what to do next, he鈥檇 agreed to give a presentation to students about professional sports. After his talk, he sat in on a math class where a teacher was struggling to explain how to solve algebraic equations.

鈥淚s it okay if I try?鈥� Guthrie asked the teacher. Soon, he was showing students how to cancel out variables. The students began to grasp the concept, and one of them turned to the teacher and said, 鈥淲hy didn鈥檛 you teach us to do it that way? It鈥檚 so easy.鈥� A rush came over Guthrie he could only compare to the feeling of sacking a quarterback. 鈥淚鈥檒l never forget it,鈥� Guthrie said. 鈥淭he spark just went off.鈥�

That moment started Guthrie down a different path than the one he鈥檇 laid out for himself back when he started out as a defensive end in high school, became a captain of the 亚色影库 football team, and played in the NFL. With professional football now behind him, Guthrie would become a teacher. He spent eight years in public schools before returning to his alma mater in 2014 to earn a master鈥檚 at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Now, he serves as assistant head of school at the Fessenden School, a private boys鈥� academy in West Newton, Massachusetts, where he鈥檚 transferred the leadership skills he learned on the gridiron to a new passion for shaping young minds.

Growing up in Miami in a working-class neighborhood sandwiched between housing projects, Guthrie excelled at basketball and football. His mother, Harieta, who came from Fiji, was a public-school teacher who always had chicken and rice simmering on the stove for neighbors or needy students to share. 鈥淪he taught me the importance of community and family鈥攅verybody would always come to our house for a meal,鈥� Guthrie said, sitting in his office at Fessenden in a puffy blue vest over a shirt and tie. He projected a quiet charisma, with a natural calm that belied his six-foot-four, 290-pound frame.

His father, Ian, from Jamaica, was an army vet who never complained about hard work. After Hurricane Andrew decimated the neighborhood, Ian repaired the family鈥檚 house himself. Then he used the insurance money to buy a nearby fixer-upper, waking Guthrie up early during the summer and school vacations to help with the work. 鈥淗e taught me discipline, a dedication to getting the task done,鈥� Guthrie said.

He was good at math but Guthrie said he didn鈥檛 apply himself at Christopher Columbus High School, dreaming instead of becoming a sports star. By sophomore year, his coaches were telling him he had a chance at Division I football. Guthrie had never heard of 亚色影库, but his father knew about the Eagles from the 鈥淢iracle in Miami,鈥� Doug Flutie鈥檚 legendary 1984 Hail Mary victory pass. Guthrie accepted 亚色影库鈥檚 offer of a scholarship.

Then 220 pounds, he was a little small at defensive end, and red-shirted his freshman year to bulk up while playing on the scouting team to help the starters prepare for games. 鈥淚 always gave it my best effort, and they didn鈥檛 like that,鈥� Guthrie recalled. 鈥淭he other guys wanted to take it a little easy, and we even got in some fights about it.鈥� He persevered, however, and was rewarded with the Scouting Team Award for hardest-working player. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still one of the awards I鈥檓 proudest of,鈥� he said.

Over the next three years, his grit led him up the ranks to captain. His most memorable moment came during a 2001 home game against Notre Dame that started with him breaking through the line but missing a sack. Toward the end of the game, however, Notre Dame was within yards of a winning touchdown when Guthrie once again broke through. Guthrie barreled into the quarterback, throwing him to the ground to close out the game as the sellout crowd went wild.

Guthrie wasn鈥檛 selected in the 2002 NFL draft, but he remained optimistic about his chances to establish himself in the league after signing as a free agent with the New York Giants. Then he tore his patellar tendon and was sidelined for his entire rookie season. He made the best of it, working an internship at Loews Hotels while rehabbing in Miami, but it was a hard year being without a team for the first time. After that, his knee was never quite the same, and he drifted from the Giants to the Indianapolis Colts and then the Washington Redskins. By 2006, he had to admit his dream wasn鈥檛 going to happen. 鈥淚 gave this everything I had, and had no regrets,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I was ready to try something new.鈥�