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Donnie Edwards (Former NFL Player)

Published on Mon, 15 Jul 2019 10:00:10 +0000

The NFL veteran shares his longtime passion for Panerai, how he became a watch nerd, and why he's all about building community.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent sits down with Donnie Edwards, a former NFL linebacker who spent 13 seasons in the league, including five with his hometown San Diego Chargers. Edwards shares his journey from being an undersized UCLA player who broke his back his senior year to being drafted in the fourth round by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1996, eventually playing alongside his childhood hero Junior Seau. The conversation explores the challenges NFL players face during career transitions, with Edwards explaining how the average NFL career lasts just 3.5 years and how difficult it is for athletes who've been supported their entire lives to suddenly navigate the real world alone. Edwards now works with the NFL Legends community helping former players access benefits and transition services.

Beyond football, Edwards reveals himself as a serious watch collector with deep roots in the community going back to the 1990s. His first significant watch purchase was a Rolex Daytona with Zenith movement in 1996 for around $5,000, bought to celebrate making it to the NFL. In 1998, while walking through Florence, he discovered Panerai and became an early member of the Paneristi online community in 2001, forming lasting friendships with collectors worldwide. Edwards discusses how these watch communities created bonds that transcended the hobby itself, leading to deep relationships with people across the globe. He's since expanded his collection to include brands like JLC, even visiting their manufacture in the Vallée de Joux. The episode concludes with Edwards discussing his philanthropic work through the Best Defense Foundation, which takes World War II veterans back to the battlefields where they fought, most recently bringing sixteen veterans to Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and his efforts to help Navy SEALs transition to civilian life in San Diego.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown I remember the first preseason game when I had the uniform on. I'm on the field looking up at Qualcomm Stadium. We called it Jack Murphy Stadium back then. Because that's how old school we are. And I'm just looking up at the stance and I'm and I'm just thinking to myself, like I'm not saying anything, but I'm in my head, like God I used to sit right over there and watch Charlie Joyner, Dan Fouts, Wes Chandler, you know like all these guys. And I'm looking at my helmet, charger bolt on there, I'm looking at my uniform, and I'm like I'm in the NFL yeah I'm playing for the Chargers right
Unknown now. Alright I'm not gonna mince words here at all. This is no question one of the most fun conversations I've been able to have for Hodinki Radio. Sit me down with someone who's extremely talented, surprisingly humble, and unrelentingly nerdy about their passions, and I'm basically good to go. That all perfectly describes this week's guest, Donnie Edwards. Donnie grew up in San Diego, California, played football at UCLA, and ended up spending 13 seasons as a linebacker in the NFL. He even got to spend five seasons playing for his hometown San Diego Chargers. But beyond being a world-class athlete, he's a serious watch nerd, and I mean really serious. The dude was deep in the Panorai community going back to the 1990s, and he can rattle off reference numbers like it's nothing. He's been to the Valley de Jou, and he's into everything from Rolex and Autumn RPG to brands like Patek Philippe and JLC. He's also a firm believer in the power of watches to bring people together and to create communities. I could have talked to Donnie for hours, but he had a flight to catch, and I didn't want to be the one responsible for stranding him in a rainy New York City overnight. But don't worry, he'll be back on the show again soon, no question. I'm your host, Stephen Polveran, and this is Hodinky Radio. Thanks so much for joining us. Good to uh good to have you here. Thanks for having me on this rainy New York uh Thursday. Yeah, yeah. You didn't uh you didn't bring the California weather with you. That's okay. We had it e
Unknown arlier. Now I'm leaving so I can take it with me. Back to California. What's uh what brought you to New York City for this trip? Uh here working with the NFL. So as you know, I played in the league for uh for many years and uh since I retired, I started working with the NFL legends community. And what it is, it's a um it's uh former players that are helping out other former players transition. So there's a whole bunch of benefits services um available to guys to tap into to be successful when they get done you know when they get out of the uni
Unknown form. Yeah. I that's something I think a lot of people don't think about and don't necessarily realize is you know for a lot of these guys like you your career that you think of as your your lifetime passion ends when you're what in your thirties sometime lucky if you
Unknown 're lucky. Yeah. If you're lucky, I mean the average uh NFL career is three and a half years. Wow. So imagine when you start at twenty one, twenty two years old. I mean you're looking at twenty six, twenty seven years old and you know, it's over. And now you're trying to, you know, figure out okay, what's next when my whole entire life has been about you know playing football, practicing, you know, making it to this game to play. And sometimes that's taken away from you from injury, from skill, or from whatever. And now you have to like try to figure it out. And I think the tough part, um that people don't realize, especially for athletes or any type of like s you know, entertainer, um, people have been like taking care of you your whole entire life. You know, I mean, even like going to UCLA when I got my scholarship to UCLA, someone helped me with my application. I don't even think I did one. You know what I mean? Like so all along the way, people are holding your hand because you're playing and they want you to be there and to, you know, and and then all of a sudden when you get done playing, you know, you're reaching your hand out, there's no one there. And sometimes that's a little scary, a little vulnerable for guys because they don't know what to do, how to do it because you've always been taken care of. So that's a big wake up call for a lot of guys, especially in their mid twenties when they have to like, you know, start figuring things out for themselves
Unknown . Yeah, that's it that's really interesting. I wonder is is there any sort of uh maybe not trend, trend's probably the wrong word, but are there certain paths that guys tend to take when they leave the league? Are are there certain career paths or certain trajectories that you find tend to be paths of success for for guys coming out of the NFL. Yeah, I think
Unknown a lot of times people just look at the big name guys, you know, 'cause most guys when they get done playing, there's two avenues of really that guys like myself go down. Um, it's TV, you know, talking football on TV, or it's coaching, right? There's the two avenues. And the other avenue is the unknown avenue that you have to try to like navigate yourself and try to figure out what that is because there's really nothing that's really conducive to like, you know, what we did on the field that that that um translates into a certain profession besides those two. So sometimes it's a little scary. If you don't want to get into, you know, those two professions, I mean, then you have to try to figure out, okay, what's next and how do I go about it? And where do I start? You know, I mean unfortunately, you know, now you're in your if you play three and a half years, now you're in your late twenties and you gotta start all over. You gotta start back in the coffee room and like work your way up, you know, unfortunately unless you get some type of opportunity. So sometimes it's difficult. But um you know with the NFL Legends community, it's really nice because we have a whole bunch of services available to guys and benefits that most guys don't really look at when they're playing because you're playing. You don't need 'em, right? And then all of a sudden after five years when that insurance runs out, 'cause you only get five years of health insurance when you get done playing. And people think we have lifetime medical, you know, after playing football for thirty years of my life and having all these injuries and I'll show you a couple here. There's my finger right there. Oh my finger. That finger should not go the direction of the finger. No, it shouldn't. No, it shouldn't be. But you know, you start to grow up quickly because when that insurance runs out and you gotta figure out, okay how do I get insurance like we never had to we never had to even think about it because it was always was done for us you know we had insurance since forever and all of a sudden like you know you don't have insurance you get that letter like hey do you want to you know pay for cobra and I mean just these these decisions that you have to learn you know you have to kind of figure it out so we have a whole bunch of assistance to help guys um navigate through their second part of their career. And it's been wonderful actually. I've been very fortunate to be on the ground floor. I've been doing this for six years, helping guys with transition, but also helping myself as well. Yeah. Because when you get done playing, unfortunately you lose you lose your purpose and you know, you you waken up uncle and you ask yourself, okay, so why do I wake up now? Like what am I doing? Where am I going? You gotta have some type of destination. Yeah. And unfortunately, when that's taken away from you, it's uh you know it's a challenge for sure. And then the biggest thing I think is you lose your identity. Who are you? Who are you now? You know, I used to be that all-pro football player. But that's not who I am now. And sometimes that's very difficult psychologically. And uh it's been difficult for you know for some people and obviously you y you've heard about the um, you know uh the this you know the the suicides that we've had. And uh we try to learn from that and try to um help each other out. And I think it's important that we do it with the brotherhood, the NFL Brotherhood, guys that were there, guys that were in the you know, in the trenches that can speak the language, that can help out and reach out. And I think it's it's good now because we're all talking about this now. It's not something that men didn't talk about before. Now we're trying to talk about it now. And I think other uh entities that are so masculine, like like like NFL football, they're talking about it now. And you know, you have to realize we're just human beings too. You know, we have feelings as well. I know we've been conditioned to be tough and to be brutal our whole entire life, but we do have feelings too.
Unknown And is it is it something where the your work starts at the end like at the end of the career, or do you start to preempt that transition with some support to say this is what's kind of laying ahead of you can you prepare for it or or is it more like when when they're when they start to enter the last week, the last month they get a couple pamphlets or the maybe maybe an email from from the the organization. Like how what's the what's the thinking behind that? Well it's a little
Unknown bit different because um most of us that stop playing in the NFL it's because it's not that because we don't want to continue to play, because if I can still play right now, I would still play. I love the game and I love the competition. But unfortunately, that's taken away from me. And at a lot of guys, that's taken away from them at any moment through skill or through injury. You just never know. I mean, people don't realize this. You talk about so some of these Hall of Famers. Pate Manning got fired. Joe Montana got fired. Jerry Rice, Emmett Smith. These guys didn't leave on their own. They left because the team didn't want them anymore. So it doesn't matter who you are, unfortunately, that can be taken away from you at any time. And some most of the guys still want to play. So then all of a sudden you're thrown into the fire and you're still holding on thinking, okay, I can still play. I'm a wait. I'm going to keep working out, keep training because a teammate call me. And then you know, after 12 months, after 15 months, after two years, you're still working out, you're still running, you're still ready to go, but you're still waiting for that. You're waiting for that call. And unfortunately not get in. Then you have to start thinking about okay, I think this is pass. When do I move on? I mean it's very challenging and it's very difficult to do it by yourself
Unknown . I I want to go to the other end of the career. Like what what was the time when you were growing up where it clicked, where it stopped being like, all right, I'm gonna go out on the field and play football, I'm gonna have fun with my friends, this is my community. And when did it become maybe this is who I am? Like maybe this is my my job. Like maybe maybe I can make it. Maybe this can be my life. When do you remember first kind of having that feeling? I was
Unknown in college for sure. Because honestly for me, I mean I'm not very big at looking at me right now, like this guy played fourteen years in the NFL. No way. Middle linebacker, not a shot. I think I'm like maybe two hundred pounds right now, soaking wet, about a hundred ninety nine, I think. I don't know. Hanging around there a little bit. But um I've always been like the tall, lanky, skinny guy. And uh playing linebacker at the time, there wasn't linebackers that were my weight. I mean I started at UCLA when I was 180 pounds. So there wasn't like linebackers that number one look likeed me or had the same body structure as I did. But, you know, I s I got opportunity at UCLA. I started as a freshman, retro freshman, and uh started playing and, you know, made uh all American and uh all Pac twelve or Pac ten at the time. And all of a sudden I started getting letters from teams that were looking at me, you know, and it gave me some some hope and some confidence that hmm maybe I do have a shot to make it to the NFL. Because I know a lot of these guys that I've met in the NFL are big. These are these are men. These are big guys, you know? And I'm not that at all. I mean I think the most I ever got to in college was two fifteen, two ten, around there. So it wasn't very big. But once I started getting letters from teams, I and I realized that hey, I can play this game. I may not look like the stereotypical linebacker or football player, but I can play this game and I can make plays. You know, 'cause I went into it as, you know, this is an opportunity for me to go to UCLA, first in my generation, to go to college, to get my degree, and um, you know, and football is my my path to get there. I didn't think I'm I can make a career out of it. Um so for me, I was really uh focused on my academics. So I really um you know worked hard on my schooling because I figured I gotta take advantage of this because you know I'll never make it to the league. And uh I ended up graduating early and I'm going to graduate school when I was still at UCLA playing ball and you know lo and behold um I realized that this is something possible. And my last year, my senior year, I decided to stay in, my retro senior year, I decided to stay in school and try to get higher in the draft. And unfortunately, second game of the season, I broke my back. So here I am going into, you know, h here all this stuff I'm you know I've already graduated and I decided to stay in school, I'm in graduate school, to play another year to try to mature out a little bit, you know, get some weight on my bones and uh have another, you know, great uh college year and and a breaking my back and I just thought all my hopes and dreams are all gone now 'cause no one wants a skinny linebacker with a broken back now. Um and they made me start looking at a lot of different things and lo and behold I got another opportunity at the end of the year to play in a senior bowl and played pretty well in that game and ended up getting drafted in the fourth round, you know, even with the broken back. Um but not bad at all. Well, it all depends on your expectations. I mean I was pretty pissed off. You know, and I still carry that grudge to my whole entire career 'cause I think that I've always should have gone high higher in a draft, but you know, you can't make people draft you. Yeah. You know? I mean I know what I was and ended up, you know, starting early on in my career, you know, first year of my career in the NFL and the
Unknown rest is history. Probably a lot of guys who went higher than you in the draft who did not have careers like that. There's some, but there's some
Unknown has some great careers as well. But you know, I think every player wants to go in the first round. Um I was definitely uh thinking that I was gonna go in the first round. I mean I but who uh sometimes what year were you drafted? Nineteen ninety six. And so who who was drafted in the first round? Linebacker. Yeah. So I just named some of the linebackers. You got John Mobley, great linebacker from from Denver. Um Randall Godfrey, great linebacker. I had an opportunity to play with him. We both were born on the same day, which is cool. Wow. Zach Thomas. Zach Thomas from Miami. He was a heck of a linebacker. I mean, there's so many. There's so many guys. I mean, this is the same year. We got um Jonathan Ogden, you got Terrell Owens. Yeah. I mean you got some definitely some. No, it's a great draft class. And it was a good you know, it was a good year, but I still felt I should have gone higher. But at the end of the day, you gotta be able to play football. So they don't care what round you go in, as long as you can play the game of football, you can survive and and lo and behold this little skinny kid, you know, skinny linebacker
Unknown made it through. And you you weren't drafted by your hometown team, but you ended up playing for your hometown team. What what was that like to be able to like go back home and be like the kid who made good?
Unknown Yeah it was actually great actually because I'm you know I'm Native American and my two favorite teams, I was born and raised in San Diego were the Chargers of course and my other team was the Chiefs, you know? Native American, the Chiefs, the you know, the Chop. I mean I was like those are my two favorite teams and being drafted by the Chiefs I was really excited really happy and then when Marty Schottenheimer uh went over to San Diego and I became a free agent um I said well this may be an opportunity for me if they need a linebacker but they already had junior sales I mean I'm born and raised in San Diego. I grew up watching the Chargers. I mean, my whole entire room was decorated in Chargers. I was one of those kids and I always had a Charger shirt on or something. I used to hang out at the training camp in at UCSD. I mean, honestly, like this was like a dream come true and it was pretty interesting too because I ended up you know playing with Junior Sayo back in 2002 and he's also from San Diego and you know here's another hometown kid that plays linebacker that went to USC. I went to UCLA. here But we are together, two homegrown San Diego um guys that are playing for the their hometown team. We grew up watching. And it was just surreal. I remember the first preseason game when I had the uniform on, I'm on the field looking up at Qualcomm Stadium. We called it Jack Murphy Stadium back then because that's how old school we are. And uh I I never forget Junior was right there to my right and I'm just looking up at the stance and I'm and I'm just thinking of myself, like I'm not saying anything, but I'm in he myad, like God, I used to sit right over there and watch Charlie Jorner, Dan Fouts, Wes Chandler, you know, like all these guys. And I looked at the scoreboard, I'm thinking, wow, like I used to watch the Padre games here, and I'm looking at my helmet. I'm looking at the field and I'm looking at my helmet. The charger bolt on there. I'm looking at my uniform and I'm like, I'm in the NFL. I'm playing for the Chargers right now. And it's funny because I'm all in my head and I mean you have to be paying attention to see where like you know, I'm looking around and doing this stuff and everything and I'm on my head and then and Junior's over there and looks at me. He's like, It's crazy, huh? I'm like he got it. Yeah, he saw me. I'm like, I'm like, yeah, this is amazing. He's like, yeah, this is really great, man. Congratulations. Welcome back home. And uh did it feel right? Like it like it felt like you'd you'd kind of close the loop. It felt awesome. It felt you know it felt awesome. I was just like I I'm really happy that I took in that moment because even now that I'm retired now, looking back, I know what that felt like. You know, full circle because you know starting off at the beginning and going full circle and being on that field and playing and starting and you know um it was actually you know it was it was comforting, but uh at the same time um it was motivating as well. You know, because I wanted to do my very best. I want to show off. I wanted to like make sure that I'm the best on the field. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I belong here and that kind of stuff. So it was great because I remember after that he's like it's crazy, huh? And I looked at him, he's like, Yeah and then he just said s you know, some some words and you know, slapped me on the ass, Let's go. You know, time to go to work, you know. So Yeah. Yeah, I was just it was wonderful. Like l I'm looking back to that, it's just one of those moments in my career that um I felt like this is cool. You know, this is some young kid's dream to uh you know to grow up watching a game of football, especially in his hometown, and go on to UCLA, you know, the same school as, you know, Krima Blue Jabbar, John Wooden, you know, Troy Aikman and many many, others and to actually be on the field and playing with a guy you grew up watching Junior Sal on the Chargers. You know, I mean it's just it's just amazing. It's a dream come true. So it is possible. That's why I when go back to San Diego and I talk to the kids out there, it's like, man, like you guys are the ones that can make it happen. The players come from right here in these neighborhoods. I came from this neighborhood. So always say that it's possible. Never say that it's not possible. Because you can do it. If you want to do it, you work hard, you put your head down and you get it done
Unknown . That's awesome. I could I could honestly sit and have this conversation for like the next three hours. Uh but I know people will kill us if we don't talk about one of the reasons you're here, which is your watch guy, which we got tipped off to through a a mutual friend and uh colleague of ours. But uh how did how did you get into watches?
Unknown You know what honestly going back to even when I was a kid I always, always, always had a watch on and I always love watches. Always. Not a jewelry guy at all. I'm a watch guy. And it started off when I was a kid. I mean it to the very photos that I have from sixth grade graduation. Had some Cassio on there, you know, but I had some type of watch on and looking back, it's always been something that I've always been really passionate for. And only until um I want to say when I got my first contract, there was a couple things that I wanted to do. And everybody's talked about that that that you made it timepiece. For sure. You know, and like back when I was growing up in the nineties, I was a Rolex. And uh, you buy your first Rolex is like you made it that like you know, and and I really wanted to um you know, as soon as I made some money it was like there's a couple things. I wanted to buy my mom a car, mm-hmm. I wanted to get braces. Okay. And the third one was get that Rolex. You know, like congratulations. You know, you worked hard and you made it. So it's always been something that I've always been uh you know really passionate for and you know and love and that love has just grown tremendously over the years. What car what car did you get Ma? I got a her revamp. My mom had nine kids. Okay. She needed a van. I mean, I'm the second to the oldest and everyone else. I mean, I think there's like a twenty year age difference between my oldest and the youngest. Okay. So we had to get her a van, man. Or I should've got her a It's probably why I don't have any children. But yeah, I took care of a lot of kids. So I got my mom a it was like a I don't know some type of minivan or something. Back in the this is like mid-90s. Gorgeous Plymouth Voyager or something like that. That's exactly what it was. Something like that. Yeah. Fantastic. Now it'd been some type of like suburban or something like that. At the time it was great. Yeah. That's gotta feel pretty awesome. Yeah it is. You know, honestly, um you talk about the whole circle and you talk about, you know, just a kid with a dream. And um and that's the great thing about this country too, because you know, there's so much opportunity in this country and for someone like myself who grew up um in challenging environment, a very challenging environment, and uh especially with the current uh surroundings, you know, pretty negative and being able to filter your way out of it and navigate navigate yourself through all the stuff and to to make it and be successful to have an opportunity to do you know number one to do it right. You know there's one thing about buying things and not doing it the right way, you know, where that and where the funds come from. But to actually like put your head down and work
Unknown hard and do it right, it's pretty comforting. For sure. And it's a there's like an affirmation that like you put that time in and then not only are you able to maybe get the Rolex or something, which is more of a personal mm-hmm achievement but to share that with a family with family with people that like supported you that made it possible to uh I wouldn't really say that a little bit different in the family like that. You know, you don't want to be showing off like that, especially when people are struggling. Yeah. You know, but I just mean like in in terms of the van for your mom. Like it it's nice it's nice to be able to be in a position to help out have your dream yeah reflect on those around you
Unknown . Yeah, yeah, exactly. To help out, to have an opportunity. You know, to have an opportunity to help out. Mm-hmm. That's what it comes down to really. You know, but just terms of the watch for me, it was like something personal for me. I didn't tell anybody. Yeah. You know, it just it was something for me, you know. Checking the wrist, yeah. Yeah, no what was the watch? Rolex Daytona. Oh Zenith movement. There you go. Yeah. Fantastic. Oh for sure. Oh no. That's a hell that's a hell of a first watch. Yeah, fifty five hundred bucks. Never forget. Might have been forty-five or five it was around five thousand dollars. Never forget. Yeah, I bought it in Kansas City back in ninety-six. Um still have it to this day. Of course I'm never gonna you know uh you know get rid of it. It's just really special to me when I look at the watch and it it brings back a lot of memories and it kinda sums up a lot of hard work too. You know, a lot of work that people don't see. Unfortunately like, you know, people just see the finished product. They see the cake. They see the game on Sunday. You know, like wow, that's awesome. But they have no frickin' idea how much hard work goes into making it look so easy on Sunday, or the product, or the watch, or whatever, whatever it is, just bottom. They have no idea what the kind of work that is involved in that, you know. And for me, I know how much work, you know, and you know how many hours spending extra because I'm skinny and not very strong in the weight room so I can keep up and you know and and run and and you know, just all this stuff, just to take care of yourself, to make it happen, you know, and it's kinda nice to know that you made it and you had this this this this timepiece to validate, to say like, you know, you did it. A little token. You did it the right way. Yeah. You did it honest and you did it the right way
Unknown . And with so you started with that Daytona uh to kind of mark that phase, that accomplishment, where did you have other watches that kind of marked other other uh gotta say uh
Unknown I created that watch created a monster. Isn't that how it goes right? It created a monster. Yeah. Uh yeah I uh yeah, I got really heavily involved in in in all sorts of type of watches. Um you know, and that was just a Kickstarter for me and you know and the second watch I think I had a c a Cartier Pasha and some other ones in you know in between for sure. Um trying to ever think, uh Cartier Pasha. Yeah, but and then in nineteen ninety-eight I'm walking through Florence and I'm a big guy at the time, you know. Now I'm in the NFL. Got some money, started eating some good food and taking protein shakes and got bigger, been lifting some weight. So probably like 230 now. And I'm a big guy, 6'3, and was walking around uh Florence um and I saw this and I saw this watch. Um there was a guy on a submarine he was straddling straddle straddling a a submarine and I saw this big watch, 44 millimeter. And I'm like P Panari? What is it? P Panari? Panari? Panari? You know? And I walked in there and uh I liked it because it was kind of cool. I just saw the marketing, I saw the, you know, because I'm you know I love the military and saw the watch end uped picking up a watch and I ended up you know grabbing a forty four millimeter uh a forty four meter forty four millimeter paneraye um and I remember they had a whole bunch of uh um that whole bunch of uh pre Vs up there and I said, Nah, 'cause there was so many of them in a small box. I wanted the new, you know, A series watch. Um, Pam one A is the one I got. I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting a 201A. But you know, I want something. Well, we only have one of these, but we have a whole bunch of those. Oh, I want the one. You know, but looking back, you know, anyways. But yeah, that's kind of how it kind of grown and kind of started. And, you know, and then all of a sudden I just started geeking out on it and started doing some research and trying to find it out and then you know we can keep going. I mean
Unknown So night so you you did this in ninety eight, right? And this is something we talk about on the show pretty regularly, but like back in ninety-eight it, wasn't as easy to learn and go deep as it is now. I mean now you find out y there's a cool watch, I wanna learn more about it, you Google it, you can find as much info as you want. In ninety-eight, you get this panor eye, you decide you wanna learn
Unknown Well I say hang out in the shops a lot actually because I think uh Torno started carrying it back in nineteen ninety nine or yeah, right around there. So when I went back, I was so pumped up and and I started to learn more about it. I started hanging out with um the um the regional directors. You know, it was like, oh you gotta meet this guy. You know, this guy's like, you know, this guy loves watches and started talking watches, started learn more. And then going to Italy and going to some of the other um authorized dealers and talking to guys and started getting, you know, oh you gotta get this, and he starts showing me the books and things like that, some of the history, like some of the stuff that you don't normally see at the time. Yeah. You know. So I started learning more about it and like, you know, you know, some of the history, the old pieces, pre Vindome, Vindome and that whole history with Silv Sylvester Salone and all this stuff so I'm like, wow this is really cool. So I started like getting really into it and you know trying to find out more and more information. And at the time, I mean I was collecting a lot of panorized and my wife's just like, what are you doing? All those watches look the same. I'm like, no, honey, you don't understand. This has a blue dial. This has a like, you know, this has a sweeping second hand, like this has a you know, so you know, it's the geek in me, right? Classic watch guy move. Exactly. She's like and I'm like, no, you don't understand. Um but she's like, oh my god, they all look the same. I'm like, no, they don't. Anyways. So um after a while around around two thousand or two thousand one, um I was just you know, online Googling, I guess I don't think Google was around. It was probably like uh um Internet Explorer at the time. Alta Vista or something like that, right? Yeah, or something else. I forget the other one. Um but uh yeah, I just came across uh some information on uh panorai and I found uh the panorisi community and uh I've been a part of that community since the beginning I think oh one I think it was and started um finding guys I talk to all the time on uh you know online and it's interesting too because looking back there's so many of my best friends that I talk to now that you know are part of my my family of friends all around the world, all because of Panoristi and and Panorai and this community of watch, you know, nerds. Yeah. And it's it's pretty unique actually because um at the time, you know, you started to uh you know, conversate with people online and you never really meet him in person and then you get opportunity to meet up. So I remember uh there was a guy named Davy Lee. He's out of California and I met him probably oh one or oh two oh it was definitely two thousand one and I remember I was buying a uh uh PAM9A or four A from him it was a Trinian uh PvD um at the time and uh he' says, Hey, Im in LA. I'm like, oh I'm in San Diego, LA too. So let's link up. Okay, cool. So I have him come by my house and I have to do like an autograph sign in or something. So I have to leave. I was like, oh man, I got this opportunity, I got to leave. I said, just stay here and I'll be back in an hour and a half. Well my wife comes home and she calls me. She's like, Hey, there's uh there's a Chinese guy in our living room sleeping. You know who this guy is? I said, Oh, don't worry about him, that's Davy Lee. Yeah, he's tired. Yeah, I'm like Oh don't worry about him. Like where do you know him? I said, Oh I met him online. What? You met him in a chat room? I'm like, Yeah, I met him in a yeah, I guess. The chat room, yeah. You never met him before? I'm like, no, I never met him before. But I know him. How do you know him if you never met him in person before? But I said I thought about him. I'm like, you know what? I know so many people from online relationships and never meet in person, but when we meet in person, I already know this person. Absolutely. You know, we get along and everything. So that's the way it was. I mean, this guy's been a a great friend of mine for eighteen years, nineteen years now, you know, and that goes for so many other guys. You know, Ossi and Eric and and Jeff Hess and and um John Sim and I mean there's so many guys for sure. You know, all around the world. I mean a very tight community. Very tight. And at the time it was very exclusive, like early on with you know, Philippe Bonnet. Uh he was the um the the Panorai North American um uh director. And he's the one that would bring us all together. We had events early on and it was kind of like our own small little clique, our small little like community of um you know of guys that spoke the same language that get it. You know, they all didn't look the same, they all look different to us, you know, and was really special because um he kind of helped put the community on the map, especially for America, North America, 'cause he used to bring us together for Panera events. And then this is when we get a chance to meet the guys that we talk to online on Panoristi and we see him in person and we start to develop relationships from that. You know, which is really special
Unknown . I mean the the thing that people may not understand if they're listening and they're you know, let's say that their watch appreciation is the similar age as of Hodenkey, like say a ten years or something like that, is like not only like for you to be getting into Panorai at the late nineties, like Panorai was on the come up, they were back from a really kind of harder time. But that's still a very obscure brand even in the world of watches. Like the a very small brand, um with a lot of like growing power, but like still just so much potential. Like people know Panorite now as like a shorthand to kind of bigger watches to an a s a whole aesthetic. But that it wasn't like that then. There weren't blogs covering it. You had to be, if you really wanted to be deep into loving this brand, you had to be part of
Unknown the this community. Absolutely. I totally agree. Because there was nothing else like it. I mean, there was nothing else like it. All the other forums out there. The most active forum time zone was the Panorese Panorai. It was all about Panorai at the time, you know, and it was really special because we talked about other watches as well. I mean that's where I got a lot of my my watch knowledge is from you know from from talking or from reading online and you know reading your articles and things like that. I mean that's how I learned so much. And being around guys that speak that same language that wanna discuss it and talk about it, it's pretty special. Yeah. I think we've all had that feeling. Yeah, exactly.
Unknown It's that feeling where you're you're super excited about something and you're just looking for somebody else to like when you tell them how excited you are, to be as excited, not to look at you and be like, Yeah, but they're wh
Unknown atever like It it's nice it's nice to have those communities, whether it's watches or football or or whatever food where where you skip the the like sixty percent of explaining why you're into it and you just start with what's cool. Right. Yeah. You you jump over all the parts that you have to explain to like what I would explain to my parents or something like that. Like now they just kinda you know, like accept it. Um but then to to be able to to to have all those shorthands, that inside community, that language um so you skip all the parts that everybody would know 'cause they're on the forum. Right. And you move right to these deeper relationships that are connected to these totems, to w somebody's success or to the a brand's design or a brand's history or or things like that. And they become these kind of personal things that are not only attached to people, but like the the watch internet fifteen, twenty years ago was a whole different scene. It was the wild, wild west, it was very clicky, it was very like you had to be part of the team and there were all these sorts of ways that people would know that you weren't you were faking your way into it or you were boring somebody else's pictures. There was it was a lot of like like there was a lot of um internal vetting going on. But what that made were these really strong bonds and and the people that were in these communities are all stars when it comes to knowledge now. They're the guys that are writing books. Oh yeah. Not writing for uh a a post for a hodinky. They're writing like they're writing books. Yeah. And they're getting books published and and and like Ralph they wrote the the you know the Panorai Vintage. Exactly. These are these are so these are deep, longstanding collectors that existed before Panorai was the hottest thing on some actors' wrist. Um, maybe with Sly being the exception because he was a very early into that brand and and and kind of that brand's resurgence and rebuild. But it you know it's it's a it's a really fascinating thing in that as the internet became ready to foster these sorts of communities, Panorai was ready for kind of a a rebirth. Uh and and it's definitely a brand that rode that wave. The first post I ever wrote about a watch was about Illuminore. It was. In two thousand eight. I was late. I was late to that party. Wow
Unknown . But oh eight, yeah. Yeah. That was uh yeah, I think the height actually for you know for Panorai and Pandaristi with our community where it was so much activity. I mean now it's changed so much, I don't think I even go on the side anymore 'cause there's so many different platforms now. I mean I can't really keep up with anything. But it's probably like I wanna say two thousand five, two thousand six was when it was like the height. I mean you had two one eight is going for like eighty grand., you know Everybody wanted a little bit of a Pam twenty Pam twenty one we're going for like quarter of a million dollars. I mean you know I mean I mean I mean looking back it's it's crazy because a lot of it's excitement for sure. It's supply and demand and and and some of it's kind of manufactured too. Like the the excitement of of something, you know, it could be manufactured, you know, by people just, you know, pumping it up, talking about it and exclusive group of people have something that, you know, when it came out, like the two one A it wasn't a very popular w watch and then all of a sudden it became rare watch and everybody wanted it and it's like they don't you know what I mean? So it's interesting how that you know kind of you know works itself out because you know once you start really thinking about like the movement and how does that translate to the dollars and things like that, it's just
Unknown you start to think a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, it's being of movements, I know you got, you know, beyond Panorai, you got into some other brands that are more uh I would say like technical brands, more technical watchmaking. I know JLC is is a brand you're really into and you've you've actually gone and visited them right in the valley. What was that experience like after being into watches for for years to kind of go see go see where they're made? Ye
Unknown ah that was really special. I went there with a bunch of like you know my my my my watch family guys. You know, like I said, like you know, now I mean after twenty years of it's interesting. I mean, sorry to cut I mean no make a little change, but I think about some of my best friends right now in the world has come from the watch community. It started with Panorai. Like Panorai was like the the you know the object that brought us all here. You know, they all brought us here. And we, you know, we had a certain language. I mean, it's people from all over the world. I mean, when I was in Kuwait, I ran into a guy that I met online and he picked me up from the airport and went out to dinner and I know him, you know, like we had a relationship and I'm halfway around the world in Kuwait, you know, which is really cool. That's a special. That's what's so special about like this timepiece. And we always say it's more than a watch. You know, it's more than a watch. That's what brings us together. And then from there, you start to develop relationships outside of the watch. And you have commonalities and there are certain guys that you gravitate towards. And like I said, I have friends all over the world. All over the world. Doesn't matter where you go. You have friends like all over the world, which is, you know, which is remarkable, which is really special. And from that, you know, you have um friends that introduce you to other brands, like, hey, have you seen this langue? You know what I mean? Like let me show you this. You know, this is but you like bigger watches, Donnie. You know, you start showing me like, oh wow, this is cool, the movement, the do ma you know, like you start to like learn about more about something else that you would traditionally wouldn't learn about, you know. So I mean yeah, it just as you keep growing and you stay in that community, you start to learn about other brands and other movements and other things. And uh JLC was one and we all had a opportunity um number of years ago to go to uh the headquarters and see it firsthand and how things are made and you really have a a really appreciation when I was there you know with my gown on and everything and my and you know breaking down taking apart a eight day movement. I mean wow. And I got pretty good eyes, but you have to some serious good eyes. And you start to really appreciate the artwork and how things are made and like it makes you feel so good about wearing this timepiece on your wrist because there's so much that goes into it than what you see on the wrists. Like I was talking about earlier about the game on Sunday. There's so much that goes into
Unknown One thing I want to make sure we talk about is you know, we talk about communities, and it's it's something that seems to be a a through line for you. You know, growing up, the football community, the watch community, um and something you're you're really active in, I know is is philanthropy and giving back to your your community. Can you talk a little bit about your work there? You know, not just with the NFL but kind of outside of the NFL? Yeah, see I've been very fortunate. Um,
Unknown you know, growing up in San Diego, a lot of people reached out and helped me. A lot of people in the community came and helped out, you know, guys like myself. Like I'm a product of the system of people gingiving back and mak a difference and coming to talk to us. I was that one kid that was listening. And uh, you know, I've been so fortunate to get educated, to have a great career in the NFL, um, which provides me this platform to give back. You know, it gives me a choice in my life to not have to do something because I have to do it, but to do it because I want to do it. And uh for me, um, I started a nonprofit um called Best Defense Foundation. And what we do simply is we honor and recognize our military. And we do that a number of ways. One in particular way is we do battlefield returns. And for the last four yetearsen I've been taking World War II veterans back to where they fought and served. Wow. Taking them back to the battlefields. And it's been really, really special. I mean as you guys know, this year's you know, this is the greatest generation. Some of the guys that, you know, that helped make this country what it is today, you know, not only this country but the world. And they're still here and they're still alive. And for me, just a chance, you know, happening conversation to taking, you know, veterans back in two thousand six and not knowing what to expect and if they even wanted to go back and and after we did it, the experiences that they went through and the feelings that they had and what was so important for them to find closure to go back with their brothers and a camaraderie in their brotherhood. I thought wow this is amazing. So on a small scale I was doing that for a while, even when I was playing ball. So when I was playing in N theFL, I was taking up bring I was bringing veterans to games, I have them honored and recognized for their service. And uh once I retired, I mean, you talk about transition, trying to figure it out, I mean, I don't know what I wanted to do. You know, do I go back to school, do I do I mean, y you really don't know? And and I'll do T V or coach, but wasn't really feeling that. And um one of the World War Two veterans that I was talking is like just follow your heart, follow your passion and you'll find your way. It's good to and yeah, it's a great tip, but okay, what is that? It's an easy thing to tell somebody. Yeah it is. But then like, you know, you start thinking about it and then you know, I started to uh help out um and uh bring more veterans back, you know, 'cause I have more time on my hands now. Now I'm retired, so I have more time on my hands. So now I'm taking taking more veterans back to their battlefields. I mean, not just Normandy, but you know, all over the place. And on a much bigger scale, you know, taking twenty plus twenty-five plus veterans, World War II veterans back. You know, so I've been doing it for a long time and then I decided it's about time that, you know, I do it on my own and you know be the captain of my ship and and and we incorporated Best Defense Foundation from all the work that I've been doing before, but just kind of put under one house. You know, I've been born and raised in San Diego, big military town. You know, my grandfather is a pro harbor survivor, Native American, Apache Indian, and he gave me the foundation of country, flag, patriotism, and opportunity. And I never forget, he says, he called me a boo-boo. He's like boo-boo. He's like, remember he said, remember this. No matter, you know, um if you want anything in this, if you want anything in this life, you have to work hard for. And you can do it here in America. In America, you have opportunity. If you work hard, you can achieve anything you want to achieve. Because of what we did. I'm like, okay. And I was so young to understand that, but it made sense. You know, so for me, the military has always been like a backbone in my in my life. And I want to make sure that we recognize and honor that we have the freedom that we have and this opportunity that we have in this country and this world because of the men and women that that that defended this country. And I want to make sure that you know our greatest generations that that they're all in their twilight years of their life right now, that we salute them all the way on the way out because they never had a chance to find closure. You know, this generation, when they got back from the war, everybody surfed. It's w it's not like it is now where you got like less than one percent of our population that serves. You know, it's like we don't even know. But back then everybody surfed. So no one wanted to hear your story. Oh, you're in the military. Oh so was I. Yeah, so is Josh. I was on Uncle Billy, you know. And they all went back to work. They got the jab bill, they went to school, they had jobs, they they raised families, and they went back to work. Fast forward seventy years, they never talked about it. They had their head down, living life, and then all of a sudden, like, you know, you got some attention focus on it with with um Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg you know and and um um some other books that came out and people started to say wow look at what these guys did. And it started to put a focus on it and we started to recognize and say, hey, you know, we owe it to these guys, you know, and that's what we've been doing. I just brought back um we just brought back sixteen World War Two veterans to Normandy for the uh seventy fifth anniversary of D-Day, um, just last month in Normandy, France, which was really, really special. Um, there's a bunch of videos online on YouTube and Facebook and Instagram, Best Defense Foundation. Um we'll link those out Yeah that'd be great. I'm really proud of it. I mean these are the guys that did so much for us and it's the least that we can do to honor them for you know for their service and sacrifice to this great country. I mean there's a number of veterans that we took back that have never I'm like, well, things have changed now. You need a passport. Little different. Yeah, but it's really special for them to go back and see all the love. I mean there was hundreds of thousands of people there just to shake their hand, say thank you, because we've never been occupied. The French they were occupied. So these are the liberators and for whatever reason they're they pass it they pass it down from generation to generation. So from little kids to to grandparents, they all remember and it's really special to have these World War II veterans back back in the same place where they fought and they liberated those towns. So it's just really, really special. And I'm just really honored to, you know, to have this time and this platform to give back. And um and one of the other programs we're doing is, you know, the transition program is really important. And you know, being in San Diego, we have our Navy SEAL headquarters down there. And we have a lot of a number of Navy SEALs that are transitioning out and they're staying in San Diego and we need to find ways to help them. So we are um establishing a program there to do the same thing we're doing here in the NFL to uh to help our Navy SEALs and our special forces transition back into civilian life
Unknown . Awesome. Yeah, we'll link we'll link all that up. So if anybody wants to get involved and help out and do what they can, we'll uh we'll we'll make sure the links are in the in the show notes. Yeah, for sure. Thank you. Awesome. Of course. Thanks so much for
Unknown coming in doing this. No, I appreciate the time. I mean thank you so much. Yeah, it's been great. Uh thank you very much. You guys keep Noah's great. Keep up the great work because uh, you know, we're all we're all reading, we're all watching, and that's how we get a lot of our knowledge and know which ones to get. No no pressure, James.
Unknown Thanks so much. Thank you. This week's episode was recorded at Hodinki HQ in New York City and was produced and edited by Grayson Korhonen. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference for us. Thank you, and we'll see you again next week.