Helmet
off SANTANA MOSS
Talks Football,
Fatherhood and
Finding New Purpose
STORY BY MICHELLE ARDILLO
PHOTOS BY DAVID STUCK
lthough his NFL football playing days are
behind him, former Washington Redskins
wide receiver (#89) Santana Moss still
leads a pretty busy and full life.

The 40-year-old father of five spends most of his days mov-
ing from work on his foundation to recording a podcast, to
his work as an NBC sports analyst, to a radio talk show, to his
afternoon workout.

No stranger to hard work, Moss began his younger athletic
journey running and jumping out of the inner city neighbor-
hoods of Miami to a track scholarship at the University of
Miami, where he was also a walk-on to the football team his
freshman year.

Even though his track scholarship was converted to a foot-
ball scholarship after the third game of his freshman season,
he ran track all four years, saying “Track is what got me in, so I
stuck with it all four years,” eventually winning the triple jump
at the 2000 Big East Championships, with a personal-best
mark of 15.50 meters. His accomplishments as a wide receiver
for the Miami Hurricanes earned him All American Honors in
2000 as well as induction into the University of Miami Sports
Hall of Fame in 2011.

Moss was a first-round pick in the 2001 NFL draft by the
New York Jets, where he played until 2004 when he was traded
to the Washington Redskins. He came out with a bang in week
Santana Moss
Santana Moss mentors local
youth football players.

14 WashingtonFAMILY JUNE 2019
Santana Moss remains “a
fine-tuned athlete,” working
hard and working out to
keep up with his five
children, who he wants to
grow up “to be responsible
and to be accountable.”



Santana Moss and teens from 89 Ways to Give: Moss Academy Football Camp
two of the 2005 season, with two touchdowns to beat the Dallas
Cowboys 14-13, in a game that is now known as the “Monday Night
Miracle.” The 2005 season proved to be one of his most success-
ful, with Moss garnering All-Pro Honors and being selected to his
first Pro-Bowl.

Since trading in his football helmet, Santana Moss remains “a
fine-tuned athlete,” working hard and working out to keep up with
his five children, who he wants to grow up “to be responsible and
to be accountable.” He says that it is important for his kids to
know “how to push through and how to work.”
Moss knows a thing or two about pushing through, having over-
come spine issues in high school, where he was always being told
he was too short to be a wide receiver. He still counts his high
school football coach Walt Frazier as one of his mentors, along
with his fifth grade PE teacher, Mr. Brown, who told him one day
when watching him play football on the playground at recess,
“I’m going to hear your name ten years from now.” Moss says that
Brown’s simple statement “ignited everything in me” from that
moment on.

His role models didn’t all come from the sports world, though.

Moss credits his parents with keeping him on the right path during
his formative years. His parents worked hard to take care of him
and his siblings, including his younger brother Sinorice, former
wide receiver for the New York Giants. Moss says that he learned
from his father, a corrections officer, “how to be a man and how to
work hard to take care of your kids.”
It is that spark and purpose that still burns in Moss as he aspires
to give back to the Loudoun community with his foundation,
89 Ways to Give, which sponsors coat drives, food drives and
school supply drives for inner city children. He wants to be a men-
tor for those kids who are struggling, trying to “catch them before
it’s too late.”
As a professional athlete with a bachelor’s degree and master’s
degree from the University of Miami, he wants student athletes to
know that “school has to be first, and sacrifices have to be made
to do both.” This is reinforced in his Moss Academy Football
Camp held each summer, where he teaches kids the fundamentals
of football, but where they are also taught by local business peo-
ple about “teamwork and that you have to be cohesive enough to
move efficiently through your life.” He says that it is important
for kids to know that they have “to want more and they have to do
more” to reach their goals.

Santana Moss isn’t resting on his laurels, nor is he spending a
lot of time watching films of his 14-year NFL career. He has made
his home in the D.C. area, home of the Redskins, the place where
he met with some of his greatest successes.

As for the future, Moss hopes to continue doing what he is
doing, which he says is to “live my life every day — not for the
future — but for that day itself, to continue to be successful.” He
attributes his positive attitude to one of his greatest strengths: the
ability to see in his mind “the bright side of everything, even when
things are cloudy.” ■
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo is a freelance writer and
middle school language arts teacher in the D.C. metropolitan
area, where she watches the playground for future NFL greats.

Follow her on Twitter and Goodreads @michardillo or on her
website: michelleardillo.com.

Catching Up with Santana Moss
Off the Gridiron:
89 WAYS TO GIVE
FOUNDATION MOSS ACADEMY
FOOTBALL CAMP
CHAD DUKES VS.

THE WORLD
89waystogive.com JULY 8 - 19, 2019
106.7 The Fan, D.C.

Sports Talk All Day
Evergreen Sports
Complex, (Field #1)
19623 Evergreen Mills Road,
Leesburg, Va.

Weekdays, 2-6:30 p.m.

THE SANTANA
MOSS SHOW
PODCAST NBC SPORTS
ANALYST FOR
REDSKINS Airs every
Wednesday nbcsports.com/
washington/tags/ santana-moss
santanamossshow. libsyn.com/rss
WashingtonFAMILY.com 15