NFL Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2019

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

He's one of the greatest tight ends in history, but it wasn't always easy. Growing up, Tony Gonzalez was bullied constantly. His first year in the NFL was so tough he almost called it quits. And throughout his career, he never really felt like he could stand up and address his whole team. He's very open about his struggles and sacrifices. Tony's got a new podcast where he invites people in business and entertainment to talk about the often difficult journey to success. It's called Wide Open. It's a show about becoming the best version of yourself – what he calls "leveling up." We'll talk about his new podcast, wretched middle school days, and he'll open up about his time in the NFL.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:12.8	I'm Jesse Thorn, it's Bullseye.
0:21.8	Tony Gonzalez was born and raised here where we make the show in Southern California.
0:27.1	He played football and basketball in high school and Huntington Beach.
0:30.8	Then he went to college at UC Berkeley where again he played both football and basketball,
0:35.2	starting for both teams.
0:36.8	When I was a kid in the Bay Area, he was playing forward for the Cal Basketball team
0:41.0	and tied end for the football team.
0:43.8	He played tight end a little bit like a basketball player and he played basketball
0:48.5	kind of a lot like a football player, but exceptionally great at both sports.
0:53.9	As his time in college ended, it started looking like professional sports was a real thing
0:58.4	he could actually do.
1:00.2	In 1997, he entered the NFL Draft.
1:03.5	He ended up playing 12 seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs, then another five seasons for
1:08.3	the Falcons, an extraordinarily long NFL career.
1:11.9	He ranks third in receptions in NFL history.
1:16.0	When he finished playing, he went into TV.
1:18.4	He's an analyst for Fox Sports where you'll see him both Sundays and Thursdays and he
1:22.7	just launched his own podcast.
1:24.8	It's called Wide Open.
1:26.7	Every week he asks people in business sports and entertainment to talk about their
1:30.2	journey to success.
	...

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