Phil Williams

I worked as an NFL agent for over 25 years after playing wide receiver at Florida State University, where I was twice named Academic All-American, and also received the first-ever NCAA PostGraduate Scholarship awarded to a Seminole football player. I didn’t use it, however, as I was a little bit, you know, tired of school at that point.

A couple of years after graduation I became an NFL agent, where for the next 25 years or so I represented dozens of players, many of whom won Super Bowls. These included Brad Johnson, who quarterbacked the Tampa Bay Bucs to their first Super Bowl victory, and Martin Mayhew, who started for the Washington Redskins at cornerback when they won the Super Bowl, and who later became General Manager of the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders.

All the while, I was also busy raising a family, and shortly after my first child, Hannah was born, I decided to work from home. I just loved being around her so much. I continued to work from home throughout my agent career, choosing to spend as much time with my kids as possible (there were four in all).

In 2015, Hannah died; and my heart was shattered. I somehow knew at that moment that I was to write, to share with others the insights found during my unenviable journey, and whatever else revealed itself to me along the way. So yeah, much of what I write about traces its way back to the legacy that her life and death evokes within me. I hold no punches when doing so, choosing to lay it all out there with the same fearlessness I displayed while playing football at Florida State.

Of course, it helps a bit to write from the sultry beaches of Costa Rica where I now reside, and where my most dangerous activity might be trying to make sure I’m not hit on the head by a falling coconut.