142: Ronnie Lott: Former USC All American, San Francisco Hall of Famer, now champions All Stars helping Kids. Inspirational dude…

Ronnie Lott

Ronnie Lott talks about not just his early athletic influences of greatness, but also other examples of a winning attitude that literally hit home for him while growing up. “It starts with the people that you are around and the people that you have a chance to interact with. I think one of the great things that it started with, with me was my parents. I have two incredible parents that shared with me the things that they did to do and create a dynamic around our family and that was, we are going to go out and we are going to do the best that we can do. We are going to work hard. We are going to find ways to add value to our community.

On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, we talk with Ronnie Lott, Former NFL player, Hall of Fame Inductee, 4-Time Super Bowl Champion with the San Francisco 49ers and 10-Time NFL Pro Bowl All-Star. Ronnie Lott explains why his best time in all of sports was when he was going to Eisenhower High School in Rialto, California. “There were things that you didn’t think about, meaning the stakes at that time were just the stakes of joy. The stakes were not around the consequences of whether you are going to win the Pac-12 or whether you are not going to win the Pac-12. The stakes were just totally different. They were totally innocent.”

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What You Will Learn:

Was there ever a point in time when Ronnie Lott didn’t want to go to USC for college and play football there? “No, I never had that moment in my life. The only time I had a moment before that was, there was a period where I wanted to go to UCLA and the reason I wanted to go there was because I was a big fan of John Wooden. I was a big fan of a lot of the players that had gone to school there. Growing up in Southern California watching John Wooden, watching that whole run that he had and the philosophies and the way that they went about it, I was drawn to even thinking about the possibilities of even being near him.”

What prevented Ronnie Lott from pursuing a college career at UCLA and going to USC instead? “Unfortunately, in life you find sometimes things are said, in this case one of the coaches said, ‘Freshmen can’t play.’ In those moments when somebody says that, you are kind of like, ‘What?’ The next thing you know, John Robinson says, ‘Hey, if you think you are good enough, give it a shot.’ To me, life is when people tell you, give it a shot and you are giving it a shot.”

Ronnie Lott discusses his freshman year on the USC football field and exhausting all opportunities to make the most out of life. “There is a movie called, Everybody’s All American and in that movie he is trying to figure it all out. He is trying to figure out what he is going to do. He’s trying to figure out his life and trying to figure out a lot of things and I think we all go through those journeys in life of what we are trying to do, what we’re trying to achieve. We make choices and sometimes those choices become choices that are good, and then we make choices that sometimes are not the best choices in life.”

Ronnie’s college success at USC led to him becoming an NFL first round draft pick with the San Francisco 49ers, a team surrounded by strong teammates. “When you are built to be something and people know that you are built to be something, very seldom do you find ways to not allow that person to do his job.”

Out of the four Super Bowls that Ronnie Lott won with the San Francisco 49ers (XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV), which team did he feel was the strongest? “I think the ‘84 team is the strongest team we had just because we had so much depth on the defensive line. We had so many different weapons on our offense. Roger Craig was playing really well. We had Wendell Tyler who was a phenomenal running back that did so many different things. We had Charley Young as a tight end. He was really amazing. We had Freddie Solomon who was an incredible wide receiver. We had Dwight Clark who was really an excellent wide receiver.”

Being a Source of Assistance

Ronnie Lott has continued to be of service to others, carrying on that compassionate family tradition that he was raised with. “What can you do for others? What my dad taught me is what he did so many times and continues to do, and that is, there is always somebody that needs something. There is always some way that helps, somebody. There is always some way to figure out that you can play a role in somebody’s life. I’ve always been curious about that capability because that is kind of what my mom and dad do. They still go to church and they still serve. They still help people.”

All Starts Helping Kids

During this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, Ronnie Lott also talks about the ways that he feels compelled to live his best life and give back to others. “All Stars Helping Kids, it started in 1989. It still exists. It is still going and it is all due to the fact that everybody has a chance to be an all star and hopefully working with all stars you get a chance to do that.”

Links to Additional Resources:

• Mark Pattison: markpattisonnfl.com
• Emilia’s Everest for the Epilepsy Foundation: markpattisonnfl.com/philanthropy-wb/
• All Stars Helping Kids: allstarshelpingkids.org