NFL doesnÆt sway Norfolk Southern worker
A freight transportation career isn't the path to fame and glamour, but it can provide comfortable life and a predictable payment stream.
That's what Keith Fitzhugh decided this week after turning down an offer to play professional football for the New York Jets and stay in his job as a train conductor for the Norfolk Southern railroad, according to news accounts.
The Jets called Fitzhugh, 24, to fill a hole in their roster after their top two safeties sustained injuries. The former Mississippi State player signed with the Jets out of college in 2009, but was cut twice. He was also briefly signed by the Baltimore Ravens, who also released him.
This time Fitzhugh decided to stay with a sure thing and to continue living with his parents in Georgia. Fitzhugh's father is disabled and the son's paycheck helps support his mother and father.
Interviewed on ABC News, Fitzhugh said he has always loved trains and that to jump at the NFL offer would have been selfish because he could quickly be cut again and lose out on the potential of a regular paycheck, benefits and long-term employment. He started working for Norfolk Southern, a Class I railroad in the eastern half of the United States, in September after the Jets released him in September.
The story was originally reported in the Newark Star-Ledger. ' Eric Kulisch
NFL doesn?t sway Norfolk Southern worker
