INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly 30 years after he arrived on the Notre Dame campus as a freshman, football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis is closing in on his college degree.
The Super Bowl champion, who spent 13 seasons in the NFL before becoming an announcer and entrepreneur, said earlier this month he was returning to school to finish what he started decades ago.
He spoke Thursday with 13News anchor Anne Marie Tiernon about going back to school as his 50th birthday approaches.
"Why put yourself through this?" Tiernon asked. "You've been so successful without that degree."
"I promised my mother that I would finish in ... having two kids and I have a 16-year-old daughter, a 14-year-old son, I just knew that if I wanted to, you know, put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, I needed to make that commitment and go back," Bettis replied. "The difficult part was having to be on campus for the last four classes and that was the hard part. But my wife was was incredible. She said, 'Hey, if you want to do it, then we'll figure it out and we'll get it done.' And so that's what I did and decided to come back. I just didn't realize how cold it was!"
"You should take the fall semester," Tiernon joked.
"I know, I know," replied Bettis.
He's living in a condo near campus and is taking four courses - 12 credits - to earn a business degree.
"Strategic management class, foresight in business, The Spirituality of Work, which is another good one, and entrepreneurship," Bettis said of his coursework. "So I got some great classes and, really, classes that I think, going forward, I can utilize in my business outside of football."
Bettis said it's taking some time "for me to really get back in the flow of things, but also, the technology gap is so, so huge."
So what makes the man they call "The Bus" a "best you"?
"Well, for me, it's is the completion of seeing something through I will, when I graduate, have been the first of my family to graduate and I want to have that legacy with me, but also want to show that legacy for my children as well. And I believe that that gives me the ability to be the best ... the best version of myself that I can possibly be.
"Regardless of where life takes you, if you stay committed, you can still find a way to get the job done and it's never too late," Bettis said.