Catching Up with Troy Sadowski
Son of Major Leaguer Bob Sadowski, the athletic Troy Sadowski chose football over multiple sports when deciding to attend Georgia in the mid-1980s. In four full seasons in Athens, during which Sadowski started 44 consecutive games, the standout tight end was limited to 44 receptions for 524 yards (including two catches in four bowl appearances). Nevertheless, Sadowski is regarded as perhaps the Bulldogs’ greatest blocking tight end of all time, while remaining one of just three Georgia tight ends to ever earn First Team All-America honors. It can be argued the claim that UGA is historically college football’s “Tight End U” begins with Sadowski’s career from 1985-1988.
A sixth-round selection of the 1989 NFL Draft, Sadowski played with six different teams over a decade-long span: the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Jacksonville Jaguars. Since leaving the gridiron, he has worked in investment real estate, the mortgage industry, and estate planning.
UGASports caught up with Sadowski from his home in Woodstock, Georgia.
UGASports: What was it like growing up playing baseball with a dad who had played in the Major Leagues? (Bob Sadowski played professional baseball from 1958 through 1967, including three seasons with the Milwaukee Braves and one with the Boston Red Sox.)
Sadowski: “How many players are out there playing little league ball whose dad played professional baseball? Not that many. Some of my earliest childhood memories are playing ball at the ball field with my dad. We were a baseball, sports-minded family. I grew up on the northside of the Atlanta perimeter, playing baseball at Murphey Candler Park. Honestly, my dad was kind of a legend at that park. It seemed like everyone wanted their kid to play baseball for my dad since he understood the game. And, if my dad couldn't be there for a little league game, or if he was going to be late, my mom would make out the lineup—and she'd coach if she had to! I remember my dad saying, ‘Pain is temporary. Championships last a lifetime.’ So, I bought into that. I learned at an early age, whether I stepped onto a basketball court, a baseball diamond, a football field, whatever it might be, I'm stepping out there to be the very best.”
UGASports: Did you want to follow in your father’s footsteps and one day play professional sports?
Sadowski: “One time at the ball field when I was young, my dad asked me what I wanted to do when I got older. I replied, ‘I want to do like you did. I want to play sports on television. I just don't know what sport I want to play yet.’ So, even as a little kid, I had that drive to succeed. If I went 3-for-4 batting playing baseball, I’d question myself, why I didn’t go 4-for-4. That pressure was never put on me by my dad, but was pressure I put on myself. My dad wanted to win, but he was all about having fun.”
UGASports: Tell us about your recruiting process while at Chamblee High School, including the fact you were recruited for three different sports: football, baseball, and basketball.
Sadowski: “I started receiving letters my junior year. It first started with smaller schools, like Troy State over in Alabama. In fact, Troy was a school which offered me a scholarship in all three sports. As far as football, I eventually got letters from about 80 to 90 Division I-A schools, including 40 to 50 with offers. I remember thinking my recruitment was kind of getting serious for me when I got a letter from Bear Bryant at Alabama. Clemson probably sent me the most mail. In the end, I dwindled my list down to four—Georgia, Clemson, Auburn, and Penn State—but I was pretty much going to Georgia all the way. I verbally committed to Georgia and Coach [Vince] Dooley during their bowl preparation for the 1984 Cotton Bowl.”
UGASports: Why did you ultimately decide upon attending Georgia?
Sadowski: “It was a number of factors. First off, it was the University of Georgia: my state school where my mother had attended. Also, after playing for French Johnson at Chamblee when I was a sophomore and junior, my high school head coach my senior year was Jim Cagle. Coach Cagle had been a standout defensive player at Georgia in the 1970s, so there was a UGA connection with him. Also, we’re talking the early 1980s—a heyday of Georgia football—so it was a good time to join a thriving program. Yet, a major motivation of mine to go to Georgia was so I could be close to home and my mother. At the time, my mom had breast cancer, and we didn’t know how much longer she had to live. So, by me going to Georgia, my mom would be able to see all my home games, even though she had gotten pretty sick by that time.”
UGASports: Some say Georgia is Tight End U. Considering you were the first Bulldog tight end to earn First Team All-America honors (only Orson Charles in 2011 and Brock Bowers in 2021 have done so ever since), couldn’t it be said you “started” Tight End U.?
Sadowski: “I actually had someone say that to me before—that Georgia’s tight ends tradition began with me. I replied, ‘What about Norris Brown and Clarence Kay (standout Georgia tight ends in the early 1980s)?’ Also, there was Scott Williams, a senior tight end my true freshman year who was a converted fullback. Then I came along. I would have loved to catch 50 passes a season, but I made only 42 receptions my entire [regular season] career. Nowadays, some guys catch 42 passes by the midpoint of a season. But that wasn’t our offense. Scott was a tight end who played his role tremendously. And, from him, the rest of us tight ends realized that we were there to play a role: being a blocker first and foremost, and a receiver second. And, of course, we were expected to play special teams.”
UGASports: Still, you were recruited by Georgia to play defensive end. When did the switch to tight end come about—and how come?
Sadowski: “I was under the impression I was going to play defensive end-outside linebacker. Our defensive coordinator, Bill Lewis, he's the one who recruited me. And every time I talked to him, we discussed me playing on defense. I was even initially given the No. 91 jersey. But, during the first week of practice, I started to play some tight end too. Coach Dooley called me into his office and said they were going move me to tight end permanently. I was a little upset because I wanted to play for the ‘Junkyard Dogs’ defense. I was instead given jersey No. 87—and the rest is history. Turns out, Coach Dooley obviously knew what he was doing. With the switch, I enjoyed playing the tight end position. I really enjoyed blocking. It was just as much of a thrill of catching a touchdown as it was to throw a main block on a toss sweep for a touchdown. I mean, I blocked for some great running backs in my four seasons at Georgia.”
UGASports: For your senior season of 1988, despite making only 14 receptions (although a career high), you were distinguished as a First Team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. (Note: In comparison, Iowa’s Marv Cook, the consensus First Team All-American tight end for 1988, made 55 receptions.) How meaningful was it to be named First Team All-American as a predominantly blocking tight end?
Sadowski: “It was tremendous. And it was a big honor for me because the Walter Camp All-American team is voted on by sports information directors and head coaches. The SIDS and coaches, they know football, they know the players. So, the fact that my overall worth to the Georgia team—and not just how many catches I made—was realized by those who know the sport, that was a huge honor. And, even today, I still keep up with a lot of the people who were involved in the Walter Camp Football Foundation.”
UGASports: Troy, although you might have caught a limited number of passes while at Georgia, you were on the receiving end of some memorable receptions. Do you have a favorite play of yours for when you played for the Bulldogs?
Sadowski: “More so than a single play, my favorite moment was just having the opportunity to play in front of more than 82,000 people ‘Between the Hedges’ at Sanford Stadium. Those Saturday afternoons in Athens were special, particularly my final one against Georgia Tech in 1988, which was also Coach Dooley’s last regular-season game. After beating Tech [24-3], giving Coach Dooley his 200th career victory, my late teammate, Scott Adams (a senior offensive lineman in 1988), and I wanted to go sit down on the 50-yard line and just look up into the stands because we never really had a chance to do that in our four years and 20-something home games at Georgia. With junior Bill Goldberg escorting us off, and while people were screaming, cheering us on, we walked off the field for the last time at Sanford Stadium as winners—and against our rival, Georgia Tech. Wow, that’s a special moment with my teammates I’ll always cherish.”
UGASports: What did it mean for you to be a senior, standout member of Coach Dooley’s final Georgia team?
Sadowski: “To end my Georgia career with such a legendary coach is special. Even to this day, I keep in touch and occasionally run into Coach Dooley—at book signings, and things like that. He means a lot to me. Coach Dooley stood by my side all the way, including his decision to move me from defense to tight end. I trusted him and he was there. He wasn't just a coach, and he's become a very good friend. And I thank him for everything he has done for me and my family over the years. Coach Dooley is a great man. To be part of his final team and 200th victory will always be special.”
UGASports: Besides Coach Dooley, and your teammates, what else do you cherish from your time at UGA?
Sadowski: “The people—and there were plenty of them. Charley Whittemore, for instance. For the majority of my time at Georgia, Coach Whittemore was my position coach. I still keep in contact with him. We formed a special relationship that was more than just football. Coach Whittemore and his wife, Debbie, opened up their home to us. They were truly interested in our lives. When I was at UGA, the Whittemores were a major reason why Georgia’s tight-end unit was such a very tight-knit group.
"Also, I’ll never forget the late Hornsby Howell. (Note: Howell, a HBCU coaching legend, came to Georgia in the early 1980s and was ultimately employed in a variety of roles. By 1985, he was an administrative assistant in UGA football’s recruiting office.) As mentioned, my mom had breast cancer, and it had spread to her lower back by my redshirt freshman season. Some people helped my parents get a van for football games. My mom could lay down in the back of the van when she needed to rest. For home games, she had a parking space right outside of Sanford Stadium in the handicap section. Hornsby would roll a wheelchair out to pick her up and take her to her seat. He would go get her before halftime and put her up in the recruiting box where there was air conditioning, food, and restrooms. My mom was able to relax. Hornsby then would wheel her back to her seat after halftime, then out of the stadium once the game was over, and finally back to the van. He did that every single home game in 1985. And if my mom had lived longer past my freshman year, he would've taken care of her for all those games, as well.”
UGASports: You wound up having a solid, 10-year tenure in the NFL with a half-dozen teams. Was there an eye-opening or defining moment for you while in the league?
Sadowski: “Yeah, there were several [moments]. But one time that stands out was entering my third year in the league, the first with the Chiefs, and it was at our training camp at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. With Steve DeBerg at quarterback, we ran a lot of two- and three-tight end sets, therefore, each of Kansas City’s tight ends could play as many as five or six different positions. So, we (the tight ends) really needed to understand what was going on. On a particular play, I got confused, was expected to break my route off…I missed the check-down guy and Steve [DeBerg] threw the ball right in the back of my head. Well, I started to get a little ticked off, but then he started yelling at me! After practice, Steve came up to me and said he wasn’t trying to embarrass me, but instead wanted me to understand an aspect of team unity. He said football is not about 11-on-11 beating each other into the ground. Instead, each of the 11 has a job to do. And, as a tight end, if I do my job, the offense could be a well-oiled machine. However, if one person doesn’t do their job, the whole offense breaks down from that point. At that point in my career, I began learning what all 11 players did on every single play. And, I can honestly say, beginning at that point in my career, I never made another mental error in a game in my final seven years of football.”
UGASports: Why did you decide to retire from the NFL even though it appeared like you could have continued for a few seasons?
Sadowski: “After my one season with Jacksonville (1998), I thought I had a better than 50-50 chance of making a roster. An organization brought me in the next year to play special teams, but I realized I was also being used as a pawn to get a veteran who was holding out to rejoin the team. I didn't want to be a part of that. After 10 years, that's not how I wanted to finish up my playing career. So, it was a difficult decision, but I decided to hang it up after a decade. The obvious thing for me to do was to get into coaching, no doubt. But, at the time, I was going through a divorce. Because of me always having to move around because of all the teams I played on, my playing career put pressure on my first marriage. I knew that coaches had an even more demanding schedule than the players—and I had two young daughters. It was more important for me to be with my daughters than to start a coaching career.”
UGASports: Professionally, where did you go from there?
Sadowski: “After I took a little bit of time off to gather my thoughts and figure out what I wanted to do, I got involved in investment real estate. I opened up All-American Mortgage Brokers and did that for about 10 years. I then had the opportunity to get involved in estate planning, which is what I still do. I'm part owner of Cornerstone Planning and I’ve been doing that for over eight years.”
UGASports: Before the interview started, we were discussing the life-altering event which occurred towards the end of your NFL career. Would you mind sharing?
Sadowski: “Of course not. I'm thankful that I have the memories of Georgia and professional football because, at the time, off the field, I was an absolute mess in certain circumstances. I was a different person back in my UGA days and for the majority of my NFL career. However, I can honestly tell you at age 31, I had a radical transformation in my life. I got saved. I realized that I had a big problem in my life and that big problem was me—and I needed to make some changes. A lot of that, I learned through my divorce. After my divorce, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I'm a much different person now as I sit here. You know, it can be embarrassing when I run into someone I knew at UGA and all that I’m remembered for revolves around drinking and partying. That’s sad, you know—that my life then revolved around partying—and those aren’t the kind of stories I wanted to leave behind for my family to remember me. I had to do a 180-degree turn in the opposite direction because I was on the fast track to disaster.”
UGASports: Tell us about your family.
Sadowski: “I have two daughters from my first marriage, Britny and Ashby. They are 32 and 30 years old. Ashby just graduated from UGA with her Doctorate in Education. I've got a stepson, Zach, who is 26 and married. I’ve been involved in his life since he was two. My wife, Beth, and I have been married for 22 years. We have a daughter together, Gabrielle. She is 20 years old.”
UGASports: Are you able to associate with the UGA football program?
Sadowski: “For me, social media has been a great outlet to keep in touch with people because my work typically involves visiting churches and traveling on the weekends. So, I'm unfortunately not able to get back to many games. I’ve come back to a few letterman things during the spring, but, even then, it’s been some time since I’ve been back. I would love to take my kids to a game. I've got a grandson who's going to be born in September. One day, I'd love to be able to take him to a Georgia football game when he’s little and show him that's where ‘Big Pop’ played (Sadowski admittingly already has his grandfather nickname picked out).
UGASports: You were recently named by a commemorative college football magazine as Georgia’s all-time first-team tight end. What does it mean to be considered as the Bulldogs’ greatest tight end in history?
Sadowski: “My time in Athens was awesome and I made a name for myself within the UGA football program. But it still blows me away that when you walk down the first-floor hallway at the Butts-Mehre building where all the All-Americans are recognized, the first tight end you’ll see is me. And that’s pretty special. I heard about that magazine picking me. And I say, if I’m currently Georgia’s greatest tight end, I’m just keeping the seat warm for Brock Bowers. Brock is quite the player. And Georgia has several other good ones in the tight end meeting room, as well. I’ll always bleed Red and Black. I was so excited to see Georgia win the national championship last year, because I’ve been there and realize how difficult it is to win a national title. I give a big thumbs up to Kirby [Smart] and his staff for accomplishing what they have.”