The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/495628
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? ended his collegiate career. A 35-18 win over Minnesota in 1990 was still in doubt in the first half when he tried to turn a 30-yard punt return into a 60-yard touchdown, only to get hit from the side as he planted his leg. A defender grabbed his shoulder pad enough to spin Welborne's body, but the leg stayed taut while the rest of him spun. The pop was loud enough to elicit a groan from everyone on the Minnesota sideline, and the result — torn ACL, MCL and patella tendon, a fractured knee cap and broken tibia — finished his season and put his pro career in doubt. The Minnesota Vikings still drafted him in the seventh round, but Welborne spent a year in Ann Arbor rehabbing before joining the team the following year. To his credit, he came all the way back to make the team and still seemed destined for his 10-year ca- reer. But he tore the ACL in his other (left) knee after only two games, re- habbed it and then tore it again the following preseason. "That's when I said I might as well call it a day," he said. "It's one of those things — your destiny is your destiny. You have to go full steam ahead. "I'm not going to say I wouldn't change a thing. I will say I wouldn't change how things worked out, but if I could change something right now I would change the injury, because I still love playing basketball." But, he said, "That's why I got my Michigan education," a goal he in- herited from his parents, both 40-year educators. He became a standout in the corporate sector, earning his MBA from Queens University of Charlotte and thriving in financial and broker- age roles with giants such as Target in Minneapolis and Wachovia in his home state. He never quite got rid of the desire to stay involved in athletics, however, and coached AAU ball. When former Michigan classmate Mark Jacobson informed him of an opening as athlet- ics director at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, Fla., his wife encouraged him to apply. Six years later he's become a rising star in his profession, recently accept- ing the athletics director job at the elite Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. He'll start there effective July 1. "It's been exactly what I thought it would be and, of course, exactly what I thought it wouldn't be, which is what makes it challenging and rewarding at the same time," he said of being an AD. Friends and former teammates like Warde Manuel at UConn have thrived in AD positions, and it won't surprise anyone if Welborne is in a similar role someday. His path hasn't been quite as he envisioned, but he wouldn't change a thing. "I would have made the same choice," he said. "I enjoyed my Michi- gan experience tremendously. The les- sons learned from Bo and the rest of the coaching staff, my teammates … I really enjoyed it, learned a lot about them and myself, which helped me become a better classmate, teammate, son, father and husband. I just attri- bute that to doing things the right way.