Husky Rose Bowl Recall -- Where Are They Now? -- Ex-Qb Tom Flick Finds Another Love Besides Football

Tom Flick, former University of Washington quarterback, learned early in what became a nomadic professional football career that playing the game he loved was at best temporary, and that he'd better consider other career options.

During his first NFL stop with the Washington Redskins, the seed for his future occupation was sown.

"Two things happened," Flick said the other day in recalling how he became a public speaker.

"The first time I got traded (from the Redskins to the New England Patriots) hit me like a ton of bricks that football was temporal," Flick said. "For the first time in my life, I knew I was on borrowed time as a player."

Speaking became a possibility as a result of his experience with the highly popular Redskins, including quarterback Joe Theismann, running back John Riggins and Coach Joe Gibbs.

"There were so many requests for people to come and speak . . . for Theismann, Riggins and Gibbs," Flick said. "And they turned a lot of that away and I could not fathom how people could turn that away because I could understand that getting paid $50 or $100 to go speak had some merit."

Ten years later, Tom Flick Communications is a reality. It is a business he began two years ago after working with a speaker's bureau following the end of his NFL career in 1988.

Flick said he is hired to speak on a variety of issues - like drug and alcohol awareness and goal setting - by universities, school districts, conferences, small-business organizations and athletic teams.

"It's a wonderful career," Flick said. "I love what I'm doing."

Flick loved playing football, too. But after playing for four NFL teams in seven years, some of the enjoyment faded. He said a remark by former San Diego quarterback Dan Fouts about being a quarterback in the NFL summed up his own feelings.

"He said it was `a great position, a great game and a crummy business,' " Flick said. "That was a great quote."

Flick's last game as a Husky was in the 1981 Rose Bowl, which Washington lost to Michigan 23-6. The Huskies failed to capitalize on some scoring opportunities in the first half and the Wolverines dominated the second half.

"I would have liked to have won, but the reality is we didn't," Flick said. "It was a wonderful experience. I don't reflect on it a lot, but when I do I have great memories. I don't think about the fact we lost the game."

Merely playing in the game transformed what had been a "let's pretend" experience into reality.

"As a little boy I used to run out at halftime (of the Rose Bowl), after watching Pat Haden or J.K. McKay or O.J., and play with the football until it was time for the third quarter," Flick said. "Those memories in conjunction with actually being there was a great thing to have happen in a young life."

Flick was selected in the fourth round of the 1982 NFL draft by the Redskins, who traded him to New England after one year.

"The Redskins went to the Super Bowl and got rings and I went to the 4-12 Patriots," said Flick, who later played for the New York Jets and the Chargers.

He and his wife, Molly, who began dating as students at Interlake High School, have two children - Joey, 3 1/2, and Jennifer, 9 months.

For Flick, the package is complete: a job he enjoys and a family.

"It's wonderful being a dad and being a husband," Flick said.