Deana Good of Cheektowaga had a memorable morning as her two excited kids met Bills linebacker and team captain Paul Posluszny at their home, and then took him to their school on Wednesday.
The 5 Decades of Gridiron Greatness promotion incorporated decade themed prizing to celebrate five decades of Buffalo Bills football, and the Good family were the grand prize winners of the 1990's decade. The promotion was presented by Tops Friendly Markets and Pepsi.
Billy Good, who is in sixth grade, and eighth grade sister Lauren, rode to Depew Middle School with Posluszny in a limousine and were the honorees on stage for an assembly in the school's auditorium. They both had fun asking questions of Pozluszny and hearing his answers.
"My favorite question was asking him how much he could bench press," said Billy. "When he said he could do a rep of 400 pounds, I was really shocked! That's really heavy."
Lauren said, "My favorite part was listening about his career and his education and how he grew up."
Posluszny addressed the students about his educational history and his path to Penn State University after high school. He said that when he was recruited in high school to play football in college he would get nervous talking with coaches. He thought they were going to ask intense football questions regarding what type of player he was. He was surprised to find out that the first questions asked were, "What kind of student are you?" and, "What kind of relationship do you have with your teachers?"
He told the students that he realized that the coaches were really asking the most important questions first. He understood that he wasn't going to get recruited to any Division I school if the coaches knew he wasn't dedicated to the most important part of college - education and getting good grades. Posluszny graduated from Penn State in three and a half years with a degree in finance.
"Today was really important because students need to learn the importance of education and that you can't just be a good athlete to be successful in the professional sports industry," said Posluszny.
Posluszny received laughs when he was asked by one of the kids if he ever got yelled at by a coach and he said, "Yes, a lot actually."
He also shared that his favorite stadium to play in is Ralph Wilson Stadium because the fans are so loyal and it's always a full house.
The other interesting item he shared with the kids was that if he wasn't a football player he would probably be an airplane mechanic.
"I really enjoyed being here today," said Posluszny. "Depew Middle School is a great community and everyone here was great to work with. I would have to say that my favorite part of the day was talking with Lauren and Billy. They were both nervous to come up on stage and ask me questions, but I think it made them feel better when I told them that I still get nervous before talking on stage too. They were great kids."
