Taliaferro fights back from catastrophic injury to launch law career
Adam Taliaferro suffered a career-ending spinal cord injury playing football for Penn State in 2000, but that led to the start of another career. Taliaferro has gone on to graduate from Penn State, earn a law degree from Rutgers and start the Adam Taliaferro Foundation to help people with similar injuries, and he is now beginning his law career with a firm in Philadelphia with aspirations of working in sports legal representation. Taliaferro spoke with Sports Business Journal staff writer Brandon McClung.
Age: 26
New title: First-year associate, Montgomery, McCracken Walker & Rhoads
First job: Camp counselor at a Philadelphia 76ers camp
College education: Bachelor of science, labor and industrial relations, Penn State (2005); Juris Doctor, Rutgers School of Law, (2008)
Resides: Winslow Township, N.J.
Grew up: Voorhees Township, N.J.
Executive most admired: Joe Paterno
Brand most admired: Nike
Favorite vacation spot: Las Vegas
Last book read: “Being Sugar Ray: The Life of Sugar Ray Robinson, America’s Greatest Boxer and the First Celebrity Athlete” by Kenneth Shropshire
Last movie seen: “August Rush”
Favorite movie: “Old School”
Favorite musician: Jay-Z
Talk about your foundation and life since the injury.
The main mission of the foundation is to raise money and awareness and provide financial and emotional support for anyone with a spinal cord injury. We host an annual high school all-star game, which is our biggest fundraiser, and have raised over $300,000. After the injury I realized it was time to make some life decisions, so I sat down with Coach Paterno, and our academic advisers thought maybe law was the best route for me. That first summer I had an internship at the NFLPA. I worked in a...
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