Marcus Myers is best known as part of the University of Texas’ 2005 championship football team.
“People always ask you, ‘What do you miss the most about sports and the games?’” He said. “And all that was fun, but it was being with my boys. Like, we had good times, you know?”
While he still follows Texas football, Myers has since landed in the tech world after retiring from his college football career. He’s become an advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for those new to the company he works for.
“There's something in being able to come together with other black people that are successful that come from all different walks of life all across the country, the world even, but in a lot of ways have very similar stories about their experiences both in this society and then in the workplace,“ Myers said.
In the latest episode of the Black Austin Matters podcast, Myers sits down with hosts Lisa B. Thompson and Richard J. Reddick to talk about his historic time on UT’s championship team, how football has changed since then, his DEI efforts, and how Austin has changed over his life.
This transcript has been edited for clarity. To hear more from this interview, check out the Black Austin Matters podcast.
On his recruitment process
I was in the 2002 recruiting class. So, you know, your Vince Youngs and David Thomas, Roger Wright.
You get recruited, they bring you on campus, they roll out the red carpet, they have all the food and the cheerleaders and the parties and the, you know, everything. And then when you sign, you come back and most of that's gone.
When the guys would get there, we would do this little fake ceremony for them to sign and then we would yell, "Gotcha." You know, insert explicit there. It is very different because then you begin a de-recruitment process, Because I was the man at my high school, but everybody was the man at their high school.
On college football today
I think these days these kids are specializing so early. Me, personally, I don't really think that's the way to go because, first of all, half of them are not going to make it. More than half. And then a lot of them get burned out early, and they don't really know fully what they like.
I think where people get caught up in this process is, first of all, they forget that these are kids.
A lot of times when they're getting recruited these days, 13, 14, 15-year-old kids are trying to figure out a 20-year decision, right?
So, they don't always have that foresight, obviously.
I would say pick somewhere that you're comfortable with the environment that you're in. Obsess over the things that you can control ... knowing that the overwhelming majority of them are not going to go pro in football.
We had a coach that used to tell us, "The only thing you're doing here for yourself is getting an education. Everybody else is really benefiting off of everything else you do."
I would say get your education.
On being an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion
It's really cool for me being an Austinite, seeing how the city has changed in a lot of ways. A lot of times the people coming into our company are not from here. Most people are not from here. So it's cool for me to get to kind of introduce them to the community, help plug them in, help them figure out where to get the hair braided, where to get a line-up, where to go eat, some spots you can check out that are churches in the area, so that they feel seen.
I'm fortunate to work for probably most people's favorite tech company's favorite tech company. But it is not a space that has a whole lot of us, right? And a lot of times where the most of us are, are in contact centers, you know? Where they're working phones or in retail spaces, that kind of thing.
So for those of us on the corporate side of the house and even in those retail spaces, we try to bring them in as much as we can because I don't want someone to come to Austin, look around, and try and figure out where their people are when probably throughout the day they're not really interacting with their people in meetings.
So for me, that is the work that we talk about a lot that– It's a double-edged sword.
On what he misses about 'Old Austin'
So most of the places back in the day are not here anymore. Players on MLK right there is now a parking garage. That was the favorite late-night spot for us.
We used to go to Magnolia a lot, I think now that one’s like a Tumble 22.
I mentioned earlier Taco Shack. That's still around. I don't even know if Ken’s tacos is still around or not, but I used to hit Ken’s tacos off Dessau a lot (it’s still there).
There used to just be a bunch of hole-in-the-wall spots in East Side that now are condominiums and all kinds of stuff.
