Silva tackles a little bit of everything in life after football
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The opening kickoff in the Super Bowl is one of the most iconic moments of every sports year. The flash bulbs illuminate the stadium as the crowd anticipates the start of the sporting world’s biggest spectacle.
Mt. Lebanon resident Jamie Silva got to experience the moment first-hand. As an ace special-teams player for the Indianapolis Colts, Silva ran down the field and covered the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLIV against the New Orleans Saints at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
“It was awesome,” Silva said. “You dream of that as a kid. Losing the game wasn’t too enjoyable, but that’s something you never forget.”
Silva’s playing career ended a year later after spending one final season on injured reserve. Since then, he has produced movies, created his own media company, started a clothing line and now he’s marketing and selling certified authentic autographed sports jerseys at savagesportsbox.com.
“I get up and my wife asks me, ‘OK, what are you doing today?’” Silva said, laughing.
Silva, 33, met his wife, Theresa, at Boston College, where he was an All-American safety and finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation’s top defensive back. She is a Mt. Lebanon High School graduate, and they are raising their four children in her hometown while Jamie runs his multiple businesses with his partner and collaborator, Anthony Lynch, a North Side native and Oliver High School graduate.
Silva’s first endeavor after football was show business. He attended the NFL Hollywood boot camp with other NFL players shortly after his career ended. Steelers minority owner Thomas Tull, who ran Legendary Pictures at the time, spoke to the group and later hired Silva for an internship.
Silva has acted in movies and reality shows and has producing credits on three movies and one television series. He is currently working on a documentary on former Pittsburgh boxer Paul Spadafora, whose post-boxing life has been marred by run-ins with law enforcement.
Silva and his crew were there to document Spadafora’s release from lock-up a few months ago. There are preliminary plans in place to follow Spadafora next month to Wyoming where he is scheduled to participate in a bare-knuckles fighting card that is being billed as the first “legal, regulated, and sanctioned bareknuckle event in the United States since 1889.” Silva also has some reality shows and game shows in the works.
Bells and Bain is Silva’s clothing line. He is currently transitioning that business to designing and manufacturing clothing for companies or individuals.
The newest project Silva and Lynch are focusing on is Savage Sports, which gives sports fans the dual thrill of buying an autographed sports jersey while not knowing whose memorabilia is inside the box.
The marketing is done on social media. They have a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/savagesportsbox) and Facebook Live shows are their main way of connecting with clients.
For $149.99 fans can purchase a Pittsburgh-themed box. Inside the box will be a certified authentic Pittsburgh sports jersey. The box might contain a Sidney Crosby signed sweater or it might contain a Bill Mazeroski signed jersey. It also could be a random player who plays for the Steelers, Penguins or Pirates. The unknown is part of the fun in purchasing the box.
If you are lucky enough to purchase a box with a Crosby signed sweater it’s quite the reward. His autographed sweater goes for $700 and up on sports memorabilia web sites.
Sports Savage does not cater only to Pittsburgh sports fans. They have Superstar mystery boxes across all sports for sale as well as Hall of Fame mystery boxes, in which fans are guaranteed to purchase the jersey of a Hall of Famer.
“We’re really excited about this project,” Silva said. “It’s just a matter of getting the word out on it.”
Silva has one other job. On fall weekends, he’s an NFL uniform inspector at Heinz Field. Silva inspects the uniforms for the road teams during Steelers home games. If a player goes out onto the field with a uniform violation, Silva will warn them and ask them to fix the issue so they won’t get fined by the league.
In 2015, Silva ran into one of his former teammates while doing his inspection duties. Two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning was in town for a game with the Broncos and spotted Silva in the bowels of Heinz Field.
“I was maybe 50 feet away from the locker room and security was letting me past,” Silva said. “Peyton comes and jumps on my back and tells them, ‘He’s with me. He can go wherever he wants.’
“He was an awesome teammate, and he’s an awesome dude. He’s just like he is on Saturday Night Live. That’s who he is. He’s very personable and very approachable.”