IN GOOD SPIRITS

FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER ERIC LEGR AND IS THRIVING AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

I13 years since he suffered a spinal cord injur y whi le making a tackle on a kickoff in a game against Army, former Rutgers defensive tackle Eric Legrand has fought to regain movement ( he’s paralyzed from the chest down) and to overcome stigmas associated with using a wheelchair. That includes something as simple as going out for a cocktail. “I’ve traveled all over the country, the world, and when people see me have a cocktail, a lot of times they’re surprised because I’m in a wheelchair,” he says.

So in 2020 Legrand approached his friend and business partner, Brian Axelrod, with an idea. He’d launch his own brand of bourbon. Axelrod, who has a background in the liquor industry, connected with a distiller in Bardstown, Ky., and three years later the first batch hit shelves. “It fits my story, who I am when it comes to my recovery, with patience and time and precision,” Legrand says. “It’s not gonna happen overnight. Same thing with bourbon. You have to age it. We came up with that idea and said, ‘We’re gonna be able to tell my life and my story through a bottle of bourbon.’” Legrand donates a portion of sales to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation; the bourbon is on shelves in Kentucky and New Jersey (it can also be purchased through Legrand’s website, ericlegrandwhiskey.com).

While Legrand has long enjoyed a nice bourbon, he’d never had coffee before 2020. That didn’t stop him from launching another pandemic business: a coffeehouse. “I was sitting in my house, bored and wanting to find a way to bring people together while everyone seemed to be hating each other,” he says. And what brings people together on a daily basis? Java. In ’22 The first brick-and-mortar Legrand Coffee House opened in Woodbridge Township, N.J. “Tell you what, man,” he says. “You never know what life is gonna throw your way. I’m so thankful for the blessings that come my way.”