The Big Picture
Pottsgrove great Chestnut continues to overcome adversity at end and after football journey
In 14 years at The Mercury, I’ve written and edited many stories of triumph and tragedy.
In all those years, there is one individual’s story that resonates loudest – for both reasons.
Terrell Chestnut turned a troubling childhood that included time in the foster system and the death of his older brother Don into one of the area’s great success stories, becoming a star quarterback/ cornerback at Pottsgrove before a standout career at West Virginia that turned him into an NFL prospect.
Chestnut’s incredible journey paid off when he became the most recent Pioneer Athletic Conference alum to ink an NFL contract upon signing with the San Diego Chargers on May 10, 2016.
Yet adversity never drifts too far from Terrell Chestnut.
His time with the Chargers was derailed by a torn hamstring and led to him being placed on injured reserve before being released … two weeks after the death of his grandmother, Doris Chestnut.
The next two years were challenging ones even by Chestnut’s standards: he suffered anaphylactic shock from a shellfish allergy and lost 35 pounds in 2017, which effectively ended his NFL pursuit. Then, in 2018, Chestnut’s oldest brother, Ron Smith, who suffered from epilepsy and heart disease, died at age 31.
Yet through it all, Chestnut has come out on the other side and is still striving for greatness.
“Adversity has shaped me into who I am. If I wasn’t built for it, I would have crumbled already,” said Chestnut.
He still resides in San Diego and works in the financial industry while concurrently chasing the dream of becoming a motivational speaker to share his incredible story with future generations.
This is the second part of the Mercury’s discussion with Chestnut reflecting on his time in the NFL, the years since and continuing to overcome adversity. Part 1 appeared in Saturday’s Mercury and can be found at pottsmerc.com.
MERCURY » After West Virginia, what was your plan?
CHESTNUT » Honestly, I was content with being done with football. My body went through a lot and as a leader and mentor with that team I always thought my path was to coach or in some way interact with people.
I was fine with giving it up. I always looked at it like my greatest blessing was having my opportunity, getting my degree for free and I was able to go into grad school and get that done and allow my grandmother to see me graduate. I was happy.
I always said the NFL would just be a bonus, the icing on the cake.
It was a very hard decision to decide to give it a go and see what happens. A lot of people were telling me I had a midto late-round draft grade so it changed by perspective and told me to get back to work. I stayed at West Virginia so I could still go to school and I was training every day.
MERCURY » As that all takes shape and you ultimately sign a free agent deal (on May 10, 2016) with the Chargers, what was that feeling like? For many, the ones who aren’t ready to hang it up, that would be the highest of highs. Was it for you?
CHESTNUT » It was amazing, definitely an amazing feeling mostly because I was able to share it with my friends and family. That was one of the last memories my grandmother got to have with me was fulfilling that dream.
If I didn’t get the chance I
would have been fine. But it was icing on the cake.
I watch a video of that pretty frequently just because you see the elation in my grandmother’s eyes, you see how proud my family was. That’s what it was always about for me, continuing to make them proud.
MERCURY » It seems like that was supposed to be the best year of your life but that’s not exactly how it played out. Can you share the back story on how the rest of the year played out?
CHESTNUT » It was rough. Adversity found its way back - I tore my hamstring up. … It’s a business so they put me on IR and brought in another corner, which is just the nature of the business. It was difficult because I was ready, I felt great, I was in the best shape of my life and then something like that happens.
Then as I’m going through the rehab process, I’m feeling better, I reaggravate it a little bit during treatment and that’s when my grandmother passed away.
Not only am I battling my body, now my mind and my emotions are out of whack because that’s someone who took us in, raised us, gave a new perspective on life; she’s the anchor of our family and now she’s gone.
It made me question my faith, my will, my desire to want to play.
Two weeks after that the Chargers waived me so now you’re dealing with a whole different set of emotions. Something you worked so hard for is gone, your grandmother’s gone, what do you do next?
It was a big test. 2016 was a very rough time for me.
The next two years were rough. I had a workout with the Cardinals the following year and a few other teams were there. I felt great, ran a decent 40, but right after I got super-sick. We were in Las Vegas and I’m allergic to shellfish and I ate something that contained some kind of shellfish residue and I went into anaphylactic shock and it attacked my thyroid. Within a month I was down 35 pounds.
It was rough also because I had a really good chance of being invited to OTAs and camp for one of those teams. It challenged me again.
It took six months for me to finally get back to full health with my thyroid.
Then you think, ‘Do I want to give it another go?’ I started training but at the same time I felt I needed to bring in a source of income because I can’t continue to live off of what I made in the NFL because it wasn’t 20 millions dollars is the truth of it so you have to figure out life.
The next 2-3 years were rough because I lost my grandmother, I got sick and then in 2018 I lost my brother.
Adversity on top of adversity on top of adversity ...
MERCURY » How the heck do you keep bouncing back?
CHESTNUT » They say God will never give you more than you can handle. For me, I always look at the bigger picture. There’s a rhyme and a reason why things happen. I’ve always wanted to be a mentor, shed light on life and be a person that people can lean on to go to in their walk through life. I think my life experiences would resonate with anybody.
Me having that opportunity in the NFL could shine light to put me on a different platform that my voice can be heard.
What if I wasn’t meant to play football? What if I wasn’t meant to work a 9 to 5? What if I was meant to do something way bigger than that? That’s what keeps me going because I know there’s a higher purpose for me being here. I need to use my platform to give back and make a difference in this world.
MERCURY » When did that pursuit of the NFL stop being your primary focus?
CHESTNUT » I would say probably the end of 2017. I had a trainer, Todd Durkin, who trained the likes of Drew Brees, LaDainian Tomlinson, and other high quality people and I would go to his gym, and so would players from a great high school out here, Cathedral Catholic, and his sons and I loved to interact with and saw how those kids gravitated toward me … it goes back to seeing the bigger picture so I had a new sense of purpose and drive to make my mark outside of football.
Then I had a conversation with my brother who let me know, ‘Don’t worry about us.’ That’s the pressure I put on myself because if I succeed and I make millions of dollars, their troubles go away too. Once he put it in perspective and said ‘You don’t have to do this for us. Make sure you’re doing whatever you’re doing for you and enjoy life as much as possible,’ that put it in perspective for me and I was ready to walk away.
MERCURY » It seems to me that you above many others were fine with moving on in large part because you don’t define yourself as a football player, you are a man who happened to play football. It seems that you might have been more equipped than others to move on from it.
CHESTNUT » The more success you have, especially when you succeed at a different level … going into college you interact with a lot of people – I played with Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Geno Smith, Bruce Irvin, a lot of people that went first or second round, and you see the business part of things and you see a lot of people get stuck on trying to live this dream. And they keep getting cut.
If you keep reopening the same wound it’s going to keep getting deeper and deeper and you can’t bounce back from that.
I listen to a lot of podcasts and there’s a guy,
Trent Shelton, who went to Baylor, and then he played with the Colts, Seahawks, Redskins and he talked about that process. The level of uncertainty in the NFL is just huge. I promised myself I would never put myself through that heartache time and time again, just to chase a dollar. You can make money doing anything. If you truly love what you do, you’ll make the money. It was a little easier for me to walk away because I’m not chasing the dollar, not chasing the status or the clout.
It was, ‘What’s next? How can I make my next mark in life?’
MERCURY » What’s life like now? What are you doing professionally?
CHESTNUT » I’m still here in San Diego, living with my girlfriend (Anitra) and our little puppy.
I work for LPL Financial on their business solutions team dealing with different advisors and clients and helping them manage their money. I’m studying to get my Series 7.
(I would like to be) teaching things that I never knew coming out of college, financial literacy, learning about credit, teaching athletes
MERCURY » You mentioned earlier about interest in coaching – does that still interest you?
CHESTNUT » I still love the game, but I’m 28 and I’ll be 30 in a couple years and I want to be able to enjoy my life, enjoy my time with my family. You never know what can happen. I’m not ruling coach out. The football knowledge and IQ is there.
There’s other ways to coach that aren’t necessarily a football coach, a life coach, things of that nature.
I think me speaking and sharing my story would still have that coaching feel without the title of a coach.
MERCURY » It makes me really pleased to hear you’re pursuing public speaking because your story is one that people can latch on to in a way that lives will be changed.
CHESTNUT » It means a lot because a lot of people spent their time on putting me on the right path and the only way I can pay it forward is by reciprocating it.
Mr. Klotz (former Pottsgrove Township commissioner Stephen Klotz), Coach Algeo, Coach Hawthorne, Coach Pennypacker, my brother, my grandmother, people that really took time and instilled a lot that wasn’t inside of me, it’s so rewarding to have a lot of people care about you.
This conversation has confirmed to me that I really have a very good story to share and people need to hear it. who sign a contract how to create generational wealth, how to put their money in places where if they play two or three years – you can’t live your full life off of that – they can duplicate their wealth without having to really struggle. What I truly want to do is get into public speaking, transformational speaking, where I can use my life experience and life story to share how I’ve overcome the foster system, gone through all this adversity, and still found success, making it to the NFL. My plan is to get into speaking or some kind of mentorship or leadership to speak at universities and high schools and speak and share my story and my ups and downs. There’s always a bigger picture and for me it’s about giving back and instilling what I’ve learned into other people.