Fitzhugh chooses railroad over NFL

In the most recent email from SmartBrief on Your Career (I read about Job Angels in the Wall Street Journal a year and a half ago, and subscribe to periodic updates), this story was included, and it impressed me: job security over the possibility of glamor.

Keith Fitzhugh pulled a misdirection play rarely seen in the NFL.  On Tuesday, the New York Jets, after losing two safeties to injury in four days, called the former Lovejoy High School and Mississippi State standout and told him they needed him. Contemplating the offer, Fitzhugh, 24, thought about the steady job he had landed three months ago, as a Norfolk Southern railroad conductor, a position he loves. He thought about his family, about leaving behind his disabled father and hard-working mother. He thought about the three times that NFL teams previously released him. And Fitzhugh said no.

Fitzhugh was given the option of taking a leave of absence from his railroad job and pursuing pro football again. For whatever reason, he still declined. "It's an inspirational story, and we're very fortunate to have such a high-quality individual working for us," said Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern spokesman.

Each of his NFL paychecks would have been for $18,000, dwarfing his railroad salary, but Fitzhugh still wasn't willing to leave, or push aside, his new position. "I have buddies with two degrees who can't find a job," he said.

While Fitzhugh thanked the Jets for providing another opportunity, he said his current job fulfilled another childhood dream. "Just hearing the horns getting blown, how fast they were rolling, it always looked cool," Fitzhugh said of trains that rumbled along Tara Boulevard. "I was like, ‘Man, I want to get up there. I want to ride.'"

I agree. I love trains, as I did when I was a kid. And airplanes.