'Be vulnerable' and own up to mistakes, NFL star quarterback Steve Young tells U of Manitoba students

CBC

21-05-2025

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Dozens of students and football fans at the University of Manitoba got to share laughs with and learn from an NFL great Wednesday.
Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young spoke at the Winnipeg university as part of its International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award student presentation. Young worked the room during a speech and Q&A session with audience members, telling stories from his playing days and also offering advice in life and in business to the crowd.
Asked what he hoped younger people in the audience would take away from his presentation, Young said he hoped they learned "to be accountable, to have the vulnerability to recognize when you've made a mistake."
"When I finally realized that all the mistakes on the field were rooted in my error, not someone else's, was the most powerful thing I could do to lead, and I just encourage them to be vulnerable," he said.
Young played 15 seasons in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers, where he threw for more than 30,000 yards and over 200 touchdowns. He won three Super Bowls — two as a backup and one as a starter in 1995, where he was also named the game's MVP.
His play on the field helped him land in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where he became the first left-handed quarterback inducted back in 2005.
Young has also found success off the field, where he is co-founder, chairman and managing partner of an investment firm called Huntsman Gay Global Capital, which has over $8 billion under its management, according to a University of Manitoba news release.
Young has raised millions for philanthropic endeavours, including the Forever Young Foundation, which he founded, the U of M said.
The foundation primarily focuses on mental health awareness — a cause Young said is close to him.
"I suffered with separation anxiety as a kid and I didn't know it," he said. "I found out through some really tough times when I was 33 years old and playing in the NFL."
'Don't just chase the dollars'
A range of people attended Wednesday's event, from high-school-age students to diehard 49ers fans like Clint Kehler.
Kehler, who also works as an accountant, got his jersey signed by Young. He said he hoped Young's messages about work ethic and personality stuck with the students in the crowd.
"The fact that he was not all about capitalism — be a good person and do something for humanity" resonated with him, Kehler said.
"Don't just chase the dollars — I'm hoping that's what sits with the students."
That was something Matthew Esguerra, a student at the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba, echoed.
"Overall it just kind of shows in his character that he's a people person, and that's something we need more in business," he said. "That's something we need in our daily lives — we need more people who do things for the interaction of the relationship, rather than transactional relationships."
Meanwhile, Young said Wednesday despite all he's accomplished, there's one thing he wishes he would've done in his career.
"I always dreamed that playing in Canada would have been perfect for me, because I could run, I could move around, and the [CFL] game is kind of built for me in many ways," he said.
"Two regrets: Not playing in Canada in the CFL, and not playing hockey," said Young. "I think [with] my size and speed … I would've been a pretty good hockey player."