The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Catching up with Winthrop Graham
05.03.2013 | Longhorn Foundation
Olympic silver medalist and former All-American track star Winthrop Graham lives and works in Austin.
Olympic silver medalist and former All-American track star Winthrop Graham lives and works in Austin. The Jamaican graduated from UT in 1989 after winning the NCAA Outdoor title in the 400 meter hurdles. He utilizes his degree by owning multiple retail businesses and a financial management company for athletes. When he was an athlete he saw the need for someone to guide athletes in handling their finances. Even though he is retired, he remains dedicated to helping athletes off the field.
What are you doing now? I'm self-employed. I work in different businesses, and I own a management company that helps a lot of professional track athletes that compete on the circuit in Europe and other places in the world. I own some retail businesses and real estate and different businesses like that. So I'm busy.
What does your management company do? When I finished competing I saw that there was a need for guiding and directing some of these young athletes, especially the ones from the Caribbean. I'm from Jamaica and you meet so many Caribbean and Jamaican athletes that are finishing their careers and basically don't have anything to show for it. They need a little guidance and someone who is willing to help them with their finances and investments. That's why I got involved with it and so far I'm really happy about it because of all the athletes that I work with have been able to do something after their careers they are shown something for it. That's my big motivation because we direct these athletes when they're young and need a little more guidance. They have a lot of money and they don't know what to do with it, and you give them understanding that it's not going to be like that for a long period of time.
When did you realize there was a need for this? I had made preparations before I retired. When I was competing there was a need for this. I just thought that if they had better guidance before their careers that they would not be in that bad situation after they retired. For me a lot of it was that my friends were going through that, and I thought that it would be good for them to have managers who could give them guidance in their careers.
How did your UT education help you? My UT education helped me a lot. I went to a very good high school in Jamaica where I was very independent and lived on my own. When I came to UT it was an adjustment. Going to a huge university like that, you can get a little lost if you don't have a little guidance and a little experience. Coach Huntsman, who was like a father figure to me while I was there, he helped guide me.
What was the UT track program like? When I was there it was there it was more about family. We had a very big squad. Coach Huntsman believed in a complete team. There were a variety of athletes on the team and he believed in making it like a family affair. We were competitive, but also supportive. I remember the football players would come over and compete in track meets. We had a lot of camaraderie with all the athletes here. He did a lot of for the program when he was there. We had a great program and a great facility there.
What was it like being inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor last year? It was a very unique experience. Only a few people get that kind of honor. To be considered one of the all-time UT greats is really an honor.
