PHOTOS: A retired NFL wide receiver from North Texas is close to beginning an unexpected career. Rashard Higgins will be putting on a different type of uniform. Years before becoming a standout wide receiver at Mesquite High School, people close to Higgins knew he was destined for bright lights. “It was PeeWee. My coach, his name was Coach Chris. I was out there making plays and he was like, โMan, you keep making plays, Iโm gonna call you Hollywood.โ Kept on making plays,” he said. The playmaking continued all the way to the NFL.
Hollywood Higgins was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2016. And touchdown after touchdown, he and his teammates celebrated by rolling out the red carpet. It was a change of pace for Higgins, who said his life growing up in Mesquite was a bit rough. “You know, I know how it feels to go to school just so you can have your next meal. You know, I know that feeling,” he said. In the NFL, however, Higgins had “made it.”
“Just being so accustomed to playing football all my life, and then you get to a point where itโs just done. A team might not want you, you know youโre still working out, and itโs like you might get a call, and you might not. Am I working out for no reason? Or, like, what am I doing? And so, it just got to a point where like, โWhat do I do next?โ You know, looking for purpose, looking for a sense of โWho am I?โ I started seeking God, started reading my Bible, and God revealed it to me,” he said.
Higgins’ plan for his future is a different but somewhat similar route. Heโs working to become a Dallas firefighter. “They say, to be on a fire department, you eat, sleep, and train just like football all over again,” he said. “To be able to save someone, man, thatโs what itโs all about.” The leadership at Dallas Fire-Rescue said there are many similarities between team sports and firefighting. But in firefighting, lives are on the line. In sports, there is a phrase, “One game at a time.” The same goes for firefighting.
