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Baker Mayfield Discusses His Family’s Financial Struggles That Allowed Him To Pursue His Dreams
Baker Mayfield of the University of Oklahoma won the 83rd Heisman Memorial Trophy on Saturday evening; awarded to the Most Outstanding College Football Player during the 2017 season. Mayfield is the 37th QB to win the award, but the first to start his collegiate career as a walk-on. Just prior to winning the award, Baker spoke exclusively with JohnWallStreet about the financial struggles his family incurred so that he could pursue his athletic dreams.
JWS: You become the starter at Texas Tech and then decided to leave to walk-on at Oklahoma. Did TTU award you a scholarship once you became the starter, and if so, was it hard to walk away from that money?
Mayfield: Oh, I didn’t have a scholarship; I didn’t leave one. Never had one there. It came down to not having one there and following my dreams. I dreamt of playing of playing for OU and quite frankly, my heart wasn’t in it there (TTU).
JWS: Was the cost of college a financial strain on your family?
Mayfield: Just to put in perspective, it’s why I walked on in-state at first; tuition money was pretty expensive. They (his parents) made so many sacrifices for me, just to go to OU; there is a reason why I work so hard. They’ve given a lot to put me in the position I’m in today so I want to give back and do everything I can for them.
JWS: Can you be specific and discuss some of the sacrifices that allowed you to become the Oklahoma starting QB?
Mayfield: We moved 4 or 5 times my senior year just so we could live in the same school district, so that I could finish my senior year at Lake Travis. Then, as soon as I graduated, they moved in with my mom’s parents for almost 2 years. So, that’s pretty hard. I grew up in the same house for 17 years and then all of a sudden, we move that many times and then they left that town and went with my mom’s parents. That just explains how they are, their character and what they would do for our family; and it means a lot.
Howie Long-Short: Stanford RB Bryce Love finished as the runner-up; the 5th time a Cardinal player has placed 2nd since 2009 (Gerhart, Luck, Luck, McCaffery). Love finished high-school with a 4.5 GPA, is majoring in pediatrics and human biology and plans on becoming a pediatrician at the completion of his football career. JWS got the chance to ask him why a future NFL star takes his studies so seriously?
Love: Academics is really the backbone of everything. That’s the beauty of going to Stanford; you have an opportunity to master the specific concentration that you go in to. Obviously, you can’t play football forever; once that comes to an end, you have an ability to really contribute to the world in positive ways.
Fan Marino: Mayfield’s win makes him the 6th Sooner to win the award; joining Sam Bradford, Jason White, Billy Sims, Steve Owens and Billy Vessels. Only Notre Dame and USC, both with 7, have had more. Ohio State also has 6; including Archie Griffin (’74-’75), the only 2x award winner.
Fitbit Outsells Wearables Competition in Q3, Apple Catching Up Fast
Fitbit (FIT) and Xiaomi (low-cost gadgets, China) sold more wearables than any other companies in Q3 (3.6 million units shipped), but both saw YOY sales declines (33% and 3%, respectively), as consumer demand gravitated from simple fitness trackers to multi-purpose smart watches. IDC Global Intelligence noted that sales of FIT’s new Ionic smartwatch ($300 retail) are off to an “encouraging” start, but that sales did not make up for the steep decline in its lower-priced wearables. Apple (AAPL), which placed 3rd in the quarter, grew sales 52% YOY; reporting 2.7 million smart watches shipped. Company sales were boosted by the September release of its Series 3 Watch, featuring LTE connectivity; enabling users to call, text and stream music without a phone.
Howie Long-Short: Samsung (OTC: SSNLF) President Young Sohn recently stated the company was looking to make a major acquisition within the digital health space, specifically within “preventive health and related technologies; leading some to believe the company could be looking to acquire Fitbit (FIT). Should SSNLF decide to acquire the wearables leader, expect FIT share prices to spike. Xiaomi Corp. remains private, but is contemplating an H2 ’18 IPO (Hong Kong most likely destination); seeking a valuation of at least $50 billion. The company is pursuing a contrarian growth strategy; building 1,000 “Mi Home” stores (+/- 2x number of AAPL stores) by 2019, while targeting $10 billion in retail sales by 2021.
Fan Marino: Fitbit Labs, a research initiative designed to drive behavior change in FIT users, announced the upcoming launch (by end of 2017) of the Fitbit Mood Log; a clock style interface that will monitor mood, energy, physical activity, nutrition and sleep, observing patterns over time. The data collected will help users (and the company) to understand how one’s mental state effects their overall health and behavior. No athlete has done more for mental health awareness than NYG WR Brandon Marshall; you can read about his noble Project 375 organization, here.
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Nike Focuses on Supply Chain as Sales Lag
Nike (NKE) announced it will be adopting Feng Tay Enterprise Co. Ltd.’s manufacturing strategy and automation technology, enabling the sneaker giant to cut down on manpower (-30% on the A.J. XIII) while increasing output (+50% on the A.J. XIII). The change in philosophy includes the implementation of 11 new automated technologies; combined, they enable the company to complete and ship customized shoes within 3-4 days, which is less than half the initial projected turnaround time. By 2023, the company would like to offer automated customization on every shoe it produces.
Howie Long-Short: NKE struggled in fiscal Q1 ’18 (domestic revenue declined 3%, gross profit declined 4%), with several of the issues facing the company (i.e. basketball sneakers aren’t in style, heavy promotional market) unlikely to change short-term; so turning their focus to supply chain optimization is logical. Automation and smart distribution systems will make the business more efficient and increase profit margins, but it isn’t helping the company get any closer to Mark Parker’s goal of $50 billion in revenue by 2020. Nike is going to need to grow its women’s division and international business (see: China) if is going to hit that mark.
Fan Marino: Feng Tay and Nike have a storied relationship that dates to 1977; with the Taiwan-based sporting and athletic goods manufacturer first producing the AIR model in ’85. The company also first developed signature shoes for Michael Jordan in ’87 and LeBron James in ’03, produced the 1stgeneration of Shox in 2000 and both developed and produced the Flyknit Racer; one of Time magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2012”. Feng Tay trades on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the symbol TPE:9910.
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JohnWallStreet is not a person or location, but a destination for the educated sports fan.
While we won’t be publishing “hot takes” on LeBron’s relative greatness to Jordan, we will be offering up the most relevant sports related finance news, in easily digestible bites, with commentary from both the equities analyst and sports fanatic perspectives.
We’ll cover publicly traded professional teams & stadiums, television networks, apparel & footwear companies, equipment companies, ticketing companies, content and facilities providers. If it trades on Wall Street, and has a sports angle, it’s in our wheel house.
Howie Long-Short and Fan Marino will be providing their expert opinions on each story. They have slightly different areas of expertise. Fan Marino is a firm believer that the SEC is the premier football conference. Howie Long-Short knows it as the Securities & Exchange Commission. Fan Marino lives and dies with the college selection of 5 star, blue chip recruits. Howie Long-Short spends his days analyzing blue chip stocks. Howie Long-Short knows that Black Monday occurred on October 19th, 1987. Fan Marino swears it happens every January after Week 17. You get the point.