Transition game: Ex-Cat moves from basketball star to financial adviser
.jpg "Jeff Sheppard in his “day uniform” as a financial adviser for Family Wealth Group.")
Fashion helps explain the transition former Kentucky player Jeff Sheppard said he made “from basketball to life.”
As a financial adviser for Family Wealth Group, Sheppard wears a coat and tie every work day. “I enjoy my day uniform,” he said with a chuckle.
Here’s an understatement: When he was a UK player and student 20 years ago, Sheppard typically did not wear a coat and tie. Perhaps this was never more clear than when then-UK Coach Tubby Smith asked Sheppard to go to the Big Apple and accept on his behalf The New York Athletic Club’s Winged Foot Award.
UK had just won the 1998 national championship with Sheppard named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
Upon arrival at The New York Athletic Club, Sheppard learned about its rule requiring gentlemen to wear jackets. Sheppard did not take a jacket to New York.
“Thankfully, they had a few in their closet for people like me who were oblivious to their rules . . . ,” he said. “I didn’t wear a sports coat or a jacket at all when I was playing basketball for Kentucky and professionally.”
Sheppard made another transition as a college student. His mother taught English, so he thought UK could prepare him to be a teacher and coach someday. But then there was a high school physics teacher who made such an impression on him that he considered a major in engineering.
“I quickly realized that was for real students,” he said.
Sheppard figured that being an engineering major would require two or three hours of study each night. He decided that this would be too much time away from his teammates and basketball.
“I enjoyed it,” he said of his entry-level understanding of engineering. “But I knew I wasn’t passionate about it. It was just not a good fit.”
Sheppard majored in math.
After UK, Sheppard played one season with the Atlanta Hawks, then three years in Italy. With the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, he decided to return to the United States and find “a real job.”
He worked in pharmaceutical sales. Then he started his own apparel and memorabilia company.
About five years ago, Sheppard became acquainted with Kevin Metzler through the Children’s Charity Golf event and the Christian Men’s Business Association. Metzler, who owns the Family Wealth Group, invited Sheppard to join the company.
Sheppard pointed out that he had no background in financial planning.
“I’m a math guy,” he said. This only made the former UK player more appealing to Metzler, who liked the idea of training Sheppard.
A career change ensued.
The day uniform (coat and tie) is only one adjustment Sheppard had to make.
As a basketball player, he grew accustomed to intense bursts of activity followed by rest and recovery. As a financial adviser, his work day typically begins around 9 a.m. and can end around 7 p.m.
“So it’s a different kind of fatigue,” Sheppard said. “There’s a different challenge. To stay focused mentally.”
Sheppard, who ranks No. 48 on UK’s career scoring list with 1,091 points, described the work he and Family Wealth Group do as assisting clients in another kind of transition.
“We kind of call ourselves a bridge to retirement,” he said.
No. 1 Kentucky
With Blue Ribbon Yearbook naming Kentucky its No. 1 team going into the 2018-19 season, a question-and-answer email exchange with editor and publisher Chris Dortch seemed in order. Incidentally, Dortch said that about 40 writers and editors help compile Blue Ribbon’s preseason top 25.
Question: What separates Kentucky from the other teams in Blue Ribbon’s preseason top 25 poll?
Answer: “I thought the separator was Reid Travis. We all know that Cal (John Calipari) and his staff always recruit a handful of the best players in the country. That’s a given. But this year, three talented sophomores return, and you get a guy that would have been preseason Player of the Year in a power conference in Travis. ... With Travis and the three sophomores, Kentucky has the best of both worlds.”
(Obviously, the three sophomores are PJ Washington, Nick Richards and Quade Green.)
Q: What should we make of three SEC teams being in Blue Ribbon’s top 10 (No. 1 UK, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Auburn) and six in the top 20 (No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 18 LSU, No. 20 Florida)?
A: “I think it’s a byproduct of the SEC beginning to really pay attention to basketball in recent years with a full-time associate commissioner (Dan Leibovitz) who knows and understands the game, with the use of consultants that understand the art of scheduling for resume building, including restrictions on how teams schedule and what teams they schedule, the hiring of great coaches throughout the league and the improvement of facilities conference-wide.
“You blend all that with the talent that is produced in many SEC states, Georgia and Louisiana are but two examples, and you’ve got a reversal of fortune that I don’t think is temporary.”
Q: What do you think of Kentucky having 12 games against teams in the top 25, and nine games against teams in the top 12? That’s games against No. 2 Kansas, No. 4 Duke, No. 12 North Carolina and No. 18 LSU as well as home-and-home series against No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Auburn, No. 11 Mississippi State and No. 20 Florida?
A: “. . . Made-for-TV games are always going to be there, but Cal could turn them down if he wanted to. Instead, he chooses to take on all comers even though the SEC has improved to the point where we see six teams in Blue Ribbon’s preseason top 25. He knows it’s going to be a rock fight in league play every night. But he still goes out and plays in the Champions Classic, accepts the toughest draw in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge and plays North Carolina, which is a great series, and Louisville, another great series.”
The Blue Ribbon Yearbook is available for pre-order at blueribbonyearbook.com. It will also be available at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington and the Rockwood Pavilion in Cincinnati beginning Oct. 15.
Book note
Former UK All-American Tony Delk describes his memoir — titled “Shooter” — as a coming-of-age story.
“A lot about growing up in a small town (Brownsville, Tenn.) and being able to make it to the NBA,” he said. “Also about coming to the University of Kentucky and not having that first year that everyone would have loved. I think people remember me winning the (1996) championship. But no one really talks about my first year. … Not quite fitting on the defensive side of the ball.”
Delk plans to hold a book signing from 5-7 p.m. on the evening of Big Blue Madness (Oct. 12). The signing will be in the Lexington Center Shops in front of the Your Frame of Mind store. The book will cost $15 cash or $16.99 plus tax with a credit card.
Belated happy birthday
To Billy Evans. He turned 86 on Sept. 13. ... To Marcus Lee. He turned 24 on Sept. 14. ... To Todd Svoboda. He turned 47 on Sept. 14. ... To Reggie Warford. He turned 64 on Sept. 15. ... To Marquis Estill. He turned 37 on Sept. 15. ... To former LSU coach John Brady. He turned 64 on Sept. 17. ... To Dickey Beal. He turned 56 on Sept. 18. ... To former UK Coach Rick Pitino. He turned 66 on Sept. 18. ... To Adam Williams. He turned 33 on Sept. 19. ... To Derrick Hord. He turned 58 on Sept. 19.
Happy birthday
To Jared Carter. He turned 32 on Thursday. ... To Jack Givens. He turned 62 on Friday. ... To Vanderbilt Coach Bryce Drew. He turned 44 on Friday. ... To former Arkansas star Sidney Moncrief. He turned 61 on Friday. ... To Dakari Johnson. He turned 23 on Saturday. ... To Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin. He turns 47 on Sunday (today). ... To Rodrick Rhodes. He turns 45 on Monday. ... To Matt Heissenbuttel. He turns 37 on Monday. ... To Cliff Berger. He turns 72 on Tuesday. ... To Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. He turns 25 on Wednesday.
This story was originally published September 21, 2018 at 12:41 PM.