All-Time Redskins great Charles Mann spent 12 years in the NFL terrorizing opposing quarterbacks, along the way winning three Super Bowl rings. Mann left the University of Nevada early before graduating so that he could take advantage of his chance to be drafted in the NFL. The Redskins drafted him in the third round of the 1983 draft and never once regretted it.
A member of the Redskins “Ring of Fame”, and the “80 Greatest Redskins”, Mann went on to play 10 seasons in Washington, 4 of which he went to the Pro Bowl. In 177 games in the NFL, he recorded 83 sacks.
A few years back Mann started to regret not finishing his degree even though his life was full of success.
In an interview with the Post’s Dan Steinberg, Mann said, “he never thought about taking classes during his NFL career after that first attempt at George Mason. As time went by and he started racking up Pro Bowl appearances and sponsorship deals, a college degree seemed less important. But he began considering it again six or seven years ago, when he started wondering if he might have a future in politics, and if that would even be possible without a degree.”
Seeing Camille graduate in 2010 pushed him over the edge.
“As happy as I was for her that day, I was sad for me,” Mann said. “I said, ‘Wow, she completed something that her dad never completed.’ And it just stuck in my craw, and I wanted to do something about it.”
“I’ll be right there, cheering him on,” his youngest daughter Casey said. “My dad never starts something and doesn’t finish it. There was no doubt he was going to finish. I didn’t know when, but I knew there was going to be a graduation for sure.”
Mann found some contacts associated with Strayer University and saw he still needed 24 credits for a degree. That led to three years of night school, a time in which Mann says he only received a couple of B’s, mostly A’s. Saturday, at the Verizon Center, he was the keynote commencement speaker earning his degree 32 years after first leaving school, graduating cum laude.
Congrats Mr. Mann!
Below is a collection of Twitter posts from Saturday:
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