As a teenager, Mike Reid turned down a car for a piano.

As a 27-year-old, he gave up football for his music.

He’s likely the only person who’s in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, who played in the Pro Bowl and won a Grammy Award.

A defensive tackle, he graduated with a music degree from Penn State, where we were classmates in the late 1960's. (He also wrestled heavyweight with distinction). He retired from the Cincinnati Bengals after the 1974 season to write and record music. Again...with distinction.

Paul Levine, a novelist, can neither carry a tune nor sack a quarterback. That's his self-bio. He won't tell you this, but I will: His novels have been translated into 21 languages, he's a former law professor and trial lawyer, and he's one of the smartest and coolest people I've met.