IT TAKES ONE TO SELL ONE: RETIRED JOCKS TARGET SMALL GROUP OF VERY LARGE MEN: THESE REPS KNOW HOW TO THROW THEIR WEIGHT AROUND WHERE IT COUNTS — IN THE LOCKER ROOM

George Martin and Harry Carson do not look like insurance salesmen or financial planners. Both stand over 6-foot-4; both still carry more than 240 pounds — most of it pure muscle. They look like what they are better known as — former football stars for the New York Giants.

But they and their employer, Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, think they are the perfect fit for their new jobs running a division at MONY geared to a very specialized niche — providing financial planning and services for professional athletes.

The nature of many athletes makes them ideal clients for a company like MONY; they have high earnings for a few years early in life, then a need to live off investments over the long term. The reputations and contacts Mr. Martin and Mr. Carson bring have gotten MONY coveted access to training camps and the attention of players.

“We’re standing where few financial institutions have been invited before,” says Mr. Martin of their trips to National Football League training camps this month.

It is ground that more major financial institutions are looking to reach, though. State Street Research, the investment adviser owned by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., has hired former Boston hockey star Derek Sanderson to head a sports group, while regional brokerage firm Piper Jaffray Inc. has hired former Kansas City Chiefs star John Alt.

The niche they are mining is exceptionally small — only slightly more than 3,000 athletes are on the rosters of the four major team sports in the United States and Canada. Even adding coaches, recent retirees and participants in individual pro sports doesn’t take the size of the group above 10,000. And few among them have not heard a pitch for their investment dollars long before now.

much potential, no glamour

Critics believe the big companies will spend a few years exploring the market and decide once again to concentrate on the lower-profile and more numerous business owners, lawyers and doctors as their clients.

“It’s a legitimate industry, but it’s very small and everyone wants a piece of it,” says Alan Nero, a major sports agent who got into that business as an insurance agent and broker. “A former athlete may be able to open some doors. But eventually, when they don’t get significant growth, these firms are going to stop employing the athletes.”

Mr. Martin says he’s confident his new venture at MONY will earn the reputation and thus the clients it needs by taking care of more than just typical financial planning. It is arranging access to college classes so some clients can complete degrees. It is also providing career counseling and placement into nonsports internships for players.

Mr. Martin says these broader, non-fee services are a key to winning a player’s trust. And he argues that a financial adviser who never played the game wouldn’t be able to get through to athletes as well.

“If someone on the outside tells them how important it is to plan, they take it with a grain of salt,” he says. “When they hear it from another athlete, it has a profound impact.”

But some athletes in the financial services field believe just the opposite is true, that even athletes share the common prejudice about whom they would trust with their money.

“If I called up a player today, they’d look at me as a ballplayer and say, ‘What do you know about finances?’ ” says David Casper, a Hall of Fame football player and an agent for Northwestern Mutual Life in Minneapolis. “I think in some way they’d rather talk to someone in a pinstripe suit who their agent recommends or their mom or dad recommends.”

back to school

Carl Banks, the New York Jets director of player development, says that when Mr. Martin addresses a team meeting, he isn’t making a sales pitch so much as providing education. “This is not me doing a favor for a former teammate,” insists the former Giants linebacker. “What we wanted was an educational component first, and to encourage independent thinking and responsibility when it comes to finances.”

But the sessions and the contact are helping Mr. Martin and Mr. Carson sign new clients for MONY. Jerome Henderson of the Jets says he was impressed when he went to Mr. Martin’s presentation last year.

“When I came into the league, I had a situation where an agent tried to get power of attorney behind my back,” says Mr. Henderson. “Since then, it has been tough for me to trust people.”

Crain News Service