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Sitting alone in the Smokey Row coffee shop, Jason Gladfelder waits quietly and patiently to discuss life after football. As we begin to set up the interview process, he immediately runs the mic up his shirt; it’s apparent he has done this a time or two.

Born and raised in Ozark, Mo., Gladfelder continued his football career at Grand View when he contacted the university himself. During his time at Grand View, he was a linebacker on the 2013 National Championship winning team. After graduating and moving on with his life, he still finds himself reflecting on his time spent at GV.

“Coming out of college and football, I never really knew 100 percent what the work life was going to be like because with football, I could never have an internship, so as soon as I dove into (the workplace), it was kind of an eye-opening experience,” he said. “It was a lot different than the college life.”

The lessons learned from being a part of a team followed Gladfelder into his position at BusinessSolver, where he is a computer software engineer.

“Coach (Mike) Woodley would always say ‘Do the little things right, and the big things will fall into place’, and that’s absolutely 100 percent true in the workplace,” Gladfelder said. (If you take care of the little) things on a day-to-day basis, then you will get where you want to be in your professional life.”

Gladfelder has also noticed habits from the classroom sticking with him in his daily work life.

“Some of the good qualities like writing papers and using correct grammar and being professional in your emails has transferred over (from college), he said. “But it kind of amazes me that some of the bad habits (like procrastination) transferred over.”

Although his time is now consumed with work rather than football, Galdfelder continues to reminisce on his time with his team.

“Saturdays use to be my favorite day of the week,” Gladfelder said. “Being close to a bunch of guys who all were very respectful to each other is something that is part of my experience at Grand View that I was lucky enough to have, and that I cherish to this day. I used to put in my headphones and just go to sleep thinking about football.”

Gladfelder said he knew his senior year of football was going to be memorable, but even he couldn’t predict it would end in a national championship. In 2013, the Viking Football team went 14-0 and capped the season with a win over University of Cumberland in the national title game. Gladfelder contributed to the 35-23 victory with 15 tackles.

 

“The moment when we won the national title and we ran across the field holding the trophy up in front of all the teammates, that was a huge experience,” he said. “I’ve never seen my dad so proud.”

Although football consumed most of his time in college, it takes a back seat to his new priorities: Namely his family (his parents and sister live in different states) and his girlfriend.

Before he and his team won a national title, Gladfelder won over the attention of Hannah Urlis, who was a member of the dance team during her four years at GV.

“We met a little bit before the championship,” Gladfelder said. “Sometimes when she’s mad at me, I’ll bring up kissing her in the rain. I jumped down from the stand or whatever and ran out in the crowd and pulled my hat backwards and gave her a kiss in the rain and it was like ‘Oh my gosh, so romantic.’”

Although his championship ring presently resides on his dresser and not his finger, he occasionally wears it to special occasions such as weddings and said he plans on wearing it more in the distant future.

“I always envisioned down the line being a grandpa and wearing my ring to a family barbecue and being like ‘Yeah, son, back in the day, Grandpa played some ball,’” he said.

Although Gladfelder appreciates and looks back on his time at Grand View, he is now focused on succeeding elsewhere in life.

“Hard work has always been my biggest quality,” Gladfelder said. “If you are willing to work hard, somebody is going to want to hire you. And if you are willing to work hard at that job, somebody is going to be willing to promote you and allow you to succeed.”