The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1513610
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 ■ 43 deal. I'm very excited and trying to get used to them." A Life In Football One winter afternoon in South Caro- lina, a Clemson football coach visited Myrtle Beach High School to recruit quarterback Eddie Geathers. Sitting in the coach's office, he noticed one lone student working out on the school's weight machine. "Who's that guy?" the coach wanted to know. Abraham worked out so often by him- self, beginning just after his junior sea- son, that his high school coach gave him a key to the gymnasium. One of seven children with two older sisters already in college, he was driven to get bigger and better so he could get a scholarship and relieve the burden of higher education from his parents. He knew his future was either football or the military. Once Clemson became interested, the Citadel, South Carolina and NC State started sending him letters. "I came to Raleigh and fell in love with both NC State and [defensive coordina- tor] Chuck Amato," Abraham said. "He told me, 'I'm not promising anything. I'm going to play the best player on the field. If you're the best, you'll play.' "That made me want to work hard, because all I had to do was prove myself and then I would have the opportunity to start. And that's what I did." After playing behind legendary line- backers Bill Cowher and Kyle Wescoe for a season, Abraham stepped into a start- ing role with junior Dann Lute in 1979. "I watched them to see how they han- dled themselves," he said. "I really wasn't like them — I was the quiet one. But if you asked me what play was coming and where everybody had to be in that set- ting, I knew. I could tell the defensive line where to line up, and I could tell the secondary where to line up." In Abraham's first season as a starter, the Wolfpack had one of the ACC's top defenses and won the league champion- ship, specifically because of a late game- saving goal-line stand at Clemson. Abraham, statistically one of the top five linebackers in school history, led the Wolfpack in tackles as a junior and se- nior, with 130 in 1980 and 183 in '81. The latter number is second only to Cowher's school record of 195 in defensive records that go back to 1977. He won the 1981 Governor's Award as the team's most valuable player. His career total of 407 tackles ranks No. 4 on NC State's all-time list, behind Levar Fisher (492), Dantonio Burnette (476) and Damien Covington (457). For a modern comparison, graduate line- backer Payton Wilson had 402 tackles in his career heading into the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28 in Orlando. Thinking Ahead In 1982, Abraham was a third-round pick of the Houston Oilers and the 77th overall selection. A defensive reserve and special teams player as a rookie, he started for the Oilers for the next five years, until injuries and the NFL strike derailed his career. In his third season, Abraham started all 16 games and led the Oilers with 196 tackles. He started every game in 1985 as well. Lingering injuries kept him out of the lineup for all but two games during the strike-affected 1987 season, and he was cut the following year. The New York Jets signed him prior to the '88 season, but he suffered a back injury in training camp and was the team's final cut. Abraham had a career plan, however. After his second NFL season, he got a waiver from his advisor in the NC State School of Education to do his student teaching during the spring semester, his final requirement for an education de- gree. He taught and coached at Cary High School. After his football career ended, Abra- ham qualified for a stockbroker's license and took an internship with Merrill Lynch, beginning a career in the finan- cial services industry that continues to- day. He's been a broker, a mortgage loan officer, an underwriter and a Medicare supplemental insurance advisor. The 63-year-old Abraham is now working part time as an independent in- surance broker. His most faithful and suc- cessful client is himself. "I'm glad I listened to myself and took care of the financial things I needed to take care of years ago," he said. "It would have been a lot more devastating finan- cially if I hadn't." He also did some volunteer and part- time coaching, at St. Peter's College in New Jersey, St. Augustine's in Raleigh and Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. "Coaching is just teaching, and I always enjoyed that," Abraham said. He returned to Cary High last year to get his driver's license. He's now mobile and able to drive himself to places with hand controls, as he did back in October when he attended Cowher's Carter-Fin- ley Stadium Ring of Honor celebration party at Raleigh restaurant Amedeo's. For now, though, Abraham is spending his time learning to walk with prosthetic assistance so he can enjoy being a dad to his 4-year-old toddler. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. ROBERT ABRAHAM FOOTBALL (1978-1981) Age: 63 Living: Raleigh, N.C. Occupation: Insurance broker Did you know? When Abraham was cut from the New York Giants in 1988, he began a life in financial services and volunteer coaching. His last coaching position was as the freshman and junior varsity coach at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. One of his players before he had to give up his job for health reasons was NC State head coach Dave Doeren's son, Luke. " I've always believed God only gave me what he thought I could handle. He easily could have taken me that night four years ago, but I'm here for a reason. He knows what that reason is. I've been trying to tackle it head-on every step of the way." Abraham