The Eagles did not have their draft board overflowing with Georgia players back in 2007 when Andy Reid was the head coach.
The team that year drafted defensive lineman Victor Abiamiri on the second round from a small private research university in Indiana called Notre Dame. He had an impressive college career in South Bend where he was an honorable mention All-America selection and voted Notre Dame’s Lineman of the Year during his last two seasons there.
Unfortunately, the injury bug that Abiamiri had avoided during his high school days in Maryland and while at Notre Dame caught up to him with the Eagles. His five-year career in Philadelphia was slowed by a variety of injures ranging from a hyperextended knee to an Achille tendon rupture. His last on-field play was in 2009 before spending his last two seasons on injured reserve.
“I faced a lot of adversity while playing in Philly, a lot more than I faced at any other point in my life.” Abiamiri says. “Managing the stress and the physical demands of an NFL season as well as battling to come back from multiple injuries showed that I could handle any kind of adversity that I would encounter.”
Abiamiri decided to return to school when his NFL career ended, and he earned an MBA from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He earlier had graduated from Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in finance, so he was prepared to make that transition from the locker room.
“I had done a couple of internships in high school and college in the investment industry,’ Abiamiri recently told Jim Gehman of Eagles.com. “I always had an interest in markets and investments. I’ve always tried to be smart about money and I think that just naturally I had an idea of what a career in finance would be like.”
Abiamiri was hired as a portfolio analyst in 2013 by the Brown Advisory financial firm in his hometown of Baltimore. He worked his way up in the organization and has been a Portfolio Manager since December 2018.
“I work with individuals, families and institutions to manage discretionary investment portfolios”, the 37-year-old Abiamiri explains. “Every day is not the same. I get to work with people in different stages of their lives to really make sense of what’s going on in the markets…to help craft an investment plan that makes sense for them at this stage.
“Being part of the team and collaborating with different people to help achieve our client’s goals along with my personal skills that I’ve developed throughout life from playing football and working hard, it’s all been a good mix of things for me to be able to launch a second career.”
We at NFL Alumni applaud Victor Abiamiri for overcoming physical adversity during his 20s so that now he is working in a job where he can help others overcome fiscal challenges at different stages in their lives.
