Born in Ohio and then moving to Germany as a young child before relocating to Montreal, Canada, as a teenager, Tom Nutten didn't really think about football too much. If at all.
But then after playing the game in high school and at Western Michigan, the offensive lineman was chosen by Buffalo in the seventh round of the 1995 NFL Draft.
That's when Nutten began showing that he wanted it. Maybe more so than others.
Released by the Bills after appearing in one game, he was out of football before heading north of the border and signing with Hamilton of the CFL in 1997, and starting at center for the Tiger-Cats.
Nutten's performance overshadowed the team's 2-16 record and drew attention from NFL Europe.
"I was actually contacted by the coach of the Amsterdam Admirals, Al Luginbill, after the Hamilton season, and he asked me if I was interested in playing for him in Amsterdam. I was," Nutten said.
A contractual obligation and league rules, however, made that easier said than done.
"I couldn't directly go to Amsterdam, but (Luginbill) arranged a workout," Nutten said. "And then as soon as the '97 season for the St. Louis Rams was over, they signed me, but then allocated me to Amsterdam."
Showing he was nothing if not committed, Nutten played center for Hamilton and guard for Amsterdam – back-to-back seasons in less than a calendar year – before even beginning training camp with the Rams in 1998.
He was beat up. He was tired. He was sore. But he would not have wanted to be anywhere else.
"After, let's say, two years of not-so-great years football-wise for me, the CFL in Hamilton gave me the joy for the game again," Nutten said. "And then being able to showcase what I could do in Amsterdam certainly helped me attract notice. Specifically, by offensive line coach Jim Hanifan.
"And there's a, for me, great story that I vividly tell all the time.
"We're stretching for a preseason game and I'm dealing with various ailments, and Coach Hanifan comes up and asks me if I can go," Nutten said. "I told him, 'Well, it depends.' He kind of looks at me and says, 'What do you mean, depends?' I said, 'If you need me, I can go. But I'm hurting, Coach. Really hurting.' And he just looks at me, 'You're sitting down. We need you for the season.' And walks away.
"This is the second or third preseason game. We still have like two weeks left in training camp. It's a few weeks before the season, and I kind of made the team. That little incident gave me that freedom to just play my game without having that fear of being cut at any moment. That was a turning point."
Nutten, who finished his first season with the Rams on Injured Reserve because of a herniated disc and surgery, was starting at left guard in 1999 when he and his teammates experienced another turning point. After winning just four games the previous season, they went 13-3 and won Super Bowl XXXIV.
"Let's face it, bringing in (coordinator) Mike Martz, the offensive genius that he is, bringing in (free agent veteran quarterback) Trent Green and then having Kurt (Warner) as an understudy, bringing in Marshall Faulk (through a trade with Indianapolis), I mean, there was just a different buzz. The training camp from '98 to training camp in '99, it was just guys flying around. It was just different. You could just feel it," Nutten said.
"But even when we went all the way to the pinnacle of winning the Super Bowl, I remember sitting in the locker room with our center, Mike Guttadauria, and we looked at each other and we're like, 'Okay, so we won, which means we move on. So who do we play now?' The reality, it took about three or four days to kick in what just happened.
"And now anytime there's a somewhat of a reunion, the opportunity to go to several Hall of Fame inductions, when we get together it is just grins from ear to ear. That's the brotherhood. The fellowship that we not just shared, but still share when we get together is tremendous. It's always fun to come back together because we have one commonality and that's winning a championship ring."
After everything he'd gone through to be able to earn that ring – spending seven seasons with the Rams, starting in 69 of 77 games in addition to Super Bowls XXXIV and XXXVIII – what makes Nutten most proud of his career?
"I think just staying true to myself. I never battled against anybody, in that sense. I always tried to get the best out of me in terms of playing and just try to be a good team player," he said. "I had, I guess I would call it, an injury-riddled career. I got dinged up a lot.
"There were sometimes tough decisions where I rather would have been selfish and stayed in and quote, unquote gutted it out, but that's not helpful to the team. So if I'm struggling and I know my backup is a pretty good player, I'm going to take myself out regardless of the outcome afterwards for me personally. That's just who I am."
Who Nutten is now is – Allison Raver's husband; Tyson, Tristan, and Nola's dad; and the owner of Lamoraga, a unique restaurant serving Mediterranean fusion and tapas in Naples, Florida.
"After, I think, a pretty good career, retiring at 35, you're trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life," Nutten said. "After enjoying some time off with the kids, it's like there's got to be more. And then opportunities came around. One failed and you learn from it, and then a better opportunity with better people surrounding me came around and I dove into it. It was one of those situations where all I was losing was time. And I had plenty of time.
"(I live in Tampa and) go down once a week for two to three days. Clearly, I have tremendous trust in my GM and my chef. We work very well together. We all rely on each other. We're going to have our 10-year anniversary in April and we're doing good.
"I love my life. You know, I look around and whether it's culturally or socially, there's guys above me and under me and on the same playing field. I am – and I use this word very, very sparingly – blessed. I don't have a devil and an angel. I have two angels on my shoulders watching over me. And taking one day at a time, I'm just trying to enjoy the, excuse my language, s_ _t out of it."
