Playing pro football, she lived her dream
“Being a little country girl from Beaumont, I was always tomboyish. Although I wasn’t very girly, I was a cheerleader all through school. My junior year, I got kicked off the squad because I had the only fight in my entire life. So I needed something to do. I ended up being really good at powerlifting. I became the number one lifter in my weight class in the state and nation.
“But the one thing I always wanted to do was play football. I felt I was strong enough. So I approached the high school coach. At first, he wasn’t having it. He came around later and said that I could play, but not on varsity, only JV. Well, with my ego, I just chose not to pursue it.
“Years later, I was in the gym working out when I heard on the radio that Houston had a professional women’s team. It was the Houston Lady Oilers in the new Women’s Arena Football League. I got a tryout. And at age 32, I made the team. We won the championship, but the league failed and fell apart. I moved on to the Texas Lady Jaguars in the Sugar ‘N Spice Football League, and we won the Super Bowl.
“Early in my career, they tried me out as a linebacker because of my size and strength. But I was more aggressive as a running back. I didn’t like doing the hitting, but I loved getting hit. They called me Ironhead after Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, who was a physical running back in the NFL. I have no regrets, but my body suffers from it now.
“After I retired, I had excrutiating back pain, and my neck bothered me. I would have to roll out of bed, or my husband would have to push me off. MRIs showed that I had degenerative discs in my neck and lower back, and some arthritis setting in. I also have a bad hip. I’m not a medication type person. But by working out, strengthening my core, and just trying to stay active, I’ve learned to deal with it.
“When I went in for pain injections a few years back, the doctor was like, ‘Either you were crazy or you just really loved the game.’ And I was like, “I really loved the game. But I guess I was a little bit crazy, too.’”
— Raquel Segura
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