There was a time when Mike Hamby's greatest thrill was battling through, around or over an offensive line to slam opposing quarterbacks into the turf.
"I had a great time," the former Utah State and Buffalo Bills defensive end recalls. "I had the privilege of sacking (former Brigham Young and now San Francisco quarterback) Steve Young four times when I was a junior."Then in 1989, an injury to Hamby's right hip ended his career. The towering bear of an NFL lineman was forced to seek success - and purpose - off the football field.
Hamby, 32, discovered both in a quiet, secluded art studio on his 15-acre farm in Colden, a tiny western New York town about 20 miles southeast of Buffalo. Hamby's powerful hands, which once grasped opponents with violent abandon, found a creative release in clay and bronze.
"To be able to make the transition was a blessing," says Hamby, who was a fine arts major at USU. "All my intensity and energy goes into my art now. . . . I've found what I love to do.
"I love it more than football, I think," he adds, but with the next breath admits to a recurring urge to once more don helmet and pads. "Every summer I smell the grass being mowed and get the butterflies, but know I'm not going to camp. I still miss the competition."
At USU, Hamby anchored the Aggies defensive line, earning All-Conference honors as a senior. He was drafted by the Bills in 1985, but injuries - first to a knee, then finally to his hip - made for a sporadic pro career.
Art and faith saw him through, says Hamby, who was raised in an LDS family of seven.
"I'm 6-foot-6, 295 pounds, and people ask me all the time, `How do you do such delicate work?' Well, I thank the good Lord every day for it. My hands just take over," he says. "There is life after football - a good life."
Hamby's favorite work is his last: "Meet the Challenge," a life-size bronze bull monument unveiled by his alma mater for its Sept. 9 home football opener. Hamby donated much of his time for the project, which is valued at $200,000.
The bull took six months to complete from its initial sculpting in Hamby's boyhood home town of Lehi, to its bronzing at the Adonis Foundry in nearby Orem and finally, a two-hour ride on a flatbed truck to the USU campus in Logan.
"I had people in the audience crying (when it was unveiled)," Hamby added with pride.
He had already shed his own tears, earlier.
"When I finished it, I just sat down in a chair and broke down. I couldn't help it. It was a great feeling. I mean, that thing's 13 feet long and seven feet tall at the shoulder. It weighs over a ton."
While sculpting remains his first love, Hamby's artistic soul has found another avenue, too: a 12-string acoustic guitar that he plays several hours a day. For three years, he also has performed with "Burnin' Moon," a Buffalo-based band playing contemporary rock and country music.
At 32, Hamby - who jokes he is "the most eligible bachelor in Buffalo" - allows he has thought about getting married, but not anytime soon.