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| As a father: Mike Minter spends time
with his four children at his home. Photo by Joanie
Morris.
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Kannapolis Citizen
On the field, Carolina Panther strong safety Mike Minter is a lean, mean football machine. Number 30, Minter makes sure his opponents know how good he is.
Off the field, however, Minter is a completely different person. Soft-spoken and with an easy-going smile, Minter would fit in with any crowd — and does.
When he's not in season, Minter does a little bit of everything. He is active in his church, his family, his community and his businesses. He shows a passion to see his community — Kannapolis — grow and prosper.
He knows people think the life of a football player is all parties and causing trouble, but he says there are really only a handful of players like that. The rest are conscientious and like to help the communities that they live in.
"If (skeptics) would sit down with me and talk to me, they would find out real quick they don't know me," Minter said.
Football is a really great job that he loves and gets paid for. If he didn't have football, Minter insists that he would have something else, but that he wouldn't be changed in wanting to help the community.
"I love football," he said. "I've been playing football since I was 5-years-old. It's in me. Then they told me I would get paid for it."
When he first moved to the Charlotte area, Minter didn't know where he wanted to live.
"I wanted somewhere where I could be with families," Minter said. "We came up here and it gives you that acreage that you want."
Minter also said that when he first visited, the people he met made him realize that this was a real community, not just a city.
"It's simple life," Minter said.
"I think the same type of values I have, the people around here have," Minter said. "I love hardworking people. That's how I am."
One thing he noticed when he got to Kannapolis was the lack of neighborhoods offering large homes with wide open spaces.
"We felt like Kannapolis would be a great spot" to develop, Minter said.
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| As a carolina panther: Mike Minter
is one of the NFL's most durable defensive backs. Here,
he looks at a replay on the stadium screen. Photo by Wayne
Hinshaw, Salisbury Post
|
Other business ventures that Minter is involved in around Kannapolis include Ground Floor Homes Inc. and Citadel Property Group. These two groups offer a variety of real estate options from rental apartments and homes to selling and leasing single family homes.
Legacy Play Equipment is based in Harrisburg and serves areas all over the southeast with residential and commercial playground and sports equipment.
Probably Minter's most prized business venture to date would be the Ruckus House. The centers will be located in Moss Creek and Harrisburg, and will serve as a daycare and developmental center focusing on high-quality learning programs that prepare children for kindergarten. The program will offer foreign language, sign language, math and science, computer, arts and crafts and gymnastics. The center will also offer after-school care, summer camps and football camps.
"We're going to really focus on the children," Minter said about Ruckus House. "They're playing, but they are learning at the same time."
Along with teaching children, Minter hopes that the Ruckus House will also be free to teach parents about basic child rearing.
Helping the community is a great way to pay back for his popularity as a football star.
Minter serves as the Carolina Panthers' spokesperson for the Salvation Army, the Boys and Girls Club and also serves on the board for the Concord YMCA. He has been the keynote speaker for numerous corporate events and even has a plan for whenever he hangs up his football pads."When I get done, I'll probably take some years off, work on my businesses, coach," Minter said. "I love teaching and giving back my experiences."
Minter has even started to compile a list of the coaching staff "dream team," composed mostly of his fellow players.
Once he coaches for a high school somewhere for awhile, there is only one place that Minter can see himself.
The pulpit.
"It comes back to teaching and giving people the experiences of where you have been," Minter said. He feels that one of his strongest points is that he can relate to just about anyone — emotionally and financially.
"I can pretty much relate to anybody on an income scale," Minter said. He's been dirt poor and filthy rich. "What money can do for you and what it can't do for you. One thing it can't do is give you peace."
There is only one thing that can give you peace, Minter believes.
"The only thing that gives me peace is my relationship with Jesus Christ," he said. "God has my life in his hands. He has a plan for me. Understanding that gives me peace."
Minter said coming home to a loving family — his wife, twin girls and two boys — gives him peace.
"If we've done lost a big game, I come home and they don't care. Daddy's home and that gives me peace."
Contact Joanie Morris at 704-932-3336 or jmorris@kannapoliscitizen.com.