‘Hey, what are you doing?'” House recalls. He turned to basketball instead. He trained hard, and attended a Premier League showcase event in Ohio where hopeful players show off their talents. At 6’ 2″ he was good enough to be one of three players picked to come to the RazorSharks camp. (The RazorSharks are the cream of the crop of the Premier League, having won all three championships in its short history.)
But things didn’t quite go smoothly. When the squad was cut from 25 players to 14 this fall, in preparation for the season that began on New Year’s Eve, House was not among those kept. He went back to Boston, and was surprised to get a call a little while later from the coach who said he had rethought his decision. “When can you be here?” the coach asked. House moved to Rochester in the first week of January, and his wife and three kids followed a few weeks later.
House, by the way, must be a great salesman. His wife has gone from Miami Beach to Boston to Rochester—and in winter. “I had to sell my wife on how Rochester is just like Boston, without the universities and restaurants,” he jokes.
The RazorSharks are once again at the top of the Premier pack, at 7-1. House arrived shortly after the season started, and he hasn’t gotten into any of the first eight games, as he gets up to speed and in game condition. “It is very fast paced,” he says. (That’s putting it mildly—the RazorSharks have the league record for points scored in a game, with 176.) But the coach told him he should get into a game soon—next up are the Dayton Air Strikers on Thursday night.
I asked him how he made the team, against many who played in college at a very high level. And here he went back to the skills that made him a successful entrepreneur. “I think it is just bringing the same leadership that you do to a startup to a team.” And just like on the business side, he quips, “I think every shot I shoot is going in.”
