The Next Generation of You: Scott Case

By Jim Gehman

“I think you have to be kind of lucky to stay in the league that long, to be honest with you. You have to stay healthy, you have to play well, there’s a lot of things that go into that. I’d like to sit here and tell you that it was pure talent, but I would be kidding you and everybody else to say that,” the defensive back said with a laugh.

Case may have been lucky, stayed healthy and played well, but he was also able to remain in the league for so long despite playing under five head coaches with the Falcons and one with the Dallas Cowboys.

“Typically when new coaches come, they want to draft guys, they want their type player,” Case said. “It makes me feel good that I was able to work through five different coaches (in Atlanta) and play the way that they wanted me to play.”

Concluding his career by playing the 1995 season with the Cowboys, Case was able to help Dallas win Super Bowl XXX, and leave the game as a champion.

“That was a great way to end it,” Case said. “You play forever with a lot of great players through the years that never got the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl, and that’s obviously the highlight of your career to be able to do it.

“It makes it a little bit more special because the older you get, the less time you think you have and the pressure’s kind of on. So for that to happen that late in a career, it was real special, really awesome.”

Playing for so many coaches and with so many teammates offered Case an opportunity to learn how to successfully deal with people. That has benefited him in his second career as a co-owner and V.P. of business development for the Pride Utility Construction Company.

“I know that everybody looks at the NFL and they see you on Sunday afternoon and the lights are really bright and everything is nice and green, and the uniforms are really pretty and they think that this is how it is,” Case said. “Ninety percent of what we do really stinks, to be honest with you. You’re working hard your whole offseason with workouts and all the pains. And just dealing with all of that stuff makes you deal with life after football.

“A lot of the coaches that I had to deal with, you learn different personalities and more than anything, you learn that you’ve got to deal with all types of people. It’s not about you; it’s about the whole deal. And I think that has obviously helped me because the business that I run, we have 150 (employees) or so, it’s certainly not about me, it’s about them to get things done. 

“I enjoy what I do in dealing with people and relationships. That’s kind of what business is about. I enjoy getting up and doing what I do. It’s been a great occupation.” 

The Pride Utility Construction Co. is an underground utility contracting business based near Atlanta. “We’re mostly a natural gas contractor, so we put in pipelines all over the southeast. Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, some of the surrounding states. We’ve been in several (states), but the majority of our work is here in Georgia,” said Case, who became partners with former Falcons teammate and the company’s founder Tom Pridemore in 1997.

While Case and Pridemore’s name recognition may help their business to an extent, it’s not something that they rely on.

“Most of the folks that we work for, we’ve been working for for a long time and it’s more about not necessarily our name, it’s about the kind of work we do and the kind of business we run,” Case said.

“Everything’s competitive. It’s about getting the work done and trying to make a dollar here and there and treating people right. You know, it’s a lot like a football team. You look at it and say we’ve got one big team and everybody’s got to do their jobs.”

Away from the job, Case and his wife, Connie, have three daughters: Kelsey, Kallie and Grace; and two sons: Kyler and Kody. “I’m happy with who I am. I’m really proud of what I did as a football player and who I am as a husband and a dad. To be honest with you, I don’t know if you can say a whole lot more than that.”