When most people hear the name, Ben Roethlisberger, they think: Super Bowl. Quarterback. Pittsburgh Steelers. But what has "Big Ben" been doing since his retirement from the gridiron in 2021? It can be summed up in two words: faith and family.
The star athlete played 18 seasons with the Steelers and brought his team all the way to the championship. In 2006, at just 23 years old, he became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
But what's happening now? Does Ben Roethlisberger own any businesses? He sure does, including Big Ben's BBQ Sauces and investments in various startups, including the Neolight medical device company. And does Ben Roethlisberger donate to charity? Again, a resounding yes, supporting everything from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to police officers and more. Yet through all of these endeavors, he maintains that two things matter above all else: God and his wife and kids.
A Renewal of Faith
Roethlisberger said that back in 2018, he made the conscious decision to be baptized for a second time to "make the outward expression to my family." He admitted during the 2022 Ignite Conference, "A couple of years ago, I said, 'Football's about fourth on my list of importance.'"
"That didn't sit well with some Steeler fans because it's football and I get it. It doesn't mean that I didn't care and I don't love it, but God was first. My wife was second, my kids were third, and then football fell into it. Now it doesn't mean I can't get on the football field and give everything I have and live, die, and breathe for it, but off the field it has to fall into place."
What did that look like in real life? As Roethlisberger explained, "It really was easier for me to put into place because my faith had grown so much, [so] I was able to put my faith first. And because I was able to do that, everything else just became easier."
The result, noted the athlete, was that "football became easier. Being a leader and a quarterback became easier. Giving my testimony became easier. Talking to people about my faith became easier. And I think that's what it's all about because I would say early on, football is what I do; it's not who I am. But I don't think I really believed it until more recently. So that's kind of where my life has transitioned to the last few years."
Ben Roethlisberger: 'Our Vision of the Future'
Prior to 2020, if you asked: Does Ben Roethlisberger have a foundation? the answer would be, "Yes; it bears his name and supports police and firefighters, along with service dogs." However, more recently, Roethlisberger decided that "advancing the kingdom of God" was his true mission.
To that end, he shared, he met with a group of friends, in which "we all were talking about what we see as our vision of the future. How do we want to improve the city of Pittsburgh or improve our families, our church, whatever it was." Through such discussions, he came to believe that gathering people together to find strength in family—and a higher power—would be the best way to achieve his latest goal.
Fortuitously, around that same time, he said, "About a mile down the road from our house where we live now, a beautiful farm went for sale. We just felt like we should buy that and do everything there. Do a father-son retreat on this property so that I don't have to travel and be away from my family, they literally could just go and be right there."
With that purchase complete, he continued, it was time to say goodbye to "the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, [which] used to do K-9 dogs, and gave almost $2 million to police and fire and rescue dogs," and begin "the process of transitioning to the Roethlisberger Family Foundation because we want to help families, the family unit."
After all, noted Roethlisberger, "What I want to do at my retreat is I want, as a father, to get up in front of other men and get emotional talking about my son. Because there's nothing wrong with communicating to my son or to other men that it's OK to cry. It's OK to be vulnerable. It's OK to communicate."
Whether he's communicating with God, family, or the populations he's vowed to help strengthen their own familial relationships, that's the arena in which Roethlisberger has found his new calling. It's also how he hopes to leave yet another legacy, one that will long outshine that established by his illustrious football career.
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