First Steps

Starting when he was eight years old, Tony Boselli spent many of his Saturdays at one of the two McDonald's franchises that his family then owned in Denver. His duties included pulling weeds, sweeping the parking lot and taking out the garbage, but he enjoyed the job, not only because he got to go to work with his father, Tony Sr., but also because he loved Happy Meals. "Every hour, Little Tony would come to the front door and ask, 'Can I have something to eat?' " Tony Sr. says. "I'd say, 'Get back to work. Concentrate on your job.' "

When he was 14, Little Tony was given more demanding jobs at the restaurants, grilling burgers, cooking french fries and taking orders at the drive-through window. Despite earning minimum wage, he never complained about his paycheck because he was close to the action and close to the food. On his breaks he would devour Big Macs, french fries, milk shakes and apple pies. "One of my managers called one day and said, 'I can't afford him. He's eating more than he's making,' " Tony Sr. says. "So, I transferred Little Tony to the landscaping crew."

In the fall of 1990 Tony Jr. arrived at Southern Cal as a 265-pound offensive lineman. After his freshman year he telephoned his father to say that he was no longer willing to work for $3.80 an hour and that he was applying for a summer job as a bouncer for $10 an hour. Appalled at the thought of his son working in a tavern, Tony Sr. came up with a solution: He would volunteer his son's services to the Abbey of St. Walburga in southeast Boulder and pay Little Tony the same 10 bucks an hour out of his own pocket.

For eight hours a day, five days a week, Boselli helped the Benedictine nuns tend their 150-acre farm. He mowed the grass and the alfalfa fields, baled and stacked hay, maintained the vegetable garden, mended fences and dehorned calves. "I'd use Tony for the heavy stuff," says Sister Maria Michael, who manages the farm. "He had the muscles. Sister Augustina would cook him a huge lunch, and he'd take a nap in his truck, his head hanging out one window, his feet out the other. Then, it was back to work. Monastic life is a good life, but you work at it."

Says Little Tony, "There were days at the convent when the nuns worked me harder than the USC coaching staff did. But I had such a good time, I went back and worked the farm a second summer."

With the Benedictine nuns and the Trojan coaches shaping his work ethic, Don Anthony Boselli Jr. grew up to become 6'7" and 327 pounds and the first pick of the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1995 NFL draft.

Boselli had decided to skip the postseason all-star games to prepare himself for the February NFL scouting combine, and—unlike many college stars who prefer less-demanding, private workouts for the scouts—he willingly took his physical and submitted to all of the interviews, tests and drills. He even drew a smattering of applause from the assemblage after his vertical leap, 40-yard dash and bench press.

The Jaguars were so impressed by Boselli that they made him the first draft choice in their history and signed him six weeks later to a seven-year, $17 million contract, the largest ever for a rookie offensive lineman. So far, Boselli has barely made a dent in his new bank account. His first check, for $50,000, was written to his father as reimbursement for the 1994 GMC Yukon truck and the Lloyd's of London insurance policy that Tony Sr. purchased for him while he was at Southern Cal. For Little Tony, wealth is taking some getting used to. When his fiancée, former USC cheerleader Angi Aylor, wanted to discuss selecting a china pattern, Boselli suggested that they plan to eat off paper plates so they wouldn't have to bother washing dishes.

"I lived with Tony for five years, and he wore only three or four outfits," says former USC teammate Jeff Kopp, a sixth-round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins. "He's not a slob. He's just not into impressing people. He doesn't care how he's perceived—except for his morals, beliefs and work ethic. Those things are important to Tony."

An All-America at both left and right tackle and a three-time Pac-10 All-Academic, Boselli was one of the most overwhelming offensive linemen ever to play college football. "He's the best college offensive lineman I've ever had," says Trojan coach John Robinson, whose consensus All-America linemen have included Pat Howell, Brad Budde, Keith Van Horne, Roy Foster, Don Mosebar and Bruce Matthews—all of whom went on to the NFL.