This is an opinion column

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Today’s guest columnist is Reggie Torbor.

I’m from Baton Rouge, Louisiana—a place full of culture, grit, and history.

But even at a young age, I knew I wanted more. I remember sitting with my younger sister, having conversations about what we would do with our lives.

We didn’t have all the answers, but we agreed on one thing: we wanted to make a difference. We wanted to change our environment, not just for ourselves, but for those who would come after us.

Early on, I realized that football could be my ticket. I poured myself into the game, working relentlessly in high school to make sure I could create opportunities for myself. That hard work paid off in the form of multiple scholarship offers. After careful thought, I chose Auburn University. That decision would shape the rest of my life.

My five years at Auburn were some of the best I’ve ever had. I built relationships with teammates who became lifelong brothers, found mentors who invested in me not just as a player but as a man, and met my incredible wife, Michelle, who I’ve now been married to for 20 years.

What I appreciated most about Auburn was that the coaches and staff were intentional about creating an environment where a young Black man from Baton Rouge could thrive. They recognized the environment I came from was very different from Auburn, Alabama, and they didn’t just leave me to figure it out on my own. That kind of intentionality made all the difference in my life.

After college, I was blessed with the opportunity to play in the NFL. I was drafted by the New York Giants, and during my time there, we won Super Bowl 42. I spent eight years in the league, and it was a life-changing experience.

People often think that if they were a little bigger and a faster, they could be a professional athlete—but that wasn’t my experience. The NFL is an environment of extreme accountability. Every day demanded preparation, execution, and hard work. You had to take ownership of your responsibilities. It wasn’t about whether one could do it—it was about whether they would do it.

That level of pressure was too much for some. I remember training camps where guys would pack up and drive home in the middle of the night. They’d had enough. For me, though, those eight years were more than I could’ve ever dreamed of. I was able to change my life and support my immediate family, but when it came to my community back home, the impact was minimal. I could help with a bill or a short-term need, but I couldn’t create lasting change.

While addressing immediate needs are of some value, my community needed more—they needed an opportunity. They needed a chance to build something for themselves. I knew that, but I didn’t have the means to make it happen.

In early 2018, that began to change when I started working at Brasfield & Gorrie. It was an amazing opportunity to be mentored and supported by incredible people who challenged me to think beyond what I thought was possible. Toward the end of 2021, we began serious conversations about creating a minority-owned, diverse commercial general construction company—one that could truly impact Birmingham by creating opportunities and providing tools for those who had historically been left out.

After a year and a half of planning, Pylon Building Group was born.

Our mission is simple: Build Well to Create Good. First and foremost, we’re builders. That means we’re committed to preparation, execution, and hard work—principles I carried over from my time in the NFL. We aim to deliver high-quality projects while constantly developing our team to compete at the highest level. But beyond the bricks and mortar, we want to use what we build to uplift others and positively impact our community.

We cast a wide net, seeking to create opportunities for a diverse group of people from all backgrounds. Because the truth is, while I’m from Baton Rouge, Birmingham is now my home. My wife and I have raised our family here, and we love this city deeply. But we also recognize that there’s still so much work to be done.

Too often, minorities in our community receive the worst of everything—the worst education, the fewest resources, the least encouragement, and even the lowest quality food. That’s unacceptable. And that’s why Pylon is joining many others in this fight for opportunity. We’re doing it one hire at a time, one project at a time, one life at a time.

My hope is that one day, this work won’t be necessary anymore. Our intentionality will have helped to create a community where opportunity is no longer a privilege, but a right extended to everyone. And when that day comes, every person in Birmingham will be better for it.

Reggie Torbor learned the value of hard work at an early age by hanging sheet rock with his father during summer breaks. As a member of the Auburn Football team from 1999 to 2003, he was selected for the All-SEC Football Team. He had an eight-year career in the NFL that included a Super Bowl win in 2008. He’s currently President of Pylon Building Group and lives in Birmingham with his wife, Michelle, and their two sons, R.J. and Cameron.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. [email protected]