Exclusive: Spurs Executive, Former Olympian Dish on Transformative Athlete Community

In years past, it would have been unlikely for a retired luger to get to know ex-New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who led the squad to a Super Bowl victory in 2002 and retired after the 2006 season. However, that's what happened to Chris Mazdzer thanks to Pro Athlete Community (PAC).

PAC is a private membership community for active and retired professional athletes. The organization, co-founded by San Antonio Spurs Vice President of Player Development and Organizational Growth Kaleb Thornhill, provides them with resources to help with career opportunities and build relationships outside of their sport.

This concept is tailor-made for Mazdzer, given his non-traditional athletic background. Unlike stars in mainstream sports, he's not wealthy. The 2018 Olympic silver medalist had to sell his car before that year's games to afford luge equipment, and he's held account executive and sales roles since retiring as an athlete. In other words, he's not above networking and seeking out career help.

Mazdzer told Athlon Sports about his encounter with Bledsoe at a PAC event.

"He's the nicest guy. We're from totally different backgrounds, and we both had shared experiences...I sat on the International [Luge] Federation Board, and we were talking about how athletes can contribute and provide input to world leaders, as weird as that sounds," he said. "Like, it's strange that our perception is taken into account at really high levels of decision-making. We just had, like, a shared moment around that. So being in the room with some of these people is just opening the door for me personally, coming from a small sport. Otherwise, I would never have had the opportunity to."

Mazdzer was the first athlete to be elected to the Board and was the Athletes' Representative at meetings. The ILF's website describes him as "a trusted bridge between competitors and sport leadership."

On the other hand, Bledsoe is in the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame due to his philanthropic work, like leading the Drew Bledsoe Foundation and promoting the Parenting With Dignity curriculum, which "presents very effective and common sense techniques for raising responsible, independent children," according to the website. The curriculum was developed by Bledsoe's parents, Mac and Barbara.

While Mazdzer and Bledsoe's pursuits differ in the details, they reveal their leadership skills nevertheless. That commonality helped them relate to each other, and now Mazdzer has a Patriots Hall of Famer in his corner.

In addition to bringing athletes together from different walks of life, PAC emphasizes making responsible financial decisions.

PAC, Robinhood Partner With 'Money Drills'

Thornhill has seen plenty of athletes mismanage their earnings. That's why the former Michigan State linebacker is now a relentless advocate for financial education in sports.

Thornhill explained why he's on that mission during an interview with Athlon.

"I was tired of seeing athletes not be able to take advantage of the platform they were provided or earned," he said. "And then being able to catapult that into the rest of their life, not only personally, but for their families. Generational wealth, and what you could do to transfer wealth, became a big mission of mine, and [asking] 'How do we do that with athletes?'"

"It started with the basics. So when you talk about my passion behind it, I didn't grow up with money," he continued. "I heard my parents talking about money, but I never really understood the intricacies. And so for me, it became a passion project and something I got very interested in...And then how to teach professional athletes was another mission of mine after that."

Thornhill proved that last point, as the interview occurred at Robinhood's second-annual Financial Education Summit in Washington, D.C. Athlon covered the California-based financial services company's first Summit in 2025, which centered around educating student-athletes about NIL. This year, the event fostered a discussion on how current and former athletes at all levels can build long-term financial confidence.

Thornhill was on the "Athlete Panel" on April 16, which featured former Olympic bobsledder Lauryn Williams, former Patriots offensive lineman Todd Rucci, and Team USA swimmer Skyler Smith. Both Summits promoted Robinhood's "Money Drills" program, which includes for-credit personal finance courses at top universities. PAC is the first non-school on the ever-growing Money Drills roster, which includes the following colleges:

• Arkansas State University
• University of Arizona
• UC Berkeley
• Boise State University
• Butler University
• Coastal Carolina University
• University of Delaware
• Duke University
• Florida State University
• Howard University
• Kansas State University
• University of Memphis
• Penn State University
• Stanford University
• Texas Christian University
• UNC Chapel Hill
• West Virginia University
• University of Wisconsin

Rucci went to Penn State, and Smith is a graduate student at UNC as well as a Money Drills course alumna.

Although PAC isn't a university, Thornhill is confident that partnering with Robinhood has helped the organization's mission.

"I think it's aligned brilliantly. I think people bypass the basics, and I love that Robinhood is doubling and tripling down on the basics," he said. "I think people get overwhelmed in society with money. I don't think we teach it at an early age. I think that we don't teach it well enough in schools. Robinhood is aligned because we are teaching what should have been taught in school and now providing it to the user base, nationally and globally."

"At PAC, we're national and global now, too. We're teaching the athlete to take control, but you can only do that through proper education," he continued. "Being able to implement it not only in your life, but in your ecosystem as well. So I think we're forced multipliers in the world of doing the right thing for individuals that maybe didn't get the proper education, knowledge, and information early on, and now we're trying to catch them earlier, so they can live a more purpose-driven life."

PAC partners with the University of Miami Business School to offer its members paid executive education programs, but the organization also has free "career accelerators," such as podcasting courses.

Keyon Martin, Jennifer George, and Chris Mazdzer Open Up About PAC

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Keyon Martin hasn't taken one of the courses, but he did meet people who offered to be guests on his podcast "The Situational Sitdown." The 24-year-old told Athlon about his recent experience at a PAC networking event as he goes through his first NFL offseason.

"The event was great. I brought my dad [Manny Martin], who's a former player, so we experienced the PAC event for the first time together," he said. "We really, really enjoyed it...it didn't feel forced. Just felt like everybody had a good time. Sometimes you just start talking about business, then y'all just end up being business partners...I got a few people that I'm still in contact with from the event, like a few investors...It was a great experience just being around athletes with similar mindsets, trying to figure out what to do after sports and stuff like that..."

When asked what post-football career ideas he got from the event, Martin mentioned podcasting and real estate.

"You know, just getting into investing with real estate. There were a lot of people who did real estate [at the event]," he said. "They were genuinely trying to help people, well, at least help me with what I was trying to do. So I got a lot of good information from people that I was speaking to."

Martin has only played one NFL season, but he's already thinking about life after football. That's the type of planning that PAC encourages, as well as athletes making smart financial decisions during their careers.

For example, Thornhill described a process from his days as a director of player engagement for the Miami Dolphins (2010-2022). He and fellow staffers made players write out budget sheets every month, and one of the rookies said, "Man, I can't believe I spent five grand on Uber Eats." However, he mentioned that there's been a "progression in [athletes '] financial education and acumen" since then.

Martin is living proof of that.

"I don't really spend my money," the former undrafted free agent said. "If I am spending my money, it's usually for something that's gonna turn out [well] in the long run, like an investment, or just for my daily necessities. But I'm not a big spender with the expensive stuff and cars."

While Martin is at the beginning of his career, former WNBA and University of Florida basketball player Jennifer George is more like Mazdzer. The 2012 All-SEC First Team honoree is now a sales representative and a youth basketball coach, among other roles, and she mentioned how PAC has helped her.

"There are just so many career accelerators that they offer as a member. I'm taking the sales one currently, and then coming up in a couple of weeks is the public speaking accelerator," she said. "So, just providing me opportunities to continue learning. I think at some point, you're always a student in life. If you're not learning, then you're being stagnant. The biggest thing that I love about PAC is the fact that they provide us resources to continue adding on to our tool bag."

George mentioned the lesson "Be the salesman" and leadership coaching as two of those tools. She connected with leadership coaches who are "credible in the industry," which has helped her as a coach for youth athletes in Orlando.

"I think that's kind of been one of the secret sauces that they have, is that they have a key opportunity to bring people together that spans over what normal networking can be," she said. "It's just genuine, and we've all been able to have successes, so it's not about that. It's about who are you as a person? How can we keep growing? How can we all be continuing to get better?"

Although networking events and career accelerators can be useful, it's easy to meet people once and never speak again. That's why PAC also has a "community app" that facilitates conversation.

"PAC is like, 'Hey, we're gonna meet six, seven times a year,'" Mazdzer said. "'Join if you want, but also we have this really good app that's purposeful, and then we have people behind it that are constantly doing things, driving connection.' And that's what's unique...I've seen so many organizations try to create what PAC has, and they haven't been successful, because PAC has resources, they have funding, but also individuals making sure that it happens. That's what's amazing about it."

Mazdzer explained how PAC's app and webinars are game-changers due to their convenience.

"I've only been a member for a few months. I think I started back in December, and the first event that I went to was last month. That was the first one in person, but I've also been able to connect with people on their community app," he continued. "They're also constantly putting out [announcements], like 'Hey, we have this professional coming in, tune in.' And I was like, 'Okay, I'll join for this little 30-minute, hour-long webinar talking about this topic'...You can jump in whenever you want, and that's what's really nice...You are not waiting months until the next event. There's something that's constantly happening, and I think that builds the unity a lot better."

All of these details show how serious PAC is about influencing athletes to be more like Martin and not the Dolphins rookie who spent $5,000 in one month on Uber Eats. The same can be said for Robinhood for adding the organization to its "Money Drills" roster, which expands the program's focus from serving student-athletes to all athletes.

Whether athletes have NIL deals, professional contracts, or buy their own luge equipment, it can be hard for them to manage their money and plan their future while developing their craft. Luckily, PAC and Robinhood give them the resources to do so.