TCU Alumnus John Booty ’98 on the NFL, Fox 5 and Coaching Congress

STANDING IN THE ATLANTA AIRPORT IN 1988, JOHN BOOTY ’98 was on a pay phone when his life changed forever. Then a TCU student-athlete, Booty had gone through nine NFL draft rounds without hearing his name. He’d decided to end the night early and catch a flight back to Texas. But before he could board a plane, a voice boomed over the airport’s intercom, “John Booty, call your agent. John Booty, call your agent.”

He called and learned he’d been drafted by the New York Jets in Round 10.

“I don’t know if these people thought I was crazy,” he recalled. “I just started celebrating with strangers walking by me. ‘Hey, I just got drafted! I just got drafted!’ ”

Booty, at 22, took a hiatus from academics to pursue an NFL career.

Nearly a decade later, he began a second act built around a list of life goals he’d made at TCU, beginning with completing his degree.

Today, Booty works in Washington, D.C., as a sports analyst on Fox 5 and devotes much of his free time to philanthropy, including coaching the annual Congressional Football Game.

SMALL-TOWN START

Booty grew up shy and undersized, one of nine children in a small East Texas town near the Louisiana line.

Booty grew up playing paper football at the kitchen table in DeBerry, a small East Texas town near the Louisiana border. Surrounded by eight siblings, he was shy and described himself as “a little bitty runt.” 

His brothers were big and strong and enjoyed roughhousing, which sent Booty to the hospital at least once. 

Booty’s mother, a school bus driver, saw his love for football and the Dallas Cowboys and bought him a replica uniform, which he wore everywhere except church. When she took him to the store and let him choose a toy, it was a football. Although he was the smallest boy in his peer group, his mother told everyone that her son would play professional football one day. 

“She was predicting it,” he said. “I almost blew it for her several times.” 

Booty started playing organized football in eighth grade, learning the fundamentals of the sport. He got a much-needed confidence boost early in the season when one of the school’s coaches saw him throwing the ball before practice and asked if he wanted to be a quarterback for the B team.

As Booty honed his accuracy, he also learned to push through physical exhaustion. His mother encouraged him through every setback. 

After a disappointing start to his ninth-grade season, Booty decided to quit football, a pause that lasted two years. As a junior, he made the last roster spot on the varsity team. 

Booty earned a reputation for being dependable; when the high school coaches needed a big play, they would send him in. By senior year, he’d grown to 6 feet tall but weighed only 158 pounds. When he wasn’t playing or working with his dad on construction sites over the summer, he was doing pushups and practicing throws.  

During Booty’s senior year, Hank Kotzur, a TCU receivers coach and athletics recruiter, visited Carthage High School and watched Booty play. That season, the university recruited two of his teammates, and his coach urged TCU to consider Booty for a football scholarship as well. Since the university had reached its scholarship limit, it offered Booty a walk-on spot instead. 

“That’s an honor that they looked at me,” he said. “Not even the junior colleges in East Texas, my home area like Tyler or Kilgore, looked at me.” 

Instead, Booty ended up at Cisco College, where he received a football scholarship and became the first in his family to attend college.

HORNED FROG TO NEW YORK JET

By freshman year at Cisco in 1984, Booty was the fastest guy on the team. While he wasn’t playing wide receiver, the position he’d hoped for, he was having fun as a defensive back.

As a sophomore, he received recruitment letters from four-year schools including Texas A&M and Tulane, but what really caught his attention was a letter with a Dallas Cowboys letterhead. The correspondence wasn’t just from Cowboys wide receiver Mike Renfro ’78 — it was a recruitment letter from TCU itself.

Booty joined the Horned Frogs in spring 1986 under head coach Jim Wacker.

“My favorite thing was that fighting spirit instilled in me and my teammates,” Booty said.

On top of his passion for sports, Booty said, personal enrichment stayed on his mind. He had come a long way since childhood but was still uncomfortable with public speaking. Inspired by an exercise that defensive coordinator Rick Johnson had led the team through — writing out their life goals — Booty started taking communication classes and went on to major in speech communication.

Whenever he felt discouraged with training or frustrated with his coaches, he called his mom, who encouraged him to keep going.

“Don’t quit, baby,” she said, “because somebody’s always watching.”

A team exercise writing out life goals led Booty to his first communication classes. He puts the resulting degree to use on air.

NFL scouts spotted Booty during his junior year and complimented his athleticism, vertical jump and speed. He was invited to the NFL combine, a pre-draft event where prospective players do performance drills and undergo medical tests while coaches and scouts evaluate their potential.

Booty spent eight seasons in the NFL. After his time with the Jets, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Phoenix Cardinals, New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He bought his mom a Cadillac during his sixth NFL season as a thank you to his No. 1 fan.

Booty also wanted to use his platform and income to support the community. His NFL-sanctioned philanthropic activities included an appearance at a Make-A-Wish gala and participating in charity golf tournaments.

He and fellow Carthage football alumnus Randy Hudson started a charity basketball game that raised money for college scholarships for Carthage High School seniors. Booty estimates that the program, which ran from 1990 to 1995, helped 10 to 15 students attend college.

Today, the lifelong friends collaborate on the Bulldog Tailgate, an annual community event in Carthage that brings out NFL legends in support of the high school football program and local charities. 

“John has delivered so many players to me, but they wouldn’t even come if they didn’t trust him.”
Andre Collins

OFF-FIELD GOALS

A torn hamstring ended Booty’s football career in 1996, but he still had his list of life goals to pursue. He returned to TCU in spring 1998 to complete his degree, then opened World Gym Fitness Center in Largo, Maryland, in 1999. Along the way, he continued networking, honing his public speaking skills and giving back.

Booty has helped other former NFL players by connecting them with the Professional Athletes Foundation, the charitable arm of the NFL Players Association that provides financial assistance, helps with career transitions and offers health and wellness support.

Executive Director Andre Collins said that if the foundation had a mascot, “it might just be John Booty.”

Collins, a former linebacker who won Super Bowl XXVI with what is now the Washington Commanders, said retired NFL players can have a hard time adjusting to life after football. He added that most NFL careers end in about five years, often leaving athletes feeling isolated.

“John has delivered so many players to me,” Collins said, “but they wouldn’t even come if they didn’t trust him. They wouldn’t come if he hadn’t said, ‘Hey, there’s more to this’ … and that’s what the fraternity [of former players] is all about.”

Booty puts his speech communication degree to use as a pre- and postgame sports analyst for Fox 5 and a few other TV stations, where he focuses on the Washington Commanders and its National Football Conference East opponents, including the Dallas Cowboys.

He serves TCU as a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Council, a group of alumni whom the chancellor consults on academic and athletic initiatives. He also shares his perspectives with the dean and faculty as a member of the Bob Schieffer College of Communication’s Board of Visitors.

Anchor Wisdom Martin, left, talks sports with Booty during a WUSA news segment. Booty provides analysis of the Washington Commanders for several TV stations.

Alongside former Washington linebacker Ken Harvey, Booty coaches the Congressional Football Game, where members of Congress compete against the U.S. Capitol Police to raise money for the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund and nonprofits such as the Boys & Girls Club.

Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., served as co-captains for the Members of Congress team in 2026. Panetta said that Booty and Harvey inspire him and his teammates, even when that entails meeting at 7 a.m. in a field to run plays and work up a sweat.

While getting members of Congress to follow orders can be “a lot worse than herding cats,” Panetta said, Booty achieved it naturally from Day 1, telling members to do 20 pushups for showing up late or not running a play correctly.

“They not only inspire us in the way that we play — if you can call it that — but hopefully we inspire them to realize that this is what it’s about when it comes to Washington, D.C., and what people don’t see on television,” Panetta said. “We actually get along, have fun, and we actually do good.” 

Booty said that bringing America’s decision-makers together gives him joy. Newer goals on his list include writing a book and making the Congressional Football Game as famous as Congressional Baseball.

“Who would have thought this skinny little country boy from Carthage would be doing this?” Booty said. “I do know my parents are looking down on me with smiles.”