Giving up on a dream is never an easy thing to do. Just ask Andrew Berry ’09, Harvard’s three-time All-Ivy cornerback and 2008 preseason All-American.

A star on and off the field, Berry also ranked among his graduating class’ top five percent in GPA and was Director of the Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program during his time at Harvard.

Though he dreamed of playing professional football, Berry was not selected by a pro team in the highly-competitive NFL draft last April. He received a tryout offer from the Washington Redskins, but almost immediately after he arrived at their minicamp, he was sent home with a herniated disk in his back.

Berry knew then that his dream of playing pro ball was over.

The previous summer, he had worked in trading at Goldman Sachs, where he could have continued to excel once he decided to end his playing career.

One day, however, he received a call from the Indianapolis Colts, who had heard about his time at Harvard, his injury, and wanted to interview him for a job in their player personnel department.

Berry was faced with a tough decision—take the potentially more lucrative Wall Street offer, or work in football, his passion, even if it wasn’t as a player.

“It was a difficult decision, from the aspect that I’d spent my time in the summer at Goldman Sachs and the career opportunities and support I had received there I thought were really nice,” Berry says. “But at the end of the day, I felt compelled to take the job with the Colts because that’s where my passion [was]. From that point, once I saw everything fall into place, it was pretty easy to pull the trigger.”

Berry says that the biggest influences on his decision were the people he’d interviewed with in Indianapolis, because listening to them talk about working in the organization had a strong impact on him.

He also received support from his parents, who told him to follow his heart and do what he felt compelled to do.

For someone with a goal of becoming a director of player personnel or even a general manager one day, Berry felt as if he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to enter the industry at such a young age.

“Andrew’s really special,” says Crimson football coach Tim Murphy. “For my two cents, he’ll be running an NFL team in 15 years. At 37 years old, he’ll be running an NFL franchise. I have no question.”

Like Berry, James Williams also dreams of playing professional football. Harvard’s star left tackle is also an All-American and All-Ivy standout whom his coach recently called the Crimson’s best lineman since NFL Pro-Bowler Matt Birk.

Williams was recently faced with a dilemma similar to Berry’s: apply to law school, or continue focusing on football in an attempt to get drafted and make it in the NFL. And like Berry, Williams made the decision to follow his heart, and keep doing what he loves.

“It wasn’t that hard of a decision to make,” the senior says. “Football’s been a passion of mine for a long time. I’ve been playing since I was in third grade, and I want to play for as long as I can.”