Tackling life after game: Family, music, community passions of onetime Chiefs champ

Tamba Hali appreciates the great distance he has traveled in his life, from his birthplace in Gbarnga, Liberia, to his home in Overland Park, with many stops between. In moving more than 5,600 miles over the years, he’s learned to meld the cultural customs of his native country with a lifestyle in America.

Hali, a former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker who still holds second place in all-time sacks with the team, has accomplished much on the gridiron. Hali, known for his passion for the game and his commitment to excellence, stopped playing in 2017 and officially retired from the NFL in 2020.

Fans who have playoff fever for this football season still proudly don Hali’s No. 91 jersey. Hali is applying those same skills in crafting his path forward in life after football. That path includes music, family and community.

“I want to make sure I can help people,” said Hali, who is married to Mary Hali. They have a blended family of five children, ages 3 to 12.

For a man retired from football, Hali hasn’t slowed down, working mind, body and spirit.

Six days a week, his day starts at 6 a.m., when he works out with a jiu-jisu master. Hali is an avid practitioner of the martial art form, something he has practiced since entering the NFL.

“It is not about us going out and harming people but about us thinking,” said Hali, who has a brown belt in the discipline. “To begin with, it was about support, but over time I realized how important it was for my mind. There is a passiveness to it…. It calms any situation down.”

Music, a lifelong passion for Hali, is woven through much of the day.

And while his life as a parent, martial arts student and musician is busy, the Johnson County resident manages to make time for his community.

As a member of the Chiefs Ambassadors — a group of past players who perform community service — Hali is leaving his mark as a gentle giant.

One organization Hali has connected with is Literacy KC.

“Literacy KC is a phenomenal organization, teaching people of all different walks of life, helping them learn how to read and write. And that’s what I had to do in the fifth grade when I came to the United States,” Hali said. “Seeing it now has helped me navigate where I want to be in the future and how I can help.”

Hali has also checked out Welcoming KC, an initiative of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. It seems to be a natural fit for the man who received support from others when he moved to the United States. Other former Chiefs players agree.

“Tamba Hali epitomizes what it means to be a great, great teammate — all the dedication, perseverance and attention to detail,” said Shawn Barber, fellow Chiefs Ambassador and linebacker.

A young life in turmoil

Growing up in Liberia, Hali was a soccer kid. Hali’s young life was thrown into turmoil as his native country erupted into civil war. His father, Henry Hali, escaped to the United States in 1985, settling in Teaneck, N.J. The family remained behind, escaping to the countryside and living as refugees, scraping for food and shelter while witnessing the horrors surrounding them.

It would be several years before Hali, just 10 at the time, could arrive in the United States along with his three siblings. Complications prohibited his mother, Rachel Keita, from joining the family at that time. When Tamba Hali became a citizen in 2006, he was able to bring his mother to the United States.

In his first years in America, Hali lived with his father, then a professor, in New Jersey. When he arrived, young Hali spoke no English but quickly learned through the popular program Hooked on Phonics.

“I thought it was cool to rhyme,” Hali said. That love of rhyming would come full circle as Hali entered the music world.

By the time he was a student at Teaneck High School, Hali’s athletic abilities became apparent. He left soccer behind for other team sports.

“I was a big basketball guy. I grew up with basketball, playing in the gym and in the park playing pickup all day,” Hali said.

It was Hali’s high school gym teacher and the school’s football coach, Dennis Heck, who convinced him to play on the gridiron. Heck would continue to mentor Hali all through high school, guiding him to choose Penn State University to play football under the legendary Joe Paterno.

While at Penn State, Hali started to actively develop his interest in music.

“When I got to college Fruity Loops (a music producing program) started,” Hali said.

“My stepbrother left me all his mix tapes so I could learn from them. There was a huge culture of hip hop and I was taking it all in. I loved it.”

Music was on the back-burner through Hali’s collegiate and professional football career. Hali, who graduated with a degree in communications, was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft as the 20th pick by the Chiefs. Yet Hali had to push to show his football skills.

“Coach Herm Edwards was the only coach who came to my pro do,” said Hali who received his U.S. citizenship during training camp before making his NFL debut in 2006. “He loved guys who loved football.”

Pro player tunes into music dreams

It was during his time with the Chiefs that Hali started to do something about his love of music. Inspired by Jay-Z and others, Hali started focusing on music in his spare time.

“I created a label and I started working with Gillie da Kid and put a little money into it,” Hali said. He started his own label, Relumae, which Hali said means “rekindle.”

By the end of his football career, Hali was managing a handful of other artists and working with other producers.

“I really wanted to learn how to produce and song-write”

Hali played the drums as a kid but started taking piano lessons in 2016 with Darren Verbick, a music teacher in St. Joseph.

“At one point I was practicing from 4 a.m. to noon. There is no luck in piano. You have to practice,” he said.

As his football career drew to a close, Hali continued to pursue his music recording and producing from his studio in the basement of his Overland Park home.

Hali has continued connecting with artists across the country and around the globe. He would describe his own music as having an Afro Beat.

“I like creating music that people like to dance to and have fun,” Hali said. “I want them to feel good about the music and know that it comes from a place of joy.”

Hali has penned and produced about 40 songs and 15 music videos.

“I want to perform more because I know we have great music,” he said. “Right now I am in the hardest stage, which is actually writing music. I am mixing, producing, writing the instrumentals and the melodies. I am pushing myself to write songs that appeal to the commercial world.”

“I can do any business thing,” said Hali, “but it doesn’t catch me like music.”

Working from home allows Hali to be an integral part of his kids’ lives.

“The kids are a big part of my life,” he said. ”When the kids aren’t in school I am here with them. I go to their games and activities…. I started teaching two of the kids jiu-jitsu and there’s lots of practice with basketball, too.”

Reaching out to his community

Barber admires the passion of his fellow Chiefs Ambassador.

“Tamba is putting the same passion he used to sack the quarterback into tackling needs in the community and seizing opportunities to make a difference,” Barber said.

“He knows that every man has a job to do. As Chiefs Ambassadors, we have a job to do in this community. Whether it’s leading young folk, helping out at youth camps, committing and serving on boards for different nonprofits in our community, he is doing everything he can to make a better way and stronger path for all of us.”

Hali, who started his own effort to start a STEM school back in Liberia, is enjoying the process of learning about nonprofits here in Kansas City.

“I don’t have any background in nonprofits,” Hali said. “I am in the learning stage so see what’s happening out here…. I come from a place that thinks of America as highly rich but that’s not the case. There is homelessness and other challenges. I want to help where I am living now.”

While Hali’s life is filled with family, music and community, he still misses parts of his old life as a pro.

“I miss the guys,” Hali said. “What mattered to me were the guys in the locker room. I had Justin, DJ (Derrick Johnson) and Eric Berry. We were so close. At times I miss playing because I loved playing. I loved the process: everything.”