Ex-NFL star launches G1 esports organization G1NFL pro Kenny Vaccaro has retired from American football and launched an esports organization named Gamers First, or G1 for short. Making a name for himself at the Tennessee Titans and New Orleans Saints, Vaccaro has hung up his professional sports jersey and traded it for competitive gaming. The athlete has launched Gamers First, also referred to as G1, alongside entrepreneurs Hunter Swensson and Cody Hendrix with three core values of competition, content, and culture. Vaccaro cites his preference to identify as a \u201cgamer first\u201d while he was competing in football as the inspiration for the team\u2019s name. The press release states he\u2019s left his chance to win the Super Bowl to \u201cinstead shoot for a Halo World Championship.\u201d At launch, G1 have signed four professional Halo players and four content creators for Bungie franchise Destiny. As well as competing, they plan to produce \u201ccommunity-focused initiatives\u201d such as tournaments for charities. G1 is similar in name to established and prominent organization G2 Esports, founded by former pro player Carlos \u2018ocelote\u2019 Rodr\u00edguez, and the recently revived gaming network G4. A host of NFL players and athletes from other sports recently joined Complexity Gaming as part of a new division that aims to bridge the gap between gaming and other entertainment sectors. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a reflex decision for me; it\u2019s something I\u2019ve thought about for a long time,\u201d said Vaccaro. \u201cI\u2019ve been a gamer for even longer than I\u2019ve played football, and I\u2019ve always thought of myself as a gamer first. So this is the realization of a long-term dream for me. \u201cAnd while football has been how many have defined me, G1 is evidence for other athletes as well that life doesn\u2019t end just because you put down the helmet. You can reinvent yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ex-NFL star launches G1 esports organization G1NFL pro Kenny Vaccaro has retired from American football and launched an esports organization named Gamers First, or G1 for short. Making a name for himself at the Tennessee Titans and New Orleans Saints, Vaccaro has hung up his professional sports jersey and traded it for competitive gaming. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}