Brian Overstreet is the Founding partner of United Sports Group (USG), which was founded in 1998, and has been a leading sports agency ever since. USG is a full service sports management firm that has had back to back first round draft picks, which puts them in the top 10% of sports agencies. The agency is 100% black owned and operated by Brian Overstreet, along with Founding Partner Judge Morris Overstreet, who was the first African American Judge to sit on Texas’s highest court of criminal appeals. He is also a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, a Graduate of Thurgood Marshall School of Law and Prairie View A&M University.
Give us a little bit of background information, and what inspired you to start a Sports Agency
I played sports all the way through high school but oddly enough I never wanted to play professionally. In fact, I turned down a scholarship to play college ball at Howard University. What I wanted was to be a lawyer and make a good living associated with sports. So, when I went to law school, I remembered that I played high school football with two guys whose father was a prominent sports agent. It was a guy by the name of Gene Burrough, so I called him up and did what amounted to an intern with him while in law school. Subsequently, I graduated law school and launched my sports agency while waiting on my bar results.
For those who are not familiar, what is a sports agency all about?
A sports agency has several different functions based on the vision of the owners. My partner and I both got into the business with the intention of not only representing players and doing good contracts, but also to be positive role models and assist in molding young men. Our vision was to help these young men to become professionals in every sense of the word.
How has being a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity impacted you throughout your career and business journey?
I was fortunate to join Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity during the second semester of my freshman year of college and later was elected president my junior and senior years. Being a member of the fraternity was a lot like being on a football team because you spent the lion share of your time together with the guys and it forced you to work as one, to get the fraternity goals accomplished. Additionally, when you added the rigors of being a full-time student it forced you to master time management. One of the major things I learned in college from both school and the fraternity perspective, was simply how to go about a task in an organized and timely fashion.
What has been the biggest lesson about overcoming obstacles and failure that you have learned?
Being an African American in the sports agency business, you are going to be faced with constant obstacles of some kind. What I’ve learned is if it were easy there would be tons of successful minority sports agents and there are not. Furthermore, in my mind, failure was not an option! When I decided to pursue this career, I knew it was going to be tough and I asked myself one simple question… In life up to this point what have you ever failed at? My answer was, nothing. Have I had setbacks or hiccups along the way in my life? Absolutely! but a flat-outfailure, no.
What legacy do you want to leave behind for the next generation?
When I look at my career, I know that I have been blessed with the best parents a kid could have. They were both educators. I had a great relationship with them, and I had an unyielding trust in them. They guided me throughout my professional career. As tough as this business is, I don’t know where I would be without there wisdom to lean on throughout this journey. When I’m done with this business, I want to have been a major resource to all of my clients. Furthermore, I want to have had a major role in my clients concluding their careers as successful men on and off the football field. Additionally, I want to be someone that shows aspiring African American men that they can overcome the odds and be successful sports agents too. If they work smart and hard, they can go farther than I did and accomplish even more than I have.
I’m full of love , and thanks giving that God has blessed Brian with the many successes he has been blessed through hard work as he has continued to progress in this business. His father and I always had faith that he would put forth his best effort in his career.
We were blessed to have a wonderful son , Brian born January 27,1970. God has blessed him beyond measure to be successful in his business venture. I am indeed proud, grateful, blessed, to see the man he has become.. It is my hope that God will lead , guide, and direct his life in his word.