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about robert

Robert W. Turner II is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He also holds a position as a Research Scientist in the Center on Health & Society at Duke University. After attending James Madison University on an athletic scholarship, Dr. Turner played football professionally in the now defunct United States Football League, the Canadian Football League, and briefly in the National Football League.

View Robert's Curriculum Vitae

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book publication

Publication Date:

July 2018 | ISBN: 9780199892907 | Edition 1

Not For Long: The Life and Career of the NFL Athlete

Drawing on personal experience as a former pro football player and interactions with over 140 current and former NFL athletes, Dr. Robert W. Turner II reveals what it means to be a high school and college athlete pursuing the dream of playing in the NFL, and why so many players struggle with life after football.

"Robert Turner's ethnography of athletes' journeys to and through the NFL is provocative and deeply discerning. He draws on life course, developmental, and sociological theories to unveil what the NFL and its patrons turn a blind eye too because they assume the lives of professional football players are much more glorious and desirable than the reality. By sharing his own football trajectory and those of others, Turner skillfully awakens readers to how professional football players imagined lives become in short order, unimaginable." -Linda Burton, PhD, James B. Duke Professor of Sociology, Duke University

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“Robert Turner has the rarest of insights into what it means to be an NFL player. His time in the game combined with Turner’s scholarly expertise illuminate every issue facing the men who have played in the league. Not For Long is a gift to us all.”

— Chris Borland, former NFL linebacker

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Upcoming Events /Past appearances / Press kit

upcoming events

Past Appearances / Prior Events

Dr. Turner speaks with Tamron Hall on the human rights issue about why student athletes should be paid

Dr. Turner speaks with Pat Lawson Muse about the R.W. Turner Lab’s ongoing Black Male Caregiver Burden Study

Dr. Turner joins Make It Plain to discuss his book and the lives of NFL athletes

Dr. Robert Turner speaks about Mental Health in Sports on theGrio with Eboni K. Williams

Dr. Turner speaks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) panel on the state of Black student-athletes

Dr. Turner speaks at Politics and Prose about his book ‘Not For Long: The Life and Career of an NFL Athlete’ and gives perspective of an NFL athlete

Dr. Turner joins E.J. Cutliff and Myles Hayes, co-hosts of Black In Sports, to talk about his journey from NFL athlete to working in the medical field.

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Past Press Features

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Documentary film

"Student Athlete"

Dr. Robert W. Turner II: Technical Advisor - Consultant - On screen appearance

LeBron James to co-produce HBO documentary on ‘exploitative world’ of NCAA sports

Unpaid college athletes generate billions of dollars for their institutions every year. Student Athlete unveils the exploitative world of high-revenue college sports through the stories of four young men at different stages of their athletic careers, as well as a coach-turned-advocate and a whistle-blowing shoe rep who exposes the money trail. The documentary spotlights: former college and NFL coach John Shoop; New Jersey high school basketball phenom Nick Richards, now at the University of Kentucky; Mike Shaw, who played at the University of Illinois and Bradley University; Shamar Graves, a former wide receiver at Rutgers University; and Silas Nacita, a walk-on who played at Baylor University.

Student Athlete is an HBO Sports presentation in association with LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Jamal Henderson at SpringHill Entertainment, and Steve Stoute at United Masters; directors, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton; technical advisor/consultant, Dr. Robert W. Turner II; executive producer, Rick Bernstein; supervising producer, Joe Perskie.