One of Arizona’s career sack leaders is trying to tackle the spread of COVID-19 by helping his wife’s Lady 12 brand in the Seattle area make facemasks.
Joe Tafoya, who is fourth on Arizona’s career sack list with 24.5 from 1997-2000, has helped his wife Brandelyn make more than 3,000 masks in various designs as part of her Lady 12 apparel business.
Joe posted this comment on social media: “If you would have told me a few years ago, when I was chasing around quarterbacks, that my proudest professional moment would have to do with sewing … If you are wearing one of our masks, chances are it was either sewn or packaged by a former NFL player!! #lifeisstrange“
After Tafoya’s career as a defensive end at Arizona, he played in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals from 2001 to 2007. He played with the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL in 2006 when they faced the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When his career came to a close, he returned to Seattle to live and work in sports marketing, including owning JumpIt Media Inc. He has promoted the trademarked brand of Volume 12, which makes apparel for Seahawks fans.
Joe has helped his wife operate Lady 12, which started in 2013. The couple runs the business from their Redmond, Wash., farm.
After a trial and error period of learning how to sew the masks together, Joe told 425 Magazine he and his wife “found a local company willing to take on the challenge. We were told that they could deliver 300 masks per day, so we made a little video and a few Facebook posts to our audience. OMG! The orders came flying in at an alarming rate.”
You can order Lady 12 masks online by clicking here
FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
Recommended for you
