Trajan Langdon, Euroleague winner: professional athlete playing with team in Russia.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: GENERAL BUSINESS

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George Foreman has his grill. There's the Bjorn Borg clothing line. Peggy Fleming owns Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery. Professional athletes investing earnings to try and win in business is part of the game in careers that only last as long as the limbs hold out--which is often not beyond the age of 40. Although overinflated salaries make the headlines, the reality is that only a rare few earn enough to really retire so the challenge becomes to figure out what they will do for the second half of their lives.

LEARNING CURVE

Just like athletics, these business investments can come with disappointments, but you learn and move on, professional basketball player and Anchorage hometown hero Trajan Langdon says, looking back on his men's clothing store Lace Em Up that he recently closed after seven years. "It was something I wanted to try and it didn't go as well as I thought it would. I had a couple of good years, but I needed to be an owner operator if I wanted things done the way I wanted. This will be the only venture like this." For now, he says, he will stick with what he does best: playing basketball.

FAMED SHOOTER

Nicknamed the "Alaskan Assassin" for setting the three-point shot record at Duke University, during his high school career playing for East Anchorage High School Langdon also set the Alaska 4A record of 2,200 career points and was a three-time Alaska Player of the Year. He led his team to the 1994 Alaska State Championship and played in the prestigious McDonald's All American Game, where he won the three-point shooting contest. He also received the Dial Award, given to the nation's top male and female student-athletes. After high school, he played for Duke University, known for having one of the best college teams in the nation, and currently the 6' 4" shooting guard plays in Russia with...