WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Justin Forsett, Angie Pressey Build a Family in Texas
J
ustin Forsett is a football player, which is a good thing, inasmuch he’s not a volleyball player.
Had he been a volleyball player, Angie Pressey may not have kept him around. The former Cal stars are happily married and living in Texas with their newborn son, Judah, who joined the world on New Year’s Eve. Their relationship dates back to when each first arrived in Berkeley, a place where Forsett etched his name in Cal’s record books and Pressey left as one of the greatest players ever to don a volleyball jersey. One weekend while they were dating at Cal, Forsett and teammate Brandon Hampton and Pressey and teammate Am’ra Solomon trekked down to Santa Cruz for a little beach volleyball showdown. “He was horrible,” Pressey said. “I wanted to break up with him. I was so turned off.” For the record, Forsett says he has a good serve and plays good defense. He spent most of his childhood in Florida and said he found himself in some pick-up games from time to time in Daytona Beach. But that may not have given him enough experience to compete with his future wife, a two-time All-American who ranks fourth on Cal’s all-time list with 1,725 kills and led the Bears to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA semifinals in 2007. Forsett, meanwhile, came to Berkeley as a lightly-recruited running back and lit up Cal’s record books. He ranks third all-time with 3,220 rushing yards and in 2007 had the third-best season ever for a Cal running back with 1,546 yards. That same year, he tied the school record with 15 rushing touchdowns.
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By Jonathan Okanes So who is the better athlete in the family? “If you talk to my wife, she’ll say it’s her,” Forsett said. “I’ll give it to her. I’ll be a good husband.” Both Forsett and Pressey have gone on to excel athletically since leaving Cal. Forsett is getting ready to enter his sixth season in the NFL, having played with the Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. Pressey, meanwhile, played in the U.S. National Team program for four years and professionally in Puerto Rico and Austria before becoming pregnant with Judah. “We’re both competitive. It’s fun,” Forsett said. “We’re always competing at something, which is not always a good thing in a marriage.” Pressey took her final semester at Cal off (she later finished her degree) in 2008 to start training with the U.S. team and spent the next four years in what effectively is a perpetual tryout. About 20-25 players compete in international summer tournaments. Pressey was one of six outside hitters being considered for a spot on the 2012 Olympic team before finding out she was pregnant. Even though he was drafted and has lasted in the NFL five years, Forsett hasn’t stopped feeling like he needs to continually silence the critics. He didn’t receive a single Division I-A scholarship offer before Signing Day of his senior year of high school, and at 5-foot-8, he’s continually had to prove he belongs on the football field. Although she may not be able to fulfill her competitive urges as much anymore, Pressey says she is enjoying using some of her free time to re-connect with family and friends, something that was difficult to do given the rigors and demands of volleyball. And whether Judah becomes an athlete remains in question. “I’m not sure,” Pressey said. “He may be the buffest piano player you’ve ever seen.”