CHARLOTTE — The life of an NFL wife isn’t always as glamorous as it seems.
While Panthers offensive lineman Jake Curhan chased his dreams across the country, his wife, Alex, continued to pack up and move with him.
After three years in Seattle and a stop in Chicago, Alex spent the offseason preparing for a move to Arizona, anxious to once again settle down. Ten days later, Jake was sent to the Queen City.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing; despite all the moving, this is the one time in our lives that we can bop around and see the states of the United States and get to enjoy this,” Alex Curhan said.
However, all that moving can take its toll; it can be difficult to make friends.
“This is the first time I’m not actually working a 9-5, so I was like, ‘You know what? I’m really going to dive into the social aspect of it.’ It’s been hard over the years because I’m just working all the time when they have events going on,” Alex said.
She met a number of wives and girlfriends at Bible study, but it was a favorite things holiday party where she began to truly feel connected.
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“I was like, what can I get? That’s 25 dollars; that was the budget. Ok, I can make these slippers, and it was more expensive than what I wanted, but it turned out really fun, and the girls were so excited about it,” Alex said.
For years now, Alez had been designing, creating, and crafting custom clothing for gameday, proudly representing her husband on the sidelines.
“I’ve always been crafty “My parents are both engineers i studied engineering in school, so I’m always the ‘do it yourself’ type of person, so I see all these gameday outfits, and they’re so expensive, or they’re just not my style, so I’m just like, ‘I’m going to make it,’” Alex said.
A Cricut machine to cut vinyl pants to add a little flair, including Jake’s Distinct Profile. She began to create some incredible pieces: shirts, hats, and boots.
“I gotta say and not to toot my own horn, but people will stop and go.” That looks awesome, and I’m like, “Thanks for boosting my ego. It’s been really cool and people notice,” and i’m like, “Yeah, I made it,” she said. “Sometimes i’ll just look at what other girls are wearing on different teams or i’ll look at a sweatshirt and i’m like, ‘Oh, I can kind of change that up.’
What started as a hobby might turn into a business. The slippers Alex painted for the favorite things party were stolen by the kids from their moms.
“So they’re like, ‘Please make them for my kids; I’ll pay you,’ and I’m like, ‘Great,’ so I kind of started to make a small business out of it,” Alex said.
But at the heart of everything, Alex says her passion is a way to support her husband.
“I’ve never seen him so happy to play football, so I’m just happy to be there and support him in this crazy career,” she said.
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