Prior to professional wrestling, Heidenreich played American football and in 1992, he was a member of the Washington Redskins, winners of that year's Super Bowl. He played as an offensive lineman for two seasons (1994 and 1995) in the Canadian Football League for the Shreveport Pirates before playing for the Texas Terror of the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1996 and the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europa in 1997. Though he was signed by several National Football League (NFL) teams (New Orleans, Atlanta, and Washington), he never played an NFL league game due to getting cut in training camp. As such, he does not appear on any NFL team's historical roster. Heidenreich has a son, Jasper Orton-Heidenreich, who was born on April 1, 1995.