SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Andre Dawson, a former Miami Marlins outfielder and current ambassador for the Chicago Cubs, takes pride in sweeping the floors of his business, but fans may be surprised by what that business is.
For the past 10 years, the eight-time All-Star, one-time National League MVP and 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee has owned a funeral home in Miami-Dade’s Richmond Heights community.
“Who would have ever thought? You couldn’t have told me this a couple of years prior that this is what I would be doing post-career,” he said. “I was afraid of funeral homes. I was afraid to go near them, but it’s a calling, in a sense.”
If it was divine intervention, Dawson’s calling came at the right time to invest into Paradise Memorial Funeral Home, which was in financial ruin.
“It was something that this community needed,” he said. “It was here prior to me. I originally started out as an investor, but when it fell into my lap, I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to make it work.'”
With Vanessa, his wife of 40 years, and other family members, Dawson deals with raw emotions on a regular basis. In 2017, he was present for many of the 130 funerals at Paradise Memorial.
Dawson, 64, oversees the process, from funeral services to burials. His current line of work is a stark contrast to his professional career on the diamond, where he was known as “The Hawk” and “Awesome Dawson.”
He spent 21 years in the majors with four teams, including the Cubs, the Marlins and the Montreal Expos.
“When you’re a ball player, you’re a crowd-pleaser. You’re an entertainer, and you get a lot of joy out of that,” he said. “You don’t get any joy out of this business, because of what it is, but for me the joy is knowing that I can provide some sort of relief for the families, their pain and suffering, and help them through the process.”
Dawson doesn’t use his name with the intention of attracting customers, but there are many, including former and present ball players, who have no idea he is a funeral director.
“I get a lot of stares, and then silence for a moment, and then the initial question is, ‘You’re doing what?'” he said. “I say, ‘Well, I don’t have any business cards with me, but yeah, that’s what I’m doing right now.’ Then, a lot of the questioning starts. ‘How do you do this?’ ‘What about that?’ And they’re able to relax and become a little bit more comfortable.”
Dawson said he plans to keep the business in the family for generations to come. He already has a cemetery plot set aside for him and Vanessa near Paradise Memorial.
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