For more than 35 years, Gary Shipman has worked as an attorney based in Wilmington, representing clients in some of the area’s most high-profile and complex civil cases.

But what might be a lesser-known fact: Shipman is also an NFL- and NBA-certified sports agent, whose current client list includes four men aspiring to be professional football players. 

Shipman focuses his recruiting efforts on players who are either from North Carolina or attend a North Carolina school, mainly N.C. State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In an interview in April, about three weeks before the NFL draft begins April 28, Shipman described his mission as an agent.

“As I’ve said to kids for years – they will have far more to do with whether they get a job than me. They either have a body of [college] work that is worthy of playing at the next level or they don’t …,” Shipman said. “All I will do is to a) advocate their position that they are worthy [and] b) hopefully, between the time that they’ve played their last snap of college football until the time that they get a job in the NFL, place them into the hands of people that I have developed relationships with over the years that I trust to train them, find what their weaknesses are and make them their strengths and find what their strengths are and make them stronger.” 

One of Shipman’s draft-eligible clients is 22-year-old Jeff Schoettmer, who graduated from Chapell Hill in December. Schoettmer, a 6-foot-1 linebacker and Texas native, started his career with the Tar Heels as a walk-on.  

In a recent phone interview, Schoettmer described why he chose Shipman over other potential agents. 

“I chose him because I felt most comfortable with him,” Schoettmer said.

He said he didn’t care about being wowed by a particular agent’s lengthy client list, and was more interested in the idea that Shipman’s agency, SW Sports, would have more time to spend helping him. The agency includes attorney James Moore of Shipman’s firm, Shipman & Wright, and four others. 

“I just felt that they were the most personable and really cared about my success and would do whatever’s necessary for me to be successful in the NFL,” Schoettmer said.

As he spoke, the 2015 Tar Heel defense team captain was traveling because he had just finished participating in Dallas Days with the Dallas Cowboys with other draft potentials. Becoming a player for the Cowboys, a team he rooted for as he was growing up in Dallas, would be a dream come true for Schoettmer. 

Other athletes Shipman represents include Tar Heel football payers Shakeel Rashad and Romar Morris and N.C. State offensive tackle Alex Barr.

But as much as the collegiate players might want them to, NFL dreams don’t always come true, Shipman said, or even if they do, they’re often short-lived. This knowledge is one of the tenets that factor into his approach to athlete representation.

“There have been parents and players, aspiring players that we’ve met with that I knew it was not going to be a good fit with me. Why? One of the first questions that I usually ask a kid when I’m sitting down and speaking to him and he is in the midst of or having a great college career … I tell him, ‘If you picked up the paper tomorrow, and the headline was Professional Football Cancelled Worldwide … what’s plan B?’”

Statistically, an athlete is going to play less than four years of professional football, he said.

“As I tell them, ‘I will still have shoes older than you when you’ve played your last down of professional football, and therefore, if I’m going to represent you … what’s the rest of your life look like when you’ve played your last down?’” Shipman said.

For Schoettmer, plan B means using his degree in business administration from Chapel Hill. 

“Some players and their parents who didn’t want to talk about plan B at all, even as a remote possibility, I haven’t represented, and I won’t represent because I know the reality,” Shipman said.

Having a fallback position for their lives is part of treating them like family, Shipman said.

“I tell them I’m going to treat you like my own child, and that’s either good news or that’s bad news, depending on which day it is … If they make mistakes I want them to hear it from me in a constructive way,” he said. 

Schoettmer confirms that.

“Him and James, they basically treat us like we’re their sons, but we have a business side as well. I can talk to him about anything. It’s not all about football with him,” Schoettmer said. 

Shipman played football at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, where he lived when he was growing up. According to Shipman, he was an undersized offensive lineman, but still he was invited to play on the freshman/JV team at Chapel Hill. 

“In the midst of my participation in what was the sort of prelude to summer practice at UNC, I received a call from the debate coach at UNC Wilmington, who inquired as to whether I would be interested in coming to UNC Wilmington to be on their debate team.” 

After graduating from UNCW, where he had received a debate scholarship, Shipman attended Campbell Law School, receiving his degree in 1980 and starting his own law practice in 1982. Currently his firm, Shipman & Wright, includes 10 lawyers at its offices off Military Cutoff Road in Wilmington.

For the past 20 years, he has represented collegiate and professional coaches of football and basketball and started three years ago to represent athletes.

Heading in to draft days, Shipman’s confidence was high for his current players, including the four who most recently became draft-eligible.

“I believe that every one of these kids will sign an NFL contract before the end of April,” Shipman said.