By EVAN VLADEM

There comes a time in a person’s life in which a career decision must be made. Whether it’s for love or money, a talent or a passion, one must choose their fate. Many may try to juggle separate activities, but when it is all said and done there can only be one. That time is here for Tampa Bay Storm wide receiver Tyrone Timmons.

This season, wide receiver Tyrone Timmons, who was an electronics major at Mississippi Valley State, embarked into his new, elaborate career with CAE. CAE is “a world leader in providing simulation and modeling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defense forces around the globe.” With revenues exceeding $1.5 billion, the company produces civil and military full-flight simulators and training devices.

“I was fascinated with electronics and electricity since I was a child. I learned how to build circuits in high school. Whether it was a closed circuit or an open circuit, from a light switch to everything else,” Timmons said.

His father Tyrone Timmons Sr., who also works for the company, introduced Timmons to CAE at a young age. On a frequent basis, his father brought his son into the office.

“When I started seeing the flight simulators, I wanted to do that. My dad said that I had to be good in math and science. Those are my best two subjects in school anyway. I knew that I could do it,” Timmons said.

After interning with the company for four years, Timmons was finally ready to make the full commitment.

“My job would be the visual systems,” he explained. “Everything that you see inside the flight simulator, the actual visual picture, is what I will be creating. If they go up, you see the sky. If they go down, you see the ground. I’m in charge of making sure the visual is picture-perfect. There are mirrors all around, inside the flight simulator. It creates this big, open view of about 180 degrees. You can’t see anything behind you, but you can see in front and all around you.”

Making that commitment, however, wasn’t easy for Timmons. At the time he began the new job he was Storm’s leading receiver with 66 receptions for 783 yards and 19 touchdowns.  Timmons interned with the company in the summers of 2003-05 and again in 2009. He was lucky to get another opportunity.

“Football was always first,” Timmons, 25, said. “It has been something that I have always been able to do and I have always been pretty good at it.”

After posting 148 career receptions, 2,285 yards and 17 touchdowns and finishing second all-time to Jerry Rice in receptions and yards at Mississippi Valley State, he joined the Storm’s practice squad in 2007. After the season ended he was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs. Still working as an intern at CAE, Timmons informed the company of his departure.

“They said, ‘Cool! Go ahead and don’t worry about it. When you are done playing football, you can always come back,’” Timmons said.

Not to long into the fall, Timmons was released from the Chiefs and rejoined the Storm. He decided not to go back to CAE.

After biding his time to get onto the field in 2008, Timmons posted impressive numbers and became only the sixth receiver in AFL history to catch three or more touchdown passes in his first three games.

“At the end of the 2008 season, I got back with the company. I was thinking in the offseason, I would just play for the Storm and just rotate. They were fine with that. Well, the economy got really bad and the league went into hiatus. The company asked me to stay,” Timmons said.

Timmons, however, was still eager to play football.

“I got a call to join the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL and the coach knew someone with the St. Louis Rams. He told me he could get me in there and I told him I would play. At the time, I found out I was going to have my daughter. I didn’t know what I was going to do when the league stopped. I thought that I could get back into the NFL real quick after I played a couple games in the CFL and boom, I went. That fell threw,” Timmons said. “The coach ended up not being so honest. I had just left that job again too.”

Confused, disheartened and now with a daughter to support, Timmons moved back to Tampa. He interviewed with CAE three times, but didn’t get a job. Word spread that the Arena Football League would be back for the 2010 season and Timmons, again, rejoined the Storm. He also began working for a company called AC4S Telecommunications and tested electronics to make sure they were functioning correctly.

He went back to posting impressive numbers with the Storm and was finally offered a full-time job at CAE. His first day was halfway through the 2010 season.

“Now, I’m not going to leave my job for football. At first, my mindset was if I got the call, I’m gone; I’m out of here. Now, I’m not going to do that. I’m looking for stability in my life. Now that I have a little one, it’s not just me anymore. If it was just me, I would say, ‘I’ll leave this job, all I have to take care of is myself.’ I can’t be so happy-go-lucky,” he said.

With new goals and a career, Timmons must make a hard decision that troubles most. Will it be his passion for football or stability and his career in technology?

“When next season comes along, am I going to be able to do it?” Timmons said, “Am I going to be able to still work and play for the Storm? Am I going to have to focus just on my career, get in good with the salary and let football go? I don’t know. At this point, I can’t say that. I thought about this too, what happens that after this season I get a look from the UFL or the Buccaneers or whoever? I would have to say, are they really serious about me or is this just a camp? I’m not going to be a camp body. I can’t do that. I have to know something. I would have to know I had a good shot of making the team. If I didn’t know, I couldn’t afford to do it.”

For now, however with the season over, Timmons presence will be felt in the workplace. And his presence at wide receiver, well he has an entire offseason to determine how strong that passion burns.