Meet Your Neighbor

Your neighbor, Sean Tufts, his wife Orly Ripmaster, and their two sons live just east of Niwot on a 48-acre farm. Tufts is the managing partner of Optiv, a cybersecurity consulting company focusing on critical infrastructure installations. Tufts is also well-known for his football career as a middle linebacker for the University of Colorado Buffaloes (2000-2003) and then for the Carolina Panthers of the NFL.

Tufts was born in 1982 in south Denver near County Line Road, where subdivisions once met open fields. He attended Cherry Creek High School, which was perfect for his big personality as it allowed him to join multiple groups focusing on football, wrestling and lacrosse. The Cherry Creek School's league, via the Colorado High School Coaches Association (CHSCA), named him an all-state football player while he was a student.

After graduating from Cherry Creek High School in 2000, Tufts attended the University of Colorado and started as a freshman linebacker on the football team. Linebacker was his favorite position because he was fast and excelled at playing against the run. His large build was well-suited for this position and he says he was happy he did not have to touch the ball, as he felt he lacked eye-hand coordination.

During Tuft's senior year, his most memorable moment was the famous 62-36 game in 2001 against the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers when the Buffs were No. 3 in the nation. During this game, he grabbed Eric Couch, the Nebraska quarterback and future Heisman Trophy winner, and pushed him back four or five yards. "If you walk up to any CU Buff fan and say 62-36, they will know instinctively what that means;' Tufts said.

The Buffs voted Tufts team captain during his senior season, which he believes was due to his exacting standards. He did not tolerate shortcuts such as shortening a workout or watching game films. At this point in his career, he had been a three-year starter as a linebacker, receiving calls from the sideline and instructing the defense. During one game, he called man-to-man coverage, but the safety decided to call an audible to zone without sharing this with Tufts. A video shows Tufts and the safety running down the field, chasing a tight end for 60 yards while yelling at each other. He left CU proud of the football program, which he described "as racially and socially the most diverse athletic group on the CU Boulder campus at the time:'

After he graduated from CU with a degree in sociology, the Carolina Panthers drafted Tufts in the 2004 NFL draft as a linebacker, where he played for three seasons. In 2005, he backed up Pro Bowler Dan Morgan and played on special teams. Knee injuries forced Tufts to the sidelines for the 2006 season. He played 18 games for the Panthers and totaled 16 career tackles, with one recovered fumble.

After three seasons with the Panthers, Tufts returned to Boulder to earn his MBA at the Leeds School of Business at CU where he successfully tried out for the Ralphie Handler position, escorting the team's live bison mascot onto the field. Tufts is the only former CU football player to run with Ralphie.

Tufts likes buffaloes, although he thinks many consider them large and angry cattle. He said, "The bison were here first and a big part of American history, and the America I want is in better touch with that past." Tufts said that Ralphie was a lovely girl and quite affectionate, which was dangerous as she also wanted to hit you with her head and horns, and chase you around the pole.

He is quite impressed with the Buffs' new coach, Deion Sanders. Tufts said, "He is so much fun, believes in meritocracy, and gets the job done." He is glad Sanders came to CU when he did, as it would only have become more challenging over time to get the CU football team back to a national presence. "Sanders is making fabulous changes to the offensive line, recruiting some of the best linemen in the country," said Tufts.

Tufts and his family love Niwot due to its proximity to Boulder and Denver and its solid rural reality. "It's a cool place, and it is weird because it combines conservative and liberal views in one place in Boulder County," he said. He still loves football and sees it as giving more than it takes, and yet, he tries not to push his two sons into the sport but will support them if they decide to play.