Former Dolphins safety Louis Oliver has always been able to reinvent himself. From NFL player to South Florida businessman, Oliver has had a knack for knowing when to change directions and try something new.
Always a fan favorite during his days with the Dolphins, Oliver knew he couldn’t play forever. He began to think about life after football. That brought him back to his current situation: He couldn’t find a comfortable place where he could just hang out and be with people who shared his interests. Since he couldn’t find it, he decided to create it.
“I could not find the kind of entertainment and atmosphere I was looking for here, so I decided to create it, and I just hoped others would like it too,” Oliver said.
Oliver formed Louis Oliver Productions. In the beginning, Oliver’s company would throw parties on Miami’s trendy South Beach. Today, Louis Oliver Productions has grown from a special events company and into product marketing.
Oliver grew up in Belle Glade and attended the University of Florida, where he was an all-conference performer and was good enough to be selected by the Dolphins in the first round of the 1989 NFL draft.
However, while a Dolphin, Oliver found little to do in South Florida off the field. No jazz clubs where he could listen to his favorite grooves. No parties brimming with people like him. South Florida just didn’t offer the urbane menu of an Atlanta or Washington, D.C. That all changed in 1990 when rapper Luther Campbell opened Luke’s Miami Beach on Fifth Street. It attracted an upscale crowd, but it closed its doors within two years.
In the fall of 1991, Oliver decided he would give the club scene a try himself. He approached the owners of The Third Rail about hosting a party. The deal he proposed was win-win for both parties. Oliver would lend his name and make his money from the cover charge, while the club’s take would be whatever it could make on drinks. He spent $2,000 to advertise the party on the radio and to print fliers, then he turned to his friends, other members of the Dolphins, to help draw even more people. He charged $10 and 800 people came to the party. Oliver knew he was sitting on a gold mind.
“I came up with the idea of ‘Come out and play with the players,’ ” Oliver said. “I called all my athlete friends and asked them to come to the party. I knew people liked to be in a nice atmosphere and around other people who they perceive to be hot.
“The beach was so hot,” Oliver added. “The celebrities were already there. The nice clubs were already there. It was just a matter of tapping into it.”
By 1993, his parties had grown from a hobby to a lucrative business. He named his business Louis Oliver Productions, and his mailing list had grown to 10,000 occasional or frequent party-goers. Two years later, now married to model Tanya Graves, Oliver hosted his biggest bash with a Super Bowl party at Club Diamante. He had models from across the country at the party, which drew 2,500 people, at $25 each.
By the time Oliver turned 30 and was starting a family, he was looking for a new scene. The parties began to run together. He felt like the last guy on the dance floor. He’d had a goof time, but was tired and ready to go home. So, the parties became less and less until he finally decided to throw his last party.
“I didn’t bill it as a farewell party, but I knew it was going to be the last one,” Oliver said. “I was getting older and maturing and I was just getting tired of the scene.”
While he was getting tired of the club scene, Oliver still had a desire to offer a place where people could come together and have a good time. Three months after throwing his final party, Oliver not only reinvented his company, but he reinvented his lifestyle as well. He had mellowed into a connoisseur of the slow life, fine music, top-shelf liquor, good conversation. No more big party scene. Instead, he decided to offer a Friday night jazz and art show.
“I was looking to do something different,” Oliver said. “I wanted a chilled kind of set, with a nice ambience and a professional crowd.”
On Sunday, the venue changed to the All-Star Café, where the music and clientele changed as well. The crowd is younger, less dressed-up and there for more unbridled fun. The type of fun Oliver enjoyed on the playing field and the type he enjoys watching on Sunday afternoons today.
“Their defense is smoking,” Oliver said. “They have to be the hottest thing in the league. They have a nice balance of talent. I would love to have had the opportunity to play with those guys. I always had an attitude to be able to play in that type of defensive scheme. I just regret we couldn’t play that style when I was on the team. I loved to attack and not react. It would have been a lot of fun.”
So much fun that if he was a member of the current Dolphins defense, he envisions every game like the game he had at Buffalo in 1992. Oliver fought off the demons of Buffalo games past to post three tackles, three passes defensed and three interceptions in Miami’s 37-10 trouncing of the Bills. One of those interceptions was returned 103 yards for a touchdown, which tied an NFL record for the longest interception return. Following the Bills game, Oliver was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week and earned Miller Lite/NFL Player of the Week honors.
It was performances like the one he had in Buffalo that drove Oliver to keep coming back for more. For a while, the success of his parties filled that void when his playing days were over, but for a player, the essence of game day is something that can never be replaced.
“I do miss the game sometimes,” Oliver said. “I miss the guys, the contact and the fans. I always played for my fans and my family, and I have no doubt that I can still play today. I just love to compete.”
And if Oliver could play today, he would have reinvented himself again.
