Retired football player and real estate investment firm founder Damon Dunn is the first person to announce their candicy for the 2014 Long Beach mayoral race.

Born in Texas and educated at Stanford where he got a degree in public policy, Dunn garnered national recognition for his brief run as a wide receiver in the NFL.

Following an injury that moved him into retirement, he went back to his education in public policy, becoming involved in multiple non-profits and making an unsuccessful bid for California Secretary of State in 2010.

In 2011, Dunn moved from Irvine to Long Beach, a city which he says he fell in love with while living there briefly while playing with L.A’s XFL team.

“I moved to Long Beach to be closer to my family in L.A. County,” said Dunn.

Dunn joined the board of directors of the Long Beach Education Foundation in 2001 and currently serves on the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Long Beach Rotary and he was recently named the Faculty Fellow for the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership at CSULB.

According to Dunn, he will be going on a “listening tour” where he will develop his yet-to-be announced platform.

“The wisest man in the village is the man with the biggest ears,” Dunn told the Post.