CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Numbers have always meant a lot to Tyrell Sales, whether they be points scored in basketball, tackles made in football or distances thrown in track.

The 2004 Butler graduate and former Penn State linebacker is charting numbers of a different sort these days.

“We’re averaging 50 to 60 dog and cat adoptions a month and we just hit 600 total for 2016,” said Sales, now the executive director of the Butler County Humane Society.

“That’s 600 families we’ve impacted with a lifelong friend.”

Sales graduated from Penn State with a marketing degree. He aggressively pursued a pro football cateer afterward.

In three successive years, he was cut by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, CFL’s Montreal Alouettes and Arena League’s Jacksonville Sharks in preseason.

“For every James Harrison who made it, there’s another 1,000 guys in his situation who never got the chance,” Sales said. “It’s all about how long you want to chase it.

“You have to go through a grinder. If you’re 22, 23 or 24, your chance of getting that call is much better than if you’re 26 or 27. Some guys still do it. I wasn’t going to be one of them.”

So after spending a season playing tight end and linebacker for the Parma Panthers in 2012 — helping that team win the Italian Football League version of the Super Bowl — Sales was done with football at age 26.

“I walked off the field as a player for the last time — as a champion,” Sales said. “It wasn’t our (American) Super Bowl, of course, but it was a bunch of grown men embracing and celebrating a championship together.

“It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Sales stopped playing football at that point. He’s never stood clear of competition.

He has been an assistant high school football coach for seven years, helping out at Seneca Valley and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.

He’s worked with fellow Butler graduate Lyneil Mitchell at Revolution, a physical therapy facility in Cranberry Township.

“Those are ways I could help other people compete,” Sales said. “I helped people ages 8 to 80 at Revolution, whether it was getting them back to riding a bike, getting on skis, walking up stairs, whatever.

“When you can work hard to fullfill a passion and do good for others while you’re doing it ... Well, I don’t want one without the other.”

Which is how he wound up with the Butler County Humane Society.

Sales got married to his wife Courtney last June. She is an attorney and both have visions of running their own non-profit organization down the road.

“I have a marketing degree, but I don’t want to go around pushing and selling things. I want to make a difference,” Sales said.

“I needed to build some experience and strengthen my knowledge of the business side of non-profit. This is doing that for me.”

Sales was named executive director of the humane society in March after being one of many to apply for the position.

“I definitely worked hard for the job, but I can’t say I’m surprised I got the job,” Sales said. “I expect to succeed when I go after something. That’s always been my attitude.”

Katie Austin is the marketing coordinator of the Butler County Humane Society. Like Sales, she is a former Division I collegiate athlete, having played women’s soccer at Robert Morris.

“We’re on the same page with a lot of things,” Austin said. “We’re positive, competitive people. That’s something Division I athletes seem to have in common.

“We want to succeed. We’ll do what it takes to succeed.”

Austin coordinates volunteers at the facility, is involved in community outreach, social media, “or whatever needs done,” she said.

“Ty and I share the same vision here,” Austin added.

For Sales, that vision includes “being involved in something much bigger than myself, bigger than football at Butler or Penn State.

“I work for a well-respected organization in my hometown. We’re impacting senior citizens, veterans, people with special needs,” he said. “We’re helping out food pantries, establishing low-cost vaccinations, spaying and neutering of pets.

“Everybody has a warm place in their hearts for cats and dogs. We can expand that to other things.”

Sales emphasized that the county humane society receives no state or federal funding.

“We are financially supported by the residents of Butler County,” he said. “The community backing of this facility is unbelievable. It shows how much people care.”

The staff numbers around 20 with numerous other volunteers. Sales estimates he works from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

“This isn’t a typical job where you punch in and punch out,” he said. “People want to adopt a dog or cat seven days a week, so we’re here seven days a week.

“Everybody here is dedicated. We all have the ability and the means to make a positive impact in our community. That’s not a job.

“It’s just like playing sports, playing in the Orange Bowl or Rose Bowl ... It’s a privilege.”