Michael Silva, CC’96.
For Michael Silva CC’96, innovation didn’t begin in a boardroom. It started in a driveway.
An environmental sciences major at Rutgers Cook College—now the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences—Silva never imagined he would one day pitch a patented backyard football game on national television. Yet in October, he stepped through the iconic doors of Shark Tank Season 17 to present PlayQB54, the portable football-inspired game he and his brother first invented as children.
Silva transferred to Cook College after his freshman year at the University of Tampa. What followed, he says, were three of the best years of his life. Cook wasn’t just an academic home; it was a proving ground.
He met his wife, Janet, also a Cook graduate, during his second year. They began dating around New Year’s 1995 and married in 2001. More than three decades later, their partnership remains central to both family and business. Cook College also introduced him to lifelong friends, fierce intramural competition and a deep sense of community.
Although he did not major in business, Rutgers prepared him in essential ways. The independence, problem-solving skills and confidence he developed there helped to launch his 30-year career with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). At OSHA, he advanced early and built a stable professional foundation, traits that would later prove just as valuable in entrepreneurship.
“Cook was like camp with books,” Silva recalls. “All your friends in one place, just enough responsibility to grow up, but not enough to know how good you had it.”
Michael Silva with his patented invention, PlayQB54.
The Backyard Experiment That Became a Patented Game
The genesis of PlayQB54 traces back to the early 1980s. Silva and his brother wanted to figure out how to play football with just two people. Improvising, they tossed a ball into a garbage can for touchdowns and kicked extra points through the CB antennas mounted on their father’s pickup truck.
They didn’t revisit the idea until 2015, when inspiration struck again. This time, they transformed the concept into a portable game built around a chair, officially bringing QB54 to market in 2016. Since then, the company has generated more than $9 million in total sales and sold more than 60,000 units. The game is now carried in Dick’s Sporting Goods stores nationwide, another milestone Silva once considered unimaginable.
For him, selling the first game was a defining moment. Creating something from nothing and having someone purchase it, validated years of belief and effort. Seeing QB54 “in the wild,” whether at tailgates or on social media feeds, continues to provide that same sense of accomplishment.
Although his brother is no longer involved in the company, Silva has kept the business growing, fueled by consistent grassroots marketing and a strong digital presence.
The Shark Tank Moment
Silva’s business education, he says, came not from formal training but from watching Shark Tank for 17 seasons, often viewing episodes multiple times to study strategy and pitch delivery.
Then came his opportunity to step onto the set.
Walking through the doors was surreal. The staged fish tanks. The wood floor. The five chairs where the Sharks would soon sit. Two minutes before filming, panic set in. Months of preparation—his memorized pitch, assembly steps, anticipated answers—vanished from his mind.
“When the producers said ‘Go,’ it all came rushing back,” Silva says. “All the weeks, months, and years of preparing led to that moment.”
At left, Michael Strahan, NFL Hall of Famer, played QB54 on national television with Michael Silva center, and Robert Herjavic of Shark Tank, at right.
He delivered the pitch, answered every financial question confidently and demonstrated the game on air alongside NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, who played QB54 on national television. For Silva, seeing a Super Bowl champion engage with a game he created as a child was extraordinary.
While he did not secure a deal, the outcome proved meaningful in other ways. The national exposure from airing, followed by additional replays, generated significant attention and growth. Though initially disappointed, Silva ultimately embraced the experience and applied the advice he received.
“It was everything I expected and more,” he reflects. “And I’m incredibly happy with the outcome.”
A Family Business and What’s Next
Today, PlayQB54 is a true family enterprise. Janet supports the business, and their two children are learning firsthand what it takes to build something from the ground up.
Silva hopes to expand retail distribution across the country and internationally. Orders are already coming from Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America, an outcome he never imagined when the idea first took shape decades ago. He also has plans to expand into additional sports-inspired products, pending the capital and resources to execute those ideas.
Through it all, values like community, resilience, competition, and pride that he traces back to Cook, remain central.
“Cook holds a very special place in my heart,” he says. “Those were golden years. If you went there, you know exactly what I mean.”
From a garbage can in a driveway to national television, Silva’s journey reflects a distinctly Rutgers story of creativity rooted in childhood, strengthened by education and perseverance, sustained by family.
