Former Scotland and British and Irish Lions scrum-half Chris Cusiter has revealed he came close to death while running a whisky business in Los Angeles after swapping rugby for a new career in the United States.
Cusiter, who toured with the Lions in 2005, won the Top 14 with Perpignan and enjoyed a Calcutta Cup triumph in 2006, retired from playing in 2016. He then relocated to the US to run a whisky-selling enterprise he had purchased at the start of that year.
Move to America
Speaking to the Press and Journal last year, Cusiter explained how he moved from Altrincham in Cheshire, where he finished his rugby career with Sale Sharks, to Los Angeles to grow the business.
“I invested in a whisky shop and I had drawn up a plan to try and grow the business. But it’s fair to say I knew next to nothing when I arrived and it led to a pretty stressful couple of years as I figured it out,” he said.
“I had only ever known the world of professional rugby in my whole working life, so it was a fairly hefty dose of reality. I put my head down and worked as hard as I could to make the business a success.”
Close call
After five years, Cusiter sold the business in 2021. He has since joined whisky import company Alexander Murray & Co, a move that has allowed him to return to Scotland more often while remaining based in the US.
In a LinkedIn post last year, Cusiter described how he nearly suffered serious injury while working at the store. He wrote: “I came pretty close to dying, or at least catastrophic injury outside the front of the store one day. The main road had 2 lanes in each direction. The right lane can be a parking lane also.”
He explained how a small truck with a mechanical lift gate was picking up a pallet of whisky, but the pallet was too heavy for the lift gate. As he stood on the left-hand side helping to lift it, a car swerved to avoid hitting the truck.
“I would have been caught in between the two. I dived towards the sidewalk (pavement, if you prefer) and felt the car hit the back of my left heel. The front side panel of the car hit the side of the truck and was sheared away by the corner of the liftgate. The car sped away.”
Cusiter added: “I lay on the ground in shock about how close I had come to catastrophe. I left the store and went home in shock. I think I had PTSD symptoms for a few months afterwards.”
