Does Big Cass smoke?: Not Known.Does Big Cass drink alcohol?: Not Known.Big Cass was an avid Basketball player during his younger days. He was even featured in the Catholic High School Athletic Association Senior Classic All-Star game.After having completed high school, Cass received a scholarship to attend the New York University (NYU), where he pursued a degree in economics.While at NYU, he played as a Center for the Universitys Basketball Team- NYU Violets for two seasons (2005-2006; 2008-09). He even got the opportunity to co-captain his team during the second season.After graduating from the University and before starting to train for pro-wrestling, Cass, along with his friends, founded a ticket brokerage company, which specialized in events held at popular spots like the Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium.The first meeting between Big Cass and Enzo Amore, members of the tag-team- SAWFT, happened not at NXT but on a Basketball court, at a time when the former was only 15-years old.In an interview, Big Cass revealed that he was merely 5 8 until one summer when he grew taller by 9 inches in just 3 months.He initially underwent training at WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodzs wrestling school in Brooklyn. In fact, Cass became a lifetime member of the training institute by paying around US$ 3500.Through the Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast, we came to know that the WWE creative had no initial plans to bring Enzo Amore and Big Cass on the same page. However, thanks to WWE Hall of Famer Michael Hayes, who suggested to combine the two into a tag-team, and the rest, as they say, is history.