During his playing days, Tony Collins ran through defenses and opposing blitzes on his way to the end zone. He worked his way up from a young kid, with dreams of becoming a starter on a Super Bowl team. Along the way, he had the “world in the palm of his hands.” He felt invincible…
…until some poor decision-making unraveled everything—including nearly his life.
Collins wrote a book chronicling his ups and downs on and off the field, and what he did to help others who fell into a similar situation. His book, “Broken Road: Turning My Mess Into a Message,” describes how he went from having a dream of playing in the National Football League (NFL) , the sport’s biggest game, to succumbing to substance abuse and the fallout from those dark days, to finding peace by helping other people struggling with this issue.
He doesn’t pull any punches when discussing the way his life spiraled out of control.
Collins explained, “The wounds I have from that time were self-inflicted. I needed to stay on the field or else I would lose my job. The guys who were ahead of me on the depth chart, Vagas Ferguson and Horace Ivory, got hurt. That gave me the chance to play. Once I got out there, there was no way I was going back to the bench because I enjoyed contributing to the team’s winning.
“Then, I cracked my ribs during training camp,” he continued. “If I didn’t stay on the field, then I would lose my job. I took some painkillers to stay on the field. When the pain returned, I took more painkillers. It began a process that got out of hand.”
After Super Bowl XX, when the Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears, Collins was named as one of several players implicated in a drug scandal. Over time, Collins failed two drug tests and was warned that a third failed test would mean a one-year suspension from the League. Collins vowed that would not happen to him. Despite his best efforts, he found out that forces beyond his control led to disaster.
“I knew what was at stake, so I stayed far away from anything bad,” Collins said. “I went to a party and stayed away from any of the vices other people were doing. I kept to myself.
“I took the required test, and it came back positive,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it, and told them that I hadn’t taken anything. At that point, who was going to believe me? Because it was my third failed test, I was out of the league for one year.”
What Collins didn’t know at the time (in the late 1980s), was secondhand smoke can seep into the body and create the same result as someone who inhaled. Despite his protests of staying clean, simply being somewhere where activities like that were happening made him vulnerable.
He eventually retired from football in 1990, after playing one year with the Miami Dolphins. Collins felt like he had let people down, and it led to his substance abuse taking over his life. As a result, he lost his way, including relationships, work, and his future.
One day, he was working at a job that didn’t suit him. He left for lunch at a drive thru. Collins received a phone call that changed his life. The voice on the other line offered him a better opportunity by helping other people. He jumped at the chance, and hasn’t looked back.
By the way, the voice on the other side of that phone call eventually became his wife.
Today, Collins visits schools, speaks at various seminars, conferences, Chamber events, and other functions. He shares his story and warns others of what happens when you don’t make the right call. He told a group of high school seniors going to college about the dangers of something he didn’t worry about growing up: social media.
He said that students have no idea what transpires after they post questionable pictures of themselves on social media. It can have devastating consequences, as one incoming college student discovered.
“There was a senior who received a full scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame,” Collins said. “Pictures of him drinking (alcohol) were posted on some accounts. Somehow, those photos ended up at the admissions office at the school. Upon seeing them, the school revoked his scholarship, in part, because he was underage, not acting in the school’s best interest, and was seen as a potential problem.”
“That choice cost that student big time,” Collins explained.
Collins visits New England regularly, and welcomes the opportunity to share his story with any organization that wants to be inspired by his turnaround. He is looking to host a celebrity golf tournament in the area next year.
For more information about booking Tony Collins, please contact him at tonycollinsbwyb@yahoo.com, or call 252-414-5819.
