Football Star Illuminates Downfalls of Addiction
This is a screenshot of Tony Mandarich speaking at the event.
January 20, 2021
On Thursday, January 14th, the Above the Influence club gathered after school to hear the words of a guest speaker. This was not the guest speaker event of years past: some members sat in spread-out auditorium seating, while others participated from home. The speaker himself was in Arizona at the time of the event, but the club came together on Zoom to hear his words.
The speaker was Tony Mandarich, a former player for the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts. He shared the story of his addiction and recovery with the club, and then took questions.
Members were able to anonymously ask via private chat about his relationships with his family and his team, his attendance at 12-step meetings, leaving football, and his biggest accomplishment.
“If I’m not sober, literally nothing else matters,” he told them.
His past experiences are why he supports the Above the Influence Club’s mission of protecting our community from addiction.
“What you guys do and represent, I think that’s very important,” he said. “You’re changing lives, and you’re probably changing lives that you don’t see.”
His struggles illuminated to club members the massive impact that addiction can have on people’s lives.
“I couldn’t have worked at a 7/11. I couldn’t have worked at a Circle K. I couldn’t have worked at a Best Buy. I couldn’t have worked anywhere, because I couldn’t be trusted to show up,” Mandarich explained when speaking about the period of time after he left the Packers.
Mandarich was able to recover through time in a treatment center, but that dark period of time inspired him to make significant changes to his life.
“I didn’t like that person I was, so I did something about it,” he said.
He took the opportunity to return to football in order to right the wrongs that he’d done in the past. After leaving football due to a shoulder injury, he followed another passion: helping other people better their lives. This meeting was part of that, as he offered much advice to the club members.
“This is a really crucial thing, is surrounding yourself with the right people,” he said.
He concluded by saying that he enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the club.
“It was a privilege to be able to share,” he said.
Before the end of the school year, the Above the Influence Club will be hosting another guest speaker, Adam Bartlett. For more information about the Above the Influence club, contact Mr. Dalessio.
Margaret Szpakowski is the Editor in Chief of the Smoke Signal, and has been in that role since 2018. She is in the Class of 2021. She is also a member...
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Loved listening to him, truly an inspiration.
It was an amazing experience to be able to hear his story and where he is now.
I enjoyed hearing his story and about his life experiences. It was truly eye opening.
His story is so inspiring. We all learned a lot and are very thankful.
My favorite guest speaker yet, very interesting and great story to learn and hear about
Hearing his story and how much he overcame in his life was amazing!!
It was so moving to hear his story, and to know that he believes that clubs like ATI are setting people up for a better future. It was our privilege to listen and learn from him.
I just want to personally thank Mr. Powers for the tech support, Chaug administration for moving their faculty meeting to the cafeteria for us to be able to use the auditorium, Tony Mandarich for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with us virtually, the ATI Club officers that assisted with creating a contact tracing seating chart, the ATI Club members that attended and who asked amazing questions, & the HWPY for sponsoring this event!!!
To those wondering…Tony Mandarich was on the large screen projector.. Each club member brought their laptop. I was in the front with dual monitors, so only Tony saw the questions, which allowed club members to ask questions anonymously.
Thanks EVERYONE Mr.D
Tony was an engaging speaker from start to finish! His honesty and insight truly helped illuminate the devastating reality of addiction. I am very grateful to have been able to attend the event. It was also great to see ATI club members recognized for the incredible impact they have on the community. Thanks everyone!
To hear stories like this where someone can overcome something big in there life is really encouraging and inspiring to me.
Great article about his inspiring life story and experiences.
This is a very inspiring story because it gives people the hope and motivation to overcome their struggles with addiction. This is a great way to raise awareness on the subject and it encourages others to share their stories as well!
Truly inspiring to hear about this experience. Very sad to hear what he went through.
It was interesting to hear after he got better he didn’t go back to football and helped other people. He seems like a really nice caring person.
I think this is very inspiring for everyone, especially people who struggle with addiction. Addiction makes you someone your not and I think he did a good job explaining what it does to a person. Because of his personal experiences he chose to help people better their lives so they don’t have to go through that and I think this speech was very important to be heard.
It’s very inspiring to see that he recovered from addiction. It is a very difficult thing to do. It is so awesome to see him get out of such a dark place and then proceed to help others that are in need.
Overcoming his addiction must’ve been one of the toughest times in his life, but I respect him for being able to do that. Not just that, but he took it into his own hands to help others who deal with addiction and that is good to see that he has changed for the better. He has become a very inspiring person to be able to help others through their own difficult times.
“If I’m not sober, literally nothing else matters,” he told them.” Inspiring.
Such a great story! It was Inspiring to hear about his experiences within his career as well as how he overcame his battle with addiction and now helps many people with their own battles .