May 2, 2025 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Tony Mandarich’s story became immortalized by two Sports Illustrated covers—one hailing him as “The Incredible Bulk” heading into the 1989 draft, and another in 1992 labeling him “The NFL’s Incredible BUST” as his four-year career in Green Bay came to an end. Here’s Tony Mandarich himself, with his story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites.
Tony Mandrich was considered the best offensive line prospect ever
(00:31):
during his collegiate career at Michigan State. Legendary college coach
Nick Saban, who was an assistant at the time at
Michigan State and who discovered Mandridge, said that he was
quote probably the most dominant offensive lineman that I have
ever been around.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Mandrich entered the NFL as the highest paid offensive lineman
in league history. Then, Manderich's story was immortalized by two
Sports Illustrated covers, one hailing him as the Incredible bulk
heading into the nineteen eighty nine draft, and then one
in nineteen ninety two calling him the NFL's Incredible Bust
(01:09):
as his four year career in Green Bay came to
a halting end. Here's Mandrich to share his story.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Growing up was actually fantastic for me. I had a
great childhood, great parents, great siblings, and ironically, although we're
talking about our American stories. I am Canadian, but I've
spent most of my years now fifty three years old,
(01:39):
most of my life has been spent stayside, and so
growing up in Canada, to say that you played street hockey.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Or you know, on the road, you know, in your.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Neighborhood was a common thing, and you know, watching a
lot of hockey and things like that. A lot of
the stereotypes that Americans have, and I think just people
of Canada are true a very liberal country. Tons of
first generation immigrants, which my parents were. My parents came
(02:11):
over in nineteen fifty five to escape communism from former
Yugoslavia and to start a better life for their family
and kids, and that's basically what they did. So, you know,
my childhood was great. It was just it was in
the greater Toronto area. We're forty five minute drive from Buffalo,
(02:32):
three hour drive from Detroit. So when it came to
NFL Sundays, I got to see a lot of the
Detroit Lions and a lot of the Buffalo Bills. And
then when it came to college football, we'd see a
lot of the Big Ten schools on TV.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
But you know, to sum up my childhood, I would say.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
A very accurate phrase would be I definitely didn't have
everything I wanted, but I definitely had everything I needed.
It was all a great experience. And then as you
grow up into your adolescent years, you start to have dreams.
And I remember, at age eleven, which is pretty young,
my oldest daughter, I mean, my youngest daughter right.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Now is twenty one.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
So when I saw her at eleven, it was kind
of a wake up call for me, because you don't
realize how young of a person.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
That is when they're that age.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And when I think about it, it was at eleven
I took out a piece of paper and wrote down
what I was going to be when I grew up,
or what I wanted to be when I grow up,
and that was to become a professional football player in
the NFL and to be to become a professional photographer.
You know, for me, these things were normal. As I
(03:46):
grew older, I realized they weren't normal because not everybody
did the things that I did. Not everybody took out
a piece of paper and did short term, midterm, long
term goals. For me, it was like, I don't know
why I did that. It seemed natural and then you know,
and then I would at the end of the three
months for the short term goals, if I'm not reaching
(04:07):
those goals, the short term goals, I need to find
out why. And if I don't know why, then I
need to reset my short term goals and reset my
midterm goals, because my long term ones still might be
the end game of making it to the NFL and
then becoming a photographer or whatever. I had three years
under my belt in Canada of high school football, so
(04:29):
by the end of my junior year, it was like,
you know, and we're talking nineteen eighty two nineteen eighty three,
there wasn't very many American colleges coming up to Canada
to recruit potential football players. Yes there was for hockey,
but not so much for football, because you know, high
(04:50):
school football and college football and pro football, those pinnacles
are all state side. If you really want to be honest,
I mean, let's not kid our if you want to
if you if your football is your dream, you got
to go stateside. If hockey is your dream, you know,
I hope you're born in Canada.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
So it's it's it's.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Interesting and I knew that after that third year both
my brother and I knew that we needed to make
some kind of a decision that was gonna help me
get exposure and some American coaching in Ohio at that time,
where I ended up going for my senior year high school.
(05:31):
You know, Ohio was one of the what they called
the Big three, one of the big three states for
high school football. It was Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida were
the three biggest kind of states. So my brother was
going to Kent State University at the time in Ohio
and Kent, Ohio, and we were kicking them around the
(05:52):
idea of me coming down there for my senior year
living with him, and he was going into a senior
year year of college, and I was going I would
be going into my senior year of high school and
for the really the sole purpose of getting exposure and
getting some American coaching to you know, become a better
(06:15):
football player. You know, we talked about it with my
parents and you know, they were like, if that's what
you really really want to do, and they knew I
wanted to had been it was my whole life.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
It was that's all I talked about.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
And you know, my brother, you know, a huge kudos
to him for, you know, taking a sacrifice of bringing
on your little brothers and a senior in high school
and you're and he's a big man on campus as
a football player because he was having a very good career,
ended up getting drafted in the first round in the
Canadian Football League. So you know, he he wanted what
(06:50):
was for the greater good of his younger brother and
Kent Roosevelt High School had four or five athletes that
were being recruited for full scholarships to Division one schools.
So that was great for me because that would bring
those scouts to our games. And then hopefully then it
was up to me. Then now you need to get
(07:12):
yourself noticed by playing above and beyond what you think
you can play.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And when we continue more of the life of Tony
Manderich in his own words here on our American Stories. Folks,
if you love the stories we tell about this great country,
and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that
all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation,
(07:40):
culture and faith are brought to us by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all
the things that are beautiful in life and all the
things that are good in life.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And if you can't get.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
To Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free
and terrific online courses.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Go to Hillsdale dot edu to learn more.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And we continue with our American stories and the story
of Tony Manderich who went from being one of the
all time great draft picks to well bus town and
his life story, well, it's instructive on so many levels
and so compelling. Let's return to Tony Manderrich in his
own words about his own American story.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Pieces fell into place and I ended up getting a
scholarship offered at Michigan State. Nick Saban was a defensive
back coach at Michigan State at the time and he
in Ohio was his area. So when you know, after
several meetings with coach Saban when I was being recruited
out of Carolsevelt, ended up signing with Michigan State and
(08:55):
that was their offensive line was junior's going into their
senior year most of their starters, So coming in as
a freshman, the chances of starting are pretty low. But
if you get a year of experience under your belt
by getting red shirted by the second year, you know,
(09:15):
with all those guys graduating, the jobs up for anybody,
all those jobs. So that was like a major decision
for me on going there. Nick was a major decision.
The way he was, the way he was straightforward. There
was no bs, there was no salesmanship in it, there
was no sliminess about it, there was no it was
all straightforward. This is what we got, this is what
(09:38):
we can do for you, and this can potentially be
the result if you put the work in and I
understand that language, and then you know. The head coach
was George Perlis, who you know, was a four time
Super Bowl winner as a defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh in
the seventies. So that was a major decision because of George.
(09:59):
I was like, I want to get to that level.
Here's a guy that's got four super Bowl rings recently,
and he's going to be able to call a spade
a spade and say, look, Tony, you just ain't got it.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
You just don't have what it takes.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And you know, and there's nothing you can do as
far as working at it that will make it better
because you just don't have the athletic ability. You know,
He's the type of guy that would say that to you,
and he wouldn't say it to you in a malicious way.
He'd say it to it in an honest way. And
if he did think you had ability, he'd say, you
know what, you do have ability, but you have a
lot of work to do. So you know, you get
(10:34):
there for camp, and once you got through camp, you know,
you pick a roommate. And I had a great roommate,
a great guy still you know, still keep in contact
with him, John Buddy. And so I kind of did
what I did when I was eleven. I pulled out
that piece of paper and started writing the goals for
(10:55):
the next five four to five years. And you know,
I wanted to be become a starter. Then I wanted
to become all Big ten. Then I wanted to become
all American, and then I wanted to be the first
player taken.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
In the draft.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And my roommate, whose brother at the time was playing
for the Kansas City Chiefs and his dad had played
for the Kansas City Chiefs, and I mean iconic family
as far as football in Kansas City and just phenomenal people.
He was like, what do you know, what are you
writing or what are you doing? I said, just writing
my goals down and now only known this guy for
(11:32):
two three weeks, he wanted to read him. So usually
that's something I would not share with anybody. So I
let him read him and you could see his face
expression change as he got to the latter part of
the list, because that's where it was like become the
first player taking it, become all American, then first player
taken in the draft, and he was like first player
(11:57):
taken in the draft. He's like, there's only one a
year And I.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Said, I know. I said, why not it be me?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
And you know that phrase of why not me became
a very common phrase in my life, in my head,
in my vocabulary, if you will, so you know, every
decision I made, I would ask myself, you know, is
this get me closer to my goal? Or is this
a distraction? But I was very careful on the decisions
(12:31):
I made. And then if I saw like, oh, how
would I describe it an unstable crowd of people, I
had a choice to say, you know what, this is
going to escalate probably at some point tonight, and do
I really want to be around this and chance losing
(12:51):
my scholarship and by getting involved with you know, my
ego not backing down from somebody cause I I might
have more to lose than they do. You know, the
five years I was at Michigan State, I chose to
use steroids. Not the best decision in the world.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
It was against NCAA rules, Yet I still chose to
use them because my gut feeling was that to make
it to the next level at my position, Uh, you
pretty much have to use steroids.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
And that's not true. Although I believed it.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
That was something that uh, a topic that I would
not want to discuss with teammates or anybody, because I
knew it was wrong and I thought it through, and
I thought about the worst potential thing that could happen,
and I was like, no, I'm still willing to pay
the consequence if that happens, cause I felt that if
I didn't do it, I wouldn't be giving it my all,
(13:55):
you know. And and did I cheat on drug tests?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I did, and to pass drug tests. You know, I
was introduced to it.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
By my brother. You know, I thought about it for.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Months and then and that's where that desire to become
the greatest outweighed the desire of getting caught, there was
obviously suspicions, but then there was obviously phrases like yeah,
but do you see how he works out?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
But do you see that he's here before other people
work out and then he does the workout that is
mandatory and then goes above and beyond does his own workout.
You know, Yeah, do you see that he stays here
later than when everybody when they leave because he's you know,
doing film work or trying to get better at something. So,
(14:49):
you know, if steroids were the only thing that had
made me an All American and All Big ten Lineman
of the Year twice, you know American twice, you know,
finishing the running for the Outland Trophy, finishing and the
running for the Heisman Trophy, being drafted second overall. If
(15:10):
steroids were the only factor, then wouldn't most people have
that kind of result? And I think there's a certain,
you know, naiveness in society that you just take them
and stuff happens. Well, you can take them and do
nothing and nothing will happen. You have to do the work.
(15:34):
You have to do the work, regardless whether you're taking
them or not. You have to do the work, and
you have to do it at a level that's higher
than you ever thought you could do it, and you
have to do it day in and day out, and
there's not many people that are willing to do that
type of work in society for any career.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Bay Packers will make it official. Drawn tackle Tony Mandrich
down about that one.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Well, when I you know, when I left college, I
had stopped taking the steroids because I knew the NFL's
testing system was much more sophisticated than college, and there
was enough rumors going around about the steroids in my
name that I was like, you know what, I need
to disassociate myself with that and kind of get away
(16:31):
from it. So I did, but almost immediately within a week,
I had kind of you know, filled that void with
you know, painkillers. I was like, all of a sudden,
painkillers became I noticed when I took painkillers a lot
of the problems weren't as big as they were before.
I would swallow those seven or eight painkillers, And the
(16:52):
alcohol came into play fairly heavily when it was difficult
to get the prescriptions because the demand for the prescription
was you know, you can't fill a narcotic too early,
so then you try to get multiple doctors, writing multiple
scripts to different pharmacies, and it becomes a full time job.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
You know, it consumes your life. You know it was.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Before I got sober, and even going into the last
three years of my drinking and drugging, I had been
kicked out of Green Bay in ninety two. I didn't
get sober till I was in March till March twenty
third to ninety five. And after leaving Green Bay, I
thought it can't get worse.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderitch and boy, this
is real and this is raw, and you're thinking, my goodness,
how could a guy have blown it?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
How could he have made that decision?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But folks, we've all been there Tony Manderich's real life story.
When we continue here on our American stories, and we
(18:09):
continue here on our American stories, you're listening to Tony
Mandrich and my goodness, you've heard the story of how
he got into the NFL, into the Green Bay packers,
and in the end, well, he had to stop doing
the steroids. He knew he'd get busted, and what he
replaced it with was opioids and ultimately alcohol, and boy,
(18:30):
there's a lot of pain involved in the NFL, especially
training and training through the pain, and so now he
was an addict of a different sort. Let's return to
Tony Mandrich and his story.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
After leaving Green Bay, I thought it can't get worse.
And then two months later, my brother had passed away
from terminal skin cancer. And nine to twelve months later,
after my brother passes away, my parents get divorced after
forty plus years of marriage, after everything they've gone through,
escaping from communist countries, coming to Canada with no money
(19:07):
and not knowing how to speak English and making it
that foundation was gone, and your hero and your mentor
my brother.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Was gone, and I was.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I guess it'd be an understatement to say that I
felt like an epic fail was right there in front
of me. And you know, things kept getting worse. And
I thought to myself, you know what, I'm going to
stop saying things can't get worse, because every time I
say it, something bad happens. But it stayed bad for
another year, and then you know what changed it for
(19:45):
me was, you know, there was a conversation with a
good friend of mine that it was kind of like
the final catalyst that made me make a decision on
putting myself in treatment. But really boiling it down to
what it really was, it was emotional pain. It was
the the pain of guilt, the pain of shame, the
(20:10):
pain of letting people down. All those things had become
greater than the desire to get high. It was consuming
the desire to get high. It had overwhelmed that. You know,
getting high at one time was a solution and it
felt good. But at some point that solution became the problem.
(20:36):
And then you get yourself in a situation where you
know you can't live with it and you can't live
without it, and that's a tough one because it's a
catch twenty two.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
And where do I go from here?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And you're a hamster on a hamster wheel. And all
I needed then was that catalyst of that friend of
mine reminding me that if you don't change where you're doing,
you're going to die. And I was ready to hear it,
and I was like, Okay, what can we do about it?
Because everything I've tried, in every way i've tried to
stop has failed. And I'm not sure that it's in
(21:13):
it for me. I'm not sure that I'm supposed to
get sober, and I never ever was mad at God.
I believe God the whole in God the whole time.
I was never mad at God. You know why me did?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
I never?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Internally, I never played a victim, poor pitiful me. I
was like, no, you call spade a spade. Even when
I was messed up, I was like, you call a
spade a spade, Say what it is. You're a drug addict.
I went into treatment in a treatment center in Detroit.
You know, I always remember day five and day eleven
out of the seventeen days, or the two days I
remember the most because they were the most impactful. Day five,
(21:55):
we had a meeting with a counselor with like eight
patient that were impatient, me being one of them, and
she said, before we start the meeting, she said, I
just want you all to take into consideration that your
best thinking and your best plans in life got you here.
(22:16):
And that was the Louisville slugger hitting me in the face.
I was like, Wow, she's right, And at that time,
every decision I made in my life brought me to
that moment sitting in that treatment center outside of Detroit,
and I thought, God, I could have picked California or
something nice. You know, I'm here in Detroit, you know.
(22:38):
And then at day day eleven, I started laughing again.
And I didn't think that that would happen, not really
in a genuine fashion. I thought that the fund was
pretty much over for the most part. But I'd rather
live a boring, sober life. Was better than living a miserable,
(22:59):
drinking and drugging life. I started laughing again, just from
us patients sharing stories amongst each other and some of
the nonsense that we had done. And you could relate
to the guy that worked for the municipality that was
running a backo digging ditches in Detroit. You could totally
(23:19):
relate to what he was saying. And here I was
a pro football player, and I understood exactly what he
was saying. And I understood exactly about his craving of
he couldn't wait to get off of work and get
home and you know, pop some pills and drink some
alcohol or get to the bar.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
The guy could relate. And there was politicians in there.
There was tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people, men, women, black, white, Asian,
any culture you could think. The disease did not discriminate.
It took people's lives, but we all shared a very
(23:56):
very common thing, and it was the majority already of
the people's stories we could relate to. You take away
a few things that have to do with a job,
circumstance or whatever, or what role they played in their
community or society, and you remove that eighty percent of
(24:17):
the rest of that person you can relate to one
hundred percent and feel their pain and feel their relief
and feel everything that they've gone through, and you're like, gosh,
there's you mean, there's other people out there that feel
this way and have gone through this and are going
through this. Because I thought I was unique and I
(24:38):
was the only one when we would laugh at that stuff.
And I remember on day eleven sitting on my bed
and the treatment center, and my stomach was hurting from laughing.
And that was the first that was probably the first
(24:58):
time in ten years that my stuf I had hurt
from laughing, and I thought, you know, total opposite of
what I thought would ever happen. I forgot all about
that feeling of what that felt like. And then my
next thought was, you know, I'm not sure what's happening here.
(25:21):
But whatever it is, I'm digging my nails into it
and I'm not letting go. And then six seven days later,
I had left treatment. It was a thirty day program.
I stayed seventeen. I was paying out of pocket and
I was running out of money, and you know, they said,
(25:44):
you know, we want you to stay thirty and I said, well,
if you're willing to pick up the tab, I'll stay thirty.
And of course, you know, they're running a business too,
and I understand, and I was like, you know, I
feel that I get it.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
I get it. It's pretty crystal clear.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
And I'm sure that a lot of people say that
to you guys, and then two days later they're back
out using I said, but.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
And I know it's only been seventeen days. But these
instructions that you've given me for when I do leave
to do these things, I've already started making calls to
do these things and preparing. You know, when they did
the statistics of X amount of people percentages will stay
(26:35):
sober for you know, one week or less after they
leave treatment, and thirty days and less, six months less
and a.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Year or less, we're staggering.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
And then you know, it's like less than one percent
of the people will stay sober the rest of their life.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderich, and my goodness,
the pain, the guilt and the shame were overwhelming and
overwhelmed the desire to get high. Tony Manderich was ready
to change his life. And when we come back, we're
going to continue his story, Tony Manderich's remarkable story here
on our American Stories. And we continue with our American
(27:39):
stories and Tony Manderich's story.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
When they did the statistics of X amount of people
percentages will stay sober for staggering, and you know, it's
like less than one percent of the people who will
stay sober the rest of their life. And for me,
that inner voice said, why not me? I mean, why
not why not me be the one.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
That does that?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
They needed, they need to fill a percentage, So I'll
fill that percent And and I've been sober ever since.
I think in the first five years I was well,
I know, the first five years I was sober, I
averaged a minimum of a meeting a day, a twelve
(28:27):
step meeting if and there were some days I'd go
to two, and it wasn't like I'd go to them
because I felt like I was going to drink that day.
It was like I was going to them to grow
as a person, even sober. You know, you don't become
(28:48):
a saint just because you get sober. And when I
left treatment, I had no intention, zero intention of.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Going back to play.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I was so happy to be sober, because I thought
that that was impossible. I was so happy to be
sober and actually laughing again. But man, with full time
hit in that weather hit and that was football weather,
I was like, oh man, it's like I should be
still young enough. I could still play. And that desire
(29:21):
started to come back. And then I started working out
again and you know, you know, steroids, no nothing, and
was getting stronger and everything was falling into place, and
I thought, you know, I could try to make some
rights out of the wrongs that I had done. There
were some wrongs that I had done that were just
not capable of making right, because there was they were
(29:42):
just so wrong and damaging. But I thought, at least
go make an attempt to go back if somebody even
gives you a chance, and kind of keep your mouth
shut you earn your money for a change and give
that organization, whichever organization that may be, everything you've got,
(30:05):
leave nothing on the plate. And I was lucky enough
to get that chance with Indy, and it made crystal
clear with them that they knew the whole story, and
I told them everything. I told them the truth. And
I said, so, really, what you're getting is damaged goods
(30:28):
and you're taking a chance, and why should a team
take a chance on me? And I thought, you know,
And I thought to myself, you know, why should a
team take a chance on me? Because chances are I
wouldn't because I knew once I get a chance, now
I have a chance to make it. Just because they
(30:48):
sign it doesn't mean you make it, but it's a
step closer. And I know that if so Briany was impossible, happened.
And I'm happy that football was a detail because I
already knew how to get there. I just had to
(31:09):
do it without the steroids, and I knew that was possible.
I knew the training techniques, I knew the fundamentals, I
knew the foot speed thing. I've been doing it my
whole life, and I just had to start catching up
because I was three years out of the league, and
even at twenty years old, you're starting to get on
the middle to latter part.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Of a career.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
But I had played four and then been out three
and you know, abusing my body with chemicals. So and
you know, at the end of three years of indie
it was time to retire because my shoulder had just
took a beating. Going into it, I looked at more
of it like just kind of make some amends, quiet amends,
make some things right that were wrong, say some internal demons,
(31:56):
and proved yourself you can play without the use of steroids.
And those things happened. But in the bigger scheme of things,
and looking at the story and my whole story, that
is a crucial, crucial element to the story that confirms
and reiterates that, you know, sobriety works, and do things
(32:23):
the right way, and you don't even have to be
have a drug problem or alcoholia. Just do things the
right way the first time, so you don't have to
go back if you ever get the opportunity to go
back in anything, in school, anything, there's a much easier
way to live. So when I had retired ninety eight
nineteen ninety eight from Indianapolis because of my shoulder injury.
(32:46):
I kind of took well, I was going to force
myself to take a month off of really not doing
anything or looking for any kind of a job, and
just to kind of, you know, deprogram and just kind
of take a breath, because it seemed like it had
been go, go go since I walked into that treatment center.
And you know, that lasted about a week. And then
(33:09):
I just pull out a piece of paper and ask myself,
if I could be anywhere, live anywhere, and do anything,
where would it be and what would it be. The
answers were either southern California, Arizona, or Nevada. And so
(33:31):
really the answer on paper was to move to Arizona
and to become a professional photographer, which to me means
that's what you're doing to make a living.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
And that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And you know, you go from a multiple six figure salary,
you leave that multiple six figure salary and you make
thirty eight thousand dollars your next year doing what you
love and a lot of people will say that that's
not the greatest move in the world, but the value
(34:09):
of being able to sleep at night carried more value
than the paycheck. And don't get me wrong, paycheck is
good and to be able to sleep at night is good,
but if it comes down to one or the other,
I'd rather be able to sleep at night. But really,
that's what I did. I followed what I love to do,
and then it was like, figure out a way to
(34:30):
monetize it. And that's what I did. And there's been,
you know, great years of revenue and there's been not
so great years of revenue with photography, but it's been
in total relation to how much effort is put in
by me.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
So you know, it's fundamentals.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
And it makes me think of people like Nick Saban
and people like George Purlis and these coaches that have
been not as those two coaches, but many more that
I haven't even mentioned that have influenced the rest of
my life via the football field because of how they taught.
(35:12):
And at that time when we were on the football field,
little did we know that they were not only teaching
us about football, but they were teaching us about life.
I know that they knew it, but when you're nineteen
twenty years old in your bulletproof.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
It's no this is football coaching. And that's it. And
they were football coaching.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
But you take those fundamentals and you can apply them
to anything and you'll have success if you execute them.
That's why I think it's so important to share. Like
everybody has a story, and I think it's one of
the most valuable things a person has is their story.
And a lot of people will say their story is insignificant,
(35:54):
and that's a bunch of bs, because everybody has a
story and everybody or matters because the biggest key is
the person that you're sharing or the people that you're
sharing your story with, if they can relate to your story.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
And I know they will.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
You know, Okay, they won't be able to relate to
go in a football camp for the most most part,
ninety nine percent of them won't, but they'll be able
to relate to ninety nine percent of the rest of
my story. Because pain is pain, you know, Emotional pain
is emotional pain. Whether you're you know, mom raising kids
at home, which is probably the toughest job in the world,
(36:35):
to construction worker, a pro athlete, engineer, an architect, doctor,
doesn't matter what it is.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Pain is pain.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
And I used to think I was unique, which almost
killed me, and that my pain would be unique or
was greater than other people's pain until I got sober,
and then I realized, you know what, you know different
than anybody. Everybody has hardships, and not everybody pulls through hardships.
(37:08):
So what's your decision? Do you want to pull through this?
If you do, what's your motivation? And if you don't
want to pull through this and kind of want to
lay low and you know, crawl in a cave and
kind of hide and live that kind of a life,
that's an option too. But that's not the way I
was wired. I was wired to try to make as
(37:32):
much right of the wrongs that I had done and
continue that, you know, the rest of your life.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
And what a story you've just heard.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
And we're talking about Tony Manderitch's story. And by the way,
what a remarkable thing the Indianapolis Colts did. You're getting
damaged goods, he said to them, And you're going to
have to take a chance on me. And in the end,
we've got to take a chance on people, folks. Tony
Manderitch's story a remarkable Americans, even though he was born
in Canada, this was indeed an American story.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Here on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites.
Tony Mandrich was considered the best offensive line prospect ever
(00:31):
during his collegiate career at Michigan State. Legendary college coach
Nick Saban, who was an assistant at the time at
Michigan State and who discovered Mandridge, said that he was
quote probably the most dominant offensive lineman that I have
ever been around.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Mandrich entered the NFL as the highest paid offensive lineman
in league history. Then, Manderich's story was immortalized by two
Sports Illustrated covers, one hailing him as the Incredible bulk
heading into the nineteen eighty nine draft, and then one
in nineteen ninety two calling him the NFL's Incredible Bust
(01:09):
as his four year career in Green Bay came to
a halting end. Here's Mandrich to share his story.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Growing up was actually fantastic for me. I had a
great childhood, great parents, great siblings, and ironically, although we're
talking about our American stories. I am Canadian, but I've
spent most of my years now fifty three years old,
(01:39):
most of my life has been spent stayside, and so
growing up in Canada, to say that you played street hockey.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Or you know, on the road, you know, in your.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Neighborhood was a common thing, and you know, watching a
lot of hockey and things like that. A lot of
the stereotypes that Americans have, and I think just people
of Canada are true a very liberal country. Tons of
first generation immigrants, which my parents were. My parents came
(02:11):
over in nineteen fifty five to escape communism from former
Yugoslavia and to start a better life for their family
and kids, and that's basically what they did. So, you know,
my childhood was great. It was just it was in
the greater Toronto area. We're forty five minute drive from Buffalo,
(02:32):
three hour drive from Detroit. So when it came to
NFL Sundays, I got to see a lot of the
Detroit Lions and a lot of the Buffalo Bills. And
then when it came to college football, we'd see a
lot of the Big Ten schools on TV.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
But you know, to sum up my childhood, I would say.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
A very accurate phrase would be I definitely didn't have
everything I wanted, but I definitely had everything I needed.
It was all a great experience. And then as you
grow up into your adolescent years, you start to have dreams.
And I remember, at age eleven, which is pretty young,
my oldest daughter, I mean, my youngest daughter right.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Now is twenty one.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
So when I saw her at eleven, it was kind
of a wake up call for me, because you don't
realize how young of a person.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
That is when they're that age.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And when I think about it, it was at eleven
I took out a piece of paper and wrote down
what I was going to be when I grew up,
or what I wanted to be when I grow up,
and that was to become a professional football player in
the NFL and to be to become a professional photographer.
You know, for me, these things were normal. As I
(03:46):
grew older, I realized they weren't normal because not everybody
did the things that I did. Not everybody took out
a piece of paper and did short term, midterm, long
term goals. For me, it was like, I don't know
why I did that. It seemed natural and then you know,
and then I would at the end of the three
months for the short term goals, if I'm not reaching
(04:07):
those goals, the short term goals, I need to find
out why. And if I don't know why, then I
need to reset my short term goals and reset my
midterm goals, because my long term ones still might be
the end game of making it to the NFL and
then becoming a photographer or whatever. I had three years
under my belt in Canada of high school football, so
(04:29):
by the end of my junior year, it was like,
you know, and we're talking nineteen eighty two nineteen eighty three,
there wasn't very many American colleges coming up to Canada
to recruit potential football players. Yes there was for hockey,
but not so much for football, because you know, high
(04:50):
school football and college football and pro football, those pinnacles
are all state side. If you really want to be honest,
I mean, let's not kid our if you want to
if you if your football is your dream, you got
to go stateside. If hockey is your dream, you know,
I hope you're born in Canada.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
So it's it's it's.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Interesting and I knew that after that third year both
my brother and I knew that we needed to make
some kind of a decision that was gonna help me
get exposure and some American coaching in Ohio at that time,
where I ended up going for my senior year high school.
(05:31):
You know, Ohio was one of the what they called
the Big three, one of the big three states for
high school football. It was Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida were
the three biggest kind of states. So my brother was
going to Kent State University at the time in Ohio
and Kent, Ohio, and we were kicking them around the
(05:52):
idea of me coming down there for my senior year
living with him, and he was going into a senior
year year of college, and I was going I would
be going into my senior year of high school and
for the really the sole purpose of getting exposure and
getting some American coaching to you know, become a better
(06:15):
football player. You know, we talked about it with my
parents and you know, they were like, if that's what
you really really want to do, and they knew I
wanted to had been it was my whole life.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
It was that's all I talked about.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
And you know, my brother, you know, a huge kudos
to him for, you know, taking a sacrifice of bringing
on your little brothers and a senior in high school
and you're and he's a big man on campus as
a football player because he was having a very good career,
ended up getting drafted in the first round in the
Canadian Football League. So you know, he he wanted what
(06:50):
was for the greater good of his younger brother and
Kent Roosevelt High School had four or five athletes that
were being recruited for full scholarships to Division one schools.
So that was great for me because that would bring
those scouts to our games. And then hopefully then it
was up to me. Then now you need to get
(07:12):
yourself noticed by playing above and beyond what you think
you can play.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And when we continue more of the life of Tony
Manderich in his own words here on our American Stories. Folks,
if you love the stories we tell about this great country,
and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that
all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation,
(07:40):
culture and faith are brought to us by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all
the things that are beautiful in life and all the
things that are good in life.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And if you can't get.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
To Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free
and terrific online courses.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Go to Hillsdale dot edu to learn more.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And we continue with our American stories and the story
of Tony Manderich who went from being one of the
all time great draft picks to well bus town and
his life story, well, it's instructive on so many levels
and so compelling. Let's return to Tony Manderrich in his
own words about his own American story.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Pieces fell into place and I ended up getting a
scholarship offered at Michigan State. Nick Saban was a defensive
back coach at Michigan State at the time and he
in Ohio was his area. So when you know, after
several meetings with coach Saban when I was being recruited
out of Carolsevelt, ended up signing with Michigan State and
(08:55):
that was their offensive line was junior's going into their
senior year most of their starters, So coming in as
a freshman, the chances of starting are pretty low. But
if you get a year of experience under your belt
by getting red shirted by the second year, you know,
(09:15):
with all those guys graduating, the jobs up for anybody,
all those jobs. So that was like a major decision
for me on going there. Nick was a major decision.
The way he was, the way he was straightforward. There
was no bs, there was no salesmanship in it, there
was no sliminess about it, there was no it was
all straightforward. This is what we got, this is what
(09:38):
we can do for you, and this can potentially be
the result if you put the work in and I
understand that language, and then you know. The head coach
was George Perlis, who you know, was a four time
Super Bowl winner as a defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh in
the seventies. So that was a major decision because of George.
(09:59):
I was like, I want to get to that level.
Here's a guy that's got four super Bowl rings recently,
and he's going to be able to call a spade
a spade and say, look, Tony, you just ain't got it.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
You just don't have what it takes.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And you know, and there's nothing you can do as
far as working at it that will make it better
because you just don't have the athletic ability. You know,
He's the type of guy that would say that to you,
and he wouldn't say it to you in a malicious way.
He'd say it to it in an honest way. And
if he did think you had ability, he'd say, you
know what, you do have ability, but you have a
lot of work to do. So you know, you get
(10:34):
there for camp, and once you got through camp, you know,
you pick a roommate. And I had a great roommate,
a great guy still you know, still keep in contact
with him, John Buddy. And so I kind of did
what I did when I was eleven. I pulled out
that piece of paper and started writing the goals for
(10:55):
the next five four to five years. And you know,
I wanted to be become a starter. Then I wanted
to become all Big ten. Then I wanted to become
all American, and then I wanted to be the first
player taken.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
In the draft.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And my roommate, whose brother at the time was playing
for the Kansas City Chiefs and his dad had played
for the Kansas City Chiefs, and I mean iconic family
as far as football in Kansas City and just phenomenal people.
He was like, what do you know, what are you
writing or what are you doing? I said, just writing
my goals down and now only known this guy for
(11:32):
two three weeks, he wanted to read him. So usually
that's something I would not share with anybody. So I
let him read him and you could see his face
expression change as he got to the latter part of
the list, because that's where it was like become the
first player taking it, become all American, then first player
taken in the draft, and he was like first player
(11:57):
taken in the draft. He's like, there's only one a
year And I.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Said, I know. I said, why not it be me?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
And you know that phrase of why not me became
a very common phrase in my life, in my head,
in my vocabulary, if you will, so you know, every
decision I made, I would ask myself, you know, is
this get me closer to my goal? Or is this
a distraction? But I was very careful on the decisions
(12:31):
I made. And then if I saw like, oh, how
would I describe it an unstable crowd of people, I
had a choice to say, you know what, this is
going to escalate probably at some point tonight, and do
I really want to be around this and chance losing
(12:51):
my scholarship and by getting involved with you know, my
ego not backing down from somebody cause I I might
have more to lose than they do. You know, the
five years I was at Michigan State, I chose to
use steroids. Not the best decision in the world.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
It was against NCAA rules, Yet I still chose to
use them because my gut feeling was that to make
it to the next level at my position, Uh, you
pretty much have to use steroids.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
And that's not true. Although I believed it.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
That was something that uh, a topic that I would
not want to discuss with teammates or anybody, because I
knew it was wrong and I thought it through, and
I thought about the worst potential thing that could happen,
and I was like, no, I'm still willing to pay
the consequence if that happens, cause I felt that if
I didn't do it, I wouldn't be giving it my all,
(13:55):
you know. And and did I cheat on drug tests?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I did, and to pass drug tests. You know, I
was introduced to it.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
By my brother. You know, I thought about it for.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Months and then and that's where that desire to become
the greatest outweighed the desire of getting caught, there was
obviously suspicions, but then there was obviously phrases like yeah,
but do you see how he works out?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
But do you see that he's here before other people
work out and then he does the workout that is
mandatory and then goes above and beyond does his own workout.
You know, Yeah, do you see that he stays here
later than when everybody when they leave because he's you know,
doing film work or trying to get better at something. So,
(14:49):
you know, if steroids were the only thing that had
made me an All American and All Big ten Lineman
of the Year twice, you know American twice, you know,
finishing the running for the Outland Trophy, finishing and the
running for the Heisman Trophy, being drafted second overall. If
(15:10):
steroids were the only factor, then wouldn't most people have
that kind of result? And I think there's a certain,
you know, naiveness in society that you just take them
and stuff happens. Well, you can take them and do
nothing and nothing will happen. You have to do the work.
(15:34):
You have to do the work, regardless whether you're taking
them or not. You have to do the work, and
you have to do it at a level that's higher
than you ever thought you could do it, and you
have to do it day in and day out, and
there's not many people that are willing to do that
type of work in society for any career.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Bay Packers will make it official. Drawn tackle Tony Mandrich
down about that one.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Well, when I you know, when I left college, I
had stopped taking the steroids because I knew the NFL's
testing system was much more sophisticated than college, and there
was enough rumors going around about the steroids in my
name that I was like, you know what, I need
to disassociate myself with that and kind of get away
(16:31):
from it. So I did, but almost immediately within a week,
I had kind of you know, filled that void with
you know, painkillers. I was like, all of a sudden,
painkillers became I noticed when I took painkillers a lot
of the problems weren't as big as they were before.
I would swallow those seven or eight painkillers, And the
(16:52):
alcohol came into play fairly heavily when it was difficult
to get the prescriptions because the demand for the prescription
was you know, you can't fill a narcotic too early,
so then you try to get multiple doctors, writing multiple
scripts to different pharmacies, and it becomes a full time job.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
You know, it consumes your life. You know it was.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Before I got sober, and even going into the last
three years of my drinking and drugging, I had been
kicked out of Green Bay in ninety two. I didn't
get sober till I was in March till March twenty
third to ninety five. And after leaving Green Bay, I
thought it can't get worse.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderitch and boy, this
is real and this is raw, and you're thinking, my goodness,
how could a guy have blown it?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
How could he have made that decision?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But folks, we've all been there Tony Manderich's real life story.
When we continue here on our American stories, and we
(18:09):
continue here on our American stories, you're listening to Tony
Mandrich and my goodness, you've heard the story of how
he got into the NFL, into the Green Bay packers,
and in the end, well, he had to stop doing
the steroids. He knew he'd get busted, and what he
replaced it with was opioids and ultimately alcohol, and boy,
(18:30):
there's a lot of pain involved in the NFL, especially
training and training through the pain, and so now he
was an addict of a different sort. Let's return to
Tony Mandrich and his story.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
After leaving Green Bay, I thought it can't get worse.
And then two months later, my brother had passed away
from terminal skin cancer. And nine to twelve months later,
after my brother passes away, my parents get divorced after
forty plus years of marriage, after everything they've gone through,
escaping from communist countries, coming to Canada with no money
(19:07):
and not knowing how to speak English and making it
that foundation was gone, and your hero and your mentor
my brother.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Was gone, and I was.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I guess it'd be an understatement to say that I
felt like an epic fail was right there in front
of me. And you know, things kept getting worse. And
I thought to myself, you know what, I'm going to
stop saying things can't get worse, because every time I
say it, something bad happens. But it stayed bad for
another year, and then you know what changed it for
(19:45):
me was, you know, there was a conversation with a
good friend of mine that it was kind of like
the final catalyst that made me make a decision on
putting myself in treatment. But really boiling it down to
what it really was, it was emotional pain. It was
the the pain of guilt, the pain of shame, the
(20:10):
pain of letting people down. All those things had become
greater than the desire to get high. It was consuming
the desire to get high. It had overwhelmed that. You know,
getting high at one time was a solution and it
felt good. But at some point that solution became the problem.
(20:36):
And then you get yourself in a situation where you
know you can't live with it and you can't live
without it, and that's a tough one because it's a
catch twenty two.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
And where do I go from here?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And you're a hamster on a hamster wheel. And all
I needed then was that catalyst of that friend of
mine reminding me that if you don't change where you're doing,
you're going to die. And I was ready to hear it,
and I was like, Okay, what can we do about it?
Because everything I've tried, in every way i've tried to
stop has failed. And I'm not sure that it's in
(21:13):
it for me. I'm not sure that I'm supposed to
get sober, and I never ever was mad at God.
I believe God the whole in God the whole time.
I was never mad at God. You know why me did?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
I never?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Internally, I never played a victim, poor pitiful me. I
was like, no, you call spade a spade. Even when
I was messed up, I was like, you call a
spade a spade, Say what it is. You're a drug addict.
I went into treatment in a treatment center in Detroit.
You know, I always remember day five and day eleven
out of the seventeen days, or the two days I
remember the most because they were the most impactful. Day five,
(21:55):
we had a meeting with a counselor with like eight
patient that were impatient, me being one of them, and
she said, before we start the meeting, she said, I
just want you all to take into consideration that your
best thinking and your best plans in life got you here.
(22:16):
And that was the Louisville slugger hitting me in the face.
I was like, Wow, she's right, And at that time,
every decision I made in my life brought me to
that moment sitting in that treatment center outside of Detroit,
and I thought, God, I could have picked California or
something nice. You know, I'm here in Detroit, you know.
(22:38):
And then at day day eleven, I started laughing again.
And I didn't think that that would happen, not really
in a genuine fashion. I thought that the fund was
pretty much over for the most part. But I'd rather
live a boring, sober life. Was better than living a miserable,
(22:59):
drinking and drugging life. I started laughing again, just from
us patients sharing stories amongst each other and some of
the nonsense that we had done. And you could relate
to the guy that worked for the municipality that was
running a backo digging ditches in Detroit. You could totally
(23:19):
relate to what he was saying. And here I was
a pro football player, and I understood exactly what he
was saying. And I understood exactly about his craving of
he couldn't wait to get off of work and get
home and you know, pop some pills and drink some
alcohol or get to the bar.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
The guy could relate. And there was politicians in there.
There was tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people, men, women, black, white, Asian,
any culture you could think. The disease did not discriminate.
It took people's lives, but we all shared a very
(23:56):
very common thing, and it was the majority already of
the people's stories we could relate to. You take away
a few things that have to do with a job,
circumstance or whatever, or what role they played in their
community or society, and you remove that eighty percent of
(24:17):
the rest of that person you can relate to one
hundred percent and feel their pain and feel their relief
and feel everything that they've gone through, and you're like, gosh,
there's you mean, there's other people out there that feel
this way and have gone through this and are going
through this. Because I thought I was unique and I
(24:38):
was the only one when we would laugh at that stuff.
And I remember on day eleven sitting on my bed
and the treatment center, and my stomach was hurting from laughing.
And that was the first that was probably the first
(24:58):
time in ten years that my stuf I had hurt
from laughing, and I thought, you know, total opposite of
what I thought would ever happen. I forgot all about
that feeling of what that felt like. And then my
next thought was, you know, I'm not sure what's happening here.
(25:21):
But whatever it is, I'm digging my nails into it
and I'm not letting go. And then six seven days later,
I had left treatment. It was a thirty day program.
I stayed seventeen. I was paying out of pocket and
I was running out of money, and you know, they said,
(25:44):
you know, we want you to stay thirty and I said, well,
if you're willing to pick up the tab, I'll stay thirty.
And of course, you know, they're running a business too,
and I understand, and I was like, you know, I
feel that I get it.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
I get it. It's pretty crystal clear.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
And I'm sure that a lot of people say that
to you guys, and then two days later they're back
out using I said, but.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
And I know it's only been seventeen days. But these
instructions that you've given me for when I do leave
to do these things, I've already started making calls to
do these things and preparing. You know, when they did
the statistics of X amount of people percentages will stay
(26:35):
sober for you know, one week or less after they
leave treatment, and thirty days and less, six months less
and a.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Year or less, we're staggering.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
And then you know, it's like less than one percent
of the people will stay sober the rest of their life.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderich, and my goodness,
the pain, the guilt and the shame were overwhelming and
overwhelmed the desire to get high. Tony Manderich was ready
to change his life. And when we come back, we're
going to continue his story, Tony Manderich's remarkable story here
on our American Stories. And we continue with our American
(27:39):
stories and Tony Manderich's story.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
When they did the statistics of X amount of people
percentages will stay sober for staggering, and you know, it's
like less than one percent of the people who will
stay sober the rest of their life. And for me,
that inner voice said, why not me? I mean, why
not why not me be the one.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
That does that?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
They needed, they need to fill a percentage, So I'll
fill that percent And and I've been sober ever since.
I think in the first five years I was well,
I know, the first five years I was sober, I
averaged a minimum of a meeting a day, a twelve
(28:27):
step meeting if and there were some days I'd go
to two, and it wasn't like I'd go to them
because I felt like I was going to drink that day.
It was like I was going to them to grow
as a person, even sober. You know, you don't become
(28:48):
a saint just because you get sober. And when I
left treatment, I had no intention, zero intention of.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Going back to play.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I was so happy to be sober, because I thought
that that was impossible. I was so happy to be
sober and actually laughing again. But man, with full time
hit in that weather hit and that was football weather,
I was like, oh man, it's like I should be
still young enough. I could still play. And that desire
(29:21):
started to come back. And then I started working out
again and you know, you know, steroids, no nothing, and
was getting stronger and everything was falling into place, and
I thought, you know, I could try to make some
rights out of the wrongs that I had done. There
were some wrongs that I had done that were just
not capable of making right, because there was they were
(29:42):
just so wrong and damaging. But I thought, at least
go make an attempt to go back if somebody even
gives you a chance, and kind of keep your mouth
shut you earn your money for a change and give
that organization, whichever organization that may be, everything you've got,
(30:05):
leave nothing on the plate. And I was lucky enough
to get that chance with Indy, and it made crystal
clear with them that they knew the whole story, and
I told them everything. I told them the truth. And
I said, so, really, what you're getting is damaged goods
(30:28):
and you're taking a chance, and why should a team
take a chance on me? And I thought, you know,
And I thought to myself, you know, why should a
team take a chance on me? Because chances are I
wouldn't because I knew once I get a chance, now
I have a chance to make it. Just because they
(30:48):
sign it doesn't mean you make it, but it's a
step closer. And I know that if so Briany was impossible, happened.
And I'm happy that football was a detail because I
already knew how to get there. I just had to
(31:09):
do it without the steroids, and I knew that was possible.
I knew the training techniques, I knew the fundamentals, I
knew the foot speed thing. I've been doing it my
whole life, and I just had to start catching up
because I was three years out of the league, and
even at twenty years old, you're starting to get on
the middle to latter part.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Of a career.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
But I had played four and then been out three
and you know, abusing my body with chemicals. So and
you know, at the end of three years of indie
it was time to retire because my shoulder had just
took a beating. Going into it, I looked at more
of it like just kind of make some amends, quiet amends,
make some things right that were wrong, say some internal demons,
(31:56):
and proved yourself you can play without the use of steroids.
And those things happened. But in the bigger scheme of things,
and looking at the story and my whole story, that
is a crucial, crucial element to the story that confirms
and reiterates that, you know, sobriety works, and do things
(32:23):
the right way, and you don't even have to be
have a drug problem or alcoholia. Just do things the
right way the first time, so you don't have to
go back if you ever get the opportunity to go
back in anything, in school, anything, there's a much easier
way to live. So when I had retired ninety eight
nineteen ninety eight from Indianapolis because of my shoulder injury.
(32:46):
I kind of took well, I was going to force
myself to take a month off of really not doing
anything or looking for any kind of a job, and
just to kind of, you know, deprogram and just kind
of take a breath, because it seemed like it had
been go, go go since I walked into that treatment center.
And you know, that lasted about a week. And then
(33:09):
I just pull out a piece of paper and ask myself,
if I could be anywhere, live anywhere, and do anything,
where would it be and what would it be. The
answers were either southern California, Arizona, or Nevada. And so
(33:31):
really the answer on paper was to move to Arizona
and to become a professional photographer, which to me means
that's what you're doing to make a living.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
And that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And you know, you go from a multiple six figure salary,
you leave that multiple six figure salary and you make
thirty eight thousand dollars your next year doing what you
love and a lot of people will say that that's
not the greatest move in the world, but the value
(34:09):
of being able to sleep at night carried more value
than the paycheck. And don't get me wrong, paycheck is
good and to be able to sleep at night is good,
but if it comes down to one or the other,
I'd rather be able to sleep at night. But really,
that's what I did. I followed what I love to do,
and then it was like, figure out a way to
(34:30):
monetize it. And that's what I did. And there's been,
you know, great years of revenue and there's been not
so great years of revenue with photography, but it's been
in total relation to how much effort is put in
by me.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
So you know, it's fundamentals.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
And it makes me think of people like Nick Saban
and people like George Purlis and these coaches that have
been not as those two coaches, but many more that
I haven't even mentioned that have influenced the rest of
my life via the football field because of how they taught.
(35:12):
And at that time when we were on the football field,
little did we know that they were not only teaching
us about football, but they were teaching us about life.
I know that they knew it, but when you're nineteen
twenty years old in your bulletproof.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
It's no this is football coaching. And that's it. And
they were football coaching.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
But you take those fundamentals and you can apply them
to anything and you'll have success if you execute them.
That's why I think it's so important to share. Like
everybody has a story, and I think it's one of
the most valuable things a person has is their story.
And a lot of people will say their story is insignificant,
(35:54):
and that's a bunch of bs, because everybody has a
story and everybody or matters because the biggest key is
the person that you're sharing or the people that you're
sharing your story with, if they can relate to your story.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
And I know they will.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
You know, Okay, they won't be able to relate to
go in a football camp for the most most part,
ninety nine percent of them won't, but they'll be able
to relate to ninety nine percent of the rest of
my story. Because pain is pain, you know, Emotional pain
is emotional pain. Whether you're you know, mom raising kids
at home, which is probably the toughest job in the world,
(36:35):
to construction worker, a pro athlete, engineer, an architect, doctor,
doesn't matter what it is.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Pain is pain.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
And I used to think I was unique, which almost
killed me, and that my pain would be unique or
was greater than other people's pain until I got sober,
and then I realized, you know what, you know different
than anybody. Everybody has hardships, and not everybody pulls through hardships.
(37:08):
So what's your decision? Do you want to pull through this?
If you do, what's your motivation? And if you don't
want to pull through this and kind of want to
lay low and you know, crawl in a cave and
kind of hide and live that kind of a life,
that's an option too. But that's not the way I
was wired. I was wired to try to make as
(37:32):
much right of the wrongs that I had done and
continue that, you know, the rest of your life.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
And what a story you've just heard.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
And we're talking about Tony Manderitch's story. And by the way,
what a remarkable thing the Indianapolis Colts did. You're getting
damaged goods, he said to them, And you're going to
have to take a chance on me. And in the end,
we've got to take a chance on people, folks. Tony
Manderitch's story a remarkable Americans, even though he was born
in Canada, this was indeed an American story.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Here on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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