Collins shares story across RI

Posted 8/19/14

At the age of 9, Tony Collins informed his mother that he was going to play in the National Football League. For most of his life, that goal remained his sole focus, but it was his path into – and …

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Collins shares story across RI

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At the age of 9, Tony Collins informed his mother that he was going to play in the National Football League. For most of his life, that goal remained his sole focus, but it was his path into – and out of – the NFL that led him to a new purpose.

The former New England Patriot running back is touring high schools in his old stomping grounds this month, part of his new career as a motivational speaker. He shares his story with student-athletes, coaches and their parents. He offers his advice on college recruiting, but it’s his focus on the need for good choices – and his own cautionary tale – that resonates.

“I always thought my purpose in life was to play in the NFL,” Collins told students from Cranston East and Cranston West on Sunday. “This is my purpose.”

Collins grew up in a small town in upstate New York, the 15th of 16 children in his family. From an early age, football was his thing.

“My brothers would go inside and I would stay outside all by myself,” Collins said. “I was making moves, I heard the crowd, I could hear the cheerleaders. At the age of 9, I was in the NFL in my mind.”

He starred in high school and drew interest from Division I schools. He ended up at East Carolina, where he continued to excel. His blazing speed made him one of the top running backs in the Pirates’ conference.

In the classroom, it was a different story. Collins told the crowd Sunday that they were allowed to laugh for a few seconds when he told them his freshman year GPA.

It was .7.

That was the first chapter in his cautionary tale, and Collins reminds students and their parents everywhere he goes that academics have to go hand-in-hand with athletic success.

“You’re not just competing on the field,” Collins said. “You’re also competing in the classroom. The most important thing you have to do to get to the next level is your school work.”

Collins rallied in the classroom and carried a B average through the rest of his collegiate career. He continued to shine on the field and was selected in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft by the Patriots.

He made an impact immediately and became a star soon enough, earning a Pro Bowl spot in 1983 and leading the Patriots to the Super Bowl in 1986.

“I have arrived,” he said. “Everything is great. I’m loving life.”

Things changed quickly. Collins suffered cracked ribs while he was with the Patriots, and in an effort to stay on the field, he started taking cortisone shots and pain pills. To combat the stomach pain that the pills caused, he started smoking marijuana.

It was the beginning of a downward spiral that included hanging with the wrong crowd and moving from marijuana to cocaine. The spiral ended with a positive drug test and a suspension from the NFL.

When the Patriots released him after another positive test, he was picked up by the Colts. He was determined to stay clean but another test came back positive, after Collins said he was exposed to second-hand smoke at a party.

Collins was suspended for a full season. He hooked on with the Miami Dolphins the next year but his career was never the same.

“The choices you make, not only will they affect you, they will affect people that love you,” Collins said. “I hurt a lot of people.”

Collins stayed out of the spotlight, avoiding his hometown and his alma mater and New England.

“My career ended shorter than it should have ended,” he said. “I was ashamed of what I had done. The positive person I used to be, I started to become negative.”

When he met his wife, his life took a positive turn, and that turn led him to his speaking career. He’s also authored a book entitled “Broken Road: Turning My Mess into a Message.”

He wants to make a difference.

“It took one person to change my way of thinking, for me to stop thinking negative,” Collins said. “I know it took one person to change my way. If I can’t change every school, I’m all about changing one person at a time.”

Collins focuses much of his message on what it takes to get to the next level, from work ethic to success in the classroom, but the heart of the message is the importance of good choices.

His own choices made a dream come true and then snatched it away, but he’s grateful that he’s telling that story now.

“The better choices you make, the more opportunities you’re going to have,” he told the crowd Sunday. “Make as many good choices as you can possibly make.”

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