Tony Mandarich Was NFL’s Biggest Bust, Then He Rebuilt His Life

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See AT&T.com slash Samsung for details. 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 stories send them to OurAmericanStories.com. They're some of our favorites. Tony Mandarich was considered the best offensive line prospect ever 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 Mandarich said that he was quote probably the most dominant offensive lineman that I have ever been around end quote. Mandarich entered the NFL as the highest paid offensive lineman in league history. Then Mandarich's story was immortalized by two Sports Illustrated covers.

One hailing him as the incredible bulk heading into the 1989 draft and then one in 1992 calling him the NFL's incredible bust as his four-year career in Green Bay came to a halting end. Here's Mandarich to share his story. 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 53 years old most of my life has been spent stay side and so growing up in Canada to say that you played street hockey or you know on the road you know in your neighborhood was a common thing and you know watching a lot of hockey and things like that there's a lot of the stereotypes that Americans have and I think just people have of Canada are true. Very liberal country, tons of first generation immigrants which my parents were my parents came over in 1955 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 45 minute drive from Buffalo, 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 but you know to sum up my childhood you know I would say a very accurate phrase would be I definitely didn't have everything I wanted but I definitely had everything I needed. It was all great experience and then as you grow up into your adolescent years you start to have dreams and I remember at age 11 which is pretty young my oldest daughter right I mean my youngest daughter right now is 21 so when I saw her at 11 it was kind of a wake-up call for me because you don't realize how young of a person that is when they're that age and when I think about it it was at 11 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 out in the NFL and to be to become a professional photographer you know for me these things were normal as I 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 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 whatever I had three years under my belt in Canada of high school football so by the end of my junior year it was like you know now we're talking 1982 1983 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 school football and college football and pro football those pinnacles are all stateside if you really want to be honest I mean let's not kid ourselves if you want to if you want if you football is your dream you got to go stateside if hockey is your dream you know hope you're born in Canada so it's it's it's 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 and Ohio at that time where I ended up going for my senior year high school 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 in Kent Ohio and we were kicking around the idea of me coming down there for my senior year living with him and he was going into a senior 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 football player you know we talked about it with my parents and you know they they were like if that's what you really really want to do and they knew I wanted to I'd been it was my whole life it was that's all I talked about and you know my brother you know a huge kudos to him for you know taking a sacrifice of bringing on your little brother who's 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 was he wanted what 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 it was now you need to get yourself noticed by playing above and beyond what you think you can play and when we continue more of the life of Tony Mandarich 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 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 and if you can't get to Hillsdale Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses go to hillsdale.edu to learn more step into the world of power loyalty and luck i'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse with family cannolis and spins mean everything now you want to get mixed up in the family business introducing the godfather at champa casino.com test your luck in the shadowy world of the godfather slot someday i will call upon you to do a service for me play the godfather now at champa casino.com welcome to the family no purchase necessary vgw group where prohibited by law 18 terms and conditions apply from kickoff to touchdown tcl roku tvs are the best way to stream your favorite live sports with all the biggest sports channels a sports zone with all the available games in one place and apps like iheart radio with sports podcasts such as the herd with colin cowherd that launch in a snap cheering on your favorite team has never been easier a big screen tcl roku tv offers premium picture and sound quality so you'll feel like you're right in the action find the perfect tcl roku tv for you today at go.tcl.com slash tcl roku tv this episode is brought to you by navy federal credit union it's a special thing to be a member of navy federal because they are a member-owned not-for-profit credit union that invests in its members with amazing rates and low fees that's why members could earn and save more every year plus they serve all branches of the armed forces veterans and their families so if you're interested in becoming a member learn more at navy federal.org at navy federal credit union our members are the mission insured by ncu.a and we continue with our american stories and the story of tony mandarich who went from being one of the all-time great draft picks to well bust town and his life story well it's instructive on so many levels and so compelling let's return to tony mandarich in his own words about his own american story pieces fell into place and i ended up getting a scholarship offered at michigan state nick saben was the 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 with coach saben when i was being recruited out of kent roosevelt i ended up signing with michigan state and that was uh their offensive line was uh juniors 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 redshirted by the second year you know with all those guys graduating the job's up for anybody all those jobs so that was like a major decision for me on going there nick was a major decision um 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 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 pearles who you know was a four-time super bowl winner as a defensive coordinator at pittsburgh in the 70s so that was a major decision because of george um i was like if 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 you just don't have what it takes 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 there for camp and once you got through camp um you know you pick a roommate pick a roommate and i had a great roommate a great guy still you know still keeping contact with him john buddy and so i kind of did what i did when i was 11 i pulled out that piece of paper and started writing the goals for the next five four to five years and you know i wanted to become a starter uh then i wanted to become all big 10 then i wanted to become all american and then i wanted to be the first player taken in the draft and my roommate whose brother at the time was playing for the kansas city chiefs um 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 he's known this guy for two three weeks he wanted to read them so usually that's something i would not share with anybody um so i let him read them and 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 um he was like first player taken in the draft he's like there's only one a year and i said i know i said oh why not it be me 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 um but i was very careful on the decisions i made and then if i saw like uh oh how would i describe it an unstable crowd of people um i 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 my scholarship and by getting involved with you know my ego not backing down from somebody because 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 uh 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 and that's not true although i believed it um that was something that a topic that i would not want to discuss with teammates or anybody because i knew it was wrong um 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 because i felt that if i didn't do it i wouldn't be giving it my all you know and and did i cheat on drug tests yes i did in college to pass drug tests you know i was introduced to it um by my brother um you know i thought about it for 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 yeah 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 and 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 you know if steroids were the only thing that had made me an all-american all big time line of the year twice you know all american twice uh you know finishing in the running for the outland trophy finishing in the running for the heisman trophy being drafted second overall if 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 um you have to do the work 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 green bay packers will make it official ron tackle tony manderich michigan state next up was no doubt about that one 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 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 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 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 and it becomes a full-time job you know it consumes your life you know it was 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 92. i didn't get sober till i was in march till march 23rd of 95 and after leaving green bay i thought it can't get worse and you've been listening to tony mandorich and boy this is real and this is raw and you're thinking my goodness how could a guy have blown it how could he have made that decision but folks we've all been there tony mandorich's real life story when we continue here on our american stories from kickoff to touchdown tcl roku tvs are the best way to stream your favorite live sports with all the biggest sports channels a sports zone with all the available games in one place and apps like iheart radio with sports podcasts such as the herd with colin cowherd that launch in a snap cheering on your favorite team has never been easier a big screen tcl roku tv offers premium picture and sound quality so you'll feel like you're right in the action find the perfect tcl roku tv for you today at go.tcl.com slash tcl roku tv this episode is brought to you by navy federal credit union it's a special thing to be a member of navy federal because they are a member-owned not-for-profit credit union that invests in its members with amazing rates and low fees that's why members could earn and save more every year plus they serve all branches of the armed forces veterans and their families so if you're interested in becoming a member learn more at navy federal.org at navy federal credit union our members are the mission insured by ncua are you looking for a super offer for the big game draft king sportsbook has you covered new customers can bet on the big game and turn five bucks into 200 instantly in bonus bets just five bucks into 200 instantly in bonus bets download the draft king sportsbook app now use the code bobby sports when you do new customers can bet just five bucks to get 200 instantly in bonus bets only on draft king sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the nfl with the code bobby sports the crown is yours gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER or in west virginia visit www.1-800-GAMBLER.net in new york call 877-8 HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY 467-369 in connecticut helps available for problem gambling call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org please play responsibly on behalf of boot hill casino and resort in kansas 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction void in ontario bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance see dkng.com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions terms and responsible gaming resources and we 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 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 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 12 months later after my brother passes away my parents get divorced after you know 40 plus years of marriage after everything they've gone through escaping from communist countries coming to canada with no money and not knowing how to speak english and making it that foundation was gone and your hero and your mentor my brother was gone and i was i guess it'd be an understatement to say that i felt like an epic fail um 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 it stayed bad for another year and then you know what changed it for me was you know there was a conversation with a good friend of mine that 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 uh the pain of guilt the pain of shame the 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 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-22 and how to where do i go from here and 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 what 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 it for me i'm not sure that i'm supposed to get sober and i never ever was mad at god i believed god the whole and in god the whole time uh i was never mad at god what you know why me i didn't i never internally i never played a victim poor pitiful me i was like no you're call a 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 the treatment center in detroit you know i always remember day five and day 11 of the 17 days or the two days i remember the most because they were the most impactful day five we had a meeting with a counselor with like eight patients that were inpatient 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 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 and uh and then at the day 11 i started laughing again and i didn't think that that would happen not really in a genuine fashion i i thought that the fun was pretty much over for the most part yeah but i'd rather live a boring sober life was better than living a miserable drinking and drugging life was better than living a miserable 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 backhoe digging ditches in detroit you could totally 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 whatever 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 it the disease did not discriminate it it took people's lives but we all shared a very very common thing and it was the majority 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 their community or society and you remove that 80 of the rest of that person you can relate to 100 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 was the only one when we would laugh at that stuff and i remember on day 11 sitting on my on my bed and the treatment center and my stomach was hurting from laughing and that was the first that was probably the first time in 10 years that my stomach 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 don't i'm not sure what's happening here but whatever it is i'm digging my nails into it and i'm not letting go so and then six seven days later i had left treatment it was a 30-day program i stayed 17 i was paying out of pocket and i was running out of money and you know they said you know we want you to stay 30 and i said well if you're willing to pick up the tab i'll stay 30 and of course you know they're running a business too and i understand and and i and i was like you know i feel that i get it i get it it's pretty crystal clear and 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 i i get it and i know it's only been 17 days but these instructions that you're 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 i did the statistics of x amount of people percentages will stay sober for you know one week or less after they leave treatment and 30 days unless six months less than a year or less were staggering and and then you know it's like less than one percent of the people will stay sober the rest of their life and you've been listening to tony mandarich and my goodness the pain the guilt and the shame were overwhelming and overwhelmed the desire to get high tony mandarich was ready to change his life and when we come back we're going to continue his story tony mandarich's remarkable story here on our american stories from kickoff to touchdown tcl is brought to you by navy federal credit union it's a special thing to be a member of navy federal because they are a member-owned not-for-profit credit union that invests in its members with amazing rates and low fees that's why members could earn and save more every year plus they serve all branches of the armed forces veterans and their families so if you're interested in becoming a member learn more at navy federal.org at navy federal credit union our members are the 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responsible gaming resources and we continue with our american stories and tony mandarich's story let's pick up where we last left off 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 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 that does that they need they need to fill a percentage so i'll fill that percent and um 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 um a 12-step meeting if and there were some days i'd go to two um 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 uh even sober you know you don't become a saint just because you get sober um and when i left treatment i had no intention zero intention of going back to play i was so happy to be sober because i thought that was impossible i was so happy to be sober and actually laughing again but man when fall time hit and that weather hit and it was football weather i was like oh man it's like i should be still young enough i could still play and uh and that desire started to come back and i started working out again and you know no 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 um there were some wrongs that i had done that were just not capable of making right because there was they were just so wrong and damaging but i thought it at least go make an attempt to go back if somebody even gives you a chance and kind of keep your mouth shut earn your earn your money for a change and give that organization whichever organization that may be everything you've got leave nothing on the plate and um i was lucky enough to get that chance with indy and and i it made crystal clear with them that 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 and you're taking a chance and why should a team take a chance on me um and i thought you know and i and i thought to myself you know why should a team take a chance on me uh because chances are i wouldn't because i knew once i get a chance now i have a chance to make it just because just because they sign you doesn't mean you make it but it's a step closer and i know that if sobriety was impossible and it happened and i'm happy that football was a detail because i already knew how to get there i just had to 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 20 years old you're starting to get on the middle to latter part of a career um but i had played four and then been out three and you know abusing my body with chemicals so uh and and you know at the end of three years of indy 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 slay some internal demons and prove to yourself you can play without the use of steroids and those things happened and but the 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 and uh that uh you know sobriety works and do things the right way and you don't even have to be have a drug problem or alcohol 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 in 98 1998 from indianapolis because of my shoulder injury i kind of took like i was gonna 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 i just pulled out a piece of paper and asked 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 uh so really the answer on paper was to move to arizona and to become a professional a professional photographer which to me means you're that's what you're doing to make a living and and that's what i did 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 of being able to sleep at night carried more value than the paycheck and don't get me wrong a 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 loved to do and then it was like and then it was like figure out a way to 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 so you know it's fundamentals and it makes me think of people like Nick Saban and people like George Perlis and these coaches that have been not just 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 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 you know 19 20 years old you're bulletproof it's no this is football coaching and and that's and they were football coaching 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 that's 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 and that's a bunch of BS because everybody has a story and everybody's story 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 and i know they will you know okay they won't be able to relate to go in a football camp for the most most part 99 of them won't but they'll be able to relate to 99 of the rest of my story because pain is pain you know emotional pain's emotional pain whether you're you know mom raising kids at home which is probably the toughest job in the world to construction worker a pro athlete engineer an architect doctor it doesn't matter what it is pain is pain and i used to think i was unique which almost killed me and that that my pain um would be unique or was greater than other people's pain until i got sober and then i realized you know what you're no different than anybody everybody has hardships and um not everybody pulls through hardships so what's your 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 uh live that kind of a life that's an option too um but that's not the way i was wired um i was wired to try to make as much right of the wrongs that i had done and continue that you know the rest of your life and what a story you've just heard and we're talking about tony mandarich's story by the way what a remarkable thing the indianapolis cults 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 mandarich's story a remarkable american story even though he was born in canada this was indeed an american story here on our american stories from kickoff to touchdown tcl roku tvs are the best way to stream your favorite live sports with all the biggest sports channels a sports zone with all the available games in one place and apps like i heart radio with sports podcasts such as the herd with colin cowherd that launch in a snap cheering on your favorite team has never been easier a big screen tcl roku tv offers premium picture and sound quality so you'll feel like you're right in the action find the perfect tcl roku tv for you today at go.tcl.com tcl roku tv hey hey 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