NFL player inspires teens at AMIkids program
New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove is a Super Bowl champion. But the road to this ultimate sports achievement had many bumps in it, including a drug suspension in 2008 and more than a year in treatment centers. After the NFL reinstated him, the Saints were the only team that showed interest in him and picked him up the same season they won the Super Bowl.
Hargrove, who was raised in Port Charlotte, now tells his story to at-risk youth programs around Florida. He stopped over to AMIkids Southwest Florida off of Main Street on San Carlos Island on Wednesday, March 24, to deliver a message.
“The one thing I can say to you guys is to keep your heads up. You can separate your troubled past to the bright future that you all are going to have,” he said.
For six months since touring AMIkids program sites, Hargrove has been speaking to troubled teens who have struggled with youth crime, violence, sex, substance abuse and poor academic performance to name a few. Though he is a part of the 2010 New Orleans Saints Super Bowl Championship, Hargrove realizes he made many poor decisions in his life that almost derailed his success leading up to the big game. “I had to sit 13 months in rehab in order to get to the Super Bowl,” he said. “I can relate to a lot of the feelings that some of you may be feeling -the guilt, the shame, the remorse, embarrassment. I know that you really wish you could be out in the streets and hanging around with your friends. I know when I was locked up, I really didn’t want somebody to come in and tell me my life was going to get better. All I could think about was how my life sucked.”
On Wednesday, Hargrove told his story to 38 students at the formerly named Southwest Florida Marine Institute. These teens come to the facility by the Back Bay for a 3- to 4-month day school (if they stay the course). It offers dynamic and individualized treatment, education and behavior modification.
The goal of the AMIkids program is to help each youth return to at least his or her age-appropriate grade level, discover some viable option for completing their high school diploma and possibly obtain a post-secondary education. The non-traditional classrooms rely heavily upon differential instruction and experiential education to keep the youth interested in learning.
“The choices that you make in here will carry over when you leave here. If you put your mind to it, anything’s possible,” said Hargrove. “While you’re in here become a little family. There is no reason for you guys to feel alone anymore. We all share a common bond -a troubled past.”
Like many of the teens he spoke to, Hargrove had a rough childhood growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y. The apartment building he was living in burned to the ground when he was six. He lived in homeless shelters and foster care as his mother’s health declined. He moved in with an aunt in Port Charlotte at age nine when his mother died.
Hargrove was a high school quarterback at Port Charlotte High and was switched to defensive line at Georgia Tech where he played for two years before he, admittedly, flunked out. He decided to sit for a year to become eligible for the NFL draft in 2004. The St. Louis Rams drafted him in the third round, and he played for both the Rams and the Buffalo Bills.
But, the celebrity status of being an NFL player wore him down. He said he spent much of his time partying all night, sleeping with too many woman and making poor choices that led to a substance abuse problem, failed drug tests and, ultimately, the suspension.
“I remember when I was sitting in treatment as an NFL football player and being embarrassed,” said Hargrove. “Only when you persevere, stay strong and keep the faith will you make it. Take pride of yourselves. It’s all about the attitude. If you keep a good attitude, good things will happen to you.
“Is it easy? No. Because all the things you really want, you have to give up. At that point when you realize that those things that you wanted really didn’t matter, then you start to get your real blessings, and life starts to show up.”
In 2009, Hargrove was selected by teammates for the Ed Block Courage Award, an annual award presented to selected players as role models of inspiration, sportsmanship and courage.
During a Q&A session at the AMIkids facility, Hargrove disclosed he would like to be a guidance counselor if he wasn’t in the NFL. The business psychology major, articulate and very willing to bend an ear, may choose that path once his playing career is over.
“No matter who you are or what you have done, you can change it. I was in your shoes, now I’m standing up here speaking to you,” said Hargrove.
Another question posed how he felt after winning a Super Bowl. The answer surprised some. “I remember when Peyton Manning threw the last pass, it went right by me. I was happy for a moment. But there was also a realization,” said Hargrove. “I was at the highest point of my career. But my life wasn’t going to end at that point. I realized that there was more of a calling in my life.”
That realization grew a week later in Africa when Hargrove and two other NFL players teamed up to help build fences for kids in Swaziland, He said the children there had “absolutely nothing” but their strong faith.
“The Super Bowl was nothing compared to what was really going on in this world,” he said. “What we built there will be here longer than any of us. The kids that will come, eat, get healthy and gain more life will mean more than anything I do in this world. The Super Bowl was just another stepping block for me to continue my growth. I am much more.”
Back when the stepping blocks were harder to climb, Hargrove admitted he was his own worst teammate.
“I was the guy getting arrested, failing drug tests, showing up late for work and stinking of alcohol,” he said. “Everything that comes with being a celebrity took me away from the game. All the bad choices I made, I chose to do them. When I finally got back to the game, life was different. It’s only making it through the tough times, you realize the true blessing you have.”