Hey, welcome back for another episode of our Pats from the Past podcast. Matt Smith and Brian Morey are pleased to welcome as our guests for this episode, former Patriots running back Tony Collins. Tony is joining us on the Pats from the Past podcast that has brought to you by who but W. B. Mason your one stop shop for all of your business needs. Tony, thanks for joining us today.
Not a problem, man, I love to do it.
So I think first things that I think Patriot fans and a little primmer maybe for the younger bunch out there. And Brian and I unfortunately can't consider ourselves that because we watched you play. But Tony's Patriot's career was from nineteen eighty one to nineteen eighty seven. But we're now in twenty twenty, Tony, and we're in very different times here in twenty twenty. But if you would let the fans know what you're up to.
Today, Well, right now, I'm retired and having a great time with my grandkids. I have a foundation that I do a golf tournament every year. Unfortunately with the coronavirus who got canceled this year. But one of the things that I do. I help athletes and also help kids get off to college in my little small town back in Pinanne. So with my foundation and with my grandkids, I'm keeping real busy.
Yeah, because for a while you were working with a company that does help with high school athletes with recruiting.
Right right in CSA, a company out of Chicago. We're doing a lot of doing a lot of good work with those guys, and no longer working with them right now, but still just just trying to help out as much as I can with high school athletes, giving them advice and stuff like that.
You know, So, Tony, you know, let's go back to the early eighties or late seventies. Even you're at East Carolina, Okay, East Carolina University where you ran for twenty two hundred yards average six yards of carry, and the Patriots make you their second round pick forty seventh overall the nineteen eighty one NFL Draft. I also drafted one of your high school teammates that year.
Yeah, yeah, crazy.
But so tell me what your first thought was about being selected by the Patriots and what you knew about New England at that time.
Oh wow, Well, actually, you know, coming out, you know, going to the Combines and everything. A lot of the scouts were telling me, and my agent was telling me I was gonna probably get drafted in the fourth or the fifth round.
So you know, that was good.
It doesn't matter to me. I just wanted to get drafted. I didn't really care who I went with with either either. So and when New England picked me, it was it was great, man, it was fantastic. I really didn't know too much about New England. I didn't really know. I knew they were in Boston somewhere, but I didn't know exactly what town the stadium was at.
And they flew me in and.
Put me up in the I think was the Red Fox in or something like that.
The end zone still exists, still exists, Yeah, yeah, yeah it does.
It still exists.
Put me up in the in that hotel, and I met up with Brian Holloway. He got drafted number one with the Patriots that year, and I got drafted number two and became friends with him and we're still friends today. But it was a great time, man, You know, to not expected to be in to be drafted in the second round. Uh, but uh, it was great when I got here. You know, Horace Ivory was here and Vegas Ferguson.
Ferguson was here and most of the tupuol real great great friend of mine was was there as well, and it was a great time.
Sam was still here, right, Sam cunning.
Sam Cunningham was here, still there too.
I got to play, got the opportunity to play with Sam Bam cunning Man.
Yeah, for sure did so, Tony at the time. That's ron Earnheart was your first coach in the NFL.
Correct, Ronni Head was our head coach. And we went two and fourteen my rookie season.
Yeah, yeah, how different.
How difficult was that, Tony?
It was tough, man, it really was.
You know, coming from a winning program of East Carolina and Houston winning. You know, you you went in high school and I was winning in college, and you know, you get to the pros where you where that's where you want to be at any any anyway, and uh, you know, to go to and fourteen and when you go back and I remember some of the games. We were in a lot of the games that year.
Your largest loss was fourteen.
Yeah, we never got blown out.
We were in a lot of games, but it was always something that would come up at the end, and then we got we got into a little stick where we were figuring out, you know, how we're going to lose.
And we just kept losing and kept losing and kept losing.
Uh.
It was a tough year, man, It really was a tough year.
And I think for Patriot fans. You know, Brian is the director of the Hall of Fame here. You look at some of the people that were on that team, Tony, you mentioned Brian Holloway, Okay, John Hanna is on that team. Nelson, Steve Nelson's on that team. Steve Grogan is on that team, Seem Cunningham, Steve. I mean, you look around as you're a rookie in the NFL, You're seeing guys and going, we've got some I'm not trying to put this on the coaching staff by any stretch of the imagination, but
you look around. You had some pieces back then, didn't you.
Yeah, we had we had a lot of talent. Man, We had we had talent at the receiver spot. We had Russ Francis at tight end.
Uh.
I mean, we had a we had defensive places. Julius Adam was a defensive vent. Steve Nelson, we had Rick Central, we had uh, Mike Gaines.
And we're coming off a ten and six season the year before. It wasn't like that.
It wasn't like that all of a sudden. I mean this was kind of all of a sudden. It was a two and fourteen year. And did you, guys ever feel like you were overmatched though? Did you just it was just like I said, kind of snake.
We never felt felt like we're over matched. We're in every game, but we just it would always seem at the end of the game we would find a way to lose the game. And then we, like I said, we got into a rut where, you know, and I hate to say this, but you know, it was fourth quarter, I think against the Buffalo Bills.
I don't know.
I think we're in Buffalo or whatever, and they won the game at the end of the game with a heil Mary pass or something like that.
But before they threw the hail Mary pass.
Uh, you know, I'm sitting on the sidelines and you know, guys are talking, you know, Okay, how we're gonna lose this game. And that's how that's how our mindset was. That's we're losing so much. We couldn't we could never win, We could never put it together. And sure enough they threw the hair Mary and they beat this in that game as well.
I'm gonna put you on the spot here for a second. You're a rookie. You're not a wide eyed rookie second round. Pick your talent, you know what that is, and you believe in yourself and you're here in the NFL. But when you were a rookie, and we mentioned a lot of these names that are on that team, is there a particular player Tony that you saw that really impressed you?
And what number one?
I mean there were a lot, you know, I could I could call out a lot of guys, Steve Rogan, standing Morgan, but the number one guy was John Hannah. You know, I got the opportunity to to start as a rookie, you know, uh uh Horse Ivy gets heard and Vegas Ferguson gets hurt, and and I get the opportunity to play in the first game because the Baltimore Coats and and just watching and running behind John Hannah. Man, it was it was. It was a thing of beauty.
I think I almost had a thousand yards that year. Got Rookie of the Year for New England, and it
was just a pleasure, man. But the intensity not only during the game, but the intensity uh at practice with him, And that's one of the things that I kind of picked up from him, that he was he was going all out in practice and and that's one of the things that I kind of picked up from him with that where you know, you know, you know far as how how well he practiced and being being there and being behind him and watching him work hard, and it
kind of rubs up on you. And as a rookie man, it was like for me, you know, you see all these guys you know coming up, you know, even you know John Hannah, he was he was here three or four years before because I was watching John Hannah before I got to college, and so, uh it was.
It was fun, man, it was. It was.
It was a great time for me just as a player, individual player could to say, but as a as a team player, you know, we're losing game, So it was kind of frustrating.
I'm always curious.
So you came in you know Vegas Ferguson had set a rookie record the year before for rushing because Sam had sat out that season, held out all season in nineteen eighty and then you came in and you mentioned the Vegas got hurt, but you kind of ended up taking over the lead role all season and then you set.
The rookie record for rushing.
Was there ever any tension between you and and other running backs based on that because the new guy comes in and just kind of takes the lead.
You know, absolutely not. Vegas Fergus was a good guy, great running back.
You know.
One of the things that you know, some of the things that I.
I just got drafted. The year before I got drafted, he was he was their guy, the first round pick.
Yeah, and so they they really just got drafted the year before I got drafted. He was he was their guy, the first round pick. Yeah. And so they they really drafted. And so they they really drafted me to return kicks.
You know, I did.
I did some kickoff returns in college, and so they really drafted me to return kicks, and it was my number one thing. So when at the beginning of the season, I was starting and returning kicks at the same time.
And so but my mindset.
Was, you know, you know, my my coming into training camp, you know, Vegas. Fergus is the number one pick. I mean it was the number one back. Horace Ivy was a number two back, and I was the number three back. But I had a mindset man that you know, you know, I watch these guys practice and during training camp, and I'm saying.
You know, these guys aren't better than me. I mean I can.
I'm just as good as these guys. So one of my main things was, you know, I wanted to learn to learn the playbook. Learn the playbook, don't make mistakes, and when I get the opportunity to play, uh, you know, don't make any mistakes and you just you just just do your best. And it came down for me, well, you know, I'm believing and I'm working hard. One of the things that I did my my rookie season, I was you know, watching John Hannah in the beginning, uh,
and just going off of him. You know, I was the first one on the field, last one off the field, first one in the weight room, last one out of the weight room. And one of the things that I did, man, I said, you know, you know, you know, during training camp, you.
Know, the guys would go down to the to the little bar and.
Uh, and Rhode Island and parent, Yeah, frank College, that's it.
And so but I was stay in my room, learned that playbook. Man.
I had to get that playbook because I didn't want to make any mistakes, and so I wanted to be mentally.
Prepared as well as physically prepared.
And the opportunity came, and it's just like you know, you know, you don't wish anybody to get hurt, but you know, I know what my opportunity. Whenever I got a chance to practice or cance to play, I couldn't make any mistakes. And fortunately for me, you know, Horace Aubrey goes down the second week of training camp and then Vegas goes down the last week of training camp, and so I really I'm the only healthy, healthy running back. I think it was me and Andy Johnson back then,
and so they I got. I got the start, man, I just kept it the whole year.
I mean that rookie year. You were the clear leader in rushing attempts your rookie season. But there was a little bit of a running back by committee feel with Ferguson and Sam Ben and Donnie Calhoun, and so then a coaching change comes about after your rookie year and here comes Ron Meyer fresh out of SMU, and then
to be coupled with that is a strike. But did you get a sense, as crazy as that second year was, Tony, the things were being you know, that it was becoming more of you, your position at running back, that you were going to be the number one back as you entered into your second year. How did you look at it going into your second.
Year and going into my second year?
Man, I you know, I had already made up in my mind that I was going to be the man. You know, I'm not going to give my position up. I worked my bat off during the off season. Uh, and once the training camp started, I was ready. I mean, I want to be that guy. And I can't remember what happened with Horace or what happened with Vegas, but you know, my second my second year, I think Robert Weathers came in and.
He did very well, and a couple of.
Running backs came in, and before you know it, Vegas was gone and Horace Ivy was gone, and you know, and and I'm the guy now, you know, And like I said before, it was really just understanding, you know, the playbook and understanding you know, what I had to do to be prepared. And you know, you know they talk about you talk about the football game and and
you know the off season. You know, really your off season is as a month and maybe January and February and that's that's that's all the months we took off back then. And I'm pretty sure the guys are working all the year around now, but uh.
There is no off season.
You know, you if you wanted to be one of the best best players in the NFL, you had to work year round and get your body right for for training camp.
And that obviously was a nine game season. You guys ended up being in the playoffs that year. They kind of tweaked the format a little bit. Yeah, and did that feel like a taste of playoff football for you? You guys went to Miami for the playoffs. Obviously it was a division opponent, but you know, did it actually feel like a playoff atmosphere?
You know, you know, playing the nine games, you know, you just.
It did, but it didn't because you know, you you you didn't play the whole season. You didn't know what you know, what the outcome was gonna be, or or how everybody was gonna go with it. But uh, you know, as a football player, you know you're playing the game, so you know, you play to win.
Uh.
You know, we we had the tools, we had, we had what we wanted, but there was there was some things missing uh in it. And you know, Ron Myers was a great coach. I got to give it to him, but you know, he was a college coach, and you know, you got you got guys like Stanley Morgan and John Hannah and Pete Brock and and and you know, Steve Nelson. You know, they're they're not really kind of used to that college atmosphere. And then Rob go get him, go
get him thing. And uh, I think that's that's one of the things that kind of hurt Ron when he was here, because you know, you know, there's a big difference in coaching college as kids, and there's a big difference in coaches grown coaching grown men.
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Here we go in nineteen eighty three, and to help maybe remind Patriot fans personally, that was your best year a Pro Bowl season, still the franchise record holder for single for yards in a single game. How would you look at that nineteen eighty three season, Tony?
As as as as individual individually it was great, But as a team, you know, we still didn't, you know, reach the point where we wanted. We didn't make the playoffs. We I can't remember. I don't know if you were even eight and eight then eight?
Yes what you were? Yeah?
Yeah, so, but it wasn't a sense of of of of success as a team. But as an individual, you know, making it to the Pro Bowl is one of the things that you know, every every player wants to experience and to achieve. And I got that opportunity to do that, and you know, I got to give it to my offensive line. I was running behind Johnhannah and Brian Holloway and Ron Mooon. You know, these guys peep Rock. These
guys were some good, some good. I had a good line in front of me and mostly the two pool was was was there blocking and it was a great time for me that that year individually.
So okay, so let's talk about the game.
We went for one hundred, two hundred and twelve yards September eighteenth, nineteen eighty three against the Jets. Twenty three carries, two hundred and twelve yards, three touchdowns. You had six carries of ten plus yards, five of those went for twenty plus yards.
What was it?
Just like the red seeds opening up.
You know, it's one of those days like you know the basketball players say when you when they're shooting in the rims, the rim looks like it's just twelve inches wide or something like that. Every hole was just huge, man, during that game, and everything just clicked. You know, you you you always, you know, you visualize, you visualize something like that. You visualize you're going through the hold and rushing for touchdowns after touchdowns, and that's something that.
It was a special day for me that day.
You know, I tell the story when I do. I used to do a lot of talking, you know, I said that, you know, I still hold the record two hundred twelve yards for the Patriots, and it's over almost over. Well, it's over. It was over thirty years now. And I said, as long as Tom Brady is there, I'm not even worried about my record being broken.
But Tom Brady's gone now, so.
Now you gotta be worried.
Not to get that ypportunity to break my record now.
So not to make it feel old, but it's actually thirty six years. Wow, thirty six years. And if you think about where the franchise was when you did that in nineteen eighty three and where the franchise is today, it's got a surprise. You guys like Curtis Martin, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You know that record still stands. That's got to make you feel pretty proud, doesn't it?
Yeah? It does, it does? It really does. You know.
I'm really proud of that because there were some great backs to come out of there, out of New England, and there are probably going to be some more good backs coming. They got a good one right now. But yeah, you know, it feels good. It feels good to hold a record like that. And you know, like I said, the records are meant to be broken. So I'm looking
forward to it being broken now. You know, I think I've held it long enough, but so I would love to see somebody else break it and take that ring for me.
So nineteen eighty four rolls in, and that's kind of a a strange season, but probably at that point in our team history, maybe not so strange, maybe just par for the course.
But you guys go nine and seven.
Ron Meyer gets fired halfway through the season, after firing Rod Russ, Raymond Berry gets hired. He's not even working in football at the time. He brings Rod Rust back and goes four and four, and you had a quote.
I'm gonna you can tell me if this is accurate. I read this quote.
Raymond Berry earned more respect in one day than Ron Meyer earned in three years.
I said, yeah, I mean it's true, man, you know, and not talking taking anything from Ron Myers.
Hold on, Tony. So I'll just give you a quick Ron Meyers story. And you know, may he rest in peace. Obviously, may he rest in peace. But when I was doing radio and Providence, we used to have him on. He was working for like a gambling site and would have him on every week to talk about football.
And I don't know what it was.
I think it was like, I don't know whether it was something to do with Billy Sullivan and he said, he said to me, oh yeah, I lined up to piss on that guy's grave.
I was like, damn, coach, geez. So I don't think we need to worry about offending him in heaven. So go ahead.
You know, Raymond Berry is is a Hall of Famer. He's played the game with the best. And when he came in, man, he just you know, it was like, Okay, this is the Raymond Berry that that that has done what we want what we want to do as as individuals. And the way he the way he helped he went, he went about practice, it was totally different. When he came in. He had he helped practice in a different
way than than I've ever seen it. You know, he had offensive lineman catching passes, he had offensive linemen uh picking up fumbles. You know, everybody had to everybody had to learn how to to recover a fumble.
Uh.
That I think that year we let the the NFL uh in turnovers or something like that, and we're up there very high. But it was the way he went about himself and the way he went about the way we went about practice, and we started believing that we could win. And and that's what it all. That's when it all turned around.
Man. We we actually started believing that we could win.
The other thing that happened that year was Craig James came into the mix, and you know he was Ron Meyers guy from college, right, so, and he kind of took over you. You saw your carries go way down.
What was that like for you?
I mean it was it was kind of frustrating, But at the same time, you know, you know, I'm a team player, so you know, I understand. And I don't know if people knew this, but Craig Jane, Craig Jane was the fullback and I was the half back.
Can you believe he's listed as a fullback? I was. When we were looking into this, I said, I said, that's got to be a typo, and then I looked to do it.
Craig fullback.
That's I mean, I never would, right. He certainly wasn't a lead blocker, right.
And see, that's that's the way Ron Myers, because Ron, I'm not sorry, Raymond Barry, he wanted He wanted me and Craig on the field at the same time, coach. So yeah, and so, but the problem was that Craig couldn't block and so true story. And so he was at the fullback position and I was at the running back position. But I could block, and so he would he would get most of the carries. Now, Craig is
a good it's a good football player. He's a good runner, but he just couldn't he wasn't he wasn't that blocking back. And and but uh, coach very wanted us the field at the same time. So uh, he moved Craig to fullback and up and I played the running back position. And I didn't get a lot of carris because she couldn't block. But at the same time, what what what I took a role of catching the ball out of the backfield. I think I think I called about sixty
three passes that year or something like that. I'm not sure. I think it was in the sixties or something like that. But yeah, and so my role my role was is to block catch passes running when when they get give me the ball and and and and I didn't I didn't mind that because you know, I want to win.
I wanted to make it to the super Bowl.
But but when you were saying that Craig couldn't block Tony, I think all your teammates and a stute fians knew you could block name. What was what was your nickname?
Tony?
They called me the Blade because I wouldn't cut him down. I had a great time. I know, we were playing against the Jets one day and uh, I was blocking you know one of the one of the plays when they would toss the ball to trag uh in the fullback position, and and my man was Mark Casino. He was the guy I had to block Mark Gasino. So I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hit Mark GASONO. I I'm gonna cut Mark Gastino. And man I was cutting him.
Uh.
That's the when I got the name the Blade. After that, because you know, we we we ran the we showed the practice, uh not the practice, but the film after the game. And I must have blocked him about six or seven cut him about six or seven times that day. He was he was pretty pissed at man. Yeah, he really was. And every time and every time I would cut him in, I said, Man, I had to go low, and because she's so big, I kept trying to be friendly with him, well might.
And I heard that he got pretty cautious because you know, he knew you would coming low, and so he had to be he had to be mindful of that.
There was there was one play man.
It was so funny where I'm it's like maybe in the fourth quarter and I'm getting ready to cut him again, and I think, like I'm gonna cut him, and I don't cut him, and he just backs up and he wallows out and he just takes hisself all out of the play.
As a football player, you have to see it.
And you know, when you see that other film, it's like, this guy does not want to be cut no more for the rest of his life, you know what I mean.
So so, Tony, you talked about, you know, how you gained you as a team, gained so much confidence with Raymond as you were winding out that eighty four year. In eighty five, how did that How did that feel as you guys started training camp and you started the eighty five season. Could you feel that confidence building?
So? Absolutely?
Man, We we didn't know, you know, you know, one of the things that that Raymond taught us was you know, believe yourself, worked hard, you know, you get on the field, you know, give everything you got, and that's something that we just we just took it on the field. But the confidence that we had, I'm not really sure how many games we ran and we won in a row that year, but we were confident. And I think we were confident because of because of what we knew we had.
We had. We had some great talent. I think we drafted Irban Friary that year, and.
You know we had you know, Stanley Morgan, you know Lynn Dawson at a tight end, and we were just stacked all over Man Andre Tipping on one end, down Blackman at the other end. We had Raymond clay Born, Ryan Lippett, Rowland James on defense, Fred Marion. We we had a great team and we just had to put
it all together. And so we were really confident. But more confident I think the more thing, the more common because of who Raymond Barry was and the way he the way he was teaching us and teaching us to win.
You know, they always say, like when there's a quarterback controversy on a roster, if if you have if you have two quarterbacks, you have none kind of thing. But you guys, you guys used both Tony Easton and Steve Grogan that year. You know, both suffered injuries at different points in that season and still were able to go eleven and five, make the playoffs, and and become the first team to win three road playoff games to reach
a Super Bowl. Can you talk about your perspective of the Easton Grogan dynamic.
I mean, you know, Steve Grogan was my guy. You know, that's you know, I'm just you know, I'm I'm I like Tony Easton. I haven't seen him in years now, so I don't know even what he's doing right now. But Steve Grogan was my guy. I mean, he was the guy who I looked at as a as a leader. Uh, don't get me wrong. Tony was a great player. He
did well. You know, it's you know, one of the things that I had to say about Tony when he got into a kind of a tough game, you know, he would kind of kind of shy away a little bit, and you definitely wasn't going to get that from Steve Grogan. But one thing great about Steve Grogan man that you know, I really found out that, you know, a lot of guys thought that he he was our guy. And but you know, Tony Easton did some things. You know, when
Steve went down, Tony came in, he played well. Uh and but Steve never you never you never see you never seen Steve put about anything or he would always be trying to help Tony in any way he could when Tony was starting and Steve was the backup. And that's one thing that I admired about about that with Steve. But but you know, Steve was my guy.
I mean, it's it's really unbelievable. On a team that had that kind of a year, that won those games on the road, that had to win those games of the road in order to get to the franchises for a Super Bowl, a quarterback controversy can te team apart. It's done it, you know, countless times in the history of the NFL. But it did with you guys. And to the point that this play I always remember is watching is Easton finding you at the Orange Bowl in
the AC Championship game. That touchdown gave you guys a lead, and you never looked back in that game. I mean, to me, that that was just a good time of him waiting and waiting and waiting and finding you and hitting you. And that put you guys in the lead, and you never relinquished the lead.
Yeah, And you know, like I said, Tony was a good player man.
You know, if you you if he had his confidence going and and everything was going well for him, you know, he was going to get the ball to you. And and like I say, it was at that point, uh, you know, making the playoffs and and everything was just kind of clicking our way. I think one of the biggest things that that that people and I'm pretty sure everybody knows that our defense was was was crazy, crazy
good that year. We i think we led the NFL and turnovers and you know, we we would always I mean we we went into games thinking that we're gonna get turnovers. As a as an offensive player, I'm waiting on the sidelines, I mean we're you know, thinking we're gonna get a fumble or or interception or something. That's and that's how we're thinking. And I think that was the that that had to do a lot with coach
Barry Man. Coach Barry was you know, he he he did a lot of different drills, but at the same time he would talk to you in a way let you know what to expect and what you should what you should expect and that that was one of the biggest things that I took from Coach Barry was the mindset of the game and how you got to get your mind thinking that you can win, thinking that you can beat that guy across from you, thinking that you know,
this is how this play is gonna go. And and then you know you you do what you you got your steps, you do your steps, you do what you're supposed to do.
And one of the things that.
I admire about coach Coach Barry is you know, you never see him get upset.
You never see him him lose it.
You never see him uh, I never see I never even heard me yell any time, unless he's just yelling for fun or any something like that. Never seen him yell out. A guy always come up to you and tell you what you need to hear and get back in there. You know, he didn't baby us at all, but he showed us and he taught us how to win.
So Tony, you guys obviously break that eighteen game losing.
Streak at the Orange Bowl.
You go to the Super Bowl and we all know what happened there. But and as a fan, you know, we were all hyped up. I had my Bury the Bear shirt on. And then after the Super Bowl that big story breaks in the globe about a drug scandal, and as a fan, we were like, here we go again, this is just typical Patriots, right, Yeah, so you were involved in that. You've since written a book called Broken Road,
Turning My Mess into a Message. Can you kind of take us back into kind of how that all transported and what it was like in the nineteen eighties that because it wasn't just the Patriots that had these problems.
What was it like, you know in the eighties, what was that culture? And then how did it kind of bubble up here in New England?
Well, I can.
I can tell you my experience and my experience, you know, like I said, my rookie season when I came in and I took Vegas Ferguson's job, and Horace Ivey was a back up and he got hurt and Vegas got hurt and I got the opportunity to play my fourth season in the league. The beginning of the season, I got crack ribs. And I don't know if you guys have read crack ribs before.
It's something really painful.
People say it's one of the most painful things that you can ever experience.
Right, yeah, it is.
And so here's my predicament right now. So I got the opportunity, so I can either sit down doing doing training camp.
You know, Robert Weathers was there. We had a couple of other backs that were there.
You know, these guys are hungry and ready to go. Uh, So I can either rest up my ribs or take painkillers. Those are my choices, you know, to stay, to stay on the field. So I chose painkillers because I wanted to stay on the field. You know, I'm a team player. I want to win, I want to play. And so I started taking painkillers in eighty four and uh, I got addicted to painkillers. You know, I was taking painkillers that whole year because my ribs really never really never healed up.
Because you know, if I got hit in my.
Ribs, because I would I would take courtisan shots before the game and courtison shots at halftime along with the painkillers. So you know, during the game, you know, if I get hit, I don't even feel it until after the game. And so uh got got what got with the painkillers?
Man, and they just let the other things.
Uh leed to marijuana because you know, I was that type of kid coming up as a as a kid, my mom and dad, we went to church, man, every Sunday. I didn't drink, I didn't smoke. I didn't do anything, man.
And until nineteen eighty four, and so it was it was for me.
It was it was like, you know, the pain, you know, the painkillers was something that they would just give us. You know, everybody was doing it, and everybody was taking painkillers because everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to stay in the field. You know, you you you get, you get your bell ring, they gave you the smelling sauce. You get back in the game. Yeah you got a concussion, but you know you're still playing. And that's how it
was back then. Everybody's taking painkillers. Everybody's doing this and doing that. Well, I got so addicted to painkillers where I had to start smoking marijuana because I was getting sick after painkillers. And so that that led to that, and you know, you know, it's just a fact where everybody was doing it. You know, I'm not saying that's an excuse, but that that's the that's the way I
got into it. But one of the things that I tell kids all the time, you know, I truly believe that the experience that I had going through those different things that I went through, that I can help somebody else. And that's why I wrote the book to, you know, to help to help encourage kids, you know, not to not to start with the painkills, not to do this, not to go down this road. I went down the road. I show you how, show you how bad it was, and so you don't have to go that route. And
I really wrote it for that. But fortunately for me, it was great that other people really loved the book, and uh and so a lot of people got the book, and you know, I'm doing a lot of great things with that now as far as schools getting schools to get also get the book as well.
So Tony, that that path that you went down ultimately led to the end of your football playing career. Was there a moment in time or can you remember something as it crystallized in your mind where you hit what you would maybe describe as a low moment that said, I got to stop this now, I got to turn my life around. Do you remember when.
That was that that that wasn't until after, you know, after, you know, I think I just wanted to want to tell you guys this how how crazy life could be. And and I talk about choices all the time, you know, making good choices. One of the things that I talk about was the right choice. You know, sometimes you think it's the right choice, but it's not the right choice. I thought it was the right choice for me to to take those painkillers to stay on the field. I
thought that was the right choice. And it wasn't. It wasn't the right choice. It was the wrong choice. And so you know, things happened in New England and they actually released me, and so I got released. I got picked up by the Indianapolis coach. Ron Myers was there. Ron Myers picks me up and I go to Indianapolis
and man, I'm I'm you know, I'm playing well. I'm in the backfield with ridicters and Eric Dickersons was on the team at the time, and and you know, first on the field, last one off the field for some of the way, last on out the weight room. Uh, this is nineteen eighty seven, nineteen eighty eight season, and so everything's going great. Man, I'm I'm doing I'm doing fantastic, you know, you know, taking my drug tests every every every every day, every day their their drug testingmy and
so I'm taking my drug tests every day. And and and about the third week of training camp, I go to a party. There's just a little little house party, you know, you know, just drinking. They're drinking beer and stuff. I'm not even I'm not even drinking. I'm just there. But I knew at this little house party there was gonna be some marijuana smoking going on. But you know, I'm not gonna smoke marijuana because I got to take a drug test the very next morning. I know I
can't do anything. So I get to the party. Sure enough, they're smoking marijuana, doing whatever. But I'm chilling. I'm I'm good. And so the very next day, you know, I wake up, go take my drug tests, and go out and practice, have another great practice. And next day Roy Maris cast me into his office and he says, you know, we got a little problem. You've been tested for the third time for marijuana. And I was like, man, you know,
I didn't didn't even do any marijuana. But I remember I'm in the room with marijuana smoking, and so I get I get caught for secondhand smoke by going to that party, and I get suspended for a whole entire year because I made a choice to go to a party.
And if I would have.
Stayed home, stayed in my dorm and not go to that party, you know, I probably I probably wouldn't have been suspended for that whole entire year. But I made that choice to go to that party, and it kind of like put me in a in a place where football was taken away from me. And that was probably the one of the most saddest things, uh that I had to go through in my life, and it was really a really dark place for me.
Then.
Man, sometimes I don't even like thinking about it. But it was a choice that I made. And that's one of the things that I talked about in my book. I talk about to kids all the time. You got to make good choices.
So, Tony, who would you say ended up being your biggest support system as you try to recover from addiction.
Well, I'll tell you this. I went through.
I went through after I got I got a league of ninety. I came back, I got reinstated. That played my last I played my last season with the Dolphins. And it's still just I felt. I felt like a failure, man, I really did. I felt. I felt that I let my family down. That I know I could have had a longer career. I know I could have played longer. I know I could have been more productive as a father and as a husband, and I wasn't. And I
went to a dark place for about eighteen years. Man, So at night, I think in two thousand and five, two thousand, two thousand and six, I think it was I'm not sure the exact time. I met this woman over the phone and I'm in Miami and she's she's in San Antonio, Texas. And uh, you got to read the book, man, you got to read the book. And that was that was my support system. She kind of changed my life. She changed my way of thinking. And and and when I always think about that, I always
think about Coach Barry as well. When Coach Barry came in, he changed our way of thinking. And when I met my wife, who is my wife today, she changed my way of thinking. Because I was this negative guy for all these years and you're just thinking negatives, kind of really living through my son.
My son was going off to the.
University of Pittsburgh to play football, and kind of living through him, making sure he doesn't make mistakes like I made it. And uh, just not really living, just existing. And she came into my life and she changed my way of thinking. Man, And that's that's I really owe her a lot. I really think that, you know, God looked down on me and blessed me with this beautiful woman. And she made me feel like I'm this special guy and and uh, and I've been with her ever since. Man,
in life is fantastic. You got the opportunity to wrote, to write a book, started a foundation, and started speaking all over the country. And man, life is great. Man, I can't I can't complain about anything. I'm in Louisiana right now, just having a great time. Man, everything is fantastic.
Well that sounds awesome, Tony. I guess I would ask you this. You know that you've got you have perspective in your life, is what it sounds like. And maybe your life has helped give you perspective. But I guess i'd want to ask you is what kind of joy do you receive in seeing young people being able to talk to one people and the ability maybe to even if you just affect one kid when wherever it is that you're going, that that he gets the fact that
I need to make good choices. As you talk about how much joy do you get out of the do you get out of that?
Tony? That's that's that's what I live for. Man.
If you, if you ever get a chance to read my book, man, you you should tack into that, because you know, I went through some things, and I truly believe God allowed me to go through some things where I really shouldn't be here today.
I really should be dead, and I'm not dead.
And so my perspective was, Okay, why am I still alive? And there's other people that you know, done some of the things that I've done, or even not even as worse as I've done, and they're not here anymore? Why am I still alive? And I had to understand that I have a purpose. It wasn't just to play football,
you know. Football was was part of my purpose, but my purpose now as a human being, as a as a man, is to to tell my story to let kids know to understand you know, this is this is the road that I went down and and so I'm here now so I can tell you not to go this way. And Uh, I've we we've had a great time with the Foundation where we help high school uh not just players, but high school students go off to college.
We give out scholarships and we you know, we're not not at the level as as Lebron James or anything like that, but we do as well as much as we can to help these kids, understanding that you know, going off to college is the first step that you guys need to go get an education, work hard, and and you know, have those have those morals where you know you're trying to help somebody. And one of the things that we teach kids is it's all about helping. You want to you want to love, You want to
love love people. You want to help people, because it's gonna all come back to you. Uh, whether you believe it or not. Man, when you give, you're gonna always receive. And I truly believe.
That's a law. That's what I was brought up as a Christian.
My mom and dad taught me that and some of the things that that I've learned as a man and as a football player, when you work hard, you're gonna get rewarded. When you when you give, you're going to receive. And when you love, you're gonna you're gonna get loved back. And and and that's the thing that you know, I'm really proud of seeing.
You know, my kids.
You know, I have a big, big family, have a uh you know, we have like eight kids between my wife and myself and about eleven grandkids now and uh, and just teaching them the same things.
But like I said, it's so it's so rewarding to see.
And everybody's not gonna get and I know that everybody's not gonna get it.
But when I get that call.
One of the things that that I do with my wife always gets on me to tell me to stop doing. I would when I would go speak to schools, I would give these kids my phone number. And she said, you know I would and I would be getting all these calls. But but you know, you know, I want to help man. I just want to help kids, and uh, and I would give kids my phone number and we talking.
Uh.
You know, whenever you know, you get this kid that you know, you know, afraid to go to his mom and dad or something.
For some reason, He's gonna come to me.
And if the situation is to a point where I know, you know, I got to I got to tell your mom and dad this, and we got to do this. And so, you know, it's just a great feeling to see a kid turn his life around and be successful.
And we have a lot of kids now we've.
Been doing we've been doing our tournament now for about for about twelve years, and you know, see kids growing up and having kids, and they come back to you and thank you, and it's it's.
It's more rewarding than scoring any touchdown.
Believe me, that's incredible. It sounds like you have an awesome impact I have. I have one final question. It's I'm gonna go back to football here for a second, because I feel like as I look at today's game and particularly the Patriots and the offense they run here, but you would still very much fit because you could block, you could catch out of the backfield, and you were a good runner. So I guess my question is do you feel like you would still be a great running
back in today's game? And maybe who would you compare yourself to in today's game as a player.
Wow.
Man, there's a lot of great players. Man, but I feel that I would I would love to play now the way you can't get hit as hard as I would love to play now. Man, those guys got the name man. But uh, yeah, I think I would fit pretty good coming out of the backfield and you know, being able to do some of the things that I would do. And you know, I'm thinking about somebody that that that's.
Playing now, and I remember, I can't even think of my man's name.
He wrote number thirty three for the Patriot, but he's in the Patrios Hall of Fame.
Was this guy's name, Kevin Kevin Funk? When Kevin Falk was playing, man, I used to root for him so bad.
Uh, that's a good comparison, that's an interesting comparison.
Yeah, he wore he wore the same number as me. And uh, great guy too. I got it opportunity to meet him and talk to him a lot. He's coaching down the l s U now and and uh but uh, I think really just seeing him doing the things that he did, and you know, I can't really put my finger on some of the guys that are that are in it. But there's a lot of great running backs that are playing the game right now.
Man.
And and uh, like I said, Man, they got it made in the shade.
Man, they can't get hit in the head no more. We used to get knocked out. Man. I must have been knocked out about four or five times, Uh, doing my career.
That's great, Tony. Well, our guest has been former Patriots running back Tony Collins. I'll tell you what football fans and Patriot fans out there, I'm going to make a recommendation to you that Tony said for himself about a couple of times. The name of the book is Broken Road, Turning My Mess into a Message. And you want to read a good inspirational story about a guy who's turned
his life around, let me tell you should read that book. Tony, thank you for joining us today and all the best would be well.
Thank you guys. You guys have a great one. Thanks Thanks Tony, Thanks safe.
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