Believe it or not: the life of Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson is so remarkable that it seems to have come right out of, well, Hollywood

Football Digest, April, 2005 by Larry Mayer

HAD A SCRIPT OF WHAT WOULD become Thomas "Hollywood Henderson's amazing life story been pitched to a movie producer years ago, it likely would have been dismissed as far too sensational to believe. But the former-Dallas Cowboys star is living proof that truth sometimes is indeed much stranger than fiction.

A flamboyant linebacker and Super Bowl champion with "America's Team" during the 1970s, Henderson had a promising NFL career cut short by alcoholism and drug addiction. He spent 28 months in prison and wasn't sure he wanted to live after bottoming-out when he was accused of sexual assault.

Yet in a comeback more remarkable than anything that's ever transpired on a football field, Henderson has completely turned his life around. He has been clean and sober for more than 21 years and is thriving as a motivational speaker, community activist, and philanthropist. He even won 828 million in the Texas lottery in 2000.

Henderson, 51, has experienced so many dramatic ups and downs that he feels as if he has spent the better part of his life on a seesaw.

"I haven't quite had nine lives like a cat, but I have to say that it's been remarkable," Henderson says. "To have a front-row seat to it, it's been sad, it's been exciting, and it's been surreal--but it's all been worth it."

Henderson is sharing the story of his recovery from drug and alcohol addiction in an inspirational book written with longtime Dallas Morning News sportswriter Frank Luksa. Published this past September, In Control: The Rebirth of an NFL Legend begins with Henderson's 1986 release from jail and focuses on his recovery, charitable work, family, and the handling of his newfound wealth.

Henderson's book is a follow-up to Out of Control: Confessions of an NFL Casualty, which he wrote from his jail cell. In Control was authored to coincide with the 20th anniversary of his sobriety. All proceeds from the book go to charity.

"When I turned 20 years sober, I just thought it was a monumental date," says Henderson, who hasn't had a drink or done any drugs since November 8, 1983. "I thought that my story was worth telling, like a continual autobiographical look over my shoulder at my life. To sum it up, it's a public service, knowing that alcohol and other drugs affect probably every family in America. This is not a 'Thomas Henderson is a great guy' book. This is a look over the shoulder of a recovering crack addict.

"I could have stayed in a private life and kept my recovery to myself. But I thought anybody who has been off crack and alcohol for 21 years, that there may be a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a chapter in this story that could actually impact a family."

At a recent book-signing in Dallas, Luksa marveled at how complete strangers from all different walks of life poured their hearts out to Henderson. "He had people coming up to him telling him, 'I've been clean and sober for six months, for 11 months--I just got out of prison, and I'm trying to go straight. I could use some help,'" Luksa says.

"I've had people stand before me crying," Henderson says. "I had a father and son come, and three days later the father called me to tell me that the son had asked him to help him get into treatment. The family had been enduring him for 10 or 12 years, and he read half of my book in three days and asked to get treatment."

Luksa has been intrigued with Henderson since the brash rookie arrived in Dallas as a first-round draft pick (18th overall) from Langston in 1975. "I've always had some curiosity/fascination with Thomas and how his life and his story were going to turn out," Luksa says. "I was very pleased and flattered that he asked me to do the book with him. I think it's a great story.

"He can tell his story better than anyone. I did not have to prompt him very much at all. I didn't have to fill in a lot of blanks. He had this story in mind for years and years."

Henderson appeared in three Super Bowls in a brief but brilliant five-year career with the Cowboys before splitting his final NFL season between the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Oilers in 1980. "Being a star with the Dallas Cowboys took a lot of talent and work, and I would have to say some imposed discipline because I've never really been very disciplined," he says. "I never really liked authority, so playing for Tom Landry was quite an experience."

After chronicling the linebacker's football exploits, Luksa interviewed Henderson when he was in drug rehab in Arizona and twice when he was in different California prisons. "The last time I was talking to him out there in jail, I said, 'Look, Thomas, I've interviewed you now in one drug rehab facility and two prisons. We have got to stop meeting like this,' and to his credit, we have," Luksa says.

"He's a fantastic example of what willpower and some spiritual help can do to a person, and I think what his book is trying to point out is that if he can do it from the depths of despair he was in, it's certainly possible for others who are afflicted with these diseases to do the same.