COLUMN: Making the most of a second chance

Now, this column may peak your interest if you happen to be a fan of the NFL.
It could entice you if you were or still are a fan of Washington State University.
If you don’t fall into either category, then maybe you’re just a fan of a good ole fashion story about making the most of a second chance.
With the NFL Draft now come and gone, I want to go back to earlier in the week leading up to the draft to talk about something I read. Yes, something I read.
For those who have never heard of the Players’ Tribune, it’s a media company founded by former Major League Baseball star Derek Jeter that gives professional athletes a platform to tell their stories first-hand.
I have personally become a fan of the work that is created from the site, often sharing them both on Twitter and Facebook if they happen to peak my interest. I’ve had some favorites, like the one from Andrew King, an Army linebacker who wrote about his teammate who tragically past away.
However, on the eve of what has grown into a three-day spectacle that is the NFL Draft, Ryan Leaf, the No.2 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft shared his contribution to the site called, “Letter to my younger self.”
It became arguably the best piece that I have read since I started following the site’s work and for good reason.
I became even more proud to be a native of Great Falls, Montana.
That’s right.
This Sports Editor grew up in the same city as the No.2 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft.
To a Montanan - especially a native of Great Falls - the story of Ryan Leaf was one that you couldn’t escape. Let me put this in perspective for you. Great Falls is known because of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It’s actually how it received its name. 
However, growing up in the 90’s, it was Lewis and Clark then Leaf. Depending on who you talked to, some might say it was the other way around. He was the prodigal son, the hometown hero. He was going to put the city on the map.
I remember as a kid before the story - a story that ultimately led to him having a short NFL career - unfolded of the one time I even saw him.
I was at the Great Falls Dodgers game, a Minor League affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with my father and brother in 1998. As I’m scarfing down a hot dog, my dad immediately turned to me and said, “That’s Ryan Leaf. Go over there and see if he’ll sign your hat.”
So I walked nervously with each step. Not because I was afraid of my dad being wrong, but that believe it or not, I was a pretty shy kid. Sure enough, it was Leaf, sitting with what I guess to be friends. Before I could even ask, he simply grabbed and signed my hat. To Josh: Ryan Leaf No.16.
In fact, I still have that hat today as a keepsake.

Despite being a diehard Vikings fan, it gave me the slimmest of reasons to root for the Chargers. Even if there wasn’t a lot to really root for. I took it as far as playing with them on the Madden video game franchise just because of the fact that the starting quarterback was from Montana.
Growing up on Malmstrom Air Force Base, it was practically set in stone that when I was to go to high school, I would go to C.M. Russell High, which just happened to be the alma mater of Leaf. In fact, when Leaf’s little brother Brady was a senior, I was in the stands with my dad watching the Rustlers win a state championship against Helena High.
As I became older and due to moving off the base, was able to attend Great Falls High School - the crosstown rival of Leaf’s C.M.R. - the hometown hero turned into the villain, partly due to a fallout that was pointed out in Butte Sports Columnist Bill Foley’s column “Hey Ryan Leaf, welcome back to Montana.”
It was noted that Leaf considered Pullman, Washington to be his hometown rather than Great Falls. However, it was largely due to a failed NFL career that led to a prescription pill addiction.
In fact, one of my teammates at Minot State University was from C.M.R. and we would routinely have one-liners tossed our way in the locker room, especially around the time that he was fired from West Texas A&M. There was really nothing else you could do but shrug it off. I’ve always believed that you should be proud of your roots, where you came from.
But, to be honest, to have your hometown linked to a NFL bust that started a downward spiral was certainly not ideal. Rather than having a little pride that he came from our hometown it became almost a burden.
During my junior year of college, I was required to give a report in one of my public relations classes about a book that you could connect with. Since I knew my teacher’s stance on me using military books – mostly because I chose the ones that really painted the picture – I bought his book, “596 Switch, The improbable journey from the Palouse to Pasadena” which covered the four years he was in Pullman playing for Washington State University. I highly recommend you read it, for the story of how the Cougars reach the Rose Bowl more than anything. It’s actually a really good book for football fans.
That’s the thing with Montanans though; we always keep track and support those that come from the Treasure State.  And, that exactly what I did.
I’ve been blessed enough to grow up watching numerous Montana-born athletes go on to have professional careers. From Colt Anderson, Marc Mariani, Dane Fletcher and other notable former Montana prep stars; I tried to keep tabs on all of them. Some even made a few of my fantasy football teams.
Heck, I’ve even got to compete against a few like Brock Osweiler, Brock Coyle and Jordan Tripp during my high school days. Two of which (Coyle and Osweiler) were on Super Bowl teams.
The one guy, over any that I named, that people would always look back to was Leaf. It didn’t matter who you were, if you were even whispered about making it, you were compared to Leaf. He set the standard at the time.
After serving a 32-month sentence, he became the ambassador for the Transcend Recovery Community. In fact, he even started his own foundation called, “Focus Intensity Foundation” which will help those who are unable to receive help for mental illness and addictions.
Talk about doing a complete 180 in life.
This past Christmas, the NFL on Fox ran a feature of Leaf’s newly discovered life and I can’t lie, it was pretty cool to see shots of my hometown played on national television. Only this time, it was for the right reason.
Watching it with some friends, I was proud to share it over all of my social media platforms and comment it with the “hometown hero.” That’s what he was, everyone knew of him, and if you didn’t, you weren’t really from Montana.
But, what was great about the piece wasn’t about talking about his failed NFL career, but rather how he was able to get his life on track.
To hear him talk about the feelings of being arrested in the place where he was nearly bigger than life was astounding. As I noted, it wasn’t ideal for me personally to even have my hometown linked with him and there he was on national television, explaining just how embarrassing it was for him. I can’t speak for every one when I say this but to me, that’s when you know he understood.
Since the airing of Fox’s special, he’s been on just about every major show you can think of, to include Ellen DeGeneres and the Dan Patrick Show. And each time, I’m blown away about how he can talk about his past, from the attempted suicide to even the fallout of his NFL career with acceptance.
Just the other day, I was listening to Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports who had Leaf on as a guest to give his insight with some of the quarterbacks taken in this year’s draft. The insight was truly impeccable. You could see he had the knowledge of how the position is to be played and why he was coaching at a fairly competitive Division II football program. Personally, I could see a future as a scout.
I know that it was said his book I referenced was to be the first of three. While I haven’t heard anything on the other two since, needless to say, I’ll be sure to grab a copy of both.
Whatever the future holds for Mr. Leaf, I can say that as a fellow Montanan, a native of Great Falls, and as that chubby 7-year-old kid at the baseball game who nervously asked for an autograph, it’s great to see the hometown hero was able to become just that… a hero.
How ‘s that for a story about making the most of second chance?