DEL.ICIO.USLosing everything woke up ex-Dog Worley
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The summer of 1986 was interesting for former University of Georgia running back Tim Worley.
He had been the second-leading rusher for the Bulldogs as a freshmen, and he was well on his way in college football.
Brant Sanderlin / AJC
Former UGA and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Tim Worley worked out his drug problem and turned his life over to God.
In two years, he would be an All-American running back who was named the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year by the United Press International.
Wearing the No. 38 in the red and black, he rushed for 1,216 yards and 17 touchdowns his junior year, joining a club of eight running backs at UGA to break the 1,000-yard plateau and adding to the university’s reputation as “Tailback U.”
The summer of 1986 also is when Worley first used cocaine.
“It would make me bold,” said Worley, who played in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears through 1994. “I could talk to girls. I could run harder. But I went from doing it ‘from time to time’ to doing it all the time. It wasn’t about sports. It was about the money. During the games, I was thinking about where the party was after the game.”
The last image most people have of Tim Worley comes courtesy of a YouTube video from Fox 5 of Worley getting zapped with a Taser on April 13 by Smyrna police after being pulled over for weaving and suspicion of drunken driving.
“Once I get a chance, I want to go and thank [that officer], because he saved my life,” Worley said. “I was either going to kill somebody or somebody was going to kill me that night. I was filled with so much rage that I just didn’t care.”
In the seven months since that early morning experience on the side of the road in south Cobb County, Worley says he is a changed man.
He voluntarily entered HopeQuest, a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, and has gone to work with the ministry as a mentor.
It hasn’t been easy. He spent 23 days in the Cobb County detention facility and found himself at rock bottom. When he was at his lowest point, he re-established his relationship with God, received visits from fellow Georgia All-American Troy Sadowski and prison minister Randall Richardson and s started a Bible study program while wearing an orange jumpsuit.
“It sounds like a cliché, but sometimes you have to be at your lowest before you turn to God,” he said. “I had time to reflect, and it didn’t hit me until I got to Cobb County detention. My eyes were as big as saucers.”
Sadowski’s visits gave Worley a new purpose in his life. On his second visit, Sadowski told Worley about HopeQuest — an outreach program through First Baptist Church of Woodstock.
When he got out of jail after being convicted of driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license, he entered the program’s home and has lived there since.
He has no vehicle and no driving privileges, and whenever he comes and goes from the home, it is in a HopeQuest van.
“Where I am today and where I was that night in Smyrna are a complete 180,” Worley said. “Jesus did for me what I couldn’t do for myself, because I wanted to die from the shame and the loss of where I was in this world. I finally succumbed to the will of God. I couldn’t hear the Lord when I was making money in the NFL and on the mountain top. I had to be in the valley.”
The NFL money is all gone, and so are the “friends” who followed it. After years of having what could be termed an entourage of friends, Worley now has his parents and his children, who live in Alpharetta with Worley’s ex-wife.
“It hurts to find out that people who I thought cared about me just left when the money ran out,” he said. “But my feeling is, let them walk. Most people are like leaves. When the storm blows, they blow away, too. You only have two or three people who will be your roots. I’ve got strong roots now.”
“Whatever happened to …” is a weekly feature catching up with people and issues in the news. Are you wondering about the fate or fortune of former newsmakers? Tell us who and e-mail dgibson@ajc.com. Please put “whatever happened to” in the reference line.
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