Carter takes first step in quest to return to NFL
By
Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 01, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Quincy Carter touched down at Palm Beach International Airport at 6:33 p.m. Thursday to check himself into the Hanley Center, a drug-rehab facility.
Half a continent away in Dallas, his former NFL team prepared to face the Green Bay Packers in a game commanding national attention.
Walking out of Concourse B, Carter prepared to face himself.
"I need to work on myself and I also want to get back into the NFL," he said.
"Ultimately I want to begin a new life and do the right thing - have joy in life rather than dragging myself down by smoking."
The sting has faded little from the August day in 2004 when the Cowboys released Carter, the quarterback they once valued so highly, amid allegations he failed a drug test.
Carter pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana in Shreveport, La., where he has played for the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings of the af2 indoor football league.
In May, he was suspended from the Battle Wings for missing team meetings. He came back to throw a franchise-record eight touchdown passes in one game. On the drug charge, he was a given a suspended jail term, six months probation and a $300 fine.
At age 30, Carter knows he will face a difficult time getting an NFL team to take a chance on him again.
But say this in his favor: Carter agreed to stop in an airport and say a few words before he entered a facility whose clients typically choose to remain unpublicized.
Carter did so at the urging of a Hanley consultant and another former Cowboys player, Hollywood Henderson.
Cocaine, among other things, put Henderson in the headlines more than two decades ago. The two have spoken at length this week.
This should not be a secret, Henderson told him. Going public, and making yourself that much more accountable, increases the chance of success. Henderson said he has embraced that accountability for 24 years.
"Let me tell you the eerie connection," Henderson said by telephone from Dallas. "I was 30 years old when I got sober.
"It just so happens he was a Cowboy and is the same age. I think we made a connection. I'm not going to fix him, but I believe Quincy Carter wants to change his life."
We exalt competition on the field as an emblematic struggle, an epic contest of muscle and mind.
The hardest struggles come with little cheering. They pit an athlete against the one person he cannot escape, not matter how fast or strong he is.
The stories may involve front-page headlines, such as the dogfighting case of Michael Vick.
Or the season-long suspension of Pacman Jones.
Or they may take place as a player falls further and further from the spotlight, as Carter has.
Carter became a starter for the Cowboys his rookie season out of Georgia in 2001, highlighted by a 20-13 victory against the Giants that displayed his running and passing skills.
But in 2004, Dallas abruptly released Carter, who still seemed very much in the running to start despite ups and downs on the field. The roster spot that opened up eventually made way for Tony Romo, who has led the Cowboys to an 11-1 start this season, the best in franchise history.
Carter went on to win two of three games as a spot starter for the Jets, but they, too, released him in 2005.
"He had a relationship with marijuana," Henderson said. "His compulsion to smoke was more important than his contract and his career."
Carter enters a program scheduled to last between four and 16 weeks.
"I see Ricky Williams playing again," Carter said, referring to the Dolphins running back who suffered a muscle tear in his brief return this season. "I only failed one test. Ricky failed about five or six."
Some media reports in 2004 maintained Carter was already enrolled in the NFL's drug rehabilitation program after the 2002 season.
A NFL spokesman declined to say how many times Carter tested positive, but those familiar with league policies say no one is permanently banned and a return is possible if doctors and others agree a player has committed to taking the necessary steps.
The most important struggle may be taking place inside of Carter right now.
There is often a pull of emotions in such moments - anger at perceived past injustices, defensiveness, comparisons to the way others have been treated, all mingled with a desire to make changes.
"I think it's a huge step, not only dealing with marijuana, but dealing with the fact that my employer wrongfully released me and I was not compensated like I was supposed to be," Carter said. "I don't know. I don't want to say the wrong thing ... I'm willing to work on myself first and look myself in the mirror first and kind of go from there."
The next step for Quincy Carter the player can be sorted out in four weeks or more.
Quincy Carter the man deserves his top focus now.
