Matt Mayberry’s drug habit began when he was in eighth grade. It only snowballed from there.
It wasn’t just underage drinking or smoking marijuana. The only drug Mayberry hadn’t tried was heroin.
His mother has seen him use cocaine five times. His high school guidance counselor told him at age 16 he would be dead or in jail by his 18th birthday.
When Mayberry finally attended a drug treatment facility his sophomore year of high school, it wasn’t because it would keep him from getting expelled.
“I went because my grandparents offered me $500 if I went,” Mayberry said. “And, as a true addict, I started to think of all the things and drugs I could buy with that $500.”
Two weeks later while eating dinner with his family, his father broke down in tears. His parents asked him what they did wrong, and Mayberry said he had an epiphany.
“That caused me to look at myself in the mirror,” Mayberry said, “and for the first time in three years I was very clearly able to see what a disgusting human being I’d been.”
Soon, Mayberry would be getting his life together and starring at linebacker for IU. He’d earn a shot at making it in the NFL, and although adversity would strike again, Mayberry’s path would lead him to public speaking and writing — and it would set him up to steer others in the right direction.
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All but a handful of Matt Mayberry’s IU football teammates were unaware of the path he’d taken to get there.
Even fewer on the Chicago Bears, who picked him up as an undrafted free agent in 2010, knew why he had worked so hard for a shot at playing in the NFL.
If not for a left ankle injury in the 2010 preseason opener against the San Diego Chargers, they all might not have.
The injury kept him out for nine months instead of six and led to an injury settlement that ended his dream of playing in the NFL.
Then, another door opened.
Stedman Graham, who ran a nonprofit called Athletes Against Drugs, called to ask Mayberry to speak about his life experiences at an event.
Mayberry said no to Graham at first, but then he changed his mind soon after hanging up the phone.
“Within five minutes I started to realize that I was feeling sorry for myself,” Mayberry said. “My circumstances were really getting the best of me. I was thinking about my injury and making it to this point in my life and overcoming a teenage drug addiction when I was 16 years old.”
Mayberry said he knew he wanted to be a motivational speaker for the rest of his life after the first event. Now 29, he speaks regularly and writes for Entrepreneur Magazine and Fortune Magazine.
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Mayberry pulls from his teenage drug addiction, NFL Draft-day disappointment and career-ending injury to show people how they can turn failures into gifts and capitalize on adversity and find success.
His desire to do so in a more engaging way led to his first book, titled “Winning Plays: Tackling Adversity and Achieving Success in Business and in Life,” which was released last week.
Sept. 14 marks the one-year anniversary of when he came to speak to IU student athletes as a part of IU Excellence Academy programming.
Of all the speeches he’s given, he said it was his favorite.
“I used to be in their shoes,” Mayberry said. “Just going back and meeting everyone, it was such a surreal experience for me and something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
He touched on his own experiences as a student athlete, the adversity he has experienced and how the student athletes present could set goals for further achievement off the field.
His experience as a former Hoosier and leadership qualities were some of the reasons why he was brought in to speak, said Mattie White, associate athletic director for academic services and the Excellence Academy.
“He knows what it’s like to be a Hoosier,” White said. “He knows what it means to be a Hoosier, and for him to do well with his athletic career and then transition into this new career that he has for himself with his speaking and writing, I think the students were excited and inspired that they can use their time at IU to help them long beyond their years of competing and being a student at Indiana University.”
Former IU teammate Jammie Kirlew said he didn’t know much of anything about Mayberry’s past until he started his career as a motivational speaker.
Nor did Mayberry’s former college coach, Bill Lynch, who now is the head coach at DePauw University.
Kirlew and Mayberry crossed paths as stalwarts on IU’s defense, and the pair pushed each other to make it to the next level. There may have been hints at a troubled past, but Kirlew said he saw Mayberry as so focused on football there was no time for extra-curricular activities.
“As far as us working out three times a day, having school and having to eat and all this other stuff,” Kirlew said, “I don’t see where he really had time to be in the party scene like that. Some guys do get a reputation for that, and he never really had one for that.”
Mayberry said he had no desire to become absorbed in the party lifestyle again. From the moment he arrived in Bloomington, he worked to make it to the NFL.
“Every single day, even though peer pressure was out there to go party — and I had fun in college don’t get me wrong — but my days of going back to the hard-core drugs, it didn’t happen,” Mayberry said.
Mayberry said he didn’t think Terry Hoeppner, who was the head coach at IU when he was recruited, or the coaching staff that included future head coach Bill Lynch, knew much about his past.
Lynch said they knew some, but not to the extent that would later be revealed in Mayberry’s speeches and book. Either way, in their eyes, that stuff was over.
“In our mind he was beyond the struggles he had had,” Lynch said. “And he handled everything that was thrown at him once he arrived at Indiana.”
Lynch said he is proud to see Mayberry has found a way to move on from his football career.
“Everybody finds their niche,” said Lynch, who said he may even use Mayberry’s book to motivate his own student athletes. “And he’s certainly found one that has had a great influence on a lot of people.”
