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| Tennessean, The (Nashville, TN) |
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| February 3, 2007
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Linebacker tackles addiction
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| Ex-Vanderbilt, NFL star kicks demons, helps others do
same |
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| By TIM GHIANNI Senior Writer
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| Willie, the shaggy poodle, wags while accompanying the
former Vanderbilt and NFL linebacker along the river that
meanders past the edge of what truly is God's country.
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| "He's a rescue dog," says Chip Healy. "We're all rescues
here."
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| Chip allows that "faith led me" to this six acres along
the Cumberland where men can begin to reclaim lives lost to,
or at least sidetracked by, addictions.
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| He brings personal experience to his ministry -- the
nonprofit Transitional Living Inc. is better known as
"Chip's Place" -- directly across the river from the Titans
football practice compound, where younger men toil.
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| "Better them than me," he says, reflecting on the
physical rigors of playing football. He knows that
firsthand. But he knows life can be much tougher. His
6-foot-3 frame carried 235 pounds in 1968 when he was a
Vanderbilt All-American. He was 240 during his two-year
stint with the St. Louis Cardinals, the NFL franchise that
has since moved to Arizona.
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| He couldn't have filled his former shadow on the day 10
years ago when his oft-ignored faith led him to Cumberland
Heights. "I was 168," he says of his motivation for checking
into the rehab center. "I knew I was sick. I didn't want to
die and I didn't want to live like that.
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| "I started drinking beer after I got out of high school.
I drank a lot for a very long time. Drank 15-20 beers a
day."
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| A functioning alcoholic, he had steady employment in his
family's food brokerage and later as a construction company
boss. But he nearly lost his soul. "I grew up with a lot of
faith. But I think in the last year and a half of my
drinking career, I got separated from my faith.
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| "Any addict will tell you their alcohol or drugs become
the most important things in their lives."
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| He allowed God to lead him to this spot where he can
offer safe harbor to other men. "I feel like this place is
here for a reason. And I know I'm not the reason. Too many
things have happened that led me here. I don't really
believe in coincidence."
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| Friends thought the star athlete, businessman, devout
Christian and recovering alcoholic would be an ideal choice
to run this halfway house that looks more like a fishing
camp than an institution.
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| One of his pals found the property. Another helped Chip
purchase it. They left it up to him, and his faith, to take
it from there.
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| "There's something greater than you and me that's behind
all of this," he says.
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| "If you'd have told me seven or eight years ago I'd be
living out here on the river with a bunch of people in
addiction like me, I'd have thought you were nuts."
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| The twice-divorced father of two and grandfather of four
takes care of the compound, helps run the 12-step meetings
and offers encouragement to the men in the seven cottages.
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| "In the warmer weather, guys, some of them can't sleep,
they get up in the middle of the night and they go down and
meditate in a chair by the river," he says. "There's a
critical need for places like this."
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| The men -- referred here after completing private or
court-mandated treatment -- pay rent. They must hold jobs
and remain clean and sober. The average stay is six months,
although there isn't a time limit as they prepare to
re-enter a world they lost in addiction's haze.
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| If they need counsel, they turn to this fellow, a
partner in their struggle.
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| "I don't like to use the word blessed very much, because
I believe we all are blessed. I don't know what the right
word is for me being here. I guess grateful maybe.
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| "I've seen miracles happen here. Disappointments, too.
But what keeps you going is seeing somebody change their
life, find their faith and then leave here and go out and do
well."
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| The big poodle stretches in the sun as Chip approaches.
"Grin for me, Willie. Grin," says the former linebacker.
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| The rescued dog and the rescued ballplayer exchange
smiles.
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| TO LEARN MORE |
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| To learn more about Transitional Living Inc., the
nonprofit known as "Chip's Place," e-mail healy56@comcast.net.
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Copyright (c) The Tennessean. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by
NewsBank, inc.
Record Number: nsh27977797 |