Former NFL player whose career was ended by drugs & alcohol shares story

He was once known as the robo-quarterback. Raised by his father to be a top football player.

Todd Marinovich went to USC and for a short time, played for the Raiders of the NFL. Drugs and alcohol brought an early end to his football career. Marinovich now calls the Coachella Valley home.

He is working in the other field he loves: art. And he’s also talking to Coachella Valley teens about the dangers of substance abuse.

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Marinovich spoke to the La Quinta High School football team. He didn’t preach, he didn’t even insist that these kids not try drugs. in fact, he boldly stated that drugs work, for a very short time, but he then makes clear that addiction is very real and very dangerous.

“I went from marijuana to alcohol, heroin, I’m sticking a needle in my neck because there are no veins in my arm. it got bad,” Marinovich said.

Marinovich’s drug and arrest sheet reads like a bad soap opera. First, he was arrested while at USC for cocaine possession. He has served jail time and was arrested as recently as last August, where he was found naked in an Irvine neighbors’ backyard, and in possession of drugs, this time methamphetamine.

Marinovich says his friends call him “El Gato”, or the cat, because he has nine lives.

At least one of those lives is a long way from the tough, sweaty, macho world of football. He is also an artist, many of his richly colored works depict the sports world that first made him famous. He says he earns a modest living from his artwork, a far cry from the $3,000,000 the Raiders gave him when he entered the NFL after his sophomore year in college, money, he admits, he blew on drugs. Marinovich was considered an NFL flop, largely due to his addiction.

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Of course, these 16- & 17-year-olds weren’t even alive when Marinovich was gracing magazine covers, both for his athletic skills, and his partying ways, but they seem to appreciate his almost teen speak address, and the fact that he insists he will not be that person who says do as I say, not as I did.

“Kris, I hate lectures, my dad gave me a million of them, so what I try to do is share what I am experiencing and what I am experiencing today,” Marinovich said.

Marinovich insists what he is experiencing today is almost a rebirth. He says he close with both his mother and father, and says he is well past placing any blame for his fall from grace on anyone but himself. When he talks to young athletes, he says he can see in some of their eyes that they are experiencing the same self-doubt he experienced decades ago. He urges them to listen to their heart when it comes to right and wrong. He thought he was invincible at 17, he quickly learned he was not.

This yet to be 50-year-old, who has lived a hundred lives in under five decades, claims he now lives in the day. Constantly aware of his, for the time being at least, controlled addictions and though soon divorcing, he expects to maintain a good relationship with his son and daughter, but, he makes clear, the next Marinovich boy, won’t become the athletic experiment he became.

As punishment for last August’s Orange County arrest, Marinovich chose six months of outpatient rehabilitation. He says he completes the program in August.

UPDATE: Marinovich to make return to QB with So Cal Coyotes Today’s Top Stories First Alert Forecast More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations Find us on Facebook: KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2 Follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates: @KESQ & @Local2 We’re on Instagram! @KESQ_News_Channel_3 & @CBSLocal2 Watch live newscasts Noticias en español: Telemundo 15