From Record-Breaking Running Back to Rock Bottom — Montee Ball’s Comeback

Summary

Podcast Summary: We're Out of Time Episode: From Record-Breaking Running Back to Rock Bottom — Montee Ball’s Comeback
Date: December 9, 2025
Host: Richard Taite
Guest: Montee Ball

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Overview

In this powerful and candid episode, host Richard Taite sits down with Montee Ball, once one of college football’s greatest running backs, to trace his meteoric rise, devastating fall, and inspirational recovery. The conversation pulls no punches—covering addiction, the loss of a dream career, a painful public mistake, and the decades-long journey toward redemption and service. Throughout, both men share hard-won wisdom, humor, and hope about resilience, accountability, parenting, and the ongoing battle against America's addiction epidemic.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Montee’s Football Journey: From High School Phenom to NFL Draft

• Rapid Rise in High School & College:
  • Montee recalls his rise at Timberland High School in Wentzville, Missouri ([01:17]).
  • Attracted major D1 offers, choosing Wisconsin over Stanford for proximity to home and the Midwest ([01:57]).
  • “It happened so quickly. Those four years in high school are a blur.” – Montee ([01:31]).
• College Success:
  • Chose Wisconsin to follow Ron Dayne’s footsteps; embraced the campus, football program, and fans ([03:31]).
  • Played with legends like Russell Wilson, J.J. Watt, part of a rock-star Badgers team ([04:04], [04:08]).
  • Tied Barry Sanders’ single-season touchdown record; finalist for Heisman Trophy ([15:07]).
• Draft to NFL:
  • Honest about the anxiety and anticipation of the NFL Draft—waiting as other running backs were chosen, until Denver Broncos called ([05:48]-[06:26]).
  • “My phone falls because it started to vibrate...it says Denver, Colorado. And I jumped up... John Elway asking me if I want to be a Bronco.” ([06:19]).
  • Grew up a Broncos fan, room painted blue and orange, Terrell Davis memorabilia ([06:35]).

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Life with the Pros: Glory and Intimidation

• Joining the Denver Broncos:
  • The surreal moment of receiving a congratulatory text from Peyton Manning his rookie night ([07:41]).
  • “His forehead came around the corner first.” – Montee, on meeting Manning ([08:52]).
  • Starstruck in a locker room full of legends; Montee expresses awe and gratitude ([08:37]).
• Playing with Superstars:
  • Lined up in Peyton Manning’s record-shattering MVP year, with Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Julius Thomas ([10:23]-[10:57]).
• Patriots’ Stint & Quarterback Debate:
  • Briefly played with Tom Brady at the Patriots, college roommate James White ([11:17]).
  • “If I had to build my team, I am so grateful to have played with Peyton Manning… I’m going Tom Brady.” – Montee ([11:41])
  • “Peyton Manning, pre-snap—there’s no one like him. Genius. Absolute genius. That was the most stressful part about playing with him, is trying to keep up with his mind.” ([12:00]): Respect for both QBs’ unique leadership.

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The Downfall: The Depths of Addiction

• The Hidden Battle—Alcoholism’s Early Grip:
  • Drinking started as coping for “crushing” performance anxiety in college ([15:07]).
  • “My outlet was the bottle… I really started to develop that relationship then.” ([15:49])
  • Familial pressure after parents moved cities to support him, fueling the feeling: “I have no choice. I have to succeed.” ([16:07])
• NFL: Wealth, Ego & Escapism:
  • “You hand a 21-year-old, 22-year-old some money, you know… Of course I spent that on the bottle.” ([17:05])
  • Ignoring health, drinking intensified after injury and loss of place on the team.
• Career-ending Injuries & Release:
  • Details groin injuries and desperate but unsuccessful rehab attempts ([17:26]).
  • Cut from Broncos, followed by a spiral of drinking, anger, isolation, declining NFL offers, squandering money ([18:36]-[19:13]).
  • “Developed some unhealthy relationships as well. I wasn’t taking care of my body. I didn’t like myself.” ([19:13])
• “Losing it all” —Montee’s Turning Point:
  • “When we talk about losing it all… there is zero ambiguity… That is exactly what happened.” ([17:26])
  • Details a late-night drunken altercation and subsequent arrest for shoving his partner ([21:01]).

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Redemption: Amends, Healing, and New Purpose

• Aftermath, Accountability & Amends:
  • Montee does not shy from detailing his mistakes. “At every moment in my life, I’m in control of my actions, how I respond to stimuli.” ([22:40])
  • His ex-partner later initiates contact and forgives him; Montee refuses to allow himself to shift blame ([21:39]-[21:59]).
• Therapy, Recovery & Transcendence:
  • Found a therapist who understood “lights, cameras, action, women, alcohol” and built a long-term alliance ([30:02]-[30:33]).
  • Honest about the ongoing struggle, self-forgiveness, and gradual emotional turnaround over years, not months ([34:15]-[34:54]).
  • “This year, these nine years of recovery have been better than any touchdown I’ve ever scored.” ([35:04])

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Service and the Power of Giving Back

• A New Mission:
  • Montee now works in intervention and recovery, helping others find the right fit for treatment ([27:09], [28:02]).
  • “You have given mothers back their boys and fathers back their daughters. Is there anything better than that?” – Richard ([27:49])
  • Montee describes texting with people he’s helped, celebrating their sobriety anniversaries ([28:44]).
• Perspective on Legacy and Lessons:
  • Accepts Hall of Fame induction not as proof the football wasn’t wasted, but as a point of closure and a new focus ([35:25]-[36:10]).
  • “Everything happens for a reason. I thought that I was gonna ride off into the sunset with a gold jacket… But my higher power was like, no, no, no, we gotta fix this. And you’re going to be there for other people.” ([29:01])

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Wisdom, Parenting, and Full Circle

• Parenting as a Catalyst for Change:
  • Montee became a father right after he hit bottom ([71:32]-[72:06]).
  • “When he was born, I held him and I said, I’m never going to touch the bottle again, ever. And I haven’t, and I don’t plan to.” ([75:02])
  • Learning to co-parent amicably—putting son Maverick first and focusing on stability ([74:03]-[74:39]).
• New Identity, New Team:
  • Now working with One Method, under CEO Candy Henderson, and inspired by the recovery environment ([41:13]-[41:42]).
  • “This is a rocket ship… I’m grateful for the opportunity. I know where Method is going, and I’m blessed to be part of the team.” ([42:42])
  • Embraces football analogies and the value of team, leadership, and accountability in recovery ([64:42]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Facing Regret and Recovery:
  • “People in AA… talk about losing it all. Not really. You lost it all. All of it.” – Richard ([09:55])
  • “At every moment in my life, I’m in control of my actions… it cost me everything.” – Montee ([22:40])
• On Coming Full Circle:
  • “This, these nine years of recovery have been better than any touchdown I’ve ever scored.” – Montee ([35:04])
  • “You thought you were behind, you’re ahead. You just didn’t know it.” – Richard ([32:55])
• Service as Transformation:
  • “You give people back their families. You’re a good father. You’re a good co parent…You’re a good man. And everything in your life from this moment forward is going to be a blessing.” – Richard ([81:13])
• On Resilience and Teamwork:
  • “Everything I ever needed to learn in life, I learned through team sports. Leadership qualities. Resilience.” – Richard ([46:08])
• Sobriety and Life Beyond Football:
  • “If you don’t find a life that is more valuable than the one where you are using and drinking, you can’t stay sober. I don’t care what anybody says.” – Richard ([36:54])
• Humility and Moving Forward:
  • “Football was just a piece of your puzzle. Not the whole puzzle.” – Montee ([43:09])
• Hope for the Future:
  • “Now I know. That’s it. That is it… I lead with that, of the foundation being love, when I chat with families…” – Montee ([61:24])

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Choosing Wisconsin Over Stanford: [01:57]–[02:08]
• College highlights, Heisman trip, playing with Russell Wilson: [03:31]–[04:13]
• Draft night anxiety & John Elway’s call: [05:44]–[06:26]
• Meeting Peyton Manning: [07:41]–[08:52]
• Debate: Manning vs. Brady: [11:41]–[12:00]
• Performance anxiety, beginnings of alcohol dependence: [15:07]
• Injury, career collapse, and spiraling into addiction: [17:26]–[19:13]
• Arrest and description of the ‘lowest’ moment: [21:01]–[21:26]
• Reconnects with ex, amends, and therapy: [21:39]–[22:40]
• Service in recovery, helping others find sobriety: [27:09]–[29:01]
• Perspective on giving back; parents’ pride: [34:57]–[35:02]
• Hall of Fame inductions and full disclosure: [35:25]–[43:52]
• Work with One Method and outlook on recovery: [41:13]–[42:42]
• Coping with regret and resilience: [64:42]–[67:10]
• Parenting, son Maverick’s birth as a turning point: [71:32]–[75:16]
• On losing family to fentanyl and addiction’s collateral damage: [79:13]–[80:49]
• Final affirmation, Richard’s blessing: [81:05]–[81:38]

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Tone and Style

The episode is open, raw, and deeply human—equal parts inspiration and warning. Both Taite and Ball speak conversationally, with authenticity, occasional gallows humor, and mutual respect. They emphasize accountability, redemption, and compassion for both self and others. The dialogue is unpolished but profoundly insightful, offering not just a celebrity’s “comeback” but a real, hard-earned journey from athlete to advocate.

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For listeners: Whether you’re a football fan, in recovery, or supporting a loved one, Montee Ball’s story—and Richard Taite’s probing questions—will leave you with new perspective on resilience, humility, and the hope of new beginnings.

Transcript

[Richard]

You weren't just some guy. You were the guy and then you got into the NFL. Okay? And I'm looking at this, I'm like, this doesn't make sense. He was loaded so bad that he couldn't get together.

[Monty Ball]

Well, you hand a 21 year old, 22 year old, some, some money. Of course I spent that on the bot.

[Richard]

If someone has a problem with substance use disorder, please call one call placement. That's 888-831-1581. And if we can't help you, we'll make a referral to someone who can. One call placement is affiliated with Carrera Treatment Wellness and Spa and One Method Treatment Centers. Today I have a special guest, one of the greatest college running backs of all time, Monty Ball. Nice to have you, man.

[Monty Ball]

Yes, sir. Thank you for having me.

[Richard]

What a pleasure.

[Monty Ball]

This is a privilege, so thank you.

[Richard]

Privilege is all mine. I'm going to give the viewers a little background.

[Monty Ball]

Of course.

[Richard]

Okay. So from Missouri.

[Monty Ball]

Yes, sir.

[Richard]

Where'd you play?

[Monty Ball]

High school? Yeah, Timberland High School, Wentzville. Wentzville, Missouri.

[Richard]

And what was the process like after high school with the recruiting?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, it was.

When I share this, it's, it's, it was fast. It happened so quickly. Those four years in high school are a blur.

But I most definitely remember my junior year. So this would have been 2007. 2007, 2008 in Winsville, Missouri, receiving, you know, full ride scholarships in the mail. I narrowed them down between Iowa, Wisconsin and Stanford, actually.

[Richard]

Really?

[Monty Ball]

And then I narrowed it between Stanford and Wisconsin.

[Richard]

And you're the only person to ever choose Wisconsin over Stanford.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, yeah, it was.

I didn't want to be too far from home, from the Midwest at the time. Right, that, that, you know, a little kid not knowing so much about Cali, not knowing much about Stanford as well. I remember Harbaugh called my house line, chatted with him. But long story short, that process is a beautiful one, an exciting time for, for myself and my family as well.

[Richard]

Was the, was the draft then and the rankings, you know, like the ESPN 300 rankings and all that stuff, but then they go to the mock drafts.

You were drafted in the second round. And I was in shock. I was in shock. I used to watch the draft like religion. It would be a, what, three day affair, right?

[Monty Ball]

First. Yeah, yeah. I think first day is first round, then second day is two to four.

[Richard]

Two. Yeah, two through four.

[Monty Ball]

And then you're right. Yes, sir.

[Richard]

Five through seven. Right. And.

I was in shock. What did that feel like to you? After having the last two years that were as good as anybody's ever had, and then you're like, second round. Were you prepared for that? Did your agent prepare you for that? Was that. I mean, what was that like?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, it was. Again, it's. It's leading up to that moment, of course, Same. Right. Right. After high school, I obviously chose. I signed the letter of intent to be a Badger, went up to Wisconsin. You know, I wanted to be as good or better than Ron Dain. That was my motivation. Right. I love the way that they ran the football. I love the atmosphere of the campus to the fans, the education as well. And so once I hit my junior year, same thing, right? Junior year in college, which had been 2011, we landed Russell Wilson that year. We were on fire.

[Richard]

You, you had Russell Wilson that year?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I played with J.J. watt. I played with the Watt brothers.

[Richard]

Wow.

[Monty Ball]

Russell Wilson. We were rock stars. We were ranked third in the country.

[Richard]

That's insane.

[Monty Ball]

A blessing for sure, just to be next to those greats. And so then, yeah, same thing, right? Obviously not receiving full ride scholarships at this moment in 2011. But of course I had my agent who was getting calls. Because in 2011, after three years of playing college football, you have the opportunity to go on to the next level. Well, I decided to stay. In hindsight, I would change that. But I stayed for 2012 season. And you know, 2011 actually was the year I was up for the Heisman. They flew me out to New York, had the opportunity to meet up with Robert Griffin iii, Andrew Luck, all these great guys. And so to your point, yeah, a phenomenal year. Decided to come back, had a great year as well. And then, yeah, my agent did prep me for the draft, sharing with me that, hey, it's a pretty deep class for running backs. Eddie Lacey, Le'Veon Bell, Giovanni Bernard, a lot of great running backs. And so I knew that I wasn't going to go first round. I kind of felt that. Rented out a banquet hall in Madison, Wisconsin. Didn't want to go to New York because I can only get like one or two guests, right? Like, let me, let me. I want family and friends to enjoy themselves here with this moment. And so first round, I kind of was just sitting there. I was like, hey, I'm not gonna get. Probably not gonna get a call today, you know, family and friends. And then obviously the following day, right, came about and my agent was like, okay, today you're most likely gonna get picked. And, you know, I'm sitting there playing with A Rubik's Cube at the moment. Cause I'm just super anxious, right? You know, my family and friends are having a good time.

[Richard]

That's why you didn't make it in the NFL. Cause you played with the Rubik's Cube. But go on.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah. Right. And so. So to make a long story short, here, it's literally, I'm sitting there playing with this Rubik's Cube. My phone's propped up against a glass of water. I'm nervous. Everyone's having a good time, and I see these backs getting called and picked, and I'm like, goodness gracious. You know, where am I gonna live right now? Out of the 50 states or wherever these teams are, these 32 teams, whatever. And my phone falls because it started to vibrate. And I pick it up and it's a 303 number, and it says Denver, Colorado.

And I jumped up. I started hitting my dad, and I answered the phone and was John Elway asking me if I want to be a Bronco. Wow.

[Richard]

And the first question he should have asked you is, why didn't you go to Stanford?

[Monty Ball]

Right? Seriously.

[Richard]

But I didn't know you were playing with all those guys, so you made the right choice.

[Monty Ball]

It was. We. We were playing some really good football. And honestly, I don't think, you know, I grew up a Broncos fan from Missouri. My room was blue and orange. My. My entire life until, of course, I took off to college. I had a Broncos head in my room, A Terrell Davis blow up in my room.

[Richard]

What a great. What a. What a star. He was right? Two. Two. Yeah, two in a row. They'd have nothing without him. And they were thinking about, oh, is he a Hall of Famer? Morons. Morons.

[Monty Ball]

So, you know, again, that those four years went by quick as well. Love them. Decided to stay for my senior year. And I think if I didn't, I wouldn't have been chosen by the Broncos. It just wouldn't have fallen into place like that. And so I accomplished my dream.

[Richard]

That's fantastic.

What was it like to walk in to the Denver Broncos.

And know that you are playing with Peyton Manning?

[Monty Ball]

I mean, come on, man.

[Richard]

You know, you.

[Monty Ball]

It's.

That night when they called my name. You know, of course, I'm 21. I just turned. No, I'm 22 at the time. And, you know, I go out later in the evening with my family and goes to sleep, and I'm at the bar and I get a text from this number. Long text. Looking forward to having you on the team. Looking forward to winning a championship with you. Congratulations. Et cetera, et cetera. And at the end, I said, peyton Manning. And I'm. You know, I'm 22 years old. I'm like, peyton Manning just texted me. And so when they. When it was time to, of course, were to report to the facility, I was starstruck, right? Meeting a lot of these guys. Von Miller, Chris Harris, a lot of these greats, these hall of Famers. But of course, right? As a kid, everyone knows Peyton Manning. And so when he came around the corner. Love the guy to death, I always say this part. His forehead came around the corner first.

[Richard]

He's tall.

[Monty Ball]

Yes, he is.

[Richard]

He's like 6, 5.

[Monty Ball]

Genius, by the way, too, at the game of football. But I was starstruck, right? I literally told him. I was like. I was 11 years old. I was 12. Playing you on Madden. Always wanting to be a Bronco in my life. You land with the Broncos after the Colts, and now I'm here. Here I am, playing with you.

[Richard]

I don't even watch the Colts anymore because they were disloyal to him. I won't even. I won't even. I won't even watch. I love the Broncos. Like you wouldn't believe.

[Monty Ball]

Really?

[Richard]

Oh, God, you kidding me? That was.

[Monty Ball]

Yes.

[Richard]

First of all, I don't love teams. I love players.

[Monty Ball]

Okay.

[Richard]

Okay. So I never missed a Colts game ever. Not ever. Okay. When Peyton played. Never. Right. And then, you know, he had his neck surgery, and he was out for an entire year, and they thought it was a good idea to upgrade. Now, Andrew Luck was great.

[Monty Ball]

Mm.

[Richard]

Andrew Lux, a star player. Okay?

His story is similar to yours in that it ended too soon, but that was his choice, right? Right. And.

What I want to talk about is you had it all.

People in aa, you'll go to aa, you'll listen at the podium, and people talk about losing it all.

Not really. You lost it all. All of it.

[Monty Ball]

All of it.

[Richard]

All of it. You were. Try to understand. I got to explain for the viewers, they don't really fully understand. This was the best running back in college football. Not one year, two years in a row.

Not close and no debate. Right? Then you go to play with Demaryus Thomas, Peyton Manning. Who the hell else was the. Who else was receiving for them?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah. Eric Decker.

[Richard]

Eric Decker. Who else?

[Monty Ball]

Julius Thomas, tight end.

[Richard]

Julius Thomas, tight end. Who is the other tight end? Another one.

[Monty Ball]

Virgil Green. He was more of a blocking titan. But long story short, that was Peyton Manning's MVP here, one of his MVP years 55 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Unreal.

[Richard]

Year. 5,500, 5,400.

[Monty Ball]

Unreal. I think it still leads the NFL in most passing yards in one season. Oh, I think he's got breeze by, like four yards.

[Richard]

Yeah, it is.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

Dude. Who's the best quarterback of all time?

[Monty Ball]

So after the Broncos, I went to the Pats for a quick minute.

[Richard]

So you played with both?

[Monty Ball]

Yes. And. And of course, when I went over there, a guy by the name of James White, who was the running back there. We were roommates in college.

[Richard]

Very cool.

[Monty Ball]

He's a Badger as well. So we were literally roommates. So I was like, okay, I'll go there.

And of course, it's Tom Brady, and he was Michigan. We're Wisconsin. So we were just chatting Big Ten football all the time. But if I had to choose a quarterback, gosh.

If I had to build my team, I am so grateful to have played with Peyton Manning, and I love that he's a brilliant mind. I'm going Brady. I'm going Tom Brady.

[Richard]

Really?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah. I am going Tom Brady. And I think if you asked Tom.

[Richard]

Brady, I think he'd tell you Peyton Manning.

[Monty Ball]

Right. That's why I don't think there's a wrong answer. I mean, these guys were. These guys are anomalies at what they were great at Peyton Manning, pre snap. There's no one like him. Genius. Absolute genius. That was the most stressful part about playing with him, is trying to keep up with his mind. It's just impossible pre snap. Brady does such a great job of making players feel comfortable and telling them not to play outside of their shoes. We brought you here for a reason. You have a skill set that we can utilize. Just a great. And then that killer instinct as well.

[Richard]

We did. So. That is so amazing. You played with two of the greatest quarterbacks in history. Like, those two guys are on Mount Rushmore for quarterbacks.

[Monty Ball]

Absolutely.

[Richard]

And you played for both of them. And then there's just Joe Montana just. Well, he's the best.

[Monty Ball]

I know.

[Richard]

Okay. In my mind, that's the best of all time. Okay. But, you know, he goes away, and then you got to, you know, you. You need something, and.

That is amazing that you played with those two guys. I'm just.

[Monty Ball]

I think it's, you know, I know we're going to eventually get to this point and, you know, we're chatting about.

[Richard]

Oh, we're gonna do it all, you.

[Monty Ball]

Know, throwing it away, and. And it. It's a.

You know, let me not get ahead of myself here.

[Richard]

No, well, let me just tell you why I'm bringing it up. Yeah, to be a fanboy. But I am a fanboy because I love the NFL. I love the NFL. Until I went down and testified at the NFL and saw that it was.

It was a modern day lynching on a client of mine, okay? And they had the Uncle Tom, the only black guy in the room named Henderson, okay, Sitting there doing my boy. Okay? And I just did that whole room. I did that whole room.

[Monty Ball]

Good for you, honestly.

[Richard]

And then I got up and I gave my boy a hug and a kiss and I said, don't worry, I'll take care of this. And he ended up getting six games back. They took 16 games from him, and we ended up getting him back six games.

[Monty Ball]

All right, okay.

[Richard]

But I am a fan of this. But it's because I'm a fan of this that I know what you lost. And to paint a picture for the viewers, you weren't just some guy. You were the guy. And then you got into the NFL. Okay? And I'm looking at this, I'm like, this doesn't make sense.

[Monty Ball]

It doesn't.

[Richard]

This doesn't make sense. He was up, he was loaded so bad that he couldn't get together and lost it all. Yeah. Tell me about that.

[Monty Ball]

You know, it's. It was. I think in order to answer that question, we got to chat a little bit, just really quickly about how I was developing that relationship with the bottle in college.

[Richard]

Yes.

[Monty Ball]

I strengthened that relationship in 2011, which was my best year on the field. That's the year I tied Barry Sanders touchdown record in the season. And I was actually having my worst year off the field isolation.

In a nutshell, this performance anxiety was. Was. Was crushing me of. Before the games, before the games, to. Even after the games, to practices. Right. Just this performance of having to continue to perform at such a high level and not having an outlet. At least I felt that way. My outlet was the bottle.

And also for me, it was tough because my family loved them to death. I'm extremely close with my parents and my sisters. They moved up to Madison, Wisconsin, my freshman year in college. They quit their job, sold their home. And so I also had this familial pressure of.

You know, I have no choice. I have to succeed. I have to. Even though I know for a fact they would have said, you know, you can go do something else if you want. We don't care. But, you know, I felt they made such a significant sacrifice that I have no choice.

[Richard]

They just wanted to be with Their.

[Monty Ball]

Boy, of course, of course. But you know, in depressionable stage in my life, 16, 17, 18 or whatever it was, I went towards, towards the most accessible.

Option, which was alcohol at the time. And so I really started to develop that relationship then. And fast forward to getting drafted by my favorite team. It was like, hey, mom and dad, see, nothing's wrong with me. I'm accomplishing my dreams. This feedback loop of, you're doing fine, you're fine, you're fine because you're literally still accomplishing your dreams. Not paying attention, of course, to how I'm taking care of my body or the lack thereof off the field. Well, you hand a 21 year old, 22 year old some money, you know, 40 bucks is what I had in my bank account when I got drafted or before the call and after the call, X amount of dollars, now I can go anywhere on the planet. Of course I spent that on the bottom. Literally packed up my luggage with my clothes and alcohol, took off to Denver, Colorado. And in this process of playing for my favorite team, my ego swelled up as well.

And so when we talk about losing it all, I, you know, you've mentioned that a couple times and I'm very quick to say yes, because there, there is zero ambiguity there whatsoever. That is exactly what happened. Because once I, I played in the super bowl my rookie year, side by side with Peyton Manning to come back for 2014, I tear my groin week four because I'm not taking care of my body. I then try to rush to get back by.

[Richard]

That was in year two.

[Monty Ball]

Yes, sir. Yeah. My fault by year two in 2014. Yeah, tear my groin. And then St. Louis Rams, when they're in St. Louis is on the schedule on week 11 or week 12. So of course, where I'm from, I'm trying to rush back through PT to get back to that. I tear it second play of the game. And so my career literally started in Missouri and ended there because that was my last like real football game. But what happened was come year three, 2015, I'm released prior to the season. I then go back to Madison, Wisconsin. This is my first ever fall in years of not having shoulder pads on or a helmet.

I drank more. I was that time that I had the free time. I was declining phone calls from the jets, the Bears, my agent, and I was drinking. And of course at this point, right, I completely fell victim to the bottle. I was gone.

Completely. Just immersed in partying five, six days a week to the fullest of drinking heavily, spending an unhealthy Amount of money. Money that I most definitely would love to have now that I was just blowing and.

Developed some unhealthy relationships as well. I wasn't taking care of my body. I didn't like myself. I sort of started to see that door closing with the Broncos. And so I began to become angry at everybody else but myself. I couldn't face the music that I did this. Yes, there is an addiction that was at play, but there were. There were times when I could have opened up. And I wish. I wish I did. And so, of course, to the tough part of the story.

You know, those frustrations that I had that I. That I couldn't look myself in the mirror and. Correct. I, of course, took them out on someone very close to me.

[Richard]

What happened there?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, at the time, my partner.

We had a hotel. She wanted to do something special for me at a hotel. And I get a text from one of my guy friends that this bar is having an open bar. And I'm like, well, I gotta go to this open bar. It's open bar in Madison. I'm going. Of course, she wasn't too happy about that. Fast forward to finally stumbling back into the hotel at 3am she's upset with me. Of course. We're exchanging some heart, some hurtful words.

Of course. It's all a blur to me. I'm completely just drunk, blacked out, drunk. And what occurred, of course, was something I'm most definitely not proud of, where I'm trying to leave to go to a different hotel. Because at the time, I'm like, okay, this is not gonna work. I'm trying to go to sleep. I'm drunk. I want to go to bed. And she, of course, rightfully so, wanted to get her words out because I heard her emotionally at the time. But what occurred was.

I shoved her away from me pretty aggressively, and she injured her leg on a desk. And cowardly Monte, at the time, didn't try to help her and walked out of the hotel. And as I'm walking out towards a different hotel, cops swoop up and they say, are you Monte? And I'm like, yeah. And so.

That mistake.

I lost everything, literally, in that moment, rightfully so.

[Richard]

You with this woman today?

[Monty Ball]

No, no, no. We made amends about three, four years ago.

She reached out. I didn't feel like it would be appropriate for me to reach out, you know, as if it's like another step. Which 12 steps is great, but I. That wouldn't be appropriate.

[Richard]

That's right.

[Monty Ball]

This situation.

[Richard]

But she reached out.

[Monty Ball]

She did What'd she say? She was apologizing.

[Richard]

Yeah.

[Monty Ball]

And I told her, you don't apologize.

[Richard]

Okay, whatever. I don't have an ear for that. Listen, you're so. You're so good. You're so impressive. You know, people tell me all the time, you're a miracle. You overcame everything. You lost everything. Dude, I didn't lose shit. I wasn't going to the NFL, okay? You are hanging out with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The only time I ever met Peyton Manning and sat with him in his office for a half hour, he couldn't wait to get rid of me. Could not wait to get rid of me.

Oh, my God.

[Monty Ball]

I hear loud and clear. It's. And, you know, no matter what, I can sit here and say, oh, she did this. Oh, I did this. At every moment in my life, I'm in control of my actions, how I respond to stimuli. And so for me, it was a moment of which is what I learned in therapy to follow, which I would love to get into talking about in a bit. Is this that gap in between the stimulus and, of course, your response? Mine was very short. My window in between those two were very short. And of course, it cost me everything.

[Richard]

Yeah, but it did cost you everything. But what you got now is amazing. It's amazing. So.

I'm gonna tell you a story.

[Monty Ball]

Please.

[Richard]

So.

I opened up my last place in 2004, and.

I didn't make any money at it until 2012.

So I was just a rat on a rat wheel like everybody else. And I was with my therapist, and we were talking about it, and I explained why. That was. I was very clear on why I sucked, okay?

Because I had AA as my foundation. And when you're in aa, you're supposed to do it for fun and for free. And I always did it for fun and for free. I always had people on my couch. I always put people in sober livings. I would. I did. Took people to breakfast. I did everything. I had a commitment in every meeting, okay? I love aa. And so I knew why, right? I didn't feel clean. How am I making money off people of people's alcoholism, their misfortune? It didn't feel good to me. It didn't feel right to me.

So for three straight years, every year, there's this swami that comes into town from India, and we sit with each other for an hour once a year. Every year, we sit together in Malibu. And for three straight years, I'm crying, tim, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm Doing this. I'm not. I don't feel good about it. Write all this stuff. Right. And for three years he just said the same thing to me over and over again. Ah.

Wouldn'T it be a better world if everyone could help people for a living?

Yeah, but three years, that's all he said to me for three straight hours. And I'm slow. So on the third year at the end of our session I gave him a hug and a kiss and I said how long were you going to keep doing that? And he said until you heard.

Took three years. Okay, wow. But what happened at that point was.

I felt good now about what I was doing and then we started thriving and we started growing and I probably gave 10,000 people back to their loved ones. Right. And.

You'Re doing that now. You're going ahead and people call you.

Completely distraught because of their loved one. And you do you have children?

[Monty Ball]

I do. I am nine years in recovery and I have a nine year old son.

[Richard]

Yeah, that's right. Kid never saw you loaded.

[Monty Ball]

No, never.

[Richard]

You will never know a father who is like that.

[Monty Ball]

Never. Maverick. This is name.

[Richard]

Wow, that's bitchin. So now what you do is you help people in crisis get their lives back which.

Which affects an entire family system. The kids are now have a present father or mother, right?

[Monty Ball]

Yes sir.

[Richard]

The marital union stays tight. You know, nobody's losing jobs or going to jail. No one's got health problems as a result of alcoholism. You stop all of that in its tracks. You go out, you do an intervention, you grab somebody and you put them into the best fit that they. Because you know what the right fit is?

[Monty Ball]

Oh yeah, I do.

[Richard]

You have given mothers back their boys and fathers back their daughters. Is there anything better than that?

[Monty Ball]

There's not. There really isn't. It's.

It doesn't feel like work. It doesn't feel. There's nothing mundane about it whatsoever. Because everyone's story is different. It is a case by case situation and but at the. But the end result is of course we all want and that's what I love getting them to. And so this is what I do. I just had a gentleman and I'm not just. It's wild how it just happened this morning but I promise you I'll show you after this show in my phone. I just had a gentleman text me today's is one year. We started talking three years ago and he was struggling. He just reached out to me on. On X and.

I just gave him my cell. A random guy and a human Being. And literally this morning, he finally hit his one year and was texting me. And so I, I love that stuff. And so for me, it's, of course.

Are there still moments when I lose sleep about losing things? Of course. Do I still dream about changing? Like, if I just would not have gone in that direction? Absolutely. But for me, I, I, this, my life is, is living proof. I'm biased, of course, but everything happens for a reason. I thought that I was gonna ride off into the sunset with a gold jacket, right. Being the greatest NFL running back of all time, that's what my dream was when I was 8. But my higher power was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We gotta, we gotta to fix this. And you're going to be there for other people.

[Richard]

A lot of people, you know, the viewers don't really may not understand, but it's in, it's impossible to focus as you know, on other people's problems and try to be that solution for them and think about your own problems. It doesn't work that way.

[Monty Ball]

So it's tough. It is tough. That's why I still have my therapist today. So I went through intensive outpatient treatment and I was fortunate enough that therapeutic alliance happened pretty early on, which is rare at times for folks to find that right therapist early on. But for me, I was lucky enough to find a guy who used to open up at times for Metallica. And so he knew somewhat of that lifestyle. Right. Like, we're in the same ballpark here of lights, cameras, actions, women.

Infidelity, if they're married, like all drugs, alcohol, all of that. He understood it. And so we bonded immediately. And he's still a guy I see today. And so, yes, it's difficult to.

I guess my point being is he's still helping me today. Someone who I see where I can sort of chat with him. He can be a soundboard. He can help me out with some things mentally as I'm continuing to help thousands of others.

[Richard]

You know, I've met.

Scores of athletes, scores of them. Yeah, you're the most impressive athlete I've ever met.

[Monty Ball]

I appreciate that.

[Richard]

Ever, Richard, ever the. You are as human and as grounded.

And as decent as anybody I have ever met from the world of sports, ever.

[Monty Ball]

I appreciate that, man. That's. Yeah, man. Get me emotional here because I, I.

Yeah, there were many years, man, of just, I've. And this is what people go through, right? It's that slippery slope where you feel, you know, I've let so many people down, man. Oh, My family, of course.

[Richard]

No, you didn't let anybody down. I want to tell you something. Most people, okay, in your position play sports forever, and then three years after they're done, they're flat broke. Everybody. You're not.

[Monty Ball]

No.

[Richard]

You don't have brain damage, so there's no cte. There's you feeling good physically.

[Monty Ball]

I feel. I feel great.

[Richard]

Feel good physically. You look good physically.

[Monty Ball]

Thank you.

[Richard]

Right. I mean, you're doing the right thing every day. You're living a clean life.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

You help people all day long. You're. You're wicked smart. Okay? It's like, dude, what's cool changes. That was high school. Now we're getting into the real world.

[Monty Ball]

That's right.

[Richard]

Okay. 34 years old. You're in the real world now. You can be anything you want, and you can have a career for as long as you want and do whatever you want for as long as you want. That ain't the way it is in sports. You thought you were behind, you're ahead. You just didn't know it.

[Monty Ball]

That's powerful, actually. That's. Thank you for that.

[Richard]

Well, I'm not judging. I'm just recording. These are facts.

[Monty Ball]

You're correct.

[Richard]

You're ahead of the game. Everybody who's leaving there, okay, who thinks they're all that, who's going to be not able to put two nickels together in three years? You will have already had that experience of, oh, I donkeyed off that fortune. Now I'm doing well, and I know what to do with my money, and I'm going to show people what to do with theirs because I don't want my boys to make the same mistakes I did. Because everybody don't donkeys off their first fortune. It doesn't matter if you're an athlete or not. You knew that, right?

[Monty Ball]

That's. Yeah, that's a good point.

[Richard]

Everybody does. I did not the last fortune. Okay. But my first fortune. Everybody donkeys it off.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

Because you don't know what you don't know.

[Monty Ball]

It's correct, right? Yes, sir. I think it's. I would say so. I'm nine years in recovery. This. This shift in perspective again. The. The knowledge you're providing me here is. Is something I'll carry with me. But this shift happened, I would say, three years ago, where I was no longer holding my head down.

Where I was.

[Richard]

Where you actually believed.

[Monty Ball]

Yes.

[Richard]

That you were on a better track and you weren't longing for or in mourning over what you did.

[Monty Ball]

Exactly. That shift happened about three years ago. And that is, as we both know, right. It's part of the process of being in recovery. And a lot of guys and gals who I speak to today who are starting their recovery journeys or 10 months or 10 years in the recovery journey all had to go through that same period feeling like they let their close loved ones down or their friends down, themselves down and just mourning what they've lost as opposed to understanding where they're at and what they can do, what they can gain.

[Richard]

How proud are your parents right now?

[Monty Ball]

They are extremely proud.

[Richard]

They're more proud of you than they were when you were playing football. I can tell you that that is correct.

[Monty Ball]

It's.

It is a wonderful. This year has been. This, these nine years of recovery have been better than any touchdown I've ever scored.

And I think it's, it's.

From everything that we've already discussed at the beginning of this year.

You know, I received a phone call from the athletic director at the University of Wisconsin Madison that I am getting inducted into the College Football hall of Fame next month in December or so in December of this year. And yeah, that was heavy. That was heavy because it was like, it all wasn't for nothing. It wasn't.

Like, wow, thank you. That's a, that's a blessing to, to I can close that chapter. That's why this year has been one of, of significant growth in my recovery journey, because again, when I think about all that my family sacrificed financially, emotionally.

Now it's like a, it all didn't go down the journey train. I'm getting in the hall. At least with one of them now I can close that and I can move on.

Yeah. And so I, I, I, I mentioned that because I didn't know. I didn't know year one in recovery didn't know. Year two didn't know. And I guess my point with sharing, that is.

As cliche as it sounds. You don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring as long as you wake up sober, you go to sleep sober.

[Richard]

Yeah, I hate that. I hate that. Let me, let me tell you something, okay? I hate that.

Sobriety isn't its own gift. It isn't. I don't care what anybody says.

[Monty Ball]

That's true.

[Richard]

If you don't find, if you don't find a life that is more valuable than the one where you are using and drinking, you can't stay sober. And I don't give what anybody says.

[Monty Ball]

That's such a good way to put it.

[Richard]

Okay. It's the way I put it because it's true. But.

The whole idea of getting sober is to live a better life and hopefully to live your best life. Okay. And then, God willing, not have it call you all the time. Right? It calls you. Right. And I just wrote a book on transcendence. Right. And it's because it doesn't call me it. I don't think about it. I can have a glass of wine and not give a. And you know what happens when I have a glass of wine and I start to feel it? I don't have that thing that says, oh, more is better. I go, oh, that's nice. That feels nice.

Hand to God. Hand to God. Four months ago, had a glass of wine.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

Started kicking in about two thirds of the way down. I said, ah, that's nice.

Man. You can get there, but the work has got to be there. Now, I'm not saying. Not telling anybody. Oh, there's a time where you can drink. I mean, I know less than 1% of the people in recovery that have transcended drug addiction and alcoholism. Right, okay. Which is why I didn't talk about it in my first book, because I didn't want anybody, you know. You know how we are. Oh, it's me. I'm the one who's going to transcend it. Right? You're just right.

[Monty Ball]

You told me.

[Richard]

Yeah, right. No, no, no, no. I'm transcended. Okay. Jesus Christ. But here's the good news, man. You are approaching 10 years.

[Monty Ball]

I am.

[Richard]

And what you may not know or you may know is that. And I didn't know at the time, so that's why I'm sharing it with you. I was at my buddy Cam's house, and I was telling him my woes and everything. I had your time. I had nine years. And he says. He just starts laughing at me. I'm like, dude, I'm just bearing my soul to you. This is not appropriate. That's not what I was looking for, you know? Right, right. And so he starts laughing, and he says, no, buddy, you don't understand. At 10 years, the world changes. And I said, I'm thinking this is hor. This makes no sense to me at all. This is just something people say. And he says, no, no, no, no. It happened to me and all six of my boys. All of them. At some point in your 10th year, it's a rocket ship.

I think he's full of 10 years, nine months, bam. Everything happens right to the moon. Right to the moon. It's a thing. Wow. It's a thing. If you guys can make it. It's a thing.

[Monty Ball]

I didn't know that.

[Richard]

Huh?

[Monty Ball]

I did not know.

[Richard]

Yeah, you're right around the corner, bro.

[Monty Ball]

I did not know.

[Richard]

What'd you think, dude? Do you think you were gonna come on over here and not get hit with the lucky stick?

[Monty Ball]

That's right.

[Richard]

God's looking out for you, dude.

[Monty Ball]

That's right.

[Richard]

Yeah. You're on a winning streak right now.

[Monty Ball]

I, I, I.

Appreciate that, Richard. And honestly, it's, it's. I'm still learning. Of course. Right. I love the perspective that you had there. Just about the transit transcendence part of it. Of, of obviously, as we all know, it's not just consuming the substance. It's your thought patterns. It's how it literally just changes the way that you behave, like, prior to using, after using. And so I guess, I guess I'm looking forward to that. That. That rocket ship.

It'S coming. Looking forward to it.

[Richard]

It's coming.

[Monty Ball]

And I'm not going to fumble at this time.

[Richard]

So let's.

Do the disclosure thing. Okay. You were just hired by one method, by our CEO, Candy Henderson, who is my work wife, who I love desperately and best in the world, which she does. Okay. And do you know she was offered four, four million dollars a year and just turned it down so she could be here with us and hang out with us.

[Monty Ball]

Did not know that. Yeah, she's that valuable.

[Richard]

Oh, she's a serious woman. That is a serious woman who everybody loves, who will roll up her sleeves and do everything which no CEO would ever do. She's not too good to do anything. She sets. She's a, She's, She's a unicorn. She's a unicorn.

[Monty Ball]

That's what I keep hearing. And I, I, I love chatting with her.

[Richard]

She's the best.

[Monty Ball]

I do.

[Richard]

She's the most knowledgeable in the industry. When she came out here for the first time to meet me, I had her in the car for 14 hours.

[Monty Ball]

14 hours.

[Richard]

14 hours. We went and looked at every property. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I would not let her out of the car until she came to work for me. Us wouldn't do it. I wouldn't even consider it.

I mean, it's false imprisonment.

[Monty Ball]

Lightning in a bottle. You weren't gonna let it go. It's, It's. No, that's why I can tell.

You know, like I said, I'm grateful for the opportunity. I know where Method is, is. I know where Method's going, and I'm blessed to be part of the team. This is, this is, this is a rocket ship.

[Richard]

Well, she loved you. She thought you were as, as real. And the humility and the, the genius and the whole thing, the whole thing, the whole Monty, the whole.

[Monty Ball]

There you go.

[Richard]

It's the whole month.

[Monty Ball]

Which is what I had to learn in therapy. Right. That football was just a piece of your puzzle. Not the whole puzzle.

[Richard]

Dude, you're so much more than football.

[Monty Ball]

Right?

[Richard]

So much more than you throw football.

[Monty Ball]

No, I, I have a. No, I mean I could, I threw, I threw a touchdown pass to Russ. Speaking of that. So I scored. So I tied Barry Sanders single season touchdown record in 2011 with 39 touchdowns.

[Richard]

You had 39 touchdowns?

[Monty Ball]

39.

[Richard]

I thought you had 55. One year I had.

[Monty Ball]

I, I. So I lead. So I have the all time record of touchdowns in the history of the ncaa. I own that.

[Richard]

That's right.

[Monty Ball]

Well the quarterback, there's an asterisk by the quarterback of Navy beat me. But.

[Richard]

Right.

[Monty Ball]

You know.

[Richard]

Well, he's got 88.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah. But long story short, 39 touchdowns in, in 2011. Well, they don't count the pass that I threw to Russell Wilson for a touchdown.

[Richard]

Right.

[Monty Ball]

They don't count it. But if you look at the box score, he's got a receiving touchdown. I have 100% passing rating.

Where does that touchdown go?

[Richard]

Right.

[Monty Ball]

I should be the single season touchdown record holder with 40. So if you go look at my stats, you'll see that they have me earmarked for sure of 33 rushing, six receiving. Where's that throw?

[Richard]

It's a touchdown pass. So it's not a touchdown.

[Monty Ball]

No, I can't throw. But that season I did have two completions to Russell Wilson.

And. Yeah, that's so cool.

[Richard]

I forgot. For whatever reason I forgot he was at Wisconsin. I just remembered he was at NC State. NC State.

[Monty Ball]

He had another year of eligibility and of course was shopping and fell with Wisconsin. He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies.

[Richard]

But that was the real. That's when he got really good. Right. With Wisconsin.

[Monty Ball]

Absolutely. We played in three straight rolls bowls and I'm actually again I brag a little bit. I'm getting inducted into the Rose bowl.

[Richard]

Dude. It's bitching.

[Monty Ball]

I'm getting inducted into the Rose bowl hall of Fame at the end of December.

[Richard]

Really?

[Monty Ball]

So I'll be back be in Pasadena doing the whole Rose bowl parade.

[Richard]

Dude, that's so cool. That's so cool.

[Monty Ball]

I love the game.

[Richard]

You know what you should do? You should open a cigar joint in Madison, Wisconsin.

Look, I.

[Monty Ball]

This rocket ship. I'M throwing many ideas in there. Right. Because we're taking them all with me in any way, of course, that I can be of service. Not as I don't be so diplomatic here, but I. I'm ready to get to work with method. I am. To help people.

[Richard]

Well, you help people. Hey, man, you're still friends with people in. In the sports world, right?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

Okay. I. I mean, when I played sports, I have a saying that everything I ever needed to learn in life, I learned through team sports. Everything. Right. Leadership qualities. Everything. Right.

[Monty Ball]

That resilience piece is huge.

[Richard]

Oh, my God.

[Monty Ball]

As you know, probably better than most.

[Richard]

People, dude, I'm not resilient at all. I am the most unresilient person alive. I went ahead when I was a kid and I throw an interception. That would be it.

[Monty Ball]

Whoa.

[Richard]

I. I'd be like, it's not a perfect game, God damn it. And I just lose my right. I'd throw two or three of those, four of those in a row. I'm calling timeout. I'm walking to the. To the side, and my coach is like, what's wrong with you? And I'm like, God, I'm so angry. And he's like, oh, you're just out. I mean, it was just. No resilience. None.

[Monty Ball]

So can I pose a question? And then I. Then I would love to hear your point. I apologies for over talking here, but it's.

[Richard]

You're over talking. You're my guest, and I won't show. I won't stop running my mouth.

[Monty Ball]

No, you're fine. You say you have no. I would assume that you've used and also developed a significant amount of resilience in the business industry. In the business world. I'm sure you got beat up plenty of times with. With your first businesses.

[Richard]

Oh, yeah.

[Monty Ball]

And now look at you. So that doesn't just happen, or else everybody would be a successful business owner.

[Richard]

I got lucky this time. This time it was. No, no, this time it was different. My last place. You remember my last place, right?

[Monty Ball]

I do. I do know the name. I don't want to say it, but it's all right.

[Richard]

I mean, it's just. I don't like saying it because now they're. I mean, seriously, I called over there the other day. It's like, hey, Rich, just keep mentioning us because everybody thinks this is still your place and we're filling up.

[Monty Ball]

I was going to say it earlier in this interview, this podcast, but I was like, nope, I'm going to say it.

[Richard]

And do you know I still call. Call it this because it's so. I still say that. I still call Carrera Cliffside at least once a day.

[Monty Ball]

You said it. All right.

[Richard]

I. I just, you know, it's just. It just. It's part of my DNA.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

And it was so easy. It was so easy the first time. The entire world has changed now, and it was so hard. And I just started getting my ass beat. And I was scared because 31 people, the best people in the industry, left Cliffside to come be here with us at Carrera. 31. That's a lot in the same week.

Okay? It must have felt like the end of a Godfather movie, right? And I didn't do it to harm anybody. I did it because I bought one method, right? From this kid named Cassidy Cousins, right? Who was an acquaintance of mine. And he calls me and he's like, I can't make payroll. What do you mean you can't make payroll? You got rehab. When's payroll? 36 hours. How many clients you got in the place? We got nine patients. All right, I'll be right there. So I go over there, I buy the place. Because you can't. Not Right. There's nine people there.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

You don't make payroll. All the workers are going out with couches and computers and TVs, like, you know, and then it becomes a shooting gallery, literally. Or a crack house, right? They'll never go get treatment again. They'll never trust the process again. Never, right? So I'm like, I can't have it, right? So I walk in, I buy it, I come home.

And I tell.

The four of us that are still sitting there.

People who had worked at the prior place, but then when I sold, said, I'm not working for anybody but him. So they went on to become therapists and doctors, right? Went on to kill the world. Don't worry, they're all back. And so we're all together again. And so I come home after buying the place, and these four women look at me. They're like. They're just start packing their stuff. And I'm like, where are you guys going? Oh, we're going to see what you did. And I'm not like you at all. I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm the king. I'm the. You people forgot who I was, right? And I'm doing that whole thing, right? And they're like, no, dude, we didn't forget who you were. It's a different world. We'll be back in a couple hours. And they left and they came back with the blood rushed out of their face. They said, you bought nothing but a money pit. I said, what are you talking about? They don't even have staff. I said, babe, I just met the entire staff. What's wrong with you? How many shifts do we have, Rich? I'm sorry? Well, we're 24, 7, 365 day a year. Business. Yeah, we don't sleep. How many shifts in a 24 hour day? I'm like three eight hour shifts. You met one shift and that's all they've got. Oh, they don't have any nurses. They don't have anything. They've got nothing, Rich. You bought nothing. You killed us before we got started. And all I wanted to do was build Carrera slow and gentle, just like I did the last thing.

But I couldn't let this thing go because there were people there.

[Monty Ball]

Of course.

[Richard]

It drove me nuts.

So I look at them and I'm like, okay, you guys go home. You don't know what the hell you're talking about. This will be fixed in the morning, okay? You people have no faith. Go home. Go home. Faithless, right? So the faithless went home and I locked the door. And then I ran into bed and cried myself.

[Monty Ball]

I was gonna say, how was that night?

[Richard]

No, no, no. Cried myself to sleep like a little bitch, right? I was such a baby, right?

[Monty Ball]

I'm.

[Richard]

I can't believe you. I can't believe you're gonna. I do not believe you're going to rude me after all this. I've got too much goodwill in the bank. There's no way you're gonna do this to me, right? I mean, this is like to God, like at night, right?

I cry myself to sleep. I wake up in the morning and I usually shave in the shower because who wants to look at their grandfather in the mirror? But for whatever reason, I'm shaving in the mirror and it just hit me, man. I just looked at myself and I said, everybody comes home today. So I got on the phone, I called 10 of the best people in the world who still worked at the other place. And I said, I'm sorry for the late notice, but everybody comes home today, right now. And they said, we're doing it again. Said, oh, yeah. And 10 showed up. 10 gave their notice in one hour.

[Monty Ball]

What?

[Richard]

In one hour?

I wanted to stay lean because we can't bill there. We're not going to be licensed for another six months for Carrera. So this is all a bleed, right? All a bleed. But I got to take these 10, because now we got to roll our. Literally our sleeves up and go to work and do a bunch of different jobs to save this thing, right? I mean, I really strained us.

And the president of our company walks in, Aaron, and she says to me, they're calling. Who's calling? She said, the people from Cliffside. I said, what do they want?

She said, they want to know what's wrong with them.

They want to know why they can't come.

And I said, how many? And she said, 14.

And I said, take them all.

Six more followed a week later. And then I called the HR person because we needed an HR person, of course. And my sweet Lori, I call her up and I'm like, hey, babe, how you doing? She goes, oh, Richie, it's so good to talk to you. Da, da, da, da, da. And I said, how do you like working there? She goes, oh, it's so great. The people are so great. I'm like, okay, I don't have an ear for this bullshit. You want to come home or not? And she goes, of course I want to come home. You took everybody that I love. And I'm like, okay, I'll see you here in two weeks.

[Monty Ball]

31.

[Richard]

31. And then the next you can ask, you go back, right? Because everybody would say, we'd start filling up, you know, we took off like God does bank shots, just to show off in my life, okay? I had no idea how to generate new business. I had no social media. Nobody watches TV anymore. Google doesn't work, okay? All of a sudden, I'm on the COVID of the LA Business Journal. And we fill up in two weeks because everyone knows I'm back. No clue how that happened. None. None.

Bank shots.

[Monty Ball]

It comes back to you.

[Richard]

It comes back.

[Monty Ball]

It comes back to you.

[Richard]

And then what happened was. And you'll ask the next 69 people that we had were by invitation only.

What does that mean? That means when my friends.

Come to me and they say, rich, we're getting too busy, man. I'm getting overwhelmed. I need some help. Will you hire somebody? And I'm like, no, I will not. But, Rich, I need the help. Good. Go find somebody to help you. You're responsible for that person. You're responsible for bringing the lover into our place. Don't bring me somebody who's desensitized to the process of helping out another human being. All lovers come to us. You're responsible for the people you h.

I do it backwards, bro.

[Monty Ball]

Is it backwards, though?

[Richard]

I do it backwards. I Don't hire the people with subjective. With the, with the, with the pedigree or whatever. I hire lovers. And then we coach them up and we make them the best in the world because love is the foundation of everything we do. Because you can't walk into treatment, okay, full of shame and then, you know, have people kicking your ass while you're down. That's like the worst thing ever. It's like, so, like, dude, that is the most cruel thing I've ever heard. Like, why don't you just go smack a baby or something?

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, I, I challenge your. I, I, I challenge you. I don't know if it's backwards. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. Hey, proofs in the pudding, right?

[Richard]

It's like, I get lucky, dude. I just get lucky. This, It's. It's lucky. Think of it this way, okay? Everyone's empty. Everyone's empty. People can go to treatment right now for 50 bucks. Everybody's empty, right? Just walk in, say, hey, this is what I got. Yeah, you're empty. I need help. Okay? We've got a wait list. And I feel bad because I don't want them waiting. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I mean, I got on the phone with somebody the other day, and I'm like, no, no, babe, listen to me. You can go here. Go to my old place. My old place isn't going to hurt anybody, okay? Yeah, but they're not you. It doesn't matter. You're doing illegal street drugs. 70% of that got in it. And one out of every six, seven pills has a lethal dose in it. Just go. Go now. No, I was listening to your podcast, okay? What does that have to do with anything? Yeah, you said that you built this place for people, that if they went, if they could afford to come here and they didn't show and they didn't come here and they went somewhere else and they found out about it later, they would be livid. You said you built it for that purpose. I said I did. Well, then I'm waiting for you.

[Monty Ball]

Wow.

[Richard]

Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Thank God he made it.

[Monty Ball]

That was.

[Richard]

Thank God.

[Monty Ball]

That was my. That was my question. Oh.

[Richard]

How many times has somebody made an appointment, okay, to come into treatment? Let's say a week. Oh, I can't do this now. I've got this and that and that going on. But I can come a week from tomorrow. Okay? And then you say, okay, we'll leave a deposit because everybody wants to come. And so they say, no problem. And then you're calling to get them in and they're not coming in. You're calling every number. And then a mother answers the phone, says, oh, I'm so sorry. He passed away yesterday.

If I had a nickel for every time that happened to me, I'd be living in Lower Bel Air.

It happens all the time. That's why I don't like people waiting.

[Monty Ball]

No.

No, that's, that's. I've, I've. I've been, you know, doing this, of course, for nine years, nine, ten years, and that's, that's happened.

A handful of times.

I don't want for it to increase, but unfortunately we're battling a monster. Battling a monster. So we need more people like yourself and starting these places that are helping people.

[Richard]

Well, you're the one, bro. Because I don't do that anymore. I don't see, I don't go to treatment centers anymore and do one on one stuff anymore with people. I don't. Because I'm hit and miss. Right. When I'm on.

[Monty Ball]

I'm.

[Richard]

I think I've been told.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

By people who would know better. Okay. That, you know, one on one with an alcoholic, I'm as good as it gets. Okay. Okay? And I believe that with all my heart. But I ain't on all the time. I'm not at my best all the time. I'm 59. I'm exhausted. It's like there's only so much negotiating you can do with a drug addict before you're old enough and you're like, okay, shut up. Yeah, I can't hear it anymore. Right? So if you're not at your best and you can't be the, the best version of yourself, and it's got to be a love call, it has to be loving.

[Monty Ball]

Literally.

[Richard]

If I can't be loving, I am useless. Useless. If I walk in with the heart of a servant. The heart of a servant. Joyfully. It has to be joyfully. If you walk in with the heart of a servant joyfully, there is nothing you can't do. Nothing. That's the secret sauce.

And now you know.

[Monty Ball]

And now I know. That's it. That is it. That's.

I wouldn't say. Well, intentionality is so important. So for me, it's, it's. I. I make sure to. When I wake again, not to be so cliche, but I lead with that of the foundation being love. When I chat with families, when I go into these rooms where mom and dad's crying with their 17 year old or 25 year old or 30 year old, or when I'm chatting via text or phone call with someone who reached out to me years ago who's was struggling then, you know, I led the conversation with love. And now today, we were texting this morning about this guy I mentioned earlier and we're.

Chatting about the NFL. We're chatting about the World Series game, you know, the game seven, one of the greatest game Sevens across all sports.

[Richard]

That was so good.

[Monty Ball]

And so point being of just.

People under the influence, they're really good at seeing through people's man. If you don't lead with love, they can call you out in a heartbeat.

[Richard]

We're such a gifted people. We're so gifted.

[Monty Ball]

They're like, like they can see. See right through it.

[Richard]

Yeah.

[Monty Ball]

See right through it. And so it's one thing he mentioned to me and again, this is just one case where again, now we're, we know it's not a. I wasn't doing it to brag about it. He knows that now because now we just talk about.

[Richard]

You don't have, you don't have a brag button. You don't have. When you say it, it's. I'm proud of myself. I did this. I'm proud. It's not a brag thing. It's, it's. Hey, I did this. And it was good. Yeah, I love that.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah. Thank you. Because I could have put my tail up into my legs and, and ran off somewhere.

[Richard]

Everybody would have folded, dude. Everybody. Nobody would have lost what you lost. Show me one guy who lost what you lost, turned his life around. Okay. And, and, and, and did something better with it. Better. Because trust me when I tell you, this is better. God gives a more about this than he does about that. Trust me on this one, on my life.

[Monty Ball]

I hear you loud and clear. I hear you, dude.

[Richard]

You're the best thing Candy's done. And Candy's done a lot of great things here.

[Monty Ball]

I'm, I'm, I'm ready for the rocket ship and I'm ready to continue helping more people. So I'm not, I'm not done yet, Richard. No, I'm not, I'm not. I, I think it's a. I'm willing to continue to pour my life and soul into this because I, I see it every day from people who I've talked to years ago, texting me and calling me. Of course, some of these stories aren't great. That's just the nature of the beast, unfortunately. Which is why, why we're sitting here, you know, wanting to help more people. But those stories of people picking themselves up, mom and dad getting their child back, mom and dad getting their young adult back, the young adult getting their wife back, their spouse, whomever is, is.

[Richard]

That's everything.

[Monty Ball]

That is everything.

[Richard]

That's everything other than my children.

This is the greatest thing I've ever done because it gives me self esteem. I would not have self esteem if I didn't do this. Because I'm incapable of doing anything else. There's nothing else I can do. Thanks. People back their loved ones. I build a culture of accountability and family. We run this place like a football team. That's how. Because that's all I know. That's all I know. We run this place like a football team. Someone makes an excuse. Excuse. Do you know what I. Somebody made an excuse to me the other day. Do you know what I said to them?

[Monty Ball]

What you said?

[Richard]

I said, look, we don't do things over and over again until we get them right. We do them over and over and over again until we can't get them wrong. Boom. And then I. And then I went, thank you, Coach Saban.

[Monty Ball]

I mean, to your.

[Richard]

How the hell did you not go to Alabama?

[Monty Ball]

I didn't get recruited, greeted by them. They weren't looking at me. I didn't get a single sec offer.

[Richard]

Who was the. Who was the coach back then? Wasn't it. Wasn't.

[Monty Ball]

Was it Saban? No, not that long ago.

[Richard]

No way.

[Monty Ball]

I'll be with Saban in. In December. We're both getting inducted.

[Richard]

I want to go.

[Monty Ball]

Let's chat. Let's chat offline here. And it's in Vegas.

[Richard]

I love Coach Saban.

[Monty Ball]

Urban Meyer, Michael Strahan, Vic, me.

We're all going to be there.

[Richard]

Michael. Vic ain't bringing his dogs, is he? I. I'll leave my. God damn, dude. Dude. He's another one.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

He lost everything and came back. What was the. The owner of the Eagles gave him a shot and he did great. He came back and played another few years and did great.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah. Now coaching at Norfolk State, is he. Yes, sir. Good job, Norfolk State.

[Richard]

He's great.

[Monty Ball]

He is. I think it's. It's.

[Richard]

Dude, we don't judge anybody on their worst day. I mean, Jesus Christ, man.

[Monty Ball]

That's. Thank you for saying that. Because I. I think it's what I mentioned. Of course, three years ago, when I stopped holding my head low, I crucified myself enough. It's kind of the. I. You can't change the past. So, like, why are you continuing to.

Mourn the situation that you can't change. Like, you're going through that painful moment again and again and again and again and again.

But also, of course, it's. You know, I pat myself on the back today because it did take a lot of courage. You know, I had to go sit into rooms where I know people have preconceived notions about me, and I knew what I wanted to do, which is help people, and so people don't have.

[Richard]

Preconceived notions about you. Dude, people are so narcissistic and. And self. And self involved. Right. They're thinking about themselves, which is probably.

[Monty Ball]

A narcissistic thought of me. To have to think that they're thinking of.

[Richard]

No, if you can just. If you have the. If you have the ability to look at yourself and say, was that narcissistic? Then you're not a narcissist.

[Monty Ball]

That's true. That's true. I mean, I guess, you know, I'm kind of just puking here. I guess what I'm getting at is, yes, I think we live for 80, 90, whatever years. And it's like, if you can see that people have fallen and they've gotten up and they're trying to better their life, that's what this whole experience of 80 to 90 years is about. Yeah, that's what it's about.

[Richard]

It sucks to fall, though.

[Monty Ball]

It does. It hurts. Hurts.

[Richard]

It hurts.

[Monty Ball]

Gosh, it hurts. And so I'm blessed to be part of this rocket ship because I know that we're gonna. With the resources that the team has, you know, I'll be able to help thousands more.

[Richard]

Well, get buckled up, because we're gonna start picking people right off the streets.

[Monty Ball]

All right?

[Richard]

Veterans right off the street.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

Okay. Well, I'm gonna be doing it, okay? And we're going to put them into treatment because I can't take it anymore. Now, see, you didn't grow up here, but this is my city. I've been here 59 out of 59 years.

And it's turned into a hole.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, I hear a lot about it.

[Richard]

Okay. It's heartbreaking. Now we've got two good politicians that are cleaning this thing up. One is a woman by the name of Tracy park, who is a council person here for the west side who's cleaning up everything and has done a magnificent job. Magnificent. And the other is our district attorney, a guy by the name of Nathan Hockman, who ain't about the. And you know, those gangs that run into a place. Place and, you know, knock over old ladies and mothers with strollers and just, you know, I mean, it's just none of that. That's over.

[Monty Ball]

Good.

[Richard]

Okay, so we're getting that back. But I've never been anywhere but here. I don't go, I don't, I don't do vacations. I don't. Very rarely, every four, five, six years. I work around the clock. That's what I do. I work for my family and my friends and for the people I'm responsible for, you know, dude, you're gonna have the best time here. Best time in the world.

[Monty Ball]

I've been smiling since, since I signed on. And so I, I, and, and following this, I'm feeling better. Not, not as if I wasn't feeling great. I'm just, this has added a lot more to it. Again, this rocket ship analogy is, is, is I'm ready.

[Richard]

You are a great football player, man, but you're a better man.

[Monty Ball]

Thank you.

[Richard]

Much better man.

[Monty Ball]

Thank you. So the same much.

[Richard]

You're a much better man than you were an NFL player. Right?

[Monty Ball]

That was quick. I always have to tell people. I was like, I had a cup of coffee with the Broncos.

[Richard]

Yeah, cup of coffee. Dude, it's you. You're friends with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Like if you saw them out, you guys would dap up and give each other a hug.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, yeah.

[Richard]

Dude, if they saw me, they'd turn around and walk. You.

[Monty Ball]

Know, it's, look, I'm 34 years old.

You know, that's one goal down. I got many more to go and I'm grateful to have corrected or rather I've this self diagnostic check my relationship with the bottle. I'm glad it happened in my 20s.

[Richard]

Hell yeah. Are you kidding? Of course I want to talk about your son. Yeah, tell me his name.

[Monty Ball]

Maverick.

[Richard]

Tell me about us.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, Maverick. Nine years old. He's. He is.

[Richard]

Do you guys live together?

[Monty Ball]

No, we do not. Co parenting with his mother.

[Richard]

How's that? How's that?

[Monty Ball]

So I'll, I'll share. Like I said, I'm an open book. I'll, I'll get right into this. So after.

You know, the situation happened with the young woman back in Wisconsin, I was arrested and I spent the weekend in jail and I watched the Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers Super Bowl 50, while I was in jail. And they just released me like four or five months prior.

I got out and like six days later, I receive a text from a lady in Colorado saying she's seven months pregnant and that I'm the father and I'm like, whoa. I'm like, whoa.

[Richard]

That happens in Jewish culture.

[Monty Ball]

Again, I don't. There's. She was. I'm not. There's zero.

Frustrations there because I had my own. I obviously wasn't in the right frame. My. My, like the right mindset to. To reach out to. I was being toxic in a sense. But long story short, we then started to date as I had these like, pending charges and the woman who is my. My son's mother.

[Richard]

Okay. Who is so seven months pregnant.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah. So she's actually never seen a drunk Monte or anything.

But we decided like, we dated for three years and we kind of. It just didn't work out. It really didn't because it didn't work out before.

[Richard]

Right.

[Monty Ball]

And so it kind of felt forced. And so we just felt like it's best to co parent. And now he's doing. He's well. He's always been doing well, but he goes to a private Catholic school in Colorado. He's got a green thumb. He loves to garden. Nine years old, he's healthy. He is very healthy physically, mentally, emotionally. And he doesn't care too much for football, which.

[Richard]

Great.

[Monty Ball]

That's fine. Right? Right. Protect your brain.

[Richard]

My kid plays with a Rubik's cube. See, 17 seconds.

[Monty Ball]

Whoa.

[Richard]

He learned that after a month.

[Monty Ball]

Wow.

[Richard]

I know.

[Monty Ball]

See, I love that stuff though. And that's what we've been pouring into. Into Mav is just this arts. Right. And of course, going to a private school helps with that as well. There's more hands on, individualized, you know, schooling in a sense. But.

He'S really into like some music. Green thumb. He does like volleyball. His mom played it in lacrosse as well. But he obviously doesn't know yet. But the time will come where he, you know, will understand how much he means to me. He does at nine. But how far, like, how.

[Richard]

How close do you live to him?

[Monty Ball]

Approximately? Like 12 minutes. 12 minute drive. So it's like nine miles.

[Richard]

How often do you see him?

[Monty Ball]

Once a week. Twice a week. As in, like I have him and so.

[Richard]

But you guys. But if you wanted to drive him to school every day, you could.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We have.

[Richard]

You guys have a great relationship.

[Monty Ball]

Amicable relationship. It is, it is. Our relationship is. Is good and good. That's the only reason why I'm out there in Colorado.

[Richard]

Right.

[Monty Ball]

Because I probably would have stayed in Wisconsin or went back to Missouri, but of course I was like, you know what? I'm gonna be there for him.

[Richard]

That's right.

[Monty Ball]

And so.

He knows how Much I love him, but he.

Doesn'T know yet about, like, when he was born, I held him and I said, I'm. I'm never going to touch the bottle again, ever. And I haven't, and I don't plan to.

[Richard]

So isn't that fun money?

[Monty Ball]

Because he was born in April of 2016. I was arrested in February 5th of 2016.

Yeah.

[Richard]

Yeah. I felt the same way when my daughter was born. You know, I owned that last place, and I had it for, I think, six years.

I think I was six years sober at the time when I had her. And the second she was born, I went into the biggest depression I've ever been in. And I was thinking about why that is. And it hit me because in the back of my mind, I always held a space for, one day I'm going to be out of this business and sell it, and then I'll be able to. To smoke crack and never stand up again and die the right way.

Right. I figured I'd have three years to go on a crack run before my heart fell out. Okay. And I just dropped.

And then I had this kid. Now, understand, I own.

One of the most successful treatment centers in the world at this time. And this is my thinking, because I can hold it together. But one day, I'm gonna do this again. This is who I am to my core. One day I'm going back there. Okay. I was holding that. Right.

And I just. After my daughter was born, it's just, yeah. I can never do this again, ever, Ever.

And people don't understand that. People don't understand. I say it all the time. You don't know what love is until you have a child. You think you do, but you don't.

People with cats get upset. I've got a cat. I'm like, sh. Quiet.

[Monty Ball]

You get it. You understand it. Other parents, of course, understand it as well. It's there. There was. There was no.

For me. And I get it there for. For some, like you said, you had a glass of wine.

I can't.

[Richard]

No. And you better not, because you can.

[Monty Ball]

Exactly.

[Richard]

Yeah.

[Monty Ball]

And I think that's the important part of people understanding their own treatment process, their own journey, their own recovery journey. Journey is once he was born, I was like, I am. I. There will not be a moment where I'm like, okay, I think I'm good. I think I can right now. I don't know what it was, Richard. I don't know what touched me. Love, maybe. But when I held him, it was.

I don't need That I don't need that now. Again, it wasn't that simple of it. It wasn't just like a light switch that happened. Therapy, of course, right. Was. Was huge. But I sort of had that leg up in a sense when I went to therapy. It's like, okay, now figure out who you are, Monte, because now you got a child. Now let's figure out who you are outside of the game of football, outside of that excruciating and soul crushing performance anxiety. Let's figure out ways to deal with that performance anxiety because you're going to have it regardless, no matter which industry you go into. But let's just. Long story short, let's give you these two tools to figure out who you are and then of course, so you can be there for your son.

[Richard]

Hey, man, this has been a great time. Yeah, it's been a great time. Before we go, I want to touch on this real quick.

You know anybody who you're close to or anybody you got close to. You know anyone who's had a family member or church child died.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah.

[Richard]

Can you tell me about how that family's doing?

[Monty Ball]

Not well.

And I'll share it. And it's. That's the alarming part about it. I had no clue you were going to ask that question. But once you finished it, I immediately knew. That's just how prevalent it is. Unfortunately, my grandmother's sister, so my great aunt, her son, and I'll say his name, Brian, passed away four years ago from.

And.

It's.

The ripple effect is so.

Destroyed. It is, it is. And I think about my grant all the time. I really do. Because.

There is a healing path for all in this scenario. You can choose it if you want to, but my gosh, I don't know. That takes a lot of courage, a lot of strength to lose a child to fend. And so to your question. She's trying to. She's trying.

And I think about her all the time.

[Richard]

It's never gonna be the same. You got. Got brothers and sisters.

[Monty Ball]

Yeah, he does. His sister is a police officer.

My cousin. And.

She's trying.

[Richard]

We do good things, dude. I want you to remember something and I don't ever want you to forget it. It.

Every bad thing you've done, every one of them has been erased.

That's not who you are anymore.

Every bad thing you've ever done.

Has made an amends for how you live your life today and who you are, who you give. You give people. People back their families. You're a good father. You're a good co parent.

[Monty Ball]

Oh, yeah.

[Richard]

You're a good man.

And everything in your life from this moment forward is going to be a blessing.

[Monty Ball]

Thank you. Thank you, Richard.

[Richard]

No problem, Val.

[Monty Ball]

Thank you.

[Richard]

Now look into that camera and say, I'm taking Candy to meet Coach Saban.

[Monty Ball]

I'm taking Candy to meet Coach Saban. That's right.

[Richard]

That's right, Candy.

[Monty Ball]

We can. Yeah, we can make it happen again. We'll chat here.

[Richard]

See you next Tuesday.

[Monty Ball]

See you next Tuesday.

[Richard]

What he said.

We're out of time. Please subscribe on YouTube, click the thumbs up and leave a comment. Please subscribe on Apple podcast and Spotify and leave a rating and a review and share the we're out of time podcast with others you know who will get value out of it. See you next Tuesday.