Devon McDonald was part of a national champion football team at Notre Dame, was picked as MVP in the 1993 Cotton Bowl and made it into the NFL.
He was a talented athlete, but he was partying at night, drinking and smoking marijuana after practice.
After three years of showing up late for practice with the Indianapolis Colts, McDonald was fired.
"I couldn't blame anybody but myself," McDonald, 41, told about two-dozen people Wednesday at Wilson Southern Middle School in Spring Township.
The event was organized by Wilson Communities That Care. The group provides affordable family activities in the Wilson community and discourages substance abuse, group secretary Debbie Burridge said.
Every April the group tries to arrange an event for alcohol awareness month. This year, it connected with Sports World, a ministry that brings former professional athletes to schools. Together they arranged McDonald's visit, which was supported with a grant provided through Community Prevention Partnership.
McDonald told the audience that we make thousands of decisions every day, some that will change the course of our lives.
He traced a long series of bad decisions that ultimately ended his NFL career to a very early one, to smoke his uncle's discarded cigarette butts.
McDonald urged the audience to make good decisions, especially at a young age. He also stressed the importance of bringing God into one's life.
McDonald said he was in a downward spiral until he asked Jesus into his life. That choice changed his life and made him into the man he is today.
McDonald lives in Indianapolis with his wife and two daughters. He no longer drinks or smokes and said he is happier now than he was when he was playing in the NFL.
He urged the children and teens in the audience to make good decisions.
"You're not born a winner," McDonald said. "You're not born a loser. You're born a chooser."
Matthew Crump, 11, asked McDonald if he knew anyone who played football high.
McDonald pointed to himself.
Matthew, a fifth-grade student at Whitfield Elementary, said he enjoyed hearing McDonald's story about drugs and alcohol.
"It doesn't seem like that could happen to him," Matthew said.
Kristopher Perez, 10, loves the Colts, one more reason for his mother, Amy Ortiz, to attend McDonald's talk.
"I love the point where he encourages hope," Ortiz said. "I like to encourage random acts of kindness."
McDonald also spoke Wednesday to students at Reading High School and Reading's Gateway School for International Business and World Language. He will speak to students at Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology today and on Friday will return to Reading High School.
Contact Erin Negley: 610-371-5047 or enegley@readingeagle.com.
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