# I Went From The MVP Quarterback to Shooting Heroin | How I Found Sobriety and Changed My Life

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198/i-went-from-the-mvp-quarterback-to-shooting-heroin-how-i-found-sobriety-and-changed-my-life
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198/i-went-from-the-mvp-quarterback-to-shooting-heroin-how-i-found-sobriety-and-changed-my-life.md
Podcast: [Rise Above with Kevin Lanning](https://stenobird.com/podcast/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198)
Published: 2026-06-27T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/AKTBA8362111884.mp3
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/AKTBA8362111884.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198/episodes/i-went-from-the-mvp-quarterback-to-shooting-heroin-how-i-found-sobriety-and-changed-my-life
Duration seconds: 5161

## Resource

Tommy Lyons grew up between Brooklyn and Staten Island, a fearful, introverted kid with a nervous disposition who found that drugs made him feel like he could finally talk to anyone. He was smoking weed at ten, doing Xanax by thirteen, and a borderline cocaine addict by fourteen — funding it by stealing and robbing before he was even old enough to drive. He became the MVP quarterback of his high school football team while already deep in opiate addiction. Vicodin became Percocet, Percocet became blues, and blues became heroin. He describes shooting heroin in the bathroom at his serving job in his green dress shirt, bouncing between sober livings and couches in both New York and South Florida. He climbed the ranks running sober living homes — becoming director of operations of 14 of them in his twenties — all while admitting he had no real connection to recovery and was running on ego. Then he relapsed into one of the most vicious runs of his life. Suicidal, his front teeth knocked out, crack now in the mix, he overdosed behind the wheel of his car and woke up days later in a hospital with no memory of how he got there. Now 4 years sober, Tommy works in the recovery field helping others find what he eventually found — and says he can't even picture himself using anymore. This one is about how many "lucky breaks" it can take before the stars finally align. Tommy Lyons grew up between Brooklyn and Staten Island, a fearful, introverted kid with a nervous disposition who found that drugs made him feel like he could finally talk to anyone. He was smoking weed at ten, doing Xanax by thirteen, and a borderline cocaine addict by fourteen — funding it by stealing and robbing before he was even old enough to drive.He became the MVP quarterback of his high school football team whi…

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