“It’s the same thing that got me here is the same stuff that I do on a regular basis. I still work out twice a day, I still take my medication every day and I still have a group of people who I talk to if stuff goes wrong, and I don’t find it cheesy now just because I live it and I do it, and I see the results from it,” Clarett said.
‘I knew I would be dead or in jail if I kept doing what it was I was doing’
The former Ohio State running back detailed his upbringing in Youngtown, where he was arrested three times as a juvenile and sent to an institution for juveniles. He said there he met a correctional officer who “stepped in sort of like a father figure” and encouraged him to invest time in football.
In high school, Clarett thought he could take the sport serious, so he transferred schools with the thought that if he was accepted to a division one school, he could attend college and leave his neighborhood.
“I needed to get outside of [the] neighborhood just because I knew I would be dead or in jail if I kept doing what it was I was doing during the football,” Clarett said.
His junior year, coach Tommy Daniels sat Clarett down and taught him more about the sport than just “me putting on pads and bowl[ing] people over.”
When Clarett saw Jim Tressel, who is from Youngtown, start to coach Ohio State, Clarett said he felt more excited about the Buckeyes. He joined the team his freshman year with a lot of potential and after his first game, everyone knew who he was.
“I remember going out and just having the time of my life, and I was like, ‘Man, this is the best thing to do with success,’ and I just basically lost focus in that moment,” Clarett said.
But he was still successful on the field, with the Buckeyes becoming national champions that year.
“If you can imagine to go from ... you’re locked up inside a juvenile system, in three years from that you’re the number one player in the country and coming from number one player in Ohio and then 13 months after that then win the national championship,” Clarett said. “It’s a whole lot of life in three or four years.”
Clarett reflects on challenges after refusing help
He had no guidance for navigating his new life and he “basically lost myself,” Clarett said. When he accepted illegal benefits, he was suspended and felt depression for the first time. He was too embarrassed to ask for help and turned to substance abuse instead.
He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in a few years but said he was not the player the team expected.
“They thought that they were getting the kid from Ohio State who was running footballs and breaking tackles and stuff like that,” Clarett said. “I was literally like a shell of a man. When I got there, I just wasn’t who I was. I wasn’t working out and training; I was in California partying, having fun.”
After he continuously declined help from a team sports psychologist, he was cut and returned to Ohio, where he went back to petty crimes, he said.
There he was arrested for an armed robbery in Columbus, finding out a few weeks later that his wife was pregnant. He said that stressed him out “because I’m thinking to myself, ‘How are you going to take care of yourself?’” He kept drinking and doing drugs.
‘The moment of divine intervention’
In 2006, he made an illegal U-turn and led Columbus police on a high-speed chase. When he was caught, police found weapons and alcohol in the car.
“I call it the moment of divine intervention,” Clarett said. “I’m happy I got arrested because if not, I don’t know where I’d be.”
After that, Clarett started his “rehabilitative journey,” being diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety in the course of a court ordered psychological evaluation and prescribed medication. He learned a lot in jail and in prison, where he served four years.
“I didn’t realize that all the stuff that I had went through had just scrambled my brain,” Clarett said.
While in prison, Clarett read books on business and took better care of his mental and physical health.
Clarett ended up opening a behavioral health center in Youngtown, which now serves around 500 kids weekly and houses 50 to 60 adults.
Last year, Ohio State Coach Ryan Day called Clarett to work with the team, his first time back at the school in about 20 years. Clarett and Day have weekly dinners now.
After Clarett’s speech, Dr. Jordan Allison, clinical psychologist at Mercy Health - Springfield who is in part leading the push for men’s health, said the man’s story reminded him of the importance of elders.
“I am reminded as I myself am aging we unfortunately live in a society where we have a lot of aging men but not many elders, and I believe what we’re sharing tonight reminds us of the importance of story, the importance of elders in our life, that we as men need to have someone that we are sharpening and someone that is sharpening us,” Allison said.
The event also featured free health screenings and stations with education on men’s health.
This coming June will be the hospital’s first men’s health month with regular events highlighting specific needs.
Men are less likely than women to seek medical care, which contributes to a shorter life expectancy, according to the hospital. Men are also more prone to chronic conditions, many of which are preventable or manageable with care and lifestyle changes.
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