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#1766908 06/01/20 10:55 PM
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We were talking about Reggie Langhorne in a PFF thread. This story is eye-opening and troubling.

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Moment of Glory: Reggie Langhorne had his first 1,000-yard season and vanished. He's sharing the real reason why

Frank Schwab


Not every NFL player gets to play 20 years like Tom Brady. Most won’t play five seasons. But for a select few, they’ll have one season, game or play that is truly historic. This offseason, we’ll highlight those special NFL performances in our “Moment of Glory” series.

For about 20 years, when someone would ask Reggie Langhorne why he retired from the NFL, Langhorne would lie.

Langhorne’s retirement is unique in NFL history. According to Pro Football Reference, he’s one of only nine players to have 1,000 yards rushing or receiving in his final season. The other eight had multiple 1,000-yard seasons. Langhorne is the only player ever to have his first 1,000-yard season and then immediately walk away from the NFL. Langhorne had 85 catches for 1,038 yards for the 1993 Indianapolis Colts. Then at 30 years old, he vanished from the NFL.

He’d have the same lines ready when people asked. His body felt tired, he’d say. It wasn’t worth the pain anymore. He had nine NFL seasons between the Cleveland Browns and

“It was all false,” Langhorne said. “It’s so hard to look people in the eyes and lie.”

The truth? Langhorne was having a career year on the field and spiraling into alcoholism off it. He said a DUI triggered extra random tests from the NFL. He failed a league drug test, which was going to lead to a four-game suspension in 1994. He was disappointed in himself and embarrassed. And he had another reason to not want the suspension to become widespread news.

“I didn’t want my mom to know,” Langhorne said. “If this got out, my mom would be somewhat shamed.”

So he walked away, fearing the shame from his family and small hometown. And for two decades, there were two constants in Langhorne’s life: drinking and lying about why he left the NFL.

Reggie Langhorne’s battle with alcoholism begins

How Langhorne became an alcoholic is unusual. He said he didn’t drink in high school and only a handful of times in college at Division II Elizabeth City State. And as he was establishing himself with the Browns after making it as a seventh-round pick in the 1985 draft, he wasn’t drinking to excess. He and his teammates were close and focused on their profession. And while Langhorne never reached 1,000 yards with the Browns, he was a good player. He started 81 games. He had seven touchdowns in 1988. He’s still well known there and is part of a local TV station’s pregame Browns coverage.

Then in 1992, Langhorne moved on to the Colts. All of his friends from those Browns teams were gone, and he says he was a loner. The start of a long battle with alcoholism sounds so innocuous. He was just bored. He’d find himself in a bar having a drink. Then the next night, more drinks and more bars.

“Before you realize it, you’re doing that all the time,” Langhorne said. “Before I realized it, that obsession with drinking was a problem.”

Langhorne said his partying started to get bad his first year in Indianapolis, then got much worse his second year. Statistically, he was peaking as a player. His two best seasons for catches and yards were his final two seasons. In 1993, with Jeff George looking his way often, he led the Colts in catches and receiving yards. He always played sober, he said, but was drinking whenever else he could. He still posted a fine season. Langhorne was sixth in the NFL in receptions behind some instantly recognizable names: Sterling Sharpe, Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Cris Carter and Andre Rison. He was eighth in the NFL in receiving yards.

“He should have made the Pro Bowl,” his close friend and former Browns teammate, Eric Metcalf, said.

And then he was gone. Langhorne hid the real reason for his departure.
A failed drug test leads to 4-game suspension

Langhorne found out he was going to be suspended four games for a failed drug test. He was cut by the Colts, who were shedding many high salaries. But the team knew about the failed test, and Langhorne assumes the Colts knew about his lifestyle, too.

Langhorne said three or four teams immediately inquired about picking him up.

“There are a lot of teams interested in Reggie,” Langhorne’s agent Vern Sharbaugh told the Daily Press in March 1994, “and I know Marty [Schottenheimer] would like to have him in Kansas City.”

But Langhorne was done with football. He said he thought of his mom, his family and letting down the people of Smithfield, Virginia. He’s still the only NFL player to come out of that small town. Previously in his career some, including NFL quarterback-turned-broadcaster Joe Theismann, told him to get every year he could out of the NFL.

“But I was so determined to get out and do what I wanted,” Langhorne said.

He thought he had enough money put away, but “when you’re partying and drinking every night, that money goes away fast.” He thinks he could have played at least three or four more seasons. But he was done, stuck with curious questions about being one of the rare players who posts a 1,000-yard season and never plays again.

“It took me years to get over the depression and holding onto that secret,” Langhorne said. “It took me to a deeper hole.”

Langorne had ‘maybe 10 rock bottoms’

Most recovering alcoholics and addicts have a story about hitting rock bottom.

“I had maybe 10 rock bottoms,” Langhorne said.

He was hit by a car once while he was riding on his bike to buy liquor during the day. Once his neighbors found him passed out in the snow. He was hospitalized seven times in a 14-month stretch with a blood issue. He said he had three-and-a-half quarts of bile extracted from his stomach.

“People die from drinking alcohol every day. I was in a bad, bad place,” Langhorne said. “You think you’ll fix yourself. But then you go five years, 10 years, 15 years down the road and you say, ‘Whoa, I’m out of control.’

“I think now, ‘You must have been crazy.’ If it was anybody else, I’d think you have to be crazy to do this to yourself. But you can’t see it when you’re the one doing it.”

Some attempts at rehab didn’t work because he says he didn’t want to be helped. And then his path to recovery started as unplanned as the drinking itself.
Turning his life around

Over the holiday season in 2013, Langhorne said he went on a six-day bender. His old Browns teammate, running back Kevin Mack, helped get him out of it.

“He showed up at my door — he smiles all the time — he smiled at me and said, ‘Let’s try something different,’ ” Langhorne said.

Langhorne went to Lutheran Hospital in Cleveland, and admits he didn’t go in expecting to get sober. He got in a program. Something clicked. Finally.

“I started to listen. I started to take directions,” Langhorne said. “I got honest with myself and realized I had a major problem.

“When I got to Cleveland, I was coachable. I wanted it and put everything I had into getting it. That’s how I approach sobriety now.”

He says he has been sober for more than six years. He approaches it with focus and intensity. As he was speaking on the phone from his job as a sales and leasing consultant at a car dealership just outside Cleveland, he says he already had a Zoom meeting for his program at 6:45 a.m. and would join another at 7 p.m.

“I’m not fixed,” Langhorne said. “I’m always going to be an alcoholic. It takes an absolute commitment to be all-in. It’s a way of living.”

Langhorne was in Metcalf’s wedding and Metcalf said about Langhorne, “I love him to death.” He didn’t know the extent of his good friend’s alcoholism until he opened up about it. Metcalf said he is very proud of how his friend has turned around his life.

“Reggie has overcome all this, and he’s able to be himself still. Just without the extracurriculars,” Metcalf said. “He has moved forward. And he’s still Reggie.”

As for how his NFL career ended, Langhorne says he has moments of envy when he sees players today making $2 million “sitting on the bench.” He said for years he resented the NFL because he was looking for someone to blame. He is over that, and wants to share his story because he thinks he could help someone in a similar position. He said he has been volunteering for about five years at the detox unit at Lutheran Hospital. He has even thought about reaching out to the NFL and seeing if he could help current players.

There aren’t any more secrets.

“I don’t carry those resentments or burdens anymore,” Langhorne said. “My story is my story. I’m proud of where I am today.”


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/moment-of-g...-130028239.html


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Geesh, now I can understand.

Broncos' still missed that FG.

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Funny, I was just thinking about him the other day very randomly.

Had no idea about this stuff ... thanks for sharing, I’m glad he’s in a better place


"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
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Finally the story comes out. Good job getting sober Reggie, and good job Kevin for being there for a friend. thumbsup


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Wow! Never had a whiff of this before. Loved his game. Congrats on the sobriety. Play life strong!


"Every responsibility implies opportunity, and every opportunity implies responsibility." Otis Allen Glazebrook, 1880
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I had no idea. Thanks for sharing. This is a prime example of how little we know about people in the public light. As much as we think we know, we have no idea.


Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.

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One of my fondest childhood memories is the sky five high and low while in the air that him and Slaughter did after every TD. Great memories.

Rishuz #1766984 06/02/20 11:19 AM
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Originally Posted By: Rishuz
One of my fondest childhood memories is the sky five high and low while in the air that him and Slaughter did after every TD. Great memories.
thats one of my favorite images as well


"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
PitDAWG #1767022 06/02/20 01:12 PM
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I also didn't have any idea about his issues.

Rishuz #1767172 06/02/20 06:08 PM
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Originally Posted By: Rishuz
One of my fondest childhood memories is the sky five high and low while in the air that him and Slaughter did after every TD. Great memories.


I think someone posted a great photo of that on here.

Reggie was one of our WRs when I became a Browns fan, then I was disappointed when he went to the Colts.

Good for him that he turned things around.


[Linked Image from i28.photobucket.com]

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lampdogg #1767183 06/02/20 06:25 PM
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Dave #1767185 06/02/20 06:26 PM
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Nice!


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Tulsa #1767188 06/02/20 06:37 PM
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Whether it was Brian or Bernie at the helm, the 80's Browns were so much fun. Who would have thought it was all downhill from there? It has to be time to turn it around.

Dave #1767189 06/02/20 06:52 PM
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Originally Posted By: Dave
Whether it was Brian or Bernie at the helm, the 80's Browns were so much fun. Who would have thought it was all downhill from there? It has to be time to turn it around.


I think its me.

I’m a Reds fan too. We had the 70s with the Big Red Machine, then, nothing.


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Maybe if they let Pete Rose into the HOF it would break the Tulsa curse?

Dave #1767194 06/02/20 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted By: Dave
Maybe if they let Pete Rose into the HOF it would break the Tulsa curse?


Only if they do it while he’s alive.


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Dave #1767199 06/02/20 07:29 PM
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What a shot


"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
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Originally Posted By: PitDAWG
I had no idea. Thanks for sharing. This is a prime example of how little we know about people in the public light. As much as we think we know, we have no idea.


NFL Players are no different than you or I Pit. They all have troubles in this life like everybody else. the same problems and troubles that each and every one of us have. They only difference is that they make more money during their NFL careers.


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Originally Posted By: GMdawg
Originally Posted By: PitDAWG
I had no idea. Thanks for sharing. This is a prime example of how little we know about people in the public light. As much as we think we know, we have no idea.


NFL Players are no different than you or I Pit. They all have troubles in this life like everybody else. the same problems and troubles that each and every one of us have. They only difference is that they make more money during their NFL careers.
I remember knowing Jamel White fairly well in high school ... playing pickup basketball, playing video games, etc ... I came to this realization: we’re more similar than I imagined


"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
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I am glad that he got his life together, and is working hard to combat his addiction.


Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Originally Posted By: Dave


Yep. That’s the one!


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Originally Posted By: Tulsa
Originally Posted By: Dave
Whether it was Brian or Bernie at the helm, the 80's Browns were so much fun. Who would have thought it was all downhill from there? It has to be time to turn it around.


I think its me.

I’m a Reds fan too. We had the 70s with the Big Red Machine, then, nothing.


Did you forget 1990? When Joe Oliver’ pulled a pitch down the third base line in the ninth and won game 1 of the World Series, and they subsequently swept the Oakland A-hole-‘S?

I remember watching it, rooting for the Reds because I hated Oakland.


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Dave #1767438 06/03/20 05:57 PM
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Just absolutely classic. Back when we scored regularly and had something hot to cheer for.

Go ahead! Make me cheer. I dare ya.

Go, Browns!


"Every responsibility implies opportunity, and every opportunity implies responsibility." Otis Allen Glazebrook, 1880
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Originally Posted By: Dave


It looks like Reggie is looking at Webster's hand, not elbow. Always look at the elbow during a high five. You will never miss.




“It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” -Steve Jobs.
lampdogg #1767461 06/03/20 06:49 PM
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Yep, sure did.


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Originally Posted By: Dave
Maybe if they let Pete Rose into the HOF it would break the Tulsa curse?


I saw Pete Rose play in my childhood, may have been like 7-10 years old, it's something,
I don't remember another player quite like him, and when I found out he bet on baseball, I kinda wished they'd make every player bet on it, and I believe that when I watched, he'd only bet that day on his team to win.

First of all by todays standards he had the athletic figure not much better than DR Phil. and

There may have been like a 4-2 reds lead, and it's a middle or even early inning, and he's litteraly breaking his back to get to 2nd on a face first slide.

And he's breaking his face to get to 2nd base, (He was about 1 out of a handful of players ever to always use a head first dive, reaching out with his hands to "slide" into a base; :Young kids might not know that: and he always did): or treating the last pitch on a 1 ball 2 strikes count like it's the final out of game 7 of a world series.

I sometimes felt even his own teammates, all 18ish players of his and the other team need to remind him it's the 4th inning of a game in MAY!

They'd end up winning the game 7-6 because he stretched slop into a 2 run rally in the 4th inning, (with the lead), when nobody else seemed to be trying, (really like in soccer when a player comes off the bench and everyone else on the field is already winded)

And every time I ever saw him bat he always had a (1 ball and 2 strikes count) every time after 3 pitches.

10 years later, I hear "he bet on baseball", Oh yeah? well I'd bet he was betting on his team to win, shoulda made a few more players bet on baseball would have been more exciting.

To point out. I think it's only been !alleged! that he bet on baseball, whether proven or not, I don't know.

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Originally Posted By: lampdogg
Originally Posted By: Tulsa
Originally Posted By: Dave
Whether it was Brian or Bernie at the helm, the 80's Browns were so much fun. Who would have thought it was all downhill from there? It has to be time to turn it around.


I think its me.

I’m a Reds fan too. We had the 70s with the Big Red Machine, then, nothing.


Did you forget 1990? When Joe Oliver’ pulled a pitch down the third base line in the ninth and won game 1 of the World Series, and they subsequently swept the Oakland A-hole-‘S?

I remember watching it, rooting for the Reds because I hated Oakland.

That year I started to hate arrogant reds' fans which I saw carrying brooms and making references to the movie
" The hunt for red October" to be The hunt for the Reds in October.
If they hadn't been such blanks I might not have become a Braves fan. (maybe just a continuation of what I already hated about the reds then)

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Alcohol IMO is poison.

It is the most dangerous drug because it is legal, accepted, and glorified.

It has been glorified since I can remember in movies, commercials, and socially.

Before the attention of campaigns against drunk driving MADD. People used to brag about driving drunk.

Alcohol has caused so much pain to so many. Ruined the lives of people and the families of those addicted.

I bet everyone knows of cases.

When you think about alcohol and tobacco legal drugs. Heavily taxed. Killed millions.

Meanwhile weed. A plant like tobacco and now known as a medicine for a number of medical problems is still illegal nationally.

bonefish #1768877 06/11/20 11:53 AM
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I agree .. I’ve seen alcohol destroy so many lives, especially innocent ones.

It’s as every bit destructive as other drugs that aren’t legal.


"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
bonefish #1768933 06/11/20 02:56 PM
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They haven't yet figured out how big pharma can patent a legal growing plant that has been around for centuries. Just give them time...


Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.

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bonefish #1768984 06/11/20 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted By: bonefish

Alcohol IMO is poison.

It is the most dangerous drug because it is legal, accepted, and glorified.

It has been glorified since I can remember in movies, commercials, and socially.

Before the attention of campaigns against drunk driving MADD. People used to brag about driving drunk.

Alcohol has caused so much pain to so many. Ruined the lives of people and the families of those addicted.

I bet everyone knows of cases.

When you think about alcohol and tobacco legal drugs. Heavily taxed. Killed millions.

Meanwhile weed. A plant like tobacco and now known as a medicine for a number of medical problems is still illegal nationally.


It's assinine, stupid, and ignorant. Just for a start.


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I think of Reggie from time to time because his name is in one of my Browns stories...

I was new to the Northern Virginia area back around 1990 and I went to a bar where the "Browns Backers" met.. I had never been there before so I showed up and the two guys who ran the club jokingly told me there was a quiz to join the club... one of them spouted out, "Where did Reggie Langhorne go to college?" and I said Elizabeth City State.... then one of the guys looked at the other and said, "Is he right?" and the other one said, "I don't know. Guess I should have asked a question I knew the answer to."

Glad he's sober, wish him the absolute best.


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