Dexter Manley: A Football Life

I'll tell you what I was using drugs piratical II for some reason or another after leaving the National Football League I still was struggling and the beast was still on my shoulder I just fell apart you know I started using more drugs and and I got arrested a couple of times and that was probably the lowest point in my life and I want to tell you something you have a lot of people I grew up with they threw the dirt on ya I'm not ready to throw the dirt on me [Music] three most important people in the country was Michael Jackson next the Malon tricks Wow look at this here a lot of years to stop in India I'm sort of speechless right now Wow look at this [Music] Dexter Manley has had his share of demons he tried to outrun them his whole life but he never had trouble chasing down opposing quarterbacks when I first saw him I saw a man by the draw a football player that's it right there extremely fast forgot that big and extremely strong God made him to play football over a seven-year span in the 80s Manley had more sacks than anyone not named Lawrence Taylor [Applause] when he got to the quarterback he did damage he didn't just hit you he finished you off [Music] Dexter was before his time if he was playing in this day and age with Twitter and Instagram and all the stuff Dexter would be a mega star make a girl talk need to get the hell out of town because this is more important to [ __ ] and Dallas rather than extra probably every week but Oh somebody's wall football is a contact sport if they don't want to hear to put a skirt on it we won't touch me it was his City to do with what he wanted to at that point in time he's got in Washington the average American loves the underdog and sometimes you don't know that the underdog he's an underdog Manley didn't seem like an underdog in high school just ask his cousin hall-of-famer Eric Dickerson Dex was a big guy even when he was young he was still big and it was almost intimidating man at that time you'd hear his name the television Oh Dexter mentally who was synonymous and then Texas football for manly football was an escape he grew up in Houston's third war also known as Dodge City Wow look at this yeah hardly I'm gonna look at this here [Music] it was challenging you know that was four of us and in that one room that was twin beds Reginald simply had a bed I slept on the floor this our room right here my sister slept here my brother's regular sleep here and I slept right here on the floor I think it's thought it was tough you know you had to follow the rules it's zero defects there was no room for error my father name is Klaus Spencer Manley and my brother name is Reginald Carl manly I think you sold a favour to him because that was his first son vixa got to do all the chores thanks I got most of the weapons those brothers they was called favorites so they got away with murder I've never heard my father expressed the fact that he loved me he took care of my well-being not that kind of situation but he never expressed that they say the unfavorite child either becomes fixated on winning his father's approval or rebels manly did both I was in elementary school playing with some matches in the one up in the closet and I dress closet and it called the closet on fire my punishment was I had to sleep in the closet maybe for a week or so you come home from school you go in this closet and they set the door on me and to do that for a while fearing his father's reaction manly hit his marriage to his high-school girlfriend who had given birth to his child he didn't want to taint his side track me he felt like that would be a distraction for me it was football that provided manly a way out of the Third Ward and a way in to his father's good graces that was a revolving door coming in my home scouts and coaches my father when he started the Caucasian unload up that car coming to his house on pastry I felt like this guy might become somebody he's gonna do something [Music] not a whole lot of people come out of third ward you can't have me strong about your convictions and what do you want to do and I knew what I wanted to do with my life was play sports and particularly play football I just get up in the mornings and I go hit the railroad tracks railroad tracks help you quick feet I was on my way then Dexter Manley arrived at Oklahoma State in the summer of 1977 and made an immediate impression but in college you know we would wear jeans and tennis shoes and standing and that come out there with his slacks on what is tie this shirt you know like he was Hollywood we called him Hollywood at the time you know it was he was probably strongest defensive lineman he had all night say yeah he wills dead because I've seen him hit some people that I know I did not gonna get hit by that's Riley Dexter was as impressive looking player as you'd ever seen he was a piece of work though I guarantee that he was interesting to deal with Dexter was recruited before I got there and that's one reason Oklahoma State was on probation had a nice car as a freshman at Oklahoma State and it was wanted to find his cars there he had a Thunderbird that evidently one of the bankers had purchased for him and they were making payments on it so he came in he said coach he said they took my car away from he says he's I don't have any transportation I said well I said let me see maybe we can get you a bicycle he said can I get a swing I don't even know what to swim what that's he wanted the best water floods Manley was dealing with far more serious hardships while at Oklahoma State he had a little bit totally different life style didn't we did yeah yeah miss Stephanie had already had Derek mm and all the stress plus he was going his dad was sick at the time my father was diagnosed with colon cancer I talked to my dad on a Sunday night and I tell you that's the last time I talk to him my dad died that way instead I just felt grateful they had an escape but my other siblings and they didn't have such an outlet and I could see my brother he got on all kind of peels and selling drugs and doing a whole lot of stuff there was a club right around the corner my brother did something of I think it was drug-related and he just came to sit on this porch some guys rolled by and they shot him up this way got killed right here the deaths of his father and brother took a toll on Manley his marriage fell apart and he was involved in a campus brawl that nearly cost him his life I went to this dance one of eternities all of a sudden bunch of locals pull up behind me and I'm blocked in but JumpStart shouting said now we're not gonna let you out you thank you some hot freshman so I told him we gonna fight and then all of a sudden he's just heard something go boom we run around the front to see what was going on and next thing I know Dexter had the dude up in the air and had slammed him up against the bill George I thought he had broke a black back there and it's somehow someway between there and everybody trying to get [ __ ] off the guy I think the guy slipped into his pocket took out a box cutter and cut Dexter cut at the time nobody knew Dexter was cut I had I had to have maybe like 50 some stitches in this cut right here I think all that probably played into where he got drafted but when we picked him they'd have to go now is one of the best fifth round dress choices ever when I first saw Dexter the first thing you see is his smile that big smile and the second thing you feel is his handshake he got his grip that's just unbelievable sweet as pie but literally almost break your hand [Applause] everything about him just seems like oversized but a kid a big kid like a man-child first time I think I ever heard manchild it was a fly to Dexter at first special teams would be Manley's rite of passage now here's a 63 260 pound defensive lineman you know he was a gunner on our punting he was covering punts I mean he was just a freak probably the most dangerous release man ever there were no two guys that could hold him and he would go down and let it hit man it would just be awesome [Music] [Applause] as one way though you're gonna make the football team better teams and I'm working my tail off [Music] then of course right away you know he starts starting on defense and we did put in as much on teams by his second year manly led the team in sacks [Music] the Redskins advanced all the way to the NFC Championship where they faced a rival that had dominated them the previous decade when I walked off that bus that's a rookie you heard him talking about it he I'm talking about how the hate is for the Cowboys and the big rivalry and that's the big game and and now here it is I get a chance to live it to be a part of it you walk up that step you see all the crowd the banners and we want doubtless we want [Applause] [Music] and they'll forget that the man with the scar left a mark in a game that launched his career [Music] [Applause] Dexter [Applause] White's back up Gary Hogeboom kept it close until Manley made another play [Applause] that was his defining game when you turn in that kind of performance against the Cowboys and you set it up so your team can get to a Super Bowl that's his signature MoMA in the National Football League coming up there are so many questions that are repetitious I suggest that you submit your questions and writing [Music] Joe understood Dexter probably better than anybody Dexter was a disciplinary nightmare it wasn't malicious it was like Dexter just enjoying life having a good time Joe Gibbs his strategy to keep Dexter Manley in line was to get him an offseason job but not just any nine-to-five as a rookie we were always trying to help him making sure he was squared away where he's living and everything well one of the things that came up he get a job who gave him a job working with the local law enforcement they got me a job as a deputy sheriff I don't know if it was official whoever deputized him made him think he was a deputy but I was told that he was actually deputized and he had a badge he had a burnt orange mercedes-benz he had a red light that he had in his car and the eternal light on and pull people over and get out of the car and tell people he was a deputy sheriff and you know you have to you know slow down and obey the laws of the land and all this kind of stuff Manley didn't always abide by his jurisdiction a month after his stint in law enforcement ended he attempted to flash his badge to get out of a traffic stop and was charged with impersonating an officer very good Dexter a little an e for effort on that I mean give it a shot you never know he rolled the dice that didn't come up the way he wanted to hit this is Dexter it was a phrasal Washington among the media core time score among people who were just around us in any way shape or form it was just Dexter being Dexter Dexter banned Dexter Dexter big text I was very fond of mr. teeth so I was trying to give me a mohawk and George stock camera and say do it Mr D mr. d was born in just his third season he's established himself as one of the game's finest pass rushers and he's more than willing to tell you so be very frank without without him in the top five you know I'm a cop I'm believing in myself I have a lot of confidence everybody would go to Dexter before the game and stick a microphone in front of them because you knew you were gonna get a great sound bite let's roll he would come in every week and he would be a part of our newscast now you never knew what Dexter was going to say what are your thoughts about steel or light a Steve Plourde the manure how long the dog food and we gonna enjoy the Vic we are gonna let some reporters you know to me I felt that something so much negative you know we have to satisfy those jerks oh I don't have to satisfy those jerks it'll have him a bunch of anyway Dexter was a marketing genius because he was always the center of attention for the most important people in the country was Michael Jackson next the Malon Prince it's a mindset that didn't sit well with his conservative head coach at rest camp Park were the press interview people was I was two floors up but I could look right down on the press when Dexter was down there being interviewed I would go over stand in front of window yes you see Dexter go like this he'd be saying something all sudden you go like this he go but if I didn't watch him and if we weren't really aware he might say anything football is a very violent sport you have to play that we have to be like someone's this rape your grandmother you want to get revenge you could put together a book of quotes of these are things that you do not want to have appear on bulletin boards in other teams locker rooms by Dexter Manley the first chapter would be on broken cliches especially those directed at Hall of Fame quarterbacks Dexter said he was going to ring joe Montana's clock we have to give manley a lesson in cliche mongering he said he was gonna ring his clock you ring a guy's Bell or you clean his clock you don't ring his clock you tell him that's death cata that didn't make a whole lot of self a lot of trash well you have to have the courage to back it up [Applause] [Music] [Applause] next to talk salon the dexstar not the best in the business on the biggest stage manly only got bolder with Miami favored over Washington in Super Bowls 17 he guaranteed a victory its Dexter if he didn't say something we probably would have been a lot more surprised Joe Namath trailing by seven just minutes into the game with Miami threatening to score again the man with the mouth let his play do the talking [Music] set up a very quick [Music] he always came for the big game that was really a turning point in the game that Superboy [Music] I watched a lot of Super Bowl games when I was growing up a little fella in the ghetto dreams come true you just have a lot of hope and you believe [Music] whether the Dex is rush hour the fastest hour television I'm never late I'm right on [Music] just gotta use your speed to get them I use the speed I just set him up I watched his footwork see I had with a three step up feel and I spin inside and sometimes I grab some dirt in my hand and I thought it may face but the referee never saw that in the early eighties the Redskins have played in back-to-back Super Bowls mister D had become D man also known as the Secretary of Defense one of the most feared pass rushers in the NFL since 82 [Applause] think that Dexter Manley has more sex than Lawrence Taylor celebrated fast rusher in the game right now yet Manley was only voted to a single Pro Bowl in 1986 when he had 18 and a half sacks sometimes it can't be a popularity contest gets to talk too much trash or if you abuse somebody too much they go to other way as well so some people just didn't like texture [Music] there was one other knock against mammal decks we did not care about the run he would tell me quite frankly they pay me to make sex decks are smart though because you really get the fanfare for making the sax second a quarterback and getting to the quarterback is like the quarterback throwing a touchdown pass he probably got fifty six thousands of people in here and I come off that line get to that quarter all those people see that it was great the best and worst of Dexter Manley was on display and back-to-back playoff games against the Chicago Bears he went outside one timing disclosed land there flew ooh you almost killed in the war there was enough history there for there to be actual bad blood the Redskins handed the Bears two of their most bitter defeats in the playoffs including Phil Ditka and extra beef ah I wasn't a fan of his Ditka had threw some bubblegum toward a fan of some in San Francisco and I made some kind of remark about that and he said what is that guy that guy have a IQ of a grapefruit yeah yeah IQ of a great food digestion I took it personally I got to get even but you know I get even with somebody's gonna kick their butt we're kicks acog oh but and they all backyard my Ditka made a comment the Dexter couldn't play the run and actually went over to my ticket mess it running over here write it over here run it over here hit me challenge in ever [ __ ] special you know when you give people billboards stuff you stay honest miss that boy went crazy that whole game this gentleman is indeed the sweetest-tasting grapefruit in the world ever cross the sunkissed and the Redskins laughed all the way to the Super Bowl [Applause] they stifled the Broncos John Elway and route to their second Lombardi Trophy [Applause] that's okay how you like this Mike Vick [Applause] it seemed manly had captured everything he wanted national recognition as Dexter Manley might point out and a happy belated birthday Dexter and an open mic I came up with a solution that we're gonna renegotiate the president contract for four more years then in the spring of 1989 Manley made an even bigger splash on Capitol Hill three years ago three years ago that I just began learning to learn how to read and write you're doing fine [Music] dr. Manley mr. Secretary of Defense came in and told those people that are stunningly he couldn't read or write I had no idea I had no clue and I can't imagine trying to hold something like that inside for so long when I came to Redskins I used to walk over there with a Wall Street Journal in my hand I want people to see me different Dexter's locker was the last Locker before you went out the door to the practice field I was walking out one day he's reading the newspaper you know now I walk by guys hey Joe hey Dex how are you walk it out and some didn't look right I walked back in he's reading The Wall Street Journal upside down we go out to eat Dexter say what are you having and I tell him what I would have he goes okay I'll have the same thing and that went on for a good while and I didn't think anything of it it was a secret he kept from his own children we would ask him to read and then he would pass over stuff to mom and have her reading sometimes I see tears has come down you know falling on his face I'd be like that was wrong but it was very hidden I tell you what you got more credit because our playbook is a steak and it's very complicated I take my hat off to him anymore because then he had to learn by just watching what everybody else did understanding this play and then memorizing there's a lot to stuff to memorize Dexter finally decided to do something about his illiteracy one fateful night in 1985 we played the New York Giants I'd never forget I'm staring at sidelines I watch Lawrence tell him take out Joe Theismann I was petrified [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Jupp say what does that happen to me what am I gonna do I'm 28 years old I couldn't even spell about I rolled into Washington laughs school and took a test and the little I was on a second grade reading level I was function illiterate so I started getting tutoring there when I left I could read the Washington Post his testimony took courage but manly had another secret one that threatened to destroy his career I was feeling dizzy and I just passed out and next thing I know the rescue squad that was ripping my clothes off of me and put them in an ambulance took me to Georgetown my alibi was I was allergic to seafood for which I was allergic to seafood and that's the story I went with maybe a few hours later I get a phone call said Dex what happened he goes while I was down there drinking blah blah blah he says if there was something else in my system with the rescuers be able to find out about it I said yes I see we had DC as a Watergate went down at DC then no secrets here in football NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle has suspended Washington [ __ ] Dexter Manley for 30 days the all-pro defensive end is accused of violating the league's substance abuse policy I had no clue I was just like dumbfounded you could have knocked me down to the feather when I first learned this news at Dexter man I was involved with cocaine when I heard all them the room was this stuff coming out at DC I was in total denial since I was in total denial until I went to the Super Bowl and he got us a room in the hotel day he was there and I saw the cane and I was like oh man it was difficult for him being a part of a world of celebrity he wanted it so bad but he didn't know what to do with it when he got how many people do we all know that live with demons and you have no idea I used drugs going to my second year I met a lady and she knew where to get the drugs from I was sitting at the dining room table chopping it up and she came out the dressing room with high-heeled shoes on and bikini g-strings on that was it and I had never seen that like that in my life addiction in the lifestyle in golf Dexter Manley others began to notice Dexter would come in on Thursday night talk about the game he wasn't there something was not right there was no reason for him not to show up he was being paid to show up and he knew he had to be there skipping a paid appearance is one thing missing a practice before a playoff game is another the most important thing in his life that part was playing football so he wouldn't miss a football practice he loved it he loved being out there look so you knew if he missed something there's something going on did you offer to take a urinalysis yes I did yeah there's no question about it I'll look for you right now that's when I remember when when going home that night and tell him my wife is it we're in trouble Dexter really is bad off the lead story in pro football this weekend is Dexter Manley's banishment from the NFL new Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced yesterday that the Redskins all-time leader in quarterback sacks would be subject to the league's most severe penalty after failing a drug test for the third time in his nine-year career this belligerent denial knowing i'ma have to sit out a year I didn't believe it I just didn't believe it you get frustrated and these episodes started to weigh on coach Gibbs and obviously the team you've got to have better better calm assists in there to even try to stuff really if you got the nerve to try then you make it a big mistake after nine seasons the Redskins decided to move on without Manley it's the hardest thing that football coach has to deal with Dexter face that just the way he did with everything else big smile is that a coach I understand and you know I was kind of hoping they'd hook on with somebody else and get to extend his career after a year out of football Manley hooked on with Phoenix and later Tampa Bay but his production declined with two games left in the 1991 season he failed his fourth drug test that's what they have your heart they laugh come here today to announce my retirement of the National Football League to the Washington Redskins [Music] - the Phoenix Gardens to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers I look back at it and say gosh I could have done more I should have been more alert to what was going on and tried to get more help for him as an athlete we have two deaths we have our normal depth where we have depth of retirement that first death is how find us this football career was over the end of his second marriage followed whenever he was doing something wrong he would sleep on the third floor me and my brother used to go down and say dad have you been with the bad guys like I always ask the smell is breath I was like did you do drugs he was like yeah maybe is just a little bit I think it affected all of them you know I probably the city and said didn't affect them b-being denial manly returned to Houston's Third Ward where his addiction led to homelessness and paranoia when he needed a fix not even his most prized possession was safe I took my Super Bowl ring to the pawn shop they gave me fifteen thousand but I took the money and I blew it all up all the drugs that run around Houston Stan from hotel a hotel place the place the money was gone quick I was desperate kind of got real down on myself and I cost the bucking and I had worked with him here do you have me on his show he said to me you know you remember what I told you before about when I die I want my ashes to be spread in midfield at RFK Stadium and I said okay Dexter I remember that but why are you telling me that now and he said I think at some point it's just time to go it's just time to go and they hung up the phone the only thing I could think of was to call the police department in Houston I was genuinely frightened and concerned for this man's life this this man who I know knew personally they did check him out they did find some drugs and he was subsequently arrested that's what I realized that I'm not me that lost control Steve buck hands pretty much saved my life [Music] all the help is given customer make me want to change my life Dexter Manley spent 15 months in Fort Stockton prison he exchanged letters with the woman who would become his third wife he conducted three separate jailhouse interviews missing and he promised to change I'm gonna stay sober this time I will stay sober it didn't take a single setback landed manly back in prison this time for two years he be lapsed again and I didn't understand that I really didn't I just thought well what were all the letters for they were knapsacks of them in minimum two and one day I burned them all now I apologize to the fans and the public I can't begin to tell you how I felt ashamed embarrassment how did I get here Lydia stood by Dexter Lily will come up here every Sunday I've been looking forward to Saturday night knowing I have a visitor on Sunday morning she's an angel real love is probably something none of us really understand he needed somebody who really believed in him it was hard to believe in him I can't stand it for everyone who decided the oh my gosh but I believed in him she wouldn't have to keep going and sometimes I fall I slept but I keep rising because I heard my kids I remember a lot of times where he just wasn't you know he wasn't their high school graduation you know he's incarcerated and then when I play football I wanted a big part of it was to make him proud but just a lot of times it wasn't there it took me a long time I've been at 38 rehab centers across this country you go in and out I think about it I go use after graduation was like the worst I told him that I didn't want to speak to him - he started acting like a dad the first time I answered the phone was when he said that he was having brain surgery after surviving crack cocaine into jail terms manly now had to deal with a life-threatening cyst in his brain my brain was swelling from the colloid cysts I had 15 hour brain surgery I sort of made a decision right then and there I'm not gonna use drugs or that thought I'm through and you guys have helped me get nine years clean and sober Wow look at that 79 years Thank You Linda congratulations on another year of dazzling us all I'd say come back here you made your name in Washington DC area not in Houston the people here will embrace you one such person was a lawyer named John Oh Quinn he gave Dexter a job and then something more he bought back to Super Bowl ring that Manley had pawned years ago this won't be given up for some sort of diction anymore for no calls I'm not to saying God upon this ring my life has changed got kicked out of pro football because of drugs his life is so much more than football he's been working he's been helping other people that's why we get soaked hey Damon yes I want to do a little reading today he's an amazing dad you know he's what I wanted when we were young younger walk maybe four times a day like my feet the kids I got a grandson love action heroes and so I read the comic books with them keep it up color guardians let's take this giant robot apart not the Girl Scouts which one you want to face the Girl Scouts or the Thunderer friends you like the girls right yeah that's your smart boy okay let's go to the next room I'll be there a lot of things come up in here it's amazing I'm glad I'm still here [Music] that man's had a rough road he didn't hit rock-bottom he went through and he dug himself out of that hole he got himself up on top of the pavement and he's done some good things really good things with his life now one thing about Washington DC they got the smartest people in the world living here and can you believe I'm one of them [Music] there is none other and there will never be another guy like Dexter Manley he's one of a kind and still the Redskins all-time sack leader an underdog who's fought for everything he has if you can look at his life and learn anything I was thinking don't give up on yourself no matter how bad things get and things were bad at times but he never gave up Dexter never gave up on himself I mean the guy is went through hell and yet he still has a great smile I'm so appreciative that I can live again I've gone through the rain to win in the storm I'm still here you [Music]

Channel: NFL Fanzone

Views: 56,464

Rating: 4.9166665 out of 5

Keywords: NFLFanzone, NFL, Fanzone, Dexter Manley, Washington Redskins, HTTR4LIFE, HTTR, Lydia Manley, Dalis Manley, Dexter Manley II, Eric Dickerson, Joe Theismann, Joe Gibbs, Steve Buckhantz, Charles Mann, Gary Clark, Harry Reid, Harold Bailey, Jimmy Johnson, Darrell Green, Michael Wilbon, Mark Murphy, Darryl Grant, John Riggins, Mike Ditka, Redskins, Doug Williams, Art Monk, George Rogers

Id: SPexfaQV-uo

Length: 43min 35sec (2615 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 08 2020