“Mr. Secretary of Defense” Dexter Manley Aims To Make His Ancestors Proud
By Henrieese Roberts
September was National Recovery Month and a positive message is that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover.
Dexter Manley, nicknamed the “Secretary of Defense”, is a former football defensive end in the National Football League who played mostly for the Washington Redskins, Phoenix Cardinals, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an eleven-year career from 1981 to 1991. He was permanently banned from the National Football League for life in 1991 after he failed his fourth drug test.
Manley had 97.5 sacks or 103.5 sacks in his career, according to how they are counted. He was rewarded monetarily to complete sacks. Sacks are a little difficult to comprehend. In 2002, Dexter became one of the greatest Redskins of all times and was placed in the Hall of Rings of Fame.
Manley was the keynote speaker for the Annapolis Recovery Walk, and he greeted us with the assertion that he wanted to make his ancestors proud and wanted everyone to know his name.
I took copious notes as Manley spoke and approached him after he sat down to sign autographs. As I walked up to him, I informed him I liked his life story.
I later gave him a picture of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial located here in Washington in the Tidal Basin. And I continued to mull on his story – especially since I am a visually impaired person with similar learning challenges as he has had. There were some of us in our school when I grew up who had learning disabilities that were passed along just as Manley had.
What I admire about Manley is the fact that he LIVES. He overcame the drugs and crimes that pervaded his community as he grew up. His brother, Gregory was a drug addict. Becoming a drug addict was what Dexter Manley fought, with the help of his church, Progressive New Hope Baptist Church in Houston, TX. While attending Douglas Elementary school he was placed in a special education class. His peers teased him a lot, and he learned to deal with it. His asset was his size. He was the first picked for sports. Little Dexter repeated second grade where he was called “retarded” and “handicapped”. But he managed to stay FOCUSED, attending church as he forged ahead. He did not concentrate on his learning disabilities. His dream lived in his heart and he kept his eyes on the Green Bay Championship.
Today he says what one man can do, so can another.
When he got older, his friends were stealing bicycles, smoking, and drinking MD 20-20. Several of his friends died. Young Dexter Manley did not want to die. He said his commitment brought his passion to a purpose. He walked 15 miles to the Miami Dolphins Super Bowl game. He wanted to see the team get off the bus. Seeing the team get off the bus gave him hope. He sneaked into the game.
After completing high school and enrolling in college, Manley started experimenting with drugs, emulating others’ behavior. For awhile he lost his Christian values. He ran his whole life to escape it but drug use caught up with him. Football players live with lots of pain. In 2006 he was using drugs in Washington, D.C. and suddenly, police appeared all around him.
The police took him to Washington Hospital Center. Manley had a colloid cyst that was like an overflowing bathtub in his brain. The doctor there told him he was really sick. Manley went to Georgetown the next day and surgery was performed.
The next day the Georgetown doctor talked with Manley about his lifestyle and what needed to change and what would happen to him if he did not change. This doctor scared Manley into recovery.
On June 26, 2006 Manley became sober.
Manley thanks God for his life, asserts that he is here by Amazing Grace and that he wants to make his ancestors proud.
I am proud of Manley’s ability to forge ahead with his life. He lives in the Washington area with his family and appears to be dealing with recurring issues with cyst growths. He works and volunteers with learning disabilities folks and others and Dexter loves to be with his wife.
I am proud I met Dexter Manley. I like his life story, a story that I can mull over when I am in corners, not being committed when energy ebbs low, I can draw upon him up walking 1 5 miles. I will always remember so many of his friends and that his brother died. I know Dexter lives. I know that moments appear in our lives about sex and drugs and our ignorance of these subjects inflict harm upon ourselves and the very ones that we love. I am sure Mr. Manley will strive to make these aspects of greyness clear for some of us. Thanks Dexter Manley!
