Ryan Leaf, former NFL, WSU quarterback once imprisoned, delivers a message of hope in Yakima

Ryan Leaf, who rose to become the No. 2 NFL draft pick in 1998 before his career went sour and his drug use led to prison, descended on Yakima Thursday to deliver a message of hope to incarcerated youth.

Leaf, 41, shared his story with 18 boys and girls at the Yakima County Juvenile Justice Center this afternoon.

Tonight, he will be the featured speaker at the annual Merrill Scott Symposium at the Yakima Convention Center. The symposium is held each year in memory of the late Merrill Scott, who long labored in drug and alcohol treatment in the Yakima Valley.

Clad in a Washington State University windbreaker and ball cap, Leaf quickly captured the attention of youth serving time at the center as he told them how his life once was filled with private planes, fancy cars, money and, of course, drugs.

But then it all spun out of control, and he found himself in prison after breaking into homes to steal prescription pills in Montana.

“You don’t have to be like me,” he told them. “This place doesn’t have to define you.”

Leaf, who has been clean and sober for more than five years now, said three principles now guide his life – accountability, spirituality and community.

He said he was a narcissist who wasn’t accountable for anything he did. When he used drugs, he’d withdraw from the community and close the shades.

“I’d disappear, No one would ever see me,” he told the group.

He recalled a Sports Illustrated story about him that said “the difference between God and Ryan Leaf is God doesn’t think he’s Ryan Leaf.”

“That smashed my narcissistic view,” he said.

Although Leaf didn’t start using drugs until after his NFL career ended after four seasons, the driver of his addiction was always within him. He always sought attention, did well in football at WSU, where he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

But when his career went south in the NFL during his rookie year, it hurt and the pain went on well after his career ended. He began using prescription painkillers, and quickly became addicted.

“I’d get them anyway I could; I’d do anything to get them,” he said.

But it wasn’t until he was in prison that he began to take a hard look in the mirror.

His cellmate was an Iraqi War veteran who killed another man while drunken driving.

One day he told Leaf he needed to start doing for others, and suggested that he go to the prison library and help inmates who couldn’t read.

“I don’t know why I listened to him,” he said. “I refused to listen to people all my life. I don’t know how he got me to go down to the the library, but I did.”

That’s where his recovery began, he said.

Juvenile inmates began asking him questions, such as does he still appear in the media and what he does for work now.

He’s an ambassador for Transcend Recovery Community, a sober-living environment with nine homes in the Los Angeles, New York and Houston areas.

One asked what brought him to Yakima.

“You – you did,” Leaf told the boy. “You in here struggling, I’ve been in the exact place. I’m no different than you.”