[CBFF] ST - Dvoracek brings Bears on wagon

[NEWS ARTICLE]

Dvoracek brings Bears on wagon

May 7, 2006

BY MIKE MULLIGAN Staff Reporter

It would be nice to say that regardless of what
happens now, Dusty Dvoracek will go down as a success
story. Sadly, such triteness can't begin to explain
what Dvoracek has been through nor the battle ahead to
maintain a life of sobriety.

A third-round selection at defensive tackle in last
weekend's draft, Dvoracek gathered with his fellow
Bears rookies at Halas Hall over the weekend to begin
the assimilation process into NFL life. No doubt a few
compared notes over a couple of drinks at some point
or will head home with NFL stories to share with
friends at a local bar.

Sports and bars mix together like gin and tonic. Not
for Dvoracek. Not anymore. He has taken the pledge to
live a clean and sober life after being suspended from
the Oklahoma football team during the 2004 season
after a series of alcohol-related altercations --
three documented incidents in two years -- culminating
in a drunken rage in which he beat a friend senseless
and landed him in an intensive-care unit for four
days.

Losing football was the impetus Dvoracek needed to
turn his life around. A smart guy who scored a 41 out
of a possible 50 on the Wonderlic test -- the highest
score of anyone attending the Indianapolis scouting
combine -- Dvoracek put two and two together and
realized booze was the problem. He attended a
court-ordered six-week course on anger control, went
through extensive counseling for alcohol problems and
wound up being reinstated to the team and regaining
his captain's band.

"[The suspension] and the fact if I kept going maybe I
would have hurt somebody or hurt myself,'' the
defensive tackle said of his decision to stop
drinking. "You get dumb when you get drunk and out of
control. It was best for me and everyone around me for
me to stop. It was time to grow up and be smart about
it.''

Here's where the story gets a bit tricky. One observer
who has undergone alcohol counseling and has looked
into Dvoracek's treatment program says it's
unconventional to the point of not having an ideal
success rate. Dvoracek doesn't attend regular meetings
and relies on a strong will as much as a support
system to maintain his sobriety. He says he's not an
alcoholic, even though that was reportedly the reason
used for a medical redshirt year in college.

"I don't drink anymore,'' Dvoracek said. "It is my
choice to stop. I didn't ever have a problem with
drinking all the time -- it's just when I did, it got
too excessive, so I just knocked it out.

"I wasn't really an alcoholic; I just made poor
decisions when I was drinking. It's my choice just to
stop. It's more of a life-altering choice than it is
'I am this.'''

Such statements might concern some, but Dvoracek has a
sympathetic ear in Lovie Smith. The Bears coach is the
son of an alcoholic father and witnessed his battle up
close, including several false starts in his dad's bid
for rehabilitation. Smith said his father, Thurman,
was "an extreme case'' and not one to compare with a
youngster like Dvoracek.

Thurman Smith died 10 years ago after living soberly
for 25 years, but he and his family went through hell
trying to control the disease.

"We went through AA meetings, chemical treatments, the
pill you take where you get real sick if you do it,''
said Smith, who himself is not a drinker. "My father
went through the guilt of the family seeing him in
that position. We went through it all. In the end, do
you know how he beat it? He just said: 'That is it.
I'm not going to do it anymore.' I don't know what the
solution for it is; I just know how my father did
it.''

Dvoracek knows there will be temptations playing in a
city such as Chicago, but he insists he's done with
alcohol. Period.

Smith said the Bears did a lot of research before
selecting Dvoracek and, far from seeing him as a
character risk, believe he has shown strong character
by taking responsibility for his actions and changing
his life accordingly.

Talk to anybody around the Bears about their draft --
one that has largely been deemed disappointing both
locally and nationally -- and you'll hear the same
complaint. None of the so-called experts seem to be
measuring the value of getting two players over the
one guy that would have been sitting there at No. 26.

The Bears traded that selection to Buffalo and in
return received two picks -- No. 42 overall, where
safety Danieal Manning was taken, and the third-round
selection used for Dvoracek (73rd overall). The Bears
like that combination of players better than a guy
such as Miami cornerback Kelly Jennings, whom they
would have taken if they had kept the 26th pick.

They moved down because they wanted Dvoracek. He was
the key to the entire draft for them.

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo went so far as to
say on draft day that he regarded Dvoracek as one of
just three defensive players in the draft with a
"special competitive nature'' who "bring something
tangible to a defense that is very infectious.''

"I will stake my reputation personally on his
character at this point,'' Angelo said. "Obviously I
have, or else we wouldn't have taken him. We felt
really good given where he is now in his life.''

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops echoed those sentiments.

"I put my reputation as well on the line by bringing
him back,'' Stoops said. "I felt so strongly about the
positive characteristics of the guy. I felt there was
very little to no risk.''

Here's hoping it's a success story.

mmulligan at suntimes.com

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