Thomas Henderson

Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson was an All-Pro outside linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys football team (1975-79).

He was raised by his teenage mother in the eastside of Austin, Texas. In 1969, he moved to Oklahoma City to live with his grandmother for a more stable environment. Although he became an all-city defensive end, he was not recruited by colleges. At first, he joined the Air Force, but quit before being sworn in. He attended Langston University, and starred at the NAIA school. Gil Brandt, the chief scout of the Dallas Cowboys, noticed him, and selected him in the 1st round (18th overall) of the 1975 NFL Draft.

"Hollywood" excelled as an outside linebacker, earning All-Pro honors for the 1977 season. Thomas was such a good athlete, that the Cowboys would run reverses with him from time to time on kick-offs,with him scoring on one occasion. He was one of the first linebackers to ever run a 4.6 in the 40 yard dash. However, his destructive lifestyle of drugs, alcohol, and fast women began to catch up with him. During many games including Super Bowl XIII (1979), he used cocaine on the sideline. He was such a disruptive influence on the team that coach Tom Landry fired him just before the Thanksgiving Day game in 1979. "Landry had given me plenty of warning," Henderson admits. The next year would be his last, as he bounced from the Houston Oilers (1980) to the San Francisco 49ers (1980), while continuing to use drugs.

In November 1983, Henderson was arrested for smoking crack cocaine with two teenage girls in California. He was accused of threatening them with a gun and sexually assaulting them. He claimed that he gave them crack in exchange for consensual sex. He pleaded no contest to the charges and served eight months in court-ordered drug rehabilitation, as well as two years in prison. He states that "Hollywood" died on November 8, 1983, and he has remained clean ever since. His autobiography, Out of Control: Confessions of an NFL Casualty, written with co-author Peter Knobler was published in 1987. In 1993, his old coach and critic Tom Landry was among those who congratulated him on ten years of clean living.

In 2000, Henderson made the news again by winning the Texas Lottery $28 million jackpot. He started a charity (East Side Youth Services & Street Outreach) and has made major donations to the East Austin community where he grew up. He currently gives motivational speeches and sells videos of his anti-drug seminars (HHH 56 Investments Ltd.).

Henderson is fond of saying, "Sobriety IS an option"...

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