Barberton: Former NFL Detroit Lions quarterback Eric Hipple will talk at Barberton High School Thursday about life off the football field and his struggles with depression and the loss of his son.
He will address two groups of Barberton High School students during the afternoon and then will speak to the public at 6 p.m. at the high school auditorium at 555 Barber Road. The evening event is free and open to the public.
Hipple is best known for his 1981 debut game on Monday Night Football against the Chicago Bears, when he threw four touchdown passes and ran for two, defeating Chicago 48-17. He was named Most Valuable Player of that game and his jersey hangs in the Canton Pro Football Hall of Fame for the best Monday night game in NFL history.
Hipple, now 55, takes road trips as a motivational speaker and encourages others to call their own plays to stay mentally fit when they get knocked down in life.
He is the outreach coordinator for the University of Michigan’s Depression Center and speaks to students, soldiers and NFL players about how to get back up. He says mental illness, stress and depression are real and treatable.
The former quarterback has suffered from depression, sleeping through classes in college because he couldn’t get out of bed, forcing him to take summer classes to catch up. He made a dream come true by playing in the NFL and was able to pursue a 10-year career. But he dealt with depression again from his injuries and losses by turning to painkillers, saying it was against the football culture to show any signs of weakness. After retirement in the late 1990s, his lucrative insurance business went bankrupt and he was still using painkillers and chasing them down with alcohol. Then in April 2000, his 15-year-old son, Jeff, took his own life with a shotgun.
His son was a basketball star on his freshman team, but late in the season, he started to separate himself from friends, had trouble sleeping and was feeling ill with flu-like symptoms.
Hipple said he felt guilty that he didn’t recognize the signs, symptoms he knew all too well from his own difficulties as a teen.
He said that those between the ages of 15 and 19 are at the highest risk for depression and suicide.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death in high school- aged kids.
“Over the last five years, the Barberton community has lost a little higher than average number of people to suicide,” said Mary Alice Sonnhalter of Summit County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services.
The agency says 23 people from the Barberton/Norton area died by suicide from 2007 to 2011, with over half in 2011.
The Summit County Suicide Prevention Coalition, the ADM board, the Barberton Community Foundation, Barberton City Schools and the city are sponsoring the awareness event.
“We try to come up with activities that target those at- risk groups,” Sonnhalter said.
Hipple said at least 80 percent of suicides involve someone who is suffering from some form of mental illness. He said that mental illness, including schizophrenia and being bipolar, runs in his own family.
A year and a half after Hipple’s son died, the former NFL star was arrested for drunk driving after leaving the Silverdome, where the Detroit Lions played. It was his second offense.
He was sentenced to 58 days in the Oakland County Jail. One of the jailers told him that he also lost his son and that Hipple would get through it.
Hipple decided that if the jailer could do it, he could too. He sought help and started on his road to recovery.
He wrote a book detailing his memoirs, Real Men Do Cry, published in 2008. In the book, he tells his life struggles and his journey through depression to mental wellness.
“We offered to have a time set aside for him to sell his book, but he said no. He just wanted to share his story and help others identify the signs of depression and suicide and how to get help,” said Barberton Mayor Bill Judge.
The ADM Board purchased some of his books and will give them to the first 200 people who register for the event.
For details and to register, visit www.admboard.org.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.