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Douthard

        Ty Douthard's parting words to a reporter and photographer are: “Thanks. I think this is just the beginning of the story.”

        Douthard knows his story could have ended like that of a thousand other athletes who squandered their futures by making bad decisions off the field.

        Douthard, the former LaSalle High star who went on to play at Illinois and then with the Bengals in 1997, was charged with possession of marijuana in 1999 and convicted. He spent a year in prison as a result.

        He's free because the conviction was overturned by an appeals court that ruled Douthard's original trial should not have been declared a mistrial. Douthard, who was convicted in a second trial, was released last week with two years remaining on his sentence.

        That gave Douthard a chance to rewrite the ending to his story. He hopes to play professional football again. Douthard, a running back, is 28 years old and hasn't played since 1998. So he's a long shot. But he doesn't lack confidence.

        “I know I can play,” he said. “It's a matter of getting the right opportunity. When it comes, I'll be ready. It just takes one (NFL team) to like me.

        “... There's at least one team that can use someone who can catch, run, block and will give themselves up on special teams.”

        Douthard's agent, Richard Katz, hasn't approached any teams yet.

        “When he's ready,” Katz said, “I'll start making calls. I talk to a lot of teams in the course of the season.”

        Douthard's on a three-month plan. He hopes to get in shape and catch on once the season begins.

        Again, it's a long shot. But it's better than no shot at all — which is what Douthard would have had if the conviction had not been overturned.

        “I'm getting a chance at 28 instead of 31,” he said.

        Douthard is reluctant to talk about his case. The marijuana, he says, belonged to a roommate, who also was convicted.

        “I didn't sell or use it,” he said.

        Still, his original sentence was for three years.

        That seemed like an eternity the day Douthard checked into London Correctional Institute.

        “The first six months, I was counting the days,” he said. “You think it's never going to end. You've got to stop thinking about it. You've got to get into a routine.”

        Douthard's routine would begin at 5:30 a.m. After breakfast at 6, he'd work an eight-hour shift in the granary. It was hard work lifting 75- to 115-pound bags.

        “But it kept me in shape,” he said.

        After that, he'd work out, then maybe play basketball or cards or dominos, then watch television.

        “I stayed on a schedule,” he said. “That's what you have to do to pass the time. It helps. It's Monday, then the next thing you know it's Friday. The weekends went pretty quick, too.”

        London was a mixture of minimum and medium security.

        “But I still saw some things,” he said. “Fights. Weird stuff. In prison, you have to be in the mix to get in trouble. I stayed to myself. I had a Walkman. The friends I had were friends on the basketball court.”

        They called him Shaq, as in Shaquille O'Neal, on the prison court — partly because of his shaved head, partly because he dominated inside.

        Since his release, Douthard has worked part time in a deli Katz owns. After the lunch shift, he heads to a downtown fitness center and pumps iron.

        At 6 feet, 1 inch and 224 pounds, he's 13 pounds heavier than he was when he was with the Bengals. But none of it appears to be fat.

        “I'm not in playing shape,” he said. “but I'm close.”

        After his workout, he catches the bus to the Kennedy Heights home he shares with his mother, Eileen. After dinner, he'll work out again. It isn't a glamorous life.

        But he's happy with it.

        “You don't know what freedom means until they take it away,” he said.

        His regained freedom has given him a chance to put a happy ending on his story.

        “I have a passion and a love for the game,” he said. “I've always had that. But going through this experience has made that desire to play even greater.”

Prison term renews Douthard's NFL drive Bengals' 6th-rounder signs

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