A Media Moment at the Super Bowl

Thursday, January 29, 2009 -- There are often surprises at the Super Bowl and a big one occurred when Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Santonio Holmes admitted that he spent a year as a street corner drug pusher in his south Florida hometown of Belle Glade. It was when he was in high school.

Holmes decided to make the admission, feeling that he could offer a positive message for youth who are at-risk. He wants kids to realize that they should choose athletics and school over a path that can lead to prison.

Holmes observed on Wednesday, "I've only told three or four people about it. I feel it's time to share things.” He added, “I'm on the biggest stage, everybody's going to be watching. I'm pretty sure some kids can get a feel for changing their lives and not doing those type of things, and can get an opportunity to get out of the ghetto, the 'hood, to be successful."

Holmes admitted that he would go to school and then leave in order to sell drugs. He noted that the family didn’t need the money and that he used the cash to buy things for himself. He said that his mother did not know what he was doing.

What turned him away from selling drugs was his success and his team’s success on the high school grid iron.

Holmes said, "My friends were always doing it and I felt comfortable doing it at the time." Holmes noted, "As the years grew older, I just felt like that wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to play football. I don't want to end up like a lot of my friends, in jail, standing on the corner, not going to school."

Holmes hopes that his admission will inspire kids to stay away from the street corner and do something positive instead.