Thomas Henderson

Henderson made the news again in 2000 by winning the Lotto Texas US$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.). When asked by The Dallas Morning News what he does every day having won the lottery, Henderson responded, "Not a damn thing, and I don't start that until after lunch." He is the father of two daughters and five grandchildren. Henderson says crack cocaine was his downfall, and that embarrassing his mother, family and friends ultimately changed him. He is now retired and lectures across America. As of November 8, 2013 Henderson reportedly had been clean and sober for 30 years.

In 2002, he was inducted into the Langston University Athletic Hall of Fame.

In November 1983, Henderson was arrested for doing cocaine with two teenage girls in California. He was accused of threatening them with a gun and sexually assaulting one of them. He claimed that he gave them drugs in exchange for consensual sex. Henderson had no history of assaults or sexual misconduct prior to the 1983 incident. He pleaded no contest to the charges and entered a treatment center and remained there for seven months before his 28 months in prison. He states that "Hollywood" died on November 8, 1983, and he has remained clean and sober ever since.

On June 10, 1981, Henderson signed with the Miami Dolphins, but suffered what proved to be a career-ending neck injury in the final preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs. On August 31, he was placed on the injured reserve list and was not re-signed after the season.

On May 15, 1980, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a fourth round draft choice (#91-Scott Pelluer). However, he was waived after only playing one game. Henderson believed that 49ers coach Bill Walsh unloaded him because he suspected he was addicted to cocaine.

On September 24, 1980, he signed as a free agent with the Houston Oilers. He played in only six games because of a hamstring injury and played in the Oilers' playoff loss to the Raiders in 1980. He was not signed for the 1981 season. After leaving the Oilers, he became one of the first football players to publicly admit to a drug problem, and with the help of the NFL, he signed himself into a drug rehabilitation program.

However, Henderson's destructive lifestyle of drugs and alcohol began to catch up with him. During many games, he snorted liquid cocaine from an inhaler he hid in his pants. The final straw came in 1979 against the Washington Redskins at RFK Stadium. While his team was being soundly beaten 34–20 on national television, Henderson mugged for the camera and displayed handkerchiefs with the Cowboys team logo. When interviewed about it, he blamed teammate Preston Pearson, saying that Pearson had asked him to show off the handkerchiefs, which Pearson was marketing, as a favor. Coach Tom Landry was so angered by the episode that after threatening to waive him, he instead deactivated Henderson for the remainder of the season by placing him on the reserve-retired list. According to sources close to the team, Landry did not intend for Henderson to ever play for the Cowboys again, even though the coach was still personally fond of Henderson.

Henderson was selected in the first round (18th overall) of the 1975 NFL Draft, as part of the Dallas Cowboys Dirty Dozen draft. He made his mark on special teams during his first two years, until becoming a starter at strongside linebacker in 1977. He was selected to the Pro Bowl at the end of the 1978 season. Henderson gave himself the nickname "Hollywood" for his flamboyant play and high-visibility lifestyle.

Henderson was raised by his teenage mother on the east side of Austin, Texas and played football for the L. C. Anderson High School "B" team until his sophomore year (1969), when he moved to Oklahoma City to live with his grandmother and find a more stable environment.

Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson (born March 1, 1953) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Oilers, and Miami Dolphins. He played college football for Langston University.