Searcher, astrologer, philosopher, football player, Ricky Williams is one of the most enigmatic, misunderstood, and quietly inspiring figures American sports has ever produced. Long before he became one of the most electrifying running backs of his generation, he was a boy in San Diego shaped by a family wound he was too young to understand, the fastest kid in every class, already running from something.
Playing for the legendary Longhorns at the University of Texas, he shattered twenty-one NCAA records on his way to capturing the Heisman Trophy. As the most coveted prospect of the 1999 NFL Draft, he had the world at his feet.
He also had a target on his back. Before he ever carried the ball as a professional, Ricky was being vilified, for no greater crime than wanting to carve his own path in life. Then, in 2004, with another positive marijuana test looming, he did the unthinkable: he walked away. He traded a mansion in South Florida and millions of dollars for anonymity and a seven-dollar-a-night tent in Australia. The press called it the most shocking story in professional sports and branded him "America's Pothead." They said he was throwing his life away. Ricky knew he was saving it.
THE LONG RUN is the story of a man on and off the field, the record-setting college star and embattled NFL running back, and the searcher who emerged after the game: cannabis advocate years ahead of his time, entrepreneur, self-taught software developer, astrologer. Candid and compelling, this is a journey of redemption measured not in records set on a field, but in the discovery of inner peace off of it, a man who wrestled with the "fame monster" that shadowed his entire career, faced down controversy he never courted, and chased meaning far beyond fame, fortune, and football while remaining unapologetically true to himself.
