Football injury opened door to drug world for ex-gridder

(Part six of a six-part series into the effects of heroin on the Mid-Mon Valley.)

Running down the football field, Joey DelSardo cut back and felt someone roll onto his ankle.

The Seton-LaSalle senior suffered a high-ankle sprain in the game against Brownsville Area.

With the first conference test the following week, DelSardo took a pill to mask the pain and returned to the field as the Rebels faced Steel Valley.

DelSardo said his decision to pop a pill for the first time – more than a decade ago – was driven by, “my competitiveness and my wanting to be there for my team and for myself and trying to earn a scholarship.”

It began a 5½-year-long chapter in his life that included heroin use before he graduated from high school.

“When that happened, I had never done drugs before,” DelSardo said of the football injury. “I wasn't into that scene. But I took a pill and became hooked on that feeling. I continued to take pills before games. Then it became an everyday habit throughout my senior year.”

When DelSardo delivered an anti-drug message to Belle Vernon Area High School students just before the prom in May, it showed how far he has come in his personal battle against addiction.

Growing up in the Dormont section of Pittsburgh, DelSardo was a two-way player – a linebacker and safety on defense and a running back and wide receiver on offense – at Seton LaSalle.

A walk-on football player at the University of Pittsburgh, DelSardo played on special teams his freshman year. A scholarship player by his sophomore year, DelSardo spent the rest of his college career as a wide receiver.

“It was back and forth between pills and heroin,” DelSardo said. “At a certain point, I was doing more pills. That was my first choice, and if I couldn't get that, it was heroin.”

The high

“It was just a euphoric sensation,” DelSardo said of the high from pills. “I became very talkative and let my guard down. You have self-confidence.”

The low

“You don't want to eat, and you can't get out of bed,” DelSardo said of the urge for drugs. “You need something to be normal or go to class; it's an everyday job.”

DelSardo said that after becoming hooked, it was not about getting high, it was about being able to function.

Although he stole small items from his house, like DVDs, to sell for cash, DelSardo was never arrested.

“I got to the point where enough was enough and what I consider my bottom,” DelSardo said.

A neighbor who suspected a friend of DelSardo's was using drugs, suggested DelSardo “rat him out.” Instead, DelSardo asked for help.

“I came clean,” DelSardo said. “I said, ‘I need help. I'm on drugs and I can't stop.'”

DelSardo was 22 when he entered the Greenbriar Treatment Center in Washington, Pa.

“Greenbriar was a good experience that I never want to experience again,” DelSardo said. “I was able to learn a lot about myself. I got myself into a safe zone to clean my mind and learn about the disease I had.”

DelSardo said his addiction is something, “I will live with for rest of my life.”

He said heroin trafficking and abuse has become an epidemic.

“The thing about it is, you're seeing more and more people die each year,” DelSardo said. “The overdose rate is going up.”

DelSardo said people are turning to illegal drugs at an earlier age each year.

“I don't think a lot of people see the danger in pills,” DelSardo said. “They are in every household and accessible to kids. I took a pill for a football injury and it took 5 ¹⁄₂ years to get off it.”

Now 30, DelSardo has a successful career in pharmaceutical sales.

“To be where I was and to be doing what I'm doing now is a reminder that, regardless of my past, I can still succeed and make something of my life,” DelSardo said. “People look at me and know where I came from and are happy for me.”

DelSardo said he is one of the lucky ones.

“There are people dying who are not far from getting help,” DelSardo said. “Just because they're doing bad things doesn't mean they are bad people. They're just stuck in a bad place.”

Chris Buckley is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at cbuckley@tribweb.com or 724-684-2642.