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Off Center: A Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption in Professional Football
Randy Grimes quickly learned one important truth as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ top draft play through pain, or get cut.
This is just part of being a pro athlete, he told himself.
Growing up in Tyler, Texas, Grimes’s life was very much on center. A childhood spent in church on Sundays and on the gridiron all week turned into a football scholarship to Baylor, marriage to his college sweetheart, and a coveted NFL roster spot.
When the Bucs’ starting center began piling up brutal hits, he determined to do anything to stay in the game. If the pills prescribed by the team doctors could help, Grimes would take them.
All in a day’s work, he told himself.
Even before Grimes left the NFL, his life began slipping off center. Eventually, he lost almost everything he owned, the respect of his children, and very nearly his life, before tumbling out of the car and crawling on hands and knees into a treatment center—literally—into a life-changing miracle.
Off Center is Randy Grimes’s riveting story of having it all, playing the sport he loved, losing almost everything, and ultimately finding redemption and hope. Witness the addiction trap that binds millions and claims thousands of lives each year—and the steps Grimes took to reclaim his life and guide others.
Today Grimes and his wife, Lydia, stage drug and alcohol interventions for professional athletes, celebrities, business leaders, and everyday Americans to find recovery from addiction.
Recovery has become his playbook. His treatment center colleagues are his team. And those with addiction are his community.
Above all, Grimes wants people to Even when the world seems to be yours, there is room to fall. And even when that world seems to slip away, there is hope.
This is just part of being a pro athlete, he told himself.
Growing up in Tyler, Texas, Grimes’s life was very much on center. A childhood spent in church on Sundays and on the gridiron all week turned into a football scholarship to Baylor, marriage to his college sweetheart, and a coveted NFL roster spot.
When the Bucs’ starting center began piling up brutal hits, he determined to do anything to stay in the game. If the pills prescribed by the team doctors could help, Grimes would take them.
All in a day’s work, he told himself.
Even before Grimes left the NFL, his life began slipping off center. Eventually, he lost almost everything he owned, the respect of his children, and very nearly his life, before tumbling out of the car and crawling on hands and knees into a treatment center—literally—into a life-changing miracle.
Off Center is Randy Grimes’s riveting story of having it all, playing the sport he loved, losing almost everything, and ultimately finding redemption and hope. Witness the addiction trap that binds millions and claims thousands of lives each year—and the steps Grimes took to reclaim his life and guide others.
Today Grimes and his wife, Lydia, stage drug and alcohol interventions for professional athletes, celebrities, business leaders, and everyday Americans to find recovery from addiction.
Recovery has become his playbook. His treatment center colleagues are his team. And those with addiction are his community.
Above all, Grimes wants people to Even when the world seems to be yours, there is room to fall. And even when that world seems to slip away, there is hope.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 8, 2022
5 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 6, 2022
"I needed more than five stars!"
Off-Center by Author Randy Grimes is a former NFL Pro who played with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Unfortunately, his memoir is not your average read. This story and testimony are fine examples of how anyone can be "touched" by addiction, even as a sports pro.
With big dreams of playing football, a little boy from Tyler, Texas, had no idea that addiction had been lying in wait for years. That is the cunningness of any addiction. Randy's memoir also shows how this can happen without going rogue with ego or status or being a "Party Guy." If there is anything he knows best, Texas is known for three things, "The Love of Family, Faith and Church on Sunday, and FOOTBALL!
While he shares his life, pro career, while sharing an intervention and part of the advocacy work is some of what you find between the pages of this exceptional book. With "No Shame," the author shares the real and raw of his downfall, how he crawled on his hands and knees into a treatment center, and another example of how many athletes end up having addiction problems later in their career afterward.
It seems when you play pro sports and have the best doctors and sports medicine professionals helping you stay in the game, and it's over? All the author wanted to do was get rid of the pain from all the injuries he had. So sad he had no guidance after he left pro football.
Then the true miracle of faith begins to work within his life after losing just about everything he worked so hard for and to provide for his family, as he went from being lost, addicted, and spiritually broken to a man who stands tall today within redemption! And that is only the tip of the iceberg you'll read within this fantastic memoir.
I have read a lot of memoirs from other sports pros, and this one is not your standard braggy sports stats and facts. Everyone should read this book and learn how anyone can change and turn their lives around after addiction. Randy and Lydia help many athletes gain life from addiction while healing the whole family through several foundations.
I highly suggest parents read this memoir/book, and I enjoy reading a great book that can teach you something while cheering (for Randy) simultaneously!
It's what makes this book a must-read.
Off-Center by Author Randy Grimes is a former NFL Pro who played with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Unfortunately, his memoir is not your average read. This story and testimony are fine examples of how anyone can be "touched" by addiction, even as a sports pro.
With big dreams of playing football, a little boy from Tyler, Texas, had no idea that addiction had been lying in wait for years. That is the cunningness of any addiction. Randy's memoir also shows how this can happen without going rogue with ego or status or being a "Party Guy." If there is anything he knows best, Texas is known for three things, "The Love of Family, Faith and Church on Sunday, and FOOTBALL!
While he shares his life, pro career, while sharing an intervention and part of the advocacy work is some of what you find between the pages of this exceptional book. With "No Shame," the author shares the real and raw of his downfall, how he crawled on his hands and knees into a treatment center, and another example of how many athletes end up having addiction problems later in their career afterward.
It seems when you play pro sports and have the best doctors and sports medicine professionals helping you stay in the game, and it's over? All the author wanted to do was get rid of the pain from all the injuries he had. So sad he had no guidance after he left pro football.
Then the true miracle of faith begins to work within his life after losing just about everything he worked so hard for and to provide for his family, as he went from being lost, addicted, and spiritually broken to a man who stands tall today within redemption! And that is only the tip of the iceberg you'll read within this fantastic memoir.
I have read a lot of memoirs from other sports pros, and this one is not your standard braggy sports stats and facts. Everyone should read this book and learn how anyone can change and turn their lives around after addiction. Randy and Lydia help many athletes gain life from addiction while healing the whole family through several foundations.
I highly suggest parents read this memoir/book, and I enjoy reading a great book that can teach you something while cheering (for Randy) simultaneously!
It's what makes this book a must-read.
March 2, 2026
A startlingly honest story of redemption! I highly recommend it!!!
February 8, 2022
I learned so much from this incredible story. I picked it up intending to read just a portion of it, and found myself reading straight through to the end. If you have family or friends affected by substance abuse or addiction, this is a must-read. The book winds together two stories -- the author's true account of becoming addicted to the pain pills that were distributed freely in the NFL locker room during his decade-long career, as well as the story of an intervention which is based on the many interventions the author has done since becoming sober himself. It gives an inside account of a professional athlete's slide into addiction, the hard path back, and how it truly affects the whole family. Anyone seeking to understand drug addiction, alcoholism, or substance abuse should read this book. Although the story is told in a football context, you don't need to be a football fan to find it worthwhile reading. Thank you to the publisher for an advance review copy. All opinions my own.
February 12, 2022
What an incredibly moving memoir. Randy’s story will touch your heart. It’s a story of addiction and all he went through to recover from his addiction. I started his book one day and finished it the next day. It’s such an emotional story. One minute you are smiling and then the next minute you have tears in your eyes or a lump in your throat. But Praise God for his healing and for Randy and Lydia never giving up. This is proof that with God by your side anything is possible. This book is sure a testimony to never give up and to keep fighting for your family. Randy and Lydia are now using their journey to help others with addiction. Don’t miss this incredible story as it will definitely stir your soul.
February 8, 2022
"Off Center" drops the reader on the line with this football player and his life in the NFL. In this memoir, the MC is actually the drugs the author consumed during his football career. The storyline is his journey and struggles against this addiction and the losses he encountered along the way. The drugs show no remorse as they shower him, and their victims with a slow mounting trust leading to a devastating outcome. Luckily, in Randy's case, there was an answer to defeat this monster. The reader will watch him crawl back from the biggest defeat of his life to a new life of joy with the help of his loving wife, counseling, and willpower.
February 7, 2022
Randy's story is like many others in many ways. Someone who makes it big doing what he loved---professional football. Yet in the pain of it all, his world almost completely crashed. The book also provides how he and his wife are being used today to help others get out of lives of addiction.
The story of Randy's journey will change many lives. I pray that it opens the hearts of those in addiction as well as those who are hurting as their loved one is lost.
The story of Randy's journey will change many lives. I pray that it opens the hearts of those in addiction as well as those who are hurting as their loved one is lost.
March 30, 2026
When it comes to raw-genuine & Purpose driven this book is a must read. The engagement that develops from the about notes in the beginning to the full circle altruistic approach to life in the end. This book pointed to God & made me better.
November 22, 2023
A great book for those who are struggling with chemical dependency, particularly alcoholism.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews