Ex-Penguin talks about addiction
In the auditorium at Butler Middle School Tuesday night, about 100 people watched a vintage highlights reel of Kevin Stevens, a former member of the Pittsburgh Penguins and an Olympic legend.
Then Stevens walked out onto the stage, sat in a chair and explained exactly how he ruined his whole hockey career: drug addiction.
“In twenty years, I went from a first-team all star, winning Stanley Cups and having great friends and a great life, to having my door kicked in by the FBI,” Stevens said.
Stevens is on something of a redemption tour as he tries to turn years of drug abuse that gradually dismantled his life into a warning for others and a sign of hope and solidarity for fellow addicts. He is two years and four months sober, he told the crowd Tuesday night, and only keeps it up by taking each day one at a time and regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Kathy Kline, a former Butler City Council member, started rolling the ball that brought Stevens to Butler Tuesday. Kline said she saw a newspaper article about Stevens' speeches and sent an email inquiring about his booking. Organizations such as Butler Health System, Butler's Neighborhood Drug Watch and Butler County's Criminal Justice Advisory Board helped pull Tuesday's event together.
Why did all those groups want Stevens?
“It doesn't matter who you are,” Kline said of drug addiction's reach. “It even happened to him.”
Stevens said it was pretty simple how he became addicted: he made a choice.
The most well-known aspect of Steven's downfall was his 1993 accident during a game with the New York Islanders. He was knocked unconscious and fell to the ice, with his full weight landing straight on his face, shattering it. His injuries required more than 100 stitches and several metal plates, and Stevens soon grew addicted to the painkillers prescribed to him.
But Stevens said that wasn't the whole story. He said he had first tried cocaine in a bar just two months before the Islanders game. Stevens said he thinks his accident was related to his cocaine use, as it made him “just a little bit off” right away, gradually pulling his attention from hockey to his next fix.Stevens describes his addiction as a gene that activated when he first tried that drug at age 28. Today, at 52, he still wonders where he'd be if he never turned it on.Either way, once he returned to playing, Stevens said, the opioids started getting in the way of his job and eventually lost it for him.In an interview before his speech, Stevens said he doesn't think it's unusual for an area like Butler to have opioid problems these days.“I really don't think it's strange anywhere anymore,” Stevens said. “I'm in it, full circle. I know how bad it is. But people who aren't in it, they probably think it's crazy.”Ruthane Durso, supervisor of BHS's drug and alcohol services, said she hoped the event served as a means to connect those attending with resources for dealing with addiction. The middle school's halls outside the auditorium were lined with booths of support groups and social workers.Several present, like Jason Spinetti of Saxonburg, were there in part as fans. Those present were able to get autographs signed and one person won a Stevens jersey in a raffle. Spinetti, though, already had a jersey and wore it to the event.“I'm impressed by what he's been doing,” Spinetti said. “He's turned his life around. I'm anxious to see if anyone here opens up to him, cause obviously this area has been hit hard by this stuff. I think it'd be really cool if he had an impact on somebody tonight.”Stevens likened himself to some local victims of addiction.“The way I did drugs, if fentanyl was around I'd be dead,” Stevens said.Tuesday night was actually Steven's second trip to Butler County this week. Monday night, he spoke to inmates at the Butler County Prison about struggling with drug abuse. He delivered a similar message both nights.“If anyone is struggling with addiction or alcoholism,” Stevens said. “There is hope.”
