Anthony Collins (born May 27, 1959) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

. He played professionally in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. He played in Super Bowl XX as a member of the New England Patriots. He played college football at East Carolina University.

Early years

A speedy and powerful runner, Collins first garnered notoriety in high school as a starter on the 1976 New York State Class B Champion Penn Yan Academy Mustangs. He grew up with 15 siblings as one of 16 children.

NFL

Collins attended East Carolina University and was selected in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. Cris Crissy, one of his high school teammates, was also drafted by the Patriots that season. Collins was a

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection in 1983 and he played in Super Bowl XX as a member of the Patriots. He signed with the Indianapolis Colts in 1988, but was suspended for the entire season after failing a drug test. His final year in the NFL was in 1990 with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

. Collins finished his NFL career with 4,647 rushing yards, 261 receptions for 2,356 yards, and 44

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

in 103 games. Collins' drug problem began when he became addicted to painkillers after suffering an ankle injury with the Patriots in 1982. After being released from the Dolphins, Collins began using cocaine.

Arena football

In 1991, Collins joined the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

of the

. On July 9, 1991, Collins drove his car into a lake in Orlando in an apparent suicide attempt. In 1992 Collins continued his arena football career with the

Cincinnati Rockers The Cincinnati Rockers were an arena football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They began play in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League and competed through the 1993 season before they suspended operations due to low attendance. ...

and scored nine touchdowns. In 1993, Collins played his last season of arena football with the Miami Hooters.

After football

Collins educates high school athletes and their families on the college recruiting process as an educational speaker for the National Collegiate Scouting Association. He hosted an internet radio show, ''Sports Talk with Touchdown Tony Collins'', on the VoiceAmerica Sports Channel. Collins started a foundation in 2007 called "It's for the Kids", which works with disadvantaged youths in the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

region of

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

. He published a book in 2012 entitled, ''Broken Road: Turning My Mess Into a Message''.

Personal

Collins' nephew is Reggie Branch, who played for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

. Collins and his wife Trudy live near Greenville, N.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Tony 1959 births Living people American football running backs Cincinnati Rockers players East Carolina Pirates football players Miami Dolphins players Miami Hooters players New England Patriots players Orlando Predators players American Conference Pro Bowl players People from Penn Yan, New York Sportspeople from Sanford, Florida Players of American football from New York (state)