This Hollywood Story Has $28-Million Ending

AUSTIN, Texas —  Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, who wrecked his NFL career with his drug use and bottomed out in prison, has had a colossal change of fortune. He hit a $28-million lottery jackpot.

“I’m the winner,” Henderson said from his Austin home Friday after the ticket received preliminary validation from the Texas lottery. “I always knew I was going to win it.”

The former Dallas Cowboy linebacker said he is financially secure and plays the lottery just for fun when the jackpot reaches more than $20 million. He spent $100 Wednesday, allowing the computer to pick the lucky numbers.

“I am just going to continue to do the charities that I do, take care of my children and buy my momma a Town Car,” he said.

Henderson, 47, said he celebrated the big win in bed with powdered doughnuts, sausage and biscuits and a glass of milk. Had it been 15 years ago, he said, “it would have been laced with some cocaine and alcohol and the whole insanity.”

Henderson played for Dallas from 1975 until the Cowboys cut him in 1979 because of his drug problems. He moved to Southern California to pursue acting, but as he said years later, his “starring role as a crack addict would not allow me to audition for other parts.”

In 1983, he was arrested for smoking crack with two teenage girls. Police said he threatened the girls with a gun, sexually assaulted one of them and held them against their will. Henderson served two years and four months in prison.

Since then, he has spent most of his time giving motivational speeches and doing community service in Austin, where he grew up. This year, he said he wanted to run for Austin’s City Council, but he was barred because of his felony conviction.

He said hitting the jackpot is even more special because he is sober.

“The thing is, I have always known how to be successful. It’s just that I didn’t know how to handle it,” he said. “Today, I know how to handle success and that’s what’s important.”