VIDEO: All-American Athlete Shares the Darker Side of Drugs With Seekonk Students

Dan Duval was a teenager when his relationship with alcohol began. It was only later in his life — once his athletic scholarship was revoked, ties with family became strained to shreds and he found himself homeless — that he knew his bouts with the bottle had turned unreliable, tumultuous, destructive. 

When he was in high school he didn't think knocking back a couple beers was a problem. In fact, it was expected.

A three-sport athlete, Duval had the world by the tail. He was a New Hampshire native who was named an All-American athlete and attended college at St. Mary's on a scholarship. And with that camaraderie came a lifestyle including sports practice, chasing girls and drinking with his fellow athletes.

"I would go to practice and then crack open a few cold ones with the boys," he said to an audience filled with sophomores and seniors sitting in the auditorium last Thursday afternoon.

"Academics didn't matter to me ... It didn't matter because I was going somewhere, I didn't have to have my head in the books."

But soon Duvall's choices caught up with him and he found himself kicked out of college. He stayed in his apartment until the rest of the school year was completed, floating by financially on his parents' dime. After, he took up odd jobs only to be fired following days skipped due to Thursday night hangovers. 

But his addiction didn't affect only himself. 

Duval remembers coming home to his sister's house after an all-night drug and alcohol bender. In the morning, she found her baby son dead in his crib due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

According to Duval, he felt numb except the feeling of craving cocaine.

"My sister needed a brother ... And in that moment, I didn't care that my nephew was dead," he said while wiping his nose. According to Duval, he has to keep tissues handy after fervent cocaine use permanently blew out his nasal membranes. 

Now, Duval coaches, he is married to his "best friend" and tours the region educating young people on the dangers of drug dependence. But it was a long, hard road to recovery. He remembers attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and proclaimed decades of sobriety.

"No one's going to take that away from me, because I worked too hard for it," he said.

At the end of his presentation to the packed room, he was greeted by resounding applause. One student told him she was impressed he had gone through so many "bad things" but came out alive at the end.

"You don't have to go through it," he told her. 

According to Principal Marcia McGovern, the school department is holding a series of workshops meant for the public to facilitate an open dialogue concerning the teenage mind and destructive decision making.

"We don't have all the answers, but we're trying to start the conversation," she said.

On Thursday, May 19, at 7 p.m. in the high school, , the CEO of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), will be addressing the "reality gap" that often divides parents and teens and offer advice. Faculty hope community members take advantage of this opportunity.