This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • A little less than four years ago, Max Hall seemed to have it all. The winningest quarterback in Brigham Young University history wasn't just living the dream, as the players say, he was living his very own dream.
If Hall wasn't on top of the world, he could see it from his perch as the starting quarterback of not just any NFL team, but his hometown Arizona Cardinals.
After going undrafted, despite leading BYU to a school-record 32 wins in a three-year starting career in Provo, the grandson of Arizona State legend Wilford White and nephew of former Dallas Cowboys star Danny White caught on with the Cardinals and somehow found himself making his first NFL start on Oct. 10, 2010, against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.
Although he was far from spectacular that day, Hall was again a winner, completing 17 of 27 passes for 168 yards as the Cardinals stunned the Saints 30-20 with two defensive touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Some in Arizona were anointing him the heir apparent to Kurt Warner, who had retired the previous winter.
But it never happened. Turns out, that night at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., represented the pinnacle of Hall's football career.
Friends and family members are hoping that what happened Aug. 29 in nearby Gilbert, Ariz., marks the low point of the 28-year-old Hall's life. The hero to many BYU football fans was arrested at a Best Buy electronics store on suspicion of shoplifting and possession of a "personal amount quantity" of cocaine, shocking friends and former teammates who say the Hall they knew was a driven, ultra-competitive, even combative soul, but one who appeared to be a clean-living father dedicated to his wife, McKinzi, and two young children.
"Absolutely, totally, 100 percent stunned," said former BYU safety Andrew Rich. "At first, total disbelief. In Provo, I spent a lot of time with Max and his wife. I didn't see a thing that would indicate [a problem]."
Since news of Hall's legal troubles broke Tuesday, folks throughout the state — even University of Utah fans he angrily ranted against after his final game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2009 — are asking the question: What happened to Max?
Getting himself together
Reached on Wednesday, Mark Hall declined the opportunity to discuss his son's predicament or how the most polarizing figure in the BYU-Utah rivalry fell so hard, so fast. Max Hall, who days after his arrest lost his part-time job as Gilbert High's offensive coordinator, has not returned text messages seeking an interview.
"Max is kind of getting himself together a little bit," Mark Hall said. "He is probably going to make his own [public] statement when he's ready. … It will come out eventually. There's a lot to the story. It will all come out."
Former Cougar Ben Criddle was as surprised as Rich was. He called his friend the morning after the news broke.
"This has obviously been an issue for a while and just kind of reached a point where he was willing to do some certain things in order to maybe get some extra money," Criddle said. "I think he has hit a fictitious bottom, and I think that's where he's at right now. This could be a cry for help. I know he has already reached out to family and friends to help him, and he is getting help."
Criddle said he never saw nor was he aware of Hall having a substance-abuse problem at BYU, sentiments echoed by Rich, quarterback Riley Nelson, offensive lineman Braden Brown, then-quarterbacks coach Brandon Doman and several other former coaches or teammates contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune.
"Where it started was probably decisions that he made personally to take things that can cause an addiction, whether it is a prescribed pill, or a controlled substance. I don't know. It could be any number of things," Criddle said. "Nobody knows right now except for Max and his family. Everything else is just assumptions."
Contributing factors?
Riley Nelson was Hall's backup at BYU in 2009 and then played for him in 2012, when Hall returned to the campus as a student coach, while working on his degree in facility and property management. Nelson says that while many players have a distinct on-field persona and are different off the field, "Max the quarterback's kind of the same as Max the guy."
That intense, competitive, combative personality may have contributed to his issues. As a football player, "You are coached and trained from a very young age to never give up, keep fighting, push through emotions," Nelson said. "Asking for help is a sign of weakness. That's a recipe for disaster when addictive behaviors are involved."
Andrew George, the tight end who caught the game-winning touchdown pass from Hall to beat Utah 26-23 in 2009, also returned to BYU in 2012 as a graduate assistant. George said at the time that Hall was "a huge help for our quarterbacks and for our staff," coaching from the sideline while Doman was in the press box.
Doman, who would go on to become offensive coordinator, and Nelson both tell the story of the 2009 Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon State, Hall's last game as a senior. When Hall was hit hard while releasing a pass, Doman asked if he was OK and Hall replied, "Don't ever ask me that again." The next play, he threw a touchdown pass to Dennis Pitta. Hall then came to the sideline, with his knee hurt. The pain was such that he'd bitten through his lip.
"That moment was the epitome of Max, to me," Doman said, " … a guy who was not going to stay down."
Doman also spoke of Hall's "contagious demeanor," the way the others players responded to him, even in the NFL, with an ability to "capture his teammates' heart."
Last month's episode is "the last place in the world Max ever thought he would find himself," Doman added, but "I think it's been emotional for him to see the outpouring of support for him."
Another member of that 2009 team, Braden Brown, wondered if the injuries that Hall "and every football player suffers, at one time or another" eventually led to a reliance on pain pills, although he said BYU trainers and doctors were cautious about their distribution.
"To this day, I still have aches and pains daily, and I am sure Max probably does, too," Brown said. "That's the unfortunate reality of being a football player."
Another former BYU and NFL player, Hans Olsen, talked about the difficulty some athletes have when the spotlight is gone, the competition over.
"We're basically adrenaline junkies," he said. "And there's nothing else in the world that replicates that."
A hometown hero falters
The pinnacle of Hall's BYU career came in the first game of his senior season, when he led the Cougars into Arlington, Texas, and they stunned No. 3-ranked Oklahoma 14-13, with Hall famously screaming at fans and ESPN cameras at halftime, "We are going to win this game."
His aforementioned time with the Cardinals was short-lived after his heroics against the Saints, his only NFL win. He had a bad game the following week at Seattle, completing just 4 of 16 passes for 36 yards in a 22-10 loss. The next week, he was benched after two passes were returned for touchdowns against Tampa Bay.
On Dec. 5, 2011, Hall was inserted into an eventual 19-6 loss to the Rams for the first time in more than a month when two other QBs were ineffective, but was sacked early in the fourth quarter and suffered a left shoulder injury, his second shoulder injury in the pros after having also suffered a concussion. It was his last play in the league; the Cardinals cut him in the 2011 preseason.
Compared with his own transition from football, Nelson, who works for Cache Valley Electric, said, "When the pinnacle of your career is that much higher, the comedown is much steeper and much harsher."
In a 2012 interview, Hall said, "The NFL is a great life, man. Did I get thrown in there too soon? Yeah, I did. But to have the memory of starting games in the NFL. … I had a blast."
Off to the CFL
After the 2012 season, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall fired all his offensive coaches, including Doman. Hall interviewed for the vacant quarterbacks coach position, but the job went to another former BYU QB, Jason Beck. Who knows how Hall's life would have changed if he had gotten the job?
But Hall wasn't finished playing football. He was lured to the Canadian Football League's Winnipeg Blue Bombers by former BYU coach Gary Crowton, whose last game as Winnipeg's offensive coordinator turned out to be the first CFL game Hall started.
Having joined a bad team that would finish 3-15, Hall started in nine games for the Bombers and won just one. He told several former teammates that he would likely be the starter in 2014, but he was cut June 20, just a day after he and McKinzi sold their home in the Valley of the Sun.
McKinzi is the daughter of a former Mesa police officer, and her sister, Mataya, is married to Baltimore Ravens star Dennis Pitta, a former BYU standout.
Bob Irving, the longtime radio voice of the Bombers, said coach Mike O'Shea told him Hall "took it as a pro [but] he was shocked," when he was cut. On Irving's show on CJOB radio on Tuesday night, O'Shea said there were "absolutely no character issues with Max" and the release was a "pure football" decision. Having had dozens of interactions with Hall, Irving said he was also shocked to learn Hall may have substance-abuse issues.
"Max had his wife and two small children with him for part of last year [living in an apartment close to the stadium]," Irving said, "and they looked the picture of absolute family bliss."
Kirk Penton, who covers the Bombers for the Winnipeg Sun newspaper, said the team's offensive line was horrible last year "and Max got hit more than any quarterback I've ever seen," but pulled himself off the turf every time. Hall's attitude was always positive, Penton said.
"Beautiful family," Penton recalled, noting that Hall's son, Rex, looks just like his dad. "It seemed like he had the perfect world, really."
That proved last month not to be the case. Max Hall may need a lot of help getting back up this time.
Twitter: @drewjay
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Max Hall timeline
2006-09 • Wins a school-record 32 games as BYU's starting quarterback.
2010 • Starts three games as an undrafted free agent and plays in six for the Arizona Cardinals before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury Dec. 5 against St. Louis.
2011 • Is cut in training camp by the Cardinals and placed on injured reserve.
2012 • Becomes a student assistant coach at BYU while finishing his degree in facility and property management.
2013 • Goes 1-8 in nine games as a starter for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
2014 • Gets cut by the Blue Bombers on June 20 (a day after selling his home in the Phoenix area) and returns to Arizona to live at his in-laws' home.
Aug. 29, 2014 • Gets arrested in Gilbert, Ariz., on suspicion of shoplifting and possession of cocaine and, days later, loses his part-time post as offensive coordinator for Gilbert High's football team.