Native hockey legend Reggie Leach says he "screwed up" his career because he was an alcoholic.
Leach, an Ojibwe from the Beren's River First Nation in Manitoba, helped the Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup in 1975. He set records in the National Hockey League but says drinking kept him from his final goal.
"I pretty well accomplished everything I wanted to do except I didn't make it into the Hockey Hall of Fame," Leach tells the Canadian Press.
Leach, 57, stopped drinking in 1985. He now spends his time talking to Native youth, urging them to stay away from alcohol.
"People might think that alcoholism just involves your own life, but it doesn't. It involves everyone around you," says Leach, who will receive a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in March 2008.
Get the Story:Reggie Leach turned his life around and wants to help kids stay on track (CP 12/6) $rl Roger Leach, Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Leach
