As Tim Hightower remembers, it was 2008, his rookie season in the NFL, when Dr. Aleta Richards, a friend and mentor, called with the idea of collaborating with Hightower on a book.
Don't say "no" immediately, Richards told him. Think about it. Take your time.
A fifth-round draft pick out of Richmond, Hightower was devoting all his energy to making the Cardinals roster and carving out a role for himself on the team as a running back and special-teams player.
A book geared toward helping young people deal with problems? A nice idea, "but in my mind I was thinking there is no way I have time to write a book," Hightower said.
Two years later, however, the book is nearly finished. It is tentatively titled "Faith and Football," and the authors are making the final edit and starting the search for a publisher.
The book is a progression of a friendship that started at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va. Hightower was a student, and Richards a counselor.
In Hightower, Richards saw exceptional intellect, talent and generosity. In Richards and her husband, Bob Ellis, Hightower found friends and mentors. When Hightower overcame long odds to make it in the NFL, Richards thought the lessons Hightower learned along the way could benefit others.
The book is about "taking hits," Richards said, but not the football variety.
"We distinguish between physical hits and social hits, which are more when people hurt your feelings, as opposed to your body," she said. "In high school, these take the form of being rejected, insulted or having people start rumors about you. They are the things that make life difficult for young people."
In the book, Hightower and Richards lay out three "plays" for learning how to deal with those hits.
"Having faith in yourself, faith in other people and faith in God," Richards said. "To us, faith is the same as trust. There is an attitude shift from thinking that these social hits are the end of the world, as opposed to things that will happen throughout your life. The goal is not to avoid them, but to learn how to deal with them, to manage them."
Hightower initially didn't embrace the idea of a book. He needed to learn a playbook, not write one, and football was his singular focus.
But he and Richards talked as friends every few weeks and met occasionally when Hightower returned home. Hightower didn't know it, but Richards was keeping notes of their conversations.
"Then she sent me a rough draft, and there were things I said in there," Hightower said. "It was pretty cool. She really stuck with it, and she was very proactive in getting me responding to e-mails, phone calls."
Hightower has loved to write since high school, when he found that putting his thoughts on paper helped him cope with the issues he faced.
"Sometimes you don't feel comfortable talking to somebody about it," he said. "You may not feel you can trust somebody, or maybe you just don't want someone to know. But if you just write it, it's another way of releasing it, and sometimes a way of encouraging yourself."
After seeing the rough draft, Hightower participated in the writing process. Part of the goal, he said, is to let kids know that everyone, even professional athletes, have to deal with challenges in their lives.
"When I was a kid, I had the concept that athletes and actresses and actors lived in their own world, their own cities, their own towns," he said. "You put people on a pedestal."
In the process of writing the book, Hightower found that kids liked it when the pedestal was removed.
"They enjoyed sharing your successes, your struggles, points where you've learned, your mistakes," Hightower said. "They like that. It helps them and it helps you as well."
Cardinals guard Deuce Lutui will be among 204 Arizona residents to become U.S. citizens Friday during a ceremony at South Mountain Community College.
Born in Tonga, Lutui has lived most of his life in Mesa. He will take the Oath of Allegiance during the annual Independence Day naturalization ceremony.
September 27, 2009: Two years ago Cardinals running back Tim Hightower didn't think he had time to write a book. Now it's almost finished.
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