While most 12-year-old boys were outside riding bikes teasing girls and throwing punches Tom Gordon tried cocaine for the first time. With the help of a so-called sponsor and role model at the prestigious Harvard-esque Kent School a boarding school in Connecticut.
Dying to fit in Gordon enjoyed long lazy weekends filled with a variety of substances: a line or two of coke in the morning followed by Ritalin ecstasy and some mushrooms Gordon was ready to start his day of school. Pulled by the constant need to stay ‘up’ Gordon found himself frequently resupplying in the bathroom. He spent his days always looking forward to the next high. When the long day was over around 4 a.m. he found comfort in Xanax or Ambien and settled for a long nights sleep.
“It felt like college prematurely – I thought of [drugs and alcohol] as a quick and easy way to make and find friends Gordon said. I had no concept of the rules.”
The pattern began as a 12-year-old and continued until Gordon was a 16-year-old junior in high school. With drugs racing through his veins. Eager for the start of a second semester as a junior Gordon returned from Christmas break already scheming about how to get his next fix.
With his supplies dwindling Gordon was determined to find access to the substances that would get him through the weekend. Being a closed weekend on campus Gordon’s hopes for a high were weakening. A glimmer of hope came when a freshman girl was going to the city for the weekend. Gordon placed his “drug order” with her and waited anxiously for the delivery.
It was a beautiful snowy evening in Kent. Everyone was tucked into bed until the early morning of January 13 2004. But the game was up – someone had found his order.
With the help of Xanax Gordon was sleeping soundly as his dorm advisor and school advisor literally broke down his door. When they finally shook him awake Gordon realized his dooms day had come.
Looking back as a junior at Pepperdine Gordon realized how lonely he was with his addiction.
“At first I did drugs to make friends Gordon said. And the night before I got caught I was doing drugs in my room alone.”
After ripping his room apart they also uncovered behind a lose brick in his dorm room cocaine 250 pills of Ritalin three Percocets a couple of Xanaxs and two handles of alcohol. Trying to protect his “friends Gordon took the blame all alone.
After being placed on 5150 the code for suicide watch, and a long embrace from his family, Gordon enrolled in to rehab.
Time in drug rehab helped Gordon grow up faster than he had hoped. After realizing the amount of opportunities he missed while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, Gordon adopted Henry David Thoreau’s famous words in Walden:” “I wish to live deliberately.” The words became his life mantra.
Four months after he left rehab the hard part of rejoining life this time sober sunk in.
He repeated junior year in high school at York Preparatory in Manhattan where he graduated in 2006. Though eager to attend Pepperdine Gordon knew staying sober in college would be challenging.
“The biggest struggle is the pre-game when everyone’s getting excited to go out Gordon said. But then I remember what the end of the night is like and it reaffirms my decision over and over again not to drink.”
Gordon is currently a dedicated student majoring in organizational communication at Pepperdine.
On September 222008 Gordon with the help of 10 of his best friends a limo and a chic Los Angeles club celebrated his 21st birthday sober.
“I feel like turning 21 is a right of passage I experienced just seven years earlier Gordon said.
And on January of this year he celebrated another milestone with his closest friends: his five-year sober celebration.
I’ve never met anyone who’s willing to go out of his way for the people he cares about as much as Tom does said close friend and fellow fraternity brother Shaun Lillard. He is the most dependable person I know.”
Gordon’s past struggles have not impinged on success in school or his social life. He has studied abroad in Florence and passed spring break in Cabo San Lucas all without indulging in alcohol or drugs.
As vice-president of Sigma Chi Fraternity Gordon wants to break the stereotypical ideal of someone who is sober.
So while teen drug uses continues to increase nationwide in wealthy suburbs such as Malibu Tom can still recall his treacherous escape from drugs and alcohol just five years ago.
When he walked into Starbucks on a clear Malibu day all the baristas knew his name and his drink order: one venti iced Americano (no water) and a venti passion tea lemonade – ¬and don’t forget the toasted oat bar. Over the roar of the frappuccino blender and the Norah Jones CD blasting through the store Tom Gordon chatted with the barista while he waited for his thirst to be quenched.
Dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt his tousled brown hair hidden beneath a baseball cap Gordon is just a regular Pepperdine student. No one would know what lies behind his kind brown eyes.
“I never want to be back in that place Gordon said. I still am able to do everything and go everywhere I’m having more fun now than I was then.”