By Larry O’Dell
Associated Press
HAMPTON, Va. ó Michael Vick is out of prison and headed home, broke and reviled for running a dogfighting ring but hopeful for a second chance at his once-charmed life as a star NFL quarterback.
The suspended quarterback served 19 months in prison on the dogfighting conviction that capped one of the most astonishing falls in sports history ó one that stole his wealth and popularity.
“Football is on the back-burner for now,” said agent Joel Segal, who negotiated Vick’s 10-year, $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons but will be asking for substantially less if his tarnished client’s suspension is lifted by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Vick deserves a second chance, but it won’t be with Atlanta, which has severed ties with him.
Vick, who turns 29 in June, left the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., by car early Wednesday, undetected by hordes of reporters who had staked out the prison.
He was accompanied on the 1,200-mile ride by his fiancee, Kijafa Frink, a videographer and several members of a security team assembled by Vick’s lawyers and advisers, a person familiar with the plans told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The person did not know the reason for the videographer.
Avoiding the media will be tougher in Hampton, where he will serve two months in home confinement. His five-bedroom brick house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, where at least a half-dozen satellite trucks and several reporters and camera crews awaited his return. Out back, between the house and a pond, maintenance workers got the swimming pool ready.
Vick was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison for financing a dogfighting conspiracy. He won’t be released from federal custody until July 20, but his departure from Leavenworth begins a new chapter.
“It’s a happy day for him to be starting this part of the process,” said Larry Woodward, Vick’s Virginia-based attorney, said. “He looks forward to meeting the challenges he has to meet.”
His ultimate goal is a return to the NFL, but Woodward said Vick’s first priority “is spending time with his children and his loved ones.”
First up for Vick is a $10-an-hour job as a laborer for a construction company. That job is part of his probation, and he will find out more about the restrictions he faces in home confinement when he meets with his probation officer later this week. He also will be equipped with an electronic monitor.