These days, 35-year-old Tony Hoffman is a man on the move, traveling the country 200 days a year.<\/p>\n
“I’m never in a place for more than 36 hours,” Hoffman said.<\/p>\n
The former top-ranked BMX amateur shares his life story, weaving together his rise in BMX racing to becoming a homeless drug addict, sharing his insights into addiction and mental health.<\/p>\n
[Pillars speaker spurs on youths’ dreams and ambitions<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n “My message hinges itself a lot on mental health because I had those issues when I was in middle school,” said Hoffman, who will speak Wednesday at Centennial Hall for the second installment of the Pillars of America Speaker <\/a>Series<\/a>. “I grew up in the 90s where we didn’t talk about mental health. (If) you went to a therapist, you were crazy. I really try to break down those stigmas and get people to understand it’s OK to talk to people if you’re not feeling good about yourself. That’s actually the key to getting better.”<\/p>\n Hoffman’s profile in professional BMX riding soared as teenager while growing up in Clovis, California. His domination in the sport led to endorsements deals from big companies, but the fame would be fleeting.<\/p>\n While attending Clovis High School, the BMX star got into marijuana and using prescription painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin which began taking over his life.<\/p>\n “I found out that I was an addict that and addicts don’t get to choose whether they get to be addicts or not and that my life would go on a very long downward spiral journey to homelessness and being in prison and having to turn my life around,” Hoffman said.<\/p>\n