Very few athletes reach the heights of professional football. Although the players who do vary in success, one thing binds them together: they’ll all eventually retire. Some earlier than others.
Laurence Maroney’s National Football League career lasted five seasons. Even after a storied collegiate career and getting a chance to live out his dream of playing professional football, the St. Louis native found himself out of the league and struggling with anxiety and depression. It took several more years—and lots of therapy—for Maroney to pull himself out of the darkness. Now, he’s looking at the world with a new mission: helping others struggling with mental health issues.
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“I was in such a hole, mentally,” Maroney said. “Going through that little rollercoaster, trying to figure out who I am outside of football and being the star athlete.”
Maroney attended the University of Minnesota from 2003 to 2005, amassing 32 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 rushing yards in only three seasons. In 2006, the New England Patriots selected him in the first round of the NFL draft, and he rushed for 745 yards and six touchdowns in his rookie year. Life was good.
The football star launched LM39 Foundation in 2007 to serve the community. The organization operated until 2012—two years after Maroney’s NFL career ended—when Maroney’s struggles with mental health became too much. He stepped away and LM39 went dormant.
“I met my girlfriend, Briante Wells, in 2018,” Maroney said. “She was really getting a broken guy. Not only was I broken but I was also ready for a change. She supported me throughout my mental health issues. She was helping me come out of my shell.”
With Wells’s support, Maroney got back on solid ground during the COVID-19 pandemic. He wasn’t back to NFL status, but as he puts it, “I was out of the hole.” By 2021, Maroney was thinking once again about LM39 and the potential impact it could have on people who needed help. He felt he had a bigger purpose, that people needed to hear his story.
“I was 10 years out of the spotlight,” Maroney said. “Having this strong woman who’s constantly pushing me to be a better version of myself, she was encouraging me to get the foundation back going again. I finally gave in. If you see something special in me, I’ll take a leap of faith.”
Maroney and his team, which includes Wells and his mother, reestablished the foundation in 2023. They tweaked the initiative to focus on mental health given Maroney’s own struggles with depression and anxiety. Now, they’re looking to raise funds for programming aimed at helping young people and athletes in the St. Louis community.
“It’s really for everybody, but I like to target athletes,” Maroney said. “I can relate more with them and can understand the pressures to succeed.”
LM39 Foundation has big goals for the future. Maroney wants to have a therapist on retainer to provide what can be an expensive service to people in need. They’d also like to offer financial literacy courses and instruction on how to eat better, take care of your body, and more. This weekend, they’ll host their second annual mental health jamboree at The Core Collective at Saint Vincent (7401 Florissant). It’s all about giving back and meeting people where they are in that moment.
“Sports are a lot of kids’ safe spaces,” Maroney said. “So if this is their safe space to get away from whatever negativity it’s about, how do we make this safe space safer?”
