Charles Haley to Keynote Menninger Annual Signature Luncheon in 2022

Five-time Super Bowl champion Charles Haley will deliver the keynote speech at Menninger’s 12th Annual Signature Luncheon, to be held Thursday, May 5, 2022, at the Hilton Houston Post Oak by the Galleria. The luncheon’s co-chairs are Menninger Clinic Foundation director Kathy C. Flanagan, MD, and Menninger Clinic director Susan Sportsman, RN, PhD.

 

A former football linebacker and defensive end who played in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys, Haley was the first person to win five Super Bowl championships and is the second most winning NFL player of all time. But while Haley was winning on the field, he was struggling with a mental illness that no one, including Haley himself, knew he had. He was always angry, unable to control his emotions and would retreat into isolation. It wasn’t until he retired from the NFL that Haley learned he had bipolar disorder. Since being diagnosed, Haley has spoken and written at length about his experience, stating that “silence is a killer.”

 

Every year, the luncheon gives a much-needed voice to the rising number of Americans living with mental illness while raising critical funds for Menninger to train up-and-coming mental health professionals, advance scientific research and reach our local community with free programs and services. 

 

For more information, contact Charlotte Fostey, special events manager, at 713-275-5617 or cfostey@menninger.edu.