JD Vance isn’t the only Trump ally helping parents overcome addiction. The president’s next chief of staff, Susie Wiles, daughter of legendary NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall, has been credited with helping her father overcome his alcoholism.
Wiles was announced as Trump’s chief of staff Thursday evening, becoming the first female chief of staff to a president in US history.
Summerall was the NFL’s championship kicker and lead color commentator alongside John Madden on CBS for more than two decades. But during his broadcasting career, Summerall admitted to being an alcoholic. In her 2006 biography, she recounts the interventions and pleas that made the difference for her daughter Susie.
“Dad, the few times we’ve been out in public together recently, I’ve been embarrassed that we share the same last name,” Wiles said in a letter read during the intervention, according to Summerall’s 2006 autobiography, “On and Off the Air.”
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CBS NFL commentator Pat Summerall, left, and analyst John Madden on air during an NFL Football game in 1986. (Focus on Sports/Getty Images)
Summerall wrote that her daughter’s words inspired her to take steps to overcome her addiction.
Summerall’s drinking problem escalated early in her broadcasting career when she was paired with Tom Brookshier. The pair called games together for six years and admitted to heavy drinking the night before the game, according to SF Gate.
Summerall recounted an experience when drinking caused him to almost bleed to death in a 1991 interview with the Tampa Bay Times.
“I was bleeding to death and my life was passing before my eyes in a strange way,” he told the outlet. “The doctor said if I had 15 more minutes to go to the emergency room, I would have history.”
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The same article recounts an incident where Summerall threw up in an airplane bathroom after calling a game with Madden between the Washington Redskins and the Chicago Bears in the 1990s.
“On the last leg, I got sick and went to the plane toilet three times to throw up,” Summerall said. “I’ve been hungover so often I’m an expert at upchucking. But this time was different. I vomited blood.”
Summerall also admitted to using painkillers to deal with stomach problems caused by drinking.
“I think everybody wakes up at 10 o’clock every morning and drinks beer,” he said. “I kept downing heavy alcohol on an empty stomach and taking pain pills for bum football knees and back pain. Many days, I was down eight to 10 Advil, plus other drugs.”
Halfback Phil King, left; star placekicker Pat Summerall, center; and quarterback Don Heinrich of the New York Giants toast each other at the Lone Star Boat Club to celebrate the win over the Green Bay Packers at Yankee Stadium, 20-3. (Getty Images)
Summerall finally overcomes his addiction after the intervention of Wiles and through Christian.
“My thirst for alcohol was replaced by a thirst for knowledge about faith and God. I began to read the Bible regularly at the Betty Ford treatment center, and it became part of my daily life,” he wrote in his autobiography.
Years before helping his father beat alcoholism, Wiles began his political career as an assistant to one of Summerall’s former teammates.
In 1979, he was hired as an assistant to U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, Summerall’s former teammate on the New York Giants.
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Wiles developed a reputation for delivering hard truths to powerful people in politics.
Wiles was a senior adviser to Trump and co-chaired his campaign with Chris LaCivita.
A longtime Republican strategist in Florida who ran Trump’s campaign in the state in 2016 and 2020, Wiles’ political career spans decades since working as former President Reagan’s campaign planner for his 1980 presidential bid.
Between presidential cycles, Wiles assisted Ron DeSantis with his gubernatorial bid in 2018. Wiles also ran Rick Scott’s 2010 campaign for Florida governor and briefly served as former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign manager.
Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, attends a game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets with senior campaign consultant Susie Wiles on October 20, 2024 in Latrobe, Pa. (Evan Vucci/Pool/Getty Images)
During his victory celebration in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump gave special thanks to Wiles for his important role in the campaign.
“Let me also say a big thank you to Susie (Wiles) and Chris (LaCivita) for the work you’re doing. Susie, come on, Susie,” he said. “Susie likes to stay in the back, let me tell you. Ice baby. It’s called ice baby. Susie likes to stay in the back yard. She’s not in the back yard.”
Vice President Vance also helped his mother overcome her drug addiction to alcohol and heroin, which became the subject of Vance’s book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and the film of the same name.
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