Donald Gibson had it all. And then he screwed the pooch.

Donald and his fabulous blond hair found fame and success too easy and too early. He starred as a football player for the University of Maryland and brought his alma mater its first national championship. Out of college, he prospered as a celebrity salesman. But he took his good fortune for granted and his life went to hell. By his mid-forties, he's deep in debt, drunk, lumpy around the middle and sucking for air.

Donald makes a life-changing choice when the aunt who raised him dies and leaves him a unique bequest: he...