Good job narrowing down all the information….

I am a recovering addict, clean now for over 20 years. I am the product of a dysfunctional family, alcoholic father who never took an interest in my life. Born into poverty ini the inner city of Cleveland, OH, I was exposed to a number of people who took an interest in my life including 2 teachers with whom I remain in contact with to this day. Determined to create a life different from that which I experienced as a youth, I became consumed with education as a way out even though I also played sports from little league through college.

I assumed the “hero” role in my family and, unitl God took me through what I now call the valley of the shadow of death, led a life of progressive successes. Starting in junior high, I scored the highest in the City of Cleveland on a standarized apptitude test and, as a result, was selected to participate in summer enrichment programs between the 6th grade and high school at Oberlin College (my alma mater), John Carroll University (Coach Shula’s alma mater), University School, a prestigious private school in Cleveland, and 3 summers at Case-Western Reserve University (my law school alma mater). I went on to graduate with honors from high school, graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Psychology with a minor in Government, and graduated from Case Western Reserve School of Law which culminated my going straight from kindergarten through law school without interruption.

I took and passed the Ohio bar on my first sitting and took a job with the Cleveland law firm of Guren, Merritt, Sogg & Cohen, a firm whose clients included Art Modell the former owner of the Browns. After marrying my college sweetheart, I moved to Northern California where I took and passed the California Bar and took a job with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, one of the largest law firms in the country. While at Heller, I presented a proposal for the firm to finance the development of a sports law practice and went on the represent a host of top professional athletes including, but not limited to, Clark Kellogg, Willie Gault, Jerry Rice, Paul Lankford, and Gill Byrd.

In about 1985 I tried cocaine for the first time and spent the next 2 years on a downward spiral which resulted in the loss of my family, my job, my home and pretty much everything else that was important to me. Believe it or not, I continued to represent athletes, or so I thought, until I received a call requesting my attendance at a meeting in Chicago. That meeting turned out to be an intervention led by my busness partner, Clark Kellogg, Willie Gault and Gill Byrd, all Christians and long time members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In fact, Gill activities today includes participation in your All-Pro Dads organization.

Fast forward, I accepted Christ into my life and recovered. My first encounter with the Bible was when I closed my eyes and opened it up to 1 Timothy 1:15 and learned a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance..that Christ Jesus came into theworld to save sinners…of whom I was chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Unbelievable and true.

Because of my Christian faith, my own life was transformed and empowered, and I am determined to help equip young athletes with the tools necessary to make informed decisions, live victorious lives and achieve life sustaining results. I come from the same tough inner city as many professional athletes and I have faced some of the same obstacles…a wealth of talent but low self-esteem, a lack of positive role models, a dysfunctional family, negative peer pressure and the “it won’t happen to me’ attitude.

Having achieved a level of success and accomplishment notwithstanding my own humble beginnings, I am driven by and committed to providing the solution to what he sees as the miss-education and exploitation of athletes. In my humble opinion, athletes must begin to experience the inherent value in viewing themselves as more than just athletically gifted. They must also begin to understand the connection between their character and their gift, be provided with the tools to develop them both, and come to understand how the tunnel vision focus on developing their gift without also developing their character is a recipe for ultimate failure.

I would love to share our model with you to determine if there is a way our meeting and sharing can help others do better. Thanks in advance for your consideration.

[...] People ask me all the time why I retired, and it wasn’t from stress or burnout. In my mind I didn’t retire from football as much as I was moving to something else. I wanted to do something to help the next generation of young people … [...]…