“Come on guys, you can pull through this!” he yelled from the seat of his leather couch, while the television was blasting images and sounds from a college football game. I could tell he was not at ease that tightly fitted shirt covering a muscular body of an ex pro athlete. You could see in those dark eyes that he truly wished he were back on the field in his natural habitat. I had seen film of him back in his prime chasing down football players like a cheetah preceding him pouncing on them like they were his prey. Now, he traveled around as a motivational speaker telling his story, a true story that was about his life change that would hopefully change others.
My eyes drifted back to that huge High Definition television when I heard, “Hey man do you want something to drink? I’ve got coke, sweet tea and water.”
I responded, “If it’s not much of a trouble, coke would be fine.”
As he left the room and went into the kitchen I could see that he was still in peak athletic form, by the way he played out in his yard earlier with his son it seemed that this former athlete could easily step back into his love and play football for a number of NFL teams.
The athlete came back in and sat next to me on the couch and handed me my drink. I could smell the crisp fragrance of his high priced cologne that was radiating off of his dark tough skin. Once again as I was observing him he just did not look natural in his new modern style house, he seemed as if he needed to live on the turf of the green blades of grass that was being shown on the television screen. I then began to turn and observe his nice house, it was brand new he had it custom built for him and his family, which included him, his wife, a son and daughter and not to forget his dog “Bear”. It is no coincidence that the name of the dog is the same name of his college football coach Bear Bryant, who to many people in the state of Alabama including the man next to me Jeremiah Steele believed he was a god in human form after coaching their beloved football team to several championships and wins. I continued to scan the room where I noticed pictures of him in his “glory days” pictures of his family and one particular picture that caught my attention. It was a painting of a man on both knees bowed down in a dark room with only enough light to illuminate the man’s body in the painting. I decided to ask him about it since I heard the television say it was half time. He had been a pretty good friend of mine for a couple of months we met at church, played golf once or twice and had our families out to dinner several times.
“Hey Jeremiah what is that painting about?” I asked.
He took a breath and pondered and then poured out a message that seemed to be one of his motivational speeches, “That man is me. That man was me fifteen years ago; I had lived the life, I rubbed shoulders with some of the most famous people in America,” he said in his southern accent.
“I partied with the rich and the famous, well hek, I was the rich and the famous and I lived like it. I would go out with some friends on a Friday afternoon and not make it back home till Sunday morning. We would party for 2 days straight and I would come home, lay in my bed alone, and feel empty. I had nobody. I lost my family years before I had even went to college, so really it was just the world and I. I was making millions then the injury happened. Instead of training and rehabbing myself I just continued to party and when I returned to football I was unwanted, I was out of shape and had an attitude. I don’t blame a soul.”
I could see in those dark eyes that water began to appear slowly like a tide rising on a beach and his face seemed tense as he explained his story. His testimony. His life.
He continued to unfold his life novel and explained that it wasn’t until he was arrested for drug charges that he realized he needed to change.
“I was all alone in my room crying out to somebody just to be with me, to listen, to feel and to hurt like I was hurting.” His eyes lit up, “then, as I was alone in my room I remembered 20 years before when I would go visit my auntie in the summers and she would take me to church where I learned how to pray. So I did my best and prayed. I prayed and talked to the air and then I felt this overwhelming comfort, like someone was in the room but it was just me and my story all alone.”
I knew the rest of the story from church when I heard him preach his testimony. He got his self together and gained a family and life out of it. He started a non-charity organization for young men in urban areas that struggled much like him. He provided a home for the lost and alone like himself. He traveled and spoke to high schools and told his life and his story.
As he continued his story his facial expressions showed his thoughts, he loved life and he loved his family and he loved his story. He hated what he went through but it got him where he was today and he was proud. His smile showing those bleached white teeth told me he would not go back into sports or drugs, his new drug was his life. He had everything he “wanted in the world back in his “glory days” I thought” he said, “but now I know, I had nothing but now I have it all.”
The second half of the game started back up and our attention drifted back to the television and all was normal. I was sitting to Jeremiah Steele a man who had lived life and loved life more than I had ever seen. I took a lesson from it all, even though our past may not be very exemplifying of a “good person” we should learn and grow and be proud of what we came from.
