Audio File
Transcript
My name is Darwin Spencer. I’m 15 years old.
My name is Andre Evan Taylor. I’m 16 years old.
We interviewed Coach Rob on July 30th, 2015.
Growing up in Braddock was a very rough time. That’s a real rough area. When I became a teenager, my father passed away. That’s the only setback that I encountered. The structure in the family was very disciplined, so in that regard I was pretty much brought up, I feel, in the right manner.
When I was a kid growing up in Braddock, the whole Braddock Ave. had stores and we had grocery stores, we had shoe stores, clothing stores, we had some things going on. And I guess after I left to go to the military, came back and seen things diminished. So I grew up in a middle class family and we were able to do things with the community and church involved community. Now things are different.
Before my father passed away, he was my big mentor. And then after he passed, I had church individuals and an older brother. If you see somebody from your communities that’s doing positive things like business owners and coaches or what have you, anybody that you see that’s living a positive life, see what they’re about. If they fit you, good; They don’t, you know, move on. But there’s a lot of positive people out there that you can connect with.
It takes a village to help and raise kids and be a big part of things, that’s one of my big things. It takes all of us. It’s not just one person. It takes everybody, every nationality that’s available to help out. It takes everybody to change people’s lives and make a better lifestyle for everyone.I see a lot of negativity that’s still happening. I don’t feel that we should be going through the problems that we’re going through.
In high school, playing football, had a couple of scholarships to go to college, but I didn’t do any SAT’s. My mother told me. I better figure out what I wanna do, try to get into college or find a job or do something. And I was watching a commercial on television. I seen the Marines commercial and I said, well, if I want to go to the military, I want to go to the hardest one. Coming from a real hard neighborhood where pretty much a lot of folks from this type of neighborhood don’t grow up with discipline. In the military, I was one of those guys that had discipline and was able to listen. But I like to fight. I became one of the top Marines in my platoon in boot camp and became the second day of Marine Corps, I got the nickname Animal because I was so rough and rugged and I got selected to become Special Forces Marine, did that for 2 1/2 years. I was in two war conflicts. My first war conflict was when I was with that special unit that was in Panama, trying to get Noriega. Then after that, I got sent to the fleet in the Marines, and I went to my second war, which was in Iraq, Desert Storm. It kept me on the straight and narrow path to the way I was raised with discipline and structure. The Marine Corps most definitely kept that in line of how I’m living my life now, instead of veering off too, I could have veered off on a bad path, like a lot of other folks that I know, but Marine Corps kept me straight.
I own a semi Pro Football team. The ages are 18 and older so once these guys get out of school they can come to me and I’m still trying to get these young guys into college. It’s a pathway to finding a job or trying to get on to a, you know, one of these sports teams, NFL, Canadian League or what’s available for them. It’s all about trying to live the best life you can live, you know, and being the best person you can be in your community and with people.
Just live your life to the fullest and whenever you try to do, try your best. Don’t go out at half speed halfway. Whatever you do, do it the best way you can. The hardest you can do it. Live your life according to what you’re talking about. Don’t preach to these young kids if you’re not living that life. Me and my peers, we try to live a positive life, so we can most definitely show the young men and young girls how to live their life right. Never give up on your dream. Whatever you feel your heart you wanna do, go for it. Go for it with all your strength, you know. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do anything.