Audio File
Transcript
My name is Demond Briston. I’m 14 years old.
My name is JaVon Clark. I’m 15 years old.
My name is Kenyon Walker. I’m 11 years old.
We interviewed Dwayne Crowley on August 13th, 2014.
When I was coming up, the love went further than your doorstep. It truly was a statement that was said that it take a whole village to raise kids. Back then, that’s what it was about. Like, I do something wrong, by the time I got home, my mom knew the whole story, belt waiting on me. Nowadays people see something wrong and they pulling out phones, and they don’t really care to make a difference, and that’s what it’s about, making a difference.
My childhood… it wasn’t easy. I had a father that I looked up to and thought was my superhero, and then he wasn’t around no more. So I had a lot of questions that I needed answers for, and really no one to turn to to ask questions. So I learned the hard way.
I came through a lot of bad situations. I seen a lot of friends go by cemeteries and prisons, and I seen a lot of friends get messed up on drugs because of the depression we was going through at the time.
It had a impact on me in a negative way in the beginning, but when the smoke cleared and you realized you had way more to live for, it started impacting me differently. In the beginning, I was so caught up into what I was doing, I didn’t slow down enough to even pay attention to my own son sometimes, and he’s my only child, because I was so busy running around doing me. You know what I mean? But then when the smoke cleared, I realized there was things that I valued that have very little value and things that didn’t that had great value, like spending time with my only child, being a-a positive role models to the kids in the neighborhood.
The bad in me turned out to bring a lot of good out of me. But know that the bad wasn’t because we was just bad kids. The bad was because we cared about this neighborhood. It always was about the neighborhood. And to this day, that’s what I’m about, this neighborhood. And I go after the kids, you know, 14 on down to 2. You know, they all love me because I take time to listen to them. I tell them what’s real, and I don’t just coach football. I mentor…Far as doing right and wrong, knowing the difference between common sense and nonsense.
Your body of work is what makes you successful, and if you slacking, then I mean you lacking. And that means basically you’re not bending down. So later on in life you’re going to have struggles.
But if you bend down while you’re young, later on in life, it’ll be smooth for you, man. But you got to do all the right things. Stay in school. Listen to your parents. Stay out of trouble. Do things that’s positive. You know what I mean? Stay in positive programs like Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, play football. Cause that’s all discipline instruction. You understand what I’m saying to you? And then when you old enough, get a summer job, man. Because ain’t nothing like being independent. Nothing at all.
My secrets to success is not giving up, man. When you give up, it’s over, man. You can’t give up, no matter how bad or ugly it gets, you cannot give up.
Don’t do drugs. Drugs is cigarettes. Too much sugar. Don’t think drugs are just hardcore. I mean, there’s all type of drugs, too much food. Don’t let them drive yourself to be addicted to nothing. Money. Have control of your life, man. Don’t let things control you. It took me a long time to get to where I am now and I still got a long way to go.
But remember, I told you I’m doing it without a father. If you got a father, cherish that, man. Respect that, because everybody don’t have that, man. Everybody don’t have a father to care about them. Everybody don’t have a father that’s in their life. And for those who don’t, there’s guys like me who care, man. Who don’t just be a football coach, but also a father figure.
Everything you do in life will reflect on your life later in life. So now you have to sacrifice. You have to stay in school. You have to stay focused and-and do positive things to keep out of trouble. Honor your parents, because in the blink of an eye, you look up, and you’ll be my age and just now getting a grip on life, and you don’t want that.
It’s easy to say you don’t care. It’s easy to say “I’m gonna just go out here and carry a gun and do what I wanna do”, man. That’s easy, man. Everybody can act crazy. But it take a great man to deal with adversity.