UP OFF THE MAT

Former Boxer Alphonso Bailey Tells Sycamore Students About Beating
The Opponent Known As Drug Abuse

Several Sycamore students recently had an opportunity to listen to
an inspiring message.

Former amateur and professional boxer Alphonso Bailey visited
Sycamore High School on April 21 to talk to the students about the
dangers of drugs and alcohol and about the importance of following
their dreams and accomplishing their goals.

Bailey started his presentation by showing a clip of one of his
boxing matches that was aired on the USA Network. He then talked to
the students about his past experiences and how he overcame one of
his toughest opponents, drug abuse.

Bailey received a football scholarship to attend Kentucky State
University; however, his life started to change while attending
college. He said his father died during his sophomore year of
college, which negatively effected his life, because he had a close
relationship with his father.

"He had a lot of influence in my life, and when he died, I didn't
handle it right," Bailey said. "I had no one to talk to, and I felt
like my father had deserted me."

Bailey said, after his father's death, he began hanging around the
wrong type of people and began using drugs and alcohol. He said he
and his friends also began robbing stores and participating in other
types of criminal activity.

"Doing drugs will take you on another level that you don't know
you're on. You think it's cool and everybody else is doing it, but
don't get caught up in that...," Bailey said. "It's like a snowball
effect. It keeps rolling and rolling and gets bigger and bigger.
Before you know it, you're in a mess, and this is what
was happening to me. I was constantly getting high."

Bailey said he was eventually arrested one day during football
practice. He said many of his teammates watched while he was being
escorted into a squad car.

"The cops came over, and they handcuffed me. I was embarrassed. The
whole team was looking at me, because I was getting arrested on the
football field," Bailey said. "They just put me in the car, and
little did I know my life was going to change at that moment."

Bailey was sentenced to 15 years in prison, 10 years in Kentucky and
five years in Indiana. Bailey told the students that despite what
might be portrayed on television, prison is not a glamorous lifestyle.

"Prison is a place that I call where bad is considered good, and
good is about as good as it's going to get...," Bailey said. "When I
got there it was like a nightmare. Don't believe prison is all this
stuff you see on TV, the glamour and the excitement. It's not like
that. That's a lie. Prison is bad."

While in prison, Bailey began reading the Bible and started to
overcoming some his negative habits.

"When I first got to prison, I cussed real bad. I could make people
cry. I had a terrible mouth. So, I tried to stop cussing for an
hour, then I stopped cussing for three hours. Sometimes, I stopped
cussing for a day. Pretty soon, it was a week, then it was a
month," Bailey said. "I was developing good habits. Habits
can either make you or break you. They can make you strong or make you weak."

Bailey said, eventually, he also overcame drug and alcohol use.

"I just quit. I didn't want to do it anymore, because I looked at
drugs as something that was taking control of me. I don't like
anything having control over me," Bailey said. "Drugs take control
of you, and they had me doing things you normally don't do and
saying things you don't normally say."

While in prison, Bailey became introduced to the sport of boxing. He
said he was trained by another inmate named "Snake," who taught him
the proper techniques of the sport.

"'Snake' had two life sentences, but he was one of the greatest
light heavyweights I ever met in my life," Bailey said. "He could
hit real hard. This guy was bad, and nobody bothered with 'Snake.'
He was tough, and he was my trainer, and he showed me all kids of
tricks, and I got really good."

Bailey began to fight as an amateur boxer while in prison. Two years
and nine months into his sentence, Bailey was released from prison
and sent to Louisville, Ky to train as an amateur boxer.

"When you put positive things into positive things, you're going to
get positive results, and I felt like I did a lot of positive things
during that time in my life, which turned it around, and I got a lot
of positive results," Bailey said.

During his amateur career, Bailey participated in a national
tournament in Indianapolis. Bailey said, even though he did not win
the tournament, he defeated the top-ranked junior middleweight boxer
in the country. He said, about two weeks after the tournament, a
boxing magazine named him the number one junior
middleweight amateur boxer in the country.

"That was one of the most positive times in my life, because I
remembered when I was leaving prison, I was telling the guys the
next time they are going to see me is in a boxing magazine or
fighting on USA or ESPN," he said.

Bailey was named to the USA International Boxing Team about nine
months after he was released from prison. He said competing on the
USA team was a positive experience in his life.

"We were fighting the Russians in Buffalo, New York, and they had
our team in the middle of the ring with the American flag, and we
were all holding the flag, and I started crying, and several guys on
the team looked at me and said, 'Why are you crying?' I said, 'You
guys don't know where I was nine months ago.' You're life could be
going bad one day, and it could be going great the next," he said.

Bailey later became a professional boxer. He ended his career with a
17-3-2 record with eight knockouts. Bailey told the students to
follow their dreams and to never give up on themselves.

"Keep dreaming. Keep your imagination growing. It's an awesome thing
to have dreams, and always try to stay young," Bailey said. "I
always try to stay young, because I know I'm always in a position to
grow. Whenever you stay young, you're always in a position to grow."

Bailey is currently an ordained minister in Indiana. He conducts
presentations at schools, churches and jails throughout the country
to encourage people to stay away from drugs and to make positive
choices in their life.

"This is my passion. This is my life," Bailey said. "I felt I was
called to the ministry."

Bailey recently completed a documentary about his life entitled
"Down But Not Out." Bailey said he revisited the places where he
grew up as a child and the prison in Kentucky while filming the documentary.

"It brought back a lot of memories, and I had to relive that all
over again," Bailey said. "Even by telling the story, I'm back there
once again."