POT-SMOKING PAL BOXER: I'M SORRY

David Jaco's goal as boxing instructor for the Manatee County Police
Athletic League was to teach his students more then proper footwork
and the value of a solid jab.

Discipline and the benefits of hard work were high on his list. So
were the dangers associated with drug use.

"If I smelled marijuana, I'd tell them, 'Hey, I don't want you doing
that around here. Don't bring that stuff around here. There's no place
for that here,' " Jaco said.

On Monday, Jaco went from setting an example to being
one.

The 50-year-old former heavyweight boxer was fired from his job one
day after being arrested Sunday night in the parking lot of a
Bradenton McDonald's on charges of possessing 30 grams of marijuana.

"Since David is directly working with kids in our boxing program, I
didn't see it in anyone's best interest for him to keeping working
with our kids," said Michael Polin, PAL's activities director.

Jaco, who fought professionally as a heavyweight for 13 years,
admitted to The Herald on Monday that he was smoking marijuana in a
McDonald's parking lot Sunday night, but said he was doing so to ease
the pain from a neck injury he sustained in an automobile accident in
October 2003 and aggravated in a second car accident in August.

"I know the harm in taking medication in pills and painkillers, so I
took to smoking marijuana to ease my pain and help me sleep at night,"
Jaco said.

Jaco said he never smokes at home in front of his two sons and four
stepdaughters.

"I feel sick," Jaco said. "I embarrassed my family, and I had a job
that I really love. I taught discipline. I think those kids really
looked up to me, and I let them down."

While not happy with losing his job, Jaco said he understood PAL's
position on the matter.

"I understand PAL's feeling," he said. "I can't hold it against them.
I'm not proud of what happened."

Jaco took over the PAL boxing program in the spring of 2003. According
to Polin, 75 students are enrolled with an average of 30 attending the
workouts held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Polin said Jaco was an "excellent" boxing instructor.

"You saw him on the speed bag, on the heavy bag, it was unbelievable
to watch," Polin said.

During his pro career, the 6-foot-6-inch Jaco fought Mike Tyson, Carl
"The Truth" Williams and Razor Ruddock. Included in his 24 victories
was a technical knockout over Ruddock.

"We never had any problems with him or complaints from the parents,"
Polin said. "He worked hard at what he did. He enjoyed what he did. He
was knowledgeable at what he did. He's a nice guy who had a severe
lapse in judgment."

Tito Velez, who worked as a volunteer assistant to Jaco, will take
over the program, according to Polin.

"I'm not proud of what happened," Jaco said. "I'm trying to raise (his
sons and stepdaughters) to be good kids, and I'm not setting a good
example. But I was just trying to relieve my pain."