CHUVALO WARNS LOCAL STUDENTS ABOUT DRUGS AND SUICIDE IN HEART-WRENCHING
PRESENTATION

Dead silence filled the room as the man who once refused to be knocked down
by boxing great Mohammed Ali broke down in tears.

"My beautiful son, are you dead or alive," cried George Chuvalo, repeating
the unforgettable thoughts that were going through his mind during a boxing
match in Mexico.

At the time, even though away from his family and doing what he loved, Mr.
Chuvalo instinctively knew something was wrong back home. "Little did I
know, before the final clock sounded, my son had already passed away," he
said.

This was one of the sobering stories students at Milton District High School
heard Friday morning in a special talk by the former 21-year Canadian
heavyweight boxing champ, who's now 66.

Mr. Chuvalo is well known as the only boxer to last an entire 15-round match
with Ali. But he's also known for his tragic family history, riddled by
drugs, alcohol, crime and suicide.

Now a motivational speaker, Mr. Chuvalo visited Milton District to warn
students of the perils of drugs -- illustrated painfully through his family.

After showing a video that explained the tragic circumstances behind the
drug addictions and suicides of two of his four sons and the suicide of his
first wife, Mr. Chuvalo spoke clearly and from the heart.

He explained that a third son, Steven, interviewed in the video, had died of
a drug overdose in 1996, just nine months after the video was made. Like his
brothers, he also was addicted to heroin.

Mr. Chuvalo candidly spoke of the years he spent trying to help his sons. At
one point, over a course of two months, Steven overdosed 15 times on drugs
and each time had to be revived at the hospital.

He spoke of getting his sons into treatment, only to find that the lure of
heroin was infinitely stronger than his sons' desire to be free.

"If they could have had a glimpse of the future, none of them would have
become dope addicts," Mr. Chuvalo said.

His son Jesse was the first in the family to die, he said. After being
involved in a dirt bike accident, he was given drugs to dull the pain.

When he was sent home and complained about the remaining pain one day at a
party, someone offered him heroine. That, said Mr. Chuvalo, was the
beginning of the end.

"In 1985, Jesse, in the despair of his addiction, sealed not only his own
fate, but that of his two brothers and mother. Just nine months after he
started (using heroine), he was dead."

Jesse was found with a syringe sticking out of his arm, his father said.

Mr. Chuvalo said he had plans with Steven to go around to schools to tell
students to stay away from drugs -- Mr. Chuvalo as the hurting parent,
Steven as the knowing addict.

"That didn't happen," Mr. Chuvalo said. "He died 30 days before the first
presentation."

Cigarettes are the first rung on a dangerous ladder of bad decision-making,
he said.

"When a young person smokes for the first time, they're disrespecting
themselves. When they disrespect themselves in one area, it's easier to then
do it in another area."

Mr. Chuvalo said he hopes students will leave realizing how un-glamorous and
dangerous drugs are.

"If you ever even flirt with the idea of doing drugs, I hope you'll think of
me, George Chuvalo, and what drugs did to my family."