Everyone has that "doofus moment" when they do something so incredibly stupid that people and even they ask "What the hell was I thinking?" Mine came when I gave up a promising college and football career as a starring linebacker and running back to knock over a "7-11" and as a result, drew 23 years hard time in state prison.
Growing up I had a fairly normal childhood and teen years in most ways except for one. I came from a large family, and I don't mean in numbers, I mean in body size. In short, by the time I had reached my full adult height at age 17, I was massive. I was not fat but very muscular, built like a NFL football linebacker and I stood seven feet-three inches tall and weighed over 300 pounds(326 to be exact.)
I came from a "normal" family in rural Kentucky in the country just outside of a small city of about 30,000 people. My dad was 6'8' and 265 pounds and was a successful well known and well respected District attorney. He was well in staunched in local politics and won every election he was in and people who knew him best called "Big Mack" in that his last name was Mac Elroy.
Mom was pretty tall also. She was 6'4" 160 pounds, very pretty and well built (38DD-28-37) She had dark jet black raven hair dark eyes that could peer deep into your soul and was athletic and a well respected pharmacist.
My little sister Stella who was about 2 years younger than me(21 months to be exact) would take after mom. She would grow up slightly taller (6'6" tall at her full adult height) and measured exactly like mom(38DD-38-37) and weighed 170 pounds. Stella was a knockout and had the same dark shoulder length straight jet black raven hair and enchanting dark eyes along with pouty lips and an air about her that was enticing and could ensnare any man and often did.
As for me, I got dad's brownish blonde hair and hazel eyes I also inherited his body size in that he was muscular and not very fat. I just turned out incredibly large but I didn't mind. It served me well in school and would come to serve me well in prison.
My nickname in high school was "Goliath." I pretty much enjoyed the irony of that name, especially since my birth name was David. Stella would reach her full adult height and weight at 16 and her nickname was Amazon, which she proudly wore but no one dared call her that to her face.
Before we reached our full heights we were only slightly taller than average at least until middle school when we hit our growth spurts. When I entered 8th grade at 13, I had had my first spurt and went from 5'11 185 pounds to 6'6" 245 pounds. I had my second spurt the summer between my junior and senior years and grew to my present height of 7'3" 326 pounds
Stella was about the same but she matured earlier. When she was 11 she went from 5'6" 115 pounds to 6 feet 150 pounds. Her second growth spurt hit when she was 15 and she went to her height of 6'6" and 170 pounds.
Even though lots of people thought we were "freakishly huge" they still wanted us to play on their teams. I played football in high school and that is where I received my nickname "Goliath" because I was unstoppable both as a linebacker and running back.
Stella was a star power forward on the girl's high school basketball team and also played on the volleyball team Stella and I also were proficient academically. I was on the debate team, Science Olympiad and on the Math Team and a member of the Math Honor's fraternity Mu Alpha Theta. Stella was on the Science and Math Teams with me as well as Future Business Leaders of America.
Outside of school we also had our activities. We were both into Martial Arts and very good at it( 3rd degree black belts). We competed regularly on the local, state, and regional levels where we won several first place and second place awards. We would go to the nationals my junior year in high school and I took seventh place in my category and Stella took fifth overall. In the sparring, competitions, we both placed third.
After high school I was given a full football scholarship to the State University in Kentucky. I played for 1 and one- half seasons until that fateful night that would end my career.
While I played I was the star and even had pro scouts wanting me to sign right then and there, but I was studying finance, and computers and even had aspirations of going to law school and then one warm night in October, it all ended.
I had been to a Frat party that night and had a couple of beers and a few shooters and was somewhat tipsy but still in control. I decided to make a beer run with a couple of frat boys I really didn't know(HUGE MISTAKE) and they decided instead of paying for the beer they were going to rob the place.
I stayed outside and served as lookout while the two guys I was with went inside. A couple of shots were fired, mainly into the ceiling and wall because the owner spooked one of the other guys and he nervously discharged the gun. We got away but were caught an hour later and arrested at the frat house.
I was sent to jail and the two frat boys who were with me tried to say I was the one who knocked over the store fired the shots. Thank god for video tape because it clearly showed on the camera going out that the two robbers measured less than 6 feet as marked on the side of the door and the owner testified he would have remembered someone as large as me .
I still, however, had to face charges for being there and under Kentucky law was charged with the same crime they were just because I was there and because a weapon was involved and discharged what would have been a 10-12 year sentence was doubled to 20-25. Also, there was a newly elected hot shot "Bulldog" DA trying to make a name for himself with this case so he made sure I got the max.
Dad and mom came up and tried to get me out. Dad told me "Just say you didn't do it and we will get you out." I couldn't do that, mainly because dad had pounded into my psyche(brain) "You man-up and own up to what you do." When I told him that we got into a big argument and that is when I saw how huge of a hypocrite he really was and called him on it.
"Fine," he said. "You want to rot in prison then so be it. I wash my hands of you and the whole affair."
Mom on the other hand was livid at dad and saw him for the hypocrite he was and called her brother Leon who at the time, was a well connected and respected business man in Cincinnati Ohio and owned a publishing company. He pulled some strings and within a couple of hours had arranged to get the best lawyer money could buy.
Stella who would come see me almost every day seeing that we had been extremely close our whole life. Stella and I were closer than normal brothers and sister but we weren't lovers but we should have been. We both had secret crushes on each other which we didn't hide very well and were inseparable and preferred spending time with each other than going out on a date.
Apart from mom, Stella was the only one who stood by me when pled guilty to the crime. I felt I had to in order to live with myself. Also I would make a public apology on television.
At a news conference, I laid out exactly what happened, that what I did was stupid and that I took full responsibility for MY actions. I asked for forgiveness not only from the college and fans but from my old high school and people in my town who had looked up to me as a role model and idol
I made no excuses for what I did and fully owned up to what I had done. The primary reason made the public apology was not to a swage some guilt I felt, although may have been a small part of it; Mostly, it was to let those who had believed in me that I was still the same person I had always been and because of one series of events led on by a chain of stupid choices, my life took a downfall.
Stella 18 and I was 20 when I entered my plea of guilty at my hearing on October 23 1985, was sent to prison on November 7 1985 and would be released free and clear(no parole) March 18 2009. In all I served 23 years, 4 months and 11 days(4 days shy of my 44th birthday) and Stella was there for me all the time.
When the officer was leading me away( a very nice older black lady named Mavis who befriended me my time in jail waiting my hearing), Stella ran up to me and hugged me. When another court officer tried to pull Stella away from me , Mavis said it was alright to let Stella say goodbye.
"I will wait for you Dave," Stella said crying. "I promise I will wait for you and be here when you get out. I love you so much and will always be here for you," and with that she gave me a long tongue probing kiss full on the lips that lasted a good 30 seconds.
"I love you too sweetheart," I replied as she broke the kiss. "Don't fret I will be okay," and grabbed her hand lovingly and gently caressed it.
"It's time to go child" Mavis said somberly and with that I was led away."
I cried as I left the court room and Mavis did her best to console me because she knew I wasn't a hardened criminal but a young man who made a foolish mistake.
If Stella could have stayed with me she would have but she had to finish her senior year. However she would write me everyday. This is when I found out her feelings for me.
Her letters always opened " My dearest Mon Cherie" and singed "Your ever loving faithful Stella" and were written like one would write a lover rather than a brother. I didn't mind because I had always liked Stella too that way but assumed it was a one way street. I would write to her like a lover as well and when people would ask who was writing me I told them she was my best friend growing up.
Like I said earlier, my height and size would serve me well in prison. In jail, no one messed with me because of my size and because it was a small town jail. Prison however is a very different world. To steal a line from the Wizard of Oz, "I wasn't in Kansas anymore."
Everyone knows that in prison you are going to have those who try to take advantage of you and who love and prey on "Fresh meat" as you could call it. There are gangs that try to recruit you or get to you, predators also sometimes called "wolves" that would love to make you their prison "bitch" and any other assorted people who love to take advantage of you.
When I first entered prison it was almost like that scene in "The Green Mile" when the guards were escorting "John Koffee" to his cell and the people were like "where the hell did he come from" and were somewhat leery of him.
At first people were leery of me and left me alone too scared to mess with me; Unfortunately, however, that initial shock was short lived and after a couple of weeks three fools tried to take advantage of me and my cell mate. Much to their surprise and dismay, I put them down in a hurry. They tried to attack us one morning after chow and two were sent to the hospital with broken ribs and arms and one of them I sent him to the ICU when I turned his shank on him and stabbed him in self defense.
The two with broken ribs and arms survived and were transferred. The one I sent to the ICU was on a ventilator machine to help him breath for 2 months and he was later transferred to another facility.
After that incident I quickly earned my reputation as Goliath and no one decided to mess with me seeing there was no one brave enough or foolish enough to consider himself a "David."
