50.0°,
Overcast A second half
Ex-NFL players share emotional stories at BHS
Much like a football game, every person has a second half in life, in which they can push through adversity, overcome obstacles and achieve their goals. That’s what two former National Football League players told ninth-graders at Baldwin High School last week.
Keith Davis, a former defensive standout at the University of Southern California who signed with the New York Giants in 1988 before blowing out his knee, has been through his share of adversity. When he was 4, his father committed suicide, which led his mother to become an alcoholic. Keith attended 19 schools by the time he reached 10th grade, and was routinely placed in remedial reading classes.
But he worked on his reading, and decided to go to college, where he excelled, earning the highest grade point average on the USC Trojans football team and receiving his degree. “It’s not how you start,” Davis said. “It’s how you finish.”
He now travels the world, sharing his message with people of all ages as the founder of Winners Inc. He has been visiting Baldwin High for the past three years. He met with about 450 ninth graders in the gymnasium, and later with a group of about 25 sophomores and juniors in a classroom.
Sophomore Miguel McKenzie, 16, said Davis’s message was powerful. “I’ve been going through a lot of things … now I know that I have a second half,” Miguel said. “I have a second chance to do everything — actually have a vision and do what I want to do in life.”
Each time Davis comes to Baldwin, he brings an athlete with him to share his story. Willie Green, a former Boston College running back and first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2002, was this year’s guest.
Davis and Green began by impressing the crowd of ninth-graders with some feats of strength. Davis asked two girls to grip a steel bar that Green then lifted, with the girls still holding on, over his head. Green also did push-ups with students — and teachers — on his back. Each time, a larger student stood on his back, and each time Green lifted them almost effortlessly.
