Jason Avant (digest from Ann Arbor News)

我不信神，也不知道Jason Avant的成功到底有多少归功于他的信仰，但读了这篇文字我还是很感动。是应该有篇文章写写Jason了。

RELIGION STEERS AVANT IN RIGHT DIRECTION
Michigan receiver lived life surrounded by drugs, violence
Saturday, November 12, 2005
By John Heuser
News Sports Reporter

Jason Avant still remembers the date: May 4, 2003.
After two consecutive months of attending church with his University of Michigan teammate Alijah Bradley, Avant knelt at the altar that Sunday and prayed.
"I was seeking Him, seeking Him,'' Avant said. "(I said) fill me up with the Holy Ghost because I don't want to live the way I'm living, and the Lord just began to change me. I got baptized on that day, and nothing since has been the same.''
Now a senior at Michigan, Avant captains the No. 21-ranked Wolverines, who host Indiana today. The wide receiver has 152 career receptions, a number that ranks fourth in Michigan football history. This year, his 65 catches are nearly four times any other Michigan player's total.
Avant is an honor student who will graduate in December. He plans to apply to Michigan's school of social work, where he wants to earn a master's degree to further his work with underprivileged children.
As for whether to pursue an NFL career, Avant said he'll take direction from the same God whom he believes saved him from a life of violence and drugs and reunited him with a family that had been pulled apart.
"A lot of guys worship football,'' Avant said. "The Lord has given me football, first of all to get here, to this school. But the Lord has given me football, not to play football, but to change my life.''
Best friends
Duke point guard Sean Dockery was an elementary school kid on Chicago's south side when he met the charismatic new student with the glowing smile. Avant had recently moved back in with his paternal grandmother after a spell of living with his father, Jerry, in Decatur, Ill.
"Everybody wanted to meet him,'' Dockery remembered. "He was a good guy. Everybody was drawn to him because of his personality. We were clicking from the start. You couldn't separate us.''
Avant marveled at Dockery's bedroom, filled with trophies from basketball tournaments. The pair would spend the day together at school, hang out afterward and wouldn't say goodbye until late at night.
It was through his connection with Dockery that Avant began thinking he could become an athlete. Dockery's father, Steve, welcomed Avant to play in tournaments with Sean.
Sean Dockery also encouraged Avant to push away the dangerous street life he had begun to lead.
"My family was the kings, or the regents, of the gangs around the neighborhood,'' Avant said. "So my house was a target growing up.''
Avant said he was selling drugs when he was in sixth grade, getting high and drinking when he was in seventh and eighth grade. The home where he lived with a number of relatives was a drug haven.
"It was harsh growing up,'' Avant said.
Reuniting with family
Avant's older half-brother, Edwon Simmons, had begged and begged his mother, Claudette Patrick-Hughes, for a sibling when he was younger. Simmons, now 30, said when Jason arrived, "he was everything to me.''
The family union didn't last long. Jason doesn't remember his mother from childhood. As Claudette Patrick-Hughes and Jerry Avant fell into drug abuse, Avant was sent to live with his grandmother, Lillie Avant. Simmons went to live with his maternal grandmother.
The brothers didn't see each other again until Simmons was in high school, a two-sport star at Leo High School who was employed part-time at Champs Sporting Goods. Simmons was working there when he saw a boy with familiar features walk into the store, a kid with worn-out shoes and clothing.
"When I saw him, I knew it was him,'' Simmons said. "I hugged him, I didn't want to let him go. It didn't look like everything was going like I hoped it was.''
Simmons asked his boss for a pay advance and sent his brother home with a new pair of shoes, and a couple of shirts and pairs of pants. Simmons and Avant kept in touch for several months, but then Avant left for Decatur to be with his father, and Avant's paternal grandmother moved.
"I'd go to Decatur for half a school year, then my dad would get in trouble (with the law) and I'd be shipped back to Chicago,'' Avant said.
Like his friend Dockery, Avant had become a talented basketball player. But when he returned to Chicago from Decatur for high school, he was told there was no room for him on the basketball roster at Dockery's Julian High.
Avant enrolled at Carver and set about trying to earn a college basketball scholarship. It took some arm-twisting from Carver's basketball coach Willie Simpson - who also happened to be the school's football coach - to get Avant to try a second sport.
While Avant was skilled enough to draw several Division I basketball scholarship offers, his potential as a football player was even greater.
"He was always stronger than me,'' said Dockery of Avant, whom he'd face during high school basketball games. "We were best friends, but we went after each other so hard. He was one of the guys who brought to me the idea of heart, of never giving up.''
Finding religion
Avant and Bradley met early in their freshman year at Michigan.
They had not been slated to become roommates, but when Avant's roommate left for another school, the two decided to live together.
"I believe we became roommates for a reason,'' Bradley said. "We really are brothers. We argue and fuss and fight sometimes. We don't agree about everything, but at the end of the day, we'll say, 'I love you man.' ''
They also share a deep-seated religious belief. Although Avant had grown up going to church with his grandmother and aunt, he didn't feel fully committed.
"I wasn't trying to live the lifestyle,'' he said. "I was trying to be like everyone else. God basically told me, Jason after all I've done for you, with the neighborhood you grew up in, you can't live your life for me?''
Bradley, who was introduced to True Worship Church in Detroit by a family friend, asked Avant to join him on Sundays. Avant has since become a regular at the church, along with Bradley and another teammate, Jamar Adams. Other Michigan players sometimes attend services there, too.
Avant doesn't return to Chicago much anymore.
"I'm not the same person that left there and came here,'' Avant said. "I can relate to them because I came from there. At the same time, I don't want anybody to bring me down when I'm trying to get out of it.''
One thing Avant relishes, when he's away from football, is mentoring kids. Through a number of classes at Michigan, he's worked with children in need. Helping at a summer program for homeless kids in Washtenaw County called Sunny Days has been one of his favorite experiences.
"Those kids could really relate to me,'' Avant said. "I gave them tips on how to do certain things, how to just be respectful and how you have to work so much harder than everybody else because you're at a disadvantage. Different little things. They looked up to me.''
Elected a captain this season, Avant's Michigan teammates have expressed similar feelings about the wide receiver, who developed a reputation throughout his career for making timely receptions.
"He talks about playing good in big games, he plays good. He talks about doing the right things off the field, he does them,'' Adams said. "For the team, it's always inspirational to see someone like Jason.
"Last year he had knee injuries and he was off the field, he couldn't play, but he was always around smiling and happy. Or he wasn't catching 10 balls a day, he was catching two or three and he was still smiling.''
Dockery, who's preparing for his senior year at Duke, said he feels confident he'll have his best season. In part, he says it's because of his spiritual growth and the steady stream of encouragement he gets from Avant, whom Dockery watches play football on TV as often as he can.
"I'm so proud of him,'' Dockery said. "Whenever the announcers say his name, I'm like 'That's my brother.' ''
Avant said he now has strong relationships with his dad and his mom, both of whom are doing well, he added. And Simmons is handling the contacts necessary for Avant's future in the NFL - if that's the place Avant is called to next.
"From the south side of Chicago, he's there doing his academic work, working in the community, being involved in the church, captain of the football team,'' Simmons said. "He's come from nothing to become the person he is today.''
During the season, Avant's schedule includes classes in the morning, practice in the afternoon, either Bible study or church choir rehearsal, then finally his studies. Avant gets by on four or five hours of sleep, he said.
Although his grandmother passed away last fall, Avant's family ties are stronger than ever. He was introduced to his mother during his freshman year at Michigan, and re-introduced to his brother at the same time. Neither knew where Avant was until one of Avant's cousins ran into Simmons and gave him a phone number in Ann Arbor. Simmons called Avant later that night.
"He got so excited, I got so excited,'' Simmons said. "Once I told our mom, she was so excited; she started to cry.''
Both Simmons and Patrick-Hughes, who live in Chicago, attended the Western Michigan game early in the 2002 season. Simmons has missed just two games since, home or away.
"We've been like two peas in a pod, making up time,'' Simmons said. "I've been telling him what I went through, he's been telling me what he went through. I tell him that I always loved him, no matter what.''
An inspiration
Avant doesn't return to Chicago much anymore.
"I'm not the same person that left there and came here,'' Avant said. "I can relate to them because I came from there. At the same time, I don't want anybody to bring me down when I'm trying to get out of it.''
One thing Avant relishes, when he's away from football, is mentoring kids. Through a number of classes at Michigan, he's worked with children in need. Helping at a summer program for homeless kids in Washtenaw County called Sunny Days has been one of his favorite experiences. "Those kids could really relate to me,'' Avant said. "I gave them tips on how to do certain things, how to just be respectful and how you have to work so much harder than everybody else because you're at a disadvantage. Different little things. They looked up to me.''
Elected a captain this season, Avant's Michigan teammates have expressed similar feelings about the wide receiver, who developed a reputation throughout his career for making timely receptions.
"He talks about playing good in big games, he plays good. He talks about doing the right things off the field, he does them,'' Adams said. "For the team, it's always inspirational to see someone like Jason.
"Last year he had knee injuries and he was off the field, he couldn't play, but he was always around smiling and happy. Or he wasn't catching 10 balls a day, he was catching two or three and he was still smiling.''
Dockery, who's preparing for his senior year at Duke, said he feels confident he'll have his best season. In part, he says it's because of his spiritual growth and the steady stream of encouragement he gets from Avant, whom Dockery watches play football on TV as often as he can.
"I'm so proud of him,'' Dockery said. "Whenever the announcers say his name, I'm like 'That's my brother.' ''
Avant said he now has strong relationships with his dad and his mom, both of whom are doing well, he added. And Simmons is handling the contacts necessary for Avant's future in the NFL - if that's the place Avant is called to next.
"From the south side of Chicago, he's there doing his academic work, working in the community, being involved in the church, captain of the football team,'' Simmons said. "He's come from nothing to become the person he is today.''