David Irons Sr

[DKW 86 7,430]

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-bl...rs_get_sec.html

Players get second shot at success

By J.C. CLEMONS | Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 06:51 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Beau Johnson and Yusef Holloway graduate from Central Gwinnett High on Wednesday. Pretty soon afterward, the former Black Knights football stars won’t be in Lawrenceville anymore.

“I’m real excited, especially to get away and meet new people,” Holloway says. “Basically, it’s like going to a new country — out there in Kansas.” With new prospects.

Beau’s and Yusef’s story is one of redemption, with a message for us all: When you mess up, fess up; then do the next best thing. Goes for kids of all ages.

Johnson, one of Gwinnett’s premier running backs, and the speedy Holloway have scholarships to Butler Community College. Although the school in El Dorado, Kan., may not strike a chord, it has a fine reputation for preparing youngsters to succeed at major universities.

In the classroom, as well as on the playing fields.

To the unenlightened, the junior college route seems designed for Division I rejects — academic and/or athletic. But often a two-year college can provide an avenue, and time, for much needed maturation.

“I didn’t qualify for D-I academically, so that set me back,” Johnson says. “Now I have another chance to prove myself, get my priorities in order, then take it to the next level.”

David Irons Sr. is a former Lions running back, and son of ex-Raider Gerald Irons, who works out athletes at Duluth’s Georgia Training Alliance. He contacted Butler on Johnson’s and Holloway’s behalf. His son, Auburn’s David Irons Jr., one of the SEC’s top cornerbacks, went to Butler. This summer, David Irons Jr. will graduate from college.

His father holds no less hope for Johnson and Holloway.

“They are not hard-headed kids,” Irons says. “Beau and Yusef are willing to listen, and have a desire to be educated. They promise they won’t let me down, and they want to reward their families who’ve supported them.

“I really believe they are going to go out there and be successful.” Even without a college football future, Irons says Beau and Yusef would be solid citizens. That’s because of groundwork laid by their parents, Miselinda Isaac and Janice and Christopher Holloway.

“I don’t see these guys becoming drug users or gang bangers; that’s a testament to their families,” Irons says. “But real life would have gotten started earlier for them. They just would have gone out, gotten jobs, married and raised families.”

Both kids appreciate their good fortune.

“I wasn’t focused on academics like I should have been,” Holloway says. “I fell short on my SAT, and that’s nobody’s fault but mine. At Central, football — and all the attention that comes with being high school football stars — got to Beau and me.

“I finally realized if I didn’t get focused, the opportunity to keep playing football wouldn’t be there. Butler is a good way to get me prepared for a university.”

Irons, whose other son Kenny is a star running back at Auburn, credits Beau and Yusef for waking up.

“When you realize you can’t blame things on anybody, you either fight through adversity, or pack it up and quit,” he says. “There are some good kids out there, good high school players, working in supermarkets and fast-food joints because they just gave up on themselves.

“Beau and Yusef have a chance to realize: ‘I will never slack off again.’ It’s never too late to grow up.”

[MDM4AU 332]

Great article!