This month marks 50 years since I won a Golden Gloves Championship. My insecurities back then fueled my motivation to train hard and try to be like Muhammad Ali. He was my role model and a wonderful person who learned to love himself. And although I would go down a different road in life after winning one more match in 1977, drinking, and not always being the best person I could be. I often missed doing something I was good at. It’s not that my life was bad; I married the love of my life in 1979, and we had 2 wonderful children. (Who would give me 3 beautiful grandchildren, each.) It’s just that my life got much better after I stopped drinking 30 years ago and became who I was always meant to be. Someone who learned to love themselves and others unconditionally and to be the best person they could be.
