My greatest mentor and encourager, the person that planted a seed of speaking in my heart, the man that lit a fire in my spirit and valued my words was Josh Pastner. Who at the time was an assistant coach for the U of A basketball team. I met Josh at the Centro Del Sur Boxing Gym. I had been struggling with a heart condition through a cocaine overdose and wanted so desperately not to take any medication. I felt in my heart, that restoring my health through working out, boxing training and running, would transform me into a healthy, disciplined and spiritually fit person. My workout was very intense, along with the push in my mind of possibly losing my life from a major heart attack through my past lifestyle, my condition and the gaining of major weight.-------------------Like me Josh would box then sometimes lift weights-------I had gone to the U of A Basketball Camps, 93-95----My oldest daughter was born my junior year----Lute Olson would always be up early morning, in the Mchale Center, drinking coffee, smiling, taking time to play with my daughter and one time wanted to hold her. He would always say, looks just like daddy-----My Pueblo High School B-Ball Coaches Barry ORourke, BJ Quarrel and Gary Crane are very good friends with Lute and Josh. All were very much involved in the summer camps. Josh and I were talking one day while sharing the weight bench. I was always very quiet, I dont know how, but our conversation led to my testimony-----He was amazed and wanted so badly to take me to schools and basketball camps.--I had dreams of meeting Mike Bibby and Jason Terry--Josh and I exchanged phone numbers , kept in contact and waited for my first opportunity to speak.-------My heart needed me to speak------It was the the first time my life felt like it had purpose other than just being a father.... BY GABRIEL FLORES--- From page 2 and 3---@---52,310 words.... still writing...
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 03:57:37 +0000
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