I had been strolling around the Orlando area on a beautiful sunny summer day. This day had been just like every other day. There was nothing that really stuck out or made me do a double take. Normally when walking around Orlando you see homeless people here and there but you never really think much of them because of how it is a reoccurring thing. Most people around here just look down on these individuals but for some strange reason one of them stuck out to me on this day.
I looked over into the dark alley at which he is laying in and saw a monster of a man. If I had to guess he was about 7 feet tall and about 280 pounds! I had never seen a human that big in my entire life. This struck my interest, making me want to go learn more about this strange individual. As I became closer and closer I saw that he was an African American male and to top it all off, his foot was even amputated.
As he laid there sleeping I could see what a hard life he must be going through right now. But yet I wonder what leads a man to get to this point. I shook him to wake him up and make sure that he hadn’t just died here in this alley. He awoke abruptly. “What do you want!” he said angrily. He had given me a look that would scare any normal human being away but not me, I was determined to learn who this man was. “Hi my names Ben” I said, and then reached out my hand for him to shake. He looked at it like he had never shook a hand before and like there was something wrong with me for wanting to shake his. Finally he reached out and grabbed my hand and said, “My name is David Vaughn”.
For some reason that name sounded extremely familiar. Then it came to me, I was standing in front of the former NBA basketball player David Vaughn. David played for a few years but then basically dropped off the face of the earth. Now I had found him. I had so many questions but I started with “would you like to come and get something to eat with me”. I knew he would not turn down food in his condition. As we walked to the nearest restaurant, I saw how much life had worn him down. He wore old dirty clothes and walked with a limp because of his amputated foot.
Once we had finally gotten our food and began eating I could tell that he didn’t get to do this very often, eating that is. He scuffed down his food like there was no tomorrow barely even taking time to breathe in between bites. He was sucking down water left and right but I didn’t comment on his behavior, just observed. Finally I asked the question I had wanted to ask since I first saw him lying there in that dark alley. “What happened to you?” I said. He looked up at me sort of taken off by what I said. Once I saw that look I for sure thought he was going to leave. Then he looked at me and said, “Where do I begin”.
He started off with the beginning of his life. He had been a great college basketball player but threw away finishing his college education so he could go to the NBA to get rich. That’s exactly what happened too. He was overtaken by the fame and wealth he had acquired. He married his fiancé and showed no sign of slowing down. He made millions in his first couple years and had no intentions on saving any of it. He bought car after car until he had bought 6. He bought 2 houses just because he could and on top of all that had two kids to take care of.
All of his fame and fountain though went away as fast or even faster as it came. He got traded from team to team and eventually was told his was finished. He now sat there with 2 houses, 6 cars and 2 children to pay for and take care of. But he was missing one thing, all of his money that he made. He had spent it all without even thinking of what would happen when this day came. Month by month he lost more and more. First it was the cars, then the homes and eventually his family. All of these life changing events changed who he was as a person. He began drug use and then the domestic violence started happening. He was kicked out of his house and had a restraining order filed on him and to top it all off, he had to get his foot amputated due to infection.
Here he is now. I was looking at the after math of this man’s life. It had worn him down to nothing and shown no mercy. He pushed everyone that had ever truly cared for him out of his life. I could see in his eyes though that he was truly sorry for all the people he hurt on his spiral down. I could see that he was ashamed in himself on how he let so many people down. But he wanted change; he wanted another chance to make it right. I could tell that deep down he truly was a good person.
As we walked out of the restaurant I wished him the best of luck and that he finally turns his life around. I think about him all the time since that day. If anything has changed or stayed the same. I’d like to think he is better off now than he was before that dinner. I felt I had sparked that little bit of determination that was left in him to change. Meeting David though, is one thing that I will never forget.