According to a recent AP story, former Ohio State University football star, Maurice Clarett has fallen, again:
(Wednesday, August 9, 2006 8:00 a.m.) "COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Maurice Clarett was arrested early Wednesday after a highway chase that ended with police using Mace on the former Ohio State running back and finding four loaded guns in his truck, a police spokesman said.
Officers used Mace to subdue Clarett after a stun gun was ineffective because the former Fiesta Bowl star was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, Sgt. Michael Woods said."
You may remember Clarett, who scored the winning touchdown in double overtime to help the Buckeyes win the NCAA national championship in 2002. Not only could he flat out fly on the field, but his hard-hitting style gave opposing defensive coordinators fits. Clarett didn't return in 2003 because he was suspended after being charged with a misdemeanor. He dropped out of school and sued the NFL in 2004 to have his name put in the draft. He lost the lawsuit. In 2005 the Denver Broncos took a chance and drafted him in the third round, but he never made the team and was cut before the season began.
According to the AP story, Clarett was already awaiting trial on,"two counts of aggravated robbery, four counts of robbery and one count of carrying a concealed weapon in a separate case. Authorities said he was identified by witnesses as the person who flashed a gun and robbed two people in an alley behind the Opium Lounge in the early hours of Jan. 1."
From the choices he's made at only 22 years of age, it would seem that Clarett would rather wear a jail jumpsuit instead of a college, or NFL uniform. His choices beg numerous questions:
1) Why was he wearing a bullet proof vest?
2) Where are the recruiters and coaches who camped on his doorstep to recruit him in high school and road his back to a national championship? Or, has he refused their attempts or offers for help?
3) Why would you waste so much God-given talent?
4) Did anyone ever explain to him that everyone, even star athletes face consequences for their actions?
5) Did he ever give anyone permission to ask him the hard questions and hold him accountable?
Clarett's OSU media picture from the 2002 season and his most recent arrest picture should be posted side by side in every high school locker room in America. Students need to know that there are consequences for the choices we make and no one is above the law.
Former NBA all-star Charles Barkley may have been right when he launched a controversy years ago during his playing years by saying that he was not a hero, but an athlete. From Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry to Marcus Vick, the list of fallen all-star athletes is long and growing. Some fall to drugs, others to crime and violence. Headlines, blogs and news reports continue to tell the ongoing saga of professional athletes and performance enhancing drugs. From the Tour de France to major league baseball no sport seems to have escaped this growing scandal.
But what about Maurice? At 22, he's just slightly older than my own son. He's got so much life left to live. Who's going to invest in the vast and dormant potential deep within his soul? Will someone help him learn from his mistakes and challenge him to encourage emerging generations not to choose the path he has chosen?
His story should help parents, coaches, ministers, and teachers remind students that their value is not rooted in athletic talent, their IQ, or their socioeconomic origin, but within their very own person. My grandmother was big on recognizing that even the most degenerate in society have the capacity for good and that there's something redeeming within every single one of us. It may be hard to find and require cultivation, but it is there deep within. I believe that because as a Christ-follower, I believe God created every single person in His image, and as fallen and depraved as all of us may be, we do not have to let depravity shape our lives, but can relinquish them to someone and a cause far greather than ourselves----the Kingdom of God.
I pray Maurice Clarett isn't thrown away like junk. I pray a church, ministry or Christian will connect with him and help him discover God's purpose for his life, which is way beyond what he can do with a football or a gun. I pray his story will be used to wake up kids who appear to be headed down his life path. I pray that those of us working with students will heed and act on early warning signs of potential trouble. And I pray that all of us will realize human heroes of any shape, size and background have clay feet. May God help us to point people to the only perfect, sinless and uncondtionally loving hero the world has ever known, Jesus Christ!
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