One morning in July, Patrick Mahomes was walking down a hallway at Chiefs training camp when he spotted a visitor. The quarterback wandered over and held out his hand. ‘Hey Damon, how’s it going? It’s good to see you again,’ Mahomes said.
He had met Damon West once before. It was a few years ago, at a chapel in Houston. They both grew up in Texas and they both played quarterback for a Division I school.
Mahomes has become the greatest NFL player of his age. West’s college career lasted just two games. From there? He worked in Congress and on a presidential campaign and in banking. And then, in 2009, he was sentenced to 65 years in a supermax prison.
During his brief career as a stockbroker, West became hooked on meth. Before long, he was homeless and the mastermind of a $1million Dallas burglary ring to fund his addiction.
Earlier this summer, however, West’s astonishing journey brought him to St Joseph, Missouri. Now 49, the ex-crime boss was invited by Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid to inspire Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Co following their Super Bowl heartbreak.
‘My guys need to hear your message,’ Reid told him. ‘It’ll make them better men and better players.’
Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Travis Kelce are pictured with Damon West last month
In 2009, he was sentenced to 65 years in a supermax prison for masterminding a burglary ring
West, now an author and speaker, is pictured on a prison visit with Cowboys star Dak Prescott
Because these days, inmate No 1585689 has a few new titles. College professor, bestselling author and keynote speaker. No matter that West remains on parole until 2073. Following his release in November 2015, he has become a powerful tool for the US Army, corporate giants and many of sports’ greatest teams.
Among them? The Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Timberwolves, Clemson, Ole Miss, Alabama… and the Chiefs. West spends around 300 days a year on the road; his story centers around a coffee bean, a carrot and an egg.
‘This message was given to me by a guy in Dallas County Jail named Muhammad,’ West tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘Life is like a pot of boiling water,’ he explains. ‘You can be like a carrot that goes in hard but becomes soft.’ Or? ‘An egg that becomes hardened on the inside… or a coffee bean that changes the water to coffee.’
That conversation changed West’s life. Then 33, he knew he could be warped by the brutality of prison. Or he could work to alter his surroundings. Seven years later, he walked out of the gates a man reborn.
‘So when I’m going into this setting with a team, it’s about reminding them that the power is inside them, inside this locker room,’ West explains.
He has gone on to earn a master’s in criminal justice and write several books. His most recent work, ‘Six Dimes and a Nickel: Life Lessons to Empower Change’ was released last month and is another bestseller.
A judge once likened West to Hannibal Lecter. More recently, he has been christened the hero of a new ‘Shawshank Redemption’. The only issue? West was guilty of his crimes.
Now 49, the reformed crime boss is one of the most in-demand speakers in America
West has become friends with Chiefs coach Reid, who he calls an ‘incredible human being’
The former college football star is pictured with his parents during a prison visitation
He spoke to the Chiefs for around 45 minutes – no props, no presentation. ‘You have an incredible story,’ Kelce later told him. ‘I got a lot out of it.’ Many other players echoed those thoughts. ‘(They) really absorbed the message of the coffee bean.’
Over 12 hours with the Chiefs, he watched practice, ate with the team and talked them through his journey. ‘One of the greatest honors I’ve ever had,’ West says.
Reid offered to put him in touch with every other coach in the NFL. He also allowed the ex-quarterback to sit in on an offensive meeting. Then? ‘Travis Kelce came up to me,’ West says. ‘We’re all going to watch ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ the tight end explained. Kelce had a cameo role and it was a day before the movie premiered. ‘Do you want to stay and watch?’ he asked.
West jumped at the chance. So did every player and every member of Chiefs staff. ‘I don’t know that I’ll ever see another moment like that again,’ he says.
No wonder, then, that before heading home – and closing another chapter of his remarkable life – West allowed his mind to wander. ‘If the boys in the joint could see me now,’ he thought.
West was sitting on the couch smoking meth when, all of a sudden, a stun grenade came through the window. It was July 2008 and before long, West was staring down the barrel of a gun as a SWAT team celebrated the capture of the ‘Uptown Burglar’.
He had been on the run for two years and his group were accused of stealing $1m worth of possessions. Including an engagement ring belonging to a woman whose fiance was killed in Iraq. And a mailman outfit that helped him to avoid suspicion.
His long nosedive into the underworld began 30 years ago this month. West grew up wanting to play in the NFL and for a while he ‘got to see and touch (those) dreams.’ As a kid, he worked on the Cowboys sideline, holding the headphones cord of legendary coach Jimmy Johnson.
West, circled, played quarterback at the University of North Texas before suffering an injury
West spoke to Kelce, Mahomes and Co following their heartbreaking loss at Super Bowl LIX
By the age of 20, he was playing quarterback for the University of North Texas. In his second game as a starter, however, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. He then tore his Achilles.
‘That’s when the drugs got really bad,’ West explains. Cocaine. Ecstasy. Painkillers. It wasn’t until he was behind bars that West began to dig himself out of the hole. First, Muhammad shifted his mindset and then – as West explains it – Christ paid him a visit.
Unfortunately, neither could save him from an early barrage of violence. In Texas, 65 years is considered a life sentence and so West was segregated alongside the most notorious prisoners, including a gangster with links to the assassination of JFK.
And he was going it alone, having promised his mom he would not join a gang.
‘I’m getting beat pretty bad,’ West says. Many fights took place in the showers. ‘No guards, no cameras… and all the blood you spill cleans up really easily,’ he explains. ‘The first two months… were the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life.’
West eventually earned the respect of his fellow inmates through basketball. The court was controlled by black prisoners. No whites allowed. No rules, either. ‘You can punch, kick, scratch, bite,’ West explains. He decided to cross the racial divide and, for a beating, he took a beating. Nine on one.
But eventually West was accepted. All of a sudden, the ‘threat of violence was finally removed’ and the coffee bean began to change the water.
Before long, West had discovered a new ‘secret to life’: helping others achieve their goals. He calls it servant leadership and in prison that meant tutoring other inmates. He was eventually asked to create a curriculum to help incarcerated people turn their lives around. Seven years after entering supermax prison, he walked out on parole – and on a mission to spread his message.
The former crime boss (front row, second from right) pictured during his time in prison
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney (L) was the first to invite West to speak to his players
Since then, West has worked with companies including Walmart and helped the US Army train resilience. He even spoke to the SWAT unit that arrested him.
In January 2017, a friend snuck him into a college football awards ceremony. Eight of the country’s best coaches were there. One by one, West offered to talk to their players. One by one, they said no. Except Dabo Swinney of Clemson.
The following year, West gave his first presentation to an elite sports program. He was back at Clemson a few weeks ago. By now, Swinney is a friend and cheerleader.
The Tigers coach spread the word around college football and West has now spoken to almost every major team. Including Oklahoma, when Jalen Hurts was quarterback. The Philadelphia Eagles star has since spoken about trying to be a ‘coffee bean’.
West thinks it helps that he has ‘walked in their shoes’. But West avoids sharing stories about football. ‘Those guys relate to stories about adversity,’ he explains. ‘Football players in particular like to hear the gritty details of how you survive (prison).’
There are ties that bind life behind bars and sports. For one? ‘You don’t have to win all your fights, but you got to fight all your fights,’ West says. His experiences on the basketball court strike a particular chord.
‘When I get to that part these guys are just locked in,’ he explains. ‘They’ve been in that environment where the chips are stacked against you.’ When the only option is to keep grinding. ‘And I believe that on the other side of adversity is the best version of you.’
Every single team he has spoken to – ‘without fail’ – has also included someone whose friend or family member has been in prison.
Few have taken more from his story than Dak Prescott. The Cowboys quarterback reached out to West after reading one of his books, ‘The Change Agent’. ‘How do we make this into a movie?’ he asked the author.
The former convict and meth addict recently gave a presentation to the Ole Miss Rebels
As a kid, West used to hold the headphone cord of legendary Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson
That film remains in the works but, one day, the quarterback invited West to address the Cowboys. Prescott has been happy to return the favor, too.
‘One of the big things I do in life is go back into prisons,’ West explains. ‘I even started a class for men in prison to help them become a better version of themselves.’ Graduation ceremonies are held every four months and twice the commencement speaker has been Prescott.
Among the inmates to study ‘The Change Agent Prison Curriculum’, West says, is the quarterback’s half-brother. He finished the course back in March. The speaker for his graduation? Sarah Jane Ramos, Prescott’s fiancee. She was eight months pregnant.
West hopes to see to a Cowboys game this season. He has an open invite to see the Chiefs, too. The ex-crime boss was introduced to Reid a couple of years ago and it became obvious – the first time they had dinner – exactly why his teams are so successful.
‘He’s an incredible human being,’ West says. ‘He’s got this philosophy in life, where he doesn’t judge. He’s been through a lot in his personal life and he understands that everybody in life makes mistakes, and that there’s a there’s a certain amount of grace that human beings need to become the best version of themselves.’
One of Reid’s sons, Garrett, died of an accidental heroin overdose while another, Britt, has spent time in prison over a drunk driving incident that left a girl with serious brain injuries.
‘Some people need a little more grace than others,’ West says. ‘And he’s one of those coaches that tells you those four words that every human being needs to hear: I believe in you. He told me that.’
Kelce invited the speaker to sit with the Chiefs to watch his cameo in ‘Happy Gilmore 2’
The NFL is a brutal business where results are all that matter. But to coaches such as Reid, ‘winning takes care of itself when you take care of the person in front of you,’ West says. ‘Love is one of the strongest motivators I’ve ever seen… and I’ve lived in a prison, so I understand the other side of this – fear and hate.’
That philosophy drips through to his players. West was ‘blown away’ that Mahomes remembered him from their previous meeting. He was struck, too, that Kelce approached him for a chat and that everyone stayed to watch ‘Happy Gilmore 2’.
‘It was a vulnerable moment,’ West says. But when Kelce first appeared on screen, everyone ‘jumped up and clapped and hollered.’ It was yet more proof that Reid has built a ‘family’ in Kansas City.
‘You don’t see that on every team, but on the great teams, you (do),’ says West. At the end of ‘Happy Gilmore 2’, it was his turn to approach Kelce. ‘You’re a really good actor,’ he told the tight end. And that’s coming from a man who played the role of a mailman to fool homeowners and the cops.
In the prison ‘chow hall’, there was no meal more repulsive than pork noodle casserole. At Chiefs training camp, West tucked in to fish and chicken and steak. And then he gave Mahomes, Kelce and Co plenty to chew on, too.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .