On Tuesday February 18th, 2020, Blackwater River Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility held its annual Black History Program. Officer Yul Tunstall and Recreation Specialist Dominique Muhammad organized the program this year. Mr. Tunstall is from the Pensacola area and assists with many outreach programs to help local youth. He strives to give children positive avenues for support and donates time to bring awareness to street violence. Through his resources, BRCRF was able to have Roy Levesta Jones Jr. as our guest speaker.
Roy Jones Jr. is a world famous boxer, actor, and
musician who was born and raised in Pensacola, FL. He was an Olympic Silver medalist and held multiple world championships in four different weight classes. In addition, Mr. Jones was named “Fighter of the Decade” in the 1990’s. Mr. Jones donates a lot of time to motivational speaking and trying to make a difference in his community. After just a few minutes with him, you can tell he is passionate about helping others.
Mr. Jones spoke to the population for almost an hour. He primarily spoke about how he was not born an excellent athlete and had to work hard to overcome many obstacles. He talked about how he lost the Gold Medal match in the Olympics, even though he had overwhelming landed more punches in the match. Many people would have used this as a crutch or an excuse, but Mr. Jones used it as motivation to work harder and build his character. He closed out by allowing the population to ask questions, and left them with one thought, stating, “Champions are not built in the ring, just recognized there.”
