Antonio Stevenson: He was shot, near death, and he’s still here
Busta’s Person of the Week
By Busta Brown
The Chronicle
Antonio Stevenson has a nonprofit called My Brothers Second Chance. He started the nonprofit because he believes all youth are worth saving.
“I needed some second, third, fifth chances, and I see people giving up on young brothas of all races. I come in and give them a guiding voice, because some of them need the same second, third, fifth chances like me,” he said.
“The people that love me most, I’ve hurt the most with some of the decisions that I made. High school coaches and my family never stopped trying, because they saw something in me. They said ‘he worth saving..’Stevenson reminisced of his college days and began to tear up.
“I’ve made some terrible decisions right here in this community. I’ve done things that embarrassed my family, yet I never made up excuses, I said I did it.” He took a few seconds, took a few deep breaths, and shared a story that changed his life.
It was the night he was shot, went into a coma and nearly died. “After coming back from the coma, I said some things in front of my mom that I shouldn’t have said, and every since then I’ve been a better person. But if it wasn’t for all of the chances and my family and friends gave me, and truly believing I was worth saving, I would be that same person or dead.”
Stevenson was a superstar football player for Winston-Salem State University. After a victory over Johnson C. Smith he and some teammates went to Greensboro to party. “I bumped into some guys that decided we ain’t getting off the sidewalk and neither was I. It led to some words and gun play, and I didn’t have a gun. I got shot. Everybody scattered, but a good friend of mine stayed to make sure I was OK, and I’m still alive because of him.”
After coming out of a coma, the doctor told Stevenson something that shook his world like 10.0 earthquake. ‘“He said you’re going to make it. You’re outta danger, you’re in the clear, but you’ll never play football again. You’re done.’ I said well you should have let me die. When I said it, I looked at my mom’s face, and I saw her expression. I knew I had said some of the most damaging, hurting words she’d ever heard.”
Check out the rest of this powerful interview on The Chronicle’s YouTube channel at Winstonsalem Chronicle. Antonio L. Stevenson is now a husband, father, Empowerment Director for Calm Source LLC, nonprofit CEO, author, motivational speaker, coach, personal trainer, and passionate advocate for mentoring young people. His riveting and inspiring story is chronicled in his 2015 book “Lessons Learned.”
The Badin, N.C., native and his mother moved to Winston-Salem and he graduated from Carver High School. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from Winston-Salem State University in 1994. His prowess on the football field earned him induction into the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County High School Sports Hall of Fame as well as the C. E. “Big House” Gaines Athletic Hall of Fame at WSSU.
Stevenson thanks God, his strong mother, and a core of mentors for helping him turn his life around. So, in 2008, he founded My Brother’s Second Chance, a nonprofit organization devoted to help other at-risk youth and to allow him to pay forward some of the time and compassion others invested in him. He encourages youth to make good decisions, stay in school, and prepare to attend college or secure employment after graduation so they can live healthy and productive lives. Stevenson and his wife, Kippi, are the parents of three daughters: Kali, Sydney, and Lydia. They recently established Stevenson Speaks LLC, in which they are catering to the needs of individuals, couples, and groups on a personal and professional level. For contact info, (336) 462-6823 and www.mybrotherssecondchnce.com.
