Talking His Way to Redemption
, Former hustler sharing
his cautionary tales
with young people
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
For much of his youth, High
Point native Greg Commander was a
menace.
"I tore up High Point," admitted
the 48-year-old. "1 had a lot of peo
ple following in my footsteps; I sold
a lot of drugs and caused a lot of
havoc."
These days, Commander, a moti
vational speaker, dedicates his time
and energy to repairing the ills he
sees in his community, addressing
young people every chance he gets
and imploring them not to make the
, negative choices he did.
"God told me, 'You need to go
back to the city that you destroyed,"
| said Commander, who returned to
High Point in 2009, following an
18-year prison term. "...For every
wrong that I've done, I want to turn
around and I want to show that you
can do it. I work hard to better
myself so that I'm able to better oth
ers."
This kinder, gentler Commander
didn't surface overnight. The new,
improved version is the
result of decades of tri
als, self-discovery and
an ever deepening faith.
As a boy and young
man. Commander said
he ran the streets, doing
as he pleased, believing
he was "too slick" to get
caught.
"I got caught up in
the streets - that street
life was alluring,"
recalled Commander.
who dropped out of school in the
eighth grade. "I went out there and
started smoking weed and drinking
beer and partying - that was my life
- I was in and out of trouble, in and
out of jail."
Commander's late mother tried
to get him back on the right path,
encouraging him to go to church and
change his ways When she died of
an aneurysm in 1987, Commander
found himself deepening his debt to
the streets, as he struggled to keep a
?
Lfssard
Submitted Photos
Greg Commander speaks to a
group of kids.
roof over the heads of his four sib
lings. Three years after her death,
Commander and fellow members of
his "Juice Crew" clique were arrest
ed. The father of five was convicted
of drug charges and sentenced to
24.5 years in a federal penitentiary.
It was one of the hard
est parts of my life I ever
experienced, when I
walked into the Atlanta
penitentiary for the first
time, shackled up, chained
up," he related. "That was
one of the coldest points of
my incarceration when I
walked through that door.
This was like something I'd
never experienced and it
was humbling to me,
because I'd come from a
life of ballin'."
Although incarceration was a
"culture shock" for Commander,
whose life of crime had kept him in
the lap of luxury, it wasn't until sev
eral years into his sentence that his
perspective began to change. To pass
the time, he had begun attending
Bible studies and talking to others
about their faith. Four years into his
sentence, he watched a fellow
inmate die after a lunch line stab
bing.
Following an unwritten inmate
code, Commander said he and other
prisoners ignored the victim, step
ping around his body. Commander
was no stranger to violence. He had
seen a lot of it on the streets and lost
sight in an eye after being struck
with a baseball bat. But that day in
the "chow hole," his heart went out
to the victim, and Commander real
ized he had reached a turning point.
"From that point on, I felt some
thing deep inside me that I needed a
source that was higher than myself,"
he said. "I really started seeking
who God was."
Shortly after returning to High
Point, Commander met Paul
Lessard, who helped secure speak
ing engagements for Commander at
local high schools through The
Lighthouse Project, a nonprofit
speakers' bureau Lessard founded.
Lessard, who also heads the
High Point Community Foundation,
said he felt the message Commander
has to deliver was too important to
ignore.
"He's becoming a recognized
and well respected speaker and has
got a great way with the kids. He's
got an in-your-face kind of presenta
tion, which I think is what some of
these kids need to hear," Lessard
said. "The reason why Greg is so
good at what he does is because he's
been where these kids are and he's
speaking from experience."
To date. Commander has
addressed more than SO groups in
cities across North Carolina and
beyond, delivering his no-holds
barred account of the consequences
of a life of crime, in hopes of spar
ing the youngsters from suffering
the same fate. Lessard also helped
Commander enroll in college, an
achievement the grandfather of five
says he never even dared to dream
about. A junior at Laurel University,
a Christian college in High Point,
Commander is pursuing a bachelor's
degree in counseling and maintains
a 3.2 GPA.
"It's been an adventure; it's been
great, and I'll always want to contin
ue doing what I'm doing." he said of
motivational speaking. "...It's just
my desire to give what I think socie
ty needs, and that's knowledge,
that's love and to be an example."
Contact Greg Commander at
336-991-3592 or greg.comman
der? yahoo .com.
rATUNT*
? IU4*K? t iMfMN ? 4lMP? ? IH?? ? f?iw
< |wl ( ?l?l ? *Mft? ? <??*?'?
? PMr?i MM4?H ? ta* <B0? <hm? m??4(
(336) 744 1300
WWW.M4kfMMU.MM
I
Eric S. EMaon
AttomtyAlL**
It Your Llctnto Revoked or
?vtn Permanently Rtvokod?
I May Bo Ablo to Got You a
Driving Prlvlloga.
la tho Ball Bondaman Too
Exponalvo? Maybo You
Need to try a Property Bond.
Call Mel
112 Nonh Marshall Street
Winston Salem. NC 27101
(Just North of 1st Slrrrri
Phone (.136) 72.17.170
Fax (.1.16) 72.1 7372
ellisonlaw 4 earthlink.ucl
"Dadicatad To Providing You Tka Baat Sarrhtl|^
Imagine getting your
business card into
over one million hands
That'i what happens when you place^
an ad this siae on our network! M
Cal tfcfaamepapsror NCMferdrtafclS
?H-7?-aeM I www JSC a?Quia ~
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest
H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published
every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing
Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C.
27101. Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C.
Annual subscription price is $30.72.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
r Right choice, . \ I
nght price. $g\ _J j
Medicare Advantage plans are only available
to Medicare beneficiaries
Get trusted coverage at the right price from BCBSNC.
? Quality health care coverage for more than 80 years.
? SilveiSneakers*', a fitness membership at no additional cost.1
? Strong network of contracted doctors and hospitals. Including Forsyth
Medical Center, Lexington Memorial Hospital, Inc., High Point Regional
Health System, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Other
providers are also available in our network.
Annual Election Period ends December 7,2013.
ITues., Nov. 12
2:00 p.m.
Golden Corral
4965 University Pkwy.
Winston-Salem
Wed., Nov. 13 and 20
10:00 a.m.
Kernersville YMCA
1113 W. Mountain St.
Kernersville
Thurs., Nov. 14
10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Village Inn & Golf Center
6205 Ramada Dr.
Clemmons
Attend a meeting to learn more
about our Medicare Advantage
plans. Prospective new enroltees
will receive a $10 gas card gift
certificate as a thank you - and
there's no obligation to enroll
in a plan!
Cannot be
redeemed
",,f I
Ij&m (rf) BlueCross BlueShleld
Ni?Wof North Carolina
Smart dhokm for Medicare
I
'Awarded to BCBSNC by the Ethisphere Institute. In 2013, companies in more than 100 countries and 36 industries were reviewed and of those 138
organizations were designated as World's Most Ethical. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is an HMO and PPO plan with a Medicare contract.
Enrollment in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina depends on contract renewal. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, premium and/or
copayment/coinsurance may change on January 1,2015. The benefits information provided is a brief summary, but not complete description of available
I benefits. Additional information about benefits is available to assist you in making a decision about your coverage. This is an advertisement; for more
information contact the plan. 1) You must continue to pay your Part B premium. Rate is for Blue Medicare HMO Standard Plan, 2014.2) The SilverSneakers
program is provided by Healthways, Inc., a third-party vendor independent of BCBSNC. 3) An authorized sales representative will be present with
information and applications. There is no obligation to enroll. 4) Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is a PDP plan with a Medicare contract.
Enrollment in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina depends on contract renewal. ? Mark of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ?1 Mark
of Healthways, Inc. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. U7671,10/13 I
Y0079.6499 CMS Accepted 10302013
k S M