Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
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Ricky Waller
Ricky Waller was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1957 at George W. Hubbard Hospital, which is now known as Nashville General at Meharry. Ricky grew up in West Nashville in the pro...view moreRicky Waller was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1957 at George W. Hubbard Hospital, which is now known as Nashville General at Meharry. Ricky grew up in West Nashville in the projects called Preston Taylor Homes. He lived on Fortieth and Clifton Avenue. At a young age, Ricky began playing basketball and baseball in the front yard by himself. Ricky excelled at basketball and became known as Fat Ricky due to being husky.
Ricky became involved in drug dealing and using drugs, and for twenty years, he felt like he was corrupting the community. Pastor James Cooke of Immanuel Missionary Baptist Church invited Ricky several times to attend services. Pastor Cooke would find Ricky on the corner. It was years latter before Ricky would accept Pastor Cooke’s invitation. However, it wasn’t too late. Ricky went from pushing and using drugs to pushing God’s Word.
Ricky has been delivered for twenty-eight years. He is determined to save a new breed of black children who are often blinded by the glamour of street life. During his journey from selling and using drugs to ministering to others about the horrors of drug addiction, Ricky never lost his basketball talents, and he was known for throwing accurate passes. The people always reminded one another how they never knew what type of pass he would throw out there. Normally, it was going to be accurate. When the time did come when he threw a bad pass, he would always say, “My fault.” And he would try not to throw that bad pass again. Yet he admits there is one pass he will never again throw to his community. What Ricky wants to instill in youth today is hope. Ricky is not afraid to go around wet faces and wet places (areas where drugs are being used) to save lives.
Ricky has never forgotten the harm he brought to his community. “Until I met God, I loved heroin,” he says. Never having forgotten where he came from, today Ricky brings hope to his community and not dope.
(Had it not been for God giving me the flip side, none of this would have been possible.)view less