When Fate and Dreams Conflict

By David Byrd, Jr

How much control does one possess over their own destiny? How much power does one have when it comes to fulfilling identified dreams? What happens when ones destiny is much different than ones dreams? Author David Byrd Jr., puts his pain on paper, testifying in this strikingly personal account of what happens When Fate and Dreams Conflict.

Hamilton Hill, a neighborhood in Schenectady, New York, proved to be a viable training ground for a young King Dotson. As a budding elite athlete, King grew up with the mission to leave behind the violence and poverty that prevailed in this unpredictable upstate New York suburb. A full athletic scholarship to the prestigious and sports - rich Syracuse University brought King to the realization there was life outside of Hamilton Hill and a realistic shot at the National Football League. A promising career as a professional athlete was on the not-so-distant horizon, until one fateful Halloween night, when fate would clash with his dreams, changing his life forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Byrd, Jr
• Release date: Oct 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370504411

David Byrd, Jr

A graduate of Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, first time author, David Byrd Jr. earned All-American honors as a dual-sport athlete while attending high school at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany, NY. It was through these athletic exploits that David earned a full athletic scholarship to Syracuse University where he would participate in both football and track & field.At the conclusion of his collegiate career, David went on to sign National Football League contracts with the Buffalo Bills in 2000 and the Seattle Seahawks in 2001. In 2002, he was signed by the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League where he was a two year starter at defensive back. In 2004, injury forced him to step away from the gridiron, however, allowed him to step into the world of fitness, wellness and mentorship.David is a father of three residing in New York with his wife Melissa. An entrepreneur, actor, author, and creative writer, in 2008 David began Fast Feet Fitness, LLC. In 2013, after appearing in the HBO Drama, “Muhammed Ali’s Greatest Fight”, David landed a role in the Universal Pictures featured film, “The Best Man Holiday”. In 2014, he established “Byrds Eye View”, a professional football, online journal featured on Albany.com. A three year Junior Achievement classroom volunteer and active participant in the Syracuse University Alumni Club of the Capital District, David is also a proud member of the Capital Alliance of Young Professionals.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Man With A Plan

I recall standing up in my third grade class as our teacher Ms. Groves spontaneously asked the class to identify what we wanted to be when we grow up. Doctor and president, I remember being the most popular responses. When it was my turn to pick a profession, I didn’t have much time to think. Luckily, I didn't need it.

I seemed to always sit in the first few rows of the classroom because we were seated alphabetically by our last names, which I hated. No imagination or out-of- the-box seating until middle school, which wasn't cool; but it was what it was. I was excited and anxious as I watched the last few people profess their career path. When it was my turn, I confidently stood up and said I wanted to be a football player. Then, there was silence. I remember one classmate sneezing. I remember the slight movement of another classmate’s chair. But what I most remember was the vacant look on Ms. Groves’ face as she politely asked me to choose a different profession. I declined and attempted to return to my seat when she commanded I stay standing while the remainder of the class continued on. Once the final, brave soul was finished, Ms. Groves came back to me and asked if I had chosen a different profession.

No, I said with confidence, this time adding a little shoulder shrug before returning to my seat. I was young, so I wasn't positive about what I felt, but I knew I wasn’t physically hurt or angry. In retrospect, and looking at that moment in third grade through my adult lenses, I know I experienced disappointment which set off a domino effect of emotions in my little seven year old body. Bigger than the disappointment however was my introduction to doubt.

As we lined up for lunch that same day, Ms. Groves pulled me aside and told me that tomorrow she was going to ask me the same question and that I needed to come up with a different answer. If I was unable to provide her with a different career path, she would then contact my parents to make them aware of my lofty goals, and together we would all come up with something that was better for me.

That afternoon as I walked to meet my mom, I wondered if there really was a possibility that I could not be a professional football player. In my young mind, being a ball player was just as realistic and attainable as becoming a fireman, a cop, or even a babysitter as I remember one excited girl in the back of the class proudly professing. What I saw on television every Saturday and Sunday looked like fun, seemed exciting and came to me easily.

My friends and I played football in some way, shape or form almost every day. After school, during recess, there were even times when we would get to school early to get in a game of kill the carrier before the bell rang. We played any game we could conjure up that involved throwing and running with the football. We played tackle football in random backyards; shit, we played tackle football in the street. I vividly recall slipping on oil patches that stained the street from leaky cars and vans as I cut across the grain to avoid the curb, because of course, the curb was out of bounds.

As a ten year old, I recall being recruited by some of the high school guys in the neighborhood to join the neighborhood street football team. Joker was one of those cool, older guys who served as the neighborhood paperboy. I was friends with his younger sister, Tyleah. Tyleah and I would often get into trouble for breaking windows and various other mischievous activities. I knew Joker better than anyone else my age due to my friendship with Tyleah so I trusted him. I was confident in my football skills so after some reassurance from Joker that he would protect me if one of these older guys wanted to beat my ass, I decided to join the neighborhood team.

Our team competed hard, but lost more games than we won. The games were often interrupted by some type of altercation but resumed shortly thereafter. Games would often end with injury or when one of the altercations escalated to the point of police involvement.

Ms. Groves obviously was tuned into the poverty, strife and similar issues faced within the community. However, I now often wonder how many young lives full of ambition and promise Ms. Groves put to a halt with her perception of what was and what was not an attainable career path. She never did challenge those who wanted to be school teachers or doctors, both of which require significantly more education than a football player would surely ever need.

Ironically, the incident with Ms. Groves did not provide me with superior motivation or some super internal strength that drove me to new heights. Not at all. Playing on my neighborhood team with kids three, four even five years older than me is what gave me confidence beyond compare.

Ms. Groves hardened a piece of my being. She not only made me aware of, but made me immune to doubt. At a young age, I developed the uncanny ability to let doubt enter in one ear, pass through, and exit out of the other ear. I was raised by my parents to, under no circumstance tolerate disrespect and conditioned by my neighborhood to present with this ever-thickening exterior. This became an exterior which was only strengthened once doubt was introduced and my dream to become a football player was frowned upon.

Chapter 2

17 Chestnut Street

I claim Hamilton Hill, in Schenectady, New York as my hometown. Hamilton Hill is a section of Schenectady where both state and local police patrol, career options are limited and settling into a life of generational trends, manipulation and crime is not only accepted, but is expected.

Schenectady has a significant place in American history as Thomas Edison moved his Edison Machine works to Schenectady in 1887. Schenectady produced legendary Los Angeles Lakers basketball coach Pat Riley while the Electric City is also the birthplace of actors Ann B. Davis and Mickey Rourke.

Dealing with Ms. Groves was an early life lesson that I would rely upon as I got older when faced with similar adversity. The life lessons I found most intriguing, however, were those occurring right in front of my face. I interpreted the timely glimpses of how the world worked within the inner city as the norm. There was no awareness of class and privilege, just life. I didn’t realize I lived in the inner city; I just knew I lived in Schenectady. I was more focused on playing football, candy and having fun.

I thought that Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE program, which the local police sponsored, visited every school educating the students on the dangers and pitfalls of drugs. I thought that removing the seeds and stems from my uncle’s marijuana was what any bored, curious kid did. The only thing I knew was that I had fun in my neighborhood and my friends were everything to me. I didn’t understand why my aunt from Virginia wouldn’t let my cousin play basketball at Jerry Burrell Park. I didn’t understand why I had to stay on the porch when the street lights came on. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t walk to Central Park.

I didn’t understand as I watched crack fiends beg for crack. I didn’t understand as some of these living zombies would smoke their rock and immediately blow the smoke into their baby’s face to ease their symptoms of withdrawal. I didn’t understand when one of my best friends would run up and down the block in the middle of the night, crying, as his mother was beaten by his uncle when she was not able to repay her debts.

The older kids spent most of their time courting and flirting with the teenage girls as the kids my age flipping on mattresses in the vacant parking lot of King Cadillac. We would often compete to see who could get the most height on our flips and who could do the coolest trick while airborne.

One summer, while on break from school, we decided to try to jump off the mattress, over a car and a fence into the yard next door. I was the first to try and the first to have success. My friend JD soon joined me. Next up was Gouda, who didn’t get enough air and landed on the car. The car was a sun-beaten yellow, rusted, broken down piece of nothing that had been in the rear of King Cadillac for years. As JD and I laughed hysterically, Gouda made a startling discovery. Inside, this old junker, was the body of a dead man.

JD and I climbed back over the fence, landing on the hood of the car. I was not scared and I didn’t sense my boys were either. Our mission at this point was to open the doors to get a little closer to the action. The driver’s side door on this mustard colored sedan was too rusty and corroded to touch. The passenger side was smashed, plus there was thick rust and corrosion, so that was not an option. After we couldn’t open the doors, we left both the car and the body and told no one of our gruesome discovery. This was my first real look into the world in which I lived. I was smack dab in the middle of it and was totally oblivious.

Chapter 3

Savvy Ambition

During Tyleah’s eleventh birthday party, we sat on her stoop as Joker drove up in his new, all-black Nissan Pathfinder. This was the late 1980s, when Pathfinders were only a few years old and extremely popular. As Joker got out of