WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS – Game Changer founder Joe Boczek looked out over a room full of West Virginia business and political leaders, politicians and prominent athletes Wednesday evening.
“The best and the brightest in West Virginian and the nation have come together” to fight addiction, he said. “They will not stand idle and watch this great state destroyed by the opioid crisis. … We take on this challenge not because it’s easy but because it’s hard. … This is West Virginia and the dawn of a new era, and the beginning of the end.”
The crowd was gathered for dinner for the first day of the two-day fundraiser at The Greenbrier evening for Game Changer, the statewide and national substance misuse prevention and education program for high schoolers originated by Morgantown businessman Joe Boczek. The event was called the Game Changer Golf Classic, and Prevention and Education Luncheon.
“We must change the game and failure is not an option,” he said. Kids at all social levels must deal with the challenges of opioids, meth, vaping, tobacco and alcohol. “This disease does not discriminate. This is the biggest game that we’ll ever play.”
The evening’s emcee was former No. 2 draft pick, Heisman Trophy finalist, First-Team All-American and four-year NFL veteran Ryan Leaf. His NFL career was thrown off track by a drug problem that eventually landed him in prison. He eventually turned his life around, and he now shares his story.
“Today I try to use that nightmare to benefit others,” he said. “The truth, even when it’s hard, sets people free.”
Like many others, Leaf said, he held a negative view of those who abused illicit drugs. But his eyes were opened. “A prescribed drug by a doctor because of 15 surgeries sent me to a prison floor and a place I did not want to live anymore.”
Leaf said Alabama football Coach Nick Saban – who hosted the evening with his wife, Terry – was the first person to reach out to him after he got out of prison. “You don’t understand what that meant to me.” Through Saban, Leaf was able to talk to teams across the nation.
Leaf said he was an addict long before he took a drug. Competition, winning, humiliating the opponent were his drugs. Another prisoner helped turn him around. “It could never be about me again, It had to be about somebody else. And Game Changer is about that.”
Gov. Jim Justice, who serves as Game Changer head coach, also attended. “Whether we buy it or not buy it, drugs can cannibalize us.”
Boczek recruited his decades-long friend, Sen. Joe Manchin, back in 2019 to join the Game Changer team, and Manchin recruited Saban. Manchin and Saban grew up together in Marion County and have been lifelong friends.
One f his five promises for children, Manchin said, is that every child should grow into a loving, caring adult and give something back. All those gathered Wednesday were here to help kids do that, he said.
He has always said that he and Saban were privileged children, not because they were rich but because “we had unconditional love every day of our life.”
Saban said, “No man stands as tall as when he stoops to help a child.”
Being a leader is being someone others can emulate, he said. “Leadership comes in the power of one.” Give one child one kid hope, direction, a sense of purpose, and define what they have to do to accomplish their goals and teach them how to edit their behavior to be able to do that. “If you cant self-assess in this life, you’ll never be able to improve, be able to get better.
“We need a new game plan for people to be able to deal with pain,” Saban said. “This is a heck of a start.” It’s all about “giving people an opportunity to have the chance to be the best they can be.”
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
