Former New Orleans Saints player Reggie Jones told Decatur High School students to never give up.

During an assembly Dec. 5 Jones told the story of his rough upbringing. He said he grew up watching his dad beat his mom and point a revolver, with only one bullet in the chamber, spin the barrel, pull the trigger and laugh when it only clicked. He spoke of seeing his mom kill his dad and then go off to jail for 14 years, leaving him to care for his two sisters.

“He spoke of the people in his life who believed in him, who encouraged him, who helped him believe beyond his current situation,” said David Brower, Decatur principal. “He inspired our ninth and 10th graders, urging them to believe beyond the doubters and the haters and the current circumstance.”

Jones said he could have easily fallen victim to being a statistic for kids that have troubled home lives and fallen victim to “a life of destruction,” but chose to use his “trials as a trampoline to propel himself higher.”

“He spoke of never giving up on your dreams and carrying your dreams with you daily,” Brower said. “To emphasize his point, he pulled out a ratty football that he carried every day in high school, to remind him that he had a dream: to play in the NFL.”

Jones become a first-generation college graduate, an NFL Super Bowl Champion, a husband and father, to now being a mentor and motivational speaker.

After the assembly, Jones spent the rest of the day meeting with students enrolled in Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) classes, which are elective classed offered to students who would like to prepare for four-year colleges and universities.