Tony Styles is very content in his life now. It’s very different from what it once was, but the 1997 Cleveland High School football All-American seems quite happy going to college and working two jobs – as a host at a Chili’s restaurant in Cleveland and part time at an American Eagle store.
Now 29, the former linebacker remains one of the best players in Blue Raiders history, having helped in two of Cleveland’s three consecutive state championships from 1993 to ’95.
Life is a lot different for Styles now. He enrolled at Lee University and now is 40 hours away from a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry. He will be the first in his family to graduate from college and hopes to become a pastor.
“Right now, I’m just leaving the door open,” he said. “I’m going to let God lead and open doors where he sees fit. It’s a great honor to know that I would be the first in my family to finish college – like I accomplished something great in my life. Before, I had no direction, but this would be something I started and finished, so it would be a great accomplishment.”
Styles always was a physically gifted athlete. He was asked, in fact, to skip his sixth-grade year at North Lee Elementary School and enroll at Bradley Junior High as an 11-year-old.
His stature led him to average almost 30 points and 15 rebounds per game in junior high basketball, but his talents were even more exceptional in football.
He transferred to Cleveland as a freshman and played on the freshman team in 1994, but he was inserted in the starting lineup on the varsity team and became the defensive most valuable player of the Raiders’ 7-6 state-title victory over Haywood in 1994 with eight tackles and an interception. He was part of 40 victories in Cleveland’s 54-game win streak, which ended in a 31-7 loss to Anderson County in the quarterfinals of the 1996 Class 4A state playoffs.
“It was a lot of fun; football gave me an identity back then,” Styles said recently. “It made me feel like I was someone special. When I was playing on the teams back then, they were like a family and made me feel loved, which was something that was lacking in my life. My mom was there and very supportive, but she worked a lot and we weren’t able to spend quality time like I wanted.
“I always just felt alone. … I didn’t feel like I had true friends. I had some that I thought were jealous of me because of my abilities, so I didn’t feel as though I had anyone to confide in because I didn’t think they could accept me for just me.”
TWO STEPS FORWARD, THEN BACK
At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds with a 4.5-second 40-yard dash, Styles had his pick of colleges at that time. He had offers from Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, North Carolina and Georgia but took only one visit – to Tennessee, where he committed because of his admiration for the program and one of its players, Leonard Little.
There was an issue with grades, however, and after Styles’ graduation from Cleveland in 1998, he was forced to enroll at Georgia Military College, with hopes of getting his grades up and moving onto Knoxville.
“It was heartbreaking,” he said of going the junior college route, “but it was something that was on me. The grades just weren’t there.”
Then the bottom fell out. He failed drug tests and lost not only his scholarship to GMC but to Tennessee as well. He has never pursued football again but said that wasn’t a hard decision.
“In high school, football was fun while it lasted, but it wasn’t fun to me anymore,” he said. “I know people can ask me, ‘It wasn’t fun knowing you were about to go to Tennessee?’ But it wasn’t.
“I had gone to Georgia Military as an All-American, and I thought it would be easy, but it wasn’t. People are constantly taunting you – it’s like they’re pulling your card because you had to go juco first. It was almost like I had to start all over and prove myself again.”
Styles decided to move back home, but instead of things getting better, they got worse. He stayed in and out of jail on various offenses, but during a stint in 2004, a change came over him.
“What happened was God intervened and saved my life,” Styles said. “I was in drugs, drinking, running the streets and staying in and out of jail. I wasn’t looking for God – he came looking for me and saved my life.
“It was like a supernatural move by the Holy Spirit, and it led me to want to change.”
MOVING FORWARD
Styles still holds the Cleveland record for the longest run from scrimmage – 95 yards as a sophomore. When asked if he realized the record was still his, he nodded, smiled and said, “I still keep my ear out for it.”
When asked if he missed the game, Styles paused, thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“I do miss the relationships I had and the friends I had made,” he said. “There’s still some guys from Georgia Military that I would see and know what they’re doing, but as far as the sport, that part of my life has passed.”
For the former high school All-American, it’s of no value to worry about what was. His focus now is what is.
And for now, his focus is set on ministering to others about doing the right things – or as he calls it, “making better quality decisions in life.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/gh3sports.