‘ Proof a person can change’
From athlete to convict to role model, Kente Douglas turned his life around
ANSONIA — Kente Douglas’ story has the makings of a made- for- TV movie: youthful success, a near- fatal stumble and redemption with a shot at the big time.
For Douglas, an early success as a football phenom carried him through his first years in high school. A youth with the skills and know- how to dream of playing professionally, he was ranked among the top eighth- grade quarterbacks in New England by a national scouting service, got written up in a national magazine and got another mention during a discussion of up- and- coming Black quarterbacks on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in 1988.
And then it came crashing to a halt. “His story is no different than that of a lot of our kids,” explained Greg Johnson, who heads the Valley NAACP.
Johnson said he witnessed Douglas’s football talent grow as a boy playing at the former Tinney Community Center on Olson Drive.
“When he got to high school, he
wasn’t the star anymore. He wasn’t the man in charge,” Johnson said. “When that happens, you see a psychological change in kids.”
His coach from his Pop Warner football days, Kevin Rowley, said he began to see that change in Douglas. His star athlete hung up his jersey and began hanging around with kids known to use and sell drugs, he said.
“I’d take him aside and say: ‘ Why are you doing this?’ I guess he didn’t like the message and he tuned me out for a while,” Rowley said. “When he was young, he’d be at my house every weekend rolling around the floors playing with my kid’s micro machines. He still calls my wife ‘ Mom’ and me
‘ Coach.’ I got text messages dating back 10 years.”
Looking back more than three decades, Douglas, a 1995 graduate of Ansonia High School, said he lost interest when it became obvious to him that his dreams of a pro career weren’t going to happen.
“I stopped growing,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t playing in the NFL.”
On the streets, Douglas became known to local and federal police agencies, was arrested in roundups and pleaded guilty to narcotics charges. He spent time in prison; in 2001, he was shot multiple times in a drive- by shooting.
“We went to the hospital to see him, but the police wouldn’t let us in,” Rowley recalled. “They told us it was bad.”
Douglas survived but returned to the streets and jail, despite having a family — he has four daughters, two of whom are now teenagers.
“My mother was giving me tough love,” Douglas recalled. “She’d tell me I wasn’t being a father to my kids. I was never around. I was always on the street.”
Epiphany from Juneboy
Sitting in a cell at Enfield’s Willard- Cybulski Correction Institution in 2012, Douglas said he began thinking about his life.
“I was tired — tired of looking over my back, tired of the cycle. I wanted a change,” he said.
He heard about a program to help felons reenter society and signed up. Among the guest speakers was William Outlaw III, known as Juneboy.
After dropping out of Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Outlaw built up the largest cocaine trafficking ring the city had ever seen, police said. They called themselves the Jungle Boys and operated out of the former Church Street South public housing complex not far from Union Station and the New Haven Police Department.
Investigators claim the operation raked in $ 45,000 a day. Outlaw’s role ended in 1988 when he killed a rival. His crimes got him 85 years in prison but he was released after serving 20 years with a deal to help turn lives around.
Outlaw went to the Enfield prison with Mary Loftus, lead case manager for Goodwill of Southern New England’s Re- Entry Services Program.
“They got my attention,” said Douglas. So he kept attending the monthly sessions and completing the assignments.
Loftus said she and Outlaw were impressed by his drive and determination.
“Kente was released in 2014 and immediately began working on his goals to successfully transition into the community,” Loftus said. “He found employment very quickly, and although he had some family issues, he didn’t let that deter him. He stayed focused on his goals and began his journey to change.”
Douglas got a job in landscaping and began training for his commercial driver’s license at the New England Tractor Trailor School. The Re- Entry program provided him with a security deposit to find an apartment.
“Without employment and housing, the battle to transition is worse,” Loftus said.
Outlaw offered peer support — similar to what an Alcoholics, Gamblers or Narcotics Anonymous sponsor does.
“Kente had the desire to change and to become a successful member of the community,” Loftus said. “He had dreams and ambitions of mentoring young football players who want to possibly move into professional sports one day.”
Loftus said she saw Douglas was serious about not wanting to repeat the cycle.
“Unless someone in his position is truly serious about change, it won’t work,” she said. “We were there to support him and encourage him in any way that we could, but at the end of the day, it was his desire to change that brought him to where he is today.”
Worth the risk
In 2015, Douglas’ life changed again. On his way to a landscaping job, a friend told him he heard Ansonia had a part- time opening in its Public Works Department.
“I was on Route 34 near the Infiniti dealer,” Douglas recalled. “I turned that truck around and made a beeline to City Hall.”
He filled out an application and spoke with Mayor David Cassetti. Douglas said he credits Cassetti for taking a chance on him.
“I knew Kente from when he was a kid,” Cassetti said. “I knew of his issues.”
Cassetti said Douglas wowed him during their talk.
“He impressed me, so I gave him a chance as a part- timer,” the mayor said. “Then we made him full time. Now as I look back on it, I think it was one of my better hires. ( Douglas) gives 100 percent every day. He’s always working.”
Nowadays, mornings start early for the 42- yearold and days end long after his 3 p. m. Public Works shift.
The mayor said Douglas works with the high school’s football program, is a recreation commissioner and mentors kids through his Touchdown Management Group.
“I mentor over two dozen kids both in state and out of state, from elementary to college,” Douglas said. “I specialize in at- risk kids. I don’t want them going down the same path I did.”
One of his mentees is Jaylen Walker, who Douglas describes as a “phenomenal athlete” and a “future high school star.”
“I’ve been working with him since he was 6 years old,” Douglas said. “He’s 12 now.”
Annisha Bibby, Jaylen’s mother, said she is impressed with the strides her son has made.
“He not only pushes my son to be a better athlete, but also a better human being,” Bibby said of Douglas. “He is always asking about his grades and stresses the importance of education.”
Bibby said she sees Douglas as a positive role model in Jaylen’s life.
“He guides these young men not to just be great athletes but to become well- rounded adults,” she said.
Until COVID- 19 struck, Douglas said he would meet with his kids weekly.
“I’d pop up at their homes, confront them on street corners, text them — let them know I’m around and watching,” he said. “With the parents’ permission, I even contact their schools. Now I’m doing a lot of FaceTime and Skyping. I think the kids trust me. I’m honest with them.”
Everyone makes mistakes
None of this surprises Mike D’Alessio, Douglas’s boss at Public Works.
“He’s willing to do whatever he can to help,” D’Alessio said. “I see it here. I’ve never had an issue with him.”
He said he believes everyone makes mistakes in life.
“I made a mistake when I quit high school,” D’Alessio said. “The key is to turn it around. Kente did it.”
Douglas said his next goal is to get his record expunged. He is seeking a full pardon before a yet- tobe scheduled meeting of the state’s Board of Pardons.
Some day, he said, he wants to get a job in sports management, either as an agent in the NBA or as an agent adviser for the NFL. He’s already passed an online certification course offered by Sports Management Worldwide.
“I’m already working as a scout,” he said. “If I get the pardon, I can take the NBA test in January.”
Diane Stroman, a fourth ward alderman and retired TEAM executive, said what Douglas has done should be celebrated.
“Buddah — ( Kente’s childhood nickname) — is an example for all young African American men,” she said. “He made bad choices but turned his life around for the better.”
“He’s living proof a person can change his life and become a positive role model,” added Rowley. “I love him like he’s one of my own.”