Athletes for Christ............................................................Pages

Willie Aikens

Willie, after going to Prison, found Jesus Christ

Willie Mays Aikens was born on October 14, 1954 in Seneca, South Carolina. He grew up in poverty in the Bruce Hill community of Seneca. He was a standout athlete in baseball, football and basketball at his Seneca High School. Willie also went to the historically black South Carolina State University on a baseball and football scholarship.

Willie was drafted in the first round of the MLB 1975 draft by the California Angels. After he had 101 plate appearances in 1977, he became a steady regular for the Angels and in 1979, he hit 21 home runs and 81 RBI's in only just 379 at bats that season. After that season,

Willie was traded to the

Kansas City Royals where he started to shine as a baseball player; he smashed 20 home runs followed by 98 RBI's during the 1980 season.

During that season, Willie became the first Major League baseball player to hit 2 home runs in a twice World Series game.

Willie played for the Kansas City Royals until he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays during the season of 1984. There he played 2 seasons for the Blue Jays, but at this point Will had a drug problem and his career in baseball was gone.

Willie was labelled by so many as the next Reggie Jackson. But unfortunately, he didn't listen to the advice of so many of his teammates, and he took himself out of the game of baseball and right into the lengthiest prison sentence ever given to a professional athlete, as he received over 20 years. It was the drug of crack cocaine that put him in there. Willie spent his time at

Atlanta Penitentiary. He was scheduled to be released in 2012 but was released on

June 4, 2008...three months after Congress approved new guidelines for the federal drug laws and made them retroactive. A former teammate of Willie's, Hal McRae, was the only one of his former Kansas City teammates that talked with him while he was in prison. Hal helped Willie get a job in construction working on manholes.

Since Willie's release from prison, he has spoken at schools about all that he went through, and

to the Royals young players, as he was always praying he could return to baseball. In November of 2008 he said to all the Royal fans that he was sorry for all that he had done, and for his time in prison.

On February 1, 2011, the Royals announced they had hired Willie as a minor league coach. But unfortunately, the hiring was delayed as Willie's wife had a stroke, which was believed to have been from complications of lupus.

Willie has recently told of his life story, from his terrible poverty he suffered as a child to the heights of fame and money, down to the horrible time in prison where he served 14 years. But Willie gave his life to Jesus Christ and now serves Him. Willie's life has proved that if God can forgive Willie, He can forgive anyone. Jesus Christ died on the cross for EVERYONE, and Willie accepted that offer of forgiveness of sins and his name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Willie is sharing his story to a wide variety of audiences, both from corporate and Christian. Every and any up- and-coming athlete need to hear his story so that he or she can avoid the traps of drugs that Willie ran into.

Willie and his wife have three daughters.