Blake McMeans, once a nationally ranked tennis star from Tennessee, is now a inspiration to youth throughout the Tennessee Valley.

He shared his story with Bob Jones students. McMeans started stealing alcohol from his parents cabinet at around the age of 12, but his drinking intensified after his beloved father died suddenly from a heart attack. One night, he was out with friends, and he drove himself home from the a local bar while under the influence and hit a tree. The impact of this crash would change his life forever.

“I didn’t realize when I drove away from the bar that night, that I was throwing my dreams away,” Blake explained to a group of driver’s ed, health, and gym students during second block this Monday. He addressed a different group of students later in the afternoon.

“My whole life is different now because of that one night.”

McMeans was an aspiring tennis player. He ranked number one in the state during his high school career and earned a full scholarship to attend the University of Tennessee.

Blake was in a coma after his crash, and now gets around in a motorized wheelchair or using a crutch. With the help of years of physical therapy and support from his family, Blake has been able to recover slowly from the mental and physical affects of his crash.

He has redirected the passion he had for tennis (which he still plays every day) into speaking to high school and college students about the dangers of driving while distracted.

Xavier Wright, a student who sat in on McNeal’s second block presentation, felt moved by the presentation. “It really hit me in the heart [because] you could see that everything that he had been through… like he had his life ahead of him and one bad mistake turned his entire life upside down. I personally know students who have driven under the influence before, and they just don’t understand how bad it can be until something bad happens to them. I feel like they [the administration] brought him because you can see first hand the effects of what happened. If it’s just a regular [able-bodied] person who comes and talk about it, you can’t really see the effect. It’s good that instead of being down upon himself, he’s using his mistakes to educate others.”

The Blake McMeans Foundation strives to prevent people from drinking and driving, and assists victims in any way that they can.

Click here for a link to The Blake McMeans Foundation scholarship application, which students are eligible for as long as they have been spoken to by him.