In his first competition, Julius bench pressed 525 pounds, winning the event. And while the bench press began as an outlet to replace addiction, it has evolved into much more for Julius, who now competes nationally in powerlifting. Where he once turned to drugs as an outlet for stress, he now turned to lifting weights. Be someone that people can count on, a productive member of society.”īut this new life came with stress that Julius had never known. “I became the person I always wanted to be. But I asked for it.”Īfter 16 months in the program at Friends of Sinners, Julius said that people started seeing qualities in him that he had never seen in himself. I went from being in jail and having zero responsibility to having every responsibility in the world. Just the normal things that your average person would do, I didn’t see that in my household growing up. “I didn’t know that a man has responsibilities every day. “I never really knew what a man did,” Julius said.
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But even more, Julius says he learned how to be a man, and how to take care of his family and raise his kids. He was soon accepted into the local recovery program Friends of Sinners, and was released from jail.įor the first time in his life, he held a job for a year with Ben Pearl Painting. I just wanted a new way of living.”Īfter crying in front of his fellow inmates, Julius remembers getting to his bed, hitting his knees and saying, “God if you are real, you will give me purpose and show me that you are real.”įrom that day on, Julius said things began shifting. I knew that I needed to change, but I didn’t know how. I was a negative influence on everyone that surrounded me. “I realized I turned into the monster I never thought I would be,” Julius said. It was this low point that finally gave Julius the motivation to seek change. I remember walking back in to 40 some guys in the jail cell and just crying. “She had this confused look on her face,” Julius said.
He vividly remembers his wife and daughter coming to visit, and his daughter reaching out for her father, only to be stopped by the glass that divided them. In jail for four months, Julius missed a lot of special times with his wife and children, including his daughter Myla’s first birthday. He was a star athlete at Owensboro High School, but his once promising life spiraled out of control once he began hanging out with the wrong people and abusing drugs.Īt age 25, Julius was incarcerated for drug trafficking. Julius Maddox, born and raised in Owensboro, grew up playing sports and dreamed of playing college football. This article appeared in Oct/Nov ’17 issue of Owensboro Living.
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