The Horse

‘The Horse: Last Chance’ is the story about a little boy that fail the first-grade and every other grade in elementary school, but was sociably promoted through elementary school and part of his middle school experience. While in elementary school, he became one of the most notorious students in the entire ST Lucie County Public School District in the 1960s and 1970s. His constant truancy problem, disrespect to teachers and other students, and refusal to follow school rules with constant violation of school infractions and fighting would end up being his dismissed so everyone thought. His middle school principal was so fed up with his truancy and attitude that he prepared his cumulative file for the district office for expulsion from the ST Lucie Public Schools.
‘The Horse’ became the most disruptive delinquent juvenile in the entire school district by the time he reached sixth and seventh grades according to the county’s juvenile judge, Judge Jack Rogers along with school officials and teachers! The Horse was reared by his single mother and grandmother. He grew up with seven siblings and no presence of a father in Government Housing Project in Fort Pierce, FL. The ‘Horse’ is the second oldest of ten children.
It was predicted by some people that the ‘Horse’ would either end up going to prison or resting in a ‘cold grave’ before he reached 21 years of age. As a juvenile, he, his brothers, and neighborhood friends would have a daily mission to ‘play hooky’ from school and break into homes and businesses in the Lincoln Part Community and across town, etc. Some of these friends have ended up on Florida’s Death Row, in prison to this day, killed on the streets, or died while serving a life of crime. One of the ‘Horse’s’ closest friends and classmate, John Earl Bush was executed by the Florida’s Electric Chair in 1996 for the slaying of Frances Julia Slater.
Sadly, to say, but two of the guys from the same Government Project Housing where the ‘Horse’ grew up, have been executed in Florida: John Earl Bush and Thomas Knight (Askari Abdullah Muhammad). Thomas Knight was executed on January 7, 2014 by lethal injection for the killing of a Miami couple and a prison guard. Thomas Knight spent nearly 40 years on death row before he was executed. Other young men that were friends of the ‘Horse’ are still on death row or serving life in prison. Some of them are deceased for the bad choices they made in life.
As Dr. Skinner, a Caucasian male, prepared the packet for the ‘Horse’s’ expulsion from all public schools in Saint Lucie County, Florida a miracle happened! Hope walked into Dan McCarty Middle School in the persona of a seventh-grade teacher named Mrs. Rita Marie Watson Johnson and saved the Horse’s life with a Second Chance! Dr. Skinner only placed the Horse into Mrs. Johnson’s class just for a few days until he could complete the expulsion packet for the Horse.
Mrs. Johnson, the seventh-grade teacher made a decision to take the lamed Horse into her stable and began teaching, working with it, and training the Horse on weekends. Mrs. Johnson started tutoring the ‘Horse’ during many afternoons for nearly three years on subjects and classes that the Horse had missed while he was constantly being suspended and skipping school. While others across the community and throughout the entire school system thought the Horse was a washed-up horse.
However, Mrs. Johnson believe the Horse had a future! Mrs. Johnson believe the Horse could run this time for all the right reasons instead of the wrong reasons as he did before. Like a good physician, Mrs. Johnson knew the Horse was broken; but believed in her heart of hearts that she could put the Horse back together again for the ‘running of the roses!’ So, the labor started on the Horse without his knowledge of a complete makeover was on its way.
Yes, from the day the Horse entered Mrs. Johnson’s classroom, the transformation had begun!
Yes, Mrs. Johnson took the ‘Horse’ that many said would end up being a disaster! In this book called the ‘Horse: Second Chance,’ you will read the story about how a compassionate teacher’s actions saved a student from destruction. The teacher’s devotion to the student leads him to discover a life of wonderful accomplishment in spite of what other people said about the Horse’s future outlook.
Due to the unselfish and positive actions of Mrs. Johnson, for the first of his life, the Horse was promoted to the next grade by his hard classwork in school. Also, after serving under Mrs. Johnson tutelage, a great miracle happen that was beyond my control. Within this book, it is discussed how the Horse failed the first-grade because of truancy (missing 90 days of school while in first-grade).
Yet at the end of my seventh-grade year, the Horse earned the promotion to pass to the next grade (eight-grade). However, the Horse was skipped over the eight-grade and went directly to the ninth-grade the next school term over the summer! Yes, I was promoted to the nineth-grade! The Horse never thought he would ever catch up with his class; but the skip over allowed him to dodge the embarrassment of failing the first-grade due truancy.
With the help of Mrs. Johnson, the Horse was able to turn his life around and start to focus on academics and his racing/athletic abilities so he could attend college instead of prison! The Horse would graduate from high school with football accolades and academic honors (B honor roll). Upon graduating from Fort Pierce Central High School, the Horse entered Eastern Kentucky University as a ‘walk-on’ football player.
While at Eastern Kentucky University, the ‘Horse’ ran for his life by first earning a football scholarship and begin to ink his hoofs into the history of a winning legacy that created a football legacy at EKU! In 1979, the Horse led the EKU Colonels to winning its first NCAA 1-AA National Championship in Football including any other sporting event or teams at the university. During the Semi-National Championship and National Championship games, the ‘Horse’ was selected by ABC Television and Chevrolet Corporation as the Most Valuable Player for each game.
Along with the awesome football accolades, the Horse came other life changing experiences such as joining the EKU ROTC Colonel Battalion and becoming a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated. The ‘Horse’ graduated from EKU in 1981 with his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. He went on to graduate from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity in Pastoral Counseling and Chaplaincy in December 1988. He later earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1999.
Most recently, in 2018, Colonel (Retired) Alvin E. Miller was inducted into the Eastern Kentucky University ROTC/Military Science Hall of Fame. In 2019, Dr. Alvin Miller was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by Eastern Kentucky University International Alumni Association. In 2020, Dr. Alvin Miller was inducted in the Eastern Kentucky University Sports Hall of Fame and currently serves on the Eastern Kentucky University International Alumni Board. In 2010, Dr. Miller became a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.
Currently, Dr. Miller is married to the former Dominique Haywood and they reside in Nashville, TN. Together they have five children and six grandchildren. Dr. Miller is the pastor of the Saint John Missionary Baptist Church in Clarksville, TN.