Loading Please Wait........

Six-year-old Brian Jordan had a point to prove when his big brother wouldn’t let him play football with the other kids.

Thirty-two years and two sports careers later, Jordan proved that same point to thousands of Muskogee, Porter and Hilldale students Friday. His message: Believe in yourself and in your talents.

At a Black History Month celebration at the Muskogee Civic Assembly Center, Jordan talked about how his parents and faith guided him to a successful professional career in two sports. He became an All-Star left fielder with the Atlanta Braves and an All-Pro strong safety with the Atlanta Falcons.

Jordan, 38, traced his desire to win to when he was 6.

“When I was at the age of 6, my brother and his friends never let me play with them. They were 9,” Jordan said. “I started hanging with my brothers and his friends and one day, I got the opportunity to play.”

He recalled that the older kids didn’t let him have the ball at first.

“But then I finally got the ball,” he said, adding that an older kid tackled him as he ran. “But I stood up in the end zone and held that football up and said ‘I told you I can play.”

That comment became a motivation for Jordan’s life, as well as the title of a children’s book he wrote.

“God has blessed me with so many different talents, just as he blessed you with so many different talents,” he told students at the civic center.

Jordan said his mom and dad motivated him to get an education.

“I remember praying in the 10th grade, ‘God, whatever you do, give me help to earn an education,’” he said. “When you tell me I can’t do something, that’s when I know I’ll succeed.”

He said that when a broken leg threatened to end his football career, he was determined to keep playing, even with screws and pins in his legs.

“In the matter of three months, I was running at full speed,” he said. “I was in training camp. I was knocking people down.”

Students said they learned several lessons in Jordan’s speech.

“Learn to believe in yourself and you can do anything,” said Harris-Jobe Elementary School fourth-grader Skyler Cooper.

“Never give up,” said Porter High School ninth-grader Deandre Broadnax.

“Keep your head up and keep going,” said Ben Franklin Science Academy seventh-grader Erik Johnson.

“You can play all the sports,” said Cherokee Elementary sixth-grader Corbelle Grayson. “I’m best at football.”

While Jordan told the kids to start believing when they’re young, Northeastern State University Homecoming Queen Muriel Saunders, 71, told the kids not to stop believing when they’re older. Saunders, a member of the Muskogee Board of Education, is seeking a master’s degree in communications at NSU.

“You can do anything you want to at any age,” she said.