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september
october 201 3
a local band called the Chillbillies! Both
Priest and Irwin havemade great and
successful lives for themselves after
sports, not only for themselves, but
also for their community involvement.
But life in the fast lane doesn’Äôt
always work out so well for many
former athletes. Becoming a person
whose career has been showcased,
and coupling that with winning
individual awards, makes the fall
from grace more catastrophic than it
would be for Mr. or Mrs. Ordinary.
Athletes often have a great work
ethic, too. There are a very few
athletes out there who can just never
show up at practice and still be great
on game day, as college and profes-
sional athletes work incredibly hard
at their game. They practice often
and early; long and late hours. They
practice hard and play hard’Äîso when
they fall, they fall hard. Outside of the
death of a loved one, I think that for
an athlete, losing can be the most ca-
lamitous event that happens to them.
And that fall, in turn, causes major
depression. Just like a career-ending
injury, a key legal event threatens
their very existence.
But the test of true greatness is how
a person bears up under defeat’Äîand
what an individual does after he or she
can no longer be a champion athlete.
I once had the pleasure and privilege
of representing the late Big JohnTate,
a great boxer and prizefighter who
held the title ofWorldHeavyweight
Champion fromOctober 1979 toMarch
1980. Tatewas definitely used to
working hard’Äîand thenwinning. In
the 1976 Summer Olympics, he had
won a bronzemedal for boxing. He
became a professional boxer the next
year and ultimately held a professional
record of 34-3. That’Äôs a lot of wins’Äîand
not a lot of losses. Big Johnwas the
new love of the Knoxville athletic nurs-
ery in those days.
After he was knocked out and lost
his heavyweight title, Tate came back
to Knoxville. The fight itself was a sad
song because of all the pre-fight hype
here and across America. Big John
literally got knocked off his perch,
and the result was very sad. He later
became so addicted to drugs in the
world’Äôs worst way that he lost all
control over his mind, his body, and
ultimately his life.
Tate was a huge guy when he was
an athlete. He trained incredibly hard.
But when he quit working out, he
blew up in stature. Tate weighed 281
pounds immediately before his final
fight in 1988, which he lost to Noel
Quarless. Later, he got up to about
400 pounds’Äîand he was home-
less, bankrupt and without any fair
weather friends.
Tate lived in Knoxville during the
’Äò80s, but he fell on some really hard
times. I was his attorney, and he once
came by our officewithout any shoes.
Yes, Johnwalked into the office bare-
footed. So I went out and bought him
some size 16 or size 18 tennis shoes’Äîhe
was an impressively large person,
6-foot-4, and it was hard to find shoes
that would fit him. Later, Big John
came back to the office complaining
that someone had stolen his new ten-
nis shoes and hewanted us to get him
another pair!
I knewbetter than that, though,
and I told himso’Äîno one is going to
steal a pair of size 16 shoes! Picture
this: amiddle age lawyer raising hell
with the former heavyweight boxing
champion of theworld over a pair
of tennis shoes, while the champ is
hyped up on dope. My officemanager
thought nothing goodwas going to
come out of thismeeting.And here I
amchallenging Big John over a pair of
size 16 tennis shoes which aren’Äôt the
slightest use to any other person in
East Tennessee. I told him that he had
sold those shoes to buy drugs, and he
didn’Äôt deny it. I didn’Äôt buy himanother
pair of shoes. Big John left; but he left
that day on good terms. It was the last
time I sawhimalive.
Tate always treatedmewith re-
spect. He calledme’ÄúMr. Bell’Äù nomatter
howmany times I told himmy name
was’ÄúJim.’Äù And I had a tremendous
amount of respect for him, as well.
Hewas a phenomenal athlete and a
great man. But he just couldn’Äôt’Äîor
wouldn’Äôt’Äîbear being a loser.
At one point, Tatewas thrown into
jail for violation of probation. I got a
call fromhismanager,AceMiller.Ace
was with Big John all along, took him
out of the projects and raised him from
Golden Gloves on up to the very top of
the fighting ring. Randy Nichols was
the judge, and so I went down to the
courthouse and I said,’ÄúI’Äôm represent-
ing JohnTate, and I’Äôve crafted amotion
to reduce his bond.’Äù So I’Äômfiling this
motion that’Äôs all written in flowery
language, and that I’Äôd spent a consid-
erable amount of timewriting.
Nichols is the Knox County District
Attorney now, and he’Äôs a great DA. But
hewas a great judge, too. He has a
sense of humor’Äîand really, that’Äôs an
understatement. Sowhile I was there,
getting ready to file themotion, Judge
Nichols said,’ÄúIf you’Äôre filing amotion
to haveMr. Tate’Äôs bond reduced, that
motion is granted.’Äù And I said,’ÄúAre you
going to read it first? You know, I spent
a lot of time on it.’Äù And he said,’ÄúNo, the
motion is granted.’Äù Of course theAssis-
tant DA said,’ÄúWe oppose, Your Honor,’Äù
but then Judge Nichols said,’ÄúLook, the
guards tell me that JohnTate is back
there stealing all the food from the
other inmates’Äîand I’Äôve got to get him
out of that jail!’Äù
So therewere some very comical
moments when I represented Big John
Tate, but on thewhole, it was equally
very sad, too. Tate eventually died
here in Knoxville in 1998 after crashing
his car into a utility polewhile under
the influence of cocaine. Big Johnwas
unable to pull out of the steep spiral
of sloth and addiction that overcame
his life. The backstage story is that
Big John never seemed to have the
strength or the desire to pick himself
up to keep going after losing some-
thing that was his whole life. Boxing
taught Tate how to be disciplined, how
towork hard and how to be a cham-
pion, but it didn’Äôt teach himhow to
lose’Äîeven though that was a lesson
that probablywould have saved his
life. Sad as it is, Big JohnTate’Äôs story
shows the danger and the repeating
saga of allowing athletics (or anything
elsewe are particularly successful at)
to be the be-all and end-all of our lives.
James A.H. Bell is a
veteranTennessee
criminal defense attorney
and personal injury
lawyer, having tried
to verdictmore than
approximately 1,000
contested cases.