Entertainers and Athletes Spread the Word in Prison

Bob Cole, whose life as a con man was depicted in the movie, “The Sting,” stood on the rain-spattered stage at a juvenile prison performing card tricks.

“But for the grace of God, I’d be in here with you, and I deserve to be,” he told a gathering of 250 young “wards” interned at one of six California Youth Authority facilities clustered near Stockton.

At the other five CYA institutions, similar gatherings of offenders watched the antics of Bunny Martin, the yo-yo champion of the world; applauded the booming voice of Austin, Tex., singer Johnny Ray Watson; cheered the wild trick dribbling of former woman pro-basketball star Tanya Crevier; gasped at the weight-lifting strength of Clarksville, Tenn., strongman Paul Wrenn, and heard football stories from Mike Barber, a former NFL tight end.

The athletes and entertainers were members of a weekend evangelist “team” put together by former Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end Bill Glass as part of the prison ministries crusade he started in 1972. On the sidelines, 135 Christian volunteers waited with pocket Bibles to “share their faith” with the prison audience.

Cole, doing his warm-up act for the real business of the ministry, does a disappearing coin act and tells the youths, ranging in age from 17 to 22, how he used to lie, cheat and steal.

“When I’d play a poker game, I’d clean up,” Cole shouted. “That was my life for 37 years, fleecing suckers. I’m not proud of it, that’s just a fact. I got so good with them cards and dice I couldn’t even catch myself cheating.”

Cole took a playing card and sailed it over the roof of a nearby building, a stunt that earned big applause.

Getting serious, Cole assured the wards that he was in reality the biggest loser that ever lived until he was “born again” as a Christian. “I love you, I want the best for you and that’s from the heart,” Cole told them.

Glass says his program is nondenominational and emphasizes physical, mental and spiritual values. He earlier held a pep rally with the ministry volunteers before they spread out to the various institutions. “You can’t have evangelism without concern for human needs,” he told them.

More than 3,000 counselors have traveled to 400 of the nation’s prisons during the 14-year ministry, Glass said, and thousands of inmates, from scared and youthful drug dealers to Death Row murderers, have become Christians.

This month, he said, about 125 volunteers would go into women’s prisons in Texas with Christmas cookies and Christian counseling. After that, a “nationwide invasion” of 450 prisons by 30,000 volunteers is planned by the Florida-based Christian Prison Industries.

Father Liam McSweeney, the Roman Catholic priest and prison chaplain who helped arrange the Glass ministry visit, said the prisoners enjoy the entertainment, but he he had doubts about long-term effect.

“Bill Glass can be a shot in the arm, it gets them to stop and think,” said McSweeney, “but it won’t convert them overnight.

He said many of the juveniles have severe emotional and psychological problems that must be addressed through long-term counseling.

“I try to emphasize non-proselytizing,” said McSweeney, who also brings such religious groups as the Black Muslims and Mormons to the facility. “A seed might be planted, but that seed needs to be nurtured. “It’s hard for me to believe in instantaneous conversions,” he concluded.

Glass acknowledged the program might not make profound changes in state and federal prisons. “On the other hand, to reach these offenders, we have to do it in the prisons,” Glass said. “It’s much more difficult to do that once they hit the streets.”

Visits by Athletes

Athletes are respected by inmates, said Glass, whose guests have included quarterback Roger Staubach and coach Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys, retired New Orleans running back Earl Campbell, and Olympic 800-meter gold medal-winner Madeline Manning Mimms of Tulsa.

“A prison population is aware of physical strength. They’re more impressed by athletic feats than the normal population.”

Lay counselors, Glass said, are encouraged to take prisoners under their wings and continue to write letters or make follow-up visits. Many volunteers, he said, help inmates at release time with money, job and marriage problems.

Another highly publicized convert, Jack (Murph the Surf) Murphy, who stole the Star of India sapphire and murdered a Los Angeles secretary, was paroled from Florida State Prison in early November and said he’d spend the rest of his life working for God.

Yo-yo champion Martin said he’d visited hundreds of prison units. One highlight was the conversion of “Big Doris”--a 420-pound killer on death row in Huntsville, Tex. “She killed one person to get in and two others inside,” Martin said.

She prayed to be saved, lost 100 pounds and studied and received a high school equivalency diploma, said Martin.

“The meanest woman in the Texas prison system doesn’t cause problems anymore,” said Martin. “Only Jesus can change people like that.”