This article was posted on KETV.
Boys Town cares for the abused, abandoned and trouble children placed in its care with Family-Teachers who love and support them, educational opportunities to give them a future and structure that so many of them desperately need in their life. Children like Luke Hawx, whose early childhood was tumultuous.
Raised without any structure or discipline, Boys Town was exactly what Luke needed to turn his life around. Starring in box office hits like the “Fast and The Furious 8” and winning numerous titles as a professional wrestler, Luke Hawx said he wouldn't be where he is today without Boys Town. Now as an actor, stunt man and wrestler, Luke Hawx uses his fame to support the institution he loves.
“Boys Town is a savior, a safe haven, a place where children that have no chance actually have a chance. And if you ever need living proof of that, you look up Luke Hawx and I'll tell you everything you need to know about it.”
— Luke Hawx
"Boys Town was crucial in my upbringing because I didn't have any stability or discipline in my life," Hawx said. "I didn't have nothing. It was like taking a wild lion from the jungle and putting them in a house and saying, don't mess anything up."
Having grown up navigating the streets of New Orleans, Hawx said he first went to Boys Town at age 11. He spent three and a half years there learning small but important things: how to shake someone's hand, care for himself and speak properly.
"I always knew I wanted to be a pro wrestler from the time I was 3 years old, so when I went into Boys Town, what it did was at the time I didn't know this, but again, it instilled that discipline and structure in my life for me to be able to be successful," Hawx said.
Now he wants to give back to the organization that he says gave him his life.
"Honestly, this is a dream come true to come to Boys Town and speak to these students," Hawx said.
Sharing his testimony with the current Boys Town wrestling team.
"Where he came from, you know, it's kind of similar to where I come from, was, you know, I come from poverty, a low, low area schools," Messiah Green, current Boys Town student, said. "Didn't go to school a lot."
Proving to the team, they can achieve whatever they set their minds on.
"If I really put my effort to do the work that I need to, anything's possible," Ahmani Bearfield, current Boys Town student, said.
And acting as a role model for aspiring athletes.
"I think I want to become a pro athlete," Green said. "Mainly I came here because I want to go to the NFL."
Hawx's final message to the team:
"No matter what you go through in life, it doesn't determine what you're going to be. In the end, it's up to you to determine what you want to be."
