Walking the walk

MAMOU – At first glance, the small apartment appears to be a bulging at the seams museum of sports memorabilia.
Every inch of the wall space in the living room, dining room, hallway and even bathroom displays some sort of sports collectible. Above the sofa in the living room there are NFL Happy Meal Premium figurines, flanked by framed magazine covers of NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino and New Orleans Saints star Drew Brees on one side and a Starting Lineup Combo set, still in the package, of Archie and Peyton Manning, as well as a framed 1965 Topps Card of Joe Namath.
The large wall in the dining room is lined with mini-football helmets, displayed inside hard plastic cases, of all 32 NFL franchises. A set that took more than a year to complete and on a book case across the room is overflowing with more collectibles, including limited edition bottles of Gatorade.
For Anthony Guillory who lives in this apartment though, the collection is more than just hard plastic toys, trading cards and autographs.
The collection helped him conquer his personal demons, gave him a reason to keep living and brought him closer to God. And now Guillory hopes the collection of sports memorabilia that helped guide him through such difficult and trying times can now help others.
“I have all the time in the world to spread the word of God,” Guillory said. “I am not here wanting to preach to anyone. I just want to do my part. I thank God every day now for taking my leg and hopefully my collection is a way to give back to him and others.”
Guillory was born in Ville Platte back in 1962 but his family moved to Alexandria when he was only three years old and he would graduate from Bolton High School. He grew up loving sports, with his favorite baseball player being the Cincinnati Reds Johnny Bench and football player being Miami Dolphin running back Larry Csonka.
After graduation, Guillory worked for a while as a shift manager at McDonald’s on Lee Street in Alexandria, while also following a passion of his of scuba diving, including once helping locate a vehicle for law enforcement in a gravel pit.
Guillory would soon leave Alexandria and lived and worked in several different locales across the United States, with stops in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Nashville and Dallas. Guillory worked in the food industry as a cook, as a deckhand offshore and as a truck driver.
During these decades, Guillory also developed drinking and drug habits. He admittedly used everything from prescription pills to marijuana to cocaine.
“I have done everything in the book man,” Guillory said.
Guillory also developed into an alcoholic.
“I couldn’t go a day without drinking,” Guillory said. “If you looked in the back of my truck there was always an ice chest filled with beer.”
Guillory’s life took a sudden and nearly tragic turn in 2006, when he was involved in a wreck while riding his prized Harley Davidson. The accident forced Guillory to be put in a cast all the way up his right leg but that didn’t stop him from riding his bike.
“I just strapped my crutches to the side of my bike and rode it that way,” Guillory laughed.
Guillory’s mood soon soured though as his leg refused to heal properly, which caused him to no longer enjoy the hobbies he loved to do such as bowling, hunting and fishing. The severe injury also forced him to quit his job as a truck driver and Guillory was forced to be on disability.
“He has had a hard road in life,” sister Cheryl Nolen said. “My brother was always the type of person that took a step forward and then took three steps back. Some of that was because of his own choices and some were just from the hand he was dealt.”
It was during this time that he found his way back to Evangeline Parish.
“I was living in Dallas after my accident and waiting on my disability,” Guillory said. “I was having trouble finding a place to live. It so happened that I was talking to one of my cousins and he mentioned that Mamou may have a few places I could live. To be honest with you, looking back now I feel that God put me here.”
After spending the next seven years with a leg that never healed properly, complicated by the onset of developing diabetes, Guillory opted to finally have the lower part of his right leg cut off.
“I just got up one morning, got myself dressed and told my doctor that I was ready to let it go,” Guillory said.
The surgery was a success but the emotional turmoil it caused Guillory afterwards was significant. Guillory dove into a deep depression, contemplated suicide, and began using drugs again.
“Him being disabled and not having transportation and he was just so isolated,” Nolen said. “He really went through a really rough patch during that time. I was concerned for awhile.”
In 2010 that all changed.
“I went to visit a church here in town and that visit made me realize afterwards that I had been doing wrong,” Guillory said. “I knew that the way I was living was wrong but that didn’t stop me from doing those things.
Then weeks later, Guillory woke up one morning and felt that God had spoke to him.
“God just put it my heart that day that I was going to go and join a church and that I was going to get right with him. I had been running from him all my life and it was time to come back home.”
“Everything that was in my place that was not of God went into the trash,” Guillory said. “That included hundreds of movies, clothes and all types of things.”
Guillory had rededicated his life to God but he still didn’t know what his purpose was. Then one afternoon his cousin told him that he “might use his gift to help serve God.”
“I remember thinking that I didn’t have any talents,” Guillory said. “I never learned how to play a musical instrument. I was always disinterested in school. But my cousin said that ‘God gives everyone a talent.’”
Guillory would soon discover that talent.
He had built himself a small black wooden shelf on the wall above his television. Guillory purchased himself a New Orleans Saints mini-helmet and had it proudly displayed. His cousin found a Saints Super Bowl flag on the side of the road and Guillory promptly cleaned it and displayed it as well. He then soon after bought a limited edition Saints black helmet and had the two facing each other.
Guillory also came into possession of some his childhood collectables, like a handful of mini-baseball helmets that could only be purchased with an ICEE back in 1972.
And just like that, Guillory had found his talent of sports memorabilia collecting. The collection grew in rapid fashion, as Guillory scoured online auction sites like Ebay for items.
Guillory’s collection just doesn’t consist of mass-produced items either. He took a piece of old drift wood he found and made that into a Saints decor piece, as well as finding an old Miller Lite mirror sign, which he painted black and now displays a dozen or so Saints cards including those of legends Tom Dempsey and Morten Anderson.
“He returned back to his faith out of necessity,” Nolen said. “Once he did that I feel like he found things that interested him and that main thing is his collection. It gave him some purpose. He loves that collection.”
Guillory’s passion for collecting, in particular collecting New Orleans Saints items, eventually led him to his first NFL game and a chance encounter with a Saints Super Bowl hero.
An old friend of the family gave Guillory a pair of tickets for a New Orleans Saints game against the Carolina Panthers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in 2014. Guillory was besides himself.
“I just sat there in my wheelchair balling and crying,” Guillory said. “My sister called and thought something was wrong.”
Guillory jokingly said that he was going to get on TV for the game, and his sister helped by making him a brightly-colored sign that reads, “I’d Give My Right Leg For A Saints Win.”
Guillory and his sister made the game a weekend trip in New Orleans but the highlight was on game day. The two were on their way to the Saints Hall of Fame, when they were stopped by numerous different fans wanting to have their picture taken with him.
Then all of the sudden, a man walks by Guillory and turns around and began talking with him. He asked for a photo and then signed Guillory’s right leg. That man was none other than former New Orleans Saints and Super Bowl XLIV champion cornerback Jabari Greer.
“Here was this guy who won a Super Bowl and he wanted his picture taken with me,” said Guillory, who has two custom Saints No. 62 jerseys with his name across the back. “He looked at me like I was somebody. My head got so big that day that I could barely hold it up.”
“My brother touches people and he doesn’t realize he does,” Nolen said. “I think he has made more of an impact in other people’s lives than he is aware of.”
Now Guillory is looking to make an impact in other’s lives with his collection. He wants to invite others to view his collection, those interested can call him on his cell at (318) 452-0562, and while there he will be more than happy to talk about his relationship with God, give you a miniature Bible, discuss his battle with addiction or if you just want to talk about the Saints that is fine too.
“I have these cases of Super Bowl collectible Bud Lights,” Guillory said. “I am sure people will ask since I am a recovering alcoholic why would I keep those here? The reason is simple. It is first a collectible but the second reason, and the more important reason is that if someone asks me about them, I will have the opportunity to tell them how I used to live, and why I don’t live that way any longer.”