Faces of Faith: From a troubled boy to a champion

KEN SHAMROCK

Background: Born Kenneth Wayne Kilpatrick near Macon, Ga., he was 5 when his family moved to Napa, Calif., where he grew up in a troubled household, with an alcoholic mother and abusive stepfather. He was in and out of group homes and foster care before being placed at the Shamrock Boys Home in Susanville, in northern California, where he now lives with his wife, Tonya. He's 52 and the father of seven children and 13 grandchildren. He has won numerous championships as a professional fighter.

How did you turn your life around?

I came from a rough neighborhood in Georgia and was fighting by the age of 5. So when we moved to Napa I fit right in with its gangs, basically kids getting into fights to show who was the toughest in the neighborhood. At home, there was chaos. I ran away when I was 10.

By the time I got to Shamrock, I'd been stabbed and committed strong-armed robbery. I knew if I failed there I was going to prison. Bob and Dee Dee Shamrock ran the home in a Christian way. I felt like I was in a family. It was a miracle. I learned about trust and being truthful. Bob redirected my anger and aggression into sports and adopted me when I was 18.

Have you achieved the goals you set for yourself?

I wanted to play professional football, as a linebacker, but I wasn't tall enough. I went into fighting where I had a better shot. I entered my first Toughman competition at 19 and got into professional wrestling in North Carolina and then Japan where I was a champion in a new kind of fighting called Pancrase. I won the Ultimate Fighting Championship and was part of the evolution of the sport from the era of a bare-knuckles, no-holds-barred street fight to a form of mixed-martial arts that is more marketable for television. I've been with the sport for three generations.

I don't consider myself a professional athlete, but rather a person who found something I excel at. It's about being lucky enough to love what I'm doing and have people who enjoy seeing me do it.

Throughout my career, I have earned the support of people. Athletes get treated differently and I've benefited from that, but it hurts me when we glorify someone who plays a sport. There's a need for re-evaluation to see who are the real heroes — like firefighters and the people who go overseas for war. God is the only thing we worship.

New York legalized mixed-martial arts this year.

Why wouldn't you do that if you've got however many states where it's legal and it's a growing sport that people want to see.

Some say it's dangerous to the athlete's health.

We've got football, boxing, bodybuilding. They're legal.

Was there any one moment when you became a Christian?

My first experience happened came when I was living in a group home and on a visit home when some local kids were handing out Wrigley chewing gum and talking to people about their church. I tagged along and at one point I stepped off the curb and felt a calmness, peacefulness I'd never felt before. I told the pastor and he said, "Brother, you just felt the Holy Spirit." It was a pivotal point in my life. I got baptized. Even though I went back to the old ways, I knew what it felt like. It's a process, falling down and getting up and going in the right direction, understanding what to do as a Christian, keeping in contact with Jesus Christ, staying in fellowship and in prayer with Christians every day.

I sold the Lion's Den gym that I started to train fighters, and now that's my ministry for kids. I have an obligation to give back to children. When I walk into a juvenile hall or any place with at-risk kids, I know what they feel, what they're thinking. I'm able to speak their language. That's what I do best. I tell them where I came from and they realize they're going through that too.

You're coming to House of Praise in Castleton on Sunday, which is Father's Day.

I want people to know there are no perfect parents. Don't be so hard on yourself. Fatherhood is about creating memories out of love, knowing you did your best. It's about family and people.

— Rob Brill