{"id":108521,"date":"2020-12-21T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T23:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=108521"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:31:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T20:31:12","slug":"ole-miss-alumnus-hopes-to-help-students-avoid-his-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/ole-miss-alumnus-hopes-to-help-students-avoid-his-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ole Miss Alumnus Hopes to Help Students Avoid His Mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Salmon provides support to Magee Center after turning his life around<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Farley “Fel” Salmon III<\/strong>, son of the late University of Mississippi <\/strong>Football great Farley Salmon Jr.<\/strong>, credits time served in a Mississippi<\/strong> prison with changing his life. Now, he’s ready to pay it forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incarcerated for drug-related convictions, Salmon, a 1978 Ole Miss<\/strong> graduate, deepened his faith through a Christian ministry\/12-step group for inmates at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility <\/strong>near Meridian, finding the sobriety and inner peace he had been chasing for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salmon is committed to helping others struggling with substance use disorder by sharing his story and resources. He has made a gift to the university’s\u00a0William Magee Center for Wellness Education<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and a commitment to volunteer and help students and others who may benefit from his remarkable story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I started drinking and using substances in junior high school,” says Salmon, a Clarksdale<\/strong> native. “I was always on something. At the end, before prison, I was smoking crack and methamphetamine. It was going to take a miracle to stop, but that’s what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Faith found me, and everything changed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Released from prison three-and-a-half years ago, thanks to diligent legal work by Cal Mayo<\/strong>, his brother-in-law and Ole Miss alumnus, Salmon relocated to Oxford, working to rebuild a sales career. At the same time, he’s been repairing relationships with friends and family damaged during years of chronic substance use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Established in 2019, the Magee Center<\/strong> works to\u00a0change and improve lives through education, research, and support related to alcohol and other drugs and holistic well-being. The center engages with students individually, through organizations and in communities to help them flourish.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think a lot about young people who may be struggling, and I want to help them avoid the pain and difficulties I faced,” Salmon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such concern also was shown by his father. Farley Salmon became sober in his 30s thanks to help from his young son, Fel. After a lengthy sales career, Farley Salmon was a director with\u00a0Sunflower Landing<\/strong> in Clarksdale, a substance abuse treatment center for adolescents.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He helped a lot of people over the years,” says Fel Salmon, a catalyst in getting his father to treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When I was 10 or 11 years old, (family members) came to me and said, ‘Daddy needs to go to treatment.’ They said the only way he would go is if I asked him to do it, so I did. I was maybe 11 and said, ‘You need to get help.’ He listened, entered rehab, and regained his life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salmon says his mother, Stella, still keeps a daily diary at the age of 91\u2014a habit since her teens. His drug use caused so much family heartache, with some particular hard years, all chronicled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was always getting into some trouble,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salmon was arrested for a serious drug offense while a student at Ole Miss, for instance, and he faced multiple drug arrests as an adult. Yet, he managed to avoid stiff consequences, seemingly thriving with a family, a successful sales business and a love for Ole Miss sports\u2014he rarely skipped a football game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a functioning addict, he skirted by until a judge gave him 13 long years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was tough in the beginning,” said Salmon, who read books sent by family and friends, slept, and meditated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Then one morning at 2 am they came to get me,” he says. “They were moving me to another prison. When the bus made a stop at Parchman, I was scared, but it kept going, eventually dropping me off in East Mississippi near Meridian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At the time, it was more challenging than Parchman, and I didn’t know what to expect.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salmon was walking through the door when a man approached him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He said, ‘I’ve started a new pilot program called Pathway to Change for people who want to get better,” Salmon recalled. “There are no drugs, no cell phones, and no violence. We offer therapy and a 12-step program, and we talk about faith. It’s a good way to do your time.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I said, ‘Sign me up.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salmon had not used any drugs in prison, so he was sober, but Pathway to Change was the force behind his transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Faith became an important part of my life, and it changed me,” he said. “It filled that void that I was always trying to fill with substances.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salmon hopes that by working with the Magee Center to share his story, he can help students avoid his path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make a gift to the William Magee Center for Wellness Education, send a check, with the center’s name written in the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655; or give at https:\/\/give.olemiss.edu<\/a>. For more information, contact David Magee, director of institute advancement, at dmagee@olemiss.edu<\/a> or 662-915-1311.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By David Magee<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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