After quitting school, Freeman ran from what he believed to be a restrictive home life in Canada. He grew long hair, experimenting with drugs, slept nights by the side of the road, and often hitched rides hundreds of miles to no particular destination for no particular reason.

God was not a factor in his life at this point. The few times he attended church services, he was stoned. Then, on that September evening in 1972, he returned sober, and the experience changed his life. He enrolled in bible school and later founded a church in Friendship, ME, which grew to over 200 parishioners in less than two years. In 1977, Freeman moved to Baltimore, started another church and then moved to Columbia, MD.

Eventually his church purchased an old religious complex and converted it into the church community, Stillmeadow Christian Fellowship.

In 1979, Freeman was asked by Washington Bullets players Elvin Hayes and Kevin Porter to become the team’s first chaplain. Some years later he started a business-consulting firm, The Freeman Institute, which offers team building, leadership, cultural diversity and organizational development initiatives for corporations, government agencies, leaders of foreign nations, and churches. Everything was going well. But he was struggling with his professional counseling skills. This led to a search for help, which eventually brought him to Loyola.

"I had been told about a new Pastoral Counseling program at Loyola and after visiting with its director, Barry Estadt, I realized it could help me," said Freeman.

There was just one problem. This was a graduate program and Freeman’s only academic credentials were a bible school diploma and a G.E.D., obtained just so he could tell his children that he had finished high school. Estadt, called by Freeman an "absolute visionary," took a chance, accepting Freeman into the program on a provisional basis in 1983. Freeman excelled and graduated in 1986.

"Loyola’s program stretched me both personally and professionally," Freeman says. "I learned a great deal of the theoretical side of counseling, but there is much more to it. Being a good counselor is something that is caught, not taught. My teachers at Loyola understood this and the supervisory part of the program was geared to allow this to happen."

In Return to Glory, Freeman is once again wandering down an uncharted path. It is believed to be the first book of this particular approach, co-authored by a black man and a white man. The book provides a road map to wholeness, demonstrating how black men and women can "return to glory through a strong faith in God, resolve, education, family loyalty and just plain hard work."

The book’s foreword was written by basketball legend Julius Erving and it has been hailed by entertainer Bill Cosby. Currently, a film project based upon the book is in development.

Gary Adornato, principal of Adeas Communications, is a frequent contributor to Loyola Magazine and also writes about club sports in this issue.