Tony Boles: A Cautionary Tale

John Heuser of the Ann Arbor News did an outstanding piece on Sunday, May 7, 2006 regarding the plight of former U-M superstar tailback Tony Boles. The article details the descent into drugs and prison that has occurred in Boles' life since his football saturdays for U-M. Boles had a once promising career after having rushed for 1,408 yards in his sophmore year in 1988. That season rushing total still ranks 8th best all-time for Wolverine rushers for a single season total. Boles suffered a career ending knee-injury in his junior season and he dropped out of school. Although some people don't like to read this type of article because they find it depressing (and I can certainly understand why they would feel that way), I found the article to be very enlightening and worthwhile. I hope Boles can eventually turn it around like Billy Taylor did as no one wants their legacy to be that of a cautionary tale.