For some, it could be easy to just give up after being sentenced to prison. That's not the case for former MSU basketball star forward Jay Vincent, who has spent his whole life proving people wrong and staying positive and is determined to rebuild his life.
In 2011, Vincent was sentenced to serve five-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilt to tax evasion and home inspection fraud. Vincent and an associate defrauded 20,000 people out of more than $1 million, accoring to an ESPN report from 2011.
Vincent served his prison sentence in a minimum-security prison camp in Ashland, Ky. Vincent served about four-and-a-half years of his original sentence and is currently living in a halfway house in Battle Creek since his release on Jan. 28, working on rebuilding his life.
“I was going to make something out of it,” Vincent said. “I turned things around. I’m not the kind of guy that’s going to sit around and just let something happen, but I try to make a positive out of it.”
Since being released from prison, Vincent has released a book called “The United States vs. Jay Vincent — Survive or Die” & “100 NBA Secrets.” Vincent said he has $24 million in book contracts for his tell-all book and said he hopes to repay everyone he wronged.
Vincent said it was important for him to get his story out there to show people that anyone can get in trouble with the law at anytime, but anyone is also capable of rising above it.
“I created ‘The United States vs. Jay Vincent’ & ‘100 NBA Secrets’ because I wanted my story to get out,” he said. “I felt like it would be very positive if people could hear what happened to me, look what happened to me and see how I came above it.”
In the book, Vincent mentions letters written to him by former teammates while he was in prison, including a letter former MSU teammate Earvin “Magic” Johnson wrote to the judge in Vincent’s case, asking the judge to be lenient when deciding Vincent’s prison sentence.
Vincent also has several letters in his book written to him by former MSU coach Jud Heathcote, who Vincent became pen pals with during his prison sentence.
“Everybody always told me coming to prison, you’ll find out two things,” Vincent said. “There’ll be people who you thought were your best friends or people on your side who will forget about you. Then there will be people who really didn’t have much to say and then you end up being one of their friends, and that’s what happened with Coach.”
Vincent said despite not having a strong relationship with his former coach after leaving MSU just because of both their busy schedules, Heathcote stepping up and contacting him really showed Vincent how much his former coach cared.
Jay Vincent’s younger brother Sam Vincent, who is now a head coach for Al Manama, a basketball team in Bahrain, said he now understands as a coach the special relationship coaches have with their players. Sam said he thinks his brother’s contact with Heathcote was huge during his time in prison.
“I think it means a lot,” Sam said. “I think now, coaching, I think the role we (coaches) play in trying to develop players makes us have to care about them in a lot of different ways. And I think (coaches) carry along a long, passionate understanding and feeling about all your players that you spend time with.”
Jay said their conversations would range from recounting their former days at MSU to Heathcote telling Jay about the current MSU basketball team and how it was doing.
Sam, who also starred for MSU basketball, said no matter what life has thrown at Jay , he has always managed to put a positive spin on things.
“I think he realizes that he still has some very quality years to spend with his family,” Sam said. “I think he’s motivated to enjoy life and put the past behind and be optimistic about the future.”
Jay said he has always been doubted his whole life. He said he was doubted as early as junior high school and he was still doubted throughout his time in college, his NBA career and after the NBA. But Jay Vincent said through positivity he has always been able to rise above the doubters.
Jay said he has always tried to carry himself the best he could because he never wanted to feel as if he embarrassed MSU, where his number 31 jersey hangs in the Breslin Center rafters with all the other MSU greats.
“So I just want to tell people to remain positive, from my junior high fighting against Magic and going on and people telling me I wouldn’t make it,” Jay said. “I wouldn’t do this. I wouldn’t make the NBA. I wouldn’t have businesses after the NBA because a lot of NBA guys lose a lot of their money and don’t know how to start businesses. And then finally by going to prison that I was failed. ... I made it a point to make another $24 million.”
Jay is currently working at a new burger restaurant in Battle Creek called Juicy Burger, where he serves as the company’s publicity manager. Jay will work there until his full release on July 2. After his full release, Jay said he will likely move back to Lansing for awhile before he begins his summer book tour.
Juicy Burger owner Mike Dezotell said he was a big MSU fan and, when he saw Jay was going to be living in the Battle Creek area, he knew he wanted Jay to be a part of his new burger joint.
Dezotell said he was blown away by Jay’s positivity and willingness to give back.
“I’m not one to judge someone on their past and he has been nothing but respectful,” Dezotell said. “He wants to give back to the community, he wants to be somebody that people can look up to, turn his life around for the better and turn his time in prison into a positive as opposed to a negative.
“I think he appreciates his freedom, appreciates the opportunity he has and I don’t think he wants to waste one second. He’s been nothing but positive.”
