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Men of Vision’s inaugural “Boys to Men” Banquet to be held September 23 will feature former NFL player James “Little Man” Stewart as its guest speaker.

The event is designed to offer advice to young men and highlight the group’s experiences of manhood it will be held at First Presbyterian and will feature Stewart as the event’s speaker.

Stewart began his career playing football at Morristown Hamblen High School West. He continued his football career at the University of Tennessee where he played from 1991 to 1994.

He had a 1,000 yard rushing season his senior year, where he also ran for 11 touchdowns. While he left as the career leader in rushing yards, he’s currently at the third most with 2,890, and still has the most rushing touchdowns with 35, in school history.

After college Stewart moved on to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions from 1995 to 2003.

Stewart finished his career with the Jags rushing 765 times for 2,951 yards and 33 touchdowns. He also played in six playoff games, including two AFC Championships, rushing 31 total times for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

With the Lions he rushed 713 times for 2,890 yards and 15 touchdowns. In his career, he rushed for a total of 1,478 times for 5,841 yards and 48 touchdowns.

“The focus of the event is to bring in eight young men and show them heroes within the community,” said Denis Oxendine, president of MOV. “Most of the time young men will look to athletes and rappers as their heroes but little do they know that there are several heroes right here in the community.

“We want to showcase our active members and show these young men and the community that it is possible to be the system and rewrite the narrative and not be a statistic.”

Stewart will share his life experiences and offer advice to the young men and other guests present.

Paired with the speaker will be dinner and tickets for the event go on sale August 8 and can be purchased through the groups Facebook page.

The Men of Vision is a local nonprofit that consists of men dedicated to working together to achieve goals throughout the Lakeway Area.

Its mission statement is “Men meeting the needs socially, economically and civically. With this mission statement they aim to help the needs of the community in a variety of ways.

The group complete their mission by participating in local events, hosting fundraisers and clothing drives, donating funds to schools in the area and have member representation on local boards.

For more information on the Men of Vision, email MenOfVisionMorristown@gmail.com or call 423-254-4572.