This part of Michael Vick’s story can be a valuable lesson in redemption, and saving your life while paying a major price for a mistake.
When Michael Vick was released from jail after serving 548 days for involvement in a dogfighting ring, he owed creditors nearly $18 million dollars, and only had his checks from mopping floors in prison, to show for it.
Almost seven blessed years later, Vick is a month away from finally paying off that huge lien.
While his actions involving dogs led some to believe he would never get back on the football field again, this year is Vick’s sixth season of playing after serving his prison sentence. That’s equal to the number of years Vick played before his prison term.
In the five-year period (2010 to 2014) in which he agreed to go on a restrictive budget to pay back his creditors, Vick earned more than $49 million during four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and one with the New York Jets.
Joseph Luzinski, a senior vice president at Development Specialists Inc., a management consultancy firm and the liquidating trustee in Vick’s bankruptcy, deem the quarterbacks financial recovery incredible.
“What Michael did was the exception, not the rule,” Luzinski said. “He didn’t have to do this. The law allows you to skate by and pay your creditors 10 or 20 cents on the dollar, but he thought this was the right thing to do.”
Vick of course was ecstatic about the entire ordeal being over.
“I feel blessed because I came out and found myself in a position where I had a lot of people that really believed in me, people who gave me an opportunity. At the time, it wasn’t about trying to fulfill all the bankruptcy needs. I was trying to fulfill all the needs that I had in my life because I had nothing.”