From the bright lights to headlights.
Former St. John’s standout and NBA great Jayson Williams is leading a Nassau Country rehab program that has transformed nearly a dozen formerly incarcerated men and women — giving them a new lease on life as truck drivers.
“When I was up there getting the diploma, man, I almost cried. … I worked hard for this day,” Timmy Jones, 39, told The Post after Monday’s graduation ceremony at Nassau Community College.
Jones, who served more than 15 years for manslaughter, was a member of Rebound on the Road’s first Long Island class.
“You got family members that won’t give you another chance after coming home from prison during a long term, so this meant a lot,” he said.
The eight-week initiative is the brainchild of the ex-New Jersey Net, who himself was locked up for 27 months after the accidental 2002 shooting of his limo driver, Costas Christofi.
Williams, once a ferocious rebounder on the hardwood, is now using that passion to attack this latest venture.
“I’m here seven days a week — at least. I think Sundays are probably ten hours a day, everything else about 13,14 hour days,” said Williams, who has devoted his life to helping others since his release.
“I love it. I really do. You see the difference it makes … and we put out a good product.”
Full speed ahead
Beyond skills behind the wheel of a big rig, Williams prioritizes life lessons and mental health for his students as they get ready for what he calls not a second chance, but another chance.
Classmates who don’t say good morning get sent home, while Williams also invested in boxing gloves, which he calls the “suggestion box,” to air out grievances.
He also takes the class jet skiing, prioritizes prayer and requires those who can to skydive as a way of breaking through their comfort zones.
“I’ve been wanting to do skydiving outside of the program, so I’m actually really excited about that,” said recent grad Clayrone Garner, who is yet to plunge from the plane.
“It gives you something more to work towards.”
The faith Williams puts into his students isn’t lost on Jones either, who said that the apprentices pay it back in their work ethic.
“We’ve been out here going hard from sunup to sundown since the program opened,” he said of the group that bonds over barbecues and a vegetable garden they grow near the truck lot on campus.
Garner, who also went away for a violent crime, said the garden grows watermelon and squash — and has turned into a mental health metaphor about treating oneself.
Call it the garden of dreams.
“The garden teaches you life’s value a little bit more from growth … the more you know, the more knowledge you put into your mind, the more good things you put into the atmosphere, the better off you are,” he said.
“It’s almost like a home away from home,” Garner added of the program.
Williams, meanwhile, touts success on the students’ desire for positive change.
“It only works because of the energy,” he said.
“I’ve been out of the schools and other programs where people just come in like they’re doing you a favor. Here, they come in and they’re thirsty.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman knew right away things would move a mile a minute when Williams first pitched him on the program a few months ago.
“We believe in law and order,” Blakeman said. “That’s why we’re the safest county in America. But just putting people in jail is not the sole solution to the problems.
“We have to get people to reinvent their lives in a productive way, to be good citizens and good members of society.”
Nassau initially poured $1 million into Rebound on the Road and recently pledged another $300,000 after seeing the success of the first graduating class.
“In the long run, this makes us safer because these people won’t get back into crime,” Blakeman said.
“It brings down our recidivism rate — and it gives them hope.”
On top of that, it’s given Williams a dream job for life on Long Island.
“If Saint John’s called me up and asked me to coach, I would say no,” he said.
“I want to be helping people with their lives, not score more points.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
