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Five men whose leadership and service have strengthened Alexandria’s youth, families and neighborhoods received the 2025 Men of Courage Lifetime Achievement Awards on Dec. 6 at the Oswald Durant Center.
Retired Col. Jim Paige, Robert Trout, Michael Diggins, Gregory Wright and Bill Euille were honored for sustained work in youth development, community engagement and advocacy. Community leaders, former honorees, relatives and supporters filled the venue for the annual ceremony.
The event also celebrated the organization’s 10th anniversary and its central mission: recognizing men who lead by example and “reach back” to guide the next generation.
Former boxing champion Anthony Suggs Sr. founded Men of Courage in 2013 after reflecting on the mentors who influenced his own life. He said his faith and recovery from a period marked by drugs and incarceration inspired him to serve others.
“Anyone that lived the life that I lived before I came to the other side shouldn’t even be here,” Suggs said. “So many times it could have turned another way for me but I always felt that God brought me through what he brought me through because he wanted me to give back.”
Suggs had been pursuing a place on the 1988 U.S. Olympic boxing team before drugs and jail derailed his career. By 1987, he was a five-time Golden Gloves champion, a National Golden Gloves finalist, the Golden Gloves Outstanding Boxer of the Year and an Olympic Festival gold medalist. The USA Amateur Boxing Federation ranked him No. 1 nationally and No. 4 worldwide.
He finished his amateur career with 138 victories, including 116 knockouts, and 12 losses. Suggs recounts his rise, downfall and recovery in his book, Da Beast Within — Still the Champ.
In recent years, he has concentrated on community service and recognizing men who serve as positive role models for young people. His regional volunteer work earned him the Presidential Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.
“I always felt that God didn’t bring me this far to leave me,” Suggs said.