thedrifter
07-06-05, 12:38 PM
Article published Jul 4, 2005
By KAREN VOYLES
Sun staff writer
Marine’s tale of survival riveting
Keystone Heights native Cpl. Tony Stevens survived 11 car bombings
If Tony Stevens' story were the basis of a movie plot, you might not believe it.
Stevens, a preacher's son from a small North Florida town, was a high school star in two sports who got a chance to become a professional athlete. Instead, he gave up his boyhood dream and enlisted in the military. After two tours of duty in Iraq, the Marine Corps said it appeared that Stevens holds the record for surviving the most car bombings.
Cpl. Stevens, 26, can still tick off details about all 11 roadside bombs he survived, but he would prefer not to.
“I just did my job over there,” he said Sunday as he addressed the congregation at Freedom Baptist Church.
Roadside bombs are blamed for injuring one in every five Marines during their six-month deployments in the Sunni Triangle, an area that has become known as the “triangle of death.”
"When you hear the explosion, that's really good because sound travels pretty slow, so if you can hear it, you have survived it," Stevens said. "And you are still in the game."
Marine Corps officials have said there are many Marines who have survived two or three attacks and a couple have even come through as many as seven or eight unscathed, but they believe Stevens is the record holder.
It was a record the newlywed Marine never mentioned to his wife, Sarah, during the 10-minute phone calls home he was sometimes able to make.
The couple met at church, married five months later, and within weeks Tony was in Iraq.
“When he called, he would tell me about other things, like what they gave kids over there,” Sarah Stevens said, referring to the items from the military meals that the Marines would share with Iraqi children, such as crackers and candy.
Sarah's unawareness of her husband's close calls ended after a CNN news crew featured him in a story detailing how military officials calculated that he was the Marine who had survived more roadside bombings that any other.
Tony Stevens said the story aired the day after he had talked to a reporter and he quickly realized that it was airing in the United States where Sarah was certain to see it.
She had.
“When I called her that day, I go to say 'Hello,' and then I don't think I got another word in for the entire 10-minute phone call,” Tony told the church congregation, drawing guffaws from men seated next to their wives and a blush from Sarah.
Tony and Sarah were at Freedom Baptist on Sunday because it is the church where Tony's father, Mark Stevens, had served as pastor while Tony and his brother and sister were growing up and attending Keystone Heights High School.
The family still has tight ties to the congregation even though Mark Stevens has since moved on to pastor a church in Tennessee, the place where he pointed out the pretty brown-eyed Sarah to his youngest son when Tony was home on leave. The couple began dating the day after they met and went out on a date every remaining day of that leave. Their marriage five months later was no surprise to Pastor Stevens.
Another of Tony's decisions — joining the Marines instead of the Air Force — did surprise the pastor.
“My own dad is a retired Air Force pilot who was a prisoner of war for 18 months during the Korean War," Pastor Stevens said. “And I served in the Air Force.”
“I decided on the Marines because they were the best, the roughest, and because it would be a challenge,” Tony said. He volunteered for infantry duty and set aside a previous dream.
After graduating in 1997, Tony Stevens became the first Keystone Heights High baseball player ever drafted by a major league baseball team. And he was such a dominating basketball player at Keystone Heights that his number 10 jersey was the first jersey ever retired by the school.
Stevens signed with the Minnesota Twins and became the starting shortstop for the New Britain (Conn.) Rock Cats, the team's Class AA affiliate.
He played two pro seasons, hitting .261 and getting raves from coaches for his quickness defensively and on the basepaths. His high school coach, Alan Mattox, was not surprised.
“In this business, coaches are supposed to inspire kids, but in Tony's case, he inspired me and he still does,” Mattox said Sunday.
The Rock Cats' chance to win a league championship disappeared on Sept. 11, 2001. Following the terrorist attacks, the championship series was cancelled and the players were sent home for the winter.
“He and I watched a lot of news together back then of the troops in Afghanistan and he said to me 'Dad, I could do that,' ” Pastor Stevens said. Tony enlisted soon afterwards.
Stevens, who is now based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and has a year remaining on his enlistment, said the Twins have told him “the option is still open for me to go back and play. I think I would be even more focused if I did.”
In April, the Twins recognized Stevens by asking him to throw out the first pitch at a game in the Metrodome in Minneapolis against the Chicago White Sox that was televised on ESPN.
On Sunday morning, Mattox and Keystone High principal Dr. Susan Sailor were at Freedom Baptist with an unexpected honor for Stevens. Instead of retiring his number 12 baseball jersey, “each year we will choose a senior to wear it, a senior who demonstrates the most character, integrity and leadership” that Stevens exemplifies, Mattox said.
Stevens said that he has no regrets about his decision and is proud to be able to see Iraq "get back on its feet. I know that some people have called us heroes, but we never consider ourselves heroes. We are just doing our jobs as Marines.”
Ellie
By KAREN VOYLES
Sun staff writer
Marine’s tale of survival riveting
Keystone Heights native Cpl. Tony Stevens survived 11 car bombings
If Tony Stevens' story were the basis of a movie plot, you might not believe it.
Stevens, a preacher's son from a small North Florida town, was a high school star in two sports who got a chance to become a professional athlete. Instead, he gave up his boyhood dream and enlisted in the military. After two tours of duty in Iraq, the Marine Corps said it appeared that Stevens holds the record for surviving the most car bombings.
Cpl. Stevens, 26, can still tick off details about all 11 roadside bombs he survived, but he would prefer not to.
“I just did my job over there,” he said Sunday as he addressed the congregation at Freedom Baptist Church.
Roadside bombs are blamed for injuring one in every five Marines during their six-month deployments in the Sunni Triangle, an area that has become known as the “triangle of death.”
"When you hear the explosion, that's really good because sound travels pretty slow, so if you can hear it, you have survived it," Stevens said. "And you are still in the game."
Marine Corps officials have said there are many Marines who have survived two or three attacks and a couple have even come through as many as seven or eight unscathed, but they believe Stevens is the record holder.
It was a record the newlywed Marine never mentioned to his wife, Sarah, during the 10-minute phone calls home he was sometimes able to make.
The couple met at church, married five months later, and within weeks Tony was in Iraq.
“When he called, he would tell me about other things, like what they gave kids over there,” Sarah Stevens said, referring to the items from the military meals that the Marines would share with Iraqi children, such as crackers and candy.
Sarah's unawareness of her husband's close calls ended after a CNN news crew featured him in a story detailing how military officials calculated that he was the Marine who had survived more roadside bombings that any other.
Tony Stevens said the story aired the day after he had talked to a reporter and he quickly realized that it was airing in the United States where Sarah was certain to see it.
She had.
“When I called her that day, I go to say 'Hello,' and then I don't think I got another word in for the entire 10-minute phone call,” Tony told the church congregation, drawing guffaws from men seated next to their wives and a blush from Sarah.
Tony and Sarah were at Freedom Baptist on Sunday because it is the church where Tony's father, Mark Stevens, had served as pastor while Tony and his brother and sister were growing up and attending Keystone Heights High School.
The family still has tight ties to the congregation even though Mark Stevens has since moved on to pastor a church in Tennessee, the place where he pointed out the pretty brown-eyed Sarah to his youngest son when Tony was home on leave. The couple began dating the day after they met and went out on a date every remaining day of that leave. Their marriage five months later was no surprise to Pastor Stevens.
Another of Tony's decisions — joining the Marines instead of the Air Force — did surprise the pastor.
“My own dad is a retired Air Force pilot who was a prisoner of war for 18 months during the Korean War," Pastor Stevens said. “And I served in the Air Force.”
“I decided on the Marines because they were the best, the roughest, and because it would be a challenge,” Tony said. He volunteered for infantry duty and set aside a previous dream.
After graduating in 1997, Tony Stevens became the first Keystone Heights High baseball player ever drafted by a major league baseball team. And he was such a dominating basketball player at Keystone Heights that his number 10 jersey was the first jersey ever retired by the school.
Stevens signed with the Minnesota Twins and became the starting shortstop for the New Britain (Conn.) Rock Cats, the team's Class AA affiliate.
He played two pro seasons, hitting .261 and getting raves from coaches for his quickness defensively and on the basepaths. His high school coach, Alan Mattox, was not surprised.
“In this business, coaches are supposed to inspire kids, but in Tony's case, he inspired me and he still does,” Mattox said Sunday.
The Rock Cats' chance to win a league championship disappeared on Sept. 11, 2001. Following the terrorist attacks, the championship series was cancelled and the players were sent home for the winter.
“He and I watched a lot of news together back then of the troops in Afghanistan and he said to me 'Dad, I could do that,' ” Pastor Stevens said. Tony enlisted soon afterwards.
Stevens, who is now based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and has a year remaining on his enlistment, said the Twins have told him “the option is still open for me to go back and play. I think I would be even more focused if I did.”
In April, the Twins recognized Stevens by asking him to throw out the first pitch at a game in the Metrodome in Minneapolis against the Chicago White Sox that was televised on ESPN.
On Sunday morning, Mattox and Keystone High principal Dr. Susan Sailor were at Freedom Baptist with an unexpected honor for Stevens. Instead of retiring his number 12 baseball jersey, “each year we will choose a senior to wear it, a senior who demonstrates the most character, integrity and leadership” that Stevens exemplifies, Mattox said.
Stevens said that he has no regrets about his decision and is proud to be able to see Iraq "get back on its feet. I know that some people have called us heroes, but we never consider ourselves heroes. We are just doing our jobs as Marines.”
Ellie