Seeds of Greatness: The Jay Ondo Story

Pictured is Jay Ondo. The nicest guy you'll ever meet. (He calls me, "young" and "handsome" so of course I'm a fan.) He was sucker-punched in a bathroom at the beach a week ago and lost two teeth. His reply, "It could have been worse." Below is a piece I wrote about Jay that I want to share to inspire you:

The first time I met Jay Ondo was in the locker room at Fit Gym at the Plunge. He smiled and said, “Hey handsome.” Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but that’s just how he is. He wants to brighten people’s day with positivity—and does. Maybe you’ve seen him walking up and down the boardwalk, shirt off, boxing gloves on, shuffling along. Always smiling—even after having his front two teeth knocked out when he was sucker-punched recently as he bent to down to get a drink of water in the bathrooms at Belmont Park. Ondo was on the news saying, “It could have been worse. I got lucky.” You gotta love that attitude, always looking for a bright side. 

When Jay was younger and lost his mother, he became the sole caregiver for his younger brother with Downs Syndrome. When his brother died, he dealt with his grief through art. Ondo would take items people tossed out of their car windows and create roadside sculptures. He’d smile and wave as people passed by and honked in approval. 

Often seen wearing a shirt that reads, “Seeds of Greatness,” his philosophy is we all have seeds of greatness in us and we need to nurture and grow them to be our best.
 A good looking guy, he’s called, “The Model”… because he was. (He was also on the 2002 show, Diagnosis: Unknown.) He’s in fantastic shape because he works at it. Jay walks and works out for four hours daily. In college, he was known as, “The Running Man” because he did loops around campus logging 17 miles a day. 

His philosophy is to be a good example for others to follow, live life to the fullest, and don’t let anything get you down.