INDIANAPOLIS — Step inside the Community Justice Campus and you will find Deputy Frankie Young.
“In the beginning, I wasn’t 100% sure on it but it was another way to help people,” Young said.
The Marion County Sheriff's Deputy has been with the department for at least 16-years.
Deputy Young calls his brothers and sisters in the force a home away from home, and he will tell you his former home used to be the track.
“Most of them think by my size today, 'You ran track? I thought you played football,'” Young said.
Back in Deputy Young’s heyday, he was a pretty good long jumper for Indiana State University, and the numbers don’t lie.
“Young would be a nine-time Missouri Valley Conference champion, four-time NCAA All-American in the long jump,” an excerpt from Deputy Young’s Indiana State University Hall of Fame Ceremony said.
“Finally, I was able to go out to the NCAA championships," Deputy Young said. "I qualified in 1998 and 1999, and just missed becoming an NCAA champion."
Deputy Young's son, Frankie III, would go on to follow in his father’s footsteps at ISU.
“I got him now but back then, I'm not going to lie, he was pretty good,” Frankie said.
Frankie calls his dad’s success inspiring.
“Just seeing what law enforcement has to go through, putting themselves on the line and the traits you have to have in order to be a law enforcement officer, is inspiring,” Frankie said.
The Sheriff’s Department says that 39.7% of the staff are black. The department tells WRTV, that there is always work to be done and the diversity numbers are something that MCSO takes a lot of pride in and have worked hard to achieve.
It adds that it has one of the highest diversity stats in the city. Deputy Young is using his story and time as an athlete to help guide the next generation.
“They need to see our faces. Sometimes they only want to talk to you, especially if they are in trouble. I like to let them know that I’m here for them,” Deputy Young said.
It’s not just inspiring his son that Deputy Young hopes to accomplish, but those who he might encounter on their worst day.
“If we can send them somewhere and not arrest always, that works with me,” Deputy Young said.
