By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Former West Rowan athlete Jovon Quarles was born to be an actor, with a smile that flashes like diamonds on top of bulging biceps as wide as an elephant’s stride.

On a recent trip home, the 43-year-old Quarles carefully examined the menu at Hendrix, a popular Salisbury barbecue joint on West Innes Street, before making the healthiest selection he could find — grilled chicken with lettuce and tomato. He was disappointed that sweet potato fries weren’t available, so he reluctantly accepted tater tots as a replacement.

He’ll sweat them off later.

After an hour or so at Hendrix, Quarles had charmed the waitresses and customers with the aura of passion and positivity he steadily projects.

He has come incredibly far in life, has hurdled obstacles that easily could have made him just another cold statistic for the prison system or the morgue, and the recently retired Navy SEAL adamantly believes that he’s just getting started on his master plan to make a difference in the world.

Quarles has just returned from an expedition to Great Britain, where he was scouting locations in Wales for Season 3 of the FOX television series “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test”. As one of the four American and British veterans of special forces training who anchor the show, Quarles was a key component of Season 2 that was filmed in New Zealand.

The series, which has the unique format of subjecting celebrities from the worlds of sports and entertainment to a SEAL-like training environment and allowing viewers to see who can survive the ordeal, was renewed for a third season. That’s proof that Quarles, known as “Q,” can be successful at holding an audience.

Quarles was born in Washington, D.C. He never knew his father. His mother was taken out of the picture by drug addiction. He was raised by a grandmother, who sought a safer, slower environment and relocated to the more rural setting of Cleveland, N.C.

So Quarles grew up in the West Rowan community. He grew up short, peaking at 5-foot-8, but he grew up muscular, strong and fast, an exceptional athlete.

“I was a star athlete, sure I was going to be a pro,” Quarles said, smiling at the memory. “I got most of the support I needed from my friend and teammate Josh Avery’s family. They treated me like another son, came to the games and cheered for me. My grandmother was in a wheelchair. She’d come to the West Rowan football games and sit in a car in the parking lot. She couldn’t see much, but she could hear the crowd roar.”

West Rowan’s new head football coach for the 1998 football season was Scott Young. At first, that was bad news for Quarles. Previous coach Randall Ward had employed Quarles’ speed on both sides of the ball, but one of the critical elements of Young’s system was two-platoon football. Young believed in putting the best athletes on defense, so he played Quarles at defensive back.

Quarles scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble on opening night and helped the Falcons beat Salisbury 14-7, the first win of Young’s storied head-coaching career.

It wasn’t long before Young accepted that he would need to play Quarles both ways. As a receiver, Quarles caught 18 passes for 407 yards. He had touchdown catches against East Rowan, Northwest Cabarrus and Concord. He had six picks that season, three in the Northwest Cabarrus game. He made All-Rowan County at defensive back.

In the spring of 1999, Quarles was one of the county’s top track and field athletes. Willie Ellis and Ralph Ellis were the West coaches who had the biggest impact on Quarles.

Quarles won the 110 high hurdles in the 3A State Championships in 14.74 seconds. He ran the 300 intermediate hurdles in 38.82 seconds and finished second by the length of a finger.

His finest day in track and field came in mid-May 1999, but graduation and real life was fast approaching.

Dreams of college athletic glory were pushed aside by real-world considerations.

“I fathered two children while I was still in high school,” Quarles said. “My grandmother said what I needed to do was to support them and set an example for them. She wanted me to join the Navy. I fought her on it. That’s not what I wanted, but she was right and she won out.”

He enlisted in the Navy, poor, desperate and not yet ready for Navy discipline.

“Just not mature enough, got kicked out of the first program I was in because of a bad attitude and negative performance.” Quarles said. “My grandmother was so disappointed.”

He got another chance and settled into a role as a Seabee, the Navy’s construction force.

He didn’t love the Seabees, but he made it work and he tolerated it. His days as a Seabee brought him into contact with Navy SEALs, the Navy’s elite, their special operations forces.

“That’s when a light went on,” Quarles said. “I could see that’s what I wanted. I wanted to be a SEAL. I wanted to be one of the best. As a SEAL, I could make a difference in the world, and by that point in my life, I wanted to find a way to make a difference.”

You don’t become a SEAL easily or overnight or without some agony and sacrifice. The great majority of applicants don’t make it through the program. At least 75 percent fail.

Quarles did look the part. He obviously had the physical requirements. He applied and was accepted into the SEAL program.

The first half of SEAL training session BUDs (Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL) is a six-month ordeal. Quarles lasted about a month.

“There’s a point in the training period called Hell Week,” Quarles explained. “Five days with three hours of sleep total and very little food and water. The purpose of it is to push you to your breaking point, to see how you’ll respond. On the third day of Hell Week, I quit.”

A SEAL hopeful who can’t take it anymore quits the program by ringing a bell. Quarles rang the bell. He’d had enough.

His grandmother was proud of him just for trying to be a SEAL, but Quarles had gone far enough with the program that he had discovered that the limits of what he could endure were greater than he ever had imagined. He believed he could pass the training if given another chance. He was haunted by his failure and applied for a second shot.

His application was turned down.

He kept applying. His application finally got to the right desk. He was accepted for a second chance at SEAL training. He knew it would be his last chance and becoming a SEAL was now an obsession with him.

“There were more obstacles to deal with, and when I went through Hell Week again, I nearly quit again, but this time I didn’t ring the bell,” Quarles said. “I wasn’t the fastest swimmer or best runner in that class, but I out-worked everyone. I became a leader of that class.”

The grandmother who had raised him died during that training session. She didn’t live to see him graduate, but he graduated as the “Honor Man,” the best of the best, judged to be the best leader in the entire class.

“I remember my commanding officer calling me to tell me I would need to give a speech,” Quarles said. “I spoke in front of admirals.”

He again was the leader of his class for the second stage of SEAL training SQT (Seal Qualification Training), becoming something of a legend among SEALs and especially among minority SEALs who followed him.

At a ceremony, they rang the ball for him — as a graduate of the SEAL program.

His helmet is in a museum. He was the first Black man to graduate SEAL training as the Honor Man.

Quarles was stationed mostly in nice places like San Diego and Hawaii, but SEALs can be deployed all over the world when there’s a covert, dangerous mission to be handled.

Quarles has been on the front lines in conflicts in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.

His missions are classified. Some wars are undeclared. He can’t talk about them.

His final mission as a SEAL was in Iraq. He dodged some mortar shells — and retired after 22 years of active service. He rang the bell for the last time, a symbol of leaving the tight fraternity of the SEALs.

“I kind of went into depression for a while after retiring from the Navy,” Quarles said. “I wasn’t sure what was coming next. But I found my outlet creating a body-building, nutrition and fitness program that can help more people pass the SEAL training program without lowering the standards of the program.”

He also likes being a public speaker. putting on tie, dressing up and speaking to school kids about what they can do if they’ll believe in themselves.

Season 1 of FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test made its debut without Quarles. Another SEAL was involved that first season, but he chose not to return.

Quarles was brought on board for Season 2, which had its run last fall. He was surprised to be cast in the role, which is part host and part expert trainer and taskmaster to a mix of male and female celebrities

“I never dreamed I’d be picked for the job, so I didn’t really stress about the interviews for it,” Quarles said. “But they kept calling me back. I think they liked that I was able to be natural and just be myself in front of the camera. But it is a little daunting, when you think about millions of people watching you. A lot of people called me up. I do get recognized sometimes in restaurants.”

The celebrities are placed in harsh environments in a modified training course that replicates SEAL training.

Only two of the 16 celebrities (baseball legend Mike Piazza was one of the failures) made it through the training in Season 1.

Three of the 14 celebrities picked to participate in Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test were still standing at the end of course in Season 2. The survivors were Olympic skater Erin Jackson, “The Bachelorette’s” Tyler Cameron and “The Bachelor’s” Nick Viall.

No one gets voted off the island or anything like that. The celebrities, some of whom are world-class athletes, decide themselves when they can’t take the training any more.

Quarles said Season 2 episodes are available now on Hulu for those who missed the original FOX programming.

Until Season 3 filming starts, Quarles will stay busy with his fitness program, speaking engagements and writing an autobiography entitled “Why Not Me?”

It’s a book about coming from nothing to being something,” Quarles said. “The goal is to inspire millions. The goal is to have my book in every library in the world.”