A Childhood Without Sports, and a Young Man in Pain

Scott didn't grow up as an athlete. By his own admission, he was clumsy. The one time he tried soccer as a kid, he got tangled up in the net as a goalie. Sports weren't his thing.

What he did have, from a young age, was anxiety and depression, the kind that sits heavy on your chest and makes the world feel like too much. By the time he was 18 or 19, he'd found something that seemed to quiet it: alcohol. And then cocaine. But alcohol was cheaper and easier to get, so alcohol won.

What started as a way to cope with social anxiety slowly became the only way he knew how to function.

Thirty Beers a Day

By his late twenties, Scott was drinking 25 to 30 beers a day. Not on weekends. Every day.

"I would wake up at 2:00 a.m. if I passed out at 9:00 p.m. from drinking all day, and crack some more beers," he said. "If I had to be at work at 5 a.m., I was waking up at 3:30 a.m. so I could drink before work."

He had comas. He had seizures. He did jail time. He racked up multiple DUI violations and lost his driver's license. His parents were driving him everywhere.

The lowest point came on his 30th birthday. He was riding his bike, a backpack full of beer, a pocket full of Xanax, when he hit a telephone pole. He was in a coma for four days.

He woke up. And then he kept drinking.

The Back Door He Didn't Walk Through

After his second DUI in 2008, Scott's parents started dropping him off at the Davenport YMCA every day. They believed he was working out. He wasn't.

His routine was simple: walk in the front door, put his clothes in a locker, walk out the back door, and head to a bar downtown. He did this for weeks.

Then one day in November 2008, something shifted. He's not entirely sure why.

"I'm not sure why I decided not to walk out the back door that day," he said. "I was like, 'I'm here. I should try exercising.'"

So he got on an elliptical machine.

When his parents picked him up that evening, he was still sober. For the first time in ten years.

"It was incredible because that hadn't happened in 10 years," Scott said. "I woke up the next morning and went back to the Y and all of a sudden I was sober for two days and then three days."

Then a week. Then a month.

From the Elliptical to the Road

Scott kept going back. He noticed something: after a workout, he didn't want a drink. So he went again. And again.

After a while, he started watching the people on the treadmills. They moved with a kind of ease he didn't have. When they finished, they were smiling.

"I felt like I looked like a complete goofball on the elliptical," he said. "I noticed people running on the treadmill, and it was a nice fluid movement. When they got done, they were smiling, and I decided I wanted to do what these people were doing."

He jumped on a treadmill. He couldn't run for more than 30 seconds. So he ran for 30 seconds, walked for two minutes, and repeated. Then the intervals flipped. Then he was running for miles.

A woman at the front desk of the YMCA asked if he wanted to run the Turkey Trot. He said no, crowds weren't his thing. She told him to just hop in after the start and hop out before the finish. No pressure.

On Thanksgiving morning, the YMCA was closed. The Turkey Trot was the only thing available. He jumped in as a bandit. He loved every second of it.

Six months later, he ran his first half marathon. A few months after that, his first full marathon. The next year, a 50k. Then a 50-mile race for charity. Then, in 2016, a 100-mile Turkey Trot from Milwaukee to Chicago with the Chicago Flatlanders.

He was logging 13 to 18 miles every single day.

The Yo-Yo

Years into his sobriety, Scott bought a yo-yo on a whim and tossed it in a drawer in his dining room. It sat there for years.

One day, he wasn't feeling motivated to run. He opened that drawer for no particular reason and saw it sitting there.

"I put it on and threw it a couple times, and I thought to myself, why can't I go run with the yo-yo? It will keep my mind occupied."

So he did.

The first time he ran with it, people started honking. Kids in the back seats of cars had their mouths wide open, smiling. He waved back. He kept going.

"People constantly see me running and it keeps me accountable to stay sober, to move forward, and keep running," Scott said.

The yo-yo became more than a toy. It became a public commitment. Every time someone saw him, he was showing up. Every wave was a promise kept.

He learned tricks along the way: around the world, walking the dog, the tick-tock. He went from throwing it once or twice a minute to every five seconds. The Quad Cities had a new local legend.

Food for Thought

Running gave Scott his life back. And once he had it, he wanted to give something back too.

While logging miles through downtown Davenport, he kept seeing people living on the streets. He couldn't stop thinking about it.

"It started with an idea in my head," he said. "Then I called my friend to take me to the grocery store to get ingredients to fix a warm pot of chili. I then asked him if he would transport me, my card table and pot of chili to a cold corner in downtown Davenport in early January."

That was the beginning of Food for Thought, a meal program for the homeless in downtown Davenport. Within one evening, he had a small group of volunteers. Today, the program has around 30 rotating volunteers who show up at local shelters with warm meals and open hearts.

"Running and Food for Thought have changed every aspect of my life," Scott said.

The Painting Company

Scott Searle is the owner of Yo-Yo Man Painting, a professional painting company serving the Quad Cities.

The name isn't a gimmick. It's a reminder. Every job he takes, every wall he paints, every customer he serves, it's all built on the foundation of a man who chose to stay in the gym instead of walking out the back door.

He brings that same grit and accountability to every project. The same guy who runs 13 miles before most people have their first cup of coffee is the same guy who shows up to your home and does the job right.

"Running saved my life and it can help other people," Scott said. "I used to wake up and be like, 'Today would be a good day to drink.' Now, the first thing I do most days is lace up my shoes and go running. I just started running and it took on a life of itself, a much better life for me."

Why It Matters

There's a reason people honk when they see Scott running. It's not just the yo-yo. It's what he represents.

He's proof that the back door doesn't have to win. That one small decision, getting on an elliptical instead of walking to a bar, can change everything. That sobriety isn't just about stopping something. It's about building something new in its place.

If you've hired Yo-Yo Man Painting, you've hired someone who knows what it means to show up. To do the work. To keep going even when it's hard.

And if you ever see a man running down the streets of Davenport with a yo-yo in his hand, give him a honk. He'll wave back.

Yo-Yo Man Painting serves the Quad Cities: Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, Rock Island, East Moline, and surrounding communities. Request a free quote today.