Young Noonie was much like any other kid growing up on Altgeld Garden Housing Projects. His mother was a school teacher and father was head janitor for the complex. Always intrigued by politics since he was a kid, Ward enrolled in Southern Illinois University after high school graduation to study business and play football. But after two years in school, he returned home to Chicago to look after his father. In addition to returning to Chicago to care for his family, for the past ten years Ward also worked alongside President Barack Obamas efforts to be an activist in the Altgeld Garden Housing Projects.
Ward also played professional football as a free agent for a year with the Los Angeles Rams. But after he put his sports career to the side, he dove into the political arena and ran for alderman of Chicago’s Ninth Ward in 2010. Although he didn’t win the election, he licked his wounds from the small defeat, chalked it all up as a learning experience and began campaigning for the position of Commissioner of the Water Reclamation Department. He won in the primary elections, in March 2012, with more than 168,000 votes.
However, just because he has worked tirelessly as a public servant for the past 20 years, Noonie has lived his share of the street life. He recently released a straight-to-video biopic DVD entitled Gangster with A Heart of Gold: the Noonie G Story, which is narrated by Chicago rap artist Common and multiple Grammy Award-winning rapper/producer Kanye West. The DVD is the story of Noonie’s dicey gangster past of being a high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples and his ascension into entertainment, business and politics.
In addition, he is also readying the release of his autobiography of the same name and has been featured in about 50 magazines, one of which being a cover story in F.E.D.S. magazine.
In addition, he is also readying the release of his autobiography of the same name and has been featured in about 50 magazines, one of which being a cover story in F.E.D.S. magazine.
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