“Pull myself together,

put on a new face,

Climb down off the hilltop baby,

Gonna get back in the race.”

“Dreams I Never See” performed by Molly Hatchet,written by Gregg Allman

For eight years it was a dream. He sat wrongfully imprisoned in a South Georgia penitentiary, sometimes listening to a Molly Hatchet song over spotty radio reception. He didn’t know the song’s name, but it seemed to be written about him. Few could relate to the lyrics like Terry Wanzer.

Now years later, exonerated, he’s drawing closer to an understanding of what he truly wants in life and has channeled his energy into opening a new family-oriented business.

All Star Pizza & Subs, at 1850 Redmond Circle, is an authentic brick oven pizzeria whose owner and staff take pride in the high-quality, fresh ingredients used to make its New York-style pies.

Three weeks after opening, the employees at the pizzeria prepare for the store’s grand opening Nov. 14 which will include inflatables, balloons and outdoor fun provided by nearby Fun is Good.

But a worry that this may not have been the right time to open a new business bothers Wanzer, as with many small business owners in a down economy.

“When you initiate something, sometimes it’s not the right time, and if it isn’t the right time, God may direct you down a different path — and you have to take that path,” Wanzer said.

Using the same applied effort combined with a trust in a higher power, he’s turned what could have easily been a tale of bitterness and despair into one of renewal and inspiration.

“I know what a miracle is,” Wanzer said. “I’ve lived it.”

“Climbed up on the hilltop,

To see what I could see.

The whole world was falling down,

Right down in front of me.”

With every word, it’s immediately obvious that he means what he’s saying.

“I don’t like to live in the past,” Wanzer, 57, said. “I’ve heard the worst two sounds you’ll ever hear — a baby with colic crying and when those doors close you in at Reidsville state pen.”

You have to move forward, he says, toward a goal. Otherwise you’ll get bogged down and remain where you’ve been. The angst of knowing you’ve spent part of your life, time you’ll never get back, can sometimes be overwhelming, he said.

At 19 years old, Wanzer was incarcerated with some of the worst felons in Georgia’s penal system.

“You come out a pretty tough customer, because you’ve learned a completely different lifestyle,” he said, very straightforward. “That healing process took years and years and honestly years.”

“You have to work through stages of being upset. … I’ve had a lot of arguments with God,” Wanzer said. “But you can’t have an argument with God unless you believe.”

And that belief got him through the worst days.

He was released at the age of 27, having spent nearly a third of his life in prison.

The skills he learned in order to survive inside the penitentiary didn’t wash once he was released. And it took years of losing jobs because of a not-yet expunged criminal record and attempting to recapture a lost youth before he was fully pardoned for the crimes he didn’t commit.

The State Board of Pardons and Paroles completely pardoned him in 1991 and ruled the conviction resulted from a tragic mistaken identification.

But those same instincts that brought him through hard times also brought him back into society.

“Just one more morning,

I had to wake up with the blues.

Pulled myself out of bed,

Put on my walking shoes.”

Miracles don’t always shimmer. They arrive in many fashions.

Wanzer looks around the business with the obvious pride of a new father.

“Look at that kitchen, that’s clean. I built this so people could look at the kitchen and see what we’re doing,” he said as an employee hand-tossed a pizza in front of a brick oven.

“The heat from the bricks is what makes that crust good,” Wanzer said, biting a crisp slice of pizza. “That’s fresh — you can’t get any fresher than that.”

With prices comparable to chain restaurants, a large fully loaded pizza costing $19 and subs costing less than $6, All Star steps it up with fresh ingredients and dough made from scratch every day.

“That’s why this tastes better,” he said contemplating a slice. “We’re not skimping on the ingredients.”

But the most important part of the business is the shift from the bar scene to a family restaurant, he said.

Until recently, Wanzer owned a Shorter Avenue bar called Strokers, but he eventually realized that’s not his scene any longer. It was time to move on.

As he first looked around the new business, something struck him. There was a child sitting in a high chair enjoying himself and inexplicably it caused emotion to well up.

“I realized I was doing the right thing,” he said.

Located in a new shopping complex, the pizzeria on Redmond Circle is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

For right now, All Star Pizza & Subs only delivers for the West Rome area, but Wanzer said he hopes the business will grow and be able to offer delivery to other areas soon.

“‘Cause I’m hung up on my dreams,

I’m never gonna see.

Lord help me,

Dreams got the best of me.”

But, unlike the ending of that Molly Hatchet song — for Terry Wanzer, they haven’t.

Editor’s note: Because Terry Wanzer was exonerated, the Rome News-Tribune chose not to release what he was charged with.