Speaker 1: Seven six seven hundred WLWRL Carrier Sports Talk brings you
Speaker 1: going to buy Kelsey Chevrolet Amliance Macuntleister eighty. Thanks for
Speaker 1: making your way here tonight and hanging out. We'll do
Speaker 1: it for three hours tomorrow night. Can't wait for that
Speaker 1: six to nine o'clock. We'll do it off the beaten
Speaker 1: path topic. We'll recap the day that was at Paycoorps
Speaker 1: with Duke Toba. It's so much more. But let's get
Speaker 1: to our next guest. It's been way too long since
Speaker 1: we talked with him. And a little backstory here, little
Speaker 1: background Joe Nux. We love talking about the Joe Nucks
Speaker 1: America Lake Fields and the old left hander had a
Speaker 1: vision for building a Hope Center. Imagine, if you will,
Speaker 1: thirty one thousand square foot indoor facility with recreational experiences
Speaker 1: in a variety of different sports. Well, also imagine a
Speaker 1: dream like that cost a lot of money, like twelve
Speaker 1: million dollars. Well, that dream has taken a gigantic and
Speaker 1: I mean gigantic step forward, and what a way to
Speaker 1: ring in twenty twenty six with this news, Let's go
Speaker 1: straight to the source. He's the executive directory, He's the
Speaker 1: the show, he would be Tyler Bradshaw.
Speaker 2: How are you, Lance, I'm good. I'm actually calling to
Speaker 2: hire you as my agent and we're gonna go get
Speaker 2: one of these lame kiffing deals where I can, I can,
Speaker 2: I can leave and I can just get a bunch
Speaker 2: of money in that something. It really is, It really is.
Speaker 1: I don't understand any of it, but a world, a
Speaker 1: world I do understand. There's just incredible news that has
Speaker 1: developed on the front of the Nuxhall Miracle League Fields.
Speaker 1: Let me start with this, explain to listeners what Walt
Speaker 1: Lunsford and Mahttan Foundation initially put up and what the
Speaker 1: response was to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So actually, gosh, it's hard to believe that it's
Speaker 2: already been over over two months since we got to
Speaker 2: honor you Lance as our our Joe Nuxsall Humanitarian Award
Speaker 2: winner and our annual Miracle Ball, which was such a
Speaker 2: special night. Now I wanted to make sure Lance that
Speaker 2: we we thanked you again for letting us honor you.
Speaker 2: It was so special to have Kasey and Peyton there
Speaker 2: to speak on your behalf, so many other people who
Speaker 2: came out just to love on you and thank you
Speaker 2: for everything you do for our cause for so many
Speaker 2: nonprofits throughout Cincinnati, and we knew it was going to
Speaker 2: be a special night because of that, But then we
Speaker 2: got to add an additional layer of excitement. Walt lunch
Speaker 2: Heard and the Hatton Foundation have just been incredible supporters
Speaker 2: of ours since since before day one. They were actually
Speaker 2: the folks who when we when we wanted to build
Speaker 2: a miracle League Fields Vacuum twenty eleven, they offered a
Speaker 2: half million dollar matching grant that that was the biggest
Speaker 2: gift in our history up until the night of the
Speaker 2: Miracle Ball, because Walt Lunchford took the stage and announced
Speaker 2: that the Hatton Foundation was going to be offering a
Speaker 2: one million dollar matching grant to help us build the
Speaker 2: Hope Center. So that was our first seven figure gift,
Speaker 2: first million million dollar gift in the history of the
Speaker 2: Nuxhall Foundation. There was there was a little asterisk though
Speaker 2: on there when we got the offer. Not not a
Speaker 2: bad one by any means, but it kind of you know,
Speaker 2: you look at your calendar and you're like, Okay, we
Speaker 2: got to do this quick. Because the goal that the
Speaker 2: Hatton Foundation laid down, they said we would like for
Speaker 2: you all to meet this this grant, this matching gift.
Speaker 2: We'd like you to do it by December thirty first,
Speaker 2: which nobody was counting, but if they were, that was
Speaker 2: sixty eight days. So we had sixty eight days to
Speaker 2: go out and raise a million dollars towards this project.
Speaker 2: Met with lots of people, talked with lots of people,
Speaker 2: had lots of great conversations, and boy lance, it is hard.
Speaker 2: Here we go. We're starting off. I made it eight
Speaker 2: days into twenty twenty six, and I'm crying on air
Speaker 2: with you. Our donors stepped up and donated. They set
Speaker 2: a million's not enough, they said, let's go a quarter more.
Speaker 2: In two months, we raised one point two five million
Speaker 2: dollars to meet and surpass that matching grant. Took the
Speaker 2: total of our campaign to six point six million dollars raised,
Speaker 2: which is just saying it out loud. It still doesn't
Speaker 2: feel real that we've been able to make that kind
Speaker 2: of progress. You know, I shared on stage at the
Speaker 2: Miracle Ball. If you were have talked to us. Back
Speaker 2: in September, our campaign was sitting at about three point
Speaker 2: two million dollars raised. To go from three point two
Speaker 2: million dollars raised in September to end the year at
Speaker 2: six point six million. It's an incredible feeling. And I
Speaker 2: know that we've got a lot of our supporters and
Speaker 2: a lot of our donors out there listening because they
Speaker 2: love you and they listen to your show. And on
Speaker 2: behalf of myself, the Knuxall family, the Hatton Foundation, everybody
Speaker 2: involved in this. We just have to say thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you for showing us how much you
Speaker 2: believe in this dream, how much you love Joe, how
Speaker 2: much you want to see this facility built. It's an
Speaker 2: incredible feeling.
Speaker 1: I am uh, I have I have chills, I have goosebumps,
Speaker 1: and look, I'm a I'm a I'm a spec in
Speaker 1: the big picture of all of this, but that night
Speaker 1: was was life changing for me and for my family.
Speaker 1: I'm still recalling moments that I didn't realize were actually
Speaker 1: happening in real time. I'm realizing they were happening now,
Speaker 1: which is incredible. What Larry Tischler told me, he said,
Speaker 1: so call this in because you're not going to realize
Speaker 1: everything that happened, and he was exactly right. But I
Speaker 1: what you just laid out, and if you're crying. That
Speaker 1: means Kim is crying, and that means I'm about to
Speaker 1: cry hearing all this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but if I'm if, I'm if I'm crying Kims
Speaker 2: and crying for two or three days exactly.
Speaker 1: But to do this, and you allude to this in
Speaker 1: the release, this isn't one person or two or a handful.
Speaker 1: This is the power of community getting something done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean hundreds, hundreds of donations that came in. I mean, lance,
Speaker 1: I I'm not the fastest guy responding to emails, but
Speaker 1: I am still.
Speaker 2: Answering emails from people who donated back in back in December,
Speaker 2: and and I think the amazing thing was was first
Speaker 2: time donors. I have to share a couple stories. One
Speaker 2: in particular, we had a gentleman and his family, Dave Welsh,
Speaker 2: who stopped out at the fields. He'd never been there,
Speaker 2: He'd always wanted to come out, he always wanted to
Speaker 2: stop by, wanted to check the place out. And Kim,
Speaker 2: you know, you just talked about the stars aligning. Kim
Speaker 2: happened to be there. It was probably about thirty minutes
Speaker 2: before he was headed to grab lunch at Skyline on
Speaker 2: Hicks Boulevard, and he talked with Dave for a while.
Speaker 2: I met with him a few days later, and a
Speaker 2: few days after Thanksgiving, Dave reached out and said, our
Speaker 2: family is just so touched by this, this dream and
Speaker 2: what you guys are doing, and we would like to
Speaker 2: donate a half million dollars to name the court in
Speaker 2: the arena so that that court, which is going to
Speaker 2: host special Olympics basketball games and special needs proms and
Speaker 2: theater performances and all kinds of things, that'll be the
Speaker 2: Welsh Family Court at the Hope Center. And we're so
Speaker 2: thankful to them for doing that. My other favorite was, like,
Speaker 2: I want to say this was probably the thirtieth of December.
Speaker 2: I get a call number I don't recognize. I answered,
Speaker 2: that's a guy. He said, Hey, I actually I'm on
Speaker 2: my way to Kim Knoxall's house. I got a check
Speaker 2: I want to drop off for fifty thousand dollars. And
Speaker 2: it was just like, you know, just jaw dropping to
Speaker 2: see people respond to this message to the local news organizations,
Speaker 2: and you all helped us get the story out to
Speaker 2: brand new people. I would venture to say I haven't
Speaker 2: run the numbers, but I would venture to say fifty
Speaker 2: to sixty percent of the people who donated to help
Speaker 2: us get to that one point two to five million raised.
Speaker 2: We're brand new, first time donors. That's an incredible thing.
Speaker 2: It's really amazing to see the response from all of
Speaker 2: Cincinnati to want to make this happen. But whether it
Speaker 2: was a five dollars donation or whether it was a
Speaker 2: half million dollar donation, they all added up to do
Speaker 2: something absolutely remarkable.
Speaker 1: And Tyler, in and around all that, I just flashed
Speaker 1: to a memory that has forever burned in my head
Speaker 1: and in Kelly's head, back to that the evening of
Speaker 1: hope that you had and yeah, and seeing one of
Speaker 1: the young boys who's part of the Nuts on America
Speaker 1: League family.
Speaker 3: Danger, I know, I know what story takes his piggy
Speaker 3: bank and he sets it down on the stage and
Speaker 3: he puts on goggles and he takes a bat and
Speaker 3: he bashes down on it, and all the money that
Speaker 3: comes out he donated that night for an evening of
Speaker 3: a hope.
Speaker 1: And that the hair is standing up on my arms
Speaker 1: as I say that right now.
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, for sixty three cents, and we've still got
Speaker 2: the the glass yards from the piggy bank and I
Speaker 2: can tell you we're we're gonna display those in the
Speaker 2: Hope Center someday because it's that kind of giving, you know.
Speaker 2: And Lance, I mean Sam, Sam uses a walker. Sam
Speaker 2: has had some some he was diagnosed with dwarf Ism
Speaker 2: after he was born. And to see the smile on
Speaker 2: Sam's face every Saturday when he comes out there, to
Speaker 2: see him talk about what this building would mean for him,
Speaker 2: not just next year, the following year, but for the
Speaker 2: entirety of his life, that he'll have a place where
Speaker 2: he can go that will meet his needs, that will
Speaker 2: be there to serve his family, It's unbelievable. And I
Speaker 2: mean you you know. That night at the Evening for Hope,
Speaker 2: that was another incredible reason that we were able to
Speaker 2: make such a big jump here over the past few months.
Speaker 2: Are Our board members Ron Ready and Chad Kiddell put
Speaker 2: on an incredible event and we were very transparent with people.
Speaker 2: We were asking people to come out and make three
Speaker 2: year pledges to support this project, and we had a
Speaker 2: couple hundred people there in attendance with us that night.
Speaker 2: Our family shared their stories, including Sam and his family,
Speaker 2: and we had our supporters pledge about eight hundred and
Speaker 2: ninety thousand, and that's separate from the one point two
Speaker 2: to five million that I'm talking about that was raised
Speaker 2: through the Hatton Foundation MAT grant, and every donation more
Speaker 2: than the more than the money that ends up in
Speaker 2: the total line lance. It's it's a vote of confidence
Speaker 2: from people who say, yes, we need this, Yes this
Speaker 2: is something that will benefit our family, that will benefit
Speaker 2: our community. That's what every time I see these donations,
Speaker 2: that's what I think is that it's not just somebody
Speaker 2: giving their money, although that's a that's a you know,
Speaker 2: that's a really worthy thing to do. They're giving us
Speaker 2: their support and they are giving us their validation that
Speaker 2: a project like this matters. And that encouragement coupled with
Speaker 2: a dream from the old left hander himself. I don't know,
Speaker 2: I don't know what more you need to want to
Speaker 2: work for this every single day.
Speaker 1: Tyler will will in fact, will shovels go on the
Speaker 1: ground in twenty twenty six, and if so, tell listeners
Speaker 1: where where exactly the location is and where the shovels
Speaker 1: will go.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The only way I'm gonna be able to prevent
Speaker 2: Larry Tishler from putting a shovel in the ground is
Speaker 2: if I find a straight jacket and Larry might have
Speaker 2: his shovel right now driving out to the field. So
Speaker 2: the beautiful part about this is the building is going
Speaker 2: Let me answer right out of the gate real quick though, Yes,
Speaker 2: shovels are going in the ground in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: Based on these sundraising totals of what we're seeing, we
Speaker 2: are going to be able to break ground in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty six. Obviously, we still got a long way to go.
Speaker 2: We still need to raise around five and a half
Speaker 2: million dollars left, so that's we need to get to
Speaker 2: ten million to completely build the building and then another
Speaker 2: two million for a maintenance and operations endowments. But we
Speaker 2: are planning to break ground this year. The building itself
Speaker 2: the beautiful part about it. It will be positioned adjacent
Speaker 2: to the Miracle League Fields where they are right now.
Speaker 2: So if you are standing in the parking lot at
Speaker 2: the Miracle League Fields to your left hand side, the
Speaker 2: building will basically be right there. Sot'll share a parking
Speaker 2: lot with our currently existing facility. And the reason I
Speaker 2: say that's a beautiful thing is because for our families,
Speaker 2: predictability is so important to them. If we can give
Speaker 2: them a predictable routine that they can follow, whether they're
Speaker 2: coming to play a baseball game, whether they're coming to
Speaker 2: play mini golf, coming to hear a nutrition class, coming
Speaker 2: to play basketball, whatever it is, If we can give
Speaker 2: them a place that they're comfortable, that they're familiar with,
Speaker 2: that takes a little bit of that that work out
Speaker 2: of the equation of raising a child or an adult
Speaker 2: with with physical or developmental disabilities, it makes all the difference.
Speaker 2: So so with the addition of this building, we will create,
Speaker 2: you know, what we think is the world's most comprehensive,
Speaker 2: inclusive recreational campus for athletes with special needs. Because whether
Speaker 2: it's indoor, outdoor, summer, winter, it'll all be right there
Speaker 2: on that one plot of land. It's going to be
Speaker 2: really cool to see it all kind of build out
Speaker 2: there and complement one another. And the best part about it,
Speaker 2: no more rain delays for us. If you know, if
Speaker 2: it does rain during a baseball game, will just be
Speaker 2: to shift everything indoors.
Speaker 1: All right before I run out of time, and to
Speaker 1: keep the momentum going. For those listening who say, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, I want to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: How do they go about doing that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, just jump on our website Nutsawmiracle League dot org
Speaker 2: slash Hope. If you go on our website, there's opportunities
Speaker 2: to give there. You can watch an incredible virtual fly
Speaker 2: through a video of the building narrated by our friend,
Speaker 2: the Hall of Famer Marty Brenhaman. I've watched that video
Speaker 2: about seven and forty eight times and it never gets old,
Speaker 2: and especially hearing hearing Marty talk about what that dream
Speaker 2: meant to Joe. So check out the video. You can
Speaker 2: give online. You can also reach out to us at
Speaker 2: the Nutsall Foundation. We're happy to discuss giving plans, happy
Speaker 2: to discuss giving opportunities, naming rights, corporate sponsorships, whatever it
Speaker 2: may be. But you know, Lance, as you saw that
Speaker 2: night at the Evening for Hope, what this will mean
Speaker 2: to our families, you know, many of which you just
Speaker 2: deal with challenge after challenge every single day. We can
Speaker 2: take some of those roadblocks out of the out of
Speaker 2: the way for them and give them opportunities to do
Speaker 2: things that unfortunately they've been told their child or their
Speaker 2: loved ones never going to have an opportunity to do. Uh,
Speaker 2: That's what it's all about and that's what this building
Speaker 2: will do. It will create that hope that they deserve.
Speaker 1: You know, we love you guys, pass along our best
Speaker 1: to everybody, and we hope to see you soon.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And Lance, you joked at the Miracle Ball that
Speaker 2: we all thought you were going to pass out. I
Speaker 2: didn't show you the stretcher we had underneath the state
Speaker 2: just in case that happened. We had some some salts
Speaker 2: and cool pals things like that. But you're you did
Speaker 2: an incredible job. And Lance, I'll say you your your
Speaker 2: speech still sharing Casey's story. That meant so much to
Speaker 2: me as a father, It meant so much to our
Speaker 2: families who who deal with struggles. We're going to be
Speaker 2: sharing your speech out on on social media and things
Speaker 2: here in the coming days because it was really really
Speaker 2: a powerful testimony and just a reinforce Smith that we
Speaker 2: we picked the right guy when we honored you. You
Speaker 2: were you were incredible that night, as you are every night,
Speaker 2: and we're just thankful for your friendship.
Speaker 1: Well right back at you, and uh we we are
Speaker 1: so blessed and uh, I was so good catching up
Speaker 1: with you, and let's uh let's talk soon, all right.
Speaker 2: Yep, hope to hope to call you in a few
Speaker 2: weeks and say we got another couple million, my friend,
Speaker 2: let's do it. Thanks Tyler, all right, Thanks Lann.