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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for

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Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, fourteen

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Speaker 1: year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Anius Williams. Hello,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast. Telling you guys

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Speaker 1: gonna be excited about this panel today. We're talking about mentoring.

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Speaker 1: How would I define mentoring? Incredible successful others who've already

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Speaker 1: done well what you're attempting to do. And I think

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Speaker 1: by the time this conversation ends, you guys are gonna

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Speaker 1: find out that these guys that I'm talking with are

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Speaker 1: outstanding mentors, finding people who can help you to get

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Speaker 1: where you want to go and then return in the

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Speaker 1: favor to help those who come after us reach their potential.

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Speaker 1: Each member of today's panel has been a winner of

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Speaker 1: the Walter Peyton Man of the Year Award. So y'all

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Speaker 1: know what that tells me Immediately they weren't just focused

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Speaker 1: on the field, but they knew how important a platform

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Speaker 1: was and is. UH to leverage our influence and our

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Speaker 1: fame on the field, UH to say serve our community. First.

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Speaker 1: We have the legendary Temple Babe Buccaneers, my fellow inductee

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Speaker 1: into the Hall of Fame, Dairy Brooks, Florida State Seminals.

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Speaker 1: He played a hundred years in the league. And I

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Speaker 1: don't think Mr Gay, did you miss the game? No,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately I didn't. I didn't think so thinking that a

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Speaker 1: will linebacker. Come on, fellas, man, come on, somebody need

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Speaker 1: to be calling this guy found out to find out

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Speaker 1: how he did it. And next we have a former

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Speaker 1: also seminal bucking Atlanta Falcons and even Atlanta Falcons owner.

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Speaker 1: That's right, we need to put that out there. Players

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Speaker 1: have some ownership. Steak I wore done out of Baton

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Speaker 1: Rouge and just watching his career being from New Orleans

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Speaker 1: playing at these the university knowing about Warwick and I'm

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Speaker 1: so excited to have some foret as these other university.

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Speaker 1: And then we have just fellow running back Ladinium. He's

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Speaker 1: also Thomason who's also done his podcast wimen So Glad,

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Speaker 1: and he and the guy sitting next to him, Jason Taylor,

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Speaker 1: they fresh what they knew gold Jack and digs out

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Speaker 1: standing speeches man. And I'm still just thinking about those moments.

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Speaker 1: Always get back for these induction ceremonies and just to

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Speaker 1: see you guys, get in and tell your story. I

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Speaker 1: think it was a coach of somebody I remember, Jason,

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Speaker 1: you point out and then just your collective speech, Ladanium

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Speaker 1: that connected us during this turbaling time in our country

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Speaker 1: and your call the action. So we getting ready, tall guys,

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Speaker 1: I've done the introduction mentors. First part we want to

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Speaker 1: deal with is mentor storage. Each of us have great

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Speaker 1: success on and off the field. I'll start off with Ladainy,

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Speaker 1: and I want to know about just your mentorship and

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Speaker 1: and you being guided along the way. Uh, what they

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Speaker 1: taught you and what those mentors have been to you mentoring.

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Speaker 1: Um it started, I would say with with people in

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Speaker 1: my community. To be honest with you, you know, we

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Speaker 1: hear the term a lot of takes the village to

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Speaker 1: raise a child, and that was certainly the case with me.

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Speaker 1: I grew up in a small town, small country town Marlon,

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Speaker 1: Texas for the most part, small towns in Texas, of course,

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Speaker 1: and so just having an older cousin, you know, who

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Speaker 1: was just three years older than I, that I can

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Speaker 1: kind of follow around at a young age and learn

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Speaker 1: the right things to do and the wrong things to do.

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Speaker 1: Things I wanted to avoid seeing him throughout his journey.

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Speaker 1: He ended up going to the Air Force, and so

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Speaker 1: he set a great example early on about how lonely

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Speaker 1: this stuff that I want to do on the field,

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Speaker 1: but also the stuff to do in the community and

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Speaker 1: how to take care of yourself in the classroom. He said,

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Speaker 1: a perfect example with that. And then I had a

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Speaker 1: number of coaches. My my high school running backs coach

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Speaker 1: Walter Brown, he was a god sin And if it

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Speaker 1: wasn't from for this man, I probably wouldn't have went

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Speaker 1: Division one. I probably would have had to go to

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Speaker 1: Juco route first. But this guy took me when I

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Speaker 1: was a sophomore fifteen years old, and I guess he's

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Speaker 1: seen something in me. And he said, listen, son, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna get you ready for college. You're gonna need to

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Speaker 1: take the S A T, the S the A C T.

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Speaker 1: And I said, coach, what is that? He said, oh,

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Speaker 1: those are college preparatory tests that you have to take

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Speaker 1: in order to to uh to get to college. And

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Speaker 1: I said, you mean I got to take the test.

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Speaker 1: I thought, you just get a scholarship and you go.

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Speaker 1: He said, no, sir, so you gotta take a test.

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Speaker 1: So he started me at a young age, fifteen years

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Speaker 1: old taking these tests, getting prepared for college. And then

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Speaker 1: as time went on, a guy by the name of

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Speaker 1: Emmon Smith, who we all know men started mentoring me

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Speaker 1: in college later in my college career. He was right

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Speaker 1: there in Dallas, and he was the perfect guy. I

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Speaker 1: met Emmett first when I was twelve years old, believe

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Speaker 1: it or not, we had a camp. And so I've

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Speaker 1: had a number of great mentors throughout my life that

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Speaker 1: have been really great for me. But those are the

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Speaker 1: three that I initially I think about. You know, one

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Speaker 1: of the big things Ladani about here three years older,

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Speaker 1: was initially your relative. I noticed your mentor, didn't that.

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Speaker 1: We always think of mentors sometime, Jason, I'll come to

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Speaker 1: you next, and somebody has to be much older. And

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Speaker 1: here's somebody that's like a peer, a relative, but a peer,

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Speaker 1: and you were able to humble yourself so to speak,

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Speaker 1: and learn so much from that person. That says a

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Speaker 1: lot in terms just about yourself and as it relates

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Speaker 1: to it doesn't have to be somebody older to be

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Speaker 1: into it. It's just somebody, as I said, that you

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Speaker 1: can look at that helps you make better decisions, even

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Speaker 1: at a young age. Appreciate your sharing that Jason, come

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Speaker 1: on with it man. Well, for me, it was somebody

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Speaker 1: that was older, or it was I guess a collective

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Speaker 1: group of people that were that were older. You know,

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Speaker 1: I grew up without a dad, Um, never knew my father.

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Speaker 1: So I have my mom and my my older sister,

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Speaker 1: so two women in the house and kind of a

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Speaker 1: vagabond kind of family for a while. So it was

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Speaker 1: it was a guy named jimmykas Initially it was he

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Speaker 1: was a deacon at our church and for whatever reason

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Speaker 1: took an interest in me, and you know, kind of

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Speaker 1: was that mentor for me that father figured a little

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Speaker 1: bit taught me how to, you know, do everything, whether

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Speaker 1: it was painting the house or electrical coal plumbing all this.

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Speaker 1: So I think I was free labor initially, you know,

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Speaker 1: carrying on up the side of the scaffolding and the

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Speaker 1: shingles for the roof and all that. But as I

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Speaker 1: started to get older and older, thirteen fourteen years old,

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Speaker 1: fifteen years old, I was hard to realize and that

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Speaker 1: I'm picking up all this skill, all these skills or

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Speaker 1: pieces of these skills as much as a kid can

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Speaker 1: um at an early age. So it was the only

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Speaker 1: was I doing that, But it was it was keeping

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Speaker 1: me out of trouble, was keeping me off the streets

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Speaker 1: and keep me out of some of the environment that

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Speaker 1: I was growing up in. So and I was a

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Speaker 1: lost young kid. I didn't I really didn't know a

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Speaker 1: lot of things. I didn't understand. You know. I grew

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Speaker 1: up in Pittsburgh, and I thought Pittsburgh was in like

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Speaker 1: I saw these other places on TV sometimes, but I

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Speaker 1: never knew. I think a lot of kids had that

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Speaker 1: feeling nowadays, is outside of that outside of their zip

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Speaker 1: code or you know, it's like they don't know anything else.

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Speaker 1: And I never knew what was on the other side

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Speaker 1: of the tracks in Pittsburgh, you know. But you know,

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Speaker 1: so it was someone like like Jim Makis And then

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Speaker 1: there was you know, my high school coach is the

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Speaker 1: one to end up getting me involved in the game.

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Speaker 1: He got me involved, got me started, um, got me

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Speaker 1: to fall in love with this game of football because

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Speaker 1: I was a basketball guy all my life. But but

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Speaker 1: he started me down. But he started me down that road.

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Speaker 1: So it was again, even been through high school, I

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Speaker 1: was I was kind of lost it, Like I didn't

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Speaker 1: know a lot of stuff like, I look back now

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Speaker 1: and I'm trying to teach my kids and kids that

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Speaker 1: I coach now you know that there's so much more

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Speaker 1: outside of our own community, and you know, I look

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Speaker 1: back and I'm like, God, don't even know. I didn't

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Speaker 1: know all this stuff existed, you know. And for me athletically,

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Speaker 1: it was believe it or not. It was someone like

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Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's, who at the time was, you know it

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Speaker 1: still is, one of the biggest names on this planet.

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Speaker 1: But I became a student of Michael Jordan's, like got

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Speaker 1: every video commercial basketball game. It was the competitiveness that

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Speaker 1: he had, you know, the way he approached it. I

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Speaker 1: would have watched the way he handled officials, you know,

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Speaker 1: on calls, and I know there was the Jordan rules

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Speaker 1: or whatever, but I would have watched how he reacted

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Speaker 1: after a file was called on him, and you know,

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Speaker 1: however react after a lot of me. I became a

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Speaker 1: student of competition by watching Mike from a distance. So

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Speaker 1: he was one of your serious mentors who you never met,

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Speaker 1: right And I had a chance to meet him. I

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Speaker 1: met him when I finally got in the league, and

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Speaker 1: I told him, so, you know, I went I went

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Speaker 1: to a heat game and end up going when he

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Speaker 1: was playing for the Wizards and went in the locker

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Speaker 1: room after the game and had a chance to meet

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Speaker 1: him and sit down and and chop it up. And

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Speaker 1: I told him, I said, you know, this may sound

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Speaker 1: like a big fan thing, and I probably shouldn't say

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Speaker 1: this because I'm supposed to be the cool NFL guy now,

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Speaker 1: But you know, you're Michael George and I idolize you

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Speaker 1: from day one, and and still do. I mean, up

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Speaker 1: to that point, I still did. And then when I

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Speaker 1: became friends with him and started really leaning on them

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Speaker 1: for more information, it's I mean, to this day, Mike

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Speaker 1: said something I listened. I wanted you to describe something earlier.

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Speaker 1: You said you were a loss. Can you describe what

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Speaker 1: what that was like? Like you felt? Man, I was lost?

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Speaker 1: What what was that like for you? Um, it's looking

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Speaker 1: back at the time, it was, you know, you're a kid,

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Speaker 1: you're adolescent at you know, eleven through sixteen years old,

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Speaker 1: seventeen years old, so you're you really don't know how

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Speaker 1: to put it in the words. But now that I

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Speaker 1: look back, it's it was trying to find identity, to

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Speaker 1: find out who I was, you know, I was. I

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Speaker 1: was a small, skinny kid, and I had a gross

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Speaker 1: spurt who became a skinny, tall kid. I didn't win

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Speaker 1: a whole lot of fights growing up. I win something now,

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Speaker 1: so don't try anybody. I didn't win a whole exactly.

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Speaker 1: You know. I was often picked last of the playground.

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Speaker 1: That kind of stuff I wasn't. I wasn't a cool

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Speaker 1: kid in high school, so I had a real identity

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Speaker 1: crisis trying to figure out how do I fit in.

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Speaker 1: I was homeschooled in high school, you know, and that

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Speaker 1: was before homeschool and kind of became a thing and

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Speaker 1: became more popular, and I got made fun of for it.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't part of the end crowd because I was

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Speaker 1: home all day and would show up for practice. So

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Speaker 1: there was a bit of a disconnect there, even with teammates.

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Speaker 1: And it was always I've always been kind of a

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Speaker 1: loner growing up, and and uh, you know, that's hard

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Speaker 1: for a kid. Sometimes you're trying to figure out, you know,

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Speaker 1: I want to be cool enough in high school to

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Speaker 1: be with the athletes, but you don't always feel welcome

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Speaker 1: because you're you're not there. I didn't have a father

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Speaker 1: figure to bounce these things off of you know, my

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Speaker 1: mom did the best she could and did an amazing job.

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Speaker 1: But you know there's something to be said about having

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Speaker 1: that male authority and mentor figure around here. That's fascinating work.

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Speaker 1: You know work when I just knowing glimpses of your

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Speaker 1: story with your mom, obviously you share those things. Tell

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Speaker 1: us about your mentors. And when did you realize how

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Speaker 1: important it was to have mentors? Well, I think you

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Speaker 1: know early on. You know, I was raised by a community,

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Speaker 1: you know community where we called it the field next

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Speaker 1: to Southern University that I grew up in the Southern

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Speaker 1: univers by Southern University Jacks. I support the Jacks. I

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Speaker 1: support the Jacks, but I just I just think a

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Speaker 1: community in the sense, you know, raised me. And my

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Speaker 1: grandmother was a mentor to me, just because I know

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Speaker 1: that she cleaned houses growing up. So we used to

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Speaker 1: always go with her and we have to clean up

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Speaker 1: before we could play with you know, the we at

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Speaker 1: that time we call them rich people toys, and so

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Speaker 1: we used to you know, go to go to their

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Speaker 1: house help clean up a little bit. But she would

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Speaker 1: pay us by taking us to McDonald's. Back then you

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Speaker 1: get a little nine and I sent burg or whatever.

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Speaker 1: But this is her work ethic. I think taught me

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Speaker 1: a lot about the commitment that she had to provide

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Speaker 1: for us. But then growing up, when I started playing football,

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Speaker 1: you know, and as seven years old, and I was

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Speaker 1: the last you know, I go out in the the

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Speaker 1: corner and I was the last guy picked because I

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Speaker 1: was the smallest guy. I mean, so I was used

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Speaker 1: to being small and uh, and I met this guy.

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Speaker 1: His name is Maitland Brooks, my pops chot you. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he's still in my life today. Who started teaching me

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Speaker 1: the game of football, and he really taught me like

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Speaker 1: the true fundementals of the game, and everything was about commitment,

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Speaker 1: hard work. Uh. He made a lot of mistakes in

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Speaker 1: his life growing up. I mean he wasn't one time

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Speaker 1: an alcoholic, you know. He he made some mistakes, and

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Speaker 1: he looked out for me because I didn't have a father, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean, my dad was never around and my mom

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Speaker 1: was always working. So he was someone that didn't want

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Speaker 1: me to make the same mistakes he made. You know.

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Speaker 1: I still I really started to look at him as

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Speaker 1: a person that I aspired her to be better then

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Speaker 1: and I just think over the years. He's just been

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Speaker 1: a real big part of my life. But uh, someone

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Speaker 1: that that I love and respected, who I treat like

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Speaker 1: my father today because of the commitment he made to

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Speaker 1: me and my my family at that particular time being

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Speaker 1: able to six. So you know, from that, um, I

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Speaker 1: think I grew up idolizing Turnador set. You know back then,

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Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints. They were never on TV. They

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Speaker 1: had bags on their heads. And because I was, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was born in the world's too, I understand, right, Well,

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Speaker 1: I say, hey, baby, you know we all say, you know,

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Speaker 1: just growing up in Louis I know though, you know,

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Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys, That's who I adolized. You know, I

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Speaker 1: was a Cowboys fan. But Tuna Darsett was like the guy.

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Speaker 1: He was my guy because he wasn't the biggest guy

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Speaker 1: on me. I was really small. I mean I got drafted.

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Speaker 1: I was only a hundred and seventy pounds, right, So,

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Speaker 1: I mean just watching Tony run though, just the way

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Speaker 1: that he was, you know, aborted heads and was was

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Speaker 1: I mean, he was so smooth, and I was like,

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Speaker 1: that's why I want to be like so I tried

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Speaker 1: to pattern to steal something his moves you know, throughout

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Speaker 1: the years and when I had opportunity to meet him

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Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, you know, to go and

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Speaker 1: tell a guy that, hey, man, you you who I

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Speaker 1: want to be like. I mean, you know, for me,

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Speaker 1: that was that was huge. So I've had a lot

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Speaker 1: of different people that have influenced me. But throughout my life,

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Speaker 1: I would tell you I've met I've met a lot

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Speaker 1: of different people who's who've done a little bit of this.

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Speaker 1: They left out your life and come in someone else

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Speaker 1: do something, then they would leave about your life. So

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Speaker 1: it's like I learned earlier on that you know, people

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Speaker 1: come and go out of your life. It's like different

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Speaker 1: seasons they come there that helped to assist you. I

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Speaker 1: mean when I went to Florida State, I had a

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Speaker 1: guy it's like you need to wear a tie. This

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Speaker 1: is that. I mean, I had a guy who wasn't

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Speaker 1: even my father is just like, hey, I'm gonna help

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Speaker 1: you out, you know, buy you a jacket and gonna

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Speaker 1: buy you a tie in the shirts so that you

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Speaker 1: look professional. So it's like different people have done different

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Speaker 1: things that I've been able to you know, definitely learned

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Speaker 1: to take some things from this person. That person and

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Speaker 1: hopefully you know over of course, the time you put

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Speaker 1: all that together, thank you, Ward man a hundred and

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Speaker 1: seven pounds, you must have been looking at your childs

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Speaker 1: got the temple. I mean, one of the first plays

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Speaker 1: and probably my favorite. I've seen Worth obviously play a

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Speaker 1: lot of plays as his teammates, but one of the

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Speaker 1: most impressive plays is in practice. I think it was

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Speaker 1: our first scrimmage. He called a screen pass again to

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Speaker 1: start defense. We didn't touch you, number one defense one

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Speaker 1: defense freshman. We didn't touch him, and we who is this?

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Speaker 1: That's the guy from bad Ruge that played quarterback. We're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: we gotta get this. He did this against us. Then

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Speaker 1: coach about so how we wanted to get out of him,

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Speaker 1: took him out. Yes, you know, I was just like, listen,

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Speaker 1: you can't you know. I had just growing up though, right,

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Speaker 1: I had such a chip on my shoulders that I

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Speaker 1: don't care who here, because I mean I'm in a

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Speaker 1: huddle and all those guys were like that, but it

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Speaker 1: didn't matter. So I was a hundred and like fifties

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Speaker 1: sixty pounds. The funny thing is, so you guys are

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Speaker 1: seeing this guy, skinny kids, small kid, you got this

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Speaker 1: chip on your shoulders, but you're standing on your mentor shoulders.

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Speaker 1: The guys that took the time to help put in

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Speaker 1: you the confidence and it didn't matter. It wasn't the

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Speaker 1: size issue for you. So they just was in a frame,

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Speaker 1: but the mentality of a big player was in that

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Speaker 1: smaller frame. Who were those mentors for you? Well, I

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Speaker 1: think of it as kind of as work said seasonal.

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Speaker 1: For me, I necessarily didn't have a real mentor growing up,

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Speaker 1: but I had people in my life. It's like four

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Speaker 1: as my stepdad and discipline, and here's a guy that

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Speaker 1: dropped out of school in the sixth grade with sixteen

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Speaker 1: other siblings, but he had to work. But his work

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Speaker 1: ethic and discipline and working poured into me as his stepson.

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Speaker 1: That when I was acting out in school in the

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Speaker 1: fifth grade, he said, it's gonna come up there and whoop,

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Speaker 1: be in front of your class. I was like, yeah, right,

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Speaker 1: you know you always busy man, You're out there, you know,

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Speaker 1: reading blue prints and doing construction, were working. He don't

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Speaker 1: get on the six o'clock at night, so you don't

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Speaker 1: have time. He said, I'm gonn sure you have be

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Speaker 1: a class clown. You're gonna get all the that ask

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Speaker 1: you want for a lifetime. It's like, all right, sure enough. Man.

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Speaker 1: I kept on doing it because I never thought he

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Speaker 1: was coming. And one Friday I just seen peeping in

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Speaker 1: the little square hole in the classroom door. He comes

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Speaker 1: in very quietly. They were going home earlier today, so

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Speaker 1: I'm picking up the kids and I get to go

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Speaker 1: home early. Yeah. Yeah, So I'm going to the back

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Speaker 1: of the room and I just hear that sound. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: you mean, like when you're coming out of the tunnel before. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know something going down, but you don't know what's

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Speaker 1: going down. I turned around. Man, this man had his belt,

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Speaker 1: took his belt off. His gm was standing there. Come here.

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Speaker 1: You thought I was playing with your behind. So I'm

355
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Speaker 1: know he gotta catch me. You gotta catch me. So

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Speaker 1: jig zagging through the dance. And then somebody put their

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Speaker 1: foot out of the trip. In the fifth grade, somebody

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Speaker 1: in my class right now, I put up throwing down

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Speaker 1: it with Charles Aving. For every time I see Charles

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Speaker 1: having I just look at him like, dude, I know

361
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Speaker 1: you tripped me. I know you tripped me, but man,

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Speaker 1: somebody to tripped me. And he whopped me right there

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Speaker 1: in front of my fifth grade class. And I'm proud

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Speaker 1: to say that that changed my life because that's the

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Speaker 1: last time my dad ever whooped me. And you told

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Speaker 1: me that night, you know, hey, it's not about you

367
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Speaker 1: know anything you do, You're gonna learn how to treat people.

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Speaker 1: He's like those kids in there, you're smart. Is anyone know?

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Speaker 1: You make all ads? But you need to start being

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Speaker 1: an asset to the teacher. Help one of these kids

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Speaker 1: in here that's not making all ads. Instead of laughing

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Speaker 1: at him, you need to help him. So I kind

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Speaker 1: of got that sense of helping others in that regards early,

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Speaker 1: I say, in the fifth grade. But my image when

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Speaker 1: I look at the mentorship of success was our insurance man.

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Speaker 1: And you mean an insurance man back then. You to

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Speaker 1: go day to day and collect those premiums and that's

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Speaker 1: has a suit on, it's over a nice car, Mr Herbert.

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Speaker 1: So Mr Herbert was my image. Man. He's making a

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Speaker 1: lot of money and everybody paying and my mom and

381
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Speaker 1: dad don't have no problem paying everybody else. They got

382
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Speaker 1: something to say, but it seven you. I don't know

383
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Speaker 1: what do you do with this money? But he so

384
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Speaker 1: that to me was I want to do like Mr

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Speaker 1: Herbert may job a nice little BMW. I got it.

386
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Speaker 1: That was my first car I guy, because I wasn't

387
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Speaker 1: be there like Mr Herbert and and I asked him

388
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Speaker 1: one day, how do I how do I get your job?

389
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,080
Speaker 1: Mr Herbert? Like you? You said you got to go

390
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Speaker 1: to college? So I say, what's college? You say, like college?

391
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Speaker 1: I said, okay, you know, I know you go to

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Speaker 1: high school. That's the twelfth grade, yea, just like the

393
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Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen grade. It's like, yeah, it's like the thirteen

394
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Speaker 1: fourteenth grade. For some people it's the twentieth grade. But

395
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Speaker 1: I don't think that would be the case for you, okay.

396
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Speaker 1: So I just that was my in terms of okay,

397
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Speaker 1: that was like a self motivator for me. And I

398
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Speaker 1: guess when I look at mentorship and self motivation, you know,

399
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Speaker 1: all that kind of start to spur itself because I never,

400
00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:10,920
Speaker 1: you know, needed a lot to motivate me. And I

401
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,240
Speaker 1: said that strow with you. The second and the third

402
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,639
Speaker 1: piece of that is through my grandmother as well. And

403
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Speaker 1: I really learned what you talk about selfless and servant

404
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,359
Speaker 1: leadership was through her. And it was through cooking you know,

405
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,040
Speaker 1: off the street or from her job or wherever, and

406
00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,120
Speaker 1: she just fed people through cooking. I always just wondered

407
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:34,080
Speaker 1: how how she did it, and it was always something

408
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Speaker 1: her giving back to somebody else. And I just asked

409
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Speaker 1: me why you always feed people? And she said why

410
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Speaker 1: she said, He said, Derek, you you never know when

411
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Speaker 1: you'll be the only Bible with somebody ever see. I said, wow,

412
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Speaker 1: you say, And the way I look at the Bible

413
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Speaker 1: is all about serving, and so this is my way

414
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Speaker 1: of serving. So that's kind of how the serving you

415
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,560
Speaker 1: built into my life. And you know, I never really

416
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Speaker 1: got a mentor til later until Americ coach Dungee. That's

417
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,520
Speaker 1: when I truly think that's the first person I've seen

418
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Speaker 1: that has success that I wanted to duplicate and build

419
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,040
Speaker 1: into someone else. Everything else was life lessons. Being a

420
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 1: student athlete, I was self motivated by the word dumb job.

421
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Speaker 1: I hated that word, still hate that word. I wanted

422
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Speaker 1: to be the example I will only be the only

423
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Speaker 1: African American kid and honors classes, making AI's and still

424
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:34,520
Speaker 1: go out the football field and basketball court and light

425
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,120
Speaker 1: it up. You don't have to be looked at any

426
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,439
Speaker 1: difference and I was motivated off read about Dexter Manley,

427
00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,160
Speaker 1: how they passed him through college because he couldn't read,

428
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:45,880
Speaker 1: and that I read that in the USA to Day

429
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,360
Speaker 1: and I was like, I will not be that guy.

430
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,600
Speaker 1: And that's how people start to look at and I

431
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,639
Speaker 1: even count so bold. I told one of my teachers

432
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:57,800
Speaker 1: I would sit right in front of you, and she

433
00:22:57,880 --> 00:22:59,439
Speaker 1: said why, I say, because I don't only want to

434
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,280
Speaker 1: hear looks like me, and I want you to accuse

435
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,320
Speaker 1: me to cheat when I make all a She looked

436
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,600
Speaker 1: at me and wow, She's like, you need to go

437
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,760
Speaker 1: down to the principal's office. I say, for White, for

438
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 1: challenging myself. She said, I said, you're right. I said,

439
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,879
Speaker 1: they will cheat off me. They know they've been in

440
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,200
Speaker 1: my class in the last four or five years. They'll

441
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,040
Speaker 1: they will be cheating. Trust men. She sent you to

442
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:22,720
Speaker 1: the office because she thought I would be as a

443
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 1: smart attic. Wow, she tells a story now as motivating

444
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:28,720
Speaker 1: the kids at the times. You want to get me

445
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:43,439
Speaker 1: subspitted for school. But you are a smart like you

446
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 1: know he's a smart humane Derek, you pointed out something. Um,

447
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,800
Speaker 1: it's one thing you have positive mentors, but you pointed

448
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:57,640
Speaker 1: out a story about what extra manly went through from

449
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:02,120
Speaker 1: a negative standpoint, what you didn't want to become, and

450
00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 1: watching that there's no disparity on dexter, but being able

451
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 1: to learn from some of our people contemporaries that maybe

452
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,399
Speaker 1: didn't do it so well, and then learning from it.

453
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,400
Speaker 1: As I closed his portion, I'm almost in tears. Man.

454
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 1: My dad's birthday was he turned seventy two on January

455
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 1: and I never had to look outside the house for

456
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: for mentor two older brothers. My dad. He's the first

457
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 1: college graduate on both sides of the family. He's the

458
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 1: youngest of nine, four brothers, four sisters. His four brothers,

459
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:44,600
Speaker 1: the oldest died sclerosis of deliver alcoholic drug at it,

460
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,439
Speaker 1: the second one shot and kill at the bar. The

461
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:53,439
Speaker 1: third one a million era distributing heroin sent the staining

462
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 1: gold for life. I was fortunate to get him out

463
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,000
Speaker 1: of jail the year before he died, and his four

464
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:06,440
Speaker 1: brother died homeless, and um, yeah, but do you think

465
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 1: we we all learned from the negative things? Right? I mean,

466
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,399
Speaker 1: you know my pops things that he did. You know,

467
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 1: I knew from the stories. I didn't want to be

468
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,919
Speaker 1: like him or go through that experience, you know. But

469
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:22,439
Speaker 1: I also had family members. My mom's a police officer,

470
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,479
Speaker 1: my uncle he was the Nino Brown and now our neighborhood, right,

471
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,639
Speaker 1: these sold drugs and that point the other side of

472
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 1: my family. You know, they had to do whatever they

473
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: had to do to survive. And but also saw the

474
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 1: lifestyle that that's not the life I want to live, right,

475
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,439
Speaker 1: And that's not the life that I want from my

476
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,679
Speaker 1: younger brothers and sisters. So we're all are driven in

477
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:45,600
Speaker 1: different ways to help our families, but we also know

478
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,040
Speaker 1: that we had to help ourselves first, right, We had to.

479
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 1: You know, I was the first of my family to

480
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,680
Speaker 1: graduate from college and it was important to me that

481
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: I graduate with a degree so that can lead by example.

482
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 1: So a lot of my mentors that would tell you,

483
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 1: you know, they laid by example, right. And I mean

484
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 1: what coach Dunja, I mean I look at him as

485
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 1: a mentor as well because when we played, when I

486
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 1: played in Tampa with him, it was always perception versus reality.

487
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll go to my grave thinking about the

488
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,600
Speaker 1: perception versus reality because people are going to have one

489
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 1: perception of you no matter what that is. But the

490
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: reality is it's still it's in all control, all right,

491
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,920
Speaker 1: it's what we choose to do with it. And when

492
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 1: he related that in football to so many terms and

493
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,120
Speaker 1: it was the bad News Bucks at one point in time,

494
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 1: it's like, but hey, if you do this one play

495
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 1: right here, changes the game. This guy does this right here,

496
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,080
Speaker 1: If this guy does his it's like, the reality is,

497
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 1: you know, we don't win this game by three points.

498
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,399
Speaker 1: We went by twenty one points, so we you know,

499
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 1: this is the difference with winning losing. What the truth

500
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:57,679
Speaker 1: is versus the perception. His favorite story was you know,

501
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 1: he said, you know, the players, you all go to,

502
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 1: you know, the restaurant, and nice young lady comes up

503
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,040
Speaker 1: and she's smiling at you the whole time. He said,

504
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 1: The perception is you think she liked you because you

505
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,919
Speaker 1: look good your football player. Reality is she working on

506
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:26,880
Speaker 1: the tips favorite stories and reality she's working on the tip.

507
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,800
Speaker 1: The guy is just as phenomenal. And it's been so

508
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:33,239
Speaker 1: good we're gonna have to split this up at the

509
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:39,439
Speaker 1: two parts, so stay tuned. This has been the NFL

510
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,919
Speaker 1: Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request the topic for discussion,

511
00:27:44,160 --> 00:28:00,200
Speaker 1: email us at NFL Legends at nfl dot com,