WEBVTT - Billy Draddy 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:05.000 Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:08.719 Today's episode, I am joined by Billy Draddy. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:10.880 Billy has been. 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:14.520 A big name in the golf fashion industry for a 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.880 long time. So we recorded an interview at the PGA 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.960 show in the Draddy den. Obviously, Uh, you know, Summit 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:27.040 Golf Brands, great brand, and they've been big supporters of 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:28.639 what we do at the Friday Egg. And it was 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:30.920 a lot of fun to uh get to turn the 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.000 mic and ask Billy some questions about you know, how 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.080 he got started in uh in the in the golf world. 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.280 So, without further ado, here's Billy Draddy. 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.159 I miss the green for example, I'm already upset when 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.280 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:46.639 And when I find my ball in. 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.960 A Frida Egg, Friday Egg, the dreaded Friday Egg, fridagg 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:52.440 Frida Egg Bride Egg, Lie. 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:53.599 I'm about ready to run. 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:54.000 Off the golf. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:22.680 It was from his recent book, Conversations Talking to Strangers. 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.840 I have that book. Yeah, I'm ten pages. Then yeah, 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:28.160 get the audio book. It goes quicker. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:34.720 I downloaded on the trip from Miami to Orlando, and 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:36.920 so I you know, I really got deep into it. 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:38.399 It's it's actually really good. 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.600 I think all his books are good, but like this one, 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.800 I maybe because of getting through it so quick, it's 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:47.800 like it's it's staying with me. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:49.360 You know what I mean. 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:55.120 Yeah, Yeah, I love Malcolm Gladwell's books. You can think 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:56.200 about stuff differently. 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:57.040 Yeah. 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:02.520 One of my favorites was if you everyone talks about 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:05.080 having a handgun in their house, if you have a 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.720 pool at your house, it's more dangerous than having a handgun. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.520 That makes sense, Yeah, but you would never think that. 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.280 A parent would never think that when making the decision 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.200 to have a handgun or a pool in their house, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.320 which was going to be more dangerous. 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:21.880 Especially for kids. Yeah. 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.280 Yeah, Malcolm Gladwells he's great with everything. He hates golf. 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.280 Though he hates golf, I don't think he hates what 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.000 he has said about like La County, you know, and 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.520 some of the great golf courses, and I mean LACC 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.560 is like the biggest example of like urban waste to him. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:40.480 Yeah. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.920 The thing about it though, in so many areas I 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:45.480 think about it is like if you look at a 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:49.000 picture of a like a nineteen thirty area of any 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.960 of any like great club there's nothing around. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:53.840 The golf courting, nothing. 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.840 Like they built these places like out Yeah, and then 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.079 everybody decided they want to live there. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:02:59.440 Yeah. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.359 And and half the time when you're going to the 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.080 greatest golf courses in America, you drive through a terrible neighborhood. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.280 So it's it's he didn't present the other side. I 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.000 was a little disappointed he did not. He was very 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:17.600 guided in his in his in his case against golf. 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.120 I mean that's the thing though, with anything in life, 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:22.840 you can you can always present, Like I think about 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:27.000 like statistics all the time. Yeah, if you want a 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.919 statistic to say something, you can figure out a way 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.399 for it to say something and flip it the other 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:33.639 way and do something. 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.840 I do that all the time in sales presentations. This 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.520 is our best seller versus last year, or you know 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:47.400 in that category, or it's up to from last week. Yeah, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:52.520 on a zero base. Well that's what McGinley McGinley. McGinley 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.880 kind of spoke out events about Malcolm's argument, you know, 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:01.240 is that we shouldn't be apologizing about about golf being 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.440 a aspirational. 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:06.280 Elitist sport. 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:11.280 You know the fact that CEOs play it is is 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.240 a testament to the game that it actually does. It 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:22.000 promotes relationships, you know, it promotes communication, and that it's 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.640 it's it is sort of a you know, it's it's 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:27.560 a reward for being successful. 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.960 Yeah, and it doesn't have to be elitist, like if 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.520 you go if you go to Rancho Park in La County, 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:37.279 like the La County golf course. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.760 Yeah, there's nothing elitist about the game there. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.719 No, it's just you know, it's the lens that people 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.599 like to look at it through. And there's plenty of examples, 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.680 like the way I grew up playing golf, riding my 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.400 bike to the local MUNI was there was nothing elitist 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.679 about me putting my back, my bag on my back 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.040 and riding a bike to golf course not at all, 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.880 and spending all day chipping and putting around this chip 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:01.359 chipping green, you know. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.839 Or someone coming to the game, you know, through caddying, 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.760 through their summer job, yeah, you know, and falling in 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.480 love with the game and wanting to make it a 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:11.640 priority in their life. 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.520 And that's the thing I was going to say too. 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.520 I almost said it last night when we had that discussion, 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.280 was like caddying, like as a kid, you learn how 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:22.920 to talk to all these people. Yeah, I mean there's 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.680 nothing better, no better job for a young kid than caddying. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.839 No, And I mean I. 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.680 Always say that everyone in life should either caddie, waiter 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.799 or bartend. Everyone has to learn how to kiss ass 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:38.520 to make a dollar. 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.120 That's true. You know which one did you do as 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:44.560 a kid? All three? 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.479 I mean, except I didn't really waiter a lot. My 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.599 dad had three restaurants, so actually I would do both. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.120 I mean I would literally I would caddy in the morning, 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.400 go play a baseball game, you know, four o'clock in 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.000 the afternoon, and then I would bartend at night. 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.840 What kind of restaurants? He had three. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:10.480 Restaurants, all strategically located around Wingfoot and so one was 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:14.760 a seafood restaurant where you got lobster and steamers. One 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:19.119 was a tavern that that didn't serve dinner, only served lunch. 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.440 But they had these incredible hot sandwiches. Like their signature 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:27.320 sandwichich was the Balboa, which was rare roast beef on 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:29.200 garlic bread with Swiss cheese. 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:31.359 I want one right. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.040 For breakfast with an hagg It actually would be incredible. 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:38.159 And the last one was kind of just like a 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.719 more creative, innovative American restaurant. You know, where they served steaks, 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.240 but you know there were specials every night and stuff 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:46.359 like that. 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.760 That's uh so where did you caddy? Did you carry? Have? 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:52.000 At Wingfoot? 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.680 That's probably one of their greatest policies is that they 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:59.640 allow members kids to caddy and so because they want 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.600 to promote junior golf. You know, they really kind of promote, 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:08.120 you know, making a loop and then in the afternoon 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:12.840 you get to go out and play and there's real 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:19.920 While obviously there's a certain amount of uh it's not 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:24.960 like walking into any caddyyard, you know, but it's also 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.520 the caddy master at the time, it was still a 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:29.680 very earn your way system. 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:31.800 You know. There was no favoritism, that's for sure. 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.120 There's almost reverse favoritism with great caddy masters. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.440 Yes, yes, he was very happy to tell you. 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:40.840 You know that Ada Billy, you get down the hill 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:42.920 and get here at seven thirty in the morning if 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.680 you want to get out, you know, and you kind 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.760 of to duck your head and you know, and he 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.040 we literally talk like that, Adad Billy, go get J. T. 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.600 Shields and Jim Gallagha and get down to one West quick. 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.200 I don't want to hear anything about being a bad loop. 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.880 I'll tell you there's stuff about caddy masters that have 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:06.360 like this like authority. Yeah, like I mean I see 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:08.680 a caddy master, I'm still scared of ut Yeah, I'm like, 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:09.840 I don't want to cross that. 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:12.720 Plus what other job in today's world do you get? 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:13.440 The term master? 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:18.080 I mean it is very it's very sensitive. 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.080 Like if you thought if you took the word master 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.120 outside of it, you know, it's like, that doesn't sound right, 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.760 you know for a position that is that is really 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.120 being someone's slave for a day, you know, I mean 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.280 it's it's it's pretty not a slave is an awful 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.800 word also, but yeah, it's it's it is, uh, it 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:39.800 does it doesn't really it does it. It's not a 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.280 very you know this millennium word that feels very very comfortable. 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:44.880 Yeah. 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.199 It like reminds me of like the Egyptian task masters 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.720 that with the pyramid builders, like you know, with people 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.160 bringing rocks and like a caddy master. 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.840 But at the same time a caddy master's job. 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.040 They're essentially like a bitter for fifty one hundred people. 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:05.840 Yeah, and you can imagine the type of people you 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:07.679 get you have to have you have to be able 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:08.560 to handle. 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:09.080 People, you know. 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.240 I mean it probably takes all types to you know, 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.160 or being able to handle all types to be in 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:16.479 that position successfully. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.480 Seeing like the caddyshack, that's a perfect example, Like there's 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.520 nothing elitist about being in a caddy shack. No, it's 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.360 actually like the complete oppiceite I go into. I went 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.640 back to one of the caddyshacks I grew up in, 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.600 and I went back there. I'm like, I can't believe 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.000 that I spent so much time of my life in 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:34.640 such a shitty place. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:41.160 Yeah. Yeah, But the funny thing is is that it's it's. 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:41.719 It's it is one of those life experiences because I 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:43.520 counted there. But I also when I was at BC, 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.640 I cauddied at the country club. It's a different situation. 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.160 But you know, you walk there, you sit on the bench, 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:51.240 and you wait, you know. 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:57.000 We played spades a lot. What was the game? What 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:58.520 was the passing time game? 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.240 God? There, it wasn't really one there. 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.640 I mean it was kind of like it was kind 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.360 of like an open area where everyone sat you were 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.280 kind of in view, so there wasn't too much going on. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:11.760 I mean, the best thing to do would be to 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.080 bring the paper or book and just kind of sit 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.680 there and wait. You know, but there wasn't It wasn't 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:20.160 a way from from per you know, from anyone's view, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.160 so you know, getting getting a dice game where a 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.960 card game going would have been difficult, you know. 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:32.280 Yeah, so you grew up at Wingfoot and uh, that's 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.880 that was kind of your intradition introduction to golf. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:35.200 Yeah. 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.920 Yeah, and from this perspective now, it was a great 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.800 one because you've been there. It's really just all about 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.839 the golf, you know, and kind of preserve what golf 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:45.280 was about. 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.280 Back then. You couldn't wear shorts, so you. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.800 Know, you put on a pair of khakis every single day, 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.480 even if you were a caddie. And uh, and you 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.120 kind of learned golf the right way, you know, and 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.920 and the kids there were very taught very well to 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:05.800 be you know, seen not heard, and you know, the 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.040 best way to kind of get thrown off the property 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.480 was not handling yourself right on the golf course, you know, 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.520 and people are ready to you know, report you if 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.280 you weren't, so you know, it was it was a 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.040 great way to learn for me. It was a great 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.400 way to learn the game, you know. And there's a 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.120 lot of people that are in the golf industry now 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:25.640 who I grew up within that experience. I mean Mark 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.480 Loomis who runs the Fox broadcast, he was in that 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.880 same situation. Mary Lubazinski, who runs you know, merchandising for 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:40.560 the USGA. She she worked in the pro shop, you know, 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:46.520 and her brothers were were also they they uh collected 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:51.080 at the range and it was it was just it 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.680 was a great way the way, the way people really 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.280 learned a lot about about you know, golf, the right way. 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.960 You know. How how would you do you feel like 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:03.679 there the culture. 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:07.960 Or the the vibe of wing Foots changed it all since. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:08.360 You were a kid. 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.920 In in literal sense it has, you know, but in 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:17.320 relative sense to you know, to the rest of the world, 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:19.520 it's kind of exactly the same place. 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.680 Yeah, you know what I mean, Like it's so much. 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:26.720 Better, you know, Uh, it's so much better for women 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.160 and kids. But in relative churchs, kids don't feel any 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.160 more comfortable than I did, and my wife doesn't feel 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.120 any more accepted there than than my mother did, even 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.280 though back then there was a men's grill and like 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:41.520 I was allowed in it, but my mom wasn't, you know, 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.600 I mean it was it was it was very gender 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.120 you know specific. Now there's none of that, you know, 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:51.520 but I think it's still because because of golf, of 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.040 the amount of people that you know that want to 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:58.120 that choose golf as their as their hobby, you know. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.280 That it's more male specific. 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:06.680 Yeah, yeah, it's a I think it's definitely changing, But 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.679 it's like everything with golf, I feel like it's always 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:11.400 like ten years. 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:12.240 Behind, yeah trend. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.880 I mean I I I even though my dad was 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.280 a member, I I ended up joining Wingfoot as a 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.920 regular member, not as a legacy or anything like that. 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.560 And it really was you got a tough break there. 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:23.840 Well yeah, but. 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:27.040 I but I mean having to be someone who kind 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.520 of apologizes for having grown up there a little bit, 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.080 you know, it seems a little I don't know, or 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.760 maybe that's just the way it feels inside to me. 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.960 Why do you think that, Because it's a great experience 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.040 for a kid, you know, it is, it's you know, 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:41.560 you're it's you're pretty lucky. 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:42.520 You know. 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.480 You don't realize it at the time, but I realize 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.559 it now, you know, that, you know, you play those 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:49.880 two golf courses every day. It's pretty it's a pretty 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:55.840 good start, you know. Yeah, ah, and it's it's you know. 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.839 What happened was, you know, by the time I had 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:00.959 money to be a member at club, you know, being 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.320 in the design profession is in my thirties, you know. 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.199 And what had happened is they had allowed they changed 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:11.080 the rules so that that daughters of members could could 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.760 become members, which is the right thing to do. But 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.679 all of a sudden you had twice as many candidates 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.600 for legacy. So they moved the age restriction for legacies 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.760 from thirty five to twenty seven to put that the 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.560 amount of legacies that were available in proper proportion. And 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.240 I aged out of it. So but like I said, 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:34.280 I feel better about having kind of had to go 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.560 through the process and and you know earn it. 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:38.880 Yeah for sure. 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.720 So you just you got into the design profession, yeah, 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.200 right out of college. Yeah, and when do you know 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:50.160 you wanted to be do design work with clothing? 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:57.280 We've got pictures from kindergarten of me drawing striped shirts 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:02.640 with alligators on them. So I, uh, subconsciously, I think 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.640 I always did, you know, if that's when I was 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.920 doing it, you know, if that's what I drew in 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.800 in kindergarten, think, I think I always wanted to do it. 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:15.400 You know. I can remember. 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.480 As early as any thought thinking about wanting to have 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:23.800 a shirt company. Now, my family was in the shirt business, 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.040 so restaurant and yeah, my dad got. 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.200 Into the restaurant business after the family. 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.840 Business had been sold and he was kind of free 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:34.800 to do what he had always wanted to do. He 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.160 went to Michigan State and was in their hotel restaurant 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.280 management school. So in his mind, that's what he always 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:45.640 wanted to do. But he was a football player. And 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.000 when he was done playing football, well, immediately after he 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.360 was done playing football, he became the JV coach at 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.520 his high school. And guess who is fullback and linebacker 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:56.920 was Butch Harmon. 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.080 Yeah, I know, he was a football player. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:06.000 Yeah, yeah, he had gotten cut from the giants and 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:07.760 so he was out looking for a job, you know, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.360 something to do, and he had gone to I own 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.080 a prep and they needed a JV football coach, so 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.360 he signed up and yeah, Butch Harmon was his full 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.720 back in linebacker. So I had met Butch you know, 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.840 fifteen years ago at the show, and he kind of 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:24.120 looked at me straight in the eye and he goes, 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.040 are you Bill Draddy's son? And I, you know, with 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.200 a little bit of fear, in trepidation, I said, yes, 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.840 he goes, No one in my life was harder on 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.040 me than your dad. And he goes, And I love 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.560 him for it, he said. My dad always used to say, 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:40.600 you need more guys like Bill Draddy in your life. 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:49.080 That's good. Yeah, so that's it. Yeah, that's unbelievable. He 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.800 was football, you know, no golf background. It's interesting. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.880 No, no, I mean he always loved it. He always 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:59.040 loved it. And that was the same thing with his 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.440 with with his uncles. Really they were you know, he 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.840 had one uncle who was also an All American football player. 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:12.320 At one point, they actually had a national trophy named 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.959 after It was called the Dragty Trophy, and it was 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.000 it was the academic heisman you want it. 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.919 It's now the Campbell Trophy. They've renamed the trophy. 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.439 Because he gave a lot of money and uh, but 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.360 he was also a great he is a great man. 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.720 But it was it's a combination of football skill and academics, 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.440 you know, it's the winner always is from Harvard obviously, 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.240 but the winner also is rarely, you know, an Ivy 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.720 League football player. It's usually someone from one of the 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.800 you know, top twenty Division one schools. 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:47.320 Yeah. 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.800 Yeah, excelled both ways. But what was the first thing 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:53.520 that you designed for mass production? 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:55.840 This is football related. 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:01.880 So when I had just graduated from UH from Boston College, 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.080 I moved out to Chicago and I was living in 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:10.480 Lincoln Park and UH. I was actually when I when 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.040 I graduated from college, I'd gotten offered to go work 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:17.159 for the Gant Clothing Company, and my dad gave me what, 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.359 in hindsight, was great advice. He said, you can always 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.000 go into the clothing business, because he had been in it. 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.160 He said, try something else for a couple of years, 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.399 and then if you want to, you can always go 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.760 into it. It was actually, you know, great advice. So 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:33.879 I was selling paper to paper paper converters in the 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:38.520 Chicago Land area and UH for the first time in 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.800 and in a decade, Boston College was going to play 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:46.320 Notre Dame at South Bend, and so I had this 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.600 idea for a T shirt, you know, and it was 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.960 good at the time. Tom Coughlin the former coach of 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.840 the Giants was the coach of Boston College. Uh the 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.600 they had they had players on the team with the 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:05.119 names Brennan and McManus, and Coughlin was the coach, and 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.040 there was one other name in there, and so on 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:12.320 the T shirt, I put Coughlin, Brennan, McManus and whatever 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:17.160 the fourth name was. And I said, the real fighting Irish. 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.919 And so we went to South Bend and literally the 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.480 two hundred T shirts we had printed, the last five 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.800 we were selling like in a bidding type format where 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.000 people are going, i'll give you twenty five, I'll give 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.359 you thirty exactly. It was like, I mean to this 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.960 day that me and my two other college roommates talk 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.160 about it because it was like it was an education 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:44.560 because we were immediately upbidding the price and it was frenzied, 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.520 like you know, a frenzied type environment. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:52.000 So this is fun, first smashing success, the first T shirt, Yes, exactly. 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:56.199 So you're selling paper in Chicago, yeah, and then you 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.600 do this. Is that what kind of jumped you into 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.360 saying I don't want to sell paper anymore. 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:01.600 Yeah. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:03.920 I was counting the days literally till I had hit 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:07.000 that mark. Two year mark that my dad had set 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.760 for me, you know, and I had done some kind 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.800 of scouting as to what I wanted to do when 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:17.480 I was in college. I quit drinking halfway through college, literally, 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:21.040 and so the second half of college when I had 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.560 I'd wake up on a Saturday morning and everyone was sleeping, 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:30.800 and I just needed something to do. So I started 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.639 working for Timberland down on Newberry Street in Boston, which 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:38.720 is you know, it's like the Madison Avenue at Boston 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.280 where all the shops are. And so while I was 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:44.479 working for Timberland, I got to meet the designer who 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:46.880 was designing the clothing for them. And back then they 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:49.160 just kind of launched clothing. It was kind of pre 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:54.280 public enemy like and and all the leather jackets were 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:59.640 me in Italy, and it was this really upscale kind 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:06.200 of outdoor country uh line the outdoors, the line and 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.760 uh and so I worked there for two years and 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.560 and that's where I really got my education about performance. 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.480 I mean, I was on the sales floor selling gortex, 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:18.960 you know, which now I designed clothing made and gore 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:23.240 tex uh and and you know, kind of learning how 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.960 you sell technical product because everything they did had a 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:29.040 story to it that you know, those yellow boots that 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:30.600 are their synonymous. 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:31.919 Boot, those were waterproof boots. 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:34.520