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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.

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Speaker 1: And we continue with part two of our conversation with

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Speaker 1: Mike Rowe. Right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors,

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Speaker 1: we now return to Mike and yet another normal person

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Speaker 1: who supported him, Fred King.

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Speaker 2: He is a big one man. This is you know,

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Speaker 2: it's funny. I didn't know what we were going to

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Speaker 2: talk about, but it's a And just to be clear,

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Speaker 2: there are women in my life who have been transformatively influential.

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Speaker 2: In fact, with the exception of my producer Chuck, I

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Speaker 2: only hire women. My business partner is a woman. I'm

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Speaker 2: I like women, Let's be clear, however, I like however.

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Speaker 2: Growing up, my mom, of course was always there, but

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Speaker 2: it was men. It was men who grabbed me periodically

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Speaker 2: by the scruff of the neck and said no, not

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Speaker 2: that way, this way, not there here. And Fred King

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Speaker 2: was the one who did that in a most meaningful way.

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Speaker 2: He was my high school music teacher. If you saw

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Speaker 2: mister Holland's opus, you know that's the kind of guy

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Speaker 2: he was.

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Speaker 1: He could he changed the uh, he.

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Speaker 2: Changed the barometric pressure in a room when he walked

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Speaker 2: into it. He was just a force. You know, he

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Speaker 2: looked like Don Rickles, He had false teeth. He lost

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Speaker 2: all his teeth boxing and playing football when he was

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Speaker 2: in the Navy. But he was also the most gifted musician,

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Speaker 2: and I ever knew he was known as the King

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Speaker 2: of the barber shoppers. He was, Oh, that's where that

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Speaker 2: comes from in your world, the barber. That's where that

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Speaker 2: whole thing that comes from. That's why I sing four

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Speaker 2: part harmony on all the commercials on my podcast, because

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Speaker 2: a I can be. It amuses me, sometimes it makes

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Speaker 2: me uncomfortable, and it's an homage to Fred King. Fred

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Speaker 2: he started teaching an overly senior high the same year

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Speaker 2: I became a freshman there and I still had my stammer,

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Speaker 2: but I knew I could sing thanks to mister Huntington,

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Speaker 2: so I signed up for all the choruses, and my

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Speaker 2: chorus teacher, my choir teacher, was this freak named Fred King,

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Speaker 2: who would he would challenge students in ways that no

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Speaker 2: teacher could do today, just like just like mister Huntington

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Speaker 2: did in The Boy Scouts. Fred Fred King occupied that

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Speaker 2: part of the map that says here be dragons. He

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Speaker 2: did things very, very differently and he turned my high

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Speaker 2: school inside out, right, I mean, you're a football guy, right,

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Speaker 2: I am, so you'll appreciate this. In his first year,

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Speaker 2: during the homecoming weekend at Overly, Fred King went into

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Speaker 2: the band the giant band room and took a snare

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Speaker 2: drum and put it around his neck, and with me

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Speaker 2: and about a dozen other people following him, he started

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Speaker 2: marching up and down the.

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Speaker 1: Halls playing.

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Speaker 2: I mean a real like a like a charge into

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Speaker 2: battle cadence on the snare drum.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's like, that's like a march beat. That's

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Speaker 1: exactly what it was.

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Speaker 2: And of course Fred played in a marching band for years.

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Speaker 2: He played every instrument. We didn't know any of this

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Speaker 2: at the time. We just saw this pied piper marching

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Speaker 2: up and down the normally sedate halls of Overly, and

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Speaker 2: people would come out of the classrooms. He'd march into

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Speaker 2: the classrooms, disrupted the class He got.

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Speaker 1: The whole school.

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Speaker 2: To follow him out to the football field where the

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Speaker 2: Overly Falcons were preparing to get there. Kicked again. I

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Speaker 2: think we didn't win a lot, but it didn't matter.

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Speaker 2: It didn't matter. He got like the whole student body

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Speaker 2: out there and taught us the overly Falcons school song.

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Speaker 2: We didn't even know we had a school song, but

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Speaker 2: he taught it to us, and he made us sing

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Speaker 2: it like with great pride. And he was another one

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Speaker 2: of those guys, very macho, very manly, and masculine in

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Speaker 2: all the traditional ways. But he would he'd look you

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Speaker 2: a square in the face and weep as he was

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Speaker 2: singing God Bless America or some old song about sweethearts

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Speaker 2: and mothers and wars and all these things. It was

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Speaker 2: such a He was such an interesting dude, and over

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Speaker 2: that first year I formed a relationship with him rooted

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Speaker 2: in the kind of trust that really, I think can

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Speaker 2: only be fostered through music and a certain level of sacrilege.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: He was just so compelling that I was really I

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Speaker 2: was just enamored of the guy. And one day I

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Speaker 2: found an album in his office called the Oriel four,

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Speaker 2: and that's when I learned that he was the baritone

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Speaker 2: and a world champion barbershop quartet. And that's when I

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Speaker 2: learned that he conducted this amazing group of men called

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Speaker 2: the Course of the Chesapeake, who had won international gold

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Speaker 2: medals singing. This was a world that I didn't know existed, right.

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Speaker 2: I took the album home and I realized after listening

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Speaker 2: to it that I could hear all of the part

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Speaker 2: and I could sing them, and I could kind of

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Speaker 2: make sense of them, like a puzzle. And when I

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Speaker 2: told him about it, he found three other boys in

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Speaker 2: my class, one of whom you know Chuck, the guy

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Speaker 2: who produces my podcast, and he taught us how to

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Speaker 2: sing four part harmony. And then he brought us into

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Speaker 2: this chorus of the Chesapeake where an army of men,

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Speaker 2: not all of whom were normal, but many of whom

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Speaker 2: served in the army, many of whom fought in the

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Speaker 2: Second World War in Korea. These old guys would take

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Speaker 2: us out after rehearsals for a beard a place called

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Speaker 2: Johnny Jones, and they would teach us old songs and

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Speaker 2: we would They called it wood shedding, you know, the

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Speaker 2: kind of singing you should probably do in a woodshed

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Speaker 2: where nobody can hear you. But it's how you learn

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Speaker 2: to harmonize and how you learn to figure out these parts.

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Speaker 2: And so suddenly every Tuesday night I'm getting I'm getting

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Speaker 2: a lesson in music in history from men with gold

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Speaker 2: stars and all kinds of metals for meritorious service in

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Speaker 2: the Marines and in the army. And through it all

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Speaker 2: was Fred. You know, he was always there for that.

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Speaker 2: But the thing he did Bill, honestly, that changed everything.

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Speaker 2: Later that year, he made me audition for a play

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Speaker 2: for the school play. And what part it was Curly

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Speaker 2: in Oklahoma.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: And he made me audition for this thing. And my

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Speaker 2: problem wasn't the music. I could sing, I could hit

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Speaker 2: the notes. I was all right, but there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of talking in that musical. And I really didn't want

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Speaker 2: to do my porky pig routine in front of, you know,

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Speaker 2: eleven hundred students.

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Speaker 1: But he made me audition.

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Speaker 2: He made me do a monologue and I got maybe

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Speaker 2: twenty seconds into it. I was doing a monologue from

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Speaker 2: a play called The rain Maker, a character called Starbuck,

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Speaker 2: and I know it. I'm getting through it. So Burt

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Speaker 2: Lancaster did that. Yeah, that's right, the movie Once upon

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Speaker 2: a Time. So I'm stammering and making a hash of it.

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Speaker 2: I'm about twenty seconds in and I look out and

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Speaker 2: Fred sitting out there in the audience with maybe you know,

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Speaker 2: four or five other teachers and twenty other kids who

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Speaker 2: are going to be auditioning, and he held up his

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Speaker 2: hand and he said, Mikey, hey, I like what you're

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Speaker 2: doing with the character here, but the character you're auditioning

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Speaker 2: for doesn't stutter.

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Speaker 1: So do me a favor.

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Speaker 2: Stutter on your own time, and just do it once

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Speaker 2: without all that porky pig crap. Okay, that's how he

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Speaker 2: talked to me.

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Speaker 1: He really said it that way. He said it just

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Speaker 1: like that, just like that. Matter of fact, did you

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Speaker 1: feel undressed standing up there in front of it like that?

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Speaker 2: Well, yes, I was nervous, but I wasn't. I didn't

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Speaker 2: feel disrespected in spite of the way he talked to me, because.

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Speaker 1: I trusted him.

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Speaker 2: I'd get that and I knew that right, and so

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Speaker 2: I didn't like without thinking, without questioning the glibness of

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Speaker 2: what he had just suggested, I do.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: I did it without the stammer, and twenty five thirty

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Speaker 2: seconds into it, he looks at me from the audience

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Speaker 2: and he makes this gesture. He goes this kind of

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Speaker 2: shrugs his shoulders as if to say, was that so hard?

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Speaker 2: And I remember, Bill, it was a sound like this.

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Speaker 2: In my head, something clicked and I thought, well, I

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Speaker 2: don't want to oversimplify it, but I think maybe I'm

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Speaker 2: going to just try for a while to act like

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Speaker 2: somebody who doesn't stutter. And that was that wow, you know,

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Speaker 2: to answer your earlier question. As it turns out, I didn't.

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Speaker 2: I didn't have a physiological and I don't want people

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Speaker 2: to hear stories like this and think that it's all

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Speaker 2: in their mind. There are people stutter and stammer for

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Speaker 2: all sorts of different reasons. Mel Till has had a

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Speaker 2: different problem than I did. I was just shy, and

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Speaker 2: I was just trapped in a version of myself that

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Speaker 2: had limitations, and guys like my granddad and my dad

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Speaker 2: and mister Huntingdon and mister King, they they weren't having

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Speaker 2: any of that.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: My pop told me the truth about my limitations. Get

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Speaker 2: a different toolbox, right. Mister Huntington told me the truth

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Speaker 2: about this comfort. Don't just endure it, embrace it. And

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Speaker 2: Fred King told me the truth. Showed me the truth

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Speaker 2: about what's possible in the world. If you act like

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Speaker 2: somebody who has a temperament different than the one you

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Speaker 2: were born.

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Speaker 1: With, we'll be right back. Two things. I lettered in

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Speaker 1: six sports in high school, so that's what I did,

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Speaker 1: and my freshman year, I tore up my shoulder during

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Speaker 1: football season, and my favorite teacher was Deel Flickinger, who

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Speaker 1: was the math teacher. He also did the great name

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Speaker 1: Flickinger from North Dakota. He also did the stats for

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Speaker 1: the football team, and I later learned that he was

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Speaker 1: the starting center on a football team who hadn't lost,

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Speaker 1: who didn't lose a single game from his freshman senior

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Speaker 1: year four state championships, which doesn't really yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: And then I found out that he's a amazing musician

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Speaker 1: and he also happened to be the chess team coach.

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Speaker 1: Four years later, I found myself at the national championships

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Speaker 1: in high school wearing my letter jacket with all my

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Speaker 1: stripes all over it, playing chess against a bunch of

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Speaker 1: kids that don't look anything like me. Because Dale Flickinger

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Speaker 1: taught me to think about myself in different ways than

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Speaker 1: I had before, and Mike, one of the reasons I

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Speaker 1: thought about myself the way I had before is because

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Speaker 1: my father left home when I was four, and my

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Speaker 1: mother was married and divorced five times, so I had

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Speaker 1: five fathers in my life by the time I was

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Speaker 1: eighteen years old, none of which were worth assault. And

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Speaker 1: it was my coaches and men like Dale Flickinger who

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Speaker 1: largely defined who I am today. So when I hear

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Speaker 1: your stories, despite the fact that we grew up much

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Speaker 1: different ways from our family standpoint, I really do identify

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Speaker 1: with how great people do support greatness, and that I

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Speaker 1: don't think i'm anything. I'm not just like any of

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Speaker 1: my coaches or any of my teachers or any of

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Speaker 1: the men that I'm not exactly like any of them,

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Speaker 1: but I'm one hundred percent like pieces of each of them. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: So in some I represent a piece of all these people.

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Speaker 1: So the question then is from Fred, if the grandfather's humility,

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Speaker 1: then the scout master taught you how to embrace the suck?

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Speaker 1: What Fred teache? What's that word? Let's go with.

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Speaker 2: Let's go with the reverse commute, because really, when I

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Speaker 2: got out of high school and then went into a

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Speaker 2: commun unity college to really try and apply all of

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Speaker 2: these lessons, you know, the road into my industry is

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Speaker 2: just paved with IEDs and landmarks.

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Speaker 1: It's a very, very diffic brutal, for sure, it's horrible.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but there's always another path, there's always another way

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Speaker 2: to skin the cat and when I learned that I

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Speaker 2: could get my union card, my Screen Actors Guild card,

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Speaker 2: which is something I really wanted to get in my

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Speaker 2: mid twenties because without that, you can't audition for union work.

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Speaker 2: And if you can't audition for union work, you can't

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Speaker 2: get an agent, and no agent will represent you unless

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Speaker 2: you have your union card. But you can't get your

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Speaker 2: union card unless you do union work, and so it

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Speaker 2: was a closed system. Well, the loophole was it's totally miserable.

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Speaker 2: So the loophole was, wait, if you really need to

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Speaker 2: get into the Screen Actors Guild, you could get into

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Speaker 2: the sister union, one of the sister unions, and this

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Speaker 2: one was called AGMA. It was the American Guild of

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Speaker 2: Musical Artists, and it oversaw the opera and the opera,

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Speaker 2: the National Opera and the Baltimore Opera and all these

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Speaker 2: other opera houses around the country. Held zero interest for me.

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Speaker 2: The last thing in the world I ever imagined I

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Speaker 2: would do for money was singing the opera. But if

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Speaker 2: you could get in and get your AGMA card, you

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Speaker 2: could then buy your Screen Actors Guild card because they're

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Speaker 2: sister unions.

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Speaker 1: And so that was my way in.

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Speaker 2: I thought, if I can somehow fake my way into

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Speaker 2: the Baltimore Opera, I will be able to buy my

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Speaker 2: membership into this Green Actors Guild and then go about

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Speaker 2: the business of becoming a famous television personality.

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Speaker 1: I mean, how hard can it be? Right? So I.

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Speaker 2: Went to the library, armed with all the lessons that

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Speaker 2: Fred and Glendon and Carl Noble had taught me, and

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Speaker 2: I got a recording of La Bom and I memorized

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Speaker 2: the shortest aria ever written by Jiacomo Puccini, called the

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Speaker 2: Coat Aria. It's less than three minutes long. It's an

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Speaker 2: Italian And I walked around the streets of Baltimore for

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Speaker 2: weeks with a sony walkman on, listening to Samuel Raimi

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Speaker 2: make these sounds, these Italian sounds, over and over and over.

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Speaker 2: And then I went to an open call and I auditioned,

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Speaker 2: and somehow, somehow I got in. They were looking for

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Speaker 2: young men with low voices. I checked both of those

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Speaker 2: boxes in nineteen eighty four, and suddenly, just like that,

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Speaker 2: I'm in the American Guild of Musical Artist and I'm

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Speaker 2: able to buy my union card for the Screen Actors Guild.

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Speaker 2: But then, you know, proving once again that just when

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Speaker 2: you think you have a plan figured out or a

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Speaker 2: commute mapped out, it's the reverse commute that winds up

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Speaker 2: being interesting. Because the opera turned out to be a

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Speaker 2: hell of a lot more fun than I thought it

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Speaker 2: would be. The music was amazing. It was a whole

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Speaker 2: new world to me, right, just like barbershop was, just

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Speaker 2: like the boy scout. I'd never heard of such a thing,

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Speaker 2: but suddenly I'm dressed as a Viking, standing in a

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Speaker 2: repertory company with seventy other people, singing right, singing along

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Speaker 2: in a production of Wagner's De Ring des nibel Lungeon,

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Speaker 2: and and just having the time of my life. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it was just such a kick. Pavati was on the stage,

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Speaker 2: Domingo came through that stage. You know, James Morris, some

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Speaker 2: of the greatest singers of the twentieth century were standing

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Speaker 2: five feet from me.

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Speaker 1: And I'm a twenty two year old kid.

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Speaker 2: Dressed as a pirate, singing in a language he doesn't

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Speaker 2: even understand. Because Fred King said, hey, do me a favor,

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Speaker 2: try it once without the stutter stutter on your own time.

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Speaker 2: Because Glendon Huntington said, no, dude, it's not enough just

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Speaker 2: to endure it. Figure out a way to love it, right,

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, I hadn't really thought about it.

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Speaker 2: But when you start looking back at those I mean,

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Speaker 2: isn't it funny how the moments in your life that

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Speaker 2: turn out to be the most pivotal you don't recognize

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Speaker 2: when you're in the middle of it. It's only when

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Speaker 2: you look back and you can start to get that

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Speaker 2: thirty thousand foot view that you realize, for instance, that

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Speaker 2: you never really did have a dad. You had five dads,

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Speaker 2: but none of them were really the guy that you

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Speaker 2: were supposed to have. Until the universe gets together and says, Okay,

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Speaker 2: we're gonna send him a Fleckinger. We'll send him at

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Speaker 2: del Fleckencher, We'll send him this, We'll send him that.

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Speaker 2: It's yeah, it's a hell of a thing, Mike.

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Speaker 1: It's It's true. And the irony of irony is, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're we're producing a show called an Army of Normal

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Speaker 1: Folks to highlight normal folks in our communities that do

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Speaker 1: amazing things despite the difficulties to overcome, and inside that

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Speaker 1: occasionally we're talking to people like you who've reached really

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Speaker 1: great levels but we're talking about the people that supported

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Speaker 1: how you've reached that level. And the irony of ironys

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Speaker 1: is you've told me that you revere your grandfather and

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Speaker 1: he taught you humility. You revered your scout master and

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Speaker 1: he taught you to embrace the suck, and you're vered

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Speaker 1: a music teacher who taught you how to reverse commute.

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Speaker 1: And the most valuable supportive lessons in your life that

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Speaker 1: make up the essence of what you are came from

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Speaker 1: the very most normal people on earth. A carpenter and

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Speaker 1: a hard working grandfather, and a scout master who is

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Speaker 1: a former military guy, and a music teacher in a

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Speaker 1: high school, normal people that people would walk past every

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Speaker 1: day and not give two thoughts about them as something special,

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Speaker 1: who are in fact the most special people in the

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Speaker 1: life of a man who's done amazing things, which to

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Speaker 1: me speaks to every interaction and every opportunity we have

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Speaker 1: in our communities can matter. If we make them count,

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

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Speaker 2: You know. It occurs to me too listening to you

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Speaker 2: talk that one of one of the things that Dell

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Speaker 2: Fleckinger and Fred King and my pop and all these

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Speaker 2: people had in common, that is, in short, supply today

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Speaker 2: is a generalist approach to living like a general practitioner

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Speaker 2: as opposed to a specialist. I think maybe we've we've

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Speaker 2: entered the realm of speciality where we give such great

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Speaker 2: deference to people who have mastered one thing. But life right,

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Speaker 2: well lived anyway, requires lots of different competencies. And this

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Speaker 2: was a big lesson in Dirty Jobs. Again, I didn't

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Speaker 2: know it when I was learning it, but looking back,

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Speaker 2: especially farmers, you know what is a farmer really like?

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Speaker 1: What's the skill?

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Speaker 2: Well, he's got to be a weatherman, and he's got

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Speaker 2: to be geologist, and he's got to be oh, he's

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Speaker 2: he's got to be a businessman for sure. You know,

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Speaker 2: he has to be able to lay pipe and run electricity.

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Speaker 1: Many of them have to bevet areas. Absolutely. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: mean I saw the show on the artificial insemination with

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Speaker 1: the cow. That was crazy? Sure was that fun? Did

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Speaker 1: you enjoy that?

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Speaker 2: That cow still calls me, I'll tell you that hilarious.

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Speaker 2: I think the bull had a pretty good time too,

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Speaker 2: to be honestly, yeah, are you kidding?

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Speaker 1: Man?

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Speaker 2: Dirty Jobs showed people the truth of work.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: The first season was a rumination on feces, from every species. Right,

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Speaker 2: We just we just showed you the reality of cleaning

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Speaker 2: up all the crap the world makes. And season two

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Speaker 2: was artificial insemination and the miracle of modern agriculture. And

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Speaker 2: you know, we put things on TV that nobody had

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Speaker 2: ever done before, and we did it with humor and honesty.

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Speaker 2: You know that show, And this goes to humility too.

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Speaker 2: We never did a second take. Everything you saw on

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Speaker 2: Dirty Jobs was happening in real time. And so if

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Speaker 2: you're not humble and you're making a TV show that

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Speaker 2: doesn't do a second take, you're going to be because

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Speaker 2: you are not going to be at your best ever,

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Speaker 2: but you'll always be at your most actual.

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Speaker 1: And that's what we tried to do. I was going

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Speaker 1: to say, you'll be the most real, You'll be the

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Speaker 1: most authentic, for better or worse. Yeah, I get that.

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Speaker 1: I get that because Undefeated. When those guys left Memphis

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Speaker 1: with five hundred and fifty hours of film to make Undefeated,

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Speaker 1: you know, the first time I saw the hour and

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Speaker 1: fifty minute movie that came a result of those five

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty hours of film, it dawned on me.

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Speaker 1: I was never asked to say anything or repeat anything.

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Speaker 1: Or stand in anyone place or anything, and they crop

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Speaker 1: together an hour and fifty minute movie out of five

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty hours of film. And I will tell

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Speaker 1: you something, when you see yourself in the most authentic

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Speaker 1: space on film for everybody to see, you better have

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Speaker 1: some humility because it's a it's an eye opening thing

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Speaker 1: to see yourself in those type of positions when you

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Speaker 1: sound and act and react and look and feel differently

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Speaker 1: than you think, you present yourself to the world, and

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Speaker 1: it is an eye opener and you will get the

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Speaker 1: humility from it. That's a fact.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean. It's funny. Every time

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Speaker 2: you think you've really learned learned that lesson, you relearn

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Speaker 2: it in a new way. At least I do. And

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Speaker 2: I spent three years after the opera selling things in

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Speaker 2: the middle of the night on the QBC cable shopping channel,

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Speaker 2: and it was it was another world. It was a

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Speaker 2: strange world. It was another experience that came about as

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Speaker 2: the result of a last minute audition. But it was

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Speaker 2: probably the best training I ever got for the industry

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Speaker 2: I'm in today. And the funny thing was they fired

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Speaker 2: me three times from that gig. All justifiably the third

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Speaker 2: time it stuck in nineteen ninety three, and so when

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Speaker 2: I left Bill, I didn't talk about my time at QVC.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't a thing I even put on my resume.

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Speaker 2: But years later, like I'd say, nineteen ninety nine, two thousand,

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Speaker 2: maybe eight years later, to my horror, when the Internet

396
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Speaker 2: first became a thing, I found this thing called YouTube,

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Speaker 2: and on YouTube, somebody had started posting clips of me

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Speaker 2: selling things in the middle of the night on QBC

399
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Speaker 2: right when I was like twenty seven, twenty eight years old,

400
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Speaker 2: like the Health Team infrared pain reliever and the Amcore

401
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 2: negative ion generator and collectible dulls and diamondique and all

402
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Speaker 2: this stuff. And the sensation of watching yourself on a

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Speaker 2: computer screen just like this one doing something years before

404
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,720
Speaker 2: that you have absolutely no recollection of doing, but nevertheless

405
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Speaker 2: can't deny having done because you're watching yourself do it.

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Speaker 2: That's chilling and very instructive and very humbling.

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Speaker 1: It is. It is chilling. Mike. I want to tell

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Speaker 1: you how much I really appreciate you joining me and

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Speaker 1: taking the time and most importantly, you know, tell us

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Speaker 1: a little bit about what did support the things you've

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Speaker 1: done great. I know that Dirty Jobs is just completed.

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Speaker 1: I think season ten. I guess you're back for season eleven, right,

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Honestly, thing's been on twenty years. Deadly's catch has been

415
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Speaker 2: on twenty years, hitting no, no joke, unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: And you know you got your whiskey, you got everything

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Speaker 1: going on. But ultimately what defines you is none of that.

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Speaker 1: Ultimately what defines you is your grandfather's humility, your scout

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Speaker 1: master's toughness, and your music teachers challenge of challenge of

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Speaker 1: you to think of yourself in a different way. And

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Speaker 1: I think that can't be a better example and illustration

422
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Speaker 1: of what it takes to support greatness is take the

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Speaker 1: best of all the people that have a positive impact

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Speaker 1: on your life and culminate them into who you are.

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Speaker 1: And you sharing that story with us is really cool.

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Speaker 2: Well, thanks, with your permission, I'd like to share one

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Speaker 2: more thing.

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Speaker 1: It's real quick.

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Speaker 2: I don't know who in your audience that this might

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Speaker 2: pertain too, But I run a foundation today and we

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Speaker 2: award work ethic scholarships every year.

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Speaker 1: In fact, we do it twice a year.

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Speaker 2: We'll be giving away a million bucks in a couple

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Speaker 2: of months for people who want to pursue a skill

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00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,919
Speaker 2: that doesn't require a four year degree. This was the

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00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 2: real legacy of dirty jobs and the real legacy of

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Speaker 2: my granddad. It's the foundations called microworks. We started it

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00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:49,720
Speaker 2: on Labor Day in two thousand and eight and we've

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00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,520
Speaker 2: helped about two thousand people so far get meaningful careers

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00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 2: in the skilled trades. So it's something I'm passionate about,

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00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 2: and it's something that's actually moving the needle. If you

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00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:05,160
Speaker 2: or anybody listening wants to pursue a career that's actually

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00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 2: in demand, that won't require you to sign on to

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00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,440
Speaker 2: a mountain of debt, then think about a career in

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00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 2: the trades. If that's for you, we can help at

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00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 2: microworks dot org.

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00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 1: Microworks dot org. Do they just go on that thing

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00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,520
Speaker 1: and apply or tell you about themselves or raise their

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00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: hands on virtually.

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00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to jump through some hoops, right, Yeah, look,

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00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 2: full disclosure, and this ultimately is the best tribute I

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00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 2: can pay to all the men we've discussed. Our scholarship

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00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 2: program is called work Ethic Scholarships, right, so yeah, I

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00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 2: need to see some references. I ask you to write

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00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 2: an essay, I ask you to make a videotape and

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00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,479
Speaker 2: make a persuasive case for yourself and tell us why

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00:29:54,120 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 2: we should spend the money that we raise on you.

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Speaker 2: But I'll tell you something, Bill, the success stories are

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00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,720
Speaker 2: amazing so many people now, because we've been doing it

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00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 2: a while, I circle back now and I see how

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00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 2: people are doing, and I hear from welders and steamfitters

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00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 2: and pipe fitters and electricians and plumbers and so forth,

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00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 2: and they're all making six figures. They're all leading balanced lives.

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00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 2: So look, I mean, if you really want to land

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00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 2: the plane back with noble, that's where it was for me.

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00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 2: My pop went to the seventh grade, wound up being

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00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 2: one of the smartest people I ever met, one of

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00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 2: the most competent people you'd ever want to know. And

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00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,560
Speaker 2: so my foundation today is you know, that evolved from him,

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00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:46,160
Speaker 2: just as surely as dirty jobs did. And it's nice

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00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 2: for you to bring it up and let me talk

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00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 2: about it. I appreciate it. If your listeners can benefit

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00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 2: from it, that's why it's there.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what I hope one day you

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00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,120
Speaker 1: and I can meet up and toast a couple of

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00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 1: noble Manhattans to your grandfather.

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Speaker 2: That would be a very, very civilized way to us

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00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 2: spend a warm afternoon in Memphis.

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00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,479
Speaker 1: Well, the invitation always stands, my friend. Thank you so

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00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 1: much for joining us, and we will continue to watch

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00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: what you do and continue to listen to and appreciate

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00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 1: who supported your greatness. Mike appreciate it. Thanks and thanks

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00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 1: to all of you for joining us this week. If

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00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 1: Mike grow, Mike's music teacher, his grandfather is scout Master,

485
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: or any other guest we've had on has inspired you

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00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 1: in general or better yet to take action, please let

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00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 1: me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can

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00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 1: write me anytime at Bill at normalfolks dot us. And

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00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 1: if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends

490
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 1: and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate and review

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00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 1: it all of the things that will help grow an

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Speaker 1: army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you

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Speaker 1: ex week. Do mhm