WEBVTT - #414 Packers Unscripted: Pause and reflect 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:20.960 Hi everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:24.120 I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.000 colleague West Hodkowitz. We're coming to here from our studios 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.960 at lambeau Field and West. It is Mini Camp week. 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:34.280 That means a couple of things. Number one, three days 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.440 mandatory mini camp, all the players required to be in 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.720 attendance here at Lombardi Avenue. But it's also the conclusion 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.800 of the off season program. After this week, the players 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.199 are then off until the start of training camp. So 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:54.120 as the off season wraps up, so to speak, is 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.800 there anything in particular you'll be looking for out on 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:58.600 the practice field this week. Well, I just want to 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:00.760 point out, since this say is the last week of 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.320 the off season program. On Friday afternoon, that screeching you'll 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.840 hear from the lambeau Field parking lot will be my 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.959 car sipping away, getting ready to go into the summer 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.240 here and and get away for a bit. But first 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.160 vacation goes to him that that after that then I'm 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:17.800 gonna try to get out here for a few days 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.039 and he's gone. This is what it comes down to, 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:21.920 right right weeks get it where you can take it. 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.280 But no, you're right, I mean it's it's always an interesting, 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:28.679 uh sort of week in terms of it sounds like 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:30.160 this year for the most part, a lot of the 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:31.920 installs are in, so I don't know if there's gonna 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.640 be so much reviewing. The way Mike McCarthy usually did it, 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:36.840 this usually ended up being like installs five six or 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.240 was it six, seven and eight. I think a lot 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:40.920 of times it could be the last slate of them, 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.600 almost like the last review period. McCarthy typically dismissed the 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.160 veterans and then we're just focus on working with the 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.160 younger players. Matt Lafleur has already said that he's expecting 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.040 the veterans that they they will be here this week 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.520 just because the new system going in year two the defense, 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.040 they want to have those guys here. Yeah, McCarthy certainly 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.840 didn't dismiss all the veterans his first couple of years. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.560 It was more towards the latter half of his program. 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.000 So Matt Lafleur he wants to maximize this time. He 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.120 understands the value in it. The only true differences I 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.480 think practices can go a little bit longer. Players are 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.160 obligated to be here under the construct of the c 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.360 b A. So the last chance to get in some 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.160 really good work here before you give into the summer 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:20.960 for a little bit and back for training camp when 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.160 we really start cooking with gas. Yeah, that would that'll 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.280 be That'll be the time that things really take off. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.400 And I think, uh, you know, the first couple of 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.639 days of training camp will still be no pads and 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.079 they'll be that that grace period that easing into uh 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.040 to full speed training camp, full contact training camp. But 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.280 then we'll start to really get a sense of where 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.280 the Packers are here with regard to Matt Lafleur's scheme 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.320 and year two of Mike Petton's defense and all of that. 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:47.680 So we'll have our eyes on the practice field this 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.480 week and see exactly what's going on. Is things wrap up, 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.120 But I want to get to some sponsor business here 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.880 west the Green Bay Packers get ready for game day 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:00.400 with the powerful noise canceling technology of Bows Quiet Comfort 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.600 thirty five headphones. 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Okay, moving on, west I know there 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.280 are a lot of times on this show we tell 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.400 the fans to, hey, check this out on the website. 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.720 You know you'll like this, watch this, But I'm telling you, folks, 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.680 you need to give yourself a good half an hour, 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.480 about twenty minutes of reading time, ten minutes of video time, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.040 maybe an extra five minutes to wipe away some tears 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.160 because you have to go on Packers dot com and 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.800 check out the piece that Weston hodkoits here put together 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.560 on a former Packers tight end, Mitchell Henry and his 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.920 story which was tragically cut short by an illness a 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:10.800 couple of years ago. West you flew to e Town, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:12.720 right at the end of the NFL right after the 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.359 NFL draft is the day after you hopped on a 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.560 plane with I don't know how Mike Vandersnick is still 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.960 talking to me. Yeah, yeah, Mike Vandersnick, one of our 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:27.080 videographers here in the Packers dot Com broadcast apartment, accompanied 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:31.440 west to Etown, Kentucky. You put together, really you visited 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.200 with all kinds of people who were a big part 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:39.520 of Mitchell Henry's life, and uh put together his his 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.960 whole story. And for those who don't know about it, 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:45.720 um certainly go on the website and check it out. 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.520 What I wanted to ask you, Wes, is when you 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.960 go through a long reporting process like this and everything 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.200 that was involved in it, there are a lot of 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.039 things that happened, whether it's behind the scenes this and that, 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:00.400 that don't necessarily make it into the final product. So 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.320 is there something like that from that will stick out 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.000 in your memory banks in terms of what you went 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:10.240 through in the process and how you went about putting 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.440 the story together that maybe hasn't seen the light of 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:14.280 day just yet. It's a really good question, Mike, and 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.159 I'll answer that in one moment. I want to set 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.120 it up a little bit by just explaining why exactly 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.240 I was going cat fishing, because it ties into that 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.680 answer the cat fishing trip. So you I think, I 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:25.960 don't know how much you got to talk to to 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.720 Mitchell Henry when he came in at fifteen, but he 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.120 was considered one of the top undrafted players the Packers 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.679 draft that had signed that year after the two thousand 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:38.800 fifteen draft and might end out of Western Kentucky. Western 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.320 Kentucky played with Jack Doyle. A lot of a lot 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.240 of good tight ends have come through their. Tyler Higbee, 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.279 also now with the l A. Rams, was in that 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:50.080 same time, right right after Mitchell. I think, so what's 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.160 interesting about Mitchell's story is that summer training to hit 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.719 camp it gets long, right, So you get in twenty practices, 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.960 you start getting into mid August, and people are looking 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.520 for storylines. Well, for Charles Mitchell Henry, it it became 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.120 the storyline about him being a cat fisherman and a 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.960 noodler that Garon Rodgers brought it up. I know Jerry 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:10.520 font and all the tight ends coach at the time 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:12.320 brought it up. Ron Zook I think brought it up 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.839 um And I got to know Mitchell a little bit. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:17.680 I got to know his brother Ben a little bit 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.520 through the process, and I just joked with him near 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.360 the end of training camp because it although he had 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:23.760 broken his hand, it still looked like he might have 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:25.880 a decent shot to make the roster, did play well 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.840 on special teams, is maybe a third option at tight end. 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.280 I just I just off the cuff. I mentioned him, well, 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:32.760 you know what if you make the rosters after I 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.480 wrote a story almost like you ate the roster, I'll 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:35.960 come down. I'll go cat fishing with you and your 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.480 dad and we both laughed it off. In Mitchell, I'll 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.240 never forget the words, he said. He's like, you know, 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.040 I know, I know my dad he'd he'd be happy 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.480 to take you. So I recount the story and inbox 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:48.599 this was last June, and I just said someone a 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.279 really stute question an inbox, probably one of my favorite 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:53.240 questions someone's really ever asked in the three years I've 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.640 been doing that was is there any stories you really 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.120 enjoyed from undrafted players that you just never got to 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.200 tell because then they got cut? For me, it was 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.760 Mitchell Henry. I wrote that in a month later, Terry 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.320 Henry's father wrote back to me and basically said, I 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.760 have not been cat fishing since Mitchell passed away. But 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.600 I know he'd want me to ask you to come along. 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.400 So I stayed in contact with the family. March rolls around, 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:19.880 April rolls around. They still want to do it. So 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:24.240 we go down to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, five minutes outside of 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.880 it little lake called Taylorsville Lake. I wrote in my 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.680 second graph of the story, it looks like something out 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.440 of a clear in Eastwood, Western It really does. It 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.480 looks like a scene out about lawn. Josie wales Um. 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.480 The answer to your question that you said that the 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.160 story that stays with me the most is myself and 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.560 our videographer, Mike Vanderstick. You have if your cat fishing, 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.520 you don't just go and throw some lines out and 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.800 then just you know, have some fun. It's actually a 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.040 lot of work, is what I found out. We had 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.920 to put down four lines. We put them down little 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.680 banks of the river or lake. Go back to our 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.560 our rental car. Fortunately, Mitchell's brother Ben was nice enough 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.480 to bring us some some pillows and sleeping bags. So 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.960 Vanderschnick and I slept in the front seat of the 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.120 rental car for two whole hours. Got up at three, 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:10.360 I'm sorry, got up at one so We went to 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.680 bed at eleven, got up at one, went and check 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.880 the lines, got three catfish, rebait the lines, go back 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.560 to our car, sleep for another two hours, get up 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.200 at six, do it again the next morning. My favorite 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:24.560 part of this little story is the fact that I 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.160 had to wash out my clothes three times to get 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.800 the smell of catfish out of them because it was 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.200 just so pronounced, and I was trying to run in 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:33.680 one of the shirts. I'm like, I can still smell 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.960 the catfish. But it was such an incredible journey to 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.760 be a part of. And I knew Mitchell a little bit, 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.520 but getting to know his dad, his brother, his his 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.760 lovely wife Madison, his mom, Leslie, his friends and families, 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:52.800 so many people I talked to for the story. You 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.880 don't fully appreciate every day, is what I learned through 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:02.000 this process. And Mike say average his high school football coaches, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:06.440 his youth football coach, said, you know, you have a 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.079 bad day and things hang with you that shouldn't hang 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.440 with you, And you think about what Mitchell Henry went 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:17.720 through with acute milloyd leukemia, a m L seven month battle, 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:19.680 everything it did to challenge him and the faith that 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:21.599 he showed, the courage that he showed, the strength that 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.320 he showed in the face of that. It's always something 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:26.559 that's gonna stick with me. This was I don't want 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.280 to say he became emotionally invested in the story. I'm 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.000 still a journalist at heart. I try not to do that, 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:35.400 but getting to know the family and being there and 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:38.640 in and in the Henry's house and in Madison's house. 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.520 So many times we write an obituary and you forget 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:49.560 weeks past, months past, and you just move on. And 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:51.800 there's a quote that Madison says in both the video 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.520 on the story about it's for me, it's not moving on, 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.280 it's moving forward, and that's stuck with me. And I 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.199 think that's always gonna stick with me. Yeah, because it's 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.319 just there's things in your life that touch you. It 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.120 doesn't have to be death, that doesn't have to be that, 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:10.160 but things that shape you. And seeing how that family 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:14.720 has persevered and endured and has attempted to heal after 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:17.520 going through such a terrible, terrible loss at a terribly 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.640 young age. UM, it has an impact on you. It 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:23.680 certainly had an impact on me, and I think that's 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.400 one of the things that I liked the most about 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.720 the story the way you did it, whether you're talking 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.040 about the video that was put together, and certainly hats 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:35.319 off to a Adam hebel Heinrich, Mike Atkinson, we already 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:39.280 mentioned Mike vander Snick, their involvement in putting that video together. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:44.480 Some outstanding work there. But as journalists, you you said 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:48.120 the word obituary. We've all written stories about people who 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.079 have passed away. It's it's part of the business. It's 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:55.319 it's something that we've all done. What I liked about 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.800 your story, though, is this wasn't just telling the story 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:02.160 of Mitchell and everything that happened to him. It was 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.880 also the story of how Mitchell impacted so many other people, 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.440 not only as as a kid and a great athlete 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.800 and somebody everybody loved too, then someone everybody wanted to 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.160 root for because he had a shot at the NFL too. 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.240 Then everything he went through with his illness and trying 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.640 to fight it and with his wife and his dog 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.080 and all of these kinds of things that the all 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.800 the pieces that went into it, Um, you know it, 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.760 it really is emotional and and um there's no avoiding that. 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:37.800 The other thing I'd like to ask you though, is 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.920 I know, as we've all been through these types of 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:46.480 processes before as writers or as videographers for that matter. Um, 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.400 speaking of the guys who put together the video, there 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.440 are always things that don't make it, that end up 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.400 on the cutting room floor, so to speak. I know, 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:57.800 I'm sure talking from talking to his coaches and family 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.319 members and everything, I'm sure you've got some story reason, 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.000 some anecdotes that you know just didn't quite fit, or 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:04.880 maybe you didn't have room four in terms of the 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.400 way you told the story. So is there one of 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:12.240 those anecdotes from those folks about Mitchell or some encounter 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:16.320 with him when he was alive that uh, um, that 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.440 you think is worth sharing here? So naturally, because this 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:21.120 is the way I always do things and unscripted, you 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.079 give me a question that I answered a different way. 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:25.960 There's probably three obviously that that stand out to me 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.280 there from three different stages of his life. The first 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:31.000 one that I really wish I could have gotten the 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.160 story but it just didn't work out. His childhood friend 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.920 Dylan and him used to go frog gigging. I think 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:41.160 I got that right, frog gigging gigging, which is you know, 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.559 so he's a big cat fisherman. He loves hunt doors, uh, 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.680 hunting everything like that. He also liked to go catch frogs. 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:52.319 And Dylan had this great story and it's it unfortunately 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.040 got cut out last minute because it was already a 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.640 five thousand words story and we're trying to keep it centered. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.960 But he had this phenomenal story about how you know Mitchell, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.000 even at a young age, he was fearless man. He 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.160 didn't care. So like, they'd go out in these bogs 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.040 and they'd be gigging, and I know, people from Kentucky, 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:09.439 you're gonna watch this and be like, oh my gosh, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.439 you're making a fool of yourself. But they'd be going 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.040 after these frogs and Mitchell would have his waiters on 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.760 and he'd be swimming through this water going after these frogs. 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:18.800 And Dylan was telling me that he's like, I'd be 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:22.280 sitting there petrified because I didn't want to put my 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:23.960 hands in there because there's snakes and all these other 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.800 wildlife things. Mitchell didn't care about that at all. He 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.800 was just all about the outdoors. He loved every single 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.200 bit of it and didn't he was just he was 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.959 fearless in that way. The in it for the game. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.840 I mean, yeah, the the other thing just to touch 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.320 on quickly, in his time in Green Bay, I had 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.680 one of our packers. You know, there's a number of 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.560 equipment people that work with Red Batty down there, and 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:49.760 and and different kids that come through, and different guys 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:51.760 that come through and help him out. There was one 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.640 that texted me after the story ran, and he just 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.080 he had such a great little snippets saying that out 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.959 of every rookie, UFA, whatever that's come through there, you 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.280 will not find anyone kinder than Mitchell Henry. The way 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.360 he carried himself, you saw it, the way he walked 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.079 around the locker room. He was just such a humble 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:14.120 and and just everyday kind of guy that he just 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.560 happened to be trying to play in the NFL. But 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.360 he's just the type of guy that if if you're 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.200 at home, he's just the guy you kind of would 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.120 hang out with and have a good time with. And 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.200 he was getting a lot of media attention because he's 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.600 trying to make the team of a broken hand. If 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.640 you look at in the video, you see some of 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:30.640 the pictures, he's got the big club on his hand. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.120 This is a tight end who was trying to catch 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.480 passes and trying to throw blocks and trying to make 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.560 the team as an undrafted rookie, and he got put 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:41.080 into some pretty difficult circumstances there and he's still almost yeah, 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.800 and it's just it's it's incredible all those things work out, 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.680 the last thing, and it's unfortunately. More on the somber 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.360 note was that Mitchell, throughout his illness, it didn't matter 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.200 if he was originally in a town or when he 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.080 went to Lexington and then finally to MD Anderson in Houston, 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:58.320 one of the top cancer facilities in the country, he 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.960 always kept a little journal um and a lot of 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.720 times and you know, I don't I don't want to 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:05.240 get preach or anything like that, but a lot of 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.880 times it would just basically be conversations he was having 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.600 centered on his faith and his religion whatever. You know, again, 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.640 I'm not trying to push anything on anybody, but how 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.160 devoted he was and how he never steered away from, 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.040 you know, what he believed. And I gotta be honest 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.800 with you, Michael, if I'm in his shoes and I'm 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:29.040 somebody that truly was devout, and you know, I'm so 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:35.200 focused on being a really humble and good person. And 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.120 that's something like that hits me. I think it would 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:41.000 really challenge me. It would challenge me for why asking why. 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:46.280 Mitchell never asked why, And I just I can't imagine 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.240 the amount of strength that that takes to be able 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:54.960 to still have that kind of character. Never, if people 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.600 called him, this wasn't the story. But if people called him, 0:15:57.680 --> 0:15:59.840 he never let on if he was sick. He never 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.000 it on to how he was feeling. He never complained 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.280 about how he was feeling. He always tried to make 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.560 it more about the other person so that when they 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.560 hung up the phone, they would feel good about where 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.960 things are at. To the point, James Harris high school 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.480 basketball coach even told me his last conversation with him, 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.160 when he talked to him, he's when he found out 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:17.440 that he had passed away. He's like, I had talked 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.640 to him two weeks later, two weeks earlier, what happened 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:23.800 and his mom, Leslie then told James, well, if you 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.560 were talking to to Mitchell, someone was probably holding the 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.080 phone up for him because he just didn't have that 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.640 kind of strength. And those are the things that stay 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:37.640 with me the most, and I just he was a 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.240 good human being that I hope with this story. My 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.560 my main intention for this story is that people understand 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.800 one there's human beings behind these helmets. Doesn't matter if 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:50.720 your first round pick, doesn't matter if you were Shaan Gary, 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.240 doesn't matter if you're the man on the roster. These 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.920 are human beings that walk into this locker room, with families, 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:59.960 with lives, with things that go beyond the field of play. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.120 And in my opinion, I humbly submit that that Mitchell 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.600 Henry was one of the best of them from everything 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:07.440 that we've known, from the way he carried himself, the 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:11.360 stories that people tell. You would have to walk many miles, 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.880 Michael to find anybody that's going to say something negative 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.960 old Mitchell Henry and for him to lead that kind 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:18.720 of life and have that kind of success that he 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:20.840 did and never changed him. You wanted him back in 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.040 Etown to talk to a high school basketball team. He 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.439 left Green Bay, Wisconsin. He drove seven half hours to 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.400 get there to do it, because that's just the guy 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.600 is that's the that's the kid that Terry and Leslie 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.879 Henry raised. And again it's it's a story that five ten, twelve, 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:38.600 years and I hope people read it. I hope people 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:40.360 check it out. But it's one that's definitely gonna stick 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.800 with me. Yeah, it's definitely gonna stick with me too. 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.040 And and I didn't know Mitchell certainly is as well 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.840 as you did. But reading all the work that you did, 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.200 everything you put into it, the video that was put together, 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.960 just outstanding work. My cap is off to you, my friend. Yeah, 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.120 thank you. And it's uh, it's something too that it is. 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.720 It is sort of fun. It's probably the wrong word 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.000 to say, but it was interesting in too, like reminiscent. 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:02.640 But I got a chance to sit down with Brian 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.200 Goodkun's last a couple of weeks ago and him kind 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:06.680 of like going through some of the stories but what 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:08.760 they liked about him as a football player where they 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:13.000 thought potentially those are those are fun stories to do 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.320 and in terms of just kind of understanding that side 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.480 of the game too, like where this kid could have 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.360 really potentially, um, you know, had a career from self, 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.679 Brian good Ku sette he really thought, you know, if 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.399 things played out a little bit differently, the injuries that 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:28.639 hadn't mounted, this was a guy that really had a chance. 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.920 And that's such a small part of mitchell story. There's 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.960 a bigger story there, but just kind of understanding that 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.160 aspect of it and knowing that, Okay, every year, there's 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.320 gonna be another fifteen to twenty undrafted free agents that 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.159 can of come come into this building and and they 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:48.080 might not always have the story Mitchell has, but those 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:50.480 are I think what makes this game special because it's 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.480 what gives them. It gives these teams. I don't want 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.240 to call it humanity, that's the wrong word, but it 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.520 just it really drives home the point that this is 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.359 a game him, this is something that you're gonna do 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:05.520 for a very short time. It grounds you, it grounds you, 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:07.480 and and once you move on, you have to be 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.080 able to live a happy and positive life. And in 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.480 Mitchell Henry's case, while it was short, what he did 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.439 in those short twenty four years have really made a 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.119 profound impact on those who knew him. Yeah, no question 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.240 about it. With that, we're going to call it a 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.600 rep on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:24.919 follow all of our coverage of the team, and certainly 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.760 check out Wess great piece on Mitchell Henry on Packers 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.359 dot com. Subscribe to us like us on iTunes and 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.840 other podcast services if you don't mind. On Twitter, he's 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.480 at west hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.080 the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:40.640 you next time.