Speaker 1: Passionate, compassionate, enthusiastic, generous, grateful, talented, loyal, loving, loud. Just
Speaker 1: a few words that come to mind when describing my
Speaker 1: dear friend and living legend, Richard John Vitau, a k a.
Speaker 1: Dickey v. He spent such a long, rich life in
Speaker 1: college basketball, coaching, broadcasting, promoting, and growing the game as
Speaker 1: much as any individual ever has. Dick's been honor by
Speaker 1: about fourteen Halls of Fame, has the Sport Semi Lifetime
Speaker 1: Achievement Award, and written nine books. But for me, his
Speaker 1: most important work, what's going to be his everlasting legacy,
Speaker 1: his relentless efforts to help kids with cancer by raising research, money,
Speaker 1: raising awareness, and providing love and support for so many families.
Speaker 1: We cover all this and a lot more in this episode.
Speaker 1: Dick is in rare storytelling form. I even tell how
Speaker 1: Mr Vittau played a role in my most embarrassing moment
Speaker 1: in a TV student. You now the one and only
Speaker 1: take town Well, Mr vital my friend of more than
Speaker 1: thirty five years, thank you for taking time. I'm really
Speaker 1: looking forward to this, and I hope you are too.
Speaker 1: I talked about passion, because when I think of you,
Speaker 1: that's the one word that comes to mind instantly. All
Speaker 1: the things that you are passionate about that you live
Speaker 1: your life with great passion, but at the top of
Speaker 1: the list has to be your passion for your wife,
Speaker 1: Lorraine and you guys. As we record this, just celebrated
Speaker 1: your fiftieth wedding anniversary, the golden anniversary. Man. I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody asked you, how did you do it? How did
Speaker 1: you get there? What's your words of wisdom and relationship?
Speaker 1: You know, one thing you know, Chris, Lorraine has been
Speaker 1: my best friend. She's been my best friend. She travels
Speaker 1: with me quite a bit, and she's been my guiding light.
Speaker 1: She's my support factor. When I got fired by the Pistons,
Speaker 1: I promise as down as I've ever been in my life.
Speaker 1: I was really depressed. A lot of people don't realize, Uh,
Speaker 1: it's a knock to you. It's a knock saying you're
Speaker 1: not worth anything and you feel your value is down.
Speaker 1: And she kept encouraging me, inspiring me. Finally it was
Speaker 1: her that got me to go out and do a
Speaker 1: game for Espanngers. I said no to Scotty Conna when
Speaker 1: he initially called me. He called me, say hey, Dick
Speaker 1: when I left these your last game you ever coached
Speaker 1: against Michigan and we number one in a country. We
Speaker 1: had a great team that year on twenty one in
Speaker 1: a row, and it was David Goliath. They wouldn't plays
Speaker 1: Christie in the regular season. We beat up My first
Speaker 1: year they were on the schedule, but they had Capital
Speaker 1: and Russell. We upset him, and I couldn't get Johny
Speaker 1: were back on the schedule, and my players would come
Speaker 1: in all the time screaming at me, coach the number
Speaker 1: one in the country. We play with those guys and
Speaker 1: the summer we're as good as they are. Can't we
Speaker 1: play them? Well? The world came in work for one
Speaker 1: of my assistants. Where do you see the draw if
Speaker 1: we get the sweet sixth team we played Michigan. I said,
Speaker 1: qual a team meeting, and qual a meeting. We put
Speaker 1: a thing up on a board. I said, well, you
Speaker 1: guys a bitch and the moaning complain to how much
Speaker 1: you want to play Mr Good We'll take a look
Speaker 1: right here. I know they're gonna be there with Hubbard
Speaker 1: and Green, are we gonna be there and lead? You
Speaker 1: played him in Lexington and doing the game Scotty Connell
Speaker 1: was there and I was in more Chris, I mean, Chris,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at a thirty seven years old I'm sitting
Speaker 1: in a gym at practice and I'm look at the stands.
Speaker 1: I see Kurt Gowdy. I mean, I'm a baseball fanatic.
Speaker 1: What the hex kurk kark Downy doing here? Kurt Donny,
Speaker 1: we're all We're all series, super Bowls, Emmy Award winning
Speaker 1: to announce it, and next door the Wizard of West
Speaker 1: with John Wood. I've said, what the heck? So the
Speaker 1: third guy comes up to me, how going to be
Speaker 1: Scott and Connell hadn't know him at the time. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm ahead of NBC. This in our production and we
Speaker 1: decided to televise your game. Your game is gonna be televised.
Speaker 1: It's David against Goliath, and John Wood is going to
Speaker 1: be the color commentator. Kurt Doddy's gonna do the play
Speaker 1: by play. Oh my god, I called my team over.
Speaker 1: Little did I know, Chris, how this change my life?
Speaker 1: I called the team over and I gave a three
Speaker 1: minute talk on the definition of greatness and how we
Speaker 1: utilize it so often, just for everyone, and it's really meaningless,
Speaker 1: and I'm guilty of that as well. Many announcers are.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're not, but I know many of us are.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is, I said, this defines greatness.
Speaker 1: Ten National Championships, Sports Emmys. I'm an audit these guys here,
Speaker 1: and little did I know we lost a heartbreaker. And
Speaker 1: suppose me Scotty when he called me up after I
Speaker 1: got fired on November November. You remember these dates, remember
Speaker 1: like my uh like my wedding anniversary made only second
Speaker 1: November eight, nineteen seventy nine. I got this zig so
Speaker 1: I get fired. The phone rings. You have to remember me, Dick.
Speaker 1: My name is Scotty Conn. I've just been named ahead
Speaker 1: of hiring firing all at ESPN. I like to do
Speaker 1: our very first big game Wisconsin the pole. I said,
Speaker 1: what the hell is ESPN? Sounds like a disease, that's true, Chris,
Speaker 1: I said, sounds look at disease. I mean, you're kidding me.
Speaker 1: I want to get back where I belong on coaching
Speaker 1: in college. And that was the end of the conversation.
Speaker 1: That I sat back and I did what I was
Speaker 1: doing on a regular basis. As much of Luca Laura
Speaker 1: General Hospital, I was so depressent around the house and
Speaker 1: my wife, so why didn't you take that? Fortunately for me, Chris.
Speaker 1: He calls me back ten days later and they said,
Speaker 1: look at me one there, last shot and my wife's screaming.
Speaker 1: Anybody taking the arrangement of And I took it. And
Speaker 1: little did I know that speech, because he said to
Speaker 1: me when we left the arena, he said, when we
Speaker 1: left the arena, Kirk Gaudy, you guys lost. We lost
Speaker 1: in the last minute. Was an incredible game we had
Speaker 1: at one point when I wrote it would be more
Speaker 1: Kent at more Kent. Two months later, mar Kent wins
Speaker 1: the national title. My kids really felt that if we
Speaker 1: couldn't beat Michigan, we're gonna win the national title. But
Speaker 1: we're better to market. We beat him on their floor.
Speaker 1: So anyway, by the line is he's where we left,
Speaker 1: he said Coach Wooden and Kirk Galley said to me, Scotty,
Speaker 1: we love that young guy's enthusiasm. His energy is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: You should think about him and TV I wrote your
Speaker 1: name down. I wrote it down. I still want the
Speaker 1: transaction you got fired. Well, I want to start a
Speaker 1: new career. That was it, and that's where you know.
Speaker 1: I've always you know, Chris Parishion. You mentioned Parishion started
Speaker 1: with me in my home. I lost my eye as
Speaker 1: a kid, and my mom and dad kept telling me
Speaker 1: all the time, uneducated parents, I mean fifth grade educated,
Speaker 1: working factories, but love. I had a dad, a doctor
Speaker 1: to love, and he kept telling me all the problems.
Speaker 1: Never Dick Ritchie, Richie wanted a big deal one on it.
Speaker 1: You could beat what anybody else can be. You've got
Speaker 1: such she never said passion. It's always energy, your energy, Richie.
Speaker 1: They can't hold you back. Well, I think that that's you.
Speaker 1: You were. You were away ahead of the curve talking
Speaker 1: about the topic of bullying. So many kids go through you.
Speaker 1: You knew, you knew it as teasing. It wasn't known
Speaker 1: as bullying back then. But how many times, as a
Speaker 1: kid and then later on in life, for various reasons,
Speaker 1: were you told you can't do this? Whether it was
Speaker 1: the I or you're not smart enough, You're not slick
Speaker 1: enough to do this thing. You're not uh classically good
Speaker 1: looking enough. I think you're plenty good looking. But you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, how many times in your life
Speaker 1: were you told you can't do this, but I love
Speaker 1: you anyway. My wife said worse, I said, classically, no,
Speaker 1: I mean, but you you bumped up against that, as
Speaker 1: so many of the athletes and the coaches you covered
Speaker 1: over the years. You bumped up against people telling you
Speaker 1: what you can't do, what the limits are in your life,
Speaker 1: what you can achieve because of an obstacle that's been
Speaker 1: put in front of you, man, and that you've lived
Speaker 1: that from age five, and you've you've kicked its ass. Well,
Speaker 1: you don't uh. When I was in a little league,
Speaker 1: so I was a pretty good picture man. I got
Speaker 1: an order said to me about oh God, a year ago.
Speaker 1: I got an article said to me a year or
Speaker 1: two ago, and in the article, one of my former
Speaker 1: players on my team said it to me, and it's
Speaker 1: Richie Vitale just misses little Hall of Fame, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, I got into some big honor at William Support.
Speaker 1: But I used to throw hard. I just throw hard.
Speaker 1: And one game I struck out I think was sixteen
Speaker 1: out of the eight team matters had a no hit,
Speaker 1: perfect game, and then a kid at first base the
Speaker 1: ball rolled through and they gave him a hit. My
Speaker 1: uncle's my uncle's were all believing all factory workers. My
Speaker 1: finally had nine brothers and sisters, my mother and I
Speaker 1: that come to the little league games, and they loved
Speaker 1: everything I did at sports because there was sports fanatics.
Speaker 1: And we must have been went hell of a cheering section.
Speaker 1: I'm hooked to be de vite healt cheering section for
Speaker 1: all striking guys. That must have been unbelievable. And they
Speaker 1: were michaelcal Franklin Patam in particular. Uncle say they fanatic
Speaker 1: base offensive when when they rule the hit on the plane,
Speaker 1: they come running scream to the part. I gotta come
Speaker 1: little league, I said, calmed down, now we won the game.
Speaker 1: But you know I pictured a little league and I'd
Speaker 1: actually hear Chris and like you said, you said while
Speaker 1: you did your research, obviously, Uh I was I was
Speaker 1: doing with teasing, teasing, but it hurt, Oh, it hurt.
Speaker 1: It was my eye used to I don't remember what.
Speaker 1: But I worked with you. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: work glasses when I worked with you, I didn't work
Speaker 1: contrast initially, and my eye used to drift. My eyes.
Speaker 1: I could never look you straight in the eye. If
Speaker 1: I'd be on t V. I'll do this all the time.
Speaker 1: To turn to try to hide the fact that the
Speaker 1: eye drifting. So what happened? When I'm picturing a little
Speaker 1: league I got? I'm don't really hard. I got well
Speaker 1: as the fathers are olive it, the war fans and
Speaker 1: the other team screaming out, does he know where he's going?
Speaker 1: Look at his eye? Man? I look at his eye?
Speaker 1: Oh my god. I was like knives. I'd go home
Speaker 1: after the game and my mother would catch me in
Speaker 1: my room hysterical as I'm staring at a mirror. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at my eye. I get emotional thinking about it
Speaker 1: right now. And I've tried and try and my mother
Speaker 1: see what, Ritchie, what's the matter? I said? They teased
Speaker 1: my emotion of it. They teased, and I can't control it.
Speaker 1: There's nothing to do. You know. Usually if you're in
Speaker 1: control of what you do, you could, you could contain it.
Speaker 1: But I couldn't control it, and just frustrated me. And
Speaker 1: I thought that all the time, and I tried to
Speaker 1: hide it with smiles on my face, enthusiasm, energy with people.
Speaker 1: But down dirt deep, they really kind of kind of
Speaker 1: my heart. I always thought, when this bulliant thing started
Speaker 1: a few years ago, I'm gonna share this because it's
Speaker 1: just ridiculous with people do to people who have no
Speaker 1: control of the situation they're dealing with. And fortunately for me,
Speaker 1: I gotta lucky break. My wife, Lorraine, went to Dr Giles.
Speaker 1: I always tell him so thankful to him. He's a
Speaker 1: pot he's a pediatric eye doctor. But he was looking
Speaker 1: at my daughter's eyes and typical annual evaluation. He saw
Speaker 1: the name and he said to my wife, So, I'm
Speaker 1: a big basketball fan, he says, an in relation to
Speaker 1: Dick Vital and that's my husband. And he said, look,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you something I said. He talked to
Speaker 1: him about correcting that eye. He said, because I know
Speaker 1: I could do it. Even though I'm a I would
Speaker 1: make an exception. I don't work up at adults, but
Speaker 1: I'm very good. I'm he was very you talking about
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan me and confident guys like that would swack.
Speaker 1: He said, I'm the best of what I do. Man,
Speaker 1: He says, I would stricken that eye out for him
Speaker 1: if he if you're gonna operate under the eye, you
Speaker 1: better have confidence in the guy doing it. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's my only eye, you know. Here's the deal.
Speaker 1: So now I'm home and I said no. And then
Speaker 1: finally one day at ESPN, and I used this in
Speaker 1: my speech because he was near. When I got inducted
Speaker 1: into the Sportscasters Hall of Fame. ESPN had a big
Speaker 1: table here. Everybody was there, from John wild Hack, Steve Anderson's,
Speaker 1: all the executives. President Jordan Vot had introduced me um.
Speaker 1: But I saw Steve in the boot back memories and
Speaker 1: in my speech and my speech, I said, Steve, I
Speaker 1: gotta thank you, because it wasn't for Steve. I called
Speaker 1: Steve up. Was in charge of all our talent at
Speaker 1: the time, remote talent. I don't know if he's in
Speaker 1: charge of you guys in, but he was in charging
Speaker 1: all the remote guys. And I called him up and
Speaker 1: I said, Steve, I'm resigning. I've had it because what
Speaker 1: happened on a Sunday we're in the studio. I believe
Speaker 1: it was John Saunders. I think it was Jimmy v
Speaker 1: I don't know. Work in the studio on a Sunday
Speaker 1: and look out, we usually asked the reception itself. Anybody
Speaker 1: called screaming and yelling, and if they screaming, you know,
Speaker 1: you know we did a a good job. We got
Speaker 1: somebody fired up, No except one guy. One guy keeps
Speaker 1: calling up once the President's number wants this. You want
Speaker 1: you off the ear because you're oh my god. It
Speaker 1: was like, I can't tell you the fielding Chris, you
Speaker 1: went back to that bedroom when you're five years old,
Speaker 1: the same emotions and the same bottom line is. I
Speaker 1: was so hurt. So I came home. I quote for
Speaker 1: Steve until Steve the next day on Monday that I'm resigning,
Speaker 1: and he said, don't be ridiculous. We didn't hire you.
Speaker 1: If about your eyes. You've had you for your knowledge
Speaker 1: and do it, and you please don't. But then I
Speaker 1: couldn't sleep, and I told my wife. I said I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go see that doctor. So I went to see him,
Speaker 1: and he said I could take care of that. I Dick,
Speaker 1: I swear I could take him, but you have to
Speaker 1: sign these papers, he said, because there's always a chance
Speaker 1: during surgery that's something could go. And I've never lost
Speaker 1: he said, I've never lost vision in a child's eye
Speaker 1: in doing surgery in my whole career, and I don't
Speaker 1: plan on losing vision. However, what I have to tell you,
Speaker 1: I have to operate and your good eye to fix
Speaker 1: the bad eye. You had something a pooling the muscle
Speaker 1: to get Oh my god, and that put me on
Speaker 1: the lay totally. I said, right, doctor, I just can't
Speaker 1: take your chance and my good eye and something happens,
Speaker 1: and he said, I'm telling So I went home plused
Speaker 1: and turned about it for about two days. If I
Speaker 1: they went back to let's do it, and he did it.
Speaker 1: And he someone to put you in contact or in
Speaker 1: the thick glasses and changed my life. But the bottom
Speaker 1: line is the bottom line. People can be mean. People
Speaker 1: can be mean. And I said on social media as well,
Speaker 1: you know, most people are a great ninety city to people,
Speaker 1: but it's we live in a society. People like to
Speaker 1: hurt people sometimes and it just it frustrates me. But
Speaker 1: I go ont of my way when I see somebody
Speaker 1: struggling physically and I went walking or whatever seen somebody.
Speaker 1: So when yesterday in a wheelchair walk and it was
Speaker 1: struggling over a curve and I couldn't wait till I
Speaker 1: do over and say, okay, help. I don't know I well,
Speaker 1: my parents, my parents or my guide in life. I
Speaker 1: would give anything if my mother a father ever ever
Speaker 1: saw the home I live in and the things that
Speaker 1: happened in my life, they're blown away. We had one
Speaker 1: bathroom growing up as a kid. We had a nice
Speaker 1: little home. Don't get me wrong. We had a nice
Speaker 1: little home, and we had so much love, had so
Speaker 1: much love, and we need more in that Chris, and
Speaker 1: you heard me when I spoke at my gala, and
Speaker 1: I mean this so so much. We need more love
Speaker 1: in a nation. That room you were there was filled
Speaker 1: with so much love in that room by people like yourself.
Speaker 1: The little Holtz Is, the Bruce Arians, all the stars
Speaker 1: that were gathering, all those kids. You can feel the
Speaker 1: love people have for them. We have too much hate
Speaker 1: in our nation. I don't care whether one is black, rich, poor, white, whatever, Muslim, Christian, Jewish.
Speaker 1: I mean, we gotta all you me. We gotta trying
Speaker 1: to put her arm around each other. And if anybody would,
Speaker 1: if everybody would adopt the philosophy that I grew up
Speaker 1: with my mother and father and my dinner table. I
Speaker 1: learned more of my damn dinner table than any class
Speaker 1: I ever took. I got my master's in thirty because
Speaker 1: I was preparing for Option B. I always believe in
Speaker 1: life that you have. Option A was my dream to
Speaker 1: be a college coach, but option B was more realistic
Speaker 1: to be a principal, being administrator after coaching. So I'd
Speaker 1: go at nights even Trui sandwich in the car of
Speaker 1: the basketball high school practice. Won't get my master's degree.
Speaker 1: Mike fritell Overgie out to bottom and I'm in the
Speaker 1: back of the room, the three of us chasing these dreams.
Speaker 1: Bottom line is, but I got lucky, You've got option B.
Speaker 1: And I just feel that it is important in life
Speaker 1: to be able to do to do the things and
Speaker 1: away and my mother and flows. So never ever believe
Speaker 1: in camp Ridgie. And the second thing, there's always telling me, oh,
Speaker 1: treat people like you want to be treated. If you
Speaker 1: treat people like you want to be treated, like God,
Speaker 1: what a world would have. And I think that's a
Speaker 1: simple philosophy, and we don't have it right now in
Speaker 1: this nation. We don't have it. There's so much to
Speaker 1: get into. I definitely want to circle back to the
Speaker 1: Gala and the power of that evening and the passion
Speaker 1: you have and the compassion that you have for the kids.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about that. You said a couple
Speaker 1: of things there though, if people only realize the depth
Speaker 1: of the hurt they create by some off handed comment,
Speaker 1: it's done so loosely and so freely and so thoughtless.
Speaker 1: Sleep And anybody that's that's working to sort of make
Speaker 1: people aware and end bullying and teasing is doing great
Speaker 1: work because there is way too much of it in
Speaker 1: the society. I want to circle back to something else though.
Speaker 1: You know you you're a giant and what you what
Speaker 1: you do, and you have been for a long time.
Speaker 1: Yet there's still that sensitive part that one random idiot
Speaker 1: who calls the switchboard and chooses to make a point
Speaker 1: about your eye bothering him. You said it h you alive,
Speaker 1: and it caused you to lose sleep, and that that
Speaker 1: hurts me to hear that. But it also look look
Speaker 1: what it turned into, Dick. Look what random caller and
Speaker 1: the hurt of that turned into you making the decision,
Speaker 1: having the courage to make a decision that you said
Speaker 1: was life changing. And I think that's something else that
Speaker 1: is an important lesson to take away, is all the hurt,
Speaker 1: all the things that you feel if you if you
Speaker 1: spin it can be viewed as a possible growing experience
Speaker 1: and a life changing moment. You were able to do
Speaker 1: that and find the guts being Maybe maybe if that
Speaker 1: random idiot doesn't call the switchboard, maybe you don't take
Speaker 1: that path, or maybe it takes a lot longer to
Speaker 1: get there. It's I think it's a good lesson for people.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that so much, and I really, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to make it like people feel sorry. Whatever.
Speaker 1: I've lived the hell of a life. My life succeeded
Speaker 1: any dream, you know. I couldn't dream of a better life.
Speaker 1: I got the gorgeous wife. I mean my wife I
Speaker 1: just made you should congratulate me, but you didn't. I
Speaker 1: just got all of fame, I mean, like fourteen all
Speaker 1: the face, but I got into Twitter. I got into
Speaker 1: a new one because I wanted you guys. Nicky Me
Speaker 1: has been in a lot of all of paps. But
Speaker 1: now if the looking at his wife, I can tell
Speaker 1: you this, he's in the overachieving all of fame. And
Speaker 1: the guy's right, he said, but anybody knows the ring
Speaker 1: like you do. She's just saying, she's just saying I
Speaker 1: was the greatest I do I ever said fifty years ago,
Speaker 1: fifty years ago, it was unbelieving after she said I don't,
Speaker 1: I don't, after she said no to you asking her
Speaker 1: to dance three times. I've heard you tell that that
Speaker 1: long story, which is very fine. But persistence at ad
Speaker 1: persistence and confidence and a little swag, a little swag
Speaker 1: that you had even back then. Add that to the
Speaker 1: list of things that's gotten to where you are right now,
Speaker 1: because that was an important moment right there, Man, no
Speaker 1: doubt about it. We would get together a bunch of
Speaker 1: coaches with gianta botto, tell us all those guys we
Speaker 1: get to. You have to talk about him in North Jersey.
Speaker 1: We had so many great coaches in North Jersey. I mean,
Speaker 1: you think about him or Luke Kemp and Lli really
Speaker 1: messed me. You know, the beat goes on. But anyway
Speaker 1: you'll be brown. But that situation where she did reject me.
Speaker 1: But the third time, man, I took the fast ball.
Speaker 1: The first time I took the curve ball, and she
Speaker 1: tried to throw me a slider. But she couldn't get
Speaker 1: the slider my me because well, the guys bet me, Chris,
Speaker 1: they met me at the table. You know how, guys
Speaker 1: are ten guys sitting here and I'm going over to
Speaker 1: the dance ms this. She showed me a picture by
Speaker 1: the way, at the fifteenth Universe, I didn't even know
Speaker 1: she had. At our big family gathering at this restaurant,
Speaker 1: my wife pulls out the pitches. She says, you always here.
Speaker 1: She always she was me Richie. She never called me Dixon.
Speaker 1: You always here, Richie. She was telling my daughters, your
Speaker 1: dad always told them about me my pants when he
Speaker 1: met me. Well, here's the picture. And she hasn't picture
Speaker 1: with the white boots and the hot pants. I would.
Speaker 1: She's like twenty three years old. And all I can
Speaker 1: say is wow. So the bottom line is bottom line
Speaker 1: is all the guys. They were ragging on me like
Speaker 1: you couldn't believe, given high fives that I'm getting rejected. Finally,
Speaker 1: stuff I rejecting to my second time, I watched him
Speaker 1: turn out about ten guys asking her to dance. Finding
Speaker 1: a third time, said I am so piste off, I said,
Speaker 1: do me a fan of guys throw money up here.
Speaker 1: I'm not a betting guy. I bet I get her
Speaker 1: on the dance for guys broke tens, twenties. I grabbed
Speaker 1: the money, the juice, I grabbed the one he asked
Speaker 1: me to bottom and I grabbed the money and I
Speaker 1: go over and said, look, look, I don't want your name,
Speaker 1: I don't want anything. I just bet my guys. Just please,
Speaker 1: I said, let me ask you a question. You look
Speaker 1: so pretty coming out here tonight. I've been watching to
Speaker 1: turn down all these guys. What is of dudes that
Speaker 1: get you excited? And you turned out at least guys
Speaker 1: asking you to digits. I mean, all I want to
Speaker 1: do is dance. Ch I don't want nothing but a dance.
Speaker 1: She says, you want to dance that badly? I said,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll even give you
Speaker 1: the money. It's like I said, everybody's gonna price. She
Speaker 1: didn't take any money about the bottom line is dance.
Speaker 1: And we've been dancing since then. One day, Yeah, May
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, that's the that's the same month that
Speaker 1: Amtrak started running its trains that the probe to Mars
Speaker 1: was sent. All in the family won the emmy. I
Speaker 1: did some research, and you guys are married and that
Speaker 1: what what an eventful month? And and uh again, congrats
Speaker 1: on the Goldmen anniversary. Now now Terry and share your
Speaker 1: two daughters, you guys, raised two beautiful daughters who were
Speaker 1: talented in a lot of ways. And that's the reason
Speaker 1: I met you and Nick Volitary Sentence Academy. We were
Speaker 1: doing features on high school kids and they were talented enough,
Speaker 1: even if they didn't have a famous father, to get
Speaker 1: on the show, to go down there, and that's where
Speaker 1: we that's when we first met. And uh and then
Speaker 1: little did I know at the time that life was
Speaker 1: going to take me to work in college basketball. We're
Speaker 1: gonna work together for fifteen more years. But but thank
Speaker 1: god your daughters played tennis, or I would never we
Speaker 1: never had that meeting. Maybe for a while. Sports has
Speaker 1: been part of our life with my grandkids, you know, Chris,
Speaker 1: But you never pressured him, right, you did. You didn't
Speaker 1: pressure your daughters to play You didn't. You didn't pressure
Speaker 1: them to play basketball. You don't pressure your grandkids as
Speaker 1: passionate as you are. You know, some grandparents step into
Speaker 1: that and they kind of impose their dreams on on
Speaker 1: other generations. Well, the only thing I imposed is you
Speaker 1: do something, do with the best of your ability, pursue
Speaker 1: it with a passion and ply. It doesn't mean you're
Speaker 1: always going to succeed a lot of great players out
Speaker 1: there competing trying to do what you're doing. But as
Speaker 1: long as you could do every day, my message and
Speaker 1: a young person I might be checking in on your
Speaker 1: podcast is try this out. Try this formula out every
Speaker 1: day of your life. When the night ends and you
Speaker 1: go look at the mirror and the night is finished,
Speaker 1: can you say to yourself, I was better today in
Speaker 1: pursuit of my goals and dreams that I was yesterday.
Speaker 1: And if you do that every day, that just adds
Speaker 1: up like you can't believe. And you know what, Chris
Speaker 1: at this week were had some real good restaurants called
Speaker 1: Cafel Rope here in sarah Sota, and we had the
Speaker 1: fourteen of us with us, all my family and my
Speaker 1: son of what Chris's mother was there and Lorrain's brothers
Speaker 1: and his wife as well, and all my my family,
Speaker 1: which is five grandkids, son of laws and daughters. I
Speaker 1: got very emotional, and I'll be honest with you, I
Speaker 1: told him. I said, usually I'm not speechless, but I
Speaker 1: start crying a little bit in terms of you know,
Speaker 1: you know, at my age now you're thinking about am
Speaker 1: I gonna see my grandkids graduate college? And when I
Speaker 1: watch them play tennis, let's go through your mind. And
Speaker 1: when I told him and I tried to impact them
Speaker 1: with make good decisions in your life. There's so many people,
Speaker 1: I said, I can't comprehend sometimes how people are so
Speaker 1: driven to be a success and put an hour after hour,
Speaker 1: whether it be law, whether it be medicine, whether it
Speaker 1: be athletics, and then rooting all in fine minutes by
Speaker 1: making bad decisions, unresting violence or whatever, drugs, alcohol abuse,
Speaker 1: doing it and rooted everything that they worked so hard for.
Speaker 1: I said, there's one thing to pray that you guys,
Speaker 1: and you girls, my granddaughters, well, I said that you
Speaker 1: make good decisions and don't become one dimensional. Don't become
Speaker 1: defined just by thinking that tennis tennis is the equalizing
Speaker 1: the success in life. Get to know when you're in
Speaker 1: Notre Dame. Get to know when you're at the kids
Speaker 1: next day, there aren't athletes. There's there gonna go on
Speaker 1: many of those and be CEOs and major major companies
Speaker 1: and be super successes. And I got a little emotional
Speaker 1: about it. You know, as a as a as a dad,
Speaker 1: and as a husband and as a father, I've been
Speaker 1: very blessed to have a situation where have had great
Speaker 1: job to me, It's a great job in forty some
Speaker 1: years doing what I love, getting paid to sit at
Speaker 1: courtside some of the greatest games over the years, meeting
Speaker 1: some unbelievable people. Um. Then also the fact, you know
Speaker 1: what I do off the year, I probably made more
Speaker 1: money off the year than on the year. With speaking
Speaker 1: has been great to me. While watched the speakers with
Speaker 1: over thirty years and booked me all over the place.
Speaker 1: Commercials over the years have been incredible. Uh. But the
Speaker 1: bottom and then I have a wief that to come
Speaker 1: home toon is no you know, there's no tension, There's
Speaker 1: no She's just such easy person to get along. If
Speaker 1: I couldn't get along with Lorin, I'm in trouble man.
Speaker 1: She's a saint. So fifty years of having that in
Speaker 1: front of me, having a support factor like she is,
Speaker 1: and then on top of it, getting two girls that
Speaker 1: I can honest truly, Sarah here Chris, they never gave
Speaker 1: me one ounce of trouble ever. Ever while they were
Speaker 1: in school over Here's for a reason they have been
Speaker 1: really if anything, and I said it during my speech,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you so, I have one critique about
Speaker 1: Terry and Chris, Sherry and Thomas is this, your life
Speaker 1: is just too too much centered everything your kids, your kids,
Speaker 1: and you don't do enough alone about yourselves. I said,
Speaker 1: you're everything is them, Then you've got to do things
Speaker 1: a little bit by yourselves. And said, I know it's
Speaker 1: easy for me to say that because when I when
Speaker 1: you guys grew up Terry Sherry, you grew up your
Speaker 1: mother and I that's all our life was everything. When
Speaker 1: you guys did your tennis tournament matches, you know, going
Speaker 1: out and a forget one match. They're gonna play there.
Speaker 1: They're not see it big tournament in California. This is unbelievable,
Speaker 1: San Raphael. It's the preliminary to the big national tournament.
Speaker 1: So all the kids played it to try and get
Speaker 1: a little warmed up. New making the transition going to California.
Speaker 1: Terry and Jerry, they're not seeing they end up meeting
Speaker 1: in the finals. The now I had to sit there
Speaker 1: and you gotta make a decision, And fortunately for me,
Speaker 1: I didn't have to watch the match because I had
Speaker 1: a speaking engagement ane the thought they were going to
Speaker 1: go to the finals. I was speaking engagement the next
Speaker 1: day to Princeton University. So I'm gonna go there to
Speaker 1: speak at a basketball camp, but not I think about
Speaker 1: the NBA at the time. So my wife, I'm conveying
Speaker 1: back and for my wife, And be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I would never tell Terry Cherry this, but they could
Speaker 1: better hear it now. I wanted in the worst way
Speaker 1: Terry to win, because Terry was two years older, she
Speaker 1: was in junior. I was recruiting time college coaches all there,
Speaker 1: the whole net at Sherry beatcher in three sets, in
Speaker 1: an incredible tie break, a third and the ninth grade
Speaker 1: of wins. Yeah. So, and it really bothered me because
Speaker 1: Tennis magazine, it was a magazine, it was whole. I
Speaker 1: think tennis magazine, Chris, I don't think gets out anymore.
Speaker 1: And in that magazine they did like a feature on
Speaker 1: the kids that went in that tournament. And I wanted
Speaker 1: so badly for she was a julior going to get recruited.
Speaker 1: And but anyway, you're you're like you were kind of
Speaker 1: an early miniature version of Richard Williams. You had these
Speaker 1: two talent a daughter. I'm not not they weren't quite
Speaker 1: Venus and Serena but I mean don't don't go no
Speaker 1: no no no. But I mean the dynamic no no,
Speaker 1: the dynamic or sisters competing and what that puts a
Speaker 1: parent in, like how you wrestle with that stuff. And uh,
Speaker 1: Richard had a hard time, you know, didn't like when
Speaker 1: they played each other, and he would he would leave
Speaker 1: as you did, as you had to leave that day.
Speaker 1: But that that's a that's a great story. It's not
Speaker 1: watching even my grandsons. Now, I know what I love.
Speaker 1: I'm going right after we do our thing here, I'm
Speaker 1: going to watch Cornor and Jake work out. I love
Speaker 1: watching the workouts. I hate watching the matches. So the
Speaker 1: point getting I've lived a life. That's why I love
Speaker 1: giving back. I love giving back because I was given
Speaker 1: so much, much more than I ever dreamt over the
Speaker 1: thought of my life. And that's why Chris and you
Speaker 1: know now I'm obsessed for raising money for kids. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed to the point where I drive people nuts
Speaker 1: of text messages, pictures are articles because it's so important
Speaker 1: when I talked to a family and I hear the
Speaker 1: stories and get to know the kids. He was I
Speaker 1: mean when we had our press conference the other day
Speaker 1: when I had my gallup. We have a press collage,
Speaker 1: you know, usually have five o'clock and all the kids
Speaker 1: sitting there. With the kids, we bring courageous kids. I
Speaker 1: mean kids. Joshua Fisher, young kid, twelve years old and
Speaker 1: twelve fifty doses of chemotherapy, Western herman four times, brain
Speaker 1: cats four times. He's in his fourth battle doing fifty
Speaker 1: two weeks of chemotherapy. And when I talked to the
Speaker 1: father the mother, the pain you can feel how their
Speaker 1: voices is unreal. And the kid is such a hockey player,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you shouldee him play hockey and not
Speaker 1: good terrific. So when the father called me about six
Speaker 1: months ago, I guess and tunes his voice. I heard
Speaker 1: his voice, Jared a great guy, super person, young guys,
Speaker 1: got three kids, and I can tell by his voice
Speaker 1: what's going on. Heared, So we just got bad news.
Speaker 1: I said, what's the bad news? And I'm hoping him
Speaker 1: of crossing my fingers is not what I'm sting to think.
Speaker 1: I said, what's wrong? He said, Western, he did his
Speaker 1: quarterly checkup and he's been so good for two years.
Speaker 1: Cancer or remission. The doctor said to bring too much
Speaker 1: come back and they have two options. One they can
Speaker 1: do surgery, what's very dangerous to do because he's had
Speaker 1: two surgeries already and it couldn't lead to paralysis. And
Speaker 1: the second option is you have a choice fifty two
Speaker 1: weeks of chemo. And he took the fifty two weeks
Speaker 1: of chemo to show you the toughness of this kid.
Speaker 1: About two months ago, he's doing chemo and he tells
Speaker 1: the doctor, I'm playing hockey tonight. Thanks, I gonna play
Speaker 1: hockey time. You're not gonna be exhausted. I'm gonna play hockey.
Speaker 1: Jared calls me up. He says, you're not gonna believe it.
Speaker 1: He said western and throwing up the car, throwing up
Speaker 1: on the law. He's inside putting his hockey uniform. Mind
Speaker 1: right now, do you want to play hockey? Type? And
Speaker 1: he plays with older kids? You start team now, he's
Speaker 1: playing like fifteen year old kids. You scored three goals.
Speaker 1: Was in a paper Big rights to assists. So I
Speaker 1: mean I had a conversation. I met him and his
Speaker 1: parents and we had a conversation about that. After you
Speaker 1: have mentioned that in the speech at your gala, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we took some pictures and I was. He
Speaker 1: was very modest, He's very low key about it, and
Speaker 1: the demeanor that he has is is really impressive. You're right,
Speaker 1: you you you put the spotlight on so many special kids,
Speaker 1: and I know that the compassion and the love that
Speaker 1: you have for for Weston has just duplicated many many
Speaker 1: times over the years. There's been so many kids that
Speaker 1: you've gotten to know them and their families, and it's
Speaker 1: it's it's a labor of love because and it's authentic
Speaker 1: because you know their stories, you know their treatment histories,
Speaker 1: you know their parents stories, and and being able to
Speaker 1: just salute them and let their parents and those kids
Speaker 1: stand in front of a crowd that jumps to its
Speaker 1: feet and it's clapping and cheering and saluting their courage
Speaker 1: has an unbelievable impact. That what we'll get a little
Speaker 1: bit more into the gallo, which by the way, raised
Speaker 1: what over a six million in one event this year,
Speaker 1: which is a staggering tump total in his way over
Speaker 1: forty million now. But but but what is it about
Speaker 1: pediatric cancer, Dick and and those stories and those kids
Speaker 1: that has made this, you know, kind of a lifelong
Speaker 1: passion or a decade long passion for you. What what
Speaker 1: is it about them and their stories and this disease. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, no kids should suffer. It should be all
Speaker 1: playing like my grandkids. And I always have the fear.
Speaker 1: I mean, I hear stories just the simple headingche kid
Speaker 1: named Kyle Peters is a mob works in the courthouse
Speaker 1: when my smilar works. Kyle came down with a situation,
Speaker 1: the headache. So what do you do give the mad villa?
Speaker 1: She said, you give him something eating bad, but then
Speaker 1: go away. Now you go to the doctor. Just says,
Speaker 1: oh my god, the m r R. It's gotta tuma.
Speaker 1: It's got a tuma. And to show that money works.
Speaker 1: Chris and I think I may have mentioned that at
Speaker 1: my gala. If I didn't, I know the youngster mentioned
Speaker 1: that at my house when he spoke. He's in college now, Kyle,
Speaker 1: he was twelve years old this time, playing Little League
Speaker 1: baseball and something. I've known him that many years. But
Speaker 1: at my house we have a post yala. For a
Speaker 1: lot of people don't understand. We have a post People
Speaker 1: donate big money to join. People like you who came
Speaker 1: people's celebrities joined in with them in a casual dress
Speaker 1: kind of atmosphere. You and I closed the house party.
Speaker 1: Thought about one in the boarding stories about USP had
Speaker 1: stories stories. We'll get to that later. We go back
Speaker 1: to the stories were great. But anyway, Kyle's mother about
Speaker 1: three years ago, the galla ends and she comes over
Speaker 1: to me and she says, I want to talk to
Speaker 1: you in the rain and everybody's leaving the gala. We
Speaker 1: have a great successful jalla and she cuts to an
Speaker 1: up and then she says, I want to thank you
Speaker 1: for saving my son's life. I said, I saved your
Speaker 1: son's of life. I was anybody's life A doctor and
Speaker 1: a she's don't. When Kyle went to All Children's Hospital
Speaker 1: with his brain cancer, they said the research granted that
Speaker 1: was given in memory of Peyton Right who lost her life.
Speaker 1: That's got me really going the neighbor of mind and
Speaker 1: went to her funeral six years old. Just crushed me.
Speaker 1: Or live in American dream Patrick and Holly, nice home,
Speaker 1: nice job, and all of a sudden, child, it's cancer
Speaker 1: changes in your life. I watched that girl get blind,
Speaker 1: I watched that girl get paralyzed, and then I watched
Speaker 1: her lose her life and went to the funeral. But
Speaker 1: she said the research grant that you raised dollars for.
Speaker 1: They said that research brant for brain cancer Save Kyle,
Speaker 1: and Kyle is cancer free, has been for the last
Speaker 1: seven eight years. He's now in college at Central Florida.
Speaker 1: I mean stories like that just I mean, I can't
Speaker 1: describe what I felt like when I left that. I mean, no,
Speaker 1: I I think that's the thing too, is that I
Speaker 1: know how you feel. You feel exhausted and dream because
Speaker 1: you put so much energy into it. You incredibly generous
Speaker 1: person in many ways, but especially in that But I
Speaker 1: think you need to know. Maybe you hear this, but
Speaker 1: I'll tell you as someone that's been there and was
Speaker 1: very honored to be to be given an award there
Speaker 1: a few years ago. Believe me, because cancer has touched
Speaker 1: my life and touched everybody's life, really far too many lives.
Speaker 1: But people like me Dick leave that room and I
Speaker 1: know that the number is staggering, and the dollars do
Speaker 1: go to real work. But beyond that, you leave people
Speaker 1: inspired to go out and want to do more, and
Speaker 1: want to care more and want to be more generous,
Speaker 1: better people. And that has an effect when they see
Speaker 1: the example you set and you see the power of
Speaker 1: that evening and the effect that it has in their
Speaker 1: kids and their families. I walk out of there, they
Speaker 1: could you know Ship, Yeah, I write a check, but
Speaker 1: I want to do more. I want to care more.
Speaker 1: So thank you for the gift of being inspirational in
Speaker 1: that way that that is gonna be. It already is
Speaker 1: a wonderful legacy of the event. It's what's done there,
Speaker 1: but it's how it makes people feel when they go
Speaker 1: out of that room and out into the world. Well,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, Chris, I really do you know. I
Speaker 1: remember you Jimmy V. One time I will never forget
Speaker 1: and really got me going. I mean, I can talk
Speaker 1: a whole day about this stuff, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to do that for people. But Jimmy V. I went
Speaker 1: at the hotel, of course from ESPN, getting ready to
Speaker 1: go work on a Monday, and I'm having dinner. He
Speaker 1: went up to his role, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: about twenty minutes later, the girl of the receptions from
Speaker 1: his over and she's h jim Valvanolson, can you please
Speaker 1: come up to his room? He said, to appreciate very
Speaker 1: much going. So I go up to his room and
Speaker 1: I'll never forget this as long as I live. He's
Speaker 1: in Shurance and he's crying, punching the Jim. Mean, what's
Speaker 1: going on? What's he said? Take your worst tooth thick
Speaker 1: to run through your body. I feel that every day.
Speaker 1: And I knew that he had turned down request by
Speaker 1: dot Is to do morphine to try and kill the pain,
Speaker 1: the pain, because he believed in his mind I had
Speaker 1: taken it. These proof f's here and there. I'm thinking
Speaker 1: that morphine that means I'm done. I'm finished, and I'm
Speaker 1: not finished. I'm gonna be one of those people gonna
Speaker 1: beat this. They said, like Tempest be what he had, Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be one of those. And he just fought
Speaker 1: and fought and went through that pain. And we sat
Speaker 1: there and talked him, Man, I'm be honest with you. Uh,
Speaker 1: my last conversation, I can stimulate you said, where do
Speaker 1: I get inspired? My last conversation with him was right
Speaker 1: after I introduced him, after the SPS first SPS and Uh,
Speaker 1: it was unbelieving. He got h the Author Ash Award,
Speaker 1: the first recipient of it. I was introduced by Dustin
Speaker 1: Hoffman and he talked about Arthur Ash that he brought
Speaker 1: me up to introduce Jimmy. I thought, Jimmy, what's gonna
Speaker 1: just say? Thank you? Sit down? Because if you saw
Speaker 1: him that night before and the day of the sp
Speaker 1: he would never believe he could get up there and
Speaker 1: give that speed. He was out of it so much.
Speaker 1: So I badly begged him the night before to make
Speaker 1: sure he came because what happened. I went over with
Speaker 1: Joe where the car going over, and I just thought
Speaker 1: it's gonna be another event. When I went to rehearsal
Speaker 1: the night before, I was blown away with what they
Speaker 1: were gonna do and all this. So I called his
Speaker 1: house up and you know, his wife's typical. Pam said, uh,
Speaker 1: he's in a room just down and you know, please
Speaker 1: get him on the phone. So you got on the phone.
Speaker 1: I said, Jimmy to mar is gonna be special man?
Speaker 1: He said there, he's very low key, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: hard to believe this guy can get up there and
Speaker 1: give that speech. He says, you think I'm worried about Dick,
Speaker 1: worried about getting some words or whatever. He says, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna see my little girl Frederick Grammar school. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna go walk my daughter down the island. Man, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's got me in tears and he's got me you know,
Speaker 1: it's come on, Jimmy, you gotta tough enough, you gotta
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta be here. Mike Sachowski and his
Speaker 1: wife flew with Jimmy. And in fact, if people go
Speaker 1: to my Facebook, on my Facebook, they're gonna facebook the
Speaker 1: real dick my twel We opened it up with there's
Speaker 1: a thing victory V for victory, and it's all about
Speaker 1: Mike and I sharing. We're writing a letter. We write
Speaker 1: a letter about the night before the night before the SPS,
Speaker 1: and it's all about how Mike's talking about in a plane,
Speaker 1: Jimmy's throwing up like Crazzy and the plane in the
Speaker 1: back he he and Mickey flew him up, flew up,
Speaker 1: togetting them and if you remember, we had to carry
Speaker 1: him on the stage before what a lot of people
Speaker 1: didn't know this before that really a couple hours before
Speaker 1: or hour whatever it was before, I knew he would
Speaker 1: the way he felt. So I was trying to grab
Speaker 1: someone's system there. It was putting on the event to
Speaker 1: me be bring the microphone to him sitting down, so
Speaker 1: he sees me talking, what are you doing? Is I'll
Speaker 1: try to make it easy for you, man, Dick, Dick,
Speaker 1: I didn't come of it. Just get me up on
Speaker 1: that stage. Please just get me up. And in this
Speaker 1: video I'm talking talking about that's on my Facebook. Mike
Speaker 1: and I write on our arms because we're just get
Speaker 1: me up on the stage. And he got him up there.
Speaker 1: I thank you. I stood here for the whole time.
Speaker 1: I would have never stood there for five minutes. I
Speaker 1: would have I sat that if I was given us.
Speaker 1: It was the most electrifying moment. I can't thank ESPN
Speaker 1: enough for allowing this to happen. And I'm gonna work
Speaker 1: as hard as I can, you know, for cancer research
Speaker 1: and hopefully we'll be maybe we'll have some cures and
Speaker 1: some breakthroughs. And i'd like to think I'm gonna fight
Speaker 1: my brains out to be back here again next year
Speaker 1: for the author asked recipient, I want to give it
Speaker 1: next year. I know I've gotta go. I've gotta go,
Speaker 1: and I got one last thing. I said it before
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna say it again. Cancer can take away
Speaker 1: all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it
Speaker 1: cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.
Speaker 1: And those three things are gonna carry on forever. I
Speaker 1: thank you, and God bless you all. So I pulled
Speaker 1: him up the next day, twelve hours later, after he
Speaker 1: electrifies the nation with that speech, I called up maybe
Speaker 1: around noontime for eight in the morning. Flight from back
Speaker 1: to the home, I got home against twelve one o'clock
Speaker 1: whatever it was. My answer machine was loaded with coaches
Speaker 1: caller who A lot of them maybe didn't think Jimmy
Speaker 1: was that ill, you know, and and they swart at
Speaker 1: speech and they were blown away. So I called the
Speaker 1: tell a great job he did, and how that was
Speaker 1: my last conversation. I hope, bam. She said, is phonus
Speaker 1: off the hook? He's not talking to anyone? He talked
Speaker 1: about one. He took one phone call the president of
Speaker 1: the United States. That's the only coll we tooked. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, I'm not the president, but I want
Speaker 1: to get on the phone. Get up on the phone.
Speaker 1: She's she's in his room. He's been crying, he's been
Speaker 1: I said, Pam, please get him on her phone. So
Speaker 1: she get him off. You know, you could barely hear him.
Speaker 1: Christmas a guy that was lictrified laugh and people go,
Speaker 1: you know there's this album. During the conversation, Yeah, it's over, man,
Speaker 1: he's over, Jimmy, don't talk like that. You can't quit,
Speaker 1: you can't give up. No more speeches that, no more.
Speaker 1: It's done. I said, I love you man, I can
Speaker 1: choke them. I love you, Jimmy. Jimmy. He said, you
Speaker 1: gotta keep fighting, to keep fighting. And it just was
Speaker 1: my last conversation. And he died right at and died
Speaker 1: shortly after that. Went to the funeral. But think about
Speaker 1: his legacy. Had jid Dicky had everything he had left
Speaker 1: and and found some what he didn't think he had
Speaker 1: put into that speech. And you said electrifying, and it
Speaker 1: is a message that lives forever. It's it's words that
Speaker 1: have inspired millions of people that live forever. It's inspired
Speaker 1: other generations who now come to find that speech and
Speaker 1: don't even know what he did back coaching career. They
Speaker 1: found that and that's a that's an incredible backstory. A
Speaker 1: lot of that stuff I didn't know about what it
Speaker 1: took to get him on the stage and what it
Speaker 1: took within him to stand there and deliver that message
Speaker 1: that will live forever. And I'm not surprised that it
Speaker 1: that it It took everything that he had left at
Speaker 1: that point. I mean, the ending is obviously brutally sad.
Speaker 1: The finality always stabs you in the gut. But to
Speaker 1: think about what what he left the world and what
Speaker 1: he will be remembered for is more of those twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes that even even running around on the court
Speaker 1: after NCY State beat Houston in a national championship, it's that.
Speaker 1: It's that moment on that stage. You know, Chris, think
Speaker 1: about this over a quarter. I'm proud to be on
Speaker 1: the board of directors and my dollars I raised for
Speaker 1: the found There's all pediatrics, but the the foundation itself
Speaker 1: has raised for every form of cancer, Wenna be loved, process,
Speaker 1: the coal of breast cancer, whatever. Over two hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty million dollars. That's a quote of a billion. So
Speaker 1: think about Jimmy's life, think about the legacy, the impact
Speaker 1: of that. Winning that national title obviously made this a
Speaker 1: scenario where his message became bigger and bigger because his
Speaker 1: personality was known by many people in the sports world.
Speaker 1: But the impact it's had on so many lives. I mean,
Speaker 1: to me, isn't that what life is? If you can
Speaker 1: leave this world and knowing that you've impact people forever.
Speaker 1: That's what Jimmy V did and did it in a
Speaker 1: way that was just I will never forget standing there.
Speaker 1: Listen to that speech. In fact that my gallup. I
Speaker 1: always tell people and every time I do a speech
Speaker 1: there there's three things that are gonna happen in this
Speaker 1: mood tonight that Jimmy used to always proclaim with vital
Speaker 1: to live in a full day. You can be moved
Speaker 1: to thought. You're gonna be moved to laughter, and you're
Speaker 1: can be moved to tears. It's gonna happen. And that
Speaker 1: whom that happened, There no doubt about it. Every gal
Speaker 1: I have is people thought, it's laughter, and then there's tears,
Speaker 1: and there's tears. But you know, so proud to be
Speaker 1: able to you celebrity who in a way to be
Speaker 1: able to get entree. See what what I have going
Speaker 1: for me now is I'm able to get entree. Would
Speaker 1: keep people who could donate. I just need more. I
Speaker 1: need more athletes and more entertainers and work people out
Speaker 1: there to come forward, come forward and realize Christ there's
Speaker 1: only four cents out of every dollar goes for funding
Speaker 1: for kids. That's when people donate for Cancer for Research. Pet.
Speaker 1: Actually there's fourth cents of that dot dollar. That's a
Speaker 1: shocking statue. You repeat that every year, that that four
Speaker 1: cents goes to Cancer for Kids research out of out
Speaker 1: of a hundred cents. Why why that makes that? Makes
Speaker 1: no sense? But it's you're you're slowly making people aware
Speaker 1: of that and perhaps changing it and doing doing some
Speaker 1: phenomenal work. Hope to do it. Anyway, I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about listening you you mentioned, you
Speaker 1: mentioned the tears, the laughter when I work with you guys.
Speaker 1: When I when I was in the studio with you
Speaker 1: and and uh Jim Balvano, those were for me some
Speaker 1: of the greatest memories. I mean, it was so much
Speaker 1: fun as a host. I didn't have to work for
Speaker 1: you hard because you guys each were brilliant communicators. You
Speaker 1: had your own dynamic on the set with each other. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you always come me the Junior Varsity. That's okay, I
Speaker 1: I could. I was. I was able to step up
Speaker 1: as a j V host and work with two giants
Speaker 1: and that was a blast. And you know we've talked
Speaker 1: to the other night you mentioned you mentioned closing the
Speaker 1: closing your backyard down till one o'clock in the morning
Speaker 1: after your gala, telling old stories about some of the
Speaker 1: behind the scenes stuff at ESPN. But I find never
Speaker 1: seen it. People come up and say, oh, I like
Speaker 1: you when when you by tower together. But you know,
Speaker 1: we watched and we were never sure like that these
Speaker 1: guys like each other. Were they friends because we would
Speaker 1: throw you the friendly jabs. You you would call me
Speaker 1: the j V on the air, by the way, that's
Speaker 1: all right, and I would I would give you the
Speaker 1: business and you know, and you I never gave you
Speaker 1: the credit for getting a bracket pick right that you wanted.
Speaker 1: But but I think it was interesting. People thought like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe they don't get themlong, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: there's a problem there. But I thought that was just
Speaker 1: good TV. They were the key key people guessing that way,
Speaker 1: get a spark going, you know. Well, you know, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you we had so much fun there, there's no
Speaker 1: question about it. Uh. Really, you have a great gift.
Speaker 1: You a lot to get your people to really respond
Speaker 1: and get them really as a host. As a great
Speaker 1: gift you zess and you did a great job. And
Speaker 1: that's certainly with college game that you were off the
Speaker 1: charts what you did with their But now you went
Speaker 1: to the big leagues and you got there as doing
Speaker 1: that play by player in the game in a week
Speaker 1: and you ocur do a tremendous job together. And uh, really,
Speaker 1: I'm very proud to say that I've watched you growth.
Speaker 1: We are we aren't today, that's right, kind I'm gonna
Speaker 1: stop you right there at all. I get uncomfortable people
Speaker 1: start paying compliments here, but I you know how I
Speaker 1: feel about you. I think that Yeah, I will say
Speaker 1: I told the story, and I'll tell it quickly here
Speaker 1: the shortened version. But my lowest point is a broadcaster
Speaker 1: because I don't raise my voice. I don't really get angry.
Speaker 1: Uh in a studio or on a set, I try
Speaker 1: to be composed because people look to the host role
Speaker 1: as as kind of the point guard. Right, You're supposed
Speaker 1: to be in control, keep your cool, and if you're not,
Speaker 1: everybody kind of feeds off that. It can get sideways.
Speaker 1: But I had bronchitis one time one of our March
Speaker 1: Madness weekends, and we had Dale Brown x LSU coaching
Speaker 1: there Diggers over here to my left, they had a
Speaker 1: little friction. They didn't have a great relationships, and I
Speaker 1: we gotta deal with that. You're over there doing your thing.
Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about you. But but these
Speaker 1: shows are free formed. There's no script, there's barely a format.
Speaker 1: So segment by segment you're figuring out what you're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about as you're in a commercial break for the
Speaker 1: next five minutes, and it involves listening to a producer
Speaker 1: a little earpiece, and it's chaos in the studio. Dale
Speaker 1: doesn't know what he's doing. He's new to it. He's
Speaker 1: trying to diggers over here. His mind's going everywhere, and
Speaker 1: there are you. And every commercial break you're having seventeen
Speaker 1: conversations because you get an unbelievable ability to do seventeen
Speaker 1: things at once and then still still somehow put your
Speaker 1: mind on the job when the red light goes on.
Speaker 1: That's been one of your secrets, I think. But as
Speaker 1: a host, I'm like, what is he saying? What are
Speaker 1: we doing? What? What region? What games? What highlights? What's
Speaker 1: the comment? I don't know what we're doing? And commercial
Speaker 1: break after commercial break, like no one else in the
Speaker 1: sets paying attention but me, And then as we're counting
Speaker 1: down into the segment. Out of the break five four,
Speaker 1: you would turn to me, what are we doing? What
Speaker 1: are we doing? And I would like have two seconds
Speaker 1: to take But it never matter. You always got through
Speaker 1: it quickly. But I'm being I had a fever of
Speaker 1: a hundred and two. I had no business being on
Speaker 1: the set. I should have been getting a treatment in
Speaker 1: a clinic. But you try to soldier through and get
Speaker 1: get on with the job. Finally, after about an hour
Speaker 1: of this kind of show, we're in a mirtial break
Speaker 1: and the producer's freendth I was laughing when Billy Graff
Speaker 1: was a producer of this show. He's still a great friend.
Speaker 1: He's still involved with with your galut. We were laughing
Speaker 1: the other day and and finally, finally I snapped. I
Speaker 1: was completely unprofessional. I lost my cool and I turned
Speaker 1: to you in a commercial I said, m F would
Speaker 1: you shut that f up? And then and then you
Speaker 1: said you looked at me like shocked, because I that
Speaker 1: was I tried never to be that person. I tried
Speaker 1: to keep my cool, but you didn't make me do it.
Speaker 1: But I lost it and I was a low point,
Speaker 1: and that's on me. And you jump up. You grabbed
Speaker 1: a little lave of their microphone which is on your tie.
Speaker 1: You take it off. You got one foot off the set.
Speaker 1: You're out. You've tapped out. I've I've I've made I've
Speaker 1: gotten vitesail off the air, which has been impossible to
Speaker 1: do for their year. But then you come to your senses.
Speaker 1: The guy's counting down three to you, sit down, put
Speaker 1: the mic on. You shoot me a look. You give
Speaker 1: me like the Malocchio it's called right back in the
Speaker 1: neighborhood with the Eva. But then you go through like
Speaker 1: no nobody would know anything. You you nailed the segment.
Speaker 1: You're doing your sual thing. But every time that you're
Speaker 1: not talking and I'm not talking and Dale's going on
Speaker 1: or Diggers going on, you're looking at me. I go, oh, no,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to have a reckoning. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: to have a come to Jesus about this next conversial break.
Speaker 1: And we did, and we sorted out, and I loved
Speaker 1: you for the fact that you don't have a glass
Speaker 1: jaw man. I mean you can. It's essential for people
Speaker 1: to really enjoy working with somebody. Yes, yes, be sensitive,
Speaker 1: but but be able to take a punch and come back,
Speaker 1: and by god, you we we calmed down and by
Speaker 1: the end of it, it's hugs and kisses and yes,
Speaker 1: I love this guy. I got really mad at him once,
Speaker 1: but that was that was a wild situation. But you
Speaker 1: you you just kind of you kept going like nothing
Speaker 1: had happened. Hey, let me just say this, if university,
Speaker 1: my wife has said a help a lot worse what
Speaker 1: you said to me. You know, what are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: If I would have if I would have a guy
Speaker 1: that holds the grudge, I'd have been gone a long
Speaker 1: time ago. But the bottom line is, you know you
Speaker 1: love people. I love me. I know you well. I mean,
Speaker 1: we got a great relationship. People be shocked, and I
Speaker 1: really have such respect for you. As it was in
Speaker 1: that room and we went to bed that night, my
Speaker 1: wife said, man, you just feel like I could see
Speaker 1: and Joyce sitting there with Cristal all night talk and
Speaker 1: I was like, I can blow all day to guy.
Speaker 1: It was the guy that's the stories talking about every notch,
Speaker 1: just basketball, Tennant's based on life, talking to it and
Speaker 1: it's just fun. It's just lots of fun. You're a
Speaker 1: very inquisitive mind. We talked real estate, talked investments. I
Speaker 1: missed you, man. I do miss work with you. I
Speaker 1: I did fifteen years and I love college basketball and
Speaker 1: you're infectious enthusiasm for your passion for it was a
Speaker 1: big reason why I got into it before I even
Speaker 1: got to ESPN or covered it. I really missed those
Speaker 1: days and I looked back with immense fondness. iBOT working
Speaker 1: with you guys and those it was it was a blast.
Speaker 1: It was It was fun and in a different way
Speaker 1: than football is or tennis is. It was just it
Speaker 1: was such so much about the personalities, just being around
Speaker 1: you guys. Right now, Chris, I've been very blessed the
Speaker 1: last five years. I've done the semi final and championship
Speaker 1: games on ESPN International. That's all over the world, not
Speaker 1: here in the States. I sleep with CBS as the
Speaker 1: as the Rights may do a good job Jim Nanson Company.
Speaker 1: But you know, I've learned in life. You know, people
Speaker 1: say to me, don't you ever miss that? You never
Speaker 1: ever like we're at a network that had the whole tournament.
Speaker 1: I don't miss any of that stuff. I to me,
Speaker 1: do I miss you know? I'd love to have here.
Speaker 1: I'd love to be a good looking guy. I love
Speaker 1: to have that big body. Sexy people go a while
Speaker 1: for me, even though I think I'm a very sexy
Speaker 1: guy at eight. Anyway, it modified you can't have everything
Speaker 1: you want. You can't have everything, so you take what
Speaker 1: you have and you do the best of what you can.
Speaker 1: And I think all of us, all of us that
Speaker 1: have talked about over the years, guys that yourself, myself,
Speaker 1: like Tarikos, and we go on the list is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: We've been able to do things we love. And to me,
Speaker 1: there's nothing greater. My father worked. He pressed coats in
Speaker 1: a factory in effect, from seven in the morning. I'll
Speaker 1: never forget this has inspired me. Seven in the morning
Speaker 1: to four thirty five o'clock, press coats, white tee shirt,
Speaker 1: sweat like pitt brought me to hear to the end
Speaker 1: of my junior here and I changed my life my
Speaker 1: end of my junior He kept me Richie Rinchie. Go
Speaker 1: to college and you don't want to do what I do.
Speaker 1: You gotta brain go to college. I don't go to college,
Speaker 1: omen and film. I was gonna buy a car, a
Speaker 1: three year payments, go out and get a job like
Speaker 1: all my uncles and cousins did, and family did. Bottom
Speaker 1: line is I watched what he did then they come home.
Speaker 1: I learned more at my dinner table than any class
Speaker 1: I ever took. I learned about love, I learned about diversity.
Speaker 1: I learned about tough times. I watched my dad come
Speaker 1: home on Friday and night said, put X number of
Speaker 1: dollars on the table from my mother. I was for food,
Speaker 1: X numbers for the insurance man. Come pick up this insurance,
Speaker 1: and then X number of dollars. Every Friday night, every Friday,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna close with this. Chris gonna get hold them.
Speaker 1: And every fighting night we would take us out to
Speaker 1: dinner for pizza. So when I had my dream, I
Speaker 1: was chasing this crazy dream to be a college coach.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, Howard Garfinkle just got into
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame as a contributor. Howard Garfinkel, I didn't
Speaker 1: really know at that time, came to hear me speak
Speaker 1: at a bank. We're closing up my high school winning
Speaker 1: to state championships in a row, and he was there
Speaker 1: and after the event he said to me, are you
Speaker 1: going You're in a hurry us Now we're gonna go
Speaker 1: to a diner. Was a camel Wing diner when he
Speaker 1: strut from Jersey. Is still there. It's a twenty four
Speaker 1: hour diner. I used to go to her all the time.
Speaker 1: They got a big kick. I was there a year
Speaker 1: ago the rain taking a little memory lane. Where at
Speaker 1: Todt High School. While we were at Coach High School,
Speaker 1: at Totton Elementary School, and then the diner, it was
Speaker 1: always every day don to diner. So whenym I go
Speaker 1: to the diner and Garf says to me, you belong
Speaker 1: in college. I said, well, that's nice to you to say,
Speaker 1: but I've got more rejections and the Dino Harvard gives out.
Speaker 1: I've written I don't know how many. And I was realistic, Chris.
Speaker 1: I wasn't writing Kentucky and Duke. I was writing the
Speaker 1: schools or Columbia schools. I thought, can I be a
Speaker 1: graduate assist on twenty nine years old? I'm doing anything
Speaker 1: man to state championships. In high school, I ran camps,
Speaker 1: I ran clinics. I started at twenty three doing that
Speaker 1: because I just want a chance, an opportunity. I couldn't
Speaker 1: get one. So he said, I'm gonna get your college job.
Speaker 1: He said, I, I mean talk conversation every day with
Speaker 1: college coaches about players coming to my five star camp. Well,
Speaker 1: you belong in college, calls me back. Thought's just I
Speaker 1: thought it was just another conversation we stayed talking about
Speaker 1: like you and I talked about two in the morning
Speaker 1: after the bag but they died his own eating eggs
Speaker 1: and saw us in all the stuff you shouldn't do
Speaker 1: by lay, I don't do that now, but I'm sitting there.
Speaker 1: The rain was with me at the time, and uh,
Speaker 1: we leave and I figured that's probably the last thing.
Speaker 1: Hear um all the thing. Calls me up about a
Speaker 1: week later, he's done. Look up to you if you
Speaker 1: want to do it. So Rutgers University as a new
Speaker 1: head coach Dick Lloyd. I talked to him about you
Speaker 1: soldier big time to him. However, he's already interviewed six guys,
Speaker 1: already been in six and he's ready to make his decisions.
Speaker 1: Like on a Tuesday Thursday, he said, he's ready to
Speaker 1: make a decision. However, if you want to go down
Speaker 1: to morrow and be interviewed, he said, based on my relationship,
Speaker 1: he'll interview you. But the chances of slim so I
Speaker 1: told him, if he interviews you, he's gonna hire you.
Speaker 1: So I said, I'll go to the head with that.
Speaker 1: I got gonna lose the first interview I ever did
Speaker 1: in my life. So I go there Chris, and I
Speaker 1: told this story that the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Speaker 1: Dick was there, Howard was there, and I told him
Speaker 1: as I was an honor day here because Niko. He
Speaker 1: had a kick out of this his interviewing me. And
Speaker 1: after about an hour and a half, two hours interview,
Speaker 1: and he says, are you in the hearty? I said
Speaker 1: not really. He said, well, come over me. I want
Speaker 1: to give me my wife and family. So now my
Speaker 1: head is race, What would you want me to be
Speaker 1: his wife and family unless he's interested in me, really interested.
Speaker 1: So I leave there after me in his family, and
Speaker 1: I come home and I give my wife a big
Speaker 1: high five. I said, I keep believe this. I said,
Speaker 1: I really think he liked me. However, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to get the job. But it was a great feeling
Speaker 1: sharing my insights and what I could do recruiting what
Speaker 1: state university. All of this, and five minutes later after
Speaker 1: I did at the phone rings, he says, I just
Speaker 1: want to make sure you got home. Er, I gave
Speaker 1: you enough time. Honously, You're home, okay, I said, I am.
Speaker 1: I said, thank you so much for the interview. He said, Dick,
Speaker 1: Dick Howard's right. I want to hire you right now, Chris.
Speaker 1: I burst in tears. I said, you serious, said, well,
Speaker 1: hright right now. So I grabbed my wife and give
Speaker 1: him high five, and I said, we are going to
Speaker 1: go celebrate. We're gonna go where my father and mother
Speaker 1: used to take me all the time, and I understand
Speaker 1: it still exists, new owners. Obviously, Barcelona's pizza place. We'd
Speaker 1: go tore have pizza Friday night as a family. It
Speaker 1: was a big throw for them to take us out,
Speaker 1: assistant brother and I. So anyway, I go there with
Speaker 1: my wife and as only a wife could do, to
Speaker 1: ruin the party, ruin my feelings. She says to me,
Speaker 1: by the way, what are you getting paid? I said, well,
Speaker 1: I'm making right now, twelve thousan in a year with
Speaker 1: my master's summer camp, with my job teaching. I said,
Speaker 1: this gotta be college twenty five thousand, I would imagine.
Speaker 1: So I don't even know. I never asked him. So
Speaker 1: no iPhones I run the pay phone. I call him
Speaker 1: it on the pay phone, A said, Dick, Dick, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna change my mind. What have I'm I'm just
Speaker 1: curious what am I getting paid? So what are you
Speaker 1: making now? As I make about twelve thou He said,
Speaker 1: it's great, You're only gonna take your cup for a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. It's going to come back to Lorraine. I said, patience, pride, patience.
Speaker 1: I'm taking the job no matter what. And you know, Chris,
Speaker 1: when they gave me my first set of recruits, there
Speaker 1: were players like you, players like Steve Anderson's, Mike Tariko's.
Speaker 1: Who we're gonna be? Who are gonna be? Uh? I
Speaker 1: want to be Kentucky. They thought I was crazy. I
Speaker 1: want to be Kentucky. I want to be I want
Speaker 1: to be Caroline's and Dukes. They said, Dick, be real.
Speaker 1: I'd be real. I said, understand this, and this is
Speaker 1: a message for anybody listening. If you think you're mediocre,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be mediocre. If you think you're special as
Speaker 1: a white can't we as a state university. I can't
Speaker 1: convince two kids from Jersey, New York or Philadelphia to
Speaker 1: a year that's eight players. I can't convince two a
Speaker 1: year to come to Rutgers to play at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 1: You're crazy. So I'm going after the best player. I
Speaker 1: said in a country Listen, you're a nuts man, Bill Sellers,
Speaker 1: Thomason Jefferson High School. Check the record books out, check
Speaker 1: who holds the all time records and score. Check who
Speaker 1: led them to the final four. In seventies six, you
Speaker 1: had to shy interverted Robert Montgomery night and the last
Speaker 1: undefeated team Indiana. You had Michigan with Harvard and Green
Speaker 1: and Johnny All, you had you c l A and
Speaker 1: then you had a school call Rutgers and those kids
Speaker 1: were unreal. That open doors for me to get the
Speaker 1: university troite job. And again I was told, can't you
Speaker 1: can't get fans in here race Riots a couple of
Speaker 1: years prior, nobody would come out. They'll good to go
Speaker 1: back to the urban suburban area. And I said, you're crazy.
Speaker 1: If you give people a product and you give them
Speaker 1: something to get excited about, I plan on doing that.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get people. And we sold out. We had
Speaker 1: twenty one in a row. So again I can't step
Speaker 1: in part of my life. The biggest mistake I ever
Speaker 1: made career wise, though, Chris was. I ran to a
Speaker 1: situation I didn't give it as wat as I should have.
Speaker 1: Jimmy V told me you belong in college. He said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna go from the University of Detroit, Like I
Speaker 1: went from my owner the NC state to a big
Speaker 1: time college. Don't think about the NBA. Well, when they
Speaker 1: offered me the job, Mr Davidson, you know I was.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm teaching sixth grade in nineteen seventy, coach
Speaker 1: in high school seven years later, I mean loft of
Speaker 1: the job as the head coach of the Pistons. Six
Speaker 1: figures a year, new cars, uh wellkn expensive account, the
Speaker 1: whole bit, I mean, unbelievable. I couldn't believe it. So
Speaker 1: I took the job thinking that I could change things. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what the n B a right now, you
Speaker 1: could coach And that was my doubt. For the owner
Speaker 1: treated me like wild. He was so good to me
Speaker 1: because he kept saying all the time, Dick, you want
Speaker 1: to get it done in a year or two. We
Speaker 1: know it's five years. You gotta be patient. I said,
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't take this beat. I could coach
Speaker 1: on blue in the face. I can't beat Koreeman a Lakers,
Speaker 1: and I can't beat Dr J Moses and the Sixes.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not happening, and and it just and
Speaker 1: then what happened to me even made a tougher other.
Speaker 1: Forget this, you get a great story out here. Bob
Speaker 1: was at my gallo when you're. Lanier stayed at my
Speaker 1: house and all that, and we talked about memories. We're
Speaker 1: playing the Lakers and were getting ripped Jimbars having a
Speaker 1: field day inside and Lanier taps me on the shoulder.
Speaker 1: He's sitting in his beautiful thousand dollars of that time,
Speaker 1: it's expensive thousand dollars. Soon he's got knee prod knee surgery.
Speaker 1: Next to him in a beautiful suit is my power
Speaker 1: forward out for the year. With a blood clot. John
Speaker 1: Shoemate going to day. So I got Shoemate and Linear
Speaker 1: is next to the assistant countries. Lania taps me on
Speaker 1: the shoulders. I figured out our problem. Look, Jape, we
Speaker 1: have no inside game. I turned us this no ship.
Speaker 1: You're sitting here and Shoemate and to tell him we
Speaker 1: have mom inside came. Give me a right and that
Speaker 1: got me fired. And Lorraine kept telling me. You can't
Speaker 1: keep telling me owner that you can't win in it. Finally,
Speaker 1: November eight nineties seventy nine, pulls up to my house,
Speaker 1: limousine the range that I'm going around the block until
Speaker 1: the limousine leaves prepared. You're getting fired this year, out
Speaker 1: of your mind, getting fire at four and I think
Speaker 1: six at the time, something like the four to eight
Speaker 1: four and six. I said, no way, twelve games, we
Speaker 1: broke records last year. Ten minutes was my first year here.
Speaker 1: No way, geez, you're getting fired. And Bill Davidson was
Speaker 1: a low key guys you can have gonna be brilliant
Speaker 1: man came in. He says, Dick, I hate to do this,
Speaker 1: said do so he made a coaching change. Coaching change.
Speaker 1: I was some dumb father. I said, what does that mean? Well, A,
Speaker 1: you're fired. Bottom line is, but I don't want to
Speaker 1: lose you. I want to make you exactive vice president.
Speaker 1: Give me some title that as I'm not interested, Mr Davidson.
Speaker 1: I'm going on my own. If I can't be doing
Speaker 1: what I want to do, I'm gonna go. I'm a
Speaker 1: old and you know I cried I'm a very emotional
Speaker 1: I cried, I was. My buddy labeled me in New
Speaker 1: Jersey a boy, a ball of dream. He's always said
Speaker 1: to me, Richie. Stacey Saragana said, Richie, you're a boy,
Speaker 1: a ball and a dream. And I was, and it
Speaker 1: was taken from me. It was such a learning experience, Chris,
Speaker 1: because Lorreen said to me, you know all those people
Speaker 1: you think of friends, they were so shits. There are
Speaker 1: social friends. You're in your hand. I'm calling people up.
Speaker 1: I bought with friends, not getting returned phone calls, couldn't
Speaker 1: get interest in this. Nobody would give me a right
Speaker 1: time and day that nobody cared anymore about. You know,
Speaker 1: your one state championships. You went to Rutgers into a
Speaker 1: school that never had a great player like that, going
Speaker 1: nobody I wanted to talk about the Troit I only
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about, Gee, you didn't get it done
Speaker 1: with the Pistons. You didn't get it done, or really
Speaker 1: I never gave myself enough time to get it done.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is it turned out to be
Speaker 1: the best thing of my life because have I stayed
Speaker 1: in Chris. I had one thing in me that will
Speaker 1: never change, never change that would have lead me to
Speaker 1: my death. Early I could handle losing, losing even when
Speaker 1: I was in. It took me to get over losing,
Speaker 1: even losing the game that people said, oh you your favorite.
Speaker 1: I always believe when I went on the floor that night,
Speaker 1: they're always gonna have answers to win that game. And
Speaker 1: when that didn't happen, I was visible to be around.
Speaker 1: I don't think there be any fifty universe. I'll say
Speaker 1: that right now. I really don't believe it because I
Speaker 1: just couldn't handle losing. Well. You found your path in
Speaker 1: life man, and and and I've said this before, but
Speaker 1: thank you for your passion, your inspiration, your generosity, thank
Speaker 1: you for what you've done for me. Thank you for
Speaker 1: taking time here. You went into overtime, but I appreciate that,
Speaker 1: and you delivered and and bless you, Dick. I love
Speaker 1: you and and and thanks to you. Just you just
Speaker 1: keep doing what you're doing for as long as you
Speaker 1: want to do it, because a lot of people are inspired,
Speaker 1: not just me. That was so much fun for me.
Speaker 1: Dick was generous with his time. In fact, we've went
Speaker 1: into overtime. I don't know if you caught it at
Speaker 1: one point he said, Chris, I gotta go, but I'll
Speaker 1: leave you with this that. About nine minutes later, he
Speaker 1: finally wrapped it up. It's beautiful. I am so grateful
Speaker 1: for the almost thirty five year friendship with Dick and
Speaker 1: his wife Lorraine. It's been really inspiring and fulfilling for
Speaker 1: me to be a small part of his team to
Speaker 1: raise money for pediatric cancer. If you're able to join
Speaker 1: his team, I'd urge you to go to Dick bytal
Speaker 1: dot com. That site has some inspiring content. It's sort
Speaker 1: of a hub for all of his fundraising efforts. That
Speaker 1: also some very good sports content on there, so please
Speaker 1: help if you can Dick by tal dot com. I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed the episode. As always, I'm very grateful
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