1
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:07,600
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome in.

2
00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:09,719
Speaker 2: I'm Doug Gottlieb and you're listening to All the Ball

3
00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:14,960
Speaker 2: and you know, it's amazing how my job works. And

4
00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,960
Speaker 2: there are times in which you get into the daily

5
00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:21,600
Speaker 2: radio show, the Doug Gottlieb Show, which is broadcast live

6
00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,440
Speaker 2: every day from five Eastern two Pacific, two hour show

7
00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:27,280
Speaker 2: that we do an hour podcast that's called in the

8
00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:29,680
Speaker 2: Bonus All it's doing well. But you know, you get

9
00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:33,279
Speaker 2: in the summer and you're kinda you know, you're kind

10
00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,800
Speaker 2: of shuffling all wrong. How can I talk about sports?

11
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,400
Speaker 2: Make it interesting? And then you come to NBA Con

12
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,640
Speaker 2: and I was excited. Joey Graziano sat down next to me.

13
00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,960
Speaker 2: He is the SVP of Global Marketing for the NBA,

14
00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,360
Speaker 2: and I wanted to get into his personal story. You know,

15
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,680
Speaker 2: he's a college baseball player and one of the things

16
00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,280
Speaker 2: I love about college basketball, college baseball, college football. And

17
00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:59,160
Speaker 2: it's not that I pushed back on Yeah, I push

18
00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 2: back on an il, but it's like, the real value

19
00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:03,800
Speaker 2: is in the people you meet, the things you have

20
00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,640
Speaker 2: to do, and how you get to have a great

21
00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,360
Speaker 2: job in real life using not just the connections you

22
00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,200
Speaker 2: make in your sport, but also a lot of the

23
00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:15,480
Speaker 2: little fundamentals of what takes to make it in sports,

24
00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,600
Speaker 2: it takes to make it in life. What you're about

25
00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:23,800
Speaker 2: to hear is not planned a completely organic conversation. Oh yeah,

26
00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,960
Speaker 2: by the way, the NBA's new NBA Cup is also

27
00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:29,559
Speaker 2: his baby. It'll also be in Las Vegas. We talked

28
00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:31,440
Speaker 2: about it as well. We kind of had to get

29
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,160
Speaker 2: it back to basketball at some point. But I would

30
00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,600
Speaker 2: love to tell you that I had this planned out,

31
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,440
Speaker 2: that I knew his personal story, and that's what most

32
00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:45,160
Speaker 2: of the pod would be about. I cannot tell you

33
00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,200
Speaker 2: how riveting this is, how in many ways gut wrenching

34
00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:55,400
Speaker 2: it is. And I'm going to promise I don't promise

35
00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,200
Speaker 2: many things on this podcast. I would just settle in

36
00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:04,000
Speaker 2: and listen to this pod and maybe grab a tissue.

37
00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,280
Speaker 2: It's definitely going to make you think some strong thoughts

38
00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:13,320
Speaker 2: of your own. But I want to start, like by

39
00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,560
Speaker 2: thanking Joey he Dot. We all thought he's just going

40
00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,720
Speaker 2: to promote the event and tell us about the NBA Cup.

41
00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:22,320
Speaker 2: We talked about that. But if you want to hear

42
00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:28,280
Speaker 2: personal stories and how your life can change in a

43
00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,239
Speaker 2: couple hours, as a high school senior. Without further ado,

44
00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:34,679
Speaker 2: here's our live pod from NBA Con.

45
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:38,880
Speaker 1: We're live here at NBA Con.

46
00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,120
Speaker 2: One who can say they were they were at the

47
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,560
Speaker 2: first once, like the guy who's like I resent to first.

48
00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:46,480
Speaker 2: Remember that commercial with the guys that had been to

49
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,680
Speaker 2: every super Bowl? They went to the first super Bowl? Yeah, right,

50
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,840
Speaker 2: and the Super Bowl started and they had like a

51
00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,760
Speaker 2: marching band at halftime right now performing at halftime. Hell,

52
00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,760
Speaker 2: Chris Stapleton's national anthem is like the iconic national anthem

53
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,400
Speaker 2: of all time, and that was this pass by the

54
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,200
Speaker 2: way Vegas, the site of I think this year's super Bowl, right.

55
00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,160
Speaker 2: That is so, And we're at the super Bowl, the

56
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,399
Speaker 2: super Bowl of the NBA and the Super Bowl the NBA.

57
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,200
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be here in December as well.

58
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:13,840
Speaker 2: The guy to help us kind of break it down

59
00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,840
Speaker 2: for us is Joey Graciano, who is a senior vice

60
00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:22,600
Speaker 2: president of Global Events. Yeah, okay, and okay, So you're

61
00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:23,840
Speaker 2: a baseball player in college.

62
00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,920
Speaker 1: Yep, you get done at Georgetown. Yeah, what'd you do?

63
00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,040
Speaker 3: So? I kept playing for a little while. I moved

64
00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,480
Speaker 3: to the Dominican Republic. Had a nonprofit there called Baseball

65
00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,600
Speaker 3: a libros. The idea was to be able to grew

66
00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:38,200
Speaker 3: up in New York City was playing ball. My dad

67
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:39,520
Speaker 3: was in New York City fireman. So I spent a

68
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:41,920
Speaker 3: bunch of time in Spanish Harlem, and the thought was,

69
00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:43,880
Speaker 3: I wanted to be able to sort of reconnect with that,

70
00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:46,920
Speaker 3: and we build a school there to be able to

71
00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,040
Speaker 3: incentivize literacy, mathematics, convince kids that you could be able

72
00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,200
Speaker 3: to play baseball at a high level without having to

73
00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:58,080
Speaker 3: forego the academic side. From there, went to Georgetown Law School.

74
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,000
Speaker 1: But hold on, wait, you open some doors.

75
00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,400
Speaker 2: There was yeah, because Georgetown was two thousand and two

76
00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,560
Speaker 2: to two thousand and five. Dad was a New York

77
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:10,000
Speaker 2: City firefighter. Yes, so that means two thousand and one. Yes,

78
00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:11,040
Speaker 2: you're in high school.

79
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 1: I was. You said, I could ask you anything, You

80
00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,000
Speaker 1: could ask me anything. Where were you at nine to eleven?

81
00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:17,520
Speaker 1: Yere was? I was?

82
00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,320
Speaker 3: I was a senior in high school. My my father

83
00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,080
Speaker 3: is was a fireman, an engine twenty two latter thirteen

84
00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,480
Speaker 3: Upper East Siud of Manhattan. My father is the last

85
00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,960
Speaker 3: person to leave any Twin Tower alive. My dad's entire

86
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:36,320
Speaker 3: firehouse passed away. I lost incredible, incredible men we were great,

87
00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,480
Speaker 3: very close to me. I spent my early years at

88
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,599
Speaker 3: Randalls Island in New York. You know, we were playing

89
00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,240
Speaker 3: softball every Thursdays and not go to school. That was

90
00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:47,480
Speaker 3: the one rule in our house was you don't have

91
00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:49,240
Speaker 3: to go to school on Thursdays if you wanted to

92
00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:50,400
Speaker 3: go watch dad play softball.

93
00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,080
Speaker 1: So my heroes, you know, growing up, we're not.

94
00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,960
Speaker 3: We're not, you know, Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly, but

95
00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,360
Speaker 3: they were. They were these giants you can yeah there,

96
00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,320
Speaker 3: I mean in incredible nids. You know Greg stay Jack,

97
00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:06,359
Speaker 3: who was a pitcher at Saint John's who you know,

98
00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,080
Speaker 3: taught me how to play ball and then you know,

99
00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,080
Speaker 3: ended up being somebody I can remember watching one of

100
00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,080
Speaker 3: my high school games when I was a junior in

101
00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:15,160
Speaker 3: the state championship.

102
00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:15,920
Speaker 1: Was there at that game.

103
00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,680
Speaker 3: Last game he ever saw me play the following the

104
00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:19,280
Speaker 3: following fall.

105
00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:20,599
Speaker 1: Obviously, things change.

106
00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:23,479
Speaker 3: So names like that that, you know, mean a lot

107
00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 3: to me. The guys of the guys of Engine twenty two,

108
00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:31,320
Speaker 3: Latter thirteen and their families are you know, a driving

109
00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,320
Speaker 3: force in my everyday reality.

110
00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:34,320
Speaker 1: It's incredible, you know.

111
00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,800
Speaker 2: I I was, Actually I was a professional basketball player.

112
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:39,800
Speaker 1: I played a year in Russia.

113
00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I came back and I played with the

114
00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:43,320
Speaker 2: Lakers in the Summer league.

115
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:44,920
Speaker 1: Summerleague was at Olympic State back then.

116
00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:51,200
Speaker 2: And then I came back to Oklahoma and I trained

117
00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,120
Speaker 2: at Oklahoma State. And what I would do is I

118
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,479
Speaker 2: would go and do fill in radio. Yeah, and the

119
00:05:57,520 --> 00:05:59,960
Speaker 2: guy who's the big afternoon drive host, theres guy nam

120
00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,000
Speaker 2: Jim Traper. And he had been he played for the

121
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,120
Speaker 2: Orioles and he was like a local legend and he

122
00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,000
Speaker 2: was the color guy for the Diamondbacks. So the Diambacks

123
00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,040
Speaker 2: won the World Series. Right, They were really good back then,

124
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,080
Speaker 2: and so it was they broke Yankee Van's heart that year.

125
00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,080
Speaker 3: I mean they reuse Gonzales like, yeah, I mean my dad,

126
00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,760
Speaker 3: my dad threw out the first pitch of that ALCS.

127
00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,039
Speaker 3: My dad's a baseball guy. That was That was the

128
00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,840
Speaker 3: That was the Jeter you know, saved the series. One

129
00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:31,719
Speaker 3: of the greatest plays of all time. Yeah, that was

130
00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,120
Speaker 3: that series. My dad throughout the first pitch at Yankee

131
00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,680
Speaker 3: Stadium on I'm that.

132
00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:38,680
Speaker 2: Serious, Well, then that makes it that the greatest first

133
00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:40,160
Speaker 2: pitch in Yankee Stay. Because I was thinking that I

134
00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,360
Speaker 2: was gonna ask about the George Bush first pitch. Yanke

135
00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,000
Speaker 2: is s Dame, which is very iconic, iconic as well.

136
00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,400
Speaker 2: But I mean I remember, I mean, look, I remember

137
00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,360
Speaker 2: that day and then later obviously working at ESPN, the

138
00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:52,919
Speaker 2: Ones and CBS, we up in West Court, and so

139
00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:57,600
Speaker 2: many of those families were affected. Uh by nine to eleven.

140
00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,080
Speaker 2: Uh man, I can't imagine, and I can imagine why

141
00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,160
Speaker 2: you went away from home to go to to go

142
00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,599
Speaker 2: to Georgetown, you know, instead of playing for Saint John's.

143
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,000
Speaker 2: So you're you're doing a nonprofit, you're playing ball, You're

144
00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 2: in the Dominican how'd.

145
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:11,239
Speaker 1: You get to the league?

146
00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,280
Speaker 3: So I ended up leaving I was. I went and

147
00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,160
Speaker 3: went and went to law school. So I was at

148
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,240
Speaker 3: Georgetown Law School for a number of years. Thought that's

149
00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,160
Speaker 3: probably where I would spend some time. I was fortunate

150
00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,480
Speaker 3: enough I want a fellowship and moved to Ireland for.

151
00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:25,240
Speaker 1: A little over a year.

152
00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,440
Speaker 3: In the middle of my law school, I boxed professionally. Actually,

153
00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:30,880
Speaker 3: the first time I got to play hoops again was

154
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,040
Speaker 3: I played. I played for the Galway Collegiate basketball teams.

155
00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:35,600
Speaker 3: You can imagine, like I've got a.

156
00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,480
Speaker 1: Hey, hey, A good friend of mine, Dave Revson, works

157
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:39,400
Speaker 1: for the Big Ten network.

158
00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,960
Speaker 2: He went and he studied abroad and he played basketball

159
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:44,760
Speaker 2: in Ireland too, and that was where he told.

160
00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:46,120
Speaker 1: Me, I don't know if this is true. He said,

161
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:46,400
Speaker 1: you know.

162
00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,680
Speaker 2: They say in Ireland, and it's that the closer you

163
00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:51,840
Speaker 2: are to.

164
00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,040
Speaker 1: The gain where they make the guinness, the better the beer.

165
00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:56,200
Speaker 3: Is.

166
00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:58,080
Speaker 1: I think that's right? Is it true? I think?

167
00:07:58,120 --> 00:07:59,680
Speaker 3: I mean I was drinking more of the whiskey, but

168
00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:02,760
Speaker 3: you know, but but yeah, I think that.

169
00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:04,520
Speaker 1: I think that's a hundred percent. So you got a fellow.

170
00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:06,040
Speaker 1: Should you go to Ireland? Yeah, goo to Ireland.

171
00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:08,560
Speaker 3: I come back and then I'm now a practicing attorney

172
00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,720
Speaker 3: and I practiced at Jones today. I expected to probably

173
00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,120
Speaker 3: spend a big portion of my career there. It was

174
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:15,720
Speaker 3: a great firm. I learned a bunch I had. I

175
00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,320
Speaker 3: had great law. So I was white collar criminal defense work. Yeah,

176
00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,960
Speaker 3: saving saving kids and uh, And I thought, I you know,

177
00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,520
Speaker 3: I thought I would be there for a while. And

178
00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,000
Speaker 3: there was a family who was very instrumental to my

179
00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:30,200
Speaker 3: family during nine to eleven.

180
00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:31,840
Speaker 1: They're the reason I got to go to college.

181
00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,120
Speaker 3: And that family they happened to own a small business

182
00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,880
Speaker 3: in d C. And Guy asked me to have coffee

183
00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,280
Speaker 3: with him. He said he was going through a bet

184
00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,439
Speaker 3: the Company litigation. There was a fraud issue with his

185
00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:45,559
Speaker 3: with his CEO, and he was like, I need you

186
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,720
Speaker 3: to leave the law firm and come work for me,

187
00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:49,760
Speaker 3: and we're gonna have to rebuild this entire thing. And

188
00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,120
Speaker 3: so my dad's rule in our house growing up was

189
00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:54,319
Speaker 3: if your neighbor's house is on fire, you run towards

190
00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:56,440
Speaker 3: the fire. It's the only rule he ever gave us.

191
00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,160
Speaker 3: He didn't believe in anything else. Simple man, simple rules.

192
00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:01,880
Speaker 3: And so I left. I went to the managing partner's

193
00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,720
Speaker 3: office that afternoon, gave my two weeks notice, walked out

194
00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:06,360
Speaker 3: of a law firm and a big pang job, and

195
00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,880
Speaker 3: ended up at a company that had twenty employees and

196
00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,440
Speaker 3: nowrail office with a bet the company litigation that was

197
00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:13,560
Speaker 3: on the front page of the Washington.

198
00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:14,680
Speaker 1: Post on my first day.

199
00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,480
Speaker 3: It was a small business that was taking care of kids,

200
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,840
Speaker 3: and so allegations of fraud in a very popular small

201
00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,360
Speaker 3: town become a very very big deal, and we rebuilt

202
00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,520
Speaker 3: that company. I became their chief operating officer, went from

203
00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,960
Speaker 3: twenty employees down to one, book it back up to

204
00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:35,240
Speaker 3: one thousand, wild successful creating immersive versions of hyperlocalized versions

205
00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,160
Speaker 3: of Disney World. Around sports, we had a third of

206
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,800
Speaker 3: the Major League Baseball type the head First companies, and

207
00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,400
Speaker 3: then five years later left and was thinking I was

208
00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 3: going to I was going back to New York and

209
00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:47,680
Speaker 3: I was going to take some time. It had been

210
00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:49,320
Speaker 3: a crazy run, and I was going to write this

211
00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:51,640
Speaker 3: story about my dad's firehouse. That's what I wanted to do.

212
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:53,840
Speaker 3: I was coming back to do the interviews, to start

213
00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:55,600
Speaker 3: taking the notes. I wanted to write this story right.

214
00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:56,600
Speaker 3: I didn't know what I was going to do with

215
00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,400
Speaker 3: the story, but I wanted to write it. And while

216
00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:00,960
Speaker 3: I was there, someone asked me, what do you go?

217
00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,920
Speaker 3: Have an interview with my boss at the NBA, Kelly Flato,

218
00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,079
Speaker 3: And about ten minutes into the interview, she said, can

219
00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:07,880
Speaker 3: I bring hr in?

220
00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:10,280
Speaker 1: And next thing you know.

221
00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:12,319
Speaker 3: I'm talking about a job with the NBA in a

222
00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:15,560
Speaker 3: way I was never expect yrs this was five years ago.

223
00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,240
Speaker 1: That's amazing. Yeah. So, and at the NBA, I've had

224
00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:19,760
Speaker 1: I mean.

225
00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:21,280
Speaker 2: I don't want to dwell on the nine to eleven

226
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:22,640
Speaker 2: because I know it's so emotional.

227
00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:25,120
Speaker 1: Have you have you ever asked your dad about the day?

228
00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've gotten into one fight with my father.

229
00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:34,240
Speaker 2: I appreciate this, by the way, I truly do. I've

230
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:35,680
Speaker 2: got into one fight with my dad.

231
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:39,480
Speaker 3: It happened to be on September tenth. As you know,

232
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:41,680
Speaker 3: as a senior, you were an athlete. I was an athlete.

233
00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,439
Speaker 3: I was at that point thought was I was good.

234
00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,360
Speaker 3: I wasn't good at anything, but it thought I was good.

235
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:49,080
Speaker 1: And my father.

236
00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,760
Speaker 3: Said that the coach from Haverford is one of the

237
00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:54,959
Speaker 3: all day Beckera, one of the all time great human

238
00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,600
Speaker 3: beings on earth, had been reaching out, reaching out, reaching

239
00:10:57,600 --> 00:10:59,320
Speaker 3: out and trying to recruit me.

240
00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:01,480
Speaker 1: And I was like, Haverford.

241
00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:05,480
Speaker 3: Asion of a division based three right, Yeah, And I

242
00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,600
Speaker 3: didn't And I wasn't being respectful in my response is back.

243
00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:10,760
Speaker 1: I was just letting him reach out and not respond.

244
00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,280
Speaker 3: And my father told me that, you know, in this house,

245
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:16,280
Speaker 3: like if somebody offers you like you call him back

246
00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,120
Speaker 3: and you say no. And you can say no, but

247
00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,040
Speaker 3: you say no as a man when you call him.

248
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,720
Speaker 3: And I refused to, and I told him that he

249
00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,079
Speaker 3: never went to college, he doesn't know what the heck

250
00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,720
Speaker 3: he's talking about. And and that's how I slammed the door.

251
00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:32,000
Speaker 3: I said a bunch of other exportive words as I

252
00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,040
Speaker 3: walked up the door, and my father went to work

253
00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:35,160
Speaker 3: before I saw him again.

254
00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,199
Speaker 1: So I I thought my.

255
00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,600
Speaker 3: Father had passed away until the next into the twelfth

256
00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:44,000
Speaker 3: was when we figured finally found out my dad was alive.

257
00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:47,520
Speaker 1: So, so where are you on the eleventh year in

258
00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:48,920
Speaker 1: high I'm a senior in high school.

259
00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, And then how did how did you guys find out?

260
00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:54,560
Speaker 2: Because I was I was driving in a car from

261
00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,640
Speaker 2: still Water, Oklahoma to Oklahoma City and I heard it

262
00:11:57,679 --> 00:11:59,280
Speaker 2: on the radio and I thought it was like a

263
00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:01,920
Speaker 2: spoof of World the World's Yeah, and I walked upstairs

264
00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,840
Speaker 2: at the radio station and that's when the towers ru

265
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:06,400
Speaker 2: on fire and I saw them both come down.

266
00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:08,880
Speaker 3: Paid the picture for me for that day. Yeah, I

267
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:10,760
Speaker 3: mean I was in, I was in. I was in school.

268
00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:12,640
Speaker 3: We were in a sign. I mean, I can remember

269
00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,480
Speaker 3: taking a biology test. Took a test. We like, we

270
00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:17,559
Speaker 3: get noticed at something and happened. And then if your

271
00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:19,640
Speaker 3: parents were or in the World Trade Center, you could

272
00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,480
Speaker 3: come down to the library for the guidance counselor. And

273
00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:25,040
Speaker 3: my dad had been at the ninety six World Trade

274
00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,040
Speaker 3: Center bombing. I knew my dad was working that day,

275
00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:28,640
Speaker 3: but I didn't think anything of it. I just was like,

276
00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,160
Speaker 3: keep going to school, kept going to school. At lunch,

277
00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:34,640
Speaker 3: I saw the first video the news of the of

278
00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:36,640
Speaker 3: the towers and things like, and I was like, this

279
00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,840
Speaker 3: is not good, but I again didn't recognize how bad

280
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:44,760
Speaker 3: it was. My best friend his mom worked in one

281
00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:46,160
Speaker 3: of the other smaller.

282
00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:47,480
Speaker 1: Towers, and I was more worried about her.

283
00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,240
Speaker 3: So we went. He picked me up like we went

284
00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:52,080
Speaker 3: to school together. He drove me home. We first went

285
00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:55,920
Speaker 3: to check on to check on his father, who went

286
00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:59,160
Speaker 3: to his father who's a Garden City High school guidance council.

287
00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:01,320
Speaker 3: We stopped over there was like, is everything okay with

288
00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:01,640
Speaker 3: the mom?

289
00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:02,600
Speaker 1: She was fine.

290
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:04,280
Speaker 3: And then we get home to my house and I

291
00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,560
Speaker 3: knew things were wrong the minute I got home, because

292
00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:11,040
Speaker 3: the cars were lined up in my driveway. Those are

293
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:12,959
Speaker 3: before cell phones, Like I didn't know on a cell phone,

294
00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:14,280
Speaker 3: so there's no way to you need to get ahold

295
00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,280
Speaker 3: of any bait. And I knew, and my mother was cooking.

296
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,800
Speaker 3: My mom does not cook, small irishwoman like we do takeout,

297
00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,920
Speaker 3: we don't cook, and she was cooking. And when I

298
00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,160
Speaker 3: walked in and my aunts were in the kitchen, and

299
00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,200
Speaker 3: I knew immediately stuff with things were not good. My

300
00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:31,840
Speaker 3: mom had heard from my dad early in the morning,

301
00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:35,400
Speaker 3: and then that was the end. And we ended up

302
00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,720
Speaker 3: not finding out for hours later when somebody said they

303
00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,440
Speaker 3: thought they saw my father, and then it wasn't until

304
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,120
Speaker 3: he came home after, you know, about two thirty in

305
00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:47,360
Speaker 3: the morning. So my dad had been carrying somebody out

306
00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,360
Speaker 3: from the twenty fourth floor. He had met his the

307
00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,319
Speaker 3: rest of his firehouse in the lobby, and he was

308
00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,000
Speaker 3: carrying somebody who had a hard condition. He kept carrying

309
00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,040
Speaker 3: that man. He jumped on top of the man building

310
00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,200
Speaker 3: came down. My dad was outside. My dad's fireman and

311
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,360
Speaker 3: fellow firemen were inside the tower and the lobby.

312
00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,640
Speaker 1: So my dad, I've seen the video. My dad was my.

313
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:09,640
Speaker 3: Dad was buried alive and then ended up and ended

314
00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:11,880
Speaker 3: up being able to get out, and and uh, you know,

315
00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:13,160
Speaker 3: his fellow fireman were not.

316
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,160
Speaker 1: Two third in the morning. To you still have like

317
00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:18,839
Speaker 1: soit and dirt, I'll like, yeah, yeah.

318
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,400
Speaker 3: He came home and I can remember the first thing

319
00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,160
Speaker 3: he said to me was they're all gone. That was

320
00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,200
Speaker 3: that was the first words I've had my father and

321
00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:31,520
Speaker 3: I have had one real protracted, very long conversation about it,

322
00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,760
Speaker 3: which I sat with him. It was a night we

323
00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:36,760
Speaker 3: were together, just the two of us in Florida and

324
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:38,840
Speaker 3: talked for a very long period of time about it.

325
00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,000
Speaker 3: But that's probably the the extent we've ever talked about

326
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:43,760
Speaker 3: all the details.

327
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:50,000
Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing. This is probably the longest you'll be

328
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:51,440
Speaker 1: off your cell phone for the entire week.

329
00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:53,760
Speaker 2: You got you did. I gotta say, I tip my

330
00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:56,880
Speaker 2: cap to you. So this has been amazing. It's an

331
00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,720
Speaker 2: amazing event. Yeah, I'll look forward to year two. I

332
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,240
Speaker 2: can't when you're seeing the growth. I appreciate you telling

333
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:03,960
Speaker 2: your story. That means a lot to thank you.

334
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:05,920
Speaker 1: Thank you. No, we did. We did number one, so

335
00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:08,160
Speaker 1: that means I got you for number two, Like definitely. Yeah,

336
00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:10,160
Speaker 1: you're a good man. Thank your thanks much. I appreciate it.

337
00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:17,920
Speaker 2: My thanks to Joey Gardiano. That was emotional, that was raw,

338
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:23,360
Speaker 2: that was real. That's as as good as as I've

339
00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:24,840
Speaker 2: ever been fortun to be a part of.

340
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,240
Speaker 1: And yeah, my my brain.

341
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,840
Speaker 2: When he had told me at the before he when

342
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,400
Speaker 2: he sat down, we started just kind of chit chatting,

343
00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,240
Speaker 2: and he had told me that he was a baseball

344
00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,280
Speaker 2: player at Georgetown in two thousand and two to two

345
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,120
Speaker 2: thousand and five, and then he mentioned that his dad

346
00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,640
Speaker 2: was a New York City firefighter. My wheels were spinning

347
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:50,880
Speaker 2: and he let me in hope you enjoyed it.

348
00:15:51,520 --> 00:16:08,920
Speaker 1: I'm Doug Gottlie. Dis is all ball