THE CONFAB WITH MICHAEL G IN CONVERSATION WITH CAL BURTON

Cal Bruton is well-known to basketball fans around the country as a player and coach who has made an outstanding contribution to the development of the game in Australia. 

 He founded the Bruton Basketball Foundation to help young people develop not just basketball skills but also the skills they need to succeed in life. The Basketball Lessons 4Life program mentors disadvantaged and at-risk high school students to help them build confidence, set goals and forge a better life. 

 Cal draws on his own life experiences to show how sport can empower young people and open doors for opportunities in education and employment. Through the program, young people learn to set goals, work as a team and engage positively with peers and family.

Join me on the ConFab to gain an understanding of his life story and passions.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:01

Welcome to the Confab with Michael G on the People Powered Radio 2XFM 98.3. We're streaming online and on demand on 2xfm.org.au. And tonight our guest is Cal. He is a basketballer, came to Australia to play NBA, then became a coach, and now has established a foundation for young kids. Tonight we're going to learn a little bit about his background and his life journey, but most importantly, his passions. Welcome to the Confab with Michael G.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

School of Fame. And my dreams they left me. And then I got stronger inside of the thing. And when I fixed up the business, then I became hungry. And I bought all y'all to cover my blame.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

And right now, you still agree. And it all seems to be three three days.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Just go in the way. Let's say it's over. Just with the wind, and the fly will take you fly.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Very well, thanks, Mike. And yourself?

SPEAKER_05 4:25

Well, I'm I'm too not too bad in Canberra. It was beautiful weather today, and I'm glad to have you in the studio. But before we kick off the program, could you uh introduce your first track? Why did you select it? And uh also who's the performer?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

My first track I selected was um You Will Know by Black Men United. It was a it was a song I chose uh because of the background. It was black men brought together to try to build a bond amongst themselves as well as other brothers around the the real world. And they speak about in the song how you will know once it all comes together. And it's all about trying to bring people together for a cause and and do something that's very positive in the world.

SPEAKER_05 5:16

Well, looking at your C V, Cole, I noticed that uh you your parents don't actually come from Australia. Tell me a little bit about your mom and dad and where were they born?

SPEAKER_00 5:26

My dad was born in South Carolina. Uh my mom uh was born in New York City. Uh she met my dad there. They uh had parents down in the South, both my my mom, uh her parents was in New York City. I lost my my dad when I was seven years of age. He was working in a a gas station, petrol station, as we know here, and he was robbed and and killed at the site. Um my mom was nine months pregnant with my younger sister, and I had a a sister that's just ten months younger than I who was intellectually handicapped. And she's albino. And growing up in the 60s, well, I was born in 54, she was 55, but growing up in school in the 60s, we were dealing with a lot of uh racism with Martin Luther King and Rob Kennedy and all trying, John F. Kennedy, I should say, as well, uh, trying to bring people together. And um it was a tough time, particularly taking my sister to school in a predominantly black neighborhood and holding her hand because she was intellectually handicapped in a special class, and my colleagues, uh students, fellow students, uh would say, let go of that white girl's hand. And I was like, What white girl? She's my sister. Ended up uh protecting her, had to handle some physical for physical abuse, uh, and ended up uh getting suspended from school in an altercation, but I had to pretend like I was still going to school because I didn't want my mom to kill me.

SPEAKER_05 7:04

Carl, can I go back a little bit? So your father passed away in a in a horrific incident. Did your mom remarry at all at that point?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

No, no, she she really struggled from that point on. Um she uh became a after my younger sister was born, uh, we didn't have any income, so she was going to court all the time. Um she she didn't work when my dad uh had the full-time job as a mechanic. She went to alcoholism. And at one point, uh she was taken from our home in a straitjacket, and I was left home to look after my my two sisters, uh, which uh my aunt came and took my younger sister away with her because she had five kids and she was able to to integrate her into the the family. And my youngest my sister is just younger than me now, intellectually handicapped one, Teresa, she was taken to a state hospital upstate three and a half hours away. And I was left home alone at 11 years of age to try to manage the house, visit my mom, pay the bills so she can sign the checks. And uh we were on sort of not welfare but social security, and um then I'll go back home and go to school and and she always encouraged me to play sports, that's what kind of kept me occupied. But uh I used to go up three and a half hours on the bus to visit my sister and and the situation she was in was horrific. I just try my best to tell her that Mama be well soon and you we can come back home. So yeah, 12 years old, I was on the move learning how to manage a house, uh go to school and and play sport.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

And so you were going to school and you had issues around school. What was so you it was tough times going to that school. Were any of the teachers or the system aware of your circumstances?

SPEAKER_00 8:44

No, not really. Um I mean back then there were so many kids in the school, you know. So yeah, you know, with that, you try to deal with the problems that you have. Um, it wasn't long that I was moving because we were able to uh secure some support from family members. So we moved out of the neighborhood. I think we moved about three times before my father's uh compensation came through for being robbed and killed on the on the site. And we were able to buy a home out in Queens, New York. That's when everything kind of changed up for us.

SPEAKER_05 9:13

And was that with your mom or was it extended to the It was with my mom, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

So with my mom and my two sisters, we never forget it. She had a little cachet that she always bring a broom, bring some flour, and some bread, some flour, all bread, and um and a bible. And this is gonna bless the home, and we'll be here for as long as we can. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:35

So w w at what age were you when you were able to secure the home?

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Uh 11.

SPEAKER_05 9:40

Eleven.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Twelve. Well, yeah, 12, 12. 12 going on 13.

SPEAKER_05 9:44

And so did you was school becoming much more settled and much more engaged once you moved into that more more uh secure environment?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

It was very different. Um as I mentioned, I was in a predominantly black neighborhood. Now we're done moved into predominantly white neighborhood. So that was the challenge. Um I used to go to the after-school centers, and because I was the only black kid there, I used to get chased home after the center was over with. Until my teacher there, who was a phys head teacher at my school, he used to run the night center, and he used to encourage me to keep coming back, and then he would take me home because I was getting chased home. And um, I started making friends with a couple of other black uh Americans and take them with me. We played a game called Dodgeball, where you roll the ball out, someone gets in, they got five seconds to throw it at you. And if you catch it, they out. If they hit you, you're out. And they would all come after me. And that probably built up my speed and quickness over the years, because I used to run hide behind, dodge, weave, and uh, and then uh eventually Mr. Miller, God bless him, he passed away, but he was my favorite teacher. He was my gym physical activity teacher. He gave me the the go-head that, you know what, you're gonna be a great athlete, just stay on course. Made sure he put me in a after-school center as well, so I can get a bite to eat, because we, you know, we we were struggling. And uh he would buy me a pair of shoes, uh, sneakers to play in and things like that. So yeah, I um I learned a lot from being in that situation. Um learned how to kind of handle your handle yourself in the right way. Uh seeing a lot of young fellas get off the rails and do drugs and alcohol at a young age, and then before you know it, they in trouble and they off the off the rails. So I was able to kind of graduate from that junior high school on to high school, and then met my second mentor, who was uh a white a white man named uh Chuck Feinstein, and he became my mentor along with my coach Jerry Sloan, and I also had a a black mentor named uh Mr. Richard Bethel, who's my football coach. So I played pretty much sports all year round. I started with basketball, then I played baseball, and then I went on to play grid what you know as gridiron head football. I was a quarterback, and I was able to s be successful in all those sports. So uh eventually I earned a scholarship.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

Well, can I take you back, Carl, to um your you're you're into this new environment. You say you're the only black child or a very minor number of children who are of of that colour. Was the school uh similar? I mean, in the sense of were they starting to see uh civil rights and equality in the school system differently from perhaps earlier on, or were you still in an environment where you were being chased home and perhaps there was racism within your early time in when you were eleven and twelve at the school system?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Well, yes, uh it was racism at the s at the school, but at the same time was a multicultural school. Uh we had Jamaicans, we had um black Americans, you had you know the uh white Americans there as well. My school had 4,000 students in it, and we used to all come in at different shifts. And so the first year students come in at uh 10 o'clock and get out at four, second year students come in at 12 and and get out at five, and then your third year, your junior year, you come in at uh seven in the morning and get out at one, and then the seniors come in at nine and get out at three. So that was the way I was able to sort of play sport because I was in the in the mid of of that. And um my school teachers took an interest in me because of my physical activity. You know, you you're in the gym class, I was eventually winning the uh physical athlete of the year and getting recognized as uh as a sports person. My mentors really took me under my under their belt to help guide me through the right classes and everything to make sure that I had some opportunities after I finished high school. And I was in the community a lot. So this neighborhood during those racial times, because that's when Martin Luther King was killed, and also uh John F. Kennedy, uh, that was a real challenging time for the if you cross the border, we call it the Mason Dixie line. If you go across there, it's all white. And even the police would come by, like, what are you doing over here? You know, we used to run, me and my friend Roger and I run to the Mason Dixie line. As soon as we crossed, they put on the brakes, they wouldn't come across that side. So we had a chance to kind of nah na na na na, you know, and we walk on home. But then the next day going back, they were ready for us. And uh and the Dodgeball games became pretty focused on trying to get Roger and I out. And we able to well, we actually got caught one time with those guys. They tied us up, started a fire around us, and one of the neighbors seen it and came out and put it out and called the police, and um and that didn't stop me from going back again. But I let Mr. Miller know, and that's when he started to take aim at those people and made sure that we got safely home after we left the center.

SPEAKER_05 15:06

You're you're telling a story that we would only imagine, and I won't talk about white caps and and the like, but it starts to sound very similar to that. Now you're saying that your teachers, your mentors, and the sport was driving your abilities and and drive it school. And you m you in in the system over there, you talk about sport and you call talk about academia. Were you being interested in that academic side, or was that just something that you had to do?

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Well, I wasn't um I say I was a good student. I tried to make sure I passed a class of my mom. She one thing about her, she definitely pushed the educational piece. I kept to uh after school center to study as well. Uh I had some um teachers' aids that put some extra time into me to make sure that uh, you know, taking courses like Spanish, you know. And uh I was able to sort of again get by. And uh at the end of that uh senior year, I didn't have really a lot of opportunities to further on, and people, as you know, would ask where you're going, what you're doing, and I wanted to play, I wanted to go on a scholarship. So right at that point, I got through my mentor an opportunity to play baseball on a professional contract. And my mom said no, because no one in my family had gone to college, and all her family, and she was really interested in me going to university as we call it here. So um, Mr. Miller sort of said, Well, this can actually help set my family up if I'm successful at it. But I had to move to Florida, and my mom said, Nope, not going. So then I went and had a school called Hofstra University, which is about 30 minutes. They offered me a basketball scholarship. Thought that'd be great. My mom said, nah, it's too close. You'll be home every day, you know. So uh couldn't accept that scholarship. Then I had a second one offered to me in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is about two and a half hours away from home. Too close. I don't want you running back and forth. You need to step away because you've been brought up in a house whole full of girls, and you need to go be a man. So then my third scholarship was uh out at Wichita State. And it was only on the back of a tall player named Rudy Jackson, who everybody in the country wanted, and he decides to go to Wichita State, and they asked him, is there anything they can do for him to make sure that you know we get his signature? And he said, Well, you can bring my man Cow with, and that'll that'll help. And because he's my point guard and he makes me look good. And and I was forever grateful as we accepted this scholarship. Our coach, who's also our little uh after the season over, we play in these little postseason tournaments, is uh Steve Shallon was his name, and he was a top, top guy. Him and his wife took a team of young fellas and and made them part of their family. He drove us out to uh Wichita. We all stayed in a dormitory type uh setup, and then we had to sign off on a college uh exam, and we went to take it, and Rudy flunked, and he had to go to another school. I passed and I was accepted, but the coaches weren't happy. They said we recruited the six foot nine, do it all, and look what we have a little five foot nine inch. You know, we can get them a dime or dozen, but I went on to try to prove that I was worthy and you know, put all the extra time in and the facilities was absolutely unbelievable.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

And well, Carl, you talk about passing that exam, which means that somewhere along the line in your primary school or your through the the primary school, secondary s education system, there must have been some teachers there that were giving you guidance to help you on the academic side to get to this point where you could actually pass that exam and then then proceed on the sports side. So in reflecting back into that school, uh outside of your mentors for sport, were there any teachers in that system that perhaps saw beyond racism and saw Carl, the child, who has the ability and wants to learn? Were there any key people there in that in in that period of time that that you can reflect upon that helped you?

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Oh, no question. Um yeah, I had uh uh one teacher named Mr. Claiborne and he was like file of figure and he you know he taught uh I think it was mathematics at the time. I I like numbers, so uh I was kind of into that. And then um I had Mrs. Claiborne, I'm sorry, uh Mrs. Uh Humphries, and she was beautiful and both those, God bless them, they both have passed away. I keep in touch because we have reunions on the phone and what have you with uh with the group that graduated my class of uh 68. I'm sorry, that was my interview, graduating class of 72. And I was very uh chuffed that they took that interest in me because if they didn't, you know, it's easy to flunk out of high school and then find yourself looking for a job straight away. And then if you can't find a job, then there's always easy money on the streets with the drug game, and it was huge at that time. That's when heroin was in my neighborhood. Guys used to shoot heroin in their arm and then run around the field and uh just to run the guy into life again because he's about to die overdose, and I'm sitting there shooting free throws, watching this, you know, in the park at night under the lights. And uh they would say, Man, don't we don't you ever do anything like this, you know? And I'm looking at them, you gotta be crazy. You think I'm gonna do something like that. So that's how I kind of uh grew up with those teachers in my mind helping me look at the future more promisingly. And I uh I put time into you know studying for the exams and things like that. And my mom, she she encouraged me and she was she was good like that.

SPEAKER_05 21:03

And there were no relapses for your mom. She was on on she improved and and saw a light at the end of the tunnel?

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Yeah, she did. Yeah, she uh she went to rehab. They when they took her away in a straitjacket, she was away for like six weeks. When she came back, she struggled a little bit early. Um uh she uh had friends that were still drinking, trying to encourage her, but she went to the Lord's side. She was really religious at that point. She had her Bible open all the time, and she used to kind of I can see it and at night before she goes to bed, she's reading verses and uh and she left that Bible open for me to sort of, you know, go have a little sneak peek. But back in my youth, my dad used to take us to church every Sunday. Had to get dressed up and everything, and my sister being his pride and joy, because you know, she was like princess for him, albino, blonde hair, you know, brown eyes. He really loved my sister. And she had a photographic memory, so she can recall just about anything. So yeah, when my dad passed, she was she struggled as well. And and as a result of that, we we came became a real tight family. We had to look after each other. And particularly we were having a younger sister that was seven years my junior. So so by the time I was 17, my sister was 10, my baby sister, and I actually got the scholarship to leave. So I didn't have much in touch with her. But she went on to graduate university, and she's got two young kids that well, they're older adults now. They both graduated university. So so education was important and it came down the line for my mom.

SPEAKER_05 22:36

Now just before we go into part two, when we talk about your second track, reflecting back on your two mentors, your sports mentors, would you like to sort of reflect upon what were the real attributes that that have stuck with you for each of your mentors on the on your um physic on your sports endeavors?

SPEAKER_00 22:56

I think if I had to sum that up in in one word, I would say um pride. They always uh predicated everything on packing your pride suitcase, I call it. And that to me was most important. They they taught me about the perseverance. I turned it into an acronym. You know, you gotta persevere through the tough times. You know, you gotta have respect more so for yourself and your family, you know, and others, yeah. And you gotta respect authority and all that. So they they kind of drum that into me. You gotta make intelligent decisions in your life. You can't, you know, you see the wrong crowd, you can't just go hanging out with them because a simulation, association brings upon assimilation, and you can get caught out just being a bystander. And then it was the D, which was my favorite when I put together this acronym. It was like, you gotta be determined to make your goal achieve your goals. You gotta be dedicated toward it. You gotta have the discipline to follow through, you gotta have the desire to make it fun and get through it, and you gotta have the uh attention to detail to actually tick off your goals, you know, so they're not just dreams, and then you can carry on. So so I always oh and the E was the effort. You had to bring it, you had to have the mental toughness and bring the extra effort. And being short, black, and bald, I really had no choice if I was gonna make it at that level, and it was interesting when you see me in the hallway, you say you thought I was much taller. I get that all the time. But through my heart over the height, which my son has this uh tattoo on his and he I was born in Brooklyn, so I called him, we named him Brooklyn. And uh I believe that that's so true. You know, you gotta put your heart in it if you want to achieve really anything in life. And uh I think that's the way I was able to kind of continue on with the resilience side. But the pride suitcase is what my mentor is really, you know, you gotta have pride. And if you have pride, then you're gonna kind of rise and continue to rise no matter what you're facing, and you gotta have the resilience to take the hits, you know, and and keep going. So that's that's been my my sort of go-to.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

Now before we go to part two, would you like to introduce your second record? Who is the performer? And most importantly, why did you select it?

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Well, I selected um uh McFadden and Whitehead. It was almost when I came to Australia, the song came out in 1979, and this guy just gave me the incentive to like go. You know, he the song track is pretty much what it what it states as a title, ain't no stopping us now. And uh that was my my belief is that once you've make up your mind that you gotta go, you gotta go. It's almost like going to the restroom. You gotta gotta bend your knees and follow through. So uh Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now by Me Fatt and Whitehead was the song I chose to take me to the next level.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

There's been so many things that's held us down, but now it looks like things are family coming around. I know we've got a long, long way to go. And where we'll end up, I don't know. But we don't letting up and hold us back. We're putting our shirt together, we're polishing up for act.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

If we never been held down before I know you refuse to be held down before this time it's not I know you know someone that has a negative eye And if you're trying to make it the only thing she decides They really don't have no where they're going But people before you have that anymore Just don't do that even in negative people Will be all the day to be pleased Will we do it We can't be able to make talking to Carl who is known for his ability to bounce a ball around a basketball court but is more importantly helping kids who are doing it tough in the community But uh listening to part one, Carl, you've had a pretty tough life as a child. Now we talked about you going to university getting a scholarship. Was there racism at that college?

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Somewhat, uh around the college. I don't think so much in the college, but um because of um the landscape of the university, it was uh uh mostly the rich, wealthy white people lived on one side of the university, and on the other side was like the ghetto, just about a whole black uh neighborhoods with poor housing and and of course I've migrated to that side to see to see the um nature of my background and see how they work, even though I was still an outsider because I was from New York and they wanted their own to be involved with Wichita State, not them bringing someone in, particularly a short guy, you know, when they got them a dime or doesn't. But I understood that if you cross that Mason Dixie line is what we call it, which was Hillside Avenue where the university was on, if you go strolling past there up north, the police see you, they they pulling up and they go, you know, what are you doing over here? You know, because they always think that the beautiful house is maybe we're gonna go try to rob them, what have you. On the black side, it can be terror happening on the street, and you the police wouldn't show up until much later, you know. So so yeah, I felt racism out in Kansas initially, as I became more involved with the university and being well known as a top basketball player there, uh not so much because I was invited. And instead of um uh being on the outside looking in, I was more the inside looking out, so I got a chance to kind of see exactly where I was at. But more importantly, I was trying to also bring people with me to try to help me navigate through this little period here. And I'm in my university days, uh 72 to 76, uh my life changed up as I um uh we won, we won. I got a chance to tour Brazil and and and different countries, so I gotta see the world a little bit. I had my first son to uh a lady who uh already had a son, and to this day they both here with me. Uh I've been with him for he's 54 years old now, and I've been with him 51 years. My son was born who uh um who I wasn't ready for, and I'm going in my senior year, and now I gotta go get a job and and do those sorts of things and uh to buy nappies and this and that, and and that was real challenging uh for you know, I was 20 years old, I suppose, at the time, going on 21. And as soon as I finished university, I wanted to go play pro basketball, but I had the son, and of course the pressure was on to look after him and what have you, but I missed out on making the pros. I didn't get drafted and then I had to go trial. I tried out with San Antonio, I made it. I was invited back to the veteran camp, made it again, played exhibition games. After the fourth game, I was cut and I lost I was through a little altercation. I lost all my luggage, all my belongings, and I was down in San Antonio, Texas with with zero staying in um uh those hostels and what have you. I had to shave and go look for a job and and I just didn't want to tell my mom that I fail and uh she was almost brought up back to drinking again. You know, so I I had uh three days down in San Antonio with nothing but my clothes I had on my back. Uh the M the MBA's officials uh in San Antonio heard I was still floating around there. They didn't want anything to happen to me. And they sent me on to um the head office there and said, uh, where do you want to go? Because um in my loss of my luggage maybe my plane ticket and stuff. So I said, uh, I want to go to New York. I didn't want to go back to Kansas because I had nothing. And I didn't want my kids and the lady I was with to see me at like that. So I went back to mom. And mom came to the airport with one of my high school jackets, because it was winter time, and I had shorts and t-shirts, and she said, uh, looked at me like, what happened to you? Of course I was very thin from being in top shape. And my little sister said, Is that what the pros do to you? And so I went to my room, I stayed in my room for the the longest, and mom was beginning to get worried. And I called one of my friends to come grab me, take me out. She got me some army clothes to wear, you know, in the wintertime. And then finally, uh, I went to a basketball game when San Antonio came to play the New York Knickerbockers. And I had never been to Madison Square Garden ever. You know, I was picturing myself down there on the court with that team. And afterward, I was about to leave, and my friend that was with me, and a matter of fact, I heard from him this morning. He he um uh Scotty Rodder, he said, uh, come on, man, why don't you try this angel dust? Uh Angel Dust, what's that? He goes, I'll get you nice. I said, nah, man, I'm not doing that. Anyway, we leave and come home. My mom is looking at me because it's late. And how was the game? I was like, I said, I'm tired, mom. You know, I'll I'll tell you in the morning. No, no, you're gonna tell me now. I said, no, mom, I'm not. I'm going to the room. I'll tell you in the morning. So she got quiet because she was raised in Cain. Next thing you know, there's an ambulance out in front of my house. I looked, I seen the lights. I thought it was for next door. And sure enough, they was coming up the steps, knocking on my door. Police opened up, said, Oh, your mother said you overdosed. I said, What? I said, she's she's drinking again. So I explained to her. They said, Well, she says that she's gonna sue the city if something happens to you here now. So you need to come with us. So they put me in the back of their van, we're having a conversation, going to the hospital, put me in this lockup ward, and long story short, three other guys in there, someone guy came up, want to use the urinal, and he looks at me like I'm the urinal. Ended up getting into a little physicality. They put me in a straitjacket, put him in a straitjacket, and shipped me to a mental hospital. Mom got the message that I'm I gave my mom, I called my mom, said, Yo, I'm locked up here. What are you doing there? I said, Well, long story, but could you come get me out? And she said, I'm coming. And she brought her brother and he told me to get a real job. Don't worry about this basketball fantasy. Uh, I can get you a job in the housing department, you know, cleaning it up and stuff. I said, not what I want to do. You know, so they got upset, made me stay there. So I was locked up in this mental institution for like three, three and a half weeks until my good friend Ricky Marsh, who had made the Golden State Warriors basketball team, came home. They said, Oh man, you heard about Cal, he's locked up. He went, Oh, Cal? Nah, no way. You know, yeah, yeah. So he came to visit me. He went and got Mr. Feinstein, my high school mentor, and they signed me out. I stayed with Feinstein because I didn't want to go back home with mom. I stayed with Ricky as well. And then finally, Ricky gave me a couple hundred bucks and said, go. And I took a bus back out to Kansas. And one of my good buddies out there who I had brought out to Wichita, I stayed with him. I got a job hauling trash. I used to use the term that trash was my cash. And I did it for like eight months until I got a call to go back to the pros and try out in Kansas City. I didn't make it, but someone there saw me and saw how hard I worked and prepared for that uh or gave it my best. And that's what the guy who was in Australia who actually called me back, called me up one night and four o'clock in the morning to actually be interested in coming to Australia to play basketball in the first year of the NBL. And that's how my my life changed up. So that was quite quite a transformation going through that.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

So all the time you studied at the university, you you're you're focusing on your sport and you're having opportunities but not being successful. At no time was that able to be translated into a job, or were the circumstances not just right?

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Circumstances weren't right, but uh I majored in radio broadcasting and communications. So I wanted to be a DJ. But once I got out of it, it was no jobs open for the DJs unless you're going to the bigger cities. And basketball was still my passion. So uh I felt like uh I was able to teach, coach kids, and stuff like that. So I did work in the school system for six months until I saw how bad that was run. It was kids rolling their drugs up in the classroom and I got it confiscated, and then they were waiting for me outside. You know, that's when I knew that I wasn't gonna be there much longer. So so radio broadcasting was something I did here initially. Um I did a lot of media work along with the basketball, but basketball was always my vehicle, and I used it to actually start sharing with the kids, and uh I called it um brutal fundamentals.

SPEAKER_05 41:38

So I'm gonna come back to that towards the end of our our chat. Now you you've come to Australia, someone's seen you over there, yes, and what was the basketball scene like? Well, let's reflect back. You've been over in America, you've seen the worst of worst. Yes. You've landed in Australia. What was what were your impressions? What did you think Australia would be like from either a social perspective or just the the environment? You land at at the airport, you're outside the airport or in the airport. What were your first impressions? You know, this new country.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Well, first of all, I had no idea how far away it was. You know, I had to go to from Wichita to San Francisco. San Francisco, Hawaii, Hawaii, New Zealand, and then New Zealand, Sydney, and then Sydney, Brisbane. When I landed, I was spun out. I had winter clothes on with a fur collar and everything. I landed in Brisbane in February. It was humid and hot, and it wasn't the airport there. So that was a wake-up call for me to see, like, wow, this this place. And then um the guy who spotted me in the Kansas City camp and offered me the opportunity um was there at the airport. I had never met him, never, never seen his face, but he knew me. I was like I said, I was the only black guy that showed up at the airport, and he he brought me into, took me to the apartment that I was gonna stay in and told me to put my gear on because he wanted to see what kind of shape I was in. And and I went around to the stadium. I had to take he told me to travel on my own so I could find my way around, gave me some colored, colorful money, which I'd never seen before, and buy a uh take the ferry to the city, walk up the hill, catch the train, three stops, you'll see the auction flower. And if you get on the platform, you'll see the Orkendome. I thought, Dome, gee, I played in the New Orleans Superdome. This is gonna be nice. I'd follow directions, I get there, and I see this tin shed. And I thought, dome. Like I walked in and they say, Welcome to Auckland. And sure enough, from that point, uh, that was my life, you know. Um, you know, I spent from February to June in Brisbane and I traveled the country, you know, had teams in every s every city except Perth at that time and Darwin, but Adelaide, Taz uh and Tazi, I'm sorry, Adelaide, Melbourne, City. Sydney was where all the teams were were based. And um and sure enough, uh I was able to make a name for myself. They started calling me Black Magic, and they started calling me Black Flash. Brilliant Negro God.

SPEAKER_05 44:14

Yeah, so that that's interesting because uh you've got you've gone from racism over there. You've landed here in Australia. Were there very any black American many black Americans playing in the league when you first started here?

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Only one. Only one American, black American in the league, and I played against him the very first game. It was Herod McKeachin, who was still here in Canberra, he's an icon of the Camera Cannons. And I never forget we lined up uh across each other. I couldn't wait to talk to him, you know. But my teammates told me, and they taking the the new, you know what? Oh, he's Aboriginal and they don't speak very good English, so he has to read your lips, so talk slow. So I'm looking at them and I'm thinking, is this real? But I'm watching him warm up. I said, gee, he looks smooth. Sure enough, we for the game, you exchange gifts. I walk out to him, I go, My name is Cal. He said, Man, what's wrong with you, bro? He said, I'm I'm Herb from San Francisco. I went, I looked at my teammates and they all cacking themselves. I thought, oh, okay, I gotta deal with this now. Yeah. But um, I had a great first year. Herb and I didn't see each other until the second last game of the year. I ended up being the leading score in the competition at a run-up for the most valuable player award. So they invited me to Melbourne where Herb was playing in the championship game. So it was nice for us two to get together like that. And uh and obviously eventually we came together 20 years later to coach and be involved with the camera cannons. But yeah, the the because it was only us two, we had stories to share about, you know, what we've come up against. And um, yeah, it wasn't uh I guess it wasn't too long the white Australian policy was in truly in place. But yeah, I was able to shield myself from that, and having the experience of dealing with it in the States, I thought it was a little lighter here, except when I seen the Aboriginal players. It was only two in the competition. At that time, Danny Morseau, who was in St. Kilda, and he became Olympian and all that. He actually played for me and played with me in one year. And then there was um another gentleman uh named um uh from Sydney. Uh geez, can't think of it right now off the tip, but um sure, uh Claude, Claude Williams. And those two were the only Aboriginal players in the competition. So all up, there was four people of color. And that was very different for me because if you flip the script in the US, it's the other way around, you know, because most of the black Americans were were leading the way in the basketball scene back then.

SPEAKER_05 46:44

So you you were within the team teams that you played, was there any issue about racism there or because you were playing the sport that ruled?

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Well, I had one situation where uh I came to another white inspectors, and um they were a team in Melbourne, and their mascot came out with a hood on, and it was a blue though, color. And I kind of looked at it and I asked my teammates, like, yo, what's up the hood? You know. So they kind of had a little snick about it, you know. I said, he kind of looked like he got a hood with just a different color, the KKK. And they said, nah, don't worry about it. But then when they started announcing the players, the players were all looking at me hard. And again, I was the leading score in the competition. So when we go to shake hands, exchange gifts, they say, yeah, we got five fouls, and you're getting them all. So I thought, well, okay, well, I'm already averaging 34 a game. I might get 50 tonight, you know, because I made my free throws. I got smacked the first play of the game so hard on my head that I looked at the ref like, you're not gonna call that? And no, you didn't. I went on to turn up another notch. I scored 41 points, we whipped them, and they were the Australian champs. And then uh they sent me out of the game, and people got hostile and started throwing things. So my coach get back on the court, and they had to call the police. I had to get a police escort out of the building in 1979. And uh from that point on I knew things was gonna be a little bit different. But what I uh what I was able to do just two years ago was uh get on a podcast where does not want to inspect this people and they apologize for what happened way back then, which was nice. But yeah, still I feel shades of that sort of thing when I look out at the league and what have you. That it's it's it's kind of hidden, but yet for me it's it's very very real.

SPEAKER_05 48:32

Now, you've been a player. At what point in your career did you decide enough's enough, I'm going to go on the on the coaching side?

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Well, I was a player coach for a number of years. Like out of my playing career, five out of ten years, I was a player coach for five years. So I was asked to take on that extra responsibility. Anyone would know a playing coach is a hard, hard, hard gig. You gotta you gotta present yourself to your team first as as someone that can handle it. But I had to also be the fittest guy because I was one of the better players, you know. I was uh all-star playing 83, 84, I was a run-up MVP as I mentioned, so uh I played for Australia, and I had to renounce my U.S. citizenship in order to play for Australia. So I was dedicated to just locking myself in here. It was um it was a wake-up call in terms of having to move around. And then when I reached the top, all of a sudden I couldn't get the job again. I'm a champion for the city, and uh decided to go in another direction. Then I had to go to the bottom, start again, try to raise the the bottom team up. And after a while, you think, wow, this is too hard. So I'm after 1994, uh I walked away, went to Perth, because my young son was now playing for the Perth Wildcast, the team I had led to a championship. And he had he was doing well. So uh at the end of the year he wanted to go to college, so I decided then that I'll do a Cal Bruton and Sons. At that point, I had three young boys, and they all love basketball, so we decided that we'll set up little camps and and we'll run them into different parts of West Australia and try to help the game grow, and which we did. Um Perth is recognized as one of the premier teams in the competition of the NBO. And then I was able to uh get an opportunity to come to camera. And once I got the camera going and we got to the top, we actually took the team across to the U.S. to play with Magic Johnson, who had contacted me personally, and I had met him on my travels. He uh offered to play uh to pay for, I'm sorry, to pay for us once we get there. But I had to find$60,000 to get us there, which I did, and we played with him and beat his hometown team, Michigan State, our college team. And then we came back, we played a game, we were sitting in the top four and moving on up, and they closed us down. The MBL said that we ran out of money and this and that, and there was a whole lot of stuff that came after that. I was um then probably in charge of trying to keep us in the league. So I had to, I gave up my assistant coaching, my head coaching job to become the CEO, go knock on the doors, get the money. I got Herb to be involved with me as well on that. And then we were able to sort of bring the team back to complete the season, and then they close us down again, and that was it. That's when I made up my mind that yeah, it was it just wasn't something that I wanted to continue to do. But then I get a phone call and West Sydney to come and coach them for the end of their season, they were on the bottom of the ladder, and that's the sort of jobs I've always got attract, well they're attracted to me, but I was always one guy that ready for the challenge to take them up. And of course, um, once West Sydney got going, they folded, and then I said, uh oh, I'm sorry, they they went to the bottom and they wanted me to come back again, but they wanted me to interview for the job. I thought, no, why should I interview? I've just completed the task, so I just felt they was wanting to go in another direction. They just wanted me to go through the j through the hoop, so I decided that was it, and I'll roll up my sleeves and start working with the youth.

SPEAKER_05 52:11

Now, before we go into that side of your career, and that's probably one of the one of the reasons why you're in the studio talking about that part of your life. What was the key lesson that you that you wanted to instill in players that would enable them to grow in the game?

SPEAKER_00 52:27

I think what I've always tried to hold on to and and pass on was that you you had to uh have a commitment. You know, you had to make a commitment, you had to have a level of care, and you had to be consistent. You know, I call it the three C's, you know. What I did was whenever I touched something, I wanted to grow. That gave me the idea of uh trying to push the envelope in the right direction for the game to grow. So I did all sorts of things to promote the game, you know, um from youth tournaments to to the skill schools, uh, and I traveled the country doing it on an all-ie rag, which makes me very proud because uh no one's given anything. Everything's been earned on my direction. I load up my young sons, which I have two more now, and put them in the back of the vehicle and off we go. So my mission shifted to just help the game become popular. And and not getting any credit from the hierarchy of not being offered anything, kind of hurt, you know, never been offered a job. I put my hand up for many, uh couldn't do the interview. I feel they take what you what the evidence you provide, and then sorry, uh with so many good candidates on this occasion, but none of them got a resume like myself, but yeah, I had to deal with it. So, yeah, my mom, God bless her, uh, when she passed, she gave me, I took her Bible. And um she had it on certain pages, and she always left messages in there for me, even though I never seen them until she passed. And um, I took that Bible and I started reading it, and that made me just go on a different path of trying to stay, be a good person, be a kind person, you know, and and and keep. I came my grandson came up with an acronym for Bruton. And I just I was driven, he was only nine years old, and it said, be kind to others, respect your elders, use your manners, trust in God, own your mistakes, and never give up. And that's been my mantra.

SPEAKER_05 54:28

All right, now let's talk about your your your your community work in this charity. Not a charity per se, but it's a focus about young people. Tell me a little bit about it, and perhaps really what drove you into that direction?

SPEAKER_00 54:41

Well, again, growing up as a young boy with no father in the household and your mom struggling, yeah, the foundation was there at the start, but you know, your foundation can kind of go in different ways. So by jumping in with young people, I had people that showed interest in me that kept me going. And then I vowed to follow that in a lot of respects. So I established the the Bruton Basketball Foundation, which uh helps underprivileged kids in underserved communities. So I'm very proud that I've probably one of one of one that's been to every state and territory in this country and in the communities, uh, indigenous communities, uh setting up programs, coaching young kids, and I take my kids with me so they can see how fortunate and lucky they've been. Well, by no means were they flush with funds or monetary or in any way, but they knew that they had to earn it. And we tried to share that with the younger generation of those underserved communities that you can do whatever you want to do as long as you stick to the task and you got a love and genuine uh care for the sport. And we've been able to sort of get kids on scholarships to go out to universities and continue the education because we feel like education is the key. It unlocks the doors. But sport can be a vehicle to help you attain that education. And just like the scholarship I achieved, so we found kids that couldn't afford the fees. I would go knock on doors, raise some money, get their fees paid for, or and through the foundation, we were able to sort of raise funds. Uh, I gotta mention my chair, Nadia Pesarasi, who who is the chair of my foundation, she's been able to assist me in driving that to get kids to to move on into a higher direction. And we helped so many. Uh you know, I would like to put a number on it, but I mean we had one kid that didn't have his dad. His mom was moving town. She's never seen him play, and she was moving to Melbourne. So we raised funds for this kid to get to Melbourne so he can actually be in a position she can play in front of his mom. He's now attending a private school and he's done very well. And and we had so many other story kids that uh there's a platform that you can go to and you gotta get there in Perth, West Australia. We got kids from here that we've actually raised money to send them across, and then we've helped many other local teams to go and and and pursue their little ambition to play at a higher level. So that's something that that drives me today because I was one of those kids, and I just feel that giving back in that space is very rewarding. And I don't, you know, in return, uh I've been blessed uh with a billionaire guy who uh I've only met once. Uh he came to Australia and he said, Love what I do. He said, My respect, and I want to hear some funds to help you uh continue that work. So that's been a blessing. Else uh I'll be probably looking for work in another space, but I'm able to do this type of work, which I feel very proud of.

SPEAKER_05 57:53

Now, Carl, before we finish today, there's two things I'd like to ask you. One, and you can put this in the back of your mind, what acronym would drive and be the underpinning acronym for your foundation? And secondly, you talked about two mentors. What have they instilled in you that now you're instilling in the young people that are going through your foundation?

SPEAKER_00 58:19

I think I answer the second one first. Um I think it's the attitude. You know, everyone talks about having a positive attitude, and um you you're faced with a lot of obstacles to try to achieve that uh stay with that a attitude, but I think attitudes are contagious and it's yours worth catching. And I try to make my attitude a catchy one, you know, because I'm uh I'm gonna give you the I'm gonna give you the real, but I'm also gonna try to put your ties up so you can get rolling. And I think that's a very much a key to your success on on ongoing. Um if you've got a poor attitude or negative attitude, that's what you will attract. And as a result of that, you know, you find yourself in a web. And uh I've I've had that when I tried to get going, I felt I had everything going against me, and my attitude got to shift a little bit about heck with this, heck with that, you know. But then I had to pull my reins in and say, no, that's that's not me. That's not what I'm about. And I think um in terms of the acronym that I would I would like to you know share with others would be really my grandson's at it, you know, because it makes a stable on our on our um on our name. It makes a statement on our name. And um I got one son now who who went through all kinds of hoops. He's now in Beijing, coaching, China. I have another son in Tari, New South Wales, is working in a high school. I have another son that's a national diversity and inclusion coordinator for a global company, APM. I have um uh a daughter that's uh working in Canberra, and she's the only one here that's got uh working in a special uh with disadvantaged kids and disabled kids, and she's in a special program and guiding them through. And then I have two young sons uh that are playing in the MBL One, one with Illwar uh and another one with Bellarat. And they've they've won championships and along the way, but we always find that we're up against so that that brutal acronym, be kind, respect, manners, use your manners as you trust in God, because if there's anything that's gonna help you through all this, it's that trust. I made a lot of mistakes along the way too. I I'm not, you know, I gotta be honest and say that sometimes when you hit me the wrong way, I'm coming to hit back, you know, and I'll find a way to not realize I didn't really have to hit back like that. But I own my mistake and I have to wear it. Whatever comes that way, and just keep it moving. And and the never give up thing is what really inspires me because uh there's no quit in me. Uh 72 years old this year, and um everyone said, wow, how do you keep yourself so fit? Well, geez, I got two torn Achilles, I had two knee operations, I got a hip replacement, I have prostate cancer. I done been through all that. And now I just say, you know what? Man up above got me. I got no worries. So I'll just keep going and keep doing what I do and and uh hope that I'm helping others to achieve what they want to.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:36

And finally, Carl, could you introduce your last track? Who is the performer? And most importantly, again, why did you select it?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:44

Well, the last track is Celebrate Me. And it's only recent I came across this uh young lady named Inga Rose, who's brilliant, like she does all the uh video analysis of it and expressions and the whole bit, and it talks about you know, you you've been through the hard times, you know that. But you gotta sometimes celebrate yourself, you know. And if you pat yourself, well, my philosophy is if you pat yourself in the back until your head swells up, you you can kind of keep yourself going in a lot of directions. But I choose to go in a real positive one now and try to affect as many people as I can in a positive way. So Inga Rose has been, I play this song probably once a day, you know, celebrate me because it if if you don't, nobody else will. And I get people that occasionally come to me and want to, you know, offer me uh opportunities that probably less than what I would feel I'm d deserving of. And therefore I'd rather step away from that and do it on my own. As I mentioned, I had a couple billionaires that that treated me very poorly. And I thought, well, money's not end-all to everything, because um I've been able to work for pennies and save them and and make sure I looked after my kids, all six of them, and now I got five grandkids as well. And I try to let everyone know that family is the most important thing. So that's probably the other acronym, you know, family is is is everything. And I try to treat my family like they the let them know they're the most important people in the world to me.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:14

Still finding my way through the night side. I wouldn't see enough. Ain't nobody clapping for me, so I'm clapping for myself. All the times I held on when I needed help. I celebrate me for everything I survive. All the nights I cried, but still I stayed alive. I celebrate me. Yeah, I'm standing on me. Even when it's hard, I'm who I need to be. You gotta do it for yourself. Ain't nobody coming through. You gotta find your strength even when you don't want to. It's gon' be hard sometimes. It's gon' feel too much. You gon' break, you gon' cry, you gon' wanna give up. But believe me, you gon' make it even when you can't see. You're stronger than the moment. You just gotta believe. I celebrate me. For everything I survive. Still I'm here, still alive. I celebrate me. Even with no give you nothing stopping. Even if it don't feel like it, you still standing, and that means something. No one can take that from you. No one celebrating me for the woman I became through the hurt, through the pain. I still found my way. Celebrating me, and I won't apologize. Every step I took got me to this life. Just hold on, you're gon' be all right. Celebrate you.