Embrace The Great
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Embrace The Great
From Wilson High to the Coaching Ranks: The Journey of Rod Woods
In this week’s Embrace the Great Podcast, Shawn and Dominique sit down with special guest, Coach Roderick “Rod” Woods. From his early days playing at Wilson High School to competing at Spartanburg Methodist and Eastern Kentucky, Rod shares his powerful story of growth, setbacks, and resilience. He opens up about his 20+ years of college coaching, raising a daughter who became a national scoring leader, and the impact of the transfer portal and NIL on today’s athletes. The conversation also touches on Florence’s sports legacy, community growth, and the importance of planting seeds for the next generation.
Welcome to this week's episode of Embrace the Great Podcast with your host, Sean Ellerby, and also my boy, Dominique Muldrow. Yo, yo, what's happening? Okay, and also today we have a special guest into the house, my family, my big cuz, man, Mr. Roderick Woods. Rod Woods in the building, man. Welcome, Rod. Rod Woods in
SPEAKER_02:the building.
SPEAKER_03:That's what I call my whole name. I didn't know you was Rodrick. I was about to say that. My apologies. My apologies. Nah, no sweat. We start off every week, man. Dominique, what's on your mind? Man, not a whole lot, man. I've
SPEAKER_02:been listening to a lot of music for some reason over the past week. Other than that, man, just been cooling, man. Got the boys moved in to college.
SPEAKER_03:So I'm just full of steam ahead, man. What's up with you? Ain't nothing much, man. Just excited. Like you said, getting the boys off of college. My daughter's starting her last semester and she turned 21 on Saturday. So get ready to see what that entails. But other than that, man, chilling. Kind of looking forward to the new adjustment in life. We're just having one kid at the house. Rob, what's going on your way, man? Man, I'm just
SPEAKER_02:taking it easy. I got two weeks off before the semester starts. Our kids will be back this weekend, so... I'll be heading back to Arkansas this weekend to get the semester started, get this season rolling.
SPEAKER_03:You in Arkansas now? Yes, sir. Okay, I thought you was still down in Florida. No, that's why we're going to sit here and try to go in the same week introducing Rod. And this is my apology to introduce our special guest. But we have a Wilson High School standout, graduated back in what, 91? 91. 91, then went off to Spartanburg Methodist to play basketball from there, went to Eastern Kentucky. And just overall been coaching for the last, what, 22 years at different D1 institutions. So... To open up about that, man, tell us about your basketball journey. Well,
SPEAKER_02:for me, it started with my mom going to aerobics classes at Moore Junior High School. Moore. At Moore. I used to go with her all the time. And of course, her and I grew up together. It was just me and my mom. And I had to go in there and My first sport was actually aerobics. Not aerobics, but gymnastics.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. What the hell did you do in the gymnastics? Man, I need to hear that one. I ain't
SPEAKER_02:heard that one before. I need to stay busy. I need to stay busy. It lasted all but a week. After those classes my mom used to go to, they had started, I guess, youth basketball. And I used to see them come in and practice. And after my mom got done, I told my mom, I don't want to do this gymnastics no more. I want to do that. I want to play some ball. So it all jumped off from there. My first coach, I don't know if you guys probably know, Otis Davis was my first coach. And it started at nine years, no, seven years old. And those city league games for the city of Florence used to be held at Moore. Yeah, that's kind of how it started. And the journey is still going so far.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, talk about the different stops. I know When I got with you in coaching, man, it was up in Rock Hill at Clinton Junior College. I was up at Winthrop at the time doing my undergraduate. And then, you know, found out because it's over here, the girls head coach over at Clemson that later on became the athletic director. But, you know, I got my first taste of coaching kind of coming over there with you a little bit, helping coach some of those girls. So talk about that, how you got started in coaching.
SPEAKER_02:Well, the coaching thing started in Lamar, South Carolina. I was an assistant coach over at Lamar High School.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Coach Boyd, who was the football coach and athletic director, I met him through a mutual friend and told him that I was looking and interested in coaching. Got on that year, 2000, I think it was 2000, that I went over to Lamar High School. And from there, it kind of started. That year, my daughter was born. My first daughter was born in 2000. And after that... you know, she was born in Kentucky. So I headed back to Kentucky to kind of be with her until I figured out my next move.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. And I know your daughter talk about your daughter. And one of the things I like to brag about, man, that's little cuz she was actually the leading nation, leaving the nation in scoring while she was in college at one point. Correct. That is correct. Um,
SPEAKER_02:it was, it's been a long journey for her too. Um, you know, coming up in high school. And I, for me, I don't know, I selfishly thought that she grew up too fast, you know, but I really loved the way that she matured and handled her business with four of the siblings in the house. She's the third oldest. She had two other siblings that she didn't grow up with, but siblings under her, you know, she kind of took care of them and, you know, Had some issues in high school, kind of got those worked out, maturity issues. And from there, she started playing basketball and started to become really good. And, you know, for me, being able to take her in the summertime to camps, everywhere that I went, she was with me.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:And, yeah. Her traveling with me and she was participating in every camp I worked. She was in camp playing and figured out that she loved basketball and it has afforded her the opportunity to be a pro in Asia. And now she's grown with two children. Yeah. Wow. So I'm proud of her. Just to go back a little bit, you talked about how you came up in the Red Leagues in Florence and then up through, of course, in high school. Just talk about some of the people that, you know, might have influenced your game. Well, I'm going to expand that question. I'm going to say it influenced my game and, you know, my life. Okay. You know, and I know you guys know Johnny Echols. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Johnny was the master of it, almost every sport. Rufus McDonald, son that played in the NFL, was an integral part of my growing up and maturing. Mumford Scott has a law firm downtown Florence. His son and I played together, and I think Mumford and Rufus McDonald kind of collaborated on what I think was the first AAU team called PDAAU. I played for Rufus. In the city of Florence. I played for Rufus. So that was kind of my base. But there's some people that I'm going to leave out, but those are the ones who stick out the most to me that kind of helped me along the way. And I know that some of us, we're going to need some help on the way. And not all of us can do it by ourselves. Matter of fact, I don't think any of us could do it by ourselves, but they were there for me. You know, Mumford used to drive his station wagon all over the state of South Carolina with
SPEAKER_00:10
SPEAKER_02:boys in the back of that going to play some basketball, him and Rufus. And those kind of experiences, man, you know, when I tend to recruit, you know, I want to recruit kids who've been through some things. Come through that, yeah. That was one of my questions. That's kind of... you know, cause you could tell a lot about a kid who kind of can thrive through adversity and they don't probably even know they thrive through adversity. They probably think it's normal, regular life, you know, but, um, you know, that was, you know, thinking about that and, and, um, seeing some, some of my old teammates and, you know, what they're doing now, you know, where are they going? You know, it's, it's good to see them when I come home. I don't like to stay here long. And, um, You know, but seeing those guys and being able to talk to them, at least over the phone, it's kind of kind of refreshing to me when I come home. Yeah. Was it like talk about like through your high school years, you went to Wilson High School. Talk about maybe, you know, like your high school coach, maybe some of your teammates that probably could have gone to college. Because, I mean, that was, I don't want to say it was rare back then, but you really had to be special back in the day because you didn't have those outlets like YouTube and Instagram to show you highlights. That's right. So just kind of talk about your high school years at Wilson. Well, mine started off rough. Okay. I got to Wilson. I was coming from a private school right there on Oakland Avenue, Seventh Day Adventist. So for me, going from that to public school was an adjustment period for me. And I'll be the first to say, I didn't, I loved high school. I just didn't like going to classes. You know, but classes, I didn't, I didn't like classes. You know, I loved the social part of high school, but For me, it kind of started on my head because after my ninth grade year, and you guys can probably get a chuckle out of this, I think I passed three credits my first high school years. I flunked off the team in the ninth grade. And, you know, from there, people, what's going on? you know, for me, I was just like, well, I'll come back next year. Everything will be all right. But I ended up, you know, playing up until December. I put off the team, figured out, hey, I'm still a good ball player. Went and played AU that summer. My mother said she was not paying for any summer school and I wasn't either. So I just, I took that L and it was back in the ninth grade again. But yeah, I ended up getting a letter after that summer of my ninth grade year from a college. And for me, it inspired me. And I thought, hey, this is something that I can do. I know I'm going to have to make some changes to make this happen. But it started to happen. Came back in the middle of the semester. January of my, what was supposed to be my 10th grade year. Cause I started doing better. And I knew that without one, it couldn't, you had to put the other one going to class and playing ball. So I would say at that point, the light bulb kind of came on and, um, I started to be a little more attentive in classes. Um, you know, started to do my work a little bit more and, um, It kind of flew from there. I came back. My first game back in my sophomore, what was supposed to be my sophomore year, my first game back, Johnny Echols, our assistant coach at the time, drew a play up for me. I made the shot in the game against Myrtle Beach. I only scored twice. I made a two and a three, and the three was game winner. But from there, it kind of just, it's time to go. It's time to take off. That jet was about to take off after that and kind of went on from there. But I loved all of my teammates. I thought that, you know, we were really good when I got to the 11th and 12th grade. And, you know, I just remember that us going to the playoffs, we could never beat Kenan. And we always had to go on the road and play Keenan. And it was like, we not winning up here.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's the crazy part. I think Keenan still got the same coach from back then. And that's the one who put me out my last, my senior year as Keenan. We went to Lawson. We had to play at a neutral site playing at Benedict in Columbia. And it's a neutral site, but we ended up getting beat. And I still get mad about that game, man, because I don't think they were the better team. I just think we didn't play our game well. And I can't blame the players on that one. I know that last
SPEAKER_02:time that we played them, I want to say the game probably started at seven. That game probably was over at eight because they wasn't blowing that whistle. They were not blowing that whistle. And down in the PD, we wasn't playing that way. They would at least blow the whistle, but in Columbia, they let you play. Yeah, their MO was they're going to let you play, and those kids are going to be tough, and they're going to get away with a lot more than what we were used to. I say player for player, we were probably even, but I think going and playing them in that small gym, I don't think y'all remember what that gym looked like. No, it's different now, yeah. Oh, it is definitely different. They were sitting on the floor. You know, they can reach out and touch you. But it was very competitive, man. And, you know, it kind of prepared me to go to the next level. Coach Wilford was my coach, who was a championship coach at Burke High School down in Charleston. Yeah, I remember Wilford. And he coached some really good players, coached the Sellers boys. You know, but he was a big influence. And he was the first person to tell me You know, when I walked in his PE class after the ninth grade, he said, man, you flunked off the team. What's going on? I couldn't say nothing, you know, but it was fun, man. And if I could go back and do it again, I would do some things different. I think all of us would. But I embraced that experience because it
SPEAKER_03:helps me right now. Okay. And you from high school, you went to Spartanburg Methodist first in Eastern Kentucky, right? Can you explain that process and how you end up at both schools? What was that process like? Who were you being recruited by? Well, actually, I
SPEAKER_02:went to a college called Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Illinois, out of high school. I went there for a semester. I got in trouble out there. I got in trouble in Illinois. And I had a couple of friends. One, Don Dees, that played baseball at Spartanburg Methodist. And Andy Bostic, who was my opponent, that's from South Florence High School. So after everything went south in Illinois at Lincoln Trail, my boy Don was calling me. He said, man, you need to come to Spartanburg Methodist. We got a guy that was a McDonald's All-American guy. played at St. John's, went to the league. I was asking them, I said, I was Andy playing. What's Andy doing? What's Andy Bostic doing? And y'all know Andy played in the SEC. So Andy went with you in Illinois. Y'all were on the same? At Spartanburg. When I was in Illinois, he was at Spartanburg Methodist already. So they basically was recruiting me when I told them I'm not going to be here next year. But I asked one of my buddies, I said, well, what's Andy down there doing? Is he starting? And they told me no. And I said, oh, ish. Because if Andy coming off the bench, I don't know where I'm going to play at. I got you. You know, but that kind of when I got there, you know, they had been, you know, one of the top 10 teams in the country. Andy was coming off the bench. You know, I was just trying to find my niche. And, you know, when I found out the competition was real, was when the first day that I got there and all those coaches was in the building and we were just playing pickup,
SPEAKER_00:you know,
SPEAKER_02:and Andy B, you know, kind of showed me the ropes. We were roommates. Okay, I didn't know that. We were roommates. Oh, I knew that was wild. And I'm sure he'll tell you that If you didn't get to sleep before him, you probably wasn't going to go to sleep. That's my guy. I spoke to him today. I went to Spartanburg Methodist, man. I think we lost eight games in two years. Ended up going to the national tournament two years in a row. I was on a really good team. I think we lost three games that year. Lost to Moochie Norris at Odessa College that played in the league there was another guy by the name of Larry Johnson not grandma mom but there was another Larry Johnson at Odessa that was really good I think played at Oklahoma State or somewhere but it was really competitive and back then I think Juco Ball was you know Everybody's six, seven and under can run, jump, shoot, athletic. And I think going out there for us, we were kind of the prototype team because we were big, we were athletic at every spot. You know, I think there was my sophomore year, there was between my freshman and sophomore year, there was like 14 guys that played division one basketball from the Big East all the way down to where I went in the OVC. But that competitive nature, I learned a little bit more how to compete and not worry about what's in front of you, but, you know, worrying about what you can control.
SPEAKER_01:You
SPEAKER_02:know, that's kind of where it went from there. And, you know, I never thought that I would be a coach, but I didn't want to work a real job. That's right. So I did what I thought I was going to be good at. So I was going to ask, you did name a few players. You know, that was one of my questions. Some of the players you might have matched up against or played against that, you know, maybe some notable names and just the different style that you had to face. Just adjusting, coming from Florence, South Carolina, like you said, you first went to Illinois. What caused Spartanburg a few hours up and then eventually going to Kentucky? Well, it started at Five Star Basketball Camp. And You know, there I found out, well, I'm just good in Florence. Right. You know, when you got Jimmy King, you got the Fab Five that's in the same camp as you. Okay. And... So you went to, what, 91 five-star? No, 89. Okay, so you went as an underclassman. Yes. Okay. 89. I think I was 15. Okay. I was 15 years old and... You know, that was the EYBL before the EYBL. Right, right, right, right. Yeah. Five star. Remember the orange? Well, man, we came through the shirts with orange and heads. They was orange. But yeah. So if you really want to feel, know if you can play or not. Yeah. Five star was it. You could get a good gauge. Senior year high school, Jerry Stackhouse. Okay. Came here and turned the Carolina Classic upside down. Okay. I heard about that. Yeah. Yeah. And we beat them, you know. We got them. We got them. But I was like, because he was getting all the press in the papers. And he was that. He was that guy. And he was only in the 10th grade. And I'm like, this dude in the 10th grade getting all this press. He's going to have to show me. And he did. And he did. You know, so he was really good, man. And, you know, back then he was kind of a post player. Yeah. You know, players change and get better. But my teammate, Ron Nowlin, was pretty good for us. Jermaine Brunson. My man, Van Scott, all of those guys that played with me, Norman George.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:You know, it was all a part of me getting better. And I appreciate them guys. I don't get to see them as much, but I do talk to them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I'm going to go back to something when I remember, you know, just being a kid, younger or whatever, and then you hear, man, your cousin on SportsCenter, your cousin on TV, you know, can you talk about... The coach, was it Eastern Kentucky or was it Spartanburg Methodist when he told you, Woods, run the offense. And what you told him? All right, coach, I am
SPEAKER_02:the offense. Yeah. Yeah, the coach, I am the offense. First time I knew I was on TV was Highlight versus Indiana. Yeah. My cousin, DJ 5, called me and said, man, I just saw you on SportsCenter. The guy just swatted your shot off the top of the glass. And then I went and watched it. And I was like, yeah, he did that. He got you on the not top 10. Oh, yeah. Not top 10. So just being, you know, from a, I mean, I guess I can say small town. I'm pretty sure going to other places, you know, you see the same thing. Was there any kind of adjustments you had to make? You ever got homesick or anything like that? I never got homesick. Just happy to be away. I mean, that's why I don't come here often. I don't never get homesick. I never got homesick. You know, I've been I lived in a lot of places. I stayed in Kentucky after graduating. I stayed there 10 years. I've lived in North Carolina. I've lived in, you know, obviously South Carolina. Where else? Got Mississippi. I was in Mississippi. I lived in Ohio for two years. Miami. Oh, Lord.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Miami. I got a chance to catch up with you in Miami. I had like that. South Carolina State. I know you was coaching at South Carolina State too. Yeah. So all the places you coaching, I know I'm just thinking about, you know, you did South Carolina State, Mississippi Valley State, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial, Berry College. Can you talk about your experiences as a coach and what differences have you seen across the campuses? What was your best experience? Let me ask that. What was your favorite spot where you was coaching?
SPEAKER_02:My best experience, it was at Berry University. Okay. One, just the diversity of the city of Miami. Yeah. I think you can go anywhere and find ballers. You can be in Itta Bena, Mississippi, about the size of this room and find some ballplayers. But I just think that Barry, I love the diversity that it presented. You were able to easily recruit players because obviously Miami is an attractive city and wouldn't want to come to Miami. That was a major selling point for us. You know, the culture. And then we had an administration that supported us and was able to do some things that a lot of Division II schools weren't able to do. So they had money. They had a little bit of
SPEAKER_03:change. That would have boiled down to, I didn't know when they get to their college level, it's halfway about the money. And I know me and you talked before about like the age of recruiting now and how to go about recruiting and what would you tell a young athlete if they're looking to be recruited? Because from our conversations, you know, it's harder to go from high school to college now because of the transfer portal. So can you talk about a little bit of that and how that process works?
SPEAKER_02:Well, you know, obviously there's levels. And I'll start at Division I level. The kids that are getting Division I level, there's looks and then there's offers. I just think for high school kids that get offers early, they need to take them offers in that first signing period because if they don't, once that transfer portal opens, they're not looking at no high school kids. They are trying to get better. And I can be the first to attest to that because that's what we do. We're telling kids, hey, you know, we're offering you now, but, you know, come January, this scholarship might be gone if you're not signing in this early signing period. And then, and it's constantly changing because now these kids, now that they can get paid from sources, you know, they're wanting to know what you got. What you got. Yeah. And where I am now, we have something, but we don't have a lot. But telling kids to just continue working and answer the phone, take them phones off, do not disturb. Every coach that reaches out to you, whether it's the level you want to play or not, you need to respond to them. You need to talk to them because you never know where that Division III coach is going to land at at that Division I spot and you ignored them two years ago. You know, so that's important. I think that, you know, multi-sport athletes is... I like to see kids play more sports. I'm happy you said that, man. I'm happy because a lot of times, especially in the youth sports these days, you got coaches telling kids you got to choose one or, you know, you got to put all your... Your time on the basketball court or on the football field. I just don't like that at all. Even as a coach myself, I encourage my players to play other sports. One, it keeps them out of trouble. Two, it helps them. I know me, when I was an athlete in high school, Football helped me be a better basketball player. It gave me that toughness on the basketball court. You know, it translated. So I definitely, I hope the younger generation hears that. You don't got to just play basketball or whatever the case may be. Yeah, yeah. And I just think that outside of, you know, burning your body out with all these sports, I think that, you know, when you play different sports, you use different muscles. There you go. And I'm a believer that that kind of negates some of the injuries that these kids are getting. I agree. I coach young ladies and, you know, statistics say that young ladies tear their ACLs more than men do. Okay. Because they got weak quads. And, you know, our strength coach at Pine Bluff, you know, emphasizing getting their quads strapped together. I just think multiple sport athletes are less common, but I love those kind of athletes. So taking yourself back a little bit, we're talking about Transfer Portal, NIL, that sort of thing. How do you think if they had NIL 1991, what do you think you would have been worth? I don't know, man. You know, I probably wouldn't have been worth nothing with them grades I had. That's true. You know, 11th, 12th grade, I kind of got, I started to get it together a little bit, but I don't have a clue, man. You know, for me, you know, More than what I have would have probably been good enough for me. Would have been good enough. I know you sit back, you know, in probably the bigger schools and some of these kids, man, you're hiding it. You know, just giving him this? Yes. Quick story. Okay. We were recruiting a kid this year from Memphis who's, I think they're in the American Conference. Kid averaged 2.6 a game. Averaged about seven minutes a game. We called the kid trying to see what she's doing in the portal, why she's in the portal, if she's interested in moving down a level. She didn't even answer the phone. But she texted us. Texted us back. Told us, hey, thanks for the call. Here's my agent's number. Wow. Averaging two points a game. Two points a game. And you got an agent. But, but, I think, and we thought that she was looking for another payday because even with those two points a game and 25K for yourself in your pocket, you can't blame a kid for waiting to see if they're going to get a payday. If I can get some of that. And that's the thing, man. I'm not knocking it because if I had a son or daughter, that was a shame, man. Get everything you can. Get it. But I think a lot of times... People aren't being realistic. Absolutely not. They're getting the wrong guidance, in my opinion. Yes. You know, the money will be good, but, you know, kids getting money, sometimes it doesn't show on the court, you know,
SPEAKER_03:and it's a lot of that. And do you see a lot of they're good where they're from and not necessarily good overall? Like you said, you realize you were good in Florence and had to go to that camp and realize, okay, I got some more work to do. How much do you think is that? It's like, okay, the city get behind them, their own personal city, but they're not on that next level that they think they are. How often do you see that? Pretty often
SPEAKER_02:because a lot of it for me is kids are getting, I don't want to say the wrong advice, but not getting very good advice, you know, from someone who's in it. That's right. It could play a part in whether you're going to get that payday or whether you're going to be paying for school. We start classes on Monday and looking in that trans portal before I left Friday, there's still a thousand kids in the transfer report. Wow. From either not getting picked up You know, kids waiting around to see if they're going to get a payday. And if that don't happen for them, they stuck. They're going to have to pay to go to school. Or go to a Division II or III or NAIA. You know, or just sit out the whole year. And before we move forward, as a coach, do you see any of this changing? I know I heard Deion Sanders say, you know, they should put a cap on it. And I know that's true. probably more with the bigger level programs, but do you see any of the things changing pertaining to NIL and transfer portal, anything like that? Well, you're talking about the bigger levels. I think if it's going to change, it's probably going to need a cap.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It is professional sports, basically. Right. And I think as long as it is where it is, it's going to, the school that has the most money is going to get the best players. You know, and not all the time the best players win championships, but they're always in the top. They're in contention. They're in contention to get the best players. You know, and for schools like us, what that does is it kind of cuts down opportunities to get guarantee games where that's mostly where our revenue comes from. Yeah, yeah. You know, so that kind of hurts the smaller schools being able to generate that revenue that they've been getting. Oh, that's big, man. You know, at first when everything happened with NIL and all that, man, a lot of people, including myself, man, you know, that's good. I thought it was good for the players as far as, you know, getting the things that they do. I know you probably got some stories from when you were in college, man, you know, cafeteria closed, right? You don't have a job. I don't think you could get a job back then if you were playing. You weren't allowed to work. Yeah, you couldn't get a job. You know, your mom probably back home struggling with whatever bills or whatever the case may be for most student-athletes. So, of course, you want those guys to get paid, right? You know, those bigger schools, they selling out the college arenas and all that and can't even, you know, accept money from nobody. So at first, you know, it's definitely a good idea. But as it's been going on for about three, four years now, NIL. Three years, I think. Yeah, you kind of see like, man, it's kind of corrupting a lot of people and a lot of things on the other side of it. So I think just I'm all for NIL, man, even transfer portal.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:There's got to be some restrictions, some limitations to it. Yeah. You know, especially for an inner city kid who's coming from nothing. Right. And, you know, back in 91 when I was coming out, them inner city kids, man, they don't have nothing but a Pell Grant. Right. And that's gone in the first month. Right. You know, so you thinking a kid from 18 to 22 is not going to take some money illegally. Right. You got to be kidding me. You got to be kidding me, man. Yep. You know, so... That happened.
SPEAKER_01:You know,
SPEAKER_02:I seen that in real life. I definitely, I get it, man. You know, you, like you said, come from nothing and somebody giving you$2,000 just to win by no more than eight points. I take that any day. I take that any day. So, you know, Jalen Rose made a perfect example. They got his jersey in the bookstore. Right, right. selling like hotcakes and can't afford it. He can't afford to buy it or get no money off it. So, so yeah, that's definitely, you know, definitely a big step. And I just think, you know, maybe some, some tweaking here or there, man. And I think everything will be, be everybody get, they just do. I hope so, man. That's
SPEAKER_03:the goal. Yep. Yep. So, um, athletes from Florence, man, what are some of the athletes you've seen that you recognize over the years that you see, uh, or some that you saw potentially and it didn't kind of pan out. Can you talk about some of the athletes you know from around here? Yeah,
SPEAKER_02:man. One of the best athletes I've seen was Keyshawn Durant. I think he's the best athlete in that family. Not necessarily the best football player because he didn't... After he got to South Carolina State, you didn't see him anymore. I was number 19 because of him at six years old. Clayton Holmes, another Wilson graduate. Clayton played pro football, was drafted in baseball, was a speedster on the track. Going over to South Florence, I think, I thought... Tony Law was going to be for sure going to the NFL, South Florence. Okay. I thought that Reggie Richardson had a chance and, you know, Reggie and I played on that PDAU team together. I don't know. Y'all know Reggie? I've heard the name, but I don't know him personally, yeah. Reggie probably ran a 4-2. And... He ended up being a corner at South Carolina and was a super athlete, man, and played basketball. I don't think he played his senior year, but he was really good, man.
SPEAKER_03:So what you think about Lenore Sellers? You said South Florence, and that's our next big person up. So what you think about him?
SPEAKER_02:He's the guy. Yeah. You know, I saw Keyshawn, and then I saw a bigger Keyshawn. That can move better, I mean, just like him or even better. Yeah. You know, but, man, that kid got a bright future ahead of him. Yeah, he squatting 600
SPEAKER_03:pounds. That let me know all I needed to know. I didn't realize how big that boy was. Yeah, I always tell people he's a cross between Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson. If you look at both of them, it's a perfect cross between, if you combine them, that's Lenore Sellers. Oh, yeah. And I said this years ago when he was a sophomore in high school because I had a couple of guys in Rock Hill. It was crazy because South Florence actually went and took, was it Northwestern to the wire? And, you know, that don't happen in Rock Hill a lot because Rock Hill got some good football teams. That's right. And so, you know, I start getting calls, Sean, what's up with this Lenore Sellers guy? I'm like, man, look, from what I've seen and what I know of him, because I know his mom went to school with his mom, actually coached with his dad for a little while. I was like, look, he's a cross between Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson. He's big like Cam Newton, not as big, but he has that mentality. He's going to get that yard. Yeah. He's going to get that yard. There ain't too much you can do about it. And I watched him do it from youth football all the way to state championship. That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_02:Antoine... Antoine Wells was a really good football player and was really fast. I mean, you guys probably won't know him. He was older than me. I think Antoine was a couple years older than me, but he was really fast, and I think he ended up breaking his leg, and then he wasn't the same. I got you. He kind of went on to another path, and I don't think football was his thing anymore. But yeah, man, it's been some athletes come through here. you know, it's been some basketball players.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Agree. Yes. People come through. I'm going to switch it up a little bit. What do you think? Yeah, I know you, you left Florence for a little while. I know you coming back visiting. What do you think are some things that the city of Florence can do to improve or something you would like to see here in Florence?
SPEAKER_02:Um, I'll say this. Um, I'm going to start with this. I roll by the boys and girls club and I, um, don't see baseball games in the summer. I would love to see, you know, our black kids play baseball a little bit more. And a common answer I get is
SPEAKER_03:it's boring. Yeah. And then two, there's no representation in the major leagues like it used to be. And I say that when we were coming up, we can see some of the players that we want to be like and play baseball because I played in that same Boys and Girls Club field and being on the board with Powell, to try to get baseball back in the area is a lack of interest from the kids and the parents where, you know, coming up, man, everybody in my mind at the baseball game, yelling, screaming, clapping, fussing, whatever. But now it's like, I've known personally where people put up like money to sign kids up and kids still won't sign up. So the money wasn't the issue as far as them not being able to afford it. They just flat out didn't want to.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Right. You know, I just think that it's a, It's an opportunity. Oh, big time. It's an opportunity. I think, you know, more of what you're doing with your organization. Yeah, G-Lab Legacy. G-Lab, I love it, man. I love it, man, because, you know, one, it kind of helps these kids mature a little bit faster, you know, and giving them opportunity to have some ownership in things that they do. Correct. And paying it forward, man. Yeah. you know, realizing that you helping somebody else instead of yourself all the time isn't always the right thing.
SPEAKER_03:Oh man, it's planting seeds. And I always say, you know, if you grow, you know, planting seeds, you grow, and I'm going to use the term as a tree. As a tree grows, the fruit that it bears is not for him.
SPEAKER_01:No doubt.
SPEAKER_03:The tree don't eat the fruit. He bears it for everybody else. So it's like as I'm growing and I'm, you know, considering myself a tree in this instance, I wanted whatever fruits I got can help somebody else and hopefully plant seeds elsewhere. And so we have other trees growing and doing their own thing. So my biggest thing is like, I don't look at instant results. I look at planting seeds and every seed don't grow at the same rate. So once I plant the seed, talk to them, you know, and I call it watering by talking to them and seeing where it does to grow. Cause you know, what I realized is, And then coming up, everybody doesn't have a male role model, a father figure, or whoever else they feel comfortable talking to. They can have people that are around, but they don't feel comfortable talking to them. And I just try to make sure they feel comfortable opening up, talking, what's on your mind. Like, okay, what are y'all seeing? What do y'all want to do? And I'm asking that question because one of the questions I ask most of my kids, almost all my kids, what's the best trait about you? And as a black man, I've never been asked that question as a youngster. It gets you to start thinking like, okay, internalizing, because we look at everything around us, but not necessarily within ourselves. What's the best trait about you? And then I ask that question to kind of get an answer and try to steer them in careers or things of that nature that may highlight that quality. If you like to talk, argue and fuss, hey, why don't you be an attorney? Look at that. I don't look at... What they say is a bad thing. I look at it as an opportunity. I love to play video games. You ever thought about designing them? You ever create one? Just planting seeds and giving them a different way of looking at things, man. So thank you for the shout out for G-Lab, but that's just kind of where the mindset was in creating it and trying to continue to make trees grow.
SPEAKER_02:That's right. Even in my own house, you know, talking to my, all my cousins, I got a lot of them, but you always playing them video games. Well, you really can do something with this. If you, if you start Twitch streaming, you're getting paid playing a video game. That's right. You know, so it playing video games or, you know, building things outside of what you do in sports,
SPEAKER_03:you know, that, you can be the creator of your own path. Correct. And I think a lot of it is not being discouraged into them because sometimes they have an idea and ain't nobody from here going to do that. And they shut down so it's not like stifled their thought process. Like, no, why not? I'm always a why not person. If you can tell me why not and have a definitive reason, I believe you. But if you can't tell me why not, in my mind, it can be done. That's right. That's right. So I'm big on the why not.
SPEAKER_02:That's right. And I'd like to see more organizations like that, even women's organizations.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And I think it's something to come in Florence, but it's twofold, right? It's you wanting to do the work and not realizing the amount of work it takes. And then two, a lot of people are feeling like they're not in the place where they can offer stuff. They're not where they want to be, so therefore they don't want to offer anything. I'm like, no, what you got to offer, you may not realize you got to offer because you're looking at it from this lens when you're A teenager may not look at it from that same lens. You have a lot to offer because you didn't been through what they've been through. So that's why I try to talk to them and tell them, even if I haven't been through it, I know somebody who may be along the path or, or they're going through this issue. They want to be an engineer. Let me get them talking to an engineer. Let me get them talking to somebody along that field. Cause I don't think I can try to solve the world problems. I'm like, I put people in place with people who are going to help them. And I think that's one of my strengths and what's the best way I put people together who can help each other.
SPEAKER_02:You know, and you talking about that, man, I think, One thing that we're doing at UAPB where I'm at, we're inviting administrators to sit behind our bench during games, you know, to kind of, because I know that there's sometimes the administration and athletics kind of bump heads. So we want to kind of bridge that gap and say, hey, come see what we're doing here and how we operate and some of the necessary things that we need to get done and we may need to get from you.
SPEAKER_00:versus
SPEAKER_02:always butting heads. Correct. On the flip side, we got our players. We're kind of figuring out what they want to major in. And we find that out and we say, hey, you need to go. If you want to be a criminal justice major, you need to go shadow this criminal justice professor right here for a day or two. And it kind of, you know, one, it kind of helps kids who who might be struggling in the classroom, you know, and you doing that, it at least shows them that you are open to learning and trying to get better, even if it's something that you struggle at.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And see, that's how I look at college is meaning you willing to learn, able to learn, not saying, you know, everything when you come up, but it's like, okay, you give me something in front of me, I can learn it.
SPEAKER_02:No doubt. No
SPEAKER_03:doubt.
SPEAKER_02:All right, man. Just to kind of wrap things up, man. I got a segment where I like to do a, Pick six, two different things. So I'm going to shoot some questions at you. I'm going to first do an either or, and then next one I'm going to ask you some questions. Well, I'm going to do the question ones first, all right? Who was your first ever crush? First ever crush. We could be at school, celebrity, whoever. I loved Halle Berry.
SPEAKER_03:Halle Berry? Yes. Yeah, funny, mine was Robin Givens. Even in the movie Boomerang, I had like Robin Givens over Halle Berry in that movie. I had love Robin Givens. I thought, man, that was my woman in my mind. Then she started talking to Mike Tyson, I had to let her go. You ain't want that smoke. At all. I
SPEAKER_02:think mine was Whitney Houston. Yeah, I can see that one. Yeah, I think Whitney Houston did it for me. I forgot the video. But she was, I don't know why. Don't judge me. She was on the video and then she was like on a wheel and she was just spinning around. There you go. That was it. That was it. I fell in love with her right then.
SPEAKER_03:I had love with them too. But yeah, Robin Gibbons was mine. That's the one I grew on.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah,
SPEAKER_03:buddy. Boomerang just made it 10 times worse because I was like, man, that woman is fine. All right. What was the last thing you did for
SPEAKER_02:the first time? The last thing I did for the first time. That's a hard one. That is a tough question.
SPEAKER_03:That is a tough question. I'm trying to think about it for
SPEAKER_02:myself. Yeah, somebody asked me that a few days ago and I didn't have an answer. I still don't have an answer. So I thought I'd shoot that to somebody else. All right, we'll come back and say, nah, you ain't got to come back. I got it. Okay. I did the number two at 20,000 feet. Oh, you probably did it on the plane. On the plane.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I'd never do that again. Must have been a long flight. It was a long flight. Yeah. And I wasn't feeling good. Nobody went in the bathroom after you did it. It didn't matter to me. It didn't matter to me. All right. Um, Food combination that a lot of people eat that you don't like? That I don't like? Collard greens. What? Butter beans. I got peas. Oh, man. You don't like the good vegetables? Green peas. I don't eat none of that. Man. I don't like the way it tastes. Mine is shrimp and grit. I don't like shrimp at all. Oh, man. I can't say that
SPEAKER_03:one. I love that one.
UNKNOWN:Um...
SPEAKER_03:What food? I ain't too much food. I don't really like. I don't know. Fish and spaghetti. I see people put that together. I don't mind that one. I do what you're saying. I had it before. It ain't a bad combo. That's one of the ones I wouldn't look at. I
SPEAKER_02:got a story for that. I was telling my mom and them that when I moved to Mississippi, that's it. That's a meal. That's a meal. Fish and spaghetti. That's the first time I ever heard of it. Yeah. I didn't. Yeah. And they do the same thing in Arkansas. And they eat rice for breakfast. I was like, who eats rice for breakfast? Yeah, that's it. Yeah. You would die. You was written on the chitlin' circuit down there. All right. All right. Who is your favorite social media personality? Favorite social media personality? Ooh-wee. I'm going to go. Mine is, I
SPEAKER_03:think mine is Desi Banks. Okay. And I know mine going to be controversial, but I like him because he's entertaining. Charleston White. Charleston White, my favorite entertainer right now. Charleston White, funny. I can't listen to him. Charleston White, funny.
SPEAKER_02:Ooh. What's my guy's name? Mojo. Mojo Brooks right now. Oh, okay. It changes.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I get that one. That dude's stupid.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Mine changes, but he's on top of my list
SPEAKER_03:right now. All
SPEAKER_02:right, two more questions. How old were you when you found out Santa wasn't real? I think I was young. I was probably... Seven or eight, yeah. That's how old I was. I was six. I was six. My cousin
SPEAKER_03:told me. My mama straight up told me. He's not getting the credit for all I do. I work all these years and bust my behind nose.
SPEAKER_02:Six years old. I bust my mama. One talent you wish you had. I wish I could speak Spanish fluently. I ain't going
SPEAKER_03:to even ask why. That came right off the top. Yeah, that's a good one. I wish I could sing. Yeah, me too. I wish I could sing. If I could sing, I'd be singing everywhere for no reason. I wish I could bust a melody
SPEAKER_02:outside of the shower. I just think before long, you know... Spanish. But I mean. It's going to be a second language. Yeah. You've been down there in Florida a little too long. Hey. Hey, all over, brother. All right. Quick pick six for you. Chris Webb or Rasheed Wallace? Rasheed. Cosby show or Family Matters? What is Family Matters? Okay. Say no more. I didn't watch that. I knew what you meant when you said that. Um. T.I. or Rick Ross? I think I know your answer.
SPEAKER_01:T.I.
SPEAKER_02:Bernie Mac or Eddie Murphy? Bernie. Bacon or sausage? Bacon. All right. This last one, I'm going to go back in your day. Ghetto Boys or UGK? Yeah, those boys. Yeah, I kind of had a feeling. Being that you graduated high school in 91, I figured you was going that way. All right, well, that's my pick six, man. I appreciate you answering those, man. Anything else you want to give some shout-outs, anything before we sign off? Hey, man, just shout-out to all my friends and family that I didn't get to see while I was here. Catch me Christmas because I won't be back till then. I got four days of Christmas. You know, so after that, it's going to be a wrap. And you said you at Arkansas Pine Bluff, right? Yep, Arkansas Pine Bluff. Well, shout out to them, man. I'm going to be tuning in, trying to check y'all out. Make sure you ain't getting teed up or nothing for this year. If I do, I'm going to be speaking in
SPEAKER_03:Spanish. Hey, man, that's it for today, man. Look, thought of the day, man. Again, love on your people, man. Make sure you shout out to your people. Love on your people. That's all. We out for today.