27 Kicked Out Twice to PRINCIPAL and Beating Cancer (Darryl Blasingame)

From getting kicked out of college twice to leading a school as a Principal, Darryl Blasingame is the definition of resilience.

In this powerful episode, Coach Rodo sits down with his friend of 30 years, Detroit Principal Darryl Blasingame. Darryl shares his raw testimony of growing up on the West Side of Detroit, losing his father at 11, and the academic struggles that led to him being dismissed from Western Michigan University. He reveals how coaching sparked a love for education that turned his life around.

The conversation goes deeper as Darryl opens up about his terrifying 5-year battle with rare nasal cancer. He discusses the moment he almost gave up, the strength he found in seeing a child fight the same battle, and how surviving taught him the ultimate freedom: minimizing the impact of other people's opinions.

#CancerSurvivor #Resilience #PrincipalLife #DetroitEducator #WinningRegardless #CoachRodo #OvercomingAdversity #WesternMichiganUniversity #LifeTestimony #DarrylBlasingame

(02:00) - The Mantra vs. The Crutch: Losing his father at 11 and his mother's tough love.
(06:45) - The Turnaround: Getting kicked out of college twice before finding his purpose in education.
(11:00) - The Diagnosis: Darryl opens up about his rare nasal cancer diagnosis five years ago.
(15:30) - The Breaking Point: Losing 27 pounds and almost giving up during radiation.
(17:45) - Perspective: How a 3-year-old cancer patient gave him the strength to finish treatment.
(20:00) - The Mirror Moment: Using empathy to discipline students by remembering his own mistakes.
(25:00) - True Freedom: Why his greatest accomplishment is freeing himself from the fear of judgment.
(35:00) - Perception Impacts Experience: Darryl's philosophy on defining your own wealth and happiness.

Transcript

0:30

Welcome everybody to another edition of Coach Rodo's Winning Regardless podcast. We have a very special guest on, good friend of mine known about 30 years, playing basketball when he was a freshman at Western who then, now he's a big time principal in our school district. I'd like to introduce y'all to Darryl Blasingame Game from Detroit, probably the sharpest dressed principal in the whole damn city. Welcome to the podcast, man. Thank you, bro. It's been good every year. I'm hanging out with you, man. It's a cool experience, full of circle, I just said 30 years, man. I think back to being 17, 18, walking on this campus, and the first time in a gym. And the old school cat trying to call me out. So man, know, it's women, garlis. So why don't you tell us, you know, a little bit of your background, you know, being from Detroit, the upbringing and I look at all these struggles and the opportunity to share like this as a testimony. I always get to talk about the things that people said you can't make it from right. I'm straight from the west side of Detroit, graduated from a high school at 11 years old, man, about as close as we are. lost my dad trying to kill in front of me. It was terrible, man, but I had something special unicorn in a mother. And I can remember two weeks after that walking down the street, because this lady never had her. She looked at me and said, man, this can be a mantra or motivation. But if this going to be a crutch, you got to get out of my house. she said she had had too many brothers. All her brothers had been incarcerated. She had watched too many people in the hood, not making or doing all the things that we know happened in those. through a situation like that. So from that point on, knew that she was serious and it was a deal. It was still tough navigating through all those situations, making it through school, in a massive manipulator norm. I could follow through the cracks and figure out ways to make it through. But she always had a goal for me. And it was to make it out the hood and not be in those corners. So, unfortunately, nothing blessed enough to happen. Not only her, but a village. Right. Right. We know coming up that was key. Yeah. The village was key. I had uncle, friends, and all the other people around me to help push me and encourage me. Grandmother and my sister to help support me and move me on and give me the opportunity to get here to Kalamazoo. Yeah. Which was a country back in the day. California was not that. Yeah, it was. It was different, man. Kalamazoo was the night for Kalamazoo. It taught me to my eyes to diversity. It allowed me to meet people like you that I could look to and look up under, walk forward, walk behind, walk in front of me. You know, we were like a mini little HBCU. Yeah, yeah, we had our own little crew. We had our own little crew. That's the dope part of it, it's sustained. had all our conversations up. I was going through school navigating and you said you loved it. You would have thought we played on the team. It was down there moving with us. And I got an opportunity one day, man, one of my buddies was like, hey man, I got an opportunity at 42nd high school to come to freshman team. You want to come coach, like, know the game, talking. And man, when I did that couple what I had to at the time, that really sparked my interest in education. I was know what man, I really love being around these kids. Because at that point you had no, you didn't know really that you wanted to go with that teacher. I was trying right out to go to bed. So I like, I'm from Detroit and what exposed me was this. I didn't know what I wanted to own. I didn't know how to own it. I didn't know what finances looked like. My mindset was to own y'all. So I had two nieces at the time. I started coaching and my grandmother said, now you love kids. you should go on to teaching. And after some time thinking about that coaching, I went and switched my major man and I moved forward right away. I off man, at that time I was just living my best independent life. Failing classes man, I like to fail people like, the man who was sitting here as a principal wasn't honest with me. I got kicked out of Western Michigan twice. You hear that people? The man sitting next to me who is a principal was not a honor student. It is not impossible to dig yourself out the hole that you may have put yourself in. Now you can win regardless. See? Yeah. You can win regardless. I had X on my report card. My X was a failure to complete an incomplete. And you have the dog in class. All I did was move somebody. Why you trying? But man, having that spark of coaching, I know I love to be around those kids. And once I had that opportunity to be with the field, and actually, as you know, I'm gravitated from being a freshman assistant to eventually becoming a varsity coach and having some strong success at the place. I didn't really have a lot of basketball success. Or a lot of us. A lot of us by no means. And we started to become way more diverse in that community and that culture. I taught my first year at Millwood Elementary for one year and then for the next ten years I taught a second grade at Edison. Right. Environmental Science Academy. The opportunity was time to move a man forward. I came home one day after a season and this was where I think of success. I just had my middle daughter so I had three children. One is 16, one is 8, 1, 6. And you know, I was at Nealwood, I opportunity with my wife. was a first year teacher. We interacted. She couldn't stay at me. As far as I know, I'm probably more stuck than anybody. mean. Look at how soft it was. We got a family now. She's an educated girl. I'm gonna have to support her. I'll be really proud I just remember that second kid, man, came home after the season in March. And I went to grab her and she hugged her mom. thought she didn't know. Yeah. Because of the season. practice and I was like man it's time for a change so I started to look for some things and once again I landed with my big brother right here I said I'm looking for a position I've taken a position of a district and next thing I know this man was knocking at the superintendent's door and had him leave and he had the cave door and 12th Street's been a blessing ever since man this is my ninth year as a principal at 12th Street it's been that long man Man. Nine years, man. So, I still do a little coaching on the side, some training, just as rest that edge or you know, I'm sitting with some girls team. So, it's a force of other program and planning and scouting, planning, development and stuff. Mm But I really love the principle thing right now is is it? Oh yeah. Yeah. Now, a lot of people don't know and which I didn't know, man. Um you be cancer. Absolutely. I mean, talk about when regardless and talk about that little bit. And so, know, I have a phrase, man. I hate losing more than I like winning. Five years ago, I got diagnosed with rare nasal cancer. Nasal and colloquial cancer, don't know where it came from, don't know what happened with it. I'll never forget this moment. I was just sharing this with a family member this morning. I told my staff on Thursday, on that Friday, we called for the pandemic. So we were rushing kids home. Five years ago man when my staff member came saying I think that for such a sexist Which is one of our parents at the time I think he was one of the college in the area So just what happened went out to his wife and asked her about it. So we got this weird nasal cancer I want nobody to know. Yeah, I said I don't pandemic, COVID shutting down stuff, I don't know what that's gonna look like. So man, this man blessed me, got me into a vemper, scans. They said, well, you have a really, really strong radiologist back in the Kalamazoo area, that's the post-dish cancer center. So I went there through him. I could be in diagnosed, man. They told me that this tumor was growing so fast that if I was two weeks late, I probably would be sitting here in this fire cab. So I ended up putting a really good plan together. had 33 of the strongest facial radiation treatments you could ever have. So if I was to develop another face cancer right now, couldn't do radiation. On top of that, had a chemo session. So they were preparing the process man. They also found some lip and nose in the armpit that had to be removed. were scared that there was gonna be status for it. That was removed out. Man, during this process, I was beat to a point that I gave up. I had been through 30 sessions. I had colded twice. The ambulance picked me up from my house. I passed out on the elevator, getting treatments, walked into the back room, passed out again. They had to get EMS to the cancer center. When I tell people I saw the light, I was walking up the steps like, but now I ain't running. I think I had another purpose, he still knew that. There was some impact here on this thing I needed to do. man, it was so intense. My throat was raw. I couldn't swallow. I couldn't eat. Everything tastes like metal to me. They had me on various juice boxes that were like 400 calories. My wife and I were celebrating if I got two down. But man, I think from a Friday to a Wednesday, due to the treatment and lack of eating, I lost 27 pounds. And I just said, hey, I can't swallow if you get feeding too. Man, it was nothing. They couldn't get me in because they have reduced from like 80 surgeries from day down to eight. Two hours later, I get a call, man. We don't know how you got in, but you got in. Fast forward to that. So I come off the treatments. I finished the treatments, man. And fast forward, I got a new radiologist. So I say all that because I'm going into details because my radiologist, my oncologist, the person that removed the cancer from my armpit. a long wood feeding tube that got put through all the cancer of 12th Street. Oh man, you shot out to 12th Street Marriots. So in a sense, it just kind of let me know, man you need to be humble sometimes. You can win, but sometimes you just got to listen and be quiet. Like I got a path for you. That's something I want you to go through. I got the last treatments, no joke. I have three treatments left and I was like, doc, I can't do it. What you mean man? I I ain't never lost in my life. So then I'm done. The man broke down and cried and grabbed my hand and prayed for him. He said, you know man, the guy that I how you can impact this cancer center, these people love you, all I hear is your name in the community. He prayed, man, we cried like two babies and then he said, now go Paris, go beat that shit. And I was able to finish my last week. So this summer, July was five year, man. When I talk about you can win regardless, you can win man. The dopest thing I saw for that that encourages me is my time change. I would go at 7.15 or 8.15 every morning, Monday through Friday. Drop you onto the table. I got a mask under my work desk right now and it was so tight to my face that it bent my eyelashes because you couldn't move during the treatment. So one time when they called me said, Darryl, one of the machines is down, can you come and be left? I said, yeah. Now, right, I walk in there, everybody there was new. It wasn't my same crew that came every morning. I'm like, hey, little old Calamazoo, got this many people cycling through with this deadly disease. And man, a three-year-old walked out the back, called his parent, Hank. And I said, that baby gonna do what I'm doing? They said, yeah. He was just as chipper as can be. In that moment I realized, man, you got a whole lot of wrong gratitude he was trying to give you everyday. Man, and it's funny you say that because when I watch those St. Jude commercials, bruh, and you see the kids, man, and it's like, they don't even know what the fuck they're going through, but they are being happy regardless to the situation, know? And it's tough for me to sit there and be like, I'm like, man, I'm glad my kids, you know, who they're like, they're, but then I look at these kids and they just, you know, happy and chipper and it's crazy, man, unless you're not going to your door. Like you get a lot of scare, but until something walk in your house, and that cancer turned inside of me. At that time I had a one year old, and I'm the youngest. I was more needy than him. I could go up there and I'd sit up, I slept on my wife's shoulder for two months. It was rough, man. But man, I looked at one day and she said, can you come to the door? I went to the door and there was 100 to 200 carper laying past my house. 12 of them stabbed their families. provided love and support for us to make that thing go on. So I knew I had to win, man. I made that big hit a little deeper, man. I pushed through to make sure I finished that thing. I knew I had something else left to do. Right, right. I damn, if that ain't motivation enough, you know, I mean, okay, now that happens. And like you said, there was a different plan for you in your life because he didn't let you go right then. So, you know, what are your, you know, motivation and, you know, you see as your purpose now? Man, my purpose 100 % is to impact people and children. That's number one. I love kids. And it's not just kids at my school. love kids from my That was one of the pictures that I used when I told my man about you. said the thing about it is all of the kids that he coached, they younger brothers and sisters know him, love him, shake your hand. They see him anywhere. They go run up to him, yell his name. Kids from other schools. Yo son. Man, exactly. saw this way personally. That was my guy. uh impact your little children but in order to make an impact with the children I have to continue to communicate with the adults. Right. We were speaking earlier, me and y'all, I got a couple of friends I've lived by and one of has done a lot of adult decisions to get a kid at house once. think a lot of us have to do that. Break that down. that down. So what I mean in regards to that sometimes I will cry, I will pout, things that we want to have in life, what we want to do, typically we don't think about how that flows down to the child. From arguments, not teaching hygiene, from not monitoring behavior, all those things. There's no clear definition on what that looks like, but we do know that there are some things that the world does not allow and accept and tolerate that we kind of allow our children to flow. or we don't provide them with the necessary background and exposure. Our kids just need to have access to things where you hear, communicate, and have some conversation with. And I think sometimes that as parents, we haven't been taught it. So no fault of ours, right? We do what we know, and we do what we know. But many times our decision becomes a key as consequence. That's why we end up with so many single parent homes, Homes that just have, we have it. and you don't have any stability, right? And the greatest way I learned that right on was the real shit I call mirror moment. I look in the mirror and I realize, hey man, before you suspend this kid. When you walk in the meeting, you got an assigned seat and you're a 46 year old adult, right? I'll never forget being in grad school on a Wednesday. Dr. Karen Thomas, shout out to her man. She saw something to me that I didn't feel myself. They come to grad college and she pulled me in a hallway, man. I'm like 27. And she said, come to my class every week and you disrupt my class. She said, that make sense. She said, hey, by the way, you ain't turned in on assignment. Gave me my sheet and said, over six. And when she walked in, then I realized, you're 27, you're standing in a college hallway. Like you're an elementary kid. You ain't no different than a technological number in a field. Yeah. That's it, man. So when I see those kids, I see myself. So I try not to allow my first thought to be my last thought, my first action to be my last action, which gives me the opportunity to offer up some empathy, man. Yeah. And to be real with myself. You ain't no perfect angel, dog. You degree. You got a leadership role in the community. You've done all these things. but you still got boxed too. Man, that's so powerful, man. Just to hear that, you you put yourself in those shoes before you make a decision on a child because even in disciplining my boys, I was the same way. used be like, well, you know what? When I was a kid, I did it way worse than them. So really, what type of punishment can I give them? Because like you and I, how they... They keep this out of school for any and every day without even listening. You know, we got to give a kid a chance because they might be going through something like a career that we don't even know about that, all of that behavior. They don't know how to communicate. And we the adults, we the educated ones, and we don't know how to So I try to work as a teacher, I try to work with the temps. Like all the link flexes, stuff fixes. We use a lot of heat deepness at the end of time. When we put an ED on the end of a burger, it makes the past tense. We should be putting IMG. Yeah. I'm horrible right now. Yeah. Right? I don't always govern myself how I'm supposed to right now. Along with the past. So why we ain't offering up a little grace and mercy or something. The same thing that we desire and we want. We should uh. We're not offering. So, it's great sitting here listening to your story. What are you, other than your family, you know, what, because, you know, that's my greatest accomplishment. What is your greatest accomplishment? Man, you're trying to have me here all day. Man, of course, family's first. Right. Right. the children. Like I said, man, I lost my dad at 11. I lost my mom seven years ago, nine years ago. I got the job on a Friday. She got admitted to the hospital. That Friday, I drove to Detroit, came back, my badge and my ID, picked up family. I drove back Saturday. Sunday, I had to come back and meet with my boss. My school started Monday. I got late. My mother's last words, she looked at my wife and said, take Darryl back to the condo. He got the job all their dreams didn't have. The 12 feet job? Really? I got back, I met, and I got a call from my sister, my aunt, Miss E. I never talked to her again. For 10 months, I've traveled back and forth to make sure she would go. can't see how she was doing. My sister was there in Detroit with her to make sure she had everything. She allowed me to stay here many days, you know, knowing I had this new position called faculty. So every year, man, I complete, that's an honor to my old G, man. That's an honor. That's her. Now I feel like she touched me a little bit. That's her dream. So I think that's a great accomplishment, I think as an African American male, as principal, and a leader, man, is a magnificent. That's why I had to have you on, man. Because you exist. see them kids show up. Then I had a kid pull up to the house and I said, Mr. B and I looked at one of my former school. She was bringing her kids. Wow. She was like, my God, feel so good. The first thing I said was like, hey, don't bring that right. But she understood. But then I also circle back and I said, you don't know who you don't bump into right here. that's gonna elevate your life in some way. But my greatest gift right now today, right on for real, for real, is freeing myself from bondage. Oh man, tell us about it. And what I mean by that, I mean, you talk about regardless, this is the start of winning, like for real, for real life, to be able to minimize, not get rid of, but minimize the impact and the fact that others have on how I operate. That's the best freedom that you that I could ever have. I cannot live life. Right. I can be free with life. can manifest and navigate through life. Understanding that somebody don't look at what you drive. Somebody don't look at what you stay. Somebody don't look at what you wear. There's always going to be somebody that will judge you. But to minimize how other people think of me. I've been the greatest gift I've been able to give to myself straight up. That's a different level of freedom. It is man. Because to me man, none of us can truly define any of it. We can't define what's rich. We can't define what's good. We can't define what's better. There's no factual matrix to say when you hit this mark you're new. Right. There is no factual matrix to hit this mark when you're rich. And now that I'm able to do that, I'm wealthy. Yeah. Eternally wealthy. I'm eternally happy. You know, there was a time in my life where I bought things for other people, acknowledged them. I did things, right? I would say that it still doesn't happen. But it's minimal. It's a minimal now, so that's probably been my greatest win. Yeah. You win, man. You're gonna turn into something. know I'm saying? So, you know, dealt with all these personalities. We've got the school, kids, parents, you know, even your faculty. You know and I don't hear all I ever hear good things about you, which I already knew which is why I was so fucking strongly advocating So you know what I mean? Because I already knew what you brought to the table because again we knew each other from the first time you set foot on campus We knew you was a good dude. We knew that people needed to If you was gonna be in the schools you needed to be in a school where you could impact and teach culture and teach You know, thing that I know that these kids know a different side of us as a culture, because a lot of it you talk like not like, like I say, kids say, yeah, Mr. Dean, say, man, he comes to school suited and booted every day, you know, and I know that, I know you, you know, so tell me how you navigate, you know, children, parents and your faculty. Man, I just try to attack it all with love and honesty. I get to look at them kids, 500 plus children a day, but within those 500 plus children, two of them are black and white. So how do I want somebody to handle mine? What do I want somebody to do? And when when that not come out there five years ago, and I promise it probably did a lot of the time, but I didn't even know it was not. Man, I was like, who gonna take care of my kid or something, what's the app? Which is the question we still pro-wrestling right now. But man, I'm not a knucklehead. They ain't good anyway. Right? You ain't gonna let them fail. Somebody else gonna show up for me, right? Well, your village is big. My village is big, man. I don't leave it big. It's supportive. It's genuine and it's true. Right? There's a lot of people who might not go in that village because it's over their pass. But man, even when I see those people, they walk in here for interviews and they like, oh man, we still look like the Reds. I said it was personal. But it's all in the spirit, right? People knew my competitive edge. People know that I truly give the best that I got to help support them. So when I tried to mesh, man, I think one of our goals was to bring our community in more. That's what we have done. mean, when you think of the school and the surface level things that people in education want, you have. our kids come through the doors for the most part of regular life. Man, and I heard you out there meeting the bus every day, shaking every child that walk by that bus, my high five or shaking, that is so fucking impactful, man. My goal is every year, everyone in their kid's name. I believe everybody in this world is gonna hear their name called the least you want to hear that. When I walk into the store or restaurant, the first thing I look at is a badge. Me too. What's up, Rodney? Because when you're helping me, I want to use your name. I don't want to say, hey, I want to be like, hey, Katie, or, you know, say, hey, Jimmy, you know. Absolutely. And that goes back to the mirror. There are what do you need? Right. You know, we all have, I talk about the love language. I said, whoever came up with that, they good. Because all they did was coin and get five different things that somebody might need. But when you think about where it all equals and the center of the muppet, it just, I need to be certain. something special at 12th Street. That stab needed me and I needed it. And especially you know with your mom and cancer. Yeah, the cancer. One my favorites. Then was I ever talked with them. Mom in a car accident that passed away my year one. One of my best friends passed away from Detroit in year one. Many people wrapped their arms around them and loved me in the mouth and I probably could never replicate their giving back. And help you with my pain, and seeing a kid every day really helps me move up better. We developed a mantra map. We want people running in the door and not out the door when they're there. Right. So I want that for my staff. So what do I do? I try to provide as much love as I can. Check in with them, support them, lunches, t-shirts, anything that I can help do. But they give it back to me, and they give it back to me straight to me. But they also give it back to And that's all I know. Right. And it's funny, one of your teachers lives in my neighborhood and whenever she talks about you, you know, it's like she's telling me what I already know. And you know, in a sense, I feel like a proud big brother. Yes, sir. Because you know, me, Rashad, Jay, all of us, we all, all of us, and you wrap your arm around us back and allow us to do that every week year. At least when I hear the great things you know you're doing over there at the school. A lady that's direct contact with you in my neighborhood has like the greatest, I mean the greatest thing to say about you man is just to know you and you know what saying? Aside from everything else, just to know you and know the type of person you are and then hear kids oh say the same thing, man it just makes me feel so freaking proud man. And to have the relationship that we are, that we're friends, the brothers that we are. You know, it was always a big bro man. was some significant people in the colony that got me here. Rodney Marshall, Carol Swift, Robinson, man. You guys, Arnold Taylor, you guys. was like, get this little young ratchet dude. Don't sit down with him at the moment. I don't know what y'all saw, but like I said, I remember to that day, you had him. The Neasley, the Florida State Seminole, hoop short. And was out there left-hand giving. I was like, man, this is good enough for me. Tony, hey man, I'm gonna fuck you right now. Let's go outside. going out now. And y'all always hear me dying and supporting, even like when you think about it from the coaching room, right? Here I am, the rival with your son. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was, yeah. Would you ride me? probably would have won a championship to him. You left. But you know, like me attacking him on the court. Yeah. But man, you gave me the time of fatherhood for your own child. He goes, hey man, go talk to him. Yeah man, you know, you did. I mean, he was one of the, you were one of the people that he actually tried to listen to. Your word meant something to him, you know, and I appreciate that. So. But that's a gift, it's two ways. And often we talk about. decision becomes a kid's consequence. We don't know how to raise our hands to help. If a child doesn't raise his hand in a classroom on a math assignment, talk to Ray the Simon, the first thing I'm gonna ask is why didn't you raise your hand? We don't know how to raise our hands at the dark side. And not that you needed to raise your hand, you said hey man, here's my problem. Do what you need to do and that's what we need and that's when you talk about the parents and children and and and staff I'm trying to maintain the village. I think the goal of the world was first to get us in these households single father Not a goal is to turn out a village Villages are gone because the villages are growing there is no adult connection the key is constant oh We like to end the day with a quote that you read. Give us a quote that you read. I got two, man. Three. One is perception impacts the experience. I like that. Whatever you believe is going to show up. That's a fact. Perception impacts the experience. That's what I go by. I got one that was called, every mirror in my house it says, divine. We get to define it, right? Whatever that moment is. What is the wealth? What is rich? What is good? What is greater? What is better? What kind of thing I have? What kind of thing I have? You get to define that stuff, man. Just listen. Just listen. Just listen, man. Take the time sometimes to close your mouth and just listen. There's a lot of knowledge out there, whether it's through the word or whether it's through somebody verbally communicating or just listening in silence or something. Now, you have any thing that you want to plug or, you know, events or, you know, kind I don't have anything specific, but if anybody is interested in donating and supporting children at 12th Street, will happily accept any type of funding, donations, and we do have something that we started last year at our school where we have staff shirts. Right. That we wear and we get every year with our slogans, mantras, and logos. Well now, all of our kids get the same church that we do all of that. The entire school is on all 500 plus children and adults. And we typically have some sponsors do that. we're always looking for any extra help and support with that. Coming up in November, the biggest fundraiser that we like to do, which is the holiday giving drive. So we do like fundraisers, we can turn this into a smash a pie in my face or. Take me to a wall we've done and I'm too old and you take me a wall I'm not. With cream, I turn my ice cream tux and what we do all that lunch, we give it to her. I heard about that. She was telling me that one them programs. We are community blessed with donations. We were able to give out to 25 families. oh So if anybody's interested in donating money, whether it's the 12th Street or not, once again, I'm doing what's best for children. I believe that that's the greatest, the worst system we have on individual school districts that we're competing with. Because we competing and comparing schools, we're comparing as kids. Instead of collaborating and helping. We have one big old district working alongside one another. I just really love children, man. that behind me to go to another school or another district where want to offer some donations and hang out with me at 12th Street. I'd love to do that. Yeah, that'd be something I'm going look into myself. Because I always, you know, I love to, you know, I donate, we as a company donate a lot down at Lincoln. Because you know, they got the YMCA and they got the homeless kids. You know, I'm an attirer here too. I mean, that's from the services. know how. Shout out to Mr. Roberts now. He's one of my own either. in college and we taught together as well. She's great. She allows us to come to that school and you know, whatever it is we need to do to help the kids, know, because they're the kids that are, you know, you know that. Absolutely. Absolutely. So let's don't manage to continue to do that and all the things that you got going as well. I think it's a blessing man to offer you this time to hang out with y'all. Here at Al Debra, you know, and be on the Winning Regardless podcast. Shout out to anybody that's seen this man. This is a beautiful opportunity, but I want people to truly pay attention to those terms, Winning Regardless. There's a multitude of ways that you can define it. can go to Webster, you can go... Google you got all the AI stuff for those two words put together mean a lot so that's dope man that you started there. Thank you man and I appreciate your time and again you already plugged us. Thanks for being a guest on Winning Regardless man. We'd love to have you on again. you do something we got something else we want to plug. Absolutely. I'm about to let us know when you can find us on YouTube wherever you listen to us. I'll make sure that you get it man. It's been a treat to have you here. Appreciate the lift bro. Love you bro. Love you man.