NexGen Patriots
The NexGen Patriots exists to inspire, inform, and empower every generation of Americans by connecting faith, values, and community with the issues that shape everyday life. Through meaningful conversations and real stories, the podcast provides a platform where local voices meet national discussions—bridging the gap between small-town perspectives and broader cultural and civic topics. We highlight the strength and resilience of communities while promoting informed citizenship rooted in integrity, responsibility, and hope for the future.
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NexGen Patriots
"Creating Success That Lasts" | NGP #14
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Success isn't built overnight—it's created through hard work, smart decisions, and a commitment to something bigger than yourself. In this episode, Sam Baker shares the lessons he's learned from entrepreneurship, real estate, leadership, and giving back to the community. From building businesses and investing in assets to creating opportunities for others, this conversation explores what it really means to create lasting success.
"Empowering Every Gen"
This segment of the Next Gym Patriots Podcast is sponsored in support of the West Virginia Tobacco Quit Line. If you or someone you love is ready to quit tobacco, you're just one phone call away. Trained coaches are available to provide guidance, resources, and support every step of the way. Call 1-800-QitNOW for free coaching, helpful resources, and encouragement to help you break free from tobacco. That's 1-800-QitNOW to take the first step towards a healthier future. Mr. Baker, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. It is a pleasure to have you, and uh, we welcome you to the next Gym Patriots podcast. And uh it's an honor to have you. So uh I hope to really get in a deep dive in some of these issues with you as you're a very intriguing, uh intriguing man, have a lot of life experiences. So um I guess kind of to start this out a little bit, what's kind of some of your hobbies and interests so the audience kind of gets to know you a little bit better?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh, you know, I'm 69 years old, I'm officially retired, and uh my at this point my real title is uh professional pawpaw. So uh uh there's nothing I enjoy more than spending time with my four grandchildren. Uh do a little golfing, do a little fishing, do a little boating. Uh got a couple of places down in the Carolinas that I spend some time at, and I I love the water. Uh got a couple nasty pontoon boats that we float around on, and uh so you know every morning is different. We we look forward for the opportunity and and move forward. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, it sounds like it's it's fun and adventurous. I know you said earlier you have like a beach house. Do you typically go down there and spend some time or you go there for the winter?
SPEAKER_00Uh no. Uh you that's ha that's partially correct, Brock. I do, in fact, have a uh a waterfront home at Ocean Isle Beach. It's three years old, and uh I enjoy it immensely, about twice a year. Yeah. But um at this point, my wife's mother is an assisted living in Princeton, and she she's 97 years old and requires uh uh the majority of our our time, particularly my wife's time and and her sister. Uh she um it's uh we we are obligated to be here and we intend to be here. We're we're committed to be here. Uh uh so uh we do not get to go to the beach uh very often at all. But I sure have a lot of friends and family, I'll say that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well that's always good. That's a good support system to have around you for sure. All righty, so everybody has an introduction, so let's kind of go through this a little bit uh with you, and then uh you can kind of give us a breakdown on each one after I go through this. So you graduated from Concorn University in 1978, uh, and then started working for Norfolk and Western Railroad Company from 1978 to 1986, uh, and then you started Sam Baker Insurance Agency at 1986, um, and you've been an owner of Baker Rentals for 35 years at least, uh, and you currently own and manage still around four fifty rentals, uh, and your official title is retired. Of course. Sort of. But uh you're enjoying it. Uh, and then also you're on the board of governors for Concord University. Um, you're also the founder of the Bearable, and then lastly, you sit on the board of Prosper McDowell. So let's kind of like go through this a little bit. So start us out at Concord. What did you graduate with? What was your degree in?
SPEAKER_00Uh I graduated from 1978 from Concord. It was a wonderful experience in my life. I I've got a business degree. Uh it uh I would not be in the position I'm in today without the the uh wonderful education I received at Concord. Um joined the fraternity there, and those guys are still some of my closest friends. Uh we we do get together at the beach uh uh nearly every year. Uh it's it was just a great experience at Concord. I highly recommend if you're considering uh uh post-high school graduation, Concord should be on your short list. It's it's it's it's quality education at a uh a very, very fair price.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So then walk us through through Norfolk uh and Western. What made you decide to get there? Did you just apply or what was that like?
SPEAKER_00Um I got the opportunity to know General George Knuckles, and he actually had a small farm out on the uh Bluefield Taswell Road, and uh I helped him uh one summer uh throw hay bells onto a uh a moving target. And we got to know one another, and he told me when I graduated from Concord to come see him, he had a job for me, and uh he was a man of his word. He did. He got he offered me that that opportunity with Norfolk Western and uh great great company to work for. Um I stayed with him seven years, and uh no regrets.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. What did you do while you were there?
SPEAKER_00Uh uh it was an office job. I had I was a clerk.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And uh, you know, we would do anything from uh hand out train orders, telling the guy, telling the engineers uh where to to the the problems in the track were to sweeping the floors, you know, what whatever it took. And uh but it it was a good career, and I'm I'm grateful to have have served seven years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you got good valuable skills to what led you to where you are now.
SPEAKER_00Well, it it was uh at that point it was a tough way of life, Rock. Uh that's before uh pagers, before cell phones, um uh and when you hire on as a new hire, you're at the bottom of the totem pole, and you know that the the trains run 24 hours a day. They could give you an hour and a half notice, and you had to be there. Now, whether it was three o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the afternoon, hour and a half notice whether you've had any sleep, uh, of no consequence. You know, you had to be there. Yeah. And uh and you never really knew when they were gonna call, and so you've got to be here. Yeah, I mean it's a it was a tough way of life. But uh you're well compensated and treated very fairly, and uh I'm grateful that uh that for those seven years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So then you went to go on to start uh Sam Baker Insurance Agency. What so what led you to that?
SPEAKER_00Uh I I I desperately wanted to be self-employed. Uh I had I made good money at the railroad, uh, I had a good secure future. I could have I could have worked there 30, 40 years and retired, but uh that just wasn't in my DNA. I mean I I knew from a child, somehow, somehow I was gonna be self-employed. And uh uh the um fellow that I had insurance with at the time, his name was Charles Waybright. And he had a little office in in Bluewell, and he he retired, and it's my understanding there were two hundred uh applications for that job, and I came in second place. Wow. Um and the the lady that came in first place uh by right she should have been hired. Uh and I keep in mind it was a different time, a different day. But uh life happens and and she s sort of got disqualified, and uh I was offered the job and uh took it. And on my first day, I walked in. Number one, someone had broken in over the weekend and stole a bunch of things. Number two, I wrote my own car insurance policy that day, my own policy. And when I finished, I had a grand total insured of one, and that was my own. And quite frankly, I'm not sure I even told the truth on that application because I'd had I had a I'd had an accident, uh sort of conveniently forgot. And uh that was the start of my career, and uh uh I was influenced by some some great people. Uh a gentleman by the name of Clell Payton from Chapmanville has been a wonderful influence on my life, and he gave me that opportunity and stuck by me when he probably shouldn't have, if if uh telling the entire story.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh uh I stuck it out for 32 years and and built a pretty nice agency. Um I tell everyone I made uh nationwide millions of dollars and made me a couple of dollars, you know. So they uh uh at one point I had uh eight nationwide offices all around southern West Virginia. I had one in Mooresville, North Carolina, and we had revenues approaching ten million dollars. Um and for for southern West Virginia that's pretty substantial. Yeah. I remember going to these award ceremonies, and you know, they they'd have, you know, from New York City, here's John Smith, and from uh Philadelphia, here's and then they say from Bluewell, West Virginia, here's Sam Baker. And I was always pretty proud of that. I I did it in a in a tough market, in a very small market, and grew it to uh a real nice agency.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So then what caused you then to go into Baker Rentals then? What what kind of happened there?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh again, I've got that DNA. I uh uh uh you know I I've always said the fastest way to wealth is real estate. Uh and uh I knew that's something I wanted to do. And I had this little idea in my mind, you know, if I uh if I would just put one piece of property per year in my name, uh, somehow, some way, when I got ready to retire, I'd have a pretty substantial amount of it. And that's exactly what we did. We we I won't say every single year, but almost every single year, I would find a way somehow, some way, to get one additional piece of property in my name. Uh uh, you know, we were doggedly determined to do it. And uh thank God for my wife, it kept me from doing things I probably shouldn't do. Come uh come December, if I did not have a piece of property in my name and uh that year, uh we got pretty creative. But we we almost never missed a year.
SPEAKER_01And uh that's amazing.
SPEAKER_00We we built we built a a pretty good real estate portfolio and my uh somewhat uh I'd say half of it is in West Virginia and half of it is in North Carolina.
SPEAKER_01What kind of what kind of uh uh types of real estate were you talking?
SPEAKER_00Well everything. I have uh single family homes, I have multifamily developments, I have commercial.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00Uh I have raw I have some some fabulous raw land in in Mooresville that uh uh Morrisville's a pretty dynamic town there in Lake Norman and they uh people pursue me pretty often for that land. I'm sure. Uh but I'll pass that land along to my family at some point.
SPEAKER_01But yeah.
SPEAKER_00I have a uh a bit of all of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So what you own currently, um, have you sold some since you've retired, or you've this is all that you've had so far, or every blue moon I will I'll sell a piece, but I really I'm not in the sales business, I'm in the acquisition business.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you know, and and even today, uh if um we're looking at property right now, you know, we're we're still doing it. We're still as I uh as I tell my wife, we're still out here bending nails.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, I've got a project here in in McDowell County, and I've got two cabins currently under construction in uh Mercer County. And I've got a little uh self-storage facility out on the airport road we're doing some things at. So I still have a fair amount of activity going on, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. So d do you mind how uh do you mind if I ask how old you are? I'm 69. So at 69, how do you still have that worth ethic in you?
SPEAKER_00Uh I I I love the process. You know, back when I was in the insurance business, I would go home at the end of the day, even if I had a very successful day, I couldn't look at it. I couldn't feel it, I couldn't touch it. And and when you're in the the construction business or the real estate business, you know, at the end of the day, if you've built a wall, you can touch it, you can feel it. You feel like you've accomplished something. And and frankly, I just enjoy it. I mean, I I don't do it because I have to anymore. I don't have to do this. I could quit anytime I want to.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh but I I I enjoy it immensely. Yeah. Uh and I enjoy talking to young people. Uh, and I've encouraged a few that too that have taken the steps to uh, you know, if you're seriously interested, I don't care how old you are, I don't care how much money you've got, I don't care if you don't have any money. Uh if you want to talk about uh a path to wealth, uh I may not be your best choice, but I I'll certainly I'll certainly help you. And and I enjoy doing that. I do it at Concord, I do it at Mount View, and I'll do it in the uh in the community.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Okay, so moving on here, so um so you're not on the board of the governors of Concord University, but you're also the founder founder of the Bearables. So explain what that is a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, back before your parents were born, uh, we used to have quite the football rivalry uh between Welch and Gary.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And um it was it was tough. Uh and we the winner of that game uh gained access to the barrel. We called it a beer barrel, but really it was a nail keg. And uh they would paint it in either maroon and white or red and uh black, kind of white, uh depending on who won the game. Well, when when Mountview was created, the the barrel disappeared, no one knew where it was. Uh we down here at Welch uh and always thought that the people in Gary had it given away somewhere. And I'm sure they thought the same of us. But a friend of mine named Mike Callaway, who's uh on the Board of Education here in McDowell County, was plundering through a safe in the old location, the Board of Education location. Uh I think that's Maple Avenue and found the barrel and uh just hidden behind stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So the thought came to me, you know, where all the guys that played uh football, and and I certainly did, uh, were all too old to uh strap them up, you know, but but we're not too old. Maybe maybe we could play on the golf course and create some sort of uh relive that that that uh competition and maybe ra even raise some money. Uh so we did that 11 years ago. Uh I thought if we could get well, we do it at the Elks course in Princeton because the Geary Country Club doesn't have any carts or very few carts. I thought if we could get 30 golfers or so that that would be successful. We had 80 the first year.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00And we've had as many as 138 golfers. Now that's a nine-hole golf course, so you try that sometime. We actually do it, we we we have so many now, we do it over two days, and you have the local guys that play on Thursday, and then uh we we almost always have uh folks come in from eight states, sometimes more, but we eight states is probably the average. And we'll average well over a hundred uh players. And and I'm telling you, this is uh, and I'm I'm super proud to say this. Our uh fundraising efforts, uh and if you're on that board, by the way, you have to uh we are so tight with the money, you have to buy your own board of uh executive board shirt. You know, we don't even give those away. Every penny, every penny has come back to McGow County. We wow uh and we have currently uh raised and distributed back to uh various uh McGow County charities uh in excess of $150,000.
SPEAKER_01Wow, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's and it and it it's growing, it's still growing today. Now sometimes weather gets in the way, but it's an outdoor event, you have to expect it. But yeah. We uh uh uh it's been a fantastic uh tourism event, uh social event. Yeah. And uh all the old guys get together up there, and it it's amazing now now that we're all in our 60s and 70s and 80s. Uh it's amazing how much better football players we were than some of the guys tell stories. You know, I remember when I was named All County. Well I remember when you weren't even a star. But you know, there's uh we we have outlived our peers, so I guess we can we can say what we want to say. We'll make it up as we go.
SPEAKER_01That's funny.
SPEAKER_00But it's a it's a great event, and uh we have it at the uh uh 1st of August every year. Okay, and we'll have it again this year. So if you're you're interested in uh coming out and supporting, we we have golfers, we have non-golfers, we have people ride around into golf course and do nothing, you know. That's uh uh that's a great event.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is, it really is. Yeah. So to kind of move on here a little bit, so I kind of want to get into this first segment here, and I I want to touch on entrepreneurship and success. Um, so I guess with my first question, you went from a small town graduate uh and and and from Concord University when you graduated from there to building a business. What was the moment you realized you really actually could build something big?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh I I don't know that I can put my finger on it at an exact moment. Um I know that uh during my time at Concord, uh I became friends and fraternity brothers with uh uh a couple of guys that came from very successful families, and I I thought uh I can do that. I can do that. And uh I I I know what it's like to be poor, and I didn't know exactly how I was gonna reach wealth. I didn't know, but I knew I wasn't gonna be poor. And uh uh and it you know, over the years it's it's worked out. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. What uh what risk did you take early on that most people today might be too afraid to take?
SPEAKER_00Oh I had a fantastic job with Norfolk Southern. I was get paid well, and the benefits were fantastic, the working conditions were fairly good. And I came home one day and told my wife, I'm not gonna do this. This is not what I'm gonna do. It's not this is not why God put me on earth. I am going to be self employed somehow, some way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh I began to pursue those opportunities and uh and look seriously hard. And uh when the when the opportunity came to to buy the nationwide agency, the first small nationwide agency, the made the I call it the nationwide opportunity, not the nationwide agency. Uh I took it, walked away from a fantastic situation, and uh, you know, at that point, you gotta make it work. I mean, you got a family to feed, you gotta make it work. There's failure is not an option. And then in the real estate business, you know, the first few years and until you start getting some of these properties paid for, uh, you know, oddly enough, uh in my opinion, it was easier to take risk at that point because I really didn't have much to lose, you know. If the bank was dumb enough to loan me the money, I'm gonna take it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I'm gonna buy a house or, you know, or an apartment building or something. Yeah, and if uh for some reason I didn't make it, uh yeah, I didn't I could start over, you know. But uh, as you move along and you start acquiring a few of these and uh and gaining a bit of wealth, you know, and then all of a sudden it gets harder to to take those choices, you know.
SPEAKER_01How did your wife uh what was her first take and how did she support you early on there?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh keep in mind we went to school together since the second grade. I was co-captain of the football team, she was a cheerleader. We started dating after the Princeton football game, our senior years, and we've been together now for 55 years. Wow. Wow. Uh we uh uh she uh she went she she graduated second in the class and I graduated second for the bottom. So she she's a whole lot smarter than I am, and it it's been such a good good partnership. She keeps me from she keeps me grounded, keeps me doing stuff that uh uh uh you know that I would probably probably years ago, I guarantee I would have done something that would have caused this financial ruin, which is not for her.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But she went to school, she became a a medical technologist, and she worked for the first five or six years of our our marriage until we started having children.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And uh she has been a domestic goddess since then, and uh uh has been my partner in every stretch of the imagination.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's amazing. So you had the vision, but really she helped support the backbone of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean and really she she's great at interior design, so lots of times we'll buy these products. I I have eight or nine Airbnbs, and uh I'll buy 'em, I'll rehab them, and then uh she'll come in and do the interior design uh work and tell me uh what I should and should not be doing. And uh then I at that point I have a younger brother, he's a retired deputy sheriff in Roanoke, and uh uh he uh he he manages the Airbnb's okay. It's you know it's been a good, it's been a wonderful 55-year relationship.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So so kind of to move on here, so back then you didn't have obviously social media, digital marketing. Um, what was your strategy for building trust and growing locally with your businesses?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh number one, you you back then the the yellow pages was uh the dominant media. Um I had a friend named Mark McNichol from Southwood here in Welsh, and he came in and he he sold me on the idea of buying full page yellow page ads. And in fact, back then they called them double trucks that would be front and back, two pages. And I bought several. And well uh uh and they were very expensive, very expensive, but their their distribution was you know you every uh every heartbeat got one. And so I mean we we spent a ton of money on yellow page advertising, and I had other things. Uh uh any client that came in and bought something from me, uh I had this little program called Thanks a Million, and I would had a little note, Thanks a Million for buying or Thanks a Million for the referral, and I'd put a West Virginia lottery ticket in there. That's back when the lottery first started.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00And uh and that was that it was one of those things where it was so successful I quit doing it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but that's a really good strategy though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Well the yellow page, yeah, you know, at the time was just the it was the dominant medium. Yeah, it it was. Yeah. But it was really no other alternative. And the the Welch Daily News was also uh we we did some things in the Blueville Daily Telegraph, but I had maybe a little bit of radio, but you know, near nearly everything was uh from uh I was very active in the community, very active.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That uh if there was an event, I wanted to be part of it, and and for the most part I was.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Um so when you've been in real estate for at least 35 years now, um with nearly around 40 to 50 rentals, why do you believe in owning assets instead of just earning income? For those that may not understand that.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah. Uh uh number one, it's safe. You know, uh I have bought properties for 35 or 40 years, and uh I don't know what the the the financial value of them are, but it's a lot. And uh of the probably sixty that I have bought over the years, I have lost money on one, one, and even that was just a very small, uh insignificant amount in Beckley. Uh so uh the the income stream is great, the appreciation is great, the tax advantages are great. Uh so I uh yeah, I just think it's a wonderful uh uh path to to success. And it's it's something that anybody can do. I mean, trust me, what when I started, and maybe we'll probably talk about this later, I I assure you, I did not no no one gave me anything. Yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_01What's uh what's one lesson in real estate that has taught you that business alone you couldn't?
SPEAKER_00Well uh you you want your properties to cash flow. That's uh uh you know, when you're uh I I've got this model called 1100. And it it uh it it doesn't hold true in every circumstance, but if if I buy a property, I look at it, and I want the the the potential rent to be one one hundredth of its value. Now, they don't teach you that at Cal Accord. I made that up entirely on my own, and it's just something I learned by uh by doing it the hard way. Uh but i i if you can buy a property that'll cash flow and and a property typically if if you can rent it for one one-hundredth of its value, it it means it's paid for in eight and a half or nine years. But Brock, the the first I was so determined that I want to get in real estate business. The first property I ever bought was a single-wide mobile home in the Beacon Trailer Court in Bluefield, West Virginia. Now, number one, I don't recommend mobile homes. They're a declining asset for the most part. But I didn't know. Now I didn't have anyone to tell me. I mean, I had I literally had to figure it out on my own. So I bought this Buffalo Hall, payment on it was $200. I had it rented for $210, and in my mind, I was Donald Trump. You know, I am on my way to billionaire status here just any any day. Yeah, I I didn't I had no concept of interest, which at that point during the Carter administration were 18-19%. I had no concept of insurance, I had no concept of maintenance, I had no concept of anything other than I was making $10 a month.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh I learned pretty quickly that uh that's not exactly the best path to wealth. So uh, you know, frankly, we got rid of that and we moved on to single family homes and uh so that's uh yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So if a young person is listening right now with big dreams but limited resources, what would you tell them?
SPEAKER_00You can do it. I guarantee you could do it. Uh you you could start there. There's there's people that will well uh uh number one, you you have to seriously, seriously, seriously want to do it. You know, if if if you're driving a brand new vehicle or you're driving a vehicle that's three times your annual income, you're not gonna do it. Okay, you're gonna live for that vehicle or live for that credit card or live for that credit rating. If if that's the path you're taking, that's fine. You know, I uh uh frankly, vehicles uh have never done anything for me, ever. Uh every time I look at one, I keep thinking, I can buy another house for that, you know. So uh, but if if if you're that person that lives for their vehicle, fine. God bless you, you know, have a good life, but you're not gonna be wealthy. They uh if if you want to get in real estate business, uh find uh find a way to do it. I mean, I uh uh I remember a couple of them that uh I felt it'd somebody in December that was willing to all or finance them. That uh, you know, the fact that I didn't have any money to put down, or you know, I'd give you a car or uh something I had of value. I'd give you anything. I I I want that house in my name by the end of the year. And if I had to sign my car over to you, that's what I'm gonna do. And uh buy someone to all or finance it. Another great way, find a duplex. You know, yeah, if if you want to if you can find a duplex, you live on one side and rent the other, someone's gonna pay enough to pay the entire payment. You know, so you're gonna live uh free and someone else is gonna pay for your property.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So there's multiple ways, but uh, you know, I don't I don't care what your life uh situation is. If you can uh uh if you're if you have your health and you have the uh the absolute uh heart to do it, and sometimes you gotta do without, you know, that uh you gotta do without. It's a long-term player. You you're not gonna get immediately rich, you're not. But you know, over the over the course of of your life, uh, if if if you're seriously in real estate, you're probably at some point you're very likely gonna be successful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So let's kind of let's kind of take a break here for a minute here. So tell us a little bit about the story of Mr. Taylor.
SPEAKER_00Wonderful. Yeah, this is a story that's near and dear to my heart. It says so much about the people here in McDowell County. And and uh my mother was a checkout girl at desk in the supermarket where Save Lot is now. She made a dollar and sixty-five cents an hour and uh uh had three teenage boys at home, which I was the middle one. And uh but uh so we we we know what uh that lifestyle is. The owner and editor of the Welch Daily News, his name was Roland L. Taylor, and everyone called him Rolo. He was a crackerjack. I mean, I you love him, love him, love him. Well, I got word my senior year in high school that Rolo Taylor wanted to talk to me. And honestly, I thought this is this couldn't be good. He's the editor of the paper, and I'm a snotty-nosed kid from uh Hemp Hill Bottom in a $55 a month apartment of which we sometimes couldn't pay for. This couldn't be good. So I actually avoided him for well over a month. Finally, one day I got my nerve up and I walked into his office and uh he sat down and had this beautiful wooden office and uh and uh he he knew my athletic background and you know I I played base little league baseball for him, and he called me Sammy Joe. He said, Sammy Joe, what are you gonna do with your life? And I well I'm at 17 years old, and you know, I'm gonna drive a fancy car and you know, I I don't know. Uh I probably I'll I'll imagine I'll get a job in the mines like all my buddies. He said, if I paid your way to Bluefield State for the first year, would you go? And I was looking around for the candy camera, right? This couldn't be true.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I said, Yes, sir, I'll do that. Well, he he picked up the phone, he called Bluefield State, and he said, How much would it cost to send a young man up here for one year? And they said $500, and in 1978, that's what it was, $500. That was two-ish and books and everything. That wasn't housing. Right. About a week later, I stopped by and he wrote me a check for $500. I had never seen that much money in my life, ever. Ever. I mean, could couldn't believe it. Had my name on it, $500. So I took that money, I went to Bluefield State for the first year. I did I did what I told him I would do. And uh I ended up transferring to Concords. I I just thought the the opportunity, in my opinion, at that point in my life was better. Yeah, and and it's worked out. So I I made myself a promise that I mean that the the impact that that man had on my life, you know, without that $500, I guarantee I would not I didn't have gas money to drive to Bluefield, let alone go to college. Yeah. My mother graduated from high school. She was the only one in my family that even graduated from high school. My dad quit school in the eighth grade. You know, we'd never had anyone attempt college, and I was the first one. See, uh I'd made up my mind that if I accreed some wealth and did did well in life, I was gonna do some something, some way to pay him back. Well, at at that point, uh Mr. Taylor had uh retired and he was living just outside of of Raleigh, North Carolina. Well, I didn't know where he was, and again, this is before the internet, and it's not like you do it today. I mean, you've got to find him. So I searched and searched. Finally found him, got his phone number, and the fun part of that is now he began to avoid me because he knew I was in the insurance business and he thought I was trying to sell him something. So I I finally reached him and he he uh I told him what I had in mind. And uh so I established a Roland L. Taylor scholarship, and we gave away about $2,500, $500 scholarships to kids based on need. And uh Rolo would come in when at graduation time when we gave his away. And we'd we'd we'd usually go out to dinner and have a little cry together, and uh uh but uh he changed my life. You know, he made it he changed my life. No question in my mind. Yeah, and it's completely unexpected, and and but uh uh to to this day I'll I'll I'll be forever grateful. Yeah, Rollo Taylor.
SPEAKER_01Do you think it was because he's seen so much potential in you and that's why he just I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I I I I'm not sure. I was a paper boy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh you know, back then it really as a paper boy, you were sort of an independent contractor. You'd buy the papers like 12 cents and you could sell them for 16 or 17 cents on a paper route. Wow. I I I I don't know why he did it. Yeah. And my my intuition is that he's probably done that for more than than just me. Yeah. There's there's no way he chose me out of the 180 kids that graduated from Wells High School to I certainly was under uh I was a pretty good athlete, but I was a modest student at best. Yeah. I just didn't have an interest in it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That's amazing. That's an amazing story. That's something to carry with you the rest of your life. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's I've told that story a few times. It uh uh it uh you know, when Hillary Clinton said it takes a village, well I don't know if it takes a village, but Rollo Chegler was my village. Yeah, and and uh I'll I'll be forever grateful. Yeah. And and my children will will be, and my grandchildren will be, because now we you know we we have the ability to to pass some things along that uh I assure you we would not, you know, without without his influence.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's amazing. So I kind of want to go into giving back to your community, and we've had this discussion with other people before on the podcast, actually, but I kind of wanted to get your take a little bit since you've got a different perspective with your uh business background. So at what point did you realize success wasn't just about building wealth, but about making an impact in your community?
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, again, that that to me that goes back to Roho. You know, he he had such an impact on me, and I thought uh uh you know, these these kids, particularly here in McDowell County, I'm you know, I am fiercely proud of my McDowell County roots, fiercely, and and I don't use that word softly, I mean it. Uh if you want to get on my wrong side, start talking negatively about the things happening in McDowell County, and I know we're gonna talk about McDowell, prosper, prosper McDowell shortly, but uh we uh i it it's such a wonderful feeling to have the ability to have influence over some of the children uh or young adults that were uh probably in the same uh uh family situation with the you know, parents divorced and single mother and uh pro probably similar situations and it's it's it's it's it's uh it's a true blessing to be able to uh uh reach out and help some of those people and and I'm I'm extremely grateful to do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So back then it it may have been uh it may have been a time where presence and and building locally, but today it could be it's more of social media influence or ideas. So how do you see that as a difference mainly just not in that, but how do you see a difference just in how it was giving back then than it is today?
SPEAKER_00Well, you your the social media, uh Facebook, uh X, uh Instagram, I mean it they've made it so much easier. Uh if you if if you have a program or uh you know something you're you you want to promote, you make a couple of posts and and and ask people to share it. I have almost 5,000 Facebook friends. Uh they uh uh uh the process is significantly easier than it was back, you know, uh before uh any of the social media things came along. Uh back then, you know, it was it it was tougher for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What's your advice to someone who wants to make an impact now, not twenty years from now?
SPEAKER_00Well, um where's your heart? You know, if if if if your heart is wealth building, build wealth. your heart is uh uh uh sharing share uh uh uh uh I expect folks of modest means typically uh share a greater percentage of their wealth than folks of substantial means. So uh I uh you know whatever's in your heart uh th there's there's so many opportunities here in McDowell County right now that uh if if you if you have the heart uh and the ability uh there there's a medium to do it for sure. Yeah what's one principle from your generation that you think this generation needs to bring back um well I'm gonna get in trouble for saying that uh my mother would have been much better off on welfare and she absolutely refused. You know uh the government didn't create my three sons and the government's not gonna support my three sons. Today there's uh a a great number of uh uh places that uh you if if you choose to receive benefit of some sort uh that you can reach out and receive them. And and I'm not saying it's a bad thing but I'm saying that uh in in in my youth uh we only had one way and that was food stamps and uh and and some sort of welfare program that my mother refused and today um I I think uh folks uh would live a better quality life if they would uh uh choose to uh go in a different direction yeah yeah yeah that's a that's a good take that's not really often perceived with something like that but yeah that's a good take so as a closing question uh this is this is a a good deep question from you here but how would you define success in your own words? Well there's levels of success Brock I mean are you are you talking about I'm successful because I have a wealth of good close personal friends that I can count on if I if I need something uh I'm successful in my marriage and my family and we because both of my children have gone on to be uh quality adults and they're both in the real estate business by the way in North Carolina uh and you know there there's a financial piece to it and and then you know the people say uh money doesn't create happiness. Well I'm not so sure that's true. I you know I'm pretty happy yeah yeah that uh I've I've had money and I've I've I've not had money and I can tell you I'm happier when I have money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it there's there's two sides to it. Uh there are multi multiple layers of of of happiness and success and uh but uh money money is not the the entire equation you know yeah live a good quality balanced life and love your community love mcdell County love West Virginia and and I I love all that I love Welch yeah you know it's it was it was so incredibly good to me and my family uh uh growing up and and in my business uh that I I will be forever grateful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah so to wrap this up I want to talk a little bit about your efforts here in McDowell County for those that are local and uh and from West Virginia. So talk a little bit about Prosper McDowell and talk about what what kind of how you're involved and what you do there.
SPEAKER_00Well it's a relatively new organization. Uh delegate David Marie is the uh president uh we we've come to the conclusion that there's so many organizations uh that are working for the good and the the uh uh common benefit of mcdow county lots of times uh they don't even know the other exist so we want we want to be the the the tube uh the liaison uh to uh coordinate between those groups uh as of right now uh I know we we have a program that we are considering I think will happen we're gonna put in a a uh gym uh a workout gymnasium uh here in Welch up on Short Street uh we are working very hard to create a public newspaper uh a a weekly newspaper is we can't we can't depend on the Welch uh the uh WVVA or the Bluefield Daily Telegraph yeah uh yeah there there's not a white knight that's gonna drive you know ride in on his big white horse and save you I mean it's not gonna happen you know you we have to save ourselves and uh Prosper McDowell is going to coordinate the efforts between those various groups yeah and uh uh there's six or eight of us that are are a part of that community and you know I was introduced to it primarily through my efforts at the Big Four Motel that I bought six or eight months ago and I have currently have under rehab and but prospero McDowell is is is gonna be a good organization with good leadership and and I'm I'm telling you good things are going to happen this ATV industry uh uh people in Marc McDowell County have done so much with so little for so long that when the economy does turn and and and it will turn maybe not in my lifetime probably in yours this A T V industry is these folks are going to do fabulous because they've learned how to do a lot with a little so yeah uh and and I think Prosper McDowell will help yeah uh coordinate those efforts and uh you know one of the one thing that I would love to happen in my lifetime I would love for one of my grandchildren to call me of course my oldest one's only eight years old and say uh Papa I've made the life decision that I want to raise my family in McDowell County that would make me incredibly happy and uh and and and I'm not so sure that won't happen. I mean it might yeah but uh through the efforts of the the good people here in McDowell County the good leadership we have uh Prosper McDowell uh good things are gonna happen in McDowell County and if you're an investor out there looking for an opportunity uh McDowell County would be a good choice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah yeah so as we close it up here where can people find out how to register for the Barrow Bull? How does that work?
SPEAKER_00Yeah well we primarily on Facebook okay Becky Riggins is the current president has been the last few years.
SPEAKER_01Okay um we if you want to play you you don't really even have to register if you just show up I mean we're uh we we give away free hot dogs and and soft drinks and tell stories and but you know if if you're interested in becoming a sponsor uh which we have great sponsors uh if you're interested in playing you know with uh well we we are now the largest charity golf tournament from Charleston West Virginia South Wow and um you know we started out just as an idea yeah yeah so but you know you can check with me you can check with Becky Reggins check in any member of the the the the our executive board we have ten members on the executive board yeah if you if you want to play we'll we'll trust me golfing is secondary it's most of our golfers don't keep score they keep track of the wound is it uh yeah yeah you know so that's that's how it is yeah well you guys heard it first uh so check out the bearable if you're interested on Facebook but uh seriously it's been a pleasure and honor to have you on the podcast and thank you for taking the time um and so we appreciate it so until next time we'll see you guys in the next