Injuries and Triumphs: The Story of Andrew Bithell

School’s out, but Tom, Biz, and Coach Curley refuse to coast into summer. Instead, they welcome 6-foot-7 bruiser-turned-firefighter Andrew “Bith” Bithell (’21) for a conversation that crackles hotter than a three-alarm blaze. Bith rewinds the tape on his roller-coaster college career—three shoulder surgeries, two concussions, and a nine-game senior season shortened by COVID—then fast-forwards to life in full turnout gear with the Altoona Fire Department, where he moonlights as a record-setting strongman (yes, he once cuddled a 415-lb atlas stone).

Along the way, the crew trades stories about rehab-forged grit, weight-room epiphanies, and that Winston Churchill mantra Bith keeps taped to his locker: “Stay ready—your finest hour might start in 60 seconds.” A lightning round reveals his Dr Pepper–powered post-lift diet, the most underrated Eagle of his era, and whether he’d rather squat 800 lbs or drain a Landmark title buzzer-beater (spoiler: team first, always). Equal parts locker-room banter and life-advice clinic, this episode is a master class in turning setbacks into strength—on the court, in the gym, and under the flashing lights of a fire engine.

The Juniata Men's Basketball Show is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by lifelong friends Tom Frank, Drew "Biz" Besket, and Head Juniata Basketball Coach Greg Curley. Got a question for the guys? Please contact us through Instagram @JuniataBasketballShow. Please subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a rating on apple and spread the word #EaglesNation. Juniata College basketball is part of the The Landmark Conference, an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm Tom Frank.

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I'm Drew Beskett. I'm the head coach Greg Curly. And this is the Junior Adam Men's Basketball Show. Welcome listeners. I'm Tom Frank, and I'm joined each and every week by Drew Basket, aka Biz, and your Junior Adam head basketball coach, Greg Curley, as we talk old things, Junior Adam Men's College Basketball. Fellas, it's officially summer. School's out, right? Nobody on campus, Curly? No one on campus. School is out. Are you opening up the pool today?

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Actually, it may not, maybe not today, but I think by next week it's been cold here, so and we don't have part of heat it. So it's cold. But I will say uh Cade jumped in yesterday. The water was like 68 degrees, so it was a quick.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

And it is it is Memorial Day weekend. You gotta open the pool up no matter how cold it is.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

And the kids Huntington finished school, you know, there's no snow days anymore. You know that's wait a minute, wait a minute. Huntington high schools are done? Yeah, school finished on Friday.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

We got like three weeks left down here.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Well, we start a little later, I think, than you guys, but with no snow days anymore, you know, everything's uh starts later and finishes earlier. Yeah, I don't know about this.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I know education's going.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

You guys usually start after Labor Day, we start before Labor Day. We're in this, we're in the state of Maryland. You have to wait till after Labor Day because of Ocean City, Maryland.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Wow, but that does make sense. The tourists. Well, did we always start it after Labor Day? Did we? I thought so. I don't know. How did graduation go? Did we get our we get our seniors? Did they all graduate?

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Yeah. Uh they they actually Coach Hager and I were both off. It was a live the first live weekend or the second live weekend of the spring, so we were both recruiting at different events. So we weren't there at ground zero for graduation, but we were we had dinner with the seniors before that. Uh pictures, Instagram, uh text, communicated with those guys. It uh sounds like it went great, and they're off into the uh wild blue yonder now, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Nobody said they're gonna come back for like a fifth or sixth year.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Well, I I think they have uh exceptional uh job opportunities. Uh Nico uh got into grad school, he's going to grad school, he's gonna he's gonna be a project manager, so he's moving in that direction. I think uh Mason starts, I think, in a month or two, his job, and I think Tyler's heading right into it. So they're uh they're off and running, they have great things ahead, and we're all excited to see where life takes them. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

We wish them all well. Now they're alumni, they can come back on in this one of these summer episodes.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Hey, you know, they can uh better start training now for that alumni game. That's right. You're gonna run out of first pick next year, Tom. I know. I actually yeah, I do. I think I know of the seniors who I would take. Yeah, but if Marcus comes back, he he wasn't on the roster last year.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

So he no, he's an automatic.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

No, he wouldn't play for you. Well, that's fine. I'll try it out. He can sit. Either way, I win. All right, fellas. We gotta dive right into our guest today because I think we I think we got a really good one. Yeah. I I think this might be this this might this might blow the internet right here. The most intriguing guest in Junietta basketball podcast history. It might be. It might be. So please join us in welcoming Andrew Bethel, class of 2021 to the Junietta Men's Basketball Show. A Tussie Mountain standout turned eagle. Andrew was part of the record setting 2017-18 landmark regular season champs, logged 29 games despite an injury list worthy of a hospital wing. Three shoulder surgeries, two concussions, and more broken bones and a wishbone at Thanksgiving. Since hanging up his jersey, Andrew has traded hardwood for heavy gear. First as an EMT, now as a full-time firefighter with the El Tuna Fire Department. Oh, I like that he's in El Tuna. Bravo. Off shift, he moonlights as a competitive strongman, owning the Pennsylvania Atlas Stone record after hoisting a 415-pound boulder, biz. Not just a rock, a boulder. And boasts list lifts of 711-pound squat, 405-pound bench, and 600-pound dead lift right around where I'm at. From Eagle Blue to Firefighter Red, please welcome Junior at Basketball's very own strong man, Andrew Bethel. Bravo.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

First, before we dive into this, Tom, imagine what your dad could have done in his heyday with Biff lifting stuff. Oh man. Oh, yeah, he would have put him to work. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

We're gonna get into this because I need to know more about boulder lifting and and how that works.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

He also has the best mustache in uh Juniata basketball. He has the classic strongman mustache.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, he does. I appreciate it. You gotta get a handlebar, but you used to have a handlebar, right? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

All right. Yeah, the camera's not picking it up, but it's uh okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Bravo.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

That's that's 1920s esque right there. Thank you. Thank you for the intro. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Now, my first question, Tussie Mountain. Yeah, where is Tussie Mountain? I thought Tussie Mountain was like the ski resort that was right outside of state college.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

I mean, it is, but I hear that all the time. That's probably the most common thing I hear, but um, have you heard of Braystown Lake? Yeah, yes. Okay, Tussie Mountain High School is the area kind of surrounding Braystown Lake on the southern end. Huntington's up north. Tussie Mountain School District is the southern end of Braystown Lake, so it's actually in Bedford County.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

A very small town, couple hundred people. I graduated with 74 other people. Holy crap, 74. That was the class.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Wow, so you had to have played every sport because they they needed you to.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Uh football, basketball, and track intermittently when they wanted me to show up.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Wait, what did you do in track? I gotta, it's gotta be like shot put or something.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

Uh no, that was my much skinnier days, so it was anything they told me.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

So when when when this showed up on campus, he was 180 pounds, 185 pounds. Holy crap! He was skinny, but he could jump out of the gym, man. So he was one of the best athletes we've probably ever had. And uh he's 6'6, 6'7 long uh and and tough to back it up, has great energy and uh effort. But like he said, uh, even his what'd you miss your junior year of high school too, Andrew?

SPEAKER_04 6:22

Yeah, I I only played I think five games my junior year and six games my senior year, so I was not a highly recruited individual because of my injuries.

unknown 6:30

Dang.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

But uh so how'd you find this uh this gem here with 11 games in the last two years of his high school career?

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Well, he's he's in our backyard. He's only I mean, honestly, the the Tussy Mountain and the Huntington School Districts uh uh they they run up against each other. He's down towards where I live if you keep going down the road road, basically you're in Tussie Mountain School District. But uh a bunch of guys down there. Dave Bailey, who was the head coach. Now he retired before Andrew. I have to do that. I think you had him freshman year.

SPEAKER_04 6:59

Yeah, freshman year, I had him.

SPEAKER_03 7:01

Matt McCann, who's a principal down there, played here, also helped coach here. I saw a lot of connections, honestly, with that area. Okay. But he hadn't played a lot, so his junior year, he didn't play much. Chris Husick was another guy that recommended him to us. And uh so I just we just kept hearing about him. And I think I saw two of his games his senior year other than six.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

He just happened to be there at the right time. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

And the other thing is he won't say, but his dad actually is the all-time leading scorer of Central High School, which is is on the other side of the mountain from Tussie and was a heck of a player in the area, so the name is a pretty big deal around here. So uh a lot of the connections, um, and Andrew will tell you, I mean, since I've been here so long and I'll know all the Tussie guys, uh, Aaron Chamberlain and Neil Holloway, who both came here from Tussie Mountain, played together with Coach Hager, uh, are longtime Tussie guys, and probably since that point in time, we've had pretty strong connections. Coach Bailey used to come work and speak at our camp. So it's just one of those kind of living in the footprint of what's going on. Um and then those guys recommended. Uh they I mean, Andrew can get into it, but there's Bailey's one of the great coaches in state history. Um, had a heck of a culture. Like, I mean, right, Andrew, I mean, that's what you did at Tussie. You played basketball, so he got all the athletes. Uh we actually missed out on another one who's their new head coach, Randy Zimmerman, who was an all-state kid, was committed here, but he he decided not to come in the last minute to go to the state police academy. Oh, wow. And he probably out of these guys was the most decorated high school guy. Uh so yeah. Um, and they're just tough kids, uh tough background. I mean, they're they're like you're gonna play hard there. And you know, so it was a really always kind of a good cultural fit. Um, we've got because we're only 45 minutes away, too, you know, it's a good fit a lot of for those, a lot of those guys to want to be a part of it and be here.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

So, what what impressed you about Coach Curly that you decided to come to Juniad, or is it a place you always wanted to come?

SPEAKER_04 9:02

No, it was absolutely Coach Curly. It wasn't necessarily on my radar too much until my senior year. I was actually going to go to college in Arizona. I have some family out there and I was going to go to Grand Canyon University. I filled out all the financial stuff. Um, I was ready to go. And then Curly started showing up to my games. I got to talk to him one-on-one. And after the first time talking to him, the decision was made. It was rare that I had ever met somebody that matched my intensity level, and he was right there. Yeah. Like in the first meeting, it was it blew me away. I was like, okay, this guy, you know, he cares a lot about what he's doing, and it's it's showing through his conversation, and that's the guy I want to be with because I know he's gonna work me. His you know, I've talked to like throughout high school. I wasn't highly recruited, but I talked to some college coaches, and they were just kind of like the nice guys, like trying to get you to campus, um, fluff you up with all this stuff, kind of like the Marcus Lee situation, they'll sell you on the Nike League year, all that. But then I met Coach, uh met Coach Hurley, and he just got straight to talk about basketball and potential and where he wants the team to go and where he thinks I can fit. I was like, I'm I'm instantly bought in. That's what I want. I wanted somebody who's gonna work with me, work me, and uh who's an intense guy who can meet me on my level.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Wow, he came the intensity came through just like that.

SPEAKER_04 10:23

Yeah, I mean, it was within an instant talking to him. I could see his passion just exuding, and that that's something I wanted to be a part of. There's no better feeling than being coached by somebody who who has that level of passion, that determination, that dedication. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

And so you stepped in, correct me if I'm wrong, but you you were on a pretty impressive team your your freshman year, correct?

SPEAKER_04 10:44

Yeah, yeah. I mean the looking back at it, it's absolutely incredible. I had that opportunity. Like at the time, I don't I think it's hard for some of us to realize the moment we're living in until we can look back on it. Sure. At the time, I was just a freshman who didn't really know anything, played in really small level high school games all my life, and then I came here and was playing with or on the team with Marcus and Seth and Damon and Will, Brandon, watching those guys work and what we were doing to teams was incredible. We were just those guys were breaking teams down. They were just beating them on every every facet of the game. And it was looking back, it was pretty incredible that run we had.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Would we still consider this the best team ever?

SPEAKER_04 11:26

Yeah, I mean, I have a very I have a very short window of like things that I've seen in my years compared to like someone like Coach Black or Coach Curly, who's seen a lot more and a lot more teams, but I would find it hard to find a team that could beat that one.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

I would think from winning losses, it's gotta be.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Yeah. 23 games is 23 games and being nationally ranks, nationally ranks. We won our first 12 12 straight games. Um so and uh yeah, so I mean I think it speaks for itself. I think the names you mentioned. I think if think about some of the guys that didn't get on the floor for that team that were the Andrews freshman group. Uh, we had some talented guys who played a lot of minutes after that. But uh uh, that was a pretty good one. I mean, we've put up a few other teams within that mix, but it's definitely in the mix. It's in the conversation. You can't have the conversation about the best teams without this group. Without that team, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

That was very it was. So that's your freshman year. Tell us about the your your next three years then. And and obviously injury played a little bit of a role here as well.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Yeah, so my freshman year kind of set the tone, uh showed me what is expected and what is needed to be able to play at the college level, uh, getting to work with those guys and watch those guys work. So going into the summer, I put in more work than I had my freshman summer because now I had an understanding of what I needed to be doing as far as individual workouts and lifts and running and stuff. Uh so I thought I had a good summer, came into it, had our preseason team meetings, and then October 15th, 2018, first day of practice. October 15th, still a special day. Uh first drill of the year. It was 302, 201. Try to set the tone, go up for a dunk, uh come down wrong, get knocked out. First drill of practice, concussion.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Oh crap.

SPEAKER_04 13:11

Uh so that's that was the start of sophomore year. Uh, that was that set me back for a couple months. I missed some time academically as well. Um I had to finish the semester over a winter break while we were there playing basketball. I was still doing school. Uh was able to come back from that short in a couple months uh in February. Uh got some playing time, got some uh starts, I believe, that year, and then we were playing at Scranton. Uh came down wrong again. My head just must weigh a million pounds because they always find a way to land on it. Yeah. And uh got another concussion that same year.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

So wait, you dunk it and you just flew backwards, or how did you land on your head? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

Yeah, there was there was some contact underneath uh of one of the freshmen that came on the team that year. Uh it wasn't ill-intentioned by any means. It just it was kind of one of those further mode things that happened. Um just landed wrong, had a concussion, was out for a couple months, came back, got another concussion, uh, that kind of sidelined me out for the rest of the season.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Yeah, so then yeah, I guess I mean that was a big uh that group. Uh, you know, Andrew, the the year before, he was exactly right. He was about 180 pounds. He had only played 11 games in two years in high school. Uh he was still coming back from two shoulder surgeries, which a labrum surgery is equivalent to an ECL. Uh it's it's major, major, major surgery. And we've had guys that have had one of those that at their career has ended. Um, Andrew went through three. We'll get into the rest of it. His story is unbelievable. Oh my god. Um, but this was not a normal dunk. This was take off from like the dots and try to dunk on a guy. And and that was kind of Andrew. He was 100% go, man. And he was trying to send a message first practice, and it was nuts. It was crazy. I mean, but as a coach, I mean, you couldn't ask for more like kind of desire and intensity. And like, that's the thing you look back on. And I know, you know, Andrew and I spent a lot of time, I mean, a lot of conversations because we're checking on rehab and how's he doing. We were we had a chance to talk more about what he's going through probably than basketball at times. That's the stuff we missed as a program. I mean, what you know, and he brought it, and we'll talk about his senior year and what he what he really meant to us. But in terms of like lost opportunity and ability, there's probably few have been through more than Andrew and had more kind of taken away from what he could have done. And the fact that he came back and started games, I mean, he came back and basically was cleared, and like four days later, we had him in the starting lineup. Uh, same thing. He blocked, I think, like six shots the first game he played. I think we played Scranton. And uh they had an all-American inside, and Andrew, just because of his competitive will, and it's rare at this level you get an athlete like that with kind of the intensity that goes with it. The the only reason you get him is because he was challenged by injury, or else he would not have played at our level, and uh there's no question about that. But then he, you know, he just kind of snaked bit with that stuff. But things work out, and he's always had a great perspective on that. But and then we go to Scranton and it's kind of the same scenario, and uh, you know, and then he's out for that, and then we'll get into the next years. But uh yeah, it was uh it was kind of crazy. But you know, what it does though is it shows to guys how much this matters or somebody. He was he was always that guy that if Andrew's putting so much into it, he's had it taken away. I better appreciate this opportunity. And truthfully, we we probably missed some of that this year. We could have used that example to some guys. I think when you're that young and no, there's no example of that, and you see the seniors, and everybody's always won, you don't get and and I think sometimes that pervades us as coaches. You can't understand sometimes younger guys that don't know better how much this means, and you you should take advantage of this because we've seen so many guys want it so bad and it hasn't always worked out. That's just life experience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

And it's interesting you should say that between your freshman and sophomore year, understanding what it what it was gonna take is is kind of what motivated you. I wonder, Curly, that's a kind of question for both of you guys. I hope the team has that same sense of urgency this year, right? They didn't go through the big winning season that that Andrew went through and to see that, but I hope they kind of gained that same insight as they head into their year between their freshman and sophomore year.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Yeah, I I mean, first thing I think Andrew was smart enough to come in as a freshman, and he's playing against Marcus Lee every day. So Andrew experienced his butt kickings too, let's put it that way. Um and and and the realities were he learned from that. He was smart enough to know like I'm not to his level, and I have to get to that level, and I want to get to that level, and he did that. I do think that's the advantage we have this summer. You could see it take hold this spring. Uh I said we had an exceptional spring, and part of that was they you could see kind of a uh moment where things click for our guys and they realize what has to go into this if we're ever gonna have a chance to be successful. And so this is what you hope. I think this is the most common that that freshman and sophomore years where guys you you find out if guys want to do it because guys that are wired like Andrew, uh what I would say the right way, use the experience and come back way better prepared and know what's involved. You just don't know, right? You don't know what you don't know. You think you're working hard, you think you're following a plan, you think you know, a lot of times it's misplaced effort. You're you're doing things that you've done before, but it really doesn't fit. I just think knowledge is is is you know super powerful. And so this is a huge spring for our program, but it was the same thing. But it's all up to you and what you've learned and whether you want to use it. And then you have the self-discipline and the the attitude to go get to it. But obviously, we've talked about what Andrew does now and what he does. Discipline, motivation um are not an issue at all with Andrew. Not an issue. He is at the high end of high end, he's the elite of the elite in those areas, which is why he's having the success he is.

SPEAKER_04 18:49

Yeah, so to get back, I think get back to uh filling you guys in on the story of my my kind of career at Junietta and my path that I followed. Freshman year was the greatest team in school history. Sophomore year was the two concussion season, and then we get into junior year. So following concussions and seeing another season of basketball, I see that I've got to work even harder than I did last summer. One day in July, I'm up at the park, at my house doing individual workouts, and I was doing a rebounding drill, throwing the ball off the backward, get some rebounds, flipped back up, and I threw a ball off the backward, grabbed it, and uh it made my right shoulder dislocate the way I grabbed it. I was just kind of reaching up and it you know went backwards. Um and that was the precursor to my previous two surgeries was shoulder dislocations. Before I even told my parents, I sat down and called Coach Curly and I told him the circumstances. What like I just told him what had happened. I said I'm gonna tell my parents that I'm gonna go call a doctor who did my previous two surgeries. Um imaging because it it just didn't feel right. It felt like the other two times. And I I think in that moment I knew that I retore my shoulder, but um this was certainly the most expensive one. I tore my labrium rotator cuff, bicep and tricep all in one go, just doing a rebounding drill. Oh my god. Um maybe the intensity was a little bit too much that day.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

And then when you shoot the thing 100 miles per hour, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Uh yeah, yeah, it was yeah, I I got pretty into the times. But anyway, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Maybe he was like doing it with a boulder and it just I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Well, he was probably trying to tomahawk it. He wasn't laying it in. Yeah. You know what, Andrew, I was thinking when I was when we were getting ready for this, I remembered a phone call. And remember exactly how you did it. Remember when you called me, and you want to talk about, you know, those are those are tough things as a coach. But I also remember like his spirit is unbelievable. Where he was, he was just like, we're gonna get through this, I'm gonna be and you know that just doesn't happen. And uh that's credit to his parents too, and how he's raised and who he is. You don't have to make that choice. There's other things you could do, but yeah, I mean he keeps going. Like it doesn't stop though, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 21:02

So you do that in July. Yeah, are you out for the season at that point?

SPEAKER_04 21:05

Or out for the season, yeah. No, it was out for the season. Uh because that surgery, because of the damage I'd done, it was a much more intensive surgery. Um, it wasn't just a couple stitches and prepare the tempins. They had uh cut a part of my shoulder blade and relocate the front half of my shoulder. So it was about nine or ten months until I had a ball in my hand. But yeah, I mean, I remember that happening in calling coach, and it's like, now what? I mean, what are you gonna do now? I I can't just sit here and be sad about it, mope about it. Like, I gotta get back to things. I gotta start uh you know trying to get better in some other way. Like I can't use my arm, I can't use my shoulder right now, but how else can I continue to get better? Because I still got a senior season coming up. I still got twenty five games I get to play. Or so I thought at the time. Um, so as soon as the injury happened, it was you know, call coach, talk to him, get on the same page, and let's find a different Way to train. We gotta do something. I can't just be laid up here. I still gotta I gotta get back to the team. I gotta put in the work that I know those guys are putting in. So I I never really looked at them as setbacks. It's just I gotta take a different path than other people are taking. And you know, ultimately I wouldn't change anything. I'm I'm thankful I've had the injuries I had because um it gave me a unique perspective that most people don't have, and it certainly built some mental toughness that prepared me for life outside of college. But that was junior year. There was not a single game played that year. That was the Canada year where we went up to Canada, so I got to go there, but didn't get played.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

So you got to go to Canada, got to hang out.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Yeah, so uh it just so happened about the timeline was going into senior year. I was getting close to fully healed or fully yielded in about March of 2020. Um we all remember what happened that year.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

We go then we get yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:59

Yeah, we leave for uh spring break in the spring, go home for a couple days, get told we're staying home for a couple more days, and then before we know it, we're we're packing all our stuff out of the dorms one day and we're not returning to college. We're having Zoom meetings online with Coach trying to figure out the plan for the summer of the season. If we're going to have a season, thank all we did. So because of my surgery, I I came to coach with the thought that if we're going to have a season, I want to be healthy for the entire season. I want to do as much as I can. And at that time it looked like we were going to have somewhat of a season, maybe shortened, maybe a couple teams. So we came up with the plan of I would do all the workouts, all the conditioning, all the lifting in the fall, and anytime we'd be playing, I would just go no contact because this was my last shot. So I got to go through the motions, I got to get some reps and stuff, learning the offense, learning the defense, and then uh thankfully we're able to have a nine-game season senior year, and that was that. I was able to play in all nine games healthy that year. Yeah, I mean, what he's not here.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

So, what Andrew's not telling you is the the doctor and people did tell him after the third surgery, it was so severe that he should probably consider not playing. He should he he shouldn't play. And again, you know how much this meant to Andrew, his teammates, the opportunity to do it. I mean, everyone would have understood, but it meant that much to him. And that's not a choice everybody's got to make, it's the individual ones. But when you get guys like this, that's this this is what you do it for. I'll also say at that time, um, given my dual role, I was also the athletic director. One of the reasons I I was so committed to allowing people to play here, and one of the things I'm most proud of in that time is every we played, we were the only school in the entire landmark that played in every game they possibly could for all sports. Um and part of that was was because of the stories like Andrew's, where I just felt like um, you know, oh well, just stop this. It doesn't matter. It does matter to some. Now, one of the things that pervades at this level is it doesn't matter that much to everyone. And they may be the ones that people listen to, and that's the spokesperson for it. I've always thought, well, those aren't the ones we should be listening to. We should be listening to the ones that means this much to because that's that's who we're doing it for. That doesn't mean the other perspective's wrong, but it also means that we, you know, like it meant that much to Andrew, and we get to say he got to play nine games. But think about what he went through and then the 25. He played nine games. The only picture we had for him, because he missed so much for the alumni game, if you remember, is him playing with the mask.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

With the mask.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

Because that was when he played the majority of the times in the six games um uh as a sophomore. We didn't have the photographer there for that one, whatever, and then I think a couple on the road. But think about that, you know. I I I and and then he comes in and Chase Hughstead's the you know, coming in, and John Kelly had played the year before, so we have three of the best three centers we've ever had together. And so like he comes in and just comes off the bench and and understood. And but it was if you if you just think about what he went through and to have that opportunity, and listen, and and Andrew's perspective is the same, particularly for what he did. You know, we talked, he's an EMT fire. He's seen real life and COVID. There was real life hitting. So missing a few basketball games and being in a situation where it is made is way different, but still, um, what that opportunity meant for. So think about it, he plays nine games in front of nobody with a mask on, and that's kind of the sum total of his his his entire experience. Um but like I now the rest of the story, right, Andrew, the stuff you're doing now, he found a weight room through that whole experience. Coach Smith became his his his greatest mentor and friend because of the time he spent in the weight room and couldn't be with us, right? And it's led to these next steps.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

And we'll be right back. Ready to launch your podcast. Merrick Studios offers comprehensive services from concept development and seamless production to strategic marketing and monetization. Let your story take the mic. Visit MerrickCreative.com slash studios and let's get to work. And now back to our show.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

Without the Julietta basketball program, it's it's hard to say where I would be at life or what my college experience would have been. Because I think by and large, like kind of blanket statement, you don't get a great dose of reality while you're in college, unless you're doing athletics, because uh college campuses are kind of aside from the real world. You know, they're the very I don't want I'll say it, but uh they're they're like soft places. You're very you're very catered to. If anybody has a problem with it, you can find me. But like they're very catered to, they're very soft, they're very not real world. And in my real world, my reality, like I see a lot of things that most people don't see that I would be overwhelmingly underprepared for had I not been a part of the basketball program because Coach was able to instill uh more toughness, more discipline, more motivation uh than I could have gotten through any other avenue in life. Wow. So I'm I'm immensely thankful that I was able to be a part of that, and it is all what you get out of it, what you put into it, you get out of it. You know, I'm not sure that everybody who had my experience with the injuries would have made the same decisions that I did, but I make those decisions day after day, year after year, all the time because of what I got out of it.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Yeah, that's outstanding.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

So how do you so you're a competitive weight lifter now? Why in the world would you do this if like your shoulders have been through so much? Like it seems to me that would be tough.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

It is an incredible motivator when somebody, especially an orthopedic surgeon or a doctor, looks at you and tells you you cannot do something. Yeah, don't tell me I can't. I will show you that I can. And that was the conversation with the surgeries of basketball. After the first one, I was, you know, as a fifth grader, junior in high school or whatever. He's like, You should probably stop basketball. I go back to him a year later, he's like, All right, I'm not messing around, like I'm not clearing you to play basketball, stop doing this. And I go back to him a couple years later, and it was even more serious. He's like, I don't know why you're doing this to yourself. You're you're gonna ruin your life. Do whatever you want. I was like, I'm gonna keep doing this because it's what I love. And it was it was the same thing with the weightlifting. Like in those conversations with him, he he told me I wouldn't be able to like have full range of motion on my shoulders, I wouldn't be able to lift overhead, I wouldn't be able to play basketball. And it's like yes, I can't, and I will. So that kind of lit a fire under me like right off the bat. But uh Coach Smith, Coach briefly mentioned him, is is where I really found my passion in life. He was our strength coach when I was in college, and uh he was in my eyes the greatest strength coach of all time. I don't know, he was able to channel something inside me that found my true passion. So after basketball, I needed something to fill that void. Yep. Um in the weight rooms where I found it. Unlike some of the other guys, like the last time I touched a basketball was my last game senior year at Drew. Like I haven't touched it. I've I shouldn't say I haven't touched it. I've tried, I've tried to play some like men's leagues or some pickup leagues, but I just find myself getting so bad because these guys aren't playing Juliana basketball. Like they're not showing on ball screens, they're not blocking and recovering. Like, I just all I know is Junietta basketball, so like I can't play in those leagues where guys aren't doing that. So instead of doing that, I found the weight room, and it's my biggest passion. And um, I'd be remiss not to mention also Kate McDonald. She was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame with Juniana. Uh, when I first came in freshman year, Schmidt was absent for I can't remember the reason, but Kate McDonald stepped into his role, and she was my first introduction into uh college strength, and uh she started building a good foundation, and then Coach Smith just carried on that and showed me into this this new world of lifting that I fell in love with.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

So you found this competitive world of lifting. How does one like I didn't even know there was such a thing as lifting a boulder over your head? Like, how how do you stumble upon that?

SPEAKER_01 31:12

So is that kind of like the old time that used to be on ESPN? They used to have their strongman in company.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

Oh, really? So it's strongman, not live, it's a little bit different. Now he lit he but he's competitive strongman, which is different than being a competitive weightlifter.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Yeah, it's like didn't you ever watch those Tom? They're like I think I did. Um the old Steelers lineman, John Cole.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

He was like And they would try to push a truck or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

That's that's awesome. How I how I found that, I guess, would be my brother and I used to watch the competitions growing up. So seeing it on TV and then getting exposure into the weight room, I was like, oh, this is something that would be interesting to me. So I tried it out one day and enjoyed it. It's kind of functional strength, so it translates really well into my actual work life. I'm like lifting, carrying strange objects or heavy objects, and uh it has really good carryover for what I do day to day. So finding a passion that I can do outside of work that also improves my abilities to do work while I'm clocked in, you know, it's it's a no-brainer. Like I have to train, so it's very conducive for me to do training that benefits me at work and I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

But how did you actually find this? Like I'm thinking about this myself. Like, if I were just to say I'm gonna be a strong man, I wouldn't even know where to start. Like, how do you even yeah?

SPEAKER_04 32:29

I just uh I'm very fortunate. It it kind of just happened by chance. The gym I go to in Altoona, it's called Gorilla House Gym. Makes sense. They have some of the they have some of the strongman equipment there, some of the Atlas Stones and the big dumbbells and some of the strange things like that that most gyms don't have. So it was kind of just the perfect storm of things falling into place where I got introduced to the weight room, I saw these competitions throughout my life, and then I joined a gym that has all this equipment. It was like lights from the heavens were shining down after my basketball career ended.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

I just walked right into something that and you're still doing this today, right?

SPEAKER_04 33:04

Yeah, every day. I mean, four days a week. Um I'm doing my my strength training. Um I've been doing a little bit more cardio and running since uh getting hired at the fire department. Um and today, after we got off here, since it's Memorial Day, I've got to do the Murph workout. Are you guys familiar with the Murph?

SPEAKER_00 33:19

I've heard of it, but explain it in more detail.

SPEAKER_04 33:22

Okay, so you're wearing a weighted vest. The weighted vest I have is 30 pounds. You do a one-mile run, a hundred pull-ups, two hundred push-ups, uh, three hundred squats, and then run another mile for time while wearing a weighted vest. So that is the Lieutenant Michael Murphy, Navy SEAL, who passed away in Afghanistan, was given the Medal of Honor. We do that workout kind of in his honor on Memorial Day, so that's what I'll be doing. But otherwise, my regular strength training is four days a week, and then the other days I'm filling in with cardio.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Biz, what are the odds of you doing that workout today or ever in your life? I mean, let's see.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

There's is there anything lower than zero? You know, we should, you know, like we did that squat challenge, we should see how long it would take us. Well, you guys got the bench press challenge coming up too. Yeah, we do.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

I mean, we might need you to train us for that.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

But holy crap.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

Hey, you guys need to get on. You need to get on Biff's Instagram, right? IGB. I do check it out. I did, yes. But you get to see some wild stuff, man. And you can also see with uh I think, right, Biff, it's kind of a world, right? When you get into strongmen and the really serious competitive, you know, and the really high-end weightlifters, like you've kind of got a bit of a group of people that you work out with and move gym to gym. So it's really kind of a cool.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Yeah, it's it fills up like uh one of the most important things that being a junior out of playing basketball is the team. That's something that's really hard to replicate in the real world in your adult life because you you have family, you have stuff going on, you're busy, so you don't get to be around a team uh like I was in college. For four years, I was around 20 other guys all the time. So uh there's a really, really good community. It's kind of a niche community in the strength world. Um once you surround yourself with people who are better than you and people are strong like you, it it kind of fulfills that hole that was left by not being a part of a true team anymore.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

Yeah. So what do you guys when when you guys are working out and you see a guy like Biz stroll into the uh facility, and you see Biz head over to the elliptical, and then he goes over to the machines and does a couple. What are you guys really thinking, Biff? What do you think about guys?

SPEAKER_04 35:31

I can't wait to hear this. Man, I hope he doesn't challenge me to an elbow jump shot contest, man. That's what I'm saying. Hey, you know?

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Maybe that's my spot.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

Hey, listen, Biz can can speak anyone's language. So I'm I have no doubt Biz could walk right over to those guys and talk 400 pounds on the bench anytime.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

But uh block up you lift, bro. What you'll find frequently is uh even in like the more hardcore gyms, if you want to say like that, like the the bigger the guys are typically the frontlier you are. Like I am very happy to see anybody starting their journey because I was I was once that kid. Like I'll never forget when I was 160, 180 pounds, walking in the gym for my first time. Um, so it's I think that that kind of early 2000s like culture of the gym is kind of going out, and we want to see more people come in. Like ultimately that's fair. It's it's not me versus you, it's you versus yourself, and I want to see everybody succeed, and I want to see you all do well. So it's not like trying to intimidate or I don't want anyone to work out. It would be uh very welcoming, and I'd be happy to explain anything to anybody.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

There you go, biz. There's no excuses, buddy. No excuses, just yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

Well, I will start, I'll echo that because my daughters, my oldest daughter's into like bodybuilding and stuff, and they just had like one of the major bodybuilding shows in Pittsburgh last week, and we went down, and those guys are all the nicest, most accommodating. Like we're talking their sports version of like you know, Jordan and whatnot, and you can just walk up and talk to them, and they'll I mean it it's a super accommodating, inclusive world, man. I'll I'll echo that. And I'd walk over try to clean the equipment for them. I wouldn't necessarily, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

So, what about your professional life here? Hey, talk to us about because you came in and you were going to med school. So Andrew was also an exceptionally good student, and he was going to go to med school. Now we've had you know that world's a little bit different now, and a lot of people are moving away from you know, they'll come in uh pre-med and wind up in a different area. But talk to you about your path from college and how you wind up now as a firefighter.

SPEAKER_04 37:40

Yeah, so uh came in pre-med. I knew Junietta was a great school for that. I have a real interest in biology and anatomy, and I thought uh being a doctor would be a great role. So I was on that track. I hate to keep using COVID as a crutch, but it really did change so much for us. Um so throughout college, I love saying this when I talk to people. I did when they asked me why I didn't go to med school or why I didn't follow out that plan, it's I did a little bit more playing basketball and a lot more training than I did shadowing doctors, which I should have been doing. So time was coming up, uh summer going into senior year, where I needed to really get my applications in. Um so upon graduation I could go to med school or PA school, whichever it was. Um I needed to do some more shadowing hours, which I was going to do in the spring following the basketball season and COVID hit. So I had no shadowing hours. My my application was uh about 75% complete for med school. So I sent it in to six different places. I just I just didn't have the resume to compete with somebody who had double or triple the shadowing hours. So um that plan kind of came and went, and now I'm faced with this COVID world where graduation is quickly approaching, and I've got to find a job. Um I enrolled in a hybrid EMT class through IEP, uh Indiana University of Pennsylvania. And upon graduation of Junietta, I did that in six weeks, and then got hired in Altoon as a full-time EMT working through COVID. So I did that full-time for three and a half years.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

And that must have been a wild ride, because you were an EMT during COVID. I mean, you probably saw all sorts of crazy stuff.

SPEAKER_04 39:26

Yeah, I mean it it wasn't so bad during COVID. Um people were in their houses, they were they were not leaving, they weren't afraid to call. Yeah, that's a good thing. Um, but like I I've done EMS full time for the last three and a half years, and uh it was starting to wear on me. Uh you you see a lot of a lot of sadness, a lot of death, a lot of horrible things that uh uh most people don't see a couple of those cases in their lifetime, and I was seeing those things multiple times every week. So I wanted to I wanted to change in the career. And through working EMS, I work alongside the Altina Police Fire Department all the time. And just you know, being around these guys on different calls, like you get to talk to each other, you get to know each other, and a bunch of the guys from the fire department became my best friends. I think a bunch of them will be at my wedding here, and um they they talked me into applying. The application process for the Altuna Fire Department. There's a physical test, a red test, did an interview. So uh the moment I decided to apply for Altuna, I started training for the physical test and uh broke the all-time timed record for the physical test in the history of the department. So I got a pretty I got a pretty good score on the physical test. Uh got the highest score over the last 10 years on my written test, and I got the highest interview score. So they hired me and sent me to Harrisburg. I've been there for the last 11 weeks for Fire Academy. So that's kind of the path.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

So this is brand new. You are just diving into this.

SPEAKER_04 41:04

Yeah, I'm the new guy on the block. I started March 3rd.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

March 3rd, okay.

SPEAKER_04 41:09

Yeah, so just a couple months in. I've been in Harrisburg. Like I said, for the last 11 weeks doing training, living down there Monday through Friday, and I will graduate here in three weeks and then be back on the streets of Alcuna.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

Okay, so three weeks till graduation, then you're then you're full time.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Yeah, I'm back in Alcuna. Finally.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Wow, that's fabulous. That is, congratulations on that. And you just said you're engaged. Did we just hear that correctly?

SPEAKER_04 41:33

Yeah, yeah. Engaged, uh, getting married here in less than a month. Wow. Yeah, it's been it's been quite the timeline for 2025. We uh bought a house, got a new job, and are getting married all the same a couple months.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

So do it all at once, pull the band-aid off. Well, hey, if anybody's ever trapped under a boulder, man, that's the guy. That's the guy I want. Yeah. Yeah. Get me out. Get me out of this.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

We gotta we gotta have you back on a year from now, after you have a year under your belt of live El Tuna firemen.

SPEAKER_04 42:06

I want to hear uh some stories. Thankfully, I have a pretty good idea of how things are gonna go because I've worked with along these guys for the last three and a half years. It's not so much uh Chicago Fire or any of those TV shows that they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

And that's what I have pictured in my head right now.

SPEAKER_04 42:22

Yeah, I mean that there's the few and far between where you have the big fires and stuff like that, but uh what they don't show on the TV show is a lot of uh lifting large people out of recliners or off the floor, a lot of helping the elderly or resetting fire alarms. So there will be the glory calls here in a year or so, but there's a lot of stuff that people don't see that goes into it.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

So as we approach, you know, we're coming off a tough year, but we're we got a lot of hope going into the next year. What kind of advice? You've been there, you've been through tough times at Junietta, you've seen great times at Junietta. What are some of the advice that you have for this group of guys that are they're headed into this next season?

SPEAKER_04 43:01

Yeah, yeah. I mean, um, most of the time I get aligned with the team that was the greatest team in Junietta history, but I was also on um a team that struggled. I believe that was uh sophomore junior year where we only had a handful of wins. But uh regardless, whether it was a good year, whether it's a bad year, the the answer is going to be the same is you have to do the work. Um you have to put in the hours individually over the summer where nobody's watching you. So you gotta make that decision that you want to be better. And if you get a handful of guys, ideally the whole team that's making that decision, they want to be better, whether it's in the weight room, on the court, their conditioning, they need to be working throughout the summer, and then come back, and the sum total of the parts will be better than it was last year. Um and you kind of have to something that always stuck with me about what coach said, or a mentality that I had is you have to you have to sacrifice selfish desires when you're a part. Of a team. So if you were the best guy in high school, now you're on a team of everybody who is the best guy in high school. So whatever you think your role is, you have to be flexible to realize that that may not be your role. Like everybody wants to be the guy, but you can't all be the guy. So you gotta find your role, find what fits you, and do the best job you can at that role so the team can be better. So guys gotta put in the work, they gotta come back in the fall and be flexible. Be able to take on whatever role the team needs you to take on. The team will decide what role that you don't get to decide at. So then you have to take that and fly with it. So everybody does their own thing and you have some total parts of his grade from last year.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

That's good advice. I mean that that, yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

I have a new feature that we're gonna we're gonna have this year. Oh god. I have I have five lightning round questions for our guests. All right. All right. You ready for this? You're the first one to do this. And they're tailored towards you, I think. All right. All right. Question number one. Favorite post-lift meal?

SPEAKER_04 45:04

Uh every meal, every post-lift meal always includes a Dr. Pepper. Typically, it's it's some kind of that's that's just my thing. Uh, I always have a Dr. Pepper with everything that I have, but my favorite post-lift meal is probably uh a New York strip. That's usually what I'm getting into. I get my carbs and my sugar through the Dr. Pepper, and I get a lot of protein through the steak.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

There you go. Most underrated teammate from your time at Junietta.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

Underrated teammate. Boy. Now, this is one where I think of uh some of the locker guys who their role to the public, they don't get to see how important they were to the team. But it would probably be my my roommate and my best friend from Junietta is Duck. He was uh Duck. Nate, yeah, Duck. He was we love Duck. Nate Duck in the case. One of the best friends you could ever have in the world. He was great for morale, he was great for the team, he's a great locker room guy, and he's a hell of a player and a fierce competitor. He could turn it on and really get under guy's skin, as you guys can see in the alumni game.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

So that's my guy.

SPEAKER_04 46:08

Um again, he's he's kind of a guy like me. Uh like he doesn't run the record books. Like you don't see his name up and down there, but he was what as valuable of a member of a team as you could have.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

All right. What's the one injury that was the worst for him?

SPEAKER_04 46:24

Probably the I would say the concussion, the first concussion, probably the concussion was outweighs the shoulder surgeries because the shoulder surgeries, it was it was just time. It was just I just had to take time. It was I knew it would be between six and nine months each time. Um, and I just it was something that I could strengthen. I it was something tangible that I could see was getting better every day. I could see that I could move a little more, I was getting a little stronger, but the concussion, it was it was such a long recovery, and like some days were good, some days were bad. And the thing that was exponentially difficult about that was uh doing my college classes while dealing with that. Like I said, I yeah, I missed after getting concussion, like I missed some time in the classroom because I couldn't be in the light, like it couldn't sit in class, I just lay in my bed in the dark for days, and um so the concussion was that was probably the worst. I mean, yeah, that one that was the worst one sucked. Yeah, that one sucked.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

Well, you have no control over anything with that.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

No, no. All right, would you rather squat 800 pounds or hit the game winner in the landmark conference championship?

SPEAKER_04 47:32

Game winner, landmark conference championship all day long.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

No doubt.

SPEAKER_04 47:35

Yeah, all day long.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

Yeah, biz, biz, 800 pounds. I could squat that. Yeah, but you know, all right, and then the last one is an old one, but we gotta bring it back because I want I want your perspective on this. The the Mount Juniata. Five players. The five players. We're going, we're going all five, not just four.

SPEAKER_04 47:56

All right. Um Seth, Marcus, Sholy, Cannon, and Raymond.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

Wow, that was fast. That was fast, and that was good.

SPEAKER_04 48:04

Okay, so I had my my camera made disappear here to reference my notes out.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

No, he was ready for this one.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

Oh, yeah. He was ready. I've been thinking about this. Yeah, I've been I've been thinking about this for a long time. And Coach Black's episode brought some great insight to this, but there's a there's an additional Mount Rushmore that I I would like to talk about. Yeah, it's uh it's the Juniata Athletics Mount Rushmore. Let me reference this real quick. Okay. Okay, so the people I wanted to include on this list, I feel deserve some recognition on the show and on and publicly, so they can start being talked about kind of the way some of these other guys are talked about. Let's go. Uh, that are equally as important to the to the program and the school. Uh at the head of Mount Rushmore is obviously Coach Curly. Well done. Right beside him, we have uh Coach Smith.

unknown 49:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:03

Coach Black. Uh Coach Smith being the strength coach and Coach Black, equally as important. Uh and then beside them, we have Jeff Lady. He was the head athletic trainer during my time at Juniad, I believe he's still the head athletic trainer there. He doesn't get talked about very frequently because he kind of deals in the shadows, he's off to the sidelines, he's doing the pre and post-game and post-practice stuff, but his role for so many of us athletes was it was paramount that he that we had Jeff as a resource, as well as the rest of his staff, but he was kind of the head of the snake during the time I was there. And then uh the last head on my Junietta athletics, Mount Rushmore, would be Ed Mansberger. So that's a great list. I feel like these people need to be uh uh talked about and brought to light as well. They they do a lot for Junietta, a lot for the athletics, and especially a lot for the basketball program. And uh I it wouldn't feel right if I didn't get to give these men their flowers while I have the opportunity to on your show.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

Is is Coach Smith still part of the staff or where is he at now?

SPEAKER_04 50:11

No, he is uh he's since retired after I left, but he was there for I want to say almost 30 years. I think he started in the early late 90s or 2000s.

SPEAKER_03 50:23

Yeah, exactly like he started. Moved more full time, but yeah, about 30 years. And and uh Andrew was right. Uh Doug is actually one of the kind of the godfathers of strength and conditioning in the entire country. Uh at the time when he when they established their 25 master certified strength conditioning trainers in the entire world, and he was one of them. Oh wow. Um we hosted the uh biggest strength and conditioning uh conference in the country every single year on the East Coast. It was the biggest one in the East Coast. Um he he hosted it every year for about 20, 25 years, and the who's who, uh I mean the Hall of Famers, the top guys in in that entire industry were here all the time. And uh so we were, I mean, Doug is a big part of uh kind of the renaissance of Junior Athletics and the improvements across the board.

SPEAKER_01 51:10

We gotta get Doug on the show here, I believe.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

Yeah, it's actually not a bad idea. We gotta get him on, and then how about Jeff?

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Is it Jeff Whitening? Whiting? Lighting.

SPEAKER_03 51:19

Lighting. Now I don't know how great Doug will be on a podcast, right? I I don't know if I can get him on. All right.

SPEAKER_04 51:25

Yeah, there'll be a lot of minutes. Yeah, be careful. I kept myself very tame, but he will not.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

Jeff's about the same. I don't know if Jeff will do, but Oh, hey. Yeah, they're they're the behind-the-scenes guys, and and uh I think anybody who's been an athlete here for for the last 30 years know how much they've mattered and meant to so many. And particularly you think about what Andrew went through, and you forget that games are still going on, and there's always people that want to be out there and can't, and uh, those are lonely times. And I think that the role those guys play in those moments are invaluable to young people going through a lot of stuff at 18 to 20 years old, 22 year olds, when that their identity is taken from them. And uh, you have to have great people in those spots, and we're we're blessed to have uh folks like that. Do those guys go across all sports, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_04 52:10

Yeah, yeah, okay, so they yeah, they're they're available for all all athletics on the college.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

Well, fellas, that was one of our more educational shows we've ever had.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

I think there's I I have two takeaways from this thing. Please. First takeaway is curls, man. You need to get a life-size poster of Biff in your locker room, circle all the different places where he's been injured, and then when guys come in and say, Oh, you know, my my my calf hurts a little bit, just send them over to the poster and say, Yeah, yeah, it doesn't hurt. So that's good.

SPEAKER_03 52:41

I I think it's some insight sometimes when people think, oh, coach isn't patient, or he's not, you know, it's like, hey, I've seen some guys go through some stuff. Right now is not one of those. Uh and I understand it, and and and everybody experiences life different, and they all understand that, and we have to be compassionate and empathetic. But man, there's perspective. Sometimes you just sit there and say, All right, buddy, you got a hangnail. And uh we've had a guy that I saw get to play nine games that had 700 times the talent that you do, and uh uh 12,000 times the desire, and uh couldn't have that opportunity. So, how about we buck up and get going here? And uh I I think that would be the entire attitude of our entire program right now. I mean, setbacks are setbacks, but man, we got a chance to play, and uh not everybody gets that.

SPEAKER_01 53:27

And so uh number two, you gotta have this, you gotta have this guy come in and talk to your team every year. Talk about a way to start a season, man. That I don't know, it's motivational.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

I've uh I've kept it I've kept it very tame here, but I'm like shaking in the chair because of how like pumped up I'm getting thinking about this stuff. Um I once life settles down here, once I graduate the academy here in a couple weeks. And get married. I I do want to get back involved with the the basketball program here, whether it's in a strength and conditioning role or if it's in uh like a um an assistant coach role.

SPEAKER_03 54:03

All right, man.

SPEAKER_04 54:04

I'll be on the right there. It'll be schedule dependent, but uh, I do want to make some appearances on campus because uh now that Coach Schmidt's gone, I'm not sure. I don't really know who's who's leading the strength department, but I'm sure they could use some more intensity, and I would be more than happy to bring that to the guys. And uh I'm gonna guess your resume would be considered.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

I'm gonna guess. Uh just the thought, you know.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

I mean, having a guy that yeah is an EMT and can put out a fire. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 54:32

This is like three or two interview you just walk into the office carrying a boulder and be like, that's you know, that's dropping. Right. That's outstanding. Yeah, all right. We got, you know, now we've got we'll have another connections, another assistant coach, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:47

So right? Uh as we start getting to the closing hours of the show, uh I we've talked a lot about like uh my lifts in training and stuff and what I do, and it's it's very important to train for my job because it is truly a life or death job, but training isn't just important for life or death job, like it's equally as important to the basketball program, and uh you have to be prepared for your moment. So there's a quote from Winston Churchill. I'll read it and then I'll read it again. It may be one that the coach ends up uh using himself on the team, but it's something I think about all the time. I had a lieutenant from the FDNY tell me this, and it's something I consider when I'm training all the time. So the quote goes There comes into the life of every man a task for which he and he alone is uniquely suited. What a shame if that moment finds him either unwilling or unprepared for that which would become his finest hour. So one more time, once you can think about that for a second, uh one more time, there comes into the life of every man a task for which he and he alone is uniquely suited. What a shame if that moment finds him either unwilling or unprepared for that which would become his finest hour. That's from Winston Churchill. I said that that's something I embody, that's something I think about all the time because your finest hour could be it could be you know a free throw at the Landmark Conference Championship. Your finest hour could be an elbow jumper at the alumni game. Your finest hour could be pulling something out of a burning building, but that moment may never find you if your willingness, your readiness, your training didn't lead you to be able to complete that task. So train hard, train all the time, and uh be prepared for your finest hour.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

Listen, that would that is so much better than words of wisdom. It's not even funny.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

We're gonna have to word uh Bithin to get us all fired up. Sorry, Biz. Words of bitum. I'm going, hey man, I'm heading to the driving range after this. I'm gonna go work on my bench press a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 56:51

I'm fired up.

SPEAKER_01 56:52

I think we gotta end this.

SPEAKER_00 56:54

How do we get that you drop the mic on? Yeah, the mic's dropped. The best. Thank you, sir. I mean that is fantastic. That was bravo. Yeah. All right, guys. You gotta follow the show on Instagram at Juni Adam Basketball Show. Subscribe to the Juni Adam Men's Basketball Show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to the podcast. Leave us a comment on Instagram. And until next time, I'm Tom Frank.

SPEAKER_01 57:16

Make sure the team listens to this one, Curl. I'm busy. I'm the head coach Greg Curl.

SPEAKER_00 57:27

And thank you, sir. That was fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 57:29

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_04 57:30

It's uh it's an honor.