The Quarterback DadCast
I’m Casey Jacox, the host of the Quarterback Dadcast. As fathers, we want to help prepare our kids—not only to enter the professional world but to thrive in each stage of their lives. Guests of this show include teachers, coaches, professional athletes, consultants, business owners, authors—and stay-at-home dads. Just like you! They share openly about failure, success, laughter, and even sadness so that we can all learn from each other—as we strive to become the best leaders of our homes! You will learn each week, and I am confident you will leave each episode with actionable tasks that you can apply to your life to become that ultimate Quarterback and leader of your household. Together, we will learn from the successes and failures of dads who are doing their best every day. So, sit back, relax and subscribe now to receive each episode weekly on The Quarterback Dadcast.
The Quarterback DadCast
Redefining Leadership: Eric Pryor on Family, Resilience, and the Art of Gratitude
What happens when you mix a creative executive, a former basketball player, and a dad who's redefining leadership at home? Thanks to a fantastic referral from my friend and former guest (Dale Favors), we get the chance to learn from Eric Pryor. In today's episode, Eric shares how his experiences in arts and education have shaped his role as the "quarterback" of his family. From the therapeutic art of gratitude journaling to the lessons learned from influential mentors, Eric offers a treasure trove of insights into staying grounded and mindful while embracing personal growth.
Join us as Eric opens up about the significant role family values and work ethic play in shaping our lives. You'll hear about the impact of empowering family members and how a simple idea from his wife led to a pivotal financial decision. Eric also takes us on a journey through his childhood, recounting life as the youngest of six in a bustling household, and how his father's entrepreneurial spirit in Detroit instilled a strong work ethic and discipline in him.
With a candid discussion on finding resilience and grace amidst adversity, Eric shares deeply personal stories of loss and the immense power of gratitude and spirituality. Hear how he navigates the complexities of self-awareness and self-improvement, all the while maintaining hope and a positive outlook.
Ending on a lighter note, we chat about favorite books and dream vacations, welcoming listeners to embrace unscripted curiosity and the joy of shared experiences. Don't miss this heartfelt conversation that inspires with stories of resilience, growth, and the art of being present both in family life and beyond.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show. Hey, everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast. Welcome to season six, and I could not be more excited to have you join me for another year of fantastic episodes and conversations really unscripted and raw and authentic conversations with dads. If you're new to this podcast, really it's simple. It's a podcast where we interview dads, we learn about how they were raised, we learn about the life lessons that were important to them, we learn about the values that are important to them and really we learn about how we can work hard to become a better quarterback or leader of our home. So let's sit back, relax and listen to today's episode on the Quarterback Dadcast. Well, hey, everybody, it is Casey Jaycox with the Quarterback Dadcast. We are in season six and which feels as you heard me say before I'm going to say it again it feels so fantastic to say because I feel like we're doing something right If we're interviewed close to 300 dads and I'm so excited to see what's going to happen this year as it relates to sponsorships and new dads and people we can impact and ways to improve better leaders of each of the homes. And today's guest comes to us by the one and only Dale Favors, which you've heard me talk about for years and you've heard him be bragged about on podcasts before, and you've heard a story back in 2020, when I was able to interview him right in the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement social unrest and we had this powerful conversation on diversity, and if there's any gentleman in this world who has impacted me more from a growth perspective, with just perspective and diversity, it is Dale Favors, and so I give much love to Dale, one of my favorite humans on this earth.
Speaker 2:But our next guest is Eric Pryor, and he's a temple ally. I found out right before we record. He's an ex-hooper from West Georgia, so we've got to hear about some stories. He might be a Wayne State Warrior too, but he is a BFA, an MFA in painting. He's a creative individual. He's an executive. He's worked from the Harlem School of Fine Arts to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. But that's not why we're having Eric on everybody. We're having Eric on to understand about how Eric's working hard to become the ultimate quarterback or leader of his home. So, without further ado, mr Pryor, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you, Casey. Thanks for having me, and you're right about Dale he's one of my favorite people in the world.
Speaker 2:He's the best I'm hoping to. Are you a golfer by chance? Yep, I am. Do you go to the soul cup?
Speaker 1:I've gone before. I haven't gone in recent recently, but I have attended before and had a great time.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to get on that list. Right, dale said we'll get, we'll get you out there one year. I'm like I know it's, it's, it's, there's, there's a lot of brothers at that tournament. Now that, and it's, it's, there's, there's a lot of brothers at that tournament now and I want to be the lone white dude and then I'm, then I'm going to understand a lot about you, know a lot of stuff, and so, yeah, he goes. We'd love to have you go, I'd love to be there.
Speaker 3:So I hope one day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'd be fun. We could have it All right. Well, we always start each episode. Gratitude, Eric.
Speaker 1:So tell me before, as a dad today, you know, every day for me, casey, I keep it really simple waking up, breathing, I mean, you know, I really feel like you know, just every day I can open my eyes and and look out my window and you know, just feel the earth under my feet, feel the earth under my feet, you know, and then I move out from there and it becomes my family and it's just my experiences.
Speaker 2:For those that heard him say that they might be like ah, it's an easy answer, but actually it's a great answer because it means you're really, really present in thought. It's funny you say that because every morning I do a gratitude journal here. People can see this on YouTube everybody. If you can really really present and thought, uh, it's funny you say that because every morning I do a gratitude journal here. People can see this on YouTube Everybody. If you can't, eric, you can meet Caesar's just and every every page.
Speaker 2:The first line I say is God, thanks for waking me up today. Yep, and it gets my mind right for the day. I, and, as I say thanks for waking me up, hey, thanks for the chance I get exercise. Today I got a chance to be a better dad than I was yesterday. So I'm going to say the same thing I'm grateful for waking up too, because I'm grateful I get a chance to learn more about you and celebrate you as a dad and then share whatever story I learned from today. I can share with my kids, share with my wife, and that's really what I get. Enjoying that of this podcast. One, I get free therapy from dads, but two, I learn about people and it's inspiring.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, one of the things I would say is that one of the reasons I take that approach is that, you know, our minds are hugely powerful and we can go all over the place with it. And for me, you know, I really try to stay in the moment as much as possible, and so you know whether it's just my breathing and or whether it's just. You know, it's one of the things I love about golf it forces you to be in the moment. So when I look at you know, I feel like I've always felt like, you know, say to myself, and you know, I see myself as a spiritual person and I believe in God, and I felt like God, there's a God to me. If I were a God, I would show favor to the grateful.
Speaker 1:And I think it has to start at a real core level. And I think it has to start at a real core level and that is just because I mean, at the end of the day, if I can't see, if my brain isn't functioning, if I don't have my health, if I'm not there in that moment, the rest of it, I can't be anything for my daughters, I can't be anything for my wife, I can't be anything for anybody. So for me, the fact that that life is there and I'm up in the morning and I feel my feet on the ground, it means now I can have all those other experiences, you know. And so for me that's why I really, you know, go to that is, keep that as my core, and it also helps me when I deal with challenges and realizing what what life is about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I love that man. So, and I don't know if you do this, but like when you feel that gratitude, like when I'm writing in my journal in the morning, when I I almost I it's subconsciously I find myself smiling without knowing it and it catches me Right.
Speaker 2:It's weird to go through, but it feels cool and I'm addicted to that and I'm I'm a, I'm a creature of habit when discipline I think I may get that from the sports background there's an uncle Rico moment right there everybody. But like, uh, I don't want to miss it. I'm such a habit. I mean, I've done gratitude now for four years every day and if I, if I may, I have to do that before I do anything else. Right, right, right. So we'll bring me inside the, uh, the prior huddle, uh, let me know about, um, your daughters, and then maybe tell me how you and your wife met.
Speaker 1:Well, let me just say this One of the things and I'm going to give you a story, there's a story I share with people, uh, and it sort of sums up my house, it my house, uh, you know, and that is you know, I'm the youngest of six kids, um, and so when you're the youngest, you're forced to learn to uh be in the background and what that means. Uh, because you're you, you know, I came from a pretty boisterous, pretty, you know, my older siblings was no way I was going to take over the room, and so I was in the room and what I learned from you, learn there. You just, you're able to pick up so much so I would say you know that listening, but the you you're able to pick up so much, so I would say you know that, that listening. But the prior household, my wife, once, when we we, when we met, we met in Brooklyn, she had come by a gallery I was running and wanted to volunteer, and that's, and we met, we became friends. We weren't just instantly. Uh, she, she, she was looking for a different style dude than I was at the time. I was an artist that didn't want to try to look like an artist. I didn't want to look like a typical artist, she wanted to look like an artist. But I think I wore down with the fact that I think like an artist. I am a creative. So it's not how you look, it's how you live, how you problem solve, not how you look, it's how you live, how you problem solve, how you think. And so that we met in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1:But once we were together, at one point we were married. At this point she really I think she wanted to leave Brooklyn and go to Jersey and she gave me a job. Spec said I don't know anything about Jersey. I tossed it to the side and I don't know how much longer maybe it was a month or two later, I get a call from the search firm wanting to interview me about a job. And I'm like well, these people called me and they want to interview me for this job. And how do they even know who I? Do? They even know who I am. She's like you remember that time I handed you that job, uh, spec, and you, just you, said you know, you didn't know anything about jersey and tossed it aside.
Speaker 1:Well, I submitted your information and so I went and I interviewed and, um, I went and interviewed and I took that position and that's how I ended up meeting Dale, because we moved to New Jersey. I took on that role and I just say that and to say that you know, I'm in a household of females my wife and two daughters and you know I really believe they are all brilliant and I think leadership for me is recognizing brilliance and helping to position it so that it can be realized and happen, which means understanding is, you know, as a leader in my house, it's not about me being the smartest person in the room. It's about me recognizing, being part of recognizing great ideas and just great thoughts and things that we should put into action. Some of the best things that have happened to us is because I was comfortable enough to listen to my wife Checking that ego Correct and just leaders, period.
Speaker 1:They, they lose sight of you know, lose sight of. You know, when you're surrounded with amazing people, you know that's part of what you, what we all want, right, and we don't pick our kids now, you know, we picked our spouse. So I picked an amazing, smart woman. She's a lawyer, she's brilliant, she's beautiful, smart woman, she's a lawyer, she's brilliant, she's beautiful. Listen. At a certain point I remember she said, hey, we need to buy a house, we need to get out of this apartment.
Speaker 1:At the time. I wasn't thinking about buying a house in that moment, but it made sense to me. I went with it. I won a public art commission which gave us enough money for a down payment. We own that house right now. It's a four-family house, a brownstone in Brooklyn. That was one of the most important moves or just foundations economically for our family, foundations economically for our family. And so I think for a lot of us, especially men, is really recognizing the brilliance in our wives and in our daughters and empowering them and supporting them and recognizing that, you know, just great thought it, it, it really it doesn't care if it comes out of a male or female or whatever. So that's how I try to interface within the, within Love it, Tell me tell me what your daughters are up to.
Speaker 2:What are, what are they? What are they at?
Speaker 1:My oldest daughter graduated last year. My daughter's the exact same age as Dale's kids. My oldest daughter just graduated last year from NYU. She's living in Manhattan. She's working for Essence Publications, essence Magazine, their platform. She graduated with a degree in communications, media and culture. So she's in that media and culture space, loves fashion. Smart girl. Proud of her. My youngest daughter is a sophomore at Georgetown and so, at the very least, they picked two of the most expensive schools they could find. But you know, it's great experiences and and once again, uh, grateful the fact that I'm in a position where they could make those choices and we could say you can do it. Yeah, that's awesome. He's coming back to grateful.
Speaker 2:Does your youngest know what she wants to study?
Speaker 1:She kind of, and in fact she may be transferring out of Georgetown because she's really actually interested in going into the communication sort of space. She's really sort of leaning that way. She's a wonderful creative, so she's actually considering and putting in the paperwork to transfer to Howard. So she likes DC. You know Georgetown is an interesting. She wanted it bad but wants you to be careful what you ask for sometimes Because Georgetown is very sort of penny loafer sort of penny loafer. Um, yeah, it's hard. You know the north, sort of blue blood, northeastern blue blood kind of vibe to it.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, well, you gotta, you gotta find the spot that's best for everybody, you know. So then we become our best version of ourselves. Um, yeah, all right, so I love, um, I, that was awesome. I love love learning about, about the family, but I know I like, I like learning about people when they grew up, and me, obviously, a youngest of six. Um, um, tell me about what was life like growing up for you and the impact that your mom and dad had on you.
Speaker 1:Now that you're a dad, Um, for me it was, you know, growing up, I mean, my, my, my childhood was amazing. Uh, I'm the youngest of six kids, four boys, two girls. Um, it's probably, uh, what, like a 10 year between me and the oldest, 10 years, uh, span between the two, between the oldest and the youngest. Um, it was always something going on in my house. The weird thing is, you know, it was always somebody there. It was always people around my siblings, their friends, and you know, I know a lot of people who they weren't my friends, but it was because it was my brother's or sister's friends, so they were around.
Speaker 1:And my dad, in the early years he was 50 when I was born, so he was real old school, and so it was like the boys had, you know, you cutting grass, you doing the trash. My brothers didn't even get to do sports because they had to go work with him. He was an entrepreneur, he owned an automated car wash. He was the first black man in Detroit to have an automated car wash in the 1950s. And so, my brothers, they didn't get to play sports because, for him, young men needed to know how to work. His father died when he was a little boy. He had to go to work, so he was. So for him, being a man was about providing, and which meant you needed to have work ethic and you needed to. You know he loved sports, but it was for him. It wasn't going to put food on the table. You know, sports hadn't become a thing where you could see industry around it. Yeah, you know. So that was how it was.
Speaker 1:So him passing when I was 12 really was directly connected to my being able to do organized sports. Because if he, you know, maybe I still would have been able to, but I don't know, if he had a business, it could have been the same as my brother's. Yeah, you know which is you, or he would get you a job at a friend of his who had a. But that was his mentality with that. So that's how I, you know. So we you know it was really, and he was didn't spare the rod. I mean he was old school. I mean he'd be arrested in today's world. You know you, you didn't take any shit If you, if you weren't doing what you're supposed to do, you were going to get your. You know, you were going to get a whooping and what it was.
Speaker 1:That's what it was then, and so I shared a room with my brothers. I didn't, I never had my own room. It was six of us and we had. We were living in a four bedroom house. My parents had their room and then two in each, my two sisters and then two boys in each room. That was my life growing up. So I saw the beautiful thing was I got to see life through them. So my older brothers would have been. They was into rock and roll because they were coming of age in the 60s, you know. So I saw, heard their music and all the stuff they were into. So I really was, had a rich childhood and seen lots of different music.
Speaker 1:And you know, from jazz to rock and roll to R&B. You know just all of it, all of it, and so it was really cool. It was really cool growing up in Detroit, was you know that time? You know, because the automobile industry, detroit, had the largest Black homeowning population in America at that time, because not just Black people, black White, have middle-class jobs. Many of them were in factories, but they were able to provide in a way that you don't. It's a little different now.
Speaker 2:Right, it's different. Now, what did your mom do? Did she work too, or did she stay home? She work too or did she stay at home?
Speaker 1:she stayed at home because he was my dad, was very successful in what he was doing. So she, in fact, we even had a nanny at some point. I mean that was this was a guy who never went past the 6th grade, you know, but he, he, he understood business and he understood certain he was. I mean, he flew us, the six of us, to California in 1968. Yeah, this is a black man, and his wife and his six kids. We had to come back because of riots, this riots in 68. So that was you know. So, you know, while we had, at the same time, he was the kind of dude that you, he was going to teach you about participation. So when you work with him, you were going to give money back to him because it costs money to live. Yeah, you had to pay rent, you had to pay electricity, you had to pay. You know, it was always about, you know, surviving. Essentially, you know, teaching you to provide.
Speaker 2:Where do you think he learned that that strong work ethic?
Speaker 1:well, I mean casey, I really think it was a lot of. It was the time that he, you know, the time that he, you know, lived, yeah, uh, because I mean, let me see, I'm born in 62. So he was 50. So he would have been what? 1912. So you know, that was depression. That was stuff that I don't care who you know, that was a time where you know, as a man in America, you had to, you had to step up America, you had to step up. There was no excuses, there was very little room for error and I would say, even at that time, it didn't matter. You know, even whether white, black, it didn't matter.
Speaker 1:That time was, it was a hell of a time and you know what they say. You know the hotter, you know you can bend metal when it's hot, the fire's hot enough, and I think that was just a time in our nation that it was hot. I mean, you know, between, you know just depression, race, class, you just I, I mean the complexity of what was happening at that time. I, I can't imagine it. Be honest with you, I can't wrap my head around what he did to get where he, you know, to get to where he was, you know and like, but so, yeah, so that was my childhood, so it was. You know, you had to be respectful. I had no talent, no talent. No, you didn't take no shit. You gave. I just gave my brother.
Speaker 1:But my brother, he had bought us a 68 mustang convertible. My, with my mom, was backing it out and she backed it into the apple tree and it was like god, this, you know you can't, so he just for him. I guess in his view she wasn't gonna be able to handle this. So he gave it to my oldest brother. But he said to my oldest brother it's one guy lived around the block that he felt was just, you know, no good kind of you know trouble, you know guy who's gonna be in trouble, don't have him in that car.
Speaker 1:And uh, my brother had him in that car and my other brother ratted on him. My brother just ordered me because they wouldn't let him ride in the car with him to go to a picnic. And my father took that car and also um, punched him but and took the car back. He had a car like a week, but that's, that was the house, you know I mean. So he loved the shit out you give you, but you know I'm giving you stuff. I'm gonna put stuff here for you, but I have expectations of how you're going to handle and if you don't, there's consequences. That was our house, that was his tone.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm sorry you lost your pops. We shared that in common, eric. I lost my dad in 2021. December 29th 2021, coming up on the, it'll be what shoot? Five-year anniversary, hard to believe, or four-year anniversary, pardon me, right, right, how did your dad pass Cancer? Cancer, yeah, my dad passed away.
Speaker 2:It was like a long. It was like a paper cut, like I say that kind of sarcastically, but like a long bleed of a rapture of health from dementia Alzheimer's, a rapture of hell from dementia alzheimer's. He fought alkalism to um, uh, kidney issue, kidney failure, diabetes, I mean just like everything. And then he got it kind of like mental, kind of had some mental struggles but, um, at the end it was actually so.
Speaker 2:My dad was big, uh, loved al green, so I played al green right by his bed with him for his like had some like souls, like damn dad. Like because I forgot how much I like Al Green when I was listening to this like damn, some good shit, right, right. And then when I was with my dad, though for his last breath so that was actually in season three I dedicated every episode to him because it was like during COVID and couldn't really do a lot of funerals back then. So I feel like that was a great way to honor my pops. But um, so your dad passes away. Do you think that's the reason why you got to play hoop in sports?
Speaker 1:oh yeah, definitely, definitely. I mean it definitely. Uh, the the thing that he did with my brothers, which was basically put them to work either with him or someone else, um, they, well, wasn't gonna happen at that point and uh, m65 and I'm, I was very athletic and and, uh, you know the sports thing, I could do it as much as I wanted. There was nobody saying, hey, come on, you're gonna come to work with me. That was, that was you know. And I did work with my brother, who, one of my brothers, who became a tradesman wallpaper and painter, and I'd do stuff with him, but it wasn't like Pops, you know the way he did it, the way he did it, the way he did his thing.
Speaker 2:Talk to me about the impact your dad had on you as you got into sports and life and business just from like the mental toughness and talk about how that impacted you.
Speaker 1:Just, really, I think, more than anything else, just the whole accountability thing, you know, just the fact that you know, you knew, you know, just you knew, you had to have a clear thing in your mind around right and wrong or do I go down that path or not? Because if he found out you were going to, you know, and so that sort of becomes wired in, uh for me. Um, you know that that actions have consequences and so really, more than anything else, being thoughtful about the things that I did that I was going to take part in, not that I was an angel, because I was not, but at the same time there was a moral compass and he later became a deacon, I mean, even like little stuff, like you know, sunday, you know, early on Sunday, you know, because I was the youngest, he with boys, he was big on having his boys around him, which meant he went to church. I was going to church. My sister could get out of it by not having a dress and the idea of wearing pants was not an option, and I was like I used to piss me off to no end, cause it was. I never. That wasn't an, that wasn't an option.
Speaker 1:But the cool thing was, you know, my, because he was the age he was when I was born. He his, his niece, some of his nieces and nephews had kids my age. So I was close to them and I'd say, like my cousin, daryl and Punk, I'd say, are they coming, are they going to go? Because I wanted to have them with. I had a company and he basically started their father and their business. Now their mother was his niece. He called her up and it was just crazy. It was like, hey, joanne, it wasn't asking, I'm going to come, pick the boys up, take them to church with me, make me an egg sandwich and some orange juice, and I see you and boom. That's how that conversation went. We get over there and they were dressed for church and everything was there.
Speaker 1:But I mean what I didn't realize at that time the house they were living in. That was the house that my family was in before my father bought the house that I was born into. And so he was he. Was he provided for family opportunities? I mean her husband you know there was a point where he was also involved in the numbers business and their father, my father, started him in his business. Now, did they buy that house? I have no idea. But you realize, you know it was clear. It's something else in life when you see a person that people respect. Yeah, seeing, you know, and I recognize it more now as a man, as a child, I, I, I just thought maybe everybody was just kind of scared, a little scared of him, like I was, you know. But you knew he loved you, but you, you, you had a little healthy, little healthy fear.
Speaker 2:When did you realize? Before he passed? I mean, obviously you were only 12,. But when did you realize, man, my dad's pretty smart businessman?
Speaker 1:That was, I mean, appreciating him was later, because it became complex, the disease. My mother was 15 years younger than him. She's beautiful, was a beautiful woman and their relationship was complex. Beautiful woman and their relationship was complex. We were going to church. There was verbal tension there that I didn't want to see. When he died, just being honest here, casey, when he died, a peace came. I actually embraced it and was happy for it because it just sort of some of the chaos went away. But it wasn't until later that I really understood, I mean in that moment and that's once again understanding and maybe why I'm like I am now about the moment, right, because that moment when you're 10, 11, and there's some that craziness of relationships of a man and a woman that you have no control over as a child, right, you know, and that, so that was there Amongst the layer of it all Is mom, still with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mom is still with us. She'll be 97 in January next month.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:That is a good life. Yeah, she ain't ready to go. She's a trip. Mom talking about grateful. Ready to go, she's a trip. It's like mom talking about grateful. It's like you know. It's like she's trying to get as much, many of them as possible. Mom, you know, just, hey, you know I'm great all things considered. I say, mom, you're 90, you're 96, you've been outlived. There's nobody in our family that has seen the years that you have. That I am aware of, you know. So it just comes with a little bit of you don't hear as good and you know I'm a little out of breath. That's sort of like par for the course. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1:Tell me, where do you think your love of the arts came from? My mom, my mother, was studied art and was in the creative spaces as a when growing up took us you know that trip in California. There's a picture of me or her in front of the Los Angeles County front of their big museum. You know my mom was always taking us to concerts and you know art and you know that sort of stuff. So you know I saw that with her. And then my cousins across the street from us.
Speaker 1:Their father was an artist, he was an illustrator and back in the 60s you know, even 70s there weren't, they didn't have Black people on greeting cards. Hallmark didn't have black folks on greeting cards. Well, my cousin's father saw that and developed a broom designs and basically it was a greeting card company with black people and his wife is set to this day from them creating that business. And that was before Hallmark got smart and did mahogany and put different people on greeting cards. So I saw creativity, I saw that stuff. And then my mom, so it was around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEO and founder of ClearEdge, a company dedicated to transforming the business of talent. Through our three lines of business ClearEdge, marketing, recruiting and Rising that help organizations across the recruitment and HR tech sectors grow their brands and market share while building their teams with excellence and equity. I believe we were one of Casey's very first clients. He helped our sales and account teams really those people on the front lines of building and developing client relationships in so many ways. Here are a few. He helped us unlock the power of curiosity. For me it was a game changer. I was personally learning all about TED-based that's, tell, explain, describe, questioning and that really resonated with me. We also learned about unlocking the power of humility and unlocking the power of vulnerability embrace change to stay positive. He is one of the most positive people I know. He believes that optimism, resilience and a sense of humor can go a long way in helping people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
Speaker 3:And I agree Casey's book Win the Relationship, not the Deal. It is a must read. Listen. Whether you're looking for coaching and training or a powerful speaker or keynote, casey is one of the people I recommend when talking to companies. The end result for us, at least as one of Casey's clients. Our own clients would literally commend our approach over all other companies, from the way we were prepared in advance of a call to how we drove meetings, to how we follow up. It sounds really basic, I know, but let me tell you it is a standout approach that led to stronger relationships. I encourage you to learn more by going to CaseyJCoxcom. You have nothing to lose by having a conversation and a lot to gain. Now let's get back to Casey's podcast, the quarterback dad cast.
Speaker 2:When did you know you had a chance to play hoop in college?
Speaker 1:Um, well, I was, um, I probably was six, I was definitely over six, two and L and junior high school. I mean I was ninth grade. I was six, four, six, five, pretty much what I'm six, five, that sort of topped out there. But I enjoyed it. I love playing and when I was in middle school I just was able to dominate the people I played with and it was great because I was not a good academic student, I think I probably dyslexic I was never diagnosed but I was held back in the second grade and didn't have a lot of confidence.
Speaker 1:And then all of a sudden, that heightened athleticism. You know, I was realized. I, you know, was better than majority of the people that I was around. I was bigger than them and it was empowering. Wow, it was like something I was good at and you know that.
Speaker 1:I tell people. It's funny, I say you know that. I tell people it's funny, I say you know, when you find something that can give you belief in yourself because before that, you know I was I like to have been held back in a gray. Uh, there was a lot of self-doubt, um, until then. And all of a sudden I went to being the man at something, from being a person who was trying to be a shrinking violet my God, this is dispelling me, because I was going to misspell words I'm a terrible speller that was traumatizing. I was like, oh, words from Terrell Prespeller, you know, and it was like that was traumatizing, like, ah, shit, go line up. I was like it felt like a firing squad to me. I'll be honest with you, you know and this is elementary, eric, you know what I mean that felt like.
Speaker 1:But, boy, when I finally but you know, what's funny is that now I did have art in and I love drawing and stuff, but I didn't it didn't, you know? I did it, but it didn't dawn on me or hit me that it could be something that I could make a life out of. It was something I enjoyed doing. And my niece found my. When we saw our house she found my old elementary school report card. It was all it was D's and it was. It was totally. It was so underwhelming, casey, but I had A in art every semester. She said, look, okay, eric, you know, you gotta, you know you, you good in art even back then. But but you don't, you know, I didn't you, you know, I didn't think about it like that then I hate to poke fun at our school system, but isn't that that's a?
Speaker 2:that's such a miss as our school systems? It's like if, if someone's doing that good art like, don't make him study chemistry, he's never going to use it like I, I was, I you know the phrase in the world's run by c students. There's something, something to say about that. Like I was a three point guy, 3.2 in high school, never really applied myself, I just didn't. There's something interested me. And then I got into college. I like business classes, I like um, some marketing, right, right, like what. What taught me life skills was sports and going through an injury and learning the power of vulnerability. Learning humble enough to ask questions, being curious, like emotional intelligence, is something that I feel like our school systems are lacking to teach.
Speaker 1:I had to figure out how to be successful at something and to get through it and there was nothing, it was very little in the system to help with that.
Speaker 1:And I mean bottom line is, you know, I guess that's the beginning of sort of complex problem solving and one doesn't even realize it.
Speaker 1:You know, I mean that was, what was ironic about that was that I and I had to figure out Casey, I mean, you know, whatever I had to do, whatever I had to do, and whether that was a combination of occasionally cheating, if I had to, if I had, you know, staying up later and looking at it and writing it down, or doing whatever I had to do to try to, you know, to get over whatever hump there was, because at a certain point, you know. So that was crazy, because when I think now, you know, you know, there's so much, there's so much more sophisticated around understanding how children learn and positioning them to flourish, that did not exist at all. And I mean it was like one I don't know, it wasn't me I'm like, okay, second grade, I'm with my class and the next year, you know, oh, you're going to be in that second grade class with these other kids and all my friends were in another class. Yeah, I can't, that would have been hard.
Speaker 1:Oh no, it was, it was, it was, it was brother, if it wasn't for the blessing of 6'5 and ball and to find a space that I could be, find that self-worth and belief. And then I walked through that door and I wasn't looking back, bro, yeah, I was not looking. I was like you know what they say, fake it till you make it, you know, you know, uh, the level of insecurity was there. You couldn't, you know, didn't what they say? Don't let them see. You sweat and you figure it out and eventually you get the swagger, you know, and as you get older, there's some imposter syndrome is there? But you learn. Really, everybody has their blinds, everybody has their thing.
Speaker 2:Everybody.
Speaker 1:Everybody and the people who are at least for me. I figured out to reach my zenith, I had to be comfortable and own my shortcomings, and that empowered me to be just now. You know. Uh, I wasn't hiding something that was a shame of. A lot of people don't reach where they could go in life because they're hiding something that they're ashamed of you, uh, funny, kind of ironic or funny story about that.
Speaker 2:So I I speak also at like company events and I didn't plan to do this, but it like it just kind of happened. In this entrepreneurial journey that I'm on, and one of the presentations I give, I have a slide that I convince people don't fake it till you make it. I convince people to lean in on your authenticity and realize that we all are flawed. I don't care how successful people are, they still got gaps.
Speaker 2:And right before I went on, this head of marketing was talking to the team. There's like 200 people in the room and he said you guys got to fake it till you make it. And I'm like, oh man, I'm about to tell these people the exact opposite. And so I always all I could think about is I'm going to lean into this. And so I got up on stage and I said, hey, before we get started no-transcript I said, hey, I just want to apologize to you because I'm going to teach your team to do the exact opposite of what you just told me to do it. I didn't know you. In like 35 minutes, when I have a slide that says the exact opposite, I go. We can agree, disagree. But I just didn't want to make that and everybody was laughing but I was like it was my own way to like kind of lean into the vulnerability.
Speaker 1:I totally agree with you, and. But I would just say, for me, I think part of it is, and one thing I learned with art is that there's certain things that you got to start believing in yourself, even when you may not, in your true heart, believe that you should and, and and. That is when I say that that's sort of where I'm, you know, because it was. I mean, you know, when you have, when you are on the other side of the of the odds, and you know you began to. You know and and and and. Really that I don't like the term. You write that. Think it till you make it, but it really is. I don't like that term, you're right, think it till you make it, but it really is.
Speaker 1:The people believe that. The people is that we all, in our minds, visualize an outcome for ourselves, and there are a lot of people who they're, you know. They call it well, I'm going to be real, I'm going to keep. You know I'm going to be. I'm a realist, I'm a. This I'm a. You know I'm so, and so the so to me, and I use the analogy of driving down the highway. So the real thing is that you really just going to concentrate on the fact that, oh my, that it could be an accident at any moment. It could be catastrophic, catastrophic. So I'm going to keep that in the front of my mind. You're going to go crazy. Yeah, you're going to go crazy, you know.
Speaker 1:And so for me it's sort of like, you know, I've learned how to drive. I know how to drive, I trust I know my instincts. I'm going to track my lanes, I'm thinking. I'm in my mind already thinking about the enjoyment I'm going to have in reaching my destination, and that's what I mean. So in that moment, I mean in that moment, I'm in. The reality is I'm in the car. Well, you know, I'm whatever hours from LA, you know, going cross country, but in my head, you know I am going to. I'm going to put the dream in my head, I'm going to put what I want to see, and so for some people, they be what that does. Does that's not the. You're an optimist. That's not real. But at the, at the end of the day, why am I walking around with a nightmare in my head.
Speaker 2:I'm a naive optimist, eric. Yeah, I mean I, I'm almost if, like, if Seattle was the pessimism and we're looking at like a a line of you know, like a timeline of Seattle's pessimism, we'll call, you know, chicago the end of optimism. I'm like in the Bahamas, that far East, that naive of optimism, and I always tell myself someone's going to do it. Why not me Right? Right and so, yeah, I love. And so, if people can't see me, if you're not watching this on YouTube, behind me there's a believe sign.
Speaker 1:Right, I got a Ted.
Speaker 2:Lasso theme. But when I was 41, eric, I had a mentor. His name is John Kaplan. Shout out to Kaplan. He asked us the question, or asked me a question Do you believe what you do matters? And a simple question. But I don't think a lot of people spend time thinking about it. And so that I can my executive coaching work, I work with sales teams and leaders. I always make sure they believe like you got to. If you don't believe in yourself, you're already going to lose.
Speaker 1:Well, when I went to school in St Mary's a referee and I'm going to get this wrong but they had a thing on the locker room area and it said or right, there's something like what the mind can believe you can achieve, or something.
Speaker 1:It was that kind of statement and that always stuck with me and just in terms of you know, I, I'm, I've got to be comfortable with what visualizing the outcome I want, and there's no reason for me to compromise how grand or just how spectacular, I choose to see that in vivid terms, and that was that's huge. My daughters, you know, and that mine is powerful, and you know, and we train ourselves to under, you know, let me think of the worst situation and then it only gets better, whatever happens. In the meanwhile, you just give yourself all that anxiety and just unnecessary negativity around an outcome that we don't control, you know. So. You know. So for me, you know, I'm really, you know that that going, giving it that thought that way, it's just the only way to do it. So that was part of the survival you know is is really uh, and you know, and my mom get a lot of that from her.
Speaker 2:That's cool always as you and your wife were raising your daughters um, what tell me about, like the, the top two or three values that were like must-haves for your family, that you were instilled in them?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I'm going to just say this, you know, and I and I just going to sound corny, but one thing I didn't share with you is that, a year before our oldest daughter was born, we had a son who was stillborn. My wife was 36 weeks pregnant, or I mean she was full term. I mean, mean, out of my three children, him being first, um, uh, he was the only one she had to deliver vaginally. Um, um, that was in, but he was expired when he was born and uh, so for me it it's gratitude, bro.
Speaker 1:Let me just say my life goes back to that, because my first child had, when I held him there was, the life had gone from him and I prayed for daughters at that point and I kicked a lot of trees and you know, and I really my, my, my, my relationship with God changed, you know, cause it got complicated when I saw some of the things of with my father and mother's relationship, and he was a deacon, I had to go to church yet, but he argued with her and and you know, at the end of the day I felt like, um, god brought me back into seeing, okay, okay, it's me. And you, brother, yeah, this ain't you? That moment I couldn't look at anybody but me in my relationship and what I needed spiritually in that moment and I realized he was just a man dealing the same way I'm trying to deal in my life and it was a lot of imperfections and you know it was complex and God only knows what, but he did the best he could with what he had and now it was on me to do the best I could in my family and so that whole thing, so for me, value-wise, it's appreciation. You know it was my. I mean let me just say this you know, noah, our son, he was doing that. March of his due date was like March 25th.
Speaker 1:My daughter, my oldest daughter, her due date was March 24th, exactly a year later, wow. And so when my wife was pregnant, they were not going to let her be pregnant on the day that we, because he was born March 17th, or she gave birth to him on March 17th, and the doctors were like you're not going to be pregnant on March 17th, or she gave birth to him on March 17th and the doctors were like you're not going to be pregnant on March 17th. And then, you know, you realize in those moments the power of the mind. They were like you can't. The anxiety level you will have on those anniversaries with that little girl in you is not. We just don't recommend that. So they induced her to the C-section and my daughter was born on March 12th.
Speaker 2:March 12th Mm-hmm, that's my birthday. Yep, okay, there we go. I just got goosebumps man, that tripped me out right there.
Speaker 1:Yep, so that's how that got. So to me, my, you know, for me it's that, that is. That was a moment in my life where I, where it was like I realized eric, you're gonna, you're either gonna grow through this or is you, or it's going to just take you out, because you just it's's just you know emotionally and just you know, because there is no answer.
Speaker 2:There's no answer.
Speaker 1:It's no sense there's none. No one should have to go through that. The fragility of life. You now that balance has been tipped. That balance has been tipped. That sort of invincible guy who could dunk on people and you know what I mean who could 6'5 and intimidate, you know in shape. Nah, dude, you ain't got it. You don't control shit, and that was that, that was that moment, and you need to have a relationship with God. You need some stuff.
Speaker 2:Are you more spiritual than religious?
Speaker 1:I would say so, me too. You know I would say so, but I knew in that moment I needed something bigger than me. I needed you know the purpose and you know, at the end of the day, I mean, you know why.
Speaker 2:Well, I think I like, I mean I get you know, I have a, I have a son in college, I have a daughter, like I mentioned daughter, who's a junior and she has, she has goals to play hoop past high school and hope that happens If it doesn't again. And I just I have to constantly remind myself like I I'll talk to God or I'll talk to my dad and have him like just please, let me help me remind her that it's not my journey, it is not my journey and whatever she decides to do, I'm going to be happy with it. She, she might come home tonight and say, dad, I'm done playing basketball Now would I be shocked, pissed, frustrated, a hundred percent. I'd be like, are you no? Oh, hell no. But if she did, and I'd have to be okay with it and try to find a reason why, and so I just like, those are things like I feel like.
Speaker 2:Or if I'm not my best, if I feel like I'm, my impatience comes out, or you know, I've learned to like hey, I can either be a complete asshole, or I can go to my wife and say you know what? I was not my best, I'm sorry, and I'll go tell my. And then I usually, when I'm not my best, I try to like tell my kids and say, let me give you an example where dad was a complete fricking tool, Cause I'm messed up, we're all messed up, and like my wife's father got, shout out to Bruce. He always says everybody's kind of right on that edge of being just a complete dipshit. But we got, how do you kind of lean just a little bit on that tightrope where you don't fall but you're just embrace it?
Speaker 1:They know that we're all there, but like lean a little bit that way and but yeah, I think like the power of prayer is real, yeah, Well, for me, for me, it really is about being grateful, it really is about, you know, it's it's so minute in comparison to issues that people are really dealing with. You know, and that was where you know, like, just some of the challenges and even those challenges you know, for me. And at that time, I know, when I went through that with a friend of mine, god rest his soul, was dealing with brain cancer and you know, he just said, at a certain point, he said, eric, I know, when I went through that with a friend of mine, god rest his soul, was dealing with brain cancer, and you know, he just said, at a certain point, he said, you know, I used to say why me, why me? And at a certain point he said why not me? And you realize, and you know, when I said why me in a certain point, the why not was that my role was to experience that, to share with other people, cause I'm the kind of person I, I'm fun, I'm comfortable sharing like that. And so the number of people that I talked to, I mean I never forget, you know I talked to when I, at certain points, were going through that it was, it was weird. In many instances it were people who had gone through similar stuff, who needed to hear what I was saying.
Speaker 1:But it's total random that I'm where this person is in this moment.
Speaker 1:In that moment.
Speaker 1:His answer why not me? You understood the why, you know, because you can't and I'll call it minister to someone, or you can't share with someone experiences that you haven't had, and so you know, certain things are put in our path and now, all of a sudden, we're experiencing, it becomes part of our, you know, database or whatever, of experiences. So now, in sharing and being human with another human being, I'm sharing my experiences and call it randomness, or call it God or call it divine. But all of a sudden I'm in a pool with somebody halfway across the world talking about something that me and my wife went through and that couple just went through. That it's not random, and what I'm saying to them, I'm looking at them, sort of you know, you know healing, with part of those words and not, and in that that is so for me, that experience shaped me, cause I was married and my beautiful wife and she's pregnant, I, you know I've got my boy and you know my son up in there, you know, and, and you know, I'm, you know hey.
Speaker 1:I'm like dad, you know. You know my son up in there, you know, and you know I'm. You know, hey, I'm like dad. You know, I'm former ball player, you know, probably going to be a big boy. You know I'm. You know I'm thinking, you know all that stuff and then it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden the rug is totally pulled and then in that moment, you got to find grace in that and, and you know uh, to survive it and and recognize that it was a blessing, that you know that experience shaped me and made me a better father husband everything you know and it was either that was put there for me to grow through or or you know, and so, being grateful, uh helped me to survive that and so I I've chosen that and I try to instill that in my girls and and our family.
Speaker 2:That's powerful man. I did not know that. So I um rest in peace, know wherever you're at. But it's a powerful story and I hope that there's a mom or dad listening that knows that you can get through those challenging times. And there's a great quote that I've found recently that she paid in the last three months, that I've shared with my kids a lot and I share it with myself when I need it, and it says tough times don't last, but tough people do. And I just love it because I think sometimes we need stories in life as humans. We need stories to connect to, to be like, okay, wait a minute, not. Either I can sit here, keep my head down on the ground and just like let depression take over me, or I can ask for help, reach out, listen to a podcast, ask a friend for help, go read a book, take a walk. I mean, do something other than just, but don't let the start stop us from not doing something. You got that right. You know how did Noah's passing impact your girls.
Speaker 1:They really didn't. You know it's funny, they really didn't know because it happened. I mean, it happened and then when they got here we didn't. You know, it's recent. What's interesting is so we just sold our house in West Orange on November 18.
Speaker 1:And so my daughter's my oldest daughter, was there and I'm going through stuff and it is a wooden box that we put in our stuff and that wooden box was my, it was a memory box and in that box is his ashes. In that box was his little hat, the little cap they give you, because we got all that His blanket, it's tiny stuff and it was along with other members, loved ones, obituaries, and so she had never seen that stuff and so I said I showed her what it was. I thought it it's young women and it was like what do you do with that? Because it could scare them, it could freak them out in terms of being mothers eventually. But I'm like you know what they need to know it because, who knows God, I wish they don't experience something like that, because I didn't know until you know that happened that my mother had lost children. You know that it was that, in terms of you know if the children had survived that passed, I wouldn't be here. Probably, you know, they would have probably stopped much sooner, considering I'm number six was the last, and so just sharing that, and it was a letter in there that my wife had wrote and wrote journaling when she was pregnant, and my daughter's reading it, you know, and you know it's just daily stuff. It wasn't the after that happened, this was during the moment, um, and so you know she starts, you know she's shed a few tears and just so though that. So it's really now, as they get older, uh, that those things are coming into play. You know, know, because I really want them to understand. You know they dramatic and I don't know.
Speaker 1:You know, for me this is crazy, the part of the strife, what I saw my parents go through, that 12 year old survival was I learned to become detached and so it was weird.
Speaker 1:For a long time I was, you know, I was a very loving person, and then when people I love got emotional and started crying and stuff, I would detach and became colder and just recognizing that and trying not to be that person and be there for them, because I'm realizing, like my daughters, when they get upset and it doesn't work out, they, they gotta cry, they want to cry and be emotional, and I'm like, oh shit, you know, it just drives me crazy, cause I'm like it's not going to do anything.
Speaker 1:And then I finally realized you know what my version of that is I, I, I, I, you know, I do that, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm damn fuck, I do that, I kick myself, I'm mad at myself for letting that happen, and that's how I vent and work my way through it. For them it's a cry, and once I started seeing that and so for me it was like how do you grow through it? Because that's all I once again going through the Noah thing. That's the only way I know to deal with things that seem incomprehensible. You know, emotionally is to, is to, is to find the gratitude and the growth in it. Why, what, what's in this that can make me better?
Speaker 2:I think you learned empathy through that story too, right, right. Well, man, we've talked about a lot. I've learned a lot about you. I feel like I could talk to you for two more hours, but I want to be sensitive to my listeners and but I'm grateful Dale introduced this. If, if people um well, how about this? Before, before I go to the next question, if you were to summarize what we talked about, eric, that people can take from our conversation you know we talked about a lot, but if you could just summarize it, maybe like three actionable words or two actionable words that we can give people like hey, think about these themes for your own life, for your own role as a dad. Tell me what comes to mind that dads can take from our conversation to be a better leader or quarterback of their home.
Speaker 1:I think the key for us as men is vulnerability. I think that we are, you know, are training to control emotion and compartmentalize. I think we can easily miss a lot, you know, and I think allowing ourselves to, to be, to be authentic, you know, you know, you know to understand masculinity is not about you know. You know, you know I can overpower and you know I'm not phased. You know it's about, you know it's about, it's about being a leader, and sometimes that leadership is being a spiritual leader, in in, you know, uh, in like, you know, like you say, in empathy or forgiveness, or, you know, or love, you know. And so to me, in order to be those things, those things don't reconcile with a kind of stubborn masculinity that can happen with us as men.
Speaker 2:I see it and that's that's my that's. When I started this podcast nearly going on years, now, year six it's it was to help dads embrace vulnerability, curiosity and humility, which I think are life's superpowers and many of us leave dormant in our body, and I work on those skills every single day. I'm not, I'm far from perfect at them. I'm a curiosity psycho Like I'm obsessed with curiosity, even like I got on Snapchat this year, which I never thought I would do in my life, but I got it because I'm realizing that, as caught with college and high school kids there, they will snap me back, messaging versus text me. So you know my daughter, my son's girlfriend, her name, charlie, shout out Charlie. Charlie sent me a snap one day with a picture of a magazine and I had the word curious and she circled it and sent it to me.
Speaker 1:So I would say you said three, so it's vulnerability, authenticity to me is so critical. It's everything. And then you know. Lastly, I think that you know for us as dad, and for men, I think it's self-care, I mean it's, it's. There is an aspect to you know putting the oxygen mask on yourself. Yeah, so you can help other people. I think we, you know you don't need to understand when that, what that really means for us. Uh, so you know for me to be there, you know there's certain things I gotta do you know love that present like and so being in the moment yeah, I mean our kids are watching.
Speaker 2:That's one thing I've learned. You know, like exercise is a perfect one of self-care, like we, where we exercise in our family and it's the most important thing we do to start the day, all right. Well, my exercises change over the years.
Speaker 1:I'm not doing like freaking powerlifting anymore, but like I'm still moving like I knew a guy and I know this is gonna sound crazy and then I'm gonna let you go, uh, keep it. But uh, and I'm a friend of my, friend of me and my wife, they were together and his father, we were talking. He was like you know, my daughter knows she ain't going to bring no boys home, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was like. I looked at him, I was like dude. I said my daughters, I'm not trying to send them to away games.
Speaker 1:I'm like really, I said so you send your daughter over to a young man's house so you can feel better about not seeing her with a young man in your house. I'm like guy, so if your daughter needs help, she's in somebody else's house. I'm like dude, you gotta and part of that, I think, is part of that is tied into some of the I don't know weird warped aspects of masculinity and who we are as men. My little girl, she can't be having sex with somebody. She can't. Brother, you gotta snap out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah eventually exactly, and so I want them to be there. I, I want. So that was one of the things for us was we wanted our daughters to be comfortable, uh bringing their friends home, uh having, which meant we probably tolerated some things that other people might not, but we felt like we'd rather have them close to us. Same now, that's what I agree doing things that other people like well, you let her do that, you let them, yeah, because they're gonna do it anyway. It's gonna be somewhere else, yeah, where I'm not in a position to be there for. So I'll end on that one.
Speaker 2:No, I love it. That's good, it's great, great advice. If people want to connect with you, they want to learn more about if you've been, if you've inspired them. They want to learn about any of the work you're doing, maybe the art you have, I'm not sure if you're on any social media. If there's ways we can.
Speaker 1:I'm on Instagram and I'm on LinkedIn and I'm on Facebook. I'm not a TikToker, but I'm on the other three that I just named.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll get that. When we're done recording, I'll make sure it's tagged in the show notes so people can check out this episode's either there or you can connect with you that way, eric, it's now time to go, and I say the lightning round where I go completely random. This is where I show you, show you the negative hits of taking too many hits in college not bong hits, but football hits. And my job is to ask these. Well, your job is to answer these questions as quickly as you can. My job is to try to get a giggle out of you. Okay, are you ready? I'm ready. Okay, true or false? The last time you played one-on-one with Dale, he beat you 21-0.
Speaker 1:He beat me on the golf course. You can't get me to play basketball. I'm trying to walk into my 80s Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Who would win in a speed walk racing? You or Dale? Probably him. Okay, there you go, dale. Oh boy, tell me the last book you read.
Speaker 1:Oh God, that's now. I am a. Let me see, I think I had like the Steve Jobs book or something like that. Nothing recent I'm more of, or something like that. Okay, nothing recent, I'm more of a periodical guy.
Speaker 2:Okay, favorite movie of all time is oh man, Favorite movie of all time.
Speaker 1:I'm a Star Wars guy. Star Wars, I like stupid John Wick action movies, the Equalizer. They would never win an award. But I'm going to tell you no, I take that the first Gladiator was dope. I love the first Gladiator.
Speaker 2:If you were to meet any artist in the world, who would you meet?
Speaker 1:Oh wow, meet any artists, let me see. I would love to meet Romare Bearden, my hero, al Loving my friend's father. I met him, man. You know he was life changing for me. So if I could go back and be with anybody, I'd go back and hang out with him some more.
Speaker 2:Okay, if I was to go on your phone, what would be the one song played that would surprise your daughters?
Speaker 1:Creep by Radiohead.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right. If I came to your house for dinner tonight, tell me what we'd have.
Speaker 1:For me a chicken and salad Healthy good protein.
Speaker 2:If you were to go on vacation right now, just you and your wife, no kids, where are we going?
Speaker 1:Oh, my wife is going to be somewhere where ocean, warm water, beach, wherever that is in the world, that's her, where she is.
Speaker 2:Okay, if there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title.
Speaker 1:Wow, cause we trying to write a book right now. I have no idea Title. I would just say believe you know, overcome. My story is about finding belief in yourself.
Speaker 2:Love it. Okay, now belief and overcome. I love that title, it's, it's. I've been telling my friends about it. We're going to bookstores, but it's sold out. I go to Amazon I can't get it online. I go to Barnes and Noble it's out. I go to the airport it's gone. So Hollywood's found out about this, eric. They're going to make a movie and you are now the casting director. I need to know who's going to star Eric Pryor in this critically acclaimed, hit new movie.
Speaker 1:Oh, god, who? Let me see who could do it maybe. Uh, all those actors are too damn short man, I just gotta be it. You know, I would say like a michael b jordan or somebody, or, but they all little dudes, man, who's? Who's a tall? Uh, uh, the rock. Maybe we could the rock duane johnson maybe, maybe, maybe maybe okay.
Speaker 2:And then last question tell me two words that would describe your wife. Uh, smart and beautiful. Smart and beautiful, love it I. I tend to laugh at my own silly, weird, random jokes that make no sense, but I enjoy lightning round. It's always fun to make people think about things they haven't thought about in a while. But lightning round's over, uh, it's been an honor talking to you now. Your story is. That's why I love going in without a script. I have a script in my head but I don't have a script. I don't like sending people a script because I think it takes away from the curiosity of the conversation.
Speaker 2:But you've shared so much stuff that made me think. I hope it made people think. Like I said, I have a full page of notes, everybody at home. I hope you do too. If this episode has touched you, if you think of there's someone out there, everybody at home, that you think could gain from Eric's wisdom you you think could have gained from from Eric's wisdom you share with us, please text the episode to him, share it to him. And if you've not taken time to leave this review on either Apple or Spotify or wherever you consume your podcast, please do that. It's like the best gift. It'll help keep us going. I hope that one day, you know, maybe my son will take this over from me when I'm like 85 and assist living facility he's. He's taken over as the host of quarterback dad cash. You never know. But I appreciate, eric. It's great spending time with you and hopefully we'll. We'll be in the same foursome in the soul cup one year. Perfect, I love it.
Speaker 1:I'm there. Awesome, take it easy.