Your Opinion Doesn’t Matter Podcast
Welcome to YODM Podcast, your gateway to engaging conversations and thought-provoking debates. With every episode, we bring you a fresh perspective on a wide range of intriguing topics. Join our panel of passionate debaters as we explore the issues that matter most to you. From relationships and societal dilemmas to personal growth and pop culture, our discussions are designed to inspire curiosity, spark dialogue, and encourage you to see the world from different angles. Tune in for entertaining and enlightening conversations that leave you pondering, questioning, and wanting more. Join the YODM community, share your thoughts, and let the debates begin!
Your Opinion Doesn’t Matter Podcast
Growing Beyond the Game: How Rickey Rivers Shaped NYC Basketball Culture
Rickey Rivers' basketball journey weaves through the hallways of Erasmus Hall High School to pioneering youth basketball tournaments that transformed NYC's basketball culture. This candid conversation reveals the making of a Brooklyn basketball legend whose impact extends far beyond the scoreboard.
At the heart of Rivers' story is the powerful influence of coach Gil Reynolds, whose tough-love approach included unforgettable moments like slapping players across the face during timeouts and demanding "elbows high" basketball. These formative experiences shaped not only Rivers' game—where he averaged 30 points his senior year—but his understanding of discipline and excellence that would define his later work.
Rivers shares the remarkable sacrifices he made as a young father while pursuing college basketball, commuting hours daily from Brooklyn to New Rochelle for Iona College while raising two children with his wife. Despite the challenges, Rivers transformed these experiences into fuel for his true calling: creating opportunities for young athletes through FunSport tournaments.
The conversation travels through the evolution of Rivers' programs from middle school tournaments at Madison Square Garden to high school showcases featuring future NBA stars like Kemba Walker. His innovative approach—giving players personalized posters that many still treasure decades later—shows how small gestures can leave lasting impressions on young lives.
Today, as a financial literacy teacher and high school coach, Rivers continues his impact while celebrating his greatest achievement: raising two successful daughters while maintaining a 33-year marriage. His story reminds us that basketball excellence isn't just measured in points scored, but in lives touched and communities strengthened.
Ready to debate basketball legends or life lessons? Grab your copy of the Your Opinion Doesn't Matter game at www.yodm.com and see if you can match wits with your family and friends just like Rivers does with his accomplished daughters.
Welcome. Welcome to the your Opinion Doesn't Matter podcast. I am the host, Mr Lamont, and I'm here with a good friend of mine. Yes, indeed, Mr Ricky Rivers. Thumbs up.
Speaker 2:Thank you, man, Thank you for having me Champ.
Speaker 1:How are you doing, man?
Speaker 2:I'm good man. It's a good Sunday, good weather outside, Birthday is just a week away, so I'm getting excited for all of those things, man. And today is like the PSAL Catholic event that I'm looking forward to go see, and some guys kids I know that I've watched and developed and seen, so I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right. You're hoping the PSAL team can win.
Speaker 2:Yo, I don't want to be on record for that, but I'm cheering for them kind of because there's some kids in the Catholic school that I'm good with too, but there's more kids on that public school roster that I'm comfortable with.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, right.
Speaker 2:I just want to see the young men go out and play at their best ability today, Right right, right, Like a dollar and a dream.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. Just hope for whoever win. Win. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:No, doubt, no doubt, man. But I am going to say I got a Jeff, I want to see those cats do well.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, right. I've seen a couple, actually the coach I think it's the head coach. He used to play for boys and girls.
Speaker 2:Yep. He played for boys and girls and them. Him and Selden both played at West Virginia.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Selden.
Speaker 2:Oh, he played at West Virginia with Selden. He played at West Virginia, yep, so they may have been a few years apart, but they both they come back and develop that program the way they've done. I've watched them kind of like do it from the ground up and been there in front seat, so I got a different connection to that program.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, nice nice. Let's get into our history, man.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, let's do that, let's get into our history.
Speaker 1:You know how long were we when we met.
Speaker 2:So you know what I don't know exactly exactly the year, but I know it's been a long time it's like from the kind of like the beginning stages of me running this program. I've started fun sport back in 1999 officially, but I think I started doing the programs back in 98 and I've seen a lot of faces, so a date but I know it's been a while, I know it was way before the grades, I know that right, right, right, right now I'm saying when we met?
Speaker 1:Yes, we met in high school, oh, yes, in E-Hall.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I think he was talking about playing the program yes in high school, Correct, yeah we're going to get into when your teams in the program used to beat up on my teams, but we talk about when we met. Yeah, I, we was juniors. Well, yeah, you graduated.
Speaker 2:I graduated in 1990.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we both graduated in 1990.
Speaker 2:I was in the class of 1990 at Erasmus, which is the toughest class in the city right, right, right.
Speaker 1:Who else was there?
Speaker 2:So you know, the better team that we had was when we we were the year before that, which was 89. We had guys, we were. We made the playoffs that year. Uh, the year that I came out, so I had brent donation, that was on a team with me. Uh, desmond ira gibbs clive, all those guys, those, those was my god, what about fish?
Speaker 2:fish was the year before that man fish, fish didn't play as much you know fish. Jokingly, he said I always joke when he's a run around for sgo. Remember fish was for president of student government right right right, fish was much slimmer. Man Fish was a goldfish at that time. Now you're a big boy, now you're a big whale.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And what Paul Cruz. He was this window shopper, paul.
Speaker 2:Cruz was my guy man. He'd come up there with the dogs and everything man. He had about four pit bulls. They was all the same height.
Speaker 1:Right right, right right, right, dope, dope.
Speaker 2:But those is my guys, man Paul Cruz, the granddaddy Shout him out.
Speaker 1:Yes, facts, facts Shout out to the Cruz brothers, my guys man. They've been ducking to come along the show man They've been ducking. Oh man, that guy it was probably Norris man and Norris be the Marky, Marky, Marky.
Speaker 2:Marky's the head honcho for them. Yeah, Marky, my fault.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about how we met right. We met at a basketball program called Vanguard.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, that is true, yeah.
Speaker 1:And our coach was Gil Reynolds man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, gil, just a story of how I met Gil. Gil was very, very, I want to say, very impactful to my life man, mr Bunyan, who was our coach at Erasmus during a time where I wasn't playing that much because I was doing things I probably shouldn't have. He said, well, you need to go down to this program and try out. He sent me down to A Philip Randolph to try out for Vanguard and I went down there and Gil was just like a coach that I hadn't seen before.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:How he put the thing together, his intensity, everything that he did from things that he was talking about during it. And there was other players out there and I think that was probably one of my first, I would say, serious tryouts going to go play for another team Right, I only played for my school team and some local teams to that point. But I just always liked how he held it down. He was a general, he was a sergeant and he kind of like seen something in me that I ain't seen in myself at that tryout for the first time, man. So I had a connection with Gil and Gil as we talk, you know that Gil was very much a part of who I became today.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right Gil, he's a special guy, man.
Speaker 2:Special guy.
Speaker 1:Special guy man. I mean, I remember the practices that we used to have, man, he would make you not like your friends kid. Because, like forget about it, you're not supposed to be getting hit with a screen. He's like put them elbows out.
Speaker 2:Put those elbows out, go with the elbows high. Yeah, elbows high, elbows high.
Speaker 1:Yo, he was no joke man.
Speaker 2:There was no joke.
Speaker 1:I remember a time Let me see if you remember. I know you got plenty of stories. I remember a time we was playing in Gaucho's Rumble Classic. We was down. This was our junior year, both was our junior year and we was down at half by like 12 or 15. So we go into the locker room. So the locker room was shaped like a U. So we all go into the locker room. So the locker room is shaped like a U. So we all go into the U right, and it's probably like 10 of us or something like that. And assistant coach came in first. What was his name? Tony Noel. Tony Noel, how he doing.
Speaker 2:Tony's doing good man. He works down in New Jersey right now, so I think he's living in New Jersey right now.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, cool. When you speak to him, tell him I said he probably remember me.
Speaker 2:I wasn't like that on that squad.
Speaker 1:So we sitting in the halftime down by 12, and Tony comes in. He's just talking to us like yeah, y'all, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Five minutes later, gil come in, he closed the door behind him and he said what the fuck y'all doing, what y'all doing, what y'all doing. And then he said in my he's just he's blocking the door. He says I'll turn this light off and I'll fuck all of y'all up.
Speaker 2:You remember? I probably don't remember that, but I'm not surprised though, because there's so many of those stories, he had said.
Speaker 1:He says I'll surprised though, because there's so many of those stories you know. He had said he says I'll fuck you up and you get your father I'll fuck him up too.
Speaker 2:I said whoa shucks man. And are you okay? I ain't gonna lie, I don't think I know my father couldn't beat him.
Speaker 1:For sure I think he's kicking a majority of us. At that time, fathers asked me to have to jump him you know what I mean? Yeah, but he was. He was a good. He was a good guy. What kind of stories that you remember? I heard a story with you.
Speaker 2:Uh, so it's so many, so gil, kind of like, took me under his wing right. So the one story that always lights up with me is because you said we playing in the golden hoops, we playing at the gauchos gym, uh, we're playing against. I forgot the the aim high, we're playing against aim high. It was a close, close game. James Brickhouse, I remember, was on the other side, close game, tight game down the stretch right and Chris Sky is maybe I shouldn't have said his name, but he, I guess he must have missed a rebound or something like that.
Speaker 2:Something happened that Chris did and that wasn't like. Chris was a big strong guy.
Speaker 2:He didn't do something right On our team, the likes of the kids, yes, so he comes sit down and we sit down on the bench right there at Gaucho's Gym on the corner. Chris is in the middle. I know I'm right next to Chris and I forget who's next to him. Gil turns his back. He has his back to us as we're sitting down on a timeout and then turns around and gets on his knee and takes his two fingers and slaps chris right across the face. Oh shit, slaps chris with his two fingers right across the face, right next to me, and I remember moving over like you didn't want that yo. He said and flinched. He said flinch. He did it with his right hand. He said flinch, flinch, if you want to. The left is coming right across your jaw, the left is coming right across your jaw. And chris was a strong, you know, muscular guy and we like holy snaps, like this guy just hit chris across the face, type joint. They say flinch and he said you're playing soft and you gotta toughen up. You gotta toughen up, don't go out there playing soft. And then I understood the message.
Speaker 2:But the delivery at the first was like whoa. And then we went in and won that game. We went in there and won that game, which is tough, but that's my Gil moment, along with him hitting Kenneth Percival with an elbow and busting his whole mouth up. He had to go get stitches on Woodhaven Boulevard. So there's a lot of them. But I also have good moments where Gil used to work out. When I used to play at Erasmus and I averaged like 30 points in my senior year, gil was the responsible for that. I used to go to every practice. After every practice I used to leave Erasmus and go over to Jackie Robinson program in Bed-Stuy and shoot with him, drill with him and train with him and.
Speaker 2:I remember that one game, that kind of a good part of the game, was that he, we had that big matchup against Prospect Heights and it was Donald Taylor against Ricky Rivers. In that matchup and Donald was averaging a lot of points and so was I, and we put on the show. That time he kind of like prepared me for how to work against that game and Donald had 47 but I had 42 in a boxing one. So those guys, those guys Prospect Heights, remember, they guys play box and one of me most of the time and I had 40. And I remember coming back to him after that game, I had to come back to the gym even after that game and go through drills and go through shooting. Even after that I was like yo, I can't get the day off. I just was, nah, we were still work and he was, but I could see that he was real proud of how I performed that day Girl.
Speaker 1:He's special man and he's like you know, he's caring, he cares, he cares, he love hard and he's going to hit you.
Speaker 2:If you got to know him that well? Yes, he was definitely a caring guy. Yeah, if he was one of his guys, he's going to treat you right, treat you right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was one of the pets. Yeah, yo, I remember that basketball camp we went to.
Speaker 2:Which one? Because you took me to one of Canisius up in Buffalo. That was where I slept. I don't remember which one did you go to?
Speaker 1:I think it was Anthony Mason's. I think it was in Virginia, I don't remember. Okay, you're probably going to remember this. This is probably the only gym you ever played basketball with carpet on the floor.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, how many gyms floor. Yeah well, how many gyms. You did that a lot, so I, we played it half. There's a couple of boys and girls club downtown brooklyn that I came back to used to have carpet on the floor oh there's a salvation army in brownsville that used to have carpet on the floor.
Speaker 1:I never understood carpet on the floor for basketball but I remember a couple of those gyms yeah, I remember that's the camp that we went to. I'm for sure I remember you was there. That's the only time I ever played with carpet, the first and last time.
Speaker 2:First and last time yeah, carpeting gym is different, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean there ain't no, ain't no slot diving on the floor, oh, no way carpet burns or the carpet I didn't understand it though I mean see the science in it really like I mean, maybe get your dribbling better, maybe I don't know I.
Speaker 2:I didn't. I don't understand it, but I know I remember g taking me, which was very helpful to my career. He took me by himself up to Buffalo, cold as heck in the middle of the summer, and to a Canisius camp and that was my first exposure to Division I colleges and Division I coaches, I would say, and they was at that point, this was like I was in high school, it was like yo, you really have potential to play Division I basketball and they was interested in me, canisius. I didn't get an offer from them, but they did show me by them giving me that feedback, it told me that I was on the right path.
Speaker 1:Yeah, gave you the push. Gave you the push.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it told me I was on the right path that was in between my junior and senior year.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, nice, nice. So did you ever go to Laurenburg?
Speaker 2:I never went to Lauren Burke. A lot of stories come out of Lauren Burke prep. Gil used to share those stories with me. I used to share stories with family and friends because he coached my cousin, Juice Anthony Joseph out there too. So he would tell me stories. But I never made the journey down to Lauren Burke. When I got connected with Gil it was on the back end of his years and he was pretty much here in the city. So that was him. He was coaching longberg. Yeah, gail used to coach longberg. He coached a lot of players down there, man. He took a lot of players down to longburn prep. I don't know if the resources was that great, but he was definitely down there. He's telling me a whole lot of stories, along with other players right, I was down there.
Speaker 2:So it was a lot of people that got a beginning.
Speaker 1:I got and you know, got started down there in laurenburg right, right, right, right, and you know um me seeing you, me seeing you evolve into the great, great basketball player that you became, and um you took your, you took your skills on the road, um where did you wind up going after high school?
Speaker 2:so gil's kind of set this up. This is what gil was very helpful to me. After my high school career in 1990 I played. That was the best class, uh, in the city. I believe my recruiting wasn't that big. I mean erasmus coaches that I was in the first year of victor butler uh, they didn't help me as much so but uh, I remember this like yesterday. Uh, gill told me about lauren um sorry, lamar, colorado. It was a junior college out in Colorado. He brought the coach. They flew the coach all the way in to watch me play three on three and do workouts in Kelly Park, and so the coach came all the way. There was a guy from Gill that was already.
Speaker 2:I knew nothing about Colorado or Lamar, I knew nothing about it All. I remember telling this guy who's my guy right now, actually Coach Hoshava, just one of the better coaches that I ever played for. Honestly, I want to give him his flowers. All I didn't know him, all I told him. I said, hey, I never know nothing about Colorado and if I'm going to go, I need somebody to go with me, and my friend was Kaheen Draper at the time that played that automotive and I was like we both need to go. He's my roommate because I don't know what I'm going into, but I'll go into it with him. So I signed the letter of intent on some old car right there at Kelly Park, right, didn't even. You know? I have no, none of my family, no mom, no father there.
Speaker 2:I just trusted Coach Gil Reynolds to kind of like send me on this journey and signed the letter of intent and went out to Colorado and kind of like, that's where my whole game evolved and took off. Man, if I had tapes of me playing in Colorado, I think it's better than any film that I had. From the other. I had some amazing games out there in Colorado in front of college coaches and showed a lot of potential in in front of Division One coaches. And then after that I had a baby and so I came close to home. I decided I was going to leave Colorado, which had a lot of opportunity for me, and I went to FIT for a year. So I went to FIT for a year, led them to like number 15 in the nation, became All-American in JUCO, became an All-American in JUCO and then had an option and this is where the transition happened between Gil and Mr Couch, who runs the Dykeman organization.
Speaker 2:Once I came out I started playing college ball. I started to play with Mr Couch and Mr Couch, kind of like took over with my recruiting and everything and he said, hey, look, since you want to stay here in New York because I had a kid, he said the only option that I have for you is either going to be St John's or Iona. I was like. Well, iona had some interest in me out of high school. I had some familiarity with them and St John's had just signed Felipe. He was like we'll take you.
Speaker 2:But you know it's like I was going back up Felipe and as a junior going into college I didn't want't do that. So the head coach used to always of Iona, who was Jerry Welch at the time, used to always come to all my games and call me just about at least two or three times a week. He would call me to check on. I liked that Jerry Welch was doing because he was always checking on my family, my wife. He was checking on my kid. He knew I was a recent father and he was always connecting me with that. So I went to Iona. I had to sit out a year before I could play because I didn't graduate from FIT, so I sat out a year. That sit-out year was very difficult for me because I had a second kid during the time that I sat out.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So I had two daughters at the time. So, rather than really working out and training most of my time because I couldn't practice with the team I was just parenting. I was playing ball every now and then, but I was parenting. So when we finally came to be in my turn, and I was the starter and I was the top recruit going in, I wasn't fully prepared for it because I was successful in every level with Juco. I wasn't as fully prepared in some of those games as I should have been. Timing was off, things was off, so I started the first 18 games, and then they started to push me to the bench because I wasn't producing like I should.
Speaker 2:Okay, but to know that, though, is the other part of the caveat. To tell the story is that people don't understand that I commuted by train from sunset park, brooklyn, all the way to new rochelle every day, so when we had 6 30 7 o'clock am, I was on the train, I was on a 4 30 am metro north and then walking a mile from the metro north down to Iona, down to the. So a lot of the times I was just exhausted, right.
Speaker 2:I was exhausted with the commute, doing homework because I did my homework on the trains and then getting home to a two-year-old and a newborn and then having a wife too.
Speaker 2:That you know. I mean that you got, if you know how, all of that. So my, my college experience, just to be documented right now. I never complained about it, never really talked about it, but my college experience was different from everybody else on my team. They didn't have to. You know, after a game we play a 730 game on TV and we packing it up at 10 o'clock and I got to get to a Metro North. They going to cross the street to the dorms. I'm getting on the Metro North and getting on the Ford train to get and get arriving home like 1am, only to get it turned right back around to get the class by 8.30 and 9am.
Speaker 2:So sometimes I was able to stay up there because it was too much a struggle, but not his wife like yo. Come home I got two kids, oh wow. So that's something that everybody don't know about my experience, because you know what Now people will Google damn, you only averaged like eight points, bro. You got to understand my struggle, how I was getting to those eight points.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, right, you had a bigger responsibility. Yeah, bigger responsibility, man.
Speaker 2:How to just get there and get it done. But hey, but hey, I wouldn't take nothing back man it built character. It built some things of me that I needed as an adult.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right. That's good to hear, man, good to hear. I didn't know that story. You know what I mean. I know people out there would love to hear that yeah because it might motivate somebody else who's listening.
Speaker 2:A young kid might need that. I try to share it with some kids who I coach now, and but that's the reason why I coach now is I think there's layers to my story that I could kind of like push on to young people. That's perseverance and all that other stuff. It's like ain't no excuses in this game and if you really want it, you got to go. You don't make no excuses if you really want it.
Speaker 1:That's a fact. That's a fact. So then, during them times, right on the come up, what tournaments was you in before high school?
Speaker 2:I didn't really play in many local street tournaments as much. In Brooklyn I played in high energy as a young kid. I remember playing there in Wingate. I played in some little small stuff but most of the stuff that I always played in I was working out or playing in some real structured stuff. I started to play with Gil. Gil would take me to some places. He had me playing in some local stuff. I remember high energy a lot because that was one of the tournaments that Gil always played in.
Speaker 2:Tony Noel would play in the six foot and under in the same park. So we always got stuff playing in there, played at St Peter Clavis. So there's some experiences.
Speaker 2:Oh so you played at Clavis. Yeah, I played at St Peter Clavis some time with. Gil, played a lot in Queens. When you talk about the Kenny Anderson's, Kenny Smith's, jason Williams, we used to work hard, work out heavy at Lost Battalion Hall. Those workouts at Lost Battalion Hall it would be Gil and his developmental guys that included me. There's like blue collar guys. And then you have Vincent Smith, which is Kenny Smith's brother, on the other side of the court training with all the stars. He had Kenny Anderson over there, he had Jason Gilliam over there, he had the Steve Frazier's, the Abdul Fox yeah, all of these guys that were D1 players. They all became major D1 players too.
Speaker 2:You know, Kenny Anderson is easy story. So you would be on this side and then later after the workouts they would just merge them, we would just hoop and play. So this was all the. I got an opportunity to be in that position through Gil to play against those guys and build relationships to like, like my guy, rich Ashmead, every time I go to Phoenix he still pop out and we connect type joint and it's all that we met through those workouts and those training sessions and everything, and so I still got some good relationships with those guys to today and I thank Gil for those experiences because it helped me level up to where I needed to be at.
Speaker 1:And you know one thing about Gil we never practiced full court, nah, Everything was right, you're right. Never practiced full court.
Speaker 2:Everything was half court.
Speaker 1:Everything.
Speaker 2:Never.
Speaker 1:Only time we saw a full court is game time.
Speaker 2:Yep man, like because I got a lot of those workouts. If I didn't play for Gil Reynolds I would not be a Division I player. I would have never played Division.
Speaker 1:I basketball.
Speaker 2:I would have been lost in this process and I know how easy it is and it's easier now for a young kid to get lost in the process. But now you got social media, you can kind of like push yourself a little bit more. But at that time there was no social media if tom kashowski or somebody didn't evaluate you and write about you. It was tough and I remember going to a workout at 275 that had a lot of players in it and tom kashowski was there giving everybody a great and a rating, and gil put me in position to be in that workout and I did my thing at that point, you know. I mean Tom Kachowski rated me a four minus, I remember, and that four minus to me was like, oh, I'm on, I'm on, I'm on route, because I seen some other players who got that four minus and I was like, oh, he's getting recruited by division one, so if he's a four minus, then I'm.
Speaker 2:I just need to be getting in front of the right people, that with the right opportunity to get me there right, right, right right.
Speaker 1:So we lost contact for a little bit and then I resurfaced with my non-profit and in 2007 and so by then I was just tutoring, so forth and so on. And then by 2010 I said I had a group of kids. I say, yeah, man. I said, yo, I want to get them in a tournament. I heard I'm speaking to different people said, yo, I want to get them in a tournament. I was speaking to different people. They said, yo, why don't you put them in Rick's tournament? Rick, rick, rick, who's Rick? Rick Rivers? I said Rick Rivers went to eHall. I mean, that's the only Rick Rivers there is.
Speaker 1:basically they said yeah, that's my guy. I said yo, let me get his number, blah, blah, blah, let me get his information. And then, all of a sudden, I wind up bringing my kids to your tournament. I forgot the location. I brought my kids to two, several locations. Which one you had?
Speaker 2:Sunset Park Uh-huh, sunset Park. I had Boys. I've been around with this thing. At the highest peak it was probably at Thomas Jefferson High School, sunset Park. I had said park. Uh, I had things going there too, uh brc, brc, was it okay was a stop.
Speaker 1:So I'm not sure which stop that, you, that you, oh, so I get you. You had a lot of you had a lot of stops.
Speaker 1:One thing I know one thing I know is that my kids was the guinea pigs, because what it is, that was more or less teaching kids who didn't really have that. Who's not making the major teams. That's developing kids. You know, I'm giving them something to look forward to. Let's go to this tournament over there and get shellacked over there or go over here and get a little bit of you know, but I didn't know how strong your tournament was. I'm like dang, your tournament.
Speaker 1:I remember a time I had brought the team there and your team came, a team that we were supposed to play was late, and you said yo team came, a team that we supposed to play was was late, and you say, yo, you could take the w or you could wait, okay. So and I asked the kids, but I knew already that these kids already got um smacked around like probably the last, the last tournament, the last game that we was at. So I said you know what they said yo, let's play, all right, and and and at that time them kids was just coming back from Vegas tournament. Soon, as they're next to you know, they're like 10 minutes late. They're running in the park.
Speaker 1:I remember once they did the layup line, their point guard dribbled the ball off the ground and he'd give himself an alley and dunked it with two hands. Boom, I said, oh shoot, y'all going to get cooked. And, mind you, no player on my team could dunk and their point guard was dunking. So imagine what the rest of them was doing, and it was an experience that these kids, of course they, lost. But to tell me, how did you wind up going that direction of into tournaments and becoming a coach? I mean, I know you love the game, but what made you transition there?
Speaker 2:So background I started Fun Sport with just unlimited stuff, right. So I used to do my college joint in the pro league in 2004 I believe it's 2004 I felt like I needed to get younger. Uh, we created this junior pros middle school thing and I had access to nice uniforms. I was going to roll out these dope uniforms to these kids for a weekend event and I was able to, through my guy, kamani Young, kind of get team next, which was the number one eighth grade team in the country at that time.
Speaker 2:I got them locked in. I got a few other teams locked in Brooklyn, usa who was big at the time Gauchos. So I had a nice opening for a middle school thing. Now, middle school basketball in 2004 wasn't popular like that. It was not popular.
Speaker 2:I was basically going to take off and I think I just had this vision. It was like, hey, you know what? Everything around in New York City basketball is either unlimited or ISA. Isa was the biggest ticket in town, I said. But before they get to ISA, these kids got to be doing something.
Speaker 2:And I honed in on middle school basketball a lot of times. You people like the team. Next, they had to travel outside of the city to really get those type of events. So I created something called fun sport, junior pros and I was going to kind of like have a concept where we check report cards and we did everything to prepare middle school kids for the high school process, and it jumped off kind of well man. So next, that's what kind of really springboarded the joint. I was already had relationships with nike, so I already had, uh, you know, some eyeballs on my programs already because of the things I was doing on the pro side of it. And then the middle school thing just jumped right off. My first thing for that weekend I think it was a thanksgiving tournament jumped off real easy, real quick and then we started to piggyback off it. I just grew the program I sat down with. If you know, tippy at the time I brought tippy in.
Speaker 2:It was like tippy, these are the things I like, what you do, I here's, I need I need to be checking balances and I want to just grow this thing because I think we could do something special here with middle school kids. And then I started having championship games. The first one was at the garden. I had the championship game at the garden, nice, and then, once I had it the second time, then I have shoe companies get involved in it. Uh, it just just. It just started to become bigger and bigger and you kept on adding pieces to it. So I had like a pre-season. I had so many teams that wanted to get in it. I would have a pre-season tournament to evaluate the teams, to decide which 36 or 32 teams I was going to take into the main tournament to play at the Garden or, as later became the Barclays. I had teams come from Canada to kind of like come in and play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you was doing it.
Speaker 2:So I had teams that was coming from all over. So at one point people were writing about that I held the biggest middle school tournament on the East Coast, right, right. So that's how the youth stuff started and from that, because everybody couldn't play in that, I started to create other little things for kids to be a part of if they couldn't be a part of the bigger event type thing. So next thing, you know, I was running like maybe six, seven, eight tournaments at one time and sometimes in a year. So I did a lot of stuff over the course of the year because I was just, I mean in a year. So I did a lot of stuff over the course of the year because I was just, I mean in a year. Over the course of me just doing this stuff. I've done a lot of events, a lot of things, and sometimes I look back on those joints because, like man, I wasn't even thinking about it at the time.
Speaker 2:You in it. You just go Next thing. You know there's another one that you're preparing for and you don't even reflect, like dad. You know what that was. That was dope right.
Speaker 1:Social media wasn't buzzing, but I was probably the only one with a website, though right, right right right so you, you could basically say that you was like the first one who bought middle school, like basketball to new york.
Speaker 2:I don't know that for sure to really make a statement, but I think on a big scale I was to probably the biggest to do it. Now they have other programs that are definitely doing well. When you look at what may hoops is doing conrad mccray's joint I mean conrad mccray was only in the summertime but they had. They had a nice buzz going to with their tournament, but just middle school basketball at this peak I still don't believe there's too many programs that compete with what we did.
Speaker 1:And so when did you start high school? When did you? You do the?
Speaker 2:high school. So the high school stuff started after the middle school. I really didn't want to compete in the high school space because I thought ISA had the lock on it. But once I started getting at Jeff I started running programs at Jeff and my middle school stuff started bubbling so much that the middle school kids from that experience wanted to see me continue.
Speaker 1:Graduate and grow with graduate.
Speaker 2:So I kind of like started to create this high school thing because I said I had all the top middle school kids. There was no way I couldn't have all the time because I had the programs I had the relationships with. So we started in the high school space, which was which was came very competitive at some time between me and isa. There was a time that I could think back on and I love pete, that's my guy but there was one point where he was having his playoffs and I was having my playoffs and there was people that was leaving both gyms to kind of like bounce back whatever I, I remember that I had zach randolph with the may bet, with the, with the bentley in the front of jeff waiting.
Speaker 2:We waited like an hour or so for a game because out of respect for Pete, he had something going. We waited an hour or so in the gym for his game to finish and just a whole big crowd left there came to Jeff. So I like when we were doing the high school stuff, it was big. I mean we had Kimba, irv, truck, all of them on one team at one point. That created a nice buzz for the high school thing. So you had like three All-Americans, four All-Americans on one team and so people would come out and see that the place would be packed, had some good energy man, and you know, the one thing that's cool that I say is that what's my guy, russ Smith, if you remember him playing in high school, russ Smith used to get buckets at McGloy and somebody asked him not long ago during COVID I think it was tiny he said, yeah, of all the things that you had, you done played at San Antonio, you done played at Louisville what is the best experience that you've had in basketball?
Speaker 2:They asked Russ Smith that Now this Russ Smith done played with the pros. He done played with Rick Pitino. He done played all over. He said yo, the best experience I ever had in basketball.
Speaker 2:And he paused on it and he said yo, I remember playing in fun sport and they put gave me a poster after I had 63 points and I had that poster on my wall for for the longest type joy so when I heard that during covid, which was not long ago, and I and that type of reflection, it kind of like, took me back to like damn, we were really doing some impactful stuff right, giving people posters of themselves to hang in their wall. And some grown folks to the day that tell me they still got their poster in their room.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, nice. I remember I used to have posters of Patrick Ewing. You remember I used to have the life size of the posters I had the life size of Patrick Ewing.
Speaker 2:And I just took that concept and just because I had a plug and I just said, yo, let me do that. Oh, you did a similar, yeah Same hype type thing. So I used to get a highlight. I used to get a picture of you doing something great in the game and I used to come back the next week with a big old poster that you can hang in your room. And people still have that.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. Do you still do it on FunSport?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm still doing it, Not as at the scale that I was doing it years maybe. I started coaching in like 2010 or so. I went to I was teaching at a school in Liberation, liberation and Coney Island. They didn't really have a basketball program, so I decided to create one for them and I created a tournament and everything. Eventually I got us in the PSAL and at the third year we competed and we won a championship. I led them to the city championship at PSAL, so we won in 2014 and 2015. I led them to that championship. I led them to the city championship at PSL. So we won in 2014 and 2015. I led them to that championship and after I won the championship, I left.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:I left and somebody else took over after that, but I closed out on a good note.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, nice, nice. That's good to hear. I've seen you on Facebook pictures with certain NBA players. Name some people that you're proud to say that you met through your travels who participated in your program. Name some people that you're proud to say that you met through your travels who participated. There's been so many.
Speaker 2:So, just like I remember when I ran fireball, I remember Rafer Austin being the first NBA guy that played in our thing to validate what we were doing at Baruch College and I know my man, Rob from Sean Bell, would be happy that I acknowledge that and then from that it would just be so many NBA players Once that gate opened and that fireball thing that I used to do from May to June right before the summer season start, all the NBA guys at the end of their season a lot of them would come down and play, so most of the Knicks. So Nate Robinson was like a staple at fireball.
Speaker 2:He would come all the time. I think he has the record for the most points in one game against Gun Hill and my man, Bob Mahoney.
Speaker 2:My bad, I ain't going to plug you like that, Bob. So you got Nate. You had Wilson Chandler they used to be there. Ron Artest used to be there. Kimball Walker was the one who started with me in high school, went to UConn, did well, became a pro and came back as a pro. Smush Parker is another one that's been a part of that. So it's been a lot of names. Kyle anderson graduated in the program and I watched him as a seventh grader. Quincy duby uh, so there's a lot of guys that I could just think of. I could run off that that's played in our program.
Speaker 2:I'd like to see the ones that played when they were in middle school and high school and then on the pro level and right, and that's guys like kimball walker that I could think of right, I saw a picture you you posted at the all-star game oh yeah, yeah, we were just at the all-star game just past this.
Speaker 2:Mean this, yeah, the one that yeah, I was there so I was able to really support my godson who played at tuskegee, kasami draper, who won the mvp in that tuskegee game uh, they played against uh, I think it was morehouse. So I was there to really support him. But you know, you're enjoying yourself while you're out there meeting and kind of like hanging out. So I got an opportunity with him to go to the All-Star game, bump into some people that you know at the same time and had that experience. So it was fun. Down in the Bay Area I got to hang out with my big, with my homie, the guy who I told you that I was going to go to college, with Kahe, the guy who I told you that I was going to go to college, with Kareem Draper in Colorado.
Speaker 1:You pulled some strings to get him in there.
Speaker 2:Well, he may have pulled some strings to get me in there either way.
Speaker 1:No is that the one that you said the only way you would go to that school in Colorado, if you bring your friends.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I definitely wasn't going to go if he wasn't going to.
Speaker 1:I'm glad to hear your story, man. And so currently, what are you doing? Now? I know you're not really doing the front sport or fireball, but I heard you say a little bit like you do, a little bit of coaching. Where are you right now with coaching?
Speaker 2:So during the day I teach at a charter school in the Bronx, at Highbridge in the Bronx, at New Austin Next Generation Charter. I teach financial literacy and PE to high school students From there. I leave there and I go to Canarsie High School. For the past four years I've been coaching at Canarsie High School and there's been growth in the program, I think since I've been there. My JV team that I'm a head coach of we've been to the Final Four in the city.
Speaker 2:I came up a little bit short in one game against the Jada Swan and we went to the playoffs just recently this year and lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer. Uh, our varsity team that I'm the assistant coach at we've been growing. The program has been growing. This year we went to the city the final four. We lost on in the final minutes to a nice, to a very good bronx eagle team. So there's been some steady growth in the program and since I've been in part of it and hopefully, like you know, we continue to turn the corner. So, yeah, coaching has been one of those things that allowed me to kind of like pass it on and pay it forward and then running my programs at Tillery Park during the summertime. Are you still over there? I'm still in Tillery Park.
Speaker 1:I've been in.
Speaker 2:Tillery Park. Now, for I want to say 10, 12, 10 or 12 years I've been in Tillery Park.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I remember me bringing the kids there. I was at Tillery and we was getting beat up in both tournaments.
Speaker 2:What other tournaments you have where you was getting beat up in so.
Speaker 2:I hold the keys there to Tillery Park right now. So I look forward to doing that every summer, making it fun, giving the kids a safe and a positive place to play, a nice atmosphere to play in. So, man, my thing is I just try to pay it forward because somebody, like, as we talked about these people say they've done it for me. They've allowed me to sit in this seat and to talk about myself and to talk about the things that I've done has been because of coaches.
Speaker 2:Some of the coaches who the gail reynolds, the jim couches- right kind of like believed and set the example for me man right, right, right, right, right.
Speaker 1:It's a little fun.
Speaker 1:Now I'm not gonna, you're not gonna say no names here, but it's like the reason why I wanted to, you know, do an interview with you is because I'm like I was part of your journey, right, and what it is is that it's not just basketball, the basketball players, what you've done outside of the game. I like what you did. I'm like, wow, you transition and you know people. There's a lot of times people talk about basketball and debate on who was good and all that. No, we don't need to talk about who was good. What are you doing after the game?
Speaker 1:yeah yeah, well, how are you contributing after the game? But then one, there was a person that I felt was. I thought it was blasphemy that he was heckling. He was heckling you anytime you write something, I'm like yo. I mean that's my guy too. But man, we're gonna be nameless. We're gonna say nameless he's my guy too, he's your guy too, but I'm like he's. And then he would say something like gil reynolds, but I'm like yo, I was there, he wasn't there. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:So I had some kids yo mental illness at an old-time high man you know what I'm saying like if you go to erasmus right now, ricky river's name is on a banner hanging with his number retired. So there's something that I did that was impactful to make them kind of like, pull me. There's some other names and numbers that they've joined, but there's something that I did that says, hey, you did something that needs to be acknowledged. That other person that's nameless. You can't find none of this stuff and nowhere in the history of it. And I'm not saying that that guy who played with me wasn't wasn't a decent player, right, but to attack what I did, it just sounds kind of like to even compare it it's just even like no comparison.
Speaker 2:It's very lopsided there's no comparison to it. I've been in a lot of rooms played with a lot of people competed and I'm done. I'm not even going backwards, I'm done. So that comparison like come on, bro, like you, you don't. When I see it, it's like, okay, why are you trying to nudge me? You know why are you trying to nudge me?
Speaker 1:because you know that I was a good player, but you know what what's funny is is you replying to it. That's what makes me laugh. I'm like yo. Why is he even?
Speaker 2:I'm like no, because it'd be too many people. I guess it gets too many ears and people keep nudging me to have a comment. So when I see it, I was like, okay, I'm going to have fun. First, it was for fun. Right right, it was definitely a joke, it was definitely for fun. Oh, I think he's really serious. Uh-huh, uh-huh, he's serious, he really got. He really believes in what he's typing right now.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I remember time I kept going, I was reading the comments. I was like yo going back and forth. I just needed to speak that.
Speaker 2:I was like nah, bro, like come on, man, ain't nobody that didn't even see it. You know what I mean. Like that wasn't there during that time. Maybe they came up later. When I look at some of the people that was in that chat, right right, but the people that was there, they know the rails.
Speaker 1:They know what they know. They know what it was. Yeah, man, that's good you ain't got that many receipts.
Speaker 2:You got only receipts, yeah, and you got Photoshop, photoshop, photoshop, all of those things that you could do. But I know what's real Ricky Rivers averaged 30 points a game in that senior year and he has the most points in one season than many other people have had. Not very few people have had at Erasmus and that person can't say that.
Speaker 2:Nice, I mean, yeah, I mean hey, I always tell cats I concur you gotta be nice when you're supposed to be nice, cause some people wait till like 40 and over, or they wait till 50 and over to try to. That's not when you're supposed to be nice. Nobody's recruiting you, then Nobody's recruiting you, then that's not when you're supposed to be nice. When you're supposed to be nice at high school. That's when you're supposed to be nice.
Speaker 1:Right, right right.
Speaker 2:If you wasn't that.
Speaker 1:Then don't talk to me at 40, 50. Yeah, you're trying out for the senior center. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I want to hear what you're doing at BRC.
Speaker 1:I want to hear that Right right right, right, right, right right. We both got love for him.
Speaker 2:but he's going to say he's real, be nice when you're supposed to be nice, that's a good one.
Speaker 1:Be nice when you're supposed to be nice.
Speaker 2:When you're supposed to be nice, yo Don't wait till 40 and over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, when you're supposed to be nice, I mean, or you live vicariously through, and that's okay. Father, figure what's going on with your family so man, I like to talk about my daughters.
Speaker 2:I think I have the best family structure that I can have, right. So, just knowing that, I started my journey young. So when I was in FIT I had a kid. Actually, in Colorado I had my first daughter Her name is Shani Rivers in 1991, born in January. My wife and I got married when I was 18, 19 years old and that August of 91, we got married and then in 1993, we have another daughter while I'm in Iona at that time at Andrea Rivers in 1993.
Speaker 2:So my journey as being a parent came alongside my journey of playing basketball. It was married together. So there's been some roller coasters with basketball but there's been a steady incline, I would say, with me being a parent and me being a father and being a husband at home, type joint. So my daughter's now the fruit of that is my daughter's now my oldest one. She's an executive. She's a VP at Goldman Sachs. She graduated with a chemical biological engineer degree, which is not something that's easy. She went to NYU and got a degree and she's working as a VP in Goldman Sachs. My youngest, who came right behind her, is a lawyer. Now she does antitrust law. She graduated from Howard went to American and she's now a lawyer, so they both have very competitive in careers that I like to say that as a dad, I'm responsible for, and more than I've been there since zero.
Speaker 2:I wasn't an absentee father, I wasn't a child support father. I was, every night, every day, type of father, right, so that so, seeing my daughters climb to get to that point, knowing the sacrifices that I had to make in terms of playing basketball, knowing the sacrifices that I had to make in terms of playing basketball Do I do it or do I not? I chose to, kind of like, stay solid and be a father rather than try to go overseas and do something, because that's what they ask you why you didn't go overseas. I could have played Division I, but that wasn't the choice that I was going to make.
Speaker 2:Just like why couldn't I have gone to another university that recruited me? When I was in Iona I got interest from Kentucky, washington State, duquesne there was a number of them that but they were all outside of New York so I didn't even. I took no interest from those things. And Kentucky came in because people would think that I'm joking about this we played at Odessa at junior and I was like first team all tournament and I had very good games against South Plains and Odessa with Rick Pitino and his crew watching, because they were recruiting Rodney Dent, so I had a lot of interest from him too as well. They would constantly ask about me, but I chose to be a parent and all those things. Throughout the whole thing I chose, I said no, I'm going to stay south.
Speaker 2:What people may not know is that Iona, when things were getting so frustrated and I was going through this challenge of being a parent or as a player, we were going to Notre Dame the next day. We was going to go out on the floor to Notre Dame and I called the athletic director and said I'm going to quit, I'm going to stay home. I remember my daughter was sick at the time. It just felt like I should be home and I was frustrated about how the coaches was using me in my playing time as a senior. So I chose to say, hey, you know what, I'm going to stay home.
Speaker 2:And I really wanted to play the Notre Dame game because I had two friends on the other side that we had circled the game to play. But I choose not to show up because I didn't like how the coaches was handling me in that situation and I know I couldn't change their mind, even though the players had a meeting with them to talk about me. So parenting I've always prioritized that I like my kids to know because they don't always understand some of the decisions I make to be there for them rather than chase this basketball thing. That's kind of like always been behind me or always been with me. But I always chose to kind of like be a parent and I've always told them the best holiday of the whole year is Father's Day. So they know that.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, right, and that's the level of maturity that I give you. Is that even to hear the sacrifices you made? But one thing is like. It's interesting is that you was married at a young age.
Speaker 2:Married at a young age, bro, I've been married. That's that throwback. I'm still there too. I'm still in it. I've been married going on 34 years, now 33 and a half.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. Three and a half nice, nice, that's rare. That's rare, that's rare. I'm a young father, I'm not a young father, a young husband at that.
Speaker 2:So so just think, a young husband that's playing division one basketball, you know I mean. So you back, I'm not an ugly guy you know what I'm saying I'm playing division one basketball, so it's opportunities is there and I'm and I'm doing my best to deflect.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, all those opportunities, that's there.
Speaker 2:Especially in college, man.
Speaker 1:They're doing it so yeah, Good defense.
Speaker 2:But because of how I was set up it was somewhat easier, because after games I'm going straight home. I'm not even living on campus.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:I don't even live on campus, so I'm a ghost really. For the most part After games I'm gone. You could only probably catch me at games or practices, right, and so it wasn't that many opportunities for me to kind of like be exposed to too many distractions unless you're on the road.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, man, I commend you on who you are and what you became and what you are continuing to thrive for. Man, what's your end game?
Speaker 2:So I don you in the drive forward, man, what's your end game? So I don't know. Like I'm, I'm trying to think about that now. Like life, like basketball, has been with me for like so many years. Now, right, I'm about to turn 53 years old and I'm starting to look at what the last chapter looks like, so I I may kind of go back into this executive role. What I didn't share is, after college I started to work at morgan stanley and so I rose up at Morgan Stanley. It was at Dean Witter Reynolds and then became JP, then became Morgan Dean Witter Reynolds. Morgan came Morgan Stanley after a while and I was a manager in that space and I was there the day of 9-11. I worked in the Trace Center. I worked in Two World Trace Center. That morning I was working in my office, which is an interior office, so I was in the building the day that the plane hit the tower. I was there in the tower.
Speaker 1:I was two blocks away, bro. I was two blocks away and my father owns a photo shop. He's the only black store in that neighborhood in the lower Manhattan, and I always walked with a disposable camera. I took pictures coming out the train I see people looking up at the first hit, the first one, the first building that got hit. Yeah, I was. It was facing me as soon as I got out of the train. I took pictures and that's that's crazy to hear that you was connected.
Speaker 2:That too as well and this one as you say that, because when I end up making my way out, everybody was going in the stores to buy disposable cameras I remember that everybody was trying to find disposable cameras. There was a newsstand, because they had these little newsstands that used to be on Church Avenue over there, and they were buying these disposable cameras to take pictures. Right, right, so I remember that part, like it was yesterday.
Speaker 1:Right right, right right.
Speaker 2:But coming out of that experience kind of made me want to do more in my community and less corporate work. So my daughters-in-law always asked me me, dad, do you want to go back corporate? I was like nah I don't uh, I want to kind of like be more attached to my community and not be restricted, but there is some thoughts right now. When you ask about the last chapter, do I close it out back in this corporate space because I got?
Speaker 1:I got some interest from a couple of spaces that I that I might consider all right, nice, nice, nice man, it's good to hear that you still you're not trying to get in that wheelchair, you know.
Speaker 2:I would keep moving, baby. I like the vacation to keep moving.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, right, right. It's a pleasure, man, to have you on here, man, and to talk your talk, Because, I'm happy to say, I was a part of it, of your journey, and then my journey went this way, yours went that way.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm way. Yours went that way. You know I'm saying but it's, you know, when I see you it's always good man to see you always smile. You got the same smile from high school. Yeah, man, I'm always gonna try to be happy man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you gotta be happy man, I'm gonna try to be humble too. You gotta be humble and be happy, man, be happy. And also, right now, I would like to gift you a game. This is called the your opinion doesn't matter game, right, it's named after the podcast your opinion doesn't matter Podcast, and it's the ultimate debating game for family and friends. You can get that at wwwyodmcom and I'm gifting this to you, bro.
Speaker 2:Thank you, reverend, and I'm going to open this with my family and we're going to try to see how we can kind of like debate, because there's some intelligence within our unit. I want to see if I can come out a winner with these intelligent young ladies that I have Go.
Speaker 1:I want to see if I can come out a winner with these intelligent young ladies that I have Go over some of the cards.
Speaker 2:Go over some of the cards for us. Okay, Some of them is kind of risque. Okay, all right, you don't want to I'm going to filter. Okay, I'm going to filter some of them, right, because I got a 15-year-old son. I want him to kind of like it too much. Yes, yes, I'm just trying to get him in the right lane, right. So.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to get him.
Speaker 2:You know teenagers these days a little bit challenging. He's a 15 year old and he's it's the age gap between him and my daughter. This is pretty big. You know what I mean. So trying to just make sure that he he knows that he raised on love. Now that I've been going through it with my daughters, at what works and what don't work, yeah, and I'm trying to, especially being in an environment with kids every day, I know what works and what don't work. Right, and sometimes they want you to do more of what don't work. Yeah, and I'm like, nah, bro, we not doing that, we not walking across the grass, we going to stay on the path.
Speaker 1:Right right, right right. I hear you call him a a young terrorist. He was, he was. He was bad all the way up to like now he's a senior, he's, he's okay, but before, in the beginning, all right. So, um, I think that, um, the the game itself of of sports is small man, but this is about the impact you're doing after the game. Man, it's a pleasure that you came on the show to tell people you know you're not just a iona player. Yeah, you're a husband, um, a great father, and you've been places. Man.
Speaker 2:People need to put some respect on my guy's name, absolutely, man not only have I done stuff in new york, I've done events in dallas, I've done events in bermuda, I've done events in atlanta, I've done events in DC, so I've spread this brand of mine in different markets and kind of like. When I look back over 27 years it's like, damn, I've done a lot, I've accomplished a lot, I've met a lot of people. I've tried to always handle it in a humble, with some humility, and also try to handle it with some responsibility, knowing that I got people that come behind me, that I want to try to mentor and do the same because I've grown a lot just by doing tournaments.
Speaker 2:I've learned a lot about marketing. I've learned a lot about business. I've learned a lot about other areas that they didn't teach me in school just by running these tournaments. So it's a responsibility that go with it when you bring your communities together.
Speaker 1:So I value it and I say thank you to everybody who supported me over 27 years man right, right, right, man, and um, this is the your opinion doesn't matter podcast, and we are outie thank you, brother, thank you, bro, appreciate it.