Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Dr. John Singer Full Interview
Transcript
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- 1:11Speaker 1: Texas A and M again, Texas and M Central University, Houston,
- 1:16Speaker 1: So you know I know about that that that Texas
- 1:18Speaker 1: A and M experience. The College of Education and Human
- 1:22Speaker 1: Development at Texas A and M has a mission of
- 1:24Speaker 1: enriching and transforming lives through education and health and developing
- 1:28Speaker 1: leaders and professionals and education, sports, business, healthcare, and related
- 1:33Speaker 1: fields and industries. He's on the show today discussed his
- 1:36Speaker 1: new book, Race Sports and Education, Improving Opportunities and Outcomes
- 1:41Speaker 1: of Blackmail College Athletes. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations,
- 1:46Speaker 1: Dr John Singer, thank you for having me. I really
- 1:52Speaker 1: appreciate this opportunity to have this conversation. Well, I'll tell
- 1:56Speaker 1: you after reading the book, are are you know? Because
- 1:59Speaker 1: you know Dr Harry Everett's in the book. We were
- 2:02Speaker 1: talking to a referencing the book. I'm saying is the
- 2:04Speaker 1: book called Race Sports and Education. He this book is
- 2:07Speaker 1: about black mail caused athletes, and he suggested that you
- 2:11Speaker 1: should include the female experience of the black female college athlete.
- 2:15Speaker 1: And your reasoning for just going male was why? Well,
- 2:21Speaker 1: I think for me being that this was my first
- 2:24Speaker 1: foray into an authored book. It was personal for me.
- 2:30Speaker 1: I mean as a black male myself who had hoop
- 2:32Speaker 1: dreams and aspirations as well a little boy growing up
- 2:35Speaker 1: in Betton Harbor, Michigan, and as someone who has worked
- 2:40Speaker 1: more closely with this particular population into my college years
- 2:44Speaker 1: and graduate studies and now as a faculty member. It
- 2:47Speaker 1: was just important for me to write about what I
- 2:49Speaker 1: knew and what I was most passionate about at this
- 2:52Speaker 1: moment my my career. So that's kind of why I
- 2:56Speaker 1: went against the sage wisdom and advice of Dr Edwards
- 2:59Speaker 1: and this particular project. I had this stick with what
- 3:03Speaker 1: what was my passion? But you know, you you you
- 3:06Speaker 1: know he is the like, let's say, the the the
- 3:10Speaker 1: messiah of this particular field of study. You know, when
- 3:14Speaker 1: you think about him at the forefront of politics and
- 3:17Speaker 1: and black studies and especially from an athletic standpoint, and
- 3:21Speaker 1: whenever you look at the espn is you would always
- 3:24Speaker 1: they would always hunt him down. What does what does
- 3:27Speaker 1: Dr Harry Ewoods has to say? What is he speaking about?
- 3:30Speaker 1: And when you look at the footage of him from
- 3:32Speaker 1: the sixties, he looks the same, He's just as grey
- 3:35Speaker 1: in his in his mustache and his goatee. But he's
- 3:38Speaker 1: still brilliant. What what when when we're gonna get to
- 3:40Speaker 1: your book? But a person like that, what impact does
- 3:43Speaker 1: he have on a person like you? Yeah? So I
- 3:46Speaker 1: remember seeing him like an interview clips when I was
- 3:50Speaker 1: an undergrad at Michigan State, and I just found myself
- 3:54Speaker 1: fascinated with him. I was like, man, he comes out
- 3:56Speaker 1: of that tradition of the civil rights movement, mouth comexus
- 4:00Speaker 1: and you know, the Black Canthers. But he tied his
- 4:04Speaker 1: activism to the context of sport, which really kind of
- 4:08Speaker 1: got my attention as a young you know, in my
- 4:11Speaker 1: late teens, early twenties, going through undergrad and so it's
- 4:15Speaker 1: amazing that, you know, twenty plus years later, not only
- 4:20Speaker 1: am I interacting with him, but he's endorsing my books.
- 4:22Speaker 1: So he's certainly planning a seed in me. I would
- 4:25Speaker 1: say that has started to germinate at this moment in
- 4:28Speaker 1: my my journey. Now this book. Who are you trying
- 4:35Speaker 1: to reach with this book as far as readers are concerned? Right,
- 4:40Speaker 1: So there's a couple of different audiences. Um first and
- 4:44Speaker 1: foremost the athletes themselves, and this can include athletes behind
- 4:50Speaker 1: this Black Males, because I think there's a message in
- 4:52Speaker 1: this book if you really pay attention to the nuances
- 4:56Speaker 1: and the narratives of the black males that I do
- 4:58Speaker 1: feature in the book, there's something in there, I think
- 5:01Speaker 1: for all athletes who are traveling, you know, from high
- 5:07Speaker 1: school into college sports. But more specifically, I really want
- 5:11Speaker 1: to reach the decision makers, those individuals who are setting
- 5:16Speaker 1: policies at the NT double A and member institution level,
- 5:21Speaker 1: those who are the practitioners working more directly day to
- 5:24Speaker 1: day with these athletes, whether it's academic support for athletics
- 5:28Speaker 1: or faculty on these university campuses. So I'm really looking
- 5:32Speaker 1: to read and for that matter, people in secondary educations
- 5:35Speaker 1: who are responsible for preparing these athletes for higher education,
- 5:40Speaker 1: so that those are my my primary audiences. Um and
- 5:43Speaker 1: then of course to lay audience people who are just
- 5:45Speaker 1: interested in in the topic and sport and education will
- 5:51Speaker 1: also find I think some value in this book. Well,
- 5:53Speaker 1: they're what I call industry decision makers influencers. People can
- 5:58Speaker 1: shape the way people think, the decisions they can make
- 6:02Speaker 1: about their future or how they're living currently. And so
- 6:07Speaker 1: the book I found fascinating reading, especially We're gonna we
- 6:10Speaker 1: don't get the chapters two and three in a minute,
- 6:12Speaker 1: But I want to talk about the Black Barbershop. You know,
- 6:14Speaker 1: I did a show on MTV called The Barbershop, and
- 6:17Speaker 1: it was about entertainment. And one of the things about
- 6:20Speaker 1: the Black Barbershop is that you know, you're gonna get
- 6:23Speaker 1: your share of sports, you're gonna get your share of politics,
- 6:25Speaker 1: and you're gonna get your share of entertainment. What was
- 6:28Speaker 1: your take on the Black Barbershop because just the fun part,
- 6:31Speaker 1: you know, of our conversation, and I enjoyed the reading
- 6:35Speaker 1: of the book, but when you when you get into
- 6:37Speaker 1: that barbershop, it's a different space there, man oh man.
- 6:40Speaker 1: You know, and my good friend and brother, Richard Milner
- 6:43Speaker 1: actually wrote the series forward for the book, and Eve
- 6:46Speaker 1: he talked about the Black Barbershop and the beauty shop
- 6:50Speaker 1: and how his observations in that space really speak to
- 6:54Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of theorizing. I know, we
- 6:56Speaker 1: as academics of scholars, we you know, we pride us
- 7:00Speaker 1: sales and you know, engaging with theory that makes sense
- 7:02Speaker 1: of the world. But in the Black Barbershop, that's exactly
- 7:06Speaker 1: what you get. It's not in the formal sense, but
- 7:09Speaker 1: certainly you have people with keen insights into these issues.
- 7:13Speaker 1: So the black barbershop, even my current barber um, you know,
- 7:18Speaker 1: I know something about sport, you know, and and the
- 7:22Speaker 1: patrons sitting around waiting for their haircut. You started talking
- 7:25Speaker 1: about sport boy. You see a different type of type
- 7:29Speaker 1: in it, and and whatnot in that space. So absolutely,
- 7:32Speaker 1: and I was glad that that brother rich Dr Brother
- 7:34Speaker 1: Richard Milner mused that metaphor to introduce my book in
- 7:40Speaker 1: his in his Racing Education series for Hybrid Education Prep. Well,
- 7:43Speaker 1: you know, it's really funny, you know, because the movie
- 7:46Speaker 1: that the Ice Q made, and of course Cedric the
- 7:50Speaker 1: entertained and started the very first barbershop was the closest
- 7:54Speaker 1: version of the very first one. And all those are good,
- 7:56Speaker 1: but the very first one's the closest version of walking
- 7:58Speaker 1: into a typical barbershop, you know, opinionated. You always got
- 8:02Speaker 1: somebody who's bigger than life in there, and you always
- 8:05Speaker 1: have people who sit around and putting information. You have
- 8:08Speaker 1: young generations because people women were bringing their young kids,
- 8:11Speaker 1: or the fathers are bringing their kids for their first haircuts,
- 8:14Speaker 1: and you have older generation people sitting in there, and
- 8:16Speaker 1: it was. So it allows you to think about so
- 8:20Speaker 1: many different layers of experiences that you can get just
- 8:24Speaker 1: by walking in there. And it's all tied to sports,
- 8:27Speaker 1: and sports is such a it crosses racial lines, but
- 8:32Speaker 1: it is racial, you know, whether it's the black quarterback
- 8:34Speaker 1: situation of the you know, I was watching ESPN last night.
- 8:38Speaker 1: They did this special call the Year the Black Quarterback.
- 8:40Speaker 1: You know, when you talk about Russell Wilson, you're talking
- 8:42Speaker 1: about Patrick Mahomes, you're talking about Lamar Jackson, who who's
- 8:46Speaker 1: unanimous m v P. And here was a guy who
- 8:49Speaker 1: was the fifth quarterback drafted in the year he was drafted,
- 8:52Speaker 1: and so because people thought he should be actually trying
- 8:54Speaker 1: out for to be a ride receiver and not be
- 8:57Speaker 1: trying to try not to be a quarterback. And so
- 9:00Speaker 1: you know, these these individuals who are changing the game.
- 9:04Speaker 1: How does that affect your book? Yeah, that's interesting. One
- 9:08Speaker 1: of the it was in chapter two the case study
- 9:11Speaker 1: I did, one of the athletes featured in that case
- 9:14Speaker 1: study talking about that, how you know, even as college coach,
- 9:20Speaker 1: they were bringing a white quarterback in the black quarterback monnel,
- 9:25Speaker 1: that black quarterback with the label of athletes. You know,
- 9:28Speaker 1: when clearly, from the perspective of this young man that
- 9:31Speaker 1: I feature in chapter two, he was the best quarterback
- 9:34Speaker 1: and best athlete on the team and he didn't understand
- 9:37Speaker 1: why coaches want to limit his access to that quarterback
- 9:41Speaker 1: leadership decision making positions. So certainly the athletes that I've
- 9:46Speaker 1: engaged within my research recognized the very point that you're making. Well,
- 9:51Speaker 1: you know, I think that a book like yours has
- 9:53Speaker 1: to be written and has to be you know, we
- 9:55Speaker 1: can't all have we have to have factual information about
- 9:58Speaker 1: what is really going on out there. And uh, when
- 10:01Speaker 1: I was reading your book and like see you you
- 10:03Speaker 1: you you followed three characters because you didn't really give
- 10:07Speaker 1: details on exactly who they were, exactly what college they
- 10:11Speaker 1: played on, exactly what protein they played on. But you
- 10:14Speaker 1: shared their position in college, you share their position when
- 10:17Speaker 1: they left college. And the three characters played a major
- 10:20Speaker 1: role in how each transition away from the sport based
- 10:24Speaker 1: on how the sport treated them. And you know, and
- 10:28Speaker 1: and it's really important that people understand that sports is
- 10:31Speaker 1: such a you know, everybody wants to be the next
- 10:34Speaker 1: you know, Russell Wilson, or the next you know Jair
- 10:37Speaker 1: Rice or the next. But then you have this this
- 10:40Speaker 1: this collegiate force or this college force out there, and
- 10:44Speaker 1: you said the h w c U, and I really
- 10:46Speaker 1: versus the HBCU, because those are two options out there,
- 10:50Speaker 1: but they are perceived options for success. When I say
- 10:53Speaker 1: h w c U, we're talking about historical white college
- 10:56Speaker 1: and universities and you have HBCU historical historical college and university.
- 11:01Speaker 1: Explain those dynamics for us, my listeners. Yeah. So, I mean,
- 11:05Speaker 1: if you really think about prior to the late nineteen
- 11:10Speaker 1: sixties and early nineteen seventies, that's where the black talent
- 11:15Speaker 1: really emerged. You talking about Jerry Rice, I mean he
- 11:17Speaker 1: was He's a product of an hbc and many of
- 11:21Speaker 1: the great Prior to the late sixties early seventies, when
- 11:24Speaker 1: Harry I was writing about this stuff, when he first
- 11:26Speaker 1: began writing about this stuff, all the black talent was there.
- 11:30Speaker 1: But once these historically white institutions began to realize there
- 11:34Speaker 1: was golden in their heels, as they say, that's when
- 11:39Speaker 1: they started cherry picking the best and the brightest. Historian
- 11:43Speaker 1: Gerald Eally talked about it was. HBO did a documentary
- 11:46Speaker 1: in the late nineties called The Journey of African American athletes.
- 11:48Speaker 1: He talked about this mass uh influx of black athletes
- 11:55Speaker 1: into these historical institutions in the early seventies. And the
- 11:59Speaker 1: real key moment was in nineteen seventy three they talked
- 12:02Speaker 1: about in this documentary when Sam damn Cunningham, that's right,
- 12:06Speaker 1: came down to Alabama, Alabama. He went down and just
- 12:09Speaker 1: ran all over Paul bear Bryant's all white Alabama squad.
- 12:13Speaker 1: You had the Alabama fans and the stands of at
- 12:16Speaker 1: the late great Eddie Robinson said talking about get us one,
- 12:20Speaker 1: get us one, talking about a black athlete, you know,
- 12:22Speaker 1: to the dominating. The next year, Alabama certainly brought in
- 12:26Speaker 1: Wilbert Jackson absolutely and then just let everybody know about
- 12:28Speaker 1: that game. USC dominant, West Coast College, University of Southern
- 12:32Speaker 1: California and Sam Bam Cunningham. When you give him a vault,
- 12:35Speaker 1: he'd leap over the line. He wouldn't run through the
- 12:38Speaker 1: last he'd leap over it, and so and so so
- 12:41Speaker 1: it was like there was nothing we've ever seen in
- 12:43Speaker 1: college football. And to do it against you know, the
- 12:46Speaker 1: vauntage or the legendary you know Bear Bryan team was
- 12:50Speaker 1: was was incredible. And also you know the Nebraska team
- 12:53Speaker 1: led by Johnny Rogers, and uh, those teams changed the
- 12:57Speaker 1: way people saw black athletes. And then when Jimmy Johnson
- 13:01Speaker 1: went down to Miami and found that the southern version,
- 13:05Speaker 1: the southern tip of Florida where all the black athletes
- 13:09Speaker 1: that nobody wanted to recruit, that had all the speed,
- 13:13Speaker 1: that's really started changing the face. But then they called
- 13:15Speaker 1: the athletes that he recruited convicts. M hm. They called
- 13:21Speaker 1: the athletes that know that they recruited Catholics and so
- 13:26Speaker 1: so they they named them. So. So when I started
- 13:28Speaker 1: reading your book, you know, it just started bringing back memories, doctor,
- 13:32Speaker 1: you know, so so you know you I'm one of
- 13:34Speaker 1: those industry decision makersy. This is impromptu information you've given
- 13:38Speaker 1: me that I'm just I'm just expounding. And just then
- 13:41Speaker 1: you know how important that your your book is and
- 13:44Speaker 1: needs to be be be studied but also served because
- 13:47Speaker 1: sociology changed my life. We're gonna be back in the
- 13:50Speaker 1: minute in our next break, because you got me fired up, doctor,
- 13:53Speaker 1: You got me fired up. Man. This book is a
- 13:55Speaker 1: is a is a great read. I'm talking to a book.
- 13:57Speaker 1: I'm talking to Dr John singer his book Proving Opportunities
- 14:01Speaker 1: and Alcohols for Blackmail. College athletes will be road back
- 14:04Speaker 1: with more money making conversations. We'll be right back with
- 14:07Speaker 1: more from McDonald and money making conversations. Don't touch that.
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- 16:32Speaker 1: I'm the host of Rashan McDonald. I'm speaking to Dr
- 16:35Speaker 1: John Singer. He has a book called Race, Sports and
- 16:38Speaker 1: Education and Improving Opportunities and Outcomes for Black Mail College Athletes.
- 16:44Speaker 1: My show is about entertainment. My show is about entrepreneurship. Um.
- 16:48Speaker 1: I feel it's the topic that you're talking about. It's
- 16:51Speaker 1: about money. It's about how the uh the institution we
- 16:56Speaker 1: call the n C double a uh. Some people call
- 16:59Speaker 1: it a money making institutions, and people have called the plantation.
- 17:04Speaker 1: Some people have called it an environment. But I feel that, yes,
- 17:08Speaker 1: you can say that, but it also impacts white students
- 17:11Speaker 1: as well, white student athletes as well. And so, but
- 17:14Speaker 1: we're talking about the black student athletes. And so you
- 17:17Speaker 1: track three different talents in your book. Why did you
- 17:21Speaker 1: choose these three individuals and why were they stores so
- 17:24Speaker 1: unique to your book? Well? Interesting? Right, So that particularly
- 17:29Speaker 1: you're talking about chapter two in the book is really
- 17:32Speaker 1: is um, that chapter is based on my dissertation work. Um.
- 17:36Speaker 1: And one of the reasons I don't you kind of
- 17:38Speaker 1: mentioned earlier in our conversation that I don't get specifically
- 17:41Speaker 1: about the institution. That's because of h RB protocol universities
- 17:47Speaker 1: where you have to protect the confidentiality of your research participants.
- 17:54Speaker 1: But this research that I feature of these three black males,
- 17:59Speaker 1: One reason I chose in the particulars because they expressed
- 18:01Speaker 1: an interest in the topics. So I had a connection
- 18:03Speaker 1: with one of the brothers who was an academic counselor
- 18:09Speaker 1: in the athletic department, and he told these particular athletes
- 18:13Speaker 1: about my, my, my dissertation research, and and they were
- 18:17Speaker 1: very interested in and sharing their story and their voices
- 18:19Speaker 1: and helping to create knowledge around the topics. So that's
- 18:23Speaker 1: kind of why those particular individuals making into the book,
- 18:26Speaker 1: because they were willing participants and wanted to share this
- 18:31Speaker 1: critical conversation that we had that formed the basis of
- 18:35Speaker 1: chapter two. All three in play football college football. Author
- 18:38Speaker 1: of them played football, and they were all high levels recruits,
- 18:41Speaker 1: you know they were. They were high level bluechip athletes
- 18:44Speaker 1: coming out of high school, and they all at some
- 18:47Speaker 1: point in time had a step in the NFL beyond
- 18:50Speaker 1: their their college days. They were that talented um on
- 18:55Speaker 1: the field to play to the point where they all
- 18:57Speaker 1: got a shot, with varying degrees of success at the
- 19:00Speaker 1: NFL level, But I love the fact that they all
- 19:03Speaker 1: arrived in different ways. One was a free agent, one
- 19:06Speaker 1: was drafted in the later rounds, and one was drafted
- 19:08Speaker 1: in the early rounds. And we all know that that's
- 19:10Speaker 1: a salary tied to that. And two of them became
- 19:14Speaker 1: are in the fields of in the are in the
- 19:16Speaker 1: field of acting, and one in the field of sales,
- 19:19Speaker 1: and so which which which is really interesting because in
- 19:23Speaker 1: my I'm running into more and more athletes of the
- 19:25Speaker 1: gentleman who wanted an oscar. Matthew Cherry was a former
- 19:29Speaker 1: professional football player, and so so I'm running into more
- 19:32Speaker 1: and more athletes and I and I really the reason
- 19:35Speaker 1: the reason I'm really excited about communicating with you because
- 19:38Speaker 1: I'm really involved in a lot of HBCU activity, trying
- 19:42Speaker 1: to really build a brand of their awareness of what
- 19:46Speaker 1: HBCUs are bringing to the table not only in athletics
- 19:49Speaker 1: but academics, but also your book is about branding and
- 19:53Speaker 1: marketing too, because it's about perception because that we started.
- 19:57Speaker 1: Because that's why a lot of kids go to h uh,
- 20:01Speaker 1: historical White college university because of the fact that it's
- 20:04Speaker 1: perception that I can get drafted or I get a
- 20:06Speaker 1: better opportunity to uh, to be seen on TV. That's
- 20:10Speaker 1: important to these young people today as it is in
- 20:12Speaker 1: the past. Correct. Oh, yeah, absolutely, And that conversation has
- 20:18Speaker 1: come up in mind not only my formal resource with
- 20:20Speaker 1: black male athletes, but also when I was academic advisor
- 20:25Speaker 1: and mentor of a summer Bridge program. A lot of
- 20:28Speaker 1: this struggle with the decision to say, Hey, I want
- 20:31Speaker 1: to consider HBCU, but I know where I'm at in
- 20:34Speaker 1: my career, where we're at in society. It behoo's me
- 20:38Speaker 1: to go to the historically white college because of the
- 20:41Speaker 1: media visibility, the platform, the resources to get me to
- 20:45Speaker 1: the next level. So I've had many conversations with black
- 20:48Speaker 1: male athletes over the years about that, you know, decision
- 20:54Speaker 1: to consider HBCUs, but to look at the platform and
- 20:57Speaker 1: the resources that these historical hit cousy and the even
- 21:02Speaker 1: though it's been proven that if you do have the talent,
- 21:04Speaker 1: you know, Steve McNair HBCU graduate at quarterback Tennessee Titans, UH,
- 21:10Speaker 1: Doug Williams, of course, Gramlin UM Jared Rice Mississippi Valley State,
- 21:16Speaker 1: I believed. And then also recently the Houston Texans drafted
- 21:21Speaker 1: a young man out of a police South Carolina State
- 21:24Speaker 1: officive tackle UH from our HBCU school. So and then
- 21:29Speaker 1: also Darre's Leonard last year he was a HBCU grad
- 21:33Speaker 1: and made the Pro Bowl. So we're starting to see.
- 21:37Speaker 1: And also I know that the NFL is now holding
- 21:40Speaker 1: a separate HBCU college combine. So so it's a lot
- 21:46Speaker 1: of things that are happening. They may cause that shift,
- 21:48Speaker 1: may not be dramatically, but if if that shift started
- 21:51Speaker 1: to happen, what would that do in the in the
- 21:54Speaker 1: book that you've written, would it would it be Would
- 21:56Speaker 1: it be a good thing if that shift started happening
- 21:58Speaker 1: towards h or the hbc you're starting to see more
- 22:01Speaker 1: quality talent to attend or just as quote last, that's
- 22:07Speaker 1: a very interesting question because I talked a little bit
- 22:10Speaker 1: about that in the conclusion of my book right where
- 22:13Speaker 1: that's a consideration that we have to think about. I
- 22:16Speaker 1: think about my dear sister Jamal Hill, who is a
- 22:19Speaker 1: fellow Michigan State's partner. We were there in nineties at
- 22:23Speaker 1: the same time she talks about that, how now is
- 22:26Speaker 1: the time for us to seriously consider that. It's interesting.
- 22:28Speaker 1: I'm this Thursday, February thirteenth, I'm giving a talk about
- 22:32Speaker 1: my book at Prairieview, a and m um Fred Bonner
- 22:36Speaker 1: has what he called the Building on Resilience lecture series,
- 22:39Speaker 1: and he asked me to come and talk about my
- 22:42Speaker 1: book and you know, implications it has for college sports
- 22:47Speaker 1: widely speaking, and so I think it's time to have
- 22:50Speaker 1: that conversation. And in light of what herya was referred
- 22:53Speaker 1: to as the fourth waves of athlete activism, where athletes
- 22:57Speaker 1: are now corporates in their own rights, you know, I mean,
- 23:02Speaker 1: but the social media media platform, these athletes are being
- 23:06Speaker 1: more empowered to to control their own you know, brand
- 23:12Speaker 1: and destiny. So I think it's a serious conversation that
- 23:15Speaker 1: we can't ignore this dismissed as I will never be
- 23:19Speaker 1: possible because the aller of h h W c US
- 23:22Speaker 1: is just too powerful. I think that I don't know,
- 23:25Speaker 1: the conversation is right and to be had, well, it's
- 23:31Speaker 1: right to be had, but will it be you know, achieved?
- 23:33Speaker 1: And I'm not look out. Look, I'm not trying to
- 23:36Speaker 1: shut down by school, the University of Houston. I'm just
- 23:39Speaker 1: trying to let individuals know there are options, and sometimes
- 23:42Speaker 1: special people don't look at HBCU as an option. And
- 23:44Speaker 1: I'm just letting people know that if you're talented and
- 23:47Speaker 1: you want to be and you do the right things
- 23:49Speaker 1: in life, then guess what you can participate in the sport,
- 23:52Speaker 1: especially in football. Now that's not showing up in baseball,
- 23:55Speaker 1: that's not showing up in basketball like that, but in
- 23:57Speaker 1: football has proven that if you got the talent, they
- 24:00Speaker 1: find you and you can also and that's that's very true. Yeah,
- 24:05Speaker 1: And I'll give you an example. So I referee high
- 24:08Speaker 1: school and college basketball here in Texas when I'm not
- 24:11Speaker 1: doing my university work. And one of my fellow co
- 24:15Speaker 1: officials has a son who is you know, finger this
- 24:18Speaker 1: year being recruited and I don't know if he signed
- 24:21Speaker 1: on signing day February five, but he told me after
- 24:23Speaker 1: his son read my book, he is seriously now considering
- 24:27Speaker 1: going to an HPC. You have to read my book.
- 24:29Speaker 1: I mean that really did my heart good when I
- 24:32Speaker 1: got that text message from him saying that, you know,
- 24:35Speaker 1: because he's considering, you know, some of the some of
- 24:38Speaker 1: the major Division one schools here in the state of Texas.
- 24:41Speaker 1: But now you know, the Texas southerns and the prairie
- 24:44Speaker 1: views are in the conversation for this young man and
- 24:48Speaker 1: his family. So that that really was red because you
- 24:51Speaker 1: do don't care who are you at. Okay, let's let's
- 24:53Speaker 1: look at the college world is out there. You know,
- 24:56Speaker 1: if you if you're in the traditional h uh uh,
- 25:00Speaker 1: historical right collegist Okay, that means that even there that
- 25:04Speaker 1: it's you have the Power five, the Power five conferences,
- 25:08Speaker 1: and then like I go to University Houston, it's not
- 25:10Speaker 1: a Power five conference. You know, it's a lesser conference.
- 25:13Speaker 1: So even in that world, there's divisions, there's saying you're better,
- 25:17Speaker 1: you can you can hang out down there, and you
- 25:18Speaker 1: have the Division two, you have Division one playoff systems,
- 25:22Speaker 1: and then you have HBCUs. So no matter where you go,
- 25:25Speaker 1: they're gonna be opportunities for you. And you could be
- 25:28Speaker 1: perceived like Mrs ed Oliver Oliver when he signed with
- 25:32Speaker 1: the University of Houston and he's and they said, why
- 25:35Speaker 1: that's not a poalified school. He would never make it
- 25:37Speaker 1: guess what he winded up in the number nine picking
- 25:39Speaker 1: the draft because his talent is still he still gave
- 25:42Speaker 1: a effort, he still shined. And so I'm just letting
- 25:46Speaker 1: everybody know when I read your book, not only way
- 25:48Speaker 1: you supplying with me with information, but you also will
- 25:51Speaker 1: affirming what I believe. If you if you make the
- 25:54Speaker 1: right effort, if you put yourself in the right support system,
- 25:58Speaker 1: and then don't let people swear you with negativity, and
- 26:01Speaker 1: you can follow your dreams no matter where it leads you.
- 26:04Speaker 1: That's what the basis of your book is correct, and
- 26:07Speaker 1: that's right. And these athletes nowadays, they want to get
- 26:10Speaker 1: on the field or the court. They want to have
- 26:12Speaker 1: opportunities at play and and and maybe it's a situation
- 26:15Speaker 1: where they realized, hey, let me, let me come on
- 26:18Speaker 1: home one of my doctors and one of my doctors
- 26:21Speaker 1: and not going to study where you know, we looked
- 26:25Speaker 1: at a young man. He was a five star recruit
- 26:28Speaker 1: coming out of high school who started at Alabama but
- 26:32Speaker 1: eventually ended up at at Winston Salem State University, and
- 26:37Speaker 1: we we we framed that we didn't We presented at
- 26:40Speaker 1: a conference and we framed it redefining the conveyor belt,
- 26:42Speaker 1: you know, William Roden's turn, and how these athletes are
- 26:45Speaker 1: recruited from their communities from early age on through you know,
- 26:49Speaker 1: high school into college and how this particularly young man
- 26:53Speaker 1: redefined the conveyor belt, and and looking at his story
- 26:56Speaker 1: and talking about how he you know, ended up at
- 27:00Speaker 1: home at the end of the day when he was
- 27:02Speaker 1: in there that space car Winston Salem State University, even
- 27:05Speaker 1: though there wasn't the accolade the past to it that
- 27:08Speaker 1: in Alabama provides at the end of the day as
- 27:11Speaker 1: a man, he found that landing spot, that where he
- 27:16Speaker 1: finished his career to be, you know, after him going comfortable.
- 27:21Speaker 1: So it's pretty comfortable and relatable because that's what it's
- 27:23Speaker 1: all about, you know, in the end, man, if you're
- 27:26Speaker 1: trying to pursue your dreams, and I say, who I'm
- 27:28Speaker 1: speaking to is Dr John Singer Um. His book is
- 27:33Speaker 1: about it's about letting people know that as a black athlete,
- 27:37Speaker 1: your experience is different and it should be acknowledged. Because
- 27:40Speaker 1: you talk about more part college profectors, you talk about tutors,
- 27:45Speaker 1: you talk about mentors because you know, you you're thrown
- 27:49Speaker 1: into a world that's really not trying to adjust for you.
- 27:53Speaker 1: And that's really what can happen to students. And so
- 27:56Speaker 1: that's all I'm saying is that sure you can be recruited,
- 27:59Speaker 1: sure you can go to the school, but it's it
- 28:01Speaker 1: is it accepting who you are as a person, where
- 28:04Speaker 1: you know as much smaller environment they can allow you
- 28:07Speaker 1: to grow as a person, because that's all you want.
- 28:09Speaker 1: When you go to college. You won't grow. You want
- 28:10Speaker 1: an opportunity to walk away and be a successful person
- 28:13Speaker 1: in a field that is not athletically driven. And that's
- 28:16Speaker 1: what the three people that you chose and which I
- 28:18Speaker 1: liked because you know, one he left he was a
- 28:21Speaker 1: free agent. You know, he had a family, but he
- 28:23Speaker 1: still went to l A and guess what, he's a
- 28:25Speaker 1: he's working as a successful actor. And then one he
- 28:29Speaker 1: was a he's a late round draft pick, but he
- 28:31Speaker 1: saved his money, played several years in the NFL. And
- 28:34Speaker 1: then he doesn't have a wife or a kid, so
- 28:37Speaker 1: but he saved his money. So he's out there, but
- 28:39Speaker 1: he's not he's not effectively pursuing his career, like he
- 28:43Speaker 1: wan't at the pace that he want, but at least
- 28:44Speaker 1: he's doing it. And then the other one it's a salesman.
- 28:47Speaker 1: He's out there using this academic training, using this the
- 28:50Speaker 1: things that he learned by going to the school, and
- 28:52Speaker 1: allowing him to live a successful life. But that's all
- 28:55Speaker 1: you want from a college, from college education, that's all
- 28:57Speaker 1: the opportunity you want. College, This college owe you anything.
- 29:01Speaker 1: Dr Well, you know, one of the things that I
- 29:05Speaker 1: talked about this in the book, area was saying is
- 29:08Speaker 1: that at the end of the day, education is an
- 29:10Speaker 1: activist pursuit, right, And if you don't as an individual,
- 29:14Speaker 1: even though there's issues that we can talk about with
- 29:16Speaker 1: the system and the structure, if you know, as an individual,
- 29:19Speaker 1: don't prioritize that, that's on you. So I think, you know,
- 29:27Speaker 1: that's one of the messages I do want people to
- 29:29Speaker 1: take from the book as well that I'm very as
- 29:31Speaker 1: Herod was said in his endorsement on book, I'm very
- 29:34Speaker 1: hard on the system and my critique of it, but
- 29:37Speaker 1: I'm also uh cognizant of the fact that the individual
- 29:42Speaker 1: has to step up and make it their education a
- 29:45Speaker 1: priority and or activists pursuit. So, in other words, if
- 29:50Speaker 1: somebody gives you an opportunity, take advantage of it. Because
- 29:53Speaker 1: the three people that volunteer to be a part of
- 29:56Speaker 1: your research. They use their athleticism to be educated, and
- 30:01Speaker 1: I feel they're live in good lives because they were
- 30:03Speaker 1: able to go to college. But the the athleticism wasn't
- 30:06Speaker 1: the end all. It was just a straight to a
- 30:09Speaker 1: better life. And that's what that was my biggest takeaway
- 30:11Speaker 1: from your book. In the book, I'm talking about this race,
- 30:13Speaker 1: sports and education, improving opportunities, which what college education can
- 30:18Speaker 1: do and out come for blackmail college athletes by man
- 30:22Speaker 1: Dr John Singer. I'm a fan. Please tell everybody how
- 30:25Speaker 1: they can locate your book. Do you have a website
- 30:28Speaker 1: your social media information? Oh? Yeah, Well the best way
- 30:32Speaker 1: probably is this to go directly to either Harvard Education
- 30:36Speaker 1: Press website or either Amazon. That's that's really the popular
- 30:42Speaker 1: way to get the book. Um at this point, Um,
- 30:46Speaker 1: I am on Twitter, I am on Facebook. UM. So
- 30:51Speaker 1: I don't have a website at this point for the book.
- 30:54Speaker 1: But as I talk more about this book and and
- 30:57Speaker 1: uh it gets more attention, I will be set that
- 31:00Speaker 1: type of thing. Well, my job is to give your attention, sir,
- 31:04Speaker 1: because I enjoyed it and I wish you good luck.
- 31:06Speaker 1: I always know that Rushan McDonald is a friend of
- 31:09Speaker 1: yours and there your book has only opened my eyes
- 31:12Speaker 1: to let me know that I'm gonna continue to fight.
- 31:14Speaker 1: But college changed my life. I didn't play sports. But
- 31:17Speaker 1: if I didn't go to college, and I didn't pursue
- 31:19Speaker 1: the opportunity of to college presented to me, I would
- 31:21Speaker 1: not be the man I am today. If you want
- 31:23Speaker 1: to listen to any more episodes of Money Making Conversations,
- 31:26Speaker 1: go to Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm Rushan McDonald.
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