Author Len Clark joins the show to talk about his new book 'Teddy And The Gipper: A Notre Dame Friendship'. Clark discusses how losing his job led to his decision to write the children's book as well as more details on the book, which centers around the days of George Gipp and Knute Rockne's Notre Dame. More details are available at www.Teddyandthegipper.com.
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The NFL season is finally here, so make sure you're ready with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. It gives you the most live NFL games all in one place, exactly what you need to make your Sunday's more magical. Sign up today at youtube.com/Sundayticket. Local and national games on YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket for Out-of-Market Games excludes digital only games. [MUSIC] I'll tell you what, our guest is here, so let's go ahead and talk to Lynn, and then we can pop back in. And we can talk a little bit another day in football since Trevor made it through the initial, like, the testing phase of the show. Let's bring in Lynn Clark right now. How's it going, Lynn? Hi, Sean. How are you? I'm good. It's great to see you. Well, you're throwing me right in. I just entered the room and then called for the relief announcer. I didn't want you just sitting there getting cold the whole time. I know you've been out there getting your warm-up tosses in and all that kind of stuff, so I didn't want you cooling down too far in the bullpen before we brought you in. You've got a new book out right now. I do. And it is called, "Help Me Teddy and the Gipper." There's so many words in this name. I always forget, you know, I knew Teddy and the Gipper, a Notre Dame friendship. And it is a children's book, illustrations, and the whole thing. Like, how long did you work on this? Like, how long did it take you from start to finish? How long did it take? Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I've known you a long time. I really admire your work. And to preface, it's a children's book, I would say, from 9 to 99. It's a little bit of a tough read for the younger kids. But a lot of the kids that are in their 80s and 90s have told me they've really enjoyed the book. But if I can start, Sean, the book saved my life. Really? The book really saved my life. You know a little bit about my story. Last year, four days before the start of the season in Dublin, I was fired. I was brought back to work for a media organization. And out of the blue, I was told I had no jobs. So the contract wasn't honored. So basically, I had no income. I was not credentialed. I come from an educational background. It was too late to get a college teaching job. So I hit rock bottom. And so I had to rebuild myself. And so I really want to thank Bob Lovell of Network Indiana, who helped me get credentialed last year. I only missed one game. I missed the Tennessee State game. And then I live in Portage, Indiana. And so the Portage Township schools took a chance on me to substitute each. So that was really my income. But to write the book, I needed something to get my spirits back up. And so I had about an hour a night as I was trying to rebuild myself. And that's when I pulled out an old outline that I started about five, six years ago, because they say everybody has a book in them. And I had taken down some notes. And I started to write. And to quote a famous Notre Dame graduate and journalist, Red Smith, who worked at the New York Herald in the New York Times. Somebody asked him about writing. They said, "How do you write?" He said, "Sit down at a typewriter. Open up a vein and bleed." Right. That's what I did every night starting last fall, is that I would dedicate an hour and I opened a vein and it just came out. I bled. And it's a little autobiographical because it's about an individual who ends up teaching at Portage High School, my hometown, and retires back in 1973. But I also wanted to do something nostalgic. You know, we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Four Horsemen and the famous lead by Grantlyn Rice of Outlined Against the Blue Grey October Sky. Right. And then I wanted to do something to capture the Notre Dame spirit. And we know all the adage that Lou Holtz has talked about. If you've never been to Notre Dame, you won't understand it. If you're there, you can explain it. So the best way that I could really convey the Notre Dame spirit, something that you, Trevor and Sean, know, the only way I could do that was to write a book. And so everything just kind of came together. So Teddy and the Gipper, a Notre Dame friendship, is about a boy, nine years old back in 1919, who lives in Chicago. But his father, who was a first generation Irish immigrant, grew up in South Bend and his dad gets a job at the Studebaker plant. So they have to move. So a nine year old boy doesn't want to leave his friends. He plays on the baseball team in his neighborhood. So he moves to South Bend. He and his dog snacks. And the first person he meets is George Gipp. George Gipp introduces him to Newt Rockney. They kind of adopt him. 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For a whole new way to nug, it's got to be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. That's awesome. I didn't realize there was so much revolving rent, the timing of the whole project and all that kind of stuff. It kind of it sounds like you had it on the back burner obviously for a little bit and then you like it kind of took a okay now necessity you know this is going to kick me into gear and I'm going to make this happen. It's one thing I think to come up with the idea it's another thing to actually make it happen. How you know like when you're going through this process of writing your own book trying to get it published all these different things like what what was that aspect of it like did you have to have sort of your, you know more than just an outline together, you know to get this thing, actually into a book format. As I said everything happens for a reason and redsmiths that open up a vein I opened up both arms both veins and I'm glad profusely, but everything happens for a reason. And last fall, I'm very good friends with Jim Augustine at Auggie's locker room and I that's part of my game day tradition I would go over there in the mornings. And I met a local South Bend artist who did this whimsical style art and I said you know one day we're going to work together on a project and it happened faster than I thought because I said, Jared I've got this idea for a book would you read it and kind of conceptualize some ideas for the artwork and he jumped on it immediately. He really makes the book I mean I just put the words down. He added the emotion he added the flavor he added the sight and the smell. He made the book come alive and there's that's the cover of the book. Teddy and the gipper in order to end friendship and that snacks, the dog and Teddy looking at the golden dome. And to answer the question Sean, when you're passionate about something it just starts rolling out. We're broadcasters we're not writers. And that was something that really was the hardest part for me is that I'm not a formerly trained writer and I but as I said I had that one hour and I really wanted to maximize it. And you have a passion and you want to tell a story and now it's Notre Dame historical fiction but there's a lot of historical facts that have been embedded in my brain for years that I have finally brought out. When I was in graduate school at Notre Dame I came across an autobiography of a retired priest named Cornelius Hagerty and I mentioned him in the book. I was a character. He was actually from South Bend and in the book I talked about Father Khan who actually saved George Gip from drowning because this guy, when school let out would jump in a canoe take it down the south. St Joe River out to Lake Michigan over to the Illinois River down to Mississippi to New Orleans and then come back by the start of school. And he talks in the book his autobiography about how Gip fell out of the canoe and they had to save them so thank God they did otherwise the book would have never been written because nobody would have heard about George Gip. But there's a lot of little historical facts about Northwest Indiana and South Bend. And well, it started not to cut you off but you were telling me today that like you, like some of the names in the book you are actually some of your teachers from back when you were in Portage. Was it Portage Elementary School is that kind of where some of them actually central elementary school. I'm from Portage Indiana and Teddy after he graduates from Notre Dame gets a job at Portage High School and he retires in 1973 so I was actually substitute teaching in the building at the old high school which is now a middle school and I'm in the same room while I'm writing the book and so I'm getting the ghost the feelings of past teachers and then today I went back to my elementary school for the first time in over 50 years. And I'm walking in the halls and going to the library where I checked out the book New Rock and a young athlete that really inspired me to really have a passion for Notre Dame and so as I said everything just started coming together it was, it still is a magical experience everything can come together like it has and it's been a fun ride so far. Like you said you're like you don't consider yourself a writer, but do you think is it is it easier is it harder when you're when you're saying towards a younger age demographic like this you know like a children's book what you have to get into the mind I've got young great nieces and nephew and I kind of ran some things by them. But as I said it was intended for children and then it expanded and as I said it's really for children ages nine to ninety nine it's a little bit harder to read. But if they're interested in the subject I'm hoping that they will have an interest in what to read it but regarding portage I'm working on a project with them right now and I'm going out and talking to the various elementary schools and to teach them to be a writer I'm going to have them read the book and then add a chapter they'll write a chapter on Teddy and Snacks and continue the adventures. So maybe there might be a second book down the line. Well and I was going to ask you that you know like could this turn into a series. Well I don't like the adventures of Teddy and you know the same way but it would have to be a prequel if you might say. Okay. But I've done a couple of interviews and some people would say you know this would make a great movie and I said hey let's get through the selling of the book first but I would really entertain the idea of maybe doing something to inspire children. But I'm having a ball with it going out and sharing my passion for media and Notre Dame and for what we have an opportunity to do you know 11 sun Saturdays out of the year and or more. And it's been a fun experience and I'm hoping to use this as a way to motivate a student from portage or anywhere in the country to follow their passion and to do something that we encourage them to do. I mean you know let's be honest Christmas is only three months away. It isn't perfect right perfect timing start start gearing up for Christmas if you get grandkids or young kids or whatever it happens to be where can where can everybody find your book. It's it's on Amazon.com Barnes and Noble but if you go to Teddy and the Gipper.com you can order it as well and I had a book signing prior to the Northern Illinois game at the bookstore will be at the bookstore. This Friday from 130 to three and I had a chance to meet some of the people who bought the book and there's this one great individual who was a fence for it Notre Dame back in the 1950s and he's from Illinois his daughter lives up in Michigan he comes to the games and I met him he bought 15 bookshears. He loved the book so much that he wants to give it out to family and friends and that was really humbling to have somebody come up to you and say the book really resonated with them as far as the Notre Dame spirit and then a mutual friend of ours Karen in the basketball office got a copy of the book and she said she took it to the beach and she said I cried and I said I didn't want to make you cry but it just says that the book is it touches people who have a passion about Notre Dame you know what the whole thing is it so I mean most of this is set at Notre Dame in that in that late you know what 1919 1920 kind of era is that right he moves in 1919 to South Bend leaves his family friends and has to start a new school and his grandmother lives about a football screen pass away from the campus and says hey go over and visit Notre Dame and he does and he meets George he and his dog snacks and then as you said he meets Newt Rockney becomes a kind of their mascot is there with the Four Horsemen it's a lot of Notre Dame historical history and a lot of facts about Northern Indiana Northwest Indiana that people might not know but it's the greatest compliment though that I've got is somebody told me they said I couldn't tell what was fact or fiction and I said the only fiction are the character snacks and the dog so Amazon says it's out of stock well I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing I would think that that's a good thing for you right now right I mean that means you've sold a lot of books so go to Teddy in the gipper.com and you can order it there and we can make sure that you get a copy and you know support with the work that you're doing anybody who buys a book will make a $5 donation to a charity that you guys are in favor of their shine so I put that up there Teddy and the gipper.com is where you can go and find that Light it Hey Irish Breakdown listeners it's Urban Meyer this fall the game changes join me Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and broadcaster Rob Stone as we bring you a new perspective on football and culture every week we will be joined by the biggest name in sports and talk about everything inside and outside of the lines let us guide you through a new era of college football watch triple option on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts Spotify or RevuGet Podcasts Hey Irish Breakdown listeners it's Matt Liner I've got a podcast called Throwbacks with actor Jay Ferre will be talking all things sports but also so much more We'll give you the behind the scenes stories from my days as the quarterback on an iconic college football team to Jerry's days as a star on an iconic TV series so subscribe to throwbacks on YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify or wherever you get podcasts You know I know every once in a while well I think basically like every week after the game I see you post these it's like Notre Dame game recaps in the style of Grantland Rice who was obviously from that time like is this is that era you know like are you kind of fascinated with with that era of a name basically I consider myself a Notre Dame historian and we're getting so far removed you know it's been it's a hundred years of the four horsemen and what I do you know I come from a teaching multimedia you know I taught at Notre Dame and around the country but I always adopt a new piece of technology and AI is all the rage and so I wanted to do something to commemorate the year that the 100th anniversary so I'm using AI to I'll write a game story and then have AI put it into the pros of Grantland Rice now somebody said well do you have his voice and I said well Grantland Rice was a was a writer then I found out he did a little radio as well so I actually cloned his voice really you can actually go and read the game story of the win over Miami Ohio in Grantland Rice prose but then also listen to the story in his own words and then I'm actually going to put up the outline against the blue grey October sky so we've read it many times we've heard people read it but now you can actually hear it in the in the words and you can listen to Grantland Rice do that he did his own book book on tape but well I'm doing it for him you know but I mean that you know he's it's his voice so his voice is I said using the AI technology tools I found him doing an interview with the baseball player and I grabbed it and cloned his voice and what's even creepier I can actually get a picture and have his mouth move that's a little bit creepy that is a little creepy the audio and it's such an interesting way the pros that the sport is not going to do it next year it's it's a one-time thing in honor of the 100th anniversary so let the so the the cover artwork up here on the on the YouTube videos you can kind of see it that's the you know the golden dome and the admin building and that's Teddy and snacks running up there right there and you can go to Teddy and the gipper.com in the local artist is Jared Basker who's from South Bend Indiana okay that name is familiar I don't know I don't know why but I don't know if I've ever met Jared has seen his art and will also be at Augie's locker room Friday before the bookstore and on Saturdays as well so over at Augie's you've seen Jared's work so you're give those times that you're going to be there but I'm going to get bright and early over at Augie's on Friday morning and I'll be there up until about one o'clock and then at the bookstore the Hammers bookstore on the Notre Dame campus from 130 to three and then Saturday I'll be at Augie's in the morning before we have to go over to Notre Dame Stadium and and cover that Notre Dame Louisville game. All right sounds good again you can go to Teddy and the gipper.com and then hopefully they've got it available on Amazon again again I'm taking that as a good sign you know I don't know how many you have to send Amazon when you when you do that but I don't know how that works back in I'm not part of that but that I guess that's good all men and maybe a lot of people are listening to you right now and going out and buying the book. All right sounds good Len Clark appreciate it and good luck with with continued success with the book it sounds like things are going pretty well right now and I will see you again this weekend my friend. Thank you Sean nice to meet you Trevor and we'll talk to you on Saturday. Okay sounds good. That is Len Clark and again you can go to Teddy and the gipper.com to find his book I mean that was a lot more detailed than I thought it was going to be for a children's book I don't know about you Trevor. Yeah that was really cool I'm I'm one of the people that just went to. I'm one of the people that just went to the website and bought the book not gonna lie. Oh nice. Yeah. I mean Lynn's Lynn's doing some sales right here. I think about that. But no it was really cool it's cool to hear his story and how he came up with the idea to write it. And you said that you guys have known each other for a while right. Yes, through radio back when I was with the first I was telling you that I used to work for the group artistic media here in town is what it's called that owns you 93 and yeah some other stations and before he even moved to town he was doing radio in another part of Indiana to keep you know had some connections like with one of the you know radio syndicators or something like that so that's kind of how we met informally and then yeah so we've we've known each other for quite some time now. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
