FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
(PSR) Prep Sports Report 7.6.2024 w/guests Tommy Wood and the Legend Series with Jack Wood
Coming to you live from the Eastern Shore, Toyota and Hyundai Studios. The Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Here's your host, Randy Bergen with Coach Rick Cleveland and Coach Mark Leseter. And good Saturday morning to you and welcome to the Thompson Tractor's Prep Sports Report. We're coming to you live from the Eastern Shore, Toyota and Hyundai. The studio is right here located in South Alabama. So glad to have you on board with us this morning. It is a 4th of July weekend. I'm your host, Randy Bergen along with Coach Rick Cleveland, Coach Mark Leseter. By the way, let me say both of you looking very good. Thank you, sir. Can you be working out? No. Don't start on me. [Laughter] Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Guys, 4th of July weekend, how did you celebrate a coach? With you. Well, you did. I did. I did know that. I did. I said we were to be each and good gracious alive. Everybody and his brothers there. Mark, I wish you could have seen the boats. Remember, remember, great memories. Chimney Rock, Clay Martin. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, July. You know, Randy, you just can't see any water. Of course, it's just covered. And that's the way Robinson Island is and all down there at the beach. It's unbelievable how many people were in a boat and then just lay it into the sun. A lot of people out. Man. Did you ever jump off Chimney Rock? I did. I did. One time said I would never do that again. I was 40 years old. No. Dwight Busby. My buddy. Dwight Busby. We're going to have Jack Wood on a little bit. That's his college roommate and best friend. Dwight Busby from Alexander City told me. He says, I jumped off when I'm 40. You got to jump off. We were coaching together at the time. And so I had turned 40 that summer. A couple of weeks later, he and I were out in a boat and he says, all right. Time for you to jump. And of course, you know, peer pressure. I climbed up that hill and jumped off that bridge. I had a bruise from my heel, my right heel all the way up. My back, I hit just a little bit wrong. You think? Yeah. Yeah. You didn't jump the tennis shoes off? Uh-uh. I wouldn't go up that. We went to the top of the hill. I was really stupid. We were young. Yeah. I didn't do it. And your boy, Blackman. Blackman did a belly buster. Oh, no way. From the top. From the very top. Of Chimney Rock. Of Chimney Rock. Yeah. And I can tell you this right now. His chest was as red as a tomato. Yeah. I'm just telling you. Oh my gosh. Ricky Marston him sitting down there below. They were ready to jump here. They didn't know if he'd come up. It's quite a leap. No, it's a huge leap. And the thing is, whenever you go underwater, you go a long way underwater. Yes, you do. And you look up at the sky. You can just see the light at the top of the water. Am I ever going to get there? Am I ever going to get there? I think that's the hardest part. It's getting up to the top. It is. That's why you better jump off because climbing back down really stinks. Yeah, you're going to go back down. I saw somebody fall off of there. Oh, no. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, wasn't pretty. No, it's not pretty. Was not pretty at all. Hey, you mentioned Jack Wood coming up at 9.15. We've got Tommy Wood coming up at 9.00 today. Yeah. Tommy Wood is one of our radio buddies out of the Calhoun County area. And he started a couple of things going on. He's got a great website, but he does. He started a camp that helps high school seniors get recognized. He's trying to do everything he can to help kids. And it doesn't matter if it's Division I, Division II, Division III, NAI. He's just that kind of guy. And Tommy's just a wonderful, wonderful guy you saw. And you guys saw on our prayer chain, his daughter, Broly, who's having some issues. And so we want to get Tommy on today to talk about what he's got going on. And pretty interesting guy, pretty interesting guy. Ain't no doubt about a lot going on. We're getting set for, and I know, Coach, you have, Rick, you've retired. I have. You have been playing a lot of golf. And it shows more. I played yesterday, and Rick was, are you ready for this? Were you one under, even? Well, no, I had four birdies on the front, Mark. And I had two double bogeys, so I was even. And the other four of them. Playing incredible golf right now, playing incredible golf. But I mentioned that. I only say that football season is right around the corner. And Mark, you know that because you're right in the heat of it right now. But a lot of changes going on. I'm not rush-proced. Yeah, I got the question this week. Where is Rush going to end up? I think Rush is done. I do. I think he's done. But somebody mentioned some people from Gadsden were down. And we're talking about, there's some talk that he might come back over to Cusa Christian and Coach. But I want to tell you, Rush is going to be in Pills City on Friday night because the sun's a senior. I think Rush, I hope Rush gives it up. I really do. I just think he's great at what he does, but he goes about it the wrong way. And Mark, we've talked about this ad nauseam. And he just goes about it the wrong way. But I don't think Rush is going to be back in coaching. I really don't. Not at the high school level. And I would be surprised if anybody hires him at the next level. I just, you know, there's comes a time you're just going to need to walk away from. That's right. And I think, I hope Rush, you know, for what he wants to do. Now, if he wants to continue coaching, and I'm never a person to tell somebody to keep, you know, not do something they ought to do because it's none of my business. But I just think that I think that he's already, he's, he changed football in the state of Alabama. And he did some great things coaching. I mean, he really did. But he just keeps running into these obstacles where he gets himself into this trouble all the way through. And, you know, some is and some isn't. You know, you can't, you've got to look to go. Gosh, did that really happen? And, you know, whatever it is, it just seems like there's a trail of carnage that kind of follows him around. And I hope that, I hope Rush can be satisfied with his career and with himself and just walk away from it and enjoy the remainder of his life, you know. And, but can he do that? I don't know. You know, there's one of the assistants at one of the universities in the Southeastern Conference that is familiar with Rush. And he said, you know, there is no doubt in my mind that Rush is trying to do everything he can to make a child a child the best he can be in football. But he just goes about it the wrong way. And that's pretty much right. I mean, there's just some things that he does to cut corners that you can't cut corners on. And he's, he's a phenomenal, phenomenal football mind. There is no doubt about that. And you're right, Mark, you do. He changed high school football in the state of Alabama. He did. And I think for the better, in a lot of ways, in a lot of ways. But on the other side of that coin, some of the things that they have done have really hurt the game of football. So, yeah, that's pretty much it. Yeah. Hey, look, we have a lot of football to get into. As a matter of fact, on Monday, the new executive director of the HSAA, he begins his new position on Monday. Yeah, he sure does. Alvin will be gone as of July the 8th. Heath Harmon will come in and, guys, I'm going to tell you, he has got a major, major job in front of him. And I don't know anybody that would want this job right now. I don't know anything. I just, I really, really don't. First of all, the pay is not nearly what it should be. It's just not. I mean, and he is going to have to deal with so many issues that are going on. Not to mention the ones we all know. NIL is all around us. It's all around us. There's always really legislators that have introduced legislation to try to get it into Alabama. We got to do something about all this transfer stuff, too. I mean, if it's legal, it's fine. But there's so much illegal activity. And within our voice, people that can hear our voice this morning, there is so much illegal stuff going on, he's going to have to deal with it. He's going to have to meet it head on. He's going to have to not fear litigation. And we got to stop it. We just got to stop it. Well, either we stop it or we just get Florida is and just let everybody go do kind of what they want. What they want to do. And I can tell you, that is a mess. That is a mess over there because you can play football at Tate and play baseball at Kentonement or wherever. I mean, play basketball at Booker T Washington. It doesn't matter. And all in the same year. That's a mess. I just don't like it. I don't know. Maybe I'm too old. Maybe I've been around this thing too long. But I just don't like what I hear. I hear talking about me. People just talking about stuff. That's just not right. Just discussions about, yeah, well, I'm going to go over here and look at this school. And I'm not getting to down on do this guy. I'm like, what are y'all doing? It divides communities. It does. It does. We're no longer community football. Randy, when you grew up in Bayman in, it was all you in your budget. It's no longer that. They ain't no down. They ain't no down. All right, hey, let's take our first time out. When we come back, we'll get back into some high school football. That's right around the corner. Yes, sir. Coach, maybe you can kind of give us a little peek at what's happening over Bayside. All right. Got a lot to get into. Don't go anywhere. This is the Thompson Tractor's Preps Sports Report. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Preps Sports Report. Brought to you by Alpha Insurance. This segment, presented by Green and Phillips Attorneys in Law. Now, back to the show. I've seen your picture. It's more. Do your name and lights above their mark? Yes. It's my big debut. It's my big debut. I'm going to smile for the cam. Thank you. Hey, you should have. There you go. Hey, welcome back to the Thompson Tractor's Preps Sports Report. Randy Burgen, Coach Rick Cleveland, Coach Mark Laster. Guys, a little sad news. This kid from Alberta, Avery Pickle, 17 years old. Fullback, wrestler, Coach, just a sad day. Yes, he is. I had a chance to talk to Nate McDaniel yesterday. He's in Orlando with a little family vacation. He got this call and Avery was working, got off late. He and some buddies decided to go swimming. We don't know what happened. Guys, as coaches, just like his fathers, as moms and dads, we can't control where and what our children do after they're with us. After they reach a certain age and they gain their freedom. It's just a tragedy for the family, a tragedy for that whole little community of Alberta. There are no words. There just are no words when we lose a child that's a member of a team. It touches so many different lives. Our prayer, simply everything we can do, goes out for Avery's mom and dad. His family, his sister, was on social media asking people to spread the word. I know all the kids were out doing everything they could. There's teammates to help find him and they did find him yesterday. That's just a tragedy. It's just an absolute tragedy. When we lose a child so young, this got so much life left in them. This young man was a big contributor in all of their athletics here at Alberta. It's just sad, sad, it can be. It is. It is sad. It's one of those things where you cannot put a, you can't grasp it. I can't grasp it, you know, the horror of it. It takes me back to a few years ago when Henry Wythe. Absolutely. July the 4th. July the 4th. Nope. Just disappeared in the water, you know, after a jet ski wreck. Take a sand blast. Yeah. And we never found his body. And, you know, Sandy and Paige and Harper, just a lovely family, you know, and they were just devastated. You know, and they still, you know, still hurts. Yeah. You know, I see posts that they make every, every 4th of July about, about here. And then his close friends. And it's just, and it's the same thing with Avery. Yeah. You know, it's just a thing that you just, you cannot figure out why things like this happen. But it does. It's just a part of life. And it's, it's a hard part of life that I don't understand. I don't, I wish I could say, God, why does this happen? Why did things like this happen? You know, but he has a plan. And, you know, it's, and we just have to kind of, all, all I know is that we have to deal with the after effects, whatever that is. And we just have to live and, and move forward and try to honor the person that, that, that who, who has passed us or left us and move forward with it. Yeah. You know, that, it seems like the Fair Hope community has had more than their share of tragedy. I go back, I go back to early 2000s. I think one of the best baseball players I've ever seen as a high school baseball player was Chris Boyette. I mean, he could do everything. He could do absolutely everything. He had the most beautiful baseball swing in the snap of a finger there in an automobile accident. And he's gone and two amazing, wonderful, some of my favorite people. When do you, when you, when you, when you've had that kid to feed you truck and you've seen him play and it just, he's here. And then he's gone. And Eddie and Teresa have, have handled that so well. But Mark, you had so much, you had a center one time. Stephen, yeah, that. On a Friday, Saturday night after the last game of the season was in the vehicle wreck and he passed away. And it was, it was horrible. I mean, there's no other way to say it. But, you know, it's just one, it's, and you can't figure out why. And I saw Eddie and Teresa the other day and, you know, just loved them so much and got to talk with him for a few minutes. And they have handled this about as well as it can be handled. And, but, you know, they just, I remember that took place. Man, it was a horrible, horrible time and this is a horrible time and we just have to, you know, keep marching through, you know, and moving forwards. All you can do and pray for people, love these people. And I remember thinking after Stephen had his accident and that the problem is not right now. The problem is for the family is like a month, two months, six months. They still need your love, phone calls, messages, bombarding them with letting them know they were still here for you. Because it is a tough, when it is further, it gets from it. Everybody goes away. That's right. You know, it moves on with their life and it's hard for the family to do so. Yeah. Yeah. And Randy, I know you've been touched by it. Oh yeah. You've seen it too many times and that's the beauty of a church. The church family that undergirds those families with the love and the nourishment, the encouragement. But after a certain time, Mark, you're right. It just moves on and goes away. And that's why coaching is such a camaraderie type deal because, see, we have relationships with these children, these young children that grow to be men and women that we love and respect. And then the moments notice, they're gone. And it's like our friends, and we're getting at the age of now, where, heck, I've been to five funerals in the last, in the month. Somebody asked me, how's retirement going? I said, well, I look forward to it. But, you know, death has hit us hard here lately. So, but Avery Pickle, that family, we, Randy, thank you for mentioning that. That's, we certainly, well, us here at PSR, we feel you're paying, but we don't know you're paying. No, but you're in our prayers. I was going to say, keep that family in your prayers for sure. There's no doubt. No doubt about it. We've got a few minutes left here in this segment. Real quick, Charles Henderson has a, it looks like they got a new OC. Yeah. Quinn, Quinn Hemrai, coach, the prideful for a year or two there. Ultra successful coach at Charles Henderson in Troy. And his OC took a hit football job, and he goes back in and one of his former players at PSR. Well, Cam Pedaway, who was a really good high school player. I think he actually played with my son. He probably, yeah, good player. Yeah. Cam called and said, "Look, coach, I'm looking for a coaching job." And Quinn said, "Come on in, let's interview." Well, he interviewed and he was so impressed. He's going to be my offensive coordinator. That's awesome. That's pretty good. Pedaway's a big name and pride one. Oh, I ain't no doubt about that. Yeah. Yeah. They've turned out some pretty good things. Well, you would know better than anybody who turned out some pretty good ball players. They had some really good players, and the Pedaway family was an exceptionally good group of athletes. You're right, Randy. Let me turn real quick, too. While we're in that Montgomery area, how about Bobby Carr? Oh, Mark. I think he's inherited this one, heck, from a football team. Now with all the kids from Sydney, Lanier coming over there and Carver and Lanier coming together is one. That's crazy. It is crazy. And Bobby Carr doesn't listen. You can say what you want to about private schools. I don't care who you're playing. You want a bunch of state titles in your skin. What was it? Right there in Millbrook. That's private. Now, then he went to a tall good one, so yeah. Bobby Carr is a heck of a football coach. You better watch out for Carver. Take it right back. Yeah. Hey, let's take another timeout when we come back. Here's a name from the past. How about your Marcus Russell? Oh, man. Maybe we throw him up here in just a second, all right? We'll do that as the top subtractors and prep support support continues. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. The Pops Market communication lines are open at 251-343-0106. Here's your host, Randy Bergen with Coach Rick Cleveland and Coach Mark Leseter. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] There you go. Chill bumps right there. Right there. Up and down that arm. I'm going to tell you. That is a wonderful song right there. And it certainly makes you think of football. High school football, doesn't it? Boy, I'm going to tell you, Kenny Chestnut, he's one of those guys that loves high school football. It obviously made a big difference in his life because he sings about it a lot. He does. Hey, no doubt. Hey, no doubt. Speaking of which, young man played a high school football right here in Mobile. Went on and played at LSU. Then went to the NFL. But no longer. He'll no longer be a coach in the NFL coach. Well, he's been an assistant coach at Williamson for a couple of years. And, you know, guys, Mobile's had some really great quarterbacks. I mean, Scott Hunter was obviously a great high school quarterback at Wagner. Richard Todd was an absolutely tremendous high school quarterback at Davidson. And then this little fellow over here, this Johnson kid, it's Spanish Ford. Johnson? Johnson. Yeah. Tyler Johnson. His boy. Was it Tyler? Is that his name? It's Tyler's son. I know that. Yeah, okay. But I can tell you this. He was a heck of a high school quarterback. I don't know if I ever saw a better high school quarterback. And Jeff Rutledge was, to me, was as good as it was. Stan White was pretty good. Stan White was good. He tried it very. That's exactly right. But Jamarkus Russell, even as an eighth grader, I mean, he was as good. A high school football player and thrower and runner. Just a tremendous, tremendous football player goes to LSU, becomes the number one draft choice of the Los Angeles Raiders. And you know, something, somehow, he just didn't make it into pros. You know, there's a lot of, a lot of, just don't, don't make it then. But just a tremendous, tremendous athlete and he's been volunteering over at Williamson and somehow, he's connected with a, he's made a lot of money, made a lot of money. And he, there's something going on that I guarantee none of us will ever know the truth about it because it seems like the press gets ahold of something and then we get about half of the story. I know that too, it was a check that was supposed to be written for like $74,000 to Jamarkus for weight room equipment at Williamson High School. Simone Eli reported that they never got that money. Well, what's the story to that? I mean, I don't know what the story is, I mean, I don't know, I don't know what the issue is, I don't, that's Jamarkus's money. It seems to me he could use it anyway, he wants to use it, but obviously there's something that went wrong. And the story is that after the check was cashed by Jamarkus, the credit union filed a lawsuit against him because he had withdrawn $54,000 for whatever reason. So see, those of us that don't know, don't know. So there's a suit and then Jamarkus has made a counter suit against the credit union and it's just a whole mess. You know, I choose to remember Jamarkus Russell as the player that he was and all the great things that he did. And he's done a lot of great things for Williamson High School. I don't know what this issue is about, Randy. I just don't know. I don't either. You know, I really don't. Sometimes, as my mother used to always say, they make a mountain out of the mold hill. There you go. And this is between Jamarkus and I guess his management team and the credit union. And I really feel like, and I know he's represented well by a great litigator, I just, I hope everything comes out in the good side for Jamarkus because he's had a tough time sensing guys. This guy was a tremendous high school team. Probably one of the best quarterbacks you ever seen that is here. Ever. And it was great in LSU and it just didn't work out at Los Angeles. It just, now if he'd have been with another team, maybe it would have worked out. But it didn't work out, but he made a boatload of money and I hope he secured it. And then this comes up for him and that's not good. Let me tell you a story about Jamarkus. He was a senior and they came to Fairhill to play. Right. We had a pretty good little team and we sent a blitz off the edge when our guy came around a corner, untouched. Jamarkus was six, five, about 245 pounds at the time. And our safety, or I don't remember who it was, ran and just hit him. I mean hit him and Jamarkus moved about two or three inches and then threw the ball. And our safety hit him and just was just hanging on, you know, hanging on doing Jamarkus went in through the football. I knew right then I said, "Lord have mercy. He's something else." Yeah, because that's a big, big man and our safety is pretty stinking good. And he said Coach, just like hitting a brick wall, you know, because, but Jamarkus was a big, and after the ball game, you know, it's all time ever talking to Jamarkus was after the game and he walked by and just shook my hand, said, you know, good game coach and smile. He said we had a great smile, you know, and I enjoyed seeing, you know, if the only time I got to play against him, the coach against him, and I guess Bobby was a coach. Bobby Parrish was his coach at the time. Now, it was before Bobby, Bobby was coaching him then. I think so. Well, by the time he was a senior, you're probably right, because, yeah, that was Bobby. You're right. Coach, I got to throw a name out there, AJ McCarron, I mean, I know you'll be buddies with him and he's looking what he's done now. He didn't, you know, you look at playing in the NFL, it was kind of always a backup, right? Yep. But now he gets on the... St. Louis Warhols. Exactly. Yeah. For three or four years now, he looks like you're doing pretty good. He's done a tremendous job. You got to look, if you know his daddy, Tony, well, the nicest guys you'll ever want to meet ever, and AJ has done super, he's just done absolutely super, and yeah, he was a great high school quarterback. I really liked what AJ said, he said, "I want my kids to see me play in ball." That's huge. To see me play in. And they're there every time, and they're blessing. Yeah, they are. Speaking of which, right here in Fair Hope, whenever you talk about Phillip Rivers, how about his son Gunner? Yeah, Gunner is a heckful player. You've seen him. You've seen him up close and personal. And he is the real stuff, telling you. As a freshman, he threw for $3,100. Yeah. That's incredible. $2,9 touchdown. He's just absolutely phenomenal. And he's gotten bigger, I mean, he's thicker, he's been working out hard in the weight room, and he's got the pedigree. I was talking to a guy the other day, he said, "You may as well get used to Rivers' quarterback." I got more. Because they got two or three more lined up behind you. We're going to see Rivers throwing the football around at St. Michael's for quite some time. Well, and it does, it goes all the way back to his granddaddy. I'm just telling you, Phillip was a great quarterback. He's in the Hall of Fame. He's in the Hall of Fame. Let me tell you, his daddy may be the best athlete to never put on anything in Silicon Alabama. I mean, you put him on a football field, he wears you out. You put him on a basketball court, he wears you out. You put him on a tennis court. He double wears you out. I mean, just a phenomenal, phenomenal athlete, so it just keeps going down for the Rivers. And I'm sure when they have children, Gunnar will probably have children that are great quarterbacks too. So it's a bunch of them. Yeah, it is a bunch of them. Kind of like the Manning's. You're right. That's a good analogy right there. River staircase is going to have to be bigger. They got some kind of compliment. They do. It's so, it's so, boy. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I'm happy for. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt. Mark, we got about two minutes left in this segment. What is going on over at Bayside? Well, we had the week off and Coach Trotter gave everybody the week off this week. But been going since June the 3rd, and numbers have been good. Kids are coming in and there's a lot of things that go on in June, especially at a school art size where kids play basketball, baseball, and they're doing all kinds of things. So really after the 4th, it's kind of like, you know, you hone in after the 4th, everybody should be back in town. We ought to really start getting going. So looking forward to seeing all the kids come back in on Monday, 7 a.m., getting ready to roll again. And middle school kids have been practicing, varsity has been practicing, and working out. So it's got to be a lot of fun. And I think that, I think it's going to be quite an exciting football season. I mean, Miles Euter is committed to SMU with his brother. And that's awesome. You know, they're both going to play at SMU when Miles graduates. Well, Miles, there's a heck of a good-looking kid, and he plays tighty, and what else does he play? Yeah, H-back, tighty, and defensive in. And then there's a linebacker, Monroe Parton, who's been offered by Samford University. And I've seen him play, but I watched some clips at the camp of him. And he's really looking, he's going to get more offers at linebacker is, I'm in row part, and he's a really, really good football player. So looking forward to it. He's had none. We've been football for you. You had a golf trip, too, did you? We had a little golf trip up to, to, uh, prattville, and played Westbrook, uh, Christian in a little match back in June before the deadline ran out, you know? So we went up there and played at, uh, 18 holes, and it was fun. We had a good time, loved my friends at Westbrook. They're just great people, and got to go up there and hang out with him and play a little golf. And kids have been playing pretty much, and watching Luke Ferguson's having a good summer. Yep. Where's he going to go to school? Nobody knows. Really? Nobody knows. He can get some offers. He's going to get, he's going to get a bunch of offers in soccer and golf. He can get him, and if he really wanted to, if he really wanted to, and he could probably get an offer in football as a kicker, because he has got a thunder leg. You know, they, they go play prattville. I, I've never played anything in prattville on the RTJ. Well, that's going to change for you. Really? That's going to change. We're going to make that change for you, okay? So get ready. All right. Make sure you play the par three. It's a lot of fun. That's what I play. Rick, he's the ball too far and par three of your work for you. All right. Hey, let's take a time out when we come back to leadership segment. Presented by GoPest is up next. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. PSR is live every Saturday from eight until 10 a.m. Now back to the show. You'll let that run, Rick. Man, I'm going to tell you right now that I don't want to interrupt you. They've dedicated this to Sheila. She's done her way home. Yeah. From Montana. Head home. On Tuesday, I think she comes home. Yeah. Rick, how good was he in person? Jeez. Makes me quiffer just to think about it just as you see him and he's just absolutely phenomenal. Oh my goodness, boss gags. Boss gags. Mm, mm, mm, mm. Hey, welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Yes, we're reminiscing a little bit with boss gags. Sheila Dan may be up in just a little bit, so we will enjoy. We will enjoy. Rick, it is time for our leadership segment. Yeah, and we appreciate GoPest for being the sponsor of this and for Nathan and Brad and all those guys over at 68 ventures and everything that they do to keep us kind of going in a straight line. You know, it's human nature to resist change, guys. It's just human nature to resist change. And Mark is for coaches, it's one of the hardest things in the world not to do the three yards in the cloud of dust thing, it's just hard. And we saw what Coach Bryant did with it and the success that he had and he took less and defeated more and it's just hard to resist change and it's really just why so many of us continue to act insane so many times and we do the same things over and over and expect different results. And in order to progress with becoming all that we are capable of, we must be willing to learn from our mistakes and do the hard work necessary to get better. Guys, that really hits me hard in the face. I mean, it really does. This comes from one of Coach Saban's podcasts. It really comes down to two questions with regard to self discipline. Here's something I know I'm supposed to do. I want you guys both to hear this really well. Here's something I'm supposed to do. I know I'm supposed to do it, but I don't want to do it. Can I make myself do it? And then the second thing is, here's something I know I shouldn't do, but I really want to do it. Can you make yourself not do it? No, that's, that's, that's, that's so true for all of us. Um, most people are resistant to change. And I think we all desire improvement, but we resist changing our everyday routine. That's a problem. Um, I think it's Max DePray, who said this and get that name out of a leadership class that we had at UMS, we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. Let's say it again, we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. To sharpen your talent through practice, you need to do more than just be open to change. You need to pursue change and you need to do a little bit more than other achievers. You know, here's a couple of things that may help you to focus your energy to get the kind of changes that will change you for the better. Don't change just enough to get away from your problems. Change enough to solve your problems. So don't run from your problems. Run to them and find a solution. Don't change your circumstances to improve your life. Change yourself to improve your circumstances. Love that one. Don't do the same old things expecting to get different results. Get different results by doing something new. Don't wait to see the light to change. Start changing as soon as you feel the heat. Ooh, that's a great one for coaches. Don't see change as something hurtful that must be done. See it as something helpful that can be done. Don't avoid paying the immediate price of change. If you do, you will pay the ultimate price of never improving. A great philosopher by the name of Johann von Schiller wrote, "He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times. You can do your best only if you are continually seeking to embrace positive change. Talent is never enough." More of this story is, find something today that you need to change about yourself and get started. Amen. And Adios. That's exactly right. I know I'm sitting there listening to you and all I could think about was my eating habits. I'm not kidding, I'm not going to change my eating habits. If I'm going to lose weight, which I need to do, there are certain things I need to do and I'm just, am I willing to do it? There are days I am, but over the course of most of my life, am I willing to do it? Because I like certain things the way I like them and I don't want to change it. And so I'm resistant to it. And of course I walk around and look like Teddy Ripskin, you know? Bowling ball. We will wobble. Yeah, we will wobble, but they don't fall down. This is applicable to not only eating, it's applicable to every aspect of our life. It's like if we want to be better in golf, well, go play with Tripp Rizzo more. Well, that's true or pay more, or pay more. It's either you get better or you dig deeper. That's just the way it is. It's, you know, my wife gets on me all night, gets on me. She says, I can't believe your gas tank is below a half a tank. I've always thought about this, this is something daddy buttercup put this in my head when I started driving. He said, what's going to happen if there's an emergency and you've got to go 200 miles and you've got a fourth of a tank of gas. Well, I'm going to have to stop, it's going to take me 15 minutes to fill up the tank. So that's 15 minutes that may make a difference in something important that happened and you made need to be somewhere, I just don't ever, I try to keep at a half a tank, if it gets below a half a tank, I'm going to fill up and I'd say that and then this morning I got my truck at the beach, I had a fourth of a tank, I wouldn't have made it. You won't change. Wow. You got a seat change. There you go. There you go. It changes tough. Changes tough. There's no doubt. All right. Hey, first hour is coming going. Second hour of the Thompson Tractors Prep Sports Sport. It's coming up next. Tommy Wood is on the block when we come back. Coming to you live, the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Presented by Alpha. Here's your host, Randy Bergett with Coach Rick Cleveland and Coach Mark Leseter. And we welcome you into the second hour of the Thompson Tractor's Prep Sports Report as we're coming to you live from the Easter Shore Toyota and Hyundai studios right here in South Alabama. So glad to have you on board with us on a Fourth of July weekend. I hope that you had a great Fourth of July. I know that we did, Mark. I know that you did. Rick, I know you did because we got to spend yesterday together and Mark, you've always been playing a lot of golf in any shows. He's been playing pretty well. He's been playing pretty well. He got some money yesterday. Yeah, but it ain't good enough playing with the guys we play with. I told you you should have moved up to the gold. We go out to move around a lot. You know, guys, I'm so excited about having this guy on. Randy, I've always told people, I said I get a chance to work with the best play-by-play announcer every Saturday morning right here on PSR. Well, there's some competition. Now we'll tell you that. Tommy Wood is one of the finest play-by-play guys that I know of in this state and has a passion for high school athletes, and we want to welcome Tommy to PSR. Tommy, good morning. Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to spend with us here on Prep Sports Report, pal. Good morning, Coach. It's my pleasure to be here, man, and be on such legends down in South Alabama. Well, I don't know what-- Legends in our own mind, that's definitely right. We're on the honor roll for Bob Skaggs and Steely Dan, Tommy. So that's about the only thing we can-- But 25 years off of us is a lot. What? Yeah, absolutely. I know the feeling. I've been around about that long, too, so yeah, I mean, I'm with you. Well, Tommy, you are certainly a voice there in Central Alabama that people recognize and admire and respect, and one of the things that caught me--and by the way, please know that the three guys sitting in this room certainly have your beautiful daughter, Brawley, in our prayers, and hopefully things are getting better. Yeah, we're praying the same thing, and then hopefully things will get squared away pretty soon, and then I appreciate you guys' prayers. Well, I introduce Tommy to our audience as the radio voice of the Alabama High School Athletic Association, Brett, Richard, Randy Lee, certainly had great wisdom when this guy--when they brought this guy on many years ago, initially, probably, when they started. And Tommy has done so much for so many over in that Calhoun County area and all around that Central Alabama. You've started a thing now called a prospect camp, Tommy. Tell us about that. Well, it actually started around the first of the year. I started, I think, called 256 Recruiting, and I was just going to focus on our immediate area, because recruiting has changed so much over the years, and a lot of larger schools have the recruiting coordinators and people that really help with these kids, and I just felt like that the smaller schools, the rural schools, really don't have anyone that is going to bat for them, and it's publicizing them and trying to get them the exposure that I feel like it takes now to get recognized by college coaches, and so I wanted to work with those kids, so it's a free service. Basically, what we do is, you know, I take a kid, I've got those that follow, and then I've got a lot of college coaches that I've worked with to get them to follow as well. If a kid sends me his highlights, then we're able to repost those, and try to make graphics for them, and try to get them to really just be a bridge, because I just feel like there's some great kids out there that don't get the same opportunity, so it's a chance for them to maybe change their life, change their family's life. So the recruiting thing is kind of, it started off new, and I was going to do the immediate area. It exploded statewide, I have about 600 athletes now that I'm trying to help them off the state, and again, a lot of them from smaller schools, and these are just guys that need to, you know, they work hard, and they need a chance too, so I'm trying to help that, and we were taking a group to a camp a couple of weeks ago, and some of the kids made the comment that they felt like their speed was not there, and again, when you talk about rural schools, they don't have the speed trainers that a lot of other places may have. So I contacted a guy named Breet Simmons, which is in Birmingham, and I asked him if he would come and do a one day speed camp here, and we're going to Clay Central High School, and basically this is to try to teach them some things that they can do on their own, at home, some drills that can kind of help them to improve their speed, and I just opened it up, and you know, we're going to charge $10 a person on pre-registration. Any money that we raise goes back into a fund that I've set up that will help kids that may not be able to afford to go to camps, and try to help those guys get an opportunity in years to come. So it's my one fund raiser of the year, and we're just going to try to have a good time between 9 and 12 on the 27th of July, basically, like I said, any money that we raise goes right back in to trying to help some kids that, you know, and I know how much camps are and how much parents are having to come up with money to take care of these things, so it's trying to help parents and kids out. You know, Tommy is also the voice of the Clay Central football team, and may do basketball baseball, I'm not sure, but this has got to be something that you have seen where so many young people from smaller communities don't get the recognition they deserve from the colleges, especially now with transfer portal. I think the greatest disservice to high school athletes has been to transfer portal because so many kids are being missed out on now, and you're trying to create a, you know, a relationship with those schools to help these kids get in. That's the, I mean, that's exactly right, and again, it's just about changing somebody's life because, you know, a lot of these kids can't afford to go to college. They, you know, college is so expensive, and when you start talking about the transfer portal, a lot of your larger schools are looking for those guys that are no longer 17-18, they want that 20-year-old kid that's already been playing for a couple of years, so your smaller schools, you know, they can't, and just to be honest, a lot of the smaller schools don't have the budget to go out to these, you know, high schools and do the trips and go see kids, so I'm trying to make a way to get them together, but yeah, the transfer portal has really wreaked havoc unless you're, you know, maybe four and five-star, the chances of going straight out of high school into a D1 are going to continue to drop over the next several years. Randy, I know you can relate. Yeah, Tom and glad to have you on. Talk real quick, we talk about the transfer portal, but something that we're seeing that's going to be infiltrating the state of Alabama, and you probably see it a little bit now, is NIL. How does that play? How do you see that in the future for high school students or more specifically athletes? Well, and in my opinion, that's not a good move, and you know, I just don't think that that's the way that, you know, amateur athletics should be run, and basically, you know, you're going to lose a lot of loyalty, and because you've got, you know, I read an article this week, Sylvester Smith, that played at Munford, that's now at Auburn. He had a host this week about, you know, where he went to school, there was no indoor facility. The practice field was dirt. They didn't go to the playoffs, but one time, and he said, were there thoughts of leaving, were there people that approached him about leaving, absolutely, but he stayed with his teammates. And I think that when you start talking about NIL, you're talking about some of the, you know, the rich to get richer, and you know, because your smaller schools don't have that big business sitting there that they can, you know, go to and dig in and find ways to bring the players in. So I'm just afraid that what's going to happen with NIL is, you know, I'll be honest with you, I've been a college football fan since before birth, I think, but I'm starting to lose interest just because you can't watch the developer for four years because you never know who the roster is going to be, and I think that I don't want to see that in high school because I like kids playing for their community. I like small, small town football and athletics because I think that that builds a camaraderie with the team that that's going to last a lifetime. Whereas if you're just going to show up and, you know, go for one year and play, then you don't have that friendship that's going to, you know, that's going to develop over the years and I just, I'm not a fan of NIL, especially the high school ranks. Rick and that's something we were talking about earlier that you see over in the state of Florida right now is an athlete can go play baseball at one school, play football at another school, play basketball at another school all in the same year. I hope we never see that in the state of Alabama, but I'm afraid that might be happening. And where Tommy is, there would probably be a lot of that because there's so many great little schools around Calhoun County that and also in Clay County. Last thing, Tommy, Mark and I have had a direct line to the AHSAA Executive Director for the last 15 years. You know Heath Harmon better than most in very short 30 seconds. Give us kind of a preview of what you, what we can expect from Heath Harmon. Well, I think that he is a stand-up Christian guy and I think that he's one of those people that a great leader, I had a chance to work with him for a couple of years, I think that he's one of those guys that if he tells you that something's going to happen, that that's going to be his focus, then that's the way it's going to be. I think that he's firm enough to stand up and uphold the rules that are in place. I think that he is, he's more than, you know, he's a former coach and he's one of those guys that love kids and I think that he is very protective of what the AHSAA has been able to do over the years and he's one of those guys that has a goal of leaving things better than he found himself. It's going to be a great, great transition work so look forward to working with him. Hey Tommy, always great to have you and look forward to having you back on again, certainly as we get into the high school football season, great job and thanks for taking down to be with us. Well, great to be with you guys and hope you have a great weekend. Thank you buddy. There you go, Tommy Wood right there. Hey, we'll take a quick time out. When we come back, we'll visit with Jack Wood. We do that right here on the Thompson Tractor's Prep Sports Report. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Call or text the Prep Sports Report at 251-343-0106 on the Pumps Market Communication Lines. Now back to the show. And we welcome you back to the Thompson Tractor's Prep Sports Report, Randy Bergen along with Coach Rick Cleveland, Coach Mark Laster, Mark, we've got a very special guest on the line with us. Yes we do. Good, good, dear friend of mine, Coach Jack Wood, Coach, how are you this morning? I'm well, Coach, how are you doing? Man, if I was any better, I might be you. I thought it was any better and I had to beat two of me, I think, but I'm doing well. Good buddy. It's good to have you on with us, you know, Coach Wood, I'm so fortunate. Part of my early career, I was under the tutelage of Coach Wood, he was trustful. He had just left. Now if I'm not mistaken, Coach, you had just left Auburn and come to trust. Well that was your first head coaching job, if I'm not mistaken, and came to trustful and turned that program around. Well, back '83, you know, I went to Auburn and steered it up there and it was Auburn high school, ten years, so I was sitting in came to trustful in '83 and, you know, like I said, you were there, there for a little while, a while back. I think I had hair back then, if I remember, but that was a special place, no doubt. I know you really got your start there, especially in the wrestling world, and the job you did in junior high led to Alexandria City days with my near close buddy, Busby, down there. That's right. Coach, tell us there's a young man that I wanted to ask you. About I hadn't heard from for quite a while was one of the finest athletes I've ever seen come through Hewitt Trustful was Walter Tipton. Do you know what Walter's doing these days? I do. I saw him at a function Hewitt, he got one of those big video boards and they got a playing this last season of having honorary captains, and his first year they've really done that, but on that board at Walter was there, of course I went for any of my guys there, and he still works for the phone company, and there's been him rose there for a long time, and I'll run into him occasionally. It's funny you bring him up because, you know, the great players, we have some great, you know, big time players, but we still talk with our coaches, I start to all Hewitt teams for years out there, he's the first player on the team, no doubt. He was a football player and a heck of a wrestler and good guys, just, you know, just a great teammate named all the good things, he's doing well. I'll probably see any missed ball, I'm sure telling you ask about it. Please do. You know guys, we're talking to Jack Wood and Jack, of course, former head coach at Hewitt Trustful High School had a phenomenal career there, but he has served as the Alabama Football Coach's Association Executive Director for what the past 20 years, matter of fact, I think he's the only Executive Director of the Association, I think he started that job in April of 2005. Well, one of the reasons we wanted to get Jack on is, first of all, we do our legend series every week during the summer, and to get Jack on here, he, we certainly want people to know to recognize this man for the accomplishments, he's accomplished not only as a football coach, but in leading football coaches as they pursue their career, he was just inducted to the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame, I think on June the 22nd, and that took place out in Bismarck, North Dakota. And I can only imagine that his crew, minus you, Mark, was all there. I can imagine because that is a very close-knit group of guys, and coach, congratulations on that, certainly a well-deserved honor, and the way you have led coaches and given advice and worked extremely close with the Executive Directors of the Alabama High School Athletic Association, that's not an easy job, and thank you for your service, I mean that, just know us a labor of love in many ways. Rick, I appreciate you saying that, and, you know, again, our association had much to do with mind-duction, and I know that, and the growth of it. Like I said, we started April, it's going to be at our convention this year that we've already got the logos made up by our 20th year, and that's hard to imagine. But I didn't start the association, it was actually Bill, Clark, Jamie Reggs, and several of them that were coaching on a North-South game at the time was held in January, which that didn't work out very well in Troy, and it was about their third meeting I've had elected, a board met with them, and they're the executive director then, and it's sure taken off. I mean, I've told a bunch of people, it's hard to mess football up in Alabama, and we had great support, and that's been a long way, and our association, I was an executive director meeting in North Dakota, and one of the things I told them, we, like if it's a football group, or something, a lot of times they don't get along with their athletics association. And we had some frosty days to start with, but, you know, we don't try to run them. We worked closely, we got a great working relationship, and by mutual respect, and that's why it's being Coach Sabrese and Coach Washburn and all, and then my Coach Briggs too, all with us, never missed one of our board meetings, we're at all Star Week, or our convention, always come by, and just update us on football, and that's been a good thing because we don't want to, we're not trying to run things, but, you know, we won't have a little input, and all, but we've been blessed with our corporate sponsors, and, you know, I know you've got encore, and they've been on board, you know, page placement, Paul Henderson, for a long time with us, they do a great job, and our other corporate sponsors, but we're able to do a lot of different things, and it's grown, and no doubt, and throughout the country it's just grown, and our reputation is grown, and that's good, but again, I've been blessed to be able to do that. We're visiting with legendary Coach Jack Wood, Coach, we've got about two minutes left in this segment, we know we're going to have you in the next segment as well. Real quick, you've been in football, I've been around football for many, many years, how do you see it changing now? We were talking with Tommy Wood just a little while ago, and talking about how football is changing just a little bit, and you start seeing this NIL, and it's creeping its way in here. What's your thoughts? Well, I might have to cut me off, but just on the NIL part, of course, states have got these rules, and I don't know how Obama's going to have them, and I don't know anybody but cares for them like them, or on the college level, or whatever, no doubt, but it's here, and it's not going away. And that's, you know, lordy, that's distressing, no doubt, but Alabama, I think, you know, it would be toward the end probably to have a, you're going to have to have some type of guidelines doing it, and again, right now the amateur brutal in Alabama, you know, you can't get money for playing sports or related to it, and some of the states done pretty good job with their guidelines, if, you know, if somebody, they can't have anything to do with wearing any of their apparel, or a video of their game tapes, or anything like that, and all of a sudden, it's getting where we'll catch up. Hey, Coach, hang tight, we're going to take a quick time out. When we come back, when we come back, we'll continue our conversation with the legendary coach, Jack Wood right here on the Thompson Tractors Prep Sports Report. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report, brought to you by Alpha Insurance. Now, back to your host, Randy Bergen. I'm torn, I'm torn, I don't know what I need to go ahead and interrupt this. I will do it because, Coach, we have some fantastic sponsors of the show, and when you're going to tell us about it. Yeah, Premier Collision is locally owned and operated right here in Mobile, Alabama. If your vehicle needs auto repair, you got to check out Premier Collision, as all three of us have done, they've got two locations, 1177 Sledge Drive right there in the heart of Mobile, and then 101 North Schillinger, which is their western location, and I'll tell you right now, if you'll just take your vehicle in, they'll take care of all of your needs. Regardless of what it is, they'll make you feel like family. You can go talk to Chris, you can talk to Kim, probably Kim, and you can talk to them. That's who you want to talk to. Okay, and then the Tyler is running the show in there and just great people, and they love high school sports, and have always been a part of PSR. We certainly appreciate everything that they do. Premier Collision, you can reach them at 251-478-4500. We'll continue our conversation with that legendary coach, Jack Wood. Coach, I've got to ask you, I know Marsh got some questions for you, but I've got to ask you, as you were a coach there at Auburn High School, did you know a young man by the name of Ken Holzenbach? Yes, sure it did. I played good baseball player. I played ball with him in college, and he was a good third baseman, he was a mess, there's no doubt about it, but I just, when I heard that I told Mark, I said, "I got to ask you about Ken Holzenbach, I ain't seen him in years," but yeah, if you see him, tell them I said hello. Mark? I keep up with a bunch of those guys, Ron Anderson, the mayor of Auburn. That's right. Last thing, Ron, I'm still very close to keep up, but I've not thought about Ken, because I mean Ken, he didn't play football, he played baseball, but he was a great young man, had a great daddy. I remember his daddy playing, and I was great to bring back memories like that. Boy, D-Mark could write a book on Ron Anderson, they seem like there's close, I mean, every time I talk to D-Mark, he's telling me to run Anderson's story, so that's another good name there. Hey Coach, may I ask you, go ahead. No, no, you're a good athlete, but you know, he was a moving force, getting super stubborn at Auburn. Right. Did it at all. I mean, he just, it's second to none the way he ran that at Auburn. Coach, you know, one of the things about the Alabama Football Coaches Association that has been meaningful to me, and many other coaches around the state, is the scholarships that y'all provide through sponsorships for coaches, children, and tell us a little bit of how that kind of got started and where that's come, because that is a very, I know it's meaningful to you, and Terry, and some of you guys down there just do a good job with that, and have done a lot of things for a lot of coaches, kids. Well, that's been one of the rewarding part, is our scholarship programs, our funds and availability. Of course, it started year one, with just one scholarship, named Coach Washburn, for a kid that wanted to be a high school coach, has expanded this last year. We did 26 bearing amounts, not just coaches kids, they can be, you know, any football player, it can be a trainer, anybody, you know, some way touch by the football program, want to be a trainer, or a film, and all this stuff, and have different categories, and it's grown. We bring five in, the Montgomery, to our coach of the year, banquet, and then the others, they start getting them in, I'll start writing chicks first of all, just for it, and that's been very rewarding. A lot of coach's kids, a lot of kids say they want to be a high school football coach, I think this last year, I think we had five, and you know, it doesn't play their way to school by anything, but I know it helps them, but I'm glad you brought that up, Mark. That's really just, like I said, somewhat very proud of. You know, Coach, I think one of the things, and by the way, if you go play here at Trustful today in today's world, and that fast-paced offense that they run, if you were Trustful, you're going to be playing in Jackwood Stadium, and, you know, they change that. They changed, yeah, well, they didn't change it, but they built a new stadium, I think they imploded the old one, so I'm old news there, but, uh, it was short-term. I think it's a wall-to-track now, it is, but that's a place, and it was deviant, but, uh, Coach, well, Coach, that's pretty good, and, uh, and I've had players that just bothered them, and, hey, I've never coached a down there, if we never had a player to play there, just new school there, and that's fine, I have a great relationship there, I think the world of Coach Floyd, and what they've done there, and all, but, you know, that's, so, I will have to correct on that right there, though, but anyway. Well, I appreciate you correcting that, I do, because we would have said it out during football seasons, and we'd have been, Coach, I want you to talk a little bit about the directions, we, the things that the new executive directors going to have to face, and deal with as we come into a new season as far as executive directors are concerned. Well, I've had conversations with him and Tex, and I've looked forward to meeting with him and going too soon, and, uh, I know he's got a great background in education, and being a coach, and, of course, being at a, you know, Oxford High School, which is definitely one of the top athletic programs in the state, so, uh, from that, but, you know, it's just not true in Alabama, but everywhere, uh, challenges going on, and he's, he's going, you have to get him by very quickly, you know, with the NIL stuff, we've got to have a policy, and, and something to work, it's got to be dealt with, uh, of course, now the directors are so much more involved with the legislature, which we have a great relationship with the legislature ourselves, but, uh, in state's elsewhere, of them coming in and, uh, making rules of athletic association, and that hadn't, hadn't happened in Alabama, but there's been threats of it, so having a good relationship there is going to be important, and, of course, let's just be honest, you know, uh, some of everybody's mind, we say, is, is the recruiting that's going on, and, you know, what's true, not true, aren't, you know, you know, better not do, I don't know, I mean, you know, uh, for sure, and, and I will tell people this, and I mean, we go back, you think about it, best save you when Sammy Dunn was there for, you know, most winning baseball coach and gosh, the pro from the head dominated. A lot of people move everywhere their sons could play for him, and win, I don't think that they recruited them, and I think, you know, some of these people do move there, uh, where they can be involved in a better program, but, again, that's true, that's not all of them, but, I mean, no doubt that something's going to have to be dealt with and, and sooner have been later, and where that goes, we'll see. He's, he's got a bounding task ahead. There's so much going on here and around the country, and I will say this, our athletic association, just like I feel like our coach's association, no doubt, they're in the top five in the country, and I think our association is the top five, and I think we're lucky there, and we are. You talk to some of these states, it's the wild, wild west going on out there, but it's a lot lower. Right. And, and I'll say, yeah, you don't have to look in further than south. Yeah, you, you just look south of where we are today, you go down to Florida and see how that, how that's being run down there, and play multiple sports. That's right. Yeah, that's where it is. So, well, you know, until we're able to address and not fear litigation, I mean, there's going to be litigation in that office, and it's just got to be a situation where, you know, you got to, we got to penalize people that are doing things the way that they weren't done when you were, if you were trustful. And I mean, in those years, we had neighborhood schools and you, you played with your, with the people you grew up with. And, you know, I understand this about wanting to go play for a great coach. Well, if you're gonna go for a play for a great coach and move your whole family and go to school there, but don't move, don't move a daddy. That's right. No, that's exactly all the rules. You know, and follow the rules. And I know, you know, like I said, litigation is going to be with it. And, and that's what's going to happen. And I say it has not been done. It's just gotten more and more complicated. But, you know, the rules, the way they're written are still very plain. And well, they have to be changed or not. But right now, it's pretty black and white, what you can do in cake day. And that's, that's a shame because, you know, you hope coaches and administrators are honorable people because if they're not, what does that say about athletics and our state and other states and society as a whole? Well, and, and that's, I think the one thing that, that I think personally, when we talk about the new executive director, I think he's got to have the courage and he's got to carry out the bylaws that are, that are put in place. And if we do that, if we carry out those bylaws that, that are placed in front of him will be fine. If we don't, we're going to have total chaos. And that's everybody's got to be involved in policing this and self policing, no doubt. And hey, they're like, Terry and I have Curtis and I had dinner last night at, you know, hey, we got, I know our association, he's gonna bet all store we come a, we're going to support him 100%. You know, and everybody else needs to support 100% and get behind him. And, you know, I, I know he's a intelligent, well spoken guy. And we'll hope for the best for him and our association. Coach, we're about to wrap this thing up, buddy. I want you to know how much you mean to me personally. Thank you for the, all the help you've given me throughout my career and all the other coaches that you have helped along the way and appreciate you taking a few minutes of your day to spend with us here on PSR, buddy. Well, Mark, I love you, brother. You do, pal. We'll always, we'll always be close. I've, I've shared that. What I appreciate you, y'all both saying the legendary Jack, what I've been telling people that for years and I don't want to believe that. Take care, Coach, thank you, Coach, thank you, Rick. Y'all have a good day. Yes, sir. There you go, Coach Jack Wood. He's a good one. I ain't, I ain't joking. He's a good, all right, we take a time out when we come back. Mark, you got a Camp Grace segment and it happens right here on the Thompson Tractors Prep Sports Report. This segment of the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report brought to you by Camp Grace. Now back to Coach Rick Cleveland. Camp Grace is located in West Mobile is the summer home of Camp Rappahope, Camp Mash, Camp Smile and Camp Sugar Falls. As well as a home of Outback Mobile and is shared by many other community organizations throughout the Mobile area. Camp Grace is a place where God's love is bestowed freely upon others. The true definition of God's grace. I want to read you a little story here that I've read this week and I'd really, it really hit, hit, hit home with me. A fisherman who was fishing east of the Farillon Islands just outside the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California spotted a whale who was fully entangled and bound in a fishing net. The fisherman radioed for help and within a few hours the rescue team arrived and determined that the whale was so badly tangled that the only way to save her was to dive in, cut the ropes and untangle her. A very dangerous proposition as one slap of the tail could kill a rescuer. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. Then came back to each and every diver one at a time nudged them and pushed them gently, basically thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience it ever had. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the entire time and he will never ever be the same. Then it goes on to say, may all of us be so fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you and may we always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude. That hit me right between the eyes this week when I was reading that. I got to thinking about that. Who am I surrounding myself with? Who am I surrounding myself with and who do I spend time with? Do I have gratitude for those folks who would help me get untangled? Every one of us has had a time in our life where we've had to have somebody help us get untangled from something in our life. As I read this story I got to thinking about that whale who is completely in the hands of strangers and people around here who wanted nothing more than to help her. She was able to get free and she was so grateful that she let every one of them know. I hope that in my life that I will be able to do that for other people and that if I get into that situation where I need help somebody will help untangle me as well. I'm so thankful today and so grateful today. As I think about our lives here, the three of us, as we're just sitting in this room on Saturday, how grateful I am to have this time to spend with you guys and our listeners and talk about things that are important to us in our community. I talk with Jack Wood and I think about Jack when I was a very, very young coach. I think it was my second year when he came to trustful and got to know Jack a little bit there and he gave me a couple of recommendations to help me get. I got to Alexander City through wrestling at that time and he helped me get that job and a couple of others along the way and just always been a mentor to me and helped me get through things when I kind of got tangled up. So as I think about that and I think about, you know, when I first went to UMS and Rick sitting right here, he comes into the locker room and we're getting ready for football practice that day and he goes, "Look, while you're here, if you need anything, you need me for anything. I'm here for you." Well, that meant a lot, you know, because I really didn't know anybody that well. I knew Terry pretty well, but I really didn't know anybody else there at UMS that well. I knew him okay, but that was really meaningful to me, to help me know that I had somebody who had helped me get untangled if I got caught in a net. So that was the message this morning was, "Who am I surrounding myself with? Are they going to help me get untangled? Are they going to help tighten the noose?" You know, I don't want that second group around me too much. You know, that's pretty pertinent in today's world because last week we talked about surrounding ourselves with people and the choices that we make and how they identify us. Right. And you know, we're going to go through life and get tangled up. We're all going to go through it and get to... All three of us have been tangled up and there was always somebody there to help us get untangled. And you know, those who share the faith that we share know that prayer and everything that goes along with prayer and scripture and we know we depend on that and we know that God puts people in our lives to get us untangled. It's going to happen. That's my fear for our children. You know, who's going to be there to untangle them if we're not there? I don't know. I don't know that answer. I don't know it. But you know, our parents worried about us. Somebody's always been there to help us to get us through the rough times and that's a great story and it's pertinent to our life. That's what Camp Grace is all about. If you go to Camp Grace, they've got so many activities going on for people who are tangled up and it serves that purpose to help us get untangled. That's a great story, Mark. That's a great story. Red, you've seen it. You see it time and time again, even with your new job, the job that you've been in now, you probably see people that you never would have known unless the job you're doing now and you see the things that they're going through to get where they got to get to. There's no doubt about that. And I mean, it is, you're absolutely right because I'm in a position now, a place that I never, ever, ever thought I would be. I'm seeing things that I never, ever thought I would see and yeah, it trust me, it's taking some people to help me untangle the web in which I am in and it's coming to fruition. Yeah, it's nothing like being here on Saturday. No, it's not. Nothing like it. Remember this. You're going to be with us. I will, next time. Remember this, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, he is always with you. We'll be here same place, same time, next week.