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The worlds of sports and showbiz collide! Featuring in-depth chats with top athletes, entertainers, and industry insiders - all with a Las Vegas twist.
Announcer 0:00
This is a K-Unb Studios original program.
Wesley Knight 0:04
The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and Moore, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Music 0:15
Go. Go, nothing can stop me. I'm all the way up, all the way up, I'm all the way up. Nothing can stop me. I'm all the way up.
Alexis Levi 0:38
Well, welcome everybody today. I'm so excited. You know, it's very seldom that I get to actually bring a friend on who's so powerful and exciting, and so you guys have a real treat today coming today. It's Alexis and Marilyn Crawford, and let me give an intro, the appropriate intro. We're still stars in sports, sports and stars, that's all we talk about. And today I have the ultimate - I call her a star, and she knows she's a star in my book. Marilyn, thank you so much for coming today. We have done so many things in life, and I just want to be able to share with Las Vegas, and hopefully get you to come back to Vegas. Welcome
Marilyn Crawford 1:18
to the show. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.
Alexis Levi 1:24
Yep, intro. Yes, we have so much fun on the show. You know, I've had some great guests, and I have another great guest for them. And a good friend of mine said, I heard your voice on the radio, I could not believe that. And I said, yeah, I've been doing radio for a while, and you know, I think the people that God has blessed me with are a treat to the world, and you're definitely a treat, and I wanted to make sure the world knew you over here anyway, the ones that I know anyway. And so today we're just talking about you, your, you know, your great walk, all the wonderful things that you've done, and I was just looking up something. Now she's entertainment, sports, music industry. I mean, I don't think there's an industry you haven't touched. Am I right?
Marilyn Crawford 2:08
You're absolutely correct. I've been very blessed. I've been in all sectors of the industry, and I've had a lot of great wins. I've had some losses, and you know, I've done it all. So, you know the journey has been interesting, and I wouldn't change the journey for anything in the world.
Alexis Levi 2:26
Me either. Me either. Now, I think the.. well, I don't know. I'm trying to think.. the first time you and I met, but I think I've been to a couple of parties and celebrity events that you've done. Why don't we talk about that first? Some of the great celebrities and stars and different people that you have worked with.
Marilyn Crawford 2:44
Well, here's the thing, I've been around a long time, and Hollywood is Hollywood, so I said we need to do something unique and different and entertaining and innovative and legacy like for Hollywood. So I created Harlem to Hollywood, and I created Tinseltown to Gotham. And then I said, now, who needs to be on it? And so I thought of people like Ruby D, and you know, you just name it, the Godfather of Hollywood, Clarence Thomas, Quincy Jones, and the list goes on and on. I honored all of them at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and some at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I even did Behind the Lynn for Gordon Park at the Beverly Hills Hotel. So the list just goes on and on. In New York, I did a huge event at Tripianis. I really wasn't expecting it to be as spectacular as it was. We planned for it, but it just.. it went beyond our dreams. We had.. we planned for 600 people, we had 800 people at Triannis, and it was a salute to the titans of the world, and that was the first black billionaire from Jamaica, half Jamaican, half Asian, Michael Lee Chen, it was at that time Kimora Lee Simmons, you know, the best in the music industry, the best in the tech industry, the best in the business industry, the best in real estate, and the list just goes on and on, and matter of fact, I was shocked, because George Wallace, the comedian, we honored him, and that was the first time he had ever been honored. I was shocked.
Alexis Levi 4:31
Wow, and he's been, you know, in Vegas, as you know, forever,
Marilyn Crawford 4:35
right?
Alexis Levi 4:36
Yeah,
Marilyn Crawford 4:36
right,
Alexis Levi 4:37
yeah.
Marilyn Crawford 4:37
And then, if you, and then, if you move around to another other events that I've done in France, we did the first diversity event at Festival de Cannes Honors for the first black billionaire for Reginald F. Lewis, who was, who was the first black billionaire,
Alexis Levi 4:59
I remember. He
Marilyn Crawford 5:00
was the right. He was the first one to have his own well, have a black law firm on Wall Street. He's the first one in the history of the 150 years of Harvard University that never applied. They went after him to come and wanted him to be a part of Harvard University legacy, and he also did the first $1.6 billion overseas leverage buyout, so things like that. I've done the Olympics, World Cup soccer, I did inaugurals for Democrats, Republicans, you know. So we've been around all over the world.
Alexis Levi 5:35
Yes, yes. And that is who I know you to be. If it's around the world, if it's something huge and big, it's you. You know, there's not too many people that can say that. I mean, I know there's some to try, but you actually do it. And I'm just so elated to be your friend and to have you on my show today. Now, you just mentioned something, and I do want to talk about academics too, because you are my one friend that actually went to Harvard, and so tell me a little bit about that, and why you went there, and what you did, and what you graduated with. What was your experience?
Marilyn Crawford 6:11
I started out my career at USC, not University of Southern Capital, University of South Carolina, so I have two degrees from there, undergrad and graduate, and I, you know, I didn't come from wealth, so, but I came from a wealthy mindset, and some very good and very smart people. My father had a second-grade education, but it was a PhD in life. Yes, so I started out in South Carolina, only because I got scholarships, so all my schooling was free from spring cotton mill scholarships, and then I said I want to explore the world and do more, and so I went to Harvard. I got an executive marketing strategic marketing degree, and it was basically an executive, you know, it's above regular class called an executive certificate, because it's for people who have experienced the world. There were in my class, there were 93 people, and I was elected, you know, to be the representative of the class, which probably you were not so good for so many people.
Alexis Levi 7:25
Yes, yeah, because
Marilyn Crawford 7:26
I was, I was very, very verbose, but I decided to do that because I wanted to expand my exposure. I have three sisters and one brother, and they all went to HBCUs, and their experiences were absolutely fantastic. They went, they all went to Johnson Smith University, AT&T, and etc. But I wanted to do something different as a baby of the family, and I integrated the schools. I don't even know if you know this. I integrated the schools in South Carolina.
Alexis Levi 7:56
No, I didn't know that. You
Marilyn Crawford 7:58
know that. Yeah,
Alexis Levi 7:59
no, I didn't know that. See, I learned something new myself.
Marilyn Crawford 8:03
300 white kids, me and Jerry with us, and you were
Alexis Levi 8:07
running things, I'm sure. Yeah,
Marilyn Crawford 8:10
no, my hair got set on fire. I had two ponytails. They set one on fire. They tried to.. I mean, they were.. it was just a really, really rough experience during the height of civil rights and all that other stuff, but my father had grounded me, and he had told me exactly what to do in cases like that, you know, and just tell you a quick little story. I was, my hair was on fire, but I didn't realize it, but I felt something burning, and so the teacher said, "Oh my god, I guess you saw the smoke, right? And this, Jim Coffin had put my hair on fire, and so they took me out of the classroom and him, and they sent us to the principal's office. mr. Works on the way, walking down the hall, I don't know if you all remember, they used to have cinder blocks in school, you didn't have painted walls, you had cinder blocks.
Alexis Levi 9:07
Okay,
Marilyn Crawford 9:08
well, I banged his head up against that wall so bad, the cinder block walls, that he started bleeding from his nose and his face, and so by the time we got to the principal's office, I was expelled. So they called because I had straight A, and this is a true story. My father came over, and he asked me if I was okay. I said yes. He said, "Can you go back and study? Can you go clean yourself up and go back, you know, and do your work? Because I had straight A's. I said, "But I'm expelled. mr. Worsted, I'm expelled. And mr. Worst told my father she's expelled. My father was a beautiful African American man with a beautiful smile, and he did construction work, so he was all dusty and dirty with overalls, and etc, and he looked at mr. Wirtz, and he smiled the biggest beautiful smile with a very calm voice, and he said, mr. Wirtz, my. My daughter never causes a problem. She has straight A's, so you have two choices: either she can go back to class, or I can go to my car, to the trunk, and get out my 16 gage shocker.
Alexis Levi 10:13
Oh,
Marilyn Crawford 10:13
I went back to
Alexis Levi 10:16
class. Needless to say, you went back to class, right? You know, and that's such a, that's such a unique story, because, like I said, we've known each other a while, and I don't know that story, I haven't heard that one, but it, you know, is amazing, because you know, growing up in different times, I was born in the 60s, and so I grew up in certain things, but I never experienced that, and you know, when I hear people experiencing those things, and then we look at where we are today in the world, you know. It just makes me shake my head, and look what you
Marilyn Crawford 10:47
regressed. We regressed, we totally regret.
Alexis Levi 10:50
Yes, yes, yes.
Marilyn Crawford 10:53
But, but you know, let me of the population, the populace, it, you know, you can't blame any one thing for regressing, because people have to be complicit, you know. Yeah, if you don't stand up and say something, then you're complicit,
Alexis Levi 11:09
right? Right. Well, you know, just like these days, I mean, the same thing goes on these days, and kids and adults and people, men, women, whatever, you know, we have to be strong, you know, extremely strong, you know, because it's just not, you know, we think we've come so far, but we really haven't come as far as we would like, right? But I mean, I wanted to stay on a high note and talk about some of the other amazing things that you've done in this world. So we've already, we know that you killed it in Hollywood and you killed it in New York. You're in New York now, correct,
Marilyn Crawford 11:43
correct, correct.
Alexis Levi 11:45
Yes, yes, yes, yes. So, what brought you to New York? Was it the business, or were you just deciding that where you're going next? Taking over next
Marilyn Crawford 11:54
opportunity? No opportunity. My first big contract came from Ted Turner and his wife, then Jane Fonda, and she was doing GCAP, and GCAP was pregnancy prevention for teens, and they asked me to do an event in Atlanta, and then from there I got involved in the Trumpet Awards, which is still going on, by the way, which is a huge,
Alexis Levi 12:18
yes, it is, yes, it
Marilyn Crawford 12:20
is, yeah, so I have planned coordinating. Thank you, Dave. And so, and I have to give it to Ted Turner, because he got up at this event, and he said, if you want something done right, you need to call Maryland. I never advertised from that moment on, my business took off, and then I got,
Alexis Levi 12:39
he's the right person to say that.
Marilyn Crawford 12:42
Yeah, I got the opportunity to do contracts, really with Sesame Street and Prudential, and then Prudential offered me a full-time job, and then Control Data Corp, you know, I was all over every place, so one thing led to another, and I ended up in New York.
Alexis Levi 13:00
Wow, which was the natural progression, because even though we love our LA, we love Vegas. I mean, the West Coast is wonderful, but obviously for those that are reaching for the huge stars, right, New York is the place to be.
Marilyn Crawford 13:14
Well, that is true. Before technology, with technology, you can get anywhere in the world, because you can always fly anywhere in the world,
Alexis Levi 13:22
yeah, like me right now in Summerlin,
Marilyn Crawford 13:25
but you know what, you're such a visionary genius with what you're planning on doing, and what's coming up. I know this is an interview about me, but I just want to compliment you on your accomplishment, and what things you've been able to build, and what you're going to build in the future. One of the.. if I could take a second, I got a call to do an event in Cameroon, and everybody told me not to do it, because it was in Africa, they didn't have the resources, so I decided to do it, because it was a challenge. So I came over there, and in four months I put together an event that had more hits than any event in Africa. I did it with Coca Cola Africa, and literally, we, I built a ballroom because they didn't have one, and I built it from the rain forest in bamboo, and then I got the locals to build me oversized animals from the rainforest, who were artists, and then I got the local cooks to put together the menus, for, you know, a chef, and then I flew in Dave Warrick, and she's saying, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love. I flew in the Fugees producer, and he did his thing, and then I got MTV stars, I put up a youth 18 wheeler on one side, I put up a huge, huge beautiful stage on another side, and the rest is history.
Alexis Levi 14:53
Yes. Well, that is amazing. Well, that's why we're such good friends, because we don't we. I have a little fear, little fear, where someone might be intimidated or fearful. We kind of look at the challenge and run towards it, and I think that's incredible. I haven't had a chance to go to Africa, but I know this project, because, as you know, I'll just say it really quickly. Ladies and gentlemen, you have no idea what I've been doing. Put together a program called the Next American Sports Pro, and actually we're getting
Marilyn Crawford 15:25
a lot of put together. She created it, she created it, she found it. Okay, I
Alexis Levi 15:31
created
Marilyn Crawford 15:32
from A
Alexis Levi 15:32
to.. yes, I birthed this baby. I hear so funny. I birthed this baby that is going to be the Next American Sports Pro for sports, and so we are doing a major thing, not only here, and the great thing is going to come to Vegas, because we'll do tryouts here, we'll have the show here, so we hope that everyone listening will support us, and just stay tuned, it's going to be amazing, we have a lot of stars, a lot of sports stars involved, and it's going to be great, we're going to pick the next sports stars going forward, and giving them exposure, and making sure that we have them distributed not only in the US but around the world. And Maryland is a part, a huge part of that program. You know, I always, I always say, you know, I said, "Lord, I need somebody like me. And then, of course, he showed me your picture on LinkedIn, and I was like, that's it, that's it. I'm looking together forever.
Marilyn Crawford 16:26
What, as I go, I went to, I would went to the conference today for National Action Network, and, and you know, we always engage in great conversations when we're at conferences with people who usually, you know, we don't get to network with each other as much as we want to, and what I realized from all the exposure and all the conversations I've had, there is no centralized place for training every major sport at a young age and teaching them not only the physical sport, but the business of the sport, the protocol and etiquette of the sport. I mean, look at Geno, what he did when he lost one game after having an incredible career.
Alexis Levi 17:13
Yes,
Marilyn Crawford 17:14
you know, we don't want our coaches and our kids to act like that. So, what you're creating is a foundation, and I don't mean a 501 c3 I mean a foundation, I mean a
Alexis Levi 17:28
foundation for the
Marilyn Crawford 17:29
kids.
Alexis Levi 17:30
Yes,
Marilyn Crawford 17:31
right, majors,
Alexis Levi 17:32
that's my dream,
Marilyn Crawford 17:33
for them to,
Alexis Levi 17:33
that's been my dream
Marilyn Crawford 17:35
directly to, you know, to have a place to go when they have questions, and the to have the exposure and to understand what kind of pathway they need to take, what it really is, is it'll be an ecosystem for sports,
Alexis Levi 17:50
yes, yes, and that's really what we've been calling it to an ecosystem, and you know it needed to happen, as most of you know who listen to me on this radio show on Sports and Stars, I've lived it. My kids, I was an athlete, I was a what do you call it, it's not, wasn't a champion. Well, I did win a medal, but ice skater, and so you know, I did basketball, I did baseball, I did, I didn't do football, but I did tennis, you know. And then I did ice skating, and you know, I didn't at that time, I didn't have much direction, so some I quit, some I kept going, but when my sons came along, and then my oldest son played basketball, and then my youngest son played basketball, and actually went pro overseas, you know, and he actually went to school here at Desert Pines for a year, you know, I just saw so much, and I said, you know, I'm a little special when it comes to sports. I'm just a lover of sports, all sports, you know, in and out, but most parents are not that, they're just supporting their child, right? And with them not knowing the, you know, the ABCs of how to do it, you know, someone can stop your son or daughter from playing. Someone can take away their scholarship. I dealt with that, you know, just all different types of things, and I don't want to say
Marilyn Crawford 19:09
they're right. They could sign away their rights at an early age,
Alexis Levi 19:13
at an early age, and you know, a lot of just, you know, as you know, a lot of schools are going after the young kids early, like, I mean, you talk about LeBrons, you know, sons, they were already, you know, was already planned for them to go to what college, for them to play this and that, and you know, then go to the NBA, and then, you know, so they were already kind of sold to the system, you know, and then there's other ones that are like that too, so I, you know, I just want the best for the kids, not only here in the US, but internationally. And I look forward to doing this journey with you, and I look forward to doing this journey with, you know, kids around the world and their families.
Marilyn Crawford 19:55
I have a way to fill a void. It's going to fill a void. It's much needed. Yes, and it's long overdue, so I can't wait until we launch, and it will be soon, because we are making progress,
Alexis Levi 20:07
huge progress. Now, I have one more question for you before we get to our end of time today. I wanted to ask you to give me an idea of what your favorite event or favorite thing that you did that you're responsible for in the last so many years, what was your favorite thing? Because, gosh, you had so many things. I think didn't you throw the one
Marilyn Crawford 20:31
in camera room? It would have been the one where I built the ballroom. I, I created the
Alexis Levi 20:37
scratch,
Marilyn Crawford 20:38
I created the food, I created the menu, I created the even I flew in the first spring of Dave ballerinas from New York Ballet Company to do a special commission ballet dance. I exposed them to new, you know, new cultures. I took the locals and gave them all jobs. I trained 160 people to be actively involved and to work the event, and to also tour the museum. Their museum, by the way, their museum that they have in Cameroon have things in it that are 50 years before Christ. They have things that, and a lot of things have been stolen because they didn't secure it properly initially, so that's why they did this, this renovation, but what they have over there is something that we have not witnessed in our lifetime, so, and their, their museum is about five times as big as the White House, so
Alexis Levi 21:37
wow,
Marilyn Crawford 21:37
I, I, that, that was my creme de la creme, that was the crown
Alexis Levi 21:42
of your crème
Marilyn Crawford 21:43
de la crème. I don't do events, yeah, but I don't do events, I do event experiences, and that was a billion here,
Alexis Levi 21:51
like that,
Marilyn Crawford 21:51
that was huge, yeah.
Alexis Levi 21:54
Now I think you did, didn't you do, and I, if I'm wrong, tell me, no, I'm wrong, I don't care if it's on the radio, did you do the Oscar event for Denzel? I went to an Oscar.
Marilyn Crawford 22:08
I honored.. no, I honored Eddie Murphy. I did Eddie Murphy a special event where I honored him. I didn't do the Oscar event for Denzel, although you know all of them came through my parties, but I didn't do it right. Him,
Alexis Levi 22:27
yes. Okay, okay. Well, I mean, you have had this amazing, incredible life, and the thing that I love about it is that I was able to share it with the Las Vegas family, you know, because we don't, you know, as many stars has come through here, we really don't get to hear from people who are doing amazing things like that. We hear from the ones that just live here, but you know, we don't hear from the guests and people that come in town. We've got four, what is it, 44 million people that come here every year, and you know, we just don't hear about it. We don't hear about it here, so I just wanted to do that, and I wanted to make sure that I honored you as my friend and as such a diva extraordinaire, you know. Yes, yes, yes. And besides the next American Sports Pro, what's next for you?
Marilyn Crawford 23:21
I have a huge announcement that I cannot make on the phone now, but it will be, it will involve Las Vegas, it will involve next American sports pro investment opportunity with some great stuff coming down the line.
Alexis Levi 23:37
Okay. All right. Well, that sounds
Marilyn Crawford 23:40
wonderful. Let me say this. Let me say, let me say this, and it will benefit Las Vegas and Nevada, a very big way, because a lot of times things come there and the locals don't benefit as much as they could, so it will be the entire state in a very big way.
Alexis Levi 24:01
Well, that's wonderful, because that's one of the.. I'll
Marilyn Crawford 24:03
give you a hint, you know, Tyler Perry put in a studio in Atlanta.
Alexis Levi 24:08
Yes, he did, and here.. well, that's that sounds wonderful, because you know, I mean, I've lived here now for 20 years, I remember Oscar told me, said, 'You're not going to be going to have the basketball team here. He said, 'I don't believe you're going to stay, and you know, we like people who come here to do things and stay. And I ran into him, like, two years ago, and I said, 'I'm still here, I'm still here. And so, you know, and I plan on saying,
Marilyn Crawford 24:39
'You're still building, and you're still building.
Alexis Levi 24:42
I'm still building. I can't help myself, you know. I just.. it's.. it's a great place to be. I'm loving the fact that we have all these sports coming. Actually, I came before the Raiders came, and actually, I was the one that did the big parties when the Raiders came back from LA to Oakland. Okay, because I was head of Chamber of Commerce at that time, and so you know I've been involved with them, my my parents worked for them, and the A's, and so it's this all going full circle. It's following me, it's all going full circle, and I'm excited to see what happens next. You know,
Marilyn Crawford 25:18
well, I'm sure there's going to be great things, because you're involved.
Alexis Levi 25:23
Oh, yes, I try to keep my hands in the middle of stuff, and I try to bring, you know, different spins that's not here, maybe like this sports thing, and I'm excited. I want to give shots out really quickly before we end to Randy Couture and and his wife, they were amazing by letting us use their facility for the MMA portion, and then, of course, Mayweather, the boxing gym, and you know, we just got so many jewels as far as sports go. Yeah, so I just want to give a shout out to them and let them know we're on the way.
Marilyn Crawford 25:58
Interview, by the way, I'm doing this interview from the den of the first black billionaires home.
Alexis Levi 26:05
Oh my goodness, I feel honored.
Marilyn Crawford 26:09
I just met Jack Kennedy. He's running for office in New York, and I met him because I was excited because of Camelot. But then after I met him, I knew New York had a candidate, he's going to win. He's a fantastic guy. So, yeah, doing the interview now from from that place, because a joy, you're a joy, you're a joy. And I hope everyone embraces everything that you bring to Las Vegas, because it's going to be big.
Alexis Levi 26:39
Yep, it's been going to be big, and we're looking forward to it, and I just want to thank UNLV and KU NB 91 five for having me. They blessed me with my own show, and I thank them for that. And I'm going to wrap it up. We've got about half a half a second to wrap it up, and I just want to thank you so much, Marilyn, for gracing me today, and K U N D 91 five,
Music 27:03
you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai