Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
"Mick Unplugged" is a transformative podcast that challenges listeners to move beyond the conventional 'Why' and embrace the empowering realm of 'Because.' Hosted by Mick Hunt, the voice of Modern Leadership, this podcast is designed for leaders, doers, and anyone aspiring to create meaningful impact in both their personal and professional lives.
Each episode delves into the principles of Modern Leadership, focusing on discovering your 'Because'—your core driving force—and how it can turn dreams into reality and aspirations into actionable steps. With practical advice, real-life stories, and forward-thinking insights, you’ll learn to make your 'Because' a daily focus, fueling your journey toward success and fulfillment.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your motivation, set meaningful goals, or apply modern leadership theories to overcome challenges, "Mick Unplugged" provides the tools, strategies, and insights to guide your path. Subscribe now and start transforming your life with purpose and modern leadership principles.
Are you ready to change your habits, sculpt your destiny, and light up your path to greatness? Welcome to the epicenter of transformation. This is Mick Unplugged. We'll help you identify your because so you can create a routine that's not just productive, but powerful. You'll embrace the art of evolution, adapt strategies to stay ahead of the game, and take a a step toward the extraordinary.
Intro:So let's unleash your potential. Now here's Nick.
Mick Hunt:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode. And today, we are honored to have a true legend. We're talking about former NFL player, Clemson University icon, dynamic motivational speaker, and elite sports performance trainer. His foundation transforms lives by supporting kids and family. And his powerful motto, dream big, live big, ignites inspiration across the world.
Mick Hunt:His dedication, passion, and relentless drive make him a source of hope and motivation. Please join me in welcoming Bamberg's finest, the unstoppable and inspirational, mister Ricky Sapp. Ricky, how are you doing today, brother?
Ricky Sapp:Hey, man. I gotta get you to be my hype man when I go speak, man.
Mick Hunt:Hey. Flavor Flaving. You got nothing on me
Ricky Sapp:right now. Hey, man. I I appreciate you, man, and and thank you for having me, man. Thank you for having me.
Mick Hunt:You know, I I left out there that you wanted to be a Tar Heel, so we'll skip through that.
Ricky Sapp:Oh, please don't say that, man. I'm I'm orange. I got orange blood in the in these names now. That's it.
Mick Hunt:Man. So Rick, man, one of the things I love, and I've been a huge fan of yours forever. I mean, you know, I was telling you offline. I'm from Easley, just moved back to Easley, which is 5 minutes down 123 from where you're at. Bro, I started following you on LinkedIn probably 3, 4 years no.
Mick Hunt:Before COVID. And and your Monday Motivation and Ricky Sapp dancing. Like, I'm telling everybody, number 1, follow Ricky on all social platforms, because if you just need happiness in your life, forget everything else. Ricky's a huge source of happiness, man. So I just wanted to applaud you for that.
Ricky Sapp:Man, I appreciate that, man. Thank you, man. Thank you so much.
Mick Hunt:Yeah, man. So let's talk about Ricky Sapp's journey from Bamberg to to Clemson to 5th round draft. It, like, it doesn't happen. Right? Like, that's that's not a path that everybody can say, oh, I wanna go do.
Mick Hunt:And I know it took work. Right? So, so growing up in Bamberg, like, where did you see yourself and what drove you to get to where you are today, brother?
Ricky Sapp:My mom and dad worked at the same place in Orangeburg, South Carolina at Husqvarna. But, you know, South Carolina State Bulldog Stadium is in Orangeburg. One day, my mom was driving to go pick up my dad, and I was a young kid, man. I was going with her. And she drove by South Carolina State Bulldog Stadium.
Ricky Sapp:I've never seen anything like that. The only stadium I've ever seen was, you know, my my high school stadium, Bamberg Air High School. When I saw the stadium, man, when I tell you it lit something in me, that's where I started to dream big. I was like, mom, what the heck is that? You know?
Ricky Sapp:Like, what is that? And she told me what it was. And when she saw that excitement, she would kick me by every time I roll with her. So that was kinda started me to, like, open up to big things and dream big. Then I saw, you know, my my uncle and cousin playing football.
Ricky Sapp:And then being in Bamberg Bamberg is a amazing, sports town. It's a small town, prideful, all about working hard. So that kind of started me, man, into believing that I can go do something big, man. And when I got into playing football, I told my mom and dad, I said, look, you know, I'm gonna go play in the NFL. And my mom and dad didn't say nothing.
Ricky Sapp:They said they just smiled and said, okay. You know, so that's what kind of started me on this journey.
Mick Hunt:I love it, man. So high school, all American, you know, we can talk NIL now because it's real. So, so why Clemson? Like how much more money did they give you to North Carolina? That's what I'm thinking.
Mick Hunt:But, you know, so, you know, Clemson had a a big traditional defense. So I'm sure that that was a lot. Right? Daquan Bowers was there.
Ricky Sapp:Oh, yeah.
Mick Hunt:What got Ricky to Clemson?
Ricky Sapp:Man, I was a I grew up a Florida State fan. Mhmm. But doing my recruiting process, I I came to Clemson. The guy before me at Bamberg, he was getting recruited. So he brought me to a game at Clemson.
Ricky Sapp:But then when I started getting recruited, of course, you know, I I'm a go to Clemson, go to Carolina. And then, well, that's school in Columbia. We can't call it Carolina. But, I came to Clemson, man. And every time I came back, I kept telling my my coaches and and parents.
Ricky Sapp:I was like, man, I feel something when I go there. I don't know what it is, but it's something. So every time I would come, I would say, hey, man. I wanna go back. I wanna go back.
Ricky Sapp:Something something special there. So eventually, man, I just I fell in love with the place. It came down to here, Fuller State, Georgia. And I said, man, I'm a go to Clemson. If I had to do it again, I'll I'll pick Clemson again, man.
Ricky Sapp:I really would.
Mick Hunt:I'm I'm telling you, especially now with at Ipte NIL, you probably would.
Ricky Sapp:Well, it's something in the hills over here Clifton, man. It's something you should have stayed right here. It's something in the hills,
Mick Hunt:man. Yes, sir. You will see the real Carolina is where I went.
Ricky Sapp:Oh man. That's a shame. They can't beat the, this team over here in South Carolina, man.
Mick Hunt:We'll talk later. So then freshman year at Clemson, I'm sure. Right? For for most people that don't understand, being the big dog, I mean and you were the big, big dog. Right?
Mick Hunt:Like, high school, all American. Right?
Ricky Sapp:Yeah.
Mick Hunt:And then giving the glimpse of your freshman year and you realize these are almost like grown men. Like, what was that like for you? Your freshman year, like, those first 3 to 4 weeks of, wow, I'm here.
Ricky Sapp:Man, seeing Gaines Adams, God bless his soul, and Anthony Waters and Tremaine Billy and, man, all those guys, man, I was like, I did not expect these guys to be, you know, like you said, grown men. And I heard of Gaines and and heard how good he was. But to come in and see that, man, it was it was wild. But they put me under their wings, man, especially games, and it was an amazing 1st year to to play behind him and watch him play and and to see how he did things, man. It was it was truly amazing.
Mick Hunt:Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I tell people in life, mentorship is truly important. Right? Like, because, you know, Les Brown always taught me this.
Mick Hunt:People will tell you experience is the best teacher. Well, if you experience losing, then you're just a loser. Right? To me, it's wisdom that's the best teacher. And so I know someone like Gaines had to give you so much wisdom so that it when it was your time, you were like steps ahead of everyone because you had wisdom.
Mick Hunt:Like what, what would you say to people as far as mentorship and the importance of mentorship?
Ricky Sapp:Oh, man. I'll tell you this. It's so important to find people that have, just like you said, that have been through things and that has done things that you want to do or doing things that you want to do. That's so that's that's so important. I tell you this, I always tell kids this, win is win, and lose is lose.
Ricky Sapp:If you wanna I think if you wanna win, you gotta be around winners. So having a mentor is so powerful, man. And I didn't learn that until I got to Clemson. And even got older that it was important to have one. Gaines didn't have to mentor me, man.
Ricky Sapp:He did he was on his way out. But he he literally brought me in. And, you know, he literally coached me along the way and was telling me what to do, not to do, how to go about doing things daily with football and off of the football field. So mentorship is important, man.
Mick Hunt:Yep. You know, in South Carolina, we're hard workers. Right? Like, that's what we believe in. Like, that's anyone that's from this state, I promise you, probably outworks everybody.
Mick Hunt:Right? Shout out to everybody in South Carolina. Right?
Ricky Sapp:Facts. 100%.
Mick Hunt:Right? Talk about that. Right? Your work ethic is so impeccable. So for you going from freshman to now you're starting and then ultimately getting drafted in the NFL, it doesn't happen without a solid work ethic, man.
Mick Hunt:So I'd love to hear your story on that because it's something you're continuing to do today.
Ricky Sapp:My mom and dad went to work rain, sleet, and snow. And when you're a kid, you don't you don't know, man. You like, man, you know, we don't got enough. We need more. But my mom and dad, and I had I had way more than I needed.
Ricky Sapp:But when you're a kid, you just don't know. My mom and dad went to work rain, sleet, or snow. They didn't complain. They didn't tell them I went to work. They went to work, man.
Ricky Sapp:And you know, kids don't listen to nothing, but everything we see, everything we see, we go do it without even thinking about it. So that's where my hard work kinda came from. And then of course, you know, getting around with my cousin and uncle, and then getting around guys, you know, at Bamberg in high school, and starting to understand that, man, I gotta work, man. I gotta work. And then, you know, sports teaches you how to compete, how to work hard, and how to be disciplined.
Ricky Sapp:So along my journey, man, I've just learned that, man. I gotta gotta work. I gotta work. I gotta go. I gotta work one day at a time.
Ricky Sapp:That's
Mick Hunt:it. You you brought up something else too that I think is relevant, not only in sports, but in business and in life, and that's competing. And, you know, I get a little disappointed. Right? Like, my family will tell you I'm the biggest competitor that they know.
Mick Hunt:Like my whole family is competitive. Again, it's a South Carolina thing. Right?
Ricky Sapp:But Yeah.
Mick Hunt:But I feel like kids today and not even kids, but just people today don't like competing. Like, they're okay being average, and they're okay being a part of the group. And as long as the group is doing the thing, they're okay doing the thing. But, man, like, that competing and and striving to be the best, I think is something that's truly needed in this world. And I've heard you speak about that too.
Ricky Sapp:Well, I just say yeah. I just spoke with that a couple days ago, man. You know, I truly think that God intended for us to, you know, be competitive and compete. But to compete in the right way and this is this is and this is what I mean. All of us got gifts.
Ricky Sapp:All of us know what we're good at. When I played football, I know one of my gifts was I had a fast get off. So I knew if that if I was confident in that and worked on that, that I was gonna beat y'all behind eventually. I was gonna get you, knowing what I was good at. -Yep.
Ricky Sapp:-You know, healthy competition, man. And oftentimes compete, they're gonna do it the wrong way. They're gonna try and harm you, or they're gonna try and and cut corners. Instead of just saying, All right, I know what I'm good at. Let's go to war.
Ricky Sapp:Let's go to war. I'm gonna use my gifts and I'm gonna sharpen it. I'm gonna work it. And eventually, I'm gonna get you. So competition is amazing, and it brings the best out of us when we do it the right way.
Mick Hunt:I totally love that, man. Like one of one of my really good friends and mentor, Karl Lester Crumpler, he was on the podcast and we were talking about how iron sharpens iron. Right? It's not iron polishes iron. It's really about sharpening iron.
Mick Hunt:Right? Like, what does Ricky feel about that? Right? Because to really compete, to really get better, there's gotta be some friction. There's gotta be some heat.
Mick Hunt:There's gotta be some sparks, but it's all about getting better.
Ricky Sapp:Yes. So getting around like I said earlier, getting around people that kinda does the same thing you do. Most people are run from competition. So I'll give you an example, man. I I'm a I'm a huge fan of Les Brown and Eric Eric Thomas and all those guys.
Ricky Sapp:And and when I watch them, I'm thinking to myself, alright, you know, man, what can I take from this? Or how can I get better? And I just and I just say this, man. And I never knew what I was gonna say to this. Man, when I got into the motivational speaking world, Eric Thomas was, like, one of the first guys.
Ricky Sapp:And I and he's my he's my number one guy. I love him. I love him. As of now, as I'm watching him and thinking about this whole motivational speaking thing, I'm thinking, how can I go take his spots the right way? How can I take his spot?
Ricky Sapp:Oh, you're getting me excited. How can I take his spot the right way?
Mick Hunt:Let's go.
Ricky Sapp:But understanding and respecting him like, man, he's a guy. But and that don't mean I can't get around him. I mean, I can learn from him.
Mick Hunt:Right. But if
Ricky Sapp:if he was standing here today, I would say, hey, man. You're my guy. I I love you, but I'm coming for your spot, and I'm coming for your spot the right way.
Mick Hunt:Dude, like, literally, I'm gonna get you on a call with me and Les because we have that text conversation and drive and push with each other all the time. He's like, hey. I didn't order a Uber. Right? Because he knows I'm coming from.
Mick Hunt:Like, don't worry. I am the Uber. Right? Like, I'll be there in a minute. I'll be there in a minute.
Mick Hunt:So totally get that, man. So speaking of your motivational speaking, how did your journey from high school, college, NFL, how did that influence your approach to motivational speaking?
Ricky Sapp:Man, I I took speech classes growing up. My mom used to have to tell me to take a deep breath and then talk. I talked really fast when I was young. Still do it sometimes. And I would stutter.
Ricky Sapp:I hated public speaking at Clemson. I never thought about being a motivational speaker. Never. Ever. When I transitioned out of the NFL, I went to this high school called North Myrbe Beach High School, where a guy asked me to come speak.
Ricky Sapp:Never spoke in my life. He asked me and the Quarumba was to come speak. And I was like, man, I don't know. What do I do? So I took stuff from Ray Lewis and Brian Dawkins and and some other guys.
Ricky Sapp:Took a quote from JJ Watt, went and spoke, and they loved it. It was like, man, we love it. It's awesome. You you should be a more recent speaker. I didn't think nothing of it.
Ricky Sapp:Long story short, after that, I started speaking, you know, randomly. And then people this lady came up to me one day and say, hey, we lost our speaker. Would you speak? After that, man, I just I started speaking. And then that that's when God was like, hey.
Ricky Sapp:You're supposed to be a motivational speaker. I'm like, what? So I asked God, and I said, well, what what's the message? What do I tell people? So that's that's kinda how I got into motivational speaking, man.
Ricky Sapp:Never thought I would be doing it. Never thought I'd be doing it.
Mick Hunt:Hey. But you're making a tremendous impact. I mean, like I said, your your Monday motivations, whether you were, you know, dancing in the house or dancing on the beach, dancing in front of freaking Smoothie King.
Ricky Sapp:Now you got you
Mick Hunt:got the young ones dancing with you. I love it, man. Like like, truly, everybody should be following Ricky. And one of the things I wanna highlight, and it's something that's dear to me as well, is your foundation, man. Like, what inspired you to create the Ricky Sapp Foundation?
Ricky Sapp:Out of my friends, man, and just my whole my whole group of friends and family, I was always one of the ones that just love to give, man. You know, out of your circle, everybody's different. Me. I'm a tell you the good and bad about me as a friend. I'm not gonna show up a lot because I'm a I'm a I'm a introvert extrovert.
Ricky Sapp:You know, I wanna, you know, I'd rather be alone and chilling.
Mick Hunt:Right.
Ricky Sapp:But if they need to show off my back, I give it to them. And I was always a giver, man. So when I got drafted in 2010, you know, my financial adviser, he said, look, man. You know, let's start a foundation, man, that makes sense for you. And I said, let's do it.
Ricky Sapp:So we started the Ricky Saf Foundation, of course, with the model of Dream Big, Live Big. We started in 2010. And, you know, I had one thought in mind that was just give back to my community. At the time, I didn't know that I was supposed to be doing motivational speaking and working with kids. I didn't know.
Ricky Sapp:I just wanted to play, you know, football. So it all kinda all kinda makes sense that I was supposed to have that foundation and supposed to be, you know, giving back and and and working with kids.
Mick Hunt:I love it, man. What are some of the the big goals or big initiatives that that you guys have coming up this year and and into next year at the foundation?
Ricky Sapp:Yeah. So we we just had, the annual football cheerleading camp. Everything's free. We do book bags as well, so I kill, you know, 2 things with 1 stone. We do book bags and give out awards, and all that good stuff.
Ricky Sapp:So we just had that. The next thing that we have is we do, Thanksgiving event, where we give out turkey boxes to families. And I'm not like, you know, my foundation, I don't I don't do a 100 of 1,000. I go into the schools and and find out the families that need it. So that's what we we typically do.
Ricky Sapp:And then for Chris for Christmas, I should've sent you a a photo for this, but I I wear the the Butt of the f costume. And oh, yeah, man. We found families that need, you know, that need gifts and I go around and and give out gifts. So that's the next 2 big events that we got coming up for the year. Yeah.
Ricky Sapp:Okay. Yeah.
Mick Hunt:Alright. So I'm personally gonna contribute to that.
Ricky Sapp:Oh, come on.
Mick Hunt:Gonna challenge some listeners and viewers as well too. So I'm gonna have links to to Ricky's foundation, but I'm genuinely going to contribute because what you're doing in the foundation speaks to my heart, and it's something that if I can be a part of, I'm gonna be a part of. So so you got me on your side, brother.
Ricky Sapp:That means a lot, man. Thank you. Thank you.
Mick Hunt:You got it. You got it. So dream big, live big, man. Like how do you incorporate that into your daily life and how can others do that as well too?
Ricky Sapp:Getting up every day and knowing that if I got air in my lungs and I'm breathing, then, man, I can do something big, man. I can do something big because because there's a reason why, you know, that we are still here every day that we're here. And my motto is, with the dream big, live big is that, man, why not dream big? You know? Why not?
Ricky Sapp:Because if we are here and I'm a I'm a strong believer that, you know, God gave all of us gifts. So, man, I believe that every day I wake up that I should try and scribe to do something big. If that's just encouraging a kid to dream big, then hey.
Mick Hunt:Hey. I
Ricky Sapp:did it. You know? I did it. Absolutely.
Mick Hunt:Yeah. Absolutely. So a lot of folks that listen to the podcast, right, like, we really believe in going deeper than your why and getting fueled by your because. Because life is gonna challenge. Right?
Mick Hunt:Like, if life were easy, if everybody could be billionaires, then everybody would be billionaires. Right? But there's different obstacles and challenges that we have. So what are some tips and advice that that Ricky has for people to really be fueled by that deeper purpose or for that deeper purpose?
Ricky Sapp:Whatever you are passionate about, you have to chase it. You have to chase it, because your passion is will lead you to your purpose. I truly believe that. So I always tell people, man, you know, if you if you don't know what your purpose is, then what are you passionate about? If you don't know what you're passionate about, what do you like doing?
Ricky Sapp:If you don't know what you like doing, then you need to figure out. You need to try things. I told some kids here at Clemson, I said, try things, man. Go visit places. Man, try coloring.
Ricky Sapp:Try drawing. Try try doing something. But your passion is gonna guide you to your purpose. And as a 37 year old man, man, I look back before I got into this motivational speaking thing and encouraging kids. I always had passion and and and so much drive to encourage people, but didn't even, you know, pay attention to it.
Ricky Sapp:Football was all I was thinking about. So my advice to people would be like, man, what are you passionate about? Chase that because that's gonna lead you right into your purpose. And then that's gonna, you know, ultimately make you happy. The desires of your heart, whatever you desire in your heart, man, Chase it.
Ricky Sapp:Chase it.
Mick Hunt:That is it. That's it. So we talked about the foundation. We talked about your journey. Like, what's new and upcoming for Ricky Sapp?
Ricky Sapp:Man. You know, so I I dropped my book in April, and my book is called Dream Big, and it's for kids, 1st to 5th grade. I did that, man. And the next for me is a second book that I'm gonna try and drop by the end of the year. And then, of course, of course, that school is getting started, man.
Ricky Sapp:Just ramping up and traveling around the world, man, speaking.
Mick Hunt:I love it. We'll make sure that we have links to the book, obviously, the foundation, all your social as well. Where do you want people to to find you, follow you, and in wrapping this up? What's what's one thing you want people to just start doing right now?
Ricky Sapp:Love, man. We need love. We we we need to love each other. You know, we talked about competition, healthy competition, man. It's okay to get people with each other.
Ricky Sapp:We have to understand that even though we go disagree, we can still love each other, man. Man, Mike, I can still say, man, listen, man, you even though you're a Tar Heel fan, I love you, and you invited to my cookout. I don't care about you. You know what I'm saying?
Mick Hunt:Hey. You're invited to mine, but we have a no orange policy in my house. I'm just messing up.
Ricky Sapp:See, I was gonna say, man, you can wear some of that blue mask. Alright. But so
Mick Hunt:you you're a better man than me. Right? You you I'm trying to get there, Rick. I'm trying to get there. One day, I'll look for it.
Mick Hunt:I'll be okay, but
Ricky Sapp:it's not right now. Well, yeah, man. We need love, man. We we needed love. And and right now, more than ever, as adults, we can stand up and show out and show these kids what it looks like to be adult as far as loving each other, you know, Showing how to love, not bullying each other.
Ricky Sapp:Showing how we can have conversation when we disagree on things, man, the right way. So more than ever, man, we we need love. This world needs love and love covers everything. I, I really do. And I think love would heal this world.
Ricky Sapp:I truly believe that. Yeah.
Mick Hunt:I couldn't have said it any better, any better. Ladies and gentlemen, my friend, Dan Berg's finest, the amazing Ricky Satt. Ricky, thank you for joining us on Make Home Club, brother. This means the world to me. Just so you know.
Ricky Sapp:Me, brother. Thank you for having me, brother. It means a lot.
Mick Hunt:You got it. And for all the listeners, remember, your because is is your superpower. Go unleash it.
Intro:Thanks for listening to Mick Unplugged. We hope this episode helps you take the next step toward the extraordinary and launches as a revolution in your life. Don't forget to rate and review the podcast, and be sure to check us out on YouTube at Mick Unplugged. Remember, stay empowered, stay inspired, and stay unplugged.