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Veteran's Affairs Plus discusses the issues that veterans in Las Vegas deal with on a daily basis. Your host, David L. Washington connects listeners with relevant community resources and information that they need to help veterans or themselves.
Announcer
0:00:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program.
Wesley Knight
0:00:04
You're listening to special programming sponsored by Making Moves Life Coaching Services. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz & More,
Dave Washington
0:00:14
the University of Nevada Las Vegas, this is Vex's Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. Good day, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'm Dave Washington, your host. In just a few minutes, I'll introduce our guests for today. That's Coach Tate, Gene Tate, outstanding individual who's done a lot in the neighborhood, particularly as it relates to youth. So we'll get with Coach shortly here. I want to once again reiterate the birthdays that I have in family, particularly Kathy Richardson, my sister who recently passed away. I just want to recognize her birthday was in the month of October.
Dave Washington
0:01:26
Also, we have Angel, Nathan, Chris, Kassara, and Amira all in the month of October. So, just want to say happy birthday to those family members. And also want to mention again, the 10th annual Armed Forces Military Vets and First Responders function, it will be on October 19th. And I failed to get that further information on it. I promised that I would, and I failed to do that.
Dave Washington
0:01:56
But just check your local listing. It's something that has occurred, again, 10 times, well, nine times already. This will be the 10th annual. So please check that out. I think it's something for our veterans to be honored. We should try and get there to support them later on again in October 19th.
Dave Washington
0:02:16
So with that, I'd like to further talk about once again how important it is for us to check your registration and make sure that, because sometimes, well not sometimes, but you can be vetted if you didn't vote in the last election. So make sure your registration is proper, get yourself educated.
Dave Washington
0:02:35
And I encourage people once again to please study, particularly parents, veterans and others, Project 2025, important things that this document addresses that will be harmful to us all as citizens. I don't care if you're male, female, black, or white. It can bring harm to us.
Dave Washington
0:02:55
Also, I wanted to encourage folks who have some issues and looking for getting their benefits together, and that is to Tony Marshall, our service officer. 301-537-9462. Tony Marshall, our service officer. Now, with that, I'd like to introduce Gene Tate. He's an outstanding
Dave Washington
0:03:18
individual in our community. How you doing coach? Doing great, thank you. Absolutely. Look coach, I know you're a vet. Will you tell our listening audience what branch did you serve and how long? I was in the Army and I was drafted 1965
Gene Tate
0:03:37
1965 to 67.
Dave Washington
0:03:40
Okay.
Dave Washington
0:03:41
So, 65 to 67. So, what was your MOS?
Gene Tate
0:03:48
11 Bravo.
Dave Washington
0:03:49
That's infantry.
Gene Tate
0:03:51
Infantry.
Dave Washington
0:03:52
Yes, sir. You were right in the middle of Vietnam. I'm a Vietnam-era veteran, but I was 71 to 73, so I was catching the, basically, the tail end of that conflict, thank God.
Gene Tate
0:04:07
No, when I went in, we were a part of the buildup of three divisions to go to Vietnam. That's when the United States really got involved. the middle of 1966 to 67 with the 4th Infantry Division. Okay.
Dave Washington
0:04:28
So you went over there and was in the middle of the war zone as it was occurring? Yes, sir. We were four clicks off of the North Vietnam border, Pleiku, Vietnam. So, Coach, where were you born and raised? Born in Kinloch, Missouri.
Dave Washington
0:04:53
Missouri, okay.
Gene Tate
0:04:54
And, yeah, to give you an idea of where I'm talking about, most are familiar with Ferguson 19, excuse me, 2015 when Michael Brown was killed. Right. If I walked out of my backyard, I was in Ferguson, Missouri. Okay. I was in Ferguson, Missouri. Kinloch was a segregated township there in Missouri.
Gene Tate
0:05:20
Ferguson was all white. Kinloch was all black. Okay. All right.
Dave Washington
0:05:25
So now, to something that I know is near and dear to your heart, and that is youth baseball. How long have you been involved, and what inspired you to get involved?
Gene Tate
0:05:39
I started coaching Little League in 1962 and I've been involved ever since. And what caused me to get involved, I was a baseball nut, but I was always a midget and everybody had aspirations of playing baseball, I had opportunity being from the Midwest of seeing Negro League teams play, so hey, I want to be a professional ballplayer. But they wasn't looking at guys 5'6 at that time, so rather than, I had some skills. My dad was a pretty good baseball player and he had coached. My older brother had played,
Gene Tate
0:06:22
So rather than waste my time on a falsehood, I started coaching. That's interesting. It's just something that with me being around kids, it keeps me level. Cool, cool.
Dave Washington
0:06:41
You know, you mentioned your size and my wife is all, what's his name, Tumay, down in Texas? Yes. She said, how does he hit that ball so well? I said, you know what? It's technique. It's just like I'm an avid golfer. I'm an avid golfer and I know some guys 5'5", 5'6", and they can spank the ball. And I'm like, what's wrong with me? But I didn't start golfing until I was in my mid-50s at 73. Now I've gotten a little bit better, but not much.
Dave Washington
0:07:14
So you got involved because you didn't feel as though you might make it to the big league. So you just got to start getting involved with youth as a coach.
Gene Tate
0:07:24
Yeah, well, somebody, you know, someone helped me along the way and I felt that I should be able to do the same thing.
Dave Washington
0:07:32
It's just, I guess, they got various divisions or age size or weight size. How is that determined?
Gene Tate
0:07:48
Well, like I said, I started in 62 coaching Little League, which is age 9 to 12. work now. The East Val Alto T-ball pitching machine is an independent program and we start at four years old, we go four to fourteen, and we break them down at age groups up until they're fourteen years old and develop them as such. You start off on the tee, go to coach pitch then, you know, pitching for yourself, but just trying to make sure that they know the fundamentals of the game of baseball, which is very important, but at the same time,
Gene Tate
0:08:41
making sure that they're learning something in school.
Dave Washington
0:08:45
Absolutely. You know, one thing I admire about those who are willing to coach. I recall when I was, you know, I never played really organized football other than the police fire football game. And I was so dumb, I'm running around, I don't need no mouthpiece. And I ran down that field on the special teams and this big cop caught me up under my chin,
Dave Washington
0:09:07
man. And my jaws hurt me for about two weeks. Next year, I had two mouthpieces. I said, never again will I run around here asking why I don't need no mouthpiece. Yes, you do, fool, because you get hit in your chops. It's going to be ugly.
Dave Washington
0:09:25
So in doing that, though, I did do some coaching. And one of my friends, Orlando Hogan, said, man, just treat them like they're little men. And the discipline that these youngsters get, I think it helps most of them through life. One thing I noticed, and don't you love it when you hear someone say, ìHey, coach.î You're like, ìWho is that?î Because you knew them when they were little bitty people. But I can tell you that, again, I admire what you're doing because it takes a special talent
Dave Washington
0:09:57
or a special gift for a person. All kids, they're at different levels. You may think that there's some superstar there, man, but some of these kids, they just need somebody to help them. I think part of that discipline that they get while training to be a baseball player I think helps them through life, no doubt in my mind.
Gene Tate
0:10:23
Well, we train them for baseball, but we talk to them more about life because the percentage that will make professional baseball is very slim. What we do is talk to them about making sure that they're getting something between the ears. Learn something, and you can do a lot more if you go, you get a degree, come back and go to work for a baseball team.
Gene Tate
0:10:51
There's a lot of jobs for you there. Trainer, you know, sports medicine, be vice president of ticket sales, all of these types of jobs. And then the main one is agent.
Gene Tate
0:11:04
The agent is making more than the player is. So if you've learned something and you go to college, come back with that degree, there's so much that you can make outside of being on the field and really move forward.
Dave Washington
0:11:24
Yes sir. And you know what, that's very important because sometimes young folks get locked in that I'm gonna make the team and the percentage as you mentioned is so slim of you actually making it. And one of the point in terms of when I was assisting, coaching, one kid, he was so good, this football. I mean, he had a natural talent, but he always acted up. And one time he acted up so bad, I told the coach,
Dave Washington
0:11:50
I said, I'll tell you what, I think we need to keep him out, at least during the first half. And we knew we were going to get slobbered. That's how good this kid was. But I told him, I say, if he plays in the first half,
Dave Washington
0:12:01
I'm done, no kid is going to run me. That ain't happening. I mean, we're here for a purpose. Certainly we want to teach them the basic fundamentals, but also there's life after football. And particularly after this right here,
Dave Washington
0:12:13
because they got to go to school and they got to go in there and try to, you know, do the right thing while in class to include getting some decent grades. Because like you say, without that degree, without some knowledge and training, man,
Dave Washington
0:12:26
you're going to be in a world of hurt just thinking about I'm going to the big leagues, okay? You keep thinking that way. But I think for you guys to put on the table, Coach, that there's so many other avenues that you can pursue outside of being on the actual field itself. There's a multitude of jobs, and you covered quite a few of them,
Dave Washington
0:12:47
and I think that's important that you guys share with those young folks so they have a clear understanding that there's lots of opportunity outside of just being on the field.
Gene Tate
0:12:57
Yeah, well, you know, with talking to them about making sure that they're learning something, the program that we run right now, it's been around 32 years, and all of the youngsters from the program has gone to college, they've gone academically, nobody's gone on a sports scholarship. Wow. And we feel we feel pretty good about that. We have
Gene Tate
0:13:42
one in Colorado who is a doctor, we have one in his second year of law We have 10 to 12 that's gotten a master's degree and they've gone to college all over the country.
Dave Washington
0:13:45
Excellent.
Gene Tate
0:13:46
And, Chief, with your background, one of the first youngsters that played in our program here in Las Vegas, we've been here in Las Vegas 20 years with the program, is now a firefighter for Clark County Fire Department.
Dave Washington
0:14:01
Oh, excellent. Excellent. Well, again, that discipline that you guys ensure that they address or is addressed toward them, it's going to help them in life. And to mention some of these different professions that you have some of your youth are a part of now, it's commendable on your part because, again, you and your coaching team, man,
Dave Washington
0:14:27
that's part of the thing that we must do. We just can't be, even though I always tell young people, don't let anybody change your vision, but also you better have a backup plan. Because if you don't have a backup plan, I've seen guys who were excellent,
Dave Washington
0:14:45
but they didn't make it. They had the talent. I'm talking about baseball, football, had the talent coach to be there, but they weren't selected. And as a result, not all of them, but some of them, man, they were so disappointed they got hooked on drugs and they just went down, down, down.
Dave Washington
0:15:05
And I think part of that was a lack of them listening to you coaches as you were explaining that there's other opportunities. Don't get stuck on one particular thing. Coach, you got something coming up that I think we need to swing over and start talking about. You got a major fundraiser that you've been doing for a number of years.
Dave Washington
0:15:27
I missed it the last few for various reasons being in and out of town. I'll be out again this year, but I'll certainly pass this information on. Please share that with our listening audience.
Gene Tate
0:15:38
Yes, well, our program is free to the youngsters, but, you know, we have obligations. We pay the city for the use of the fields. We have to have insurance, uniforms for the kids and those types of things. So we do an annual golf classic to raise funds to help us along the way to take care of these obligations that we have to make sure we can keep youngsters on the field. And this year, it is October the 19th.
Gene Tate
0:16:12
We'll be playing at Wild Horse. And this is something that we've been doing. It helped our organization from the standpoint, like I say, I've been here for 20 years and coming and not knowing anybody, it gave me an opportunity to meet people such as yourself, who has been a big supporter for us. But you know, and we're fortunate that we have a couple of former Major League Baseball
Gene Tate
0:16:44
players. Nate Oliver played with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Giants. He has a world championship ring as a player with the Dodgers and as a coach with Chicago White Sox. Kirk Ford played with the St. Louis Cardinals
Gene Tate
0:17:00
in Philadelphia Phillies. We have a couple of former Olympians. Renaldo Brown, high jumper out of Compton High School, Los Angeles, 1968 Olympics, Eddie Hart, University of California Berkeley, 1972 Olympic sprinter. And these people give up their time to come and help us promote and, you know, come out and play. We put them in a foursome with, we might have two or three people for another team and we'll add one of these
Gene Tate
0:17:41
celebrities with them that you know they can get to meet and share information with each other and you know those to me are very positive things that people don't mind coming back to the neighborhood and doing something to help the youngsters because they are our future. If we don't put some time in with them, we're not going to have a future.
Dave Washington
0:18:04
Absolutely. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'm Dave Washington, your host. We have Coach Gene Tate. He's doing a wonderful job with our young people in the community. So with this annual fundraiser coming up, I trust that folks will participate.
Dave Washington
0:18:23
In fact, I'll do what I can, Coach, to try to get the word out because I think that we should fill up the entire Course with what is generally about 140 or so? I forget what they actually is, but we want to do that. So ladies and gentlemen, we've got to help the coach fill up Every spot there. So give that information again to include any website, etc coach. We're got about a minute or so
Gene Tate
0:18:46
To wrap things up. Yes, our tournament is October 19th at Wild Horse Golf Course in Henderson. Our website is ballcharts.com forward slash junior giants and the information on the tournament is there along with some of the other things. Like I say, we have a couple of former major league ball players that play in the tournament, but they will do a clinic for youngsters here in the valley on the 17th of October.
Dave Washington
0:19:22
Oh, excellent.
Gene Tate
0:19:23
So we have a baseball clinic for the kids with four former major league baseball players that will be there to teach them some skills of the game.
Dave Washington
0:19:32
All right. Once again, Las Vegas branch, and they do a tee ball and pitch machine that helps the kid get their skill levels together. So, Coach, we want to thank you so much for coming on the show, and we're going to do our best
Dave Washington
0:19:52
to continue to encourage people to participate in your annual fundraiser, the 18th annual Golf Classic. Thank you, Coach.
Gene Tate
0:20:00
Yes, well, we thank you for allowing us to come on so people can see and hear more about because like I say 20 years and I still meet people say, oh, we didn't know you were here.
Dave Washington
0:20:13
Well, I want to, hey coach, I want to thank Wes because he gave me this document. He said, here's I got a letter for you chief. I don't know what it is, but here you go.
Dave Washington
0:20:24
And I'm like, what?
Dave Washington
0:20:25
And then when did you send it to me coach?
Dave Washington
0:20:26
About a month ago.
Dave Washington
0:20:27
About a month ago. I said, man, that was like wagon train mail to get here. But Wes gave it to me the other day. So once again, coach, thank you so much for being on the show.
Gene Tate
0:20:37
Okay, we thank you and you have a great afternoon. Great evening.
Dave Washington
0:20:41
All right.
Gene Tate
0:20:42
Thank you.
Dave Washington
0:20:43
Take care. Once again, Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. On the other side, I'll just cover some things that I've talked about in the past that I think are important. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I am Dave Washington, the host of this show, and I appreciate our audience listening in each Saturday at 7 a.m.
Dave Washington
0:21:11
I got a couple of things. One of the guests that I was trying to get on was we were unable to make the connection, so I'll get them on. In fact, this assistant chief, Mack Travis, with Clark County Fire, he is over recruitment, so we're going to get him on the show to talk about some of the obstacles or trials and tribulations that he may be having in his recruitment process, but I think it's important
Dave Washington
0:21:38
for him to come on the show. So we're going to have him one way or the other. We'll get him on and let him talk about some of the things that he will need from the community in terms of helping him to get the recruitment of new firefighters for Clark County Fire on the payroll there, if you will. So we will be getting with the chief soon. Also, speaking of fire, the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute, its website is up now, taking registration. So those firefighters out there who are interested in pursuing upper mobility within your respective departments, again, it is not a hands on didactic type thing. It's more of a leadership management training and education type of a program that's been around for over 30 years now.
Dave Washington
0:22:27
We're housed at Dillard University and we're the first full week in June every year. And we've been doing it for again, over 30 years. And in fact, I think we've been at Dillard now. In fact, speaking of Dillard, we were praying for them because they had a category two storm
Dave Washington
0:22:45
to come right through New Orleans. And I did speak with Michelle Matthews who was our lead contact down at the university as we do our summer institute there. They're all doing fine. Not a lot of major damage like when Katrina went through,
Dave Washington
0:23:01
but certainly there is some damage there that they're able to take care of a lot of down limbs, et cetera, but no down trees. Thank goodness. It's a beautiful campus. If you've never been there, you ever get down into the New Orleans area,
Dave Washington
0:23:16
please stop by and visit those at Dillard University. Earlier on the show, we had Dr. Coach, Coach Gene Tate, and he has an annual golf tournament to assist their their t-ball and slow pitch youth baseball. So we want to make sure that we provide some assistance for those who are golfers out there. This tournament will be held on Saturday, October 19th at Wild Horse 2100 West Warm Springs Drive in Henderson. It's 7 30 a.m. shotgun start and so we encourage folks to I Trust that they have some information out there
Dave Washington
0:24:07
Probably on Facebook and but I don't see an actual Website here on his document for the tournament, but again Gene Tate coach. He's a great guy does a lot of youth work in our community and he's been here, as he mentioned earlier on the show, been around here for 20 years. So let's give that brother some support because he's doing a wonderful job. And I like what he talked about in terms of they not only encourage the kids to just be
Dave Washington
0:24:40
thinking about they're going to be ballplayers, but also what about the other jobs that are available in the other professions from trainers to agents, et cetera, et cetera. There's a lot going on that one can do in the profession of baseball. So it's encouraging to know that they don't just let these kids start locking into,
Dave Washington
0:25:02
you know, I'm gonna be the next Babe Ruth or I'm gonna be the next Hank Aaron and all this. Cause everybody's not gonna get that. The percentage of them becoming professional baseball players is pretty, pretty, pretty thin. In fact, they got a better chance of being in public safety,
Dave Washington
0:25:22
and I'm talking about police and fire and EMS. They got a better chance. And those are very, very competitive professions, but they will have a better opportunity to do that than get into professional baseball. And speaking of public safety, a couple weeks ago we had Sheriff Kevin McMayhill. Man, I am so pleased with the work that this man is doing.
Dave Washington
0:25:45
I think it's just his first or maybe his second year, you know, the sheriff is an elected official in our community. This sheriff has taken on, and no disrespect to all the previous sheriffs, and I've worked with several of them on the multicultural committee. He is taking it upon himself and his department, they've hired a PhD to deal with and several clinical folks to deal with depression
Dave Washington
0:26:14
and other things that are harmful to police officers. Police, fire and other, particularly in public safety, have a high risk of divorce, suicide, depression, all these things. And he's taking it upon himself to bring these folks on. So those folks who are having trouble, and it's nothing to be embarrassed about.
Dave Washington
0:26:40
In fact, as I mentioned, when he was on the show, how I was debriefed in a classroom down at Dillard University in EDI, the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute. Look, there are things that are harmful to us because they see a lot. And a lot of times it's hard to separate what's going on in your head from this tragedy that you've seen or multiple tragedies.
Dave Washington
0:27:07
So what he's doing in terms of helping his folks and letting them know that he cares about them, I think is so important. And I trust that this model that he's using or he's developing will be used by other police agencies throughout our country. I have got the word from, and I love him, and sometimes he's like, why are you mentioning my name? Because you're famous as far as I'm concerned, Wes, because you keep me on track, young man.
Dave Washington
0:27:33
And I love it. We got a program that Fay Duncan Daniel had called the Living Waters, and we're hoping that her program will be one that will become an annual program. It occurred on July 27th, 2024 at the Helena River Park. We're hoping that Fay will get funding to continue that program because it's so important for us. Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. And I must mention again, our service officer, Tony Marshall, 301-537-9462.
Dave Washington
0:28:07
Tony can help you get your benefits together, so please don't hesitate. And you can't just walk into his office where he does have an office, um, where he comes over to, um, American Legion Post 10, but he also has an office out at the service center out near the veterans hospital. I forget the address,
Dave Washington
0:28:30
but he can set up an appointment for you to get those things addressed. So once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I will be on a little hiatus and Gene Campbell, Chief Eugene Campbell will be covering some spots for me
Dave Washington
0:28:44
as I do some rehab and my medical issue that I'm having so once again love you Las Vegas and we appreciate you guys listening in every Saturday morning at 7 a.m. this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More signing off for a few weeks. Thank you very much. Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More signing off for a few weeks. Thank you very much.
Dave Washington
0:29:04
the next, video!!
Transcribed with Cockatoo