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All right, all right.

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Feeny talks with friends episode 155.

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Hear that new intro music?

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Yeah. You. Sounds good, man.

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Good stuff, good stuff.

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We're here.
What a great guest. Harry. Baluchi.

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How are you doing, Harry?
I'm doing fantastic.

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I heard it your first pod.

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It is absolutely my first pod at age 68.

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There you go.

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We're with the man, the myth, the legend.

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Hall of Famer, teacher, coach,
executive director.

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We have so much to talk about.

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I'm very excited that you're here.

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Episode 155.

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Where do you want to start?

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I don't know.

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I guess my background a little bit.

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You know, I am having, taught
and coached in Hartford for 42 years.

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My last 29 at Hartford Public High School,
where I coached, football and swimming.

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Before that, I was

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at Berkeley,
my alma mater, for 23 years, coaching,

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23. I got to 24.

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I got put in the Hartford

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High, Buckley Hall of Fame
in 24 into the Hartford High Hall of Fame.

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The only person in Hartford
into Hall of Fame. So.

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So you're in two high school

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Hall of Fame, correct for your teaching
and your coaching or, one for that.

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Yeah.

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At Buckley, for, for, being an athlete

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and coaching and at Hartford Public,
obviously for coaching.

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So pretty cool.

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And then they named the field
after me on my retirement.

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There.

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So that's pretty surreal,
man there and going, oh geez.

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Listen never had we're here with a legend.

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Yeah.

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Hall of Famer Field named after you.

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How was that feeling?

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I couldn't imagine.

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That's, as being a coach,
a football coach.

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You put players into college,

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you put players into an NFL,
and they honored you with a field.

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Let's elaborate a little bit. When,

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Nick LeBron kami was on the

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council and he said a coach,
we wanted him to feel that.

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Yeah. And I'm like,
you sure about that, buddy? He's going.

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Absolutely.

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Part of that situation was
I was Hartford High Field.

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The Park River runs underneath it.

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And the Army Corps of Engineers
covered that back in the 60s.

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But, you know, it's a riverbank.

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So anytime it rained,
we were literally in five feet of mud.

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It was ridiculous.

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And I would complain every single year

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about it like this
and coaches would complain.

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And then finally,
I was able to talk to Matt Ritter,

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who is a former student of the iron House,
and I said, Matt,

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I have a couple of years that say, coach

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is going to play on this mud pit
the rest of his life.

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And he's going, well,
we have some bond money coming up.

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I'm going to bring it to the governor,
who was Malloy at the time,

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and see if we can get the field built.

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And I probably texted him every day
during the summer.

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I said, this dude's going to blast me here
pretty soon.

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And he call me in August of 20, 2020.

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And he said, coach,
we knew you needed a name.

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We got your we're building in field.

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Wow. Yeah.

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So which is why I stayed an extra year.

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I said, I'll be damned
if I'm not going to play it I one year.

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So my last year of coaching
we were able to play on the new turf.

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Right. A new turf field. Yeah. Wow.
Which was awesome.

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That's so cool.

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And then we had to, go to the board and,

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and give them the business, and, and
they finally put the lights in the track.

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And so now it's a really beautiful
facility. Really.

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It's gorgeous.

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Now, is that the one when you're
taking a left off

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assistant,
have you could see right over here.

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There it is. That's you.

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No. Yeah. Yeah.
I thought of you the other day.

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I got off that to go to Parkville Market,

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and I'm like,
I wonder if that's Henry's field.

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Yeah. Yeah, that definitely is. Yeah.

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So is it the Baluchi field
or the hairy Baluchi field?

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It's a hairy Baluchi field. Nice. Yeah.

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Yeah. So that that that's nice.

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And what was great about upon
my retirement, a bunch of guys

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that I am friends with
for a very long, long time,

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donated a bunch of money and we created
a Baluchi family scholarship fund.

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So every,

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June I give

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about 5 or 6, $1,000 scholarships away
to, kids from Hartford High.

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Kids from Berkeley gets from Weaver,

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and helping them out
with their first year of college.

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So that's pretty cool thing.

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Amazing we're able to do. Yeah.

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As being a good friend.

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Yeah.

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That's what it's all about. Yes.

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Being very good friends. Yeah.

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So I'm pretty proud of that.

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So how was it teaching in Hartford
and why?

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Hartford.

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I grew up in Hartford.

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My first nine years.

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I grew up in Rice Heights,
which is a project, over,

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for Flatbush Avenue,
which is no longer there.

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Then we moved
to the south end of Hartford.

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So here was Baluchi
moving to the south end of Hartford.

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I fit right in over there
with all the Italian kids.

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So it was,

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it was a great place to grow up
the south end of Hartford.

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Back in the 60s and 70s.

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There was just a million kids
everywhere and parks and

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and a bunch of pools open in and out.

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And I think about probably the fourth
or fifth grade,

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you know, my gym teacher
who was a crazy Italian guy,

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but I, I just loved sports
and I just love being part of it.

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And I think in my mind, in fourth grade,
I made up my mind

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I was going to be a first teacher
and a coach and, after going to, you know,

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Greater Hartford and then, central,
I got my first job at 23 at no.

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Webster School.

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And then I actually started coaching
when I was a junior,

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in at central, a freshman assistant
freshman job was open.

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I ran into my head coach from back in 75,
and I said, yeah, sure.

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I came down, I signed some papers,
and I went out in the field

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and started coaching
and had no idea what I was doing.

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I mean,
just what I remember from high school.

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So that's the defense we put in.

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I spent the whole season
screaming like a maniac

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because I didn't know what the hell
I was doing,

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but so I started coaching three years
before I actually got a teaching job,

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which is why I have 42 years
coaching, 38 teaching.

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Yeah, there's a disparity.

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But you know what?

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I coached during all the gang wars
back there in the 80s and 90s,

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you know,

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it was it was rough and,
and and it was frustrating

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sometimes it was sad
and but mostly it was rewarding.

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And I would say if I had to do it all over
again, I'd do it exactly the same way.

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And I wouldn't change anything
as far as being and,

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and, you know, coming from a single parent
family, I said, you know what?

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I think I have something
to offer these kids

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because I understand
what they're going through.

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And, and, and, and helping
kids was the real juice for me.

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Right. Getting a kid that,

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living in the poorest neighborhood,
getting him a scholarship,

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getting them off to college,

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and seeing him get that college degree,
I knew that was changing his whole life.

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And anybody that,

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you know, that came after him
was going to have a different life.

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He took his family tree and moved it
somewhere else.

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Yeah.

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Which is definitely
which is the that's the goal, right?

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That's the goal.

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Yeah. That's the thing, man.

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So can you think you have so many years
of 39 years

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teaching, 42 years coaching.

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Do you have like a proud moment or reflection or a memory that you'd like to share,

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one that stands out?

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I think going to down to Temple

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University and seeing, a parade,
the twins that I had,

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Eli and Elijah and Elijah
Joseph walk across the stage

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and I told them, look,
if you make the NFL,

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I don't know if you're around somewhere,
I'll come watch you play.

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But I would definitely come
to your graduation.

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So Mike drove down, got a hotel room.

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He was watching those,
watching those kids walk across the stage.

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And I've been lucky to do it
a bunch of times.

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15, 20 times.

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You know, having kids,

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whether with Division three
or Division one, watching them graduate.

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And now one's the top real estate
broker in Hartford.

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I have another one.

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Andre Lawrence,
who went to Boston College, is,

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has a big analytical job in Boston.

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And and that was a young man who literally
from the time he got to Hartford High

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until he graduated, moved seven times
because he lived with his sister.

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And they get a place

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and then they wouldn't pay the rent
and they get evicted

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because every time I give him a ride
home would be a different place.

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I said, hey, what's going on?

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And he explained it to me,

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and he turned down a job
at one of the casinos

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for $130,000.

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And I said, Drake, because I, you know, I
they caught me and I gave him a reference

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and he goes, I didn't see any movement
upward in that place.

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I said, you just turned out not.

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So, you know, from a kid that couldn't
even stay in the house for six months

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to where he is
now. And you know what he did?

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He bought a sister house

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man in East Hartford.

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That's amazing. Yep. That's amazing.

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He said she's not going to have to worry
about that anymore.

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That gets me choked up to give back.

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Yeah, right.

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It's the, the,
boomerang of giving you gave to him.

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He's given to the sister,
and it's going around. So.

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Man, congratulations. Yeah. I said to you,
I said it.

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I sent him a text message
because we're doing at pal.

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We're doing our annual fundraiser,
which is called Pal member.

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Send him a text message.

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Hey, you know, donate.

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Within two seconds,
there was a Venmo to pal for 100 bucks.

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That kid. No time. Yeah, because he knows.

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Yeah. And I always tell him,
you got to give back.

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You know, you got to give back
because people helped you.

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You you you need to help somebody. Yeah.

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So I don't know if there's a connection,
but I, Elijah and Elisha, are they twins?

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Oh, yeah.

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Because I, I taught and Elisha,
who had a twin,

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Elijah in Waterbury, Connecticut,
did they moved to Hartford.

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They were Hartford
the whole time. Hartford the whole time.

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So where'd that twins, Elijah and Elisha.

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Yeah, which is a funny story.

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Well, I was going to look up
the last name, but yours are Joseph Joe.

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I don't think mine were Joseph, but.

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And even I just have to call the
I had to call the NCAA

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because they had him confused.

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They said, well, here's
I said, no, no, no, that's the wrong one.

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Yeah. Look at this one. Yeah.

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They had the record.

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You were so confusing
because it's only in jazz.

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And so yeah.

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Yeah. The crazy
very cool. It's a crazy connection.

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That's a wow.

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Well let me introduce.

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My name's Eric Feeney,
founder and president, Friends of Feeney.

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I use this podcast.

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Feeney talks with friends,

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and I talk to wonderful people
that do great things in the community.

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And my friend, you've only been doing

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great things in the community
for the past 40 plus years.

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Are you up to 50 plus now?

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00:10:04,203 --> 00:10:05,905
Why do you want to count the swim team?

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I started at Copart when I was 16. Wow.

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When we're at about 50 to 2 years.

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Yeah, coach. Swim, golf.

241
00:10:14,180 --> 00:10:16,048
Football, softball.

242
00:10:16,048 --> 00:10:18,451
What didn't you coach?

243
00:10:18,451 --> 00:10:21,420
Why didn't
I coach soccer and basketball on?

244
00:10:21,420 --> 00:10:23,189
Probably.
I think the only two I didn't coach.

245
00:10:23,189 --> 00:10:25,291
I coached indoor track for a while.

246
00:10:25,291 --> 00:10:28,561
Yeah, basketball. And in soccer, I soccer.

247
00:10:28,561 --> 00:10:30,997
I didn't understand
basketball, I guess I did. Yeah,

248
00:10:32,331 --> 00:10:35,334
geez.

249
00:10:35,401 --> 00:10:38,638
Coach Ali's basketball team
I did coach out.

250
00:10:38,671 --> 00:10:41,307
Oh that's true, I did Coach
Ali's rec team in West Hartford.

251
00:10:41,307 --> 00:10:42,675
That is correct.

252
00:10:42,675 --> 00:10:44,110
And this is awesome.

253
00:10:44,110 --> 00:10:48,214
My first father daughter podcast duo.

254
00:10:48,214 --> 00:10:51,017
I've had father son, but I've never had.

255
00:10:51,017 --> 00:10:54,553
So shout out to Ali, I asked twice,
I asked a couple podcasts, hey,

256
00:10:54,553 --> 00:10:56,756
do you have any recommendations on
who should I have?

257
00:10:56,756 --> 00:10:58,858
She's like,
you have to have my dad, Harry.

258
00:10:58,858 --> 00:11:00,626
There you go. That was episode 130.

259
00:11:00,626 --> 00:11:01,861
She recommended.

260
00:11:01,861 --> 00:11:06,499
And then again just now
we just did a Hot Wings podcast at 153.

261
00:11:07,333 --> 00:11:08,200
Ali said it again.

262
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,302
So here we are two episodes later.

263
00:11:10,302 --> 00:11:11,871
Ali did it.

264
00:11:11,871 --> 00:11:12,872
So you're here.

265
00:11:12,872 --> 00:11:14,573
I'm so excited to talk with you.

266
00:11:14,573 --> 00:11:19,011
You're like, I'm on 22 years of teaching,
so I look up to you.

267
00:11:19,578 --> 00:11:23,182
Do you have any advice for me or
do you have any advice for new teachers?

268
00:11:24,450 --> 00:11:26,452
Here's what I'll say,

269
00:11:26,452 --> 00:11:27,353
about teaching.

270
00:11:27,353 --> 00:11:31,590
And I think if you I know there's
a large burnout rate for teachers now,

271
00:11:32,124 --> 00:11:37,830
and it's probably a lot tougher from when,
when I first started back in 1983.

272
00:11:38,164 --> 00:11:40,533
But here's what I'll say.

273
00:11:40,533 --> 00:11:43,536
You have to be able to,
when you walk out the door,

274
00:11:43,569 --> 00:11:46,572
compartmentalize your teaching
and your life.

275
00:11:46,639 --> 00:11:47,973
When you walk out that door

276
00:11:47,973 --> 00:11:51,610
at the end of the school day,
you have to leave everything there

277
00:11:52,111 --> 00:11:56,148
and then leave it at the door walking out
and pick it up when you come back in.

278
00:11:56,282 --> 00:11:59,652
Because if you don't do that,
you can never, ever survive.

279
00:11:59,652 --> 00:12:03,222
Yeah, because, you know, there's
so much going on during the day.

280
00:12:03,355 --> 00:12:04,990
And I would tell that to my football
players,

281
00:12:04,990 --> 00:12:06,592
they would come down
and they would be mad.

282
00:12:06,592 --> 00:12:10,796
They had a fight with their girlfriend
or they want they want the past

283
00:12:10,796 --> 00:12:11,564
and they'd be mad.

284
00:12:11,564 --> 00:12:13,666
And I'd say, stop here at the gate,

285
00:12:13,666 --> 00:12:16,902
leave that problem here and come out
the football practice and enjoy it.

286
00:12:17,169 --> 00:12:18,938
Now, if you want to talk to me
after about it,

287
00:12:18,938 --> 00:12:21,407
and we'll see what we can do for you,
but don't bring it.

288
00:12:21,407 --> 00:12:23,642
Don't
bring your personal problems to the field.

289
00:12:23,642 --> 00:12:27,213
And so I felt like going home to the
the three daughters

290
00:12:27,213 --> 00:12:30,182
in my wife that I had to leave whatever

291
00:12:30,449 --> 00:12:33,586
frustration or something
that wasn't working out at the door.

292
00:12:33,786 --> 00:12:35,755
And then I'll pick it up
the next day and work with it.

293
00:12:35,755 --> 00:12:40,359
And I think that's how I was able to fit
to make it through 38 years of teaching.

294
00:12:40,626 --> 00:12:43,262
Yeah. Awesome. What about the,

295
00:12:44,296 --> 00:12:44,864
the tag

296
00:12:44,864 --> 00:12:47,867
where gym teachers are you a gym teacher
or a PE teacher?

297
00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:50,736
I'm a physical education teacher.

298
00:12:50,736 --> 00:12:52,571
I know, but I don't teach gym.

299
00:12:52,571 --> 00:12:54,540
I teach physical education.

300
00:12:54,540 --> 00:12:58,077
Well, you know what I'm saying
about physical education teachers.

301
00:12:58,577 --> 00:13:02,348
They said,
you know, it's not about showing them up.

302
00:13:02,381 --> 00:13:05,317
It's not about throwing the balls out.
The great ones.

303
00:13:05,317 --> 00:13:07,586
Get them back. Oh, there you go.

304
00:13:07,586 --> 00:13:08,521
There you go.

305
00:13:08,521 --> 00:13:11,924
Now, I usually wait to the end for this,
but did you have a favorite teacher

306
00:13:12,224 --> 00:13:16,462
that stood out in your life
that, helped make you who you are?

307
00:13:17,129 --> 00:13:20,900
Oh, probably coach,

308
00:13:22,201 --> 00:13:26,305
a man named James Brophy,
who was my swimming coach in high school.

309
00:13:26,405 --> 00:13:29,508
I pool is named after him
at at Buckley High School.

310
00:13:29,508 --> 00:13:31,010
Okay.

311
00:13:31,010 --> 00:13:33,679
He he is in the Connecticut High School

312
00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:36,782
Coaches Association
Hall of Fame, for swimming.

313
00:13:37,082 --> 00:13:39,585
Coach. He was a coach for 40 years.

314
00:13:39,585 --> 00:13:44,757
He was a guy that I learned about
how to be a good coach,

315
00:13:44,857 --> 00:13:47,860
how to be a smart coach,
how to be an analytical coach.

316
00:13:47,993 --> 00:13:51,931
And, you know, I mean, he was hard,
but he never screamed,

317
00:13:52,031 --> 00:13:56,769
which I think was so important,
because if he did yell, we're scared.

318
00:13:57,102 --> 00:13:59,572
But Jesus out of us
because he never did yell.

319
00:13:59,572 --> 00:14:03,242
But when he did, Holy moly,
that really got our attention.

320
00:14:03,509 --> 00:14:05,344
But he was just so.

321
00:14:05,344 --> 00:14:07,546
And and he made you love to be there.

322
00:14:07,546 --> 00:14:10,583
Now, you know, I don't know
if you've ever swam competitively,

323
00:14:10,916 --> 00:14:13,786
but going to swim practice is not fun.

324
00:14:13,786 --> 00:14:15,888
It's not like being in basketball
practice.

325
00:14:15,888 --> 00:14:17,790
I made a basket. It's just lab.

326
00:14:17,790 --> 00:14:18,991
Yeah, yeah, app.

327
00:14:18,991 --> 00:14:22,261
And you have to do it
fast and and it's hard.

328
00:14:22,328 --> 00:14:22,561
Yeah.

329
00:14:22,561 --> 00:14:27,199
And he made he he figured out
and I call it the Brophy approach

330
00:14:27,333 --> 00:14:30,269
how to make that swim team
such a close family

331
00:14:30,269 --> 00:14:33,806
and how we just love being with each other
and how we love being with him.

332
00:14:33,806 --> 00:14:37,243
And and and he was a big the probably

333
00:14:37,243 --> 00:14:40,246
the biggest influence on me
in when in my life.

334
00:14:40,579 --> 00:14:42,581
That's awesome. Great sharing that.

335
00:14:42,581 --> 00:14:44,783
Was he still around now? He passed away.

336
00:14:45,751 --> 00:14:46,785
He said he wanted to.

337
00:14:46,785 --> 00:14:49,021
I saw him at a state.
This is a weird story.

338
00:14:49,021 --> 00:14:51,323
I saw him at a state meet on Sunday.

339
00:14:51,323 --> 00:14:55,127
I had a Saturday, we had a diver in it and
he had a couple of swimmers and a diver,

340
00:14:55,127 --> 00:14:57,062
and we were sitting out there
talking and laugh,

341
00:14:57,062 --> 00:14:59,265
and he goes,
I got to decide what I want to do.

342
00:14:59,265 --> 00:15:03,102
I wanted to make it to 40 years
and this is my finish.

343
00:15:03,102 --> 00:15:06,038
Just finished my 40 season

344
00:15:06,038 --> 00:15:06,538
on Monday.

345
00:15:06,538 --> 00:15:09,475
He died of a heart attack two days later.

346
00:15:09,475 --> 00:15:14,079
Like after retiring or after two days
after I talked to G. Man.

347
00:15:14,179 --> 00:15:16,916
Yeah, at 62 years old.

348
00:15:16,916 --> 00:15:19,852
That was pretty crushing,
to be honest with you.

349
00:15:19,852 --> 00:15:22,855
But, you know, his memory lives on, and

350
00:15:23,055 --> 00:15:26,725
and all his former swimmers
just absolutely love that guy.

351
00:15:27,693 --> 00:15:28,861
Well, thank you for sharing that.

352
00:15:28,861 --> 00:15:29,595
That's great.

353
00:15:29,595 --> 00:15:32,865
He'll he'll live on through,
you know, sharing his story. And,

354
00:15:34,033 --> 00:15:35,501
and for the work that you did.

355
00:15:35,501 --> 00:15:37,036
So he was a yeller.

356
00:15:37,036 --> 00:15:40,039
What kind of coaching style did you have?

357
00:15:40,239 --> 00:15:44,343
In the beginning I was a yellow
because I didn't know any better. Yep.

358
00:15:45,110 --> 00:15:48,280
But as I went along in my coaching career,

359
00:15:48,647 --> 00:15:53,252
I started to realize, you know,
if a kid does something wrong

360
00:15:53,252 --> 00:15:57,589
twice on the field,
that he's not doing it on purpose.

361
00:15:57,589 --> 00:15:59,325
Maybe I didn't teach him correctly.

362
00:15:59,325 --> 00:16:01,627
Maybe I taught him the wrong way.

363
00:16:01,627 --> 00:16:04,930
It was like when I coach diving,
I had like 3 or 4 All-State divers.

364
00:16:05,197 --> 00:16:09,168
Some guys I could just tell with know,
you have to do this and they could do it.

365
00:16:09,168 --> 00:16:12,171
Some guys I had to actually
manipulate their bodies and,

366
00:16:12,304 --> 00:16:14,273
you know, work with them
and show them how to do it.

367
00:16:14,273 --> 00:16:18,177
Then I realized everybody has a different
way to learning, and you have to figure

368
00:16:18,210 --> 00:16:21,480
and I would tell my assistant coaches,
you have to figure out how they learn.

369
00:16:21,814 --> 00:16:23,482
Some guys you just tell and they do it.

370
00:16:23,482 --> 00:16:25,217
Some guys you literally have to walk them

371
00:16:25,217 --> 00:16:27,386
through the steps
and that's how they get it.

372
00:16:27,386 --> 00:16:31,290
And I think that approach has helped me
along the way.

373
00:16:31,690 --> 00:16:34,293
You know,
and and here's the biggest thing.

374
00:16:34,293 --> 00:16:37,396
You know, they don't care what you know
until they know that you care.

375
00:16:37,696 --> 00:16:40,532
And if you don't care about those kids,
you will get nothing.

376
00:16:40,532 --> 00:16:42,968
Yeah.
And the whole thing right away. You give a

377
00:16:44,770 --> 00:16:45,404
a lot about

378
00:16:45,404 --> 00:16:48,407
them and that you're in
the can not their best interest.

379
00:16:48,707 --> 00:16:52,144
You know, one day I was in a class
and I had a kid that was really

380
00:16:52,211 --> 00:16:55,748
sort of a pain in the backside,
always doing what he was supposed to do.

381
00:16:56,382 --> 00:16:57,416
So I'm in my office.

382
00:16:57,416 --> 00:17:01,487
I heard him walk by
and I hear him arguing about how

383
00:17:01,820 --> 00:17:05,157
Jay-Z is his favorite rapper
and how he's the best rapper ever.

384
00:17:05,157 --> 00:17:08,160
So I just kind of heard that conversation
as you walk by,

385
00:17:08,327 --> 00:17:11,330
I think 3 or 4 months later,

386
00:17:11,430 --> 00:17:15,000
I, I'm looking through the internet
and I see that Jay-Z dropped

387
00:17:15,534 --> 00:17:18,537
another joint,
whatever you want to call it, right?

388
00:17:19,171 --> 00:17:21,006
Yes, yes.

389
00:17:21,006 --> 00:17:24,009
And, and, so

390
00:17:24,243 --> 00:17:27,212
when I had him in gym class
later on in the day, I said, oh, you boy.

391
00:17:27,212 --> 00:17:28,380
Jay-Z dropped the new job.

392
00:17:28,380 --> 00:17:31,283
He looked at me,
I go, yeah, I know that's a famous rapper.

393
00:17:31,283 --> 00:17:33,185
And he was like, how do you know that?

394
00:17:33,185 --> 00:17:35,220
I said, don't worry about how I know that.

395
00:17:35,220 --> 00:17:38,190
But right then
and there, I made a connection with,

396
00:17:38,557 --> 00:17:40,726
that I knew about what he liked.

397
00:17:40,726 --> 00:17:43,962
And after that, he was much better,
because if he'd be doing something, I'd

398
00:17:43,962 --> 00:17:46,198
said, hey, yeah, yeah, it'd be like,
I got you.

399
00:17:46,198 --> 00:17:49,201
I got you got to build that rapport
and that positive relationship.

400
00:17:49,201 --> 00:17:50,769
If you don't all starts there. Yeah.

401
00:17:50,769 --> 00:17:53,272
If you don't do that,
you're spinning your wheels.

402
00:17:53,272 --> 00:17:55,140
There's a Ted talk by Rita.

403
00:17:55,140 --> 00:17:56,141
I forgot her last name.

404
00:17:56,141 --> 00:17:59,845
But kids don't learn from people
they don't like 100%.

405
00:18:00,312 --> 00:18:02,815
And those kids will make
that determination on you

406
00:18:02,815 --> 00:18:04,516
within a week of school.

407
00:18:04,516 --> 00:18:06,285
And they know you can't.

408
00:18:06,285 --> 00:18:09,188
You know what I mean? You can't fake it.

409
00:18:09,188 --> 00:18:10,089
They know.

410
00:18:10,089 --> 00:18:11,790
You know,
you have to be authentic with them.

411
00:18:11,790 --> 00:18:14,460
And and and respect them.

412
00:18:14,460 --> 00:18:16,628
I you know, if I had a kid in class
that was acting up,

413
00:18:16,628 --> 00:18:19,465
I call him over and talk to him
first, you know, like, look.

414
00:18:19,465 --> 00:18:22,601
And then if he did it again, I'm like,
okay, I'm respecting you here.

415
00:18:22,601 --> 00:18:23,602
So yeah.

416
00:18:23,602 --> 00:18:24,536
You know and that.

417
00:18:24,536 --> 00:18:27,439
Yeah, that you
that approach usually works for me anyway.

418
00:18:27,439 --> 00:18:30,409
You know and I like I like the kids.

419
00:18:30,409 --> 00:18:31,977
That's a big part of it.

420
00:18:31,977 --> 00:18:35,080
Yeah. No it's great man. And now

421
00:18:36,482 --> 00:18:37,916
anything we missed about coaching.

422
00:18:37,916 --> 00:18:39,651
So I know that you.

423
00:18:39,651 --> 00:18:42,654
Oh confirm or deny

424
00:18:43,021 --> 00:18:45,991
we're already into this part of the game.

425
00:18:46,325 --> 00:18:48,494
Were you a professional dancer?

426
00:18:48,494 --> 00:18:50,095
I was

427
00:18:50,095 --> 00:18:52,331
I was a professional disco dancer.

428
00:18:52,331 --> 00:18:53,265
Are you kidding?

429
00:18:53,265 --> 00:18:54,900
No. It. Well, it wasn't.

430
00:18:54,900 --> 00:18:56,702
So that's where Ali got all her moves
last night.

431
00:18:56,702 --> 00:18:59,404
Yeah, I definitely got that gene for me.

432
00:18:59,404 --> 00:19:02,608
And I definitely got it from my dad
because my dad was a really good dancer.

433
00:19:03,442 --> 00:19:07,079
And back in the 70s,
and I turned 18 in 1975.

434
00:19:08,046 --> 00:19:10,582
Like, the different clubs

435
00:19:10,582 --> 00:19:13,585
would have contests, you know,
and they pay between

436
00:19:13,585 --> 00:19:16,588
100 marks or $200 if you won the contest.

437
00:19:16,622 --> 00:19:20,526
Oh, so I had a friend of mine,
a young lady

438
00:19:20,526 --> 00:19:24,429
who was an excellent dancer and,
you know, had took dance the whole time.

439
00:19:24,897 --> 00:19:28,467
And, and I found out,
like when I started going to clubs, like.

440
00:19:28,467 --> 00:19:29,735
Oh, shoot, I have rhythm here.

441
00:19:29,735 --> 00:19:31,637
This is a this is nice. Right.

442
00:19:31,637 --> 00:19:34,806
And, so
then I kind of got hooked up with her,

443
00:19:34,806 --> 00:19:38,510
and then we'd go down to her house
and we practice, and we went to a contest.

444
00:19:38,510 --> 00:19:40,112
We won. And I'm like, oh, this is good.

445
00:19:40,112 --> 00:19:43,282
We split 50 bucks, right? In 1976.

446
00:19:43,282 --> 00:19:44,650
That was pretty good money.

447
00:19:45,751 --> 00:19:46,351
Then we went to

448
00:19:46,351 --> 00:19:49,388
another, we went to 100 bucks
and then we went to another one.

449
00:19:49,421 --> 00:19:50,589
We won 200 bucks.

450
00:19:50,589 --> 00:19:53,525
I'm like,
so we did that about 7 or 8 times.

451
00:19:53,525 --> 00:19:56,061
Then, hey, we won most of the time,
which was cool.

452
00:19:56,061 --> 00:20:00,465
I mean, we did a lot of work at it,
but yes, I was getting paid.

453
00:20:00,632 --> 00:20:02,034
I didn't claim it on taxes.

454
00:20:02,034 --> 00:20:04,236
So that's amazing.

455
00:20:04,236 --> 00:20:06,104
Like the stories that you have.

456
00:20:06,104 --> 00:20:08,607
So I'm so just honored
you should write a book.

457
00:20:08,607 --> 00:20:10,976
Yeah, I'm I'm kind of working on it. Okay.

458
00:20:10,976 --> 00:20:14,012
I was going to say,
hey, you have a wonderful story.

459
00:20:14,012 --> 00:20:15,747
Grew up in Hartford,

460
00:20:15,747 --> 00:20:19,851
went to Hartford schools and then went
back to teach and coach in Hartford.

461
00:20:20,052 --> 00:20:22,187
I did that for a while, too.
I taught at Kingsbury.

462
00:20:22,187 --> 00:20:23,989
I went to Kingsbury School in Waterbury.

463
00:20:23,989 --> 00:20:26,625
I taught at Kingsbury School
out in Waterbury.

464
00:20:26,625 --> 00:20:30,562
So you saw did you have teachers
that had you as a kid

465
00:20:30,562 --> 00:20:32,297
and then you turned into college?

466
00:20:32,297 --> 00:20:35,067
Oh yeah. Yeah, bunch of them. Yeah.

467
00:20:35,067 --> 00:20:38,203
And then he said,
they look at you and go, you're a teacher.

468
00:20:38,971 --> 00:20:40,639
Because that's what they said to me.

469
00:20:40,639 --> 00:20:44,977
Yeah, well, I don't even know if that,
but I think they saw my progress

470
00:20:45,143 --> 00:20:46,011
as a coach and

471
00:20:46,011 --> 00:20:49,181
and coming up into the building,
Abby Buckley and they, you know, they,

472
00:20:49,448 --> 00:20:53,819
teachers that I had literally six years
before that I think they were happy

473
00:20:53,819 --> 00:20:57,556
to see one of their kids, you know,
moving towards that profession back then.

474
00:20:57,556 --> 00:20:57,823
Yeah.

475
00:20:57,823 --> 00:21:00,492
You know, and I had a lot of really
a lot of support.

476
00:21:00,492 --> 00:21:03,495
Felix Caskey, who was a state rep,

477
00:21:03,962 --> 00:21:06,164
captain at Trinity football team, like,

478
00:21:06,164 --> 00:21:11,536
you know, he was a big proponent of mine,
Bob Colangelo, who just passed yesterday,

479
00:21:11,536 --> 00:21:15,440
matter of fact, that I got a guy
who used to work for on Franklin Avenue

480
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,609
package store, was a science teacher
at Berkeley,

481
00:21:17,609 --> 00:21:20,612
bought a package store on Franklin Avenue,
and I worked there for ten years.

482
00:21:21,580 --> 00:21:22,381
Great mentor.

483
00:21:22,381 --> 00:21:25,984
Always helped me out, helped me
get my driver's license that I did.

484
00:21:25,984 --> 00:21:29,021
There's a lot of people that helped
Terry Belushi along the way.

485
00:21:29,154 --> 00:21:31,056
A whole lot of people.

486
00:21:31,056 --> 00:21:32,791
I'm not here without those guys.

487
00:21:32,791 --> 00:21:34,893
Yeah, yeah, it takes a village.

488
00:21:34,893 --> 00:21:36,194
Yeah, we believe in that.

489
00:21:36,194 --> 00:21:38,330
Yes. And I picked the right friends.

490
00:21:38,330 --> 00:21:41,166
I have incredible
friends from seventh and eighth grade.

491
00:21:41,166 --> 00:21:44,636
We still eight and nine of us
still do a bunch of stuff together.

492
00:21:44,636 --> 00:21:45,671
Go on vacation.

493
00:21:45,671 --> 00:21:48,173
Hey, now, talk to each other all the time.

494
00:21:48,173 --> 00:21:50,542
Is it like when friends turn to family?

495
00:21:50,542 --> 00:21:51,810
Sort of. Yes.

496
00:21:51,810 --> 00:21:52,978
Those are my brothers.

497
00:21:52,978 --> 00:21:54,346
Yeah, there's no question.

498
00:21:54,346 --> 00:21:56,148
I trust those guys with my life.

499
00:21:56,148 --> 00:21:59,017
And, you know,
I could have gone either way as a kid,

500
00:21:59,017 --> 00:22:01,820
but those guys were really come
from good families,

501
00:22:01,820 --> 00:22:05,490
and they took me right in and,
and and they were going to college.

502
00:22:05,490 --> 00:22:08,327
I go, okay, I'm going,
you're going, I'm going.

503
00:22:08,327 --> 00:22:09,961
And I think that basically was it.

504
00:22:09,961 --> 00:22:11,596
Yeah, yeah.

505
00:22:11,596 --> 00:22:13,899
I really think some friends
in my path too.

506
00:22:13,899 --> 00:22:16,401
So keep you need friends
that care about you

507
00:22:16,401 --> 00:22:19,371
and want you going in the positive
direction. Right.

508
00:22:19,371 --> 00:22:21,840
They're taking you down
to their misery and negativity.

509
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:23,508
They're not your friends. Right.

510
00:22:23,508 --> 00:22:24,376
So if you had

511
00:22:24,376 --> 00:22:28,080
if you hang around with five knuckleheads,
you're going to be the six knucklehead.

512
00:22:28,447 --> 00:22:31,550
If you hang around with five good guys,
you'll be the six good guy.

513
00:22:31,650 --> 00:22:33,752
That's a fact. I like it, I like it.

514
00:22:35,487 --> 00:22:37,622
Anything else you want to share
about teaching and coaching?

515
00:22:37,622 --> 00:22:39,224
Because then we'll move on to pal.

516
00:22:39,224 --> 00:22:41,360
Oh, I think we should move on to pal.
Right.

517
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:42,327
Let me see your resume.

518
00:22:42,327 --> 00:22:44,996
I love this resume.

519
00:22:44,996 --> 00:22:47,966
Did we say,

520
00:22:47,966 --> 00:22:50,869
you put out 23 All-State players?

521
00:22:50,869 --> 00:22:53,872
I did 11 D1 scholarships.

522
00:22:53,872 --> 00:22:57,743
Yes, 57 players played in college
football.

523
00:22:58,076 --> 00:22:59,010
That's amazing.

524
00:22:59,010 --> 00:23:02,247
And then you coached the Senior football
All-Star game in 2012.

525
00:23:02,247 --> 00:23:03,148
And 2016?

526
00:23:03,148 --> 00:23:04,249
Twice. Where's that?

527
00:23:04,249 --> 00:23:06,518
I'm the only two in. Oh, coach.

528
00:23:06,518 --> 00:23:07,085
Connecticut.

529
00:23:07,085 --> 00:23:07,419
We'd get

530
00:23:07,419 --> 00:23:10,422
all the players would come for a tryout
and then we would play Rhode Island.

531
00:23:10,722 --> 00:23:13,225
Oh no way. That's cool. Yeah,
we did that for many, many years.

532
00:23:13,225 --> 00:23:16,228
I was assistant coach for a bunch of
years, and I was the head coach twice.

533
00:23:16,228 --> 00:23:18,964
Yeah. So that was.
And you know, the great, the real.

534
00:23:18,964 --> 00:23:20,699
You have the all time winningest record.

535
00:23:20,699 --> 00:23:22,334
Yeah. That's it.

536
00:23:22,334 --> 00:23:25,470
The greatest thing about
that was the coaches

537
00:23:25,771 --> 00:23:27,973
from Connecticut that I was able to meet.

538
00:23:27,973 --> 00:23:30,642
You know, when I first got on, I was just
an assistant for a bunch of years.

539
00:23:30,642 --> 00:23:35,147
But I met some of the most incredible
Jay Martinez from.

540
00:23:35,147 --> 00:23:36,481
Oh yeah. Kerry. Yeah.

541
00:23:36,481 --> 00:23:39,451
Way. And coach, he went to Crosby.
He went to Crosby I know him.

542
00:23:39,451 --> 00:23:43,622
Very good friend John Crosby,
great player out of Kennedy High School.

543
00:23:43,622 --> 00:23:45,690
Not a coach at Sheehan High School
okay. Yeah.

544
00:23:45,690 --> 00:23:48,827
So I've heard that name
Sean Maranon from Xavier.

545
00:23:48,860 --> 00:23:49,261
Yeah.

546
00:23:49,261 --> 00:23:52,664
I mean, I met so many incredible people
doing that

547
00:23:52,664 --> 00:23:56,301
all star game and being on the Connecticut
High School Coaches Football Committee.

548
00:23:56,301 --> 00:23:57,903
Okay? It was incredible.

549
00:23:57,903 --> 00:24:00,739
I was the chair of that for a
few years, and I mention that

550
00:24:02,707 --> 00:24:05,343
I'm on the all star team was the kicker.

551
00:24:05,343 --> 00:24:07,112
Her sister was on the kicker
on the all star game.

552
00:24:07,112 --> 00:24:10,482
And my, my, my middle daughter Erin.

553
00:24:10,682 --> 00:24:11,583
Which one is your favorite?

554
00:24:11,583 --> 00:24:14,586
Which one's your favorite daughter?
Before,

555
00:24:15,153 --> 00:24:16,655
I take the fifth,

556
00:24:16,655 --> 00:24:19,658
my my middle daughter,
Aaron, played soccer for three years at.

557
00:24:19,691 --> 00:24:21,793
And she came here because
I don't want to play soccer anymore.

558
00:24:21,793 --> 00:24:23,462
I don't

559
00:24:23,462 --> 00:24:24,863
it's because I want to be on a football
team.

560
00:24:24,863 --> 00:24:27,866
I'm like, you're five four, 125.

561
00:24:27,933 --> 00:24:29,568
I don't think that's going to work,
she said.

562
00:24:29,568 --> 00:24:31,203
I want to be the kicker.

563
00:24:31,203 --> 00:24:33,772
I said, okay,
and let me get some balls from Hartford.

564
00:24:33,772 --> 00:24:36,608
I this was in March or April.
We go down every weekend.

565
00:24:36,608 --> 00:24:38,210
We go down the hall,

566
00:24:38,210 --> 00:24:41,680
got the kick and he set it
up, worked on how she should do it and

567
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,883
she had a strong leg, so she was banging
those extra points pretty easy.

568
00:24:45,083 --> 00:24:48,086
I said, well,
you got to go see Coach Robinson now

569
00:24:48,153 --> 00:24:50,622
and tell him you want to play football
because you got to do lifting.

570
00:24:50,622 --> 00:24:53,158
You just can't show up in August.
That's not going to work.

571
00:24:53,158 --> 00:24:56,461
So she went and talked to him
and he said, yeah, sure.

572
00:24:56,461 --> 00:24:58,196
Here's the here's when we way train.

573
00:24:58,196 --> 00:25:00,632
And she went there, you know,
she squat in the bar.

574
00:25:00,632 --> 00:25:03,068
The boys are like, what's up with this?

575
00:25:03,068 --> 00:25:07,339
She got the summer bond about three kids
trying out for the kicker position.

576
00:25:07,339 --> 00:25:07,973
She won it.

577
00:25:09,140 --> 00:25:10,108
And her senior year

578
00:25:10,108 --> 00:25:13,111
she had 35 attempts, 31 made.

579
00:25:13,111 --> 00:25:14,446
Wow. That's amazing.

580
00:25:14,446 --> 00:25:15,347
I just

581
00:25:15,347 --> 00:25:18,750
I was more nervous watching her kick
than any football game I've ever been to.

582
00:25:18,817 --> 00:25:21,586
And I said, don't you get nervous?
She's like, practice every day.

583
00:25:21,586 --> 00:25:22,787
That why would I be nervous?

584
00:25:22,787 --> 00:25:24,723
Yeah, I know what I'm doing.

585
00:25:24,723 --> 00:25:28,793
And, so then that her senior year,
I was there

586
00:25:28,793 --> 00:25:33,465
my second time as, head coach of the
I said, I told the guy, run it.

587
00:25:33,465 --> 00:25:35,233
I said, don't put my daughter
on. She's going to kick.

588
00:25:35,233 --> 00:25:36,868
He said, that's a great idea.

589
00:25:36,868 --> 00:25:38,970
Oh my God.
And then she kicked two extra points.

590
00:25:38,970 --> 00:25:41,940
She kicked against me her senior year
and made three extra points.

591
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:44,509
Ha. Versus Hartford I.

592
00:25:44,509 --> 00:25:46,811
And the first time
one of the kids hit her.

593
00:25:46,811 --> 00:25:49,614
No, the first time
she made the extra point, all the Hartford

594
00:25:49,614 --> 00:25:52,651
High players were going up and slapping
her. Hi.

595
00:25:52,884 --> 00:25:55,287
I'm like, no, no, no.

596
00:25:55,287 --> 00:25:57,956
And then one guy hit her in the shoulder
after she kicked. Then he fell.

597
00:25:57,956 --> 00:26:00,458
He came. Coach,
I didn't mean I swear to God.

598
00:26:00,458 --> 00:26:03,295
Because I told them if you hit
my daughter, I'm gonna kill you.

599
00:26:03,295 --> 00:26:04,462
Yeah.

600
00:26:04,462 --> 00:26:07,065
So I love that. That was a great story.

601
00:26:07,065 --> 00:26:08,600
Yeah, that's very cool. That was it.

602
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,002
I got to coach my daughter in football,
so that's cool.

603
00:26:11,002 --> 00:26:13,572
And she kicked for Hall,
and she kicked for Hall. So cool. Yeah.

604
00:26:13,572 --> 00:26:14,172
So cool

605
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:16,741
man. Yeah.

606
00:26:16,741 --> 00:26:18,743
You coached

607
00:26:18,743 --> 00:26:20,979
swimming, softball, tennis, golf.

608
00:26:20,979 --> 00:26:23,048
Which one are you better at as a player?

609
00:26:23,048 --> 00:26:25,083
You think? What's your swim? Swimming.

610
00:26:25,083 --> 00:26:26,184
I was a captain or something.

611
00:26:26,184 --> 00:26:29,187
Yeah, I was a qualified for three events.

612
00:26:29,187 --> 00:26:30,455
For events.

613
00:26:30,455 --> 00:26:33,592
Now I currently swim
twice a week at the JCC.

614
00:26:33,692 --> 00:26:37,529
Now I can get a lap is down and back.

615
00:26:37,529 --> 00:26:40,532
Obviously, I'm like at a a minute. Ten.

616
00:26:40,932 --> 00:26:41,933
That's pretty slow, right?

617
00:26:41,933 --> 00:26:43,702
For I've been back here.

618
00:26:43,702 --> 00:26:46,838
What was your best time
up and back for what stroke I don't know.

619
00:26:46,838 --> 00:26:48,039
What about say, freeze twist?

620
00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:49,307
Astrobiology?

621
00:26:49,307 --> 00:26:52,077
Not a lot.

622
00:26:52,077 --> 00:26:53,011
27 seconds,

623
00:26:53,011 --> 00:26:56,915
27 slow
though it were guys that can go 2324

624
00:26:56,915 --> 00:26:59,918
I think two straight records,
their state record is 21.

625
00:26:59,951 --> 00:27:01,620
But that's a big six foot four dude.

626
00:27:01,620 --> 00:27:03,188
I saw him do it. Yeah.

627
00:27:03,188 --> 00:27:08,493
And I was more it's mostly a breaststroke
or I am all four strokes backstroke.

628
00:27:08,493 --> 00:27:08,593
Okay.

629
00:27:08,593 --> 00:27:11,997
So I did all the other strokes,
but you know,

630
00:27:11,997 --> 00:27:16,201
but you going to pull every day
and your workout was 250 laps.

631
00:27:16,201 --> 00:27:16,635
Yeah.

632
00:27:16,635 --> 00:27:18,470
You get in pretty good shape doing that.

633
00:27:18,470 --> 00:27:20,305
I see the kids practice.

634
00:27:20,305 --> 00:27:23,808
I, they clear the pool at like
530 or 6 for the kids to come in.

635
00:27:23,975 --> 00:27:28,413
And like you said,
all they do is laps for an hour straight.

636
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,181
Yes. Of course you're going to get better.

637
00:27:30,181 --> 00:27:31,950
Yeah. Every day for an hour.

638
00:27:31,950 --> 00:27:33,818
Yes. And you're so hungry after.

639
00:27:33,818 --> 00:27:34,886
Oh my God. Yeah.

640
00:27:34,886 --> 00:27:37,622
But the good thing about swimming like
that is you can eat whatever you want.

641
00:27:37,622 --> 00:27:40,792
Yeah, because you're burning
20,000 calories at a practice.

642
00:27:40,792 --> 00:27:43,395
So yeah, you used to have to eat
or you lose weight.

643
00:27:43,395 --> 00:27:45,730
I would lose weight
because I wasn't eating it out. Yeah.

644
00:27:45,730 --> 00:27:49,000
Now the freestyle stroke or the, crawl.

645
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,371
Now, should I reach out and down,
or do you reach out and down your chest?

646
00:27:53,371 --> 00:27:54,105
Do you go up? Yeah.

647
00:27:54,105 --> 00:27:55,040
You are to reach here,

648
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,043
and then you want your hand
to come down the middle of your sternum,

649
00:27:58,076 --> 00:28:01,179
but you want to as soon as your arm goes
in, you want to push it down

650
00:28:01,179 --> 00:28:02,480
and then come forward.

651
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:03,515
Yeah. Yeah.

652
00:28:03,515 --> 00:28:05,050
But you want to keep that elbow high.

653
00:28:05,050 --> 00:28:06,818
You don't want to drop your elbow
because then you

654
00:28:06,818 --> 00:28:09,854
push in water with your elbow
and then you're not going anywhere here.

655
00:28:09,854 --> 00:28:13,158
Elbow up, elbow up
and then down the chest like that.

656
00:28:13,191 --> 00:28:16,061
Not too close
but you know. But that far away. Yeah.

657
00:28:16,061 --> 00:28:18,697
And then push down the middle
and then finish at the end.

658
00:28:18,697 --> 00:28:19,564
You got a flat.

659
00:28:19,564 --> 00:28:20,598
But you, you have to

660
00:28:20,598 --> 00:28:22,400
you have to feel that finish
because most people don't,

661
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,403
which is probably what you do is you
get here and then you pull it back out.

662
00:28:25,537 --> 00:28:27,972
You got to get that finish in at the end.

663
00:28:27,972 --> 00:28:30,108
Yeah, I used to go down the chest,
but someone said,

664
00:28:30,108 --> 00:28:32,444
no, it's only off to the side.
No they're wrong.

665
00:28:32,444 --> 00:28:34,446
You bring your hand down
the middle of your stern up.

666
00:28:34,446 --> 00:28:36,881
Then you find it.
Then you finish out here.

667
00:28:36,881 --> 00:28:38,216
And that's the last part of that.

668
00:28:38,216 --> 00:28:39,984
Nice try to go. Yeah.

669
00:28:39,984 --> 00:28:42,987
That try will be popping. Yeah. All right.

670
00:28:44,522 --> 00:28:45,690
Maybe you got to coach me someday.

671
00:28:45,690 --> 00:28:47,792
I'll send you a video,
come down and take that critique

672
00:28:47,792 --> 00:28:50,261
and take a look at that stroke.
Get it down.

673
00:28:50,261 --> 00:28:51,996
I got to get under a minute.

674
00:28:51,996 --> 00:28:53,932
Yeah, I swim a mile.

675
00:28:53,932 --> 00:28:56,701
36 laps. Yeah, yeah, that's that's good.

676
00:28:56,701 --> 00:28:57,635
That's real great.

677
00:28:57,635 --> 00:28:59,471
It takes me like, 44 minutes. Yeah.

678
00:28:59,471 --> 00:29:00,972
It used to take me an hour.

679
00:29:00,972 --> 00:29:03,908
So I'm getting time, getting better.

680
00:29:03,908 --> 00:29:05,643
It's great exercise
because I hurt my knee.

681
00:29:05,643 --> 00:29:07,979
I used to love basketball,
but I hurt my knee. Yeah.

682
00:29:07,979 --> 00:29:10,381
So I'm swimming now. Swimming full body.

683
00:29:10,381 --> 00:29:12,083
And it's easy on the knees at this.

684
00:29:12,083 --> 00:29:14,152
The one thing I miss
I can't play basketball anymore.

685
00:29:14,152 --> 00:29:17,856
I used to play
oh my God, every day I wasn't that good.

686
00:29:17,856 --> 00:29:18,690
But I love playing.

687
00:29:18,690 --> 00:29:20,091
I'm just going to guess and go on a limb.

688
00:29:20,091 --> 00:29:24,662
All your connections
with teaching and growing up in Hartford

689
00:29:24,662 --> 00:29:28,533
have really helped you in your position
as executive director for Pell?

690
00:29:28,933 --> 00:29:31,703
Well, yeah,
I was on the board of directors of power

691
00:29:31,703 --> 00:29:35,473
when they first power has been around
since 1957, in Hartford.

692
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,709
And mainly back then it was in boxing.

693
00:29:37,709 --> 00:29:40,712
Pal and boxing are really associated.
Yeah.

694
00:29:41,112 --> 00:29:43,381
Then it was boxing in basketball. Yep.

695
00:29:43,381 --> 00:29:49,354
So and then it kind of went defunct there
in the late 90s and early 2000.

696
00:29:49,354 --> 00:29:52,190
They didn't have any money
and everything like that.

697
00:29:52,190 --> 00:29:52,891
So when,

698
00:29:53,892 --> 00:29:55,460
Chief Revelo was

699
00:29:55,460 --> 00:29:58,329
the new chief,
now he's though now he's back again.

700
00:29:58,329 --> 00:30:00,331
But when he, he wanted to restart pal.

701
00:30:00,331 --> 00:30:03,334
So he talked to Jay Jorgensen,

702
00:30:03,334 --> 00:30:07,071
who, from Hartford and said, hey,
can you get a boy together?

703
00:30:07,071 --> 00:30:09,007
We want you to raise some money, and.

704
00:30:09,007 --> 00:30:11,209
And we want to restart, pal again.

705
00:30:11,209 --> 00:30:15,246
So what they wanted to do was follow
the Boston model, which is have a separate

706
00:30:15,246 --> 00:30:19,584
503 C raise the money
and then the police running the programs.

707
00:30:20,118 --> 00:30:22,754
So they asked me
they needed an education person.

708
00:30:22,754 --> 00:30:23,955
They asked me to be on a board.

709
00:30:23,955 --> 00:30:26,191
So we were on a board.

710
00:30:26,191 --> 00:30:26,891
I was on the board.

711
00:30:26,891 --> 00:30:29,093
And then one day,

712
00:30:29,093 --> 00:30:33,832
when I retired, from teaching in 2022,
Dave approached me.

713
00:30:33,832 --> 00:30:35,066
He said, Harry, we'd like you to,

714
00:30:36,167 --> 00:30:38,636
apply or be the executive director.

715
00:30:38,636 --> 00:30:40,638
And my first thing was,

716
00:30:40,638 --> 00:30:43,808
well, you're running some sports programs,
but I could help you there.

717
00:30:44,375 --> 00:30:47,078
And I said, but we're raising money here.

718
00:30:47,078 --> 00:30:50,081
We get a raise
a few hundred thousand a year to run, pal.

719
00:30:50,515 --> 00:30:53,551
No, man, I, you know,
I don't know how to do that.

720
00:30:54,152 --> 00:30:58,189
And his philosophy was good
because we're a community based 503 C,

721
00:30:58,389 --> 00:31:03,528
so we're available for money
at the state, federal, city level.

722
00:31:03,528 --> 00:31:05,697
Right, because we're a community based.

723
00:31:05,697 --> 00:31:06,197
He said.

724
00:31:06,197 --> 00:31:10,702
Harry, 42 years in Hartford,
he said mostly

725
00:31:10,702 --> 00:31:14,239
every politician is either
your former student or

726
00:31:15,473 --> 00:31:16,574
or your classmate.

727
00:31:16,574 --> 00:31:18,309
I said, well, that's true.

728
00:31:18,309 --> 00:31:21,312
And he said, well, if you know them
and you can get in front of them

729
00:31:21,446 --> 00:31:24,282
and you can probably you might be able
to get some money from them.

730
00:31:24,282 --> 00:31:25,984
And I said, all right.

731
00:31:25,984 --> 00:31:29,554
And I remember my first day on the job,
I sat down in front of

732
00:31:29,554 --> 00:31:32,557
my computer is
and typed in how to get a grant.

733
00:31:33,391 --> 00:31:34,525
And my first grant.

734
00:31:34,525 --> 00:31:36,194
I filled out was from Liberty Bank.

735
00:31:36,194 --> 00:31:37,595
They gave me $5,000.

736
00:31:37,595 --> 00:31:39,931
I thought I had it done right. You're in.

737
00:31:39,931 --> 00:31:41,266
Yeah. So.

738
00:31:41,266 --> 00:31:44,102
But, you know, Senator John, fanfare,

739
00:31:45,570 --> 00:31:47,972
from Hartford, Senate,

740
00:31:47,972 --> 00:31:52,143
Representative Julio Concepcion,
Jimmy Sanchez,

741
00:31:52,810 --> 00:31:55,947
Dave, Bob and ridiculously helpful.

742
00:31:56,281 --> 00:31:59,884
Plus, we've had some great partners
that help us the archdiocese

743
00:32:00,084 --> 00:32:03,087
help size large parking helped us.

744
00:32:04,489 --> 00:32:05,790
The insurance companies

745
00:32:05,790 --> 00:32:08,793
help us, you know,
because you need those partners, right.

746
00:32:08,826 --> 00:32:12,730
To to to try to raise, you know, a half
$1 million just from friends.

747
00:32:12,730 --> 00:32:14,198
And that's awesome. Yeah.

748
00:32:14,198 --> 00:32:16,501
Corporate
sponsorship. Corporate sponsorship.

749
00:32:16,501 --> 00:32:16,868
Yeah.

750
00:32:16,868 --> 00:32:19,871
So, so between that the state,

751
00:32:20,104 --> 00:32:23,274
and our, and all these partners
that we have in the city,

752
00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:26,711
we were able to maintain free

753
00:32:26,711 --> 00:32:30,181
programing at pal, so
nobody gets charged for anything at all.

754
00:32:30,515 --> 00:32:33,785
And the most important thing is cops,
kids, community.

755
00:32:33,785 --> 00:32:34,452
Right.

756
00:32:34,452 --> 00:32:36,587
And, you know,
we went out through that crazy thing

757
00:32:36,587 --> 00:32:40,391
with defund the police,
that ridiculousness and what

758
00:32:40,692 --> 00:32:43,928
and the Hartford police reputation
with its citizens is really good.

759
00:32:43,928 --> 00:32:44,963
It's very good.

760
00:32:44,963 --> 00:32:48,633
And and they have a huge community
policing department

761
00:32:48,633 --> 00:32:51,235
that goes out to schools
and things like that.

762
00:32:51,235 --> 00:32:54,672
But having,
you know, officers come in and work

763
00:32:54,672 --> 00:32:59,210
with kids playing basketball
or in our culinary program,

764
00:32:59,510 --> 00:33:03,114
those kids don't see the officers
as somebody to be afraid of.

765
00:33:03,481 --> 00:33:05,550
They see, oh, yeah, he's
kind of a regular person.

766
00:33:05,550 --> 00:33:06,818
It kind of nice to, too.

767
00:33:06,818 --> 00:33:09,587
So when they do see him on the street,
they go, hey what's up?

768
00:33:09,587 --> 00:33:11,522
So building that bond between

769
00:33:11,522 --> 00:33:15,326
and you know, they have
we have a lot of, connection with parents.

770
00:33:15,326 --> 00:33:17,762
So a parent has to bring their child
in to sign them up.

771
00:33:17,762 --> 00:33:19,197
You can't do it online.

772
00:33:19,197 --> 00:33:20,765
And then you have to meet
with the officer,

773
00:33:20,765 --> 00:33:24,769
as Vin Marsala is the officer
that runs all the programing and.

774
00:33:25,036 --> 00:33:26,104
And you have to meet with him.

775
00:33:26,104 --> 00:33:27,638
So we already we

776
00:33:27,638 --> 00:33:29,440
we have a good relationship
with the parent

777
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,543
and the kid in case you have issues,
you're always going to have some issues.

778
00:33:32,910 --> 00:33:36,481
So so we build that bond of trust and

779
00:33:37,448 --> 00:33:39,550
where
Pal is located, which is the old Cork

780
00:33:39,550 --> 00:33:43,921
Middle School, is what they call
the first opportunity zone in the state.

781
00:33:43,921 --> 00:33:46,524
That 13 block area
that is Clay Hill Arsenal

782
00:33:46,524 --> 00:33:49,527
considered the poorest, that is city,
one of the poorest in the state.

783
00:33:49,761 --> 00:33:53,297
So now we're in this zone that where kids

784
00:33:54,232 --> 00:33:56,634
a lot of them can
they can even go outside.

785
00:33:56,634 --> 00:33:58,736
Good. Their backyard is a parking lot.

786
00:33:58,736 --> 00:34:01,039
The cars are flying up and down
Homestead Avenue.

787
00:34:01,039 --> 00:34:02,407
You can't go on there.

788
00:34:02,407 --> 00:34:06,077
So pal is a place where they can come

789
00:34:06,077 --> 00:34:11,149
and have a gym and have an, We have,
we have well, we have all the sports

790
00:34:11,149 --> 00:34:14,552
the boxing, martial arts, basketball,
volleyball, baseball, softball.

791
00:34:15,186 --> 00:34:18,723
But when I, when I started there in 2022,
I said, you know what?

792
00:34:18,723 --> 00:34:22,493
Some kids don't really play sports,
especially post-Covid, right?

793
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,362
Am I going on too much notice?

794
00:34:24,362 --> 00:34:25,730
It's great
because I know where you're going.

795
00:34:25,730 --> 00:34:27,698
You're going to talk about the arts
and the cooking.

796
00:34:27,698 --> 00:34:29,100
We're going to well, here we go.

797
00:34:29,100 --> 00:34:30,334
So the so great.

798
00:34:30,334 --> 00:34:33,337
So we started in our class
because we knew kids would love that.

799
00:34:33,571 --> 00:34:35,406
We started out two years ago.

800
00:34:35,406 --> 00:34:37,175
We had an intern from Wesleyan come in,

801
00:34:37,175 --> 00:34:41,379
and she did like a gardening program
in a culinary program.

802
00:34:41,679 --> 00:34:44,248
And the kids just loved
that culinary program.

803
00:34:44,248 --> 00:34:49,654
Then we were lucky enough
to get, a pastry chef that needed a job

804
00:34:49,654 --> 00:34:54,425
and she really wanted to work at pal,
and she's unbelievable.

805
00:34:54,425 --> 00:34:55,059
She's so good.

806
00:34:55,059 --> 00:34:58,896
So we started a whole culinary program
that has over 45 kids.

807
00:34:59,230 --> 00:35:01,399
We have 7 to 9 year olds.

808
00:35:01,399 --> 00:35:02,400
We have all the kids in,

809
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:06,737
and we have an advanced group that kids
that are really into cooking, right.

810
00:35:07,071 --> 00:35:10,708
So that's a place for kids
that maybe don't like a lot of sports.

811
00:35:11,309 --> 00:35:14,378
And we this summer
we finished the auditorium

812
00:35:14,378 --> 00:35:17,381
because it had a big auditorium,
which was a train wreck.

813
00:35:17,582 --> 00:35:20,017
We, we, we raised enough money in order

814
00:35:20,017 --> 00:35:23,321
to put new seats in the auditorium,
a new lighting system,

815
00:35:23,754 --> 00:35:27,859
a new sound system, a big screen
that we can bring down and show movies.

816
00:35:28,426 --> 00:35:30,795
And I said, one of my

817
00:35:31,863 --> 00:35:35,299
feathering goals is when I took this job
in 2022 Ways

818
00:35:35,299 --> 00:35:40,171
to Get a Theater program, because I think
theater for these kids would be great.

819
00:35:40,538 --> 00:35:43,541
So this year, we were able to hire

820
00:35:43,741 --> 00:35:47,278
Hartford Stage
to come run our theater program. Wow.

821
00:35:47,445 --> 00:35:49,147
Yeah. So now you can collaborate.

822
00:35:49,147 --> 00:35:52,383
You have hip hop Shakespeare
that's getting practice.

823
00:35:52,383 --> 00:35:55,786
And now we need to empower the end of
February, we're going to actually have,

824
00:35:56,454 --> 00:35:58,156
the kids do performing.

825
00:35:58,156 --> 00:36:01,459
We just received a grant from Senator

826
00:36:01,459 --> 00:36:04,462
Fonfara
to start a musical instrument program.

827
00:36:04,462 --> 00:36:07,431
So we're we just
getting the equipment in now.

828
00:36:07,431 --> 00:36:10,735
So we're going to be teaching
guitar, bass and drums.

829
00:36:11,435 --> 00:36:13,304
So we're super excited about that.

830
00:36:13,304 --> 00:36:14,238
And then a dance.

831
00:36:14,238 --> 00:36:17,341
So now we have all the arts got
we have art class, data

832
00:36:17,341 --> 00:36:20,978
class, music class, dance class,
which is a huge thing for us.

833
00:36:20,978 --> 00:36:22,747
And we have a robotics program.

834
00:36:22,747 --> 00:36:26,417
You got to have something for the movers,
the sports and the thinkers with the arts

835
00:36:26,417 --> 00:36:31,789
and the cooking in the theater,
100% and, and, and and you know, we

836
00:36:32,323 --> 00:36:36,027
we wanted to get kids from more places
around the city.

837
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,362
But transportation is always a big issue.

838
00:36:38,362 --> 00:36:42,166
It's a it's a crazy expensive B
if you have to drop a kid off

839
00:36:42,166 --> 00:36:44,569
at the school and the parents night there,
and now you have somebody

840
00:36:44,569 --> 00:36:48,105
sitting there waiting for the parent,
you can't drop individual houses.

841
00:36:48,506 --> 00:36:52,276
So we talked to the Hartford Board
of Education and said, you know what,

842
00:36:52,577 --> 00:36:55,780
we can't get them here,
but can we go there?

843
00:36:56,380 --> 00:36:59,016
So they said, yeah,
we have afterschool programs.

844
00:36:59,016 --> 00:37:03,654
So now we're in two schools in the south
end of Hartford, Naylor School

845
00:37:03,654 --> 00:37:06,857
and MD Fox, which is the old Buckley
High School on Maple Avenue.

846
00:37:07,091 --> 00:37:10,094
So now we have what we call a satellite
Pal program there.

847
00:37:10,228 --> 00:37:13,297
So that being said,
we're about 200 kids a day

848
00:37:13,297 --> 00:37:16,434
now that Pal is servicing
and afterschool programs.

849
00:37:16,467 --> 00:37:20,071
Nice, which is from probably about 40
or 50 when I start.

850
00:37:20,071 --> 00:37:22,873
Yeah, yeah. You know,
and being able to offer more programs.

851
00:37:22,873 --> 00:37:26,978
But in saying that we're able
to offer all these great programs

852
00:37:26,978 --> 00:37:29,981
now, we have to be able to sustain it.

853
00:37:30,381 --> 00:37:32,650
That's what are you podcast
listeners come in.

854
00:37:32,650 --> 00:37:34,518
Yep. Right. So this is our

855
00:37:36,220 --> 00:37:37,922
obviously November is a giving month

856
00:37:37,922 --> 00:37:41,659
and we run something we call pal Vember,
which I came up with, by the way.

857
00:37:41,759 --> 00:37:42,293
Nice.

858
00:37:42,293 --> 00:37:45,596
And, you know, it's,
if you go to our website,

859
00:37:46,664 --> 00:37:50,034
you know, Hartford pal.org and donate

860
00:37:50,034 --> 00:37:54,839
and there's 3 or 4, there's you can Venmo,
you can click it on

861
00:37:54,872 --> 00:37:57,908
and through your credit card,
or there's our address there.

862
00:37:57,908 --> 00:38:00,544
If you want to send a check.

863
00:38:00,544 --> 00:38:03,514
And all those dollars are important,
especially dollars

864
00:38:03,514 --> 00:38:07,018
from, from the community
because then we can take those dollars

865
00:38:07,018 --> 00:38:10,955
and put them in general operating funds
so we can use it for where we need it.

866
00:38:10,955 --> 00:38:13,858
Some funds that come
in, you have to use for specific things.

867
00:38:13,858 --> 00:38:15,459
And but a person could do that.

868
00:38:15,459 --> 00:38:18,996
So if you have somebody
that wants to sponsor the theater program,

869
00:38:18,996 --> 00:38:23,100
say they want to pay for a year
of the Hartford stage,

870
00:38:23,100 --> 00:38:28,239
which is about $9,000,
but $9,000 get you the people teaching it.

871
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:31,242
Plus they bring in all the background
props and everything,

872
00:38:31,442 --> 00:38:33,678
which is crazy expensive
if you had to build it.

873
00:38:33,678 --> 00:38:34,679
Right? Yeah.

874
00:38:34,679 --> 00:38:37,682
So so if you wanted to sponsor that,
you could,

875
00:38:37,748 --> 00:38:40,484
you could say, okay, I'm
going to give you this money,

876
00:38:40,484 --> 00:38:43,387
but I want it to go
towards the theater program.

877
00:38:43,387 --> 00:38:47,024
So we align out of that in the budget,
because we have a person that gives money

878
00:38:47,258 --> 00:38:50,261
to the boxing program,
and that is a line item

879
00:38:50,461 --> 00:38:53,731
on the her money that she donates
just goes to the boxing program.

880
00:38:54,298 --> 00:38:57,668
We have another person that donates
to the art program, and all their money

881
00:38:57,668 --> 00:39:02,306
just goes to art supplies and the teachers
and all of that stuff, so and

882
00:39:03,441 --> 00:39:05,343
and you keep one an expanding.

883
00:39:05,343 --> 00:39:06,510
But you want to expand smart.

884
00:39:06,510 --> 00:39:09,013
So you could you want to be able
to sustain all these programs.

885
00:39:09,013 --> 00:39:10,281
You don't want to say, hey, sorry,

886
00:39:10,281 --> 00:39:13,284
we can't do theater this year
because now we don't have enough money.

887
00:39:13,484 --> 00:39:16,487
And as you know.

888
00:39:16,554 --> 00:39:18,422
What's going on?

889
00:39:18,422 --> 00:39:21,692
The trickle from is down to a trickle

890
00:39:21,692 --> 00:39:25,396
at the federal level, which in fact,
eventually will affect the state level.

891
00:39:25,396 --> 00:39:29,233
So now you have the Boys and Girls Club,
the Y pal

892
00:39:29,533 --> 00:39:32,536
and all the all fighting soda
for the same dollars.

893
00:39:32,670 --> 00:39:33,003
Right.

894
00:39:33,003 --> 00:39:38,943
And, and, so and we try to collaborate
on some things that we can but,

895
00:39:39,143 --> 00:39:42,146
you know, it's important that we,

896
00:39:42,246 --> 00:39:47,251
we able to sustain, especially the work
that we do is so important.

897
00:39:47,251 --> 00:39:48,953
And we have a great mentoring program.

898
00:39:48,953 --> 00:39:51,956
And just having the officers and the kids,

899
00:39:52,356 --> 00:39:56,927
you know, know each other is
is what pal is really all about.

900
00:39:56,927 --> 00:39:58,095
Yeah. Yeah.

901
00:39:58,095 --> 00:40:02,133
No, I worked at the Boys and Girls Club
in Waterbury for ten years.

902
00:40:02,133 --> 00:40:05,069
I was the physical director.
Now I work for two. For one.

903
00:40:05,069 --> 00:40:06,737
I was in Powell this summer.

904
00:40:06,737 --> 00:40:08,973
Beautiful building. Yep.

905
00:40:08,973 --> 00:40:11,642
I'll show the selfie from me and Harry
right here.

906
00:40:11,642 --> 00:40:12,143
Boom.

907
00:40:12,143 --> 00:40:13,811
Harry and Harry and Feeney.

908
00:40:13,811 --> 00:40:16,380
Apple. It that two for one.

909
00:40:16,380 --> 00:40:17,815
We used the the gym.

910
00:40:17,815 --> 00:40:19,717
And, where was the auditorium?

911
00:40:19,717 --> 00:40:23,154
Is that the new area where we ate lunch,
or is that the auditorium?

912
00:40:23,921 --> 00:40:27,124
There's the gym that you were, and
then there's the gym on the opposite side.

913
00:40:27,158 --> 00:40:28,392
Did you know that there's two games?

914
00:40:28,392 --> 00:40:29,660
One has AC and one doesn't?

915
00:40:29,660 --> 00:40:30,694
Yes. Yeah.

916
00:40:30,694 --> 00:40:31,429
The auditoriums.

917
00:40:31,429 --> 00:40:33,631
And when the big thing in the middle.

918
00:40:33,631 --> 00:40:35,433
Yeah. Yeah. The big thing in the middle.

919
00:40:35,433 --> 00:40:36,600
And it's closed doors were closed.

920
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,804
But yeah, yeah we did
keep it locked out, locked up.

921
00:40:40,070 --> 00:40:44,475
But we bought a massive screen
and a, I can't even remember.

922
00:40:44,475 --> 00:40:46,544
What is it, like a stage and seating?

923
00:40:46,544 --> 00:40:46,844
Oh, yeah.

924
00:40:46,844 --> 00:40:49,547
We saw was a
it was a junior high school auditorium.

925
00:40:49,547 --> 00:40:52,116
Okay. So, you know, the
the bones are all there.

926
00:40:52,116 --> 00:40:55,553
The seats were really small and
and ripped up, and,

927
00:40:56,253 --> 00:41:00,257
the lighting system was shot
because that building was built in 1969.

928
00:41:00,591 --> 00:41:02,426
So we replaced the seats. The lights.

929
00:41:03,661 --> 00:41:04,195
Oh, nice.

930
00:41:04,195 --> 00:41:08,966
And the sound system and and now
we have this incredible auditorium.

931
00:41:09,333 --> 00:41:10,601
And you know what's cool about it?

932
00:41:10,601 --> 00:41:11,702
We were able to rent it out

933
00:41:11,702 --> 00:41:15,105
to a dance studio
that's going to do their recital there.

934
00:41:15,372 --> 00:41:16,740
So which is great now.

935
00:41:16,740 --> 00:41:18,676
So we're going to make a little money

936
00:41:18,676 --> 00:41:22,313
and offer it a little,
show it off and and show it off.

937
00:41:22,313 --> 00:41:22,546
Yeah.

938
00:41:22,546 --> 00:41:25,382
And it's a little cheaper than if you went
some other different places.

939
00:41:25,382 --> 00:41:29,253
So that that's, that's a huge thing
that we're able to make,

940
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:32,523
you know, we're able to get some funds
in order to,

941
00:41:32,990 --> 00:41:35,826
keep sustainable pal,
without getting donations.

942
00:41:35,826 --> 00:41:38,496
Right. And,
and we'll have community meetings.

943
00:41:38,496 --> 00:41:38,863
Yeah.

944
00:41:38,863 --> 00:41:43,634
They'll do, that, when the cadets
graduate, they'll do it in the auditorium.

945
00:41:43,634 --> 00:41:44,235
Nice.

946
00:41:44,235 --> 00:41:47,371
We have movie night in there
for the kids and all kinds of stuff.

947
00:41:47,371 --> 00:41:48,272
Do you do?

948
00:41:48,272 --> 00:41:50,174
There is Pell cadets for that, too.

949
00:41:50,174 --> 00:41:51,342
Oh, yeah. Middle school.

950
00:41:51,342 --> 00:41:52,176
That was awesome.

951
00:41:52,176 --> 00:41:55,279
I know Waterbury, Neil O'Leary, the mayor

952
00:41:55,312 --> 00:41:58,315
started, pal,
I think, while I was still there, but,

953
00:41:58,549 --> 00:42:02,186
they had the cadets
and they helped like parking or something.

954
00:42:02,186 --> 00:42:04,154
Yeah, pal. We have explorers.

955
00:42:04,154 --> 00:42:04,722
That's what it is.

956
00:42:04,722 --> 00:42:06,557
Yeah, we have a big explorer program.

957
00:42:06,557 --> 00:42:08,926
And then the next step up
is the cadet program.

958
00:42:08,926 --> 00:42:09,460
Gotcha.

959
00:42:09,460 --> 00:42:12,630
So, yeah,
we that's all under the either what?

960
00:42:12,630 --> 00:42:16,500
The explorers are under the umbrella
of cadets or police department stuff.

961
00:42:16,500 --> 00:42:18,903
Yeah. No,
it was beautiful. Like the gym floor.

962
00:42:18,903 --> 00:42:19,970
Nice. Yeah.

963
00:42:19,970 --> 00:42:21,906
I used not like a slippery old floor.

964
00:42:21,906 --> 00:42:24,842
Nice and freshly waxed. Has a nice bounce.

965
00:42:24,842 --> 00:42:27,645
Yeah, we had to sand that
all down to the ground.

966
00:42:27,645 --> 00:42:28,379
They just.

967
00:42:28,379 --> 00:42:31,081
The last few years of school,
they just kept putting this stuff over it.

968
00:42:31,081 --> 00:42:32,783
You could literally peel it up in sheets.

969
00:42:32,783 --> 00:42:34,051
That's how much it was on there.

970
00:42:34,051 --> 00:42:36,287
So we had to sand the floor down.

971
00:42:36,287 --> 00:42:39,056
And that's the original fall from 1969.

972
00:42:39,056 --> 00:42:39,189
Right.

973
00:42:39,189 --> 00:42:41,592
You could never afford
to put that wood floor in there now.

974
00:42:41,592 --> 00:42:42,560
Yeah. Easy money.

975
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:46,430
So we had to sand it down to the ground
and then and then

976
00:42:46,430 --> 00:42:50,634
and then we picked the paint job
that we wanted, which is fantastic.

977
00:42:50,634 --> 00:42:51,168
Yeah.

978
00:42:51,168 --> 00:42:54,838
And then one basketball court
has, chin up bars because we did a,

979
00:42:54,872 --> 00:42:57,841
I did a hang a dead hang contest. Yes.

980
00:42:57,841 --> 00:43:00,311
And one of the little kids hung for like,
four minutes.

981
00:43:00,311 --> 00:43:03,347
I was so impressed. Yeah,
I started at 20s.

982
00:43:03,914 --> 00:43:05,115
That's the recruit gym.

983
00:43:05,115 --> 00:43:06,183
That. Yeah, gym.

984
00:43:06,183 --> 00:43:08,385
There's,
like a gym. There's, like, pictures of.

985
00:43:08,385 --> 00:43:09,086
Yeah, yeah,

986
00:43:09,086 --> 00:43:12,423
yeah, that's that's a really crew gym,
but which is good if they're not there.

987
00:43:12,856 --> 00:43:15,092
You know,
we obviously pal obviously uses it.

988
00:43:15,092 --> 00:43:16,260
But during the day it's mostly

989
00:43:16,260 --> 00:43:20,464
for the recruiting exercises
and yeah, nice parking, beautiful parking.

990
00:43:20,464 --> 00:43:21,932
You walk right up to the

991
00:43:22,933 --> 00:43:24,034
the facility.

992
00:43:24,034 --> 00:43:26,236
Then if you kept going nice Astro field.

993
00:43:26,236 --> 00:43:28,405
Astro turf field. Right. Yes.

994
00:43:28,405 --> 00:43:30,574
Yeah. Yeah. Always
there was a Cal Ripken built.

995
00:43:30,574 --> 00:43:31,542
Yeah, I was going to say that.

996
00:43:31,542 --> 00:43:35,312
And there's, like a monument,
a little plaque.

997
00:43:35,312 --> 00:43:36,580
Yes, a bronze plaque.

998
00:43:36,580 --> 00:43:39,249
But it's not Cal Ripken,
the Iron Man. It's his dad.

999
00:43:39,249 --> 00:43:40,651
Is it his dad? Right. It is that.

1000
00:43:40,651 --> 00:43:42,286
Yeah. Cal Ripken SR, right?

1001
00:43:42,286 --> 00:43:42,753
Yeah.

1002
00:43:42,753 --> 00:43:45,756
And Cal
Ripken is an incredible organization.

1003
00:43:45,889 --> 00:43:47,791
You know, they they
they give us some money

1004
00:43:47,791 --> 00:43:50,794
for reimbursement for equipment
every year.

1005
00:43:51,695 --> 00:43:54,164
They come up and run, they come up and run

1006
00:43:54,164 --> 00:43:57,968
a few days, play days for the kids
with their whole Ripken staff coming up.

1007
00:43:57,968 --> 00:44:00,804
That that's an incredible organization.
Nice. Great.

1008
00:44:00,804 --> 00:44:02,673
Well, so they partner and give funds.

1009
00:44:02,673 --> 00:44:03,240
Oh, yeah. And.

1010
00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:03,674
Oh, yeah.

1011
00:44:03,674 --> 00:44:06,977
And and put on, like practices and. Yeah.

1012
00:44:07,011 --> 00:44:07,878
Oh yeah yeah yeah.

1013
00:44:07,878 --> 00:44:08,212
Oh yeah.

1014
00:44:08,212 --> 00:44:11,215
Oh yeah. They, they, they,
they're an incredible.

1015
00:44:11,215 --> 00:44:15,019
They've been with us now with Harvard pal
for at least 6 or 7 years,

1016
00:44:15,653 --> 00:44:16,820
which is great.

1017
00:44:16,820 --> 00:44:19,323
Partners like that is what you need.

1018
00:44:19,323 --> 00:44:19,556
Yeah.

1019
00:44:19,556 --> 00:44:21,392
Beautiful I think it's soccer field.

1020
00:44:21,392 --> 00:44:23,293
Baseball field.

1021
00:44:23,293 --> 00:44:25,029
Football field. It's a nice turf.

1022
00:44:25,029 --> 00:44:25,829
Nice. Yeah.

1023
00:44:25,829 --> 00:44:28,232
I mean that's that's owned
by the city of Hartford.

1024
00:44:28,232 --> 00:44:29,233
That's not owned by pal.

1025
00:44:29,233 --> 00:44:31,802
Oh, gosh. So
so we used it during the summer. Yeah.

1026
00:44:31,802 --> 00:44:34,438
Because there's nobody on it.
But but like like don't you use.

1027
00:44:34,438 --> 00:44:35,739
Oh yeah. Oh yeah we use it.

1028
00:44:35,739 --> 00:44:40,344
But like during the fall the football team
from Capital Prep may practice on it

1029
00:44:40,344 --> 00:44:43,614
or the soccer team, but they'll practice
at one end and we'll take the other end.

1030
00:44:43,614 --> 00:44:45,182
There's a little
yeah a little space for us.

1031
00:44:45,182 --> 00:44:46,650
But during the summer
there's nobody on it.

1032
00:44:46,650 --> 00:44:48,919
So we get free reign, which is great.

1033
00:44:48,919 --> 00:44:49,119
Yeah.

1034
00:44:49,119 --> 00:44:53,323
Up from there's the playscape and then you
have two outdoor basketball courts. Yep.

1035
00:44:54,058 --> 00:44:55,526
So yeah, good stuff going on there.

1036
00:44:55,526 --> 00:44:57,227
It's a great facility.
You know what I mean.

1037
00:44:57,227 --> 00:45:03,400
And I feel lucky that we're able to finish
the two gyms, finished the auditorium

1038
00:45:03,834 --> 00:45:07,838
and and and now we have way more space
for way more kids.

1039
00:45:08,472 --> 00:45:11,375
You know, once you once
you get that auditorium down.

1040
00:45:11,375 --> 00:45:14,411
Now we're running program in there
four days a week, five days a week,

1041
00:45:14,678 --> 00:45:15,913
which is which is awesome.

1042
00:45:15,913 --> 00:45:16,480
That's awesome.

1043
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:17,414
Hey, Matt. Record this one.

1044
00:45:17,414 --> 00:45:20,417
I'm I'm going to we're going to talk about
pal Vember real quick.

1045
00:45:20,584 --> 00:45:22,252
This is my guy Matt. You. Matt. Matt.

1046
00:45:22,252 --> 00:45:24,121
Oh, yeah. Harry met Matt yesterday.

1047
00:45:24,121 --> 00:45:25,756
Yeah. So, Yeah.

1048
00:45:25,756 --> 00:45:28,559
So it's November,
but you called pale Vember. Correct.

1049
00:45:28,559 --> 00:45:31,128
Tell us about Pale
Vember again, pal. Vember.

1050
00:45:31,128 --> 00:45:32,196
And how can people help?

1051
00:45:32,196 --> 00:45:32,996
Okay, pal.

1052
00:45:32,996 --> 00:45:36,667
Vember is our month of giving at Pal.

1053
00:45:36,700 --> 00:45:39,036
It's our big fundraising month.

1054
00:45:39,036 --> 00:45:41,538
We do run a golf tournament in June.

1055
00:45:41,538 --> 00:45:46,710
Which if you go to pal, and in April,
you'll see it's at Keeney Park.

1056
00:45:46,710 --> 00:45:51,381
A great time there that we'll we'll take
as many golfers as we can humanly get.

1057
00:45:51,849 --> 00:45:55,886
But pal Vember is our,
our raising fund month

1058
00:45:55,886 --> 00:46:00,557
for for individuals
in, in that not so much businesses, but,

1059
00:46:01,091 --> 00:46:05,696
you know, from from people people
in West Hartford and Avon and Hartford.

1060
00:46:05,696 --> 00:46:09,266
And I just sent out 112

1061
00:46:09,266 --> 00:46:13,070
personal text messages
to my friends and associates

1062
00:46:13,070 --> 00:46:16,640
and partners and said, hey,
this is what we're doing.

1063
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:19,643
And, you know,
we've we're doing pretty well.

1064
00:46:20,043 --> 00:46:21,745
Well, we always need a big push.

1065
00:46:21,745 --> 00:46:25,549
Now, how you can get to that
if you just go to, Hartford,

1066
00:46:25,549 --> 00:46:28,552
pal, that org,
it'll bring you to our website.

1067
00:46:29,386 --> 00:46:30,387
And then on that there,

1068
00:46:30,387 --> 00:46:33,657
there's a donate button,
and it gives you three different options.

1069
00:46:34,191 --> 00:46:36,794
To donate, you can donate through Venmo.

1070
00:46:36,794 --> 00:46:38,195
You can donate to,

1071
00:46:40,230 --> 00:46:40,964
you just

1072
00:46:40,964 --> 00:46:44,401
tap the icon and it brings you to the
where you can put your credit card in.

1073
00:46:44,768 --> 00:46:46,603
And there's also our address there

1074
00:46:46,603 --> 00:46:49,706
where you can send a check
if that's the way you want to do it.

1075
00:46:49,706 --> 00:46:50,741
And that will come.

1076
00:46:50,741 --> 00:46:52,075
The check will have a P.O. box.

1077
00:46:52,075 --> 00:46:53,544
So don't say or what it's a P.O.

1078
00:46:53,544 --> 00:46:56,547
box because the way the building,

1079
00:46:56,847 --> 00:47:00,117
the building that we're in was when
building used to be called middle school.

1080
00:47:00,450 --> 00:47:03,921
So the front of the school is the
that the school that's there

1081
00:47:03,921 --> 00:47:07,524
now global, where we are
is the old back of the school.

1082
00:47:07,524 --> 00:47:09,660
So 50 William Street is it.

1083
00:47:09,660 --> 00:47:11,495
There's nothing there. Yeah.

1084
00:47:11,495 --> 00:47:14,765
So we don't even really have a mailbox
that all because of where we are.

1085
00:47:14,998 --> 00:47:17,701
So we get on our maybe we'll get the check
if it's sent to the P.O.

1086
00:47:17,701 --> 00:47:18,235
box. You.

1087
00:47:18,235 --> 00:47:20,204
We will get the check
if you send it to the P.O.

1088
00:47:20,204 --> 00:47:23,473
box, or even if you send it
to the a police department on High Street.

1089
00:47:23,907 --> 00:47:28,045
You know, officer, my fella has a box
there, and you created the term pal.

1090
00:47:28,245 --> 00:47:29,980
Vember. Yeah, I don't know how.

1091
00:47:29,980 --> 00:47:31,348
And I'll stop with that. Yeah.

1092
00:47:31,348 --> 00:47:32,282
Well done, well done.

1093
00:47:32,282 --> 00:47:35,285
And I like personal connections

1094
00:47:35,485 --> 00:47:39,289
that text, like, if you want something
done, don't send a group email.

1095
00:47:39,323 --> 00:47:41,225
Don't put a Facebook post out.

1096
00:47:41,225 --> 00:47:43,594
You need to go one on one.
So you're all a route.

1097
00:47:43,594 --> 00:47:47,164
That's about the executive director
making the relationships, right.

1098
00:47:48,031 --> 00:47:50,367
Keeping positive rapport.

1099
00:47:50,367 --> 00:47:51,301
So that's good.

1100
00:47:51,301 --> 00:47:53,370
And I think
that's the way to do it. Right.

1101
00:47:53,370 --> 00:47:58,208
Because if I send out an email with 50
names on it and you're going, okay,

1102
00:47:58,475 --> 00:47:59,309
okay, whatever.

1103
00:47:59,309 --> 00:48:02,279
But if I say, you know, freebie,
you help me out here,

1104
00:48:02,279 --> 00:48:04,581
you're going to say, okay,
I'll send this guy some money. Exactly.

1105
00:48:04,581 --> 00:48:07,217
Right. And, and and you know, I, but,

1106
00:48:08,252 --> 00:48:09,953
you know, the whole board of directors

1107
00:48:09,953 --> 00:48:14,091
is involved, and, you know, they,
they do the text messaging, too.

1108
00:48:14,091 --> 00:48:17,794
So, you know, we're always hopeful
that we're going to be able to raise.

1109
00:48:17,794 --> 00:48:21,164
And thanks for having me
because I think this is important

1110
00:48:21,164 --> 00:48:24,001
that so that a lot more people
can hear the message here

1111
00:48:24,001 --> 00:48:28,472
and that the super important work
we do at Pal

1112
00:48:28,505 --> 00:48:33,610
because we live, I am telling you,
our, our, our place is located in a place

1113
00:48:33,610 --> 00:48:37,514
where kids sometimes can't go outside
so they don't come to power.

1114
00:48:37,514 --> 00:48:40,517
They leave school and they go home
and they're in the house.

1115
00:48:40,584 --> 00:48:41,818
Yeah, year round

1116
00:48:41,818 --> 00:48:45,155
they can't really go outside
unless their parent brings them somewhere.

1117
00:48:45,522 --> 00:48:48,525
So pal is a place they can be themselves.

1118
00:48:48,692 --> 00:48:49,559
They can relax.

1119
00:48:49,559 --> 00:48:51,061
They don't have to worry.

1120
00:48:51,061 --> 00:48:53,163
They don't have to watch their backs.

1121
00:48:53,163 --> 00:48:58,502
They can come and play and choose
from an array pals programing it.

1122
00:48:58,502 --> 00:49:01,471
So you come in
and you actually have a schedule,

1123
00:49:01,471 --> 00:49:04,341
like you're going to homework club
and then you're going to martial arts

1124
00:49:04,341 --> 00:49:05,642
and then you're going to cooking.

1125
00:49:05,642 --> 00:49:07,778
So every kid has an individual schedule.

1126
00:49:07,778 --> 00:49:10,280
There's no kids
just running around Helter Skelter.

1127
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:13,083
Yeah.
So just that structure for these kids.

1128
00:49:13,083 --> 00:49:17,854
And then to be able to come in here and
be themselves and not have to worry about.

1129
00:49:18,055 --> 00:49:20,791
So I had to watch my back is crucial.

1130
00:49:20,791 --> 00:49:21,925
And, you know,

1131
00:49:22,926 --> 00:49:23,260
they are

1132
00:49:23,260 --> 00:49:26,663
around so many positive role models
in that building.

1133
00:49:27,197 --> 00:49:30,367
And if you can get a kid around enough
positive role models,

1134
00:49:30,367 --> 00:49:31,735
it makes a huge difference.

1135
00:49:31,735 --> 00:49:36,907
But we can only do that if people are
generous and businesses are generous.

1136
00:49:37,007 --> 00:49:39,276
And we've been lucky so far.

1137
00:49:39,276 --> 00:49:43,113
But in order to maintain
this great programing

1138
00:49:43,113 --> 00:49:47,017
over the sustainability for years,
we need everybody's help.

1139
00:49:47,050 --> 00:49:49,119
Yeah.
So you heard of here. Be a good friend.

1140
00:49:49,119 --> 00:49:50,220
Donate to pal.

1141
00:49:50,220 --> 00:49:54,558
It's pal Vember and if you miss Pal member
there's a golf tournament in June.

1142
00:49:54,825 --> 00:49:57,094
I'm going to play in that. That's the.
Sounds like fun.

1143
00:49:57,094 --> 00:49:58,562
Are there any executives?

1144
00:49:58,562 --> 00:50:00,163
Us. You. You're the executive director?

1145
00:50:00,163 --> 00:50:02,833
Anyone on the board?
Do you want to shout out your board?

1146
00:50:02,833 --> 00:50:05,335
Yes. We have some great board members

1147
00:50:05,335 --> 00:50:08,338
who work so hard and have worked so hard.

1148
00:50:08,372 --> 00:50:12,576
Dave Jorgensen, who is our chair,
Michael Clifford, West Hartford resident.

1149
00:50:13,010 --> 00:50:18,749
Our own body builders, Cynthia Sales,
who work for the state of Connecticut.

1150
00:50:18,749 --> 00:50:22,319
And attorney, Matt Galinsky, who is our,

1151
00:50:22,853 --> 00:50:26,890
treasurer and who works countless
hard, vin marsala,

1152
00:50:26,923 --> 00:50:31,395
who runs all of our programing
and takes care of the building at Powell.

1153
00:50:31,995 --> 00:50:36,366
Sergeant Nikki Maudie Savage, who runs
our explorer program, does a great job,

1154
00:50:36,633 --> 00:50:40,170
and we and runs
all of our Special Olympics.

1155
00:50:40,170 --> 00:50:42,672
And she's super involved
with Special Olympics at the state level.

1156
00:50:42,672 --> 00:50:44,775
She does a plunge, which is crazy.

1157
00:50:44,775 --> 00:50:46,009
Yeah, yeah she does.

1158
00:50:46,009 --> 00:50:49,713
And and we have a great unified
our Special Olympics program

1159
00:50:49,813 --> 00:50:53,550
at POW that we run a couple of days
a week to sell those people

1160
00:50:53,550 --> 00:50:56,887
all the yeoman's work and and to make Pal

1161
00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:59,923
a great experience
for the kids that really deserve it.

1162
00:51:00,323 --> 00:51:03,827
So many great things going on there
and so many great people at POW.

1163
00:51:03,827 --> 00:51:05,629
So it was really excited.

1164
00:51:05,629 --> 00:51:09,599
Where do you think you're going to be
in five years with the Pal program?

1165
00:51:09,599 --> 00:51:12,636
Oh, well, in five years I'll be almost 75.

1166
00:51:12,636 --> 00:51:13,236
I don't know,

1167
00:51:14,604 --> 00:51:16,873
we just take it year by year now,
you know what I mean?

1168
00:51:16,873 --> 00:51:20,610
Like, I mean, I feel good,
I like the work that we're doing there.

1169
00:51:21,611 --> 00:51:25,449
And even when I leave the position
as executive director,

1170
00:51:25,449 --> 00:51:29,052
I'll probably be down there
coaching flag football.

1171
00:51:29,086 --> 00:51:30,153
You know what I mean?

1172
00:51:30,153 --> 00:51:33,690
I mean, I think from for me to be around

1173
00:51:33,690 --> 00:51:37,394
young people is something that I've done
for my entire life.

1174
00:51:37,694 --> 00:51:40,397
I can't see that stopping,
you know what I mean?

1175
00:51:40,397 --> 00:51:44,334
So I'll be over there
and running flag football once a coach,

1176
00:51:44,334 --> 00:51:46,203
always a coach, once a coach,
always a coach.

1177
00:51:46,203 --> 00:51:49,172
As I feel teaching.

1178
00:51:49,906 --> 00:51:51,908
No. So did I miss anything?

1179
00:51:51,908 --> 00:51:53,910
Anything you want to share?

1180
00:51:53,910 --> 00:51:55,545
No. You did a great job man.

1181
00:51:55,545 --> 00:51:59,182
And I'm so grateful
that you had me on here man.

1182
00:51:59,182 --> 00:52:04,354
And I just want people to know how
how important it plays to the Hartford

1183
00:52:04,354 --> 00:52:07,958
community, especially to the Clay
Arsenal area where we are.

1184
00:52:08,191 --> 00:52:12,896
It's it's a critical,
crucial area, in the city

1185
00:52:12,896 --> 00:52:16,399
and in, in, in your donations,

1186
00:52:16,700 --> 00:52:19,536
your help makes a huge difference in
just doing this.

1187
00:52:19,536 --> 00:52:21,972
Makes a huge difference.
Thank you man I appreciate it. Thanks.

1188
00:52:21,972 --> 00:52:26,743
Now now I'm going to ask a favor
for a future podcast guest.

1189
00:52:27,811 --> 00:52:30,447
Who who do you think I'm going to ask?

1190
00:52:30,447 --> 00:52:31,915
I think you got into coaching.

1191
00:52:31,915 --> 00:52:33,416
Are you coached?

1192
00:52:33,416 --> 00:52:34,751
He went on to coach.

1193
00:52:34,751 --> 00:52:37,754
I think he played at Wesley
and coached at Wesleyan.

1194
00:52:37,888 --> 00:52:40,056
And he went and coached for the Jets.

1195
00:52:40,056 --> 00:52:42,726
I think he could be talking
about my brother in law.

1196
00:52:42,726 --> 00:52:45,362
My brother in law is Eric Mangini.

1197
00:52:45,362 --> 00:52:47,430
He's working at Fox Sports one now.

1198
00:52:47,430 --> 00:52:50,400
Oh, okay. Yeah.
He does, first things first.

1199
00:52:50,467 --> 00:52:53,670
He does that show every other week,
and then he does a little once

1200
00:52:53,670 --> 00:52:56,673
in a while with Colin Coward.

1201
00:52:56,940 --> 00:52:58,575
But he loves it. He's had one.

1202
00:52:58,575 --> 00:53:00,911
Signed him to going to be a senior
in high school playing football.

1203
00:53:00,911 --> 00:53:02,946
He's got one at Williams playing football.

1204
00:53:02,946 --> 00:53:04,481
Is he still in Connecticut or. It's.

1205
00:53:04,481 --> 00:53:07,050
No no no no no no no
he's still in Ohio. Ohio.

1206
00:53:07,050 --> 00:53:09,085
Yeah man.
All right. So does he come around.

1207
00:53:09,085 --> 00:53:10,053
Can he be a guest at.

1208
00:53:10,053 --> 00:53:12,022
Well I'll talk to him about it.

1209
00:53:12,022 --> 00:53:14,624
Yeah I mean I don't
I can't speak for Eric.

1210
00:53:14,624 --> 00:53:16,826
And that's how you met your wife, right?

1211
00:53:16,826 --> 00:53:19,429
Did you coach him or do you? Well,
that's funny story.

1212
00:53:19,429 --> 00:53:22,999
So I coached Derek in high school,
and I had an apartment back there.

1213
00:53:22,999 --> 00:53:25,735
Single guy. And I
used to give him a ride home all the time.

1214
00:53:25,735 --> 00:53:27,237
You know, he live right near me.

1215
00:53:27,237 --> 00:53:28,838
And he used to say, coach,
can I get a ride?

1216
00:53:28,838 --> 00:53:30,640
I go, yeah, yeah, just go wait by my car.

1217
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:33,210
But then I'd be in there and get in
a conversation with the head coach.

1218
00:53:33,210 --> 00:53:35,712
I'd be literally in there an hour.

1219
00:53:35,712 --> 00:53:38,248
I'd come out.
He'd still be waiting at the car.

1220
00:53:38,248 --> 00:53:40,217
And I said,
if you say one word, you're walking home.

1221
00:53:40,217 --> 00:53:43,019
And he lived about two and a half miles
from the school. He didn't live close.

1222
00:53:43,019 --> 00:53:44,421
He wouldn't say a word.

1223
00:53:44,421 --> 00:53:48,124
So when he went to his dad died,
when he was a sophomore.

1224
00:53:48,825 --> 00:53:51,995
So, you know, we kind of the head coach
and we kind of

1225
00:53:52,329 --> 00:53:53,396
watched out from a little bit.

1226
00:53:53,396 --> 00:53:54,164
He was a great kid.

1227
00:53:54,164 --> 00:53:56,433
He didn't top of his class at Berkeley,

1228
00:53:56,433 --> 00:54:00,136
but when he went to Wesleyan, I would go
up and, you know, watch his games.

1229
00:54:00,136 --> 00:54:02,405
And then back then when you always
I mean, you literally

1230
00:54:02,405 --> 00:54:05,308
lean up against the goalpost and watch
him, you know, they are standing out.

1231
00:54:05,308 --> 00:54:07,277
There's nobody it's still so old school.

1232
00:54:07,277 --> 00:54:09,546
It was like in the middle of the quad.
Yeah.

1233
00:54:09,546 --> 00:54:11,648
There's the buildings, around 100%.

1234
00:54:11,648 --> 00:54:14,217
I love it. So,
I think it was his senior year.

1235
00:54:14,217 --> 00:54:18,555
And like his last game, he goes, hey,
you know, we're having a little cookout

1236
00:54:18,555 --> 00:54:21,057
or, you know, some sandwiches
and stuff with my family.

1237
00:54:21,057 --> 00:54:21,858
Why don't you stay?

1238
00:54:21,858 --> 00:54:25,462
And I'm like, dude,
you know, I'm young guy, like, I'm 30.

1239
00:54:25,462 --> 00:54:26,663
I'm like, get out of here.

1240
00:54:26,663 --> 00:54:29,299
And and he's going to stay for 20 minutes.

1241
00:54:29,299 --> 00:54:31,434
I said, okay, so I stayed.

1242
00:54:31,434 --> 00:54:32,969
You came out, introduce me

1243
00:54:32,969 --> 00:54:36,640
to his mom and, and
and introduced me to his sister Brenda.

1244
00:54:36,973 --> 00:54:40,710
So we just kind of started
talking a little bit, and then, we,

1245
00:54:40,710 --> 00:54:44,414
we went to a play together, at the boys,
you know, and that was that.

1246
00:54:44,414 --> 00:54:46,650
So when I tell that story,
I say, well, yeah.

1247
00:54:46,650 --> 00:54:47,550
And then I met Brenda

1248
00:54:47,550 --> 00:54:50,820
and we got married and worked out,
and he says, it worked out for you.

1249
00:54:51,721 --> 00:54:53,089
Yeah. Now he's stuck.

1250
00:54:53,089 --> 00:54:54,691
Well, I'm not going to lie.

1251
00:54:54,691 --> 00:54:57,827
You know, I got that I got a great
opportunity to go to three Super Bowls.

1252
00:54:57,827 --> 00:55:01,031
You know when because he won three rings
with the Patriots.

1253
00:55:01,398 --> 00:55:03,566
Oh he was a
it was the offensive coordinator.

1254
00:55:03,566 --> 00:55:07,170
No no the defensive coordinator
or defensive defensive backs coach.

1255
00:55:07,170 --> 00:55:07,504
That's right.

1256
00:55:07,504 --> 00:55:10,373
And I think Romeo was the defensive
coordinator back then.

1257
00:55:10,373 --> 00:55:13,376
And Charlie was the offensive
coordinator Charlie Weis that's right.

1258
00:55:13,443 --> 00:55:15,278
Yeah. So he was defense.

1259
00:55:15,278 --> 00:55:17,881
Yeah. So he he's been a great friend. He's

1260
00:55:18,882 --> 00:55:20,550
him and his brother Kyle.

1261
00:55:20,550 --> 00:55:21,551
But we lived in Australia.

1262
00:55:21,551 --> 00:55:23,253
They're

1263
00:55:23,253 --> 00:55:25,889
they're,

1264
00:55:25,889 --> 00:55:27,357
they're like brothers to me.

1265
00:55:27,357 --> 00:55:28,124
And you know what?

1266
00:55:28,124 --> 00:55:31,561
He knows what I'll say about that
and about my wife.

1267
00:55:31,828 --> 00:55:36,833
All these awesome things that when I was
in coaching and teaching that I was able

1268
00:55:36,833 --> 00:55:40,370
to do would never have been possible
without my wife, Brenda Baluchi.

1269
00:55:40,570 --> 00:55:42,272
I mean, she

1270
00:55:42,272 --> 00:55:45,709
she just ran our whole household
with three girls and running

1271
00:55:45,709 --> 00:55:49,412
all over West Hartford, bringing them
the different things and making sure

1272
00:55:50,013 --> 00:55:53,316
birthday parties were, all,
all that stuff, you know,

1273
00:55:53,350 --> 00:55:57,821
I mean, that that I'm, I'm, I'm teaching
and I'm coaching and I'm scouting games

1274
00:55:57,821 --> 00:56:00,757
and all that stuff.
And she is just doing yeoman's work.

1275
00:56:00,757 --> 00:56:05,962
So I know what my resume reads, a vision
like a pretty good resume,

1276
00:56:05,995 --> 00:56:10,266
but half of that would be erased
if it wasn't for Brenda mangini.

1277
00:56:10,266 --> 00:56:12,102
Baluchi I will honestly say that.

1278
00:56:12,102 --> 00:56:15,605
And to
and she has been the rock in that family.

1279
00:56:15,605 --> 00:56:18,541
She is the she is the matriarch.

1280
00:56:18,541 --> 00:56:22,812
She she she runs the ship
and she does an incredible job.

1281
00:56:22,812 --> 00:56:26,583
And she's done incredible job
for 40 years, 30 years, 30.

1282
00:56:26,683 --> 00:56:28,785
Wait a minute.
How long have I been married?

1283
00:56:28,785 --> 00:56:30,854
33 years. Yeah. Cheers to Brenda.

1284
00:56:30,854 --> 00:56:33,089
You're a good friend at the sticker
for Brenda.

1285
00:56:33,089 --> 00:56:34,791
Thanks for being a good friend,
a good wife.

1286
00:56:34,791 --> 00:56:37,827
I met her yesterday at the dance off
at the dance contest.

1287
00:56:38,328 --> 00:56:39,963
Well, so exciting to talk with you.

1288
00:56:39,963 --> 00:56:42,932
Thanks for sharing all
your wonderful things that you're doing.

1289
00:56:42,932 --> 00:56:45,835
Please, listeners, go out and support Pal.

1290
00:56:45,835 --> 00:56:47,237
It's Pal member.

1291
00:56:47,237 --> 00:56:51,441
You can donate on Venmo
or the donate button or mail a check.

1292
00:56:51,841 --> 00:56:54,277
And also please subscribe
to Feeny Talks with Friends.

1293
00:56:54,277 --> 00:56:58,248
This podcast is on YouTube, Spotify,
and anywhere you can find a podcast.

1294
00:56:58,715 --> 00:57:01,050
Thank you to Maximum Beverage
for hosting us.

1295
00:57:01,050 --> 00:57:03,086
Thank you to Direct Line Media.

1296
00:57:03,086 --> 00:57:07,023
Who is the bigger knucklehead of the
Whitney Boys from from Maximum Beverage?

1297
00:57:07,290 --> 00:57:08,992
Brian. Brian by far.

1298
00:57:10,994 --> 00:57:11,294
All right.

1299
00:57:11,294 --> 00:57:15,365
Going on was oh this going on record
Brian is the biggest knucklehead.

1300
00:57:16,466 --> 00:57:19,002
And then who's next Connor or Matt?

1301
00:57:19,002 --> 00:57:22,005
Well,
well probably Mac as Connor was so little.

1302
00:57:22,005 --> 00:57:25,008
I mean, I remember picking Connor up
because he was like

1303
00:57:25,141 --> 00:57:26,342
the third of the three, right?

1304
00:57:26,342 --> 00:57:27,844
Oh, and then there was the, hit there.

1305
00:57:27,844 --> 00:57:29,546
Sister. Sister.

1306
00:57:29,546 --> 00:57:31,181
Morgan. Morgan. Yeah.

1307
00:57:31,181 --> 00:57:32,348
Who was a little sweetheart.

1308
00:57:32,348 --> 00:57:32,615
Yeah.

1309
00:57:32,615 --> 00:57:35,618
So but they were just, you know,
it was a great little area.

1310
00:57:35,618 --> 00:57:38,455
Managers ran around like crazy people
all the time. It was fun.

1311
00:57:38,455 --> 00:57:40,156
I used to go down there
because my head coach here,

1312
00:57:40,156 --> 00:57:43,293
Graham Martin, on the house,
so I was a single dude.

1313
00:57:43,293 --> 00:57:45,595
I would go down there
all the time, stay for a couple weeks.

1314
00:57:45,595 --> 00:57:48,031
He finally say, here, you got to go home.

1315
00:57:48,031 --> 00:57:49,799
And so I would say, okay, yeah,
I'm going home.

1316
00:57:49,799 --> 00:57:50,533
Graham and I would.

1317
00:57:50,533 --> 00:57:51,734
We walk into the front yard

1318
00:57:51,734 --> 00:57:54,737
and his wife and kids were like,
don't leave, don't leave.

1319
00:57:55,104 --> 00:57:58,107
And I said, I'll be back, I'll be back.

1320
00:57:58,441 --> 00:57:59,642
That was a great experience.

1321
00:57:59,642 --> 00:58:01,010
Never again. Such a great place.

1322
00:58:01,010 --> 00:58:02,011
Yeah, well thank you.

1323
00:58:02,011 --> 00:58:05,348
Maximum beverage and all our sponsors
Brooke Golf lore Group,

1324
00:58:05,748 --> 00:58:09,219
Parkville Management,
Sally and Bob's Luna Pizza,

1325
00:58:10,787 --> 00:58:13,790
fix Ivy float, 41.

1326
00:58:15,158 --> 00:58:18,161
People's Bank,
New England door and security.

1327
00:58:18,328 --> 00:58:20,964
And it was a wonderful chatting with you.

1328
00:58:20,964 --> 00:58:23,733
I'm so happy
that you talked with us again.

1329
00:58:23,733 --> 00:58:26,503
This is episode 155.

1330
00:58:26,503 --> 00:58:28,137
Check out that intro music
at the beginning.

1331
00:58:28,137 --> 00:58:28,538
It's new.

1332
00:58:28,538 --> 00:58:29,973
Let us know what you think.

1333
00:58:29,973 --> 00:58:31,975
On three will say be a good friend.

1334
00:58:31,975 --> 00:58:34,210
123. Be a good friend.