Dallas Davis

He had no plans to play football in the same town where he grew up, in fact Dallas Davis fully planned to leave Fort Collins and become a Badger in Wisconsin. Then he got a visit from head coach Sonny Lubick and a couple other coaches who put a new thought in his head: did he really think he’d catch many passes with future Heisman Trophy winning Ron Dayne running the ball on most plays? Dallas switched gears to Colorado State University.  

He became a captain and was All-Conference as a wide receiver and returner. He was also very active off the field, something that started in high school and carried into college. He chaired the CSU Athletic Advancement Committee and represented the Mountain West at the NCAA Leadership Conference.  

While he loved all the activities, Dallas also had a dream to play professionally. The Steelers brought him in as an undrafted free agent and he stayed for a few months until he was cut in training camp. The next year, he was cut just before training camp and reality set in: it was time to find a job.  

He dabbled in the mortgage industry and realized he missed sports. So he got on planning and event committees for the Orange Bowl, NBA All Star Game and the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Eventually he found himself working as the Director of Community Affairs for the Colorado Rockies, where he still works today, but is now part of human resources. Dallas is married and raising three athletically gifted daughters who have a tough time believing their dad was pretty special with the football.    

Listen to Dallas’ story and conversation with @susiewargin on the Cut Traded Fired Retired Podcast. Links to listen on your favorite podcast platforms in the @ctfrpodcast bio!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I used to take my animals to like a
middle school and do an assembly, and somehow there's really
no tie, but somehow I tied in, like, hey, don't
do drugs. Here's a snake. I was just trying to
figure out.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I don't know, like, yeah, and I have animals and
drugs are really bad.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
So do you want to hold this? Yeah? I bet
you've never held the python before. Here's this, and here's this.
This is an iguana.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Welcome to another episode of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired. This
podcast is chock full of conversations with professional athletes and coaches,
all of whom have some tie to Colorado and all
have been cut, traded, fired, and or they're retired. I'm
your host, Susie Wargen. Dallas Davis is Colorado through and through.
He was raised in Fort Collins, where soccer was his

(00:57):
favorite sport, but football is where he got all the attention.
He had a sight set on playing college ball at
Wisconsin until Sunny Lubik and a few other coaches talked
him into staying closer to home at Colorado State. Pretty
smart move. Dallas eventually became a captain and was an
All conference wide receiver. And return specialist. He had a
quick stint in the pros with the Steelers, and after

(01:18):
football was done, realized he really missed being a part
of sports, so he started working on some committees and
with events like the Orange Bowl, the NBA All Star Game,
and the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Eventually, he landed a job
with the Rockies, thanks in part to seeing a fellow
CSU football lumb at a wedding where he happened to
mention he was looking for a job. Always be networking.

(01:41):
Right today, Dallas is still with the Rockies and the
father of three athletic girls, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Dallas Davis cut Traded fired retired podcast with Susie Wargen.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Dallas Davis, what's going.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
On, Susie. It's always great to see you. You are
anytime I see you're smiling, you make me smile.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
You make me happy.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
So I'm glad we bumped into each other last week
and we did, and we see each other. We do.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
We see each other periodically, and finally I was like,
you know what you need to be on the podcast
because your pro experience, albeit.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Small, was a cup of tea.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
A cup of tea, but I still find that interesting,
and I think those are the most interesting stories because
it's the grind and it's the getting through and figuring
out then Okay, what are you going to do? You
have this great college career at CSU doesn't pan out
as much in the pros, so then what And So
it's been really interesting to watch you through the years,
and it's fun that we've had so many times to

(02:38):
interact with the Rockies, which is where you've been for
a long time now, and we'll kind of get into that,
but let's start at the beginning, because you're your homegrown
boy in Fort Collins, Colorado. Yes, gosh, which I forgot
about telling. I was like, oh my gosh, that's right,
Dallas grew up in Fort Collins.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
I did. And it's bizarre to really think about how
long ago that was, because you know, there's that period
where this is where I'm from, and then you know,
twenty thirty years later, it's kind of like where's home
and yeah, so I remember that day where it was like,
you know, the Denver Aurora area, like that's home.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah for a much.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Still still have some family in Fort Collins, but my
mom recently moved down here okay.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
You know, we used to go back a lot to
see her. We'll still go.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
See my grandparents and aunts and uncles. But yeah, grew
up in Fort Collins.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
What sports besides football, any other everything?

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Soccer was my main sport. And I would probably and
most people who know me would probably say my best sport.
I credit football everything really the base that soccer gave me.
How come what was.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
It that translated so well from soccer?

Speaker 1 (03:43):
I mean you run, okay, so cardio, Yeah, your legs start,
you get strong, you start to develop vision. I think
when you when you talk about IQ, really, in any sport,
like like basketball, you know there's passing lane, there's an
IQ you gotta have, and I think soccer really helped
develop that. But I always knew I was going to

(04:05):
play football, but I didn't play until eighth grade. And
and you know, and partially I think culturally, you know,
I was a young black kid. Black kids weren't playing soccer,
or at least you wouldn't see them. For Collins, we didn't, Yeah, exactly,
we didn't have social media, so we're not watching English

(04:26):
Premier League. You know, they weren't showing those games on
TV at the time. And you know, I remember getting
made fun of for playing soccer, and so I always
knew I was going to play football. The culture kind
of pushes here anyway. You know, your best athletes are
getting pushed to play football, basketball versus you know, if
you're in Europe, if you're in you know, different countries

(04:47):
in Africa, it's like, oh, you're playing soccer if you're
a really good athlete. Right, if you're in the Dominican Republic,
oh you're a good athlete, You're playing baseball, And much.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
More diverse in all those other places.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, So for me, I always knew. I have art
work from when I was in elementary school saying like
when I grow up, I'm gonna play for the Denver Broncos.
I'm gonna wear number thirty four because I like Walter Payton.
And but yeah, I never played until eighth grade. And
even then, you know, we had junior high school. So
I'm playing maybe a month of football in eighth and

(05:18):
ninth grade. So freshman year, we still had to play
junior high we couldn't come in high school. And then
I went to Fort Collins High School, where I that
was really my first, you know, real year of football
was in high.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
School, okay, and that's probably where you really learned the
game then too, when you really start to play more, right.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, yeah, And I would argue, I don't know if
I knew the game that well. I was, unfortunately, and
then this, you know, probably hurt a little bit, but
I knew what I needed to do, and that was it.
You know, I hear a play called I'm not listening
to the first part, It's like, what's that last route? Okay,
that's me. Wait which side? Yep, Okay, I'm over here,
I'm running that route. And then every you know, I

(05:56):
tune everything out else out. So it would have served
me better if I would have got a better grasp
of the game. But I think partially I did get
into it a little later and it was just run
and go try to catch the ball.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
Well yeah, and it's overwhelming at that point. If you
don't have that basis and that background, then that's the
best you can do, right there, is grasp on to
at least don't mess up what you're supposed to do. Bonus,
if you know what some other people are going to do.
Did you play all three phases? I mean you were
you were a wide receiver and a specialist on the
return game at CSU.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
So yeah, well in high school I was a receiver, dB,
running back sometimes. But then I was also a really
good kicker and punter kick, field goals, soccer, soccer stuff. Yeah,
you know, and in college I could have maybe competed
a little bit with punting, but Joey Huber was our punter.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
We were roommates at one point.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
But you know, you got guys like that that can kick,
It's like, okay, fine, I'll go catch them, right, Yeah,
you got enough talent.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
How funny, So you were getting recruited by a lot
of schools to play football.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, I had a really good high school career.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
I think.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
You know, when you look at they used to do
the All Colorado team. I think I got that all
three years.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
I think there was a year I got All Conference
like kicker too, or field goal. They didn't really keep
a lot of good records.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
No, it's hard to google that stuff now.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, well Google didn't exist. That's I try to tell
my kids. You know, it's like, you know, somebody googled
you and they didn't see.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
This, right, it doesn't exist if it's not on the Internet.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
I need you to write that, so now it'll be
out there. I don't even know if a I'll find that.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
I know. Did you have it narrowed down though? I
know that. I mean you have ties with c issue,
your mom went there, your your grandparents were faculty.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, gosh, you did some research my research down.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
It's funny because growing up my family and my aunt
and uncle were very involved in the RAM Club. I
went to like all the games, idolized the players as
a kid. Greg Primus was somebody I really looked up
to Denver Native and I never wanted to go there.
It wasn't till you know, because yeah, I was cruited.
I want to say my recruiting visits. Wisconsin was where

(08:03):
I was going to go. That was my first trip.
And again you got to think, like a seventeen year old,
oh yeah, and there.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
For Collins and so you don't necessarily want to stay home.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
No, And I go on my first recruiting trip and
you know, they have a hot tub in the locker room.
And what really did it for me was they had
like all the free gatorade that you want, like you
don't have to buy it.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
You walk up.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
It was a little fountain machine and I remember asked.
I was like, you just get it whenever you want.
You know, now it's like, oh what you know, how
big is the flat screen TV and my locker? But
back then, like that was free the key and you know,
they try to pressure you to commit like right away.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
But one thing I did do is I told all the.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Schools I'm going to commit on this day because I
didn't want to make a.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Decision based off of stuff that you see in the movies.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Very smart, that was kind of real. But yeah, I
think it was there Arizona. I always stay Cal. I
think those were like the top one. Did you've I visited?
I didn't visit Cal because they had a coaching change
and then I canceled it. CSU was trying to talk
to me irban Meyer when I was in high school.
He'd come to and, you know, try to pump me
up a little bit, and he'd reach out when he

(09:13):
was at Notre Dame a little but he wanted me
to go get a better grade on like the SAT
or something like, nah, I'm good, those aren't my thing.
But yeah, it wasn't until probably a month before that date.
I told you to where CSU like convinced me like, look,
I know you're from here. I know you're looking at

(09:33):
these schools. And I want to say it was coach
hammer Lubick and coach Delaney. I forgot where they got me,
but they were like, just come take an official visit,
come meet some of the players, come talk with us.
And I still had one visit left, and I was like, okay,
I'll do that. You know. They started talking some and
then I remember coach Lubit came to the house with

(09:54):
Hammerschmid and they knew I was probably going to go
to Wisconsin. And then they did something which was brilliant.
They said, hey, you're a receiver, right, yeah, catch a
lot of balls, touchdowns, all that fun stuff. They said,
you know Wisconsin they have a Heisman Trophy winner, his
name's Ron Dain.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
They run the ball all the time.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And that was one thing I had never thought about,
Like I never thought about like, yeah, I'm a receiver,
what kind of offense do you run? Am I going
to get the ball? And so like that changed everything,
and then I considered CSU. And then that year we
had a really unique recruiting class just Colorado and General
had a ton of talent across the board and a

(10:36):
good handful of guys we all like committed the CSU.
And I want to say this might not be factual,
but let's just say it is okay, But it was
probably one of the better recruiting classes in state that
ever committed going to CSU.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
That wow, who else was in your class?

Speaker 1 (10:54):
So you had like Dwayne Ruffo Wood's in your class,
So it was couple Creek guys. You know, they didn't
really do all that like five star, recruit ten star
or whatever, but like a lot of us had a
ton of schools looking at us, and it was like whoa.
And I think that's you know, part of success with
college football is you want to get the best in

(11:14):
your state. You're obviously going to go out of state.
And we recruited really heavy in southern California, San Diego.
They picked up a lot of really good Juco guys.
And so that ninety seven class that CSU was awesome.
Now that was also so as I mentioned, they convinced
me like, hey, what kind of offense are we running?

(11:35):
But also you know, I started looking into more like
that ninety five CSU team. You know, when they went
down to Arizona and did you know. I watched that
game and I remember and it was kind of like, wow,
they might be onto something.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
So they set that foundation.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
But then when you look at like the years that
we had when I was there, it had so much
to do with what was built before. Even ninety three
they started like putting CSU.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
On the map a little bit.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Then ninety five was like, look, you know, we can
play football here and the right and then ninety seven
we had some plays and you.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Play as a true freshman, you score your first touchdown
in the Holiday Bowl, right.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yes, yeah, it was up in the air. My mentality
was I'm gonna play.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
I'm gonna be the best.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
You didn't want a red shirt, no, but you know you.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
Don't really think like you want to be on the field,
you know.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, And you know, looking back, like I don't regret
it because of what happened in the Holiday Bowl, But
really that season was kind of like should we red
shirt him?

Speaker 4 (12:31):
Should we not?

Speaker 1 (12:32):
I remember our first game in Boulder and they were like, hey,
you're playing today, be ready. And so I'm there with
my helmet on, you know, like looking around like this
is really happening, and then coach Hammersmith grabs me like
he's gonna give me a play to run into the quarterback,
and then he pushes me back, and then he brings
me back and he pushes me back, and then we
go into halftime into the locker room, he's like, okay, hey,

(12:52):
be ready, this is it. You know you're going in now,
And then same thing. So I think the coaches were
kind of like, I don't know if we want to
burn this red shirt. Yeah, I don't know. And then
he kept doing that thing whole game and I never
got in and then I don't think I played the
next game. And then somewhere like maybe halfway in the season,
they throw me in a game at Utah State. So
that was like my first time on the field and

(13:13):
I ran and like blocked for two plays. I got
my first catch against Hawaii, and then from there I
started getting thrown to. I think I got my first
start maybe that Whack Championship game that Okay, I might
have had one before that, but yeah, that one and
then and then the Holiday Bowl was like one of
the best days of my life. Oh yeah, kind of

(13:33):
opened it up, like.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Because that was what twenty one points in the second quarter,
right or second half, I mean, yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, you know, and it was against Missouri and it
was I don't think we had won the Holiday Bowl,
and you know, it was a big deal for the
school eleven seasons guys. And then you know, half the
team was from San Diego. Right with the bowl games,
especially those bigger ones, you go out maybe a week
before and you practice and then you go party a
little bit and hang out with people and then you

(14:00):
start like locking in. And I remember, and I was
fortunate to have some really good quarterbacks at CSU too.
Moses Moreno was our quarterback and he did good leading us.
I remember he knew like, yeah, I know a lot
of y'all live here and I do too, and yeah,
we're probably gonna go have some fun. But like those
last three days, it was like, all right, tell your
family you're not going to see him until after the game.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
You know, let's lock in and impressive not surprising though
for Moses, right, yeah, that was how he led.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, so yeah, that was a magical absolutely.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
And then nineteen ninety nine is the first time that
CSU beat CU in thirteen some years, and that was
that game at in Power Field. Well, old Mile High Stadium.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yes, Yeah, we've played the the old one, and I
think we're the first game in the new one too.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
The year after, Yes, in two thousand, Yeah, so two
wins in a row. What do you remember about those showdowns?
And we were just chatting. So those are the two
years I did sidelines for CSU football for the radio network.
I'm pregnant in ninety nine. That's the tear gas game
where I freak.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Out, wall got tears, did she?

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Oh? Man. I'm talking to Kevin McDougal after the game
and he said, my eyes just got huge as I
see the tear gas. And then two thousand I was
down there as well, and I mean those were just
some of the best games ever.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, And it was one of those things where like,
you know, we hadn't beaten them in so long, but
we knew we were gonna win because we were good,
and we got humbled in ninety eight, So you kind
of skipped over ninety eight, which to me was probably
one of the best CSU teams ever. I mean, you
got Argua at ninety seventeen, but that ninety eighteen you
you look at the guys that had successful NFL careers

(15:40):
that were on that very true that was we went,
yeah and we went to Michigan State and beat Michigan
State and East Lansing everybody's ranked and then see, you
just smacked us, and you.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
Know it was humbling. We got a little arrogant.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
I think we had some leadership issues, but I think
we built off of that into ninety nine.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
That's a good point to bring up because I think
you're right there.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah, ninety nine. I think for me it was
that was more of my receiving year, so I had like,
you know, punt return years and receiving years, right. I
think the one thing with us though, we were really
deep with receiver and running back too. You look at
like a cecil Sap at one point was like a
third string running back because we were so deep at
running back, which is crazy. Yeah, same thing with receiver.

(16:23):
I think the majority of us signed NFL contracts, and
so with that we had to share and so you
wouldn't have those thousand yard receiver you know years, right,
because it's like, okay, we could have anybody in throw
the ball, they're going to catch it, you know, so
I'd go catch a ball. Come out, Frank would go
catch a ball, come out. Pete would go catch a ball,

(16:46):
come out. That was just kind of you know, a
lot of rotation. Yeahah, And so if you got like
four or five catches, I was like, man, you got
a lot of catches today game. And now I look
at these guys and it's like he had twelve, you know.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
But and I think it kind of set the tone
for CS you know, because CSU started to become just
they called a receiver you because you'd have these star
receivers that started going there. And yeah, I mean they're
i'd like to think so, but I think more than anything,
we just like the talent that we had.

Speaker 4 (17:21):
It was so deep.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
So going into that CU game, it was like, yeah,
we knew. Back to your original question, what I remember,
I just remember those games were always you're going to
be really sore afterwards. Every play was a fight. Yeah,
it's a running play usually, you know, receivers and dbs
kind of find a way to take a playoff creatively.
It's like, hey they're running, I'm going to run here

(17:43):
and kind of like push you a little bit, you
push me.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
They call those business decisions.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah, you know, And just so when the coaches are
watching film that are like, Okay, yeah, you're doing what
you're supposed to do. But in reality, it's like, all.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Right, nobody's running here. I know you're tired.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
I'm tired.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
Let's just do this thing here, not that game. That game.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Like if there's a run play, you're running. And this
is back when you could do some things that you
can't do anymore, like hit people in the head and
cut them at their knees. So they would do that
to us, We do that to them, you know, a
little extracurricular. So every play was going to be some
form of a fight. But it was fun, you know,
you love it. And we knew half the guys and

(18:20):
right after the game we'd laugh. But like during it,
like it was like you at all, you don't like me. Yeah,
they were intense, but it was cool, you know. And
I have a memory just sticking out and Clark Haagan's
you know, and the rest of the peace. I think he
got a fumble or something. I think it was that
ninety nine game, but he recovered a fumble and then
he's like celebrating before he gets into the end zone

(18:42):
and people are on him. He's like at the five
and everybody's trying to tackle him and he has his
hand up in the air like yeah yeah, yeah, So man,
we had a good time. That was good.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
Yeah, we loved it.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
During your football career, which was obviously very successful with
your playing time, you were also into other activities. I mean,
obviously your school was very important, but a couple of things.
You were the chair of the CSU Athletic Advancement Committee,
You were a chair of the Mountain West Student Athlete
Advancement Committee, and you also represented the Mountain West at
the NCAA Leadership Conference.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Right yeah, so you just so.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
On top of being like one of the star players
with key positions, you're also doing these big things off
the field with leadership. And you did the same thing
in high school too. You learn leadership and four H
and all kinds of things in high school. How did
you balance all of that and also what kind of
drove you to be in those positions?

Speaker 4 (19:36):
So what drove me?

Speaker 1 (19:38):
So, my mom and my grandma were very big on
like you got to get involved in things, go out there,
and I don't know if it was their way of like, hey,
we got to keep him from getting in trouble, right, busy,
Go play football, go do this, do that, and different
times where like my grandma would be like, hey, I
want you to do like this four eights thing, Like
I don't want to do four eights. O don't No,

(19:58):
I don't have a cow Like what is this?

Speaker 3 (20:00):
When I saw that, I was like waits for.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
H Yeah, And so that was led to so many
different opportunities. So another thing, like in high school and
in college, I was on the national four AHE Council
of Board of Trustees, and that provided opportunities for me
to travel. Yeah, it's like Washington, d C. Stuff. Yeah,
like every we'd have two meetings a year in different cities.

(20:23):
On top of that, like I'm at a board table
with like a coke CEO here, the president of this university.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Here as a high schooler.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
As a high schooler.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Now, not because like I was some like genius, it
was the fact that I got involved there. Four H
was trying to figure out like how do we get
beyond this grassroots only rural community type of programming. How
can we reach out to different communities? And so they
saw value in what I could bring to the council

(20:54):
on like maybe providing some perspective of programming as they
reach out to different types of communities, and so our
board was a very diverse board of different minds and
brains from people all over the country's identities, backgrounds, everything.
So that was kind of my first Now I don't
know how much I can contribute it because like my
eyes were just wide open.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
Well what a great experience. The fact that you got
to experience that is incredible.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
And it was all because like, yeah, I just I
would say yes to everything, and I've kind of learned
to curb that a little bit. But like I don't regret,
Like when you look back at all the yeses that
I said, I don't really regret it. It's just you know, now,
like I don't have time, right. But yeah, So that again,
my mom my grandma really inspired me to get involved.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
You know.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
I started a program in high school which I kind
of modeled my first real job after we can get
into that when we start talking about the rocket stuff.
But that was how all of that started. And then
I was just like, Okay, oh yeah, I got to
get involved in something. I got to do this. And
I never wanted athletics to be my soul identity or

(21:58):
identity at all really. I mean I loved playing. I
was never a big like spectator sport watcher, like outside
of my kids, I don't watch a ton of sports,
but I love playing. But I was always like I
want to be like not just that. Now that it's gone,
I kind of like want to bring some of that back.
But so that was the other part too, is it's like, no,

(22:21):
I'm going to use this platform that I have now
if I can go tell this kid, like, hey man,
them drugs are bad, like stay away from them, and
that helps compliment what his mom taught him. Like it
was like okay, yeah, let me do that. Then, so
you're doing all.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
This and then also getting your degree in animal science
and zoology, so you're and that's a hands on type
of degree as well, right where you've got to go
do things out in the field with animals sometimes.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Right. So it started as zoology. Okay, and this is
you know again seventeen year old mind. I like it house, yeah,
but in my mind, I'm going to play football the
rest of my life, right, so I'm going to go
start that. I'm like something that I just kind of like,
I'm not thinking job, it's just you know, I had
this hobby of reptiles and multiple animals. I had all

(23:10):
kinds of stuff that was kind of like my identity.
It was like my little nerdy animal science kind of person.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
But so I the advisor asked me, is like.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
So what do you want to do? I don't know,
like I want to open a zoo, you know, like okay, zoology.
So then it was zoology and then, you know, it
was a really difficult major. I'm halfway through and I
realized I enterned at the Denver Zoo for like a
summer or something, and it's like, I really like these animals.

(23:38):
I don't like what these animals do after they eat
because then somebody got to clean that up. Yeah, And
so it's this guy like, so I don't know if
that's the path, and I'm already halfway through. What should
I do?

Speaker 4 (23:51):
I met with this other advisor. She said, hey, you.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Know, if you ever do want to work in the
animal space, you can major in animal science. The path
for what you're saying you want to do, animal science
could cover that too, And it was a lot easier,
like you didn't have to take some of the hard
science classes that you do with zoology, so I had
enough for a minor in zoology, so then that's when

(24:14):
I went to animal science, majored in it. Never did
anything with either of those, So that's always been a
big message of mine, is like, look, the experience that
you're getting is going to be more important. But that degree,
that piece of paper, does help.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
But you're not necessarily glued to it.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
Right.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
It's nice to say you have a degree. What it
says on the degree, not necessarily what you're going to
be doing in life.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, and I know because you were a communication well right, yes,
that served you.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, one of the few that ended up doing you know, communications.
But a lot of people in my degree they're in
sales there. I mean, there's so many different places you
can go with those kinds of degrees, but you have
to have a lot of patience to gut it out
in this industry. So it's like anything. So, okay, So
after you're done with CSU, you graduate in two thousand
and one, and you said cup of coffee with the Steelers, Yes,

(25:02):
you sign on as a free agent. What happens there?

Speaker 1 (25:04):
So, and I'll back up just a little bit, because
my body was like going downhill, like even I would say,
like my senior in high school, I think is when
it started. I remember I pulled my hamstring. It was
like a state qualifying track meet. I was the anchor leg.
We were way ahead and I was just coasting in
and then it was like sniper boom, you know, and

(25:26):
the hamstring rolling on the track. I'd never experienced that before.
Fast forward my senior year, so it should have been
two thousand. I was feeling great, like I had a
great year before that, you know, great sophomore, junior year.
Now I'll say this. You know, draft boards mean something
and sometimes they don't, as you know, and you know,

(25:47):
I was on people's draft boards. My phone was ringing
off the hook from agents and financial advisors, people thinking
that I was going to make money one day. Everything
was going great. So I get into my senior year
two a day's feeling stronger, faster than I ever have.
And then there was this really stupid play. Two a

(26:08):
days was wrapping up. It was like a one on
one drill. We didn't have pads on, but they wanted
to give like the safeties a look, and so I
beat the corner the balls in the air, and then
our safety comes in like his knee hits my hip.
It was like a really really deep hip point. It
was really stupid. It should have never happened. But either way,

(26:32):
fast forward, so I'm not practicing for a while, and
then we played CU and then I, you know, they
shot it up with something that make it feel good.
And then I played that game and then sat out
another couple games, and then we played Arizona State shot
it up, and then after that I was feeling pretty good,
went out to practice and then tore, like my hamstring
went oh. And then so that's when it was like, okay,

(26:54):
let's red shirt because then you could do a medical
red shirt as long as you didn't.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
Play a certain amount.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, so red sha to go into two thousand. Two
thousand and one, not the greatest year. I ended up
getting shoulder surgery. So again, Bodi's falling apart. Nobody's calling anymore.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
I had won.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
My one agent that I ended up signing with stuck
with me, but everybody else stopped calling.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
They're like, oh, yeah, you're.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Not gonna make any money, Yeah, you're damage. Yeah, but yeah,
the Steelers had been watching, you know. I remember there
was a scout that come watch me. And tragedy kind
of struck again because I was trying to get into
the Combine and I'm working out with the group that
my agent, the players you know, work out with, and
you know, we wanted to play.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
Basketball after we work out.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Oh no, And like stupid me, two weeks before the Combine,
I'd jump up and like sprained my ankle bad, and
it was just God saying like, hey man, this this
probably ain't it, but I'm still trying. So either way,
the Steelers call right after the draft and signed me,
and it was just like, oh wow, okay, it's happening.
So I'm in Pittsburgh, back and forth, Mini camp, rookie camp,

(27:54):
and then OTA's all of that fun stuff. It was
an awesome experience.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
You know.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
It was like once you're there, like you're there, Yeah,
I'm in the huddle. I remember. I have a memory
of like I looked to my left and it's Jerome
Bettis and then Cordell's calling the play and then Hines
Ward's right there and then it's like me and I
run out there and you know, this is like happening.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
It's like being in that boardroom all over again, but
with football players.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah, yeah, and I mean, you know, in Hall of Famers,
it was. Yeah, it was a great experience. And then
we're at uh in training camp Theatroll, Pennsylvania. I'm doing
well and then uh it was another stupid drill. See
I get hurt over stupid things. Yeah, not in games,
but no, yeah, like it's always something real small s. Right.

(28:39):
It was just a drill where it's like punt coverage,
like somebody punts, you run down, you break down, you
don't tackle anybody.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
You just kind of show where you would be.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
And I did that and then like the hamstring and
then I'll hamstring. They plague you forever, right, like especially
once you do it. So either way, I'm still optimistic.
You know. It's like, oh, yeah, I'm here and I'm
doing good and I think they like me. And I
remember two of the vets, so Hines Ward he was like, hey, man,
take your time, just make sure you're ready before you

(29:11):
come out here, because they're gonna cut you. I was like,
what na, na, I'm a work hard you know. And
then Charlie Batch came over to me and another day
and I'm like, out there, you can just eyes ready
to go, just doing rehab and he's like, hey, don't
rush it, because you know what they're gonna do is
they're gonna get you better and then they're gonna cut you.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
No, no, they haven't seen me yet. I ain't even
kind of punt yet.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
I don't know what I can do. No, no, no.
And then you know, there was just a random day.
I remember I was taking a nap before workout and
then you get the knock on the door of the
GM's like, hey, yeah, you're on a plane here in.

Speaker 4 (29:46):
Not about about two hours.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
So I'm gonna need that big old playbook that you have.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
And we'll see you.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
And then so I'm on a plane and just like
still not quite processing, Like is that it?

Speaker 3 (29:59):
Like Wow?

Speaker 1 (30:00):
They ended up signing me again after the season, And
I think this is probably the more common NFL story
that's out there. Absolutely, Like granted, like the fun, sexy ones,
you know, the guys that go do great.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
But and Tom Brady's are few and far between.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, but there's probably more people like me that are
out there that are like, oh, yeah, I got cut.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Got to experience it, and then I was doing it was.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Like here it is.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
Never mind.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
But I did sign with them again. After the season
because they don't want to pay you that that season money.
It's like the off season money is not as much.
Then I got cut again before the next season started.
That was pretty much it. I I jabbled, they cut
me right before the second one, okay, because it had
something to do with a tight end that they were
bringing in from like numbers team. And yeah, so I

(30:50):
never did practice squad, and you know, I usually with
practice squad they're going to bring in people that can
kind of mimic some of the other teams. I was
very undersized. I was fast, but I wasn't like, you know,
world class speed. Sure, So yeah, that was it. That's
that's how that whole thing went down. And then you
made a few paychecks with them. Yeah, but I mean

(31:12):
off season paychecks. Off season I was in another tax
bracket for like a minute, and then the IRS was like, okay,
you have it back.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
We feel bad.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
So here you go, Oh my gosh. So then that's so,
now what year are we at. We're kind of in
like an O so that's like three, okay, And so
then you kind of dabble around and do a lot.
You're with you're on the Orange Bowl committee, you do
NBA All Star Game here in Denver, You're involved with
the two thousand and seven World Series. By then you're
with the Rockies, but you kind of start getting into

(31:45):
committees and planning and back in the sports arena. What
led you into that?

Speaker 1 (31:49):
That's a great question because kind of like how I
was not going to go to CSU, I was never
going to work in sports.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
How'd that work out for it?

Speaker 1 (31:58):
Because yeah, and partially, like you know, when you're on
the other side, you kind of see some of the
business behind it, and you realize, like, I'm a business piece,
I'm a liability, I'm an asset on this and that,
and there, you know, I was a little bitter for
a minute. And again this is probably a more common
story out there, Like yeah, there was some bitterness and
and still immaturity on my part. But once it was gone,

(32:23):
there was just this hole, you know, and I was
just doing random things, just try to pay bills because
we thought we're going to have all this money, so like, hey,
let's go move into this downtown place. And I started,
I didn't buy, but still like, and I guess I
can't really complain about what rent was like back then either, but.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
It was different times.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, but I started to get into mortgages. But then
I saw all the like crazy corrupt stuff going on
around that, and then I got out right before that
crash because I just it was like this isn't right, like.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
This they were given loans to anybody.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
That had just so they can like take it back. Yeah,
and it's like okay, thanks for that house. But anyway,
so yeah, I was just kind of at this lost
place where like what do I do?

Speaker 3 (33:11):
I need a job, and are you married to Brandy
by now?

Speaker 1 (33:13):
So right when I got cut the last time, you know,
I closed the door. It was like football's done. And
then I proposed and then we got married like six
months later.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
Okay, So and you met her in college, So she's
in college.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
She's not a CSU. We met at CSU.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
At a sorority party, right it was, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
It was an AKA party at the student center, and
she was with her friend. I was with my friends.
I remember I wasn't going to go out that night
because I had We played in Nevada that day and
somebody cheap shot at me on a punt return and
I felt like my ribs were broken, and so I
was like, no, I'm not going, and then I think
Dwayne and Thal drug me out and yeah you have

(33:52):
them think yeah, I remember the first time I seen her,
I kind of did the you know, the what's up
and she looked at me like I was crazy. I
was like, oh, that might be the one she gave.
This is a true story too. And then later on
like we kind of saw each other. And then I
asked my roommate because he knew her, and I was like, hey,
so three kids.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
Later, here we are right in a couple of decades. Yeah, yeah,
that's great. I love that. But so you are married
though now now you're trying to find a job.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
And missing sports. Something's missing. And I was like I
had a mentor of mine, Carolyn Henry, from the Mount
West Conference. They'd host the March Madness basketball tournament sometimes
here in Denver. She asked if I wanted to just
help her out, you know, and I was like, sure,
I'll help you out. And we'd like check in the
band or the cheerleaders or the teams. They come in

(34:42):
and I give them their passes whatever. And I was
like I kind of like the environments. Yea, you know,
there's still something with that sports brings the energy, the
hope and people the team, and so I started exploring
some things. I was like, maybe I need to go
to school. And I remember there was a school in
Florida that had like a dual NBA doctorate. I forgot

(35:04):
what it was, but some kind of sports program. And
I was talking with one of their ads about it
and she's like, yeah, here's all the information. You just
go take the gre and then yeah, well we'll get
you in there. So I go take the gr standardized
tests again, are not my thing? I get my grade back, said,
never mind not doing that, going not going back to school. Yeah,

(35:28):
I mean I was smart, it's just when it came
to like the tests. Oh yeah, my attention span.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
You know there's a butterfly. Hold on, wait a minute,
what is that?

Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (35:36):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah yeah, thirty minutes later and I'm still right here.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
And you went to school before you could do five
or fours and have extra time and all the things
that you probably needed back then. Yes, yeah, yeah, So
you didn't go back.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
To didn't go back to school, but then I started.
But I still was like, there's maybe an internship or
maybe something. And then that's where the Orange Bowl thing
came in. It was more like an assistant ship position,
so I guess a paid internship, but a lot of
great experience there.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
Yeah, in South Florida.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
You know, it wasn't just football that they do a
whole lot of different things within the sports community. And
then I saw the NBA had the All Star Game
in Denver. I applied for a position. It was like
a temporary position.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
Did that.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
I'm pretty sure I saw you at that too, because
I used to like see you at so many houses everywhere.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Yeah, I tell you, I was trying to just get
out there.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
He did a great job of it.

Speaker 4 (36:27):
You know.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
I had gotten some advice and it was like, hey,
if you're looking for a job, one, you got to
get out there too. You gotta like let people know
that you're looking. And that's kind of what led me
to where I'm at now. Around that time is and
you know, Terry Nugent CSU quarterback back in the day,
so I'd kind of had known Terry. I'd see him,

(36:48):
you know, he'd be on the sideline sometimes at games.
But I saw him at Pete's wedding and he was like, yeah,
so what are you up to?

Speaker 4 (36:55):
And that, you know.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
I was like, oh, I gotta I gotta tell him.
And so I was like, yeah, you know, I just
out there looking and trying to be casual about it,
but I'm like kind of desperate. At this point. He's like, well,
you know, I know a guy with the Rockies and
maybe said a little informational interview. Know that guy was

(37:16):
our current president. Oh okay, Greg Feesil. Yeah, I had
an informational interview with him. But at the time, I
was still I didn't really know what I wanted to do.
Because you have a lot of especially when we talked
to a lot of youth and people are like, I
want to work in sports. It's like, Okay, what do
you want to do. Do you want to be an accountant?
Do you want to be an agent? Do you want

(37:39):
to work in marketing? Do you want to like we
hire plumbers? Do you want to paint? You know, like,
what do you want to do? And you want to
work in sports? What does that really mean? I didn't know,
but I did know like I had like a heart
and passion for community, a community outreach, because that's that's
what I was doing in high school. Oh yeah, and
then in college was you know, just trying to set

(38:01):
up these programs. And then so I remember telling him like, hey, yeah,
this is what I'm interested in, and you know, it's like, well,
we don't have any position, but you know, we'll think
about you. Fast forward, got a call from from Jim
Jim Clog and he's like, hey, we have a part
time position now. At the same time, I'm like, I'm
not a baseball guy. I mean, I played baseball, loved it.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
Probably should have stuck with it instead of track. Maybe
I wouldn't have pulled my hamstring.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
But I still wasn't like, yeah, I want to go
work in baseball. But there was a part time position.
So I was kind of hesitant to take it because
I didn't want to just be like, hey, I'm gonna
take this part time position, but I needed a full
time position benefits, I needed all that stuff, and I
don't want to take this position and then just leave
tomorrow because I you know, I'm gonna need to. And
then they were great, you know, worked with me, and

(38:49):
then fast forward.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
You know how long before you became full time?

Speaker 4 (38:52):
It was probably like four or five months.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
Oh, not very long at all.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Okay, threw it up.

Speaker 4 (38:57):
You tore it up.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
I worked at it.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
Let me guess, while you were there with that part
time job, you probably let it be known that you'd
like it to be a full time job.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Oh yeah, Well, and they knew I was looking to.
I won't name names, but there were other places that
were in the mix, I'm sure, and I don't know
if that had anything to do with me getting full time.
What I do know is that Kelly McGregor did call Sonny,
and Sonny didn't say anything bad because then they were like, hey,
you know, we seem.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
Like you're an okay guy. Yeah, all right, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
I mean, there's a full time gigs, a.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Lot of CSU ties, especially when Kelly was there before
he passed with the program, and then you know in
Feasles his good friend, and so there's it was really
cool to see you there and then know that there's
kind of that ram connection with everybody. So you start
as director of Comunity Affairs, right, that's.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
It was like a coordinator position. And then my first
job was to create like a school program, and that's
the program I modeled after what I did in college.
So I used to again, I was an animal nerd guy,
I used to take my animals to like a middle
school and do an assembly, and somehow there's really no tie,

(40:13):
but somehow I tied in, like, hey, don't do drugs.
Here's a snake. I was just trying to figure out.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
I don't know, like, yeah, and I have animals and
drugs are really bad.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
So do you want to hold this? Yeah? I bet
you've never held the python before. Here's this, and here's this.
This is an iguana. Yeah, remember like, yeah, your lungs.
You don't want to smoke because you need those.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
Oh so did you have all those animals up at
c s U?

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Again, I thank my mama. I did have like I
brought a couple of things in the dorms. But like
I remember the first time Frandy went into my dorm,
I think I had like a scorpion and she kind
of gave me this look like what the what's going
on here? And I had like a maybe trancelor too.
I had a bunch of things, but most of them

(41:12):
were at my house, so my mom would take care
of them.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
So what did you have at your house that you
would then take to assemblies?

Speaker 1 (41:18):
So I had a couple of big iguanas at that point,
I probably had two like larger like boa python. I
had like five translas. I had like a Samanna monitor
it's a big lizard. And then I ended up getting
a whole lot.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
More after that, but I still have a lot of animals.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
No, I replaced those with kids.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Okay, yeah maybe one day.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
Just as expensive and they talk.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Yes, and they cost a lot. I thought the animals
were expensive. Yeah, that was essentially the program. It was
much better though, Like yeah, I don't think I would
have got a full time position if I.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Tried to figure out how to I was just put
snakes drugs.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Like how do we do this?

Speaker 3 (42:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (42:02):
I don't know, and a lot of those messages I used,
and one of the program that I created with my
first position with the Rockies just more so like my
life life experiences, you know. I was just trying to
figure out like just tying, you know, like what is
that attention grabbers? Like is it a snake? Because or yeah,
it's the football player thing. It's like, ah, well that's

(42:24):
not going to last forever, so like what is the
thing going to be? And then with the program with
the Rockies, it was like how do we leverage our
platform and our community, our players, because our players, you know,
had messages that they'd want to send, and it was
a great way to like blend that and combine that
with what teachers are doing. And so I got with
schools and educators to see, like what kind of messaging

(42:46):
is it that that you're saying. But like you know, again,
if if one of our players.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
We can, how does that help you?

Speaker 1 (42:53):
And cool?

Speaker 4 (42:55):
That's the first program.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
That's pretty amazing. And then now you've and you've been
there so long. Now now you've morphed into another position,
more on the HR side, and then really delving into
something you're very passionate about with your it's DEI and
recruitment and just the diversity. I read something that where
you had said when I grew up, I didn't know
that I'd be able to go wear a tie to
work someday, Like you just didn't you, Like you said,

(43:18):
you were the young black kid that was playing soccer
and people made fun of you, and you didn't really
think that, like, hey, I can go on and be
very successful.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yeah, and being mixed. You know, my mom's white, but
she did a really good job like kind of bringing
in the black side too, and CSU had a lot
of to do with that too, the programming that like
Black Student Services and it's now the Black African American
Cultural Center and some of their cultural programs there. As
a kid, they would do programming that like I would

(43:47):
participate in, Oh that's cool. And then you know, I
had family in Chicago I'd see, so there was like
the black was still coming. You know, we didn't have
beet in four Collins. We didn't have you know, Instagram,
so I couldn't you know, so it was you know,
it was a.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
You know, there were a lot of others like you
out there, no.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
And the only ones that I would see were athletes.
That's why it was this assembly program that I mentioned
why it was so important for me to like go
there as a non athlete for kids to see me.
It's funny though, because at the same time, it's like
I still kind of fit into that stereotype because it
was sports. But that was also what gave me opportunity.

(44:26):
I have a memory of I had some issues with
people when I was younger. It's better now although some
things are taking a turn, but for me personally, like
some of the things that happened to me with regards
to how I looked. You know, it was very impactful.
I have a memory of like wanting to join like

(44:46):
the science club. I forgot what they called it back then,
but you had to essentially just say you're interested, and
then the teacher picks whomever they think should be in
a science club. And I didn't get picked. I didn't
think i'd be a good fit for it, but the
pe teacher loved me. Okay, so that's what it's going
to be. That's where I started in middle school, when
like it was like, oh, yeah, you're a good athlete.

(45:08):
That's where I started feeling more like I fit in.
Now it's like, oh, okay, now I can be in
these circles because they like how I do this, and
so it was always important for me. And yeah, to
that point, Like I remember we'd have guest speakers come in,
you know, maybe somebody in my class's dad who's a
banker or this and that, but like never anyone that

(45:30):
I sat there and I was like, oh, I could
be like them, just because you know, I didn't see representation, right.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
They were all white people. They came up and talked.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah, and so I legitimately didn't see a black person
wear a tie and I hate ties. I don't wear
them as I try to avoid wearing them anyway. But
it was more of like what the tie represented. It
was like, well, you could be a business person, you
don't have to be an athlete. And I think that's
a trap that you know still exists in communities today.

(45:58):
Is you know, when we lack representation, you're you're missing
out on a huge talent pool also, And so yeah,
I like my work now as the director of HR
and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I've been so fortunate within sports.
You know, I mentioned soccer. I was able to travel
the world when I was younger. Again being mixed, I

(46:19):
have like the black and white and you know, my
wife's Hispanic and so we throw that in there. And
I've traveled, you know, all over and so I've had
a lot of experience, you know, sports. I think one
of the reasons why we love sports is because who
it brings together. Yes, you could pick the sport, you know,
even for me at CSU, it's like Fort Collins, kid
kid from LA and kid from Texas and we all

(46:45):
come together as a team.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Yes, and are like such different backgrounds.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
Different backgrounds, perspectives, skill sets, everything to create an unbelievable product, right,
And I think sports is a really good metaphor for
the importance of of work.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
That DEI does.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
Is you know, you would never expect a professional team
to be competitive if we just gathered up some of
the guys around the block, or if you know, if
you're playing baseball and like, you know what, let's go
get a bunch of right handed, fastball throwing guys and
be great. You know, like you got to get out
there and you got to expand your networks. You gotta

(47:24):
use different skill sets for different situations and different minds
and and so that's kind of the mentality and attitude
that I bring into the work that I do because
I know what exists out there, and I know, you know,
there are barriers and and there's right ways and wrong
ways to do everything. And you know, as DEI has
come under fire, it's typically yes. And if you really

(47:50):
look at that acronym, I don't know if anybody would
really have a problem with what those words are. It's
typically ignorance or unpeople are uneducated on what that really is.
You know, it's never been about let's take someone unqualified
over somebody qualified. It's sometimes it's defining what is qualified mean,

(48:11):
because I feel like there's times in our professional lives
where like, well, let's make an exception on that qualification
because we know this person or this person here makes
me feel pretty good. I'd like to be around them,
I'd like to go to happy hour with them later.
Like that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be
the best. And so that's the work. Part of the
work that I do and will continue to do, is overall,

(48:34):
like you want to win. You want to win whatever
that win is for you. And you know, in business,
I'm just going to speak for myself now, but I believe, Yeah,
I like diversity, and there's studies that show this add
to success. The more diverse certain organizations are, the more
success they tend to find, they tend to make more money.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
You know.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
So there's moral cases for DEI, there's business cases, you know.
And so yeah, I'm going to all.

Speaker 3 (48:59):
Keep what you're doing.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
You know, love, love's a strong words.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
You are passionate about doing what you're doing.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
I'm passionate about I just know there's there's great people
out there from from everywhere, from various backgrounds, and there's
a lot of things that happen that aren't fair. You know,
I don't have the key that like switches and fixes
it all. I don't know if I have the answer,
but I will die sticking up for people that are

(49:27):
underrepresented or disenfranchised because you know, I believe in right
and wrong and I think, you know, when we look
at I'm a man of faith and something we say
at our church a lot, because I'm fortunate to go
to a very multicultural church, which you don't see, you know,
from generations to backgrounds, like everybody's there, and that's what

(49:48):
heaven is going to be like, you know. Oh yeah,
and so this is like a dress rehearsal for you
later on.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
Yeah, I'm here for it.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
I love it all right. Family wise, we'll do that
real fast. And Brandy have three girls that are just
phenomenal athletes. You go one at Drake playing softball, yes,
and then you got basketball and soccer players as well. Yeah,
Divide and conquerors.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
My oldest, she's the softball player, and then Sala's my
she's a sophomore, she's the soccer basketball player.

Speaker 4 (50:21):
And then Learraa's my youngest.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
She's a basketball softball player, so wow, yeah, we're that's
our life and I love it. Like we're busy where
every day, every weekend, we're driving somewhere, flying somewhere, but I'm.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
Here for it.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
What's crazy is now I'm at that point where like
this is not going to last much longer. I complain
internally about like how are we paying.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
For all this?

Speaker 3 (50:45):
And like and the schedule.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
I'd like to buy some new shoes at some point.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
But that aren't female sized for me.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Yeah, Or I would like to go on a vacation
like and do nothing, not like oh yeah, let's make
this showcase or this tournament like somewhat of a vacation.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
But I know like that that, and I know you
have two older.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
Yeah you're yeah, twenty five and twenty two, and they're
just done.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Yeah yeahhind you. I've learned to just embrace those phases
because good, you know, it was like, oh, I can't
wait till she's done with diapers and we don't have
to buy diapers anymore. And then now it's like how
much is our car insurance? Now? Wait a minute, but no,
I love I'm very proud of them and more than
anything I mentioned before, like I didn't want this like

(51:33):
athlete kind of identity, and then it was gone and
it was kind of like, well that was like identify
It's a huge part of who I am and who
I was, but I didn't ever like really want to
like talk about football or anything. And now it's kind
of like, oh shoot, I got to show my kids
like what they got in them. Oh yeah, like hey,
that's your dad, Like that's you, Like you can you

(51:56):
can come on. So I've kind of spoke about it
a little more. Might show a little video here and
they're like, hey, yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
That's if you find your highlights on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Somebody sent me that was the Utah game on YouTube.
Oh good, yeah, and that was probably one of my
best games. And I tried to show my kids. They
didn't seem too interesting.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
But because you're just dad, it needs to come from
somebody else, I.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Know, to pay people to tell your kids things that
you could.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Tell them, right, I know, and then they'll listen. It's ridiculous, yeah,
because I'm like, I've been telling you that for a year,
but then somebody else tells you and then you actually
believe it and do it whatever. All right, Fine, all right, Dallas,
we're going to wrap this up. Question I end with
with all the guests is, and you have great experience
with this throughout your community outreach and everything. When people

(52:44):
are going through the struggles, trying to figure out what's next,
what's the next job? Falling down? What do you tell.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
Them fall forward? You know, failure is really just a
learning opportunity. There's a verse in the Book of James
that talks about rejoicing when you face transgressions and if
you see it through, there's maturity at the end. And
I think that that's kind of how I try to live,

(53:09):
how I try to parent, is like, hey, you have
to like go out there and mess up. What you
don't want to do is like not try because you're
scared to mess up, and so just fail forward. I
love it.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
This was great, so good.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
Thank you. And you are so talented at what you do.
You know, you you make these settings so so inbiting
and comfortable. And you know, I saw you work last
week at the Scouting Breakfast as an MC. Yes, and
you're you know, you're just such a talent within the
communication world.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
I know you've.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Done a whole lot and congrats on on the on
the real estate. I know you're you're doing awesome there too.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
So it's been fun, and it's been really fun this project.
It's a labor of love. But just to reconnect with
so many people that I've known for decades, I know,
it's weird, like twenty five years.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
My wife said than that me the other day, she said,
we grew up together. Like, what are you talking about it?
I met you did?

Speaker 3 (54:14):
WHOA, Yeah, I know. No, same with my husband and
we met after CSU. But still we're you know, twenty
we met in ninety four, so I'm twenty four, he's
twenty nine then, And like, so really you did? You
grew up with them, which is cool, but then you
still have all these great experiences and you know what
I love. I love the story about how you're at
Pete's wedding and you run into Terry NuGen and then

(54:36):
how connected we all are and how things can be
a very small world and really advance people. It's so
important to stay connected.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
It is, and sometimes there's temptations and I fight this
a lot too, where it's like I don't want to
talk to anybody. I'm sick of everybody, right and it's
like you got it. There's so much, so many good
people out there.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
Sometimes you got to dig.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Hey, if you hadn't gone to the party at Sea Issue,
you wouldn't know Brandy, If you hadn't gone to Pete's wedding,
you wouldn't have this job that you've had. Yeah, right,
I mean there's two things right there. We probably had
a thought.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Of, like, you know what, and if I wouldn't have
gotten cut, none of that would have happened. And so
I'm falling forward, Susie, fall.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
Forward, Dallas. All right, Hey, thank you for the time.
I appreciate it, right, thank you, Thank you, Dallas. New
episodes Have Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired are released on Tuesdays.
Please follow, download, rate, and review this podcast wherever you
listen to podcasts. You can also follow podcast updates and
new releases on Twitter and Instagram at CTFR podcast, and

(55:36):
visit the website at ctfrpodcast dot com for easy links
to other episodes. I'm your host, Susie Warton. To find
out more about me, visit Susie Worton dot com. Thanks
for listening, and until next time, please be careful, be
safe and be kind. Take care