July 11, 2025 • 23 mins
For Shop Talk, Coach Bill reflects on the extraordinary life of Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx who recently passed away.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Everybody. It's spill Courtney with an army in normal folks.
Welcome to shop, talk number sixty. Welcome into the shop,
Alex at.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Age sixty, are we eligible free AARP?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Is it sixty or today?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
They might have even loured it's a fifty five now
these days. I don't know anyway, I'm just filling space.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Keep going sixty. But I'm trying to think of a
sixty that matters. I can't think of a sixty. The batters.
I'm sure you'll google somethinghere. I'm talking. How you doing.
You just got back from Florida or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Right, Yeah, kind of half vacation, half of the kids.
My parents lived there, so yeah, and they'll make it
sound too fancy.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And then went up to New York with I saw
your brother with your two oldest.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah that was great. Actually this is kind of cool.
My weird reflections from the trip. So we biked around
Central Park.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Did you like run a bike? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, yeah. But we're going on the Upper West Side
and I noticed at one point there's like one hundred
people there doing it with us, just like complete strangers.
And my kids were having They're only ten and eleven,
So if you was actually like super afraid of it
because it's like you have all these like professional writers,
like like right, and you're on Rento bikes. Yeah, you're
(01:15):
going like down these big hills. Uh, But it just
felt so cool doing that with this communist strangers. Then
similarly at Cat's Deli, which is like the best place
to eat in New York for twenty bucks, and you're
just enjoying this like pistromi sandwich, like a few hundred
strangers and everybody's just like loving themselves and I don't know,
they're just full simple things. But like having a shared
(01:38):
experience with a bunch of strangers, it was really cool.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And in the biggest city in our country, that's very
very cool. Yeah, that's not about I'm glad your daughter's
got to experience. That's pretty cool, all right, everybody, Shop
Talk number sixty when we get back from the break,
it's gonna be about somebody who took an interest in
me and what an idiot? Huh?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What an idiot?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah? What an idiot? He took an interest in me
and he passed away recently. And I want to share
with you guys in shop talk since we're just sitting
around the shop. Some of my perspectives of a man
who's changed the world, who I got to become friends with.
Right after these brief messages from our general sponsors, everybody
(02:37):
but Courtney welcome back. Shop Talk number sixty. Saturday, June
twenty first, Fred Smith passed away. I think it was
eighty one, eighty eighty yeah, And I guess the only
good thing about it is, according to I've spoken to
(02:59):
some of his family, was quick. Fred Smith is the
founder of FedEx. Fred Smith was a devoted father, husband,
chief executive officer and founder of a company that has
(03:20):
changed the way the world does business. He was a marine,
he loved football, and most important to people around my parts,
he's probably the most important Memphian ever ever ever be
in our city. And you know, for those outside of Memphis,
(03:43):
you may not know that. Clarence Saunders, the man who
invented the modern supermarket. It was called Pickley Wiggley, but
Kroger and the way everybody shops nowa days, that was
actually started here in Memphis. AutoZone, the company that revolutionized
the way do it yourself is get auto parts, bit
(04:05):
high that was started here in Memphis. Termin X terminites
all that started here in Memphis. The way we travel
was completely changed by Mmins Wilson started here in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Holiday Inn.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
What did I say?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You just didn't say.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
It, Holiday Inn, right, the founder of Holiday Inn, which
now the Marriotte, the Hilton, the Hampton in pretty much
the way everybody travels now was revolutionized by this idea
of the Holiday Inn that was started here in Memphis.
So I could go on and on, but AI coming up,
XI coming up. That's in Memphis. I could go on
(04:45):
and on and on about there's something in the water
around Memphis about entrepreneurism and startup companies that have become
household names, and we Memphians are proud of that, but
none reaches the pinnacle that Fred Smith and FedEx have
(05:06):
reached in terms of not only its meager beginnings, but
what it has meant to our city, the state, and
the world and the way we do business. When I
got to meet mister Smith, it was simply because he's
a huge football fan, and Mike Ray, my very close buddy,
(05:31):
who was the offensive line coach, had Oc Brown living
with him to help him get tutored for his act
so he could qualify to get a scholarship for football
and sixty Minutes actually to do a segment on it.
And I remember Robin Roberts sitting in Mike's living room
talking to Mike and OC and thinking, how surreal is this.
(05:55):
We're just coaching football and sixty Minutes is down here
talking about this is long before Undefeated or the movie
or any of that. And Mike worked for FedEx. He
was a salesperson for custom Critical Division, and out of
the blue, one day, Mike gets an email from his
boss that says, hey, Fred Smith wants to have lunch
(06:15):
with you. And of course Mike's first response was, you know, whatever,
screw you get out of here, because he thought it
was a joke.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I mean, you know, and for context, we should have
said this earlier at the employee five hundred thousand people. Yeah,
which is an amazing contribution to the world. But also
why you think it would be a joke.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, that's right. And then the guy said, no, I'm serious.
Fred wants to have lunch with you and wants to
have lunch with your buddy Bill. So we went to
lunch with Fred, which was you know, I mean, how
often do you get to have lunch with one of
the more powerful CFOs CEOs in the world. So it
was just an honor. And actually he took our numbers
(06:56):
and he kept in touch with me. And when I
wrote my book Against the Grain, there's a chapter that
has a lot to do with the perspectives and lessons
that I've learned from him, and he would agreed. He
rarely did interviews, and he agreed to be interviewed, and
I spent hours with him on that. And that's really
(07:16):
what I'm talking is, I want to share with you
guys three things that I learned from the late great
Fred Smith. I can't believe I'm actually I'm starting to
tear up a little bit thinking about it, because here's
this powerful guy. I mean, he was asked by three
different presidents to serve as Secretary of Defense, one Democrat
(07:41):
and two Republicans. This is a powerful man who took
time to care about me and other people in our community.
Just an incredible man. But the first thing that I
learned from him is he hates the story that he
(08:05):
failed that he got an f on his He wrote
a paper about fed X as an idea before he
started it in the in the world out there, says
there's this there's this folklore story that fed X was
started off of a term paper. He wrote that he
(08:28):
was failed in he was not failed. He got to
be minus. But it is true that his uh, his
professor thought his idea was stupid, but he did not fail.
He also hates the folk little story that at one
time they flew a fed ex plain to Vegas and
wagered all the money they have left to make payroll.
(08:49):
He said, that is a fabrication and a complete lie.
He said, I did, however, like to go to Vegas
and play black jack, but he never dambled the company
on it. And if you knew him better, you would
understand why that story doesn't even fit the persona because
the man is unbelievably detailed on organized, detailed and plans.
(09:16):
He would never have wagered anything that mattered on a
real that wheel. So one the first thing I want
to share with you guys is unfortunately a lot of
those pop culture stories out there are rooted in some
little fact but have manifested themselves over time into stories
that are patently false.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Did you know that I've heard pushback, but I was wondering, Yeah,
what the truth is or not?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Well? I just told you what the truth was, and
I'm not getting this from a second an source. The
man sat across from me at Gruzzani's on one of
our many lunches eating pasta, bitching about how much he
hated those stories.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Wonder story I heard, I wonder if it's true. Is
like they were. I think they were struggling though.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Oh I struggled early.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, and they had they had They had two or.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Three calls from shareholders that had they not stepped up,
they may not have made it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And I think early on I did hear a story
that like some of the drivers were even paying their
own gas out of their own pocket.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That is absolutely but they.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Also tells you how much they actually believe in the company.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
He traded stock options, he gave some people stop for
doing that. That is that is absolutely true. All right,
So that's one lots of falsehoods out there, but the
reality is those things. So now you know some inside
scoop number two. He did not start fed X to
(10:37):
move packages. That's one that everybody goes. Really, here's what happened. Oh,
it's computer parts, that's exactly right. Back in the late sixties,
the the used to be that banks had floors and
floors of human clerks entering, entering check and subtracting money
(11:01):
from accounts and keeping up with it just very I
mean behind right, files and files of paperwork. And IBM
started the supercomputer, which started at that time it had
the computing I mean the computers they built would take
up three stories of a building that had less computing
(11:25):
power than what each of us have on our phone
right now. But back then there were these massive, huge
machines literally took up two and three story buildings. But
they replaced all of these clerks, so it made sense
for banks, and it was faster and everything else. The
problem is when you have five hundred clerks do an
(11:45):
entry at Bank of America and five don't show up
for work, no big deal. But when you replace all
of these people with this massive computer and the computer
goes down, now banking collapses. So it was actually mister
Smith's idea originally that you would have to get parts
(12:05):
as the computer age started replacing human beings. If the
computer went down, commerce would stop, so it would be
imperative that you could get computer parts to the computer
to replace them overnight so that you would not have
disruption in the banking system. So he created fed X
(12:29):
to service this growing industrialization of computers in banking and finance,
in newspaper, anything that was daily and ongoing, and it
morphed into packages, and then it morphed into mail. Frankly,
(12:54):
so the truth is fed x was not about moving
packages originally. It's about moving compewter parts. But the same
dynamic that made that a successful business enterprise then made
the growth of the company applicable to all kinds of
(13:14):
other types of business, which I found vastly interesting. Another
thing along those lines is because he grew up in
Markssissippian was from this area. Everyone thinks that he just
put it in Memphis because it was centrally located. It's
also not the case. He did an enormous amount of
study and Memphis has the least amount of nighttime fog
(13:40):
of any city in the United States, which is why
FedEx is here. Because he knew planes would be leaving
and arriving and leaving during the late hours of the
night and early morning hours, and he wanted the best
weather conditions to reduced flight disruptions, and because Memphis had
(14:03):
the least amount of fog between hours of ten pm
and four am. That's why Memphis was the best place
for FedEx. That and only that was the main reason,
which I find vastly interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I did not know that. Thanks for teaching me, Bill.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You're welcome. I'm not teaching anything. I'm just repeating some
things this guy told me over lunch one day that
I think is fascinating. The third thing, and probably the
most profoundly important. FedEx was very important mister Smith, but
it was not number one, and it was not number two.
(14:37):
He would always, without hesitation say that the most important
thing to him in his world was his family, and
number two was the Marine Corps, and number three was FedEx.
He served for the Marines during the Vietnam War, and
he was actually part of the mechanized division that did
(15:04):
an enormous amount of moving of equipment and supplies to
and from the troops, which is where he got an
enormous amount of experience in the hub and spoke idea,
which is in the military, they would bring everything into
a central area and then send it out to wherever
the parts were needed, and he found that to be
(15:25):
the most efficient way to move supplies, which is why
when he started fed X he hubbed everything in Memphis
and spoked it to the rest of the country, rather
than flying from New York Chicago, and then New York
to Philly and then Chicago to wherever, and then Dallast
(15:45):
or wherever. That's why everything comes into a central hub
in Memphis and then has spoke out to the rest
of the country because he learned that from this time
in the military, which I think is also really really
interesting that the concept came from his real life experience
as a marine. Another thing about is time in the
(16:07):
Marines is there was a man, Father Coppodanno. I encourage
you to google Father Coppodanno. Fred Smith served with Father
Coppodanno and even routinely visited Father Cappodano's grave on Stotton Island.
(16:29):
I'm not going to tell you the story of Father
Coppodano because this is Fred Smith. But know that this
titan of industry, this man that changed the world, almost
would never have a conversation about any influence on his
life without saying the name Father Coppodano.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
We could say a couple of things quick, all right.
These guys smokes cigarettes together, Father Cappodano and Fred Smith.
They played black check together there, yep. Because of all this,
they called Father the grunt Padre because he was actually
a man of the people in there. And Father ended
up being shot several times in this battle, and I
(17:10):
think was finally killed and he got shot like twenty
six times, twenty six bullets in him. And he's one
of only four priests who ever received the Medal of Honor.
And Fred has said a couple interesting things like father
helped bring me back to my faith. He also had
some kind of quote like it also gave me the
courage to start FedEx. Like the currency in Vietnam is death.
(17:32):
The currency of starting a business is you fail and
you do something else, right, So.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
A business style, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's so yeah, I mean hit a remarkable impact. And
as you mentioned, Billies, he sent me that email a
couple of years ago when I was I was trying
to get him to do an interview with me about
Father Cappadana and he said no because he rarely does interviews, but.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
He almost never did.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, he did one with you, but he said that
thing of yeah, I go and visit his grave. That's
how much the man you know means to me. You know,
this millionaire the fact that he still has, you know,
this massive heart and even frankly, I've kept that email
for years and.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I would never I would print it and frame it
if I were Just the fact that he even responded to you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Through nobody like me is just an amazing test.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's just kind of how he was, you know. And
you know, he's got a son that coaches pro football,
He's got a daughter that produces movies. He's got a
son that's in the business. He's got grandchildren and children everywhere.
He's got grandchildren, have been in the naval academy. I mean,
he's he's this guy that's done all these things. But
at the end of the day, he has never quit
(18:38):
seeing himself as just a normal guy, a normal folk.
And he always was happy to invest in the city
and people doing good in the city. Invested in me,
invested in a lot of people. I know. He made many, many,
many many people millionaires through their business. He absolutely elevated
(19:04):
the lives of many people in the city and across
the world. He changed the way we do business. And
he did it all from Memphis while never forgetting his
roots of a guy from Marksmissippi who is a marine
who was loved by a guy named Father Cappadano, who
(19:25):
always had time for the normal guy like me. And
I think the world is a smaller place with him
not in it. And Saturday, June twenty first of twenty
twenty five will be a day that I just never
forget because, in my opinion, we lost one of the
more special people to ever walk the face this planet.
(19:47):
So shot talk number sixty is farewell to Fred Smith.
God speed and well done, mister Smith. You for your family,
for our city, for the state, and for the world.
You will be missed. That's shopped all number sixty Alex
(20:09):
anything else?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I think a little known fact. He was one of
the producers of The blind Side too, right?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Uh, maybe I do know this. Do you remember the
movie Tom Hanks lost, not lost? What was Castaway? Yeah?
Everybody at FedEx did not want him to do that movie.
Do you want to know why?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah? Smith was a major investor in Al Khan Entertainment,
which produced The blind Side.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
There you have it. Do you know why? Do you
know why they didn't want him to do Castaway?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Because there was a package that was lost?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Right? No, because because it was a FedEx plane that
wrecked and went down ocean. Like nobody no airline wants
to do a movie about their plane wrecking in the ocean.
He said, I don't care. And he and Tom Hanks
came really close buddies after that, And when mister Smith
(21:06):
wanted to raise some money for something some years later,
he got Tom Hanks back. Tom came back and worked
with him on it. So he just far reaching guy,
really really amazing man.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And the reason I brought up The Blindside too is
I mean, not just this is a fun fact, but
it inspired thousands of people to adopt I mean it
was actually a really big deal.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
A really really big deal. And you know the reason
he invested and I'm sure is miff for story, you know.
So that's it, mister Smith. I want to say mister
Smith was my friend, but I think he might have
considered me a friend, but I don't even consider myself.
(21:53):
I almost feel like it would be condescending for me
to say to mister Smith he was my friend and
maybe a mentor. I don't know, some I don't even
know what the word is, but certainly someone I had
enormous my respect for. And I think we'll be missed.
And so shop talk at number sixty is a farewell
(22:16):
to a very good man, Fred Smith. Saturday, June twenty first,
twenty twenty five will be a day that this world
will be known for having lost a really, really good
human being. And believe it or not, despite the fact
he's a billionaire and all of the things, he still
saw himself as a member of the army of normal folks.
(22:38):
And that's maybe what's most beautiful about the guy.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
And if you have tribute to other people, that's a
good plug for that people. Yeah, that you want to
pay tribute to in your life, and then a lot
to you. Email us at Army and normal Folks out
us or billet normal Folks out us and we'd love
to look at it.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
That's right, rad Us review Us, subscribe to the podcast,
all that other stuff that we always ask you to do.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Please do it feels inappropriate after paying tribute to Freendsmith.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I know it does, but you know whatever, he was
also one hell of a marketer, so I don't think
you'd mind. That's it. Chap top number sixty. Rest in peace,
friend Smith.
Everybody. It's spill Courtney with an army in normal folks.
Welcome to shop, talk number sixty. Welcome into the shop,
Alex at.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Age sixty, are we eligible free AARP?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Is it sixty or today?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
They might have even loured it's a fifty five now
these days. I don't know anyway, I'm just filling space.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Keep going sixty. But I'm trying to think of a
sixty that matters. I can't think of a sixty. The batters.
I'm sure you'll google somethinghere. I'm talking. How you doing.
You just got back from Florida or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Right, Yeah, kind of half vacation, half of the kids.
My parents lived there, so yeah, and they'll make it
sound too fancy.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And then went up to New York with I saw
your brother with your two oldest.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah that was great. Actually this is kind of cool.
My weird reflections from the trip. So we biked around
Central Park.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Did you like run a bike? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, yeah. But we're going on the Upper West Side
and I noticed at one point there's like one hundred
people there doing it with us, just like complete strangers.
And my kids were having They're only ten and eleven,
So if you was actually like super afraid of it
because it's like you have all these like professional writers,
like like right, and you're on Rento bikes. Yeah, you're
(01:15):
going like down these big hills. Uh, But it just
felt so cool doing that with this communist strangers. Then
similarly at Cat's Deli, which is like the best place
to eat in New York for twenty bucks, and you're
just enjoying this like pistromi sandwich, like a few hundred
strangers and everybody's just like loving themselves and I don't know,
they're just full simple things. But like having a shared
(01:38):
experience with a bunch of strangers, it was really cool.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And in the biggest city in our country, that's very
very cool. Yeah, that's not about I'm glad your daughter's
got to experience. That's pretty cool, all right, everybody, Shop
Talk number sixty when we get back from the break,
it's gonna be about somebody who took an interest in
me and what an idiot? Huh?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What an idiot?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah? What an idiot? He took an interest in me
and he passed away recently. And I want to share
with you guys in shop talk since we're just sitting
around the shop. Some of my perspectives of a man
who's changed the world, who I got to become friends with.
Right after these brief messages from our general sponsors, everybody
(02:37):
but Courtney welcome back. Shop Talk number sixty. Saturday, June
twenty first, Fred Smith passed away. I think it was
eighty one, eighty eighty yeah, And I guess the only
good thing about it is, according to I've spoken to
(02:59):
some of his family, was quick. Fred Smith is the
founder of FedEx. Fred Smith was a devoted father, husband,
chief executive officer and founder of a company that has
(03:20):
changed the way the world does business. He was a marine,
he loved football, and most important to people around my parts,
he's probably the most important Memphian ever ever ever be
in our city. And you know, for those outside of Memphis,
(03:43):
you may not know that. Clarence Saunders, the man who
invented the modern supermarket. It was called Pickley Wiggley, but
Kroger and the way everybody shops nowa days, that was
actually started here in Memphis. AutoZone, the company that revolutionized
the way do it yourself is get auto parts, bit
(04:05):
high that was started here in Memphis. Termin X terminites
all that started here in Memphis. The way we travel
was completely changed by Mmins Wilson started here in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Holiday Inn.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
What did I say?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You just didn't say.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
It, Holiday Inn, right, the founder of Holiday Inn, which
now the Marriotte, the Hilton, the Hampton in pretty much
the way everybody travels now was revolutionized by this idea
of the Holiday Inn that was started here in Memphis.
So I could go on and on, but AI coming up,
XI coming up. That's in Memphis. I could go on
(04:45):
and on and on about there's something in the water
around Memphis about entrepreneurism and startup companies that have become
household names, and we Memphians are proud of that, but
none reaches the pinnacle that Fred Smith and FedEx have
(05:06):
reached in terms of not only its meager beginnings, but
what it has meant to our city, the state, and
the world and the way we do business. When I
got to meet mister Smith, it was simply because he's
a huge football fan, and Mike Ray, my very close buddy,
(05:31):
who was the offensive line coach, had Oc Brown living
with him to help him get tutored for his act
so he could qualify to get a scholarship for football
and sixty Minutes actually to do a segment on it.
And I remember Robin Roberts sitting in Mike's living room
talking to Mike and OC and thinking, how surreal is this.
(05:55):
We're just coaching football and sixty Minutes is down here
talking about this is long before Undefeated or the movie
or any of that. And Mike worked for FedEx. He
was a salesperson for custom Critical Division, and out of
the blue, one day, Mike gets an email from his
boss that says, hey, Fred Smith wants to have lunch
(06:15):
with you. And of course Mike's first response was, you know, whatever,
screw you get out of here, because he thought it
was a joke.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I mean, you know, and for context, we should have
said this earlier at the employee five hundred thousand people. Yeah,
which is an amazing contribution to the world. But also
why you think it would be a joke.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, that's right. And then the guy said, no, I'm serious.
Fred wants to have lunch with you and wants to
have lunch with your buddy Bill. So we went to
lunch with Fred, which was you know, I mean, how
often do you get to have lunch with one of
the more powerful CFOs CEOs in the world. So it
was just an honor. And actually he took our numbers
(06:56):
and he kept in touch with me. And when I
wrote my book Against the Grain, there's a chapter that
has a lot to do with the perspectives and lessons
that I've learned from him, and he would agreed. He
rarely did interviews, and he agreed to be interviewed, and
I spent hours with him on that. And that's really
(07:16):
what I'm talking is, I want to share with you
guys three things that I learned from the late great
Fred Smith. I can't believe I'm actually I'm starting to
tear up a little bit thinking about it, because here's
this powerful guy. I mean, he was asked by three
different presidents to serve as Secretary of Defense, one Democrat
(07:41):
and two Republicans. This is a powerful man who took
time to care about me and other people in our community.
Just an incredible man. But the first thing that I
learned from him is he hates the story that he
(08:05):
failed that he got an f on his He wrote
a paper about fed X as an idea before he
started it in the in the world out there, says
there's this there's this folklore story that fed X was
started off of a term paper. He wrote that he
(08:28):
was failed in he was not failed. He got to
be minus. But it is true that his uh, his
professor thought his idea was stupid, but he did not fail.
He also hates the folk little story that at one
time they flew a fed ex plain to Vegas and
wagered all the money they have left to make payroll.
(08:49):
He said, that is a fabrication and a complete lie.
He said, I did, however, like to go to Vegas
and play black jack, but he never dambled the company
on it. And if you knew him better, you would
understand why that story doesn't even fit the persona because
the man is unbelievably detailed on organized, detailed and plans.
(09:16):
He would never have wagered anything that mattered on a
real that wheel. So one the first thing I want
to share with you guys is unfortunately a lot of
those pop culture stories out there are rooted in some
little fact but have manifested themselves over time into stories
that are patently false.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Did you know that I've heard pushback, but I was wondering, Yeah,
what the truth is or not?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Well? I just told you what the truth was, and
I'm not getting this from a second an source. The
man sat across from me at Gruzzani's on one of
our many lunches eating pasta, bitching about how much he
hated those stories.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Wonder story I heard, I wonder if it's true. Is
like they were. I think they were struggling though.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Oh I struggled early.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, and they had they had They had two or.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Three calls from shareholders that had they not stepped up,
they may not have made it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And I think early on I did hear a story
that like some of the drivers were even paying their
own gas out of their own pocket.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That is absolutely but they.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Also tells you how much they actually believe in the company.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
He traded stock options, he gave some people stop for
doing that. That is that is absolutely true. All right,
So that's one lots of falsehoods out there, but the
reality is those things. So now you know some inside
scoop number two. He did not start fed X to
(10:37):
move packages. That's one that everybody goes. Really, here's what happened. Oh,
it's computer parts, that's exactly right. Back in the late sixties,
the the used to be that banks had floors and
floors of human clerks entering, entering check and subtracting money
(11:01):
from accounts and keeping up with it just very I
mean behind right, files and files of paperwork. And IBM
started the supercomputer, which started at that time it had
the computing I mean the computers they built would take
up three stories of a building that had less computing
(11:25):
power than what each of us have on our phone
right now. But back then there were these massive, huge
machines literally took up two and three story buildings. But
they replaced all of these clerks, so it made sense
for banks, and it was faster and everything else. The
problem is when you have five hundred clerks do an
(11:45):
entry at Bank of America and five don't show up
for work, no big deal. But when you replace all
of these people with this massive computer and the computer
goes down, now banking collapses. So it was actually mister
Smith's idea originally that you would have to get parts
(12:05):
as the computer age started replacing human beings. If the
computer went down, commerce would stop, so it would be
imperative that you could get computer parts to the computer
to replace them overnight so that you would not have
disruption in the banking system. So he created fed X
(12:29):
to service this growing industrialization of computers in banking and finance,
in newspaper, anything that was daily and ongoing, and it
morphed into packages, and then it morphed into mail. Frankly,
(12:54):
so the truth is fed x was not about moving
packages originally. It's about moving compewter parts. But the same
dynamic that made that a successful business enterprise then made
the growth of the company applicable to all kinds of
(13:14):
other types of business, which I found vastly interesting. Another
thing along those lines is because he grew up in
Markssissippian was from this area. Everyone thinks that he just
put it in Memphis because it was centrally located. It's
also not the case. He did an enormous amount of
study and Memphis has the least amount of nighttime fog
(13:40):
of any city in the United States, which is why
FedEx is here. Because he knew planes would be leaving
and arriving and leaving during the late hours of the
night and early morning hours, and he wanted the best
weather conditions to reduced flight disruptions, and because Memphis had
(14:03):
the least amount of fog between hours of ten pm
and four am. That's why Memphis was the best place
for FedEx. That and only that was the main reason,
which I find vastly interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I did not know that. Thanks for teaching me, Bill.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You're welcome. I'm not teaching anything. I'm just repeating some
things this guy told me over lunch one day that
I think is fascinating. The third thing, and probably the
most profoundly important. FedEx was very important mister Smith, but
it was not number one, and it was not number two.
(14:37):
He would always, without hesitation say that the most important
thing to him in his world was his family, and
number two was the Marine Corps, and number three was FedEx.
He served for the Marines during the Vietnam War, and
he was actually part of the mechanized division that did
(15:04):
an enormous amount of moving of equipment and supplies to
and from the troops, which is where he got an
enormous amount of experience in the hub and spoke idea,
which is in the military, they would bring everything into
a central area and then send it out to wherever
the parts were needed, and he found that to be
(15:25):
the most efficient way to move supplies, which is why
when he started fed X he hubbed everything in Memphis
and spoked it to the rest of the country, rather
than flying from New York Chicago, and then New York
to Philly and then Chicago to wherever, and then Dallast
(15:45):
or wherever. That's why everything comes into a central hub
in Memphis and then has spoke out to the rest
of the country because he learned that from this time
in the military, which I think is also really really
interesting that the concept came from his real life experience
as a marine. Another thing about is time in the
(16:07):
Marines is there was a man, Father Coppodanno. I encourage
you to google Father Coppodanno. Fred Smith served with Father
Coppodanno and even routinely visited Father Cappodano's grave on Stotton Island.
(16:29):
I'm not going to tell you the story of Father
Coppodano because this is Fred Smith. But know that this
titan of industry, this man that changed the world, almost
would never have a conversation about any influence on his
life without saying the name Father Coppodano.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
We could say a couple of things quick, all right.
These guys smokes cigarettes together, Father Cappodano and Fred Smith.
They played black check together there, yep. Because of all this,
they called Father the grunt Padre because he was actually
a man of the people in there. And Father ended
up being shot several times in this battle, and I
(17:10):
think was finally killed and he got shot like twenty
six times, twenty six bullets in him. And he's one
of only four priests who ever received the Medal of Honor.
And Fred has said a couple interesting things like father
helped bring me back to my faith. He also had
some kind of quote like it also gave me the
courage to start FedEx. Like the currency in Vietnam is death.
(17:32):
The currency of starting a business is you fail and
you do something else, right, So.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
A business style, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's so yeah, I mean hit a remarkable impact. And
as you mentioned, Billies, he sent me that email a
couple of years ago when I was I was trying
to get him to do an interview with me about
Father Cappadana and he said no because he rarely does interviews, but.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
He almost never did.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, he did one with you, but he said that
thing of yeah, I go and visit his grave. That's
how much the man you know means to me. You know,
this millionaire the fact that he still has, you know,
this massive heart and even frankly, I've kept that email
for years and.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I would never I would print it and frame it
if I were Just the fact that he even responded to you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Through nobody like me is just an amazing test.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's just kind of how he was, you know. And
you know, he's got a son that coaches pro football,
He's got a daughter that produces movies. He's got a
son that's in the business. He's got grandchildren and children everywhere.
He's got grandchildren, have been in the naval academy. I mean,
he's he's this guy that's done all these things. But
at the end of the day, he has never quit
(18:38):
seeing himself as just a normal guy, a normal folk.
And he always was happy to invest in the city
and people doing good in the city. Invested in me,
invested in a lot of people. I know. He made many, many,
many many people millionaires through their business. He absolutely elevated
(19:04):
the lives of many people in the city and across
the world. He changed the way we do business. And
he did it all from Memphis while never forgetting his
roots of a guy from Marksmissippi who is a marine
who was loved by a guy named Father Cappadano, who
(19:25):
always had time for the normal guy like me. And
I think the world is a smaller place with him
not in it. And Saturday, June twenty first of twenty
twenty five will be a day that I just never
forget because, in my opinion, we lost one of the
more special people to ever walk the face this planet.
(19:47):
So shot talk number sixty is farewell to Fred Smith.
God speed and well done, mister Smith. You for your family,
for our city, for the state, and for the world.
You will be missed. That's shopped all number sixty Alex
(20:09):
anything else?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I think a little known fact. He was one of
the producers of The blind Side too, right?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Uh, maybe I do know this. Do you remember the
movie Tom Hanks lost, not lost? What was Castaway? Yeah?
Everybody at FedEx did not want him to do that movie.
Do you want to know why?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah? Smith was a major investor in Al Khan Entertainment,
which produced The blind Side.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
There you have it. Do you know why? Do you
know why they didn't want him to do Castaway?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Because there was a package that was lost?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Right? No, because because it was a FedEx plane that
wrecked and went down ocean. Like nobody no airline wants
to do a movie about their plane wrecking in the ocean.
He said, I don't care. And he and Tom Hanks
came really close buddies after that, And when mister Smith
(21:06):
wanted to raise some money for something some years later,
he got Tom Hanks back. Tom came back and worked
with him on it. So he just far reaching guy,
really really amazing man.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And the reason I brought up The Blindside too is
I mean, not just this is a fun fact, but
it inspired thousands of people to adopt I mean it
was actually a really big deal.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
A really really big deal. And you know the reason
he invested and I'm sure is miff for story, you know.
So that's it, mister Smith. I want to say mister
Smith was my friend, but I think he might have
considered me a friend, but I don't even consider myself.
(21:53):
I almost feel like it would be condescending for me
to say to mister Smith he was my friend and
maybe a mentor. I don't know, some I don't even
know what the word is, but certainly someone I had
enormous my respect for. And I think we'll be missed.
And so shop talk at number sixty is a farewell
(22:16):
to a very good man, Fred Smith. Saturday, June twenty first,
twenty twenty five will be a day that this world
will be known for having lost a really, really good
human being. And believe it or not, despite the fact
he's a billionaire and all of the things, he still
saw himself as a member of the army of normal folks.
(22:38):
And that's maybe what's most beautiful about the guy.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
And if you have tribute to other people, that's a
good plug for that people. Yeah, that you want to
pay tribute to in your life, and then a lot
to you. Email us at Army and normal Folks out
us or billet normal Folks out us and we'd love
to look at it.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
That's right, rad Us review Us, subscribe to the podcast,
all that other stuff that we always ask you to do.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Please do it feels inappropriate after paying tribute to Freendsmith.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I know it does, but you know whatever, he was
also one hell of a marketer, so I don't think
you'd mind. That's it. Chap top number sixty. Rest in peace,
friend Smith.
Host
Bill Courtney
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