The Judge Joe Stephens Episode

Willie D sits down with former NBA player turned presiding judge Joe Stephens to discuss his early beginnings, passing the bar, the NBA and much more. Tune in and join the conversation in the socials below.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Yet you know boys is back and redoad it all
in your mind.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Yeah, now deep throating.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is for the streets, the real the railroading, the distenfranchise,
the truth escapegoating, and they ain't know where we speak
the truth, so they ain't quoted because we wrote it.
The North South East coaches, the ge be not for
keeping your head bobbing.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
It ain't no.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Stopping and once to be drops head by and then
the system is so corrupt they threw.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
The rock out their heads and then blame it on us.
Don't get it twisted on coding. We danced it for
no butterment biscuits. It's Willie d y'all reloaded with another
episode of information and instructions to help you navigate through
this wild, crazy, beautiful world. In the studio, just Joe

(00:48):
Stevens going on, brother, what's.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
Thank you man?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
It is so good to see your evolution. I've been
knowing you a couple of decades now, and you've all
always been a stand up progressive guy, always rooted in
the community, always got a positive word, never caught up
in anything scandalous.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
Thank god, how do you do it well? Thank God?
There was no cell phones when we came up with
the cameras and whatnot, bro, because you know we used
to man when I was playing ball and when you
come to the house, we had some good times. But
grace of God man, and good parents, you know what
I mean, I had. I had great upbringing.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
I can't thank Joseph and Shiryl Stevens enough just for
you know, man in still in church and me and
still in you know, knowing right from wrong, you know
what I mean? And uh and and really, man, I
never had a yes men around me, you know what
I mean. All my partner's been solid my day one,
still down with me, and that that kind of kept
me rooted.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
Honestly, you know you.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
You went to North Shore, I did, now did you?
Were you born in Houston or Riverside?

Speaker 4 (01:59):
I was born in Riversi, California. Moved out here when
I was like six, and but I tended to glean
the Park School with my whole life from elementary. So
I'm east side of Houston all day long.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
And then became a board member for Cleena Park School District.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
How cool is that?

Speaker 4 (02:16):
Even? Man? Even I mean, if you know, if you
remember this, I was, I was heavy in the mortgage
game after playing ball on the mortgage company a couple
of blocks from here and never forgets you came through
with the Chrysler three hundred on switches, remember that after Katrina,
and we was we've always kind of thought the same.
We was like, man, you know what, I don't want
to give my money the Red Cross. I want to

(02:38):
go put my money in somebody hands that needs it.
And me and you jumped into Chrysler hiding switches out
in front of the Convention Center and walked through. Man,
And I don't even know, looking back, I don't know
if it was a great idea, but we did. I
know we impacted some families and put some money in
some folks hand after Katrina. Man, so I applied you, brother,
because you've always had a benevolent heart as well. And

(02:59):
I think that's why we've always kind of been kindred
spirits man, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, Man walk us through growing up. Do you even
remember any parts of Riverside, California? Yeah, well no, I
used to go back there.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
No that game banging My dad got me out of
there because you know from his I ain't gonna say
which family members, but man, game bangers. Man. My cousins
are dead. You know, I've got cousins that shot in
the face. Had I grown up in Riverside, ain't no
telling what I would be, you know what I mean,
because you know, the gang culture was heavy out there,
all my cousins out there. Bang. I still go back.

(03:32):
I still go back and visit family, man, But it
was rough. It was rough. I grew up right around
the corner from Bobby Bond's Park. Anybody knows Riverside, go back.
I used to go back and hoop at Bobby Bonds Park.
I remember Kawhi when Kawhi was coming up. He's a
little bit of kid hooping at the same rec center
in Riverside. Riversidees put out a lot of talent, man.
My dad played for Jerry Tarcanan a Riverside Community college.

(03:52):
But yeah, you know, you got a lot of cats.
Now you got girl girl golfer, probably the next Tiger
Woods Mari Avers from Riverside. Riverside puts out a lot
of talent, man. A lot of good athletes come out
of Riverside.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Your daughter is a pretty good athlete.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
She does she does okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's world
class golf. She's a Texas A and M now man,
and she's red shirting this year but improving every day.
You know, she's uh, you know, got a good chance, man,
she got a shot to be LPG professional. She's playing
in a couple of LPG events. We got to qualify
her next month for another one. She got invited to
eighteen holes and she if she shoots the lower score,

(04:26):
she'll be in the Cognizant LPGA event in May Man.
So very proud of her.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
That's good. Yeah, what's her ig? Everybody need to go.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
She's Alan Stevens Golf, a l L y n S
t E p h e n S Golf, Alan Stevens
golf man. You see a bunch of pictures ride hip
and put augusta National Tiger Woods kind of leads a rice.
She's she's a celebrity. Family man. I'm just I'm just dad.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, yeah, Well you you're a very important dad because
you've always been rooted in family, like real strong. I'm
just something. I'm not just saying, oh this is my family.
I'm just doing what i gotta do. Nah, you're very
intentional with your with your children. You know, you're very
intentional with your marriage, your friends, you know, your business.

(05:14):
I mean, you just passed the damn boy exam.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
Bro. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy, dude. It's the man. Think
about that. Man. When we came from DOC, I didn't
even look man. And I hadn't been a saint man
like I was. You know, I'm a judge now, but
I try to sell some dope on Fleming back in
the day, you know, on the on the east Side,
you know what I mean. But but you you evolve, man,
and and and when your when you when you when
you're when your when your parents plant seeds in fertile soil,

(05:39):
it bears fruit, you know what I mean. And those
teachings that I learned at home always kind of steered
me back to the middle of the road before I
got too far out of bounds.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Man.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
And that's kind of what you know. I practiced that
in business, and I always try to do people right.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Man.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
I just have always been a guy. That's that's that's
you know. I want to leave you better than I
found you, you know what I mean. You know what
I'm saying. So even if you didn't if you didn't
buy a mortgage from it, if you didn't buy insurance
from it. If you didn't, you know, support me in whatever way,
I still want to give you the blueprint, you know
what I'm saying. And I think that's that's something in

(06:15):
our community that the elders don't really do, right like
like like the old school cats that came before us,
they got it out the mud, so they expect us
to get it the same way. And and but our contemporaries,
you know, our Caucasian contemporaries, they get trust left, they
learn about inheritance, they learned about life insurance, know stuff

(06:38):
that we had to learn as me and you as
grown men after we got money. Like nobody taught us that.
And so man, it's to me. I see it as
my duty to give a brother the blueprint down the
way I get my suits made. I mean, you know,
I'm gonna give you the whole blueprint. And you know,
we may put this to you ain't look the same
as I look in it, but I'm gonna tell you
how to get it, you know what I'm saying. And
that's something we don't do. Man. We need to start

(06:58):
sharing information with each other and the brothers, especially the
NBA fraternity, right like I. You know, when you retire
from the league and you come back, guys kind of
look at you like, what do he want? He must
be broke now, you know what I'm saying. It's like, nah,
I'm trying to tell you what what you know this
that that white age ain't always right, you know, it's
it's it's some other ways to invest your money in
real estate. And and so what I did, I just

(07:20):
did it. I did it. And then guys came to
me after they say, what Joe doing? Man?

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Joe?

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Joe kind of made me doing good? Man, Joe doing
better now than he was playing basketball. And then guys
come back to you. But it's unfortunate that when we
come back to each other with skeptical of it, you
know what I mean. But but you'll take this dude
face value and you don't even know him, you know.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
And don't even have a track no track record, and.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
You know me, you know what I'm saying. But that's
hopefully we break those stigmas in our community, man, and
get to the point as brothers where we can trust
each other and stop competing with each other, right, celebrate
each other's wins, you know, and and and and honestly
be happy, because look, man, I Jay said it best.
What's better than one being there too? Especially see from

(08:04):
the same hue as you. You know what I'm saying,
And that's kind of live by that.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Man.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, you said a mouthful when you said I want
to leave you better than I found you.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
I have the exact same philosophy when it comes to friends.
When it comes to relationships, I look at it like
anybody that has a relationship with me, I'm going to
sow into them on some level and they're going to

(08:35):
be better after meeting me than they would before meeting me.
Like I don't. I don't even I don't even believe
in just having like relationships that are idle like you
just oh, there's nothing that you can get from being,
you know, in a relationship with me or having having

(08:56):
a connection to me, a friendship to me. I do
believe in sharing those recent So I'm not no damn food.
I'm not just gonna just be just giving it up
to anybody and everybody whatever. But if I'm in a
relationship with anybody, like I said, whether it's business, platonic, intimate,
they gonna be better, no question. After I come into

(09:18):
their life than they was before I came into.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
And it's gonna come back. Man, It's gonna come back,
and it may. You know, you and I've never really
done a deal together, but that's coming. You know what
I'm saying, because you planning in fertile soil. And sometimes
people think, Man, because I sold right now, I gotta
read right now too.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Nah.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
Man, if everybody in your circle is solid and you
embracing your brother and uplifting your brother, eventually, man, y'all
gonna break bread together. Period. I'm celebrating your wins. Man,
I'm hoping you win. Everybody I come in contact with, man,
I sincerely want them to win in life. You know
what I'm saying, because guess what if I got it

(09:55):
and you ain't got it? Will we can't do nothing together?
Like like I'm I'm steady trying to pull you up.
If you got it and I got it, we go
buy up the whole block on Navigation and develop it
and bill fifteen twenty townhomes and make two three million.
But if I got it and you ain't got it,
what we're gonna do together?

Speaker 3 (10:13):
And there are guys out there who they know that
they can help you. They know that it wouldn't cost
them anything. Yeah, man, and they'll sit back and hold
their nuts and be like, you know what, I ain't
helping him because if I do, that mean he ain't
gonna need me no more. That means he might pass
me up.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
I want to keep it.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
He might.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, he may eyes shine me. He might start being
able to compete with compete against me for the same girls.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
Yeah, you know, right right right right.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
You know, he might get the same kind of house,
be able to move in my neighborhood. I got to
be able to say I'm the only one got this type.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
Of which is crazy. You see that in politics, dude,
I see it right here in Houston. Man. It's some
people that want to be the king and the kingmaker
and I don't. And I'm satisfied being the only African American.
I really want to be the only African American because
of the prestige that comes with me being the only one.
Instead of being like I'm in, let me be a

(11:13):
door opener and a waymaker to let you know, because
it's our turn, you know what I mean. And I
know some good qualified people that could carry the maner.
But just man, just just interested in keeping you out
of the game so they can be you know, bigger
than life, which I just I really, man, it pains
me to see it because I feel like our forefathers,

(11:36):
like you know, Malcolm Martin Luther, even locally man Mickey Leland.
I just really think those brothers were really about opening doors,
trying to provide equity for people that look like you
and I. You know what I'm saying. You go to
a city like Atlanta, and I talk about this all
the time. It's a documentary called Maynard m a y

(11:57):
Naida about the former mayor of Atlanta. Man that oh
that gout that was super cod will this dude the
tarmac to the terminal at Hartsville and as Andrew I
think Andrew Maynard, Yeah, he put it. He got in office,
man and forced those banks to put people that look
like you and I on those boards. And therefore, when

(12:18):
you ride around Atlanta, like Houston, you see Lynn back,
you see all of these the skyscrapers in Houston are
built by predominantly firms that don't look like you and I.
In Atlanta, man, that's us. And what happens is now
when you have a fundraiser in Atlanta. It's not just
t I and and and and and and uh what's
my man named Killer Mike and the producer dude mydir

(12:43):
uh Tyler Perry doing the fundraisers. You got average dudes
in the room that you wouldn't even know. But they
more time me money because they doing business with the
city in the county in Atlanta.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
They got that money, got money. And I tell people
all the time, man, stop putting everything on celebrities. Every
time somebody you know, I'm on line a lot, man,
and I see these comments from people. Be like, man,
if all of the apples, if the rappers and the
athletes would just get together, if the rappers and athletes
would just get together and put these celebrities black celebrities,

(13:16):
we could do this. We could have our own team.
We could, Man, do you understand that the people with
the most money ain't the ain't the entertainers. It's these
average everyday businessman or I of getting it like Joe Judge,
Joe Stevens. These are the dudes that are papered up
on the average. They're gonna have more money overall than

(13:39):
your athletes.

Speaker 4 (13:40):
Really can't say the whole you know, then you then
your lebron can't say the whole hood, jay Z can't
say the hood. Actually, Man, the everyday average person that's
a voter, if they would participate in the electoral process,
if they would just beat a solution. Right. I go
these HOA meetings and civic club meetings all the time

(14:02):
as the elected official in the hood, and people look
to the elected official to solve all their problems. And
I always say, man, do you have any solutions? We
know what the problem is. My job as a representative
is to collect all of your ideas.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Is it to manage it or implement the solution?

Speaker 4 (14:22):
Well, one to listen to it first, right, and hear
what the concerns of the rank and file are, because
they're the people that's in the trenches. And then take
that information and say, oh, this is a valid, viable concern.
What's the solution. You in the hood, you in the street,
how do we figure what do you think would work? Well, judge,
if we had sidewalks, the kids wouldn't have to walk

(14:44):
on the street to get Man, that's a viable solution.
That's something we can take to the commissioners or whoever.
And and lobby for sidewalks. I would tell people that
watch this podcast, don't just complain, don't be the person
at the h hi is dtake over. That's the big deal. Now,
h ch ASD takeover in any solutions, anybody, we know

(15:05):
what the problem is. We look, the district is gone.
They took it over. The Republicans took They took it over.
So explain to people why they took over the district.
They took over the district because it was underperforming, and namely,
it was a couple of scandals that went on with
the district. And it really is some money grab, right.
They took it over because they could because by all measurables,

(15:26):
the district had course corrected. They did a complete one
eighty schools that were f s or b's. Now the
board that was there that was messing up is gone,
the superintendent is new. So really it's a money grab
if you want to know why they took it over.
But whatever they justified that for, it's been done. So
now proactively you got to figure out, Okay, what's the

(15:46):
next step. Can we be involved with the border managers
rather than a bunch of appointed people by Abbot to
take over the board that they gonna put eight or
nine board members now at least hopefully we can have
some saying that, but we can't talk about what happened.
We have to propose some solutions going forward. Rather than
always being reactive, you know what I mean? Yeah, but

(16:08):
you know it, just follow the money with that whole
deal though, post the takeover, Follow the money and keep
a close eye on it. And I think if you
do that, you'll be able to get the district back
a little quicker than maybe you wouldn't have if you
weren't as involved. But we got to do something proactive to,
you know, to to stay on top of the situation
as it stands, which has been taken over. The why behind,

(16:30):
why did they take it don't matter at this point.
We got to proactively figure out how we can get
it back as soon as possible.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Yeah, you play for the Rockets, Okay, this is where
you get your This is where you get your first
taste of fame and public service basic so to speak,
because I mean, I believe it or not. Man, you know,
athletes do perform a public service people entertainment. It takes
our mind off the everyday grind, you know, Yeah, it's

(16:57):
an escape for people.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
Right, you came in after the rockets one.

Speaker 4 (17:03):
Or twenty four. I was ninety six, man, when Barkley
first got here. That was my first year.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
How was that, dude? How was it?

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Like?

Speaker 4 (17:11):
I was his rookie. Man, I was his rookie, so
you around all of that crazy stuff, but it was
always you know, it was three thousand dollars here five,
I mean due to give the shirt off his back.
He says some of the most outlandish shock value stuff
you've ever heard in life. But just as far as
a person, Charles is a good dude. Man.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
But what I'm what I'm what I'm trying to get
to is, how is chars a good dude?

Speaker 4 (17:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (17:36):
When Charles throws his people under the bus regularly, and
he has all the smoke for black athletes and black
people in general, but he never ever ever criticizes the
white community.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
Yeah collectively, I think some of that, man is, sometimes
you can be a victim of your own star them. Right.
You you come from Leeds, Alabama, number one. Right, You're
not from a big metropolis and you you get thrust
into this stardom, so you and some of that you

(18:13):
transcend color because when you start gets so bright like you,
you can easily forget the worst drug known. The man
is fame, right, I mean, you know it's and and
you I see it. Even in politics here locally, people
get a roll on when they win election or they
win elected position, and it changes people. I think some

(18:33):
of that may be losing touch with where you're from
and who your people are. You know what I mean.
I can't speak to why he does it on a
personal level. What I know about him has always been
good to me. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
I'm gonna give you my thoughts or what I thank
you wife. I think he does it. I think he
does it because the head honchos at ESPN, ESPN, T
and T Company they tell him to do it. They
see he's been pretty consistent.

Speaker 4 (19:06):
He's been pretty consistent though before that, Before that, before
he was he was he.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Was consistently a drunken and out of control person who
would disturb the peace. He was consistently that dude allowed
my wild dude you know who was anti establishment. But
once he got the job at TNT, he settled in
and he started wearing wigs. He allowed them people to
put wigs on them, put makeup on him, put dresses

(19:32):
on them, put high hair shoes on them, put earrings
in his ears. He and he kissed an old white
dude All Star Weekend in the mouth, you know. So
he did he did all of these things. And like
I said, this dude consistently throws black people under the bus.

(19:53):
Like Steven A. He has a lot to say when
it comes to black athletes in particular. And when I
say he has a lot to say, he has a
lot of bad things to say. He has a lot
of vitriol when a black person, a black player, gets
out of pocket likewise Charles do. But when it's somebody white.

(20:13):
Let's take the Jerry Jones situation, no comment on, no comment,
and Jerry Jones is a good guy. Let me be clear,
Jerry Jones.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
Will, that's that's us as black people, though, Will, that's
been We've had some of us, We've had house folks.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
That's some of us.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
Feel folks since the beginning of the time, and unfortunately
we've not been unified on a whole lot as a people.
Shaq and Kenny been solid. Shaq and Kennedy been solid.
Charles has been Charles for a long time, and I
don't think you it's no different than again here locally,

(20:56):
when people wanting to keep certain people out of certain
seats and certain positions, they want to be the king
and the kingmaker. The guy has his views and and
and and he's assimilated to a certain level in life
where he doesn't feel like he's us anymore. I guess
you know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
I'm telling you just I'm telling you this dude has
drinking the kool Aid. He's he's drink the kool Aid.
I don't agree with a lot of his dress. He's
he's drink the kool Aid, and drink the kool Aid,
and he uh goes out and he's saying the things

(21:31):
that these networks, just like stephen A and what's her name?
Cannis Ones and the one before her.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
What's the other dash the girl yet did before.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Her, they are basically parroting.

Speaker 4 (21:46):
It doesn't help.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
What the networks tell them. What these guys are saying.
They say the things that the network executives can't say
in public, but you know they saying.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
It in from on behalf of those guy, Yeah, we
know what it is. Man. But to your question, man,
as as a as a member of that team. The
guy was was a good dude in terms of as
me for me as a rookie, he took care of
me as a rookie.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Well, I guess people can change for the worst, just
like they can change for the best. You change for
the best.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
But even yeah, even even with his views then I
never agreed with something. I've been more pro us, you know,
for a long time, and you just you kind of
learned how to operate in certain arenas, and I don't.
I don't really judge people for their stances, you know.
And I you know, I'll be the first to say

(22:38):
that I'm I advocate for African Americans every chance I get,
because I realized that we need equity. I realized that
we've been underserved, undervalued, overlooked for far too long. And
I would hope that if I ever get the kind
of money those guys have, I'll keep that same stance.

(22:58):
But I've been in the rooms with Jordan, I've been
in the room with Barkley, and unfortunately, sometimes fame can
make you lose sight of the plight of black folks,
you know what I'm saying. And I just hope that
guys like those guys and have big voices. But he

(23:18):
told you a long time ago, we win the role model,
you know what I mean? Like like you know, so
you know it's unfortunate that that all of us don't
advocate for us the way we should with the platforms
we have.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well, the truth of the matter is all of us
are role models. Uh good or bad with role models?
We either good role model or with bad room, no question,
all of us a role model.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, gottle boys, reloaded podcasts will be right back after
the break.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
When you went undrafted after playing your in college? Yeah yeah, yeah,
how did that make you feel?

Speaker 4 (24:05):
It was crazy man, because I was roommates with Derek Fisher.
I was teammates with Derek Fisher in college, and Derek
Man I had a good senior year, was bawling sacrifice
for the team. Wimp Sanderson was my college coach, so
Wimp coached me at Alabama. He coached Latrell Spreewell, Robert Rory,
James Hollywood, Robinson, James Caffey. Wimp probably had fifteen guys

(24:28):
in the league under his tutelage under his under his
from from Alabama at the from when he left Alabama
and came to coach my school at Little Rock Spree
Well and orient them. Guys was already in the league
when he was coaching me, so he had an umbrella
of guys that he you know, you know, if you
play for WIMP, you gonna have a good chance to
make to the league. So when the season was over,

(24:51):
we we won the Sunbelt Conference, we almost made ANSTAA Tournament,
lost first round n I T and the pre pro
season camp started having in Chicago Portsmith, all those camps,
and I'm not getting invited to nothing. I don't have
an agent, nothing, and I'm looking at the coaches like, damn, man,
what you know what about me? And man, I came

(25:13):
home and uh, you know, back then we had two newspapers,
the Houston Chronicle in the Houston Posts. I'm dating myself
now and my dad is reading the Houston Post and
he said, Jojo, they got an open tryout at HBU.
You should go over there and try to see if
you can get in the drills. But I wasn't invited.
I just so happened to be going to sugar Land
that day to work out past HBU on fifty nine

(25:34):
and my boy pulled over and knock on the door.
And guy remember me from high school, like Joe Still.
He's like, I remember, Yeah, what have you been doing?
I played a little rock day, said man, jumping the
drills just like that, jumping the drills. And I was
already dressed cause I was going to work out in
sugar Land.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Pause for a moment. You said, your boy pulled up,
pulled up and sit and knocked on the door.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
I at HBU at the gym. He got off fifty Dwayne,
you know, Dwayne tallcat is with me all the time.
He jumps off fifty nine and pulls up to the
gym in HBU. The doors to the gym are locked.
I know where the gym is cause I played Smmer
League in HBU. Right, dude, who's now he's Dennis Lindsay
who's now a general manager in NBA. He was a

(26:14):
film guy in for the Rockets. He opens the door
and he played at Baylor, played basketball. He's like, you know,
I say, I want to I'm dressed to play basketball,
and he kind of look. I'm tall, you know, six seventy.
He's like, I say, I'm Joe Stevens. I want to
see if I can get in these drills. And I'm
looking through the crack of the door and I see
O Teller harringson, Matt Maloney, all these guys playing basketball.
This is a rial. This is a true story. I

(26:35):
feel like I'm lying telling it, he said, jumping the drills,
Tracy Ware. So I jump into drills, man, and two
hours later, I'm knocking down threes, I'm dunking on cats.
I'm doing what I do. I'm in shape, I'm ready,
and man, I'm I'm bending over And just like everybody
else in college, I drove down from Little Rock to
party on Richmond when they won the ninety four ninety

(26:55):
five back to back championships. I'm bending over time my
shoe in four sneakers walk up and I look up
and it's Rudy, Tom Johanovich and Carol Dawson look at
me dead in my eyes, and they say, how would
you like to be a Houston Rocket? And I'm not
bullshitting seriously, man, I'm not Bush. What do you think
about all the guys. I wasn't even invited to this ship, man.

(27:17):
All the guys in the gym that you know came
from other schools. Someone was drafted or whatnot, and and
I left the gym. And the next day I'm in
the gym with Clyde Drexlan dream working out at west
Side Tennis Club with some Houston Rockets gear on. And
the three hours before that, I was in my kitchen
table and my old man was like, Man, you should
try to like literally, I thought I was gonna go overseas.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
So that's how it happened. Man's beautiful.

Speaker 4 (27:40):
Man, Yeah, man, And I talked to Mad Hatter about that.
You may have a thing like this too. When I'm
talking to kids, I always tell kids no such thing
as luck. Right, People say, Man, you got lucky now,
you just had to have the luckily short na Man,
Preparation met opportunity, you know what I'm saying. I was
at the wire till midnight hoop working on my game home,

(28:01):
and I could have been drinking forties every day, smoking
weed and out of shape. I was prepared. Had he
told me. I told the story to Manhatter, and had
I said, Man, damn, that's crazy, cause I got a
story similar to that. Because I used to work at
ninety seventy nine and I was in the studio and
the MC the chick used to always come late. She partied.
I don't know, you know who it was, and she
didn't showed to work one day and the producer was

(28:22):
tired of hers shit and he was like, had to
jump in. He said, from that day he's had a
syndicated radio show ever since, you know what I mean.
But his opportunity presented itself and he was prepared, you
know what I mean. And that's a real life story
how I made it to the league, and that being
able to say I played for the Houston Rockets, man
is opened to this day. Oh he's a former Houston Rocket.
It opened so many doors that I probably wouldn't have

(28:44):
been able to get into had I not had that experience.
Went on to play for the Grizzlies. Really grew up
in Europe. Man. I went and played in France, Italy
and Spain. Made a bunch of money over there, you
know what, I considered a lot of money and kind
of grew up.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Man.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
My game matured. I got an affinity for art work,
different cultures, you know what I mean. I wasn't a
typical American when I went over there. I would want
to submerge myself in your culture. I wanted to learn
your language, you know what I mean, And it was good.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Man.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
Basketball was a great vehicle for me that springboard me
kind of into what I'm doing now.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, stay ready so you ain't got to get so
you ain't got to get ready. Boys and girls, do
you understand what we're talking about here? Stay ready so
you ain't got to get ready.

Speaker 4 (29:27):
Man, Yeah, because your opportunity will come at some point
in life, and you don't want to be one of
those people that look back and say, Damn, I wasn't ready.
I wasn't prepared. You know. I stopped working out a
week early because I got discouraged. You know. I always say, man,
your greatest triumphs are just on the other side of
something that's extremely hard, something that's extremely difficult. If you

(29:51):
can just persevere, you know, one more rep, one more week.
I'm telling you, when you're gonna be like I was
about to quit. I was about about to be done,
and the ship just it happened, you know what I mean.
But you just got to be patient to keep persevering.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
You know what I do. I psych myself out when
I'm when I hit that wall you're talking about in
my mind. I'm like, oh, this is what yeah, I
prepared for and I'm just I just pushed hard at Well,
that's because I know, like you said that, that that that.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Opportunity is on us side. And that's and that's why
you're Willy D. That's why you're Willy D. That's why
you're king. That's why you are an alpha male. You
know what I mean and and and it's and it's
you will find these little things about us that are
the same in all alpha males and all people that
have ascended to a certain level in life. You know

(30:49):
what I mean. On the East Side, I'm I'm a
ghetto celebrity. I'm I'm really to be on the East side.
I'm a hood movie star over there. But you find
these traits in all of us. We can sit at
the table and bring brothers from all around the you
that have done well in life, and there's something about
us that's the same. And it's that little extra that
we're willing to do that other brothers won't do. With
no excuses. Man, with no excuses. I've been carrying I've

(31:10):
been carrying the wait for a long time for a
lot of people. And you just realize as a king
and as a dude. That's that's him. When you hearim,
you know when you him. I tell guys this all
the time. If you want to know, if you him,
will you know me? From basketball to mortgages, to insurance,
to school board to JP to now license attorney state

(31:31):
of Texas. I'm for the Maxis attorney thing out. I
promise you we'll be on a private plane in a
few months, going somewhere a couple of years, give me,
give me some time. But if you really him, you
can do it in different genres and still be successful.
You know, she'd get some guys many they'll hit the
Grand Slam first time up the bat. Whatever that career was,

(31:52):
that's NBA. I know so many guys that can't figure
it out. They can't figure out their next move. And
all it takes is the same motivation that you had
to make it in the NBA. You just got to
reapply yourself. Because if you was good enough to make
to the league, you was good enough to have plantinum albums.
You can take that same drive and have a one
hundred million dollar podcast. It's just are you willing to

(32:14):
make the sacrifice and grind to be a king. It's simple.
Late Nights early More, I watched. I'm a fan of Lynn.
I follow a lot of guys and I follow LN,
I follow Can in Hollywood CV.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Man.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
I'm a fan of six guys that are grinding man
because I love to see brothers work man to achieve
what it is they're trying to get. Because there's a
lesson in that, man, and there's no hate. It's like
you can learn something from everybody. I don't care if
you're selling cars or selling turkey legs. I'm studying, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
I'm the same way. But I mean, god, it's a trip.
How long we've been knowing each other and we never
really had the life conversation that we're having now. Yeah,
we've had little We've had a little conversation is about
certain little things or whatever.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
Fun stuff.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yeah, you know topic.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
But family too, though, I mean you you gotta, you gotta.
I believest kids. I'm proud of you, brother. Yeah, appreciate it.
That's the coolest. I mean, that's coolest shit. Like I
you know, for us, man, I feel like we are
most the sacrificial lambs for our family, right, Like we
got good lives.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Man.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
But my thing is, Man, I really want my kids
to have it better than I did, you know what
I mean? And if I got to die to day
to make that happen, that's that's that's my deal, man.
It's leaving that legacy because that comes with you. That's
that's how generational wealth is started. You know what I
mean by by by playing those seeds and and that's
what that's That's what I think you and I are
here for more so than anything, it's the shepherd the

(33:38):
next generation, so that people can look at us one
day and say, man, the world was a better place
because them cats came through. You know.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
That's dope. Yeah, that's dope, because you know, I was
talking to somebody the other day about how it doesn't
matter how well you live your life. Typically after a
few generations, your lineags don't even know who you are. Yeah,

(34:06):
people in your lineage, they don't even know who you are,
Like most people don't know don't know past their like
great grandparents. Yeah right, they don't know who. And I
don't want that. I'm like, no, y'all gonna know because
I got things I'm putting you.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
For sure. This landever, Yeah, this land, this property. Y'all
came on this lake when y'all used to fish all
these years. Grandpa will put that in place. You put
me on the spot, man, I know this your podcast.
I'm gonna put you on the spot, man, because you
and I went through some pain together with a mutual
friend with face man with with the whole Grammy thing.
And I called you before you called me right after

(34:47):
the thing happened, Man, because I knew my brother was hurt.
I knew you was hurt, man, and I watched the podcast.
I Hate Face ain't here today, So I hope at
some level, man, y'all can mend fences. But that's an
example of when you should look out for your brother,

(35:07):
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
When you.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Have the opportunity to be a door opener and a waymaker,
you have to have the perceptiveness. You have to be
perceptive enough to know this is a lifetime, once in
a lifetime opportunity that we can't get this moment in
time back. This is fifty years of hip hop. You know,

(35:34):
you talk to guys around the city about what happened,
you know, catching O when you and our coop, I
don't have Cats dime in the barbershop. Man Face should
have done this. Now, Face was right, Doc, I'm just
any black man that's out there. If you have a
chance to uplift a brother, your brother that you've come
up with, it's just certain shit. You just can't be like,

(35:55):
I'm gonna go do this by myself. So man, I
know if I saw the podcast, and I know Face
was kind of like like he couldn't. He was kind
of deflecting and doing a bunch of other ship like
he couldn't really understand why, you know, you were so
hurt about it. But but it was simple, dude, because
one not even that it was a ghetto boy song.
It's the fact that we're trying to get a bag together.

(36:20):
And in all the years of the Grammys, we've never
had an opportunity to be on that stage, the biggest
stage in music where they perpetuate whiteness, And for this
thirteen minutes or whatever the hell it was, we had
a chance. If I even if you didn't rap, if.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
I wouldn't have been on that stage, if I wouldn'trap,
I ain't no goddamn hype man. But I just I
ain't goddamn hYP I know I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I
wouldn't have I wouldn't have done.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
Yeah, I know, man, I know, but I just, man,
that that hurt me.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Bro.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
I just man, and it really hurts me that that
to see. I don't know, man, I just I'm always
hoping that because y'all, I'm fan. I'm still a fan.
I'm still a fan. I grew up man at make
A Jamaica, sitting in the corner watching brothers past beats
around the club. You know what I'm saying, idolizing the
ghetto boys. Man, all y'all have done for this city. Man,
So salute to both of y'all kings. And I hope

(37:11):
that someday, man, you guys can break the bank together.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Man.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
That's that's my honest to God prayer for y'all. And
when you get if you get the plane before I do,
make sure I got to see it out.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
You know, you're always well.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Gettle boys.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Reloaded podcasts will be right back after this break.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
I want to talk about John Morat. Yeah, as someone
who's been in the league. In the NBA is a
different level. I don't think people have Most people don't
have any idea how rock starsh.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
It's unbelievable even more now it is, you.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
Know, like like it's a different east. John Murrat being
a young player who has gained a lot of success
really really fast. I mean, his rise has been meteoric.
What kind of advice would you give to that guy
to like pump those breaks, man, and you know, like

(38:18):
get off the gas, just really just get off the gas.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Man.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
You go from a college kid to now being the
bread one. You really go from being a child to
being your parents parent. Right a quarter of a billion dollars.
If you gave that to me and you right now,
we may lose it for a couple of weeks, you
know what I mean? I would just say, man, the

(38:47):
blueprint is out there. You got guys like Jay everybody
needs og We all need an og. Find you a
OG man. If I was in that arena, do my
damnits to get in touch with Jay Z or somebody
of that mold too? Man, How did you do it?

(39:08):
How did you? Because Jay Donet flipped the bag I
don't know how many times and even fifty manute, it's
a lot of guys and I'm not not just entertaining
even business guys like I would do the same thing.
I tell kids that do now, find somebody in your field,
or find somebody that you respect and admire, and ask
them for the blueprint.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
You know, what I think happens a lot is exactly
what you alluded to. Like, we don't ask for the blueprint.
Like when I was getting money early on, I just
like this my money. Yeah, I'm spend it like a
one too. Yeah, I'm not talking to the other man
about what kind of house or what I should be

(39:49):
paying for this marble to be installed or whatever whatever.
I just went and did it because it's with me,
and it's an ego thing. And this is why we
make so many mistakes. Women make mistakes too, But I
don't think women make as many mistakes as men do.
Because women will call the tribe. They will call every
one of their girlfriends, they'll call their homeboy, they'll call

(40:12):
anybody that they think that might give them some good advice. Now,
they might not use it. They can get all that information.
They still may not use it, but they are at
least going to make the inquiry. Men, on the other hand,
will just go off and just do whatever and not.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
Pick up their easy twenty three twenty four.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
I can't remember. He's down.

Speaker 4 (40:36):
You got you got the KG, the Kevin Garnets, you
got the Alan Iverson.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
The thing is they will help him, and they.

Speaker 4 (40:42):
And actually, man, those guys should reach out to him.
If you if you you know, like like to me,
like Iverson, like you you have a responsibility. Man, we're
talking about being a door opener. That's another kind of
door that you can open as an og to call
joh But but at the same time, for John, he's
got the influence at this point, he could have Bill Gates,

(41:06):
Warren Buffett, Jay z Oprah, Tyler Pierce. He's got the influence.
You know, when you that guy when that when you him,
you could pick the phone up. Then I answered my
phone call. They may not answer your phone calls, but
they'll answer John's phone calls. So man, I just hope
that he would get some OJ's and some mentors around
him because the bag that he has. I'm so proud.
Let me just say this publicly. My little mentee just

(41:30):
got a bag. He just broke the bank with the NFL.
Jalen Hurts. I've known Jalen Hurts since he was two
years old. He just signed the largest contract, and it
shouts out to jail man, it shouts out to his
to his dad, to Big Todd, his mom. A great,
great family from the east Side. I told Todd the
other day. You know you got to say your house
to get on out of here. Right you're still on

(41:51):
the east Side. Now. You don't want about to come
kidnapp you for some ransom, you know what I'm saying.
But man, now, man, I'm so happy for that family.
They from channel of you next door to me and
or sure man and uh but even us, even me
and you. You gotta have wives, counsel man, you gotta
have somebody you can go to because I don't know
what all you you call me by development. Sometimes I'm
gonna give you a blueprint.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
But you know, but you know why the guys who's
made it dunk I can eat. I can just tell
you from my stand. Yeah. Sometimes after you, when you
get to a certain level in life where you become
you get shot patience for bullshit for sure. And if

(42:37):
you think a person's gonna be hard headed, they may
not listen me. You may not want to, You may
not want to reach out, you know, because you think
that person probably is not going to be receptive.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
Yeah, he's a young knucklehead, right, he's a good but
he's a good kid. I don't get that from John.
I don't get that. I don't get that from He
really strikes me as a kid that would listen. I
was at the Rockets game, sitting in rusty, hardened seats
and Tim Morant was behind him, and Mary was me
and Mary Ellie was sitting together. Chopped it up with
Tim Morant. Good dude, man, he's a dude. You and

(43:10):
I would kick you know, we would hang out with
good dude. I just think, man, you can't even imagine lambos, cars, females,
the life, private playing. I mean, it's just a lot
for a young kid. Man, it's a lot. It's a lot.
And honestly, he hadn't killed anybody. He hadn't you look, man,

(43:31):
he had a little little pistol on him in the
strip club. You saw the pictures he was in there
by hisself with He hadn't done a whole lot wrong
that I've seen the way we're talking about him as
if he's really done something nefarious and broken the law
or something. John Morant was in the strip club with
a gun, by himself. He's a worth a quarter of

(43:52):
billion dollars. Second, a member applies to us too, right,
So what is he done that's so bad? Now, We've
had some guys make some serious mistakes, like Rugs. The
kid from Alabama with that killed a person in Vegas
with the car. You know what I mean. That's a
Fortunately the mistake job made. He can come back from
and he and he will come back from. And I
just hope you you said, what advice would I give him?

(44:14):
Get an OG, A couple of them, you know, and
seek wise counsel who was jog. Myog was Sam came
at God rest his soul. He was my mortgage og.
Uh my insurance og was a guy named Jody h
and another cat named hal Iu. In San Diego, I
was president's counsel man. I've always so my, you know,

(44:36):
to say that I've been successful through different genres. I
mentioned that earlier. It wasn't because of me, you know,
it was just because I was humble enough to ask
people that knew more than me. And uh wise, dude,
Sam told me a long time ago, he said, it's
better to be a thief than an innovator. And what
that meant was, don't go out here and try to

(44:56):
figure this shit out on your own. It's somebody that's
already done it, so so why why not just do
what they did and put your own little twist on it.
And that's what I did. That's that, That's what I did.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Is that don't try to reinvent the wheel.

Speaker 4 (45:07):
I'm trying to re invent the wheel. Yeah, better be
a thief than innovator, you know. So Sam was one
hal and Jody was my my insurance guys. Uh NBA
was was Marrio and Clyde still my guys to this day.
I called I affectionately refer to both of them guys
as unc you know what I'm saying. I called Mary
to day. Uh and when he's unk, he's always unk.

(45:29):
Man them Cancer was they they were regal gentlemen back then.
Took me under their wing. You know, both of my husbands,
both of them my fathers. You know, they they both
hosted my first fundraiser for me with Moses Malone when
I decided to run for this seat. So, man, I've
I've had some uh some wives counsel in my life,
and and and and luckily didn't have a bunch of

(45:49):
yes men as friends.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
Yeah. I saw Marryo at your fiftieth. Yeah, it was
good to see him. I hadn't seen Mary years.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
He's good, man, he's good. I'm lobbyingnam man. I'm trying
to really, every time I get somebody, I'm trying to. Man.
Sam Casell needs to be the next Rockets coach. Bring
Sam back man, Bring Sam back man. We need we
need a connection from the championship years to these young
kids we got now. And I'm not even look, man,
we got some talent, dude, we got Jalen Green, KP

(46:17):
three segun. They got taate. They just don't have to
play basketball. They play one hundred miles an hour. I
remember Clyde pulling me to the side my first practice, like,
young fella, you can hoop. Just slow down you're going
like you know, change your pace like I'm I had
one speed go you know what I'm saying. And these
Junkyard watch, I'm like, damn they good man, But they

(46:38):
needed You need some of the veteran OG's to come
back and teach these kids one how to sacrifice right.
None of them nowadays everybody gets so much money endorsements,
nobody wants to sacrifice for the greater good. But I
promise you man, like you know, like a Draymond Green
would never be a superstar. Worry not on another team,

(46:58):
you know what I mean? But he made sacrifice and everybody, man,
if you accomplished the goal of winning championship, everybody gonna
get a bag, you know what I mean. That's why
Jalen got paid. They made it to the super Bowl,
you know what I'm saying. Just but but they need
some veterans over there to kind of teach him how
to play basketball and how to win.

Speaker 3 (47:16):
Speaking of Draymond Green, I know you open it up.
You know, I was coming with what do you think
about j Draymond stumping on dude's chest?

Speaker 4 (47:26):
I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It's something deep
down I mean, but but I think one of the
dude grab his foot. Let's be clear, you don't have
to you grab my foot, and you know how you
jump up in the air. Now, he kind of the
stump was It wasn't as bad as it looked. Man,
I don't think he should be suspended a game. He's

(47:47):
a guy that's a victim of his own wrongdoers. In
the past, which I hate. I hope. I wish they'd
overturned him throwing him out of this game, and that
I think it's a total bs. You know what I'm saying.
I didn't. I didn't think it was that bad. He
had a European player on the ground, He's rolling around
like somebody almost stump stumps his shit. Yeah it was.
He kind of acted a little bit, you know, when

(48:09):
somebody grabbing your foot and you're trying to get loose
and you where was he? Where was he gonna land?
I didn't see. I didn't think I've done that before.
I didn't think it was so bad. I really didn't.
To the average fan watching it, if that would have
been Klay Thompson doing that, he'd be playing tonight. And
that's what I don't like about that decision. Had it
been anybody but Draymond. Now Draymond. Look, I'm not a

(48:31):
Draymond sympathizer. He's done a lot of dumb shit. But
the other night, that wouldn't. That wasn't something I really
if you look at a game before that, him and
the same guy got tangled up and they was kind
of on the ground doing what Barclay and Karl Malone
did at time to knock each other down. They rolling
around on the ground, not letting each other get up.
That was kind of an extension of that, and I
wish the NBA was more kind of judicial when they

(48:54):
looked at the totality of that circumstance.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
You know, a lot of people are saying that Draymond
could have like really injured dude. But dude could have
really injured Draymond. I mean, I mean, you're messing with
my money. Man, that's my ankle.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
You hold that whole. I'm trying, and I'm trying. I'm
standing up, trying to run, and I'm trying to get
my footloose, and you jump up in the air trying
to get your foot loose. Watch it, man, I watched
it a couple of times. Where was he gonna land?
I mean, it's you know, but it's Draymond so so
because he has his reputation, the diffuses a little bit shorter,

(49:30):
you know, for lack of better analogy, The least is
a little bit shorter with him, and he's a victim
of his own passing discretions.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
You know, Draymond is necessary though, you know, I know
he has I know he has this indiscretions and all this,
you know, But Raymond, you need a dog that the
team needs at that team's v max exist that team.
That's who I think about every time.

Speaker 4 (49:57):
I've never been on a winning team that didn't have
one or two dudes that can have to be bailed
out the next morning, right from I've won championships overseas,
you know, Western Conference finals with the Rockets, championships in college.
Every good team I've been on had at least one
dude that's a live wire that you don't you don't
even want to go out with him because you don't

(50:18):
know if you're gonna have a great night or end
up in jail. You know, we don't know we come
home with a bunch of girls or go end up
in a sales somewhere. But every team, you got to
have a dog. And you know that's just just a
loose cannon, you know. But a team full of nice
guys will never win it all. That's why the Jazz
never won it all. You know, back with Karl Malone
and you just got too many nice guys you had.

(50:38):
You needed a thug on that team, you know.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Yeah, jazz. Let's see who did they have. I mean,
Karl Malone was.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
By it, yes, Shannon Anderson, Brian Russell, uh Halet was
not havle a check HORNI seck thorough ball. I was
on that team for I was on that team, uh
for for two months right after the lockout, I think
two thousand and they picked me up for a couple
of weeks and I had a little short cup of
team with the with the Jazz, but a bunch of

(51:07):
nice guys. No fights in practice. That's some probably one
of only training camps I've ever been through where there
was no fights. I'm like, ain't, don't nobody fight? I
never forget we got we got traded. I shouldn't o'deller
gonna be mad at me. I got traded up to Vancouver.
Uh well, I was. I was actually picked up by
a free agent. But o'thella Mike Dickerson. We all went
to play with Mike Bibbie, Sharife, Abdulraheem big country up

(51:28):
in Vancouver. I played there in not two thousand. I
think it's one of my second practices. And if you
know Michael Dickinson, Mike d was real quiet, super quiet, dude,
but Mike boxed. Mike boxed and him and o'feller got
into it. It was a two piece with a biscuit.
That happened so quick, and man and o'thella. If you know, othello,

(51:52):
o'della's quiet too, So it was too quiet. O'thella for
thirty minutes is running around the ship trying to get
to Mike d coaches trying to break them up. But
who nobody. It was just a two telling again. He
didn't get dropped, but he it was, he was, he was.
He was stunned a little bit. It was quick, it was,
it was solid. It was o'della. I'm sorry, brother, it

(52:14):
was it was. It was a nice little It was
a quick combo too. It was quick. It was quick,
and oh, we're trying to hold old back for thirty minutes.
So the coaches, I'm the I'm the common denominator between
all these guys. We all came from Houston. Uh, Stevens,
was there a problem before the trade? Those guys and

(52:34):
I said that this has never happened like they never did.
We were all we going to go to dinner together
just but they didn't have a culture of win and
actually man, we had won the most games in the
history that franchised through this before Memphis, this went. They
were up in Vancouver, through the history of through January.
We won the most games. But you needed some dogs, man,
you needed some guys that may fight, you know what

(52:54):
I'm saying. And that's what we had. That's what we had.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
You said that o'feller spend thirty minutes running around the gym.

Speaker 4 (53:02):
Trying to get Mike, trying to get that mike, trying
to get a mic. But why did he get that
mic when he got two pieces? Oh he tried, He tried,
you know what I'm saying. You right, guys jumped in Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
Guys cannot jump in faster.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
Well, you box, if you hit somebody, they kind of
they kind of stumbled a little bit. It's gonna yeah,
d Dan, okay right here now, not where where the guy?
Not if I catch you solid, which which brings me
to your boxing career back when we've been Halphines for
here back in the day. That's another Willie d Joe
Stevens story back in the day. And remember we had
an entourage in Hali chem from you that day. You

(53:37):
drug dude too. I don't even know his name. There
you find some tomato can back in the day.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
Oh man, what was that doe named John something?

Speaker 4 (53:45):
Will you had some hands?

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Though?

Speaker 4 (53:47):
I know boxing. I watched boxing for a long time.
WILLI d does have hands. We used to call him
Willi Hans Yeah, man, yeah, man.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Did you ever get into a fight while.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
All the time my first practice with Charles bark I
stole on Charles Barkley. I stole him in the cheating. Yes,
I didn't drop him. I didn't drop him. I was
in Galveston. We used to play a training camping gage.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
You just said Chus Buckle was a good guy?

Speaker 4 (54:15):
Not he when he closed line me and you had
and so man, that's the so we in Galveston and
I go up for a layup and he snatches me
out of the air, and and he starts, you know,
everybody jumps saying what you know in the big commotion,
and he starts laughing. You're my rookie. From that point on,

(54:37):
I was just rookie for the rest of the season,
you know, because I and I when I did it,
I'm thinking I was ship. I'm finna get cut down
to get cut first practice, I'm gone, and I probably
made the team because of that, you know, honestly, just
because they knew I was. I didn't give a ship man.
You know, the one thing you want, you're gonna respect me,
you know, job aside.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
You know, man, how did you learn to give a
shit about community?

Speaker 1 (55:02):
Man?

Speaker 3 (55:03):
Because you know, when it comes to youth advocacy and mentorship,
it's second or nine. I mean you're really you're really
in in deep.

Speaker 4 (55:13):
Yeah, man, it's it's just innate, dude. I really feel
like I was put here to help people. I feel
like that's my calling. It's something I was born with
and it's nothing I've learned to do, even in college.
I did it in college, like I I student taught
Little Rock Central High School where they had the big
civil rights where the picture of Jerry Jones. They thought

(55:34):
I student taught at that high school because I graduated
college at semester early. So in order to get credits
so I can continue to play basketball, I did a
student teaching program and got my teacher certification in Little Rock.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
How much are that Jerry Jones was left over?

Speaker 1 (55:47):
When?

Speaker 4 (55:47):
Oh no, it was it was black black, it was
it was it was an African American school. When I
was there, it was the hood. It's the little the
little right Central is rough now, you know. But yeah,
I mean I just even then, I always went and
spoke to kids, even at University Colorado, just as the
and it wasn't something the team made me do. Like
I liked would meet teachers and they knew I was

(56:08):
on the basketball team, so I would go out and
speak to kids, and and just I just saw that
you could impact a kid. And I saw myself going
to a Clyde Drexler basketball camp as a sophomore in
high school and then ended up playing with Clyde Drexler,

(56:30):
you know what I'm saying. So I realized that, man,
if you plan a seed, you never know what can
come from that. So I just meant, you know, I've
always had that inemy to do that.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
You know.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
I was in middle school and Robert.

Speaker 4 (56:47):
Robert Ree, Robbery, Robbie Joe Reid, he was my he
was that was my that was another OGM mine. He's
still in one of my mentors.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
ROBBERI Reed came to my middle school and spoke to
us in the cafeteria. We didn't have an auditorium, so
the cafeteria doubled as an auditory. So Robert Ree walks
in and people go crazy.

Speaker 4 (57:12):
Just I don't know why, because he had that Jerry
Curl back, and back then Billy d Williams was real popular.
So Bobbie Joe Ree was the Billy d Williams Houston.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
He may have. He may have been because those with
those girls. Now Bobbie, the girls was going crazy. But
even the guys were just really just rooting for him,
you know, because it's.

Speaker 4 (57:33):
The Rockets God to Larry bird. He was the guy
guard Larry Bird back.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
He had those those knee high socks. Robbert robber Ree
was was the man. She came in and and and
the place just erupted right, And I remember just being
in Ah. I wasn't cheering, I wasn't going I was

(57:57):
just standing at Typically me and my boy, when we
have somebody to come to talk to us, we would
act the damn food. She'll be on one side of
the auditorium or whatever on the other side and he'll say,
what's the word. I'll be like doing to bad. What's
the price a dollar?

Speaker 4 (58:17):
Twice?

Speaker 3 (58:18):
You know, we're just at a fool. That'd be our
time to ack of food.

Speaker 4 (58:21):
But when Robert Reed came, I listened.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
He was like, yeah, and it did something to me,
like to see him get that type of praise, And
do you know I was, I was fourteen at the time.
About ten years later, I was speaking to the kids.

(58:48):
I walked into that same cafeteria and received that same
It's crazy. I had no idea that that could happen
to me. I had no idea that I could be
worthy of something like that.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:02):
Yeah, when it was happening, yup, I it blew my mind.
I was like when they asked me, they called me
and asked me to come speak.

Speaker 4 (59:09):
And you did it. And he was right there where
Robal he was. That's that's dage. I mean I had
I used to do. I used to have basketball camps
on the East Side. That's kind of what endeared that
community to me. Post taking the first team to state
in nineteen ninety one, we beat Million Yates and Harpin's
and I was the started team consensus player of the
Year in Houston, both newspapers, first team to ever go

(59:30):
to state and we beat Yates and Milby like and
back then, north Shore was no show is what they
used to call us then you know and cause. But
what happened was there was a migration of people from
Fifth Ward whose p families would get jobs at the
plant in Baytown. So in order to move on up
in life, they would buy three two two's over on
the east side when they were kind of ascending their
way up to in life. So there was a lot

(59:51):
of apps. Was three bedroom, two bedroom house h with
two car garage, and so those kids' parents word. So
now we had a lot of African Americans and we
went to State and uh, after I made it for
the Rockets, I said, I'm gonna do a basketball camp
for kids on that side of town. And so I
would play basketball at Fundy Recreation Center where everybody would

(01:00:13):
be there, Penny Hardaway, Kenny Smith, Sam Cassell, Robert or
Latrell's everybody would come through Fundy and so I would
be like, Yo, let's go to lunch man, get Robb
or or get casselle I get Sam Cassell saying come right,
let's go get some lunch. Man. I take them away
to the east side to Benningas and we'd eat lunch.
May come roll with your boy man, make God damn,
I'm Joe. I'm trying ready to get back home. Man,

(01:00:34):
take me back to the Southwest sidewest statement. Man, I
know one most stop Onemos stop and I'd pull up
to my basketball camp that I knew what's going on
at the gym, and so the kids would. I'll be
d man. We were almost there, were almost there, and
we walk in the gym. It's two hundred kids sitting
down and I'll walk in with Sam Cassell, you know
what I mean. And so then everybody's like, oh, and
I've been say to some genus. I would trick guys

(01:00:55):
to come into the East Side to speak. So that
was right after the championship years man, and and and
that's to this day. People remember those that same community
voted for me to be on the school board for
nine years, three of which I was board president. Same
community vote for me to be the new Justice of
the Piece for the last seven years. Just from little
stuff like that, giving back, giving those kind of kids hope.

(01:01:17):
You know, they had never a lot of kids had
never been paying sixteen in the Buvewiser Man back where
I stayed, you know, so for them to be able
to touch, you know, champions like that back in the
day was was priceless.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
One of your philosophies that you live by is if
you reach for the moon, even if you miss, yep,
you'll be among the stars. Yeah yeah, elaborate on that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:40):
Set your goals high. You want to be the next
little Baby, you can do that. You want to be
the next WILLI d You can do that. If you
want to be an NBA basketball player, you can do that.
If you want to be the president of the United States,
male or female, you can do that. When you and
our kids, teacher would say, man, you could be the
president of the United States and we'll be back in
classmen know you can't. He said that because we had

(01:02:01):
never seen a black president. Well you can't say that now.
So my thing is, if you want to be an
LPGA professional, like my daughter wants to be a LPGA professional,
maybe falling short is you earned a college Scholarship's pretty good.
You know, you set your goals high. You didn't attain
that goal, but you still were better off than you

(01:02:22):
were if you didn't dream big.

Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
So dream big, man, Ah, you become a coach, two players,
two a top tier player?

Speaker 4 (01:02:30):
Why not you?

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Why not?

Speaker 4 (01:02:32):
Why not you? I told Zoe Slaughter that Zoi's on
the team with my daughter. Zoe played at University of Houston.
She's now on the Texas and Women's golf team. She
transferred from Houston to A and M. They came back
three months ago. This is her junior year to play
a tournament at Golf Club of Houston, where I'm a member,
and I just text her, you know the golf course

(01:02:53):
better than anybody. You played at U of h for
for a year. Why not you. Somebody's got to win
this turn? Why not you? Man? She went out and
shot twenty under and won the tournament for a first
college win, and gave me the biggest hug when she
came off the eighteenth green that last day. Why not you?
You know what I mean? But I think sometimes especially
as African Americans, we don't see ourselves in certain positions,

(01:03:17):
you know what I mean. We you know somebody's always
had that position in the neighborhood, and you just can't
even see yourself in that position. I think that's what
being this just of the piece has done for me
on that side of town. It's given kids that might
have been in front of a judge with uncle when
he was in trouble or my mama when she went
to jail or whatever. Now they come to court it
like and the judge black, you know what I mean, Like, yeah, nah,

(01:03:40):
this is a job opportunity. It's not just a place
you come to get in trouble, you know what I'm saying.
So yeah, man, yeah, shoot for the moon. Even if
you miss, you can be among the stars.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
Well, thank god you are among the stars.

Speaker 4 (01:03:52):
Man. I'm here with you. Man, We really do.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
We appreciate all your contributions, especially to community because that's
something that's dear to my heart. Man. When I know
people that are involved in community work, they said something
to it says something about that person, because that's the
person that is putting others, who knows how to put

(01:04:17):
others before themselves, And it's it's an unselfish person. And
we live in a very selfish society. It's we live
in a me me me society. And for people to
take to take the time to to do for others,
to loan themselves and their resources to better other people's lives. Man,

(01:04:41):
that's beautiful.

Speaker 4 (01:04:42):
Appreciated brother, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
Ladies and gentlemen. Joe Stevens, Judge Joe Stevens. Let me
put some respect on his name.

Speaker 4 (01:04:50):
You know our man people, you know people into that nowadays. Man,
it's always judged. I'm just Joe man. You know when
I'm on the bench, I appreciate it, man, but it's
it's all love, man. I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
Brother.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Ladies and gentlemen. Judge Joe Stevens. No motel appreciate.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
This episode was produced by A King and brought to
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