KJ Live - Donminic Ellison

Former pro baller and newly named Morningside High-School Boys Basketball Head Coach Donminic Ellison joins the show and chops it up with KJ about growing up in Inglewood California, making it out earning a scholarship to Washington State University, and his journey around the globe playing professional basketball. KJ and Donminic also discuss current Houston Cougars Head Coach Kelvin Sampson, how playing in Israel changed Donminic's life, why he retired from the game at 27 years old, and how working for an accounting firm completely changed his life.  Great conversation with one of my favorite competitors. #allball

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is kJ Live with Chris john Sallie and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment and a strange now here's Chris Johnson. You're now
tuned in to kJ Live. Today's guests on the show.

(00:24):
Is a graduate of Morningside High School and played for
one of the greatest basketball team in the history of
southern California. He also played at a high level at
Washington State, then on to Mexico State, and ended up
playing pro for a few years in Israel, Austria and
other countries. Let's welcome in Dominic Ellison to the show.
What's up down Man? Thank you for having me brother.

(00:48):
Everything is good, man, every everything is great. Bro. It's
been a while since we've connected, bro Um. I talked
to Stacey Bozeman, your high school teammate, your boy a
few it's back. He was on the show, Man, so
it was great to catch up with him. You actually
came up on the podcast. It's nice to finally reconnect.
Just got the news man l a Times front page.

(01:10):
Your name, the head coach of your alma mater, the
legendary Morningside High School. Talk about what that means to
you and what your mission is at morning Side that
you know, it's it's all about the mission, um, you know,
and obviously it means a lot to me personally because

(01:30):
you know it's it's rooted. Uh you know, I mean
it's here. Uh. I was there, Um, you know, I
was one of these young men trying to make it. Um.
So my my, my admission, my initial and the most
important mission here is giving back to the kids and
and helping them with that same opportunity that was kind

(01:52):
of bleak for me. You know, hopefully I can bridge
that gap between what they don't know, you know now
and what's ahead of them in the future. So, um,
you know that's the main mission. The main mission is
all given back. You know. It isn't about anything else, um,
but to help these young men and women and student

(02:13):
athletes you know, achieves to achieve their goal stair dreams.
You know, this is solely about that. And then and
on top of that, you know, going back home where
it all started for me is really the magic. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean it has to be special Man Morningside. Throughout history,

(02:34):
so thirty forty fifty sixty years has always been regarded
as as one of the top programs. My old college coach,
Jim Herrick used to coach at Morning Side. A lot
of people don't even know that. Back in the day,
they were number one in the country, Jackie Robinson, all
kind of dudes, and so a lot of people don't
know that. And then we fast forward and I'm sure
there was guys in the seventies and eighties that I'm
missing out. But but the era that I remember most

(02:55):
vividly was your era when the you guys had two movies,
the Morningside of five. But Hardwood Dreams was the first
one that came out right or yeah, so so so
Hardwood Dreams number one, Um, happened in ninety three and
ninety three. We had just won the state in ninety two,

(03:16):
brought some attention, and in ninety three they came and
grabbed the story. Um that was Hardwood Dreams one. And
I'm really close to the producers now after all of this,
and uh uh tall as as Mike Tallers as producer,
he actually did the Georgan story and you know, did
all kind of crazy good stuff. So he's a good
friend of mine. Um. He he had this idea of

(03:38):
doing it every ten years and he learned this from
you know, you know, you know, a predecessor he you know,
so he does it every ten years. He came and
you know around when we were twenty seven years old,
you know I did the first one were seventeen and
twenty seven, so that was Hardwood Dreams Number two. And
then you know, we were like around thirty seven years

(03:58):
old is when and the Morning Stide five show came
out on ESPN and stuff like that. Um so it's
been it's been like thirty years of that particular production
following you know, you know, and it originally it was
Spike TV, and then Fox picked it up and then
now ESPN picked it up. So, um there's some momentum

(04:22):
there for the program for the community. Obviously they're interested
in continuing that story now because I'm you know, organically
turning forty seven pretty soon here. So that's the ten
years later after that, and it could be a special
story you know, landing the job and uh, you know,

(04:44):
continuing the legacy of like you were talking about guys
like Jim Eric Um, guys like Carl Franklin, um, and
then like a guy like me comes along. Um So,
so it could be a good story. And to touch
your point on Jim Herrick man, Um, you know, he
recruited me because he was a coach. He recruited me,

(05:05):
and I had really no idea that he was connected
to the school and it could have been a story
at that point. I had no idea kind of you know,
piggyback that you're saying, like not many guys know, Jim
Hereck wasn't what it was today. You know, demographic different,
it was culturally different back in the deaths that it
was different. Um. So Jim Herrick technically in my in

(05:30):
my lifetime, in my readings, he put Morning Side on
the map. Um. What people fail to realize is he
had Morning Side having the number one team in the nation.
I think they wanted like a forty five forty five
game winning streak in the seventies UM, which obviously propelled
his career. And then Carl Franklin Um basically came in

(05:56):
after Jim Herrick, and Carl had guys like Byron Stard
and Elden Campbell Um. And then he coached obviously stay
sposed men and myself and Dwight Curry and the whole
Morning Side five and Corey and Sean. Um he had
all of us for for twenty he was there for
twenty thirty years. Um, So these are two guys that

(06:17):
has like, really did some good things at the school
and put them put the put the school on the map. Um.
And now it's my turn to see what I can
do on the program. You know, put my put my
print on the food program. So absolutely, man, I appreciate
that you're giving us that breakdown. Playing for coach Herrick
at u c l A. He would always bring up
Morningside High School. You always say, Johnson, I bet you

(06:40):
didn't know how coached that Morningside. I say what He's like,
we were number one in the country, And I say what, coach?
You want to know what? No one knows that I mean,
removed a little bit from the nown generation. Um, they
don't know who the morning Side five some of these
kids now And I'm walking up Empis. Um. You know

(07:02):
they don't know. I mean. So I'm here to bring
that back and bring that energy back and re established
that culture back to where it all began. Your childhood.
I know your Inglewood guy. Were you born and raised
in Inglewood? Where were you were part of the city
of Inglewood where you born. So on paper, I was

(07:22):
born in Los Angeles, but my my family lived and
what they had with what they call, you know, the
lower bottoms at the bottoms bottoms right for boys in
the hood was shot and all that. So I was
basically kind of born I was. I was created on Lawrence,
which is in the bottoms, but basically born in born

(07:43):
in Los Angeles, but I was born in Ray. I
was raised, I say, in Inglewood, you know, with q Um.
Then went to Lane, you know, and then I did.
I did hearthor in high school for my first two
years because you know, just like the movie like Lorn
and Side was just too much for moms and dad

(08:05):
to be like, yo, you're gonna go over there, You're
gonna get into trouble. So I had to Um. They
wanted some diversity, you know, obviously, So I went to
more Haartthorn High School for my first two years ninth
and Tim gray Um played ball there and then um,
you know, so ironically we played Hawthorn played morning Side
and that big Las Vegas tournament way back in the day,

(08:28):
and they were we were down by thirty at half
and I was playing against Stace Bows man, all my
friends were over there, all the other four were over there,
and I'm just like, you know, dude, I'm like, we're
down thirty and uh. We end up losing that game
by one. But to make a long story short, that
next season, I was like my dad, I gotta go

(08:49):
to Morningside, like this is this is basketball? Like did
you see there was Ali? You've been on us? And
I had to go there. And then um, for the
next season, I went there. We ended up winning it's championship,
state championship. UM, and I kind of sort of propelled,
you know, a lot of my stuff. So I went
to ben Acute in morning side, excuse me, Hawthorne in
morning side. And then after that, um, you know, I

(09:11):
earned a scholarship to play for Kelvin Samson at Washington State.
Let's stay on morning Stide for a second. I had
a couple of questions about your experience there. When when
we want to set the stage so that our audience,
my audience can understand what the climate of high school
was like in early nineties Los Angeles. For me, I

(09:34):
was a Cresshaw, So first to start off my clear prep.
Then my dad had this genius idea after my sophomore year,
We're living in bell Air Dome. He's talking about, Man,
you need to go to Cridshaw if you want to
get recruited by d one because back because back then,
don you remember small schools we didn't have that didn't
have their respect. Nowadays, you can go high level. You
can go straight to the league out of a small school.

(09:54):
Back then, folks used to look at your level of competition.
So Pops was like, Yo, go to cremon shop. So
you know, I wasn't really tripping, but I was kind
of like, yeah, what's up with this? What was more inside?
Like around the same time pressure, we had metal detectors
on the way in bro we getting padded down. Hey man,
I mean I would say that we were on the

(10:17):
other side, literally right on the other side of Crenshaw.
It was the same exact thing going on, Like, you know,
you couldn't enter the game without law enforcement with metal detectives.
It was serious. Um you know, um um. You know,
off the court had a lot to do with you
even making it too protice and and you know, we

(10:41):
were just different. We were tougher. It was a little
bit different. I mean, I don't even think so we
were toughered in. I feel like some of the children
are today, but our dads and it was even tougher
than us, you know what I'm trying to say here, Um,
you know, it was a different era, man, it was.
It was a lot. It was a lot more distractions
with as um, with survival in the inner city, which

(11:04):
is you know, you know they used the word bullying today,
like I mean, what like it wasn't that was the
way And that's what I tell folks about today, like
how this bullying stuff? I like, Man, I wish I
would have grew up. Ma, just just you wake up,
you're walking out the house and somebody gonna say something

(11:24):
to you that could be considered bullying. But you had
to have thick skin and know how to respond. It
was you had to mature really fast and control your emotions. Okay,
emotions intact. You know, you have to understand the psychological
part of what's going on here, and you have to
make a decision whether you whether you was gonna go
that way or not. The support systems from your pops,

(11:48):
you know, Marcus and all of our pops, the bailies,
you know, the el our our our support system had
to be extremely strong first to go. And we dabbled,
all of us, we all kind of we all kind
of broke a window or we all kind of like
grabbed the pistol or thought about it like okay, way,

(12:09):
way wait. You know, I gotta make a decision. Um.
But those support systems, you know, it was in place
for us, and we were fortunately a lot of kids
didn't have some of those support systems, and they drifted, um,
and they drifted too far, you know what I mean.
So that the challenges then, like you're talking about, you know,
I mean, you know, on the campus of morning Side

(12:32):
and no offense take morning Side because I'm I'm representing
morning Side. I mean, it was like a little yard
for a minute. You know, you have to you have
to you know, you don't don't walk that way and
don't look that way. Um. You know, you just look
straight and you go to practice and you just stay
out of that kind of stuff. Um. These days that
kids have their different challenges, you know, social media and

(12:55):
you know, you know, being you know, extrovert or whatever
the whatever they're into now, it's different. They have different
stuff to think about. When we were in when we
were in school, you know, we had to focus on
something to not focus on something, which was the other stuff. Um,
you know, gangs, drugs, get you in school. All that

(13:16):
was was was prevalent. And uh, we all had an outlet.
If we didn't have that outlet of bouncing the basketball
and that support system connected, we probably would have drifted
as well. So you know, uh, kudos kudos to the
support systems. And on that topic of support systems, um,

(13:37):
the Bailey's and the Murray's and all these fathers and
name my dad, everybody that you mentioned, they kind of
kept us in check. But it was almost by It
wasn't a direct keeping you in check, but it was
just like you just had these people that had expectations
of you, and so you knew like, you know, you
saw Mr Murray, next time you saw him, you wanted
to be, you know, in better shape than it was

(13:59):
there or you wanted to look better and you know
Mr o'bannitt whoever. It was like these were people that
you actually I would leave and think about because they
were affecting my life. I feel like it's gotten away
from that a little bit. I feel like people nowadays
and I don't want to get too deep into this topic.
But to people nowadays, they take you know, you have

(14:21):
your your own little unit of support and that's it.
They're messing with these guys dad. They're messing with this
guy dad because his dad might be trying to get
him to play on my team and all this other stuff.
So politics, it's different. It came too far down and
it's like, you know, it's like the NBA at the
sixth grade level already. And you know what I mean,

(14:43):
Uh it is it's like a statue grab and what
I want to preach and what I'm trying to do,
and I gotta leave by example right because I'm I'm
I'm getting into this deep and I'm putting you know,
my name, my reputation, things I've built on the line
because I want to make some changes. You know, until
we understand that aligning ourselves together as mentors, as colleagues

(15:07):
and not trying to take from one another, we can
build these communities back up. But if we are fighting
and um not being transparent and not trusting one another,
and we can't expect our next generations to be any
better than what we're doing, you know. And I'm getting

(15:30):
into mentoring. I'm getting into tutoring. I'm getting into like
community activist stuff because you know, you know, it's my
time and if I can use my small name or
voice in the community, let's do it. And things like
this help, right, because we can reach populations. But until
we men together in these communities, were colleagues, we're brothers,

(15:52):
we've been doing this. Let's let's let's try to come
together and align ourselves and not trying to you know,
app siadey and do siad Uh. Let's tell the truth.
Let's let's let's work on it. Let's be perfectly productive,
um and uh. And that's kind of how we change
this stuff. So, you know, Fox Sports Radio has the

(16:12):
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app search f s R to
listen live. I think also Dom is just realizing how
our power or our influence or and not being cocky
about it or anything like that, but understanding that we
we do affect how this next generation sees things, thinks

(16:35):
about stuff. They're looking to us for, you know, guidance
at times, and so being a mentor takes a lot
of there's a lot of responsibility associated with that. But
I feel like as as guys like us basketball players
that grew up in certain type of situations, we know
all the right things to do now. Whether or not
we've done them as a whole another story, But tell

(16:58):
you what we know facts, We know what to tell
these kids. We know what to tell them to keep
them on the right track. And I'm very uh, I'm proud,
uh pleased to hear that you're taking it upon yourself
to give back because you had a career in business

(17:19):
that I need you to just kind of talk to
us about you for last ten fifteen years you're working
in the business space. Talk a little bit about how
what made you decide to transition from the corporate America
in the high school basketball coaching. You know, that's a
that's a really good and touchy subject. Number one. You know,

(17:40):
you know, as a sports athlete and as a professional athlete,
we all have these like dreams. These dreams, dreams don't
really die, right, they just stay in alive. And you know,
one of my dreams was to always be able to
like run my own business because you know, coming from
the inner city, you know, one of the things you

(18:01):
you you kind of you know you internalized is like yo,
you know, you know if I sit at the top
I have to make, maybe I can make the most money.
You know. It kind of just just straight ahead with that,
right Like so it's like, you know, being a basketball
player and we didn't make half the money. We didn't
have an opportunity to make half the money that these
guys are making the day and and when your dad

(18:23):
and all that was playing, I mean it was a fraction.
So you still have this dream about being successful. And
with that it's like fame and like being good at something,
you know, making a little bit of money, you know,
put your legacy on any on something. And I always
wanted to do that. So you know, when I decided
to unlace my shoes, and at twenty seven years old,

(18:44):
I did a little earlier than a lot of people.
You know. My last season, I was like, you know,
I wanted to make them and I thought that the
path was going overseas are playing in the C B
A A B A uh, you know, workouts, individual private workouts,
whatever was going going on, you know, whether it be
with the Clippers or the Jazz. We had all these
runs and I thought about it and I said, you know,

(19:07):
every summer I had come back, I really don't have
anything solid, you know, I have to wait till August
to see what where this thing takes me. Every year
I was like, I don't know. Myns would say, what
are you gonna do next year? I'm like, I don't know.
I'm actually waiting for a call, right, We're all waiting
for that call. And that call comes in and you

(19:31):
may not like that first call, but you don't know
if there's a second or third call, and you have
to make that decision. Facts they might be leaving at
six in the morning the next damn day and I
don't have it. I can't even say bye to anybody.
So that kind of started to dwell on. You know, hey,
I need some security in life. I started to mentally

(19:53):
mature a little bit, and I said, you know what
I wanna. I want to switch gears. And it's very
difficult to switch gears basketball to business. And it took
some grind because it really really really challenged me mentally.
It actually it actually helped me to how I, you know,

(20:13):
to figure out who I am because we all got
to figure that out, right. And I went back and
got my undergrad because I thought I was making a
basketball It was a few credits short and New Mexico
statement back finished that in two thousand and five, and
then I said, you know, I gotta I gotta find
some substantial what is that you know, and start research
and stuff, which is the hardest part coming from you know,

(20:37):
no experience, no job, the whole new industry. It's a
whole new industry. You don't even know what time it is.
You gotta find out everything from scratch, bro, you gotta
learn it. All. People are asking me what are you
gonna do? And I'm like, I don't even know what
I can do, Chris, I don't know. I don't even
know what these job titles mean, you know, to be
a director of operations, Like what does that mean? Um?

(21:01):
And it was, it was. It was a lot of
scattered research, you know, talking to a small business administration,
learning this or how do you start this? Or what's
an LLC? And I mean it got just it got
just pieces flowing from everywhere. I said, no, no no, no,
no no, I got to go back to school to
learn this the right way, because that's my base, that's
my platform. So I went back at thirty eight to

(21:23):
get my Masters in Business and finance. That's what I
was able to say, Okay, I can now have conversations
in the corporate world about certain subjects. And it's just
because you felt confident that you had a graphs of
the information. Could this have been something dumb that you
could have also learned though through mentorship or working you know,

(21:45):
in corporate America, or did you specifically need to go
back and learn from school? These are these are excellent questions.
These are excellent questions because had I had I did
this at twenty five, yes, I could have went through
the corporate mentorship. I was that thirty eight. Time was chicken,
and I was like, now, I took the route of
not depending on how slow it I needed deadline, so

(22:11):
I know if I finished this in two years, I
can now do this. So time wasn't on my side.
And that's an excellent question because that's the That's why
I took the route because I needed it now and
I couldn't. I'm not. I wasn a young puppy, you know,
I can't. I don't have the time to get that
ten years experience and count of cauld up the ladder

(22:31):
like I get to come in with some sort of impact. Uh.
The degree was one thing, but then there was a
lack of experience, so I still had to start from
the bottom. Yeah yeah, yeah, But I was an athlete,
ex athlete, and uh, you know, I was very competitive
and and I paid attention to detail, you know, And
that's why I felt I was a really good basketball

(22:53):
player because I did all the little things. And I
ended up working my way up at this firm I
started to do. I created a sports division that like,
you know, manage athletes money at the firm. Like it
was going great, and I said, you know what, you know,
I'm making decent money, but I want but my passion

(23:13):
wasn't there. So I brand stopping, did my own day
and I did that for ten years. So I managed money,
get all the reporting, get all the financial work, all
the business management affairs for clients, you know, built a
bio and did that for ten years. Um, and that's
what I've been doing. Basically. Now I'm selling half business
and I'm just going to concentrate on basically just getting

(23:36):
distributions from the work I put in, you know, equity
in the business. So I'll take a step back and
leadership I'm not going to be the CEO anymore, basically
sit on the board chair and an advisor. D like
a retirement kind of thing. Uh but um, but but
now I want to get active in the community, you know,

(23:56):
I want to get active in the community, want to
get act the sports, wanna get back. So that's kind
of like the you know, a slope up and the
kind of server a plateault. I've been doing that for
about ten twelve years now. I left that firm in
two thousand and ten, and I've been independent doing my
own stuff for about ten about ten years. Yeah, I
mean when I saw you, they featured you, I think

(24:20):
it was on the Morning Side five one where you know,
they were showing you kind of in the office, hanging
out with your with your colleagues and just the banter
bro Like I know, I know you and we all chameleons. Okay,
we all chameleons, and we've all me and you specifically
have always been able to be chameleons. Like probably not
a lot of dudes can in our area. I'm just
gonna keep it a hunted with you. Okay, so so too.

(24:43):
But to see it and like just you was doing that,
I forgot what you were doing, but it resonated with
me so like, and this is gonna sound like some
nerdy ship down, but this like you created an Excel
sheet and you did something on the excel. You had
your color coded and you had formulas, or you did
something real fly Bro. When I first learned how to
do that, I felt like and I didn't learn how

(25:03):
to do it. I was thirty eight, thirty nine. I
felt like the man, like I like I was. I
had a winter from fifty You feel you feel like
the man when you create a bomb massic seal sheet.
Yes you understand. I'm watching it, though I'm like, I
look at it. I'm speaking out over your Excel sheet, Bro,
I swear I was on it. So everybody in the

(25:26):
office was like, hey, look what the look what there?
You know? Look, I was the only brother in the
entire verb um, the only the only brother in the
firm that worked on accounts. Um. The other brothers were
in different areas of the firm, but they didn't work

(25:49):
in the on the accounts which is the money you
know room or you know other services? Should I say,
and um, very very cool story is how I got
that job? Is um? Coaching at brent With High School.
You never know how things happened. I was an assistant

(26:10):
coach at Brentwood High School and met a met a
gentleman um Um that was uh that went to Brentwood
and um, you know, he was coaching pro bono. Um,
didn't need any stipend or anything like that. And through
our season and we became like really really close. And

(26:32):
I'm talking about like opposite cultures here one opposite cultures
Morningside High School brent With School, like totally opposite. And
he learned a lot from me from my culture, and
I learned a ton from him and his culture. And
I was like, you know, you know, life after basketball

(26:52):
in transition of what I'm gonna be doing next, you know,
kind of staying attached to it, but not really like
full on like I'm gonna be now. And I was
reaching out to resource and say, hey, man, you don't
need a job. I'm trying to do this. I'm in
school at the time. I was in my master's program,
and I was like, you know, if you could make
a call to anyone, anyone, I was just hungry. And

(27:13):
he made a call to his cousin who knew the
boss or the partner in charge at the firm that
I ended up working for, and uh, he made the connection.
And I waited for two years and the guy that
connected me with the partner in charge gave me a
call and said, you know, are you still on the market.
I said yes, and he said when you can you start?

(27:35):
And I said tomorrow and he hired me. And that
guy has been a mentor in my life. He's become
a business partner. He's become an investor in my business.
And I worked under him for seven years and then
now he became a partner in my company, raised millions
of dollars from my business, and now I have that resource. Um.

(27:57):
And his name is King Colo. He works at the firm.
I mean you know, Um, So through these small connections, man,
you know, and if you keep your head on straight
and you build, you know, something's happen. And you know,
you know that job, My only job came through relationship,
through basketball. So you just never know what happens in
this world. Uh. You just gotta be ready, um, and

(28:20):
you gotta keep up. UM. So I'm blessed and only
tell that story because, um, you know the last ten
years of my life has been a tribute to that
small connection at Brentwood and that friend of mine who's
still friends today that helped propel me and like, you know,
help me in my life. Man. So that's as a
touch you as a touch you on for me because

(28:41):
it came through a very very small, small window. But
my life for the last fifteen years. Oh yeah. Man.
Sometimes the things that impact you the most they don't
seem like they're big deal at first. I mean I
had a situation that I got involved with the two
thousand and eleven with a tech company out of Salt Clito, California.

(29:02):
But I met the guy through Steve Lavin. I happened
to be working laughs Camp Basketball camp out in New York.
This guy had an iPad, an iPhone app. He was
trying to get off. You know, you can do the
digital scouting, take photos, audio, man the whole night, you know,
shoot it up to the cloud. You know that print
out reports, PDF, shot charts. So he's he's trying to

(29:22):
sell Lab on becoming sort of like a spokesman for
this or being endorsed the product or whatever. So lab
wanted me to come along because I had in two
thousand and eight, I had tried to develop an iPhone
video game with a company called Artificial Life out of
Hong Kong. So we had t o Manny Pakia, you
know all in talks to make some games. So I
had to do a bunch of just downloading of research

(29:44):
in my brain about you know, Apple, the Apple code,
the iPhone? What time it was? Hi hi Hi I
work So anyway, I'm well versed when by the time
this meeting comes with this guy is named by that
guy by the name of Greg. Greg gets is impressed.
I have a command on everything he's talking about. This dude,
hw tire me. I worked for him for seven and
a half years after that, traveled all over the country

(30:06):
when him went to the m I T Conference, Sloan
Sports Analytics Conference several times. Bro. But just to your
point about these small connections through basketball, it's like, if
you're at the right place at the right time, and
you understand how to deal with people in a positive way,
you can get far. And that's one of the things
that as a mentor, one of my first things I

(30:26):
talked to kids about. Man, it's it's how to nourish, cultivate,
and maintain lifelong relationships with folks. Man, it is, it
really isn't. And you know I learned that late. Um,
I can't lie me too, bro, me too, Bro. I
really did, Like I really learned that late. And and
that's okay. You know, once you learn it, you just

(30:47):
hone it, you know. But but that's like, you know,
that's part of message, you know, of giving back in
the community and like telling these kids are important, you know,
because I still got let me. I'm sure you've got
all these relationships for twenty thirty years. I mean, look
how we can do it. You know we can yesterday. Um,
you know if I've seen your pops out and it's
just like yesterday, these relationships don't really go anywhere. They

(31:08):
just they just they just maintain that value. And uh
and like you said, it can take you a long way.
So I'm blessed to have that happen. And then, you know,
being in this situation is a big deal for me.
So I can pass along some of the stuff that
we've been through. I mean, you know, if it ain't
at us, you know, it's the next one, so it
might as well be us. So yeah, I think teaching

(31:32):
these kids about just insane work ethic is a good start,
because you know, work ethic takes takes care of a
lot of things. You know, you can cover up a
lot of just you know, deficiencies and inefficiencies or whatever.
But if your asses there, you clock it in and
you're doing them twelve fourteen hours everyday consistency, it's gonna

(31:52):
be a level of respect for you that others won't get. Um.
But I wanted to talk to I wanted to find
out something. So Kelvin Sampson recruited me heavy at watching
this state. Okay, he was rocking with me. He's rocking
with my game. He was calling me all the time.
I love that dude, I literally I was. I wanted

(32:12):
to go because I loved him. I was curious, how
not about the basketball park, because I always got a
sense about Kelvin from a basketball's perspective, but I've always
curious about how he handled you guys off the court
as as a coach. How was your experience playing for
him off the um? You know, I was seventeen and um.

(32:37):
You know, when you are battling understanding who you are
and someone challenges you, you don't know if it's for
the good or bad. Right. Um, but but what you do,
what you what coach did and still is from a
basketball perspective, is you know you kind of like how

(32:58):
to either love or hate to do. Because he was gonna,
he was gonna get in your stuff, he demanded. He
didn't all he really and he didn't get this. You
didn't get this while you were like, you know when
he's talking to you, you don't really get it like
that because you're young. You're trying to figure it out. Um,
but all he really, really truly wanted you to do

(33:19):
from a basketball perspective, what's to play your hardest. And
you know how hard that is to get out of
a young man when he thinks he's nice, right and
he he wants to turn it on. When he wants
to turn it on, is going look, I get it,
but that doesn't work here. You surrender you you have

(33:42):
to surrender to me as a coach and excuse me
as as a player. You have to surrender to me
as a coach because there's no other way. And if
you get as a young man, you know, you know,
learning your much and you battle that you're like, man,
oh man, why are you always on my head? You know,
are you always on my back breath. But no, what
he was doing is bringing out the best in you,

(34:05):
because if you don't play hard, we won't know ever.
And it's not a light switch. So on a basketball
court with Kelvin did is he brought the best out
of us because he demanded us to play hard. If
you watch Houston University today, they play hard. They may
not do a whole lot of stuff on offense, coach,

(34:27):
don't don't don't kill me here, coach, if you hear this,
a whole lot of stuff like other programs on offense,
but you look at that rebounding category or loose ball
category 's twenty on guys, they play hard. That's really
their bread of us. Now, that guy confused with off

(34:49):
the court because you didn't know if the dude liked
you or loved you, because you were still in your feelings.
You you was like, oh, I don't know if I
should approach it do I'm I'm kind still mad at
him because he made me run or he was talking
about how soft thought was, which we can't do these days. Um.
But then people tell you when a coach stops talking

(35:14):
to you, you need to be worried. Yeah, you need
to be worried. He was always talking with me. He cared,
he carred, carried to care um, and I was, I was.
I was a little young because I only had Kelvin
for one year. Um, then Kevin Eastman came. Kevin alright,

(35:38):
but it feels like I played for Kelvin for four years.
I talked to Kelvin last week. Um, you know, Kelvin
at forty at forty six. I love Kelvin because now
I get it. Yeah, he is better off the court

(36:01):
then he is on the court because he cares and
you don't. You don't you draw, You can't really put
those together from a basketball perspective at seventeen and off
the court because you're like my child, dude. You know
it's like you know your parents like, oh, go talk
to your teacher after class, right, good place you with
the teacher. You'll learn more. And you know, talk to

(36:23):
my teacher. It was the same thing with Kelvins. I
want to start. I want to stay farther, farthest away
from him. When I was younger because I felt I'm
mad at this dude. You know, if I if I
just dudes, gonna talk to some ship. But as you
grow older. You know, if you look at his staff today,
they all us. They all like, if if you know,
like you was coaching, like you was coaching, you would

(36:43):
be with you would be with Lavatory, you would be
whoever you were with. And he's a family dude. He
takes care of his own. He cares about his players.
All of us have relationships with Keilsman. Um. And I
only have one year with him, um, and it feels
like it feels like I've been in with the dude
for four years. He he claims, you know that I

(37:05):
was the best point guard he's ever had bart regardless
of whoever went to the NBA or not. He just
feels in his heart and I was one of his
best point guards, which is attribute to the honor for
me because he's a Hall of Famer. Um. So that
was the thing Like off the court, the dude is,

(37:25):
the dude is like his heart is huge for for
his dudes, you know what I mean. He's really he's
really a true dude. And uh, you know, and I'm
and I'm pleasing honor to say that. You know, I
can call coach right now and you know, and it's
like it's like a mentor it's like a big brother,
it's like an uncle, like he can't do anything in

(37:48):
his power to help and assistant support when a lot
of guys may not pick up the phone, you know
they too be He's he's big time. Now, you know
he's big time. He's different than it was. But he
was coaching at Watchington State, I'll tell you that. But um,
he's really earned his positions. Mason decisions, and you know
it's cost him in certain places, but you know, we
all gotta pick up and keep it rolling in. And

(38:10):
I'm proud of coach, absolutely glad to see him get
a second chance. And and this time around he's he's
actually he's really shocked me. She shocked the hell out
of me. And I knew Houston had the resources, and
I knew Houston was like an up and coming situation,
but I did not realize there's be in the final
four last or two years ago whenever they made it,

(38:31):
and then last year they looked great in the tournament.
Big big time job by by Coach Sampson. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
s R to listen live. Now, after Washington State, you
went to New Mexico State and played for a year,

(38:55):
then you finished in New Mexico and now you're on
the NBA radar are and you're looking at playing professionally.
What was how far did the NBA journey take you?
Did you get a training camp where you playing next
ahibitions season? And then how like how important was it

(39:17):
to you personally to make the league? You know, So
I'll take it back, like you know, I was uh
my my sophomore year, I led the pack and assists
and that I felt was like the hottest time of
my career. Yeah, right, Like although I went on to

(39:41):
play pro and I had a couple of tea in
the league and the workouts, I think the hottest time
of my career was was during that sophomore season and
that had three individual workouts on campus at Washington State
and the first was the Supersilis because they were the
closest to the campus and uh Casey came down and

(40:06):
worked me out with uh with Tim who was Tim's
last night had me like, I mean, he was the
workout king at that time. So I got a taste,
you know, but I was only like eighteen. I just
turned eighteen. As the song where I was young, because
I you know, I was young and Tim, I had
Tim and Casey and they put it on me and

(40:28):
then I was like, oh, ship, like this is a
different level. So that was the first workout, and then
I had another workout by Utah, and then I had
a workout by the Spurs, all in the same like
three weeks before weeks span and they worked me and
Isai Fontein now uh Mark Hendrickson. Oh yeah, so that
was kind of like our thing and uh, three different positions,

(40:51):
you know. Uh. And we had the workouts so that
I felt was the hottest. And then um, I transferred.
And then when I transferred, I felt like, Okay, now
I'm in my right class because I was up a season.
I wasn't supposed to be in ninetything supposed to me.
So then I went to the Mental State. I had
an okay season. Um I got a Newcomer of the Year. Uh,

(41:14):
but it wasn't the pack. It was different playing against
Jason Kidd and Tias and Bresen and Stays and Cameron
Murray and you know, it was just Salon and uh,
I did okay, but I don't. I didn't think it
was powerful enough to get drafted, right, So you know,
I did what everybody else. They got an agent and

(41:37):
I was told, okay, you might be in the second
late second rounder. Um. If not, you know, we have
these trade agreements and again, get you in the camp
and all that kind of like secondary stuff. So it
wasn't just a clear dog you're gonna get drafted, um,
And a lot of us have to do that. So
after that, once I realized I wasn't gonna you know,

(41:59):
walk in there there, I was like, okay, what's planning
B And I was talking to a lot of guys
that were similar in that similar position of you know,
on the borderline of making to the NBA, but then
there's still life after, you know, there's still a career here. Um.
And they were telling me, look, you know, you need
to concentrate on, you know, making a substantial amount of
money over a period of time. You know, it's not

(42:22):
the NBA route, but now you're a professional, you know,
you can go overseas or you can try to stay
in the minor leagues. And and my decision, like other people,
was like, you know what, I don't want to go
to because we only have the c BA at the time.
It wasn't like the D League, wasn't like the G League.
It wasn't like all this other stuff. We had the
c B A and the CBA was paying you know,

(42:44):
two three hundreds a week for our max and I
was like, dude, I felt like I like like I
was like, I felt like I needed to do more
than that. Um. So I went overseas and I got
a first opportunity in Israel? How was that? How was that?
Sperience in Israel? Israel was you know what man is?
You know, we didn't have Google, we didn't have YouTube.

(43:07):
So I had to pick up a damn Encyclopdu classic
at the Botanica without oh you know, you know moms
at a mom yeah, yeah about stack And I was like, well,
where is this place at? And I had to pick
it up and I was like old pictures. So I

(43:28):
had no idea exactly what was going on. So when
I got there, um, and UH kind of learned the
history and the culture because Israel's deep um and the culture,
you know, and that's when like that's when it's like
like my exposure went to like another level. It was

(43:49):
like wow, okay, you know, here's America, but like, wow,
here's customs different over here. There's a culture is different
over here, the values are different, you know. And then
um and then there was you know, um, you know,
you know all these beautiful women in Israel, um that
we have no idea what goes on in all these places.

(44:10):
The Mediterranean Sea is there, you know, it's eighty five degree,
you can see to the bottom of the water. And
then you know there, you know, you know, there's you know,
the people look different. It was it was hot, you know,
and they spoke English, spoke English in Israel, and I

(44:32):
was just like, it's like one of the best kept secrets.
So to this day. Um, I took a lot of
what I learned that first year in Israel, UM, and
I internalized that because they're you know, they got strong culture,
you know, they got strongly, they got they got some
real good values and uh try to you know, come
over here where we're at and still those Um. So

(44:55):
that was my first gig and then UM I left there.
I actually like I did really good and like one
of these like tournaments and then one of the agents
or sponsors from a team in Austria. It was like,
we'll pay you to get out of this contract and

(45:15):
come Austria and play for us. And I was just
like this is it? So I left that team and
went to Austria. How was Austria. It's next to Germany,
right yeah? Okay, so yeah, so Austria was a different
beast you know, um, you know, um it was. It was.
It was slower in Israel. Like I was like, yo,

(45:37):
what about this dude? Like I was just like I
was just pop it and now not. It was a
lot more structured, um, a lot more and it was historical.
Um you know the people of Deutsche you know, it was.
It was different. It was cold, you know, it was
freezing colde Now I was like I felt like I
was back in Pullman, Washington. Where that I mean I was,

(45:59):
I mean not okay, hold on, I was I could
do it Like I was like, yo, I thought I
was in Cali. I was just in Cali and Israel,
you know. But then I was like yo, back to
the snow. So it was cool. I had the basketball
was very good. Um, we had some really good goods
and you know, I enjoyed it. I became you know,
one of the you know locals, you know what I mean.

(46:20):
I became a part of your community. And again another
good learning experience, man um, and I enjoyed my time.
We ended up winning the championship there um and uh
that's when I kind of got like my fever again.
Was like, yo, you know, you win a championship in Europe,
you might get a look. These days you would a championship,
you might get a look in the league. Back then,

(46:43):
it was a little tougher. They weren't. They weren't in
the building as much as they are now. The game
the game, right, We're right, it was we were coming
through that era where it was very athletic. Yeah, everything
just went from fundamentals and skills to is raw athleticism.
And that was that transition from you know, the Norm

(47:06):
Nixons and the magics and the and then it went
to like, you know, like the guys that could just
bounce the Vince Carter's and you know all these just
it was a bounced erain, remember that, right, I mean
the layoff guys couldn't pull up jump shot, guys couldn't
dribble with their left hand, but they could jump and
and and they were long. So the game changed and

(47:29):
and then and nowadays we kind of lost. We kind
of lost a little bit. I feel personal needs to
be personally kind of feel like we lost a little
bit of skill set. And now that's why we got
a lot more Europeans in our league because they have
less athleticism. He then being able to compete now and

(47:50):
not to knock their athleticism, but they played the game differently,
that for a fact, because you played. Yeah, but anytime
a guy like Yoki and Dunche can dominate the NBA,
Yo Kitchen Duncan are the two most dominant dude. They
they be serving dudes and they make you look bad.

(48:12):
Give you fifty eighteen and sixteen dogs against whoever you're
putting over there, Janice, it don't matter. It's like how
it trips me out. But I think it's a credit
to what you exactly what you're saying. It's a it's
an i Q also associated with the back with their
game too, like they have an advanced i Q. They
were taught certain principles about the game that weren't necessarily

(48:34):
emphasized with us. And I think that you said it
perfectly that's why they've caught up so quickly and are
now dominating the league. But after Austria, So you win
a championship in Austria, how you're about, Well I was,
and I won that championship. Is but you retired three

(48:55):
years later? What happened in between Austria and retirement? So
I went back to uh Ramagan, back to Israel for
a short period, and then um, I was I was
supposed to go to Spain to play, and then it
was that call situation again. It was like, hey, we're

(49:18):
trying to negotiate a little bit more money. Um and
but you got this window and Austria had called me
back again saying we want you back. Because I left
Austria to go to try to, you know, make some money.
I think I played and the IBL. Sorry after after Austria,

(49:43):
I played so long ago. After Austria, I played in
the IBL for the Demon Dragons with that like idea
of staying local, staying in the States and being brought
up for attending and you know, Stace was doing that.
Guys was doing that, and I was like, all right,

(50:05):
I just won the championship. My name is Ringing. I'm
actually putting up like thirty forty in the Long Beach
summer leagues. You know, I'm like, I'm this was my
hot time after college and uh um. I ended up
playing the idea for a year, thinking that I would
get uh you know, brought up as a for a
ten day. I did that for a year. We actually

(50:27):
went to the championship. I think we lost championship or
something like that. But then after that, that's when I
went back overseas and I was like, you know what,
I'm not going to the n b A. I'm twenty
five years old, and if I had not made it
after I won the championship year, It's probably not gonna
be my day. So I had a couple of tryouts
again for the Lakers. I had tryouts for UM. I

(50:52):
think it was like the Lakers and the Bulls and
I at that time, you know, like you were talking
about earliers. You know, you and I have a different
you know, mindset about how how we pick up on things.
And my antennas went up, and I go, Okay, even
if I do get a couple of coffee in the NBA,
I'm not gonna be playing minutes. I'm gonna be on

(51:14):
a practice squad. I'm gonna be you know sort of
you know, in the background, I'm like, I don't know
if I want that. Um, I basically want to continue
learning myself and going overseas. Being there for eight months
by yourself, you learn yourself. And I just said, you know,
I'm gonna finish my career overseas. So I did that,
went back to Austria for another two years, and um,

(51:38):
my last year, I came back and played in the
A B A for the I don't want to say
the L A Stars or yeah, something like that. And
then after that, I was like, I'm not going back overseas.
So that's when I was like, I'm going back to school.
And I think I went back to school to get
my undergrad and psychology in two thousands before and I
was a rat. Yeah, so that's kind of like my

(51:59):
my journey. You know. I played you know, three or
four years overseas something like that, five years overseas and
in a couple of minor league years, um, and figured out, like,
you know, you know, I need to like establish myself
in America like absolutely live coming home in the summers,

(52:19):
you know, you know, like everybody else bringing as much
cash money as you can back home, but I don't
have like a residence, you know, I'm like, you know,
living with moms or you know, like trying to you know,
live with a chick for that period of time. And
to my back and that gout played out. Oh yeah, personally,
it just got you get tired of that. You get

(52:40):
tired of that. I need a life. I need to
be established. Where am I living at? You know, you know,
I need a woman like you know what I mean,
I start to think about life. Um. So that's kind
of where I cut it short and went back to school, man,
and then, um, you know, as we touched on earlier,
that kind of started my journey. Man. Being overseas, there's
always that level of loneliness that kind of takes over

(53:02):
when you especially when you are gone for extended periods
of time and you have all this time to be
thinking about yourself and learning yourself and basically free time
to do nothing but time to kill. That's it. You
got time to kill, to the next practice, to the
next meal, whatever it is. So I guitar. I learned
a lot about myself over the course of four years,

(53:23):
you know, playing over there overseas, and then I also
realized when I got back home, just how far behind
uh in certain areas, man, because everybody's you know, let's
just like the workforce, and you touched on it earlier.
You got your degree, but no experience, and they won't
experience if you just like a guy that just came
out of college. So like they're looking at you, man,

(53:45):
you ain't got no mentorship, like you ain't did an internship. Man,
you was playing basketball? Like, how does that kind of trend?
And that's the same things I ran into where lack
of job experienced equated to being passed over for opportunities.
But once like you talked about that one foot in
the door. Hey, hey, hey, that one foot in the door, bro.

(54:08):
And then and that's a testament to us and folks
that are cut from the cloth that we are, that
all we need is an opportunity, okay, and to get
in these rooms stats we so called couldn't handle and
don't know how to whatever. Okay, put me there and
let's see how that's go end up. And I think
that you you're you're a perfect example of that type
of situation of my brother. Um, yeah, was there any

(54:34):
moment during the retirement when you're so young and back
in school. Was there any moment that you said, man,
I kind of want to get back out there. We're
still playing pickup, we're still standing in shape. Did anything
come up to where you kind of had to make
another serious choice in life? Okay, talk to me. I mean,

(54:58):
I wasn't done physically. I was done physically and emotion mentally.
I was done because you know, I had not achieved
what I was set out to do. And that's what
I busted my butt to do. Was too you know,
I made every meeting and I made every job. What
I did not do and I could live with it

(55:21):
is I didn't do as much as I should have
done when it comes to like, you know, the little
things like touching the line, drinking milk, chicks not party.
I didn't do that, So I wasn't rewarded, all right.
I slacked because I thought I was good. I though
I could turn it on, so I can. Now. You
know a lot of us have to live with some

(55:42):
of this, and we got to understand, like, did you
really truly do everything everything every That's a great way
to put it, what I mean, And you can fool
yourself by saying yes, but I saw and I know
guys that they hid more than I did. They weren't

(56:03):
as talented, they may not have been as good, but
they were because they did all that other stuff. What
I just kind of kept it at a certain level. Um,
and kudos at oh, but that that's kind of like
the the maturity, right, Um so I I I had
some like I had some some some days where I

(56:27):
was twenty seven years old, twenty eight years old, I
would go and play around or play with guys that
were still doing it. Stace was still doing it. Um.
I would go to the real Run and playing the
real Run and guys will be like, dumb, you can
go right now. And I'm like, I'm tired of hearing that.
Guys like b D you know, got domb like yo,
like BD is my duty like you was a kid, Paul,

(56:50):
like all these guys like man, you can go now,
and I'm like, I'm tired of hearing that. You know
what I mean, I'm gonna I'm just here to hoo
because I love a who but like I've I've it out.
Yeah yeah, thats like you know what, I go get
a contract and make right now and throw this throw

(57:10):
this mindset out the win and get back to this.
But then I was like, nah, you know, I've come
too far with making a decision to to stop, not quit,
but to stop. And I was challenging, man, because I
know guys that continue to do it until they were
thirty seven, and I had a tenure head start on

(57:31):
them in terms of what we were talking about, transition
into real life, you know, being able to do Excel
search and use the computer in today's society, I mean,
attach p attach a PDF to an email. We take
those things from granted because we bounced and we was rocking,
and we competed, and we worked on our bodies, you know,

(57:53):
and we worked on our mind, worked on our image,
you know, we worked on our persona to the media. Uh.
I mean we were we were entertainers. So we had
to transition to you know, doing different skills you know.
Um and uh, you know guys that didn't stop when
I stopped. When they did stop at a later age,

(58:15):
they had to they had to do the same thing
as Idea. So you know, I just made a decision
to uh, to unlace mine a little earlier and to
get into the real work, Like I had no idea
about you know, interests, interest rates, real estate, like I'm
eating real estate, eat literate at the time, like I
couldn't have I couldn't have conversations with adults that you know, uh,

(58:41):
tax returns, writing this off? What do you what do
you mean right? What are you talking about? What do
you mean? Tell room people watched my my laundry. I
don't do that kind of stuff. I don't book my
whole I don't book my rental car. I don't. That
was like a lost skill and U and then when

(59:04):
you hang it up, you're like, oh, I gotta do
everything myself now I don't even know what is this?
And so that you know, with that, with that, like
you said earlier, Chris was a big one. The confidence.
As I started to learn more and get more confident
in the real world, it allowed me to go out

(59:25):
and raise money, started business. Do what you're doing, like
I had to really had to learn how to walk
again after sports. That's how I put it. So saying
attach a PDF like that was a mystery. It sounds easy,
but it sounds like people in the business world who
has been working since they're eighteen nineteen years old, and

(59:47):
we didn't like what a PDF, Like I said, yeah, yeah, um,
so that that's that's that's that's been my that's been
like the advantage. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I
Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.

(01:00:10):
And I think that your competitive nature, are competitive nature
as athletes come out when we get placed in those
corporate settings, because what you what you realize about the
corporate setting is, yeah, I work with a bunch of
white dudes and white with white women too. I was
the only brother, but they all wanted were wanted to
be athletes. They all had a drive. They all was
competitive more than me about stuff they knew. They know

(01:00:32):
about everything. Like in my particular situation, I was surrounded
by people that were sports heads. So the culture was
always we're trying to beat each other on sales on this,
We're trying to beat each other a month in who's
getting the bonus we got two tickets, five tickets to
the Giants game, or whoever sells the most of this
month stuff like that. And so now I'm getting geeked

(01:00:52):
because yeah, I'm like, wait a minute. Now we can
have a little fun. And I think that's the part
where our athletic prowess comes out as adults and while
you're working in that type of setting. But make no
mistake about it, Bro, when I first started and had
to relearn everything, teach myself how to walk again, it
takes hours and hours and hours of studying, research, knowledge,

(01:01:16):
soaking up YouTube video, soaking up how to do? I
was on I was MR. How to do I'm not
asking nobody because I'm embarrassed, don't I'm embarrassed. I don't
want to ask a grown person how do I know?
It's like a super question that you're supposed to know this.
I gotta I gotta go. Yeah, I get I go.
Great There to BRO. A lot of us are and

(01:01:39):
some of us, you know, are are not coming out
with that, and they probably it's the it's the it's
the trust and yourself, like you know, some people don't
grow up with that trust and that an exposure. You know,
some people don' grow up. It's supposed to be scared
to say I don't know what you mean? You know,
you can use a word. And I'm sitting there like
going shaking my head yes, but I no clue. And

(01:02:00):
if I'm if I have a trust in me, I'm
gonna say, hold on, Chris, what does that word mean?
And I'm not afraid for you to judge me if
I don't know that. So a lot of US sports
athletes have to cross that barrier, you know, And I'm
saying like, I don't know what. I don't know what
that means, man, or I need to know some help,
you know, I've I've had to experience that, um and

(01:02:25):
now now it's a part of me. It's like I
wish I would have known that when I was a
little younger, like we always do that, you know. I
wish i'd have known how big resources was. And you
know that old thing about it ain't what you know
is who you know? Like you gotta keep those resources
in time. You know you do. It means the world
to you and and and them as well. You know,
you just never know. I think the thing that I

(01:02:47):
realized the most out of my transition in that whole
situation was just how how little I knew and how
much pride I had because I didn't want people to
know serious. I'm like, bro, pride is some stuff. Dog,
you know you you will miss out on a lifetime

(01:03:07):
of stuff because you got some pride about X, Y
or Z. So I used to have this pride. I
don't want to tell people or I wanted I wanted
to act like I knew everything all the time talking
about but but but but here's what you learned that
asking questions is the move. Like asking questions is the move,
dog like, that's the moves. But we're sitting here thinking

(01:03:32):
it's like it's like a death sentence if you ask
a question or don't ask no questions. No, man, you're
supposed to ask a million questions a million times a day.
That is a normal type of thing. Man. People just
got to explain themselves. My my boss used to explain
himself a thousand times a day on these calls, bro,
because everybody's like, oh, we didn't understand that, or he'd
be on the webinar. We're like, what was that? It's nothing,

(01:03:53):
that's part of it. But but why do we walk
around thinking that it's a net it if connotation to
to ask a question or ask for help? Why is that? Yeah,
we were it's a stigma, you know, it's a stigma
because we feel lesser and you know, in our society,
that's when we were deemed to feel as lesser and
not knowing stuff. So we don't we feel like, oh,

(01:04:16):
this guy got one up on me, or you know,
he's gonna take advantage of me, or he doesn't respect me.
And our culture, respect is big, you know, are we
you know flaws and do all this stuff. Respect is big,
So we feel a little less respected if we ask
the question that we may not know, we might we
might feel like this dude is gonna make make fun

(01:04:38):
of me. But what you're doing, brother, is your your
growth is there's growth and development here too. You know.
They're that word learned. If you look it up, it
means that I didn't know before now, but now I do.
Now I learned. So if you don't, if you don't
understand how to learn, you know, you're beating yourself. You know,
you're beating yourself. And again it's maturity, right. You know,

(01:05:01):
you talk to someone that's you know, sixty five years
old and you tell him, hey, man, look man, yeah,
i'm developing the stages and and he's like, yeah, I've
been where you've been at he has, he has been there.
He had to make that disc around those time and
when he was twenty one and he was nineteen and
he was thirty five. Um, it's the same thing we're

(01:05:21):
going through. So you know, UM, we have to be
cognizant of of understanding that. You know, it's not wrong
to educate yourself. It's actually your duty to do so,
thank you. You don't know what you don't know. I
can't help you until you tell me how I can
help you. So if you can ask some questions, you

(01:05:44):
can use the resources that are out there for you
that you don't know can help you because you don't
know what you need. You don't know what you want.
You know, when I was running my business, I used
to you know, I used to take it personal because
I was in my own grind, you know, and I
want people around me that care for me to help me, right.
But instead of me understanding how they can help me

(01:06:07):
or or or delegating exactly what I wanted them to
do to help me, I wanted them to just get
involved and figure it out just the part it is,
and you're gonna figure out how to help me. And
it was like no, no, no, you gotta tell me
what they're doing. I'm like I can't tell you what
to do. I need you to learn, And it was like,
wait a minute, you understand what I'm saying. One can

(01:06:27):
help you unless you understand what it is you're trying
to do, and agent asking questions clears that up because
it gives you information and it allows you to make
an informed decisional So you know, we gotta be better
at that, you know, we you know, we just gotta
be better. Open up and tuck that pride that probably

(01:06:49):
ain't gonna do nothing for you. If you get busy
and do what you do and and and do like
you know what I'm saying, like what you're doing, and
just get busy, that prode to go away. It's just
pride is like a uh, like a momentary sense of
gratification that validates maybe a feeling or behavior that you

(01:07:10):
have that typically isn't positive. So it's like trying is
always associated with like you validated some negative bs. You
know what I'm saying in your own mind. But the pride,
I think that's what I think of it as I
don't really the other two percent obviously, But dude, it's
a trip and I'm glad that you're in a position
though now as as as head coach and mortacide high

(01:07:33):
my brother, to affect this next generation to undo some
of this mental conditioning that this our generations have seen.
So now this that hopefully that your kids and these
kids that you affect or come into contact with the
Morningside Man, they can go into the world equip with
these tools. You need them early on sixteen seventeen eighteen

(01:07:57):
you need for me, And this is kind of how
you need to be financially literately at fifteen sixteen seventeen.
You need to understand about taxes, paying your taxes, voting
and all that you need to be on that. And
then you gotta understand about you know, like retiring when
you start working, when a four oh one k is,
we're started thinking about social security, were starting about retirements,

(01:08:17):
are thinking about different things you can do. You know,
it's like we as I won't say we, but I
would say that a lot of Black culture in America
is not equipped with these these types this type of knowledge,
and it always kind of contributes to why we don't
move up vertically at the pace that we were all

(01:08:39):
like to Absolutely, it's a disconnect. It is it is
um you know, we can figure out. You know, it's internal.
A lot of this stuff is also internal. You know.
We gotta we gotta do better. That's it. We gotta
take responsibility. We just gotta. And that's what we were
talking about the sports ro with this alliance with kids

(01:09:01):
and sports as you know, until we figure that part out,
we are, we're not gonna go up at that pace
or that right. You know. But guys like you were
in place with Voice and you know, I'm glad you
got me out there too, and and uh, you know,
to teach one, you know, kind of the next generation
we do have. That's my home office. It's okay, that's okay,

(01:09:25):
that's okay. We're dog we're dog friendly over here, all right,
we're dog friendly. And kJ Live bro hold on like
he's not gonna stop just one second. Definitely dog fairly here.
kJ Live had Dominicue Ellison is in the building. Amazing

(01:09:47):
conversation about the responsibility of mentors to the next generation.
Dum played at Washington State, New Mexico State, worked in
Corporate America for ten or twelve years, and recently accepted
the head coaching position at Morningside High School. We've had
an incredible hour and change of conversation. Dom Man, I

(01:10:10):
just want to tell you I appreciate you for coming
on this platform, brother, sharing your story, sharing the journey.
For those that are out there that are gonna be
listening that don't know who Dominic Ellison is, now they
can have a better idea my brother. Listen, Man, I'm
honored to be on the show. Um. You know, for
all the listeners, you know, Chris is a brother of mine.

(01:10:31):
Mad love and respect for Chris. We we we've been
knowing each other for a very very long time. UM.
I'm proud of his journey. Man. He's always been like
an incredible dude. Uh, He's always been an incredible brother. Um.
And and when I I'm not really a big social
media dude, and you know, since I've taken this position,

(01:10:53):
you know obviously that comes with it, right And UM,
the first opportunity that I saw all you had a podcast,
I had to reach out. UM. And again, it's not
about me, It's really about your brother, because you You've
been a special dude in my life and my brother.
So congratulations to you. I've always followed your journey, UM,

(01:11:14):
and you continue to inspire all of us and you
always got something going on that we can respect and support.
So appreciate your listeners. Man, this is this is the
one of a kind dude. So I appreciate you much love,
much love, my brother, and best of luck and morningside
and anything else. My brother. Yeah, we gotta get you
out to a game. Man, I'll be there. I'll be

(01:11:36):
i'mna come through, bro, I'm gonna check it out. I
would come to the eagle Wood game. Come on, it'side
eagle Wood. I'm well, I'm gonna wear a blue jacket.
There you go. Hey, that's what hey. But that's what
I did back to the day. That's what I did
back in the day, bro, But it was a different time,
so I had to kind of hide. I was with Rico.
I was sitting up at the time. Oh, I'm up there, high.
I had on the blue jacket, but I had like

(01:11:56):
a sweatshirt over here, like nope, walk you in your royalty,
We walk you right in. Oh. I appreciate that. I'm
looking forward to it, Pops. I said, Hi, man, hug
Pops and hugged the family. Men. Hope everybody's well again.
I appreciate you for happening Ladies and Gentlemen Dominic Ellison