Holt Brothers on the GSOT, Holt House Battles, Honoring Mom Through Service

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm Peanut Tillman and this is the NFL Players Second
Act Podcast. I got my high school librarian, Roman Harper
right over here.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
What you're gritting. What you're grinning for?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Because every time you just get more and more creative
with how you name dropped me. So I appreciate it
as more. As long as I stay in your life,
I appreciate it. However I get there, I don't know anyways,
all of our listeners out there, make sure you hit
give us a five star rating, hit the subscribe button.
Come come part of the family of the NFL Player
second X podcast, and also anywhere you pick up your podcasts,

(00:45):
whether it's Apple or iHeart. Tell a friend, to tell
a friend, to tell a friend, check us out. Terrence
and Tory Holt were just on the show. Amazing interview.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Give it a listen.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Today's interview. I'm super super excited to have a duo.
I think it's our first duo we've had on the podcast.
Is really looking forward to it. We got my man,
my partner in crime, Charles P. Nut Tilman as always,
and today's guests. Let's go down the resume. All right,
it's the Holt brothers, both of these guys attended NC
State for I was a teammate with one of them,

(01:23):
the brother Terrence hol who I'm not gonna read off
his stats yet. I will go start with Tory Holt,
the brother, the wide receiver. Four time Hall of Fame finalists,
which means he's close. He's knocking on the door. Super
Bowl champion, seven time Pro bowler, two time All Pro,
led the league in receptions twice in the NFL's two
thousands All Decade Team.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Congratulations, my boy, Terrence.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Holt, my favorite hole because my team for a year
came in taught me some ropes, you know what I mean.
As an older guy, was always looking for that safety
to look up to. He was a great blend, a
great person. I get to bounce a whole bunch of
ideas off love playing beside him. Hope was a fifth
round pick in two thousand and three. Play six years
and is and at the same time together as well

(02:08):
during Tony So uh Toys Toys Time. So welcome to
the podcast.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Having us brothers.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, man, and like.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
I said earlier, Toy you should be used to this,
all this coverage around, all these dvs around you in space,
So feel comfortable sharing today.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
No doubt.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
Man, it's certainly a pleasure to be here for sure.
When when when when making them reached out was like, yo,
the podcast, it's happening at the draft, which I would
be willing to join. I was like, can I bring
my bro? It's like, yeah, so good to have my
brother here? Is good to be able to be.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Able to be man still looking out for your little brother.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
And that's what we do a lot together, man, a
lot of that. It's started from how we was raised.
You know, my mom and our dad was really big
on us being together. We got an older sister, so
you know, even though as guys, as boys, we competed
up in the crib, but at the same day, at

(03:05):
the same time, we had to come back, Yo, what's
up man? Nice compete? You know, we still brothers. We
still we still show up the age difference real quick.
Four years and four years.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Before now, let's let's address the elephant in the room,
all right, So at what point does the younger brother
get bigger than the older brother?

Speaker 3 (03:23):
And like, how did these things start to happening?

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Because I got all older brothers and I cannot I've
never beat my older brother.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's like this block. Yeah it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
I'm a little bit bigger than he is, but you're
you're the youngest, right and the youngest, but you look
the oldest.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
The youngest clarified.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
We got that clarit.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
I was I was always chasing my brother. I always
wanted to be around my brother, and uh he oftentimes
he in our neighborhood. He hung with the older kids
as well. So the kids, the kids or guys that
he was hanging with were always like four and five
years older than him. So I'm four years behind him,
So I'm hanging around guys that are eight years older

(04:05):
than me. And when it comes to guys at that age,
guys oftentimes at that age want to hang around girls
and so but anyway, if my brother was in our
neighborhood pitching horseshoes, playing football, I wanted to be there.
So he was always had the burden of my presence

(04:26):
and being around older girl, older guys and older girls,
And I think that's for me playing with them.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Him playing with.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Older kids in the neighborhood helped develop his game physically
and kind of understanding that at some point you're going
to be playing this is your competition. So yeah, they're
older than you now, but if you go to college,
you go to pros, this is what you're going to
be going against. And then for me that was just
it was just normal, so playing up playing competition that
were bigger, old, and more mature to you, and just

(04:54):
always wanted to be in his shadow. That's kind of
continued kind of to this day us being business par
nurse and having the fortunate of both playing in the
National Football League, which is you know, unique in itself
to have brothers that have played.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Even though we got a lot.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
Of brothers in the league that have played, statistically, it's
not a lot of brothers that that have played in
our league or made.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
It to the league.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
So anyway, it's just just a natural thing. He's doing something.
He's been very very uh nice and uh and and
I was always thought about me and invited me to
it and uh and that's just how we do. It's
from my mom and our dad.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, so let me start this next question off. I'm
across my legs.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
So we got, you know, right now where we get
that growth sexy going on right now.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
So I think it's cool that you could, you know,
you get.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
You have your brother to look up to, and then
I know probably when you got to the league you
had an idea of what to expect, right, and maybe
you didn't just because you're the oldest and you're kind
of setting the tone. What was your welcome to the
NFL moment? And then I want to I want you
to answer that question and were you prepared for it?

(06:02):
And did you get that advice from that?

Speaker 4 (06:04):
I think for me it was when I was running
out I think it was like zero forty eight and
the defense was in zone and I sat, I chose
to set down, which I did. What I was supposed
to do is my responsibility, And I'm thinking it's.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know, you know how how in practice? You know
they asked you how to tag off? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (06:22):
Nah, Charlie, Charlie Clemens, excuse me, crush me.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
It was like, yo, welcome to the NFL, young boy.
So for me physically, that was my welcome to the
National Football League. Mentally was playing in the Super Bowl
was my welcome to the National and that that was
my rookie year. So that took me to a whole
other level right from the gate. So my expectations were high, right,
from the door. So those are my two welcome to
the National Football League moments that stuck with me right

(06:49):
And for me, I had the fortune of I think
I earned the title for the Pros. And again it's
I was very happy with being considered a pros pro.
And that happened for me very early on because again
I was used to being in the locker room. I
carried myself in a certain kind of way where I was.

(07:11):
I was a gym rat. I stayed right across the
street from in Allen Park in Denborn. I was drafted
by the Lions, and I was always I didn't have
a family, so for me, I was always around and
played with players like Robert Porchet and I remember, you know,
being around them, and man, you walking around here like

(07:31):
you a vet, Like you know what I'm saying, Like,
ain't nobody pointing you or letting you having to tell
you where to go? Well, I'm spending so much time
in the building. I'm telling people that been here two
three years that this is upstairs or all those kinds
of things. But my moment to welcome to the NFL
was once h you had a rookie kind of mini camps.
It's just the rookies that are there, and everybody's talking about, well, it's.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Gonna be different when the when the Vets come here.
And you had your O.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, and so you know that's me a little nervous. Yeah,
I said, it's some anxiety to come with that, like
to day. You know this this is the league and
we you know we running on. I mean you ran
on and.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Off the field when you was in college. But it's
just tempo.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Everything's tempo period to period, and everybody's trying to get
you used to the NFL life. And they were saying,
OTAs hit, come the hit, come the vest. And again
we in shells and in team drill.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
I'm out there.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
We're going against the first team offense and Corey Schlessinger,
which was a full back, yeah, full back for us, yes,
from Nebraska. It's coming through the hole and coming down
the sideline, and he likes to finish a drill. So
he finishes the drill. We got the ball maybe forty
yards out. He's going to finish all the way to
the end zone. And so we're being talked tag off

(08:49):
like you just was talking about. So I'm tagging off
and I had not got the memo with Corey Slessinger.
He's stiff form. So all I got is I had
on running around. He's uh Detroit, right Detroit, running down
the field and Cory Slash. I go to tag in
kind of like you know, form tackle. I'm gonna breeze
by him, and he stiffs on My whole helmet come off,

(09:11):
pop off my head. That's how stiff is Stiff was
And it was kind of without him even saying welcome
to the NFL. Everybody else is saying like, welcome to you.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
So in my in my thirteen years, you know, I
got my bumps and bruises, and I'm gonna look into
my camera right here and I'm I'm gonna show my
little pinky that's all jacked up right now. So I'm
listening to you totally, and I'm looking at your finger
in your left hand and k look in that camera.
Show showed him that that thing right there, That's that's

(09:44):
what greatness looks like.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yo. That's no chest. That's the ball. Never touches, never hands.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
Only time, only time in traffic, because you know, sometimes
you gotta in traffic, you gotta go up and body
the ball.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Sometimes the collision allows you to catch the ball.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
So but other than that, I'm using all my hands
to catch the football, like that's as receivers, that's our
job is to catch the football.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
So I was very I've always been very, very comfortable
around the ball.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
I was talking about this last night thing me in
London fletching and was talking and I used to sleep
with the ball.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
I used to be just landing in the bed flipping
the ball.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
I mean, he knows that's throwing multiple tennis balls off
of the wall and catching it out in the neighborhood.
Like I've just always been very comfortable catching the ball.
So I'm a natural master of catching the football with
my hands. And funny thing about his finger. We're in
Arizona in two thousand and seven. By that time, I
had moved on to Arizona, and we're playing the Rams

(10:42):
and we're out there as we always did when we played.
We're talking mid play, We're talking to each other. Hey,
you know the family get settle tickets.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Like this game going on, right He just ran a
go route whatnot.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
I'm coming back from covering somebody and we just talking
to each other and he's like, man, I just I
just man. He was blocking somebody. It was talking about
his fingers. Man, I just broke my finger again. Showed
me the finger and popped it back in. But this,
this finger has gotten uglier over the years, and I'm like.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Man, they can fix that, you know.

Speaker 4 (11:16):
And he's he's just big and this is this, this
is his you know.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
I'm the surgeries. I'm tired of the surgeries. This joint, yeah,
say it is what it is. We all have wounds,
we all have our water. I told him, scaring people,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
He's not lying.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
I just saw this fingers for the first album when
you first talk, I mean I was I wouldn't gonna
talk about.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
It because you didn't want to jump out your skins.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
Seem very comfortable with it.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
I'm very, very comfort to be a.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Professional, very comfortable over here queezing for the told it's
one thing to be a badge of honor, but if
you can't hold no changes, it ought to be like
a no change.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
You can't hold limit to the badge of honor. We
got to get it fixed.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
So tell me this. How does it feel when when
people ask you, guys that you achieved the rare feature
and that is both brothers making it to the NFL.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
How much pride does that bring you? I got three
older brothers.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
So I would have loved to have an older brother
play in the NFL and achieve that goal.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
But for your family, how much pride?

Speaker 1 (12:23):
And for you guys individuals, Now, I'll say I'll go first.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
I mean you mentioned pride, I mean we we hold this.

Speaker 4 (12:32):
I mean it allows us to have the type of
pride that you look for in the family. And then
particularly being able to share something with their brothers. So
we don't take it for granted for sure, and we
know we have a responsibility as being brothers and having the.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Success that we had.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
Coming from a small town of Gibsonville, North Carolina, you know,
there's a lot of little ones, a lot of folks
in the neighborhood that look to us.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
So we're very aware of that.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
But to be able to share something like this stage
with their brother, the high, the lows, the difference, all
those things is just really to me, it is the ultimate.
Because we also come across siblings that don't get along.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
It's crazy, and.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
We we we look we look at like, how do
you not talk to your brother in a six months,
three months?

Speaker 2 (13:20):
What what is that?

Speaker 4 (13:21):
Yeah, so so so to be able to to be
able to have a biological sibling and you have that
type of connection with it's it's really dope.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
And it's the same with our sister.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
My sister is a school teacher, she's she we we
all pride ourselves on serving and we got that from
my father. So my sisters is a teaching terms and
I obviously played sports and we have our foundation. Now
we're able to able to serve.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
But to be able to.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
Do all those things and I'm going going a little long,
but to be able to do all those things, but
the one that you love and your and your brother,
now it's it's dope.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
It's really cool.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
Yeah, And I say, for me, it's it's it goes
back to my first statement.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
I always wanted to do what my brother wanted to do. Yeah.
So it was it was both.

Speaker 4 (14:03):
To have that example kind of to follow and a
good example at that because you know, not every older
brother or older sister is a good example, but they
want you to be the best you can be in
most occasions. And for me, it was both me trying
to do what he done and follow kind of in
his footsteps, which to some people they'll talk about the

(14:25):
pressure that comes with that, Yeah, they're always coming behind
your brother and him having.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
The type of career.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
But for me, it was it was competitive because, like
we talked about this a great deal where having an
example in seeing that somebody can do it is sometimes
all you need. And I had the ultimate example of
my brother. And I'm kind of like my brother. Oh

(14:51):
he had thirty two points.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
I know I'm afford it.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
So it was kind of that competition that was breeded
with us being young. And he made the thought of
going to college earning a scholarship while seemingly daunting. My
brother did it. I know I can do it. That's
proof of concept that I can do it. Plus I'm competitive,
I want to do what he's done, if not better

(15:17):
and more. And so I was just I just had
that mindset and thought process that I'm gonna make the league.
I'm gonna do what I need to do to make
the league, get me a scholarship, I'm gonna play I'm
gonna play well, whatever role I need to play.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
I'm gonna play it and do it.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
And and I had his tutelage all the way you
know through that's you know, I think the beauty of
he and I is that we've been best friends throughout
the process. We've competed and been best friends. And when
he when he lost Super Bowl in two thousand and one,
I lost the Super Bowl. Yeah, he wanted to go out.

(15:54):
It's a funny story. We were after they lose to
the Patriots. They're in New Orleans.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
He comes to the room, We all walk back to
the room.

Speaker 4 (16:02):
He finally get back after all the media and all
that kind of stuff, and comes to the room.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Hey, he's dressed, ready to go ours and ain't going out? Man,
Like I'm crying.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
This is how invested that I've always been in him,
in his routes and stuff that he's done. You know,
playing against the Rams was the easiest thing in the
world for me, the greatest show on turf. While they
were great, I knew him. I've been watching them as
a fan, but also watching them with a competitive mind.

(16:32):
If I was ever on the field against them, this
is what I would do. And so all that to say, man,
that we understand that we've done something that is unique.
We are prideful about it, but we also try to
impress upon other people that you can do it. When

(16:52):
we're population fifteen hundred, nobody had made it out of
our neighborhood. But we had like most neighborhoods and guys
that have made it, we had all talent the people,
maybe even more talented us that ran in the you know.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Just whatever, bad decisions.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
So I love that because that is my story growing
up in Pratt, Alabama. Nobody that looked like me had
ever made it to the NFL. We had a full
back named Kevin Turner. God rested soul. He passed away
from LS a few years ago, but that was.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
The only guy.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
And so because that, and like you said, once somebody
that you know does it, Like, dude, I can do
like I didn't know I could achieve that. I thought
it was I ain't got but two hundred people. Our
ceiling was on top of us and it's not even there.
And so it's beautiful to hear you talk about that
and really tour you just bursting through and really, man,

(17:45):
we all can do it now.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, you open up a floodgate with with competition.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
I know I'm a baby and my brother would pick
on me, and like you, I want to hang out
with my brother and he didn't want to hang out
with me just because he was older.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
There's a three year gap.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Difference, age difference, and I just was like, man, every
time I tried to beat my brother or something, basketball,
run and whatever, he used to kick my butt. Not
until I got in the high school. I was probably
my sophomore year we played. We finally played basketball one
on one and this was like, I, damn it, I'm
drawing my foot that putting my foot down.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
You were not.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
And it's funny y'all say that, though, But that was
the first time I had ever beat my brother. I
was fifteen and I beat him in our first we
went to ten. I finally beat him and it was
at that moment in time, I was like, you will
never beat me again.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Same story from that.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
From that moment on, I never lost to my brother
because it was just like I got you, because I
could like I beat him now, it's real. So I
know y'all got some competitive stories, you know, like going
going at it like give me, give me, give me
a give.

Speaker 4 (18:56):
Me a good story. So one of the same, very
similar or we had. We went to Easton Gildford High
School and so I had grown six inches in my
freshman summer and he was back from back from college
and came to one of our practices, and after the practice,

(19:18):
he and I played one on one and again, by
that time I developed I was taller than him, and uh,
and and again I got him and I beat him
that particular day. But with football, it's it's, it's it's
always been a challenge. I don't know that I can
say other than the score we beat. When I was

(19:39):
with the Cardinals, we beat him a couple of times.
We beat y'all in in two thousand and three when
I was with the Lions, where y'all, y'all are thirteen
and two, y'all came in.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
I was y'all, y'all, y'all, y'all.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
We beat y'all, but y'all, I was. I was mad
at y'all because y'all were headed to the playoffs. We
were headed home with the way y'all played the game.
But uh, but I say, we got stories from at
our grandma's house, where black grandma's houses are oftentimes more
like museums.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Right everywhere, everything is just an antique.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Everywhere everywhere that ain't from Africa.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Ex label when did you none of this stuff flipping
over made in China?

Speaker 4 (20:33):
Right man, So were grandma's house and uh, he and I,
like most occasions, got some ball made up game, were playing,
were getting rough and we hit one of the antiques
or hit one of the tables in the corner of
his of his head table and he's bleeding, but we can't.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Tell you're doing nothing, not in grandma's house.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
So we compete in so much and so heavy, we
can't tell nobody this story.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
He got a.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
Cut in his head that he can't we got to hide,
and we can't tell nobody. It was luckily enough it
had he didn't need any stitches or anything. But we
got more examples of stuff like that where we competed.
I'm telling you everything it didn't matter.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
We didn't even have to have.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
And that's why we get on our kids now oftentimes,
where kids need to be set up with with everything.
You got to have a baseball glup to play baseball
or or back to play baby.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
We went got sticks we had we had we didn't.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, my driveway is on a slant, and my wife's
like we shouldn't even have a basketball goal because like
it's not it's on a slant.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
I played on grass.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Already doesn't matter, and so often I call it so
many of our kids and we're blessed, we're fortunate.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
You know a lot of first world problems on this conversation, right,
But they live on a.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yacht, ye, and so they don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
It's really hard to tell somebody that lives on the
yacht that you know, your life is not not that
it's bad when you.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Know, that's all they life exactly.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
And to this day, we you know, we still are
very competitive, but we're respectful and we certainly have reached
an age which competing against one another it's kind of less.
We're kind of competing and have challenges that are oftentimes
versus you know, in business together that are that are
that are versus other obstacles, and so we're more or

(22:42):
less coming together to strategize on how collectively we're going
to overcome something that, you know, whatever challenge it is
that we're facing that particular day.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
So I like that, all right, We're gonna put a
pin in that because I want to get into the
business ventures in a second. But before we get that,
I want to talk about the greatest show on turf?
And so what was that like when you first show
up and it becomes because I don't think you guys
were called the greatest show on turf? Util how you
got showed up your rookie year and you know, you
guys are doing the dance, the bobb and weave and

(23:12):
then you were also I give you guys another thing
you got that receiving core was the first receiving corps
I ever remember that nobody cared about yack like you
guys just caught the ball and got down. We called
it bomb shelter.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
We bomb shelter.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
That very unique.

Speaker 4 (23:29):
That kind of started happening a little later on in
our career because you know, we dealt with so many
coverages many you know, I took some shots in the
National Football League. Unfortunately I didn't take a ton of percussions,
but I took some legitimate shots across the league. So
at times I thought, you know, like your primes others
talk about made it the business decision. At times I
made those business decisions whether I was going to try

(23:50):
to over exert myself and extend and get banged, or
go ahead and be smart take what I got live
to play another down. I thought it was the eventually
you got the first ones to really like and then
eventually bomb.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
On you the next next thing, you know, I mean
your end zone.

Speaker 4 (24:03):
So but in terms of my introduction into the team
with the greatest showing turf for me, I had Isaac Bruce,
Ricky prol Aza Quem guys when I.

Speaker 2 (24:11):
Came into the room that were true pros, true.

Speaker 4 (24:14):
Vets, and was really good wide receivers in all fasts
of the position. So I had a luxury of seeing
that every day. So as long as I felt, as
long as I stayed the course, I could become that
complete receiver because I was seeing it in my room
every day. Now, a lot of these young guys that
are coming into their rooms, they're all young, so they're
all teething each other and they're learning as they go,

(24:34):
whether they're having a true sometimes having a legit vet
in the room that can kind of set the tempo
the room, set the temple in practice, you know, accountability.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Just showing you the way every single day.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
I was fortunate enough to have that in our room
and on the team, guys like brother Ray Agnew who's
naw with the Detroit lines. Kurt Warner was Kurk Marshall
Orlando Pace who was dominant. I had the luxury of
watching the Lando dominate guys because I played the X
so I'm right on the ball.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
I could see the left tackle working. He was destroying Dominique.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
He's a big human, it's like a bear.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
But general Johnto he is so like hey, yeah, but
he's so solid.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
The Super Bowl for the first time and I was like, man,
this is huge man.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
And he was a tremendous athlete.

Speaker 4 (25:23):
You know, you play basketball, so I had a luxury
of you know, watching, watching, So seeing that on a
day to day basis, Man, if you love ball and
you're competitive and you want to be you know, established
at that at your position, establishing the game, it's like, man,
I gotta.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
Do do what they do with more so.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Having that and then seeing how we formed and how
we jailed, I think how we became the greatest show
on turf. Our practices, Like, our practices are greater than
we had some awesome games, but our practices were even greater.
To me, That's where the greatest show to me was born.
It was how we practiced, how unselfish we were, we
celebrated each other. Yeah, which was which which was? Our

(26:01):
coaches used to just tell us how rare that was,
Like we can't believe, like like no one's tripping over
who's getting off? Like every when one get off, everybody
got off right. And then another thing too, what extended
beyond the playing field for us too, like as as
that with that championship group and that greatest show in
term group, all of us both offensively and defensively, we
had a bond like we hung with each other, like

(26:23):
we spent time on one another outside of the ball.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, you know where I feel, You know how I
feel about the game.

Speaker 4 (26:28):
So that's how That's what I was introduced to as
a rookie. So you gotta only imagine what my expectations
were going to be each year, right that we had
success or whether we didn't, I was just I just
had a good We had a good foundation of players
that showed us how to do it, and we had
a really good foundation of coaches. Coach Dick Vermeille, who
just went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was

(26:49):
the head coach, and Mike Marsh and those guys. Mike
coach Marsh was phenomenals was offensive coordinating guys on defense.
But we had a good collective of players where football
meant something to them.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
So for a rookie, it was good to get that
kind of tutelage early.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
I think everybody I've spoken to who has been to
a Super Bowl or if won a Super Bowl, they
always talk about how dope or how amazing that locker
room is. They hang out outside of the lockero. It's
like it's it's it's a must. I feel like if
you don't do that, you're not You're not You're not
going to be tough. It's gonna be extremely tough. And

(27:24):
then can we just talk about you talked about he's
got induct uh Dig Vermilion, he got inducted to the
Hall of Fame, Like, can we just talk about the
Hall of famers on that team real quick? So you
got Dig Vermilion, you got Isaac, you got Kurt, you
got Orlando Orlando Marshall, Marshall and Niance Williams and NaN's
was with us and on the championship. What is that five?

Speaker 2 (27:46):
So what are you four? For?

Speaker 1 (27:48):
A time finalists? Like I know you're you're you're knocking
your beating We just had Leu Ray Butler on the
show and he was really talking about and he really
gave a beautiful dection of what it meant for him
to finally get that knock. And I'm hoping, I'm praying.
I see your name every year for the last couple

(28:09):
of years and you you were damn You're so close
and looking at you like when you just run off
the stats earlier, I'm just like, man, this what is what? Why?

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Who's ever.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Watching?

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Like, let's do the damn things.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
It's about I appreciate that. Yeah, and I appreciate it's
about that time. It's it's It's been a cool it's
been a cool journey.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Man.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
I've been you know, you mentioned I've been a finalist
four years and just every year the process and just
learning something different and seeing how it all works.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Certainly certainly.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
Excited for the guys that go they go in, but
it's always a level of dis important when you know
for sure. But I will say this, coming out of
this year, we feel like our team, my presenter who
was Who's how it balls and my team, we feel
like we are a step closer. So to your point,
we feel like it's going to happen soon, but it'll be.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
It'll be an incredible moment to be you know, to
be able to.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Did you think it would be like this though?

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Like did you think, like, yeah, maybe my work will
just speak for itself, absolutely certainly. Or there's a lot
of politics campaigning, and I still I want to still
explain a presenter as well, Like I didn't even know
you got to have a present Yeah, it's like so.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Each each guy that goes in has a presenter, and
a lot of times it's someone that covered them at
that particular city of that particular team to beat right right,
so you know, so they have to go in and
present your case of why you should be a pro
Football of Fame. And to Peanuts point, my thing has
always been it's my work is done. It's it's all worthy,

(29:44):
great if it's if it's not, okay, I get it.
I think for me, the biggest joy that I get
out of continue to stay around the game, and as
I continue to talk to guys that I played against,
the respect that we show for each other for.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Playing the game. To me, y'all know that, y'all know
that means everything. It does when your.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Dude come up to you like yo, y'all know that
that shape and that hug like you're a bad boy,
that in the hall is the hall is great, But
that y'all know, means a whole hell of a lot.
So just just feeling that being on that wavelength is great.
I can only imagine with that and the hall and

(30:23):
wearing a jacket. I mean, it's it's icing in the cake.
And in regards to how we feel and play this
game and how we view.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
It, at what point did you know when it was
time to hang it up? And I want you to
talk about the transition of not playing football.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
This is what you've been doing your whole life.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
You've been chasing your brother, You've had all these dreams,
you've accomplished so many things. Can you talk about that transition,
because that's what this play podcast is really it is
all about.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
It is talking about the.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Second act and we all figuring out.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
What to do next.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
Sure, and kudos to both you all for doing this podcast,
because I mean it's the thing that every player will
go through and to hear players that played thirteen years,
eighteen years, fifteen years, whatever have you, and to know
that they may have the same struggles they've set themselves

(31:24):
up financially, they've played as long as they can play,
but they still struggle for a guy that maybe played
two years or six years or four years, where their
careers may have been prompted to stop, you know, because
they just couldn't make another team. But for me, I
had the fortune again of having my brother play income
before me and having advisors that had advised him, where

(31:46):
a lot of my transition started before I even took
a snap in an NFL. It was thinking about next
act and setting myself up on insurance and all those
kinds of things that at some point of your career
you have to start talking about. I was after my
rookie year finished. I was part of that inaugural class
that started to do some of the executive entrepreneurship kind

(32:09):
of programs where I went to Wharton and so there
was guys that were ten years, eleven years, twelve years
in here I am.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
As a rookie, only rookie.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
Youngest person twenty four years old, and there's thirty five,
thirty six, thirty seven year old guys in there at
this Wharton event in school to learn about kind of transition.
It was transitioning with success, and so I've always kind
of been ahead of the curve trying to think about
my next act, not hoping that it would come anytime soon,

(32:42):
but I got to prepare for it and start thinking
about it. But just like anybody else after my when
it was all said and done and free agency was
going in a way that I thought with not having
a lot of bites from teams and having my faculties.
I had had several concussions when I played, I had

(33:02):
had some injuries like knee and back and some of
those things. You know, One day I just kind of
looked around. It was like in February leading into March,
and like I said, I hadn't had a lot of
teams that had showed interest in communicating with my with
my agent, I was like, you know what, man, I
have done well, I've played six years. I had a

(33:23):
goal of playing ten years. I said, I, you know,
I just think it is it's time. I had just
gotten married and uh and finished in New Orleans and
going to that two thousand and nine season, I started
going to business conferences and just wanting to just just
learn like what's out there, Like, you know, what what

(33:45):
opportunities kind of suit and fit our needs. And we
had already started in seven a real estate business. We
were going to do house flips and it was called
Brothers Buildings was the name of the company, the LLC, the.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
LLLC that we had started. And so we just started
to learn.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
We had great business advisors and people that we've been
fortunate to be surrounded by to kind of talk to
us and UH and that we could trust that wasn't
in it to have us invest in something that they
wanted to do. And that's oftentimes what players can be
surrounded around is people that they trust that are in
it for themselves to say, you know what, let's take

(34:27):
I can make your money work for you. You know what
I'm saying, Just invest in me and invest in it.
And for us, it was investing in ourselves and knowing
that we had to drive and the ambition to do
something to go beyond what we had done with.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
Our sports careers. And so fast forward to that.

Speaker 4 (34:43):
You know, for me, I just and with my wife's support,
because I went through a period where I was down.
I didn't have a locker room to support me and
pick me up. So I probably I told my brother this,
I probably I didn't.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
I didn't know that it was depression, but I probably
was going through depressions, you know what I'm saying, And
so I had to find that next thing. And I
think what has helped me and me and Tory talk
about this all the time is if you're trying to
get in one big bite all of the joy that
you get, an accomplishment you get from playing in the

(35:17):
National Football League and running out there on the field
with eighty five thousand people either booing you or cheering
for you, you're probably going to be disappointed. What you have
to do in transitioning and your second act is those
small bites and those small wins and kind of collectively
putting together whether it's business that you're doing, whether it's

(35:40):
being able to be the dad that you you know
wanted to be or you couldn't be when you know,
when you had football kind of taking up so much
of your time, volunteering, it's things of which you know
ingratiating yourself into your community, things like that that I
think those collectively can put together a nice little mix

(36:02):
of stuff that can give you the pleasure of planning
and not not replace. It's it's something that you know
that most people don't do, but it can give you
the pleasure of filling your day with small wins and
things that you can you can find a career and

(36:23):
find a second act out of and for me and
for us that we did. We went around business conferences,
got business advisement, and then landed rather than the real
estate company on construction.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
And there was.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
Opportunities for both public and private projects that could benefit
from diversity and inclusion and from a minority owned company
like Whope Other's construction. And so we went about that
course of pursuing public and private opportunities. And eleven years later, Man,
we've kind of grown our kind of revenue, pushing kind

(36:57):
of like nine figures now and in some big opportunities
in front of us. And it's it's just been just
like our careers, where we we've grown. Each year, we've evolved,
we've learned, we've gotten better, we've got craftier, got smarter.
We've had some some things that we've not done well,
but we've learned from those and we feel like we've surrounded.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Ourselves with a really, really really good team.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
They are really what make Toy and I successful and
we have the benefit of all the lessons that we've
learned and people that we've talked to coaches being coached.
We have that, and we are in the position now
to coach, to coach and own and UH and stepping
in the fray when we need to to UH to

(37:41):
provide a plan of action and the course of action
and letting people grow and work and and all those
kinds of things. So that's that's really what's been been
beneficial for us and been helpful for us.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
And I appreciate that kind of give us that whole
what you guys are up to a little bit more so,
and what I was thinking of before I kind of
lost my thoughts. What you said was so true is
that the respect mutually from your peers and being called
a true pro. That's like the ultimate college pro for
football players. A lot of times in locker rooms like well,

(38:15):
I just want to be called the pro pro pro.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
Well, it's funny because when when he when he and
I had this conversation with my kids. When Terrence was
in high school, I talked to him as a high schooler.
When he was in college, I talked and treated him
as he was a high school when he was in
college when he came to the pros, All that's over.
You're a pro now, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (38:37):
Like it's a whole and it's a whole level of
expectations and you got to do it every day, your
pro the expectations for you to show up every single day.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
And I tell my and now I'm having that conversation
with my daughters. I'm not I'm not talking to you
like I talked to you and he was in high school.
I'm talking to you now you're in college. Dad hasn't
been through that. Mom has been through that, and we
and we speaking that way. And as you move up.
So I just want to I just wanted to share.
I just want to just want.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
To shut and I appreciate that. And then, you know,
just talk about your transition a little bit. I mean,
what made you decide to retire when you did. I
mean you're still productive your last year. I think you
believe fifty.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
And you're like, you know what, I'm good, I'm ready
to go.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah, my body, my knees told me, yo, you just
time for you to be be done.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Do it.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
Lot of turf days, you know, lot of t yeah,
you know a lot of you know, I've had surgeries,
had issues. I came into to the pros with with
the knee issue that I suffered down at the Yeah,
and so I knew early on that I would have
knee issues. And because of the way also how I

(39:48):
practiced and how I played and how we cut and moved.
As a receiver, you gotta do a lot of bend
and a lot of cutting. So I knew I had
a certain window. So with that, with me knowing that,
anticipating that, that old me to really in that window
that I had was the goal as hard as I
possibly could be, as consistent, bes as dominant as I
possibly could. So it was my nees that my health

(40:11):
is what took me out, which was fine, you know,
I because.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Again I I anticipated it happening. I knew it was coming.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
When it does, it's it's not what we what we want,
but it's reality.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
It is reality. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
Yeah, So I spoke to coach Belichick about it, and
you know, and we came up with a plan and
and remember calling home, calling my wife, calling my grandmother,
calling Terians, calling my pops. Hey, this was the day.
It was, you know, this was yeah, I was this
is it, This is it? I was coming from a
business conference and he called, and uh, it was. It

(40:49):
was kind of a pregnant pause there where it was
like he said.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Man, I'm done, and I knew it was. I knew
it was serious. It's heart in his voice. Oh man,
it was. It was.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
And when he said he was done, it was it
was we done. It was right because I had transition
before him. And what I was gonna say. The funny
thing about transition, I'm chasing my brother, right, I'm always
coming after my brother, middle school, high school, college pros.
This is the first time that I was able to
go before him, so I was able to talk to
him about transition and what it was going to be like.

(41:21):
And I never forget telling him. The thing that he'll
have to do, that we'll have to do, that I
had to do is humble ourselves because we're we're you know,
being down back around the draft and going to the
super Bowl and all those kinds of things. Oftentimes we
are not because we asked for but we're put on

(41:43):
a pedestal and we you know, we're these nice hotels
and there's fans and there's people doing a whole lot
of stuff for you. When you transition and you go
back into the home, and not that you're out of
the home, but there's nobody cheering your name, you know,
and you gotta be okay with that little quieter.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
You know. It's and and when you step in the
business people may.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
Allow and set up a meeting with you because again
that they know you and and and kind of appreciated
the career that you had. But when they're talking about
giving you a business opportunity, that ain't got nothing to
do because you caught you know seven again, if it's
there's money that you're spending, they want a return on
their investment. They want a service that isn't keeping with

(42:34):
that car. So I was telling my brother at these
business conferences, it's people that you.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Know, will chew you up elevator speech, what do you do?

Speaker 4 (42:42):
And and and and to that point, we went to
an event and I wasn't ready.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, he wasn't ready. I got humble, Yeah, real quick,
real quick, I went. I told him. I was like, man,
I ain't nothing. Man I ain't never felt like that.

Speaker 4 (42:53):
It was discurious because because the guy, the guy was
kind of go ahead. You know, it wouldn't have been
no different if he came on my turf in the
Pro Bowl and he you know, and then I'm on
his turf as a as a businessman. I wasn't ready,
you know, in my mind, I'm thinking, I am okay,
here I am.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
You know, I canna man. I didn't even know how
to I had to learn how to talk the language
business culture.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
How long did it take you say, like, well, how
long did it take you to figure that out? During
that transition phase? Like say, okay, I retired January one,
and then you're talking to your brother.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
He's giving me some advice. Did you sit out a year?

Speaker 3 (43:33):
Did you wait a year?

Speaker 2 (43:34):
Did you? Or do you get right into it? You know?

Speaker 4 (43:36):
I was was, I was done and I was probably
a couple of years out. Oh we actually really went
into that, So I was, I was done. I was
done in my after going into the Old nine season.
We started the business in October seventeenth, twenty eleven, is
when we got going. But we were but we were
in it. But we were going around taking coffees, lunch,

(43:58):
then us with people to tea to tell us before
we spend money, tell us we'll pay for coffee, lunch
and dinner. To get lessons. How do we come into
this construction industry, what's the best way How minority minority
companies or companies, small companies have they failed you know
what I mean? How have they been able to carve
out an identity for themselves to be known for something.

(44:20):
We're going around asking architects, engineers, potential clients, and other
general contractors. Construction managers look like that just like us.
And what ended up happening, which is the greatest thing,
is just like with a coach, where a coach see
that a player has invested and they'll come to them
for extra work or extra tips. That's what we were

(44:41):
getting from those people. We were seeking counsel front as
they seen we went into it and this was not
a place where we were just throwing money or we
were going to own the company and never be seen
and throw money at it.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
And stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (44:54):
They seen our personal investment and interest in coming back.
And if a guy told us or girl told us,
young lady told us to be hey, come to this
conference and it's in San Diego, but come to this conference,
what was happening was they was testing us.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
Yep, we show.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Up, We on time, We suited and booted, you know,
were seeking knowledge, were there. First thing is show up
and y'all know like I know, in our sport and
for our meetings, coming to a meeting and just showing
up a meeting and eating clock. That ain't it, you
know what I mean? Eight o'clock you late. If the
meetings started at eight and you dad, eight, you late.

(45:33):
So we showing up fifteen minutes early, attentive, ready to go.
People started to invest in us, they started champion us.
And that's really the thing that helped here and I
grow to lead our team is we needed some executive
coaching too, you know what I mean, We needed to
be poured in. And I would say for our for

(45:54):
our current and former players and legends alumni is listening
to this podcast, I think you have to allow yourself
to be humbled and allow yourself to be able to
work through transitional coaching for a professional career outside of
foot ball, like to give yourself the grace to learn.
Because again, like I said, I wasn't ready for some

(46:15):
of those business conversations. I'll be back to towns like
some of that shit. But it made me like okay,
all right, and my my plan days I ain't letting
I ain't letting them stay happen again. You know what
I'm saying, Like that'd be the last time coach gonna
say that, say something about that.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
So you just learn to clean it up. You learn
to get better.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
But you got to give yourself to grace to do that,
and you got to know what you do. That was
the biggest thing is people asking what do you need
to know what your business does? And you got to
do it in a concise way because you might have
the benefit, especially at these big conferences where people meeting
a lot of people, you may have the ear of
an executive or CEO for sixty seconds you're coming down.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
That's why it's call e because everybody, everybody, everybody want
to chat.

Speaker 4 (46:59):
Everybody want to and what the and the thing I'll
say to players in their sacond act, if it's business,
if it's you know, uh, philanthropic work, whatever is. What
we learned very quickly was while humbling ourselves is something that.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
We needed to do.

Speaker 4 (47:17):
We didn't need to fray from who we are and
what happens is is in business right if you know,
everybody goes toward and everybody goes to Howard or whatnot,
and they are betrayed to be these business folks. Their
dim a dozen't like they've gone the path towards being

(47:37):
the business people we are.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
What we had was that we were unique.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
And what you'll learn in doing business and trying to
do businesses that ninety percent of the discussion that you
may be have that you may have with somebody has
nothing to do with that business you're talking, you know, sports,
topic of the day, and being unique and having something
to talk about other than the widget or the thing

(48:04):
or business culture and discussion made us stand out. And
so that's what I say to players is don't worry
about changing who you are.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Be who you are. It's that uniqueness.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
It's gonna be different and gonna make you stand out
amongst everybody else.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
But be ready.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
Once in that ten percent of that discussion, you got
to know your business right and come with what you want?
What do you want? What are you trying to get
out of this meeting. We shouldn't just be meeting just
to meeting. You're dealing with somebody's time. It might be
an hour, thirty minutes, twenty minutes. What do you want
and don't be afraid that tell people what you want?
How can you help me more? People will help you
if you open your mouth rather than you just again

(48:42):
not open your mouth and don't utilize that meeting or
that time that people have.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
All I can say is wow, I like that you
just said. It seems like and You're not the first
person to do this. I'm the same way I think
you are too. When we retire and we get out
and we get into that transition and then we get humbled,
we somehow get back into how we prepared, how we

(49:12):
got to the league. I'm sure you do it when
you do your notes and stuff right when you on TV,
and it's just like, no, hold on, hold on that,
I got to teach you thse real quick. Like we
we we get into that, all right. I know I'm
not in the league no more, but I got to
get back into that I'm in the league mentality mentally
of how we prepare, Like I think, like all just naturally.

Speaker 4 (49:32):
Do that, like once we came to the professional football league,
once we once we became professionals repros for the rest
of our life, y'o.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
For sure, it's a great point.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
And whatever we do, it's a great point because we
only know one way it's like fight or flight, and
there ain't no flight.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
You're dealing with a pro. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
And that's why I encourage guys that your sack and
act can be better than your first Yeah. Yeah, right now,
because now we hopefully you've done right by your money.
You are able to invest in yourself and able to
multiply what you have, and like I said, humbling yourself,
asking people for what you want and preparing like you
knew you had to prepare if you were a safety

(50:13):
or a corner and you had to go against the
best receiver or the tight end or the running back
or whatnot, you wasn't just showing up.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
And it's the same thing with businesses. Do your homework,
especially on who you meeting. If somebody sends you a meeting, invite,
what's the agenda, what we're gonna talk about, ask about
it right. I'm not going in a meeting that I'm
not having no kind of understanding the way we mean
about exactly.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
I think that's very important to you try and encourage
a lot of guys that are going through that transition
to you know, a lot of us are fearful of
the unknown, sure, and so a lot of times you know,
you've great, You've given some great nuggets talking about you know,
be who you are, right and I've got some advice
that Hey, look man, some of you guys are stars.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Naturally.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
People will be attracted to you because you're a natural star.
And when you dim your life, other people can't shine.
So when you shine and continue to be who you are,
it lets everybody in the room shine and be seen.
So continue to lean into who you are. I think
you guys have really hit that on the head. And
for me, I would like to know about, you know,
the Whole Brothers, Inc. And when you started this thing,

(51:18):
did you guys have any like initial goals and have
you achieved those goals in what is your trajectory or
the future plans for it? Sure we certainly had goals,
you know, we knew they would change kind of over time,
of course, but we had read all the business metrics
of you know, if you can make it three years
and you can make it, you know, we heard all

(51:41):
those things.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
We've evolved, We've a changed, We've we've got more focus.
Whole Brothers Inc. When we started was kind of the
parent company for LLC's like Whole Brothers Football Whole Brother's
Development and Whole Brother's Construction LLC. And then we've had
before Whople Brothers Inc. Was born, we had Whole Brothers Foundation, Inc.

(52:05):
Which is an affiliate two hours. That's a lot of websites. Yes,
but but we've narrowed our focus where our primary businesses aren't.
We're not doing anything with the development company like going
after any real estate deals. And we used to do
camps and clinics with the Football Company and COVID happening,

(52:26):
and so we kind of not doing much with the
with the Football Company, and so it's construction and it's
foundation and so sometimes narrowing your focus is part of
that game plan too, and you learn that over time,
like only got so much bandwidth, right, and I can
keep trying to chop at everything, or I can narrow
my focus and I can get something done. And sometimes

(52:49):
again getting something done is the motivation to keep going
versus being so spread out. And so we did that,
and uh, you know, we initially started with the goal
of doing work in a certain kind of way, like
like we just wanted to do college and university work,
where we've kind of spread Now what we're doing. Education
is a big focus college and university, but we're also

(53:11):
doing K through twelve, so we built kind of uh
elementary schools, high schools. We've worked at our alma mater
and done some cool projects. Now that that's a cool thing.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
We're getting to come home, come back home, and we're
through some stuff.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
It probably means.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
A lot more mans.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
When you see a building that you could help construct
on your old stumping grounds and campus, that's a lot.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
Of pridect you.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
It is.

Speaker 4 (53:38):
Yeah, So I say me and Toory talk about this
like I know my campus like I've never known my
campus places. I never went on campus. You know how
we all we got. If you're in sociology degree, which
I was, I went through the buildings of a sociology and.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
I was going back to the degree.

Speaker 4 (53:58):
Football facility and the dining hall, those are the places
I know. So now we've learned a whole lot more
about campus because we're working on campus. But we've done
do work for our city. We do parks and recreation.
We're doing this cool project that I want to kind
of elaborate on. It's called North Carolina Freedom Park, and
it's the first and only park to commemorate the efforts

(54:22):
of African Americans to the state of North Carolina. So
all this time, there's no park in Charlotte, there's no
park in Winston or all these other metros throughout our state.
And it's on the doorstep of the governors because the
governor's mansion is writ in Raleigh, North Carolina. That's our
that's our capital. And so we're doing this park and

(54:42):
it has all these on these pre cast wall, all
these engravements of statements, quotes from famous African Americans that
made significant contributions to our state. So we're working on that,
and we've been working on that for the past year.
We ride by it every day because it's just doorsteps

(55:03):
from my office. So it's like watching paint dry, because
stuff don't happen like that on the day. It takes
some time. I've been in this project over a year,
but to see that project come together and has this
beacon of hope that is this stainless steel structure that's
about forty foot that sits in the middle of the
park that that that serves like a flame, and the

(55:25):
flame is to provide hope to folks African Americans that
have done so much in our state and now they
get an honest.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
And I'm sure you guys are gonna have Charles L.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Sifford on there's ye I think African American PGA golfer,
you know.

Speaker 4 (55:44):
But yeah, we so so to do stuff like that
and to be able to take our kids to see
tangible things.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
That you know what that you know, Dad built that.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
You know that gas station that you're pumping that gut
dad Dad and uncle built Dad.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
So it's a it's legacy building. I love it. So
it's a cool thing to do. I love it. You know.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
The thing that's we tend to do things at least
from a foundation standpoint or a charitable standpoint. You know,
my daughter had a hard transplant back in two thousand
and eight, and I had my whole foundation set aside
and we were doing education, but once she got sick,
I decided to change it.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
It was we're more education based.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
So I was just like, my heart's not really an education,
but I do want to keep my foundation and help
these kids. So we ended up changing the mission statement
and we started doing things in hospitals now. And I
want you guys to talk about what you're doing and
what your promise was, because I know you guys lost
your mom when you guys were kids to cancer, and

(56:46):
I want you, can you just talk about kind of
what your foundation is doing right now.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Yeah, So Whole Brother's Foundation is our mission.

Speaker 4 (56:55):
We support young kids with a parent or guardian that's
balance cancer. We lost our mom, Aillon Foma in nineteen
ninety six. She was forty three years old, so we
vowed to do something out of her name. Once I
made it to the National Football League, won the Super Bowl,
and then after the year after that, went to this
meeting called Bear Essentials where it was all these families

(57:16):
and these kids and these families that were going through cancer.
And I had never been to a meeting like that.
When my mother was diagnoseding was going through it. The
only treatment we got was amongst each other, my brother
and my sister, my pops, my uncle, my grandmother, everybody
came around to take care of my mom. So, but
we didn't have the twos the resources to know how

(57:38):
to deal with that type of traumacach. Once cancer penetrates
the home, that's trauma. May not be a trauma for
my helmet hit, a head to head hit, but it's
a disease and it's trauma to the crib. So a
lot of those resources, a lot of the time for
mom or dad goes towards trying to beat cancer, or
mom or dad resting, a lot of time for kids. Well,

(57:59):
kids need to develop, kids need to be social, kids
need to be kids. So I went to this meeting
and I was like, it was unbelievable the type of
information that the parents were getting, also the type of
information that the kids were.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
Getting on how to deal with and cope with cancer.

Speaker 4 (58:14):
And you went to this meeting because like y'all know,
when y'all play, our community, folks would try to connect
you to the community for things that resonated with you, right,
And they know that toy mom had passed away from cancer,
and they was like, hey, you probably should go to
this meeting. You probably relate to this. And when he
went to the meeting, that's when he So Marson Moran,

(58:35):
who's our play development and handled all of the stuff
that we get out in the community, took me to
this went to this She suggested that I go to
this meeting. So we went and I was like, you know,
we don't have a program like this in North Carolina.
Like the kids could benefit from something like this in
North Carolina. I know I am in my twenties, yeah,
and I'm benefit benefit be infinite from it. Now at

(58:56):
twenty some plus years old, I can only imagine what
it'd be like if I was a kid and coming
on up through the ranks. So we started started the
foundation in two thousand, bought the program to North Carolina.
It's called Kids Can. Kids Can still accomplish and achieve
anything that they want though their parent are guardian is
balance cancer and we work with area hospitals in North Carolina.
We have programs that provide peer empathy, education, mental support

(59:21):
to those families, and those families at the hospitals meet
on a monthly basis. Terrence and I often attend those meetings. Again,
these are it's our foundation, it's the families that we're supporting.
We feel like we feel like that it's important not
only to have your foundation, but be visible, yes, present,
be present the time. Like the resources is cool, and

(59:44):
we can generate a lot of resources, and we can
bring a lot of resources to the foundation, but you
can bring more than that by being present, being visible,
spending the time building relationships with those families. So we're
able to do it with those kids can families. So
right now where we have what four programs in North

(01:00:06):
Carolina and then one in Saint Louis, and we're just
again just helping kids man give them the confidence, give
them the information that they need to be able.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
To go on.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
And one of the other things about the foundation that
we're really excited about too, is we have a scholarship
program now. So the kids that go through the Kids
Can program at ages six to seventeen. So a lot
of those kids, once they finish high school have aspirations
to go off to university. Well, again, the resources are
dried up and maybe able to get some pension plant,
you know, maybe it to get some type of college

(01:00:39):
education or some type of scholarship or something. So we say,
you know what, it'd be cool if we take some
of those dollars start a scholarship program and for kids
that need a little extra push, we can provide a
scholarship form and they can go off to university. So
our foundation also provides scholarship dollars for those kids that
go through the program. And I think we've now given
over maybe one hundred some plus thousand dollars and scholarship

(01:01:01):
funds to those kids in our programs. So that's the
some of the that's the gist of what Hope Brother's
Foundation it's all about. Again, we it's cancer centric certainly,
but it's something near and deal to terrences my heart
because my mom passed away.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
So it gives us great joy and it makes it
you know, it makes it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:22):
Easier to go and to go out and the fundraise
and to keep this thing going and and have the
type of impact that we have.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
So you got Whole Brother Foundation, Hope Brother and Holt
Brother Plumbing, Whole Brother.

Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
You got media.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Y'all got all the Whole Brother this and everything. But
but I will say this two peanut, and I'll say
to to our listeners. With your foundations found we've also
found that having a foundation has also.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Brought us business. Yeah, vice versa, vice versa.

Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
So so there's so there's as you as you get
into continue to get into your business and continue to
get into your career, you'll learn how how the two
can can intersect and how the two can can help
and play off each And we've done some things strategically.
Where the foundation started out in two thousand as Toy
Whole Foundation, and then it went to Hope Foundation, and

(01:02:14):
then as part of a kind of global branding initiative,
we changed the Whole Brothers Foundation again just to make
the connection, and it resonate in part of the bringing
the business stuff on with decisions that we made because
we were very confident that the two could work off
each other. But we never did a foundation because I mean,

(01:02:36):
it's proof and it's evident because the foundation started in
two thousand, But we didn't do a foundation to get business,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
It just we had a foundation and then we started
a business. Right. But we see that and I say
this real quickly, too cut you. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
You know, we often hear people often say to us
how unique we are as a as a UH as
a firm. It's because we do provide that foundation art right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
So we're a for profit, but we also have a
nonprofit arm as well, So we're obviously nonprofit.

Speaker 4 (01:03:07):
What we're going out and we're solictening to business and
we're doing a service, but we're also doing a service
with our foundation by building our community where we live,
eat and play right. And so it's it's it's connected. Yeah,
it is connected. And I was gonna say that's another
thing about players that we oftentimes, as you talked about,
you know, we start foundations before we finish our career.

(01:03:27):
You know, we're helping, we're involved in the community. And
it's again, it's a thing that makes us unique. And
I talked about us not needing to change. But you
can take that uniqueness right and you start a nonprofit
again not just to do it, but for something that
you feel that you can be just as good as
you were in your sport and your crab. You can

(01:03:50):
be good in creating this service. But what will happen
is is because again you're so you support your community,
and you've in supporting your community. When there's a choice
between you know, Hope Brothers Plumbing versus uh Tillman and
Harping Harper Plumbing, they might choose us because we've been

(01:04:12):
in this community for because they know these dollars gonna circus.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
I don't want him.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Look, I would just say this, Uh, A person I
love and respect a lot is a pastor of Mind's Ain,
Pastor Duran Gray. He said something so great and you
guys have really hit it home today is that once
you're affected by something, you become an advocate for us. Yeah,
and so you guys are talking about this with with
the lymphon, with losing your mom and peanup with your

(01:04:43):
daughter and everything like that. What is something that your
mom has taught you to start with you that you
still use and that you still have hold with great
value and that you used in your everyday life.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
My work, my work ethic, it comes from my mom.

Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
I mean, not not that my dad, because my dad
certainly wasn't a slouch and he was a he is
a is a marine and was provided to I say
careful not to say awarded, because you don't get awarded
to purple Heart, but you definitely earn earned the Purple

(01:05:22):
Heart might lose some flesh served in Vietnam. But our
backbone to our house was our mom. And I to
this day cannot remember a day that my moms worked.
She worked at Glenn Raven Mills, and she got up
five thirty in the morning, had to be work at

(01:05:44):
seven to three, and she did it day in, day out.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
And so it's it's it's her work ethic.

Speaker 4 (01:05:50):
It's it's little that I know in nineteen eighty six,
we talked about kind of my mom being diagnosed with lymphoma.
She was diagnosed in nineteen eighty six with on phone.
I was six years old, he was ten, my sister
was fourteen. Well, my mom was so strong that me,
as a six year old tory them and my sister knew,

(01:06:11):
but I didn't know. So cancer went into remission in
eighty six and came back in ninety five. But my
mom was going through keemo all of that in eighty
six eighty seven or so, and getting up not missing work.
And when we knew there was an issue was when
my mom could not go to work. She came home
in ninety five, she felt something in us stomach, something

(01:06:33):
was going on, called off work, and two weeks later
she knew something was going on. She went to go
to the doctor and finally got the news that she regretted,
which was that cancer had come back.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
But it was her work ethic that wrong.

Speaker 4 (01:06:49):
I can tell you, pen, I can tell you no
matter the defensive drills wave, you know, backpedaling down the line,
you know, from one side line to the other side line,
how that would burn my quaus and your cuaus and
all those kinds of things, and I think about my
mom and I work at it. I'm out here getting
paid to do this in the National Football League. So

(01:07:14):
for me, it's that memory of her and her work
ethic and her persevering with something that unlike mostly what
we deal with was life and death. And the fact
that here I am at thirty three years old and
I'm facing a situation with life and death and I

(01:07:35):
had these kids that are looking up to me and
need me, but getting still getting up, working day in
and day outs. Something that I pull from. I draw
from when there's times that get rough, because if you
sack and act first at you're going to have adversity.

(01:07:56):
And so what are you drawing from? What's your source
of inspiration? She has been and it is my source
of inspiration. Yeah, I think for me and all of
what Terrence said, but more importantly her example man like,
you know, love their family, Listen to all her brothers
and sisters, loved her kids, you know, with what as

(01:08:21):
Terrence mentioned, with work, chemo, come home, come pick us
up from school from basketball practice, drive us home, be
at the games on Tuesday, bet the games on f
Like we know, she's dead, tired, but her example of
just being there, I think to me is what it's
what's everlasting.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
When I think about my mom, it's her being there
and just herle.

Speaker 4 (01:08:44):
She's always say to you know, you know people, you know,
folks that have something to say about you, where you're
doing good or bad, So you might as well keep going.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
That's great, you know, and do it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
You do it with grace to do it with and
do it with the smile is Terrence mentioned so well, well, look, man,
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Cold brothers. By the end of the day, we'll have
another hope electronics do something else.

Speaker 4 (01:09:11):
What it won't be because y'all do so well with
sack and acts and in the way y'all transition. What
it won't be is a podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
All kill it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Guys for coming here, man, Terrence, I love you, guys. Luck.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
I can't wait to knock that door down, man. And
probably the only person that's gonna be happier than you
will be your brother.

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
Yes, I have them come out, pull the cloth off
the bus man.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
Congratulations, Thank you, Thank you much, live, thank you guys
for listening. You know, with with every show we do,
in every guest we have, we try to make it
very authentic and just be vulnerable and open and secure
and make this a safe place for these guys to talk.

(01:10:03):
And you guys have been awesome for supporting us. We
can't thank you enough. We are here to educate and entertain.
So make sure, like always and I always ask you,
make sure you hit the subscribe button, give us a
five star rating, Tell a friend to tell a friend
to do we peanut, tell a friend.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
Make sure anywhere you get your.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Apple your podcast where it's Apple or iHeart linked in.

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
Appreciate y'all.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Give us a listen, hit that button, click it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
I think he needs to stop now

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Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Charles “Peanut” Tillman

Roman Harper

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