Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty in your iHeart Radio app. I'm Mike McGivern alongside
the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church, Pastor Ken Keltner. Pastor,
how you been there? You go taking that microphone?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Just I'm doing great, Mike. Good to see you, buddy.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
When we were doing the home improvement show, the guy
who's my co host came in because they were making
a bunch of noises these microphones. Yeah, and he sprayed
a bunch of stuff. And now that one just keeps moving, So.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, I know, and I like it that you gave
it to me because right when I go to talk,
it just moves right away from me, and You're like, huh,
there it is so big.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Maybe a pastor might be a little quiet, might be
a little quiet. We're coming from the Donovan and Jorge
Sinhiti Cooing studios want to wish them a happy anniversary
forty years in business as the largest employee owned h
fat company in the state of Wisconsin. So our special guest,
he's in studio and it's interesting, Pastor, did you happen
(00:55):
to notice the Brookside Turkey Bowl last year? When I
was playing the offensive tackle and our special guest was
a defensive lineman. Well, I pancaked him a bunch.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, I think you were talking to me about it
in the green room. Yes, before I came on.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We lie in the zone, so me talking smack about
a Division one Indiana University defensive vent. There was neither
one of us played in the Turkey Bowl, so no.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
In fact, the last time I played in the Turkey Bowl,
Kathy was shocked, You're going out there with the teens. Like, yeah,
I go out there and I'll tell you when I
got home. She goes how to go. I said, I'm
a little sore, But man, over the years, I've gotten
une coordinated. They throw me a ball and I'd catch
it and I just fall down. They didn't even have
to tackle me or even touch me. I was already
down on the ground.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
That's why I just talk about it and never participated
ever ever since. I swang and missed my last at
bat in that church softball I was twelve or twelve
on the year, and I swung and missed, and the
umpire said, but give n you missed it by four feet.
I'm done not doing anymore. Our special guests. He's a
Brookside Baptist guy. A chance to shake his hand and
see him every Sunday. Al Haywood he is a former
(02:04):
football player at Indiana University. He coached for a year's
well and really excited about having Al in. Now you've been.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Good, man. I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
But before we begin, I just want to give thanks
to your listeners, especially your Bears fans that's out there,
because you guys talk too much about this Packerd nation
on this podcast, and today we're gonna bear down.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And thanks for listening to Faith in the show. At
the end of the show, Al, thanks for being well.
I'm special guys, man. I thought we'd have to only
rip him about playing Indiana football. Now we got to
talk Bear football.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well that's because he met He met darry On at
church and Darian is always in his Bear outfit.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You know, Yeah, I don't know. I don't hold the
door for him. I'm not going to hold the door
for Don't ask me to park your car ever again,
mister Haywoodever, heym speaking of Bear football. You grew up
in Chicago, played in the public schools, and let's talk
a little bit about that time of your life. You
and I had some conversation before we started to record,
(03:06):
and in my mind, it was a god thing that
you ended up in Indiana. But let's talk a little bit.
After your junior year, you had a new coach come
in that mental world to you.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah, so coach Madison loft Us. I actually knew Madison
because my cousin, my mom's cousin, so or my second cousin.
He played football with him at Corlis High School where
I attended, and he came in and I remember the
first time when he set the seniors down and he
told us all he said, look, I'm getting the team
(03:37):
a little bit late because it was February. We didn't
have like, you know, we have winter weightlifting and things
like that. We didn't go through that until late. But
he told us, he said, look, we're going to have
to get you guys to make sure you get to
some football camps because I just don't have the time
or the manpower to just really school you guys up
(03:57):
in your skill set. So basically, you know, he offered
us some pamphlets and you know, just pretty much asked us,
you know, where would we like to go for like
summer camps and everything. And you know, I was a
big Michigan guy at the time, so I actually had
an opportunity to go to the Michigan camp and I
actually went to Northwestern camp. So I mean, he was
(04:18):
very instrumental in all of us because he was more
of a father figure for us, especially for me coming
from a home that the dynamics were kind of off.
My parents' divorced when I was twelve years old. My
dad was a very abusive guy. So being in Chicago,
you know, you really needed a mentor to make sure
you're you know, you're not on the streets, you're not
(04:40):
getting into any trouble. And Coach Lofts Man, he was
just really there for us, you know, all of us,
you know, as players.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You know, we had Terry Cummies on Faith in the
Zone and Chicago guy and had a chance to go
to a lot of places. But he said, look, by
my coach wasn't helping at all. So he reached out
to Ray and Joey Meyer at to Paul and he said, look,
can I come and get a visit and because they
were not recruiting him, and they called back and said absolutely,
(05:08):
and he got on a bus took two buses over
to Paul and that's where he wanted to go because
he wanted to stay close to home. But he and
I just thought, man, when he was telling that story,
being a former coach, I was a little embarrassed. Like
his high school coach, he's got a Division one talented kid,
and he's not helping him to get to someplace that
(05:30):
he can continue to play at a high level. And
he's doing this on his own seventeen years old, calling
the head coach at De Paul saying, you might want
to recruit me because I have a lot of interest
coming to your school. So I'm really happy to hear
that your coach took that father figure and was doing
things for his players to get them other places to play.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yeah, like coach Madison, I mean his motto was like,
if you wanted to play football, you can play football
anywhere in America, whether if it was D one, D two,
NAIA junior college. As long as you wanted to play,
he would make sure that you get into school and play.
And I mean that meant a lot, you know, to
us and everything, because previously to him coming in, you know,
(06:12):
we had a coach that was just there just for
the notoriety of being a coach.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I think I told you that there were times in
practice where we were actually practicing, but the head coach
was waxing this car in the parking lot.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So it was it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Man.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
We have phenomenal athletes prior to you know, you know,
Madison getting there, but the coach just didn't really put
forth the effort. The previous coach and put forth the effort,
you know.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So you know, al as you're talking about coaches, and
Mike and I have talked about before, coaches have an
incredible opportunity to have an influence and to really impact
young lives. And I'm I give Mike a hard time,
but I'm telling you my boys have told me Dad,
of all the coaches, you know, as far as what
(07:01):
they knew of the game and how they they influenced
my life, coach mcgiverern was right there at the top,
and so Mike publicly on the radio, I want I
give you a hard time, but I want to say
thank you for your investment, you know, and and our
family with our boys, because they've had a lot of
different coaches, even on the college level, and they still
(07:22):
go back to Mike mcgiverren back in high school.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Well, I do. I appreciate that. And when I hear
Al talk about this, you know that was a god thing.
You put this, you put Madison in your life. I
believe that. And the fact that you ended up, you know,
a full scholarship to Indiana all you know, the four
years five years that you were there and some of
the what I love is some of the things that
(07:46):
the awards that you've won, Big Ten Player to watch
in nineteen ninety seven, the Hit and Hustle Award recipient,
three year letterman at Indiana playing back then in the
Big Ten. What years did you go to Indiana?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
It was ninety three to ninety eight, Well, the ninety
seven season, graduated in ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Ohio State and Michigan still the big boys back then.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, yeah, they historically yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Always yeah yeah. And did you have success playing against
my Badgers or did they whoop you?
Speaker 4 (08:16):
My first year there in ninety three, we lost to Wisconsin.
We probably shouldn't have lost to Westcotin. I'm gonna tell
you what happened. We were in Bloomington and it was raining,
really really bad, and we went out there, and we
had on our cleaks, but we had on the flats,
you know, So we were slipping everywhere. These guys, like
(08:38):
I red shirted that year, So the guys were slipping everywhere,
and come to find out, we had on the wrong cleaks,
so we got behind early. But I mean, we should
have pretty much won that game.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
No, that's all right. I'm happy the Badgers. I think
the Packers maybe won that year. I don't know that.
I'm not going back that far with it, with the
whole Bear thing. I can tell you that before I
worked for these radio stats, this is a long time ago,
we used to. I worked for a sports marketing company
and we had we had Jim McMahon always came out,
Kevin Butler came out, a bunch of the old Bear players,
(09:11):
and Jim McMahon was back then not a great guy.
He just was not a great guy. And uh my
job all the time was to babysit him, which was
never good for me. I couldn't catch the van. He
was something else, but he Uh look back then, the
Bears obviously with the team, and now you're in Wisconsin,
so I'm gonna start feeding you like I'll get your hat.
(09:33):
I'll get you to be a cheese.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
No chance, I don't think I'm gonna be able to
win it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I'll open the door for you, a church brother, I
open the door for you.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Hey, what if you you know I do love Wisconsin
cheese and the Jesus good, So you can give me
some cheese I'll put.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
On your head. Said, Hey, the difference between you as
a football player in high school junior to senior year
with Madison coming in, I know that you had you
a lot of accolades your senior year, All conference, all State,
you know, all American, all of this. How much did
he have to do with getting you ready to play
(10:10):
at the next level.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
So Madison was very, very dedicated. He actually got a
lot of the guy's fathers on a team to come
help volunteer. So he knew that he couldn't do it
all himself. So he had about three coaches that he
brought on, but he had also like three or four
fathers that decided to come on and coach with us. Now,
(10:32):
these fathers, they didn't really know much about football. But
what Loft did, well, we call him Loft. His name
is Madison Loft, so he might hear me, say, Madison
or Loft. He just told these guys what to do
day to day and they did it. And the most
dedicated coach that I've been around, man, I mean he
was just phenomenal with that.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Is he still with us?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah? He is.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And I hope that. I hope when we get you
a copy of this, you know, send him a copy
of this because I know as coaches, I feel like
we have impact. And thank you for saying what you said, pastor,
because that means a lot to an old retired coach
that there are still people out there that think, man,
you did a pretty nice job. I've had parents say
that I didn't do a very good job with their kids.
(11:14):
In fact, on my high school show years ago, we
used to take calls. We thought about it and then
decided that too. I had a guy call and say, hey,
you ruined my son's basketball career in sixth grade. I said,
really goes, Yeah, he was a power forward and you
had him face in the basket. I said, I had
Carl Malone in sixth grade. I know I had a
(11:34):
power for it. And then I recognized the guy's voice
and I said, hey, let me ask you this. If
I remember right. In sixth grade, your son was about
five ten five eleven. He goes yeah. He was like
he was could have dominated. And I said, when he
graduated from Marquette High he was five to eleven. He
goes yeah, And I said, he never grew from sixth grade.
(11:59):
What I was trying to do is get him ready
to try to make a high school team. I don't
care about winning games in sixth grade. He said, well,
there's a problem. You took him off the block where
he could have dominated in sixth grade. I said, let's
not take calls anymore. I don't want to hear about it.
Like I'm looking want term and you know there are
parents out there that make it a little bit difficult. Hey,
(12:20):
the decision to go to Bloombington, when you look back,
was that a really good decision for you?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
When I look back, it was. But one of the
things that I've learned in life is you want to
know all of your options before you make a decision,
you know, to make a sound decision. And you know
how I got to Indiana and I kind of mentioned
this to you earlier. When Madison became the head coach,
(12:45):
he didn't have an office and he had to. The
principal told them, well, you can use one of the
storage rooms, one of the athletic storage rooms. So what
he did he got a desk and he was cleaning
out the storage area and as he was cleaning it,
he saw a lope on the ground addressed to Indiana Basketball.
He picked it up and just you know, he put
it in the drawer. At the time, well, when it
(13:08):
came after the senior year, when we were sending our
game film, he went into the drawer. He just so
happened to have my highlight film in his hand, went
into the drawer, scratched off basketball and wrote football on it,
and just sent it to Indiana. I didn't know anything
about Indiana football. I knew coach Bobby Knight and basketball,
but I wasn't sending any film to Indiana. But because
(13:29):
it was already addressed to Indiana, he just sent it.
So the decision to go to Indiana was a really
good decision in hindsight, got a great education, met some
wonderful people, and if I had to do it again,
I'll definitely do it again. But there was a wrench
in the game before I signed with Indiana, and that
(13:49):
wrench was Nebraska came in. Nebraska actually was in the
national championship that year, I believe, against Florida State. And
while I was at Indiana on my recruiting trip, which
was like the first week in January, defensive coach coordinator
Charlie McBride had called Madison and because we had sent
(14:11):
him a tate, and he asked, was I still available
or what's going on? He said, well, he's in Indiana
right now on a recruiting trip. But when you get back,
I'll let him know you'll be in Chicago and you
know you can.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Meet with him.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
So but it just so happened. I enjoyed Indiana so
much I committed. Now one of the reasons I committed
was I was a late bloomer, so I didn't jail
or shine or jail, you know, to my senior year.
Usually recruiting starts in the junior year, right when no
one knew.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Who I was.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
In my junior year, and usually your senior year, recruiting
is pretty much over whatever. So we started sending film
out and after I committed with Indiana, everybody came in,
like all the big ten schools. Notre Dame contacted.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oklahoma well, not Onlahoma.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
In the South if I didn't want to go in
the South shocking fourteen.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Up Oklahoma, Boomer sooner.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
But what happened when Nebraska came in This was like
I was back back that Monday, I was back in town.
Charlie mcbrid coach mcbrie, came up to the school and
I met him, and he had asked me if would
I be interested in going to Nebraska. He actually offered
me a scholarship, and I said, well, coached, I mean,
(15:28):
I did just commit with Indiana, but I mean, I
do want to keep my options open. So I did
invite him to my home so he can meet my
mom and everything. He gets to the house, he has
a VHS tape of highlights in Nebraska football, and he
was telling me he, you know, pretty much was guaranteeing
me a bowl game every every year being at Nebraska
(15:50):
because since like nineteen sixty five they were at a
bowl or whatever. As soon as he was about to
put the tape in the VHS, I mean, I know,
he probably kind of noticed I was feeling a little uneasy,
and he stopped and he said, do you sure you
want me to put this in? I was like, you know, coach,
not really, because you know, I did commit with Indiana
and I really don't want to break my commitment. You know,
(16:11):
I feel bad if I do that. And you know,
I really like Indiana. Now I know you're Nebraska, but
I just got to keep my commitment. So and that's why,
you know, I didn't really go to Nebraska. But I
did ask him this. I said, we sent family you
back in early November. Why are you just now like
reaching out to me? He said, Well, the coaching staff,
coach Osbourne, they all decided that they were going to
(16:34):
finish up recruiting after the National championship game.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
So that's why he came late. He said.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
We probably should have just came in before then. If
he hadn't done that, I'd probably be at Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You wouldn't you, guys, We got to get to a break.
Our special guest for the entire hour, former football player
at Indiana University, is now in owner of the Heywood
Digital marketing agency. He is al Haywood and Brookside Baptist Church.
You want to go to church with Alan, I come
(17:07):
on up, come on up past you.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Guys almost set together, almost sy Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
He sits in front of me. So we go back
a couple of so I can keep my eye on you.
Oh he's tall. He's tall, So I want to make
sure that I keep my eye on you.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
You can always go.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Like, yeah, wrap it up, hit the one. Every once
in a while he goes a little bit long. Oh,
we're gonna get to a breaker and ask you to
share your testimony on the other side of the break.
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty year. I Hurt Radio App. Welcome back to Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty year. I
Heart Radio App. I'm Mike McGovern alongside the head pastor
(17:44):
at Brookside Baptist Church, Pastor Ken Keltner, our special guest
Al Heywood. He is a former football player at Indiana University.
One thing I didn't talk about in that first segment
is he was a true student athlete. Pastor four point
zero g ninety eight. He was on the Dean's list
in ninety eight. And when you talk about a kid
(18:07):
coming from look at City School in Chicago, obviously they
got him ready academically. He took care of all his business,
you know, in the classroom and on the field. And
I see congratulations out for that, and I didn't get that.
I didn't bring that up in the first half because
I didn't want to past you to feel bad about
his GPA and college. Well, just kidding, Pastor.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I do need to comment on that four point oh.
Now it was my my last semester at IU.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Good for you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
But one of the reasons I got that four point
oh is because football was over. I didn't realize how
much time that I had, like to study and not
be at the stadium and be at practice no weight
no weight room, I mean still traveling.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Of that stuff. Man.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
So you know I was able to like truly study
and just focus on my studies.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I had like twelve credit hours or so.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Before we ask you to shear a testimony. One of
the things I did talk about is you were a
preseason Big Ten player to watch and a nineteen ninety
eight NFL Pro Day participant. Did you have the opportunity,
did you get to camp? Did you think about playing
in the NFL?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
So, my senior year at Indiana, we got a coach
has changed, so I had another coach has change. Coach
Bill Mallory had got fired and coach Camp Cameron came
in as our head coach. He was coming from Washington Redskins.
They were the Redskins at the time, and basically my
first few years in Indiana, I didn't get a lot
of planning time. And the reasons for that was they
(19:37):
always was only about my weight. Now, when I came in,
I was a big guy. I was over three hundred pounds.
But when I was being recruited, they said, hey, we
want to get bigger on an offensive defensive line, so
you being a three hundred pounder, it's a good thing.
When I got there, there was like, you know, you
kind of remind us of Russell Maryland. You remember Russell Maryland,
the great d tackle.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I said yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
He said, well, like you, he was about three hundred
and twenty pounds, but he got down to sixty five
and became an All American. We need you to get
down to sixty five. And I looked at these coaches.
I'm like, well, first of all, coach, I mean, maybe
I can do that, but I don't even know how
to lose weight.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
I mean, what do you need me to do? So
they gat me.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
A nutritionus and this was my freshman year, and basically
I did get down to about to seventy eight. That
was the lowest I can get, but that wasn't good enough.
They just was phyxiated on like two sixty five two five.
So my first few years there was like a little
depressing because it was all about meet and weight. But
(20:39):
when Coach cam came in, he pulled me into his
office because he met with all the seniors. And the
first thing he said was, so, I know they've been
messing with you about your weight, you know, since you've
been here, right, And I said, yeah, coach has been
a struggle. So I'm gonna tell you this. Forget that.
I don't care if he was as big as a house.
If you can play football for me, you can weigh
whatever you want to weigh. And when he told me that,
(21:01):
something clicked and I started working harder. I did extremely
well in spring ball. I was up for like starting
position at d tackle. My run test, my mile and
a half run test, I was three hundred and five pounds.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I rented in eleven minutes.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Good for you.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I was like in tip top shape. So what happened
two weeks before the first game North Carolina, and I
had that game circled on my calendar because the guy
who was playing center at North Carolina at the time
was Jeff Saturday, two time All American, and I was like, man,
I'm gonna wear him out. So basically we had a scrimmage,
(21:39):
intersquad scrimmage two weeks before that game, and fourth quarter
of that scrimmage, you know, they started taking the seniors out,
but they left me in there. So I'm on the
sideline with my d line coach. I said, hey, coach,
you want me to come out get some of these
young guys some work. He was like, no, no, we
want you to work them young guys on offense. Just
staying there. So I went back. In first play of
(22:02):
the series, I heard a pop in my foot and
I went down and I had pains in my toe
and come to find out I had got turf toe,
but I had tore something in there or something like that.
So went up to Indianapolis that following week because there
was a specialist up there. The guy that I went
to actually did surgery for Marshall Falk the year prior
(22:23):
when he had got turf toe. God told me, he said, look,
there's two options. You can either have surgery, but you're
going to be out for about seven games, or you
play on it. We tape your toe down, we put
a metal plate in your shoe, and just try to
deal with it. I didn't want to miss seven games,
so I just opted for that first game of the season.
I didn't do well. I couldn't push off. I mean
(22:45):
I was like, literally just couldn't push off. I'm a
big guy trying to push off this little toe. So
throughout the season, I saw my reps go down, go down,
go down. But because of you know, some of the
scouts wanted to see me, you know, go through Pro Day.
That's why I was able to know go ahead and
go through that Pro day and didn't do well with
it because I was still limping around that turf. Toast
(23:06):
bothered me for five years after me playing.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
It's brutal. It's brutal. Hey, it's the second segment. And
sorry that it took me a bit to get to
this because it's very important. But I think the best
part of faith in the zone of the segment that
Pastor and I enjoyed the most and we get the
most response, is asking our guests to share their testimony
and if you'd be so kind.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah, definitely. So four years after graduating, I married my
college girlfriend. Okay, and I don't want to say her name,
but we'll just talk about the situation. So we got
married and everything was really good. The first year and
a half, things was going well. And one morning when
I was getting up to go to work and she
(23:48):
wanted to talk to me in the living room.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
So we go into the living room.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Now we're both unbelievers at the time, and she sat
me down and the first thing she said, I just
want to tell you it's not you, it's me. I'm like, okay.
So she then proceeded to say, I don't think I
want to be married anymore. And you know, first of all,
I'm thinking, like, okay, where is this coming from. You know,
if it's not me and it's you, is she cheating
(24:13):
on me or whatever? So I said, and that's when
I asked her. I said, what you found somebody else?
She said, no, it didn't like that. It's just, you know,
I'm just going through some things and I just don't
feel like I need to be married anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
And I was like okay. So I went ahead and
left went to work. I was mad.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
The first person I called was Madison because at that time,
coach had just got saved a year prior, and I
told him what happened, and he pretty much told me.
He said, look, he said, first of all, make sure
you do these two things. Continue to pray for your
wife because you never know what she's going through. But
also staying your word, asked the Lord for strength through
(24:48):
these times, and if you need.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Me, let me know.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
So you know, I wind up going to work and
just it was just on my mind the whole day
or whatever. I have remembered that at the job that
I was that we have really good benefits and they
also have free counseling, you know, for you know, married
couples or whatever. So I wind up signing up with
a marriage counselor through our benefits program. And I convinced
(25:11):
my wife at the time to go ahead and go
through marriage counseling with me. So we have five free
sessions and in those sessions, we met individually. And when
the counselor met with me individually, the first thing she
told me or asked me, she said, does depression running
your wife's family? And I said, actually it does. She
(25:33):
has a family member that's on medication for that. She said, well,
all I've been doing this for twenty five years and
I've seen it all.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And your wife is depressed.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
And she said, if she decides to maybe take medicine
or get some type of treatment, your marriage will be fine.
She'll snap out of it, You'll be good. And I said, well,
what if she don't do that, you'll probably end up
in divorce in the next year or so. I was
like okay, And then she said, do you think that
she may want to take medication? I said, no, what,
I'll ask her anyway. So I asked her, and of
(26:02):
course she cussed me out and said I'm not crazy,
I'm not doing none of that. And I was like okay,
and I left it alone. And she wound up leaving
like maybe a couple of weeks later, moving back home
with her mother. Well after that, you know, I was
pretty much isolated. You know, I'm sitting there, I'm in
the house, I'm by myself, I'm not talking to anybody,
not answering the phone, just just mad just angry. But
(26:26):
one Sunday I get a phone call and it was
Madison and he's like, hey, man, what are you doing.
I said, well, I'm about to watch the game. I
mean you know what's going on. He said, well, I'm
about to head the church, man, won't you come with me?
You know, it's friends and family day and you need
to be out the house man, get around some church folk.
That's what he said. And I was like, all right, man, yeah.
(26:47):
So he came and picked me up and we got
to the church and it was crazy because as soon
as I walked through the doors, these people were hugging me,
thanking me for being there, talking about they're so happy
for me being and I'm like, well, first off, do
they know me from football? I mean, I don't even
know these people, but it was such a welcoming environment man,
and went through the service.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It was great.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
I was able to go out to lunch with some
of the congregation members and I was sitting there feeling like,
you know what. I never felt this way before in
the church. But it also reminded me of football, because
in football you have that camaraderie, you have that community,
you have that support and that family, and it felt
good and it was something that I needed at the time. So,
(27:33):
needless to say, I started going back. I went back
to Following Sunday, I started going to Bible study I
started meeting with some of the Congregational members outside the
church in different activities, and I just really felt that
I wanted to just be a part of these group
of people. So it was one Sunday where they had
an altar call and I got up, went up to
(27:55):
the altar, gave my life to Christ, got baptized, and
that's what happened. Man, and my wife at the time
decided to divorce me. And the one thing I do
want to say, I was separated for two years. You know,
I was waiting for my wife to come around. I
wasn't doing anything crazy or anything. But you have to
(28:15):
be careful with the people that's in your circle. Because
I had guy friends of mine telling me like, dude,
why are you not out here doing your thing? Man,
she ain't here, she left you. You didn't be out
here doing your thing. And I said, I'm still married, man,
I can't be doing that regardless.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
So yeah, that was the situation.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, I tell you what. You know, we talked first
segment about Madison, about your high school football coach. That
did meant the world to you as a football player,
But it makes a lot of sense to me now
when you said he was more than more like a
father figure to me. Well, he was way more than
a coach to you. And and the fact that he
(28:55):
made that call family friend day, let me get some
friends to come and thought of you, get you out
of the house and come and hang out with some
church folk, which I you know, that what a great invitation.
And I give him a lot of credit because it's
meant Sometimes we think about making those calls, but then
we're like, man, I don't want to bother him. I
(29:15):
don't want him to think I'm a Bible thumper. All
of that, the fact that he was willing to make
that call to you and that you accepted and went
into that church. I man, pastor, I love I love
stories like that.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, and you know that congregation had a huge plan
there in your life too, to love you right when
you walked in the door. I think that churches that
that is so critical besides the teaching of the word,
that when people walk in the door, they feel loved
and accepted. And so that church congregation got used in
(29:52):
a great way because if they would have put you
off or ignored you or whatever. You know, no matter
what coach said to you, You're like I don't think
those people really live it or believe it. But that's tremendous.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Christ Our special guest is Al Heywood. He's a former
football player at Indiana University, owns his own He's a
Bears fan, but we're gonna just put that aside at
this point. He owns his own company called Heywood Digital
Marketing Agency. And when when when you're you're remarried? Yes, yes,
(30:25):
was your your your wife? Was she a believer before
you guys started dating?
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Absolutely, she was the most maturest person that I've ever met.
But she was so mature in the word of God.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Man.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I mean, she.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Continuously, day by day hold me accountable as a leader
in our household.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
And I really appreciate her for that.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, and she and she has a sense of humor too,
she does. She has a sense of humor. We took
him out for lunch one day and asked for his testimony.
He shares testimony. So I looked at Tona, I said,
Tony share how how I mean, when? When when did
you come to Christ? And she looked at him, she goes, yesterday.
You know, I just wanted to watch your face, you know.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
You know, our friend al yall kicked his coverage a
little bit. Oh yeah, she's way too good looking for him.
He's a nice man. But come on now, I'm the
president of that company pastors of You might be the president,
you know, Michael, maybe I'm the vice president. I can
tell you that. Hey, why Milwaukee? How did you get?
(31:27):
How'd you move here?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
So when we started Haywood Digital Marketing back in twenty fourteen,
we had very few clients. Well, my in laws, Tona's
parents own a huge donatorial company here in Milwaukee, Trotter Industries,
and they were like our biggest clients. So we started
working with them, doing a lot of online marketing for them,
email marketing, all kinds of things, and we were traveling
(31:51):
back and forth on the highway. Well, some of their
clients became our clients too, So I was like, well,
most of our clients are in Wisconsin, why don't we
just move to Wisconsin. So we sold our home and
we moved up here just to be closer and to
work with them a little bit closer. But also we,
like I said, was building a clientele up here.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
So your wife a packer, Yeah, man, yeah, I told you.
I'm a parker. Car hold the door for her. I'm
gonna sit next to her.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
She.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I love you both, but she's my new favorite.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
The only division in our house is Packer glasses, drinking glasses,
Bears drinking glass, Packer blankets, Bears blankets.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
During the Packer Bear games, you guys watch the game together.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
We do.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
I mean she she's in the football because I'm in
the football. But she really gets into football. When the
Packers are playing the Bears. She always run a rubbery
in and keep telling them about we own you and
all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I tell you what they had Packers have. I'm a
little worried about the future with that little worried. I
think they made the right choice on that coach, and
I think that quarterback is special. I think he is special.
We're going to get to a break. The other side
of break will continue our conversation. Al Haywood again, former
Indiana football player and man, a really good dude, and
(33:15):
I'm so happy that he gave us the time to
come in studio today for Faith in the Zone. And
if your company is looking for some marketing, look Heyward
digital marketing agency. You guys deal mostly with small companies.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Yeah, small companies. We provide web design, email marketing, content marketing,
and if you're on a Wix platform, we do some
SEO because it makes it easier for us with the
Wis platforms. So yeah, and we have a podcast, the
We Pivot Podcast for women entrepreneurs basically women who've pivoted
into entrepreneurship. Tona pretty much handles that the hosting of that,
(33:54):
but yeah, we provide digital marketing strategies, techniques, tips and
things like that to help them scale their business.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
We Pivot Podcast. Yeah, that's awesome. Good for you guys.
We'll get to a break. The other side of the
break will continue our conversation with Al. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeart Radio App. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone
on Fox Sports ninety twenty and your iHeart Radio App.
Coming from the Donovan and Jorgansen hit Andy Cooleen Studios.
(34:24):
Any problems with your HVAC system go to Donovan Jordanson
dot com. They'll take really good carry. They took to
carry you.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I am a customer, your customer, yes.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yes, som so. I love those guys over there, and
they're always very proud to be a sponsor of Faith
in the Zone and I appreciate that a lot. Our
special guest for this hour former football player at Indiana University.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Al.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Hey, what al you had talked about that first segment.
The only thing you knew about Indiana was their basketball
program because of Bobby Knight? Right, How difficult was it
to be on the football team at a place Indiana
where it's totally a basketball school.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Well, when you're not winning, is it's really tough. Everywhere
I looked it was basketball. There's basketball at and I
mean we were like second tier to basketball. And I
mean initially you don't really think about it too much,
but like I said, when you're winning, it's different. Like
we went to the Independence ball my first year, but
after that, you know, it was like downhill. So you know,
(35:26):
people snicker and talk about you, and you know, talk about,
well who was Indiana football? And why are you guys
even playing football? You need to be in another conference,
you know. I mean they used to say all kinds
of stuff about us and stuff. But like I said,
when you win, it's different.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
So I got a question, did you ever play basketball
or either junior high or high school?
Speaker 4 (35:47):
So not exactly, but high school. The high school basketball
coach had a center that he wanted to toughen up.
So I had one hundred dollars and he was pretty decent.
And what he would do what the basketball coach do.
He'll call me into the gym and he said, I
(36:07):
just need you to guard him, push him around. Don't
worry about fouling them.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Just do what you do. And I did, and I
roughed him up.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
I mean, and were you guys friends. Yeah, we were
actually cool. Yeah, we were in the same class and everything.
But you know, he was a little soft, you know.
But all I did was like push him around, give
him some elbows and everything. So that was the extent
of my basketball. Did get to shoot there in those
princes know if I just played defense the whole time
and passed, didn't even past it was.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Just one on one.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
It was one on one playing defense. He would be
if we did get into three and three, all he
does play defense.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
All I do, I get to shoot more.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
That's what I'm thinking, right Pastor thinks he's so one thing.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yeah, first time I met you and then you told
you were wearing your IU pen. Yeah, on Sunday when
I saw when I first met you, and I started thinking, well,
I walked away. I thought, Man, if I was ever
playing football and I was on the defensive line, you
would have helped me run faster to try to stay
away from I mean, I mean your side. I look
(37:10):
at you and I go man with pads on him,
he would have scared me to death.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
Man.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I would have think, run, baby, run.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
You know.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
It's funny. I look at some of the game, like
I have a game film on YouTube. It was nineteen
ninety six against Penn State, and I'm looking at the
D line and I am like hovering over like all
the other guys. But again, the guys on the D
line was like two sixty five, two sixty and I'm
like the only three hundred pounder out there.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Did you guys play a four to three or what
did you play? Were you inside?
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (37:39):
It was an attacking for three defense. I was shading
against the center and everything, and yeah, it was actually
similar similar to what Nebraska was running because Indiana's coaching
staff Nebraska's coaching staff was really you know, they were
good friends and they kind of shared some things stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
So yeah, seemed like Iceburn was friends with people he was. Yeah,
I don't know if you did.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah. I liked him, I respected him. I felt bad
for him though. Every time it seemed like he had
Oklahoma beat and somehow they would come back and win
the game. I started feeling bad for him.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
I don't think you felt all that bad though.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Yeah I did. I really I liked tom Osburn. I
thought he was a classic.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Class haacked, classical class hacked. Hey, when you got done
with school, then you went and coached for a year? Correct?
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Not immediately after school?
Speaker 4 (38:26):
I got a job out of Indiana with a company
called day Wu. You remember day Wu Motor America. So
it was a car company, a Korean car company that
came to the US for the first time, and they
hired us, me and like forty other people nationwide to
do like marketing for them. But I was able to
go to Arkansas Tech University as a coach because one
(38:46):
of my buddies from the D line at Indiana, Vinyard Jones,
he was down there coaching as a grad assistant and
one of their coaches left, so I went down there.
He asked me if I was interested to get my
Masters for free, and I was like, yeah, man, what
do I need to do? So went down there coached
offensive line and was pretty successful with.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
That, and you stopped coaching after one year.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Yeah, because I'm a family guy and I didn't like
the fact that I was seeing these coaches at the
stadium for twelve thirteen, fourteen hours at a time, and
I just didn't see my life doing that. So I
was able to talk with the School of Education and
they were able to pick up my scholarship so that
I was, you know, pretty much a graduate assistant with
them for the second year.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
You know, it's interesting when you had the experience with coach,
I said, Loftis, Yeah, Madison Loftie, Madison Loftis. It's interesting
because I would assume that that would have have pulled
you into coaching and kept you with the fact that
you were mature enough to go, Look, I'm not going
to spend twelve thirteen, fourteen hour days, you know, breaking
(39:50):
down game film, recruiting, recruiting part in college for young assistance,
you're on the road a lot. And I think that
was a really good decision on your part. As we're
going to get to a break other side of the
break that that question we ask, and I think we
probably you said football right away.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Are not usually right, don't I usually?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Well, he was a single sport athlete, that's right. So
and he played football, so your guess is not like
pretty pretty simple, guys, So I'm probably gonna agree with
you on this one. Oh well. Our special guest is
Al Haywood again, former football player at Indiana University. He's
(40:31):
the owner of Heywood Digital Marketing Agency. If you're interested
in their podcast, him and Tony do a podcast, We
Pivot Podcast. We Pivot Podcast. Take a listen, take a watch.
Is it on YouTube?
Speaker 4 (40:44):
No, it's not on YouTube, but it's on all of
the outlets like Excellent, Yeah Radio, all.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Of it, Google, we Pivot Podcast, and uh, and take
a good listen. We'll get We'll get to uh his uh,
his answer. All the uniforms he's ever put on his
entire life, gets to one out of the closet, Which
uniform is it? Who does he play against? And why?
We'll get that answer on the other side of the break.
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninety
twenty and Year I Hurt Radio App. Welcome back to
(41:13):
Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty in
year I Hurt Radio App by Mike McGivern alongside Pastor
Ken Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church, our special guest man.
He's a good one. Al Hey, what happy that he's
in this market and he will become a Packer fan.
Maybe not soon, maybe one day, who knows. Former football
(41:33):
player Indiana University, Al, we love this question. At the
end of every faith in the zone. All the uniforms
you've ever put on from pee wee football through your
career at Indiana, we put the uniforms into closet. You
get to pull one out to get one more game
with that team. What uniform do you pull, who do
you play against? And why?
Speaker 4 (41:51):
It'll probably be back in high school. I thought about this,
and there was a couple of college games. But back
in high school my senior year, we were tied for
second and in the conference to Julian High School, which
was our rivals. We always played Juliane at the end
of the season. And basically that year, Chicago was having
some financial issues with their athletics, so they normally take
(42:13):
the first three teams to the playoffs, but they were
only taking the first two teams. So game was going
and was tied zero zero in the fourth quarter. With
fifty seconds left to go in the game, we're on defense.
Julian is on like the two yard line. Normally when
we were on the goal line, coach, and make sure
that I'll stick you move inside so I can just
(42:35):
blow that up, because you know that's what I was
doing back in the day. Well, at this point, he
didn't call that in. So he had like this little
guy at nosetark noseguard. And I was like, well, should
I just tell that dude to move over? What do
I need to do? And I didn't want to just
do it and get in trouble, you know, because maybe
I had to stay on the outside for a reason.
So I just let it go. They called to play,
(42:59):
drove that guy into the end zone, like to the
goal post, and they scored, and then they scored the
two point conversion and we lost eight to none. I
asked Madison like a week later, I was like, why
didn't you just signal me to move on the inside
like you did? He said, I got distracted with some
other stuff. He said, you should have just moved on down.
So I would definitely go back and just take leadership
(43:21):
on that and do that.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
But you know, you don't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
You don't know, you don't know, Yeah, you don't. Man,
you get that game back one more time.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Yeah, I think we would have won that game. You
know so.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
But also we had we put our equipment up that Saturday.
We had to turn our equipment in Madison. Got a
call from the Athletic Association and said, hey, we got
a spot for you guys for the playoffs. So you
want to do it? He said, we put our equipment
up already, so no, you know we're not going to
go back, and you know do that.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
So I would, you know what, if you had to
do it all over again, I would come get the equipment,
get you guys one more game. Who is the team
in your conference? Who was the best?
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Send me on sid me on high school boy?
Speaker 1 (44:01):
There basketball for football?
Speaker 3 (44:04):
All that?
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Well, I thought you might go to football because I
remember you telling me a story that you're playing against Michigan.
Was Tom Brady the THEA and you had a sack
on him.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
I had a half a sack on Tom Brady. So
he was rolling out and he came in I think
he was a freshman or something that year, and a
strong safety came up and hit him, and I got
like his ankle or something, so I didn't get credited
for the half a sec, but I know it was
a half a sex so to shoot.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I know I was idea who he was going to
be at that point, but my goodness, Al, thank you man.
It's so it's great to see you every Sunday. It's
great that you were able to spend some time with
past your night in studio, and and thank you so
much for sharing your testimony and being part of faith
in his.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Own Yeah, I appreciate it. Man. Anytime, anytime you guys
want me back, I'm back.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
It's awesome. And anybody that you know that would fit
on a show like this, please let us know, because
that you know we've got sponsors. It's finding guys that
are willing to give us the hour it takes to
put this show together. So thank you so much again,
he is al, Hey what you can go to their
podcast if you want to listen more to Alan his wife.
We Pivot podcast is the name of the podcast, and
(45:20):
certainly wanted to thank his high school football coach much
more than a coach, and that's coach Loftus for the
direction that he has given Alan his life. Guys, thanks
for listening. This is Faith in the Zone on Fox
Sports nine twenty and your iHeart radio app
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty in your iHeart Radio app. I'm Mike McGivern alongside
the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church, Pastor Ken Keltner. Pastor,
how you been there? You go taking that microphone?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Just I'm doing great, Mike. Good to see you, buddy.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
When we were doing the home improvement show, the guy
who's my co host came in because they were making
a bunch of noises these microphones. Yeah, and he sprayed
a bunch of stuff. And now that one just keeps moving, So.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, I know, and I like it that you gave
it to me because right when I go to talk,
it just moves right away from me, and You're like, huh,
there it is so big.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Maybe a pastor might be a little quiet, might be
a little quiet. We're coming from the Donovan and Jorge
Sinhiti Cooing studios want to wish them a happy anniversary
forty years in business as the largest employee owned h
fat company in the state of Wisconsin. So our special guest,
he's in studio and it's interesting, Pastor, did you happen
(00:55):
to notice the Brookside Turkey Bowl last year? When I
was playing the offensive tackle and our special guest was
a defensive lineman. Well, I pancaked him a bunch.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, I think you were talking to me about it
in the green room. Yes, before I came on.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We lie in the zone, so me talking smack about
a Division one Indiana University defensive vent. There was neither
one of us played in the Turkey Bowl, so no.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
In fact, the last time I played in the Turkey Bowl,
Kathy was shocked, You're going out there with the teens. Like, yeah,
I go out there and I'll tell you when I
got home. She goes how to go. I said, I'm
a little sore, But man, over the years, I've gotten
une coordinated. They throw me a ball and I'd catch
it and I just fall down. They didn't even have
to tackle me or even touch me. I was already
down on the ground.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
That's why I just talk about it and never participated
ever ever since. I swang and missed my last at
bat in that church softball I was twelve or twelve
on the year, and I swung and missed, and the
umpire said, but give n you missed it by four feet.
I'm done not doing anymore. Our special guests. He's a
Brookside Baptist guy. A chance to shake his hand and
see him every Sunday. Al Haywood he is a former
(02:04):
football player at Indiana University. He coached for a year's
well and really excited about having Al in. Now you've been.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Good, man. I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
But before we begin, I just want to give thanks
to your listeners, especially your Bears fans that's out there,
because you guys talk too much about this Packerd nation
on this podcast, and today we're gonna bear down.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And thanks for listening to Faith in the show. At
the end of the show, Al, thanks for being well.
I'm special guys, man. I thought we'd have to only
rip him about playing Indiana football. Now we got to
talk Bear football.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well that's because he met He met darry On at
church and Darian is always in his Bear outfit.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You know, Yeah, I don't know. I don't hold the
door for him. I'm not going to hold the door
for Don't ask me to park your car ever again,
mister Haywoodever, heym speaking of Bear football. You grew up
in Chicago, played in the public schools, and let's talk
a little bit about that time of your life. You
and I had some conversation before we started to record,
(03:06):
and in my mind, it was a god thing that
you ended up in Indiana. But let's talk a little bit.
After your junior year, you had a new coach come
in that mental world to you.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah, so coach Madison loft Us. I actually knew Madison
because my cousin, my mom's cousin, so or my second cousin.
He played football with him at Corlis High School where
I attended, and he came in and I remember the
first time when he set the seniors down and he
told us all he said, look, I'm getting the team
(03:37):
a little bit late because it was February. We didn't
have like, you know, we have winter weightlifting and things
like that. We didn't go through that until late. But
he told us, he said, look, we're going to have
to get you guys to make sure you get to
some football camps because I just don't have the time
or the manpower to just really school you guys up
(03:57):
in your skill set. So basically, you know, he offered
us some pamphlets and you know, just pretty much asked us,
you know, where would we like to go for like
summer camps and everything. And you know, I was a
big Michigan guy at the time, so I actually had
an opportunity to go to the Michigan camp and I
actually went to Northwestern camp. So I mean, he was
(04:18):
very instrumental in all of us because he was more
of a father figure for us, especially for me coming
from a home that the dynamics were kind of off.
My parents' divorced when I was twelve years old. My
dad was a very abusive guy. So being in Chicago,
you know, you really needed a mentor to make sure
you're you know, you're not on the streets, you're not
(04:40):
getting into any trouble. And Coach Lofts Man, he was
just really there for us, you know, all of us,
you know, as players.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You know, we had Terry Cummies on Faith in the
Zone and Chicago guy and had a chance to go
to a lot of places. But he said, look, by
my coach wasn't helping at all. So he reached out
to Ray and Joey Meyer at to Paul and he said, look,
can I come and get a visit and because they
were not recruiting him, and they called back and said absolutely,
(05:08):
and he got on a bus took two buses over
to Paul and that's where he wanted to go because
he wanted to stay close to home. But he and
I just thought, man, when he was telling that story,
being a former coach, I was a little embarrassed. Like
his high school coach, he's got a Division one talented kid,
and he's not helping him to get to someplace that
(05:30):
he can continue to play at a high level. And
he's doing this on his own seventeen years old, calling
the head coach at De Paul saying, you might want
to recruit me because I have a lot of interest
coming to your school. So I'm really happy to hear
that your coach took that father figure and was doing
things for his players to get them other places to play.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yeah, like coach Madison, I mean his motto was like,
if you wanted to play football, you can play football
anywhere in America, whether if it was D one, D two,
NAIA junior college. As long as you wanted to play,
he would make sure that you get into school and play.
And I mean that meant a lot, you know, to
us and everything, because previously to him coming in, you know,
(06:12):
we had a coach that was just there just for
the notoriety of being a coach.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I think I told you that there were times in
practice where we were actually practicing, but the head coach
was waxing this car in the parking lot.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So it was it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Man.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
We have phenomenal athletes prior to you know, you know,
Madison getting there, but the coach just didn't really put
forth the effort. The previous coach and put forth the effort,
you know.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So you know, al as you're talking about coaches, and
Mike and I have talked about before, coaches have an
incredible opportunity to have an influence and to really impact
young lives. And I'm I give Mike a hard time,
but I'm telling you my boys have told me Dad,
of all the coaches, you know, as far as what
(07:01):
they knew of the game and how they they influenced
my life, coach mcgiverern was right there at the top,
and so Mike publicly on the radio, I want I
give you a hard time, but I want to say
thank you for your investment, you know, and and our
family with our boys, because they've had a lot of
different coaches, even on the college level, and they still
(07:22):
go back to Mike mcgiverren back in high school.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Well, I do. I appreciate that. And when I hear
Al talk about this, you know that was a god thing.
You put this, you put Madison in your life. I
believe that. And the fact that you ended up, you know,
a full scholarship to Indiana all you know, the four
years five years that you were there and some of
the what I love is some of the things that
(07:46):
the awards that you've won, Big Ten Player to watch
in nineteen ninety seven, the Hit and Hustle Award recipient,
three year letterman at Indiana playing back then in the
Big Ten. What years did you go to Indiana?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
It was ninety three to ninety eight, Well, the ninety
seven season, graduated in ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Ohio State and Michigan still the big boys back then.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, yeah, they historically yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Always yeah yeah. And did you have success playing against
my Badgers or did they whoop you?
Speaker 4 (08:16):
My first year there in ninety three, we lost to Wisconsin.
We probably shouldn't have lost to Westcotin. I'm gonna tell
you what happened. We were in Bloomington and it was raining,
really really bad, and we went out there, and we
had on our cleaks, but we had on the flats,
you know, So we were slipping everywhere. These guys, like
(08:38):
I red shirted that year, So the guys were slipping everywhere,
and come to find out, we had on the wrong cleaks,
so we got behind early. But I mean, we should
have pretty much won that game.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
No, that's all right. I'm happy the Badgers. I think
the Packers maybe won that year. I don't know that.
I'm not going back that far with it, with the
whole Bear thing. I can tell you that before I
worked for these radio stats, this is a long time ago,
we used to. I worked for a sports marketing company
and we had we had Jim McMahon always came out,
Kevin Butler came out, a bunch of the old Bear players,
(09:11):
and Jim McMahon was back then not a great guy.
He just was not a great guy. And uh my
job all the time was to babysit him, which was
never good for me. I couldn't catch the van. He
was something else, but he Uh look back then, the
Bears obviously with the team, and now you're in Wisconsin,
so I'm gonna start feeding you like I'll get your hat.
(09:33):
I'll get you to be a cheese.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
No chance, I don't think I'm gonna be able to
win it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I'll open the door for you, a church brother, I
open the door for you.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Hey, what if you you know I do love Wisconsin
cheese and the Jesus good, So you can give me
some cheese I'll put.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
On your head. Said, Hey, the difference between you as
a football player in high school junior to senior year
with Madison coming in, I know that you had you
a lot of accolades your senior year, All conference, all State,
you know, all American, all of this. How much did
he have to do with getting you ready to play
(10:10):
at the next level.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
So Madison was very, very dedicated. He actually got a
lot of the guy's fathers on a team to come
help volunteer. So he knew that he couldn't do it
all himself. So he had about three coaches that he
brought on, but he had also like three or four
fathers that decided to come on and coach with us. Now,
(10:32):
these fathers, they didn't really know much about football. But
what Loft did, well, we call him Loft. His name
is Madison Loft, so he might hear me, say, Madison
or Loft. He just told these guys what to do
day to day and they did it. And the most
dedicated coach that I've been around, man, I mean he
was just phenomenal with that.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Is he still with us?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah? He is.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And I hope that. I hope when we get you
a copy of this, you know, send him a copy
of this because I know as coaches, I feel like
we have impact. And thank you for saying what you said, pastor,
because that means a lot to an old retired coach
that there are still people out there that think, man,
you did a pretty nice job. I've had parents say
that I didn't do a very good job with their kids.
(11:14):
In fact, on my high school show years ago, we
used to take calls. We thought about it and then
decided that too. I had a guy call and say, hey,
you ruined my son's basketball career in sixth grade. I said,
really goes, Yeah, he was a power forward and you
had him face in the basket. I said, I had
Carl Malone in sixth grade. I know I had a
(11:34):
power for it. And then I recognized the guy's voice
and I said, hey, let me ask you this. If
I remember right. In sixth grade, your son was about
five ten five eleven. He goes yeah. He was like
he was could have dominated. And I said, when he
graduated from Marquette High he was five to eleven. He
goes yeah, And I said, he never grew from sixth grade.
(11:59):
What I was trying to do is get him ready
to try to make a high school team. I don't
care about winning games in sixth grade. He said, well,
there's a problem. You took him off the block where
he could have dominated in sixth grade. I said, let's
not take calls anymore. I don't want to hear about it.
Like I'm looking want term and you know there are
parents out there that make it a little bit difficult. Hey,
(12:20):
the decision to go to Bloombington, when you look back,
was that a really good decision for you?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
When I look back, it was. But one of the
things that I've learned in life is you want to
know all of your options before you make a decision,
you know, to make a sound decision. And you know
how I got to Indiana and I kind of mentioned
this to you earlier. When Madison became the head coach,
(12:45):
he didn't have an office and he had to. The
principal told them, well, you can use one of the
storage rooms, one of the athletic storage rooms. So what
he did he got a desk and he was cleaning
out the storage area and as he was cleaning it,
he saw a lope on the ground addressed to Indiana Basketball.
He picked it up and just you know, he put
it in the drawer. At the time, well, when it
(13:08):
came after the senior year, when we were sending our
game film, he went into the drawer. He just so
happened to have my highlight film in his hand, went
into the drawer, scratched off basketball and wrote football on it,
and just sent it to Indiana. I didn't know anything
about Indiana football. I knew coach Bobby Knight and basketball,
but I wasn't sending any film to Indiana. But because
(13:29):
it was already addressed to Indiana, he just sent it.
So the decision to go to Indiana was a really
good decision in hindsight, got a great education, met some
wonderful people, and if I had to do it again,
I'll definitely do it again. But there was a wrench
in the game before I signed with Indiana, and that
(13:49):
wrench was Nebraska came in. Nebraska actually was in the
national championship that year, I believe, against Florida State. And
while I was at Indiana on my recruiting trip, which
was like the first week in January, defensive coach coordinator
Charlie McBride had called Madison and because we had sent
(14:11):
him a tate, and he asked, was I still available
or what's going on? He said, well, he's in Indiana
right now on a recruiting trip. But when you get back,
I'll let him know you'll be in Chicago and you
know you can.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Meet with him.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
So but it just so happened. I enjoyed Indiana so
much I committed. Now one of the reasons I committed
was I was a late bloomer, so I didn't jail
or shine or jail, you know, to my senior year.
Usually recruiting starts in the junior year, right when no
one knew.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Who I was.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
In my junior year, and usually your senior year, recruiting
is pretty much over whatever. So we started sending film
out and after I committed with Indiana, everybody came in,
like all the big ten schools. Notre Dame contacted.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oklahoma well, not Onlahoma.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
In the South if I didn't want to go in
the South shocking fourteen.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Up Oklahoma, Boomer sooner.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
But what happened when Nebraska came in This was like
I was back back that Monday, I was back in town.
Charlie mcbrid coach mcbrie, came up to the school and
I met him, and he had asked me if would
I be interested in going to Nebraska. He actually offered
me a scholarship, and I said, well, coached, I mean,
(15:28):
I did just commit with Indiana, but I mean, I
do want to keep my options open. So I did
invite him to my home so he can meet my
mom and everything. He gets to the house, he has
a VHS tape of highlights in Nebraska football, and he
was telling me he, you know, pretty much was guaranteeing
me a bowl game every every year being at Nebraska
(15:50):
because since like nineteen sixty five they were at a
bowl or whatever. As soon as he was about to
put the tape in the VHS, I mean, I know,
he probably kind of noticed I was feeling a little uneasy,
and he stopped and he said, do you sure you
want me to put this in? I was like, you know, coach,
not really, because you know, I did commit with Indiana
and I really don't want to break my commitment. You know,
(16:11):
I feel bad if I do that. And you know,
I really like Indiana. Now I know you're Nebraska, but
I just got to keep my commitment. So and that's why,
you know, I didn't really go to Nebraska. But I
did ask him this. I said, we sent family you
back in early November. Why are you just now like
reaching out to me? He said, Well, the coaching staff,
coach Osbourne, they all decided that they were going to
(16:34):
finish up recruiting after the National championship game.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
So that's why he came late. He said.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
We probably should have just came in before then. If
he hadn't done that, I'd probably be at Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You wouldn't you, guys, We got to get to a break.
Our special guest for the entire hour, former football player
at Indiana University, is now in owner of the Heywood
Digital marketing agency. He is al Haywood and Brookside Baptist Church.
You want to go to church with Alan, I come
(17:07):
on up, come on up past you.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Guys almost set together, almost sy Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
He sits in front of me. So we go back
a couple of so I can keep my eye on you.
Oh he's tall. He's tall, So I want to make
sure that I keep my eye on you.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
You can always go.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Like, yeah, wrap it up, hit the one. Every once
in a while he goes a little bit long. Oh,
we're gonna get to a breaker and ask you to
share your testimony on the other side of the break.
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty year. I Hurt Radio App. Welcome back to Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty year. I
Heart Radio App. I'm Mike McGovern alongside the head pastor
(17:44):
at Brookside Baptist Church, Pastor Ken Keltner, our special guest
Al Heywood. He is a former football player at Indiana University.
One thing I didn't talk about in that first segment
is he was a true student athlete. Pastor four point
zero g ninety eight. He was on the Dean's list
in ninety eight. And when you talk about a kid
(18:07):
coming from look at City School in Chicago, obviously they
got him ready academically. He took care of all his business,
you know, in the classroom and on the field. And
I see congratulations out for that, and I didn't get that.
I didn't bring that up in the first half because
I didn't want to past you to feel bad about
his GPA and college. Well, just kidding, Pastor.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I do need to comment on that four point oh.
Now it was my my last semester at IU.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Good for you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
But one of the reasons I got that four point
oh is because football was over. I didn't realize how
much time that I had, like to study and not
be at the stadium and be at practice no weight
no weight room, I mean still traveling.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Of that stuff. Man.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
So you know I was able to like truly study
and just focus on my studies.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I had like twelve credit hours or so.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Before we ask you to shear a testimony. One of
the things I did talk about is you were a
preseason Big Ten player to watch and a nineteen ninety
eight NFL Pro Day participant. Did you have the opportunity,
did you get to camp? Did you think about playing
in the NFL?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
So, my senior year at Indiana, we got a coach
has changed, so I had another coach has change. Coach
Bill Mallory had got fired and coach Camp Cameron came
in as our head coach. He was coming from Washington Redskins.
They were the Redskins at the time, and basically my
first few years in Indiana, I didn't get a lot
of planning time. And the reasons for that was they
(19:37):
always was only about my weight. Now, when I came in,
I was a big guy. I was over three hundred pounds.
But when I was being recruited, they said, hey, we
want to get bigger on an offensive defensive line, so
you being a three hundred pounder, it's a good thing.
When I got there, there was like, you know, you
kind of remind us of Russell Maryland. You remember Russell Maryland,
the great d tackle.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I said yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
He said, well, like you, he was about three hundred
and twenty pounds, but he got down to sixty five
and became an All American. We need you to get
down to sixty five. And I looked at these coaches.
I'm like, well, first of all, coach, I mean, maybe
I can do that, but I don't even know how
to lose weight.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
I mean, what do you need me to do? So
they gat me.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
A nutritionus and this was my freshman year, and basically
I did get down to about to seventy eight. That
was the lowest I can get, but that wasn't good enough.
They just was phyxiated on like two sixty five two five.
So my first few years there was like a little
depressing because it was all about meet and weight. But
(20:39):
when Coach cam came in, he pulled me into his
office because he met with all the seniors. And the
first thing he said was, so, I know they've been
messing with you about your weight, you know, since you've
been here, right, And I said, yeah, coach has been
a struggle. So I'm gonna tell you this. Forget that.
I don't care if he was as big as a house.
If you can play football for me, you can weigh
whatever you want to weigh. And when he told me that,
(21:01):
something clicked and I started working harder. I did extremely
well in spring ball. I was up for like starting
position at d tackle. My run test, my mile and
a half run test, I was three hundred and five pounds.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I rented in eleven minutes.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Good for you.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I was like in tip top shape. So what happened
two weeks before the first game North Carolina, and I
had that game circled on my calendar because the guy
who was playing center at North Carolina at the time
was Jeff Saturday, two time All American, and I was like, man,
I'm gonna wear him out. So basically we had a scrimmage,
(21:39):
intersquad scrimmage two weeks before that game, and fourth quarter
of that scrimmage, you know, they started taking the seniors out,
but they left me in there. So I'm on the
sideline with my d line coach. I said, hey, coach,
you want me to come out get some of these
young guys some work. He was like, no, no, we
want you to work them young guys on offense. Just
staying there. So I went back. In first play of
(22:02):
the series, I heard a pop in my foot and
I went down and I had pains in my toe
and come to find out I had got turf toe,
but I had tore something in there or something like that.
So went up to Indianapolis that following week because there
was a specialist up there. The guy that I went
to actually did surgery for Marshall Falk the year prior
(22:23):
when he had got turf toe. God told me, he said, look,
there's two options. You can either have surgery, but you're
going to be out for about seven games, or you
play on it. We tape your toe down, we put
a metal plate in your shoe, and just try to
deal with it. I didn't want to miss seven games,
so I just opted for that first game of the season.
I didn't do well. I couldn't push off. I mean
(22:45):
I was like, literally just couldn't push off. I'm a
big guy trying to push off this little toe. So
throughout the season, I saw my reps go down, go down,
go down. But because of you know, some of the
scouts wanted to see me, you know, go through Pro Day.
That's why I was able to know go ahead and
go through that Pro day and didn't do well with
it because I was still limping around that turf. Toast
(23:06):
bothered me for five years after me playing.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
It's brutal. It's brutal. Hey, it's the second segment. And
sorry that it took me a bit to get to
this because it's very important. But I think the best
part of faith in the zone of the segment that
Pastor and I enjoyed the most and we get the
most response, is asking our guests to share their testimony
and if you'd be so kind.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah, definitely. So four years after graduating, I married my
college girlfriend. Okay, and I don't want to say her name,
but we'll just talk about the situation. So we got
married and everything was really good. The first year and
a half, things was going well. And one morning when
I was getting up to go to work and she
(23:48):
wanted to talk to me in the living room.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
So we go into the living room.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Now we're both unbelievers at the time, and she sat
me down and the first thing she said, I just
want to tell you it's not you, it's me. I'm like, okay.
So she then proceeded to say, I don't think I
want to be married anymore. And you know, first of all,
I'm thinking, like, okay, where is this coming from. You know,
if it's not me and it's you, is she cheating
(24:13):
on me or whatever? So I said, and that's when
I asked her. I said, what you found somebody else?
She said, no, it didn't like that. It's just, you know,
I'm just going through some things and I just don't
feel like I need to be married anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
And I was like okay. So I went ahead and
left went to work. I was mad.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
The first person I called was Madison because at that time,
coach had just got saved a year prior, and I
told him what happened, and he pretty much told me.
He said, look, he said, first of all, make sure
you do these two things. Continue to pray for your
wife because you never know what she's going through. But
also staying your word, asked the Lord for strength through
(24:48):
these times, and if you need.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Me, let me know.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
So you know, I wind up going to work and
just it was just on my mind the whole day
or whatever. I have remembered that at the job that
I was that we have really good benefits and they
also have free counseling, you know, for you know, married
couples or whatever. So I wind up signing up with
a marriage counselor through our benefits program. And I convinced
(25:11):
my wife at the time to go ahead and go
through marriage counseling with me. So we have five free
sessions and in those sessions, we met individually. And when
the counselor met with me individually, the first thing she
told me or asked me, she said, does depression running
your wife's family? And I said, actually it does. She
(25:33):
has a family member that's on medication for that. She said, well,
all I've been doing this for twenty five years and
I've seen it all.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And your wife is depressed.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
And she said, if she decides to maybe take medicine
or get some type of treatment, your marriage will be fine.
She'll snap out of it, You'll be good. And I said, well,
what if she don't do that, you'll probably end up
in divorce in the next year or so. I was
like okay, And then she said, do you think that
she may want to take medication? I said, no, what,
I'll ask her anyway. So I asked her, and of
(26:02):
course she cussed me out and said I'm not crazy,
I'm not doing none of that. And I was like okay,
and I left it alone. And she wound up leaving
like maybe a couple of weeks later, moving back home
with her mother. Well after that, you know, I was
pretty much isolated. You know, I'm sitting there, I'm in
the house, I'm by myself, I'm not talking to anybody,
not answering the phone, just just mad just angry. But
(26:26):
one Sunday I get a phone call and it was
Madison and he's like, hey, man, what are you doing.
I said, well, I'm about to watch the game. I
mean you know what's going on. He said, well, I'm
about to head the church, man, won't you come with me?
You know, it's friends and family day and you need
to be out the house man, get around some church folk.
That's what he said. And I was like, all right, man, yeah.
(26:47):
So he came and picked me up and we got
to the church and it was crazy because as soon
as I walked through the doors, these people were hugging me,
thanking me for being there, talking about they're so happy
for me being and I'm like, well, first off, do
they know me from football? I mean, I don't even
know these people, but it was such a welcoming environment man,
and went through the service.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It was great.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
I was able to go out to lunch with some
of the congregation members and I was sitting there feeling like,
you know what. I never felt this way before in
the church. But it also reminded me of football, because
in football you have that camaraderie, you have that community,
you have that support and that family, and it felt
good and it was something that I needed at the time. So,
(27:33):
needless to say, I started going back. I went back
to Following Sunday, I started going to Bible study I
started meeting with some of the Congregational members outside the
church in different activities, and I just really felt that
I wanted to just be a part of these group
of people. So it was one Sunday where they had
an altar call and I got up, went up to
(27:55):
the altar, gave my life to Christ, got baptized, and
that's what happened. Man, and my wife at the time
decided to divorce me. And the one thing I do
want to say, I was separated for two years. You know,
I was waiting for my wife to come around. I
wasn't doing anything crazy or anything. But you have to
(28:15):
be careful with the people that's in your circle. Because
I had guy friends of mine telling me like, dude,
why are you not out here doing your thing? Man,
she ain't here, she left you. You didn't be out
here doing your thing. And I said, I'm still married, man,
I can't be doing that regardless.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
So yeah, that was the situation.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, I tell you what. You know, we talked first
segment about Madison, about your high school football coach. That
did meant the world to you as a football player,
But it makes a lot of sense to me now
when you said he was more than more like a
father figure to me. Well, he was way more than
a coach to you. And and the fact that he
(28:55):
made that call family friend day, let me get some
friends to come and thought of you, get you out
of the house and come and hang out with some
church folk, which I you know, that what a great invitation.
And I give him a lot of credit because it's
meant Sometimes we think about making those calls, but then
we're like, man, I don't want to bother him. I
(29:15):
don't want him to think I'm a Bible thumper. All
of that, the fact that he was willing to make
that call to you and that you accepted and went
into that church. I man, pastor, I love I love
stories like that.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, and you know that congregation had a huge plan
there in your life too, to love you right when
you walked in the door. I think that churches that
that is so critical besides the teaching of the word,
that when people walk in the door, they feel loved
and accepted. And so that church congregation got used in
(29:52):
a great way because if they would have put you
off or ignored you or whatever. You know, no matter
what coach said to you, You're like I don't think
those people really live it or believe it. But that's tremendous.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Christ Our special guest is Al Heywood. He's a former
football player at Indiana University, owns his own He's a
Bears fan, but we're gonna just put that aside at
this point. He owns his own company called Heywood Digital
Marketing Agency. And when when when you're you're remarried? Yes, yes,
(30:25):
was your your your wife? Was she a believer before
you guys started dating?
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Absolutely, she was the most maturest person that I've ever met.
But she was so mature in the word of God.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Man.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I mean, she.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Continuously, day by day hold me accountable as a leader
in our household.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
And I really appreciate her for that.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, and she and she has a sense of humor too,
she does. She has a sense of humor. We took
him out for lunch one day and asked for his testimony.
He shares testimony. So I looked at Tona, I said,
Tony share how how I mean, when? When when did
you come to Christ? And she looked at him, she goes, yesterday.
You know, I just wanted to watch your face, you know.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
You know, our friend al yall kicked his coverage a
little bit. Oh yeah, she's way too good looking for him.
He's a nice man. But come on now, I'm the
president of that company pastors of You might be the president,
you know, Michael, maybe I'm the vice president. I can
tell you that. Hey, why Milwaukee? How did you get?
(31:27):
How'd you move here?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
So when we started Haywood Digital Marketing back in twenty fourteen,
we had very few clients. Well, my in laws, Tona's
parents own a huge donatorial company here in Milwaukee, Trotter Industries,
and they were like our biggest clients. So we started
working with them, doing a lot of online marketing for them,
email marketing, all kinds of things, and we were traveling
(31:51):
back and forth on the highway. Well, some of their
clients became our clients too, So I was like, well,
most of our clients are in Wisconsin, why don't we
just move to Wisconsin. So we sold our home and
we moved up here just to be closer and to
work with them a little bit closer. But also we,
like I said, was building a clientele up here.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
So your wife a packer, Yeah, man, yeah, I told you.
I'm a parker. Car hold the door for her. I'm
gonna sit next to her.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
She.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I love you both, but she's my new favorite.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
The only division in our house is Packer glasses, drinking glasses,
Bears drinking glass, Packer blankets, Bears blankets.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
During the Packer Bear games, you guys watch the game together.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
We do.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
I mean she she's in the football because I'm in
the football. But she really gets into football. When the
Packers are playing the Bears. She always run a rubbery
in and keep telling them about we own you and
all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I tell you what they had Packers have. I'm a
little worried about the future with that little worried. I
think they made the right choice on that coach, and
I think that quarterback is special. I think he is special.
We're going to get to a break. The other side
of break will continue our conversation. Al Haywood again, former
Indiana football player and man, a really good dude, and
(33:15):
I'm so happy that he gave us the time to
come in studio today for Faith in the Zone. And
if your company is looking for some marketing, look Heyward
digital marketing agency. You guys deal mostly with small companies.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Yeah, small companies. We provide web design, email marketing, content marketing,
and if you're on a Wix platform, we do some
SEO because it makes it easier for us with the
Wis platforms. So yeah, and we have a podcast, the
We Pivot Podcast for women entrepreneurs basically women who've pivoted
into entrepreneurship. Tona pretty much handles that the hosting of that,
(33:54):
but yeah, we provide digital marketing strategies, techniques, tips and
things like that to help them scale their business.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
We Pivot Podcast. Yeah, that's awesome. Good for you guys.
We'll get to a break. The other side of the
break will continue our conversation with Al. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeart Radio App. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone
on Fox Sports ninety twenty and your iHeart Radio App.
Coming from the Donovan and Jorgansen hit Andy Cooleen Studios.
(34:24):
Any problems with your HVAC system go to Donovan Jordanson
dot com. They'll take really good carry. They took to
carry you.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I am a customer, your customer, yes.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yes, som so. I love those guys over there, and
they're always very proud to be a sponsor of Faith
in the Zone and I appreciate that a lot. Our
special guest for this hour former football player at Indiana University.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Al.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Hey, what al you had talked about that first segment.
The only thing you knew about Indiana was their basketball
program because of Bobby Knight? Right, How difficult was it
to be on the football team at a place Indiana
where it's totally a basketball school.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Well, when you're not winning, is it's really tough. Everywhere
I looked it was basketball. There's basketball at and I
mean we were like second tier to basketball. And I
mean initially you don't really think about it too much,
but like I said, when you're winning, it's different. Like
we went to the Independence ball my first year, but
after that, you know, it was like downhill. So you know,
(35:26):
people snicker and talk about you, and you know, talk about,
well who was Indiana football? And why are you guys
even playing football? You need to be in another conference,
you know. I mean they used to say all kinds
of stuff about us and stuff. But like I said,
when you win, it's different.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
So I got a question, did you ever play basketball
or either junior high or high school?
Speaker 4 (35:47):
So not exactly, but high school. The high school basketball
coach had a center that he wanted to toughen up.
So I had one hundred dollars and he was pretty decent.
And what he would do what the basketball coach do.
He'll call me into the gym and he said, I
(36:07):
just need you to guard him, push him around. Don't
worry about fouling them.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Just do what you do. And I did, and I
roughed him up.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
I mean, and were you guys friends. Yeah, we were
actually cool. Yeah, we were in the same class and everything.
But you know, he was a little soft, you know.
But all I did was like push him around, give
him some elbows and everything. So that was the extent
of my basketball. Did get to shoot there in those
princes know if I just played defense the whole time
and passed, didn't even past it was.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Just one on one.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
It was one on one playing defense. He would be
if we did get into three and three, all he
does play defense.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
All I do, I get to shoot more.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
That's what I'm thinking, right Pastor thinks he's so one thing.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yeah, first time I met you and then you told
you were wearing your IU pen. Yeah, on Sunday when
I saw when I first met you, and I started thinking, well,
I walked away. I thought, Man, if I was ever
playing football and I was on the defensive line, you
would have helped me run faster to try to stay
away from I mean, I mean your side. I look
(37:10):
at you and I go man with pads on him,
he would have scared me to death.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
Man.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I would have think, run, baby, run.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
You know.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
It's funny. I look at some of the game, like
I have a game film on YouTube. It was nineteen
ninety six against Penn State, and I'm looking at the
D line and I am like hovering over like all
the other guys. But again, the guys on the D
line was like two sixty five, two sixty and I'm
like the only three hundred pounder out there.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Did you guys play a four to three or what
did you play? Were you inside?
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (37:39):
It was an attacking for three defense. I was shading
against the center and everything, and yeah, it was actually
similar similar to what Nebraska was running because Indiana's coaching
staff Nebraska's coaching staff was really you know, they were
good friends and they kind of shared some things stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
So yeah, seemed like Iceburn was friends with people he was. Yeah,
I don't know if you did.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah. I liked him, I respected him. I felt bad
for him though. Every time it seemed like he had
Oklahoma beat and somehow they would come back and win
the game. I started feeling bad for him.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
I don't think you felt all that bad though.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Yeah I did. I really I liked tom Osburn. I
thought he was a classic.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Class haacked, classical class hacked. Hey, when you got done
with school, then you went and coached for a year? Correct?
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Not immediately after school?
Speaker 4 (38:26):
I got a job out of Indiana with a company
called day Wu. You remember day Wu Motor America. So
it was a car company, a Korean car company that
came to the US for the first time, and they
hired us, me and like forty other people nationwide to
do like marketing for them. But I was able to
go to Arkansas Tech University as a coach because one
(38:46):
of my buddies from the D line at Indiana, Vinyard Jones,
he was down there coaching as a grad assistant and
one of their coaches left, so I went down there.
He asked me if I was interested to get my
Masters for free, and I was like, yeah, man, what
do I need to do? So went down there coached
offensive line and was pretty successful with.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
That, and you stopped coaching after one year.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Yeah, because I'm a family guy and I didn't like
the fact that I was seeing these coaches at the
stadium for twelve thirteen, fourteen hours at a time, and
I just didn't see my life doing that. So I
was able to talk with the School of Education and
they were able to pick up my scholarship so that
I was, you know, pretty much a graduate assistant with
them for the second year.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
You know, it's interesting when you had the experience with coach,
I said, Loftis, Yeah, Madison Loftie, Madison Loftis. It's interesting
because I would assume that that would have have pulled
you into coaching and kept you with the fact that
you were mature enough to go, Look, I'm not going
to spend twelve thirteen, fourteen hour days, you know, breaking
(39:50):
down game film, recruiting, recruiting part in college for young assistance,
you're on the road a lot. And I think that
was a really good decision on your part. As we're
going to get to a break other side of the
break that that question we ask, and I think we
probably you said football right away.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Are not usually right, don't I usually?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Well, he was a single sport athlete, that's right. So
and he played football, so your guess is not like
pretty pretty simple, guys, So I'm probably gonna agree with
you on this one. Oh well. Our special guest is
Al Haywood again, former football player at Indiana University. He's
(40:31):
the owner of Heywood Digital Marketing Agency. If you're interested
in their podcast, him and Tony do a podcast, We
Pivot Podcast. We Pivot Podcast. Take a listen, take a watch.
Is it on YouTube?
Speaker 4 (40:44):
No, it's not on YouTube, but it's on all of
the outlets like Excellent, Yeah Radio, all.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Of it, Google, we Pivot Podcast, and uh, and take
a good listen. We'll get We'll get to uh his uh,
his answer. All the uniforms he's ever put on his
entire life, gets to one out of the closet, Which
uniform is it? Who does he play against? And why?
We'll get that answer on the other side of the break.
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninety
twenty and Year I Hurt Radio App. Welcome back to
(41:13):
Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty in
year I Hurt Radio App by Mike McGivern alongside Pastor
Ken Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church, our special guest man.
He's a good one. Al Hey, what happy that he's
in this market and he will become a Packer fan.
Maybe not soon, maybe one day, who knows. Former football
(41:33):
player Indiana University, Al, we love this question. At the
end of every faith in the zone. All the uniforms
you've ever put on from pee wee football through your
career at Indiana, we put the uniforms into closet. You
get to pull one out to get one more game
with that team. What uniform do you pull, who do
you play against? And why?
Speaker 4 (41:51):
It'll probably be back in high school. I thought about this,
and there was a couple of college games. But back
in high school my senior year, we were tied for
second and in the conference to Julian High School, which
was our rivals. We always played Juliane at the end
of the season. And basically that year, Chicago was having
some financial issues with their athletics, so they normally take
(42:13):
the first three teams to the playoffs, but they were
only taking the first two teams. So game was going
and was tied zero zero in the fourth quarter. With
fifty seconds left to go in the game, we're on defense.
Julian is on like the two yard line. Normally when
we were on the goal line, coach, and make sure
that I'll stick you move inside so I can just
(42:35):
blow that up, because you know that's what I was
doing back in the day. Well, at this point, he
didn't call that in. So he had like this little
guy at nosetark noseguard. And I was like, well, should
I just tell that dude to move over? What do
I need to do? And I didn't want to just
do it and get in trouble, you know, because maybe
I had to stay on the outside for a reason.
So I just let it go. They called to play,
(42:59):
drove that guy into the end zone, like to the
goal post, and they scored, and then they scored the
two point conversion and we lost eight to none. I
asked Madison like a week later, I was like, why
didn't you just signal me to move on the inside
like you did? He said, I got distracted with some
other stuff. He said, you should have just moved on down.
So I would definitely go back and just take leadership
(43:21):
on that and do that.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
But you know, you don't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
You don't know, you don't know, Yeah, you don't. Man,
you get that game back one more time.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Yeah, I think we would have won that game. You
know so.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
But also we had we put our equipment up that Saturday.
We had to turn our equipment in Madison. Got a
call from the Athletic Association and said, hey, we got
a spot for you guys for the playoffs. So you
want to do it? He said, we put our equipment
up already, so no, you know we're not going to
go back, and you know do that.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
So I would, you know what, if you had to
do it all over again, I would come get the equipment,
get you guys one more game. Who is the team
in your conference? Who was the best?
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Send me on sid me on high school boy?
Speaker 1 (44:01):
There basketball for football?
Speaker 3 (44:04):
All that?
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Well, I thought you might go to football because I
remember you telling me a story that you're playing against Michigan.
Was Tom Brady the THEA and you had a sack
on him.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
I had a half a sack on Tom Brady. So
he was rolling out and he came in I think
he was a freshman or something that year, and a
strong safety came up and hit him, and I got
like his ankle or something, so I didn't get credited
for the half a sec, but I know it was
a half a sex so to shoot.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I know I was idea who he was going to
be at that point, but my goodness, Al, thank you man.
It's so it's great to see you every Sunday. It's
great that you were able to spend some time with
past your night in studio, and and thank you so
much for sharing your testimony and being part of faith
in his.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Own Yeah, I appreciate it. Man. Anytime, anytime you guys
want me back, I'm back.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
It's awesome. And anybody that you know that would fit
on a show like this, please let us know, because
that you know we've got sponsors. It's finding guys that
are willing to give us the hour it takes to
put this show together. So thank you so much again,
he is al, Hey what you can go to their
podcast if you want to listen more to Alan his wife.
We Pivot podcast is the name of the podcast, and
(45:20):
certainly wanted to thank his high school football coach much
more than a coach, and that's coach Loftus for the
direction that he has given Alan his life. Guys, thanks
for listening. This is Faith in the Zone on Fox
Sports nine twenty and your iHeart radio app
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