August 2, 2024 • 10 mins
Mike Konopka of "The Lima Masters' joined Todd Walker on the Friday edition of "Lima's Morning News" to discuss their donation of $10.000 to Lima Youth Football and the organization's future.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A while back we talked to you about the Lina Masters,
a group that started on Facebook and grew into something
a lot larger than I think they ever thought it would.
But Brady Croft and Mike Kanopka, among others making it happen,
and they had their get together with their golf outing
and it's really blown up in a good way. And
(00:21):
Mike Kanopka's with us. Mike, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me.
Todd truly appreciate everything you've gotten to help make the
Line of Masters, make the awareness and what it is today.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, it started out with you guys posting stuff on
Facebook under the Line of Masters, and there was some
old game highlights, whether it was game film or TV
or what have you, and it just sort of caught
on and it grew from that, and it wasn't long
until you guys decided it could be something more talk
about the mission of your group then as it grew.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, absolutely, So the mission started off for the Friendship.
It's a nonprofit in the state of Ohio. The whole
goal behind for the Friendship is to really unite the
lifelong friends that we've had growing up in order to
raise fund so that kids can enjoy youth sports, enjoy play,
(01:20):
and build those friendships, those bonds that are there with
them for a lifetime, to celebrate their successes and pick
them up when they fail. We're a testament to that.
We were able to get all of our friends together
for the Lineman Pastors. It was a beautiful day, colonial
(01:41):
had the golf course looking great, We had ninety six
golfers as showed up out there, a great time with
the DJ photographer, just a wonderful day. And then we're
able to take that and translate that into an award
ceremony where we honored Jim Dally, Ron Jackson and some
of the legendary coaches that really helped us build our
(02:03):
characters and become who we are and build those friendships.
And with that being said, we were able to raise
ten thousand dollars for Limy Youth Football Association, which is
a tremendous accomplishment for the community of Lima. Just coming
together in that short period of time, all the support
(02:24):
everything from Lima was just outstanding and tremendously excited to
give that check to one of our childhood friends. Actually,
Tadda was light al Jackson, who is the president of
the Limy Youth Football Association. So we're able to make
somewhat of a difference and hopefully we'll be able to
continue to support them for years to come.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Mike Kannap goes with us from the Lima Masters. So
now when you look at this past eight ten months,
it's been quite a whirlwind. You had almost one hundred
golfers participate in your golf outing, and I'm sure more
people showed up to the dinner afterward and such. But
the following on Facebook has got to be a lot
(03:06):
bigger than that. How many people, at least as far
as you can measure, have you interacted with with the
Facebook postings.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's a great question. I know that we have over
two thousand members on the page. The overall interactions that's
in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Sure, it's
really taken on a life of its own, and Brady
Croft has just done such a tremendous job of gathering
the information, gathering the video clips. He's worked tirely to
(03:42):
pull those together, and now you're starting to see more
individuals getting more comfortable posting on there, and it's kind
of taken on now this community feeling of where we're
posting the highlights and we're honoring and honoring a lot
of the lime of legends. And I'll tell you what,
just looking back at it and seeing some of the
history that I would even unaware of, it makes you
(04:02):
recognize really how much Lima has to offer. And it
very makes you very proud to say, you know what,
I'm from Lima, Ohio, and you know, look at all
this that we have to offer. And that page does
a nice job of highlighting what Linement means to the
sports world.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, and I think you know, your focus at first
was sort of your era. You and Brady were the
mid early nineties of vintage high schoolers. But it's sort
of broadened out from there. And I guess, really now
you don't really have any I guess guardrails for what
years it is for people to post either newspaper clippings
or old TV highlights or game film or radio calls
(04:45):
or anything right, or even.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Even current events. As you know, you sports is very
near and dear to the organization. We're helping support other
youth sports organizations on that page too, so getting not
only the past but you're getting the present and we're
supporting the future. And we had looked to have a
more post of as those youth sports terms into high
(05:11):
school and college and posting about future as well.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, the Lima Masters is how you can find it
on Facebook. And I know you guys have some sponsors
that you want to give some shout outs.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
To, right absolutely. We always want to make sure that
we thank Travis Lawson and Losson Brother Construction. They believed
in us early on and supported us and really made
this come to light. I'd also like to thank Kevin Beer.
Kevin Beer has been a a big supporter of this.
He contacted us early on. He saw this as a
(05:41):
tremendous opportunity to honor his late friend Tom Cutlet, who
passed away last year. So Tom was our honorary captain
for the golf outing as well as the Line of
Masters Championship trophy You Got to Go Low is also
named after Tom Cottlet. And there's just a host of
(06:02):
other sponsors that we'd like to thank, but start with
Old Barn out Back. They did a tremendous job helping
us with the award ceremonium, making sure that was a
success as well as the celebration of friendship, but Todd,
it was really a community overhaul. We've received donations of support.
(06:24):
We saw on Facebook people were stepping up offering Brooke
McClendon with their fast signs of Blue Ash Ohio. If
you ever have an opportunity to work with her. It
was a tremendous delight. She was top notch on everything.
So just too many people to thank for everything, but
the community was just tremendous and we look forward to
(06:46):
carrying this momentum into next year and seeing if we
can't do even bigger and better things for the Lima
youth sports organizations. They're top and I can't forget to
thank you Without your bringing awareness to this, I don't
know if we get to the size that we were
able to this year. So truly appreciate your your giving
(07:08):
us the platform i'd be able to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
It was my pleasure. Also, you guys have Styllly Insurance
and tom All and Faust Medical on your on your
Facebook page as part of your sponsorship group, so I
want to put a shout out to them, and I
guess now the real challenge is what the coaches always say.
It's easier to get to the top than it is
to stay on top of that.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Right now, you got to keep.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It going, do you? I mean, sure you've got the
base of people and participants, but what do you think
maybe can make it grow a little bit next year?
And do you make the line of Youth Football Association
your beneficiary again if you will, or do you want
to rotate that?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah? So all great questions still early on in the
planning process before we commit who the beneficiary will it
will not be? I know, we definitely want to continue
to do things to build those youth sports, build those
friendships in those bonds. How do we keep going forward?
I tell you what, throughout this process, we've met a
(08:08):
lot of tremendous individuals that have offered to help and support.
We've partnered with Kevin Beer as I told you, he
also happens to work with Google, and he was gracious
enough to get us into what you would call, I
guess for lack of better words, would be there giving portal.
(08:30):
So with that being said, it seems like the Causes
has created some interest within their world giving portal, and
we look forward to seeing where that may take us
into future years as well. As the continued support of
the line of community. So pod time will tell, but
I promise you we're excited about seeing where this goes
(08:51):
and what we can do to continue to support LIMA
in meaningful ways.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Well, the great thing about the LIMA Masters is it's
doing some good work the present, but it also serves
as a way for us old guys to remember what
we did and really blow it up to being a
lot bigger than we ever actually accomplished, right man, I
mean the legendary tales.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Grow, Yeah, there are, Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe, But when
you look back, there's a lot of good legends out there,
and you start to appreciate for what they had to offer.
Maybe you didn't appreciate as much in your youth right
as you start to appreciate it now. But there's a
little bit of both of that in there, Todd, for sure,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I need to find some video of yours, truly and
put that on there. That'll be helpful.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I wish you would. Absolutely we encourage as many people
to post on there as possible. If you just go
and you just look at the connections that have been made,
if you look at the comments there, Yeah, it is tremendous.
These videos bring out memories that people thought they would
never ever see again, and it just builds these connections.
And I'll tell you what, Todd, is, this whole line
of Masters and the award ceremony and the celebration of frenticeship,
(09:58):
it's just one of those things that just good for
your overall soul, just being able to see these individuals
and just the good, just the good, good people that
are in the community that want to give back and
want to help and make a brighter future for everyone.
So we're excited to be part of this. We're excited
to partner with everyone that came out to support us,
and like I said, I look forward to being on
(10:21):
your show then again in the future and being able
to tell you about some of the great things that
we've accomplished.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, it's great that the youth sports angle gets emphasized.
We need more and more of that for our youth today.
It's the Lima Masters on Facebook. That's the easiest way
to find it and check out what they're doing. Mike
Kanop got good work, you guys, and here's two more
success in your number two.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Absolutely, Todd, thank you so much for having US appreciate
again
A while back we talked to you about the Lina Masters,
a group that started on Facebook and grew into something
a lot larger than I think they ever thought it would.
But Brady Croft and Mike Kanopka, among others making it happen,
and they had their get together with their golf outing
and it's really blown up in a good way. And
(00:21):
Mike Kanopka's with us. Mike, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me.
Todd truly appreciate everything you've gotten to help make the
Line of Masters, make the awareness and what it is today.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, it started out with you guys posting stuff on
Facebook under the Line of Masters, and there was some
old game highlights, whether it was game film or TV
or what have you, and it just sort of caught
on and it grew from that, and it wasn't long
until you guys decided it could be something more talk
about the mission of your group then as it grew.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, absolutely, So the mission started off for the Friendship.
It's a nonprofit in the state of Ohio. The whole
goal behind for the Friendship is to really unite the
lifelong friends that we've had growing up in order to
raise fund so that kids can enjoy youth sports, enjoy play,
(01:20):
and build those friendships, those bonds that are there with
them for a lifetime, to celebrate their successes and pick
them up when they fail. We're a testament to that.
We were able to get all of our friends together
for the Lineman Pastors. It was a beautiful day, colonial
(01:41):
had the golf course looking great, We had ninety six
golfers as showed up out there, a great time with
the DJ photographer, just a wonderful day. And then we're
able to take that and translate that into an award
ceremony where we honored Jim Dally, Ron Jackson and some
of the legendary coaches that really helped us build our
(02:03):
characters and become who we are and build those friendships.
And with that being said, we were able to raise
ten thousand dollars for Limy Youth Football Association, which is
a tremendous accomplishment for the community of Lima. Just coming
together in that short period of time, all the support
(02:24):
everything from Lima was just outstanding and tremendously excited to
give that check to one of our childhood friends. Actually,
Tadda was light al Jackson, who is the president of
the Limy Youth Football Association. So we're able to make
somewhat of a difference and hopefully we'll be able to
continue to support them for years to come.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Mike Kannap goes with us from the Lima Masters. So
now when you look at this past eight ten months,
it's been quite a whirlwind. You had almost one hundred
golfers participate in your golf outing, and I'm sure more
people showed up to the dinner afterward and such. But
the following on Facebook has got to be a lot
(03:06):
bigger than that. How many people, at least as far
as you can measure, have you interacted with with the
Facebook postings.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's a great question. I know that we have over
two thousand members on the page. The overall interactions that's
in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Sure, it's
really taken on a life of its own, and Brady
Croft has just done such a tremendous job of gathering
the information, gathering the video clips. He's worked tirely to
(03:42):
pull those together, and now you're starting to see more
individuals getting more comfortable posting on there, and it's kind
of taken on now this community feeling of where we're
posting the highlights and we're honoring and honoring a lot
of the lime of legends. And I'll tell you what,
just looking back at it and seeing some of the
history that I would even unaware of, it makes you
(04:02):
recognize really how much Lima has to offer. And it
very makes you very proud to say, you know what,
I'm from Lima, Ohio, and you know, look at all
this that we have to offer. And that page does
a nice job of highlighting what Linement means to the
sports world.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, and I think you know, your focus at first
was sort of your era. You and Brady were the
mid early nineties of vintage high schoolers. But it's sort
of broadened out from there. And I guess, really now
you don't really have any I guess guardrails for what
years it is for people to post either newspaper clippings
or old TV highlights or game film or radio calls
(04:45):
or anything right, or even.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Even current events. As you know, you sports is very
near and dear to the organization. We're helping support other
youth sports organizations on that page too, so getting not
only the past but you're getting the present and we're
supporting the future. And we had looked to have a
more post of as those youth sports terms into high
(05:11):
school and college and posting about future as well.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, the Lima Masters is how you can find it
on Facebook. And I know you guys have some sponsors
that you want to give some shout outs.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
To, right absolutely. We always want to make sure that
we thank Travis Lawson and Losson Brother Construction. They believed
in us early on and supported us and really made
this come to light. I'd also like to thank Kevin Beer.
Kevin Beer has been a a big supporter of this.
He contacted us early on. He saw this as a
(05:41):
tremendous opportunity to honor his late friend Tom Cutlet, who
passed away last year. So Tom was our honorary captain
for the golf outing as well as the Line of
Masters Championship trophy You Got to Go Low is also
named after Tom Cottlet. And there's just a host of
(06:02):
other sponsors that we'd like to thank, but start with
Old Barn out Back. They did a tremendous job helping
us with the award ceremonium, making sure that was a
success as well as the celebration of friendship, but Todd,
it was really a community overhaul. We've received donations of support.
(06:24):
We saw on Facebook people were stepping up offering Brooke
McClendon with their fast signs of Blue Ash Ohio. If
you ever have an opportunity to work with her. It
was a tremendous delight. She was top notch on everything.
So just too many people to thank for everything, but
the community was just tremendous and we look forward to
(06:46):
carrying this momentum into next year and seeing if we
can't do even bigger and better things for the Lima
youth sports organizations. They're top and I can't forget to
thank you Without your bringing awareness to this, I don't
know if we get to the size that we were
able to this year. So truly appreciate your your giving
(07:08):
us the platform i'd be able to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
It was my pleasure. Also, you guys have Styllly Insurance
and tom All and Faust Medical on your on your
Facebook page as part of your sponsorship group, so I
want to put a shout out to them, and I
guess now the real challenge is what the coaches always say.
It's easier to get to the top than it is
to stay on top of that.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Right now, you got to keep.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It going, do you? I mean, sure you've got the
base of people and participants, but what do you think
maybe can make it grow a little bit next year?
And do you make the line of Youth Football Association
your beneficiary again if you will, or do you want
to rotate that?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah? So all great questions still early on in the
planning process before we commit who the beneficiary will it
will not be? I know, we definitely want to continue
to do things to build those youth sports, build those
friendships in those bonds. How do we keep going forward?
I tell you what, throughout this process, we've met a
(08:08):
lot of tremendous individuals that have offered to help and support.
We've partnered with Kevin Beer as I told you, he
also happens to work with Google, and he was gracious
enough to get us into what you would call, I
guess for lack of better words, would be there giving portal.
(08:30):
So with that being said, it seems like the Causes
has created some interest within their world giving portal, and
we look forward to seeing where that may take us
into future years as well. As the continued support of
the line of community. So pod time will tell, but
I promise you we're excited about seeing where this goes
(08:51):
and what we can do to continue to support LIMA
in meaningful ways.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Well, the great thing about the LIMA Masters is it's
doing some good work the present, but it also serves
as a way for us old guys to remember what
we did and really blow it up to being a
lot bigger than we ever actually accomplished, right man, I
mean the legendary tales.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Grow, Yeah, there are, Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe, But when
you look back, there's a lot of good legends out there,
and you start to appreciate for what they had to offer.
Maybe you didn't appreciate as much in your youth right
as you start to appreciate it now. But there's a
little bit of both of that in there, Todd, for sure,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I need to find some video of yours, truly and
put that on there. That'll be helpful.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I wish you would. Absolutely we encourage as many people
to post on there as possible. If you just go
and you just look at the connections that have been made,
if you look at the comments there, Yeah, it is tremendous.
These videos bring out memories that people thought they would
never ever see again, and it just builds these connections.
And I'll tell you what, Todd, is, this whole line
of Masters and the award ceremony and the celebration of frenticeship,
(09:58):
it's just one of those things that just good for
your overall soul, just being able to see these individuals
and just the good, just the good, good people that
are in the community that want to give back and
want to help and make a brighter future for everyone.
So we're excited to be part of this. We're excited
to partner with everyone that came out to support us,
and like I said, I look forward to being on
(10:21):
your show then again in the future and being able
to tell you about some of the great things that
we've accomplished.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, it's great that the youth sports angle gets emphasized.
We need more and more of that for our youth today.
It's the Lima Masters on Facebook. That's the easiest way
to find it and check out what they're doing. Mike
Kanop got good work, you guys, and here's two more
success in your number two.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Absolutely, Todd, thank you so much for having US appreciate
again
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