September 29, 2025 • 12 mins
September is “Mental Health Month,” so we have Todd Gaulding, a friend of Rudi Johnson, to discuss relationships and brotherhood in forming bonds. We talk about looking for signs of mental health problems, finding signs, and being available to open up. He discussed advising athletes on what’s next after their careers and spoke about the last time he had talked to Rudi. You can hear it all here on “The Morning Kickoff Show!”
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the morning kickoff right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred to zone. In the next segment,
you'll have the World's Strongest Man bringing you his World's
Strongest take, and then we'll close out the show and
send you to Dan Patrick. But we wanted to have
a serious conversation real quick. As I told you, September
(00:21):
is Prostate cancer Awareness month, but it's also suicide prevention
and mental health. Last night's game, you saw Dak Prescott
wearing the on his wristband. He does it every single game.
He always has a wristband that says ask for help.
(00:41):
He writes it on his arm and he continues to
share the message because he lost his brother to a
suicide not too long ago, so he's always been there
and been an advocate for that. So would it be
in mental health month and mental health Awareness Month? We
decided that we were going to have somebody on to
(01:03):
have a conversation, uh, to kind of tell you the
same thing, why don't you ask for help?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And Mark, Well, I want to introduce a really good
friend of mine, more like a brother, Todd Gilden a
k a. G My, my buddy and also the best
friend of the football player that passed away last week
to do the suicide, Rudy Johnson. Rudy was an awesome guy.
(01:34):
Spent a lot of time with him along with g
H in Cincinnati and uh G you on the line.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yep, I'm here all right. Awesome, awesome man.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We we we spoke at length recently about you know,
Rudy suicide and you you told me that there was
that he there were signs like four years ago that
you talked to him, and like, did he ever did
really ever talk to you about his issues.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Not in detail about issues, just the the overall stresses
of life. So you know, a lot of the times
that we spent together was just kind of like really
a brotherhood just giving him a little bit more of
what to do and what not to do or what
about this situation. He was a grown man and he
can make his own decisions on things. But my job
(02:29):
as a brother to whomever our friend with is to
make sure that they can speak to people, they can
talk freely, and they can feel hurd and trusted and
with that value thing.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
It's so difficult.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
So Mark, as you know, I have four older brothers,
so I've been able to speak freely all my life,
and a lot of men do not get that opportunity.
So I took it upon myself. Just during his time
frame hearing sense. I was probably with him six or
seven days a week for about eight years, and you know,
(03:06):
trips and hanging out and you know, fundraisers and whatnot, dinners.
But I just gave him just a solid foundation about things. Now,
some of those signs that we talked about, he isolated
himself a little bit. Some of the conversations started to
not be as lengthy. You know, when you start getting
(03:28):
the evasion and conversation, you know, everything is good, man,
I'm doing this, I'm doing that ex certain zin and
so not literally being in Miami anymore, not having the
frequency that I had to him, I can see some
differences in there, but nothing that just stood out.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Majors hard.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
It's hard if you're not there to say, man, what's up,
Let's go to dinner and now I'm going to interview
you like.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
You know, but we do that amongst each other. Mark,
you do that to me.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
You know, when we all get around each other, we
have those type of conversations and we really look at
it that way, and it's about holding one another accountable.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And a lot of my friends hold me accountable.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
My family, So anybody that I associate with, I hold
them accountable about everything.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I talk to them.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
How's the kids doing, how's the wife's doing, How's what's
going on with work man, what's going on with thelypics,
what's going on with wrestling, what's going on with the podcast?
We go through it, so we know because a lot
of times, just a sounding board or somebody you can
trust gives you just another another moment, another another few hours,
(04:40):
or a few days.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Todd, I wanted to ask you this because obviously we
spend a lot of time around our brothers and our sisters,
and we understand every day is not going to be
a perfect day. We understand the struggles that people go through,
but we don't know the extent of the struggles. Because
you can wake up this morning then to sleep good
(05:05):
things are going on in your mind and you're just like,
all right, I'm gonna gonna go deal with it. But
then there's a deeper rooted situation. And I'm not asking
you how you pull that out of somebody, But if
you spend enough time with them, you'll start to see
as you said, some of the changes in the conversation.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Correct, correct, you know, I'm inside of it, and I'm
inside of the leadership. So I look at the supply chain,
the project, the program management way of thinking. So strategically,
first off, I try to make myself available. I try
to make sure that the environment is safe and it's
(05:44):
confidentiality in there.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So that's a lot of what keeps people from speaking
freedom this day and age. Whether I love you man,
how you doing, what's going on? Talk to me?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
It is taking a back seat because it's so much
of doing things. So I pushed beyond that and make
them feel okay about it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You know. I took a lot of pressure, a lot
of heat.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
You know, hey, he's running after athletes and entertainers.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
He knows a lot of people. No, man, I'm the man.
I'm cool. I'm cool on where I'm at.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
So, you know, those guys feel comfortable in that space.
So we're able to just talk as brothers without my.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Hand is out. I need this. I'm on that. I'm like, nah, man,
how you really feeling? You know? And by doing that,
I was able to be available.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
So back from say Cincinnati perspective, I guess I had
a room at the mansion, at the house, and I.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Would I work remote so I would be available.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So three in the morning, I might get a knock
on my door at his house and we may end
up talking for three or four hours, drinking.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
His hand, things on his mind. But I let him.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
You know, he was able to go about all my baby, mom,
my parents, my homeboys football, just you name it.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
He was able to kind of get in there and
dig into it.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And so I made sure that again, like I said,
I was, I was totally I was totally available for that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And that's what's that's what's ever so important to everything.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
When was the last time that that that you spoke
to Rudy. We we talked about it briefly, but I
wanted to let the audience know.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
The conversation We had this my camera. Yeah you're still good.
You're still good. Okay, about about a month ago, give
it take.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
And it wasn't as it wasn't as Rudy Jay as normally.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So again, like like I mentioned, the.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Whole point of being able to talk freely and for
skinning amounts of time, once that starts to kind.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Of get in the way the language changes. Man, what
you're doing.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Man, you know, I'm gonna make this run and make
that run that the conversation comes a little shorter. It's
not anything back at the person, it's just they're distracted
and you're not there.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
The physical, the physical face to face.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Is so important, and like Martin Lowe's and everybody else,
we try to do a face to face when we can.
But outside of that, we definitely pick up the phone.
You know, this generation now is texting and text whatever.
I kind of like to hear person's voice. You can,
you can pick up things when you ask her questions
and how they hesitate, how they respond bad, you know
(08:37):
where they really at. And so I make sure that
I stay on with that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Wow, that's awesome and it fits right into that. Let's
talk about it, right, you know, So we wanted to
talk about it, but I wanted to let you get
that off your chest as well as inform the people
that listen to our show that, you know, with this
month being what it is, let's talk about it, guys, like,
(09:06):
do not internalize it and hold it in. Uh gee,
thank you man, uh for coming on with us always.
But you know you're you're always you're a brother to
me and I appreciate the uh, the big, the big
brotherness of our relationship.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
That's what we do. Mark Man. If you guys black
Man and black Man world the world.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
I love you all Man and Mark knows it.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
And Mark as you know.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Now, if you guys ever need to beat out to me,
I'm a I'm a fantastic communicator.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I support people.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I actually stand for what they stand for, and I
challenge them against what doesn't work and it helps, It
helps to bring out greatest. And I'll leave with this,
I should always say this to Rudy doing it's playing
years and whatnot. What are you going to do when
the cheering stops? I was taught that as.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
An early age by Rick Gates.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Out of Dayton, Ohio being a star athlete and all
this growing up. He always said, what are you going
to do when the chair stops? No one says your name?
Who are you? And so I was. I was proud
of really of where he pushed after football because I
knew that was going to be a challenge. Who do
you exist out of playing not playing football for twenty
(10:26):
something years of your life? How do you develop as
a father, as a man, as a businessman. Is it
all about hanging hours, about building structures, about building legacy,
and so the little things I tried to just instill
with him when I had the floor with him, uninhibited
by anybody, just him and I for hours upon hours,
(10:47):
and so that's that's what I did. So when I
saw those great moments, I was happy, but didn't didn't
see me the latter part of the darkness, because you know,
every everybody has a troubling spot and they can reach
out out the fucks man.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
We appreciate you for taking the time and sharing that story.
As always, I mean, a friend of Marx is a
friend of mine. So continued success and I'm sure we'll
talk to you again at another time. Appreciate you, all right,
take care of fellas. Thus there he is Todd Golden
Deep Deep. Coming up next, we're gonna have our guy
(11:22):
Mark Henry give us his world's strongest take right here
on the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
The Zone.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Going to give a special shout out to all the
people who came in from me, the alumni from Thomas
in High school and Atri chosen also the same people
who came after me. So with that being said, I
just want to say dream being shoot for the stars,
same focused, never give up, and one more thing to
(11:56):
all the kids in Chesterfield County. I'll be watching for
the next start to be bon
Welcome back to the morning kickoff right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred to zone. In the next segment,
you'll have the World's Strongest Man bringing you his World's
Strongest take, and then we'll close out the show and
send you to Dan Patrick. But we wanted to have
a serious conversation real quick. As I told you, September
(00:21):
is Prostate cancer Awareness month, but it's also suicide prevention
and mental health. Last night's game, you saw Dak Prescott
wearing the on his wristband. He does it every single game.
He always has a wristband that says ask for help.
(00:41):
He writes it on his arm and he continues to
share the message because he lost his brother to a
suicide not too long ago, so he's always been there
and been an advocate for that. So would it be
in mental health month and mental health Awareness Month? We
decided that we were going to have somebody on to
(01:03):
have a conversation, uh, to kind of tell you the
same thing, why don't you ask for help?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And Mark, Well, I want to introduce a really good
friend of mine, more like a brother, Todd Gilden a
k a. G My, my buddy and also the best
friend of the football player that passed away last week
to do the suicide, Rudy Johnson. Rudy was an awesome guy.
(01:34):
Spent a lot of time with him along with g
H in Cincinnati and uh G you on the line.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yep, I'm here all right. Awesome, awesome man.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We we we spoke at length recently about you know,
Rudy suicide and you you told me that there was
that he there were signs like four years ago that
you talked to him, and like, did he ever did
really ever talk to you about his issues.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Not in detail about issues, just the the overall stresses
of life. So you know, a lot of the times
that we spent together was just kind of like really
a brotherhood just giving him a little bit more of
what to do and what not to do or what
about this situation. He was a grown man and he
can make his own decisions on things. But my job
(02:29):
as a brother to whomever our friend with is to
make sure that they can speak to people, they can
talk freely, and they can feel hurd and trusted and
with that value thing.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
It's so difficult.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
So Mark, as you know, I have four older brothers,
so I've been able to speak freely all my life,
and a lot of men do not get that opportunity.
So I took it upon myself. Just during his time
frame hearing sense. I was probably with him six or
seven days a week for about eight years, and you know,
(03:06):
trips and hanging out and you know, fundraisers and whatnot, dinners.
But I just gave him just a solid foundation about things. Now,
some of those signs that we talked about, he isolated
himself a little bit. Some of the conversations started to
not be as lengthy. You know, when you start getting
(03:28):
the evasion and conversation, you know, everything is good, man,
I'm doing this, I'm doing that ex certain zin and
so not literally being in Miami anymore, not having the
frequency that I had to him, I can see some
differences in there, but nothing that just stood out.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Majors hard.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
It's hard if you're not there to say, man, what's up,
Let's go to dinner and now I'm going to interview
you like.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
You know, but we do that amongst each other. Mark,
you do that to me.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
You know, when we all get around each other, we
have those type of conversations and we really look at
it that way, and it's about holding one another accountable.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And a lot of my friends hold me accountable.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
My family, So anybody that I associate with, I hold
them accountable about everything.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I talk to them.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
How's the kids doing, how's the wife's doing, How's what's
going on with work man, what's going on with thelypics,
what's going on with wrestling, what's going on with the podcast?
We go through it, so we know because a lot
of times, just a sounding board or somebody you can
trust gives you just another another moment, another another few hours,
(04:40):
or a few days.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Todd, I wanted to ask you this because obviously we
spend a lot of time around our brothers and our sisters,
and we understand every day is not going to be
a perfect day. We understand the struggles that people go through,
but we don't know the extent of the struggles. Because
you can wake up this morning then to sleep good
(05:05):
things are going on in your mind and you're just like,
all right, I'm gonna gonna go deal with it. But
then there's a deeper rooted situation. And I'm not asking
you how you pull that out of somebody, But if
you spend enough time with them, you'll start to see
as you said, some of the changes in the conversation.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Correct, correct, you know, I'm inside of it, and I'm
inside of the leadership. So I look at the supply chain,
the project, the program management way of thinking. So strategically,
first off, I try to make myself available. I try
to make sure that the environment is safe and it's
(05:44):
confidentiality in there.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So that's a lot of what keeps people from speaking
freedom this day and age. Whether I love you man,
how you doing, what's going on? Talk to me?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
It is taking a back seat because it's so much
of doing things. So I pushed beyond that and make
them feel okay about it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You know. I took a lot of pressure, a lot
of heat.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
You know, hey, he's running after athletes and entertainers.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
He knows a lot of people. No, man, I'm the man.
I'm cool. I'm cool on where I'm at.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
So, you know, those guys feel comfortable in that space.
So we're able to just talk as brothers without my.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Hand is out. I need this. I'm on that. I'm like, nah, man,
how you really feeling? You know? And by doing that,
I was able to be available.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
So back from say Cincinnati perspective, I guess I had
a room at the mansion, at the house, and I.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Would I work remote so I would be available.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So three in the morning, I might get a knock
on my door at his house and we may end
up talking for three or four hours, drinking.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
His hand, things on his mind. But I let him.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
You know, he was able to go about all my baby, mom,
my parents, my homeboys football, just you name it.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
He was able to kind of get in there and
dig into it.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And so I made sure that again, like I said,
I was, I was totally I was totally available for that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And that's what's that's what's ever so important to everything.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
When was the last time that that that you spoke
to Rudy. We we talked about it briefly, but I
wanted to let the audience know.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
The conversation We had this my camera. Yeah you're still good.
You're still good. Okay, about about a month ago, give
it take.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
And it wasn't as it wasn't as Rudy Jay as normally.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So again, like like I mentioned, the.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Whole point of being able to talk freely and for
skinning amounts of time, once that starts to kind.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Of get in the way the language changes. Man, what
you're doing.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Man, you know, I'm gonna make this run and make
that run that the conversation comes a little shorter. It's
not anything back at the person, it's just they're distracted
and you're not there.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
The physical, the physical face to face.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Is so important, and like Martin Lowe's and everybody else,
we try to do a face to face when we can.
But outside of that, we definitely pick up the phone.
You know, this generation now is texting and text whatever.
I kind of like to hear person's voice. You can,
you can pick up things when you ask her questions
and how they hesitate, how they respond bad, you know
(08:37):
where they really at. And so I make sure that
I stay on with that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Wow, that's awesome and it fits right into that. Let's
talk about it, right, you know, So we wanted to
talk about it, but I wanted to let you get
that off your chest as well as inform the people
that listen to our show that, you know, with this
month being what it is, let's talk about it, guys, like,
(09:06):
do not internalize it and hold it in. Uh gee,
thank you man, uh for coming on with us always.
But you know you're you're always you're a brother to
me and I appreciate the uh, the big, the big
brotherness of our relationship.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
That's what we do. Mark Man. If you guys black
Man and black Man world the world.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
I love you all Man and Mark knows it.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
And Mark as you know.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Now, if you guys ever need to beat out to me,
I'm a I'm a fantastic communicator.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I support people.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I actually stand for what they stand for, and I
challenge them against what doesn't work and it helps, It
helps to bring out greatest. And I'll leave with this,
I should always say this to Rudy doing it's playing
years and whatnot. What are you going to do when
the cheering stops? I was taught that as.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
An early age by Rick Gates.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Out of Dayton, Ohio being a star athlete and all
this growing up. He always said, what are you going
to do when the chair stops? No one says your name?
Who are you? And so I was. I was proud
of really of where he pushed after football because I
knew that was going to be a challenge. Who do
you exist out of playing not playing football for twenty
(10:26):
something years of your life? How do you develop as
a father, as a man, as a businessman. Is it
all about hanging hours, about building structures, about building legacy,
and so the little things I tried to just instill
with him when I had the floor with him, uninhibited
by anybody, just him and I for hours upon hours,
(10:47):
and so that's that's what I did. So when I
saw those great moments, I was happy, but didn't didn't
see me the latter part of the darkness, because you know,
every everybody has a troubling spot and they can reach
out out the fucks man.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
We appreciate you for taking the time and sharing that story.
As always, I mean, a friend of Marx is a
friend of mine. So continued success and I'm sure we'll
talk to you again at another time. Appreciate you, all right,
take care of fellas. Thus there he is Todd Golden
Deep Deep. Coming up next, we're gonna have our guy
(11:22):
Mark Henry give us his world's strongest take right here
on the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
The Zone.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Going to give a special shout out to all the
people who came in from me, the alumni from Thomas
in High school and Atri chosen also the same people
who came after me. So with that being said, I
just want to say dream being shoot for the stars,
same focused, never give up, and one more thing to
(11:56):
all the kids in Chesterfield County. I'll be watching for
the next start to be bon
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