August 11, 2023 • 37 mins
Devin McCourty shares stories about his career in New England and explains how having a large impact in the New England community motivated him to be the best person he could be for everyone supporting him. He also shares stories about his family and what Patriots nation meant to him.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, and it's your host, Andre Norman and I'm
here with the none of the three times.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Super Bowl champion. Yeah, man, how goes it? How goes it?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Good Man? I appreciate being here, man. I've heard a
lot about you, seeing some like Instagram reels and different things.
So it's awesome being here today.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Man, I mean for me being this is your building,
this is this is what this is on base for
those who don't know, we are here Injelette Stadium, in
the studio became the home based man ground zero for
the world champions. Man and we have one of the
premier champions with us. So how's your day going so far?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That's been good Man. Recently retired, but get to come
hang out in this building. You know. Still I think that,
you know, it showed me throughout my career just relationships
and being able to build meaningful, real relationships here in
New England at Gillette Stadium, obviously with the Craft family
and then coach Belichick. Just being able to do that.
Now retire, they still like, hey, you wanna come get
(00:58):
some rehab, They wanna come work out, come up, hang
around the guys. But also within that getting a chance
to meet some of these rookies, and you know me,
I just want to pour my knowledge out. It was
the same thing when I got here, guys like James Sanders,
Lee Bodden, Darius Butler, Gerrameo, Vince Wolford, those guys. When
I got here, was like, Hey, this is how it works.
I'm gonna tell you all the things to help you
(01:19):
become a professional. It's up to you to do it.
I want to pass that same knowledge of these guys.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
He just part of the page, your family, just part
of the family saying welcome to the nation, saying I've
been here since. I'll go back to Steve Grogan. Day's okay,
I remember when we played Steve Grogan. Steve Grogan played
the Beads. I'm saying eighty five I was. I was
back then with it. Yeah, that didn't that didn't go well,
But it was the beginnings. That team and that Bearest
team was legendary.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So it was the beginnings. It was for us.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It was the beginning what I'm saying, It was the
beginning of our process and we actually got to.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The end of the road. Yeah we need we need
a new ownership, and she got it. So I heard
you say you re hired. How was that, man?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It was? It was. It's emotional, but it was very satisfying.
I'll say that because I was. I'm content with my career,
what I was able to do coming here to New
England really my journey from the time I started playing football,
Like I look at my life and you know, when
I was a senior in high school, I didn't get
ranked in the top one hundred in the whole state
of New Jersey. Not you know, no one ranked me
(02:20):
out of one hundred guys.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You didn't count.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And then too fast forward and be the twenty seventh
pick in the NFL Draft. Just that one accomplishment would
have been huge. But then to play thirteen years here,
three Super Bowls, be a twelve time captain, just all
of those things, and knowing that if I wanted to
fight through and come back for a fourteenth year, I could,
but also realizing as a person there's more out there
(02:44):
that I want to do that I want to accomplish.
Show again being able to come up here and hang
around the guys for the next few months, but also
know and feel like I got a bright future ahead
of me with other things that I want to do
now outside of football, really for that second acting life.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Thinking about you, I'm thinking about when you started. What
I'm saying, when you went from New Jersey, from New
York to New Jersey. You started in New York. I'm
saying in family moved to Jersey, and y'all were struggling.
I mean, I would call it struggle. I don't know
how something else would call it. You was just struggling
to like stay afloat.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And it was just, you know, I think people always
ask me about the things I do off the field,
and you know, leadership stuff. I got that from my mom,
you know my you know, we'll hit it probably later.
But my father passed away when I was young. I
was three years old. My father had cardiac arrest, had
a heart attack at thirty six and died. And from
(03:36):
that point on, my mom had we have an older brother,
was with her high school sweetheart, and she raised three
boys on her own. And the sacrifices that I saw
her put in day after day doesn't register as a kid.
But as you get older, I start to think back,
and like you're talking about moving to Jersey and going
to high school. We went to a private high school.
(03:58):
You fast forward, tell my mom when we get there,
you get us in and you pay for us to
go to school. We'll get a full scholarship go to Rutgers.
My second year of Rutgers, my mom has to file
bankruptcy basically because there was a couple of times we
almost couldn't go back to high school and would have
had to go to public school. But she found a
way and she shopped different. She did what she had
to do to make sure we were able to go
(04:20):
all four years to high school. And that's what I
think about life. I think about being a parent, think
about being a leader, being there for somebody. It ultimately
means sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice personally to
help somebody else further, whether it's education, sports, just life
in general. And I got that first hand from my mom.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I know you're married, and I know you took care
of wife yesterday. So you have the two little ones.
What you do for mom yesterday?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah? Three little ones now? Yeah, so my youngest will
be two next month. And then credit to my wife,
my brother's wife, they sacrificed. We host Boston Medical centers
gala the day before Mother's Day two years in a
row now and yesterday we went out to do brunch
and Boston, hung out with the fan for the rest
of the day. My brother and my mom was up
(05:06):
to They ended up going back home late Sunday evening,
but we just really hung out. My wife got to
chill out and just kind of rest. And I think
we always talk about that. The difference for Father's Day
is everybody tells you need to hang out with your
kids as Father's Day, Mother's Day, they like, man, get
them kids away from me. I just want to relax.
So that's really what we did yesterday.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You said you went out and helped people yesterday, and
I know you've been helping people your whole career. When
the Boston bombing happened, I know that you went out
of your way to make a difference.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Why so, I think coming here and playing for the Patriots,
the first thing you noticed right away is sports is
different in New England. Like people absolutely love sports heroes,
all of sports characters. Dating back from when I got
up here and really start to follow Bill Russell and
seeing the impact they could have. And then I got
(05:58):
up here in the Boston marriage is so big, like
everybody you know, Patriots Day, you're all from work, like
it's all about supporting a marathon. And when the bombing happened,
there's the ripple effect the thought process of people who
had gone to the marathon for years. Now there's fear, right,
there was never a fear. So, you know, I think
(06:19):
it was myself. I think Danny a mindola, A lot
of guys just thought of different ways to give back.
And you know, I know I donated, I forgot how
much money for every tackle.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's not the money. Is this the fact that you
did it?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So what was the origins of that concept?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Just just to help people out? You know, I think
when something negative happens, especially like that where it affects everyone,
not just in the city of Boston, but this whole
New England area come in for that. So I think
to take something so negative and try to make a
positive out of it and shine a bright light and
then to show people like, hey, I know this doesn't
have anything to do with me, but I care like
(06:54):
I care about you, I care about your well being.
I care about this area being seen in a positive light,
and that's all I wanted to do just to create
some positivity, inspire some families who are obviously going through
a tough time. People lost limbs, people lost lives, people
lost loved ones, just to give them something. When you
go to a Patriot game and you're cheering, you're also like, man,
(07:15):
those guys out there, they can't just playing.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
They care about And I can tell you born in
Boston City Hospital, Boston Public Schools, grew up.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Here, been here my whole life.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And to see you do the work and just do
it from a hawk place and not trying to be
out front is just commendable. Man, I appreciate it because
this is my time. I'm saying, I'm glad you hear
in it with us out.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
It's been awesome because you know, historically the nature of sports,
like the Bill Russells, you hear the stories of like
the racism and the different things that have happened here
in Boston. And when I got here and I started
going out to different communities and I started going to
Dorchester and Mattapan and Roxbury, all the different people that
I was meeting, they're like, man, Patriot players don't usually
(07:59):
come here. And there was this whole group of love
that these people want to love on players. The Patriots
pray for him like you, and those neighborhoods where you
see Auntie and Grandma, they like, I pray for you
every day every day. And to me that was so
inspiring because I was like, all right, man, I found
that area in Boston where people look like me, they
talk like me, and they've just embraced me with open arms,
(08:21):
you know since the day I got here, and I've
just tried to give back that same love and energy.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It doesn't hurt that you're winning too.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, that always helps.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
For a super Bowl. How was it?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Oh, it was amazing, and it's it was the build up,
you know, my first year coming in we go fourteen
and two. I remember being a rookie and you know,
Bill always says, you know, don't feel the hype, don't.
I was that guy. Every day I get home, I'm
watching TV. Man, what they're saying about us, what they're
saying about me? And so many people was like, man,
this is the best team in football.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
That's sure.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That's how well we were playing in twenty ten.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's still the best team in foro.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yes, But that year we going we played the Jets
in the divisional round. We had we had spanked the
Jets I think forty to three, like two or three
weeks before, and they beat us. So that was my
first right we're in the playoffs and it was I
was like, we're going to the super Bowl my rookie year.
And then just like that season over. Then second year
we come back, we go to the Super Bowl, we
(09:15):
lose it to Giants in Super Bowl forty six. Then
the next two years we losing the AFC Championship. So
now I've tasted, I've been in the Pro Bowl. I've
tasted being out of your feelings hurt, and I'm like, man, like,
I can't get over the hump. So that twenty fourteen
team where we get rebis we get brown er in here.
Now it's like, all right, this team they're gonna make this.
They're gonna make the Super Bowl and win it and
(09:37):
then get over that hump. After hearing all the stories
from Matt, Patricia, Vince Wilford, they're talking about being at
the game and they're bringing the trophy down the line
and everybody's looking, and then to beat there and experience it, man,
it was just like, finally we got over the hump,
and I know for the outside world, they're like, finally,
that was your fourth super Bowl, your fourteen years exactly.
And I think that's what people don't get for us.
(09:59):
When we got here, that's the that's what we had
to live up to. The standard was these guys just
won three super Bowls in four years? Are you gonna
win super Bowls? Like, that's what we expect. So to
get there and get to that level and win it. Myself, Edelman, Gronk,
Matt Slater, like, we all came in without around three
(10:20):
or four years dante high tower of each other. So
when we all we kind of we built that unit
of we started hating hearing people talk about the old team.
We started. We hated that. We hated if a guy
that was in the past says something bad about one
of us. Like it was just we became a group,
and I think that's what really bonded us, that all
of us took that chip on our shoulder and was like, man,
(10:41):
we're gonna do this. And the next few years we
went on an unbelievable run.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
No, it's it's it's the greatest running football history.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
How does it feel to be part of the greatest
team in football history.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
You know what, I will say, I've gotten a chance
over this last month and a half two months to
actually reflect on that, you know, And I think that's
the hard thing of the balance of trying to be
a good football player and be a good athlete, of
how fast you forget about what you've done so you
can press forward and get better. That each year we
would do something, we go play a super Bowl, win
a super Bowl. People want to talk about it. I
(11:17):
might give you a few a quick, little five ten
minute interview. Then I'm moving on because I'm like, you know,
Coach Belichick, he's in there talking about no days off.
We got to move forward. We gotta be But it
is true, like as you get older, I knew how
much pressure it was when I turned thirty that they
try to write you out the league. So I never
thought about the past, but now reflect And I saw
a chart of somebody's like, man, all my favorite players
(11:38):
from twenty eleven to twenty nineteen all retire, and I'm
looking at the names and I'm like, those are my guys, Tom, James, White, Gromp.
Like we came in here and we were like man,
we're coming into the shadows of greatness. Like what these
guys have done before us is bar none, the best
thing you've ever seen. It's a dynasty, Like how will
literally compete with that? And to look back at it
(12:00):
now and say, man, like we had our own run.
That'll go down in history and now link with what
they did, and it's pretty cool just to just to
sit back and say simply I was a part of that.
It's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So we have people in this region cause it's New England.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
It's not just mass even though Boston guys claim y
out he used to be the Boston Patriots put the
record what I'm saying, But we we spread it out
to New England. We included the other five states. Showed
him up, We show him Louve. What would you say.
There's a guy sitting home right now. He's been watching
this team since it started back in the sixties and
he's just a forever fan. What I'm saying, He's never
(12:37):
got a chance to meet you, He's never got a
chance to meet any of the players or the coaches.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Or the ownership.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
He just hits at home on his TV and he
watches every Sunday and he's rooted for you the entire time,
from beginning to end. What's your message to him?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I would say, one, keep believing because it's not an institution.
It's the people. It's not you know, just Gellette Stadium
or the Patriots logo. It's the people that represent that.
And those people are still here, good people. And what
I've always loved about when you explain who that person is,
those are the same people walking around in this building.
It's the same people with that grit, that chip on
(13:12):
the shoulder, Guys that were undrafted, guys that were late
round picks. Like when you think of Patriots, you think
of some of their best players somewhere along the line
got snubbed somehow and now are angry and we all
bond together. And when you think about that and you
think about life, there's people sitting at home on the
couch that have that same exact story and they went
(13:33):
on to be great in whatever other field that they're in,
maybe not football, but it's that same attitude. And that's
what I've loved about this New England area. No matter
what area I going, someone has a story that's similar.
There's a guy that's gonna be in Boston right now
working it might be a billionaire. And if you get
to know him, he'll tell you, Man, my first business
was a failure. Like it failed, I went bankrupt. I
(13:55):
lost all my money, but I didn't stop. And I
think that's what the Patriots are about. There's no quit,
there's no stop. Look at Coach Belichick. He easily could
be on a beach right now.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
No, let's stop that. Let's let's not even go down
that back. You got the whole fan base. No, no, no,
they're about to rest the stadium. Don't even talk about
Belichick leaving. There's no such thing. There is no There
is no vacation for coach. That's true, though, literally he
should be in his office right now playing out.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
He probably on the field right now, troling his whistle around,
watching your guys on defense.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Now, when you say people in Boston start, we come
up and we make it, you just never know. I
used to listen to these games. About five miles from here,
there's a state prison. It's called mci Walpolest maxim Security Prison.
I was there for fourteen years. When they had games here,
we could hear the cheers in the prison yard and
we would watch and had to fly over. And even
(14:49):
you did hear you had a concert hit, we could
hear it at the prison. I was five miles away,
and I was chairing for y'all every week.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I'm saying every week.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
When I watched the game between the Bears and the
Patriots in eighty five, I was in the county jail.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I didn't watch it from home. I was in jail.
The whole jail stops and we root for the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
There's no beefs, there's no drama, there's no lines, there's
no color. The Patriots was on and that's it. And
when I was in prison here for fourteen years, right
down the street come Sunday or Monday night, where y'all
used to hang out.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The whole prison.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's probably the lowest amount of violence in the prison,
the lowest amount of fights because everybody was watching the game.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
The whole yard be empty.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And you take another state where they didn't have a
winning team and a winning culture, nobody's watching the game
right on the yard. We religiously was in front of
that TV for those four hours, and y'all gave us
a peace of mind and something to talk about the
next day. Because I got this white guy I don't
talk to, but man, we see him the next day.
I was high fiveing people on the plane last night
(15:56):
watching watching the Celtics one to plane flying up here
and the Celtics playing Game seven, and we high I'm
from police, strangers on the plane.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
We are rooting for the patron for the for the
Celtics flying in here.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
We the next day after a game is when conversations
would happen on the yard.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
That normally wouldn't happen.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, did you understand you had that type of impact
that you're getting people not to fight each other, not
the war against each other because of what you did.
Did you stop to play on the gold line, or
you ran through a block or whatever you did or
your team did, it would actually help diminish and create
relationships inside behind the walls.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I never thought about that until I had a conversation
with someone very similar to what you said, Like, grew
up right in Boston, had never went to Gillette Stadium,
never went to a game, but had been a Patriot
fan for the whole life, and then sat in prison
for years and spoke about each time the Patriots game
came on, watched the game and talked about how got
(16:56):
hope sometimes and inspired by people's story that were out
there playing or great like you just said, making a
great play or a great run into the super Bowl,
of that hope and that positivity would bring people treating
each other better, good behavior. So it wasn't until probably
like my tenth year, tenth and eleventh year of having
conversations and meeting people who were behind the wall and
(17:18):
talk about, Man, I remember and they say, I remember
this play you made in like twenty thirteen. I'm like,
they're really watching.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
We have a lot of time. One yes, but not
only the players was great. And then what happens is
because we're inside, we got plenty of time. So now
it's like, okay, you gotta be smarter. The next guy
we get to the site for in the morning, we're
gonna talk about the game. The game's easy to talk
about because we saw it. Now we got to talk
about the people researching, and now we're doing research about
(17:48):
the people.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
It's like, well, you know such and such as from here,
and you know he's over there.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
And then when I read that y'all was staying in mobile,
I like, get out of here. I see you as
a millionaire football players, super Bowl pro bo guy. I
don't see you as a struggling kid without a dad
trying to find a way. Then we hear that story
and it's like, wait a minute, how can he start there?
And then the truth is eighty percent league starts white
(18:14):
black Latinos simon and they all stop there most all.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And that's what's crazy too, because I've got an opportunity
to go inside some youth detention centers, and I think
especially for kids, like when you're a kid and you
see a guy and he see he's in the NFL
and you read his contract and I went in there
and there's like, man, what car you drive? And I
was like, man, today I got my jeep, Like I
drove a jeep wrangler out here and huh. And then
you start telling them your story. And I think that's
(18:40):
the biggest thing, Like all of us have a story.
And for almost all those guys in the locker room,
why we play so hard as we get to learn
each other's stories and everybody's story is a little different.
But the truth is when you look at the NFL,
and I hate sometimes the way the draft does it
where they have all these like sad stories and they
and it's good, it's a part of a young man story.
(19:00):
But I'm like, man, we don't gotta we don't got
our fighlight and what's the name every bad thing that's
happened in a young man's life the day he has
his dreams come true? Right, but it is so true man,
like growing up, And I think the cool thing about
Like I said again my mom, I never knew what
it was growing up. To me, I always thought growing
(19:21):
up was cool, like I love like we grew up
in Section eight apartments. There was always kids there. We
were out there playing games we do so to me,
I loved it. And like when we moved and we
moved into the mobile home. We own that, so for
us that was like, man, we upgrading, like we don't
just we don't pay rent. This this is ours. Like
when we want to move out of here, we sell it.
(19:42):
And you know, I tell people, the first time I
ever lived in a house is when I went to
college and we had our off campus house. Like I
never lived in a true house. But it also motivated me.
It's one of my biggest fears now having kids, Like
I don't know how to teach them about stuff because
they're growing up totally different than I grew up.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I give you lesson.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I got a son, he's gonna be eighteen next month
he graduates high school. I'm leaving here and go to
his graduation. He's going to school in London. He's on
the way either NYU or Tulane. He kicked rocks at Harvard.
His mom went to Harvard, so he's like, no, I
don't want to go there. My mom went that I
want my own space. And he's a phenomenal kid. But
to be raised by me and his mom and to
come out now on the back end, it's like, tutoring
(20:22):
is real. I'm saying, like where you put him summer
camps is real. The exposure is real, and we can
definitely have that off fine conversation about these are the
things that I did, because it's not about my past,
it's about his futures.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And if you do these things, you give them the
best chance.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So I got ask, if your mom was sitting here
right now, not me, what would you want to tell him?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
What I tell all the time? Man, Thank you? And
you know, I think I think one of the biggest
things is words mean something to people, but your actions,
and I think that's what it's about for me. My mom.
We go on vacation, We're going somewhere, my mom's going.
My mom's going to Italy and lie with my stepdad.
Because anything that I've gotten to the experience and things that
(21:04):
I've done is because of her. So I want her
to do some things that she's only dreamt about and
wanted to do. Like my mom, she always thought like
a Mercedes Benz was like a big deal. She would
see people drive that and like six years ago got
our Mercedes Benz And it's not the material thing happy,
but it's the idea of someone decided. Because my mom
told me that before. She said, for kids, they don't
(21:26):
decide to be brought in this world. She goes, she said,
two people decide to lay down and then a kid
comes from that. So that's your responsibility. And you see
in our society, our culture, not everybody thinks that way,
who has kids like at all. So for her to
decide that and say, you know what, I'm gonna invest
These three people are gonna get everything out of me.
Like if it kills me, that's what's gonna happen. Mom,
(21:48):
had twelve knee surgeries. She used to drive us up
and down the road, was playing basketball games like that's
what she did and never complaint. So I told her, like,
you know, you're RETI don't work different things that you want.
And the crazy thing is, out of everybody in my
life who's asking me for money or ask me for
things to lease them, ount my mom of course. And
(22:08):
you know I think for her, and you know for me,
what she's meant can't be defined in words. I can't
explain that. I can just keep loving on her and
doing things to show her how much. And she shows
my kids the same love that she showed me, just
without the discipline part. They don't get that. They can't
talk about that.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
My dad is ninety minutes. He's in Connecticut. Oh, he
counsel New England, and he's eighty two.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Now. We've never had a great relationship for multitude or reasons.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
They grew up with him in the house and other stuff,
and we've just been at odds for a long time
for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
But he's still here.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And for you not to have yours, I mean I
can call him, even though I don't all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
If your dad was sitting here, what would you want
him to know about you?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Oh, man, I say first, I would I would love
to sit on the couch with him as my kids
were playing and just talk. I tell people all the
time like I don't miss or even care about my
dad going to a game or seeing me graduate college,
Like all that stuff is cool. It's a few hours
and then it's gone. I would love to do what
(23:13):
me and my mom get a chance to do. Sit down,
grab a couple of glasses of wine, and just talk
talk about her childhood, things she's went through, talk about
what I'm thinking about. I think that's been the coolest
transition of becoming an adult, as a relationship with your
parents change and they become an awesome friend and confident mentor.
And that's what I missed the most, Like I've never
(23:35):
had that from a male figure, of having someone that
I've trusted, you know, just with everything and being able
to talk to. So Yeah, if my dad was right here, man,
I would tell him everything, like I would tell him
from beginning in from the time he left, everything I
remember to where I'm at now, what I want to
be as a dad, as a husband. I would love
(23:55):
just to talk about the journey, like there's no critical moments. Obviously,
the three years that me and Jay played together will
probably be the highlight of the story, but just the
opportunity to say, man, like, let's sit and go down
memory lane and just talk about this journey.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I can tell you as a dad and just anybody
who's watching this show, if you were their son, they'd
be proud of me. And he's, without question, there's no
way he can be like, nah, I got a problem.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
With this one.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, I mentioned him up at Heaven. Every time
we play a game or something or something happens, he
running around, like you said, in the prison, high fiving people,
jumping up, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I never got a chance to meet my grandfather.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
And when I first started, I started out getting in trouble,
getting in trouble, and they're like, hey, look at your grandson.
He's getting in trouble. Hey, look at your grandson. He
even went over the edge. Oh my god, look at
your grandson. He's at the penitentiary. Then when he's I know,
he never gave up on me. When I came home
from prison, I made it a point to make a
difference I've been building programs and helping people. I sided
(24:55):
with little black boys. That's why I was comfortable. I
started helping girls because somebody invite. And I started helping
white kids because I didn't think they had problems when
they do too. I just started helping people and they're like hey.
He's like, come on, come on, you ain't talk about
my grandkid no more. And he said, but hold on,
fast forward. It is probably ten fifteen years, like ten
years ago now. I got a call from the sheriff.
He's from a small town in Virginia called Petersburg. The
(25:17):
sheriff called me and asked me to come down there,
but they couldn't afford to pay me. But once I
saw the name on the email, it said Sheriff of Petersburg.
I've read about this little dusty time for my dad forever.
My dad loved that town. Really, he's from Petersburg, Virginia,
so he'd be like, always wanted me to go.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I'm like, I'm not going to dirt town in Virginia.
I'm from Boston. We got teams. You. I ain't got
it sports Virginia.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
So I ended up going to Virginia and I worked
down there for like two weeks, just after school's outreach
training police training teachers.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
At the end of the two weeks, we came in
a room. I said, it's time to pay up.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
And then they called my father on a speakerphone and
the first part I said, Hi, I'm the sheriff of
Petersburg and I want to thank you. I'm the mayor
of Petersburg. I want to thank you for your son.
They went around the room. He was by the second
person and truth it wasn't for him. It was my grandfather.
They said, well, we want you to come back. We
want you to keep working. I said, under one condition,
So I don't want no money. I told him to
(26:10):
rename the High Schoo after my grandfather and I come back.
I said, you renamed the High schoo after my grandfather,
and I'll be here.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
No politics. But I asked, you can't get everything you
ask for.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
But in the moment, I could have asked for a contract,
I could have asked for a lot of stuff. The
thing that meant the most to me was honoring my grandfather.
And they did a proclamation for our family. And it
stops with my grandfather and my grandmother, and it comes
all the way down to us, to my son, and
we're in the record books of if Martians coming in
(26:48):
a thousand years. My family's listed in Petersburg's law board
and the journals whatever they call it. And that was
more important than a check, because I spend money, I
buy stuff, I go places, and it's all gone to
be gone.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
It's gone.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
That proclamation is on my father's wall at his house,
all the awards that my father can't read. He just
started to learning how to read like a month ago.
But he's eighty two and he can't read me literally
his whole life. But he can read the word Petersburg,
and he can read my name. And he has probably
four or five plaques on his walk in his room
they say Petersburg and it says Andre Norman.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
And that's more important than me than any check they
could have.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Real that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Trust believe your dad's looking at you and he's super happy.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, I believe that.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Now your wife, whatt you get away with the rubber ring?
What's up working out? I can't wear switch up.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I got a real one, but I've probably warned it
like twice ten times. Maybe our whole I try to
put it on if we go out, like go to
a wedding or something, but other than that.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
So how did you know? Because we have an issue
in the hood where people don't get married. It's like
getting married, it's like a foreign concept. I got married,
you know what I'm saying two thousand and four, and
it was like, Wow, you married.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Too young?
Speaker 2 (28:02):
You're too young. I'm like, why would you not get me?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
And craziest thing, the best man at my wedding was
a volunteer from the prison. There was an old guy
from Needham, Pat Dempsey. Shot to Pat Dempsey. He was
a Catholic volunteer. He used to come up to the
prison and volunteer and helped us out. And I met
him when became friends and became my mentor. When it
came time for me to get married, I had Pat
be my best man. I said, when I announced my
(28:25):
wife to the world, you're standing with me, and he did,
and he's been with me ever since.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
So why get married? Because people need to hear this story?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, man, I think For one, I think the hardest
thing was I didn't know what marriage supposed to look like.
You know, growing up, no one in my close circle
like I didn't see married couples to say, man, like,
that's what I want to envision. So one of the
hardest things when my wife was going through that process
of what is our marriage going to be? Based on
what's going to be our foundation. She grew up both
(28:56):
her parents been married. I think it's like forty something
years and so she sees marriage through a totally different
lens than I did when we started going through pre
mariital counseling, and I think that's what really saved us
because it allowed us to develop what we wanted in
a marriage with how we envisioned it, the good, the bad,
and it allowed us to work those things out. But
(29:16):
when I think about marriage, I think about I found
someone that I can forever call my friend. So when
some of the best news has happened to me, I
call my wife. When some of the worst things that
have happened to me, she's right there alongside of me
and we journey life together and no matter what happens,
I know, no matter what, I have someone that has
(29:37):
my back. And very praise to my wife and my
brother's wife because the weirdest thing is being married to twins.
Because we've already came up with the idea, we got
somebody that has ours no, no, no, we're twins. So
with them, it was always like if we're together, they'd
be like here they go again, because that's second nature
to us, of having somebody that you're gonna know is
(29:59):
gonna call you out, that you know is gonna be
your best friend. We've had that. But then getting to
meet my wife and seeing like, man, I have a
relationship that's similar to what I have with my brother
as far as trusting somebody and knowing that, like even
if my eyes was closed and I had the journey
through something through life blind, that this person would always
make sure my best interest was at the top of
(30:20):
the list. And I think we don't think about that
in our culture of having that. We think about women
in a certain way that has to change. But I
think that comes from having people in communities being positive
role models and showing like, no, I'm married, like this
is what I do. Hey, we gotta go here now, man,
I can't this ends my night, Like it's time to
go back home. Don't stay married, you know what I mean?
(30:42):
And I think having that is big And I know
I got that when I got here, being around draw Mayo,
Vince Will, seeing guys in the locker room who were married,
I was like, oh, damn, not all football players live
like what we watch on TV. Like some of these
guys got their kids coming to training camp every day,
their wives that are hanging out. So I think being
around that, being in that environment, our coaching staff, being
(31:05):
married and you know, Brian Flores who was here, was
a great mentor for me. And I went to this
house on Thanksgiving, met his mom, his dad, his wife,
his brothers, his kids. Like just being in that environment
and seeing another black man lived that life and have
a family a house, I was like, man, like, that's
what That's what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
When I got married my wife, all of her she
has a PhD from my team. All of her family
has PhDs from someplace. So I didn't hate going around.
It was like, hey we go again here. Yeah we
used to pull out.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, literally the whole mob PhDs. So you're voling black.
But it's like I was.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I chose her based on the fact that she was
highly educated because I knew my weaknesses. I wanted my
kids to be educated. And she told me we were dating.
She said all of my kids are with the Ivy
League schools. Is that a problem for you? I was like, no,
hell whatever, whatever. I didn't know it was thirty two
thousand kindergarten.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Tell me that part.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I needed your job. But we worked and we made
it happen. But her being educated, I look for someone
that could fill my holes, the things that I didn't
do well and things that weren't strong in and we
got a great kid as a result.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
That's awesome, man. And you see, man, marriage isn't easy.
Like when you got somebody that knows your weaknesses and
knows how to challenge you to be better. It's no
different for me as in football, Like the things I
had to work on was my weaknesses, So those days
would be hard. It'd be hard to get my weaknesses
somewhat up to maybe not be a strength, but to
be at least average with everybody else in the league,
(32:34):
so I can become a better player. That's how my
wife pushes me. But you don't always like you don't
mindset on all the time. Sometimes just leave me alone,
like I'm good now. But same thing with my wife.
My wife's a doctor. We met at Rutgers. She went
to med school at Rutgers. And for me when I
was around her in college, even though we weren't dating,
I was blown away by her focus, like, oh super,
(32:55):
we would going out and she'd be having a book
back on with her books. I'm headed to I got
a big test coming up in two weeks. I said,
you studying for a test two weeks from now? I said,
I don't study for a test until a day or
two before.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
She's like, that's why you're getting beats.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
She's like, you're getting face while you're not pre mad.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
You're getting a fake beat. She's getting a real a.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
So it's been it's been an awesome journey. Man. We've
been married seven years, three kids. We lost the kid.
We had to battle through that. We've been through ups
and downs. You know, I think you know, it's been
really cool to just be with that that person through
the good and bad. Like I said earlier, and just
know that when you lay your head down comments personal
(33:36):
next and exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
When I travel for the airport, when I travel, i'll
see old couples. I mean, I'm fifty six. I'll see
older a couple like the seventies, and it'll be the
husband and wife. I always say to her, you did
a great job. So when you're seventies, somebody's gonna say
to your wife, you did a great jeap because that's.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Where it comes from.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
And all all these hard headed people who watch football,
it's the wife. Yeah, Because if it wasn't for her
to be no couch, I be watching TV on a crate.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
My wife tells that all the time when I can
plain about whatever something costs. Yes, if it was up
to you, we wouldn't have anything. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
So in closing, is anything you want to say to
Patriot Nation before we go?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Man? I feel like Patriot's Nation has been seeing me
more in the last month since I retired. But it's
been an honor, you know. I think so many people
have come up to me and said thank you for
the thirteen years. And I tell people quickly, don't thank me.
Like I had the time of my life over these
last thirteen years of not only getting to live out
a dream of playing in the NFL, but the crowd
(34:37):
and the people I got to play in front of.
I think that has been so special. And you know,
like life, my career hasn't always been just an upward
of sin, like I've had low points. I've had downs,
but the energy and the love that people have showed
me throughout my whole career on and off the field,
Like I think about, it got shaky around social justice
(34:59):
and you know, taking the knee and raising a fist
and so many people were angry, and you fast forward
George Floyd happens in twenty twenty and people were like, man,
like you were talking about that back in twenty seventeen,
when everybody was angry you were taking the knee. And
then just the journey that I've gotten to take here
on this team. You obviously got to meet Robin Glazer,
(35:20):
who's been a huge part of a lot of the
things that I've gotten to do here. But the journey
for me makes me sad to think, like, man, that
won't be the journey anymore, because as you go through it,
you kind of learn each year of how to make
it better, how to master some other things. And I
feel like mentally, when it came to playing football and
being in this environment, I felt like I was just
(35:42):
now creeping on mastery of knowing it time to go
and then it's time to take that next space exactly.
So I'm excited about that man.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
My last question, and we'reati. I'm not gonna do the
Baptist preacher think this is the last question. I work
with guys and women in prison. I work with CEOs
with the press and drink too much. I work with
kids who are dealing with suicidal issues. I work with
a lot of people, and everybody's going through something. I
don't care if they're watching this show and they're happy
(36:10):
like Okay, Devin, and everybody's going through something like right now,
I'm going through some stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Is everybody's going through some For that person who's home struggling,
that person who's next to somebody who's home struggling, close
out message.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah. Man. The biggest thing I would say is what
I got to learn from Ben Watson, don't lose hope.
When a young man got out of prison, we visited
him and we gave him a check to help him
get back on his feet. And Ben said to him,
we're giving you this check with money, but he said,
it's not the money. He said, I'm hoping by this
check that we give you, it gives you more hope.
(36:46):
And he said, the greatest thing a man can have
is hope. He said, hoping anything, anything to believe in
to get you going each day, to know you can
press forward and become something. He said, That's what I
hope this check means to you as you now going
to the next stage of life, is that we're helping
bringing you a little bit more hope going forward. And
when he said that, I was like, man, like, no
(37:07):
matter how low you get, no matter what you're going through,
if you got that hope to keep going and that
hope to believe in whatever it is that you believe
in or that you want to get to, that'll wake
you up each day and push you forward. And that's
what I would give anybody.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
So ladies and gentlemen, we are here at you let stadium,
the building, the mecca, the one and only. And I
have to give you my book. Oh you know this
title right, I'll forget look at that man, you talked
it up.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
That was a great intro. But brother, I want to
thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I appreciate you for coming, I want to thank you
for being, and I want to thank you for the
work that you're gonna do in the future because as
you walk away from football at one level, the lights
will get smaller, but your heart will get bigger, so.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Just keep going.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I appreciate you man.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
We'll see you next time.
Ladies and gentlemen, and it's your host, Andre Norman and I'm
here with the none of the three times.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Super Bowl champion. Yeah, man, how goes it? How goes it?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Good Man? I appreciate being here, man. I've heard a
lot about you, seeing some like Instagram reels and different things.
So it's awesome being here today.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Man, I mean for me being this is your building,
this is this is what this is on base for
those who don't know, we are here Injelette Stadium, in
the studio became the home based man ground zero for
the world champions. Man and we have one of the
premier champions with us. So how's your day going so far?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That's been good Man. Recently retired, but get to come
hang out in this building. You know. Still I think that,
you know, it showed me throughout my career just relationships
and being able to build meaningful, real relationships here in
New England at Gillette Stadium, obviously with the Craft family
and then coach Belichick. Just being able to do that.
Now retire, they still like, hey, you wanna come get
(00:58):
some rehab, They wanna come work out, come up, hang
around the guys. But also within that getting a chance
to meet some of these rookies, and you know me,
I just want to pour my knowledge out. It was
the same thing when I got here, guys like James Sanders,
Lee Bodden, Darius Butler, Gerrameo, Vince Wolford, those guys. When
I got here, was like, Hey, this is how it works.
I'm gonna tell you all the things to help you
(01:19):
become a professional. It's up to you to do it.
I want to pass that same knowledge of these guys.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
He just part of the page, your family, just part
of the family saying welcome to the nation, saying I've
been here since. I'll go back to Steve Grogan. Day's okay,
I remember when we played Steve Grogan. Steve Grogan played
the Beads. I'm saying eighty five I was. I was
back then with it. Yeah, that didn't that didn't go well,
But it was the beginnings. That team and that Bearest
team was legendary.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So it was the beginnings. It was for us.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It was the beginning what I'm saying, It was the
beginning of our process and we actually got to.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The end of the road. Yeah we need we need
a new ownership, and she got it. So I heard
you say you re hired. How was that, man?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It was? It was. It's emotional, but it was very satisfying.
I'll say that because I was. I'm content with my career,
what I was able to do coming here to New
England really my journey from the time I started playing football,
Like I look at my life and you know, when
I was a senior in high school, I didn't get
ranked in the top one hundred in the whole state
of New Jersey. Not you know, no one ranked me
(02:20):
out of one hundred guys.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You didn't count.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And then too fast forward and be the twenty seventh
pick in the NFL Draft. Just that one accomplishment would
have been huge. But then to play thirteen years here,
three Super Bowls, be a twelve time captain, just all
of those things, and knowing that if I wanted to
fight through and come back for a fourteenth year, I could,
but also realizing as a person there's more out there
(02:44):
that I want to do that I want to accomplish.
Show again being able to come up here and hang
around the guys for the next few months, but also
know and feel like I got a bright future ahead
of me with other things that I want to do
now outside of football, really for that second acting life.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Thinking about you, I'm thinking about when you started. What
I'm saying, when you went from New Jersey, from New
York to New Jersey. You started in New York. I'm
saying in family moved to Jersey, and y'all were struggling.
I mean, I would call it struggle. I don't know
how something else would call it. You was just struggling
to like stay afloat.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And it was just, you know, I think people always
ask me about the things I do off the field,
and you know, leadership stuff. I got that from my mom,
you know my you know, we'll hit it probably later.
But my father passed away when I was young. I
was three years old. My father had cardiac arrest, had
a heart attack at thirty six and died. And from
(03:36):
that point on, my mom had we have an older brother,
was with her high school sweetheart, and she raised three
boys on her own. And the sacrifices that I saw
her put in day after day doesn't register as a kid.
But as you get older, I start to think back,
and like you're talking about moving to Jersey and going
to high school. We went to a private high school.
(03:58):
You fast forward, tell my mom when we get there,
you get us in and you pay for us to
go to school. We'll get a full scholarship go to Rutgers.
My second year of Rutgers, my mom has to file
bankruptcy basically because there was a couple of times we
almost couldn't go back to high school and would have
had to go to public school. But she found a
way and she shopped different. She did what she had
to do to make sure we were able to go
(04:20):
all four years to high school. And that's what I
think about life. I think about being a parent, think
about being a leader, being there for somebody. It ultimately
means sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice personally to
help somebody else further, whether it's education, sports, just life
in general. And I got that first hand from my mom.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I know you're married, and I know you took care
of wife yesterday. So you have the two little ones.
What you do for mom yesterday?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah? Three little ones now? Yeah, so my youngest will
be two next month. And then credit to my wife,
my brother's wife, they sacrificed. We host Boston Medical centers
gala the day before Mother's Day two years in a
row now and yesterday we went out to do brunch
and Boston, hung out with the fan for the rest
of the day. My brother and my mom was up
(05:06):
to They ended up going back home late Sunday evening,
but we just really hung out. My wife got to
chill out and just kind of rest. And I think
we always talk about that. The difference for Father's Day
is everybody tells you need to hang out with your
kids as Father's Day, Mother's Day, they like, man, get
them kids away from me. I just want to relax.
So that's really what we did yesterday.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You said you went out and helped people yesterday, and
I know you've been helping people your whole career. When
the Boston bombing happened, I know that you went out
of your way to make a difference.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Why so, I think coming here and playing for the Patriots,
the first thing you noticed right away is sports is
different in New England. Like people absolutely love sports heroes,
all of sports characters. Dating back from when I got
up here and really start to follow Bill Russell and
seeing the impact they could have. And then I got
(05:58):
up here in the Boston marriage is so big, like
everybody you know, Patriots Day, you're all from work, like
it's all about supporting a marathon. And when the bombing happened,
there's the ripple effect the thought process of people who
had gone to the marathon for years. Now there's fear, right,
there was never a fear. So, you know, I think
(06:19):
it was myself. I think Danny a mindola, A lot
of guys just thought of different ways to give back.
And you know, I know I donated, I forgot how
much money for every tackle.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's not the money. Is this the fact that you
did it?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So what was the origins of that concept?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Just just to help people out? You know, I think
when something negative happens, especially like that where it affects everyone,
not just in the city of Boston, but this whole
New England area come in for that. So I think
to take something so negative and try to make a
positive out of it and shine a bright light and
then to show people like, hey, I know this doesn't
have anything to do with me, but I care like
(06:54):
I care about you, I care about your well being.
I care about this area being seen in a positive light,
and that's all I wanted to do just to create
some positivity, inspire some families who are obviously going through
a tough time. People lost limbs, people lost lives, people
lost loved ones, just to give them something. When you
go to a Patriot game and you're cheering, you're also like, man,
(07:15):
those guys out there, they can't just playing.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
They care about And I can tell you born in
Boston City Hospital, Boston Public Schools, grew up.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Here, been here my whole life.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And to see you do the work and just do
it from a hawk place and not trying to be
out front is just commendable. Man, I appreciate it because
this is my time. I'm saying, I'm glad you hear
in it with us out.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
It's been awesome because you know, historically the nature of sports,
like the Bill Russells, you hear the stories of like
the racism and the different things that have happened here
in Boston. And when I got here and I started
going out to different communities and I started going to
Dorchester and Mattapan and Roxbury, all the different people that
I was meeting, they're like, man, Patriot players don't usually
(07:59):
come here. And there was this whole group of love
that these people want to love on players. The Patriots
pray for him like you, and those neighborhoods where you
see Auntie and Grandma, they like, I pray for you
every day every day. And to me that was so
inspiring because I was like, all right, man, I found
that area in Boston where people look like me, they
talk like me, and they've just embraced me with open arms,
(08:21):
you know since the day I got here, and I've
just tried to give back that same love and energy.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It doesn't hurt that you're winning too.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, that always helps.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
For a super Bowl. How was it?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Oh, it was amazing, and it's it was the build up,
you know, my first year coming in we go fourteen
and two. I remember being a rookie and you know,
Bill always says, you know, don't feel the hype, don't.
I was that guy. Every day I get home, I'm
watching TV. Man, what they're saying about us, what they're
saying about me? And so many people was like, man,
this is the best team in football.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
That's sure.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That's how well we were playing in twenty ten.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's still the best team in foro.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yes, But that year we going we played the Jets
in the divisional round. We had we had spanked the
Jets I think forty to three, like two or three
weeks before, and they beat us. So that was my
first right we're in the playoffs and it was I
was like, we're going to the super Bowl my rookie year.
And then just like that season over. Then second year
we come back, we go to the Super Bowl, we
(09:15):
lose it to Giants in Super Bowl forty six. Then
the next two years we losing the AFC Championship. So
now I've tasted, I've been in the Pro Bowl. I've
tasted being out of your feelings hurt, and I'm like, man, like,
I can't get over the hump. So that twenty fourteen
team where we get rebis we get brown er in here.
Now it's like, all right, this team they're gonna make this.
They're gonna make the Super Bowl and win it and
(09:37):
then get over that hump. After hearing all the stories
from Matt, Patricia, Vince Wilford, they're talking about being at
the game and they're bringing the trophy down the line
and everybody's looking, and then to beat there and experience it, man,
it was just like, finally we got over the hump,
and I know for the outside world, they're like, finally,
that was your fourth super Bowl, your fourteen years exactly.
And I think that's what people don't get for us.
(09:59):
When we got here, that's the that's what we had
to live up to. The standard was these guys just
won three super Bowls in four years? Are you gonna
win super Bowls? Like, that's what we expect. So to
get there and get to that level and win it. Myself, Edelman, Gronk,
Matt Slater, like, we all came in without around three
(10:20):
or four years dante high tower of each other. So
when we all we kind of we built that unit
of we started hating hearing people talk about the old team.
We started. We hated that. We hated if a guy
that was in the past says something bad about one
of us. Like it was just we became a group,
and I think that's what really bonded us, that all
of us took that chip on our shoulder and was like, man,
(10:41):
we're gonna do this. And the next few years we
went on an unbelievable run.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
No, it's it's it's the greatest running football history.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
How does it feel to be part of the greatest
team in football history.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
You know what, I will say, I've gotten a chance
over this last month and a half two months to
actually reflect on that, you know, And I think that's
the hard thing of the balance of trying to be
a good football player and be a good athlete, of
how fast you forget about what you've done so you
can press forward and get better. That each year we
would do something, we go play a super Bowl, win
a super Bowl. People want to talk about it. I
(11:17):
might give you a few a quick, little five ten
minute interview. Then I'm moving on because I'm like, you know,
Coach Belichick, he's in there talking about no days off.
We got to move forward. We gotta be But it
is true, like as you get older, I knew how
much pressure it was when I turned thirty that they
try to write you out the league. So I never
thought about the past, but now reflect And I saw
a chart of somebody's like, man, all my favorite players
(11:38):
from twenty eleven to twenty nineteen all retire, and I'm
looking at the names and I'm like, those are my guys, Tom, James, White, Gromp.
Like we came in here and we were like man,
we're coming into the shadows of greatness. Like what these
guys have done before us is bar none, the best
thing you've ever seen. It's a dynasty, Like how will
literally compete with that? And to look back at it
(12:00):
now and say, man, like we had our own run.
That'll go down in history and now link with what
they did, and it's pretty cool just to just to
sit back and say simply I was a part of that.
It's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So we have people in this region cause it's New England.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
It's not just mass even though Boston guys claim y
out he used to be the Boston Patriots put the
record what I'm saying, But we we spread it out
to New England. We included the other five states. Showed
him up, We show him Louve. What would you say.
There's a guy sitting home right now. He's been watching
this team since it started back in the sixties and
he's just a forever fan. What I'm saying, He's never
(12:37):
got a chance to meet you, He's never got a
chance to meet any of the players or the coaches.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Or the ownership.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
He just hits at home on his TV and he
watches every Sunday and he's rooted for you the entire time,
from beginning to end. What's your message to him?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I would say, one, keep believing because it's not an institution.
It's the people. It's not you know, just Gellette Stadium
or the Patriots logo. It's the people that represent that.
And those people are still here, good people. And what
I've always loved about when you explain who that person is,
those are the same people walking around in this building.
It's the same people with that grit, that chip on
(13:12):
the shoulder, Guys that were undrafted, guys that were late
round picks. Like when you think of Patriots, you think
of some of their best players somewhere along the line
got snubbed somehow and now are angry and we all
bond together. And when you think about that and you
think about life, there's people sitting at home on the
couch that have that same exact story and they went
(13:33):
on to be great in whatever other field that they're in,
maybe not football, but it's that same attitude. And that's
what I've loved about this New England area. No matter
what area I going, someone has a story that's similar.
There's a guy that's gonna be in Boston right now
working it might be a billionaire. And if you get
to know him, he'll tell you, Man, my first business
was a failure. Like it failed, I went bankrupt. I
(13:55):
lost all my money, but I didn't stop. And I
think that's what the Patriots are about. There's no quit,
there's no stop. Look at Coach Belichick. He easily could
be on a beach right now.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
No, let's stop that. Let's let's not even go down
that back. You got the whole fan base. No, no, no,
they're about to rest the stadium. Don't even talk about
Belichick leaving. There's no such thing. There is no There
is no vacation for coach. That's true, though, literally he
should be in his office right now playing out.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
He probably on the field right now, troling his whistle around,
watching your guys on defense.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Now, when you say people in Boston start, we come
up and we make it, you just never know. I
used to listen to these games. About five miles from here,
there's a state prison. It's called mci Walpolest maxim Security Prison.
I was there for fourteen years. When they had games here,
we could hear the cheers in the prison yard and
we would watch and had to fly over. And even
(14:49):
you did hear you had a concert hit, we could
hear it at the prison. I was five miles away,
and I was chairing for y'all every week.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I'm saying every week.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
When I watched the game between the Bears and the
Patriots in eighty five, I was in the county jail.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I didn't watch it from home. I was in jail.
The whole jail stops and we root for the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
There's no beefs, there's no drama, there's no lines, there's
no color. The Patriots was on and that's it. And
when I was in prison here for fourteen years, right
down the street come Sunday or Monday night, where y'all
used to hang out.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The whole prison.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's probably the lowest amount of violence in the prison,
the lowest amount of fights because everybody was watching the game.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
The whole yard be empty.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And you take another state where they didn't have a
winning team and a winning culture, nobody's watching the game
right on the yard. We religiously was in front of
that TV for those four hours, and y'all gave us
a peace of mind and something to talk about the
next day. Because I got this white guy I don't
talk to, but man, we see him the next day.
I was high fiveing people on the plane last night
(15:56):
watching watching the Celtics one to plane flying up here
and the Celtics playing Game seven, and we high I'm
from police, strangers on the plane.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
We are rooting for the patron for the for the
Celtics flying in here.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
We the next day after a game is when conversations
would happen on the yard.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
That normally wouldn't happen.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, did you understand you had that type of impact
that you're getting people not to fight each other, not
the war against each other because of what you did.
Did you stop to play on the gold line, or
you ran through a block or whatever you did or
your team did, it would actually help diminish and create
relationships inside behind the walls.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I never thought about that until I had a conversation
with someone very similar to what you said, Like, grew
up right in Boston, had never went to Gillette Stadium,
never went to a game, but had been a Patriot
fan for the whole life, and then sat in prison
for years and spoke about each time the Patriots game
came on, watched the game and talked about how got
(16:56):
hope sometimes and inspired by people's story that were out
there playing or great like you just said, making a
great play or a great run into the super Bowl,
of that hope and that positivity would bring people treating
each other better, good behavior. So it wasn't until probably
like my tenth year, tenth and eleventh year of having
conversations and meeting people who were behind the wall and
(17:18):
talk about, Man, I remember and they say, I remember
this play you made in like twenty thirteen. I'm like,
they're really watching.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
We have a lot of time. One yes, but not
only the players was great. And then what happens is
because we're inside, we got plenty of time. So now
it's like, okay, you gotta be smarter. The next guy
we get to the site for in the morning, we're
gonna talk about the game. The game's easy to talk
about because we saw it. Now we got to talk
about the people researching, and now we're doing research about
(17:48):
the people.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
It's like, well, you know such and such as from here,
and you know he's over there.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
And then when I read that y'all was staying in mobile,
I like, get out of here. I see you as
a millionaire football players, super Bowl pro bo guy. I
don't see you as a struggling kid without a dad
trying to find a way. Then we hear that story
and it's like, wait a minute, how can he start there?
And then the truth is eighty percent league starts white
(18:14):
black Latinos simon and they all stop there most all.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And that's what's crazy too, because I've got an opportunity
to go inside some youth detention centers, and I think
especially for kids, like when you're a kid and you
see a guy and he see he's in the NFL
and you read his contract and I went in there
and there's like, man, what car you drive? And I
was like, man, today I got my jeep, Like I
drove a jeep wrangler out here and huh. And then
you start telling them your story. And I think that's
(18:40):
the biggest thing, Like all of us have a story.
And for almost all those guys in the locker room,
why we play so hard as we get to learn
each other's stories and everybody's story is a little different.
But the truth is when you look at the NFL,
and I hate sometimes the way the draft does it
where they have all these like sad stories and they
and it's good, it's a part of a young man story.
(19:00):
But I'm like, man, we don't gotta we don't got
our fighlight and what's the name every bad thing that's
happened in a young man's life the day he has
his dreams come true? Right, but it is so true man,
like growing up, And I think the cool thing about
Like I said again my mom, I never knew what
it was growing up. To me, I always thought growing
(19:21):
up was cool, like I love like we grew up
in Section eight apartments. There was always kids there. We
were out there playing games we do so to me,
I loved it. And like when we moved and we
moved into the mobile home. We own that, so for
us that was like, man, we upgrading, like we don't
just we don't pay rent. This this is ours. Like
when we want to move out of here, we sell it.
(19:42):
And you know, I tell people, the first time I
ever lived in a house is when I went to
college and we had our off campus house. Like I
never lived in a true house. But it also motivated me.
It's one of my biggest fears now having kids, Like
I don't know how to teach them about stuff because
they're growing up totally different than I grew up.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I give you lesson.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I got a son, he's gonna be eighteen next month
he graduates high school. I'm leaving here and go to
his graduation. He's going to school in London. He's on
the way either NYU or Tulane. He kicked rocks at Harvard.
His mom went to Harvard, so he's like, no, I
don't want to go there. My mom went that I
want my own space. And he's a phenomenal kid. But
to be raised by me and his mom and to
come out now on the back end, it's like, tutoring
(20:22):
is real. I'm saying, like where you put him summer
camps is real. The exposure is real, and we can
definitely have that off fine conversation about these are the
things that I did, because it's not about my past,
it's about his futures.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And if you do these things, you give them the
best chance.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So I got ask, if your mom was sitting here
right now, not me, what would you want to tell him?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
What I tell all the time? Man, Thank you? And
you know, I think I think one of the biggest
things is words mean something to people, but your actions,
and I think that's what it's about for me. My mom.
We go on vacation, We're going somewhere, my mom's going.
My mom's going to Italy and lie with my stepdad.
Because anything that I've gotten to the experience and things that
(21:04):
I've done is because of her. So I want her
to do some things that she's only dreamt about and
wanted to do. Like my mom, she always thought like
a Mercedes Benz was like a big deal. She would
see people drive that and like six years ago got
our Mercedes Benz And it's not the material thing happy,
but it's the idea of someone decided. Because my mom
told me that before. She said, for kids, they don't
(21:26):
decide to be brought in this world. She goes, she said,
two people decide to lay down and then a kid
comes from that. So that's your responsibility. And you see
in our society, our culture, not everybody thinks that way,
who has kids like at all. So for her to
decide that and say, you know what, I'm gonna invest
These three people are gonna get everything out of me.
Like if it kills me, that's what's gonna happen. Mom,
(21:48):
had twelve knee surgeries. She used to drive us up
and down the road, was playing basketball games like that's
what she did and never complaint. So I told her, like,
you know, you're RETI don't work different things that you want.
And the crazy thing is, out of everybody in my
life who's asking me for money or ask me for
things to lease them, ount my mom of course. And
(22:08):
you know I think for her, and you know for me,
what she's meant can't be defined in words. I can't
explain that. I can just keep loving on her and
doing things to show her how much. And she shows
my kids the same love that she showed me, just
without the discipline part. They don't get that. They can't
talk about that.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
My dad is ninety minutes. He's in Connecticut. Oh, he
counsel New England, and he's eighty two.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Now. We've never had a great relationship for multitude or reasons.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
They grew up with him in the house and other stuff,
and we've just been at odds for a long time
for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
But he's still here.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And for you not to have yours, I mean I
can call him, even though I don't all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
If your dad was sitting here, what would you want
him to know about you?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Oh, man, I say first, I would I would love
to sit on the couch with him as my kids
were playing and just talk. I tell people all the
time like I don't miss or even care about my
dad going to a game or seeing me graduate college,
Like all that stuff is cool. It's a few hours
and then it's gone. I would love to do what
(23:13):
me and my mom get a chance to do. Sit down,
grab a couple of glasses of wine, and just talk
talk about her childhood, things she's went through, talk about
what I'm thinking about. I think that's been the coolest
transition of becoming an adult, as a relationship with your
parents change and they become an awesome friend and confident mentor.
And that's what I missed the most, Like I've never
(23:35):
had that from a male figure, of having someone that
I've trusted, you know, just with everything and being able
to talk to. So Yeah, if my dad was right here, man,
I would tell him everything, like I would tell him
from beginning in from the time he left, everything I
remember to where I'm at now, what I want to
be as a dad, as a husband. I would love
(23:55):
just to talk about the journey, like there's no critical moments. Obviously,
the three years that me and Jay played together will
probably be the highlight of the story, but just the
opportunity to say, man, like, let's sit and go down
memory lane and just talk about this journey.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I can tell you as a dad and just anybody
who's watching this show, if you were their son, they'd
be proud of me. And he's, without question, there's no
way he can be like, nah, I got a problem.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
With this one.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, I mentioned him up at Heaven. Every time
we play a game or something or something happens, he
running around, like you said, in the prison, high fiving people,
jumping up, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I never got a chance to meet my grandfather.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
And when I first started, I started out getting in trouble,
getting in trouble, and they're like, hey, look at your grandson.
He's getting in trouble. Hey, look at your grandson. He
even went over the edge. Oh my god, look at
your grandson. He's at the penitentiary. Then when he's I know,
he never gave up on me. When I came home
from prison, I made it a point to make a
difference I've been building programs and helping people. I sided
(24:55):
with little black boys. That's why I was comfortable. I
started helping girls because somebody invite. And I started helping
white kids because I didn't think they had problems when
they do too. I just started helping people and they're like hey.
He's like, come on, come on, you ain't talk about
my grandkid no more. And he said, but hold on,
fast forward. It is probably ten fifteen years, like ten
years ago now. I got a call from the sheriff.
He's from a small town in Virginia called Petersburg. The
(25:17):
sheriff called me and asked me to come down there,
but they couldn't afford to pay me. But once I
saw the name on the email, it said Sheriff of Petersburg.
I've read about this little dusty time for my dad forever.
My dad loved that town. Really, he's from Petersburg, Virginia,
so he'd be like, always wanted me to go.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I'm like, I'm not going to dirt town in Virginia.
I'm from Boston. We got teams. You. I ain't got
it sports Virginia.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
So I ended up going to Virginia and I worked
down there for like two weeks, just after school's outreach
training police training teachers.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
At the end of the two weeks, we came in
a room. I said, it's time to pay up.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
And then they called my father on a speakerphone and
the first part I said, Hi, I'm the sheriff of
Petersburg and I want to thank you. I'm the mayor
of Petersburg. I want to thank you for your son.
They went around the room. He was by the second
person and truth it wasn't for him. It was my grandfather.
They said, well, we want you to come back. We
want you to keep working. I said, under one condition,
So I don't want no money. I told him to
(26:10):
rename the High Schoo after my grandfather and I come back.
I said, you renamed the High schoo after my grandfather,
and I'll be here.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
No politics. But I asked, you can't get everything you
ask for.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
But in the moment, I could have asked for a contract,
I could have asked for a lot of stuff. The
thing that meant the most to me was honoring my grandfather.
And they did a proclamation for our family. And it
stops with my grandfather and my grandmother, and it comes
all the way down to us, to my son, and
we're in the record books of if Martians coming in
(26:48):
a thousand years. My family's listed in Petersburg's law board
and the journals whatever they call it. And that was
more important than a check, because I spend money, I
buy stuff, I go places, and it's all gone to
be gone.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
It's gone.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
That proclamation is on my father's wall at his house,
all the awards that my father can't read. He just
started to learning how to read like a month ago.
But he's eighty two and he can't read me literally
his whole life. But he can read the word Petersburg,
and he can read my name. And he has probably
four or five plaques on his walk in his room
they say Petersburg and it says Andre Norman.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
And that's more important than me than any check they
could have.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Real that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Trust believe your dad's looking at you and he's super happy.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, I believe that.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Now your wife, whatt you get away with the rubber ring?
What's up working out? I can't wear switch up.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I got a real one, but I've probably warned it
like twice ten times. Maybe our whole I try to
put it on if we go out, like go to
a wedding or something, but other than that.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
So how did you know? Because we have an issue
in the hood where people don't get married. It's like
getting married, it's like a foreign concept. I got married,
you know what I'm saying two thousand and four, and
it was like, Wow, you married.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Too young?
Speaker 2 (28:02):
You're too young. I'm like, why would you not get me?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
And craziest thing, the best man at my wedding was
a volunteer from the prison. There was an old guy
from Needham, Pat Dempsey. Shot to Pat Dempsey. He was
a Catholic volunteer. He used to come up to the
prison and volunteer and helped us out. And I met
him when became friends and became my mentor. When it
came time for me to get married, I had Pat
be my best man. I said, when I announced my
(28:25):
wife to the world, you're standing with me, and he did,
and he's been with me ever since.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
So why get married? Because people need to hear this story?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, man, I think For one, I think the hardest
thing was I didn't know what marriage supposed to look like.
You know, growing up, no one in my close circle
like I didn't see married couples to say, man, like,
that's what I want to envision. So one of the
hardest things when my wife was going through that process
of what is our marriage going to be? Based on
what's going to be our foundation. She grew up both
(28:56):
her parents been married. I think it's like forty something
years and so she sees marriage through a totally different
lens than I did when we started going through pre
mariital counseling, and I think that's what really saved us
because it allowed us to develop what we wanted in
a marriage with how we envisioned it, the good, the bad,
and it allowed us to work those things out. But
(29:16):
when I think about marriage, I think about I found
someone that I can forever call my friend. So when
some of the best news has happened to me, I
call my wife. When some of the worst things that
have happened to me, she's right there alongside of me
and we journey life together and no matter what happens,
I know, no matter what, I have someone that has
(29:37):
my back. And very praise to my wife and my
brother's wife because the weirdest thing is being married to twins.
Because we've already came up with the idea, we got
somebody that has ours no, no, no, we're twins. So
with them, it was always like if we're together, they'd
be like here they go again, because that's second nature
to us, of having somebody that you're gonna know is
(29:59):
gonna call you out, that you know is gonna be
your best friend. We've had that. But then getting to
meet my wife and seeing like, man, I have a
relationship that's similar to what I have with my brother
as far as trusting somebody and knowing that, like even
if my eyes was closed and I had the journey
through something through life blind, that this person would always
make sure my best interest was at the top of
(30:20):
the list. And I think we don't think about that
in our culture of having that. We think about women
in a certain way that has to change. But I
think that comes from having people in communities being positive
role models and showing like, no, I'm married, like this
is what I do. Hey, we gotta go here now, man,
I can't this ends my night, Like it's time to
go back home. Don't stay married, you know what I mean?
(30:42):
And I think having that is big And I know
I got that when I got here, being around draw Mayo,
Vince Will, seeing guys in the locker room who were married,
I was like, oh, damn, not all football players live
like what we watch on TV. Like some of these
guys got their kids coming to training camp every day,
their wives that are hanging out. So I think being
around that, being in that environment, our coaching staff, being
(31:05):
married and you know, Brian Flores who was here, was
a great mentor for me. And I went to this
house on Thanksgiving, met his mom, his dad, his wife,
his brothers, his kids. Like just being in that environment
and seeing another black man lived that life and have
a family a house, I was like, man, like, that's
what That's what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
When I got married my wife, all of her she
has a PhD from my team. All of her family
has PhDs from someplace. So I didn't hate going around.
It was like, hey we go again here. Yeah we
used to pull out.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, literally the whole mob PhDs. So you're voling black.
But it's like I was.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I chose her based on the fact that she was
highly educated because I knew my weaknesses. I wanted my
kids to be educated. And she told me we were dating.
She said all of my kids are with the Ivy
League schools. Is that a problem for you? I was like, no,
hell whatever, whatever. I didn't know it was thirty two
thousand kindergarten.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Tell me that part.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I needed your job. But we worked and we made
it happen. But her being educated, I look for someone
that could fill my holes, the things that I didn't
do well and things that weren't strong in and we
got a great kid as a result.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
That's awesome, man. And you see, man, marriage isn't easy.
Like when you got somebody that knows your weaknesses and
knows how to challenge you to be better. It's no
different for me as in football, Like the things I
had to work on was my weaknesses, So those days
would be hard. It'd be hard to get my weaknesses
somewhat up to maybe not be a strength, but to
be at least average with everybody else in the league,
(32:34):
so I can become a better player. That's how my
wife pushes me. But you don't always like you don't
mindset on all the time. Sometimes just leave me alone,
like I'm good now. But same thing with my wife.
My wife's a doctor. We met at Rutgers. She went
to med school at Rutgers. And for me when I
was around her in college, even though we weren't dating,
I was blown away by her focus, like, oh super,
(32:55):
we would going out and she'd be having a book
back on with her books. I'm headed to I got
a big test coming up in two weeks. I said,
you studying for a test two weeks from now? I said,
I don't study for a test until a day or
two before.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
She's like, that's why you're getting beats.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
She's like, you're getting face while you're not pre mad.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
You're getting a fake beat. She's getting a real a.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
So it's been it's been an awesome journey. Man. We've
been married seven years, three kids. We lost the kid.
We had to battle through that. We've been through ups
and downs. You know, I think you know, it's been
really cool to just be with that that person through
the good and bad. Like I said earlier, and just
know that when you lay your head down comments personal
(33:36):
next and exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
When I travel for the airport, when I travel, i'll
see old couples. I mean, I'm fifty six. I'll see
older a couple like the seventies, and it'll be the
husband and wife. I always say to her, you did
a great job. So when you're seventies, somebody's gonna say
to your wife, you did a great jeap because that's.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Where it comes from.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
And all all these hard headed people who watch football,
it's the wife. Yeah, Because if it wasn't for her
to be no couch, I be watching TV on a crate.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
My wife tells that all the time when I can
plain about whatever something costs. Yes, if it was up
to you, we wouldn't have anything. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
So in closing, is anything you want to say to
Patriot Nation before we go?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Man? I feel like Patriot's Nation has been seeing me
more in the last month since I retired. But it's
been an honor, you know. I think so many people
have come up to me and said thank you for
the thirteen years. And I tell people quickly, don't thank me.
Like I had the time of my life over these
last thirteen years of not only getting to live out
a dream of playing in the NFL, but the crowd
(34:37):
and the people I got to play in front of.
I think that has been so special. And you know,
like life, my career hasn't always been just an upward
of sin, like I've had low points. I've had downs,
but the energy and the love that people have showed
me throughout my whole career on and off the field,
Like I think about, it got shaky around social justice
(34:59):
and you know, taking the knee and raising a fist
and so many people were angry, and you fast forward
George Floyd happens in twenty twenty and people were like, man,
like you were talking about that back in twenty seventeen,
when everybody was angry you were taking the knee. And
then just the journey that I've gotten to take here
on this team. You obviously got to meet Robin Glazer,
(35:20):
who's been a huge part of a lot of the
things that I've gotten to do here. But the journey
for me makes me sad to think, like, man, that
won't be the journey anymore, because as you go through it,
you kind of learn each year of how to make
it better, how to master some other things. And I
feel like mentally, when it came to playing football and
being in this environment, I felt like I was just
(35:42):
now creeping on mastery of knowing it time to go
and then it's time to take that next space exactly.
So I'm excited about that man.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
My last question, and we'reati. I'm not gonna do the
Baptist preacher think this is the last question. I work
with guys and women in prison. I work with CEOs
with the press and drink too much. I work with
kids who are dealing with suicidal issues. I work with
a lot of people, and everybody's going through something. I
don't care if they're watching this show and they're happy
(36:10):
like Okay, Devin, and everybody's going through something like right now,
I'm going through some stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Is everybody's going through some For that person who's home struggling,
that person who's next to somebody who's home struggling, close
out message.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah. Man. The biggest thing I would say is what
I got to learn from Ben Watson, don't lose hope.
When a young man got out of prison, we visited
him and we gave him a check to help him
get back on his feet. And Ben said to him,
we're giving you this check with money, but he said,
it's not the money. He said, I'm hoping by this
check that we give you, it gives you more hope.
(36:46):
And he said, the greatest thing a man can have
is hope. He said, hoping anything, anything to believe in
to get you going each day, to know you can
press forward and become something. He said, That's what I
hope this check means to you as you now going
to the next stage of life, is that we're helping
bringing you a little bit more hope going forward. And
when he said that, I was like, man, like, no
(37:07):
matter how low you get, no matter what you're going through,
if you got that hope to keep going and that
hope to believe in whatever it is that you believe
in or that you want to get to, that'll wake
you up each day and push you forward. And that's
what I would give anybody.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
So ladies and gentlemen, we are here at you let stadium,
the building, the mecca, the one and only. And I
have to give you my book. Oh you know this
title right, I'll forget look at that man, you talked
it up.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
That was a great intro. But brother, I want to
thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I appreciate you for coming, I want to thank you
for being, and I want to thank you for the
work that you're gonna do in the future because as
you walk away from football at one level, the lights
will get smaller, but your heart will get bigger, so.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Just keep going.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I appreciate you man.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
We'll see you next time.
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