Drive Time: The Life and Legacy of Jason Jenkins

A special edition of the Drive Time Podcast covers the life and legacy of Jason Jenkins as he’s set to be honored at this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame with the 2025 Awards of Excellence. Jason’s wife, Liz Jenkins, joins along with one of Jason’s best friends and Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel and Jason’s mentor Tony Wyllie, the CEO of the Collective Engine. All three guests offer a unique perspective into Jason’s life and how he revolutionized the industry.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis wing Thee.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
a very very special edition of the Draft Time Podcast,
we are going to be joined by Liz Jenkins, Tom Garfinkel,
and Tony Wilie to talk about the life and legacy
of the late great Jason Jenkins, who will be honored

(00:31):
this year's Pro Football Hall of Fame Awards of Excellence.
He and former Dolphins video director Dave hack As they
both will be honored this year's Pro Football Hall of
Fame Awards ceremony. We're gonna have a second episode that
comes out today, it's already out alongside this one, a
companion podcast talking to Dave about his honor. And also
we're gonna have Nat Moore on that episode talking about

(00:53):
the street that was named for Nat Moore by his
alma mater, his high school, Miami Edison High School down
here in South Florida. Busy couple of episodes here on
the podcast from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist
Health Training Complex. This is the Drag Time Podcast. And
joining me on the show today is someone that means

(01:14):
a lot to me, and her husband meant a lot
to me as well. She is Liz Jenkins, late, the
wife of late Jason Jenkins and Liz, first of all,
welcome in, and I'm excited to talk to you what
we're going to talk about today. But first off, just
welcome in and how are you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
It's been a while.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
I appreciate you having me on. It has been a while.
I'm doing good.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
I've been kept keeping really busy. The kids are getting big.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
They're almost all as taller than I am, or as
tall as I am, so you know, keeping me on
my toes. But and you know, I've been here at
the Dolphins for almost a year, so that's been great
as well. So you know, lots of changes, but all
good things.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
How old are the kids now?

Speaker 4 (01:50):
Ah, Let's see, Leah's going to be fifteen next month,
and Aiden's thirteen, and Sloan is nine going on twenty nine.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
So it's lots of all in my house.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
We're in a It's funny because you know, as a
father of a five and a two year old, I
hear about like you're entering the golden years with the five,
like and everyone's got a different opinion of what the
Golden Years are, but I don't know. I think it's
all just a fun a fun journey, a fun ride,
and I'm excited to take it. And seeing like teenagers,
I'm a little bit terrified, Liz of what that's gonna
look like.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
For me.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
It's definitely a different animal, I definitely. I mean, it's cool.
I think every season has its ups and downs.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
I agree.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
I do like this season they've turned into these really
incredible people. Lea's right now, you know, studying for her
driver's permit, which I'm like, oh my goodness, we're here.
We're gonna have, you know, a driver in the house
and besides myself, which I'm actually a little excited about,
because it'd be really nice to pass my Uber driving
off to somebody else. But it's really cool to see

(02:45):
their personalities, you know, as they're starting to grow up.
You sort of saw them obviously before, but like they're
coming into their leadership skills and you know, just the
way they see the world, and there's lots of little
quirky things about them that are so their father that
makes me laugh all the time, and I usually call
him out I'm like that that basically just like your dad,

(03:06):
or like your reaction or how deadpan you would say something.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
I'm like, that's your father. So it's pretty cool. So
I love it.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
That's too funny.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Every time I get upset with my son, my wife
just says, that's because he's exactly like you, and you
are getting mad at yourself right now.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
I'm like, yeah, you're probably right. Yeah, very crew goes.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
So that's a good transition in what I want to
talk about today. So Jason will be honored this year
with the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the Awards
of Excellence for his career in public relations and community outreach.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
And I just think that's so cool and so well deserved.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
And we spoke to Dave Hack, our longtime video director,
who's going to get the same award this year. So
two Dolphins going in that way. And I guess the
best way to start here, Liz is what does that
mean to you?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
I was blown away. It's actually a pretty funny story.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
So I was on a business trip when the Hall
of Fame was trying to call me, and I to
be honest, I thought it was a prank call. And
I was like, why would the Hall of Fame we
call I me and so I just sort of sent
him to voice maoun forgot about it until Anne texted me.
He was like, the Hall is trying to get a
hold of you, and I'm like, oh my gosh, that
was real. So when I called them back and they
told me, I was floored.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
I was did not expect this.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
You know, I've known some other people who've obviously received
this award, Harvey Green, who is a longtime PR person
at the Dolphins, the year before so.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Or a couple of years ago.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
So you know, it's really crazy to think. You know,
I don't think my kids quite understand. I was like,
you know, not many people get into Hall of Fame,
and I don't think Jason would have ever thought he
would have gotten into this. You know, you think about
the Hall of Fame for obviously players who are phenomenal,
and it's such an amazing thing that they honor the

(04:46):
other side of the business that is just as important
and has kept this train running. And for him to
be honored this way, it's just an amazing legacy. It's
really cool to think that, you know, my kids' kids
could go to the Hall of fame.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
And see their grandfather. You know, it's just a really
cool thing.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
I just I can't explain how to wrap my head around,
and I don't know what to expect.

Speaker 5 (05:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
In the in the article they posted about the naming
the recipients, they talked about Jason being the heart and
soul the Dolphins organization, which I always, I always felt
was the perfect way to describe his impact because you know,
in my job, I wear a lot of hats and
do different things, and I think it's hard to pinpoint
what my exact job is.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Sometimes.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
For Jason that was like twentyfold in terms of just
where he was at all times. I always felt he
had a clone of himself because he was at multiple
places of once, it seemed like. And that came through, obviously,
just a bunch of hard work. And that's how you
get yourself in that position. And so what I wanted
to ask you, Liz, was you know, this is a
guy that I don't know. I don't know if he
ever talked to you about this, But when I first
started talking to Jason, I was bugging him like saying,

(05:47):
I'm the guy you need to get the Dolphins into
the next you know, the next wave of new media here.
And I would get emails back at like three o'clock
in the morning and I'm like.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Is he waking up? Is he going to bed? I
don't know. But my question is, you guys met at
Pro Bowl. What year was that?

Speaker 3 (06:05):
It would have been Pro Bowl two thousand and four maybe.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Or two five. Yeah, so the long time ago exactly.
You know you knew him for a long long time.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
My question is when did you realize, like, oh, this
dude works at a different level.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Oh, right off the bat.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
I mean, he had an intensity about him. There was
nothing he did halfway. There was always I when I
think about words like you know, when you reflect on
words about what you want yourself to be known as, like,
intentionality was definitely high on his list. Everything he did
with an intention, even when he was pursuing me.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
It was very, very intentional.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
There was no question that he was interested. He directly
said it to me. It was you know, I said
this story in his eulogy. But like, you know, on
the third day he told me he loved me, and
I so taken aback that I was like, I just
said thank you, which my kids laugh at me every
time they say thank you.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
They're like, just like you told Dad, And I was like,
you know what, when somebody tells.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Me they love you on the third day, you tell
me what you react. But he knew, and that's sort
of like I think how he lived his whole life,
his career. You know, he knew he always had a plan,
and that was another thing. He was always planning. I
think from a very young age, he always was looking ahead.
He always do is doing his one, three, five, ten

(07:32):
year plan. And you know we talked a lot about
those things, and I think that always carried through in
how he he worked, you know, and he was really
good at adjusting sometimes things.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Obviously, things don't always go as.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
Plan, and you know, even in his career and his job,
he'd be like, Okay, you know, maybe this is now
where I'm going, or he saw the bigger picture like
maybe I was looking too narrow and I need to expand.
And I think that's sort of what happened in his career.
He you know, started because he loved football, and he
loved football pr and I think he probably would have

(08:07):
been happy doing that for the rest of his crew.
But then there was a point where he's like, no,
I need to expand, and so then he started incorporating
some business PR and started expanding that area. And then
he realized he had a huge passion for community and
started pulling different things.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
I always would laugh everywhere we'd go.

Speaker 4 (08:22):
He would also get the cheerleading group and I was like,
how does cheer always thunder?

Speaker 3 (08:27):
He as well, But it was just great.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
Like I think he just knew that he had more
to give and his skill set started to expand and
he started entering his new you know, iteration of a
leader in the community and here at the Dolphins and
how he saw the direction of the culture he wanted
to continue on.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
So I think that was cool.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
When you when you talk about all that, the first
thing comes to my mind is the Jason Dex the
decks he would send me all the time. He's like,
I got a deck for that. I'm like, I know,
you do. You always have a duck for that?

Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yeah, there's actually and it's amongst the PR guys, which
is really funny. He had a running document that was
his crisis Manual that everyone knew about, and people would
write him all over the league and ask him for
his crisis manual. And I would get so angry because
I was like, you need to put a watermark on this,
like people are taking your work and taking it off

(09:22):
as ours, and he would be like, ah, I don't care.
But literally, anytime a crisis happened in any form or facet,
he would put it in the manual and he would
print out the article and he'd print out like the
statement that came out from the company and how it
was and pretty much you know, that manual has been
passed on to many many different teams and internally here
of like how any crisis can you there's somebody who's

(09:44):
already dealt with this, look at how they.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Did and try to figure out the right plan from there.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
So yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all. And the
kind of like humble approach that you allude to there
and talking about you know what he might think of
this award earlier, like that all resonates because I didn't
know that he played college football at Texas Tech until
I knew him for like a couple of years, and
I saw a photo of him on the sideline like
with his teammates, and I was like, let me see
those tapes, Jason, I gotta see those tapes. I want

(10:09):
to see what your game was all about, and he
would like laugh about it. But it was always like
so humble in nature about how we would we would
talk about anything, and and that kind of reminds me
of the same thing, because like, I don't want credit
for that, Like he just was always so like like
he had this presence, but he was also like so
humble in the way he approached things. And so I
guess I do want to go back to that question
because I am curious, you know, I feel like he

(10:30):
might be like a like to your point, but if
you really dug down, he like Jason like thought about
what this actually meant, Like, what do you think he
would like, maybe it's you know, after the kids have
gone to bed, it's late at night, and you have
a real genuine conversation.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
What do you think he might say in those moments.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
I think he would just be like.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
He would just feel an immense amount of honor that
you know that they would even acknowledge him this way.
You know, he would be extremely humbled. I think it
would drive him more, to be honest, I think it
would probably would have been like an inspiration to take
it to the next level.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Whatever that would be in his head.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
You know, when he was invited to speak as the
commencement speaker at Texas Tech a couple I must have
been twenty eighteen. I want to say he was so
beyond humbled that he was offered to speak, and they
were It was very interesting because he was very thoughtful
about it. He spent a lot of time on that speech. Ironically,

(11:31):
one line for that speech has gone many different places
when they talk about, you know, the advice he gave
to these students. But what was probably the most impactful
about it is usually when there's obviously many graduations that happened,
and he stayed for every single graduation and he shook
every single person's hand. And I said to him, I

(11:55):
was like, oh, you didn't. I don't think you had
to do that, and he's like no, but he's like,
but it was important. It's it's a big deal that
I get to be up here and is an honor
that I yet to meet each and every single one
of these people on their new path.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Of their direction. So I was like, yeah, that's what
it is.

Speaker 5 (12:08):
Like.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
He he really loved pouring into people and I think
I think he would just be super humbled that you
know that this is sort of a stamp on his career,
not that it validates it by any means. I think
his own self validation would have been enough, but that
other people have recognized that he did definitely made his

(12:30):
impact while he was here.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
As well as I think he'd be really proud that,
you know.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
For posterity sake, that his future family members would still
be able to go back to Canton and be like,
that's my grandfather or that's my great grandfather, and I
that's it's a little mind belowing a thing, because it's
mind going to think that I'm one day will be
a grandmother and a great grandmother and all those things,
but that I could be like, yeah, that's you know,

(12:58):
that's our family. And you know when I called his dad,
who his dad played for the Oilers back in the seventies,
and I called him and I told him he was
just he was taken aback because obviously any football player,
that's their goal. They wanted to be in the Hall
of Fame. And he said to me, he's like, wow,

(13:18):
my son is in the hall. And I was like, yeah,
he's in the Hall of Fame, Like this is huge
and He's like, I can't be any more proud right now.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
So it's going to be emotional. It's going to be great.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, that's that's the first where that came in. I
was emotional.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
And you talk about that impact, I mean at his service,
you know, his service of life, and the surrounding year
after that, even to today, like you know, Address of
the Nine for Jason, like all the things we do
to honor him. It's like you just feel the reverberation
of his impact through the people you talk to here
in the building and people throughout the community. And it's
now it seems like we get to expand that to

(13:53):
like a more nationwide aspect up in Canton. So really cool,
and you know you've touched on like his love for
community and pouring into people. And one of the questions
I had for you was, what are some of the
things you thought that Jason loved the most about his
job and his work.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
But it kind of seems like that's that's the answer, right, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
I think he was just he loved people. He loved
he loved making people feel special. You know, it's interesting
because a lot of people told stories to me, they're like, oh,
he made me feel like I was the most important
person in the room in a very large room, and
he would focus on me and concentrate on me. And

(14:31):
it's really interesting watching my kids because my youngest is
like that too. She can walk into her room and
she is a way. He has a way to connect
with people. And that's why I was like, I told her,
I was like, that's your superpower. Is like, your superpower
is very I was like, you're actually better than your
dad was at it because it's super.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
Natural with you.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
But like you have a way to connect with people
and making them feel special, and that says a lot,
and I think that's what it is. I think he
loved being around kids. He loved doing youth football camps.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
He you know, I remember when he when he went
to Haiti.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Early on in his time here at the Dolphins, when
a hurricane happened, and I remember he called me there
and he's like, I met a little boy here.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
I so want to bring him home. I was like,
oh gosh, and I was.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
I think I was pregnant with Aiden at the time,
and I'm like, I don't know if I could take
another kid, right. He was just like, I know, I
can't he's just like he's like, but there's so much
of a need here and there's these kids and I
connect with them, and I'm like, I know you do,
And like, I think that just made him realize, like
his kids are really really blessed, but he's like there's
so many other kids that he wanted to bless even

(15:39):
if it's just their time and their encouragement that like
somebody believes in you. So I think that's why he
really focused on people around him and making them feel.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Like, yes, you're seeing I see you. And I think
that's that's a special talent of his.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
So yeah, and the point of this podcast is to
talk about his career accomplishments, but I would be remiss
if we don't like get into the person, because that's
to your point.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
That's what stuck to me.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
And like Liz, going back to being a father of
a five and a two year old, there were be
days where I would come into his office for a
meeting or just to like catch up whatever it was,
and like, I'll never forget there was one day I
was supposed to bring my daughter, who was I think
like not even one years old at the time, and
I was supposed to bring her to a meeting with him,
and I ended up showing up without her. He's like,
where's Caroline, And I'm like, she threw up in her

(16:28):
car seat. I had to take her home and like
wash her off, give her to her mother, and like
keep her at home. And I'm just like so stressed
out and frustrated, and he has this big smile on
his face and he's just like he's like, you're in
the best part of your life right now. And I'm like,
you're so full of it because I feel so stressed
and so just constantly like you know, overwhelmed by all
my entire life right now.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
And he would just have this like calming presence, like
trust me.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
And the more I get removed from that day, the
more I realized that he was right. And it's it's
those moments that maybe they're hardships in the moment, but
you're their memories you never forget. So he really impacted
me that way. Again, I would be remissed, but I
don't talk about this podcast isn't a thing if Jason
doesn't make it a thing. I mean that the podcast
network and draft Time podcast was was really his vision

(17:10):
and kind of goes back to that first thing I
told you about, you know, me bothering him with those
emails back in like twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, and so
I've kind of long wondered this, and I maybe I'll
ask it to you now, Liz, Like, I'm curious what
you knew about his vision for you know, making the
Dolphins a podcast network and putting the Draft Time podcast
in place, and head hunting a you know, a late

(17:32):
twenty year old random person from Washington State who loves
the Dolphins and provides content. I'm just curious, like if
you knew about his plans for that and what you
can tell me about it.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
No, I mean he was always thinking like he was.
It's very funny that you bring that up, because I
remember he was. He loved media, He loved he loved movies,
he loved TV shows. I've never seen anybody able to
acquire so much content simultaneously like we would. He'd be

(18:02):
watching something as I've had, his iPad would be up,
he'd be on the computer and the TV was on
and I'm like, you're watching like three different things.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
What are you doing right now?

Speaker 4 (18:10):
And but he was always like especially towards Right before
he died, he was definitely looking at a lot of
media stuff and doing a lot of media research and
understanding what the media landscape was, and what the podcast
seeing landscape was, and how other medias.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Were going digital.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
And he was really he was really trying to put
together a plan there because he was like, I know
that this is the next iteration.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
He's like, I know we're going to be moving to.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
This area of this digital platform of content and not
just you know, audio content, but visual content. And he's like,
we need to figure this out because everything is going
to be on there. And so he was looking at
what you know, NBC was doing and CBS and like,
you know, what the streaming service is, how Netflix was
looking at their content and their content streaming, and so

(19:01):
he was very excited about it. I couldn't tell you
exactly what his plan was by any means, but I
know he was inundating himself with information to sort of
put together a plan.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
But it wasn't just dolphins in house media. It wasn't
like he was exclusive towards those the people like me.
He was really welcoming to the entire scope of media
and like, you know, if you go around the league
right now, maybe it's changed over the years, but I
know that in the past, like people would say, like damn,
the Dolphins media gets like a like a lunch served
to them, and they have these beautiful stands at practice.

(19:32):
We're watching practice from the sidelines in the heat, with
no place to sit, and they give us like maybe
an uncrustable for lunch. But Jason wasn't that way, Like
he really found importance in what they do. I'm curious
if you can kind of just, you know, talk about
why he felt that was so important and the impact
he had not just on his own in house media,
but the local media as well.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
I think it was really important for him to build
really solid relationships. He knew that there was going to
be times where, you know, they're not going to be
great stories, and he's gonna have to have that relationship,
at least a respectful relationship with immedia person who may
disagree or may write something that you know, the organization
is not overly so sold about that he has to

(20:12):
manage or God forbid, you know, like a crisis occurs
and he has to manage that conversation. I saw a
lot of those across his career. Everything seemed to happen
after eleven PM. I don't know why, And so I
awoke up many a night with hearing you know, Joe
Rose on my on speaker while I'm trying to sleep,

(20:35):
or you know, Omar or somebody you know, and I
would laugh because he was brilliant in those situations.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
I've never seen.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I used to tell him.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
I was like, you're so good at crisis pr Like
somebody asked me to describe what my husband does, and
I was.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
Like, he's like the Olivia Pope of the Dolphin.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Like he he's the guy who comes in when there's
something bad that happens, and he's super calm. And I'm like,
not saying that he's offing anybody, but like he definitely was,
Like I've never seen a person who when things got
really bad, he got super calm, and he would grab
any piece of paper anywhere and he would just start
scribbling notes and you could see.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
The wheels turning in his head. And I would I would.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
As much as I did not like that part, because
I knew that our lives would be chaotic for a
little bit. I loved watching him work and you know,
sometimes he would bounce ideas off me and I'd be like, oh,
I don't know about that, Like I was like as
a lay person or as a fan or as a
mother like certain things, I'd be like, I don't know
and he or I'd bounce like like what about this,

(21:37):
and he's just like, well, you know, and he but
he was also really good that he didn't take offense
when people didn't.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Take his ideas.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
He was like, my job is to present situations and
scenarios of how we could solve X, Y and Z problem.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
If they decide not to go with it, that's fine.
I have another way I'm gonna, you know.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Do it.

Speaker 4 (21:57):
And he was good about that, and I was like
that His lack of ego was so I think helpful
in that because he was okay with him not being
chosen as the idea guy and so his job. He's like,
my job is to present the options and then they
tell me this is what we feel comfortable with, and
then me executing that and managing it from that point. So,

(22:20):
you know, I think that's another reason he had a
really good relationship. You know, full bellies make happy people,
and so I think he knew the fastest way the
reporters are heart and minds is probably their stomachs. But
he knows that it's a you know, it's a symbiotic relationship,
like you know, it's a little push and pull, and
you know there's gonna be times are easy, and you know,

(22:42):
obviously winning makes life very easy.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
And when you're not, it makes things a little bit harder.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
And so I think he knew that the tides were
going to go up and down, and I think he
knew if he kept a good relationship across the board,
those tides might be a little bit more manageable.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
As you go through.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
I love what you said there because I feel like
that his his desire for collaboration was a big part
of why he had that impact in the community because
he was someone that people sought for for ideas, for
to give him their ideas and to know they'd be
received well and that he was always going to get
back to them.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
So he was so comprehensive that way.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
And another one of the programs you talked about, the
podcast you talk about, you know, Football Unites, was one
of the big initiatives that he was he was behind.
Do you know why that was so important? Jason and
kind of how that came to be.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
Yeah, No, I mean it came probably right around the
time of the kneeling scandals, and you know, we got
a lot of heat from that, and that was a
rough year all the way around. I don't want to
bring up bad things, but you know, there was a
lot of things that were happening that season, and you know,
he knew that he needed to get the community involved

(23:56):
in what we did and build these relationships because these
relationship are going to be the only way that we
are going to get one sometimes grace from their community
when we don't always make the right decisions or we're
not always winning and things get awkward. Like he knew
that he had to build that, but he also was like,
I think the reason we have so many problems is

(24:16):
because we aren't put crossing over to the other side
and saying, hey, I don't understand your situation or this
is my perspective, but I don't know yours. And he
was really really good at that there. I was always
super impressed that he could walk into any room and

(24:38):
he was always himself, and he was always comfortable, and
he always made the other person comfortable. He never but
He never like belittled himself, He never made himself smaller.
He was always like, this is who I am. I'm here,
I'm going to listen. We may not always agree, but
I'm here to listen, and let's try to find it

(24:58):
a common ground that we can work toge and build
a relationship. And maybe at that point if we agree
to disagree, that's fine. We could still work together and
we the whole point is working together was going to
make things better. So I think that's where Football Unites
really took off. He really believed in the power of
sports bringing communities together, and that's.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Really what he wanted to do.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
I think he really wanted to show people that we
have a lot more in common with each other than different.
I think, you know, during that political time. And it's
funny because even now, I'm like, oh, I wonder what
he would think about now, Like when I listened to
my podcast and I'm just like, oh, I wonder what
he would have thought of that or how he would
have addressed it. And you know, like I think, you know,

(25:40):
he had this way of reaching over and being welcoming
and open, and I think we can all learn from
that that we have to be a little open heart,
open mind, and give each other.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
A lot more grace.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah, I mean that's a good way to put it, because,
like you talk about what he would think, now, I
think about like the landscape of just everything and how
much it's changed in the last three years, you know,
three and a half years since we lost Jason, Like
he would be a beacon of light in today's society
with how kind of messed up things seem to be
in so many ways when it comes to how we
treat each other. But Liz, I I have two more

(26:14):
questions for you. One that the last one is kind
of a little bit more of a wrap up. This
next one's just totally silly. And I'm sure you've seen
this video. But once upon a time, Brett, Brett guys
and our corporate communications manager over there at the stadium,
he showed me a video where I don't know the
exact details behind this, but the team was at a
roller rink for some type of you know, night out

(26:35):
you're taking your head you probably already know I'm talking about,
And like I think it was Brett or Renzo, one
of the two was trying to like help him because
he had zero balance, on those roller skates. Yeah, and
then like he finally gets it for a tenth of
a second and he gets off of the support from
Brett or Renzo, and the first thing he thinks to
do is to like flick someone's ear or like push
somebody else over. I'm like, dude, you just figured this

(26:56):
out and you're out here messing with folks less than
a second after it happens. I guess the question is,
is that how he always was, Like he was such
a damn good worker and so dedicated to his work,
but he always knew how to kind of be lighthearted
and turn it off and just enjoy like life.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Does that sound accurate as absolutely?

Speaker 4 (27:13):
I mean, there's more dance parties. I think that's happens
when you have two girls. We had lots of dance
parties at our house. But no, he did. He knew
how to make things fun. I always would not love that.
I always felt like the heavy and I'd be like, no,
they have to go to bed, stop doing this, Like
I'm like, you get to be fun dad, I have
to be mean mom. But he had this way of

(27:35):
making things fun, and he did. He had a way
of making work fun.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
He knew that.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
You know, sometimes it gets hard and it's it gets
heavyer and it's not fun, and he's like, all right,
I'm gonna make this as lighthearted as possible, and he
you know here, you know, they laugh because the number
of people who have memes about them and think.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
Like I would always say, I'm like, do you do
work like you feel?

Speaker 4 (27:59):
I feel like you're always taking secret photos and making
memes about people.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
And he's like, I can do both, and I'm like,
of course you can.

Speaker 4 (28:06):
But he I would always say, like, if he wasn't
making fun of you, he probably didn't like you that much.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
I feel.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
So I was like, thank for what's there? Like you
know he's but no, he really did. And you know
he was.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
He was the life of a party. I mean people
still come up to me who were at our wedding
and they were like, your wedding still, by far, was
the most fun wedding we'd ever been to, and it
was we just had a.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Really, really good time.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
And I think he I don't know if he knew
life was short.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
I really don't, to be honest, I think he thought
life was long.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
I if I reflect on if he ever thought he
would be gone this soon.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
I don't think he would have ever thought that.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
I think he just wanted life to be fun, and
so maybe that's a little bit of him realized, not
realizing life was going to be short. So you try
to have as much fun as he could while he
was here.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
So really, really well said one one of my favorite
last memories was I think it was the twenty twenty
one Super Bowl and they had was the Snoop Dogg performance,
and I think I think you might have put it
on Instagram. He was feeling that halftime show as most
of us eighties and nine babies were on that particular.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
I think my daughter was mortified. She was like, what
is he doing?

Speaker 4 (29:24):
He he loved music, He loved himself some Houston rap.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
I also have a video of him wrapping.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
Uh some UGK to our daughters and they were like,
why is he rapping so slow? And I was like,
that's the Houston drawl and I just reb he just
he He had a lot of fun, and you know,
I think he he brought a lot of joy in
love for everybody around him, but especially at home.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
He was he was definitely fun dad.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
I was going to say, nobody can embarrass their kids
more than fun dad.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
I am that dad, So.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
He loved embarrassing his children.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
I cannot wait for it.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
I do want to close this, and that was a
great lighthearted moment there, but I just want to ask
you to kind of put a bow on this thing.
What was it that you admired most about the way
Jason handled his role? And then when you think about
the impact he had in the industry, what do you
admire most about that?

Speaker 1 (30:17):
From Jason's work.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
I think that he always held his morale and morals
to a standard that he never wavered.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
I think that's why people trusted him.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
I think that's why mister Ross trusted him and Tom
and you know, upper management because and even coaches like
I think because they knew they were always going to
get somebody who was looking at the best of the organization,
that his ego is never going to be too big,
and he was going to always hold that line.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
And I think.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
That area is something that is hard to find these days.
I think it's very easy to get swayed, but he
never did. And if he ever did struggle with a
moment for whatever reason, he would do some soul searching
and he would always end up doing the right thing,
which always, in the end is the right thing to do.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
She is Elizabeth Jenkins, the executive chair of a Dolphins
Cancer Challenge here with the Miami Dolphins, and of course
the wife of the late great Jason Jenkins. Who I mean,
you know this, Liz, but I just I can't say
enough thanks for the man that Jason was and what
he provided for for so many people down here with
this football team, this organization, this company, or this community.
So I guess just you know, a general thanks on

(31:37):
behalf of all of us, for you and your husband
and your family and all the work that he did
and you did and everything. So I appreciate your time today.
Thanks for talking to me. This was a lot of fun.
I don't do podcasts like this very often. It's a
nice change of pace for me. So just thank you
for everything this. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
Thanks, Travis, I appreciate you doing this.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
And there she goes, and there goes our longest stretch
of podcasting without a break in the history of the show.
We're gonna pause right now there and take that first
break and come back on the other side with another
pillar of the Dolphins organization. Tom Garfinkel, that's next Draft
Time Podcast, brought to you.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
By Auto Nation.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Joining me today on the Draft Time Podcast is the
vice chairman, president, and CEO of your Miami Dolphins, Tom Garfinkel.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
Tom, welcome in. It's good to see you.

Speaker 6 (32:21):
Great to see you, Chravis. It was good to be
here with you.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
I'm happy to have you on today to talk about
one of my favorite people of all time, Tom, and
yours as well, the great Jason Jenkins. And we spoke
with his wife, Liz, and she was an absolute delight
to talk to. And I think there's a really good
opportunity here to kind of just encapsulate who Jason was
as a husband, a father, a friend, and most importantly

(32:43):
here in terms of the Miami Dolphins, what he meant
to the industry, in the community. And I guess I
wanted to start here with the multiple clones of Jason.
It seemed like there were right because everywhere you looked,
Jason was in the community. He was here at the stadium,
at the facility, just always all over South Florida doing
multiple things. And my first question for you was when

(33:05):
you saw him do all these things and have this
tight schedule and never leave a box unchecked. Like, what
did that look like from your rand? In terms of
how much Jason worked and how much he poured into
his working community.

Speaker 6 (33:16):
Well, I mean, I'm not even really sure where to begin.

Speaker 7 (33:20):
Yeah, I think that was kind of my My line was,
I think did they clone you? Because every time I
look up here, you're somewhere different. Jason was a tireless
worker and and but he he had a heart as
big as anybody I've ever met.

Speaker 6 (33:37):
And uh, and.

Speaker 7 (33:38):
He had a lot of humility and and so Jason
would just you know, work hard, show up to everything
he wanted to personally be there for the people that
he was helping and the people he was representing. And
you know, every day for him was a day, you know,
to impact someone's life. It's it's still kind of hard
for me to talk about it some some level, but

(34:00):
you know, Jason. One of Jason's favorite quotes was Horace Man,
who said, be ashamed to die until you have won
some victory for humanity.

Speaker 6 (34:09):
And he certainly did that. He won victories for humanity every.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Day, multiple times.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
You know, it was it was impressive to watch him
afar and from your perspective up close with Jason, And
you know, one thing I learned from Jason was so
it was so admirable. And I talked to Liz about
this with you know, his his crisis management, how he
just had a deck for everything, And I said, I
don't know how many decks I saw from Jason that
he would create, and that preparation was obviously part of

(34:38):
his greatness. What was it like for you being on
the other side of the table and those meetings and
those those chats with Jason when he would spell out
these grand visions and then you watch him go execute them.

Speaker 7 (34:48):
Well, Jason was a voice of reason for me. I
think he was an invaluable resource as a CEO to
have someone who thought strategically like him and thought with
the cool head who had his experien it's in public relations.
My first real experience with Jason was, you know, I
started in September of twenty thirteen, and in October of

(35:11):
twenty thirteen we had the Richie incognito Jonathan Martin situation,
and so my first experience really with Jason was during
that situation, seeing his calm under pressure approach, his thoughtful approach,
his rational strategic approach, his ability to provide wise counsel

(35:32):
to you know, obviously myself, but Steve Ross as well
as our head coach and general manager at the time.
And you can imagine, you know, the the challenges that
come along with those types of situations, and you don't
have all the information yet, you don't know what's going
to come next, and you're trying to manage through you know,
the media, and until you have all the information, it's

(35:55):
very difficult to do that. And Jason was a real
important part of managing through that situation and many others afterwards.
I think he just had a way to understand the
implications of words. And you know, Jason always had a
saying that he would say, you know, it's not a

(36:16):
pr problem, it's a leadership problem, or it's a business.

Speaker 6 (36:20):
Problem, or it's you know.

Speaker 7 (36:22):
He didn't try to spin things, he didn't lie about things.
He didn't He just knew the right way to answer
questions about things as they were.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
Happening, and his ability to compartmentalize multiple things at once. Right,
we talked about his ability to take in multiple avenues
of media. He could listen to a podcast and watch
a movie and tell you what was going on in
both things, and I don't understand how the brain separates
those two things, but that was part of what made
him so great. And we know that his impact transcended

(36:52):
just the Miami Dolphins obviously, but and there are just
so many things that illuminate Jason's legacy. But I think
if you were to pick one thing that encapsulated who
he was and what he did and what he stood for,
to me, that would be Football Unites And you, along
with Jason were instrumental in getting that initiative off the

(37:14):
ground originally. And so my question is, Tom, what was
Jason's vision behind Football Unites and how did that come
to be? Through his vision?

Speaker 7 (37:24):
Well, you know, I think from a pr standpoint, again,
his professionalism, his calm demeanor, and his counsel was.

Speaker 6 (37:33):
You know, in parallel. But I think from a community standpoint.

Speaker 7 (37:37):
You know, I remember, you know, going through the situation,
the protests with the players feeling, and then you know, subsequently,
you know, what was going on in the country, and
I think, you know, I sat down with Jason. I
had had the occasion to meet Jim Brown the Super
Bowl in Houston, and I was talking to Jim Brown

(37:58):
about everything, and Jim Brown had great line which was,
you know, Thomas, not about black and white, It's about humanity.
And Jim Brown and I spoke for about an hour.
Well it was me asking questions and him speaking to
be fair and me.

Speaker 6 (38:11):
Trying to learn.

Speaker 7 (38:11):
And so when I got back and shared my conversation
that I had had with Jim Brown with Jason, you know,
Football Units was kind of born from that. And you know, look,
initially my thoughts were that it would be something that
was bringing African American youth and police together. Jason just

(38:33):
had a much bigger vision for it and made it
what it was through his his vision and his tireless
effort to impact people's lives and use football team nite people.
It didn't matter what community it was. He was trying
to just bring people together and so and not trying,
he accomplished that.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Every single day. He was the kind of guy that
could walk into a room and instantly just fit in
with with whoever he was there with. And I think
that's a big part of what made him special. And
Tom again, from your perspective being, you know, working with
him hand in hand every single day, you got the
chance to really observe, you know what went into all that.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Now I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
You know his habits, and you know, the habits of
successful people are always really fascinating to me and everybody obviously,
But I'm curious if you can speak to like some
of the non negotiables that he lived by, or the
things that contributed his success that he was not willing
to bypass and cut corners on.

Speaker 5 (39:28):
Well.

Speaker 7 (39:28):
Jason had tremendous integrity, so he had a very high
standard for himself and others.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
He wasn't judgmental of others.

Speaker 7 (39:36):
So he could easily navigate through He had good judgment
of others and their character, but he was able to
manage and navigate through multiple personalities and be effective. Jason
was a voracious reader and a continuous learner, someone who
read a lot of books, who was always trying to

(39:58):
learn and ask good questions and learn from different people.

Speaker 6 (40:01):
He read a lot. As you noted, he was he.

Speaker 7 (40:04):
Was always prepared, prepared for things that you can't be prepared.
He was preparing for things that hadn't happened yet, you
know that you couldn't predict. Even in his job, Jason was.
You know, Jason never complained about things. He just you know,

(40:24):
I think it's a character trait of highly successful people.
I think it's a little bit of human nature to
sort of blame the world for your outcomes, blame others,
blame situations, and complain about things. And Jason just took
what came to him and helped them and you know,
manage it, dealt with it with with no complaint, no

(40:49):
blame placing, just acceptance of responsibility and continuous learning and
we're going to go get this done today, and with
a lot of compassion and heart for other human beings
and sort of empathy for what they're going through and
their situation and understanding that as he navigated through those things.
And so the combination of his humility, his leadership, his

(41:10):
strategic thought, his heart, you know, just to.

Speaker 6 (41:16):
Incredibly special human being.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
I love to use the word compassion because when I
would go to meet with Jason and if it was
something that was bothering me or at the front of
my mind that was upsetting me, I could go to
Jason and he would just have that big smile on
his face and put his arm around me and be
like it's gonna be okay, dude, and he would talk
me through and it would be okay.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
A short while after that.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
He was so good to your point, just you know,
making sure everybody felt felt special. And he was kind
of that guy that when you walked in the room
with him, he made you feel like you were the
one person in that room with him.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
I'll close with this time.

Speaker 6 (41:46):
He was a great listener to Travis.

Speaker 7 (41:49):
You know, he really as I hear you speak like,
you know, one of the things he was really good
at was he made you feel special because you had
his attention and he listened, and he didn't just quietly
sit there and listen. He actually listened and processed and
it was one of the one of the you know,

(42:09):
in a really unique way.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
And not even just in work right, that can personal
life too. I'll never forget one time I came in
and I was supposed to meet with him and my
daughter was coming with me. He was gonna meet my
daughter for the first time, and she had gotten sick
in the car right over and threw up all over
herself and I had to like make a hot route
and change the plans and I got there just totally frazzled,
and he was like, this is the best time in
your life. Tre I was like, you're gonna look back

(42:31):
on this and think this was these were the days,
and as he always was, he was right.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
He was definitely right about that.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
I want to close with this, Tom, because this is
my favorite thing I've I've read about Jason, I've heard,
you know, spoken about Jason that he was described as
the heart and soul of the Miami Dolphins organization. In
your words, why do you think that Moniker was apt
for Jason?

Speaker 6 (42:54):
You know, he just cared so much. She cared so
much about the organization.

Speaker 7 (42:58):
He cared even more about the people in it, the
individuals on an individual level, and he.

Speaker 6 (43:06):
Cared about the game of football.

Speaker 7 (43:08):
He cared about the community and the people in it
and wanting to make.

Speaker 6 (43:12):
An impact in people's lives every day. And you know,
a lot of people talk about it.

Speaker 7 (43:17):
A lot of people, you know, and everything you do,
every small thing you do to help others in this
life can be meaningful. Whether that's you know, donating money,
whether that's donating time, whether that's you know, just taking
the time to mentor somebody or help somebody. He did
it at a scale and a level of consistency and

(43:39):
a level of passion and commitment that you know, you
only read about great people actually having that level of
commitment to helping other people and genuinely wanting to do that,
and he did it with such humility that many things
he did I didn't even know about until after he passed.

Speaker 6 (44:02):
And I had so many people reach out to me and.

Speaker 7 (44:04):
Tell me how he touched their lives and things that
I didn't even know were happening. So for all of
those reasons, yeah, the heart and soul is a great
way to describe it. And he was beloved by everyone
in the organization, from you know, players and employees and
fans and and just people in the community who whose

(44:27):
lives he touched. And and boy, he loved lizzing those
kids and was a great great father and.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Husband too, and continues to touch all of us to
this day with his impact that he left here. So
I really appreciate your time today and your kind words.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
Tom.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
I know it's not an easy conversation to have, so
I appreciate you You're doing this for us and talking about
a great man. Jason Jenkins, the vice chairman, president and
CEO of the Miami Dolphins. Tom Garfinkle, Tom, thank you
for your time. I appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (44:54):
Thank you, Chravis, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 7 (44:55):
I'm happy to always happy to chat with you, and
especially happy to talk about.

Speaker 6 (44:59):
My friends Jason Jenkins.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Absolutely anytime, one more break and one more guest to
get to here. Who was a pivotal, pivotal figure in
the life and career of Jason Jenkins, Tony Wiley. That's
next here on the Draft Time podcast, brought to you
by Auto Nation, continuing our look at the life and
legacy of the late great Jason Jenkins. I am thrilled

(45:21):
to be joined today by Tony Wiley. Tony is the
CEO of the Collective Engine. He's worked in various capacities
throughout the National Football League, including crossing paths with our dear,
dear friend, Jason Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Tony, welcome in and thank you for your time today.

Speaker 5 (45:34):
Sir, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
We're very happy to have you on.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
And we were just kind of spitball before we hit
the record button here, and I just find it funny
because I know and talking about when you first cross
pass with Jason. The story you told me was just
so on brand for who Jason was and what he
stood for. Can you just kind of revisit that with
us for our audience. Here about when you first came
across Jason and those first couple of interactions.

Speaker 8 (45:58):
Absolutely, I'm the head PR director for the for the
Tennessee Titans, and you know we just moved next long
ago from Houston. You know, Jason and I his hometown.
We go from Houston, and he was working at mom
a lot of Texas Southern University in marketing and Lo bohol.
As soon as he called me, I'm like, wait a minute,
why do you guys call me now? I want I

(46:21):
never heard from you. I want some swag. I want
I want information, you know what's going on?

Speaker 6 (46:28):
And he just he just was a pause on the phone.

Speaker 5 (46:30):
He says, no, no problems to wise it.

Speaker 8 (46:33):
The next day a box was delivered overnight to my office,
whole bunch of Texas Southern swag, whole bunch of differently
everything I wanted he delivered and I didn't have to
wait either.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
It was the very next day.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Apologies for giving my own testimonial here, but I have
two similar stories.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
One one day, I was.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Sitting out a Dolphins training camp and I was like,
I need some more Dolphins swag. He just comes over
and gives me a credit card and goes go to
the team store. Don't go crazy, but go ahead and
get yourself fitted with a bunch of stuff because I
was doing and on camera stuff.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
And another one was I told him.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
About my kids having a career day at my wife's
school with my kids, and next thing I know, I've
got a box of like dolphins pencils and all the
accouture mom for the kids to pass out on that day.
So he was so on top of that type of stuff,
and I'm just I guess, I'm curious to hear how
you guys' relationship developed from there, because I mean, he's
such a special guy, Tony, and everyone has their own unique,

(47:24):
you know story about Jason, But how did your guys
relationship develop from that point forward.

Speaker 5 (47:29):
I'm proud to say that I was one of his mentors.

Speaker 8 (47:31):
I mean a couple of years later, actually had a
chance to move back to Houston to work with the Texans.
That was one of the first hires and by him
will be out of Texas Southern. I was at all
the games and he would always just you know, we
would bounce ideas off each other in a tight friendship.
Kind of form to the point where I was. I
was a groomsman in his wedding and we just became

(47:55):
really really close. And Jason had a unique way of
making everyone feel importan and that's why he was so
well respected. And Kurt Reynolds, who I worked with the RAMS,
we worked together at the RAMS. He's another close friend
of line. And when he called me and said, I
have a position open, who do you recommend? And without hesitation,

(48:17):
I recommended to Jason. And to this day he still
thanks me for that recommendation because he said Jason was
probably winning enough the best higher as he.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
Made no doubt.

Speaker 8 (48:27):
Oh sorry and sorry Jason, just he just goes above
them beyond period. I mean, it makes everyone, makes everyone
look good.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
He was the kind of guy that made you feel
like there was forty eight hours in a day, right
like the way he works, man, I mean, can you
can you kind of touch on that because I'm sure
you noticed it from early days, right like you don't
you don't put yourself in the position Jason did without
differentiating yourself in certain ways, and that work ethic was
a big part of that work.

Speaker 5 (48:54):
Ethic was huge, but so was his professionalism.

Speaker 8 (48:58):
I mean, I think I'm surprised he can do the
bike race with his suit on because he always had
a suit. We always tease him. All our peers were
teasing and he had a suit. So we'll have we'll
have zoom calls, we address casual and all of a sudden,
Jason has his suit on and we laughing because like, yeah,
that's typical Jason.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
It is so funny.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
And it's South Florida too, and like July, he would
just be out there wearing the sweat man, wearing the
heat and he put a smile on through the whole
Tech never complained about it one time. That's that's so
good to hear. And speaking of your guys' connection, Tony,
I pulled up your your headshot on your website and
I was like, interesting, purple shirt, purple pocket square, a
little bit of purple and the tie. There must have

(49:38):
been a bond that was Jason too, because as you know,
you know, addressed to the nines for Jason Day.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
We all wear purple around here.

Speaker 6 (49:43):
Man.

Speaker 5 (49:44):
Well, I'm a big Prince fan, so that's where that
comes from from.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
Prince I think he was too right.

Speaker 6 (49:49):
Yes, yes, yes, that's so.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
Good, so good so Tony back on on topic here
a little bit more. You know, we just had our
event and the fieldhouse for Special Olympics with the rookie
class here, and you know, as I'm sitting there kind
of watching this all go down with the big smile
on my face, I see all the shirts in the
at the event they all have the Football Unite's logo on.
I'm like, that's that's where you just realize that Jason,

(50:12):
you know, touched so many different you know, communities and
walks of life in South Florida and across the country.
And just got this big smile on my face thinking
about Jason's legacy, you know, community changing the lives of
people around him, and you talk about how he made
everyone feel special. But I was hoping if you could
just maybe talk a little bit about your guys a
shared passion for community, but also in particular the athletes

(50:33):
at the Special Olympics.

Speaker 8 (50:35):
Well was three For three years, I was president of
Special Olympics North America, and I remember we came down
to Miami for a couple of events and lo and
behold's the first person I see. There's Jason and that
Football Unite sas that was not just a slogan. That's
the way he lived, that's what he believed in. That
was his passion. And that's why so many people are

(50:55):
really just hurt when he when he passed on, because
the impact.

Speaker 5 (50:58):
That he made not only in my in Miami but
around the nation.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
That was Jason every day, right.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
I mean, it's the way you could find Jason at
like when when he passed, you know, obviously one of
the worst honestly, Tony, one of the worst days of
my life when I when I heard about that. But
what was cool was seeing all the different stories that
people had, right, and it was from every walk of
life you could imagine. Was that something that was I
mean obviously it was, but I'm curious if you could

(51:27):
just touch on how you felt that from Jason very
early on in his career.

Speaker 5 (51:31):
Oh, no question, no question.

Speaker 8 (51:32):
I mean I think the first week after he was
hired at San Francisco and I tell you called me
and thank me.

Speaker 5 (51:40):
It's a man. This guy's amazing. And I told him,
I said, I told you you know, said I told you.

Speaker 8 (51:45):
So, because he showed it everywhere he went. I mean,
he went above and beyond. He didn't just do the
status quo. You know, I said I was a mentor
to him, but at some point I used to call
him for advice. It turned into him made a mentor
for me because there are some situations that I had
to deal with here in Washington and lo behole, I

(52:06):
called him to bounce some ideas off.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
And that's that's our relationship. I mean, I loved him
to death.

Speaker 6 (52:11):
I mean I was a.

Speaker 5 (52:12):
Groomsman in his wedding. We were very close.

Speaker 8 (52:14):
With a tight bond, and I just knew whenever I
needed him, he was there for me, and that's something
I'll never forget.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
Yeah, speaking of that, our CEO here, Tom Garfinkle, talked
a little bit about his crisis management, right, because you
talk about when you would go to him for things,
and that mentorship kind of went both ways. One of
the most impressive things about Jason was how calm he
was under pressure, right, And that's something we talk about
with football players, but Jason, you know, had that in
his role as well in a football organization. Did you

(52:42):
get a sense of that pretty early on in his
working and his working.

Speaker 8 (52:45):
Absolutely, he was really no matter how we call it,
being a tea bag, you you.

Speaker 5 (52:50):
Work when you work when the water gets hot.

Speaker 8 (52:53):
And he was very very steady, very steady, never too high,
never too low, but one word dependable. He was dependable.
And he was very very respecting and he and he
gave you respect. So, I mean, he was just a
remarkable man. He loved his family and he was just

(53:14):
he was just someone who was an example that everyone
could look to to become.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Yeah, that's a great way to put it. And I'll
close with this Tony with you here. We got Tony
Wiley on here talking about the life and legacy of
Jason Jenkins, the you know self or not self described
We described him as the heart and soul of the
Dolphins organization for so many years. I'm just wondering if
you have a story about Jason that you know, whether
it's a funny personal anecdote a professional thing. I talked
to Liz, you know, his his wife, a couple of

(53:41):
weeks ago for the show, and we talked about he
posted on the Super Bowl when Snoop Dogg performed. He
was loving that performance, he was feeling it. He was
dancing with the girls, you know, and and posting on
social media.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
So there was a goofy side to him.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
As well, which he can certainly you know, attached to
his kids and and uh and younger people that way.
I'm curious if you have a personal story about Jason
that kind of speaks to who he was.

Speaker 8 (54:04):
I was honored to kind of, I guess, introduce him.
He spoke he got an award at Texas Tech and
they and they recorded me to say a few words
about him, and I want to share what I told him.
I said, Jason, people don't know he's a great dancer.
I remember at his wedding and his reading reception, We're
all having a great time.

Speaker 5 (54:24):
And Jason was really shaking a leg. I remember, like
I was like, whoa where did this come from?

Speaker 8 (54:29):
He was a great dancer, and that's something that's something
that many people knew.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
And shit, you know what's funny about that is I
was talking to Liz about a story when he was
he was at a roller rin for an event we
had here, and the man could not stand on roller skates.
But so it's kind of a funny juxtaposition of how
he was trying to escape versus you know, the coordination
and athletic the boy that goes with dancing, but that
that all tracks Tony, I really appreciate your time today.
He is Tony while he CEO of the Collective Engine,

(54:57):
and you heard him say it, the one of the
mentors of Jayson. So Tony, we appreciate your time so
much today and thank you for all the love for Jason.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
We appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (55:05):
Thank you, Jason always will.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
And there you go.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
I think if there was ever a time to go,
like Joe Rogan length on the Draft Time Podcast, it's
for the man who was pretty much solely responsible for
the Draft Time Podcast becoming a thing, in Jason Jenkins.
So Pro Football Hall of Fame Awards of Excellence twenty
twenty four inductee Jason Jenkins, the man.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
I mean, you heard me talk about it.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
I could do a whole nother hour myself on personal
stories with Jason, but I wanted to just leave it
at that with three very very important figures in his
life and his career with Liz, Tom and Tony. So
a big thank you to all of them. And check
out our Companion podcast here with Dave Hack and Nat Moore,
which is also available wherever you get your podcast. Right now,
We're going to come back on Friday and continue our

(55:49):
summer series, breaking down another division, and talking to more
Dolphins players here on the show. So back to the
regularly schedule programming ahead here on Drift Time. In the meantime,
you all please be sure subscribe, rate, review all of
that fun stuff. Check me out on social at WINFLD, NFL,
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel
for Dolphins HQ, Draft time content, media availabilities, and so

(56:11):
much more. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Until next time, fins up Carolina and Cameron Daddy's coming Home.