May 23, 2025 • 37 mins
Seth Franco's remarkable journey from basketball prodigy to physical rehabilitation warrior captivates in this deeply moving episode of The Klimb. Touring around the world as a member of the iconic Harlem Globetrotters, Seth's meteoric rise in professional basketball came to an abrupt halt when doctors discovered he had been born with hip dysplasia. By age 23, this undiagnosed condition had caused the joint deterioration of an 80-year-old, requiring both hips to be replaced.
Facing the devastating loss of his professional career, Seth made a pivotal decision that would define his recovery and future: "I focused on what I could do, not what I couldn't." This mindset shift became the foundation of his rehabilitation journey—a progression he now teaches others through his ministry called Stand, Walk, Run. The philosophy is beautifully simple yet profound: stand for who you want to be, take small daily steps toward your goals, and ultimately run after something meaningful that extends beyond yourself.
Seth draws powerful parallels between basketball and life's challenges, noting that "life is like a basketball—when it's filled with the right thing, the harder you push it down, the higher it soars back up." His candid reflections on fatherhood reveal how he's applying the lessons from his athletic journey to family life, learning that true toughness isn't about projecting strength but about caring for those you love.
Perhaps most compelling is Seth's hard-earned wisdom about the disconnect between feelings and reality: "Sometimes you don't feel good, but you're actually doing great." His story reminds us that our greatest accomplishments often come during our most difficult moments—when we push through discomfort to do what matters most.
Subscribe and join us on The Klimb as we continue to explore stories of resilience, faith, and the human spirit. Follow Adrian Branch at AdrianBranchSpeaks.com or on social media @AdrianBranchSpeaks.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
you.
Hi everybody, I'm Adrian Branchand welcome to another episode
of the Climb, a show thatcelebrates the resilience of men
and women and how they'veovercome what it took.
What's their mindset?
You know there's a saying thatyou beat resistance with
persistence and it takes guts toleave the ruts.
Now, I know those are rhymingwords, but it's something to
(00:57):
hang your hat on.
And this show wants to dig downdeep on really the low lights
and what it took to be ahighlight.
Because, if you think about it,in our society and I'm guilty
of this too we always take ourbest picture.
We want to show our better side.
I remember one time going for ajob, a resume, and I had my
(01:18):
resume and one of my mentorssaid no, no, another word for
resume is a brag sheet Show, allthe highlights.
Well, with this show, we wantto show you what it took to
overcome, and today's guest isjust fantastic.
You're going to enjoy his story.
He is a real winner.
If this was a movie, he'd bethe good guy that you're pulling
(01:41):
for to come out the chaos.
His name is Seth Franco.
He's from the East Coast, greatguy from New York.
He's got an amazing story.
He was a professional athleteand life turned around quickly
at 19 years old, where he hadhis own challenges.
So I'm looking forward to youguys enjoying Seth Seth.
Welcome to the show, good man.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Hey, what's up, AB?
It's good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Man, now, before we go any further, I got to touch
your New York card.
I'm going to tease you here.
You got to tell me which one.
What are your teams?
Jets and Giants or Yankees, andthat other team in the Mets
what are your teams?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
That's an easy question.
You already know the answerit's the Knicks and the.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Mets.
Ah, there we go, boy, you'reeasy to love, easy to love.
Well, seth, again, thanks forcoming on.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Man, tell us your story, tell us about how you got
your start up there in thegreat Northeast.
Well, my story is real simple.
It's just about trying totackle what's in front of you.
And I didn't know that I wasborn with hip dysplasia.
And so my whole life trying toplay basketball, trying to
pursue my dream, not realizingthat I had a bigger challenge
and one day I would have abigger dream, which is just to
(02:58):
be a healthy man who couldprovide for a family, who could
walk and be strong on his own.
So as I pursued basketball, Iran into the bigger challenge,
and the bigger challenge was howto overcome a physical
disability.
If you don't know what hipdysplasia is, it's improper bone
structure in your hips, and Ididn't know that I was born with
(03:20):
hip dysplasia.
So it was something that Idiscovered as I chased my
basketball dream.
I found out that I had a biggerchallenge waiting for me than
sports.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So the hip dysplasia basically is like a ball in the
socket and for many years it wasjust out of socket but you
never knew that because you walkwith what many people thought
was a pimp or a gate and youstill had a lot of pain through
all of that.
Was a pimp or a?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
gait and you still had a lot of pain through all of
that.
Yeah, so hip dysplasia can comein a number of different forms.
Mine was a minor case of hipdysplasia, and they say that the
minor cases of hip dysplasiaare actually the worst because
they go undetected.
And so mine was more of aformation, improper formation.
So at the age of 25, they saidthat I had the deterioration in
(04:05):
the joint of an 80 year oldperson and so I was slowly
losing the ability to walk.
I was tearing my own cartilagein my hips.
Most people born with a normalcase of hip dysplasia they're
diagnosed as an infant and theycan wear braces that help form
their bones while they're youngand so that they can walk
healthy and strong.
I've met people born with hipdysplasia who didn't even know
(04:26):
they had dysplasia.
Someone had to tell them.
When you were younger, you worebraces that can change your
bone structure for you.
I never had that.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, let's go back to this before, because I know
at 19 a lot of things werehappening and life was moving
fast.
But before that, where did youdevelop that love of the game
for basketball and for sports,and what was your background
growing up to get you to thatopportunity of playing pro
basketball?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Well, my family was a sports family.
My dad was an all-state athletein New York.
We grew up playing all kinds ofsports.
Basketball was kind of what weloved, and we just grew up
watching Michael Jordan beat theKnicks every year.
So it was just.
You know, I would just leaveand go down the block whenever
it was the fourth quarter and wewere playing the Bulls.
(05:16):
I would just lower the rim andstart dunking and playing
basketball with my brother.
So we grew up during the 90s,you know a really great time to
watch basketball and to dream,and so I just had a dream of
playing basketball, fell in lovewith it, loved playground
basketball being from LongIsland in New York and just you
(05:37):
know, that was my outlet.
That's what kept me healthy andstrong, that's how I felt good
about myself, and I just spent alot of time training playing.
That was my focus when I wasyoung.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now from the great state of New York, like you're
saying in Long Island, let'sjump into it right there, 19,
because life was happening fastfor you.
You had an opportunity to starin a movie, but there were so
many decisions that you had tomake.
Tell us about that in yourmindset at 19.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Sure, I went from playing playground basketball to
be scouted for a Universalmovie.
I was on a streetball team andit was right after the big Nike
freestyle commercial came outand there was a buzz about New
York City basketball.
I got invited to the tryout andI'm I think I missed one shot
in a two-hour tryout.
(06:29):
Um, and I all my, all my movesare on point.
I'm really kind of.
Obviously I'm, you know, oldernow and I'm 46.
When I was 19 I was a flashylittle point guard and I just
had a quiet confidence aboutmyself and Malcolm Lee, spike
Lee's cousin, the director, justfell in love with me and my
character and offered me thelead role in a Rucker Park movie
(06:51):
after watching me play forthree days.
I remember at one point duringthe tryout they just cleared off
the main court and asked me tojust show whatever I could do
with basketball.
And I had two basketballs and Iwas just doing all kinds of
crossovers, handling the balllike you would with one, but
with two and just going up anddown, and one camera came out of
(07:13):
the crowd.
Two, three, four cameras cameout after they cleared it and
they just worked me out until Icouldn't breathe anymore.
They just had me showingeverything I could do and it was
just a fun ride.
The movie got two weeks awayfrom being filmed.
We were gonna start going intotraining and film the movie for
Rucker and the movie got droppedand someone from the movie was
(07:35):
personal friends with Kenny the.
Jeff Smith from the HoustonRockies and Kenny recommended me
to the Harlem Globetrotters andso I went to the Harlem
Globetrotters off of the movieand went to the tryout.
It was a 10-day tryout, sixhours a day.
Every single day.
They were cutting one player.
Wow it was between me.
Yeah, it came down to betweenme and Pat the Rock.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Oh, okay, back then we were both young guys, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And they offered me a contract and I was one of the
star ball handlers that year forthe Globetrotters.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Now the interesting thing.
So the movie got dropped.
Did you have time to even feelheartbroken?
Or it was within 48 hours thatall of a sudden you get another
call, and here's a historicmoment.
Not only is it the HarlemGlobetrotters, but you say even
in your bio you were the firstCaucasian to play for the
(08:28):
Globetrotters.
Did you know it was such ahistoric moment at that time?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
No, I really didn't.
I was just excited to be havingthe opportunity to be a part of
something with rucker park.
I got to meet, uh, peewee kennyall the nba all-stars peewee
kirkland yeah yeah.
So I was just kind of like adeer in headlights because I was
just a streetball player, um,and it did happen real fast.
(08:56):
I went from the movie tryoutthe Harlem Wizards in New York
City helped me out and threw meon a team and, off of my tryout,
had me playing while I waswaiting to hear from the
Globetrotters.
And then I went to theGlobetrotters yeah, it was just
like a whirlwind from a movietryout to the Globetrotters.
I ended up touring the worldwith them and playing Curly
(09:20):
Neal's position, which was funnybecause when I was a young kid
that was my idol growing up.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So, to say the least, you had a slick handle.
You were real slick with it.
So this is interesting to me,seth.
So right now you're the toastof the town.
You have the highlight, you'reon a historic team and I'm
familiar with that a little bitbecause of the Lakers and
Showtime with Magic and Kareembefore, shaq and Kobe and LeBron
(09:47):
and Anthony Davis now.
So I'm familiar with a historicteam.
But here's my question to youAll of a sudden, you go from the
toast of the town to beingtoasted because that hip
dysplasia started to disruptyour athletic career yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So I had a lot of times where my left leg was
borrowing me quite a bit.
I thought that, um, it was ahip flexor issue because I
dunked off that foot.
I wasn't like a high flyerdunker, but I played above the
rim off one set.
So I thought you know, I wasalways finishing up high with
guys and bodying them andfloating the ball and stuff and
throwing oops and I just thoughtit was a hip flexor strain.
(10:28):
And then it became real serious.
Then it started to catch, so Ithought it was something with
cartilage.
I was just scared to tellanybody what I didn.
Started to catch, so I thoughtit was something with cartilage.
I was just scared to tellanybody.
What I didn't realize is I hada problem with both legs.
Oh, the one that was botheringme was so bad I couldn't even
feel the pain in my right leg.
Uh.
So what happened was a fewdifferent times.
My left leg started to lock up,started to bother me and catch
(10:51):
and I could kind of tweak oradjust it, uh-huh yeah, and then
we we were playinginternationally.
Um, I know, one time when wewere after touring and playing
on the bulls floor, I got calledinto an ESPN interview and it
gave me two days off where Ijust traveled and and talked and
(11:12):
hung out and I you know, it wasjust the timing like saved me.
And then the next time around Ididn't get saved from it, my
leg the next time it caught andbothered me.
A few games later we were inParis, in France, and I just
couldn't play.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
So eventually that led to you needing both hips
replaced in the middle of yourcareer.
You're a young guy, so at thetime, how old are you, seth,
when all of this, when the newsbreaks Because you say in your
story that you went to 10different doctors and no one
could find the actual problemand you were in a lot of pain,
(11:50):
tell us about that one.
How did you deal with the pain?
Because I know, as an athlete,there's one thing with sore and
then there's one thing with thatpersistent pain that's hard to
shake.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
That's exactly what it was, ab.
I had such a high tolerance forpain I didn't understand how
serious my problem was.
When I finally saw the doctorsthat got it figured out.
I was at the Hospital ofSpecial Surgeries in New York
City and they basically told meyou have to have both of your
hips replaced.
It's not your left leg that'sbothering you.
(12:22):
Both of your hips have to bereplaced and you're going to
have to learn how to walk.
And you've got a new challengeyou no longer have clearance for
professional sports.
Life is bigger than just asport.
You've got to work hard now tobe able to walk.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Wow, wow.
Now this is my go ahead, goahead, sal.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I'm sorry.
I heard that coming off thetour, so it was very like from
one thing.
You know, I went from playingprofessional basketball in one
day to being told I no longerhave clearance, I have to have a
major surgery, and you know nowit's time to get help.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
How old were you at the time?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
23.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So you're a young guy , you're 23 years old, and this
is what this story is all aboutthe climb, because we want to go
right there to the low lives,to the low points, to celebrate
the high points.
I want to ask you, when youhear that 23 years old, 23 man,
you're not even in your primeyet and you're rocking and
rolling and you are just gettingit on as an athlete how did
(13:28):
that affect your physical man?
The physical man needed twohips.
How did that affect youremotional man and your spirit
man?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
because we're tripod, being a physical, spiritual and
emotional yeah, I mean thatyear I had been on the floor
with kobe bryant, lebron jamesto william wade, alan iverson,
guys that I idolized with, andnow we were on the same court in
different events, differentareas, different games.
And then I went to being alonein a hospital and, you know,
(14:01):
having nurses and doctors helpedme try to figure out how to
walk um, my head was justspinning but, you know, when I
was growing up my dad was apastor and I knew all about okay
, knew God had a plan for mylife.
I had dedicated my life to Godand, you know, I put my faith in
(14:22):
Jesus and I think some of thestruggle that I began to face
was at what point was that goingto become something real and
challenging to me as anindividual, not just something
my family believed as anindividual, not just something
my family believed.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Let me dig down there because I think, seth,
personally, in my own experience, I think self-talk is
everything.
We can have so many attributes,but it's that self-talk when no
one's around and the four wallsare your mind, when you're in
that wheelchair and life isadjusted and you can't go back
to being what was it?
(14:55):
Hot and fresh, that was yourname with the Globetrotters
right, hot and fresh.
You can't be hot and freshanymore.
What was your self-talk whennobody was around?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
You know what?
To be honest, what reallychanged everything for me was I
just started focusing on what Icould do.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Oh boy, that's good.
Wow, that's a slam dunk stuff.
Say that one again.
You focused on what you coulddo.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, the big, the big turnaround for me where I
just realized, look, there's nogoing back to what I had before.
So the big turnaround for mewas when I focused on what I
could do, not what I couldn't,not what I lost, you know, not
(15:44):
all the things I wish I wasdoing at the moment.
What can I do right now?
Well, for a while it was I canstand up, I can't walk yet.
I can't run yet.
I can't jump, I can't play, Ican't jump, I can't play.
If I stay too focused on what Idid in my past, I'm going to
lose sight of reality and I'vegot a big challenge in front of
me.
(16:05):
You know, when we coach, right,let's get comfortable and get on
the court.
In our mind, when you're reallycoaching a player, you want
them to understand all thepieces that are on the floor.
How many times is there a greatshooter on the court and you've
got to teach a new guy whomaybe doesn't understand how
good that player is?
I had to stop one of mypractices one time and say you
(16:25):
realize you just Did not passthe ball to the third leading
scorer in the nation, right?
A great shooter was wide openand you decided to do something
fancy look him off.
No, all the pieces you know havecourt vision.
Don't get caught up that youdon't understand what you can do
.
What can this team do?
Know what pieces are on thecourt and get strong.
(16:47):
And um, that's what I had to dopersonally.
I had to say, okay, what?
What parts of me had to say,okay, what?
What parts of me are nationallyranked?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
oh, where am I strong ?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
well, I don't care about what anybody thinks and
that's what my whole life wasright with basketball.
I'm not six foot six, I'm notthe you know most muscular guy.
Back then I might not be thefastest, but I actually don't
care what anybody thinks, and Ijust could get out on the court
and run the point like it was.
The whole team was mine.
Let me so I had to go ahead Ihad to take that kind of
(17:25):
attitude and be like OK, I'mdown right now, I've lost
everything, but I don't carewhat anybody thinks.
I'm going to find out what Ican do and I'm going to listen
to my doctors and they'retelling me I can stand, even if
it hurts.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
So I'm going to start standing.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Oh, I like that one every day.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I'm going to get that W every day.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And then once I start walking now I'm walking.
Well, how far did you say Icould walk, cause I'm going to
walk that far?
You said I could do it.
Yeah, well, it might be hard.
Not everybody can do it I'm noteverybody, and I don't care
what anybody else thinks.
I'm going to do what I can doand there were times where I
started to achieve more.
I remember when I finally firststarted getting to running
right and I couldn't quite runand I was getting so frustrated
(18:10):
and I had to go back and remindmyself my first W is standing.
In the mornings.
How I'd get through theworkouts is I can't focus on how
hard it is going to be when Iget to the track today.
Right now I'm in my bedroom andI got to focus on standing up
(18:30):
and then I'm going to walk, thenI'm going to work on my walking
routine and my strength and bythen I'll be strong enough to
try to run again and takeanother step forward.
But there were days where mylegs would swell.
I'd take ice baths, I'd backoff again and then I'd get back
up and be like man, I can't dothat again.
It was too hard and I'd have tosay hold up.
It's not hard for me to standbecause I already conquered that
(18:50):
.
So I'm not going to get soemotionally overwhelmed with
where I want to go with myvictory in the day that I don't
get started.
Someone once said you don'thave to be great to get started,
but you do have to get startedif you want to be great.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I like that one.
So, Seth, let me ask you thisDid you have a strong network?
Your dad is a pastor.
Did you have a lot of people inyour ear that are saying
attaboy, attaboy, keep going,don't quit?
Who was your accountability orwho helped you keep your compass
pointed north, or your personof faith that you were just
looking towards jesus?
What helped you get throughthat moment?
(19:24):
Those moments?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
when I look back, I realized it was my dad when I
was younger.
You know, whenever I had aconfrontation with a player or
there was a challenge in frontof me, a tryout trying to pursue
my goal, he would always sayyou could compete with anybody.
That was it.
And then he would just say Idon't ever want to see you hang
(19:47):
your head low.
You're never ashamed ofanything you do, even if you
mess up.
I remember when I was in theseventh grade playing in a
varsity game.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
Seventh grade varsity.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I could handle the ball real good and I handled the
press, but on this one play Imessed up.
I shot an air ball and I hungmy head and my dad took me right
after the game and said I don'tever want to see you hang your
head ever again, no matter whatyou do, no matter what you're
proud of what you do, becauseyou're the only seventh grader
out there with 12th graders,that's right.
(20:20):
So.
So I kind of had that that coreput in me of like, hey, yeah, I
might mess up, but I'm trying.
It's easy to make fun ofsomeone who's trying.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Let me ask you why you're right there, Seth.
What have you learned in thisfor the listeners?
What's the biggest lessonyou've learned from failure?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
The biggest thing I've learned from failure is
just how much we need God.
He's that same voice.
That's where my dad got thatvoice from right.
My dad was a mechanic who had aheart and wanted to become a
pastor and didn't have a lot ofmoney and we were struggling.
We were a poor family, but hehad to have that attitude of I'm
(21:05):
going to hold my head up.
I never felt ashamed about ourfamily.
I never felt ashamed about whatwe had.
I actually felt great about it.
You know, I think God is thatthat's the same heart God
carries for us.
And sometimes let's be honest,ab sometimes our greatest W is
(21:28):
when we choose to go down a road.
We know we might lose, but wedon't want someone else to walk
alone, so we go with them.
You know, anybody could play asafe game.
Anybody could play a safe gameLike Jesus.
His life is so special.
You know, take him outside ofreligion, step, even if it's I
(21:51):
don't mean to be disrespectful,but even step outside of faith
for a minute.
And let's not be spiritual.
Let's just look at the life ofJesus as a figure and the some
of the stats and some of thegame and some of the things he
brings when he steps out on thecourt.
You can trust that he'll neverlet you play alone.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Now, with you having so much experience coming up and
pulling yourself back up.
I love where I read that nowyou have your own talks and
ministry, where you have aministry called Stand, Walk and
Run, run.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Tell us about that one yeah, um, really kind of
tying all that together it'd be.
It's just what I've learnedthrough through my challenge,
from my dad reminding me to keepmy head up, to god being the
lifter of my head during thetime when I lost the ability to
walk and had to learn how tostand.
(22:52):
And really the whole challengein the talk for Stand, Walk, Run
is stand for who you want to be.
I wanted to be someone whocould work and provide for a
family and use my body like Idid in sports but in life.
Right, I wanted to be someonewho could walk.
Again, Stand for who you wantto be.
(23:14):
Walk, Take small steps forwardto reach your goal.
So, every day, set some kind ofgoal, Be a goal setter that's
realistic, right in real time,in real life.
Set some goals that you knowyou can achieve and then be a
winner every day and build anappetite to win and watch that
(23:35):
appetite grow.
Become a winner and walksomewhere in life.
Don't stand still.
Move forward, even if it's asmall step.
Hey, everybody else might berunning, but you might not be at
that season.
That might not be your time torun, but it's not.
You might not be at that season.
That might not be your time torun, and so I had to watch other
guys that I even trained andhelp develop their game.
I watched them move on and playprofessionally when I had to
(23:59):
lose my career and step back andlearn how to stand and then
eventually, part of the dreamyou know stand, walk.
Run After you do everything tobe who you can be.
Run after something great inlife.
Run after you do everything tobe who you can be.
Run after something great inlife.
Run after somebody else whoneeds you Be a part of something
that really matters.
Right.
Every great superhero in everymovie that you love, it's not
(24:20):
someone being selfish.
It's someone that finally getsto the pivotal point in the
movie where they let go ofwhat's best for themselves and
they become what a true hero is,which is looking out and loving
and playing the game forsomeone else.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Let me ask you this one, seth as a dad, as a leader,
as a motivational speaker andinfluencer what are the areas
where you and me like sometimesit'd be like boy me and my big
mouth I got to practice what Ipreach?
Where's an area where youreally have to practice what you
preach?
(24:56):
Getting stinking, thinking offyour back?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I know right now, just in real life, I'm a dad of
five, my wife and I.
I work with a roofing companyand I'm a project manager and a
lot of times I come home and I'mI'm not, you know, seth franco
speaking somewhere, seth francocoaching somewhere.
I'm dad and, uh, the biggestthing I I'm working on right now
(25:26):
is really listening to my wifeabout some of the things that
make me a better dad.
So we started talking and wehad this funny conversation.
I said, babe, she's justtalking to me about being calm
and peaceful and notpassive-aggressive, not not
being a thermometer, but beingthe thermostat.
You know, if I get so hot,stirred up because kids aren't
(25:49):
behaving right in the thermostat, you know if I get so hot,
stirred up because kids aren'tbehaving right.
She's telling me some of thisstuff, ab, and I go where did
you learn this from?
And she goes I taught myselfand read books and learned.
And I said I want to learn, Iwant some books.
And, ab, she looks at me andpoints over to a part of our
shelf in our living room and Igo what's that?
(26:10):
She goes those are your books.
I said what she said I boughtyou those books and I've asked
you to read some of them foryears.
Oh my goodness and so I've beenstarting to read some of the
books, and you know books likeemotional he motions- oh, okay,
that that doesn't jive with hotand fresh and having to
(26:31):
represent from new york.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You got to be tender and gentle and since you're
preaching to the choir, I'mtrying to work on apologizing
when I need to apologize.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah, yeah I'm finding a lot of strength in
that, you know, just coming tomy young guys that I love so
much my sons and just saying,hey, I'm sorry.
Like you know, I love you, I'mtrying to support you, I'm not,
I'm not trying to do anythingelse.
You know, one day my one sonkind of stepped to me a little
bit and I said, hey, don't,don't ever step to me, it don't
(27:04):
make me feel I don't want tointimidate anybody in this house
.
I want to intimidate anybody inthis house, I want to love and
support everybody.
And he looked at me and it madesuch a difference to him wow to
to not do that passive,aggressive thing like, hey, you
know, I understand in the worldas men, right, sometimes we have
to carry ourselves a certainway to feel like we're
(27:24):
protecting the ones we love.
But I think it's, I think it'sreally important in the house
yes, for the men in my houseleast to feel like it's
different when we're homeThermometer.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Is that what you're talking about?
I'm trying to be a thermostat,thermostat.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
And not just read the temperature of what's going on
outside.
But let's set somethingdifferent in here.
How about in here?
There's no one trying to.
You know, challenge you.
I'm trying to support you wowyou know, what do I need?
what do I need to do to make youyour best, just like when we
work out?
Sometimes I'll stop the workoutand we'll just get real and say
(28:01):
hey, I know I'm coming at youright now.
Do you want me to keep comingat you or you want me to back
off?
Can you handle this?
Because actually I'm about todig into you more.
I'd actually like to get up inyour space.
I want to challenge you, but Idon't know if your attitude can
handle it.
Would you like to go there,because I'm about to step up the
flame yes, you think you could.
Can you handle the flame?
(28:21):
Or you want me to lower it?
And any real athlete will lookat you with respect and be like
please bring the flame.
Coach, you're 100 right.
What do you want me to work on?
What do you got?
And we start to get that bondand and really to stay with the
question you were asking for me,what I'm trying to get off that
that negative thinking, is,when I get in my flesh like a
tough guy, I don't get a toughguy.
(28:43):
Um, there's a difference between, you know, trying to be a tough
guy and being a tough guy oh,explain that one you know, and
so just being tough is takingcare of the ones you love oh, I
like that one what you gotta doevery boy, I like that one.
Good go ahead, steph, that'sgood stuff yeah, for me it just
comes down to what I'm doingright.
(29:05):
So I'm playing a different typeof sport.
It's the dad sport.
We have this joke in my housewhere I'll just say hey guys,
look, if I'm being cheesy or ifI'm getting grumpy on you, just
know I'm dadding right now, likeI'm just dadding.
I'm going to talk to you aboutstuff that you don't want to
talk about.
I'm going to be the guy whosays things you don't want to
hear, but I'm dadding, and justknow that's what I'm doing.
(29:27):
And using my body now is such aprivilege.
Right, I've been able to walkagain, I can play again.
But really the bigger thing isI can work and I can take care
of my family and I can provide aspace where my wife, who's been
through so much in her past,can now give birth to the
ministry and the business thatGod's called her to do With
(29:48):
influencing women throughhomeschooling and through the
media stuff she does.
And it goes back to what thereal W is, ab.
I mean, who are we really right?
When you get on the court andyou get those five guys that
want to win, they understandthat it's not about them and
you're actually playing the gameto make the guy next to you
better and in the familysituation or whatever you want.
(30:12):
However you want to say it.
Sometimes I think for us guysit's hard for us to figure out
how we do that.
How do I?
How do I?
I'm a man, I'm strong, I amaggressive Wedge buster.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
You're ready to take the hill?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, but what about everybody else who's with me?
How do I make them better?
How do I take care of thatyoung kid who's scared of the
world, who's not as strong as me, who's not as brave as me, who
doesn't got scared of me?
What am I going to do to be whoI'm supposed to be for this
(30:48):
person?
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Boy, that's believable.
Thank you, Seth.
Thank you for going there tooand even talking about that,
because, just on that note, Ijust believe there's nothing
stronger than gentleness.
You know, when they talk aboutcommunication, 55% is body
language, 38% is tone and 7% isactually words.
(31:12):
So 55%, if it's like how youdoing.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Come over here and give me a hug.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
And you're trying to be gentle.
That ain't going to work.
And then you know the tone, howwe talk to people, especially
in our own household.
That's not going to work.
And then the actual words.
So, man, thank you for goingthere.
Let me ask you this I love someof the quotes that you had, and
especially as you were goingthrough the ranks and you were
recovering to stand and walk,you one time said life is like a
(31:40):
basketball the more pressureyou put on it with character,
you can soar.
Tell us about that one whereyou said life is like a
basketball when you bounce it,it can come back up.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, I found myself while I was recovering and
getting my legs back.
I was doing a lot of speakingand sharing, even with kids
little kids and found myself atbasketball camps and all kinds
of church stuff with kids and Istarted using the basketball as
(32:16):
an example how, when it's filledwith the right thing, the
harder you push it down, thehigher it soars back up.
And it's just like in life whenlife pushes us down, if we're
filled with the right thing, webounce back.
But not every basketball willdo that right.
If it's not filled, if itdoesn't have what it needs on
the inside, it can't do what itwas created to do well just to
bounce back when it's pusheddown oh, I like that.
It's simple a lot of times yeah,a lot of times people come on I
(32:37):
mean we're real right, we'rehuman, ab.
I mean, what was it a day agowhere I didn't feel good about
myself?
You know, like we go throughups and downs.
Like I had a tough day theother day where I just wasn't
feeling good about myself andit's so great to be able to
think.
You know what hold up.
We get in this rut where whenI'm feeling good, I think I'm
doing good, when I'm feeling bad, I think I'm doing bad.
(32:59):
That's not real.
That's not real life.
That's what my injury taught mewas sometimes I feel bad, but
I'm actually doing really good,right but I'm actually doing
really good.
You know, sometimes I don't feelgood and my legs hurt, but I
still stand up and go to workand take care of my family.
I might not feel that good, butI'm actually doing really well.
You can't live based on thefeelings, right?
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yes, yes, what is truth, man?
Well, seth, you broke down somuch in such a short period of
time and it is so rich, and I'dlike to ask, before we let you
get out of here, what's onething you would tell our
audience to keep climbing, afterall you've been through and
(33:46):
your own story of heartbreak andpotholes and obstacles what's
the one thing you'd want ourlisteners to know?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
to keep climbing.
Just what I shared with you.
Just feeling good doesn't meanyou're doing good.
Feeling bad doesn't mean you'redoing bad.
Ask God to show you and askpeople around you that you care
about and you trust how you'redoing.
Look at real life, not justyour feelings.
Sometimes you don't feel good,but you're doing great and
(34:22):
that's part of the climb.
I mean, if you want to justbreak it down to really climbing
right, isn't there a point?
I'm not a pro climber, okay butis there a point where you climb
, where you're climbingsomething, doing a workout.
We used to climb the laddersprint workout where you go one
sprint, three sprints, sixsprints, nine, eleven, then you
come all the way back down.
You gotta do more there's a timewhere you feel you feel like
(34:45):
you're doing bad, but you'reactually building greatness, wow
, you know.
So you can't listen to thefeelings.
Sometimes you don't feel likeyou're doing good, but you're
doing great, and I just want tochallenge you that god loves you
, um, that he sees you and he'sreal and you can ask god how am
I doing beautiful, beautiful,how do you think I'm doing?
(35:06):
Because I don't feel good.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
I don't feel good about you can ask God how am I
doing Beautiful how?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
do you think I'm doing Because I don't feel good?
I don't feel good about myself.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I don't know if I can do this, but what do you think
about me?
What am I doing?
And the easiest way to do that,too, is open up the Bible.
Read the Bible.
It's simple.
I mean love somebody.
Try to treat people the way youwant to be treated.
When you fall down and you makea mistake, get back up, forgive
yourself, because God alreadyforgave you.
(35:37):
Just because you're feeling baddoesn't mean you're doing bad
Matter of fact, I would arguethat sometimes the greatest
things you accomplish will bewhen you don't feel good, but
you do good.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Oh man, Drop the mic on that one.
New York style Drop the mic onthat one.
The mic is dropped.
Seth, that is so awesome.
Thank you so much.
Tell everyone where they canfind you if they're looking for
more information on Seth Franco.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
If you want to find me, you can find me chilling
with my kids, shooting hoops,swimming, just riding bikes in
the parking lot and working hardand as a speaker, where do they
find you if they want to bookyou to come in and speak and
tell your story?
If you want to connect with me,you can reach out to USA, yo,
and speak to them aboutorganizing an opportunity for me
(36:25):
to challenge and encouragesomebody.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Wow, seth, man, that is so rich, you touch so many
buckets.
I'm so grateful for you, man.
You're a colleague, you're abrother and you're a friend.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday.
Hey, ab, you know I'm honoredto be around you, man.
You're a legend, seth Franco,everybody and you know what.
(36:47):
If you want to hear more aboutus and what we're doing, head on
over to AdrianBranchSpeakscom.
Follow us again on social mediaat Adrian Branch Speaks and
download the Climb whereverpodcasts are available.
You guys are special.
You're awesome.
Thanks for your time today andwe want to tell you, for my
(37:09):
climbers be encouraged and keepclimbing.
We'll see you next time.
Everybody, you.
you.
Hi everybody, I'm Adrian Branchand welcome to another episode
of the Climb, a show thatcelebrates the resilience of men
and women and how they'veovercome what it took.
What's their mindset?
You know there's a saying thatyou beat resistance with
persistence and it takes guts toleave the ruts.
Now, I know those are rhymingwords, but it's something to
(00:57):
hang your hat on.
And this show wants to dig downdeep on really the low lights
and what it took to be ahighlight.
Because, if you think about it,in our society and I'm guilty
of this too we always take ourbest picture.
We want to show our better side.
I remember one time going for ajob, a resume, and I had my
(01:18):
resume and one of my mentorssaid no, no, another word for
resume is a brag sheet Show, allthe highlights.
Well, with this show, we wantto show you what it took to
overcome, and today's guest isjust fantastic.
You're going to enjoy his story.
He is a real winner.
If this was a movie, he'd bethe good guy that you're pulling
(01:41):
for to come out the chaos.
His name is Seth Franco.
He's from the East Coast, greatguy from New York.
He's got an amazing story.
He was a professional athleteand life turned around quickly
at 19 years old, where he hadhis own challenges.
So I'm looking forward to youguys enjoying Seth Seth.
Welcome to the show, good man.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Hey, what's up, AB?
It's good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Man, now, before we go any further, I got to touch
your New York card.
I'm going to tease you here.
You got to tell me which one.
What are your teams?
Jets and Giants or Yankees, andthat other team in the Mets
what are your teams?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
That's an easy question.
You already know the answerit's the Knicks and the.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Mets.
Ah, there we go, boy, you'reeasy to love, easy to love.
Well, seth, again, thanks forcoming on.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Man, tell us your story, tell us about how you got
your start up there in thegreat Northeast.
Well, my story is real simple.
It's just about trying totackle what's in front of you.
And I didn't know that I wasborn with hip dysplasia.
And so my whole life trying toplay basketball, trying to
pursue my dream, not realizingthat I had a bigger challenge
and one day I would have abigger dream, which is just to
(02:58):
be a healthy man who couldprovide for a family, who could
walk and be strong on his own.
So as I pursued basketball, Iran into the bigger challenge,
and the bigger challenge was howto overcome a physical
disability.
If you don't know what hipdysplasia is, it's improper bone
structure in your hips, and Ididn't know that I was born with
(03:20):
hip dysplasia.
So it was something that Idiscovered as I chased my
basketball dream.
I found out that I had a biggerchallenge waiting for me than
sports.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So the hip dysplasia basically is like a ball in the
socket and for many years it wasjust out of socket but you
never knew that because you walkwith what many people thought
was a pimp or a gate and youstill had a lot of pain through
all of that.
Was a pimp or a?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
gait and you still had a lot of pain through all of
that.
Yeah, so hip dysplasia can comein a number of different forms.
Mine was a minor case of hipdysplasia, and they say that the
minor cases of hip dysplasiaare actually the worst because
they go undetected.
And so mine was more of aformation, improper formation.
So at the age of 25, they saidthat I had the deterioration in
(04:05):
the joint of an 80 year oldperson and so I was slowly
losing the ability to walk.
I was tearing my own cartilagein my hips.
Most people born with a normalcase of hip dysplasia they're
diagnosed as an infant and theycan wear braces that help form
their bones while they're youngand so that they can walk
healthy and strong.
I've met people born with hipdysplasia who didn't even know
(04:26):
they had dysplasia.
Someone had to tell them.
When you were younger, you worebraces that can change your
bone structure for you.
I never had that.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, let's go back to this before, because I know
at 19 a lot of things werehappening and life was moving
fast.
But before that, where did youdevelop that love of the game
for basketball and for sports,and what was your background
growing up to get you to thatopportunity of playing pro
basketball?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Well, my family was a sports family.
My dad was an all-state athletein New York.
We grew up playing all kinds ofsports.
Basketball was kind of what weloved, and we just grew up
watching Michael Jordan beat theKnicks every year.
So it was just.
You know, I would just leaveand go down the block whenever
it was the fourth quarter and wewere playing the Bulls.
(05:16):
I would just lower the rim andstart dunking and playing
basketball with my brother.
So we grew up during the 90s,you know a really great time to
watch basketball and to dream,and so I just had a dream of
playing basketball, fell in lovewith it, loved playground
basketball being from LongIsland in New York and just you
(05:37):
know, that was my outlet.
That's what kept me healthy andstrong, that's how I felt good
about myself, and I just spent alot of time training playing.
That was my focus when I wasyoung.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now from the great state of New York, like you're
saying in Long Island, let'sjump into it right there, 19,
because life was happening fastfor you.
You had an opportunity to starin a movie, but there were so
many decisions that you had tomake.
Tell us about that in yourmindset at 19.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Sure, I went from playing playground basketball to
be scouted for a Universalmovie.
I was on a streetball team andit was right after the big Nike
freestyle commercial came outand there was a buzz about New
York City basketball.
I got invited to the tryout andI'm I think I missed one shot
in a two-hour tryout.
(06:29):
Um, and I all my, all my movesare on point.
I'm really kind of.
Obviously I'm, you know, oldernow and I'm 46.
When I was 19 I was a flashylittle point guard and I just
had a quiet confidence aboutmyself and Malcolm Lee, spike
Lee's cousin, the director, justfell in love with me and my
character and offered me thelead role in a Rucker Park movie
(06:51):
after watching me play forthree days.
I remember at one point duringthe tryout they just cleared off
the main court and asked me tojust show whatever I could do
with basketball.
And I had two basketballs and Iwas just doing all kinds of
crossovers, handling the balllike you would with one, but
with two and just going up anddown, and one camera came out of
(07:13):
the crowd.
Two, three, four cameras cameout after they cleared it and
they just worked me out until Icouldn't breathe anymore.
They just had me showingeverything I could do and it was
just a fun ride.
The movie got two weeks awayfrom being filmed.
We were gonna start going intotraining and film the movie for
Rucker and the movie got droppedand someone from the movie was
(07:35):
personal friends with Kenny the.
Jeff Smith from the HoustonRockies and Kenny recommended me
to the Harlem Globetrotters andso I went to the Harlem
Globetrotters off of the movieand went to the tryout.
It was a 10-day tryout, sixhours a day.
Every single day.
They were cutting one player.
Wow it was between me.
Yeah, it came down to betweenme and Pat the Rock.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Oh, okay, back then we were both young guys, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And they offered me a contract and I was one of the
star ball handlers that year forthe Globetrotters.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Now the interesting thing.
So the movie got dropped.
Did you have time to even feelheartbroken?
Or it was within 48 hours thatall of a sudden you get another
call, and here's a historicmoment.
Not only is it the HarlemGlobetrotters, but you say even
in your bio you were the firstCaucasian to play for the
(08:28):
Globetrotters.
Did you know it was such ahistoric moment at that time?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
No, I really didn't.
I was just excited to be havingthe opportunity to be a part of
something with rucker park.
I got to meet, uh, peewee kennyall the nba all-stars peewee
kirkland yeah yeah.
So I was just kind of like adeer in headlights because I was
just a streetball player, um,and it did happen real fast.
(08:56):
I went from the movie tryoutthe Harlem Wizards in New York
City helped me out and threw meon a team and, off of my tryout,
had me playing while I waswaiting to hear from the
Globetrotters.
And then I went to theGlobetrotters yeah, it was just
like a whirlwind from a movietryout to the Globetrotters.
I ended up touring the worldwith them and playing Curly
(09:20):
Neal's position, which was funnybecause when I was a young kid
that was my idol growing up.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So, to say the least, you had a slick handle.
You were real slick with it.
So this is interesting to me,seth.
So right now you're the toastof the town.
You have the highlight, you'reon a historic team and I'm
familiar with that a little bitbecause of the Lakers and
Showtime with Magic and Kareembefore, shaq and Kobe and LeBron
(09:47):
and Anthony Davis now.
So I'm familiar with a historicteam.
But here's my question to youAll of a sudden, you go from the
toast of the town to beingtoasted because that hip
dysplasia started to disruptyour athletic career yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So I had a lot of times where my left leg was
borrowing me quite a bit.
I thought that, um, it was ahip flexor issue because I
dunked off that foot.
I wasn't like a high flyerdunker, but I played above the
rim off one set.
So I thought you know, I wasalways finishing up high with
guys and bodying them andfloating the ball and stuff and
throwing oops and I just thoughtit was a hip flexor strain.
(10:28):
And then it became real serious.
Then it started to catch, so Ithought it was something with
cartilage.
I was just scared to tellanybody what I didn.
Started to catch, so I thoughtit was something with cartilage.
I was just scared to tellanybody.
What I didn't realize is I hada problem with both legs.
Oh, the one that was botheringme was so bad I couldn't even
feel the pain in my right leg.
Uh.
So what happened was a fewdifferent times.
My left leg started to lock up,started to bother me and catch
(10:51):
and I could kind of tweak oradjust it, uh-huh yeah, and then
we we were playinginternationally.
Um, I know, one time when wewere after touring and playing
on the bulls floor, I got calledinto an ESPN interview and it
gave me two days off where Ijust traveled and and talked and
(11:12):
hung out and I you know, it wasjust the timing like saved me.
And then the next time around Ididn't get saved from it, my
leg the next time it caught andbothered me.
A few games later we were inParis, in France, and I just
couldn't play.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
So eventually that led to you needing both hips
replaced in the middle of yourcareer.
You're a young guy, so at thetime, how old are you, seth,
when all of this, when the newsbreaks Because you say in your
story that you went to 10different doctors and no one
could find the actual problemand you were in a lot of pain,
(11:50):
tell us about that one.
How did you deal with the pain?
Because I know, as an athlete,there's one thing with sore and
then there's one thing with thatpersistent pain that's hard to
shake.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
That's exactly what it was, ab.
I had such a high tolerance forpain I didn't understand how
serious my problem was.
When I finally saw the doctorsthat got it figured out.
I was at the Hospital ofSpecial Surgeries in New York
City and they basically told meyou have to have both of your
hips replaced.
It's not your left leg that'sbothering you.
(12:22):
Both of your hips have to bereplaced and you're going to
have to learn how to walk.
And you've got a new challengeyou no longer have clearance for
professional sports.
Life is bigger than just asport.
You've got to work hard now tobe able to walk.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Wow, wow.
Now this is my go ahead, goahead, sal.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I'm sorry.
I heard that coming off thetour, so it was very like from
one thing.
You know, I went from playingprofessional basketball in one
day to being told I no longerhave clearance, I have to have a
major surgery, and you know nowit's time to get help.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
How old were you at the time?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
23.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So you're a young guy , you're 23 years old, and this
is what this story is all aboutthe climb, because we want to go
right there to the low lives,to the low points, to celebrate
the high points.
I want to ask you, when youhear that 23 years old, 23 man,
you're not even in your primeyet and you're rocking and
rolling and you are just gettingit on as an athlete how did
(13:28):
that affect your physical man?
The physical man needed twohips.
How did that affect youremotional man and your spirit
man?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
because we're tripod, being a physical, spiritual and
emotional yeah, I mean thatyear I had been on the floor
with kobe bryant, lebron jamesto william wade, alan iverson,
guys that I idolized with, andnow we were on the same court in
different events, differentareas, different games.
And then I went to being alonein a hospital and, you know,
(14:01):
having nurses and doctors helpedme try to figure out how to
walk um, my head was justspinning but, you know, when I
was growing up my dad was apastor and I knew all about okay
, knew God had a plan for mylife.
I had dedicated my life to Godand, you know, I put my faith in
(14:22):
Jesus and I think some of thestruggle that I began to face
was at what point was that goingto become something real and
challenging to me as anindividual, not just something
my family believed as anindividual, not just something
my family believed.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Let me dig down there because I think, seth,
personally, in my own experience, I think self-talk is
everything.
We can have so many attributes,but it's that self-talk when no
one's around and the four wallsare your mind, when you're in
that wheelchair and life isadjusted and you can't go back
to being what was it?
(14:55):
Hot and fresh, that was yourname with the Globetrotters
right, hot and fresh.
You can't be hot and freshanymore.
What was your self-talk whennobody was around?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
You know what?
To be honest, what reallychanged everything for me was I
just started focusing on what Icould do.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Oh boy, that's good.
Wow, that's a slam dunk stuff.
Say that one again.
You focused on what you coulddo.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, the big, the big turnaround for me where I
just realized, look, there's nogoing back to what I had before.
So the big turnaround for mewas when I focused on what I
could do, not what I couldn't,not what I lost, you know, not
(15:44):
all the things I wish I wasdoing at the moment.
What can I do right now?
Well, for a while it was I canstand up, I can't walk yet.
I can't run yet.
I can't jump, I can't play, Ican't jump, I can't play.
If I stay too focused on what Idid in my past, I'm going to
lose sight of reality and I'vegot a big challenge in front of
me.
(16:05):
You know, when we coach, right,let's get comfortable and get on
the court.
In our mind, when you're reallycoaching a player, you want
them to understand all thepieces that are on the floor.
How many times is there a greatshooter on the court and you've
got to teach a new guy whomaybe doesn't understand how
good that player is?
I had to stop one of mypractices one time and say you
(16:25):
realize you just Did not passthe ball to the third leading
scorer in the nation, right?
A great shooter was wide openand you decided to do something
fancy look him off.
No, all the pieces you know havecourt vision.
Don't get caught up that youdon't understand what you can do
.
What can this team do?
Know what pieces are on thecourt and get strong.
(16:47):
And um, that's what I had to dopersonally.
I had to say, okay, what?
What parts of me had to say,okay, what?
What parts of me are nationallyranked?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
oh, where am I strong ?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
well, I don't care about what anybody thinks and
that's what my whole life wasright with basketball.
I'm not six foot six, I'm notthe you know most muscular guy.
Back then I might not be thefastest, but I actually don't
care what anybody thinks, and Ijust could get out on the court
and run the point like it was.
The whole team was mine.
Let me so I had to go ahead Ihad to take that kind of
(17:25):
attitude and be like OK, I'mdown right now, I've lost
everything, but I don't carewhat anybody thinks.
I'm going to find out what Ican do and I'm going to listen
to my doctors and they'retelling me I can stand, even if
it hurts.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
So I'm going to start standing.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Oh, I like that one every day.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I'm going to get that W every day.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And then once I start walking now I'm walking.
Well, how far did you say Icould walk, cause I'm going to
walk that far?
You said I could do it.
Yeah, well, it might be hard.
Not everybody can do it I'm noteverybody, and I don't care
what anybody else thinks.
I'm going to do what I can doand there were times where I
started to achieve more.
I remember when I finally firststarted getting to running
right and I couldn't quite runand I was getting so frustrated
(18:10):
and I had to go back and remindmyself my first W is standing.
In the mornings.
How I'd get through theworkouts is I can't focus on how
hard it is going to be when Iget to the track today.
Right now I'm in my bedroom andI got to focus on standing up
(18:30):
and then I'm going to walk, thenI'm going to work on my walking
routine and my strength and bythen I'll be strong enough to
try to run again and takeanother step forward.
But there were days where mylegs would swell.
I'd take ice baths, I'd backoff again and then I'd get back
up and be like man, I can't dothat again.
It was too hard and I'd have tosay hold up.
It's not hard for me to standbecause I already conquered that
(18:50):
.
So I'm not going to get soemotionally overwhelmed with
where I want to go with myvictory in the day that I don't
get started.
Someone once said you don'thave to be great to get started,
but you do have to get startedif you want to be great.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I like that one.
So, Seth, let me ask you thisDid you have a strong network?
Your dad is a pastor.
Did you have a lot of people inyour ear that are saying
attaboy, attaboy, keep going,don't quit?
Who was your accountability orwho helped you keep your compass
pointed north, or your personof faith that you were just
looking towards jesus?
What helped you get throughthat moment?
(19:24):
Those moments?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
when I look back, I realized it was my dad when I
was younger.
You know, whenever I had aconfrontation with a player or
there was a challenge in frontof me, a tryout trying to pursue
my goal, he would always sayyou could compete with anybody.
That was it.
And then he would just say Idon't ever want to see you hang
(19:47):
your head low.
You're never ashamed ofanything you do, even if you
mess up.
I remember when I was in theseventh grade playing in a
varsity game.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
Seventh grade varsity.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I could handle the ball real good and I handled the
press, but on this one play Imessed up.
I shot an air ball and I hungmy head and my dad took me right
after the game and said I don'tever want to see you hang your
head ever again, no matter whatyou do, no matter what you're
proud of what you do, becauseyou're the only seventh grader
out there with 12th graders,that's right.
(20:20):
So.
So I kind of had that that coreput in me of like, hey, yeah, I
might mess up, but I'm trying.
It's easy to make fun ofsomeone who's trying.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Let me ask you why you're right there, Seth.
What have you learned in thisfor the listeners?
What's the biggest lessonyou've learned from failure?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
The biggest thing I've learned from failure is
just how much we need God.
He's that same voice.
That's where my dad got thatvoice from right.
My dad was a mechanic who had aheart and wanted to become a
pastor and didn't have a lot ofmoney and we were struggling.
We were a poor family, but hehad to have that attitude of I'm
(21:05):
going to hold my head up.
I never felt ashamed about ourfamily.
I never felt ashamed about whatwe had.
I actually felt great about it.
You know, I think God is thatthat's the same heart God
carries for us.
And sometimes let's be honest,ab sometimes our greatest W is
(21:28):
when we choose to go down a road.
We know we might lose, but wedon't want someone else to walk
alone, so we go with them.
You know, anybody could play asafe game.
Anybody could play a safe gameLike Jesus.
His life is so special.
You know, take him outside ofreligion, step, even if it's I
(21:51):
don't mean to be disrespectful,but even step outside of faith
for a minute.
And let's not be spiritual.
Let's just look at the life ofJesus as a figure and the some
of the stats and some of thegame and some of the things he
brings when he steps out on thecourt.
You can trust that he'll neverlet you play alone.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Now, with you having so much experience coming up and
pulling yourself back up.
I love where I read that nowyou have your own talks and
ministry, where you have aministry called Stand, Walk and
Run, run.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Tell us about that one yeah, um, really kind of
tying all that together it'd be.
It's just what I've learnedthrough through my challenge,
from my dad reminding me to keepmy head up, to god being the
lifter of my head during thetime when I lost the ability to
walk and had to learn how tostand.
(22:52):
And really the whole challengein the talk for Stand, Walk, Run
is stand for who you want to be.
I wanted to be someone whocould work and provide for a
family and use my body like Idid in sports but in life.
Right, I wanted to be someonewho could walk.
Again, Stand for who you wantto be.
(23:14):
Walk, Take small steps forwardto reach your goal.
So, every day, set some kind ofgoal, Be a goal setter that's
realistic, right in real time,in real life.
Set some goals that you knowyou can achieve and then be a
winner every day and build anappetite to win and watch that
(23:35):
appetite grow.
Become a winner and walksomewhere in life.
Don't stand still.
Move forward, even if it's asmall step.
Hey, everybody else might berunning, but you might not be at
that season.
That might not be your time torun, but it's not.
You might not be at that season.
That might not be your time torun, and so I had to watch other
guys that I even trained andhelp develop their game.
I watched them move on and playprofessionally when I had to
(23:59):
lose my career and step back andlearn how to stand and then
eventually, part of the dreamyou know stand, walk.
Run After you do everything tobe who you can be.
Run after something great inlife.
Run after you do everything tobe who you can be.
Run after something great inlife.
Run after somebody else whoneeds you Be a part of something
that really matters.
Right.
Every great superhero in everymovie that you love, it's not
(24:20):
someone being selfish.
It's someone that finally getsto the pivotal point in the
movie where they let go ofwhat's best for themselves and
they become what a true hero is,which is looking out and loving
and playing the game forsomeone else.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Let me ask you this one, seth as a dad, as a leader,
as a motivational speaker andinfluencer what are the areas
where you and me like sometimesit'd be like boy me and my big
mouth I got to practice what Ipreach?
Where's an area where youreally have to practice what you
preach?
(24:56):
Getting stinking, thinking offyour back?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I know right now, just in real life, I'm a dad of
five, my wife and I.
I work with a roofing companyand I'm a project manager and a
lot of times I come home and I'mI'm not, you know, seth franco
speaking somewhere, seth francocoaching somewhere.
I'm dad and, uh, the biggestthing I I'm working on right now
(25:26):
is really listening to my wifeabout some of the things that
make me a better dad.
So we started talking and wehad this funny conversation.
I said, babe, she's justtalking to me about being calm
and peaceful and notpassive-aggressive, not not
being a thermometer, but beingthe thermostat.
You know, if I get so hot,stirred up because kids aren't
(25:49):
behaving right in the thermostat, you know if I get so hot,
stirred up because kids aren'tbehaving right.
She's telling me some of thisstuff, ab, and I go where did
you learn this from?
And she goes I taught myselfand read books and learned.
And I said I want to learn, Iwant some books.
And, ab, she looks at me andpoints over to a part of our
shelf in our living room and Igo what's that?
(26:10):
She goes those are your books.
I said what she said I boughtyou those books and I've asked
you to read some of them foryears.
Oh my goodness and so I've beenstarting to read some of the
books, and you know books likeemotional he motions- oh, okay,
that that doesn't jive with hotand fresh and having to
(26:31):
represent from new york.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You got to be tender and gentle and since you're
preaching to the choir, I'mtrying to work on apologizing
when I need to apologize.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah, yeah I'm finding a lot of strength in
that, you know, just coming tomy young guys that I love so
much my sons and just saying,hey, I'm sorry.
Like you know, I love you, I'mtrying to support you, I'm not,
I'm not trying to do anythingelse.
You know, one day my one sonkind of stepped to me a little
bit and I said, hey, don't,don't ever step to me, it don't
(27:04):
make me feel I don't want tointimidate anybody in this house
.
I want to intimidate anybody inthis house, I want to love and
support everybody.
And he looked at me and it madesuch a difference to him wow to
to not do that passive,aggressive thing like, hey, you
know, I understand in the worldas men, right, sometimes we have
to carry ourselves a certainway to feel like we're
(27:24):
protecting the ones we love.
But I think it's, I think it'sreally important in the house
yes, for the men in my houseleast to feel like it's
different when we're homeThermometer.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Is that what you're talking about?
I'm trying to be a thermostat,thermostat.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
And not just read the temperature of what's going on
outside.
But let's set somethingdifferent in here.
How about in here?
There's no one trying to.
You know, challenge you.
I'm trying to support you wowyou know, what do I need?
what do I need to do to make youyour best, just like when we
work out?
Sometimes I'll stop the workoutand we'll just get real and say
(28:01):
hey, I know I'm coming at youright now.
Do you want me to keep comingat you or you want me to back
off?
Can you handle this?
Because actually I'm about todig into you more.
I'd actually like to get up inyour space.
I want to challenge you, but Idon't know if your attitude can
handle it.
Would you like to go there,because I'm about to step up the
flame yes, you think you could.
Can you handle the flame?
(28:21):
Or you want me to lower it?
And any real athlete will lookat you with respect and be like
please bring the flame.
Coach, you're 100 right.
What do you want me to work on?
What do you got?
And we start to get that bondand and really to stay with the
question you were asking for me,what I'm trying to get off that
that negative thinking, is,when I get in my flesh like a
tough guy, I don't get a toughguy.
(28:43):
Um, there's a difference between, you know, trying to be a tough
guy and being a tough guy oh,explain that one you know, and
so just being tough is takingcare of the ones you love oh, I
like that one what you gotta doevery boy, I like that one.
Good go ahead, steph, that'sgood stuff yeah, for me it just
comes down to what I'm doingright.
(29:05):
So I'm playing a different typeof sport.
It's the dad sport.
We have this joke in my housewhere I'll just say hey guys,
look, if I'm being cheesy or ifI'm getting grumpy on you, just
know I'm dadding right now, likeI'm just dadding.
I'm going to talk to you aboutstuff that you don't want to
talk about.
I'm going to be the guy whosays things you don't want to
hear, but I'm dadding, and justknow that's what I'm doing.
(29:27):
And using my body now is such aprivilege.
Right, I've been able to walkagain, I can play again.
But really the bigger thing isI can work and I can take care
of my family and I can provide aspace where my wife, who's been
through so much in her past,can now give birth to the
ministry and the business thatGod's called her to do With
(29:48):
influencing women throughhomeschooling and through the
media stuff she does.
And it goes back to what thereal W is, ab.
I mean, who are we really right?
When you get on the court andyou get those five guys that
want to win, they understandthat it's not about them and
you're actually playing the gameto make the guy next to you
better and in the familysituation or whatever you want.
(30:12):
However you want to say it.
Sometimes I think for us guysit's hard for us to figure out
how we do that.
How do I?
How do I?
I'm a man, I'm strong, I amaggressive Wedge buster.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
You're ready to take the hill?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, but what about everybody else who's with me?
How do I make them better?
How do I take care of thatyoung kid who's scared of the
world, who's not as strong as me, who's not as brave as me, who
doesn't got scared of me?
What am I going to do to be whoI'm supposed to be for this
(30:48):
person?
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Boy, that's believable.
Thank you, Seth.
Thank you for going there tooand even talking about that,
because, just on that note, Ijust believe there's nothing
stronger than gentleness.
You know, when they talk aboutcommunication, 55% is body
language, 38% is tone and 7% isactually words.
(31:12):
So 55%, if it's like how youdoing.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Come over here and give me a hug.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
And you're trying to be gentle.
That ain't going to work.
And then you know the tone, howwe talk to people, especially
in our own household.
That's not going to work.
And then the actual words.
So, man, thank you for goingthere.
Let me ask you this I love someof the quotes that you had, and
especially as you were goingthrough the ranks and you were
recovering to stand and walk,you one time said life is like a
(31:40):
basketball the more pressureyou put on it with character,
you can soar.
Tell us about that one whereyou said life is like a
basketball when you bounce it,it can come back up.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, I found myself while I was recovering and
getting my legs back.
I was doing a lot of speakingand sharing, even with kids
little kids and found myself atbasketball camps and all kinds
of church stuff with kids and Istarted using the basketball as
(32:16):
an example how, when it's filledwith the right thing, the
harder you push it down, thehigher it soars back up.
And it's just like in life whenlife pushes us down, if we're
filled with the right thing, webounce back.
But not every basketball willdo that right.
If it's not filled, if itdoesn't have what it needs on
the inside, it can't do what itwas created to do well just to
bounce back when it's pusheddown oh, I like that.
It's simple a lot of times yeah,a lot of times people come on I
(32:37):
mean we're real right, we'rehuman, ab.
I mean, what was it a day agowhere I didn't feel good about
myself?
You know, like we go throughups and downs.
Like I had a tough day theother day where I just wasn't
feeling good about myself andit's so great to be able to
think.
You know what hold up.
We get in this rut where whenI'm feeling good, I think I'm
doing good, when I'm feeling bad, I think I'm doing bad.
(32:59):
That's not real.
That's not real life.
That's what my injury taught mewas sometimes I feel bad, but
I'm actually doing really good,right but I'm actually doing
really good.
You know, sometimes I don't feelgood and my legs hurt, but I
still stand up and go to workand take care of my family.
I might not feel that good, butI'm actually doing really well.
You can't live based on thefeelings, right?
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yes, yes, what is truth, man?
Well, seth, you broke down somuch in such a short period of
time and it is so rich, and I'dlike to ask, before we let you
get out of here, what's onething you would tell our
audience to keep climbing, afterall you've been through and
(33:46):
your own story of heartbreak andpotholes and obstacles what's
the one thing you'd want ourlisteners to know?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
to keep climbing.
Just what I shared with you.
Just feeling good doesn't meanyou're doing good.
Feeling bad doesn't mean you'redoing bad.
Ask God to show you and askpeople around you that you care
about and you trust how you'redoing.
Look at real life, not justyour feelings.
Sometimes you don't feel good,but you're doing great and
(34:22):
that's part of the climb.
I mean, if you want to justbreak it down to really climbing
right, isn't there a point?
I'm not a pro climber, okay butis there a point where you climb
, where you're climbingsomething, doing a workout.
We used to climb the laddersprint workout where you go one
sprint, three sprints, sixsprints, nine, eleven, then you
come all the way back down.
You gotta do more there's a timewhere you feel you feel like
(34:45):
you're doing bad, but you'reactually building greatness, wow
, you know.
So you can't listen to thefeelings.
Sometimes you don't feel likeyou're doing good, but you're
doing great, and I just want tochallenge you that god loves you
, um, that he sees you and he'sreal and you can ask god how am
I doing beautiful, beautiful,how do you think I'm doing?
(35:06):
Because I don't feel good.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
I don't feel good about you can ask God how am I
doing Beautiful how?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
do you think I'm doing Because I don't feel good?
I don't feel good about myself.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I don't know if I can do this, but what do you think
about me?
What am I doing?
And the easiest way to do that,too, is open up the Bible.
Read the Bible.
It's simple.
I mean love somebody.
Try to treat people the way youwant to be treated.
When you fall down and you makea mistake, get back up, forgive
yourself, because God alreadyforgave you.
(35:37):
Just because you're feeling baddoesn't mean you're doing bad
Matter of fact, I would arguethat sometimes the greatest
things you accomplish will bewhen you don't feel good, but
you do good.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Oh man, Drop the mic on that one.
New York style Drop the mic onthat one.
The mic is dropped.
Seth, that is so awesome.
Thank you so much.
Tell everyone where they canfind you if they're looking for
more information on Seth Franco.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
If you want to find me, you can find me chilling
with my kids, shooting hoops,swimming, just riding bikes in
the parking lot and working hardand as a speaker, where do they
find you if they want to bookyou to come in and speak and
tell your story?
If you want to connect with me,you can reach out to USA, yo,
and speak to them aboutorganizing an opportunity for me
(36:25):
to challenge and encouragesomebody.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Wow, seth, man, that is so rich, you touch so many
buckets.
I'm so grateful for you, man.
You're a colleague, you're abrother and you're a friend.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday.
Hey, ab, you know I'm honoredto be around you, man.
You're a legend, seth Franco,everybody and you know what.
(36:47):
If you want to hear more aboutus and what we're doing, head on
over to AdrianBranchSpeakscom.
Follow us again on social mediaat Adrian Branch Speaks and
download the Climb whereverpodcasts are available.
You guys are special.
You're awesome.
Thanks for your time today andwe want to tell you, for my
(37:09):
climbers be encouraged and keepclimbing.
We'll see you next time.
Everybody, you.
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