Richard Rogers | Financial Collapse, Defying Death & Second Chances - Ash & Iron

Episode Transcript
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Todd (00:00):
All right, we are back with episode five of Ash and
Iron, and I've got with me today, mr Richard Rogers.
I have no idea who you are andthis is the first time I've met
you.
It's so fun and so yeah.
So the idea is that this is aspace for you to share your

(00:20):
story, like it's your story totell, however you want to tell
it, and we're excited to hear it.
And I'd like to first of allthank Michael Brandt, too, for
connecting us, and I'm reallygrateful to be here.

Richard (00:31):
Well, I appreciate the opportunity to share my story.
I do.

Todd (00:36):
Sounds good.
So who is Richard Rogers?

Richard (00:39):
Richard Rogers.
Well, right now, in one moremonth, I'll be 71 years old, wow
.
And so getting ready, in themiddle of May, to hit the 71
mark.

Todd (00:56):
You don't look that old at all.

Richard (00:58):
Well, the one that bothered me the most was when I
turned 30.
I thought I was really old then.
That's awesome.
But in answer to your question,who am I?
Gosh?
I'm a guy originally from alittle town here where we are,

(01:21):
south Pittsburg, tennessee, grewup here for the first 15 years
of my life and my family and Imoved to Chattanooga when I was
15 because I went to school inChattanooga and actually I don't
think I really ever left SouthPittsburg.

(01:43):
The school I went to.
It was a good school, but itwas a military school and I
didn't really want to go there.
But looking back, I'm glad Idid.
So.
You know, I don't know how toanswer who I am, but without
starting back when I was youngerSure, yeah, and looking out the

(02:04):
window here I used to live fourblocks up the street here from
where we are right now.
South Pittsburg is, I considerit my hometown so and I had a
lot of friends in SouthPittsburg, a lot of close
friends that are still closefriends.
Wow, that's cool.
So when we moved I never didreally move.

(02:27):
I stayed in touch with all myfriends and came back on
weekends when I wasn't in school, and I really came back not
long after we moved becausethings in my family got so toxic
I've got two brothers and twosisters and things got really

(02:53):
bad at home into my parents'bedroom and I said to both of my
parents I said, do you allrealize how stupid you sound

(03:13):
arguing?
And my dad looked at me and hesaid, hey, you little son of a
bitch, if you don't like it,move out.
So I said, okay, I will.
So I said okay, I will.
And as I was moving out he said,son, there's two things I'll

(03:34):
give you.
I'll give you a good educationand opportunity.
I said, dad, that is fair, andI'm the fourth, uh, born in the
pecking order got older brother,a couple older sisters and a
younger brother at that time.
And so I moved out and I movedhere in South Pittsburg to a
little place at that time calledthe Bachelor's Quarters and I

(03:59):
was living in a room with a sinkand a bed, probably a 10-by-12
room room with a sink and a bed,probably a 10 by 12 room.
And so I moved out on my ownand worked in the foundry here
in South Pittsburg back at thattime making cast iron Franklin
fireplace parts.
That was back in 1969.

Todd (04:23):
So let me ask you this For someone listening who doesn't
know South Pittsburg, tennesseecan you kind of describe what
this town or what this city islike?

Richard (04:41):
South Pittsburg is right on the 1860s, 70s
thereabouts.
There was a belief that therewas a lot of iron ore deposits
in the mountains around here,and so it was called South

(05:03):
Pittsburg because they thoughtit was going to be the Pittsburg
of the South.
Ah, that's cool.
And the population here, Ithink today, is probably around
3,000, 3,500 people.
Okay, so very small, yeah, verysmall town.

Todd (05:16):
Very cool, All right.
And so when you moved, let'ssee you moved out of your house,
at what age.

Richard (05:24):
I was 15.
I moved out.
I guess you could say I movedout, but during the week I went
back home and my day in schoolconsisted of being picked up by
the school bus at 5.30 in themorning and going to school all
day long and riding the schoolbus back and I would get back
about 5, 5.30 and study three orfour hours every night and get

(05:49):
back up and do the same thingevery day.
And so that was grades 9through 12, the way that worked.
And then pretty much everyweekend I came back to South
Pittsburg and actually livedwith, stayed with War Out my
Welcome, I'm sure with some ofmy friends, and I got to a point

(06:09):
where I was really I felt badabout asking, and so then at
several occasions I just camewith a sleeping bag and I stayed
out in the woods and sleptunder, slept wherever I could
find, without bothering myfriends and their families.
But there's so many goodfamilies that I want in

(06:34):
particular that I'm verythankful for that.

Todd (06:38):
They took me, and so I don't know where to go from
there so if, if you're, uh like,all right, so you're going
through this time in your life,you're sort of figuring things
out for yourself, right, andyou're, you're in that position,
at some point do you have amindset of, like man, I messed

(06:58):
up.
Or do you think, no, I'm gonnado this, like what's?
What's your mindset goingthrough all that?
Like when you're staying withpeople wearing out your welcome,
you're out in the woods,sleeping in a sleeper.
Are you thinking to yourselfI've got this, or are you
thinking I made a mistake?
What's going through your mind?

Richard (07:14):
No, I didn't think I made a mistake at allborn child.
My older sister and my youngerbrother.
They stayed in the environmentthat I didn't want to be in, and

(07:35):
my older brother, he had goneoff to college and my older
sister she had gone off tocollege.
So it was the three of us thatwere there and I guess you could
say I sort of gotten away fromthat environment that was at
least I felt like was very toxic.

Todd (07:57):
And you were sort of still getting bits of information
from them, I'm assuming like howthings are going at home, yeah,
and both of them, both of them.

Richard (08:04):
they're now like how things are going at home, yeah,
and both of them, both of them,both of them are now deceased.
They got messing with the wrongcrowd and drugs and all that
kind of thing, and just both ofthem really messed their lives
up, man.

Todd (08:19):
I'm sorry to hear that.
If you don't mind me asking, doyou feel like some of that was
a byproduct of growing up inthat environment?
I do yeah.
That's tough In your situation.
It's interesting to me hearingthis too, because you're out
there fending for yourself, butbecause it was out of necessity,

(08:41):
I could tell you wouldn't justput yourself in those situations
unless what was what you couldgo back to was worse, and that's
kind of what I'm feeling islike being out there in the
woods or staying with friends orwhatever, whatever the case may
be, was a better alternativethan staying in that environment
, and that's what that's whatI'm kind of feeling from that.

(09:02):
Is that fair?
What are your thoughts?
That's fair.
Yeah, and so all right.
So you get out of school, yougraduate.
What do you do from there?

Richard (09:12):
Like, where do you go from that point?
I graduated, let's see, in 1972, and I went to school at
Macaulay School in Chattanoogaand the first two years, the 9th
and 10th grade, were military,and then they switched to
non-military in the 11th and12th.

(09:33):
Okay, and so in 72, when I gotout of Macaulay well, prior to
that I got out of Macaulay, wellprior to that I went to a
school, first through eighthgrade, which is about two or
three miles down the road fromwhere we are right now, a school
called Richard Hardy MemorialSchool.

(09:54):
Okay, and I had some of thebest teachers, looking back that
they were really really goodand I got a really really good
education there.
And so when I went to ninthgrade at Macaulay, most Macaulay
students started at Macaulay inthe sixth grade.
Oh, okay.
So when I go to Macaulay I'mkind of going, oh no, this is

(10:18):
going to be tough.
And that's when my dad told mehe said I'll give you a good
education.
And I do appreciate that he diddo that.

Todd (10:27):
Sure.

Richard (10:28):
And even though that's not where I wanted to go or be.
But looking back, I think itwas one of the best things that
happened to me.
So that school that I went tothrough the eighth grade, when I
got to Macaulay, I was at leastequal to or more advanced than

(10:48):
those kids that had gone toMacaulay in the sixth and
seventh grade.
And one of the things my fatheralways did, you know, he was
the type that would always sayyou can't do that, you're not
going to be able to pass atMacaulay, and over the years

(11:11):
there'll be more stories aboutthat, about, well, you can't do
that.
And the more I got told Icouldn't, the more I got
inspired to prove him wrong.
Prove him wrong, yeah.
Inspired to prove him wrong,prove him wrong, yeah.
And so at Macaulay I madereally good grades and one of my

(11:31):
motivating factors was what Ijust said.
But the other one was, if Istayed in an A grade level, I
didn't have to go to study halland I could go to the library
and sleep and there'd be liketwo periods and I could go to
the library and sleep.

Todd (11:48):
Wow.

Richard (11:51):
There'd be like two periods where I'd go to the
library and lay around and readSports Illustrated or go take a
nap or whatever, and then wakeup in time to go to the next
class.
That's great.
So Macaulay was a really,really good education for me.
I met a lot of great peoplethere, but my heart never left
South Pittsburg.
When I graduated at Macaulay.
My dad I can't remember if hecame to my graduation or not, I

(12:24):
know when I graduated fromcollege because they always told
me I'd never graduate fromcollege and it really hurt my
feelings that he did not come tomy college graduation.
But that's okay.
I mean, hey, that's life, yeah.
But after Macaulay I went toschool at the University of the
South at Suwannee, which is justup the road from here, and I

(12:48):
loved it.
After Macaulay I went to schoolat the University of the South
at Suwannee, which is just upthe road from here.
I loved it.
The college life was party,party, party and have a good
time.
They had party weekends and allthat sort of thing.
I had a girlfriend here inSouth Pittsburg as well that we
started dating about the time Iwas 16, 15, 16, and ended up

(13:11):
marrying her.
But anyway, I went to school atthe University of the South
from 73 through 75, 76.
And then I transferred to theUniversity of Tennessee,
chattanooga, okay, graduatedfrom there in 1977.
And when I got out of collegein 77, in May of 77, I came to

(13:40):
work for United States StoveCompany and my first job was
sweeping floors at US Stove.
And that was a hard job, yeah.

Todd (13:51):
I'm sure it was.

Richard (13:52):
If you apply yourself.
Sweeping floors is a hard job.

Todd (13:55):
It's like a never-ending job too.
Yeah, yeah, it's like thosefloors never get cleaned.
Yeah, yeah.

Richard (14:01):
So when I was sweeping those floors and I worked doing
that kind of thing and workeddoing various other jobs and in
my going around throughout thecompany, which, where we are now
, is where the companyoriginated Actually it goes back
to 1869, but the US Stove movedhere.

(14:24):
Actually it goes back to 1869,but the US stove moved here,
yeah, 1860, I guess the buildingwas built right about the time
of the Civil War and it was ahuge building and the company
employed I don't know probablyat that time probably 400 or 500
people.

Todd (14:42):
Is that here in South Pittsburg?

Richard (14:43):
Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, and there's a story behind that
and we can go off on that herea little bit.

Todd (14:50):
Yeah, absolutely.

Richard (14:51):
But so after sweeping floors and doing that kind of
thing, I noticed these guys in asection of the business of the
company where there was probablyI don't know 150 or so people

(15:12):
making cast iron parts andmaking molding and doing it the
old-timey way.
I mean it was hard, dirty,dangerous work and instead of
sweeping floors I said, hey, youknow what I'd like to try that
try to be a molder.
And what's involved in molding?

(15:32):
You pack sand, you putdifferent patterns in there and
then we would start at 6 in themorning and at 1.30 every
afternoon they'd tap the cupola.
We would carry the molten ironby hand ladles, pour the
different parts and it waspiecework.
And that's what I liked.
I wanted to be my own boss and Ididn't like getting paid.

(15:54):
I remember my first paycheckfor 40 hours was $37.11.
And I thought I was rich.
But anyway, I went to work inthe foundry and I just loved it.
I mean I loved it.
I worked in the foundry for thenext all throughout high school

(16:15):
and even through college,because I skipped classes at
college, because I didn't haveany money and I came and molded,
skipping classes to make moneybecause I was, I guess.
I think I might have been oneof the kids there that didn't
have as much money as the restof them, sure, and so I went to

(16:39):
college, university of the South, and then transferred to UTC,
and in that process, during thattime, in 1975, I got married
and in 1979, my wife had twinboys.
So those twin boys are now 45years old.

(17:00):
Wow.

Todd (17:01):
I've got twin girls.
Oh, do you, yeah, but they'renot 45.

Richard (17:07):
The minor fraternal twins yeah, RS2.

Todd (17:10):
Yeah, rs2.
Yeah, they're eight and so allright.
So I'm curious.
I got a couple of questionshere.
So the first thing that poppedin my mind is, at that time,
that you got that check for 40hours's like 39 and some change,
like, yeah, back then that wasactually decent money.
Back then, right, oh yeah, yeah, I was thinking so because
because I was like, wait, that's, that's almost a dollar an hour

(17:32):
, which back then was yeah, butgreat.

Richard (17:34):
But when I started bolding, guess what I was making
I was making that much everyday?

Todd (17:40):
no way yeah, was it just because of how laborsome the
work was, so it paid morebecause it was dangerous.

Richard (17:48):
You got paid.
It's called peace work.
You got paid for what you did,sure, and I worked my butt off.

Todd (17:54):
I did.
Well, that was the other thingI was going to say is that I can
tell, just even so far, in thisshort time that we've talked so
far, that you have an unnaturaldrive that most human beings
don't have.
I can sense that from youalready because you attribute a
lot to your schooling, peopletelling you no and it makes you
want to go harder.

(18:14):
And there's this recurringtheme so far, even in this short
conversation, of drive.

Richard (18:21):
Well, in the foundry thing my dad told me.
He said you know, if you workin that foundry you got to have
a strong back and a weak mind.
And he also said he said you gowork in that foundry and it's a
bunch of rough guys, you know,and he said they'll chew you up
and spit you out.

(18:41):
And he said you won't ever makeit there.
You won't ever make it over aweek or two.
And so you know again the sameold story.
I'm going to prove him wrong,but not just to prove him wrong.
But hell, I was broke, I neededthe money.
Yeah.

Todd (19:00):
You wanted it for yourself too, but it didn't necessarily
hurt anything to have some extramotivation in there.
Oh no, that's so good.
Okay, so what's that processlike of you kind of went into it
briefly of making these thingsfrom cast iron, because I think
you said that South Pittsburgwas sort of founded on iron ore,
right, that's right.

(19:21):
And so they obviously foundsome yes, and that's sort of
what was feeding into thismanufacturing happening here.
That's right.
And so they obviously foundsome yes, and that's sort of
what was feeding into thismanufacturing happening here.

Richard (19:29):
That's right and then okay.
But US Stove Company dates backto 1869.
And currently today I am theowner of US Stove oh wow.
But also here in SouthPittsburg is a world-renowned
company called LodgeManufacturing, and they're just
across the street from where weare now and they sell cookware

(19:54):
all types of cookware throughoutthe world, and a very
successful company.
I'm good friends with many,many members of their family and
at that time they had a foundrysimilar to ours but more
updated, and so I became friends.
And there was another foundrydown in Bridgeport, alabama,

(20:14):
where they made cast iron partsas well, called Jacobs
Manufacturing.
And so there was threefoundries here that were located
here, I guess, because the ironore deposits, but later on they
found out that they weren'treally what they thought they
were, and so South Pittsburg wasnot really the Pittsburg of the

(20:38):
South.

Todd (20:40):
Wow, so you correct me if I'm wrong.
You said earlier that youstarted off sweeping the floors
there, yeah, and now you're theowner of it, yeah, and that goes
back to that drive that youhave.
It's like you're not settlingfor anything where you're at.
You're continuously movingforward.
Where did that come from?
Where does that come from?

Richard (20:59):
Is that from your dad, or do you feel like that was
from being in a family with alot of siblings, or is it just
built into you from the day youwere born, like I, don't know,
there's and there's so manytimes that, uh, you know, I
think and I hope this doesn'tsound like I'm tooting my own

(21:20):
horn but there's been so manyoccasions where it's been almost
hopeless in my life that, youknow, I just, I think, I just
have that drive inside of mebecause, maybe because I was
told I couldn't do it, and whenI get told I can't do it, it

(21:42):
makes me want to do it more.

Todd (21:43):
Yeah, man, that's me want to do it more.
Yeah, man, that's so good, it'sinspiring, like it is, and I'm
excited to get deeper into that.
So you are—I'm trying to thinkwhere we left off.
You were working—you basicallymade that much that you made

(22:04):
from your first check, but youwere making that daily yes.
So then, where did you go fromthere?
Like, where did your professiongo from there?
Like, what was your life like,transitioning from that?

Richard (22:14):
Well, I was like I said when I was at school I would
skip classes and I had amotorcycle.
I rode the motorcycle from overthe mountains to Swanee and I
didn't have enough money to buya helmet.
So I got this old footballhelmet and rode it most and I
froze.

(22:34):
I mean, during the wintertimeit was cold riding over that
mountain from here to Swanee andback.
But so I don't know.

Todd (22:47):
I really want to see a video of you riding around on a
motorcycle with your football.
Well, everybody laughed at me.

Richard (22:53):
It was hilarious and.

Todd (22:55):
I, you know I didn't, I couldn't help it, I didn't care,
and when I would get enoughmoney at school, I would there's
in my, in my dorm there's'sthey always had a poker game
going on.
Oh, there you go.

Richard (23:09):
Sometimes I'd do good, sometimes I wouldn't do so good.
Just depended on the day of theweek, right, yeah, yeah yeah,
that's awesome.

Todd (23:17):
Okay, and then your wife was the girl you met at 16?
.

Richard (23:22):
Yeah.

Todd (23:22):
That's incredible.
And then, what year, how oldwere you when you guys got
married?

Richard (23:27):
We got married in 1975, so I was 21.

Todd (23:32):
Wow, okay, so you get married at 21.
I don't want to skip overanything.
Am I skipping over anything ifI jump to that?

Richard (23:42):
I don't know.
We got time.
You can go back if it sparksanything alright.

Todd (23:46):
So you guys get married.
You've been together for awhile up to that point yeah,
five years what was that like?
Did you get straight to kids,did you?

Richard (23:58):
no, we lived in a little 12 by 60 mobile home down
a couple of miles down the roadfrom here.
We lived in that home until1978.
And I bought a home up on themountain here called South

(24:18):
Pittsburg Mountain and went indebt.
That's another story.
So in 1979, my twin boys theywere born after we'd been
married four years and in factmy brother helped me build the

(24:40):
house.
We did the carpenter work, thewiring, the insulation, so forth
.
I bought an old apple cellar upon the mountain and added an
addition to that and I waslaying the carpet the night
before when my wife went intolabor and had those boys and she

(25:01):
got her to the hospital andthey were born, no problem, 6'2
and 6'7, 6'2 ounces and 6'7ounces, and so that and we had a
really, really really good lifetogether up to a point and

(25:24):
unfortunately it was it didn'tlast.
Sorry to hear that.
I don't even know where to gofrom here.

Todd (25:35):
No, you're good, All right , so it's funny.
You saying that reminded me ofa funny moment.
My wife and I, when we had ourfirst, the day came and went
when she was supposed to be due.
So we went to the doctor andthey were like, all right, well,
how about this?
We're just going to come backon Monday and then we'll induce

(25:55):
labor.
It's like all right, cool.
So that night I go home and I'mon my headset playing video
games with my friends.
Like guys, monday I'm going tobe a dad.
It's happening.
I stayed up late because I waslike this is my last chance.
I was like you know what I mean?
It's like I'm about to be a dad, got responsibilities.
I'm just going to stay upreally late, play video games.
I go to bed at like 1 o'clockin the morning.
My wife wakes me up at 3 andgoes into labor.

(26:23):
Oh man, and I feel nauseouswhen I don't get a lot of sleep.
So she's nauseous, I'm nauseous.

Richard (26:30):
Like I'm rushing her to the hospital.
Well, I took my wife ridingaround in a dump truck I guess
that's what induced the laborand it was bumpy and I said, hey
, we're going to get those boysout of there.
And, by the way, I didn't knowif it was boys, girls, boy, girl
.
I didn't know.
And I made bets with everybodyit's going to be two boys and I

(26:52):
won quite a bit of money bettingon two boys.

Todd (26:53):
That's awesome.
My mom told me she's like youwatch, one day you're going to
have a little boy and he's goingto be just as awful as you were
and like all this stuff.
And I was just like praying.
I'm like please, don't have anyboys.
I ended up with three girls soI'm like eat it.

Richard (27:08):
It's so funny.
Well, I do have a girl, do you?
That's later in the story, Iguess.
But I have a daughter.
So we lived up on the mountainand, gosh, just so many good
memories, very good memories.
It's almost like looking back afairy tale, because we were so

(27:33):
happy and everything was so goodand all of that changed
drastically January 23, 1979.
Actually, my boys were bornDecember 15, 1979.
But December 23, 1979, at thattime I was, I guess you could

(27:58):
say, kind of in the managementof the company at that time and
the company was in pretty badshape financially.
Basically the company was insolvent.
And I remember that day my dad,walking by me, and I was

(28:20):
actually I was sweeping somefloors and putting up chicken
wire because the bank wanted toquarantine the inventory because
of just a dire financialsituation.
And I think, and so my dadwalks by me that day and he says
, richard, we're not going tomake it.

(28:41):
And I said, what do you mean?
We're not going to make it?
And he just kept walking and Iknew, oh no, this ain't good.
So I ran after him.
He just kept walking.
I said, hell, yes, we're goingto make it.
Hell yes, we're going to makeit.
He kept walking and later thatevening he took a shotgun and

(29:06):
blew his brains out in thedriveway of his home, killed
himself.
I'm so sorry.
So that was January 23, 1979.
And not long after that's whenI found out I got 20 boys on the

(29:28):
way I'm going.
Oh my God, yeah, wow.
And my brother, my older brother, steve, and I he's five years
older than me we kind of gotleft not kind of.
We did get left holding a bagwith a big mess, a really big
mess.
And so we, I guess we did whatwe had to do.

(29:55):
We applied ourselves and workedvery hard.
The bank called our loan and wereally had nowhere to go.
But we went to.
The bank was in Tennessee, inChattanooga, and so we went to
Atlanta on our hands and knees,literally on our hands and knees

(30:17):
, begging for a bank to take usand believe in us and give us a
chance.
And so we went to.
We got turned down by most, allof them, and then there was one
that said, okay, we'll give youa chance.
But they loaned us money atthree over prime and back.

(30:37):
At that time prime was 18%, sowe had an interest rate we were
paying of 21% and the debt wasaround $10 million.
So we had to make, just to stay, even a significant amount of
money to just do that.
And I remember when we got thegray light from Citicorp in

(31:01):
Atlanta, my brother had a littleVega car and it got really good
gas mileage and so we traveleddown there in that car and on
the way back I said, hey, steve,you know we're high-fiving.
I said, all right, we've got achance.
You know we've got somebodythat's going to give us a chance
.
And so I said pull off thisexit here and let's get a
six-pack of beer and celebrate.

(31:22):
So we walked into thisconvenience store, I bring the
six-pack out and sit on thecounter.
He looks at me and I look athim and I said you got any money
?
He said no.
I said well, I don't either.
So I took the six-pack, put itback in the cooler, so we left

(31:43):
and we didn't get to celebrate.

Todd (31:48):
That sounds like a scene out of a movie.

Richard (31:51):
It's true that's great.
But going back to even further,when my father committed
suicide on that January 23rd,back in 79, there was no such
thing as cell phones.
So I went to his home, sawwhere all the thing happened, in

(32:16):
his driveway and so forth, andpretty devastating to look at
and see and think about.
But so I left there and I wentand sat down by the river here
called the South Pittsburg BoatDock, and I did have me a
six-pack of Miller Lite and Isat there and just watching the
river go by and going what thehell am I going to do?

(32:39):
What in the hell am I going todo?
Yeah, so, and it's poured downrain that night and all of a
sudden there's taillights comeup behind where I'm sitting,
sitting there by the river, andI knew who it was it was my
brother.

(33:00):
I get out of the car.
It's poured down rain.
I walk back toward him.
He gets out of his car.
It's pouring down rain.
I walk back toward him.
He gets out of his, he walkstoward me.
We stand in the middle of a mudpuddle in the pouring down rain
and crying, hugging each other,and both of us going what are

(33:20):
we going to do?
What the hell are we going todo?
What the hell are we going todo?
So I don't know what came overme, but I grabbed him, pushed
him away and held him by both ofmy hands with his shoulders and

(33:40):
I said Steve, steve, I'll tellyou what.

(34:07):
I'm going to work my ass offand I'm going to turn this
company around and I'm going topay all these people when we
should have gone bankrupt.
I'm going to make sure allthese people that we owe money
to that we pay them back, and Ialso going to make sure all
these people that we owe moneyto that we pay them back.
And I also want to be here whenwe pay the damn bank off.

(34:27):
That's what I'm going to do,and I mean it.
Chances of doing that, slim ofnone.
Yeah, it's's pretty diresituation, the so, for the next

(34:50):
six years, my brother and Iworked our.
If I slept more than threehours a night for the next six
years, I don't remember doing it.
And so, going back to you know,my dad said I'll give you three
hours a night for the next sixyears.
I don't remember doing it.
And so, going back to you know,my dad said I'll give you a
good education.

(35:11):
Well, thankfully I did have oneand I had somewhat of a brain
anyway.
And then I kind of laugh nowbecause he said I'll give you
education and opportunity.
I thought, wow, I didn't knowthe opportunity was going to be
like this, yeah, so it was anopportunity, even though it was
a most people wouldn't look atit like as an opportunity.

(35:35):
And so it was, and through a lotof luck, hard work, lucky
breaks, I don't know who, youknow.
I don't know how we did it.
Even today I really don't knowhow we did it, but we did and we
paid everybody off and byGeorge, we paid the bank off too

(35:56):
.
Wow, paid the bank off, and sothat was very gratifying to have
done that.
And you know, it wasn't just topay people off, it was to
restore my father's name too,the pride that's powerful, the

(36:16):
pride in my father's name.
But my grandfather, previous tohim, who is my hero and will
continue to be the rest of mylife, wrote a book about him.
It took a couple of years towrite a book about him, during
COVID.
But in 1929, here in SouthPittsburg, what happened was US

(36:39):
Stove was here at that time andwas here from the 1860s through
1929.
And there was a lot of laborproblems.
Anyway, on Christmas Eve of1929, there was a gunfight here

(37:03):
in the street and six men diedin the gunfight.
Actually, my grandfather wasthere.
Actually he was on the roof ofthe building we're in here.
The old original buildings aregone, but this is one section
that still remains to this day.
This is one section that stillremains to this day.
So in 1929, the owners at thattime they finally just couldn't

(37:34):
deal with the situation anymoreand so the company was pretty
much mothballed from 1929 until1937.
In 1937, my grandfather he wasan entrepreneur, he had the
first funeral home business inthe Valley.

(37:56):
He was a coal miner and, by theway, he worked in the foundry
that I worked in in the early1900s, had an eighth grade
education, and all the localcitizens asked my grandfather.

(38:20):
I said hey, mr Rogers, wouldyou be willing to see if you
can't turn this company around?
And so he went and soldeverything he had, took
everything he had, put it intothe company and he bought the
company.
I don't know what he I guessjust the money he had was just
to get the company started back.
And he, in 1939, or 1937 iswhen he did that, and that's

(38:45):
when my family became involvedin the ownership of the company,
and then my dad after mygrandfather, and then my brother
and I after my father.

Todd (38:58):
I feel like you and your grandfather are probably very
similar in a lot of ways,because for him to just sell
everything like that and to belike I'm all in it sounds like
he had that same kind of drivethat you had.
In a lot of ways, I take thatas a compliment.
I meant it as one.
I really do, yeah, and I alsowant to get a copy of that book

(39:21):
at some point.
Is there a place I can get that, because I'd love to sit over
there.
Because I would love to readthat.

Richard (39:28):
Well, the way the book came about about my grandfather.
During COVID, when it startedin March of 2020, I had this
idea because I do think sohighly of my grandfather I said,
you know, in 2019, the companyturned 150 years old, wow.

(39:55):
And so I wanted to do it as atribute to my grandfather and
let future generations know whata great man he was.
I also wanted to do it.
It came about.

(40:15):
Kind of funny how it all cameabout, but anyway, I got 18
family members on the phone in aconference call and I said, hey
, everybody, I've got this idea.
I'd like to do a book about ourgrandfather, about our heritage
, about all that kind of thing.
And I said if there's one ofyou all I mean just one of you

(40:38):
all that objects to that, Iwon't do it, we won't do it.
But if there's no one thatobjects, then I'm going to ask
you to help put this thingtogether and I want you to help
cooperate to a certain extentanyway.
Sure, and you know, allfamilies have their

(41:01):
disagreements, their people'scousins, whatever that they just
don't get along.
Yeah, and that's just.
You know the reality of it.
But luckily, during that periodof time, I went to a website
called Story Terrace Okay, awebsite called Storyterrace Okay
, and I hired a person,interviewed several, and hired

(41:33):
this lady to be the writer ofthe book and, with us furnishing
all the information for her tobe the guiding force in putting
the book together.
And it took us two years to dothat.
Her name's Darren Kagan and shewas a CNN news anchor for 13
years and I don't know whatreally happened as to why she

(41:55):
wasn't there any longer, andthat's another story altogether.
So she and I became became very, very well, uh, acquainted and
got to know, almost like this,what we're talking about right
now.
She, she knows my, my life story, sure, and so in putting that

(42:17):
together and my grandfather'slife story and the other stories
involved that revolve around USStove Company, around where we
came from, who, all thepersonalities, people involved
over the years, it was really areally a good experience, but
probably the best thing thatcame out of it All of the family

(42:40):
members when we got the bookcompleted, we had a book signing
and a little party inChattanooga.
There's a picture of all ofthem right there on the wall.
I don't remember how many ofthem showed up, but we did that
when we got the book completed.
I've got a book where all ofthem signed my book and put a

(43:04):
little comment in there aboutour grandfather, about our
family and so forth, and so thebest thing that came out of that
book was it brought all ourfamilies so much closer together
.
Wow, it really did early day.

Todd (43:37):
So Richard is an author, entrepreneur, go-getter, family
man.
I love hearing all about this.
So in that time COVID was crazyfor everybody, like it forced a
lot of people to have to slowdown, which in a lot of ways I
think was good.
I, I know several people offthe top of my head, my buddy
tommy, uh, he works in music,and so covid forced him to, uh,

(43:57):
finally start working on achristmas production that he'd
always wanted to do, and nowthis year he'll be performing it
at the Bridgestone Arena.
That's how big it got, oh wow.
And so it's funny because it'sjust something that I don't know
if he ever intended for it todo that.
But it's neat because in thattime it made you go hey, here's

(44:18):
this thing I've always wanted todo.
Now's the perfect time to do it.

Richard (44:22):
Yeah, and at the same time I went and got certified as
a scuba diver too.
What I mean?
I was old then I mean I was 66,and all these young kids are
doing it and they're going.
Who is this old fart here?

Todd (44:36):
Why is he here?

Richard (44:37):
I just said because I've always wanted to do that.
That is amazing.
I just said because I've alwayswanted to do that.

Todd (44:40):
That is amazing, all right .
Well, now we've got to talkabout that because I want to
hear all the stories.
So, scuba diving what?

Richard (44:50):
Why I was holed up in Destin, florida, and stayed
there for several months duringCOVID.
Because everybody was workingremote at that time and I had a
place in Destin that I stayedthere for, went there to stay
like a couple of weeks, ended upstaying there like six or eight
months.

(45:11):
Wow and just I was bored.
Just, you know, I worked outevery day.
There was a gym there and I gotin the best shape of my life at
that time.
But unfortunately too, at thattime in March of 2020, we had

(45:33):
Yastove, had an operation inBridgeport, alabama, a couple of
miles down, a few miles downthe road from here, and we had
to shut it down, I mean, shutdown the whole operation, and
just had to lay off a lot ofpeople.
And you know, things got really, really, really bad.

Todd (45:53):
Yeah.

Richard (45:55):
That broke my heart, to have to do that, but you know,
we had to, we had to survive, wehad to survive to do that.

Todd (46:05):
But you know, we had to.
We had to to survive.
Yeah, it's, you know.
A lot of times, when it comesto business and entrepreneurship
, it's like people tend to onlysee the good side of it, you
know, or they only really thinkabout the good side of it, you
know.
But there's a lot of toughdecisions you have to make
regularly, you know, when itcomes to that, and sometimes it
affects other people and it'snot always easy.

Richard (46:27):
Well, I had experience with that in 19— Okay, my
brother and I we were partnersbeginning in 19—well after my
father's death, but that'sanother.
The story behind how we endedup being partners is a long,
long one, and I don't reallywant to talk about all that.

(46:49):
But eventually we ended upwhere he was 50% owner and I was
50% owner, and that was well1980, I guess, when all that,
after a lot of court hearingsand all kinds of man banking

(47:13):
relations lawsuits, it justreally was overwhelming.
It was just very overwhelming.
And so we ended up, actually,my mother, my dad had remarried
and she descended from the willand was postured to take over

(47:37):
the company, basically, and mymother, anyway, went to court
hearings and all that legalstuff, and my mother loaned
Steve and I the money to buy thestock, which was worthless, it
had no value.
She loaned us the money and wepromised we would work hard to

(47:58):
dig the company out of the badsituation it was in and we would
pay her back.
And we did, we paid her back,and so, had she not given us the
chance, we wouldn't have doneit, we couldn't have done it.

(48:20):
So then, you know, there was alot of things happened that were
to our benefit, that made ourproducts very, very popular.
The sales really did well, andthat was definitely, you know,
when I said earlier that hardwork and luck and so forth.

(48:40):
Well, yeah, we were luckybecause back at that time, the
same situation happened in 74with the Arab oil embargo, and
that's when sales went crazy.
And then the war in Iraq and soforth took place, and when oil

(49:02):
prices go high, our businessdoes well.
And our business does well toowhen there's a recession or
economic times are bad, becausepeople buy our products what
they pay for it, normally theywill save on the utility bills

(49:25):
and it'll pay for itself in fourto six months, depending on the
product, depending on wherethey live, and so that's where
the luck comes in.
Sure, we don't have any controlover what the economy does in
this country.
We don't have any control overwars.
We don't have any control overwhat the economy does in this
country.
We don't have any control overwars.
We don't have any control overa lot of things, but there are

(49:48):
some things we do have controlover, and so we were fortunate
because of that.

Todd (49:56):
Yeah, that's true.
It's like you know, I thinkabout that even in my own
business.
Like you know, I think aboutthat even in in my own own
business, you know, withchattanooga beard company.
It's like I never, you never,really know.
Like you know it's, it's basedon a trend.
You know some guys are like, oh, beards are in and they want
beard products and all thatstuff, and then the next year
they might be like man, I'm notgoing to grow a beard this year.

(50:17):
You know it's like yeah andthere's so many other companies
out there you're constantlycompeting with and it's it's
just an unknown.
So I've just kind of come tothe philosophy of just be a
company that's honest, that'sgenuine, and let people make the
decision based on that.
You know, and and so that'sthat's where we've been and it's
it's been amazing.

(50:37):
Like the guys that buy ourproduct, you've got a nice
looking beard.
I appreciate it.
I appreciate it.
You know the guys that buy ourproduct are.
You know they're buying morethan more than just a beard
product, because those are adime, a dozen.
Anybody can buy a beard product.
But you know, we create anenvironment where people can
actually talk to us, get incontact with us and we're real

(50:58):
people, you know that's.
I think that's really where thebig value comes in.
But okay, so at this, let's seeI'm trying to think through the
next part.
So the scuba diving thing youwere in Florida, you were there,
for you said about six monthsish, give or take, yeah, and you

(51:19):
got into the scuba diving.
What made you?

Richard (51:22):
Not really.
I mean, I just wanted to getcertified, I just wanted to say
I did it.
There you go.

Todd (51:27):
I like that.
Did somebody tell you youcouldn't do it?
I don't remember, I don'tremember.
No, I was just kind of bored.
You can't get certified.

Richard (51:36):
I was just kind of bored and thought, hey, you know
, I just can't sit here and donothing.
And, like I said, I worked outevery day.
Sure, in fact, my brother and ISteve and I have been avid
runners.
He inspired me to start runningwhen I was 31.
So I'm coming up on 40 years ofbeing one of those crazy people

(52:01):
you see running up and down theside of the road.
Wow.

Todd (52:04):
I've always admired that.

Richard (52:05):
Well, my brother and I used to every weekend go do a 5K
or 10K or 15K and ended updoing marathons I don't know how
many marathons and theneventually got into doing the
Ironman competition thing in2004.
I did my first full Ironman inPanama City, Florida, and well,

(52:32):
let's see what did I say?
And then I hadn't been runninglong in 1986.
Like an idiot, I ran the NewYork City Marathon and I did
finish, but it was a horribleexperience because I didn't
train properly.
But I finished.
I think it took me four and ahalf hours or something, and

(52:53):
then, 30 years later, I wentback and did it again in 2016.

Todd (52:57):
How many hours did it take you the second time?

Richard (53:01):
It wasn't that much better because 30 years later,
sure, but in between there thereare those 30 years.
I ran marathons in a lot ofdifferent places.

Todd (53:16):
So explain to me, because I'm not a runner, I don't claim
to be and I don't know muchabout it.
Marathons there's differentlengths, right?

Richard (53:24):
No, they're all the same.

Todd (53:25):
They're all the same.
What is that distance?
26.2 miles, all right, so 26.2miles, that's equivalent to
running from here to where.

Richard (53:36):
That gets you pretty close to Chattanooga.

Todd (53:38):
I was going to say it's probably not far from Chatt.
Is it close to chattanooga?
I was gonna say it's probablynot far from chat.
Is it so okay?
And so how do you?
How do?
Is there a way to train forthat other than just run a lot?
Or is there like a specificthing that you do to train for?
Oh yes, there's specifictraining plans are you allowed
to share those secrets, or isthat like?

Richard (53:54):
no, it's I mean I've read a lot of books.
I mean there's a lot ofdifferent people that have their
own plans and different thingswork, but the primary thing is
to get in before you do a26-mile run is, I think, get in
at least three 20-plus-mile runsprior to then, and then the

(54:15):
hardest thing is tapering off aweek or two before and let your
body recover.
And the same thing is true ofIronman triathlon, which is even
more of a challenge than amarathon.
The Ironman, the full Ironman,is 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike

(54:35):
and then a 26.2-mile run.
Wow.
And I did my first one of thosewhen I was 50 years old.
That was in 2004.
And I did another one when Iwas 60 years old in 2014.
Then I did another one when Iwas 61 in 2015.

(54:59):
I attempted another one in 2016, but the weather conditions
were so bad in that the fourthone I tried that 40% of the
field didn't make it.
I ended up going to thehospital, had to get IVs and so
forth.
I made it 90 miles into thebike ride, but it was like 110

(55:21):
degrees.
I mean it was horrible, wow.
So you know, looking back, 10years ago, I was in the best
shape of my life 10 years ago.
Wow, really was.

Todd (55:33):
And that's inspiring to hear because sometimes I'm like
man, I just hit 40.
I feel like I was in suchbetter shape Like I bloomed
later than most people did intheir life, like I was in the
best shape of my life in mymid-30s, like I just felt
unstoppable and was trainingwith a guy out of Chattanooga
and doing bodybuilding and stuffand so I went from 135 pounds

(55:56):
to 170 and just felt amazing,like when you put on that much
muscle.

Richard (56:01):
You were packing in a protein, weren't you I?

Todd (56:03):
was.
I was, I was eating, eatingeverything.
And it was funny Cause, likeyou know, people were like
what's, what's your diet?
Like what's the plan?
And it was funny Cause, likethe guy who was training me his
name was Jason Jason wasliterally like at my church
hearing me tell somebody like Iwent, I kept having to go to the
doctor.
I, I happened to go to thedoctor.
I kept getting sick over andover and over again and I went
to the doctor finally and thedoctor was like you're like way

(56:24):
underweight.
Like you, at your height, youshould be like walking around at
least 150.
And at that time I was 135pounds.
Oh, wow.
And he's like you got to gainweight.
Well, I'm complaining to myfriends making excuses, like
well, I eat all the time, blah,blah, blah.
I don't know why I can't gainweight.

Richard (56:42):
Oh, that's good.

Todd (56:43):
yeah, and it just was a thing.
I don't know why it was likethat.
And then Jason overheard mesaying that and he's like I can
help you gain weight if you wantto gain weight.
And he's like I'll train youand everything.
And so it was that kind of thinghe was just like whatever
you're getting ready to eat, eattwo of them.
Yeah, it was like you wake upand you're like, oh, I'm going

(57:05):
to have a bowl of cereal.
He's like eat two bowls ofcereal.
He's like, if you're having asandwich for lunch, eat two of
them.
Yeah, and it's like he justconstantly eat.
And that was harder than thetraining itself.

Richard (57:16):
Well, when you, when you're burning that many
calories, you've got to put themin.

Todd (57:19):
Yeah, but it was two years straight of working out like an
hour and a half, two hours aday, five days a week, two days
for recovery, and I just gotjacked.
I'll have to show you somepictures here in a little bit.
Most of the time when I saythat people are like yeah, right
, and it's like I show them,they're like started all of that

(57:41):
.
I was below average back then.

Richard (57:42):
I used to do weights too, but I didn't bulk up.
I just did it for strength.

Todd (57:47):
But yeah, I love exercise, I love working out.
I just don't like running.
I've never been a runner but Ialways admire the people that do
, because there is a dedication,it's a mental thing for me, I
think.

Richard (58:05):
It was therapy for me, think it was therapy for me, and
it still is how?
Um, because mindless activities, you have your best ideas,
agreed.
I mean, like if you're taking ashower and you go, god, and
these ideas pop into your head,yep, and over the last 40 years
that's been that's, that's mytherapy, that's when I'm by
myself with myself and in thislittle world of my own.

Todd (58:26):
Yeah, that's where some of my best songs come from, oh
yeah.
And then also Mowing the Lawn.
That's another one where ideaspop up.
I'll have headphones onlistening to music, but I'm not
listening to the music, it'sjust drowning out the mundane
mower sound.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, and I'll just have thoseon and I'll be pushing and all
of a sudden I'll stop and I'llget out my recorder.
I've got like a little buttonon my phone where, if I hold it

(58:47):
in, it just starts likerecording, because like I have
ideas and I don't want to missthem, and so I'll pull that up
real quick and then I'll justtry to capture the thought or
the idea or whatever it is, andthen it's inspiring.
Like I'll go inside and be liketelling my wife hey, I got this
idea, just hit me out ofnowhere while I was mowing the
lawn.

Richard (59:03):
Well, you're lucky you had a phone back in the day.
When I was doing that, Icarried a little notepad with me
, yeah, and I would write.
I mean, in fact, every on mybed stand at night there's a
little pad and a pen.
I would wake up in the middleof the night.
I couldn't sleep because I'malways thinking, trying to
figure out something, solve aproblem or design a heater or

(59:28):
all kinds of crazy things.
It's crazy what yoursubconscious does when you're
either mindlessly doingsomething, or maybe you're in a
state where you're half asleep,half awake or whatever the
terminology is.
But it happened to me and ithas.
My entire life it's been thatway.

Todd (59:49):
I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but I've
had nights where I go to bedstressed out about a problem
that I can't figure out asolution to, and I'll wake up
the next morning or have a dreamabout the solution and like,
wake up the next day and be like, oh my gosh, that's it, and
it's like it's the weirdestthing.
I've had that happen to metwice.

Richard (01:00:12):
I understand.

Todd (01:00:13):
Yeah, it's yeah, it's wild when it happens.
It doesn't happen often enoughbecause, like I, got a lot of
problems actually it happened tome last night.

Richard (01:00:22):
With all these tariffs that are going on now, it's been
a major, major challenge foryes Stove Company today.
Sure, I probably slept three orfour hours last night.
I tried to doze off and wakeback up and go back to sleep and

(01:00:44):
tried to figure out what to doto deal with these uncertain
times.
Right now they definitely are.

Todd (01:00:56):
Yeah, all right.
So let's see, I'm trying tothink where we want to go from
here.
So, running, you ran, marathons, you did some Ironmans.

Richard (01:01:11):
Did you ever win any of those?
Yeah, I won.
I crossed the finish line,that's right, that's right.

Todd (01:01:16):
I don't think it works that way.
Right, there's not like a firstplace.

Richard (01:01:27):
Well, yeah, I got some medals and so forth, but that's.
You know, yeah, oh yeah, backin, back in my younger days, I
was very, very competitive in in, you know, wanting to be placed
, but as far as out, outoutright winning.
I think I came in second at onetime in a 5k, but back in the
day you know, back in those days, that the running craze was
really, really, really popular.
I don't know if it's thatpopular nowadays, I don't know,

(01:01:50):
but uh, I feel like itfluctuates.
I really loved it, though.
I mean, it was like a weekendand I'd take my family, my wife
and my my boys.
When they were six years old,they ran, ran their first race
and I tried to inspire them todo it.
My brother inspired me to do it.
But my brother, he weighed like220 pounds and drinking heavily

(01:02:14):
and not in very good health,and he started running.
Actually, he started walkingbecause he couldn't run because
he's so big and fat.
He started running.
Actually, he started walkingbecause he couldn't run because
he's so big and fat, but hereally became a very good runner
and he won several races.
I love my brother.

(01:02:35):
No doubt he and I have beenthrough some things together and
you know, I guess hard timesbring you together or drive you
apart.

Todd (01:02:45):
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, do you guys still talk Is?
He still around.

Richard (01:02:51):
Does he still run?

Todd (01:02:52):
Yeah, is your brother still running?

Richard (01:02:53):
No, he doesn't still run.
He's got some health issues.
Now he's 75, and he's had somehealth issues.
In fact, he had back surgerydone and that kind of was a bad
result from that, and that's acouple of years ago.

(01:03:15):
But my brother and I we aboutlost each other as being
brothers in 1991.
He walked in one day and hejust said hey, richard, I want
out.
I said what do you mean youwant out?

(01:03:37):
Well, we had a legally bindingdocument that was a buy-sell
agreement.
So if he told me what hethought his half was worth, then
I had the option of saying okay, I'll pay it or you can buy me
out for that amount.
So just out of the blue, hewalks in and lays that on me.

(01:04:00):
And I think that was in late1980, 1989 or early 1990, I
think.
And during that period of timefrom when we finally turned
around the company in 86, he andI had different business

(01:04:23):
philosophies, in that I'm moreof a risk taker and he's very
conservative.
That doesn't make me right orwrong, it doesn't make him right
or wrong Right.
But our business philosophieswere it didn't work out to have
two people steering the boatwhen it really needed to be one

(01:04:50):
person, you know, with onevision of where they wanted to
take the company.
Mine was different than his andI think what made him decide
that he wanted out was in 1986,we bought a company down in
Maybank, texas, moved it toChattanooga making smoker grills
, got into that business.

(01:05:11):
Then in 88, I bought anothercompany and let's see 89, 90,
another one, and I startedgrowing the business and growing
it, I thought, did a good joband actually the one that I made

(01:05:35):
the deal with in 90 ended upbeing one of the best ones.
And unfortunately, that's aboutthe time my brother said, hey,
you know, here's what I want,here's how much.
And I said well, steve,congratulations, you just bought
the company.
He said oh no, I don't want tobuy the company.

(01:05:57):
I said well, legally, that'sthe way it works.
I said so, let's work, you know, let's try to figure this out,
come up with a solution.
So you know, you end up gettinggo where you want to and I'll
do the same.
So basically we made anagreement that he would leave

(01:06:23):
the company for one year andduring that year he would have
nothing to do with theoperations or decision-making or
anything, and that I would, andif I could get it in a position
in one year to where I feltlike, okay, I'll buy you out,

(01:06:45):
I'll pay you what you're asking,but if I don't feel comfortable
with that, we'll just both sellthe company.
Okay yeah, he said that's fairenough.
So he went on during that yearhe went and got his CPA, he got
certified as a CPA and, by theway, he passed it the first time
, which is highly unusual.
So Steve's pretty dang driventoo.

(01:07:09):
So at the end of the year andduring that year oh wow, a lot
of things I had to do that werevery unpleasant.
We had a plant in Chattanooga Ihad to lay off were very
unpleasant.
We had a plant in Chattanooga Ihad to lay off several hundred
people on a Friday afternoon.
That was very tough.

(01:07:31):
And then I sold that smokerbusiness during that year to
generate some money, somerevenue, some funds, so that I
could be positioned to pay Steve.
We worked some more things outon some properties and so forth.

(01:07:55):
So at the end of that year Iremember I was deer hunting
nearby in the mountains here andI and I was so torn about
whether to take the chance orthe challenge of buying him out

(01:08:15):
and then continuing the companyalone.
And I remember I crawled up ina hackberry tree and if anybody
knows what a hackberry tree is,the bark on those things is
really kind of rough.
I got up in that tree beforedaylight that morning and I
didn't get out of that treeuntil after dark and all day
long I beat my head against thattree.
I had blood running down myface, all down my clothes, and

(01:08:38):
if a deer had walked up under meunder this deer stand, I
wouldn't have seen him.
I was just kind of in one ofthose places where what am I
going to do?
You know what am I going to do?
So before I got up in that tree,I made the decision that as
soon as my foot hit the ground,I wasn't going to waffle, I was

(01:09:00):
going to be committed.
I remember when my foot hitthat ground I said and I had
attorneys, I had all kinds ofadvisors saying don't do it,
it's not worth it, it's no, no.
And I still kept saying, youknow, I'd rather try and fail

(01:09:26):
than not try at all and wonderthe rest of my life, well, could
I have done it?
So I finally came to thatconclusion.
As soon as my foot hit thatground, I knew what I was going
to do and I was balls out.
Then I was ready to take thebull by the horns and ride him

(01:09:52):
best I could.
There you go, wow.

Todd (01:09:56):
Okay, and so you did right , you bought him out.

Richard (01:09:59):
The deal was that I would pay him over a 10-year
period to be able to deal withthe cash flow and maintain the
business as a viable business,and this is where I about lost
him.
He didn't speak to me at allfor well over a year and I had

(01:10:24):
these terrible, terriblenightmares about that because it
bothered me.
Yeah terrible nightmares aboutthat because it bothered me.
And as time went on I startedhaving those nightmares turned
into dreams pleasant dreams, andincidentally, I was supposed to

(01:10:44):
pay him over a 10-year period.
I paid him all of it after twoyears.
Wow, Turned it around soquickly.
I think it kind of made him alittle bit mad, even though he
got paid.
I mean, little brother's notsupposed to outdo big brother,
Right right.
But that's not what he wanted todo.

(01:11:05):
He didn't want to do that, andI respect that.
So those nightmares startedturning into dreams, and that
dream ended up being that hewalked up to me, hugged me and
said hey man, richard, what agreat job Hugged me and made us
be brothers again.

Todd (01:11:27):
Sure.

Richard (01:11:28):
Because it was tough, hard things going on between us
and there's a lot of thingshappened that could have turned
us against each other, maybe forthe rest of our lives, sure,
but fortunately that didn'thappen and that dream became a
reality.
He did, that's what happened,and we've been close brothers

(01:11:51):
ever since, and that was in 19,.
I don't know, 92 or 3.
And one thing with him and hisphilosophy, I said.
He said, steve, I want to getthis company where it works for
me instead of me working for it.
He said, oh hell, you won'tever do that.

(01:12:12):
Well, that was, I was sayingthat when I bought him out.
And fortunately, that's what mygoal was to get it that way.
And fortunately, what happenedfive years later got tested,

(01:12:34):
because on November 11th 1995, Igot struck by lightning, what?
And I was in a hunting cabin,in a bed of sleep on Montego
Mountain, old primitive cabin,plywood cabin, and there was

(01:12:59):
three other people in the cabinwith me.
I was in a wooden bunk, on thelower bunk and above me was a
young man named Jason Berry.
At that time he was 14.
He might have been 13, 13 or 14years old.
His brother, brandon, was onthe ground floor with me and

(01:13:21):
their father, mike, was also onthe ground floor.
Lightning came through thecabin, came up.
There was a set of metal stepsoutside and I happened to be the
one closest to those metalsteps and the lightning happened
at about 5.30 on the morning ofNovember 11, 1995.

(01:13:44):
The lightning came up throughthose steps, went in through my
feet and came up through thosesteps, went in through my feet,
burned, melted all my clothes onmy body, set the bed on fire,
set the cabin on fire.
Mike and Brandon were on thesame floor level as I.
It knocked, but it killed me.
It knocked out Brandon and itknocked out Mike.

(01:14:09):
Fortunately Jason was in thebunk above, above and it did not
knock him out.
He had, by the way, for a pill.
He had a hunting vest with30-06 shells rolled up in that
hunting vest.
It melted those shells togetherunder his head, oh my gosh.
So he realized that the cabinwas on fire.

(01:14:32):
He jumped out of that top bunk,took a cover and put me out.
I was laying in a bed on fireand I was dead.
He pulled me out of the bed,got me in the floor, got his I
guess he woke up his brother andhis dad and said hey, richard's

(01:14:54):
on fire, hey, oh God, and thecabin's on fire.
And the cabin, it was on abluff up on Montego Mountain and
it's very unusual because it'sin November and lightning storms
don't happen in November aroundhere, yeah, that seems like the
worst.

Todd (01:15:13):
That's weird.

Richard (01:15:15):
But Jason had seen on the refrigerator door this
magnetic thing about how to doCPR.
Jason did CPR on me, and whilehe's doing CPR on me, I am up
above watching him do it and I'mgoing through this brightly lit

(01:15:37):
tunnel and it was so peaceful,I didn't.
I mean, it was such a peacefulexperience, just a brightly lit
tunnel, and it was just awesome.
And I really didn't want tocome back.
And before that, though, I wasup there sitting on the ceiling

(01:15:58):
or above watching him do CPR onme.
I mean, I know this all soundsweird.
No, I've heard that I waswatching him do it.
And then I'm going through thistunnel.
I was watching him do it, andthen I'm going through this
tunnel, and next thing Iremember is being slapped in the

(01:16:20):
face very, very hard, andcoming to and looking up, and
there was Jason's fatherstanding above me.
Of course, he was upside down.
I mean, he was above my head,standing over you.
Yeah, I was laying on the floorand he's slapping the hell out
of me.
I said whoa, whoa, what are youdoing, mike?

(01:16:40):
He said hell, you've beenstruck by lightning and my
clothes were melted on me and itwas still storming and the
cabin was on fire.
The mattress that I was on.
It was still storming and thecabin was on fire, the mattress
that I was on it was stillburning.
So I felt myself going intoshock at that point.

(01:17:06):
And how in the heck?
At that time in 95, I did have acell phone and it never worked
at that location.
Somehow that cell phone workedthat morning and they called
their Mike, called his wife andtold her what had happened.
So they got in touch with theemergency services and so forth

(01:17:28):
and we were way out in themiddle of nowhere, out in the
woods, services and so forth.
And we were.
We were way out in the middleof nowhere out in the woods.
So they came and got me and Ithink it's I don't really
remember the make of the vehicleor anything, but I think it's
like a log wagon or something.
But trees had blown downeverywhere and it was, and I had

(01:17:49):
a vehicle parked.
It fried all the circuitry inmy vehicle.
Big rocks were blown out of theground.
I mean it was crazy.
Big, huge trees were split.
I've got pictures.
I'll show you downstairs ofthat.
But fortunately they got me outof there and I was picked up by

(01:18:12):
life force from ErlangerHospital in Chattanooga and back
at that time they had a burnunit and so I was flown to
Erlanger on life force and Iremember it.
I was in so much pain and Iremember it.
I was in so much pain, gotthere and I spent 11 days in

(01:18:37):
intensive care.
I think it's Channel 3 orChannel 12, one of the local
stations, announced on theevening broadcast that I had
died.
I got third-degree burns allover my body and so forth and it
fried my.
Hands are numb today and sore myfeet, but I've adapted to it,

(01:19:00):
I've gotten used to it.
I've had three operations on myleft eye, but other than that
I'm fine, wow.
So anyway, I spent the timethere in Erlanger and I was told
I'd never walk again, much lesslive, and I went through so

(01:19:25):
many different prognosis anddoctors and so forth from 1995
for the next two or three years,and I was in a wheelchair,
pretty incapacitated.
So the story I was telling youpreviously about getting a
company where it worked for meinstead of me working for it.
I'm glad I did, because thecompany survived and it
continued to exist while I wasin that shape.

Todd (01:19:49):
That's a testament of a good leader.

Richard (01:19:52):
Well, I had a really good management team.

Todd (01:19:54):
Yeah.
So, I did.
I've often heard people saythat it's like a good leader is
someone that can identifypeople's strengths and give them
opportunities to be in positionto have that ability to run
things.
And you can always tell thestrength of a leader by his
absence.
If everything still runs smooth, it's probably ran by a great

(01:20:17):
man.

Richard (01:20:17):
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I mean, if you're anybusiness owner, you know you can
be a slave to your business oryou can maybe work smart a
little smarter and let yourbusiness work for you, that's
right, and you've got to getgood people to do that of course
.

Todd (01:20:33):
Yeah, all right.
So, wow, all right.
I don't even know where tobegin with that one, because I
didn't expect that that was agood plot twist.
By the way, well, I'm glad youdidn't know anything about me
before you got here.
Everything's a plot twist whenyou don't know someone, all

(01:20:56):
right.
So you got struck by lightning.
Like that's crazy, like theodds of that are like rare, like
from what I hear you're, you'rebetter off winning the lottery
than getting struck by lightning.
Yeah, so obviously you didn'texpect that.
What was no, like what, allright.
So what was the recovery likefrom that?
Because, in my mind— Well, fora long time when I say a long
time.

Richard (01:21:16):
the recovery, well, it was in stages, but I was pretty
much flat on my back for, Idon't know, at least six months
maybe, in such severe pain.
I mean, there's no way todescribe the pain.
I use the analogy I spoke aboutLodge Manufacturing being here

(01:21:41):
in South Pittsburg that makesall the cast iron cookware.
Just imagine taking a cast ironskillet and having a gas stove
to cook on and put that castiron skillet on that eye of that
gas stove and picture yourselflaying in that skillet being

(01:22:01):
flipped over and over and overand over for eternity.
It felt like eternity, I bet itdid.
And I was in so, so bad, suchbad pain.
Morphine, I was on that forprobably a month, two months,

(01:22:26):
and I said I'm not going to dothis anymore.
So I just, cold turkey, quit it.
And I said I'm not going to dothis anymore.
So I just cold turkey, quit it.
And I guess one of the thingsthat happened during that period
of time, both my sons at thattime in 1995, they were 15,

(01:22:54):
getting ready to be 16.
And that was a very traumaticthing for them, as well as their
mom, my wife.
So that was not a good thingfor our family, for me
personally, or our family.
And I recall very vividly oneday my younger son, russ, walks

(01:23:16):
in and I'm crying as usual, justhurting so bad, and it'd been
months and months of that goingon, and he's, he's.
He walked up to me.
Actually, I was in the bed andI was crying and he said Dad,

(01:23:36):
are you going to die?
I went, whoa, I never thoughtabout dying like this, but I
guess maybe I should have.
And so I said, russ, I'm goingto answer that question with two
questions to you.
The first one is you see thatdamn clock on the wall over

(01:23:57):
there and it's got a man in handon it and I've been watching
that thing and one minute seemslike an eternity to me because
I'm in such pain.
Will you take that damn clockoff the wall?
And the second question is willyou put it under your arm and
walk out that door and close thedoor behind you?

(01:24:20):
I said okay.
When he walked out, I sat up inthe bed and I prayed, and my
prayer was this If you will, letme live.

(01:24:48):
I don't want to live for me, Iwant to live for others.
And if you'll let me live, giveme another chance at this thing

(01:25:11):
that we call life.
I will make a difference.
For others.
That was sometime during 1996,I guess maybe later, 96, 97.

(01:25:41):
Many, many things happened afterthat.
I mean, I was in a wheelchairand so I just I got an airdyne
back and put that airdyne back.
Well, previously to that I'dgone to doctors and all they

(01:26:03):
were prescribing was painmedication and I was in a pain
clinic in Chattanooga.
I got my wife.
I told her I said, wheel me outof here.
And I was shooting a painclinic in Chattanooga.
My wife, I told her I said,wheel me out of here.
And I was shooting the doctorbirds.
I was telling all of them ifyou stay here, you're going to
die.
I'm sitting there looking atall these people and I said, if
I stay here I'm going to be dead.
So I left there and that's whenI quit.

(01:26:24):
The pain medicine called turkey.
The doctor ran out behind.
He said if you quit that you'regoing to swallow your tongue.
Going compulsions.
I said, well, I'm ready to go.
So I remember contactingseveral different friends.
I said, hey, I want to, eventhough I was couldn't stand up
or walk.
I went and played one hole ofgolf with a buddy of mine on a

(01:26:48):
walker and I remember it was apar four and I got a seven on it
.

Todd (01:26:52):
That's not bad.
Better than me on my best day.

Richard (01:26:55):
No, and then we got stuck because it was muddy and
we got stuck in a cart.
I never got off that golfcourse then and then I asked
another buddy.
I said hey, will you play a fewhands, get some guys together
and play some cards together,and just crazy things like that.
Because I really did think thatmy days were numbered and I

(01:27:18):
thought, you know, hey, make thebest of what you got, make the
best of what I got left.
And I got told all kinds ofcrazy things about everything
from that.
I had leukemia and I had so manytests and so much medical
misinformation and I got in thatmedical revolving door and I

(01:27:40):
just decided I'm going to jumpout of this revolving door, I'm
going to do it my way, I'm goingto go die my way and if I die,
so bad I'll die.
But then a fraternity brotherof mine this is even crazier he
was telling some guy in Floridaabout my situation.

(01:28:01):
He said oh well, there's adoctor at every clinic in
Atlanta.
You ought to go see this man.
He knows how to deal with thatand he doesn't mask the pain, he
does it by herbal healing.
And I tried hypnosis, I triedacupuncture, I tried anything
and everything, but I didn'twant to take morphine.

(01:28:23):
Sure, get hooked on any of thatkind of thing.
I'll tell you one thing thatprobably helped just as much as
anything was uh, drink three orfour, uh, miller lights here's.
You know, and I'm still, Istill really like my middle
light today?

Todd (01:28:37):
yeah, absolutely, but uh, we'll have to have a miller
light after this.

Richard (01:28:42):
Oh, yeah, the guys gonna be in here later we'll
have, but uh, uh, so that was uh, that was quite a struggle and
so I went to the doctor at EmeryClinic in Atlanta, dr Hammonds,
and I went in there and I hadthis bad attitude about doctors

(01:29:03):
anyway, but I went anyway and Iwasn't very nice to him during
our first visit because I had towait a long time and there was
other people sitting aroundthere in such pain.
Yeah, I mean, I could go off ona tangent, tell you stories
about these other guys that weresitting by me in the waiting
room.
And terrible, terrible.
One guy had his leg cut off, atruck wreck Another guy he was

(01:29:24):
an ARC agent.
He got shot to the shoulder ofhis bulletproof vest and he was
paralyzed.
And so they told me their storyand then asked me what mine was
.
I said oh, I'm fine, I don'thave any problems.

Todd (01:29:37):
Not compared to yours.

Richard (01:29:42):
And I mean it was so memorable what they were telling
.
And you know, it's funny howthings become more important to
you than what they might havebeen previously.
More important to you than whatthey might have been previously
.
But anyway, dr Hammonds, duringthat visit he said you know why
don't you try to get on astationary bike and ride it,

(01:30:02):
maybe 15 minutes, three times aweek?
I said, no, not going to dothat.
I'm going to get on that thingand ride it two hours every day.
There's that drive, not onlythat I'm going to get on it and
ride it two hours every day outin the hot weather, in the
sunshine, and I want to makemyself hurt like hell.

(01:30:23):
There you go, and so I did.
And after about, oh, it hurtlike crazy.
I mean, hey, if you're going tohurt, why not hurt yourself
worse?
I mean, there's differentdegrees of hurt, that's right,
and it was horrible, but it wasalso at the same time I'm going.
Well, hey, maybe I am going toget better.

(01:30:44):
And you know what?
I got where I could stand upagain after about I don't know
three to six months.
That's so good.
I got where I could stand upagain after about I don't know
three to six months.
That's so good.
I got where I could stand upagain.
And then, guess what?
I got where I could actuallywalk.
And then I got where I couldrun again, and I'll never forget
running one mile.
I lived on the mountain andfinishing that run, laying down

(01:31:08):
in my yard, crying, looking atthe sky and just saying thank
you, yeah, thank you, for givingme this another chance at this
thing called life.

Todd (01:31:22):
Wow, that's so good.
If you're going to hit yourhead on the tree, you may as
well do it until your foot hitsthe ground, right.
Hey, why not?
Wow, you know, I realize thedoctors messed up whenever you
was walking out of there andthey told you well, you're going
to do this and that and theother and you're going to
swallow your tongue.
It's like that drive that youhave.
They just told you what wasgoing to happen.

(01:31:43):
No, that ain't happening.

Richard (01:31:45):
Not with me.
Well, by the way, that samedoctor he got, I think he lost
his license for over-prescribingpaid medications, which we all
know that happens A lot.
Yeah, there's a lot of moneyflowing through those doctors.
I didn't have any idea thatthat was going on, but I just
knew if I was going to die.
I wanted to die on my own termsand it was not making me better

(01:32:05):
, it was just masking the pain.
So I hit that pain head on andmade it hurt worse.

Todd (01:32:18):
There's there.
You are super interesting.
I feel like I feel like I coulddo a nine hour episode.
We may have to do that.
Let's set a record.
See what the longest podcastepisode is.

Richard (01:32:29):
You said you had 55 hours on the battery.
I got 55 hours.

Todd (01:32:33):
We actually have 54 now.

Richard (01:32:36):
Well, we may have to take a beer break.

Todd (01:32:42):
This is incredible, and the one thing that I really feel
like I'm hearing over and overagain, just as you're telling
these stories, is just, you havea will and a determination
about you that is inspiring Likeit makes me want to mimic that
and I think that's an incrediblething.

Richard (01:33:00):
Well, some people call that stupidity.
Yeah, that's good.

Todd (01:33:09):
So what advice or what do you want people to get out of
this Like whenever they'relistening to this episode?
Is there something that youwant to?

Richard (01:33:16):
tell people, yeah, okay .
So after I got where I couldwalk, run, do somewhat normal
things again and got back ableto function reasonably normal,

(01:33:38):
about that time I realized thatmy wife had pretty much given up
on me and she was going outsideof her marriage and so our
marriage disintegrated, ended.

(01:33:58):
That was that's probably one ofthe one of the toughest things,
because I truly loved her.
One of the toughest thingsbecause I truly loved her.
But you know, the reality of itwas she probably didn't want to
be taking care of some invalidguy.

(01:34:20):
You know Not sure thatnecessarily what happened.
But so then we got a divorceand she left and my two boys at

(01:34:42):
that time were still with me.
They wouldn't work and afterthree occasions, on the third
occasion I said listen, you'renot going to work, you're not
going to live here.
So I gave each one of them agarbage bag and I said go get
whatever your shit in your roomis, put it in that bag.

(01:35:03):
Oh, I don't want to.
I said no, I'm talking aboutright now.
Go get your stuff whatever youthink you might want, because
you're not coming back here andI'm walking you to the front
door and telling you bye, you'renot welcome back here.
If you're not going to work,you're not living here.

(01:35:24):
So they went and moved in withtheir mom and it didn't work.
She did pretty well with thedivorce and lived off that.
I guess they didn't think theyhad work and unfortunately, just
a few years later she died ofbrain cancer, and so that was

(01:35:51):
devastating for my sons, both ofthem.
One of them had a nervousbreakdown and he hasn't been
able to live on his own sincethe age of about 18, 19.
18, 19.
So for the last 20, 26 yearshe's been living in group homes.

(01:36:17):
He can't take care of himself.
That's my older son he's theoldest one by one minute and
then the one that's the youngestone, russ, the same one that
walked in my room and I told himto get that clock off the wall.
He's having his struggles andhe's currently in a place for

(01:36:44):
rehab from being filled withmeth and drugs and so forth, and
so, unfortunately, both oftheir paths have not been very
good paths up to this point.
I still don't give up hope.

Todd (01:36:57):
You know my children are young and I as a father, I have
that thought a lot of times,like what if they grow up and
they make choices that aren'tgreat?
And there's a worry there.
You know what I mean and I'msure it's common.
Every father probably thinksabout that.
Oh yeah, still worry about minetoday.

(01:37:18):
Yeah, yeah and it's at somepoint and I'm hearing this
commonly, not just with yourstory but other gentlemen that
I've talked to who have olderchildren you know it's like at
some point you have to kind ofhave a realization that, like,
you've got to let them be theirown person and you're not
responsible for the choices thatthey make.
You know that's right and Ihear that a lot from them.

Richard (01:37:39):
We can't be enablers either, and that's probably one
of my pet peeves, I guess callit what you want.
Yes, call it what you want.
But you see so many parentsthat they think they're helping
but they're just putting aBand-Aid on it and it's a

(01:38:01):
temporary solution to a problemthat needs to be addressed more
sternly than just a Band-Aidhere and a Band-Aid there,
sternly than just a Band-Aidhere and a Band-Aid there.
And I was, you know, I guess Iwas pretty stern and maybe harsh
, more so than others in myimmediate family thought I

(01:38:25):
should be, but I didn't reallyfeel like I was.
I thought I was being fair andactually, because of my
background, I kind of thought,hey, you know, hey, it's time to
grow up.
You're 15, 16 years old, so youknow right or wrong.
That's the way I felt, sure,but you know your question you

(01:38:47):
asked a little bit ago aboutwhat do I want the takeaway to
be from all this that's beentalked about so far?
The prayer I made to give meanother chance.
What happened in the process ofwriting that book?

(01:39:10):
What happened in the process ofwriting that book and when we
started writing it in 2020,toward the end of 2022, we were

(01:39:34):
getting through with it, prayedwhat I prayed, and that I wanted
to make a difference in otherpeople's lives.
You know, I've realized that Ihaven't delivered on that
promise, that I haven'tdelivered on that promise and

(01:39:55):
the takeaway I want to give onthat is I started a foundation
and the name of the foundationis called Just One More.
It's called Just One MoreFoundation.
I have a website,justonemorefoundationorg, and
it's been in existence.
Now we're two and a half yearsinto it and I would encourage

(01:40:20):
anybody listening to this tolook at the website
justonemorefoundationorg and seewhat it's all about.
But basically, what it's allabout it's for people that are
in a hopeless situation or feellike they're in a hopeless
situation.
It's for people that have aplan to work hard and put forth

(01:40:49):
the effort and energy to getthemselves out of that hopeless
situation, and what Just OneMore Foundation does is we take
grants from people with thatsituation going on in their life
, whether it be mental illness,whether it be mental illness,

(01:41:13):
whether it be educational needs,whether it be medical things or
anything else.
The mission statement.
I'm not going to read it to youword for word because that's
too plain vanilla, but it's onthe website plain vanilla, but
it's on the website.
And since, in the last two anda half years, what we do, we

(01:41:33):
have cycles and the giving cycleeach year is from let's see if
I get this right January, fromJanuary through March and then
from July through September.

(01:41:53):
There's a three-month windowtwice a year where you can go to
the website, apply for a grant.
All you got to do is hit thebutton apply for a grant.
There's a questionnaire.
The questionnaire askseasy-to-under, understand
questions.
You know why are you applying,so forth and so on.

(01:42:15):
But the other key, very keycomponent of this the people
that we pick to help, and wechoose to help.
When I say we, there's severalother individuals involved in
the organization that started,but one of the biggest factors
is whoever that person is, ifthey get themselves out of a

(01:42:39):
problem situation and overcometheir obstacles that they're
facing.
One of the key things we'relooking for is if they want to
do it, so they can go helpothers as well, not just
themselves.
That's cool.
And so in the last, let's seethe first year.
Well, up to this point, we havegiven somewhere between a half

(01:43:02):
million and a million dollarsaway.
Wow, and we do it.
It's vetted with a committee ofpeople.
It's not just one person or twopeople, it's a committee of
people.
That it's not just one personor two people, it's a committee
of people that look throughthese.
We make the selections of thepeople.
We call them do a podcast, alive podcast, oh, that's cool.

(01:43:22):
And on the website there's abunch of examples of that.
On the podcast there's a lot ofemotion and not only do we aid
them and give them theassistance and the grant, we
follow up with them and wefollow up to see where their
life has gone and what they'redoing to honor that commitment

(01:43:44):
to help others, and is thatsomething that people listening
can get involved with somehow?

Todd (01:43:51):
You better believe it.
Yeah, go to the website.
All right, good, because I'minterested to look more into
that myself and see if there's away we can get Chattanooga
Beard to partner up and do somestuff with you guys somehow.

Richard (01:44:03):
So the takeaway I'll go back to.
Yes, I wanted to put that outfront and center.
I wanted to put that out frontand center.
That that's most of the reasonwhy I'm sitting here and wanted
to do this interview, because Iwanted to get that out.
About just one more foundation,yeah, and when you look on the

(01:44:24):
website you know I just kind ofgenerally described it, but lo
and behold, last, what was it?
And this is on the website aswell.
Last October, which is aboutsix months ago, the National CBS

(01:44:48):
News film crew came in and dida story on the story we're
talking about now.
Yeah, that's cool and it airedon CBS Sunday morning sometime
back in October I don't rememberwhen it was the month, but
gotten a lot of publicity out ofthat for the foundation.
And let me say this too thispublicity is not about for the

(01:45:11):
foundation.
And let me say this too thispublicity is not about for
Richard Rogers, it's abouthelping others and you can sense
that.

Todd (01:45:18):
And that's what I love about what we're doing at Ash
and Iron.
It's like there is agenuineness to it, because there
is no script, because there isno filter, it's just.
This is the story and I thinkbecause of that, the listeners
of this are going to resonatewith that and get involved.
I hope everyone listening getsinvolved in some way or another.

(01:45:39):
Justonemorefoundationorg Isthat correct?
That's right.
And it's spelled O-N-E, not thenumber one, right?
Just O-N-E.
That's correct.

Richard (01:45:50):
More yeah, okay, that's correct.
More yeah, okay, just makingsure.
Just one more yeah.
And we've had fundraisers andin fact we're doing a raffle
here during the CornbreadFestival to try to raise some
funds to give money's way goingdown the road, and I've got a
really good group of people thatare involved as board members
and those people are shown onthe website as well.

Todd (01:46:14):
Can I send some raffle items?
Huh, can I send you some raffleitems?
Sure All right awesome?
Yeah, because, chattanoogaBeard, we want to do that and
just donate whatever you guysraise from it.

Richard (01:46:22):
Well, we've already got it kicked off.
We're giving away about $50,000worth of items.
Very cool.
There's really some really goodprizes and, by the way, there
is a website.
It's on the website too.
You can buy the raffle tickets.
You can buy them online and youdo not have to be present to

(01:46:45):
win oh that's fun.

Todd (01:46:46):
That is so fun.
All right, everybody, make sureyou check out that link.
That's exciting and I lovehearing that.
I'll tell you after the podcasta little bit about how that
resonates with me personally.

Richard (01:47:00):
Well, this place we're at here is called the Hooch, and
the Hooch is a man cave onsteroids.
It's about a 12,000, 15,000square foot warehouse, and you
haven't.
You just walked through.
You haven't seen anything yetother than a few dead animals on
the wall, and so forth.

Todd (01:47:21):
I do want to.
Before I leave, I want a tour.
I know that you said you weregoing to give me one and I was
like, let's not.

Richard (01:47:29):
You didn't want to know too much about it, right, but
the Hooch here is sort of thehome base for just one more
foundation, okay, and I guessyou could say it kind of
originates here.
Maybe maybe not, I don't know,but I'm pretty proud of what
we've accomplished so far forhealth.
I mean, we're just two, two anda half years old and I'm pretty

(01:47:54):
proud of that.
In fact, I'll tell you howproud of it I am because just
this last Christmas, on Decemberthe 20th, I had an appointment
with my doctor that he checkedmy he.
He said I had a I guess a scandone on my abdomen and he said,

(01:48:19):
hey, there's something in there,looks like a problem.
Oh, what's that?
So he calls me.
December 20th of last year, Imean just just six months ago,
he says, hey, there's a, lookslike a mass, a tumor, in your
bladder.
But don't dwell on it,christmas is coming up and I'll

(01:48:39):
see you after Christmas.
I go December 20th, I believe,is on a Friday and I go don't
dwell on it.
What do you mean?
Don't dwell on it?
Don't dwell on it.
What do you mean, don't dwellon it?
Well, I go in the next Friday,one week later, and I'm thinking
, oh god, you know, I've got theC, the big C word, yeah, so he

(01:49:00):
goes in and does a thing up my,I mean sure, with a scope yeah,
and it didn't feel good.
But so my significant other, whoI've been with 25 years now,
she's there with me and he looksat me and he looks at her and
he says it's a huge canceroustumor.

(01:49:22):
And she starts crying.
And I'm standing there, lookinglike deer in the headlight, and
I'm going what, crying?
And I'm standing there, itlooked like deer in the
headlights and I'm going what?
And I go and she starts reallyI don't know how to describe it
throwing a tantrum of anemotional whatever.

Todd (01:49:47):
I'd imagine Rightfully, so right.

Richard (01:49:49):
Yeah, and I'm going and I'm just kind of numb.
I go well, and he looks at meand he says you got any
questions.
I said well, how long do I haveto live?
And she starts in on him too.
And so he says hey, I'm sorry Imissed this, I'm sorry I'm

(01:50:14):
telling you this, but I'm justright.
At this point, all I can do istry to save this man's life.
That was on December 27th, on aFriday, I believe it was the
following Monday.
Three days later, I go in forsurgery.
I think they're going to takemy bladder out and I've got
cancer.
I meet up with it and I go intothe hospital, they put me to

(01:50:40):
sleep and so forth, and whileI'm out, the doctor comes.
It's a different doctor, by theway.
He comes walking up to Kay, mysignificant other, with a smile
on his face, and she goes what'sgoing on?
I'm still under anesthesia.

(01:51:02):
He said there's no tumor.
There's no, nothing in there,there's nothing.
There's no tumor, there's no,nothing in there, there's
nothing.
And he said but we took sometissue to send it off to be sure
there's not any canceroustissue or anything like that in
there.
And so I had to wait anotherseven days to get the story or

(01:51:25):
the news about that.
And I got.
You know, I didn't.
I'm just still kind of goingwhoa.
But during that period of timeI'll be honest I felt like, you
know, if it's true, if I'm on myfinal leg here, you know what?

(01:51:47):
At least, at least, I honoredthat promise that I made Back
when I asked for a second chance, when I asked for another
chance.
So I've been given anotherchance, A couple chances.
Yeah, I've been given severalchances.
I have, and I don't take thatlightly at all.

(01:52:12):
That's incredible, so I don'thave anything to you know.
And I asked that guy, thedoctor.
I said, hey, when do I need tocome back to follow up on this?
He says wait a year.
I said bye, see you in a year.

Todd (01:52:27):
Wow, I don't know that I want to go any further.
I said bye, see you in a year.
Wow, I don't know that I wantto go any further.
I feel like that's such a greatnote to end on, but I also
don't want to take anything fromyou.
If there's something elsespecifically that you're like,
you know what I really felt likeduring this conversation that I

(01:52:49):
wanted to share.

Richard (01:52:50):
this other thing that's really what I want to share.
I want to share that you knowthere's human struggles
everywhere.
Everybody's got their problems.
Everybody's got their issues.
Some people choose to.
You know they get knocked down.
It's not how you get knockeddown, it's how you get up.

Todd (01:53:11):
Yes.

Richard (01:53:12):
And the ones that have the initiative and want to take
the initiative and put forth theeffort to change their
situation.
If it's hopeless or if it'swhatever it is, hopeless is
probably as good a word as any,at least from my past, is
probably as good a word as any,at least from my past if they've

(01:53:43):
got that determination and thewill to change their situation
and not sit around and go oh,woe is me.
you know that's the kind ofpeople that Just One More
Foundation is looking for,because, again, if we can help
that person and that person willhelp other people.
We're starting what I call thesecond chance movement.

Todd (01:54:04):
Yeah.

Richard (01:54:05):
And it's pay it forward .

Todd (01:54:07):
It'll snowball.

Richard (01:54:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's my hope and to this point I think
we've given away in over20-something states all over the
country.
We try to focus a good bit ofit locally to the local area,
but my hope and dream is to growthe thing and it become more

(01:54:30):
and more of a way of thinkingand a way of people living their
lives and being an influence onothers' lives.

Todd (01:54:40):
That's so great and I want to add on to the end of this
episode.
I don't normally do this, but Ijust want to personally say
thank you to you, richard, firstof all, but also to all the
guests and all the people thatlisten to this podcast, because
when I first set out to do this,it was not what it turned into.

(01:55:01):
It was just an idea.
I love people and I lovehearing people's stories.
I personally have a story and Iwill share it at some point in
one of the episodes, but I justwanted to create an outlet for
guys to have a place to sharethose stories.
I personally have a story and Iwill share it at some point in
one of the episodes, but I justwanted to create an outlet for
guys to have a place to sharethose stories, and it has

(01:55:24):
changed my life in ways that Ididn't think possible.
And I've had people from allover the United States that I've
never met, don't even know whothey are or how they found out
about the podcast that hearthese stories and reach out like
please keep making theseepisodes.
And it's turned into somethingbigger than I set out to create.

Richard (01:55:42):
Well, it could be a good influence.
I mean, I see it as a reallygood influence because I've
listened to one previously andthat's how we got connected.
I happen to know the guyMichael Brandt and that's how we
got connected.
I happen to know the guyMichael Brandt.
That's how we got connected.
His story was veryinspirational, extremely
inspirational.

Todd (01:56:03):
And every guest that I've had on.
I've just been honored andwe've become friends and I'm
planning to keep in touch withyou now.
I hope so, and it's anincredible thing that's
happening with the podcast, andso I hope that everyone
listening right now knows thatthis means more than just
another number of plays.
Like to me, it's more than that.

(01:56:24):
I genuinely hope that somethingyou've heard in any of these
episodes motivates you,encourages you, inspires you in
some way to where you say youknow what.
I'm not going to stay in mycurrent situation, and I think
that's been the central themefor everybody that's been on
this show.
It's like everyone hassomething that they offer or

(01:56:47):
bring to the table and it's sucha cool thing to be a part of.
So, if anything, I'm the leastcommon denominator in this whole
podcast.
It's like I'm just herefacilitating, but really it's
the listeners and the gueststhat make this what it is.
So thank you for sharing andbeing a part of this.

Richard (01:57:04):
Well, thank you for listening to me.
I know I probably rambled quitea bit, but there was no script
to it and I had no script.
I had no idea what questions orwhat might come up.

Todd (01:57:21):
I didn't know what you looked like.
I don't know why, but I waspicturing a guy with like a cool
mustache, and then I'll pull upand it's like you got a little
mustache and so and and I lovethat, I love, I love that about.
About what I'm doing here isjust, yeah, we never met before.
Yeah, I never looked you uponline, didn't know anything
about you, had no idea what youeven looked like.
You just said, hey, I'm overhere waving my arm and I was

(01:57:43):
like, oh yeah, there's a guyover there waving his arm yeah
and uh.

Richard (01:57:46):
So after you drove for four hours, yes, I did.

Todd (01:57:51):
I did drive a lot longer than.
I expected today.
And then I guess, lastly, isthere someone that you want to
nominate, and if so, you don'thave to do it on here on the
episode.
We can do it off the episode.
It's up to you if you want to,and you don't even have to
answer it right now.

Richard (01:58:08):
No, I don't, I can't.

Todd (01:58:09):
I probably would like to, but no well, if you do think of
someone, you've got my number.
You can always feel free tocall me up or text me or
whatever you want to do.

Richard (01:58:17):
Yeah and I'll tell you this has been a good experience.
And, uh, if, if nothing else,it's uh, I don't know if you've
been able to tell it, but I getpretty emotional about some of
these, some of these things andthese things, and it just feels
good to talk about it sometimeand it's almost it's therapy.

Todd (01:58:40):
Yeah, it is.
We're friends now.
Yeah, and it really is true.
Like as soon as I hit, stop onthis.
Like I guarantee you I'm goingto give you a hug, we're going
to have a beer Sounds good to me.

Richard (01:58:51):
Hey, listen, all we got is Miller Lite.
Though that works for me, I'mnot picky, but anyway.

Todd (01:58:55):
Thank you guys.
So much for listening to thisepisode of Ash and Iron.
Thanks for supporting andthanks for being a part.
Remember, don't forget to checkout justonemorefoundationorg
and just check out what Richardand his organization has been
doing.

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Richard Rogers | Financial Collapse, Defying Death & Second Chances

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Richard Rogers | Financial Collapse, Defying Death & Second Chances