April 17, 2025 • 45 mins
Send us a comment about the Be a Baller Podcast Episode. Thanks for support.
Chris Broussard's story is uniquely powerful and he is transparent about the spiritual journey that transformed his life. Despite achieving what many would consider the American Dream—promising career, loving relationship, financial security—he describes feeling an emptiness that only surrendering to faith could fill. On his 21st birthday, this decision became the foundation upon which he's built everything since, guiding his priorities: God, family, and career.
Chris Broussard's remarkable journey from sports-loving kid to nationally recognized analyst offers a masterclass in building a life of purpose and impact. The accomplished Fox Sports personality opens up about finding his path by combining what he enjoyed (sports) with what he was gifted at (writing), eventually landing an internship that launched his career at major outlets including ESPN and Fox Sports.
As one of the first African-American sports analysts at ESPN, Broussard recognizes how representation matters. "You can't be what you can't see," notes host Tim Brown, underscoring how Broussard's visibility paved the way for others. This commitment to lifting others extends through his King Movement, an organization spanning 20 cities that fosters brotherhood among Christian men.
Perhaps most compelling is Broussard's wisdom about balancing ambition with family life. Throughout his demanding NBA coverage years, he made strategic career shifts to remain present for his twin daughters. His parting advice resonates deeply: the choices we make during the crucial decade from junior high through college largely determine our next 50-60 years. "Your younger self has to protect your older self"—words well worth carrying forward.
Don't miss Chris speaking live in Columbus on April 26th and Cleveland shortly after. Subscribe now for more conversations building lifelong legacy through faith, family, and purposeful work.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Be A Baller where we're building a
lifelong legacy for our families, communities and the world.
Your host, coach Tim Brown, isexcited for you to join him on
this journey.
On each episode, we'll betalking about how to be
intentional about building alasting legacy.
We'll be exploring what itmeans to leave a mark that goes
(00:22):
beyond just our lives, but has apositive impact on those around
us and even generations to come.
So if you're looking forinspiration, guidance and
practical tips on how to build alasting legacy that makes a
difference, then you're in theright place.
So grab your earbuds, getcomfortable and let's dive in.
It's time to Be A Baller.
(00:44):
Welcome to Be A.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Baller podcast, where we bring you the best
conversation in sports faith.
I'm your host, Coach Tim Brown.
Today we're excited to have avery special guest, chris
Broussard.
Chris is an accomplishedjournalist, tv personality and
devoted family man with over twodecades of experience in the
sports industry.
Chris started his careerworking for the Cleveland Plain
(01:07):
Dealer and the Akron BeaconJournal and devoted family man
with over two decades ofexperience in the sports
industry.
Chris started his careerworking for the Cleveland Plain
Dealer and the Akron BeaconJournal.
Then he transitioned to ESPN,where he spent 12 years as an
NBA analyst and reporter.
He later joined Fox Sports,becoming a daily co-host on
First Things First and a regularcontributor to other popular
shows like Undisputed, the Herdand Locked In.
Chris is more than just asports commentator he's also the
(01:29):
founder and president of KingMovement, an organization
dedicated to helping boys andmen reach their full potential
through faith, inspiration andguidance.
Welcome to the show, chris.
We're excited to have you onBeer Baller Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Thank you, tim.
I'm excited to be here and I'mlooking forward to the show.
Chris, we're excited to haveyou on Beer Baller Podcast.
Thank you, tim.
I'm excited to be here and I'mlooking forward to the
conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, we have a couple of things in common.
One is that I work for theFellowship of Christian Athletes
.
I know you're on the board forAthletes in Action and so as
organizations, we work closelytogether, you know in this
sports ministry world.
You know it's truly been ablessing, you know, in this
sports ministry world.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know, it's truly been a blessing and I've spoken
at several events just over theyears for FCA.
So I've spoken at some of theirevents and supported some of
their you know, ministers,missionaries, whatever you want
to have you want to term it overthe years.
So yeah, both groups do greatwork.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, and we're looking forward to you.
Looking forward to you coming,coming to Ohio soon, columbus on
the 26th, and then you'reshooting right up to Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
It's always great to get back to Ohio.
My father grew up in Cincinnati.
I grew up, I lived inCincinnati from the time I was a
baby until I was about seven oreight years old, and then I
moved to Cleveland.
In high school my junior yearof high school finished up.
High school in Cleveland wentto Oberlin College, which is in.
(02:59):
Ohio and then, after graduatingfrom there, worked at the Plain
Dealer, as you said, inCleveland and the Akron Beacon
Journal.
So I moved around a lot as akid, but if I had to say I was
from anywhere, any one state, itwould be Ohio, just because I
(03:19):
spent more time there than anyplace and a lot of my formative
years were spent in Ohio and nowI've been in New Jersey for the
past 27 years.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
But we're still claiming you as a Browns fan.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
You know I never that's what I mean when I was in
Cleveland.
I guess I did pull for theBrowns when I was in Cleveland.
When I grew up believe it ornot, growing up in Cincinnati, I
was a big Steelers fan.
Oh, no.
Because my dad was literallyfrom Cincinnati.
Okay, he was a Steelers fan andyou'll remember this, because
(04:01):
they had Joe Gilliam, who wasthe quarterback in that day in
the 70s that was rare he wasfrom Tennessee State to HBCU and
he battled with Terry Bradshawfor the starting job.
And so because of that, myfather pulled for the Steelers
and so I, as a little boy,pulled for the Steelers because
(04:25):
of my dad.
But now, after they lost allyou know Lynn Swine, frank
O'Hara, jack Hamm, bradshaw, allthose guys.
I remember all those guys.
So um, but yeah, the Browns.
It's tough sledding right now.
I'm surprised you stillclaiming the Browns, right now.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Oh, no, man, I ain't letting them go.
You know every year we go onthe Super Bowl.
You know that you know the.
Browns fans, we believe it youknow the word is you had a
pretty good basketball gamePlaying that point guard.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I played pretty well, you know I played.
I went to Holy Name High School.
I moved there toward the end ofmy junior year in high school.
I finished my high schoolcareer at Holy Name, Played
football and basketball Football.
We went to the state playoffs,which was tough to make at that
day.
Benedictine Cleveland.
(05:25):
Benedictine beat us.
They beat us badly in theregular season and they beat us
badly in the playoffs, but wedid beat St Ignatius in the
regular season.
That's big, that's big In thatgame.
That was right before theybecame a national power.
You remember they had that runwhere they were like the top few
(05:47):
programs in the country.
They were still really goodwhen we beat them, but they
weren't one of the tops in thecountry at that time.
But and then basketball.
Yeah, holy name.
We went to the district finaland lost by a point to St
Ignatius.
I did end up playing.
you know they had I don't knowif they still have it the
(06:08):
Greater Cleveland All-Star Gamewhere they had the best players
from, you know, greaterCleveland, all the surrounding
suburbs, playing this All-StarGame, so I did play in that.
So that was a lot of fun.
And then it ended up going toOberlin College playing Division
III.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You know, when did you realize and make that?
I know you majored injournalism.
When did you realize thatsports journalism was your
calling?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Well, it's an interesting story because I
didn't know what I wanted to dowhen I first went to school.
I just I started off as aneconomics major just because my
dad was in business.
So I figured I'll try businessand then I took introduction to
economics and that pretty muchended my econ career.
(06:59):
I did pass with a C minus orsomething like that, but I
didn't get it at all, and so mysophomore year now Oberlin was a
unique school in that it wasabout 3,000 students and it had
(07:22):
a great history as far asAfrican-Americans.
It was the first school, firstcollege, white college to admit
African-Americans like have apolicy where anyone of any race
could attend Oberlin.
This town of Oberlin itself wasa stop on the Underground
(07:43):
Railroad and at the turn of the20th century believe it or not,
so the early 1900s two-thirds ofall African-American college
graduates had gone to Oberlinand graduated from Oberlin.
So that was one of the thingsthat attracted me there, because
most of the schools thatrecruited me for basketball and
(08:05):
football were division three,baldwin, wallace, case, western
Reserve.
You know a lot of the schoolsJohn Carroll in in the Cleveland
area in Ohio around thesurrounding states and that most
of them had a very smallAfrican-American population, and
so, ober, one of the thingsthat attracted me to it was that
(08:27):
they did have a sizable at thattime, pretty sizable
African-American population, andour basketball team was
majority African-American, whichis unique for Division III, and
it had students from all overthe country.
Oh, yeah.
And even the world.
And again, most schools, mostsmall schools in Ohio or
(08:51):
Pennsylvania or Indiana, theyjust have students from those
states.
You know surrounding states,but Oberlin was unique in that
there were probably more NewYorkers there than people from
Ohio, a lot of people fromCalifornia, chicago, detroit.
I met my wife there.
She's from New York City, so itwas a really good experience.
(09:13):
But in being there I lookedaround at a lot of my friends
and they all knew what theywanted to do.
I was a sophomore and I lookedaround at my teammates and a lot
of my friends who weren't onthe team and they all knew what
(09:34):
they wanted to do.
Some were going to studyengineering as a part of a 3-2
program that Oberlin had threeyears at Oberlin, two years at
another school.
Some were going to study publicpolicy in grad school.
Some were going to law school,medical school you know they had
(09:54):
they and these were mostlyAfrican-Americans and they knew
what they wanted to do and Ireally didn't have a clue.
I was like man.
So I said I need to come upwith something.
I said I've got two years, twoand a half years, left to figure
out how I'm going to take careof myself, how I'm going to make
a living before I have tobecome a responsible adult.
(10:16):
And so I got scared, so I cameup with a formula.
I said let me take something Ienjoy, because I do want a job
that I would enjoy, plussomething that I am gifted at.
And we tend to think in oursociety of gifts as athletic
gifts, musical talent, rightbeing able to sing, or something
(10:39):
like that.
But we all have gifts, whetherit's your speaking ability,
whether it's you're great atmath, you are a great debater,
or you're argumentative, you aregreat cooking.
Whatever it might be, you havegifts, and one of my gifts was
the ability to write.
(11:01):
I always was gifted in writingand so I said, let me.
I love sports.
Sports was my life.
I played, you know, I said,football and basketball in high
school, played baseball as wellin high school and that was, you
know, every book that theteacher, whenever the teachers
in school, would allow us tochoose a book to read for class,
(11:24):
a book report or something.
I would always choose a sportsbook.
I read Sports Illustratedreligiously.
Hadn't really thought aboutbeing a sports writer, not
seriously but I said, well, letme take sports, which is what I
enjoy, plus writing, which iswhat I'm gifted at, and try to
(11:45):
become a sports writer.
And so I ended up writing a fewarticles on the school
newspaper, not a lot, but a few.
And then I was blessed, reallygoing into my senior year that
summer, before my senior year,to get an internship, a summer
internship at the ClevelandPlain Dealer in the sports
(12:07):
department, and so that's reallywhere my career began and I did
well after a rocky start.
I did well in the internshipand they hired me when I
graduated and that was reallywhere my career began.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You know at least.
His next question is can youtalk to young, especially young
people, about the importance ofdeveloping relationships early?
That benefits you along the way, because I know that experience
at the Cleveland play, even asan intern, you know some of
those relationships, how theypropel you to the next level.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Next thing absolutely um, you know, there's the
saying it's not what you know,it's who you know.
It's both um, but it issometimes one will override the
other what you know or who youknow.
But in most cases it's a mix.
And one thing I did do atOberlin was I got, obviously I
(13:05):
played basketball, so that's anextracurricular activity.
But I also got involved oncampus in a lot of different
things because I had been toldthat you know your ability to
work with people and be involvedin different things.
Like if you're well-rounded,you show yourself as a
(13:26):
well-rounded individual, say,you're well-rounded, you're
involved in a lot of things oncampus but have a 3.3 grade
point average.
That in many cases is moreattractive to employers than
someone who may have a 4.0 gradepoint average but do nothing
but study.
(13:46):
You know, because they may notbe a people person, they may not
be able to work with others.
So at Oberlin I was.
I was on various committees.
Like I said, I wrote on theschool newspaper, I did shows on
the school radio stationmusical shows, hip hop shows but
(14:06):
also like I was on the newslittle newscast and did sports
on that, I DJed around campus, IDJed at the clubs on around
campus and stuff I was.
I was actually on the committeethat chose people to be on the
other committees and then I waslike so I just wanted to fill up
(14:27):
my resume.
And so Oberlin was unique inthat it was a liberal arts
school, so it did not actuallyhave a journalism department.
So I majored in English and so Itook some private readings with
individual professors where weworked on journalism.
But really I was an Englishmajor and so when I met with the
(14:50):
Cleveland Plain Dealer for myinterview to get the internship,
I didn't have much experienceand I just hit it off with the.
I think it was the managingeditor at the time, but he was a
high ranking executive who wasinterviewing me and we just hit
it off and we spoke for about 90minutes about mostly about
(15:14):
everything but sports.
I'm sorry, but journalism, likeit was just about me as a
person, the activities I wasinvolved in and things, sports
but things like that.
And he said look, you don'thave a lot of experience, but
I'm gonna give you a chance.
I'm going to give you anopportunity and so that just
(15:36):
being able to relate to people,being able to talk and have
conversations with differenttypes of people.
I said I moved around a lot asa kid.
So I was born in Baton Rouge,louisiana, then I lived in
Cincinnati, ohio, indianapolis,indiana, syracuse, new York, des
(15:56):
Moines, iowa, and thenCleveland, ohio, all before I
graduated high school.
I graduated from Cleveland andmoving around.
There were pros and cons tothat that.
I learned how to get along withdifferent types of people and
you know, relate to differenttypes of people and different
(16:19):
races, different cultures, asfar as rural versus urban,
suburban, things like that, andthat you know benefited me in
college and even again in aninterview like this where I
could just hit it off with themanaging editor I think that's
what it was and then, you know,it led to me getting the
(16:40):
internship doing well and thenultimately getting a job with
the plane dealer that propelledmy career.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
You know you're.
You're one of the firstAfrican-American sports analysts
on ESPN.
You know how did thatexperience shape your career and
what do you hope it meant forothers in the industry.
You know seeing you there.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, of course, nowadays you look at ESPN and
FS1 and there are a lot of blackfaces on the networks, which is
great, black faces on thenetworks, which is great.
And I just think, like I said,I had not really as a kid, even
though I loved sports I read alot about sports, I played
sports I really didn't thinkseriously about being a sports
(17:29):
writer.
That, like didn't really entermy mind.
The only time I even thoughtabout it was I was in high
school.
I was either a sophomore orjunior, and one of my friends
who he was he wanted to be asports writer and he was reading
the sporting news and he wassaying, yeah, I want to be a
sports writer.
When I grew up and that was thefirst thing time I even thought
(17:59):
of that job as a possibility,but I still didn't really go all
into it.
I just thought that's, that'sinteresting, that'd be a fun job
, but I never really, you know,thought about it seriously.
See, very many blackbroadcasters.
You know you had Irv Cross, buthe was a former NFL player, he
(18:22):
did the NFL.
Most of the African-Americans.
You had Bryant Gumbel, you hada couple, but OJ Simpson, you
know most were ex-athletes andthen there weren't, not that I
was seeing pictures of themanyway, but obviously there
weren't a lot of black sportswriters at that time.
And so I think nowadays, when ayoung and this is clear I mean
(18:45):
I there are a lot of youngafrican-americans, male and
female, female now that grow upwanting to be in sports
journalism, which is great, andI think a lot of that is because
they see myself and a lot ofother African Americans on
television, uh, or writing fortheir local newspapers, um, you
(19:10):
know, being representing them,and now they know that that's
wow, that's a career I couldhave.
I used to A Smith who's a goodfriend of mine.
His first television show was,quite frankly, on ESPN and it
was on late.
It was only like 11, I think1130 at night or something like
that, but he had a lot ofAfrican-American journalists on
(19:35):
his show and I told him, and Iused to tell others, like that
is, that is great, because I'msure there are a lot of young
African-Americans looking atthis show and saying, wow, I had
no idea there were that manyblack sports writers, and so
that, just just like you seewhen you watch the NBA dunk con,
(19:57):
slam dunk contest and they'retrying all these new things that
Michael George, even VinceCarter and guys never really
thought about trying.
Their imaginations were, youknow, widened because of what
you know, the dunkers, what theysaw in the past, and then they
(20:18):
started trying to do more Justlike that.
A lot of youngAfrican-Americans now you see
Michael Wilbon and other peopleon television and it opens up
your mind to dream about whatyou can become and what you can
do, and so that is greatinspiration for a lot of young
(20:38):
African-Americans as well aspeople of other races.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yes, it really is.
You can't be what you can't see.
You know, if you don't see, youcan't be it.
But just seeing it, it's likeyeah, hey.
I can do that.
They can do it, I can do it,you know it gives you a
reference point.
You know, as we kind of shiftgears.
They can do it, I can do it,you know, gives you a reference
point.
You know as we kind of shiftgears.
Can you share a little bitabout your faith journey?
I know you're a man of faith.
Can you share your faithjourney?
A little bit about your faithjourney.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, my faith journey is interesting.
I was, I was raised Catholic, Igrew up Catholic, altar boy and
all that is in in church andschool.
And it's interesting becauseOberlin college was known for
being incredibly liberal.
Now they they're all Oberlin'sfoundations were in the
(21:27):
Christian faith, you know whichCharles Finney, who was a great
evangelist, and the Tappanbrothers, which Tappan Square
there is named after, and that'sone reason that they were, you
know, admitted a lot ofAfrican-Americans early on and
things like that.
But by the time I got there itwas very far removed from his
(21:49):
Christian foundations, christianfoundations, and so it was
incredibly liberal, not just ina political sense but just in
every sense of the word.
And so it's interesting thatthat's where I actually became a
Christian, a Bible-believingChristian.
But I started dating a woman mysophomore year who was a
(22:12):
Christian and she was really thefirst person I was really close
to that introduced me tobiblical Christianity, and now
we're married, you know.
But so we, we dated and you knowshe kind of I started going to
some different churches with herand where they preached from
the Bible and ultimately, afterabout a year and a half you know
(22:37):
that's when I gave my life toChrist.
I've got a year and a half ofdating her, but the way it
happened, we went to a church inCleveland one Sunday and they
had a guest minister and he waspreaching about his life.
He gave his testimony about howhe had been involved with drug
(22:58):
use and real rebellious as ateenager and then gave his life
to Christ as a 16 year old andhis whole life was changed and
turned around.
And it was at that church andthe church was charismatic.
There were people were reallyexcited about God.
They had the lyrics to thesongs on the wall and everybody
(23:21):
was singing and I had never seenanything like that being in
front of God.
And so seeing everybody soexcited about God really
impacted me, about God, reallyimpacted me.
And then the message from thespeaker.
And it was at that moment, thatservice, that I knew I needed
(23:42):
to give my life to Christ.
I knew that I wasn't a bad kid,but, you know, God's standards
are not our standards.
And so I knew, I realized, byGod's standards I was, you know,
a sinner and living in a lifethat was opposed to his will.
And so I knew I needed to givemy life to Christ.
(24:03):
But I didn't want to, and so Ididn't.
I left the church, didn't givemy life to Christ, and, um, you
know, I kept kind of running.
I knew it was there, but I keptrunning from the Lord.
And he still blessed me withthat internship.
It was, it was actually a fewmonths before that internship
that I went to that churchservice, and he blessed me with
(24:24):
that internship.
And then, at the end of thesummer, the plane dealer told me
they were going to hire meafter I graduated in a year, me
after I graduated in a year.
And so at that time it was likeman, I've got the promise of the
American dream, Because I wasraised to think the purpose of
life was to get the Americandream.
(24:45):
Well in school, Chris, so youcan go to a good college.
Go to a good college so you canget a good job, make money,
take care of your family andlive the American dream.
And that's all that's good.
But I was now at a point whereit's like, man, I have this
within the palm of my hand,within my grasp.
(25:05):
I've got a job that's promisedto me.
It's a good job.
I make pretty good money.
It's a job I'll enjoy.
I got a girlfriend I love thatwas captain on the basketball
team.
Like everything was going well.
And then I start feeling like,is this all there is to life?
Is this all there is?
Like there has to be more thanthis.
(25:27):
And so, having everything goingwell for me, well for me.
But then I started feeling anemptiness and I knew it was
Christ.
But, like I said, I didn'treally want to give my life to
Christ.
I knew I didn't have to beperfect, but I didn't even want
to really try to live for God ina real sense.
(25:48):
Of course I'd say I believe inGod and go to church and all
that, but as far as reallyliving it, trying to live a
Christian lifestyle.
I didn't want to do that.
I didn't know many guys thatwere doing that, my friends and
all that.
And so finally, you know, Ikept kind of running and God
just really broke me down towhere it was, at a point where I
(26:11):
was either keep running and bemiserable or give your life to
Christ and get some peace andsome joy.
And so, on my 21st birthdaybelieve it or not, October 28th
1989, that's when I gave my lifeto Christ.
And so so it's and it's beenyou know no regrets ever since.
(26:34):
And so so it's and it's been,you know, no regrets ever since.
Obviously, you have yourchallenges, but I feel like that
man you know in the Bible who'swho built his house on the rock
, and first the man who builthis house on sand.
So we all, the storms of lifehit both of them, and the storms
of life still hit us asChristians.
But when they hit you as aChristian, I know I'm rooted,
(26:56):
you know what I mean and nothingcan rock me to fall off that
rock which is Christ.
And so so, yeah, that's, that'sreally how I came to know
Christ.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
As you were sharing that.
I was thinking of the scriptureof seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, andthen all things will be added on
to you, all things we'rechasing, you know, but it starts
with seeking God and hisrighteousness Not our
righteousness but hisrighteousness, you know, and all
those things will be added onto you, you know.
(27:29):
Speaking of that as a founderof the King Movement, I see you
had, I know you've been doingthese conferences what inspired
you to create an organizationthat has boys and men reach
their God-given potential?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, there were a few things.
One, like I said, I was raisedCatholic so I didn't know.
When I was 21 years old when Igave my life to Christ and then
graduated, was working at theplane dealer, but I didn't know
a lot of young brothers that Icould relate to outside of
church or Christ that you weremy age so I went to a good
(28:07):
church but a lot of men wereolder and married or they were
young kids and teenagers.
I actually taught teenageSunday school but, um, so I kind
of long.
You know, as men we need malebonding and I think women need
female bonding.
And I had it.
You know you have it asathletes.
You were an athlete Like that'sreally one of the greatest
(28:29):
things about playing sportsgrowing up is that you know the
friendships and the times on thebus and the locker room with
your teammates and all thatstuff, and so I had, you know,
male bonding with frat brothersand teammates and friends and
things like that, but nonereally in christ.
(28:51):
And so I kind of longed for malebonding in christ with guys
that I could relate to in termsof hip-hop or culture or sports
or just life in general, but whoalso were Christians, so people
I could hang with and have fun,but who were going to push me
(29:13):
toward Christ versus pulling meaway from Christ in their
lifestyle or conversation orwhatever it might be.
And also as I began to meetother young men across the city
of Cleveland who were Christians, I saw that a lot of men's
walks at that time and today,unfortunately, is like a roller
(29:36):
coaster.
You know they're strong for ayear on fire and then they're
out for six months, then on firefor three months, then out for
a year and, depending on yourbackground and what you came out
of, one of those valleys couldruin your life.
And I saw that happen with somemen and there are a lot of
(29:57):
reasons for that.
But I did think one reason wasbecause they lacked that
brotherhood of men they couldhang with and relate to who were
Christians, because obviouslywe should have friends who are
non-Christians, but if that'sall we have and all our time
outside of church is spent withnon-Christians and we don't have
Christians with the samelike-mindedness as us that we
(30:20):
can relate to and hang with,then it's going to be
challenging.
You're either going to bemiserable when you're with your
friends or you're going toeventually get into some of the
stuff that they might be into.
That's not Christian, and so Isaid, you know what it'd be
great to have like a brotherhoodthat will help me and also help
(30:44):
other men, you know, really beable to live that Christian
lifestyle and have otherbrothers you can hang with, and
stuff like that.
So I did that on a small scalein Cleveland, and then, when I
moved to New Jersey, was writingfor the New York Times and
eventually, espn.
It's still I kind of.
(31:05):
Once I started covering the NBA.
A lot of my ministry includinglike ministry at work I was
doing ceased because I wastraveling with the teams.
I was all over the countrytraveling and working a lot, and
so that fire, though, was stillin me, and so, ultimately, as
(31:26):
my schedule lightened up, I wasable to start King.
I met some brothers here inJersey that wanted to help me
start it, and that's really howwe got it going about 15 years
ago, um, and really kind of hithis stride about 11 years ago,
and now we have chapters inabout 20 cities throughout the
country.
And now we have chapters inabout 20 cities throughout the
(31:47):
country, we have nationalconferences, we do events at the
Super Bowl and you know God'sreally blessed.
We have hundreds of men acrossthe country, every region of the
country, who have officiallybecome members, and then there's
thousands more that we reachjust through our various social
media and videos and conferencesand things like that.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
You know you hit on something there about traveling
and all that Can you share withthe audience.
I know you've been married forover 27 years now twin daughters
who are college graduates.
How did you prioritize yourfamily life amidst this demand
and career?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would have been married 30years in June June 3rd 30 years.
And my daughters they're 27,.
They're twins.
My priorities have always sinceI got saved been god family
work or god family career, andobviously they there's inter,
(32:54):
they mingling with all those,but that's the order I've really
put them in and there weretimes before I got married that,
like I turned down possiblepromotions to because it wasn't
going to jive with my plan tomarry my wife and us being the
same city and things like like Iwas covering high school sports
(33:16):
and I was offered anopportunity to cover the Green
Bay Packers in Milwaukee, but itwould not have, you know fit
with where my fiance was and usgetting married and things like
that.
So I I turned it down andobviously it ended up working
out for me.
But, um, when I traveledbecause, as you mentioned, I
(33:38):
traveled a lot covering the NBA,so my daughters, I was a beat
writer for eight years andthat's where you go everywhere,
everywhere the team goes.
So I was a beat writer foreight years and that's where you
go everywhere the team goes.
So I was at essentially everygame at 41 road games, 41 home
games, playoff games, thingslike that.
I was doing that when mydaughters were younger, before
(34:03):
they were born, and then, whenthey were young and when they
got to be about four or five, Ifelt like I could do that when
they're really young, you knowthey don't know whether I'm
there or not.
I mean, you know they recognizeme and all that, but they won't
remember all that.
And then when, 2003, like, Iwanted to come off of the beat
(34:28):
as far as traveling with oneparticular team, I covered the
Cavaliers in Cleveland, then theNew Jersey Nets and then the
New York Knicks, and so in 2003,my daughters were four or five
years old.
That's when I stopped travelingwith the team and started just
covering the whole NBA.
(34:49):
But I could stay at home a lotmore.
I still travel a little bit,but not nearly as much, and that
was good because that waspurposeful on.
In 2004, I went to ESPN, themagazine and the magazine.
(35:14):
Now it's different.
Now, with the internet becomingso big, magazines aren't what
they used to be.
But at that time to me the bestlifestyle for a family, uh, in
sports writing was magazinelifestyle because you could
still cover sports at thehighest level professionals, but
(35:35):
you didn't have to travel asmuch.
Like if I wrote five bigstories a year for esp in the
magazine.
That was a lot and so I mighttravel for a week here, there
and, you know, report on thestory but then be home.
So that lifestyle enabled me tobe at home a lot more.
(35:57):
So I was actually able to take,drive a lot of times, drive my
daughters to school, pick themup from school, go to a lot of
their sporting events or dancingor piano recitals and things
like that.
So even though I traveled hereand there.
I still was able to, you know,be home for a lot of their
(36:20):
events, which was important tome.
But there were still times Ihad to make sacrifices to me.
But there were still times Ihad to make sacrifices.
You know, once I started when Iwas at ESPN doing television.
I was doing, I was on theCountdown show, which was their
flagship NBA show, and I had towork on Christmas day you know,
(36:45):
and I had to go to LA, lived inNew Jersey.
I had to go to LA and be in LAon Christmas and I was on
television it was great withMagic Johnson and Michael Wilbon
and John Barry, but that was,you know, a tough tough for the
family, but my daughters,thankfully, they understood and
I was back the next day and youknow we, we made up for it.
But you know you just reallyhave to strike that balance and
(37:08):
when you're there, make the mostout of your time when you're
there and be present.
Not just don't just be there,but be there in spirit and
really be enjoying your kids'lives and your wife and getting,
you know, emotionally investedwith them when you're there,
versus just being there inphysically but not being there
(37:31):
mentally or emotionally.
So it was very important to meto try to make sure that I, even
though I traveled a lot, that Icould really be there and be
the father and the husband thatmy family needed me to be.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Good, good, you know.
As you reflect on your careerand life's work, what would you
say is the most important lessonor message you'd like to pass
on to our listeners today?
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Wow.
Well, like I said, one thing isyou know I think it's important
to prioritize God family career.
I think it's important toprioritize God family career.
You know a lot of people areworkaholics and they do a great
job, you know, in their career,but then they look back and they
didn't have a relationship withtheir children.
(38:18):
You know they neglected theirkids and you never get that time
back, you know.
So it's really important to bethere for your children.
I think family is the greatestlegacy you can have.
You know, a great relationshipwith your family.
And as far as leaving yourfamily, a legacy is not just
(38:40):
money I mean, obviously, if youcan do that, that's great but
it's also just values.
You know, values you pass downto your family that they'll use
to.
You know, promote to the nextthere, to their children, and so
on and so forth out there, like, if there are any.
(39:08):
You know, junior high or highschool students, like the next I
say the next the next 10 yearsof your life, from junior high
through college.
That 10 years will determine,like the last, in a lot of cases
determine how the last 50 or 60years of your life go, the
decisions you make during that10-year period.
(39:29):
So, even if you don'tunderstand why you need to go to
school, why you need to do wellin certain classes, or you know
whatever, just do it and justdo the best you can, learn the
most you can, because there is atime in everyone's life I call
(39:50):
it the revelation ofresponsibility when you realize
you know it hits people atdifferent times.
Sometimes it hit me, like Isaid, in my sophomore year in
college, where I realized I needto get a job and be a
responsible adult in a coupleyears.
It hits some people in jail, inprison, it hits some people in
high school.
(40:11):
Some people were raised with it.
It just can hit you at any time.
But that's when you realize youwant to be a responsible adult
and you have responsibilities,whether it's children or a wife
or that you need to take care of.
And if you take care ofbusiness, so to speak, when you
(40:35):
are younger and you've done wellin school and you've enabled
yourself to have certainopportunities, then when you
have that revelation you'll bein position to capitalize on it.
So when I had that revelationOK, I want to try sports writing
I was in position to capitalizeon it and make it happen
because I had been a goodstudent throughout my life, and
(41:08):
a lot of young people.
If you dig yourself a holebecause you didn't do well in
school, maybe you didn'tgraduate, you got a ged, or
maybe you didn't, or you spenttime in juvenile detention
center or whatever it might be.
You graduated but your gradeswere horrible.
Now you're in a hole.
So I'm not saying it'simpossible to dig out, but if
you now you have that revelationokay, I want to get a good job
and provide for a family.
Well, everybody else is up herethat you're competing with and
(41:30):
you're down here because you dugyourself a hole.
You might be able to get out ofit, but it's going to be
tougher because you're in a hole, yeah, and so that's what I.
One thing I would leave withyoung people is don't don't make
it unnecessarily hard on you.
Some of us have challengesbecause of our family,
(41:54):
background or whatever it may besystemic situations and
obstacles.
Don't make it even worse by, ormore challenging, by, you know,
doing the things that are inyour control you do negatively.
Stay on the positive route withthe things that are in your
control, and doors will be openfor you and you'll be able to, I
(42:16):
think, have a successful life.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
That's real, the way.
I heard a guy say this on theshow that your younger self has
to protect your older self.
Yeah, your younger self has toprotect your older self.
Your younger self has toprotect your older self.
And the other thing you talkedabout you're in that 10-year
window, what you do in 10 years,if you do it right, when you
get to our age, your older selfis going to say thank you.
(42:39):
Yeah, that's absolutely right,thank you, your younger self,
your older self, is telling youthank you at 21 years old.
To the Lord it's a young Chris,young Chris.
Thank you, thank you, andthat's good stuff.
Well, this has been great.
(43:01):
I'm looking forward to youcoming to Columbus and then to
Cleveland as well and kind ofsharing with the men there.
I want to thank you for thetime but, most importantly, for
this kingdom work that you'redoing, because Lord knows that
we need some men, that communityof men, but I love what you're
doing with those men.
You're kind of not keeping itall to yourself, like you're
(43:22):
pouring into them and thenyou're releasing them, and
that's why you have thosechapters all over.
You're kind of releasing them.
Don't have this good high inhere.
You know, and leave
Speaker 1 (43:32):
it here.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
There's a world that needs you Now.
Make sure you come back nextyear and get energized now.
But then get back out there,get back out there and do this
thing, so I want to thank youfor that.
But this has truly been ablessing now and I'm looking
forward to you sharing in ourcities in April.
April 26th is the date, andwe're looking forward to you
(43:54):
being here, being here live.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Yeah, I can't wait.
Like I said, it's always greatto get back to Ohio.
I'm looking forward to speakingto the men and I don't know if
women are there them as well men, and I don't know if women, if
women are there, them as well.
But I would like to thank youas well for what you do.
Um, because I know fellowshipof Christian athletes and
athletes in action.
As we mentioned earlier, youguys do very important work, and
(44:18):
I mean most.
It used to be, I think even thenet was cast even wider, but so
many athletes are exposed tothe gospel by what you guys do,
you know, on campus, and sothat's that's, that's what it's
all about, and so you guys do atremendous job with that.
(44:40):
So I want to thank you as wellfor the work you you're doing
and have done.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Thank you, Chris.
Well, this concludes today'sepisode.
I thank our audience for beinga part of this and continue to
build a lifelong legacy.
Thanks, Chris, for being on BeA Baller Podcast You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it
with family and friends.
The Be A Baller Podcast isavailable on all major podcast
platforms.
This podcast was created byCoach Tim Brown and recorded and
edited by the video productionclass of Worthington Christian
High School.
Be sure to come back next weekas we continue to discuss on how
(45:19):
to build a lifelong legacy.
Until then, don't forget to bea baller.
Welcome to Be A Baller where we're building a
lifelong legacy for our families, communities and the world.
Your host, coach Tim Brown, isexcited for you to join him on
this journey.
On each episode, we'll betalking about how to be
intentional about building alasting legacy.
We'll be exploring what itmeans to leave a mark that goes
(00:22):
beyond just our lives, but has apositive impact on those around
us and even generations to come.
So if you're looking forinspiration, guidance and
practical tips on how to build alasting legacy that makes a
difference, then you're in theright place.
So grab your earbuds, getcomfortable and let's dive in.
It's time to Be A Baller.
(00:44):
Welcome to Be A.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Baller podcast, where we bring you the best
conversation in sports faith.
I'm your host, Coach Tim Brown.
Today we're excited to have avery special guest, chris
Broussard.
Chris is an accomplishedjournalist, tv personality and
devoted family man with over twodecades of experience in the
sports industry.
Chris started his careerworking for the Cleveland Plain
(01:07):
Dealer and the Akron BeaconJournal and devoted family man
with over two decades ofexperience in the sports
industry.
Chris started his careerworking for the Cleveland Plain
Dealer and the Akron BeaconJournal.
Then he transitioned to ESPN,where he spent 12 years as an
NBA analyst and reporter.
He later joined Fox Sports,becoming a daily co-host on
First Things First and a regularcontributor to other popular
shows like Undisputed, the Herdand Locked In.
Chris is more than just asports commentator he's also the
(01:29):
founder and president of KingMovement, an organization
dedicated to helping boys andmen reach their full potential
through faith, inspiration andguidance.
Welcome to the show, chris.
We're excited to have you onBeer Baller Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Thank you, tim.
I'm excited to be here and I'mlooking forward to the show.
Chris, we're excited to haveyou on Beer Baller Podcast.
Thank you, tim.
I'm excited to be here and I'mlooking forward to the
conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, we have a couple of things in common.
One is that I work for theFellowship of Christian Athletes
.
I know you're on the board forAthletes in Action and so as
organizations, we work closelytogether, you know in this
sports ministry world.
You know it's truly been ablessing, you know, in this
sports ministry world.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know, it's truly been a blessing and I've spoken
at several events just over theyears for FCA.
So I've spoken at some of theirevents and supported some of
their you know, ministers,missionaries, whatever you want
to have you want to term it overthe years.
So yeah, both groups do greatwork.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, and we're looking forward to you.
Looking forward to you coming,coming to Ohio soon, columbus on
the 26th, and then you'reshooting right up to Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
It's always great to get back to Ohio.
My father grew up in Cincinnati.
I grew up, I lived inCincinnati from the time I was a
baby until I was about seven oreight years old, and then I
moved to Cleveland.
In high school my junior yearof high school finished up.
High school in Cleveland wentto Oberlin College, which is in.
(02:59):
Ohio and then, after graduatingfrom there, worked at the Plain
Dealer, as you said, inCleveland and the Akron Beacon
Journal.
So I moved around a lot as akid, but if I had to say I was
from anywhere, any one state, itwould be Ohio, just because I
(03:19):
spent more time there than anyplace and a lot of my formative
years were spent in Ohio and nowI've been in New Jersey for the
past 27 years.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
But we're still claiming you as a Browns fan.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
You know I never that's what I mean when I was in
Cleveland.
I guess I did pull for theBrowns when I was in Cleveland.
When I grew up believe it ornot, growing up in Cincinnati, I
was a big Steelers fan.
Oh, no.
Because my dad was literallyfrom Cincinnati.
Okay, he was a Steelers fan andyou'll remember this, because
(04:01):
they had Joe Gilliam, who wasthe quarterback in that day in
the 70s that was rare he wasfrom Tennessee State to HBCU and
he battled with Terry Bradshawfor the starting job.
And so because of that, myfather pulled for the Steelers
and so I, as a little boy,pulled for the Steelers because
(04:25):
of my dad.
But now, after they lost allyou know Lynn Swine, frank
O'Hara, jack Hamm, bradshaw, allthose guys.
I remember all those guys.
So um, but yeah, the Browns.
It's tough sledding right now.
I'm surprised you stillclaiming the Browns, right now.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Oh, no, man, I ain't letting them go.
You know every year we go onthe Super Bowl.
You know that you know the.
Browns fans, we believe it youknow the word is you had a
pretty good basketball gamePlaying that point guard.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I played pretty well, you know I played.
I went to Holy Name High School.
I moved there toward the end ofmy junior year in high school.
I finished my high schoolcareer at Holy Name, Played
football and basketball Football.
We went to the state playoffs,which was tough to make at that
day.
Benedictine Cleveland.
(05:25):
Benedictine beat us.
They beat us badly in theregular season and they beat us
badly in the playoffs, but wedid beat St Ignatius in the
regular season.
That's big, that's big In thatgame.
That was right before theybecame a national power.
You remember they had that runwhere they were like the top few
(05:47):
programs in the country.
They were still really goodwhen we beat them, but they
weren't one of the tops in thecountry at that time.
But and then basketball.
Yeah, holy name.
We went to the district finaland lost by a point to St
Ignatius.
I did end up playing.
you know they had I don't knowif they still have it the
(06:08):
Greater Cleveland All-Star Gamewhere they had the best players
from, you know, greaterCleveland, all the surrounding
suburbs, playing this All-StarGame, so I did play in that.
So that was a lot of fun.
And then it ended up going toOberlin College playing Division
III.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You know, when did you realize and make that?
I know you majored injournalism.
When did you realize thatsports journalism was your
calling?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Well, it's an interesting story because I
didn't know what I wanted to dowhen I first went to school.
I just I started off as aneconomics major just because my
dad was in business.
So I figured I'll try businessand then I took introduction to
economics and that pretty muchended my econ career.
(06:59):
I did pass with a C minus orsomething like that, but I
didn't get it at all, and so mysophomore year now Oberlin was a
unique school in that it wasabout 3,000 students and it had
(07:22):
a great history as far asAfrican-Americans.
It was the first school, firstcollege, white college to admit
African-Americans like have apolicy where anyone of any race
could attend Oberlin.
This town of Oberlin itself wasa stop on the Underground
(07:43):
Railroad and at the turn of the20th century believe it or not,
so the early 1900s two-thirds ofall African-American college
graduates had gone to Oberlinand graduated from Oberlin.
So that was one of the thingsthat attracted me there, because
most of the schools thatrecruited me for basketball and
(08:05):
football were division three,baldwin, wallace, case, western
Reserve.
You know a lot of the schoolsJohn Carroll in in the Cleveland
area in Ohio around thesurrounding states and that most
of them had a very smallAfrican-American population, and
so, ober, one of the thingsthat attracted me to it was that
(08:27):
they did have a sizable at thattime, pretty sizable
African-American population, andour basketball team was
majority African-American, whichis unique for Division III, and
it had students from all overthe country.
Oh, yeah.
And even the world.
And again, most schools, mostsmall schools in Ohio or
(08:51):
Pennsylvania or Indiana, theyjust have students from those
states.
You know surrounding states,but Oberlin was unique in that
there were probably more NewYorkers there than people from
Ohio, a lot of people fromCalifornia, chicago, detroit.
I met my wife there.
She's from New York City, so itwas a really good experience.
(09:13):
But in being there I lookedaround at a lot of my friends
and they all knew what theywanted to do.
I was a sophomore and I lookedaround at my teammates and a lot
of my friends who weren't onthe team and they all knew what
(09:34):
they wanted to do.
Some were going to studyengineering as a part of a 3-2
program that Oberlin had threeyears at Oberlin, two years at
another school.
Some were going to study publicpolicy in grad school.
Some were going to law school,medical school you know they had
(09:54):
they and these were mostlyAfrican-Americans and they knew
what they wanted to do and Ireally didn't have a clue.
I was like man.
So I said I need to come upwith something.
I said I've got two years, twoand a half years, left to figure
out how I'm going to take careof myself, how I'm going to make
a living before I have tobecome a responsible adult.
(10:16):
And so I got scared, so I cameup with a formula.
I said let me take something Ienjoy, because I do want a job
that I would enjoy, plussomething that I am gifted at.
And we tend to think in oursociety of gifts as athletic
gifts, musical talent, rightbeing able to sing, or something
(10:39):
like that.
But we all have gifts, whetherit's your speaking ability,
whether it's you're great atmath, you are a great debater,
or you're argumentative, you aregreat cooking.
Whatever it might be, you havegifts, and one of my gifts was
the ability to write.
(11:01):
I always was gifted in writingand so I said, let me.
I love sports.
Sports was my life.
I played, you know, I said,football and basketball in high
school, played baseball as wellin high school and that was, you
know, every book that theteacher, whenever the teachers
in school, would allow us tochoose a book to read for class,
(11:24):
a book report or something.
I would always choose a sportsbook.
I read Sports Illustratedreligiously.
Hadn't really thought aboutbeing a sports writer, not
seriously but I said, well, letme take sports, which is what I
enjoy, plus writing, which iswhat I'm gifted at, and try to
(11:45):
become a sports writer.
And so I ended up writing a fewarticles on the school
newspaper, not a lot, but a few.
And then I was blessed, reallygoing into my senior year that
summer, before my senior year,to get an internship, a summer
internship at the ClevelandPlain Dealer in the sports
(12:07):
department, and so that's reallywhere my career began and I did
well after a rocky start.
I did well in the internshipand they hired me when I
graduated and that was reallywhere my career began.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You know at least.
His next question is can youtalk to young, especially young
people, about the importance ofdeveloping relationships early?
That benefits you along the way, because I know that experience
at the Cleveland play, even asan intern, you know some of
those relationships, how theypropel you to the next level.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Next thing absolutely um, you know, there's the
saying it's not what you know,it's who you know.
It's both um, but it issometimes one will override the
other what you know or who youknow.
But in most cases it's a mix.
And one thing I did do atOberlin was I got, obviously I
(13:05):
played basketball, so that's anextracurricular activity.
But I also got involved oncampus in a lot of different
things because I had been toldthat you know your ability to
work with people and be involvedin different things.
Like if you're well-rounded,you show yourself as a
(13:26):
well-rounded individual, say,you're well-rounded, you're
involved in a lot of things oncampus but have a 3.3 grade
point average.
That in many cases is moreattractive to employers than
someone who may have a 4.0 gradepoint average but do nothing
but study.
(13:46):
You know, because they may notbe a people person, they may not
be able to work with others.
So at Oberlin I was.
I was on various committees.
Like I said, I wrote on theschool newspaper, I did shows on
the school radio stationmusical shows, hip hop shows but
(14:06):
also like I was on the newslittle newscast and did sports
on that, I DJed around campus, IDJed at the clubs on around
campus and stuff I was.
I was actually on the committeethat chose people to be on the
other committees and then I waslike so I just wanted to fill up
(14:27):
my resume.
And so Oberlin was unique inthat it was a liberal arts
school, so it did not actuallyhave a journalism department.
So I majored in English and so Itook some private readings with
individual professors where weworked on journalism.
But really I was an Englishmajor and so when I met with the
(14:50):
Cleveland Plain Dealer for myinterview to get the internship,
I didn't have much experienceand I just hit it off with the.
I think it was the managingeditor at the time, but he was a
high ranking executive who wasinterviewing me and we just hit
it off and we spoke for about 90minutes about mostly about
(15:14):
everything but sports.
I'm sorry, but journalism, likeit was just about me as a
person, the activities I wasinvolved in and things, sports
but things like that.
And he said look, you don'thave a lot of experience, but
I'm gonna give you a chance.
I'm going to give you anopportunity and so that just
(15:36):
being able to relate to people,being able to talk and have
conversations with differenttypes of people.
I said I moved around a lot asa kid.
So I was born in Baton Rouge,louisiana, then I lived in
Cincinnati, ohio, indianapolis,indiana, syracuse, new York, des
(15:56):
Moines, iowa, and thenCleveland, ohio, all before I
graduated high school.
I graduated from Cleveland andmoving around.
There were pros and cons tothat that.
I learned how to get along withdifferent types of people and
you know, relate to differenttypes of people and different
(16:19):
races, different cultures, asfar as rural versus urban,
suburban, things like that, andthat you know benefited me in
college and even again in aninterview like this where I
could just hit it off with themanaging editor I think that's
what it was and then, you know,it led to me getting the
(16:40):
internship doing well and thenultimately getting a job with
the plane dealer that propelledmy career.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
You know you're.
You're one of the firstAfrican-American sports analysts
on ESPN.
You know how did thatexperience shape your career and
what do you hope it meant forothers in the industry.
You know seeing you there.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, of course, nowadays you look at ESPN and
FS1 and there are a lot of blackfaces on the networks, which is
great, black faces on thenetworks, which is great.
And I just think, like I said,I had not really as a kid, even
though I loved sports I read alot about sports, I played
sports I really didn't thinkseriously about being a sports
(17:29):
writer.
That, like didn't really entermy mind.
The only time I even thoughtabout it was I was in high
school.
I was either a sophomore orjunior, and one of my friends
who he was he wanted to be asports writer and he was reading
the sporting news and he wassaying, yeah, I want to be a
sports writer.
When I grew up and that was thefirst thing time I even thought
(17:59):
of that job as a possibility,but I still didn't really go all
into it.
I just thought that's, that'sinteresting, that'd be a fun job
, but I never really, you know,thought about it seriously.
See, very many blackbroadcasters.
You know you had Irv Cross, buthe was a former NFL player, he
(18:22):
did the NFL.
Most of the African-Americans.
You had Bryant Gumbel, you hada couple, but OJ Simpson, you
know most were ex-athletes andthen there weren't, not that I
was seeing pictures of themanyway, but obviously there
weren't a lot of black sportswriters at that time.
And so I think nowadays, when ayoung and this is clear I mean
(18:45):
I there are a lot of youngafrican-americans, male and
female, female now that grow upwanting to be in sports
journalism, which is great, andI think a lot of that is because
they see myself and a lot ofother African Americans on
television, uh, or writing fortheir local newspapers, um, you
(19:10):
know, being representing them,and now they know that that's
wow, that's a career I couldhave.
I used to A Smith who's a goodfriend of mine.
His first television show was,quite frankly, on ESPN and it
was on late.
It was only like 11, I think1130 at night or something like
that, but he had a lot ofAfrican-American journalists on
(19:35):
his show and I told him, and Iused to tell others, like that
is, that is great, because I'msure there are a lot of young
African-Americans looking atthis show and saying, wow, I had
no idea there were that manyblack sports writers, and so
that, just just like you seewhen you watch the NBA dunk con,
(19:57):
slam dunk contest and they'retrying all these new things that
Michael George, even VinceCarter and guys never really
thought about trying.
Their imaginations were, youknow, widened because of what
you know, the dunkers, what theysaw in the past, and then they
(20:18):
started trying to do more Justlike that.
A lot of youngAfrican-Americans now you see
Michael Wilbon and other peopleon television and it opens up
your mind to dream about whatyou can become and what you can
do, and so that is greatinspiration for a lot of young
(20:38):
African-Americans as well aspeople of other races.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yes, it really is.
You can't be what you can't see.
You know, if you don't see, youcan't be it.
But just seeing it, it's likeyeah, hey.
I can do that.
They can do it, I can do it,you know it gives you a
reference point.
You know, as we kind of shiftgears.
They can do it, I can do it,you know, gives you a reference
point.
You know as we kind of shiftgears.
Can you share a little bitabout your faith journey?
I know you're a man of faith.
Can you share your faithjourney?
A little bit about your faithjourney.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, my faith journey is interesting.
I was, I was raised Catholic, Igrew up Catholic, altar boy and
all that is in in church andschool.
And it's interesting becauseOberlin college was known for
being incredibly liberal.
Now they they're all Oberlin'sfoundations were in the
(21:27):
Christian faith, you know whichCharles Finney, who was a great
evangelist, and the Tappanbrothers, which Tappan Square
there is named after, and that'sone reason that they were, you
know, admitted a lot ofAfrican-Americans early on and
things like that.
But by the time I got there itwas very far removed from his
(21:49):
Christian foundations, christianfoundations, and so it was
incredibly liberal, not just ina political sense but just in
every sense of the word.
And so it's interesting thatthat's where I actually became a
Christian, a Bible-believingChristian.
But I started dating a woman mysophomore year who was a
(22:12):
Christian and she was really thefirst person I was really close
to that introduced me tobiblical Christianity, and now
we're married, you know.
But so we, we dated and you knowshe kind of I started going to
some different churches with herand where they preached from
the Bible and ultimately, afterabout a year and a half you know
(22:37):
that's when I gave my life toChrist.
I've got a year and a half ofdating her, but the way it
happened, we went to a church inCleveland one Sunday and they
had a guest minister and he waspreaching about his life.
He gave his testimony about howhe had been involved with drug
(22:58):
use and real rebellious as ateenager and then gave his life
to Christ as a 16 year old andhis whole life was changed and
turned around.
And it was at that church andthe church was charismatic.
There were people were reallyexcited about God.
They had the lyrics to thesongs on the wall and everybody
(23:21):
was singing and I had never seenanything like that being in
front of God.
And so seeing everybody soexcited about God really
impacted me, about God, reallyimpacted me.
And then the message from thespeaker.
And it was at that moment, thatservice, that I knew I needed
(23:42):
to give my life to Christ.
I knew that I wasn't a bad kid,but, you know, God's standards
are not our standards.
And so I knew, I realized, byGod's standards I was, you know,
a sinner and living in a lifethat was opposed to his will.
And so I knew I needed to givemy life to Christ.
(24:03):
But I didn't want to, and so Ididn't.
I left the church, didn't givemy life to Christ, and, um, you
know, I kept kind of running.
I knew it was there, but I keptrunning from the Lord.
And he still blessed me withthat internship.
It was, it was actually a fewmonths before that internship
that I went to that churchservice, and he blessed me with
(24:24):
that internship.
And then, at the end of thesummer, the plane dealer told me
they were going to hire meafter I graduated in a year, me
after I graduated in a year.
And so at that time it was likeman, I've got the promise of the
American dream, Because I wasraised to think the purpose of
life was to get the Americandream.
(24:45):
Well in school, Chris, so youcan go to a good college.
Go to a good college so you canget a good job, make money,
take care of your family andlive the American dream.
And that's all that's good.
But I was now at a point whereit's like, man, I have this
within the palm of my hand,within my grasp.
(25:05):
I've got a job that's promisedto me.
It's a good job.
I make pretty good money.
It's a job I'll enjoy.
I got a girlfriend I love thatwas captain on the basketball
team.
Like everything was going well.
And then I start feeling like,is this all there is to life?
Is this all there is?
Like there has to be more thanthis.
(25:27):
And so, having everything goingwell for me, well for me.
But then I started feeling anemptiness and I knew it was
Christ.
But, like I said, I didn'treally want to give my life to
Christ.
I knew I didn't have to beperfect, but I didn't even want
to really try to live for God ina real sense.
(25:48):
Of course I'd say I believe inGod and go to church and all
that, but as far as reallyliving it, trying to live a
Christian lifestyle.
I didn't want to do that.
I didn't know many guys thatwere doing that, my friends and
all that.
And so finally, you know, Ikept kind of running and God
just really broke me down towhere it was, at a point where I
(26:11):
was either keep running and bemiserable or give your life to
Christ and get some peace andsome joy.
And so, on my 21st birthdaybelieve it or not, October 28th
1989, that's when I gave my lifeto Christ.
And so so it's and it's beenyou know no regrets ever since.
(26:34):
And so so it's and it's been,you know, no regrets ever since.
Obviously, you have yourchallenges, but I feel like that
man you know in the Bible who'swho built his house on the rock
, and first the man who builthis house on sand.
So we all, the storms of lifehit both of them, and the storms
of life still hit us asChristians.
But when they hit you as aChristian, I know I'm rooted,
(26:56):
you know what I mean and nothingcan rock me to fall off that
rock which is Christ.
And so so, yeah, that's, that'sreally how I came to know
Christ.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
As you were sharing that.
I was thinking of the scriptureof seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, andthen all things will be added on
to you, all things we'rechasing, you know, but it starts
with seeking God and hisrighteousness Not our
righteousness but hisrighteousness, you know, and all
those things will be added onto you, you know.
(27:29):
Speaking of that as a founderof the King Movement, I see you
had, I know you've been doingthese conferences what inspired
you to create an organizationthat has boys and men reach
their God-given potential?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, there were a few things.
One, like I said, I was raisedCatholic so I didn't know.
When I was 21 years old when Igave my life to Christ and then
graduated, was working at theplane dealer, but I didn't know
a lot of young brothers that Icould relate to outside of
church or Christ that you weremy age so I went to a good
(28:07):
church but a lot of men wereolder and married or they were
young kids and teenagers.
I actually taught teenageSunday school but, um, so I kind
of long.
You know, as men we need malebonding and I think women need
female bonding.
And I had it.
You know you have it asathletes.
You were an athlete Like that'sreally one of the greatest
(28:29):
things about playing sportsgrowing up is that you know the
friendships and the times on thebus and the locker room with
your teammates and all thatstuff, and so I had, you know,
male bonding with frat brothersand teammates and friends and
things like that, but nonereally in christ.
(28:51):
And so I kind of longed for malebonding in christ with guys
that I could relate to in termsof hip-hop or culture or sports
or just life in general, but whoalso were Christians, so people
I could hang with and have fun,but who were going to push me
(29:13):
toward Christ versus pulling meaway from Christ in their
lifestyle or conversation orwhatever it might be.
And also as I began to meetother young men across the city
of Cleveland who were Christians, I saw that a lot of men's
walks at that time and today,unfortunately, is like a roller
(29:36):
coaster.
You know they're strong for ayear on fire and then they're
out for six months, then on firefor three months, then out for
a year and, depending on yourbackground and what you came out
of, one of those valleys couldruin your life.
And I saw that happen with somemen and there are a lot of
(29:57):
reasons for that.
But I did think one reason wasbecause they lacked that
brotherhood of men they couldhang with and relate to who were
Christians, because obviouslywe should have friends who are
non-Christians, but if that'sall we have and all our time
outside of church is spent withnon-Christians and we don't have
Christians with the samelike-mindedness as us that we
(30:20):
can relate to and hang with,then it's going to be
challenging.
You're either going to bemiserable when you're with your
friends or you're going toeventually get into some of the
stuff that they might be into.
That's not Christian, and so Isaid, you know what it'd be
great to have like a brotherhoodthat will help me and also help
(30:44):
other men, you know, really beable to live that Christian
lifestyle and have otherbrothers you can hang with, and
stuff like that.
So I did that on a small scalein Cleveland, and then, when I
moved to New Jersey, was writingfor the New York Times and
eventually, espn.
It's still I kind of.
(31:05):
Once I started covering the NBA.
A lot of my ministry includinglike ministry at work I was
doing ceased because I wastraveling with the teams.
I was all over the countrytraveling and working a lot, and
so that fire, though, was stillin me, and so, ultimately, as
(31:26):
my schedule lightened up, I wasable to start King.
I met some brothers here inJersey that wanted to help me
start it, and that's really howwe got it going about 15 years
ago, um, and really kind of hithis stride about 11 years ago,
and now we have chapters inabout 20 cities throughout the
country.
And now we have chapters inabout 20 cities throughout the
(31:47):
country, we have nationalconferences, we do events at the
Super Bowl and you know God'sreally blessed.
We have hundreds of men acrossthe country, every region of the
country, who have officiallybecome members, and then there's
thousands more that we reachjust through our various social
media and videos and conferencesand things like that.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
You know you hit on something there about traveling
and all that Can you share withthe audience.
I know you've been married forover 27 years now twin daughters
who are college graduates.
How did you prioritize yourfamily life amidst this demand
and career?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would have been married 30years in June June 3rd 30 years.
And my daughters they're 27,.
They're twins.
My priorities have always sinceI got saved been god family
work or god family career, andobviously they there's inter,
(32:54):
they mingling with all those,but that's the order I've really
put them in and there weretimes before I got married that,
like I turned down possiblepromotions to because it wasn't
going to jive with my plan tomarry my wife and us being the
same city and things like like Iwas covering high school sports
(33:16):
and I was offered anopportunity to cover the Green
Bay Packers in Milwaukee, but itwould not have, you know fit
with where my fiance was and usgetting married and things like
that.
So I I turned it down andobviously it ended up working
out for me.
But, um, when I traveledbecause, as you mentioned, I
(33:38):
traveled a lot covering the NBA,so my daughters, I was a beat
writer for eight years andthat's where you go everywhere,
everywhere the team goes.
So I was a beat writer foreight years and that's where you
go everywhere the team goes.
So I was at essentially everygame at 41 road games, 41 home
games, playoff games, thingslike that.
I was doing that when mydaughters were younger, before
(34:03):
they were born, and then, whenthey were young and when they
got to be about four or five, Ifelt like I could do that when
they're really young, you knowthey don't know whether I'm
there or not.
I mean, you know they recognizeme and all that, but they won't
remember all that.
And then when, 2003, like, Iwanted to come off of the beat
(34:28):
as far as traveling with oneparticular team, I covered the
Cavaliers in Cleveland, then theNew Jersey Nets and then the
New York Knicks, and so in 2003,my daughters were four or five
years old.
That's when I stopped travelingwith the team and started just
covering the whole NBA.
(34:49):
But I could stay at home a lotmore.
I still travel a little bit,but not nearly as much, and that
was good because that waspurposeful on.
In 2004, I went to ESPN, themagazine and the magazine.
(35:14):
Now it's different.
Now, with the internet becomingso big, magazines aren't what
they used to be.
But at that time to me the bestlifestyle for a family, uh, in
sports writing was magazinelifestyle because you could
still cover sports at thehighest level professionals, but
(35:35):
you didn't have to travel asmuch.
Like if I wrote five bigstories a year for esp in the
magazine.
That was a lot and so I mighttravel for a week here, there
and, you know, report on thestory but then be home.
So that lifestyle enabled me tobe at home a lot more.
(35:57):
So I was actually able to take,drive a lot of times, drive my
daughters to school, pick themup from school, go to a lot of
their sporting events or dancingor piano recitals and things
like that.
So even though I traveled hereand there.
I still was able to, you know,be home for a lot of their
(36:20):
events, which was important tome.
But there were still times Ihad to make sacrifices to me.
But there were still times Ihad to make sacrifices.
You know, once I started when Iwas at ESPN doing television.
I was doing, I was on theCountdown show, which was their
flagship NBA show, and I had towork on Christmas day you know,
(36:45):
and I had to go to LA, lived inNew Jersey.
I had to go to LA and be in LAon Christmas and I was on
television it was great withMagic Johnson and Michael Wilbon
and John Barry, but that was,you know, a tough tough for the
family, but my daughters,thankfully, they understood and
I was back the next day and youknow we, we made up for it.
But you know you just reallyhave to strike that balance and
(37:08):
when you're there, make the mostout of your time when you're
there and be present.
Not just don't just be there,but be there in spirit and
really be enjoying your kids'lives and your wife and getting,
you know, emotionally investedwith them when you're there,
versus just being there inphysically but not being there
(37:31):
mentally or emotionally.
So it was very important to meto try to make sure that I, even
though I traveled a lot, that Icould really be there and be
the father and the husband thatmy family needed me to be.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Good, good, you know.
As you reflect on your careerand life's work, what would you
say is the most important lessonor message you'd like to pass
on to our listeners today?
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Wow.
Well, like I said, one thing isyou know I think it's important
to prioritize God family career.
I think it's important toprioritize God family career.
You know a lot of people areworkaholics and they do a great
job, you know, in their career,but then they look back and they
didn't have a relationship withtheir children.
(38:18):
You know they neglected theirkids and you never get that time
back, you know.
So it's really important to bethere for your children.
I think family is the greatestlegacy you can have.
You know, a great relationshipwith your family.
And as far as leaving yourfamily, a legacy is not just
(38:40):
money I mean, obviously, if youcan do that, that's great but
it's also just values.
You know, values you pass downto your family that they'll use
to.
You know, promote to the nextthere, to their children, and so
on and so forth out there, like, if there are any.
(39:08):
You know, junior high or highschool students, like the next I
say the next the next 10 yearsof your life, from junior high
through college.
That 10 years will determine,like the last, in a lot of cases
determine how the last 50 or 60years of your life go, the
decisions you make during that10-year period.
(39:29):
So, even if you don'tunderstand why you need to go to
school, why you need to do wellin certain classes, or you know
whatever, just do it and justdo the best you can, learn the
most you can, because there is atime in everyone's life I call
(39:50):
it the revelation ofresponsibility when you realize
you know it hits people atdifferent times.
Sometimes it hit me, like Isaid, in my sophomore year in
college, where I realized I needto get a job and be a
responsible adult in a coupleyears.
It hits some people in jail, inprison, it hits some people in
high school.
(40:11):
Some people were raised with it.
It just can hit you at any time.
But that's when you realize youwant to be a responsible adult
and you have responsibilities,whether it's children or a wife
or that you need to take care of.
And if you take care ofbusiness, so to speak, when you
(40:35):
are younger and you've done wellin school and you've enabled
yourself to have certainopportunities, then when you
have that revelation you'll bein position to capitalize on it.
So when I had that revelationOK, I want to try sports writing
I was in position to capitalizeon it and make it happen
because I had been a goodstudent throughout my life, and
(41:08):
a lot of young people.
If you dig yourself a holebecause you didn't do well in
school, maybe you didn'tgraduate, you got a ged, or
maybe you didn't, or you spenttime in juvenile detention
center or whatever it might be.
You graduated but your gradeswere horrible.
Now you're in a hole.
So I'm not saying it'simpossible to dig out, but if
you now you have that revelationokay, I want to get a good job
and provide for a family.
Well, everybody else is up herethat you're competing with and
(41:30):
you're down here because you dugyourself a hole.
You might be able to get out ofit, but it's going to be
tougher because you're in a hole, yeah, and so that's what I.
One thing I would leave withyoung people is don't don't make
it unnecessarily hard on you.
Some of us have challengesbecause of our family,
(41:54):
background or whatever it may besystemic situations and
obstacles.
Don't make it even worse by, ormore challenging, by, you know,
doing the things that are inyour control you do negatively.
Stay on the positive route withthe things that are in your
control, and doors will be openfor you and you'll be able to, I
(42:16):
think, have a successful life.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
That's real, the way.
I heard a guy say this on theshow that your younger self has
to protect your older self.
Yeah, your younger self has toprotect your older self.
Your younger self has toprotect your older self.
And the other thing you talkedabout you're in that 10-year
window, what you do in 10 years,if you do it right, when you
get to our age, your older selfis going to say thank you.
(42:39):
Yeah, that's absolutely right,thank you, your younger self,
your older self, is telling youthank you at 21 years old.
To the Lord it's a young Chris,young Chris.
Thank you, thank you, andthat's good stuff.
Well, this has been great.
(43:01):
I'm looking forward to youcoming to Columbus and then to
Cleveland as well and kind ofsharing with the men there.
I want to thank you for thetime but, most importantly, for
this kingdom work that you'redoing, because Lord knows that
we need some men, that communityof men, but I love what you're
doing with those men.
You're kind of not keeping itall to yourself, like you're
(43:22):
pouring into them and thenyou're releasing them, and
that's why you have thosechapters all over.
You're kind of releasing them.
Don't have this good high inhere.
You know, and leave
Speaker 1 (43:32):
it here.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
There's a world that needs you Now.
Make sure you come back nextyear and get energized now.
But then get back out there,get back out there and do this
thing, so I want to thank youfor that.
But this has truly been ablessing now and I'm looking
forward to you sharing in ourcities in April.
April 26th is the date, andwe're looking forward to you
(43:54):
being here, being here live.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Yeah, I can't wait.
Like I said, it's always greatto get back to Ohio.
I'm looking forward to speakingto the men and I don't know if
women are there them as well men, and I don't know if women, if
women are there, them as well.
But I would like to thank youas well for what you do.
Um, because I know fellowshipof Christian athletes and
athletes in action.
As we mentioned earlier, youguys do very important work, and
(44:18):
I mean most.
It used to be, I think even thenet was cast even wider, but so
many athletes are exposed tothe gospel by what you guys do,
you know, on campus, and sothat's that's, that's what it's
all about, and so you guys do atremendous job with that.
(44:40):
So I want to thank you as wellfor the work you you're doing
and have done.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Thank you, Chris.
Well, this concludes today'sepisode.
I thank our audience for beinga part of this and continue to
build a lifelong legacy.
Thanks, Chris, for being on BeA Baller Podcast You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it
with family and friends.
The Be A Baller Podcast isavailable on all major podcast
platforms.
This podcast was created byCoach Tim Brown and recorded and
edited by the video productionclass of Worthington Christian
High School.
Be sure to come back next weekas we continue to discuss on how
(45:19):
to build a lifelong legacy.
Until then, don't forget to bea baller.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.