May 1, 2025 • 48 mins
Winston Chandler's 27 years as a dorm parent at Cal Farley's Boys Ranch transformed countless lives through his wisdom, faith, and commitment to helping troubled youth find their path. His simple yet profound wisdom—"you're never going to learn anything unless something depends on you"—became the foundation for developing responsibility, work ethic, and character in the boys under his care.
• Boys Ranch provided structure, responsibility, and purpose for troubled youth
• Winston's philosophy centered on hard work, faith, and caring for something beyond yourself
• Accountability in agriculture teaches valuable life lessons—"if we don't do our job, something dies"
• Giving young people meaningful work helps them discover their abilities and purpose
• Successful mentorship requires maintaining high expectations while showing genuine care
• A strong work ethic, competitive spirit, and faith create foundation for personal growth
• Winston's humility in acknowledging his own mistakes taught the importance of accountability
• The impact of good mentorship extends across generations through those who were mentored
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast.
In this show, the Texas FFAFoundation will take on a
journey of exploration intoagricultural science, education,
leadership development andinsights from subject matter
experts and sponsors who providethe fuel to make dreams come
true.
Here's your host, AaronAlejandro.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or
whenever you may be tuning in tothe Growing Our Future podcast.
We appreciate you stopping byand taking a little time out of
your day to spend a little timewith us.
It's an honor to have thisplatform and this technology
where we can invite guests onand we can share their
(00:51):
experiences, their insights andmaybe, along the way, we pick up
on something that we can put inplace in our lives and make our
lives better.
That's the reason why it'scalled Grow in the Future.
I've always said if you want toknow what the future is, grow
it.
Well, how do you start that?
You got to find something toplant, you got to take care of
(01:12):
it, you got to harvest it andyou got to share it.
And today we have a very, veryspecial guest.
Excited for y'all to meet thisman and I'm excited to share his
story with you.
And you're about to find outwhy.
So, ladies and gentlemen, wehave Mr Winston Chandler.
Winston, you're retired, youwere at Boys Ranch for years,
(01:35):
you drove trucks, but you'rejust an all-around good guy.
Thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Well, thank you, thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, thank you, we're going to dive in here and
we're going to have a good timetalking about some things.
Mr Chandler, before we start, Ialways ask guests.
Every guest on this show getsthe same question, and the first
question that every guest getsis what are you grateful for
(02:06):
today?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
What are you grateful for today?
What are you grateful for today?
Well, one thing is I'm glad Ilive in the united states and I
love america and I love texas.
And the other thing is, uh, mybeautiful wife that I lost.
That's, that was the mostimportant thing to me, because
if it wasn't for her I'd have,I'd have never made it myself,
and everything.
She is the wise one of thebunch and so she was always calm
(02:34):
and cool and everything, and Iwas always going 90 miles an
hour and everything, and so soI'm grateful for that and
everything.
And then the other thing is theLord's been with me and helped
me and blessed me my whole lifeand everything.
And that's the main thing forme is you know you can't do
(02:55):
nothing without the Lord, andwhen you think there's nobody
else around, you know he's theone that comes and helps.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I agree Everything you said.
He's the one that comes andhelps.
I agree Everything you said.
We could stop right there.
So I'm like you.
I love my country.
I love the liberties that Ihave, the freedom that I have,
that I get to choose what I wantto eat.
I get to choose if I want toplay a sport, what sport I get
to choose.
If I want to play a sport, whatsport I get to choose.
What job I want, I get tochoose what I listen to on the
(03:27):
radio or what news I want towatch or what entertainment.
I mean we are so blessed tolive where we live and have all
the opportunities that we haveand then also to be blessed with
a beautiful family.
So I agree with you, and thatbeautiful woman that Winston was
referring to was Ollie.
We called her Ollie Pearl andthat was Mr Chandler's, like he
(03:52):
just said.
That was his balance, and Olliewas a great, great, great woman
and I know she was proud of youand proud of all that y'all
have accomplished for both yourfamily and for so many others.
So thank you for sharing whatyou were grateful for today.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Okay, so let's start talking about some things.
So for the folks that don'tknow, let me tee up why this is
a very unique podcast interview.
For those that do not know,that may not be familiar with my
background, I'm going to giveyou just a very brief synopsis
to tee up this man's role in mylife.
(04:32):
I grew up in a broken home inDallas.
My mom and dad divorced when Iwas six.
My father passed away when Iwas 10.
This was in the 70s.
I began to rebel.
You can't tell now, but I usedto have really long, bushy hair
and I got into a lot of trouble.
And my mom tried everything.
(04:52):
She tried the church, she triedbig brothers and big sisters.
She tried several things andnothing was working.
And finally, september 3rd 1980, she said that's it.
She said I've tried to help you, I've tried to get you straight
.
You don't want to get straight.
I'm going to get some help.
And so we flew from Dallas toAmarillo.
(05:13):
At Amarillo they put me in avan and they drove me 36 miles
into the country to a placecalled Cal Farley's Boys Ranch.
And when I got to Boys Ranch,the first thing they did was
they took me down and theyintroduced me to this woman and
her nickname was Abdul theButcher and she was the barber
and she cut all my hair off.
(05:33):
And then I remember they saidwe got to go to the dining hall
to say goodbye to your mom.
And here are 400 boys in thisdining hall and I remember they
said you know, say goodbye toyour mom.
I was real i's still the realtough guy and I just remember
saying see you.
I meant that's how I saidgoodbye to my mom is I'll see
you.
Uh, the rest of the story forthat, paul harvey rest.
(05:57):
The story is two weeks later I'mon the phone crying going mom,
please get me out.
I swear, swear, I'll straightenup.
But I remember I left thedining room and they took me
over to the counselor's officeand I was sitting in the
counselor's office and at thispoint I got to tell y'all I was
getting a little nervous.
I'm sitting there by myself andthis boy sticks his head around
(06:19):
the corner and he says hey, areyou the new kid?
And I said yeah, I'm the newkid.
He goes what dorm are you goingto be in?
And I said I'm going to be inBridwell dorm.
And the guy goes ooh, bridwell.
And I said what's so ooh aboutBridwell?
He goes, have you not met yourdorm parent yet?
And I said, no, who is it?
And they said his name isWinston Chandler.
I said, well, tell me about MrChandler.
(06:41):
They said Mr Chandler.
He's about five foot nine, heweighs about 185 pounds, he
bench presses over 400 poundsand he's the hairiest man you've
ever seen.
At about that time it's likethat kid sees a ghost, he takes
off and this big old cowboyturned the corner and he took
(07:02):
his cowboy hat off and he saidhello goes, my name is Winston
Chandler, I'm gonna be yourdaddy for the next four years.
And I remember my jaw hit theground and he said darling, out
here at boys ranch you're gonnatake math, science, history,
english, but out here at theboys ranch you got to take a
vocational program.
Well, I had never heard of avocational program.
(07:23):
It sounded a lot like vacation.
So I was like see, I signed meup for that vacational program
and I remember I asked MrChandler, I said what do they
have here?
And you said well, they hadlike building trades, skillsusa,
and they build houses and workon cars.
And then they said we have thisother program called Future
(07:45):
Farmers of America, and I saidFuture Farmers of America?
I said I can't be no farmer,I'm from Dallas.
And then I remember Mr Chandlerlooking at me and he said said,
darling, you're never going tolearn anything unless something
depends on you.
And I never forgot that he saidyou're never going to learn
(08:08):
anything unless somethingdepends on you.
So Mr Chandler told me he saidI'm going to put you in ag
because you're never going tolearn anything unless something
depends on you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that dayset in path the reason why we're
even on this podcast today,because mr chandler, this man
(08:32):
right here, is the one that putme in agricultural education.
This guy's one that put me inthe ffa.
Now, I had a rough start in theffa but I finally found my.
I went on to become the stateFFA president.
I went to Texas Tech Universityon five scholarships.
I've been so blessed.
(08:53):
I've been to coast to coast.
I've been in every state in theUnited States except for Alaska
.
I've been able to take myfamily with me.
We've traveled all over, allover the United States, even did
a mission trip in Mexico.
So many of you that may belistening to this know that we
started a national organizationfor foundation officers called
(09:14):
LEAD.
I don't know that any of thethings that have happened within
the Texas FFA that I've beenprivileged to be a part of, or
anything nationally, could haveever happened if this man right
here had not, on that day inSeptember of 1980, put me in
agriculture, put me in ageducation in the FFA.
(09:37):
Now y'all understand why I saidthis is a very special guest,
because the fact that we're alltalking and the fact that you're
here today is because ofWinston Chandler.
So, mr Chandler, I've giveneverybody a little bit of
background of how we cametogether.
But let's go back in time.
Tell us a little bit about you.
Where did you grow up?
(09:58):
Tell us a little bit about yourfamily.
Give us a little bit about yourbackground about your family.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Give us a little bit about your background.
Well, I was raised on a farm ina ranch and, uh, I had two
older brothers we were sevenyears apart and I never get I
never did get to be a littlebitty kid, my thing.
I was driving a tractor when Iwas six years old and I could
shoot a shotgun and ride a horseand do stuff like that.
I didn't play with toys, I hadto be a big boy like my brothers
(10:28):
and stuff.
And you know, you know it'sjust I started out and we worked
hard and we played hard and Ithink that's what you have to do
and that's you know.
And I had a, you know, had agood family and stuff like that.
And after, you know, after Igot up, pretty good size and
(10:52):
everything, then my folks splitup.
So I know what it is to comefrom a broken home and so the
best thing that happened to meis when I met Ollie Pearl and
everything and she went throughthe same thing I did.
She is when I met ollie pearland everything and she went
through the same thing I did.
She come from from a brokenhome and stuff, and a lot of my
folks they were.
(11:12):
They were alcoholics and stufflike that and everything.
And so we decided, well, we'regonna, we're gonna do something
different.
My kids ain't gonna do that,we're gonna do something nice.
And we were real young when wegot married and everything.
I didn't think I'd ever live tobe 21.
Everybody treated me like a kid, but I had to work like a man
(11:34):
and everything.
And I finally got to be 21 sothey got to treat me like a man
and everything.
But uh, you know the thing ofit is, you know we got away from
her folks and my folks and wedepended on one another and
everything.
And so we made it work.
And so we come to Amarillo and Ihad all kinds of jobs.
(11:58):
I worked in the oil field, onour cowboy-owned ranches and
done this and that and all that.
I always had two jobs andeverything and uh, but most
important thing to me was, youknow, my kids and everything,
because I wanted my kids to.
I didn't want them to gothrough what I did.
You know it's just like thekids I raised at boys ranch.
(12:21):
You know them kids, they comefrom all walks of life and stuff
and everything and uh.
But uh, I was the youngest dormparent ever hardly boys ranch.
I was five, 25 years old, 25years old and I wasn't too much
older than the seniors andeverything.
(12:41):
But you know, uh, you know boysranch was a working ranch and
everything then and everything,and.
But you know, boys Ranch was aworking ranch and everything
then and everything, and we tooka lot of kids right off the
streets and right out of jail.
If they didn't make it at BoysRanch they went to Gatesville.
Then none of my kids go toGatesville.
I kept all of mine andeverything.
(13:02):
And the most important thing tome was you know them kids just
needed a chance.
You know, somebody had a gillcrap about them and everything.
And so me and Ollie worked hardat it and everything.
And so I know you and JerryGrooms, you know you all
recognize us at rodeo one timeback and I think it was 95, and
(13:27):
you give us a plaque andeverything and I was working at
the rodeo grounds doing gettingready for rodeo and ollie was
selling tickets at uh, thebarbecue place and everything.
They said they need y'all atthe dining hall.
I said, well, I got two monthsto do to go to the dining hall.
So anyway, they said, no, youneed to get there.
(13:49):
So anyway, I got out and wewent there.
Well, you and jerry, you know,gives that and all the exes
there and all that kind of stuff.
It was a that was a big day forus and everything and so uh, uh
, but you know, it wasn't Idon't think it was really the
things that me and ollie did.
(14:09):
You know, I just had a lot ofhelp with the lord helped us,
you know, to try to do the rightthing with the kids and and
stuff and uh.
But you know you know your kids,just like you you're, you're
one of my kids.
You know, you're no differentthan you know my own kids and
stuff, y'all are all the same tome and everything.
(14:35):
And so you know, now I'm an oldguy now and so you know all the
kids I raised at Boy's Ranch.
They're all grandparents now,just like kids are and
everything.
But you know my immediatefamily.
I got 12 great-grandbabies.
I'll soon have 12.
Wow, well, that's just part ofthe family.
(14:58):
The rest of the family is theBoyer's Ranch, kids are got and
everything.
I have a whole bunch ofgrandkids, great grandkids, and
everything.
They're family too, you know.
And so you know I probably gotmore kids and grandkids than
anybody in the country andeverything.
And I'm proud of that andeverything because you know it
(15:19):
makes you feel good when you.
You know you help kids and yousee how they turn out.
And you know they're goodfamily men, they're good fathers
, they're good husbands.
They work hard and they playhard and that's what I tried to
teach at Boys' Range.
You know we play to win.
You know you never quit.
You know don't ever give up andthere's always a better.
(15:41):
You know it's better tomorrowbe a lot better, you know, than
today and everything.
And so you have to work hardand you have to play hard.
And so you know at my age I'mnearly 82 and everything I still
cowboy on the ranch, help feedcows, I detail cars, I make pens
(16:02):
and rings, I do woodworkingstuff.
I stay busy all the time doingsomething you can't quit.
You got to keep your mindworking in your body, working
all time and everything.
And so you know whether you'regood at sports or whatever
you're good at and everything.
You know your handshake andwhen you tell somebody something
(16:24):
it's got to mean something.
You got to mean what you sayand say what you mean, and I
always said about raising kids,you know you can give out but
you can't never give up becauseyou never know what you're going
to say or do.
That will change that kid.
You know he may be a bad kidone day, but tomorrow he'll be a
better kid or he'll be adifferent kid and everything.
(16:46):
And so and I took all kinds ofkids and it's hard to raise
somebody else's kids and fillshoes for somebody else and
everything, but you know it's,that's just, that's part of it
and everything, and so I justalways felt like I needed to.
You know, do that and my kidswas the first ones to.
(17:09):
You know they ever have avehicle, ever have a job or a
place to live.
When they graduated, they wentto college or they went to the
military.
Or they give them theirsuitcase and talk call them to
the town office.
Well, I told the board one day.
I was in there on the groceryrun on Friday, on the grocery
(17:38):
run on friday.
I said you know, if a kid had ajob and a place to live and a
way to get there, his chances ismaking it is a whole lot better
than the kids.
You haul the town with hissuitcase and say there it is.
And so, anyway, I got thatchanged and everything.
So my kids the first ones to dothat, and then the kids that
stayed there and didn't havenowhere to go at christmas I
took the you know, I took thembird hunting and everything it's
(18:00):
.
Oh no, you can't give them kids, a gun, you'll kill somebody.
I said the most dangerous thingthey'll ever do is drive
automobile.
It won't be shooting a gun.
And we had game wardens thereand everything where they could
take the safety course and allof that and everything.
And I was proud of that becausemy kids got to do a lot more
than other kids, you know, andeverything.
(18:21):
And so, uh, you know, it's alla learning process, everything's
a learning process so, mrchandler, let's real quick.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So where, where was?
Where were you originally from?
Where was home for you?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Plains, texas Plains.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Texas.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
We lived about three miles from the New Mexico line,
a little place called Bronco,and my dad farmed and ranched
there and everything.
And when I went to school I wasthe first to know and the last
to know and in the wintertime itwas dark when I went to school
and it was dark when I got offand I still had to milk and I
(18:59):
still had to gather eggs andfeed the stock and all that
stuff in the dark with a lantern.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We're going to come back to that.
So you and Ollie, you saidy'all, what year did you move to
Amarillo?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
you said oh, I moved here in 1964.
64.
And then, when did you go toAmarillo?
You said oh, I moved here in1964, 64.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And then, when did you go to work for the ranch?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
1968 when I first came back.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, I worked for cookbook bread and so you and
Ollie were at the y'all weredorm parents, what we used to
call dorm parents, and how manyyears were y'all dorm parents?
27 27 years yeah was yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
We lived in the dorm longer than anybody's ever been
there and I've raised more kidsthan anybody's ever been there
so let's talk about that realquick because we've got a lot of
viewers, a lot of folks that'llbe listening.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
So when we say a dormitory, when I was out at Cal
Farley's Boys Ranch there were16 dorms.
There were eight dorms in whatwe called the valley, down in
the valley, and then there wereeight dorms up on top we called
Hilltop, or up on the hill.
There were 16 dorms.
There were 24 boys to a dorm.
So think about this.
(20:14):
You would walk into the frontof the dorm and we had what we
called the big room, so you hada big room, and then on each
side of the big room there wasstaff housing, so there were
staff apartments on the sides.
And then as you went into theback of the dorm, there was a
long hallway and back there inthe back there were six rooms,
(20:36):
six rooms, and every two roomswere connected by a bathroom.
So you had six rooms connectedby the bathroom.
Every room had four boys.
So every room you went in therewere four beds, a study desk
and then each of us had our ownindividual closets that we were
allowed to keep our stuff in.
(20:56):
So imagine this dormitorysetting and the big room and the
staff, housing and then eachindividual room.
A normal day for us would looklike this we would get up in the
morning and everybody in thedorm we would clean the dorm.
So everybody in the dorm wouldwork on some type of job clean
dorm unless you had after-schoolactivities.
(21:20):
If you were an athlete or youhad after-school activities, you
would normally get up and youwould go to your job on the
ranch.
You would have to go take a jobon the ranch If you stayed at
the dorm.
You'd finish cleaning the dorm,get ready for school and then
we would walk to school.
The boys that were out workingthey would do their jobs and
then they would walk to school.
(21:40):
We'd go to school all day long.
At the end of the school day,if you were an athlete or
involved in school activities,you would go to the school and
you would do your practices orwhatever that may be.
If you didn't, then you had anafternoon job.
So then we're either at schoolor we're working and then from
there we would go from there tothe dining room for dinner that
(22:04):
evening.
After the dining room we wouldcome back to the dorms and study
or hang out.
Now times have changed, but backin our day we didn't watch TV
during the week.
The only time we watched TV wason the weekends.
Everything in the middle of theweek was about studying and
(22:25):
being productive and beingbrothers to one another.
And then on the weekends, theweekends were good because
sometimes we got to go to town.
You got to go to town onceevery three weeks.
If you're good, you have toearn your privileges.
At Boys Ranch everything isearned.
It's based on incentive.
So we would earn our privilegesand if our privileges were good
(22:47):
, we got to go get a Coke or anice cream or something sweet,
and then we would go to church,we'd go to chapel and we would
dress up, we'd have chapel dress, we'd go to chapel and then,
like I said, we'd get to go.
On occasion We'd get to go totown and in town we could go to
a movie or roller skating or goto the mall and just do the
normal things that teenagerswould do.
(23:10):
But Mr Chandler I hope everybodycaught that he operated in that
facility, in that dormitorysetting, for 27 years.
That means 27 years.
He raised his family in thatlittle apartment right there
next to the boys.
That means for 27 years.
He saw kids coming in and outof his dorm.
(23:32):
And I remember when I wentthere I went to I was in
Bridwell dorm and you know therewere kids that had been out
there.
There would have been some kidsthat had been there for a long
time They'd been there sincethey were little kids and there
were some kids that weren'tthere maybe a year before me and
(23:53):
they came from all over thecountry.
So it's kind of like going tocollege.
You know, one of the benefits,I think, of going to college is
you get to meet people from allover and so you get to learn
different perspectives.
Well, the dorm was the same way.
We had people from all over thestate, all over the United
States, that came from differentbackgrounds, and so we got to
learn from one another aboutlife.
(24:13):
And this is the guy that led us.
This is Mr Chandler.
He led us, he led me for fouryears of my life, my high school
years.
Mr Chandler made that possible,and so I wanted to make sure
everybody kind of had areference point of what that
looked like to be in the dorm,to understand what he just
shared.
So, mr Chandler, one of thethings that I like about this
(24:36):
show is.
I tell people, if you'll justlisten, if you'll just listen to
somebody's testimony, you'reliable to learn something that
you can put in place in yourlife.
And I've already heard you saya few things loud and clear.
Number one you better work hard.
Number two it's okay to relaxand play hard.
(24:59):
Number three you better compete.
You're going to have to compete.
Number four you better havefaith.
You better have something thatyou're grounded in.
And then, number five life'snot a solo project.
You better have somebody orsome things around you to help
(25:19):
you get through life.
And, mr chandler, you'vealready shared all of those in a
very short period of time, andthat's, that's powerful stuff
well to.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
You know, when I first started boys range, we had
36 kids in the dorm, not 24.
Oh, wow, wow when I started andeverything and everything and
so, uh, but you know, the firstpart of the kids was, you know,
they were off the streets andout of jail and stuff like that.
(25:53):
Well, then later on we went totaking kids from broken homes
and stuff like that.
Mama can't raise the kids andwork and all of that.
That's the reason I wound upwith a lot of brothers.
I raised a lot of brothers andeverything, big families and
stuff like that and everything.
And so you know it's one ofthem things where you know you
(26:17):
have to adapt to whatever'scoming, you know, and everything
.
But you know it's just, it'sone of them things.
You know you got to have faithin what you're doing and you
know you got to have help fromother people and everything.
And you know that's the reasonmy thing was is you know me,
when we played sports, we playedto win.
(26:39):
We didn't play to lose, weplayed to win, and it's the same
way in life.
You got to play to win andeverything, and you got to count
for something.
You know your words got to meansomething.
You know you got to mean whatyou say and say what you mean
and everything.
And so you know it's.
(27:02):
You know that's just part oflife and that's what you have to
do and everything.
And so I tried to teach, youknow, all of my kids that and
stuff like that and but you know, look at all the kids, Look at
what they've done.
You know they've done betterthan anybody.
You know a kid that don't havenothing, Stop it out with flat
(27:22):
nothing and everything, and thenlook at what to do.
Look at you for a little day.
You know you were a troubledkid, stuff like that and all
that and everything.
But you know you had to dependon somebody.
You know you had to believe insomething.
You know you have to.
You had to depend on somebody.
You know you had to believe insomething.
You know you had to believethings that I told you and stuff
and what you had to do.
And you know, uh, you know youcould learn.
(27:45):
You know I think it was 13 or15 vocations at boys ranch and I
was a big ag guy because I wasin ag when I was in school and
stuff and everything.
And if you taking care of ananimal, you know you're taking
care of something other thanyourself.
You know it's.
You know it's like playingsports.
(28:06):
You learn to play with otherkids and stuff.
That's how you, you know, getfriendships and stuff like that.
You know's a lifetime thing.
It's not something that's justhit or miss.
Maybe it'll work, maybe itwon't.
It does work.
It works over time.
You've got to have faith inwhat you're doing.
It's not going to be easy.
(28:28):
Every day is not going to beeasy.
At night, when you go to bed,you thank the Lord for having a
good day, whether it was a goodday or not, Because tomorrow
will be a lot better day andeverything, and so you just have
to keep plugging along and so,uh, something mr chandler just
said.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I want everybody that to know this, and I know a lot
of people.
Again, mr chandler, there arepeople from coast to coast that
have heard me talk about.
You have heard me talk aboutgrowing up at Boys Ranch and one
of the things that I've neverforgotten, by the way, you know,
I'm very again, I'm blessed andI've been able to pass, you
(29:07):
know, I've been able to be in aleadership role to help pass
things along for others Millionsof dollars, millions of dollars
.
We've raised for the Texas FFAand those dollars started with
the story of what you taught me.
And I've talked to executivesof major companies Ford Motor
(29:28):
Company, Justin Boot Company,McCoy's, all these major major
brands and I love it when theyask me they say, Aaron, what all
these major major brands?
And and I love it when theyasked me, they say, Aaron, what
separates these FFA kids?
He said, these ag kids, you actlike nobody else does what they
do.
They said, what separates thesekids?
Doesn't athletics teachteamwork, Doesn't speech debate
(29:49):
and UIL teach all of thosethings.
And and doesn't band teachensemble?
And, Aaron, what is it that youthink you guys do in ag that
nobody else does.
And I remember one time, MrChandler, you gave me a
sledgehammer and we used todrive those old yellow power
wagons.
And I remember you gave me asledgehammer and you told me to
(30:12):
drive to the other side of theranch and bust the water trough
for the horses.
And I pitched a fit and I said,Mr Chandler, I don't want to go
.
It's a blizzard out there thatthe wind and the snow.
I said it's five miles to theother side.
I could get lost and I'm tryingto think of every excuse I
could think of.
And I'll never forget MrChandler and his old country
(30:33):
wisdom.
He just looked at me and hesaid, Darling, do you get
thirsty when it's cold?
I said, yes, sir.
He said Don't you think thosehorses get thirsty too?
I said, yes, sir, I drove fivemiles that day and I busted the
water trough for those horses.
And because of that lesson, tothis day I can look at any
(30:54):
executive in the United Statesand I said I'll tell you what
separates our kids fromeverybody else.
Because in the world ofagriculture, if we don't do our
job, something dies.
In the world of agriculture, ifwe don't feed it and we don't
water it and we don't take careof it, it dies, and when it dies
(31:14):
, an economy dies, and when aneconomy dies, a people die.
And so I'm so grateful thatearly on, you had us all in your
dorm.
We all had ag jobs, because youtold us it was important to
learn that something depended onus.
That means we had to get up andtake care of it.
We had to take care of it.
At the end of the day, thatmeans we had to get up and take
(31:37):
care of it.
We had to take care of it atthe end of the day.
But, Mr Chandler, I want you toknow that, not just that lesson
of doing that and taking careof it.
Look at what it's produced.
It's produced millions ofdollars that translate into
opportunities for kids becauseof the way that you raised us at
Boys Ranch.
I just want you to know.
I appreciate what you taught me.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Well, you're sure welcome.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I don't know if I understood it at the time, but I
look back on it.
You said something else a whileago.
I look back the other day Iguess I was 56 when I looked
back on it and I said my gosh.
I said for four years of mylife I was doing adult jobs.
But I didn't know any better.
(32:23):
We all just tried to get the jobdone.
We all whether it was at thedairy barn or at the hog farm or
at the feedlot or bucking hayor just it didn't matter what
the job was, we just knew we hadto get the job done.
We never looked at it as thatwas an adult job or that was a
kid job.
It was just a job and we allhad to pitch in to get it done.
(32:44):
And you kind of taught us aboutthat too.
You said we're going to getthese jobs done, and not only
are we going to get them done.
Now I'll tell you one morething about Mr Channer.
You heard him say a second agoyou're playing to win.
Well, the other thing that hetaught me is you don't do it
halfway.
You always taught us if you'regoing to do a job, you do it
(33:05):
right.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
That's right.
Whether you're playing orwhether you're working, you got
to do the best job you canBecause somewhere down the line
somebody's depending on you.
You know it's not just you.
You know there's alwayssomebody depending on you for
something, whether it'ssomething you said, something
you've done or you know, orsomething you showed them or
(33:32):
something like that andeverything.
And so you, you know that'spart of life.
You know you gotta, everybodyneeds somebody and and a lot of
times you need somebody, a lotof the times and everything.
And you need somebody you gotyou can depend on and stuff like
that and everything.
(33:53):
And that's the reason you gotto keep your faith in the lord
and everything, because he's theone that made you and
everything.
And so you want to make himproud of you, just like
everybody else.
And so you know you gotta.
You know you gotta mean what yousay and say what you mean.
You know you want to be a goodperson.
You know, and you know if youcan help somebody, you know that
(34:16):
does you more good.
Then it's better to give apresent than to receive a
present.
And so you know a lot of stuffI make, you know I give it away.
And my son wes.
He said, dad, you give away toomuch stuff.
And I said well, for me, for meit's just advertisement, you
(34:36):
know, somebody want to know.
Well, where do you get that?
He said well, I know the guythat makes it, you know, and so
that's just part of life, youknow, you just have to keep
plugging along and everything.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
One of my good friends I shouldn't say he's a
good friend, he's become afriend but he's an incredible
speaker.
By the way, he's going to be upin Canadian next week.
His name is Dan Owellabi andDan is from Worcester, ohio and
he's just got an incrediblestory.
But Dan was talking to a groupand he he said a lot of times
people ask the question what ismy legacy?
(35:16):
What is my legacy?
And Dan Oulabi says you'reasking the wrong question.
He said the question shouldn'tbe what is my legacy?
He said the question ought tobe who is my legacy?
Who is my legacy?
And I just want you to know,because you said something a
(35:38):
while ago.
You said 27 years in the dorm.
That's a lot of young peoplethat know the name of Winston
Chandler and Ollie Chandler andthe Chandler kids.
One more thing, real quick.
I'm going to derail us herejust for a second, but I just
want to share because I want tobrag on Mr Chandler and Ollie
(36:00):
and his family.
Every year we used to have thisthing called the Boys Ranch
Rodeo on Labor Day weekend.
It was a big deal, big rodeo.
I mean, hundreds of thousandsof spectators would come to Cal
Farley's Boys Ranch and it was atime for all the alumni.
We always came back at rodeotime and of all the dorms, of
(36:25):
all the staff houses, there weremore people at Breadwell Dorm
to see Winston and OllieChandler than any dorm at the
ranch.
Even when they moved out of thedorm, everybody gathered at
their house because we allwanted to hang out with Winston
and Ollie just one more time.
I got to share a personal storyhere in just a second, but I
(36:49):
want to cover a couple morethings here before we wrap up.
You know, mr Chandler, I askpeople all the time the kids in
Texas.
I said, how many high schoolsare in the state of Texas?
And they always say a lot andI'm like, yeah, there's a lot of
high schools.
All right, in the state ofTexas there's over 3,000 high
schools.
Now, think about that.
(37:09):
Every one of those high schoolsis going to have a graduating
class this year.
They're going to have kids thatare going to get out.
They're going to be looking fora scholarship, a job or an
opportunity.
And I always ask the kids I saidtell me what's your competitive
edge, what separates you fromeverybody else?
Because if you're going to goafter that scholarship, you're
going to go after that job,you're going to go after that
(37:31):
opportunity.
You better have something thatseparates you from everybody
else.
A lot of times it can be whatyou shared earlier, mr Chandler.
It could be a positive attitude, it could be a professional
network, it could be thathandshake that you talked about,
that firm handshake where youlook somebody in the eye, say
your first and last name.
(37:52):
The bottom line is you got tohave a competitive edge, and it
sounds like to me that when youwere raising kids, that's one of
the things that you tried togive us was a competitive edge
you got to have that.
You got to have that and you,you taught us that, and so I
hope that people that get achance to watch this podcast
(38:14):
anybody that's ever heard mespeak my kids will tell you that
a lot of times they say yousound like Mr Chandler, and I
said, well, I probably do.
There's probably a reason I doBecause he taught me to be fair.
He taught me to listen, hetaught me to play by the rules.
He taught me to be competitive.
(38:34):
He taught me to play by therules.
He taught me to be competitive.
Um, he taught me to care forothers.
But, uh, you, you, I hope youunderstand why.
I now said this was a specialguest to bring on the show and
uh, so y'all got to hear it fromhim, not me.
You got to hear it from him ofwhy I'm the way I am today.
So, um, mr chandler, Iappreciate you so much.
(38:55):
Um, if I may close, can I closewith one more little story?
no great so it was years, yearsago.
I was back at the ranch and mrand miss ch Chandler lived in a
little apartment there on theranch and there was a guest
(39:18):
bedroom in the back.
And I go back there and I'msitting in the guest bedroom and
I remember you came back thereand we sat across from one
another and we were talking andI just remember I said, Mr
Chandler, I said, do youremember this?
And I told you about somethingthat happened at Boy's Ranch.
And the reason why this storyis so important is because I
(39:42):
want you all to see the heart ofthis man right here.
I remember sharing with yousomething that happened at Boy's
Ranch and I remember you, MrChandler.
You teared up and you looked atme, me and you said, darling,
I'm sorry.
You said I had to make a lot ofdecisions at Boys Ranch and
(40:03):
sometimes I think I made theright ones, but on occasion I
probably made one that might notbe right and I just want to
tell you that I'm sorry.
Do you know how big a mansomebody's got to be to say that
they're sorry To be able tolook at another human being and
say you know what?
I try my best, but sometimes Imay not get it right.
(40:25):
I just want you all to knowthat this guy right here was
already way up in my book.
But the day that this man lookedat me and said, hey, I'm sorry
and it wasn't anything major,it's not like the world was
going to come to an end but thefact that I was sitting here
having a conversation with theman that took my dad's place and
he told me it's OK to say I'msorry as a big day.
(40:49):
Mr Chandler, I just want you toknow that you're a big man, Not
just physically.
You're a big man not justphysically.
You're a big man because you'veinvested in so many kids.
You've made us all better andyou showed us what it's like to
have a heart of humbleness,forgiveness, reconciliation, and
(41:13):
I just want you to know thatyou are appreciated by many,
many that you probably havenever met.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Well, thank you so much.
You know, I'm just, I'm humbledand everything, and you know
just, I did the best I could andthe Lord has had most of the
work done.
I didn't do that much, the lorddone most of it yeah, you did
something all right.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
So we always wrap up the show with a fun question.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
You ready I'll try to you get a fun question.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
So if we ever made a movie about winston chandler,
the life and times of winstonchandler who would play winston
chandler?
What actor would play winstonchandler?
Speaker 3 (42:04):
oh, oh, boy, I don't know if there's anybody maybe
could do that.
That'd be a hard question toanswer, so it'd have to be
somebody you know, maybe likeyou.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
No, I couldn't play you.
Let me tell you who I think of.
When I think of WinstonChandler, I think of John Wayne.
I think John Wayne could playWinston.
I think Robert Duvall fromLonesome Dove could play Winston
.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Well, maybe so, I don't know I could put a hat on
you and everything and you coulddo the same thing.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
No, I don't bench 450 pounds and I wasn't a very good
bull rider.
But you made me right.
I rode bulls for four years.
I rode bronx before mr chanter.
I was on a call the other daywith all the pbr groups from
texas get it, you're gonna getthis professional bull riders.
I'm on a call with all the pbrpeople and I just ask them I
(43:15):
mean all these people on thiscall and I said has anybody on
this call ever ridden a bullbefore?
I was the only person on thecall that had ever ridden a bull
and it's because you kind ofwanted us to do that.
You said you'll never know ifyou like it unless you try it.
So I got to try it for fouryears.
I was never any good at it, butI did it for four years.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
I was never any good at it, but I did it for four
years.
Well, that's part of it.
You never know.
Kids don't know what they likeuntil they try it.
So I don't like that, I don'tlike this.
When you come to Boyle's Ranch,you didn't like anything.
That's the reason I signed youup for everything.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Well, it worked.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
So kids don't know what they like or what they need
or what they want andeverything.
You know.
They get in a rut andeverything.
And then you know I feel likeif you try sports or if you try
this or you know look what youdid with ag you know you could
have done the same thing if youwas a sports guy.
That's right.
You know you could have beengood in sports.
(44:13):
You could have been good this,you could be good.
You can do whatever you want todo.
You know, sure, and if you gotto have opportunity and somebody
gives it to you, you know, andyou know you can do anything you
want to do.
You know you got.
You know you're blessed withthe like you say you're in the
best country in the world andeverything, and you don't have
(44:34):
no excuse for not to be good anddo good things.
You don't have an excuse.
Well, how do you feel about aforeign country where they don't
have nothing or anything, theydon't have a chance to do what
you do and stuff and everything?
A?
Speaker 2 (44:49):
lot of our listeners don't remember the Berlin Wall,
but I do and I remember lookingat that wall and there was a
wall that separated communismfrom freedom and I remember
pictures of 16-year-old kidscaught in the fence trying to
get to freedom, being shot todeath.
We have a lot to be thankful,by the way.
(45:10):
Something else here I got totell everybody you need to
surround your people, like mygood friend Cleo Franklin says.
He says get yourself your ownpersonal board of directors.
Get people that you surroundyourself with that make you
better.
And I hope everybodyunderstands that I'm a little
bit the way that I am todaybecause Mr Channer was one of my
(45:32):
board of directors.
He made me better personally.
But I got to tell you you gotto be coachable.
If you're not coachable, youcan have all the Winston
Chandlers in the world aroundyou, but if you're not going to
listen, you're not going to getany better.
So you got to be coachable.
But if you're coachable and yougot good people around you, the
(45:53):
sky's the limit.
Sky is the limit.
Mr Chandler, thank you so muchfor joining me today on the
Growing Our Future podcast.
I tell people all the time ifyou want to know what the future
is, grow it.
Well, how do you grow thefuture, ladies and gentlemen?
You're looking at it right here.
(46:14):
You're looking at a man thattook time to pour ideas and
philosophies and strategies intome.
I planted those and, by gosh,they started to grow, and with
that growth came opportunitiesthat became blessings for me,
and not just me, but my familyand for others.
(46:34):
If you want to know what thefuture is, grow it.
Mr Chandler, thank you forjoining us today.
Speaker 3 (46:43):
Thank you for sharing some seeds of greatness.
Well, you're sure welcome andthanks for having me and
everything, and so I hopesomebody got a little bit of
something out of this andeverything, and so I hope it's,
I hope it's good and you knowpeople won't get bored, but
listen.
Speaker 2 (46:59):
So let me tell you something.
There's a there's a greatspeaker called Tony Robbins.
His name is Tony Robbins and Ilove his quote.
You know what his quote isSuccess leaves clues.
Yeah, Success leaves clues.
Somebody watches this podcast.
You've left some clues, Thankyou.
(47:24):
Thank you so much.
Everybody else.
Until we meet again.
Thank you for stopping by theGrowing Our Future podcast.
We appreciate you sharing someof your time with us.
Everybody, be safe and until wemeet again, go out and do
something for somebody else.
You'll feel good about it.
You'll feel good about it.
You'll change their world andguess what?
You might even just change thewhole world.
Until we see each other again,thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
See ya, bye.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the
Growing Our Future podcast.
This show is sponsored by theTexas FFA Foundation, whose
mission is to strengthenagricultural science education
so students can develop theirpotential for personal growth,
career success and leadership ina global marketplace.
Learn more at mytexasffaorg.
Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast.
In this show, the Texas FFAFoundation will take on a
journey of exploration intoagricultural science, education,
leadership development andinsights from subject matter
experts and sponsors who providethe fuel to make dreams come
true.
Here's your host, AaronAlejandro.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or
whenever you may be tuning in tothe Growing Our Future podcast.
We appreciate you stopping byand taking a little time out of
your day to spend a little timewith us.
It's an honor to have thisplatform and this technology
where we can invite guests onand we can share their
(00:51):
experiences, their insights andmaybe, along the way, we pick up
on something that we can put inplace in our lives and make our
lives better.
That's the reason why it'scalled Grow in the Future.
I've always said if you want toknow what the future is, grow
it.
Well, how do you start that?
You got to find something toplant, you got to take care of
(01:12):
it, you got to harvest it andyou got to share it.
And today we have a very, veryspecial guest.
Excited for y'all to meet thisman and I'm excited to share his
story with you.
And you're about to find outwhy.
So, ladies and gentlemen, wehave Mr Winston Chandler.
Winston, you're retired, youwere at Boys Ranch for years,
(01:35):
you drove trucks, but you'rejust an all-around good guy.
Thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Well, thank you, thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, thank you, we're going to dive in here and
we're going to have a good timetalking about some things.
Mr Chandler, before we start, Ialways ask guests.
Every guest on this show getsthe same question, and the first
question that every guest getsis what are you grateful for
(02:06):
today?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
What are you grateful for today?
What are you grateful for today?
Well, one thing is I'm glad Ilive in the united states and I
love america and I love texas.
And the other thing is, uh, mybeautiful wife that I lost.
That's, that was the mostimportant thing to me, because
if it wasn't for her I'd have,I'd have never made it myself,
and everything.
She is the wise one of thebunch and so she was always calm
(02:34):
and cool and everything, and Iwas always going 90 miles an
hour and everything, and so soI'm grateful for that and
everything.
And then the other thing is theLord's been with me and helped
me and blessed me my whole lifeand everything.
And that's the main thing forme is you know you can't do
(02:55):
nothing without the Lord, andwhen you think there's nobody
else around, you know he's theone that comes and helps.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I agree Everything you said.
He's the one that comes andhelps.
I agree Everything you said.
We could stop right there.
So I'm like you.
I love my country.
I love the liberties that Ihave, the freedom that I have,
that I get to choose what I wantto eat.
I get to choose if I want toplay a sport, what sport I get
to choose.
If I want to play a sport, whatsport I get to choose.
What job I want, I get tochoose what I listen to on the
(03:27):
radio or what news I want towatch or what entertainment.
I mean we are so blessed tolive where we live and have all
the opportunities that we haveand then also to be blessed with
a beautiful family.
So I agree with you, and thatbeautiful woman that Winston was
referring to was Ollie.
We called her Ollie Pearl andthat was Mr Chandler's, like he
(03:52):
just said.
That was his balance, and Olliewas a great, great, great woman
and I know she was proud of youand proud of all that y'all
have accomplished for both yourfamily and for so many others.
So thank you for sharing whatyou were grateful for today.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Okay, so let's start talking about some things.
So for the folks that don'tknow, let me tee up why this is
a very unique podcast interview.
For those that do not know,that may not be familiar with my
background, I'm going to giveyou just a very brief synopsis
to tee up this man's role in mylife.
(04:32):
I grew up in a broken home inDallas.
My mom and dad divorced when Iwas six.
My father passed away when Iwas 10.
This was in the 70s.
I began to rebel.
You can't tell now, but I usedto have really long, bushy hair
and I got into a lot of trouble.
And my mom tried everything.
(04:52):
She tried the church, she triedbig brothers and big sisters.
She tried several things andnothing was working.
And finally, september 3rd 1980, she said that's it.
She said I've tried to help you, I've tried to get you straight
.
You don't want to get straight.
I'm going to get some help.
And so we flew from Dallas toAmarillo.
(05:13):
At Amarillo they put me in avan and they drove me 36 miles
into the country to a placecalled Cal Farley's Boys Ranch.
And when I got to Boys Ranch,the first thing they did was
they took me down and theyintroduced me to this woman and
her nickname was Abdul theButcher and she was the barber
and she cut all my hair off.
(05:33):
And then I remember they saidwe got to go to the dining hall
to say goodbye to your mom.
And here are 400 boys in thisdining hall and I remember they
said you know, say goodbye toyour mom.
I was real i's still the realtough guy and I just remember
saying see you.
I meant that's how I saidgoodbye to my mom is I'll see
you.
Uh, the rest of the story forthat, paul harvey rest.
(05:57):
The story is two weeks later I'mon the phone crying going mom,
please get me out.
I swear, swear, I'll straightenup.
But I remember I left thedining room and they took me
over to the counselor's officeand I was sitting in the
counselor's office and at thispoint I got to tell y'all I was
getting a little nervous.
I'm sitting there by myself andthis boy sticks his head around
(06:19):
the corner and he says hey, areyou the new kid?
And I said yeah, I'm the newkid.
He goes what dorm are you goingto be in?
And I said I'm going to be inBridwell dorm.
And the guy goes ooh, bridwell.
And I said what's so ooh aboutBridwell?
He goes, have you not met yourdorm parent yet?
And I said, no, who is it?
And they said his name isWinston Chandler.
I said, well, tell me about MrChandler.
(06:41):
They said Mr Chandler.
He's about five foot nine, heweighs about 185 pounds, he
bench presses over 400 poundsand he's the hairiest man you've
ever seen.
At about that time it's likethat kid sees a ghost, he takes
off and this big old cowboyturned the corner and he took
(07:02):
his cowboy hat off and he saidhello goes, my name is Winston
Chandler, I'm gonna be yourdaddy for the next four years.
And I remember my jaw hit theground and he said darling, out
here at boys ranch you're gonnatake math, science, history,
english, but out here at theboys ranch you got to take a
vocational program.
Well, I had never heard of avocational program.
(07:23):
It sounded a lot like vacation.
So I was like see, I signed meup for that vacational program
and I remember I asked MrChandler, I said what do they
have here?
And you said well, they hadlike building trades, skillsusa,
and they build houses and workon cars.
And then they said we have thisother program called Future
(07:45):
Farmers of America, and I saidFuture Farmers of America?
I said I can't be no farmer,I'm from Dallas.
And then I remember Mr Chandlerlooking at me and he said said,
darling, you're never going tolearn anything unless something
depends on you.
And I never forgot that he saidyou're never going to learn
(08:08):
anything unless somethingdepends on you.
So Mr Chandler told me he saidI'm going to put you in ag
because you're never going tolearn anything unless something
depends on you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that dayset in path the reason why we're
even on this podcast today,because mr chandler, this man
(08:32):
right here, is the one that putme in agricultural education.
This guy's one that put me inthe ffa.
Now, I had a rough start in theffa but I finally found my.
I went on to become the stateFFA president.
I went to Texas Tech Universityon five scholarships.
I've been so blessed.
(08:53):
I've been to coast to coast.
I've been in every state in theUnited States except for Alaska
.
I've been able to take myfamily with me.
We've traveled all over, allover the United States, even did
a mission trip in Mexico.
So many of you that may belistening to this know that we
started a national organizationfor foundation officers called
(09:14):
LEAD.
I don't know that any of thethings that have happened within
the Texas FFA that I've beenprivileged to be a part of, or
anything nationally, could haveever happened if this man right
here had not, on that day inSeptember of 1980, put me in
agriculture, put me in ageducation in the FFA.
(09:37):
Now y'all understand why I saidthis is a very special guest,
because the fact that we're alltalking and the fact that you're
here today is because ofWinston Chandler.
So, mr Chandler, I've giveneverybody a little bit of
background of how we cametogether.
But let's go back in time.
Tell us a little bit about you.
Where did you grow up?
(09:58):
Tell us a little bit about yourfamily.
Give us a little bit about yourbackground about your family.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Give us a little bit about your background.
Well, I was raised on a farm ina ranch and, uh, I had two
older brothers we were sevenyears apart and I never get I
never did get to be a littlebitty kid, my thing.
I was driving a tractor when Iwas six years old and I could
shoot a shotgun and ride a horseand do stuff like that.
I didn't play with toys, I hadto be a big boy like my brothers
(10:28):
and stuff.
And you know, you know it'sjust I started out and we worked
hard and we played hard and Ithink that's what you have to do
and that's you know.
And I had a, you know, had agood family and stuff like that.
And after, you know, after Igot up, pretty good size and
(10:52):
everything, then my folks splitup.
So I know what it is to comefrom a broken home and so the
best thing that happened to meis when I met Ollie Pearl and
everything and she went throughthe same thing I did.
She is when I met ollie pearland everything and she went
through the same thing I did.
She come from from a brokenhome and stuff, and a lot of my
folks they were.
(11:12):
They were alcoholics and stufflike that and everything.
And so we decided, well, we'regonna, we're gonna do something
different.
My kids ain't gonna do that,we're gonna do something nice.
And we were real young when wegot married and everything.
I didn't think I'd ever live tobe 21.
Everybody treated me like a kid, but I had to work like a man
(11:34):
and everything.
And I finally got to be 21 sothey got to treat me like a man
and everything.
But uh, you know the thing ofit is, you know we got away from
her folks and my folks and wedepended on one another and
everything.
And so we made it work.
And so we come to Amarillo and Ihad all kinds of jobs.
(11:58):
I worked in the oil field, onour cowboy-owned ranches and
done this and that and all that.
I always had two jobs andeverything and uh, but most
important thing to me was, youknow, my kids and everything,
because I wanted my kids to.
I didn't want them to gothrough what I did.
You know it's just like thekids I raised at boys ranch.
(12:21):
You know them kids, they comefrom all walks of life and stuff
and everything and uh.
But uh, I was the youngest dormparent ever hardly boys ranch.
I was five, 25 years old, 25years old and I wasn't too much
older than the seniors andeverything.
(12:41):
But you know, uh, you know boysranch was a working ranch and
everything then and everything,and.
But you know, boys Ranch was aworking ranch and everything
then and everything, and we tooka lot of kids right off the
streets and right out of jail.
If they didn't make it at BoysRanch they went to Gatesville.
Then none of my kids go toGatesville.
I kept all of mine andeverything.
(13:02):
And the most important thing tome was you know them kids just
needed a chance.
You know, somebody had a gillcrap about them and everything.
And so me and Ollie worked hardat it and everything.
And so I know you and JerryGrooms, you know you all
recognize us at rodeo one timeback and I think it was 95, and
(13:27):
you give us a plaque andeverything and I was working at
the rodeo grounds doing gettingready for rodeo and ollie was
selling tickets at uh, thebarbecue place and everything.
They said they need y'all atthe dining hall.
I said, well, I got two monthsto do to go to the dining hall.
So anyway, they said, no, youneed to get there.
(13:49):
So anyway, I got out and wewent there.
Well, you and jerry, you know,gives that and all the exes
there and all that kind of stuff.
It was a that was a big day forus and everything and so uh, uh
, but you know, it wasn't Idon't think it was really the
things that me and ollie did.
(14:09):
You know, I just had a lot ofhelp with the lord helped us,
you know, to try to do the rightthing with the kids and and
stuff and uh.
But you know you know your kids,just like you you're, you're
one of my kids.
You know, you're no differentthan you know my own kids and
stuff, y'all are all the same tome and everything.
(14:35):
And so you know, now I'm an oldguy now and so you know all the
kids I raised at Boy's Ranch.
They're all grandparents now,just like kids are and
everything.
But you know my immediatefamily.
I got 12 great-grandbabies.
I'll soon have 12.
Wow, well, that's just part ofthe family.
(14:58):
The rest of the family is theBoyer's Ranch, kids are got and
everything.
I have a whole bunch ofgrandkids, great grandkids, and
everything.
They're family too, you know.
And so you know I probably gotmore kids and grandkids than
anybody in the country andeverything.
And I'm proud of that andeverything because you know it
(15:19):
makes you feel good when you.
You know you help kids and yousee how they turn out.
And you know they're goodfamily men, they're good fathers
, they're good husbands.
They work hard and they playhard and that's what I tried to
teach at Boys' Range.
You know we play to win.
You know you never quit.
You know don't ever give up andthere's always a better.
(15:41):
You know it's better tomorrowbe a lot better, you know, than
today and everything.
And so you have to work hardand you have to play hard.
And so you know at my age I'mnearly 82 and everything I still
cowboy on the ranch, help feedcows, I detail cars, I make pens
(16:02):
and rings, I do woodworkingstuff.
I stay busy all the time doingsomething you can't quit.
You got to keep your mindworking in your body, working
all time and everything.
And so you know whether you'regood at sports or whatever
you're good at and everything.
You know your handshake andwhen you tell somebody something
(16:24):
it's got to mean something.
You got to mean what you sayand say what you mean, and I
always said about raising kids,you know you can give out but
you can't never give up becauseyou never know what you're going
to say or do.
That will change that kid.
You know he may be a bad kidone day, but tomorrow he'll be a
better kid or he'll be adifferent kid and everything.
(16:46):
And so and I took all kinds ofkids and it's hard to raise
somebody else's kids and fillshoes for somebody else and
everything, but you know it's,that's just, that's part of it
and everything, and so I justalways felt like I needed to.
You know, do that and my kidswas the first ones to.
(17:09):
You know they ever have avehicle, ever have a job or a
place to live.
When they graduated, they wentto college or they went to the
military.
Or they give them theirsuitcase and talk call them to
the town office.
Well, I told the board one day.
I was in there on the groceryrun on Friday, on the grocery
(17:38):
run on friday.
I said you know, if a kid had ajob and a place to live and a
way to get there, his chances ismaking it is a whole lot better
than the kids.
You haul the town with hissuitcase and say there it is.
And so, anyway, I got thatchanged and everything.
So my kids the first ones to dothat, and then the kids that
stayed there and didn't havenowhere to go at christmas I
took the you know, I took thembird hunting and everything it's
(18:00):
.
Oh no, you can't give them kids, a gun, you'll kill somebody.
I said the most dangerous thingthey'll ever do is drive
automobile.
It won't be shooting a gun.
And we had game wardens thereand everything where they could
take the safety course and allof that and everything.
And I was proud of that becausemy kids got to do a lot more
than other kids, you know, andeverything.
(18:21):
And so, uh, you know, it's alla learning process, everything's
a learning process so, mrchandler, let's real quick.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So where, where was?
Where were you originally from?
Where was home for you?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Plains, texas Plains.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Texas.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
We lived about three miles from the New Mexico line,
a little place called Bronco,and my dad farmed and ranched
there and everything.
And when I went to school I wasthe first to know and the last
to know and in the wintertime itwas dark when I went to school
and it was dark when I got offand I still had to milk and I
(18:59):
still had to gather eggs andfeed the stock and all that
stuff in the dark with a lantern.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We're going to come back to that.
So you and Ollie, you saidy'all, what year did you move to
Amarillo?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
you said oh, I moved here in 1964.
64.
And then, when did you go toAmarillo?
You said oh, I moved here in1964, 64.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And then, when did you go to work for the ranch?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
1968 when I first came back.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, I worked for cookbook bread and so you and
Ollie were at the y'all weredorm parents, what we used to
call dorm parents, and how manyyears were y'all dorm parents?
27 27 years yeah was yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
We lived in the dorm longer than anybody's ever been
there and I've raised more kidsthan anybody's ever been there
so let's talk about that realquick because we've got a lot of
viewers, a lot of folks that'llbe listening.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
So when we say a dormitory, when I was out at Cal
Farley's Boys Ranch there were16 dorms.
There were eight dorms in whatwe called the valley, down in
the valley, and then there wereeight dorms up on top we called
Hilltop, or up on the hill.
There were 16 dorms.
There were 24 boys to a dorm.
So think about this.
(20:14):
You would walk into the frontof the dorm and we had what we
called the big room, so you hada big room, and then on each
side of the big room there wasstaff housing, so there were
staff apartments on the sides.
And then as you went into theback of the dorm, there was a
long hallway and back there inthe back there were six rooms,
(20:36):
six rooms, and every two roomswere connected by a bathroom.
So you had six rooms connectedby the bathroom.
Every room had four boys.
So every room you went in therewere four beds, a study desk
and then each of us had our ownindividual closets that we were
allowed to keep our stuff in.
(20:56):
So imagine this dormitorysetting and the big room and the
staff, housing and then eachindividual room.
A normal day for us would looklike this we would get up in the
morning and everybody in thedorm we would clean the dorm.
So everybody in the dorm wouldwork on some type of job clean
dorm unless you had after-schoolactivities.
(21:20):
If you were an athlete or youhad after-school activities, you
would normally get up and youwould go to your job on the
ranch.
You would have to go take a jobon the ranch If you stayed at
the dorm.
You'd finish cleaning the dorm,get ready for school and then
we would walk to school.
The boys that were out workingthey would do their jobs and
then they would walk to school.
(21:40):
We'd go to school all day long.
At the end of the school day,if you were an athlete or
involved in school activities,you would go to the school and
you would do your practices orwhatever that may be.
If you didn't, then you had anafternoon job.
So then we're either at schoolor we're working and then from
there we would go from there tothe dining room for dinner that
(22:04):
evening.
After the dining room we wouldcome back to the dorms and study
or hang out.
Now times have changed, but backin our day we didn't watch TV
during the week.
The only time we watched TV wason the weekends.
Everything in the middle of theweek was about studying and
(22:25):
being productive and beingbrothers to one another.
And then on the weekends, theweekends were good because
sometimes we got to go to town.
You got to go to town onceevery three weeks.
If you're good, you have toearn your privileges.
At Boys Ranch everything isearned.
It's based on incentive.
So we would earn our privilegesand if our privileges were good
(22:47):
, we got to go get a Coke or anice cream or something sweet,
and then we would go to church,we'd go to chapel and we would
dress up, we'd have chapel dress, we'd go to chapel and then,
like I said, we'd get to go.
On occasion We'd get to go totown and in town we could go to
a movie or roller skating or goto the mall and just do the
normal things that teenagerswould do.
(23:10):
But Mr Chandler I hope everybodycaught that he operated in that
facility, in that dormitorysetting, for 27 years.
That means 27 years.
He raised his family in thatlittle apartment right there
next to the boys.
That means for 27 years.
He saw kids coming in and outof his dorm.
(23:32):
And I remember when I wentthere I went to I was in
Bridwell dorm and you know therewere kids that had been out
there.
There would have been some kidsthat had been there for a long
time They'd been there sincethey were little kids and there
were some kids that weren'tthere maybe a year before me and
(23:53):
they came from all over thecountry.
So it's kind of like going tocollege.
You know, one of the benefits,I think, of going to college is
you get to meet people from allover and so you get to learn
different perspectives.
Well, the dorm was the same way.
We had people from all over thestate, all over the United
States, that came from differentbackgrounds, and so we got to
learn from one another aboutlife.
(24:13):
And this is the guy that led us.
This is Mr Chandler.
He led us, he led me for fouryears of my life, my high school
years.
Mr Chandler made that possible,and so I wanted to make sure
everybody kind of had areference point of what that
looked like to be in the dorm,to understand what he just
shared.
So, mr Chandler, one of thethings that I like about this
(24:36):
show is.
I tell people, if you'll justlisten, if you'll just listen to
somebody's testimony, you'reliable to learn something that
you can put in place in yourlife.
And I've already heard you saya few things loud and clear.
Number one you better work hard.
Number two it's okay to relaxand play hard.
(24:59):
Number three you better compete.
You're going to have to compete.
Number four you better havefaith.
You better have something thatyou're grounded in.
And then, number five life'snot a solo project.
You better have somebody orsome things around you to help
(25:19):
you get through life.
And, mr chandler, you'vealready shared all of those in a
very short period of time, andthat's, that's powerful stuff
well to.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
You know, when I first started boys range, we had
36 kids in the dorm, not 24.
Oh, wow, wow when I started andeverything and everything and
so, uh, but you know, the firstpart of the kids was, you know,
they were off the streets andout of jail and stuff like that.
(25:53):
Well, then later on we went totaking kids from broken homes
and stuff like that.
Mama can't raise the kids andwork and all of that.
That's the reason I wound upwith a lot of brothers.
I raised a lot of brothers andeverything, big families and
stuff like that and everything.
And so you know it's one ofthem things where you know you
(26:17):
have to adapt to whatever'scoming, you know, and everything
.
But you know it's just, it'sone of them things.
You know you got to have faithin what you're doing and you
know you got to have help fromother people and everything.
And you know that's the reasonmy thing was is you know me,
when we played sports, we playedto win.
(26:39):
We didn't play to lose, weplayed to win, and it's the same
way in life.
You got to play to win andeverything, and you got to count
for something.
You know your words got to meansomething.
You know you got to mean whatyou say and say what you mean
and everything.
And so you know it's.
(27:02):
You know that's just part oflife and that's what you have to
do and everything.
And so I tried to teach, youknow, all of my kids that and
stuff like that and but you know, look at all the kids, Look at
what they've done.
You know they've done betterthan anybody.
You know a kid that don't havenothing, Stop it out with flat
(27:22):
nothing and everything, and thenlook at what to do.
Look at you for a little day.
You know you were a troubledkid, stuff like that and all
that and everything.
But you know you had to dependon somebody.
You know you had to believe insomething.
You know you have to.
You had to depend on somebody.
You know you had to believe insomething.
You know you had to believethings that I told you and stuff
and what you had to do.
And you know, uh, you know youcould learn.
(27:45):
You know I think it was 13 or15 vocations at boys ranch and I
was a big ag guy because I wasin ag when I was in school and
stuff and everything.
And if you taking care of ananimal, you know you're taking
care of something other thanyourself.
You know it's.
You know it's like playingsports.
(28:06):
You learn to play with otherkids and stuff.
That's how you, you know, getfriendships and stuff like that.
You know's a lifetime thing.
It's not something that's justhit or miss.
Maybe it'll work, maybe itwon't.
It does work.
It works over time.
You've got to have faith inwhat you're doing.
It's not going to be easy.
(28:28):
Every day is not going to beeasy.
At night, when you go to bed,you thank the Lord for having a
good day, whether it was a goodday or not, Because tomorrow
will be a lot better day andeverything, and so you just have
to keep plugging along and so,uh, something mr chandler just
said.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I want everybody that to know this, and I know a lot
of people.
Again, mr chandler, there arepeople from coast to coast that
have heard me talk about.
You have heard me talk aboutgrowing up at Boys Ranch and one
of the things that I've neverforgotten, by the way, you know,
I'm very again, I'm blessed andI've been able to pass, you
(29:07):
know, I've been able to be in aleadership role to help pass
things along for others Millionsof dollars, millions of dollars
.
We've raised for the Texas FFAand those dollars started with
the story of what you taught me.
And I've talked to executivesof major companies Ford Motor
(29:28):
Company, Justin Boot Company,McCoy's, all these major major
brands and I love it when theyask me they say, Aaron, what all
these major major brands?
And and I love it when theyasked me, they say, Aaron, what
separates these FFA kids?
He said, these ag kids, you actlike nobody else does what they
do.
They said, what separates thesekids?
Doesn't athletics teachteamwork, Doesn't speech debate
(29:49):
and UIL teach all of thosethings.
And and doesn't band teachensemble?
And, Aaron, what is it that youthink you guys do in ag that
nobody else does.
And I remember one time, MrChandler, you gave me a
sledgehammer and we used todrive those old yellow power
wagons.
And I remember you gave me asledgehammer and you told me to
(30:12):
drive to the other side of theranch and bust the water trough
for the horses.
And I pitched a fit and I said,Mr Chandler, I don't want to go
.
It's a blizzard out there thatthe wind and the snow.
I said it's five miles to theother side.
I could get lost and I'm tryingto think of every excuse I
could think of.
And I'll never forget MrChandler and his old country
(30:33):
wisdom.
He just looked at me and hesaid, Darling, do you get
thirsty when it's cold?
I said, yes, sir.
He said Don't you think thosehorses get thirsty too?
I said, yes, sir, I drove fivemiles that day and I busted the
water trough for those horses.
And because of that lesson, tothis day I can look at any
(30:54):
executive in the United Statesand I said I'll tell you what
separates our kids fromeverybody else.
Because in the world ofagriculture, if we don't do our
job, something dies.
In the world of agriculture, ifwe don't feed it and we don't
water it and we don't take careof it, it dies, and when it dies
(31:14):
, an economy dies, and when aneconomy dies, a people die.
And so I'm so grateful thatearly on, you had us all in your
dorm.
We all had ag jobs, because youtold us it was important to
learn that something depended onus.
That means we had to get up andtake care of it.
We had to take care of it.
At the end of the day, thatmeans we had to get up and take
(31:37):
care of it.
We had to take care of it atthe end of the day.
But, Mr Chandler, I want you toknow that, not just that lesson
of doing that and taking careof it.
Look at what it's produced.
It's produced millions ofdollars that translate into
opportunities for kids becauseof the way that you raised us at
Boys Ranch.
I just want you to know.
I appreciate what you taught me.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Well, you're sure welcome.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I don't know if I understood it at the time, but I
look back on it.
You said something else a whileago.
I look back the other day Iguess I was 56 when I looked
back on it and I said my gosh.
I said for four years of mylife I was doing adult jobs.
But I didn't know any better.
(32:23):
We all just tried to get the jobdone.
We all whether it was at thedairy barn or at the hog farm or
at the feedlot or bucking hayor just it didn't matter what
the job was, we just knew we hadto get the job done.
We never looked at it as thatwas an adult job or that was a
kid job.
It was just a job and we allhad to pitch in to get it done.
(32:44):
And you kind of taught us aboutthat too.
You said we're going to getthese jobs done, and not only
are we going to get them done.
Now I'll tell you one morething about Mr Channer.
You heard him say a second agoyou're playing to win.
Well, the other thing that hetaught me is you don't do it
halfway.
You always taught us if you'regoing to do a job, you do it
(33:05):
right.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
That's right.
Whether you're playing orwhether you're working, you got
to do the best job you canBecause somewhere down the line
somebody's depending on you.
You know it's not just you.
You know there's alwayssomebody depending on you for
something, whether it'ssomething you said, something
you've done or you know, orsomething you showed them or
(33:32):
something like that andeverything.
And so you, you know that'spart of life.
You know you gotta, everybodyneeds somebody and and a lot of
times you need somebody, a lotof the times and everything.
And you need somebody you gotyou can depend on and stuff like
that and everything.
(33:53):
And that's the reason you gotto keep your faith in the lord
and everything, because he's theone that made you and
everything.
And so you want to make himproud of you, just like
everybody else.
And so you know you gotta.
You know you gotta mean what yousay and say what you mean.
You know you want to be a goodperson.
You know, and you know if youcan help somebody, you know that
(34:16):
does you more good.
Then it's better to give apresent than to receive a
present.
And so you know a lot of stuffI make, you know I give it away.
And my son wes.
He said, dad, you give away toomuch stuff.
And I said well, for me, for meit's just advertisement, you
(34:36):
know, somebody want to know.
Well, where do you get that?
He said well, I know the guythat makes it, you know, and so
that's just part of life, youknow, you just have to keep
plugging along and everything.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
One of my good friends I shouldn't say he's a
good friend, he's become afriend but he's an incredible
speaker.
By the way, he's going to be upin Canadian next week.
His name is Dan Owellabi andDan is from Worcester, ohio and
he's just got an incrediblestory.
But Dan was talking to a groupand he he said a lot of times
people ask the question what ismy legacy?
(35:16):
What is my legacy?
And Dan Oulabi says you'reasking the wrong question.
He said the question shouldn'tbe what is my legacy?
He said the question ought tobe who is my legacy?
Who is my legacy?
And I just want you to know,because you said something a
(35:38):
while ago.
You said 27 years in the dorm.
That's a lot of young peoplethat know the name of Winston
Chandler and Ollie Chandler andthe Chandler kids.
One more thing, real quick.
I'm going to derail us herejust for a second, but I just
want to share because I want tobrag on Mr Chandler and Ollie
(36:00):
and his family.
Every year we used to have thisthing called the Boys Ranch
Rodeo on Labor Day weekend.
It was a big deal, big rodeo.
I mean, hundreds of thousandsof spectators would come to Cal
Farley's Boys Ranch and it was atime for all the alumni.
We always came back at rodeotime and of all the dorms, of
(36:25):
all the staff houses, there weremore people at Breadwell Dorm
to see Winston and OllieChandler than any dorm at the
ranch.
Even when they moved out of thedorm, everybody gathered at
their house because we allwanted to hang out with Winston
and Ollie just one more time.
I got to share a personal storyhere in just a second, but I
(36:49):
want to cover a couple morethings here before we wrap up.
You know, mr Chandler, I askpeople all the time the kids in
Texas.
I said, how many high schoolsare in the state of Texas?
And they always say a lot andI'm like, yeah, there's a lot of
high schools.
All right, in the state ofTexas there's over 3,000 high
schools.
Now, think about that.
(37:09):
Every one of those high schoolsis going to have a graduating
class this year.
They're going to have kids thatare going to get out.
They're going to be looking fora scholarship, a job or an
opportunity.
And I always ask the kids I saidtell me what's your competitive
edge, what separates you fromeverybody else?
Because if you're going to goafter that scholarship, you're
going to go after that job,you're going to go after that
(37:31):
opportunity.
You better have something thatseparates you from everybody
else.
A lot of times it can be whatyou shared earlier, mr Chandler.
It could be a positive attitude, it could be a professional
network, it could be thathandshake that you talked about,
that firm handshake where youlook somebody in the eye, say
your first and last name.
(37:52):
The bottom line is you got tohave a competitive edge, and it
sounds like to me that when youwere raising kids, that's one of
the things that you tried togive us was a competitive edge
you got to have that.
You got to have that and you,you taught us that, and so I
hope that people that get achance to watch this podcast
(38:14):
anybody that's ever heard mespeak my kids will tell you that
a lot of times they say yousound like Mr Chandler, and I
said, well, I probably do.
There's probably a reason I doBecause he taught me to be fair.
He taught me to listen, hetaught me to play by the rules.
He taught me to be competitive.
(38:34):
He taught me to play by therules.
He taught me to be competitive.
Um, he taught me to care forothers.
But, uh, you, you, I hope youunderstand why.
I now said this was a specialguest to bring on the show and
uh, so y'all got to hear it fromhim, not me.
You got to hear it from him ofwhy I'm the way I am today.
So, um, mr chandler, Iappreciate you so much.
(38:55):
Um, if I may close, can I closewith one more little story?
no great so it was years, yearsago.
I was back at the ranch and mrand miss ch Chandler lived in a
little apartment there on theranch and there was a guest
(39:18):
bedroom in the back.
And I go back there and I'msitting in the guest bedroom and
I remember you came back thereand we sat across from one
another and we were talking andI just remember I said, Mr
Chandler, I said, do youremember this?
And I told you about somethingthat happened at Boy's Ranch.
And the reason why this storyis so important is because I
(39:42):
want you all to see the heart ofthis man right here.
I remember sharing with yousomething that happened at Boy's
Ranch and I remember you, MrChandler.
You teared up and you looked atme, me and you said, darling,
I'm sorry.
You said I had to make a lot ofdecisions at Boys Ranch and
(40:03):
sometimes I think I made theright ones, but on occasion I
probably made one that might notbe right and I just want to
tell you that I'm sorry.
Do you know how big a mansomebody's got to be to say that
they're sorry To be able tolook at another human being and
say you know what?
I try my best, but sometimes Imay not get it right.
(40:25):
I just want you all to knowthat this guy right here was
already way up in my book.
But the day that this man lookedat me and said, hey, I'm sorry
and it wasn't anything major,it's not like the world was
going to come to an end but thefact that I was sitting here
having a conversation with theman that took my dad's place and
he told me it's OK to say I'msorry as a big day.
(40:49):
Mr Chandler, I just want you toknow that you're a big man, Not
just physically.
You're a big man not justphysically.
You're a big man because you'veinvested in so many kids.
You've made us all better andyou showed us what it's like to
have a heart of humbleness,forgiveness, reconciliation, and
(41:13):
I just want you to know thatyou are appreciated by many,
many that you probably havenever met.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Well, thank you so much.
You know, I'm just, I'm humbledand everything, and you know
just, I did the best I could andthe Lord has had most of the
work done.
I didn't do that much, the lorddone most of it yeah, you did
something all right.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
So we always wrap up the show with a fun question.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
You ready I'll try to you get a fun question.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
So if we ever made a movie about winston chandler,
the life and times of winstonchandler who would play winston
chandler?
What actor would play winstonchandler?
Speaker 3 (42:04):
oh, oh, boy, I don't know if there's anybody maybe
could do that.
That'd be a hard question toanswer, so it'd have to be
somebody you know, maybe likeyou.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
No, I couldn't play you.
Let me tell you who I think of.
When I think of WinstonChandler, I think of John Wayne.
I think John Wayne could playWinston.
I think Robert Duvall fromLonesome Dove could play Winston
.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Well, maybe so, I don't know I could put a hat on
you and everything and you coulddo the same thing.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
No, I don't bench 450 pounds and I wasn't a very good
bull rider.
But you made me right.
I rode bulls for four years.
I rode bronx before mr chanter.
I was on a call the other daywith all the pbr groups from
texas get it, you're gonna getthis professional bull riders.
I'm on a call with all the pbrpeople and I just ask them I
(43:15):
mean all these people on thiscall and I said has anybody on
this call ever ridden a bullbefore?
I was the only person on thecall that had ever ridden a bull
and it's because you kind ofwanted us to do that.
You said you'll never know ifyou like it unless you try it.
So I got to try it for fouryears.
I was never any good at it, butI did it for four years.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
I was never any good at it, but I did it for four
years.
Well, that's part of it.
You never know.
Kids don't know what they likeuntil they try it.
So I don't like that, I don'tlike this.
When you come to Boyle's Ranch,you didn't like anything.
That's the reason I signed youup for everything.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Well, it worked.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
So kids don't know what they like or what they need
or what they want andeverything.
You know.
They get in a rut andeverything.
And then you know I feel likeif you try sports or if you try
this or you know look what youdid with ag you know you could
have done the same thing if youwas a sports guy.
That's right.
You know you could have beengood in sports.
(44:13):
You could have been good this,you could be good.
You can do whatever you want todo.
You know, sure, and if you gotto have opportunity and somebody
gives it to you, you know, andyou know you can do anything you
want to do.
You know you got.
You know you're blessed withthe like you say you're in the
best country in the world andeverything, and you don't have
(44:34):
no excuse for not to be good anddo good things.
You don't have an excuse.
Well, how do you feel about aforeign country where they don't
have nothing or anything, theydon't have a chance to do what
you do and stuff and everything?
A?
Speaker 2 (44:49):
lot of our listeners don't remember the Berlin Wall,
but I do and I remember lookingat that wall and there was a
wall that separated communismfrom freedom and I remember
pictures of 16-year-old kidscaught in the fence trying to
get to freedom, being shot todeath.
We have a lot to be thankful,by the way.
(45:10):
Something else here I got totell everybody you need to
surround your people, like mygood friend Cleo Franklin says.
He says get yourself your ownpersonal board of directors.
Get people that you surroundyourself with that make you
better.
And I hope everybodyunderstands that I'm a little
bit the way that I am todaybecause Mr Channer was one of my
(45:32):
board of directors.
He made me better personally.
But I got to tell you you gotto be coachable.
If you're not coachable, youcan have all the Winston
Chandlers in the world aroundyou, but if you're not going to
listen, you're not going to getany better.
So you got to be coachable.
But if you're coachable and yougot good people around you, the
(45:53):
sky's the limit.
Sky is the limit.
Mr Chandler, thank you so muchfor joining me today on the
Growing Our Future podcast.
I tell people all the time ifyou want to know what the future
is, grow it.
Well, how do you grow thefuture, ladies and gentlemen?
You're looking at it right here.
(46:14):
You're looking at a man thattook time to pour ideas and
philosophies and strategies intome.
I planted those and, by gosh,they started to grow, and with
that growth came opportunitiesthat became blessings for me,
and not just me, but my familyand for others.
(46:34):
If you want to know what thefuture is, grow it.
Mr Chandler, thank you forjoining us today.
Speaker 3 (46:43):
Thank you for sharing some seeds of greatness.
Well, you're sure welcome andthanks for having me and
everything, and so I hopesomebody got a little bit of
something out of this andeverything, and so I hope it's,
I hope it's good and you knowpeople won't get bored, but
listen.
Speaker 2 (46:59):
So let me tell you something.
There's a there's a greatspeaker called Tony Robbins.
His name is Tony Robbins and Ilove his quote.
You know what his quote isSuccess leaves clues.
Yeah, Success leaves clues.
Somebody watches this podcast.
You've left some clues, Thankyou.
(47:24):
Thank you so much.
Everybody else.
Until we meet again.
Thank you for stopping by theGrowing Our Future podcast.
We appreciate you sharing someof your time with us.
Everybody, be safe and until wemeet again, go out and do
something for somebody else.
You'll feel good about it.
You'll feel good about it.
You'll change their world andguess what?
You might even just change thewhole world.
Until we see each other again,thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
See ya, bye.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the
Growing Our Future podcast.
This show is sponsored by theTexas FFA Foundation, whose
mission is to strengthenagricultural science education
so students can develop theirpotential for personal growth,
career success and leadership ina global marketplace.
Learn more at mytexasffaorg.
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