August 21, 2025 • 66 mins
What happens when your childhood dreams collide with academic reality?
Art Thomas, a client partner from Randstad Digital, knows this journey all too well. After receiving multiple D1 football offers but falling short on his SAT score by just 70 points, he was forced to completely reimagine his path to college athletics. That detour through the military academy became one of the most formative experiences of his life.
Now a father of three, Art draws from his unique background as a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from Guyana with virtually nothing. Despite humble beginnings, Art never felt deprived growing up—a testament to his parents' determination to create opportunities through education and an unwavering work ethic. These same values now form the foundation of his parenting philosophy.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Art reveals how he encourages his children to dream audaciously while developing disciplined habits. When his youngest son declares he wants to play in the MLB after high school, Art doesn't dismiss it. "If you're not dreaming, then what are you doing? What are you chasing?" he asks. This perspective comes from his own journey of achieving what once seemed impossible—playing professional football and briefly joining his childhood team.
Perhaps most powerful is Art's approach to daily self-investment. He teaches his children to set aside time each day for personal growth, regardless of distractions. "Make sure every day, two hours a day, you invest in yourself," he tells them, emphasizing that consistency and personal accountability create the foundation for future success.
This episode beautifully illustrates how our most challenging experiences often become our greatest teachers, and how sharing both successes and failures with our children creates authentic connections and valuable life lessons. Whether you're a parent seeking guidance or simply someone navigating life's unexpected detours, Art's story will inspire you to persevere through challenges and keep dreaming big.
Subscribe to the Quarterback Dadcast for more authentic conversations with dads who are working to become better leaders of their homes.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show.
Hey, everybody, it's CaseyJaycox with the quarterback dad
cast.
Welcome to season six, and Icould not be more excited to
have you join me for anotheryear of fantastic episodes and
conversations really unscriptedand raw and authentic
(00:24):
conversations with dads.
If you're new to this podcast,really it's simple.
It's a podcast where weinterview dads, we learn about
how they were raised, we learnabout the life lessons that were
important to them, we learnabout the values that are
important to them and really welearn about how we can work hard
to become a better quarterbackor leader of our home.
So let's sit back, relax andlisten to today's episode on the
Quarterback Dadcast.
(00:46):
Well, hey, everybody, welcome tothe Quarterback Dadcast.
This is Casey Jaycox, your host.
We are in season six and wecontinue to roll along.
I want to thank all the300-plus dads who spent time
with me each and last for thelast six years, and we are on a
quest to get to 1,000 dadsinterviewed, which doesn't even
sound overwhelming.
It more excites me thananything and I'm very excited
(01:09):
for our next guest, who is notonly his.
He is a Virginia Cavalier.
He is.
He's got some some ties tofootball.
He's got some ties to the CFLand maybe had a cup of coffee
with my Seattle Seahawks.
He is a client partner at thefantastic Ronstadt Digital, a
very well-known company doinggreat things there.
(01:29):
But more importantly, our nextguest, art Thomas, is a dad and
he's working hard, continuouslyworking hard, to become that
ultimate leader or quarterbackof his household, and we're
going to find more about him.
So, without further ado, mrThomas, welcome to the
Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Thank you for having me Casey Pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, I'm grateful, brother, so we always start out
each episode with gratitude.
So tell me, what are you mostgrateful for as a dad today?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
To my kids just being healthy and continuing to
better themselves every day.
I'm grateful to be able to seethem as often as I I do from
working from home, that's.
That's a blessing for me Loveit.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I know a lot of us sometimes we say health and it
sometimes can be cliche, but I'mhopeful that people listening
when you, when Art said thatslow down and like, appreciate
that, like I think I've sharedwith are.
Before I do, I do gratitudework in the morning, when I
write my journal and the firstthing I always say is God,
thanks for waking me up today.
And, as silly as that mightsound, people like when I write
(02:33):
that I actually find myselfsubconsciously smiling, cause
I'm like you know what?
I got a chance to do somethingtoday.
I don't know what it is yet,but I got a chance to do
something.
And it's amazing when we, but Igot a chance to do something.
And it's amazing when we, whenwe, when we, when we slow down
our most, just like I tell myson the the, the most powerful
club in your golf bag is not agolf club, it's your mindset.
(02:55):
I think that same mind, thatsame thing, can be talked about
in sales and leadership.
Or our mind's not right, takingit back to fatherhood when
we're not the best dad we can be, we're going to be a shitty at
our job, yeah, and we bring thatnegative energy.
So I love that.
You said that's a great thingfor people to remember.
What I'm most grateful fortoday is and my wife is out of
(03:18):
town so I miss her, but withthat I get more one-on-one time
with my kids, and so I wasgrateful last night.
But with that, I get moreone-on-one time with my kids,
and so I was grateful.
Last night was a.
I got to see my son and hisgirlfriend, my daughter and her
boyfriend.
They were playing cornhole inthe backyard.
That was fun to watch.
And then we had people for thefirst preseason Seahawks game.
My son had his buddies over andtheir girlfriends, and just
(03:38):
like the noise in the house, I'mjust grateful for that.
Awesome, yeah, I'm justgrateful for that.
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Um, well, I know you're a db,but you get to play quarterback
today, all right.
So, uh, tell, bring me insidethat the thomas huddle.
You're, you're the quarterback.
I'm guessing your wife's thegeneral manager, but bring me
inside the squad.
Tell me a little bit about howyou and your wife met and a
(04:01):
little bit about each member ofthe team.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, so many moons ago, we both attended University
of Virginia.
She was a scholarship athletefor softball, I was a
scholarship athlete for footballand we met at school.
From there, we, you, you know,we dated the traditional dating
(04:29):
thing and then, uh, as, as wegraduated, we, um, went our
separate ways but found eachother again.
And then, uh, in 2010, we, wegot married and, um, you know,
we started having kids.
Here I have three kids Oldestis 13.
(04:50):
He's Simon, and then I have adaughter who's 10, jackie, and
then I have an eight-year-oldwho thinks he's going to be the
next MLB player any day now, buthe's doing really well Asher,
who's eight.
So you know, that's the fam,that's the troop, that's the
(05:15):
team right now.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Love it.
Now, what is your wife's name?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Joanna.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Does Joanna, does she stay home or does she work
outside the home, joanna?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Does Joanna?
Does she stay home or does shework outside the home?
She is a nurse who has recentlytransitioned from bedside
nursing to another role that I'mstill trying to understand
exactly what she's doing, but itallows her to be home.
So this and this just happened,like maybe two or three weeks
(05:45):
ago.
So she's still doingorientation and training right
now, um, still learning aboutthis role, but, um, it's
something that will allow her tobe more in the fold of the
day-to-day what we do in family.
Cause, last 10, 10, 11 yearswe've been ships passing the
(06:07):
night and the fact that we madeit this far is a blessing
because, you know, I wasinitially on the road a lot and
when I get off the road, she thenext day she'd go over her
three, twelves and then viceversa.
You know, when she comes backthe next day I'll be on the road
.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
We did that for years .
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It was when the kids were young.
To this day, it's funny I stilltravel in my world today.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
but not as often.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
When I leave, they're like why are you leaving?
They don't even remember howoften I was on the road.
At one point, 52 weeks in ayear, I was on the road.
46 of them, wow, and that's alot.
But they don't remember thatand that was intentional on our
(06:57):
part.
That, hey, once they startasking hey, where are you going
from Monday to Thursday?
Right, I think I need to hangit up.
Hey, where are you going fromMonday to Thursday?
Right, I think I need to hangit up.
And you know they're, they'remy priority, right, I, it's jobs
.
You know I had to change jobsand that in order for that to
happen.
But, um, I think I made theright decision.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It's the best for our family love it, ma'am, um, tell
me about.
So we got Simonon, jackie andasher.
What are their?
Um?
So asher's going mlb.
We got that figured out.
Uh, tell me what.
Tell me a little bit aboutsimon and jackie.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
What, what, um, what they're interested in well, uh,
jackie is is by far my mostathletic kid um, she is very
boys, what's?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
that I said.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Sorry, boys, we're airing you out yeah, yeah, I
mean I I tell her that all thetime um she has, uh, she's just
naturally athletic and um can doanything any sport she's.
She's done volleyball.
She's in the middle of softballright now.
She's played tennis, basketball.
(08:06):
She loves it.
All right.
The beautiful thing is shedoesn't have to work much at it.
But that in itself developssome bad habits.
But she's not too focused onsports.
I wouldn't say I wouldn't sayshe's all about playing sports.
She loves.
She loves to draw, she loves todo um painting.
(08:27):
She does that almost every day.
She loves to read um she's she'smore well-rounded than the boys
um and I'm trying to get theboys into these other things
because you know it, so they'dbe more than just what they do
so and then?
simon.
He is uh, he's 13, um, full ofenergy, always has a smile on
(08:55):
his face, working through thatadolescent phase right now,
where he's trying to figure outwho he wants to be and the type
of man he's going to grow into.
So it's sometimes it's aprocess with him, you know, as
he's growing into his own skin.
He's very he's very tall forhis age, so he has that
(09:19):
awkwardness looking like agiraffe trying to find his way.
But he's just as committed andpassionate about the things that
he does, and maybe doing themthe right way, than anyone else
in the family, right?
So he's a very quick study.
So I have to teach him patiencemost of the time because, you
(09:43):
know, when he was three or fouryears old, he learned about ride
a bike in like a couple hours.
Wow so he thought everythingshould be that easy, right.
And so I'm like you know, westarted playing basketball when
he was young and he wasn't.
He was frustrated with it.
I was like you gotta work at it, you can get it, you just gotta
(10:03):
work at it.
Not everything's gonna comeeasy, and so he's.
He's grown out of that and nowhe's ready to challenge himself
and we're looking forward forhim going into the eighth grade
this year and playing footballand really, really excited about
that.
He's also very interested inbasketball and he's he's
passionate about that as well,so the sky's the limit for him.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So cool.
Now do our, do your kidsrealize hey, mom and dad were
pretty good athletes.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I think, look, we have some memorabilia around the
house.
They've seen the accoladesWe've taken, taken them back to
UVA to kind of see our where wemet, where my wife played.
They know, they know that, um,that, hey, we, we, we've been
(10:53):
through what they're goingthrough, yeah, and I think that
has allowed us to talk to them acertain way where they're more
receptive.
I have a lot of friends, who'swho, who talked to me about, you
know, coaching their kids orputting them on a the right way.
(11:14):
Hey, you should be focusing onthis.
And a lot of them say, hey, mykids don't listen to me.
I don't have that problem withmy kids.
I tell them hey, if you want toget better, this is what you
need to do.
I'm not going to push you.
It has to come from you.
But if you come to me and askfor help, I'm going to help you
the best way I know how, so theyknow what to expect.
(11:35):
We almost set that expectationand my wife has set that
expectation, especially withJackie and Asher, and just how
she taught them how to throw aball I'm a football guy, right,
she was a pitcher.
So she went down technicallylike here's how you throw,
here's how the motion, here'swhat you look at, right.
(11:56):
So she was very disciplined onthat and now they're flourishing
because of it.
Asher is about to go to 9Uwhere before he was that machine
pitch and now he's that kidpitch and he's one of the
hardest throwers on his team.
And then Jackie, she's beenpitching and softball is a
(12:17):
little different because it'svery technical how you pitch.
It's totally different thanmen's baseball.
And she can throw that ball.
It's.
It's amazing to see her getdialed in.
Um, it's just a short amount oftime.
I mean this is very early intheir their careers, but um
they're, they're progressingwell.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So cool.
Um, okay, this is where I lovelearning about my guests, so I
want you to go back and tell meabout what was life like growing
up for you and talk about theimpact that mom and dad had for
you.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Now that you're a dad as you reflect, maybe from a
values perspective- I'm numbertwo out of four and my parents
both immigrated here to the USfrom South America.
They were actually childhoodfriends that got married here in
(13:21):
the United States.
I think it was 1972 when theygot married and they came over
here with nothing Right so, butwe didn't know it.
We didn't feel that as kidsgrowing up.
They gave us every opportunityto do whatever we want.
It was never a thing as anadult looking back at that.
(13:44):
It was never a thing as anadult looking back at that.
We didn't feel that we didn'thave much ever.
But I saw situations in mychildhood looking back like,
yeah, I don't know how we gotthrough that, but we did Right
and you know they're very hardworkers.
(14:04):
Education was a very, very, veryimportant thing for them.
My dad ended up going to lawschool, passed a bar in
Pennsylvania, so most of mychildhood was in that
Pennsylvania, centralPennsylvania area, harrisburg,
(14:24):
mechanicsburg, pa, and just alot of what they've shown us was
like the discipline it takes togo to work every day in the
grind, and my parents I wouldsay out of my parents, my dad
was had the personality of likehe's very charismatic, very
(14:50):
affectionate, loving all thatstuff.
My mom was a workhorse and shewas very different, very
disciplined.
Hey do things this way.
And so it's funny.
In my adult life I find myselfbeing very kind of the same way
my mom is, but also around myfriends, kind of opening up and
(15:14):
having that charisma.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So I feel like I'm a blend of both.
So dad was a lawyer.
Yes, and tell me about mom.
What did she do for a job?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
She worked at a community college.
She's an administrativeassistant for over 20 years in
Central PA.
So when she she, it was amazing, because every time we'd go see
her at work everybody knew her.
She was like oh yeah, she'shere.
She was, she knew everythingabout what was going on there.
(15:45):
She was the go-to person.
So there's a lot of things thatwe were proud of her for and the
way she raised us, even thoughit was very.
It wasn't easy for my brothersand my sisters, but she's.
I would do it all over again ifI could wow so first generation
(16:11):
from first gen guineas.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You said right, guyana guyana, south america
okay, so guyana.
Uh, have you ever asked mom anddad?
Hey, what was the tipping pointwhen mom and dad said we're out
of here, we're going to theStates?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
in the country that allowed them to.
Hey, we have to maybe be in abetter environment so we can
raise kids and have a family.
And the opportunity here.
You know Guyana, if you're notaware, it's a third world
country, right, so there's notmuch of an infrastructure there.
It's really different.
And so the opportunity to cometo the United States presented
(17:09):
itself for them, and not justindividually, but for their
entire family.
So my dad is one of 13.
My mom is one of five.
Very large family, everybodywent Right.
So, um, and it was just Ibelieve it was more
opportunistic opportunity togrow, opportunity to advance,
(17:35):
advancements for their children.
Um, and education was a big,big piece of that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So did they when they moved?
Did they have jobs or did theymove here looking for jobs?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
They moved looking for jobs.
Um, they did not have a job.
Um.
My dad tells a story.
He used to be, um a doorman at ahotel in New York somewhere
while he was going to schoolhe'd work nights, um, and you
know, back then he always tellsme the story.
Just last week he was tellingme a story of how, of how you
(18:10):
know, school going to schoolwhen he came over this country
it was like 300 bucks, it wasnothing like.
And now you know, now you'retelling thousands, thousands of
dollars a semester.
He goes to credit a credit dudecredit was like 50 bucks, like
it was nothing.
So you take, you know, you got300 bucks, you got a whole
(18:32):
semester worth of credits andyou're good.
Wow.
So he's just, he's just, healways reminds me of that story.
He tells it to me probably acouple of times a year, but like
it was very different for themwhen they came over here, Now,
do you guys ever go back?
Yeah, so as kids we never wentback right.
(18:57):
And you always wonder becausewe were, you know, out of my
brother myself, my sisters it's.
It would have been expensivefor us to go Right.
So, um, we never went back whenwe lived with them, but I would
say this was probably five, sixyears ago.
We all went back altogether andI got to take my oldest, simon.
(19:21):
I believe he was nine or 10 atthe time.
So it was a great experienceall around, and to have my son
(19:49):
be a part of that, it was justawesome.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Wow, what was like the biggest maybe learning
lesson for him or for you goingback that made you realize how
fortunate we are in the UnitedStates.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
It's humbling, it is very humbling, um, but it wasn't
.
It wasn't to the point whereyou know where it's like you
felt bad.
Right, because there were somany things that you know in my
as a kid growing up.
The food I ate, that you knowin my as a kid growing up, the
(20:29):
food I ate that reminded me athome, every meal that we had
cooked.
We had a chef there that wasmaking food for us.
Every meal was like oh wow,this is even better than what we
had stateside.
And you know, food for me wasvery, it's very comforting and
it reminds me of home.
But that whole experience kindof like wow, you guys grew up in
(20:49):
this right and it really helpsyou understand their perspective
on things and how nothing thatwe've experienced as kids or
going to experience can compareto their experience in in that
area and how they grew up andthe things they had to do and um
(21:10):
the progress they've made sothat I, I'm always grateful for
that, and it's very humbling toknow that we still have land
there.
Um, we still have a house there.
Uh, for my grand grandfatherthere's just.
There's still family and areason to go back, so that that
(21:32):
will always be with me.
Now we're mom and dad athletestoo uh, so my dad, my dad would
say he's an athlete, he's acricket guy he's a cricket guy,
right okay but let me just putit this way.
So he said he was he's the bestbowler ever right, and that
(21:56):
those are the guys that pitch um.
But, uh, um, out of the 13 ofthem on his side, everybody else
ran track and was probably likethe person at their age group
running track and field.
And I have some uncles thatwould blow a lot of people out
(22:20):
of the way, so he's never.
My dad has never talked to meabout how fast he was.
He's like yeah, that wasn't me,but I could really throw the
ball.
Not to say he wasn't athleticbut he never talked about
running track and that that forme, because of the type of
(22:41):
athlete I am, speed was like Igo, I probably get my speed.
For him and my mom she wasathletic but she she was more
like band, band type stuff.
Um, she paid a little bit oftennis here and there, but
nothing, nothing much.
You know Um, but I, I, really I, I believe I got my athleticism
(23:03):
.
My siblings got theirathleticism from my dad's side,
because there's probably six orseven of them that were like the
person in their sport thatdominated and that sport was
track and field.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Wow.
So education obviously is superimportant, but without without
could give two shits about it.
Yeah, so tell me how, how didmom and dad like get to you and
your siblings to really cementthe education is important?
And then second part of thatquestion is tell me how you guys
are using maybe yourfoundational, how you learned
(23:40):
education to like making sureyour kids appreciate it too.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
If I were to look back, I had to go through my, my
siblings, right.
My brother is, is, is nextlevel smart, right, he can be
anything and graduate from it.
He.
He can be a physicist, anythingvery smart.
I have a sister that's behindme.
(24:06):
She's just as intelligent andsmart as he is, if not even more
.
She went to Vanderbilt.
I have another baby sister whois just like the both of them
all in one.
She's a nurse manager at JohnHopkins.
(24:27):
And me, I was a runt.
I'm going to keep it real withyou.
I was a runt.
I was when it came to school.
It was never a priority for meuntil I was able to kind of tie
(24:50):
school to what my purpose was,and that's when it had to click
for me.
So I've been through somethings that allowed me to
develop this importance ofschool.
But it didn't mean my parentsdidn't push it, that they, they
(25:10):
pushed it all the time.
It's just it wasn't clickingwith me, it wasn't.
I didn't take it seriouslyenough, right and that's on me
with that.
I have developed these habitsthat were like hey, here's how I
succeed in this piece.
Anything physical for me was awalk in the park, um.
But when it came to school, Ijust never put that same energy
(25:32):
in the school.
But when I connected the twoand said, hey, in order to get
here, I need to do this, then itwas yeah, I, I got it now.
So you didn't have to worryabout me, but it was, I think,
seeing them my dad go throughlaw school and we were living in
Toledo, ohio, then, and we'dspend our summers in New York
(25:55):
and he would be, you know, afour year program.
He finished in three years inlaw school.
Like I mean that in itself islike yeah, anything is possible
and you know.
To hear him tell me about hisjourney and how he was so
focused and, you know, beingthere and trying to take care of
(26:18):
us at the same time, there's somany nuggets and so many pieces
of motivation I can use for my.
My parents would be like Ican't let them down.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
I can't let my family down.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
So in that, with me and my kids and with Joanna
together, we are like this stagewe're at, they're in right now,
especially the youngest ones.
One's going in third grade,one's going into fifth grade.
That's the foundation for therest.
So the rest of their school,with Simon he's going into
(26:50):
eighth.
But with him we started thatprocess good habits.
You come home, you get a snack,you release yourself, go
outside, play, come back, let'sget the work done right.
So it's great because now Simonhas a routine in middle school
(27:12):
that we don't have to be on topof him.
He just knows.
He's like, comes in, gets hissnacks, hangs out a little bit,
does his homework, goes topractice.
Last year, the last two years,we didn't have to worry about it
.
Now we're trying to developthose habits with Asher and
Jackie.
And you know Jackie's going onthe fifth grade and she's she's
(27:35):
on it and she's keeping up likethrough the summer she's reading
.
She's on her third book thissummer.
Asher's on his second book thissummer and it's the habits of
being a good student is whatwe're teaching early on.
So, um, we don't know if theywant to go to school.
I mean, simon's definitelytalking about it because he's
(27:55):
like I'm trying to get ascholarship.
Asher's like hey, I don't haveto go to school if I'm going to
play an MLB.
And Jackie Jackie's just likehey, you know, I just enjoy the
process of doing things, anddon't?
She's just in love with thejourney, right?
So they're all a little bitdifferent, but and we want to,
(28:16):
we want to be where they're atRight.
I don't want to kind of pushthem to where we think they're
going to like right now.
Asher thinks MLb is the nextthing after you graduate high
school okay but as he growswe'll kind of redirect him and
say, hey, school is justimportant, but he's developing
the great habits do you guysallow him to dream big and like,
(28:38):
why not go to mf?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
absolutely?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
absolutely I.
I big piece of me is, I think,for some reason, I don't know
what happens when you grow up.
I don't know whether you growup to go to school or grow up,
or you graduate school or whathave you?
Some people just stop dreaming.
No, I'm, I'm dreaming today.
(29:07):
I still have a vision anddreams that I want to accomplish
today that are far fetched,right, but that's my dream.
And at one point, football wasso far fetched for me, but that
was my dream and I got toaccomplish it.
I got to.
I got to play for my childhoodteam.
Like rarely does that happen,right?
So I, I'm all about dreaming.
If you're not dreaming, thenwhat are you doing?
(29:27):
Like, what are you chasing?
I'm, I, let them dream as bigas they want.
So if he wants to play mlb athigh school, yeah, we watched.
We watched the major leaguedraft the other day and he was
looking at the bats getting insketch with people's names.
Like I get that when I gotdrafted.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
I was like yeah, man.
Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEOand founder of ClearEdge, a
company dedicated totransforming the business of
talent.
Through our three lines ofbusiness ClearEdge, marketing,
recruiting and Rising that helporganizations across the
recruitment and HR tech sectorsgrow their brands and market
(30:06):
share while building their teamswith excellence and equity.
I believe we were one ofCasey's very first clients.
He helped our sales and accountteams really those people on
the front lines of building anddeveloping client relationships
in so many ways.
Here are a few.
He helped us unlock the powerof curiosity.
For me it was a game changer.
(30:27):
I was personally learning allabout TED-based that's, tell,
explain, describe, questioning,and that really resonated with
me.
We also learned about unlockingthe power of humility and
unlocking the power ofvulnerability.
Casey taught us to be a teamplayer, to embrace change, to
stay positive.
(30:47):
He is one of the most positivepeople I know.
He believes that optimism,resilience and a sense of humor
can go a long way in helpingpeople achieve their goals and
overcome obstacles.
And I agree Casey's book Win theRelationship, not the Deal.
And I agree Casey's book Winthe Relationship, not the Deal.
It is a must read.
Listen, whether you're lookingfor coaching and training or a
(31:09):
powerful speaker or keynote.
Casey is one of the people Irecommend when talking to
companies.
The end result for us, at leastas one of Casey's clients our
own clients would literallycommend our approach over all
other companies From the way wewere prepared in advance of a
call to how we drove meetings tohow we follow up.
(31:31):
It sounds really basic, I know,but let me tell you it is a
standout approach that led tostronger relationships.
I encourage you to learn moreby going to CaseyJCoxcom.
You have nothing to lose byhaving a conversation and a lot
to gain.
Now let's get back to Casey'spodcast, the Quarterback Dadcast
(31:52):
.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Love that.
That's such an important thingto do.
My son's one of his bestfriends.
He plays hockey.
One of his best friends.
He plays hockey and he lefthigh school as a sophomore.
After a sophomore year he wentand lived in Idaho with a billet
family and played like minorleague and then he went to New
(32:14):
Hampshire.
So he was and I'm like it wasso hard for our friends but when
he was a kid he was going toplay on the PGA Tour and play in
the NHL and then if he couldtry to get MLB in the offseason,
he'd do that too.
Now, asinine thought, right, Imean that doesn't happen.
But his parents are likeawesome, perfect.
How can we support you?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
I think it's such a yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
It's crazy the way these kids think, and I love it.
I just love the way they like,especially my eight-year-old.
He's like well, after I playMLB, then I'm gonna play in the
NFL.
I'm like but, but Ash, you'renot, you're not playing any
football right now.
He's like, yeah, but maybe Ishould start right, like he's
(33:00):
not clicking it together.
But I'm like okay, just it'syour dream, you'll figure it out
all.
But I'm like okay, just it'syour dream, you'll figure it out
All right.
So I'm not going to say youcan't do that, I'm just going to
you know.
encourage them to keep dreamingLike maybe they'll find a way.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Do you ever like reflect and think like, where?
Um, I think I know the answer,but I'm asking a question
Anyways.
Do you think like, have youever like slowed down, thinking
like, hey, where did if I'm artstalking to himself like, or
where did, where did I get the,the power of dreaming, and where
that instilled from?
You ever think about where thatcame from?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
yeah, yes, I have, and I think this stems from my
parents again, right, so in thiscountry, there's, there's an
underlying stigma that, like youhave to see somebody that looks
(33:56):
like you and see whether or notit's even capable of happening.
And if you don't see enoughpeople that look like you, then
probably, yeah, I'm not going todo that thing because I don't
see many of us there.
But for my parents they grew upwhere at the highest levels
(34:21):
government, police, all thisstuff they were people that
looked like him, and so theynever had the doubt in their
mind that they can do anything.
And then they had us.
(34:42):
So there was nothing through ourchildhood that they said you
can do and be anything you want.
We had that from small right.
So I don't have the lens of.
Just because there's nobodythat looks like me up there, I
can't.
I shouldn't be going for that.
Or just because I'm in anenvironment where nobody else
has done it, I shouldn't begoing for that.
I have the lens.
I can anything.
(35:03):
It doesn't matter what you looklike.
If I want to do that, I can dothat and all my siblings have
that.
My entire family, from cousins,uncles, aunts, my extended
family embraces that and theywere just just nothing that
(35:31):
holds them back.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Powerful.
Yeah, I thought that might beyour answer.
Just like, obviously you knowyou, you moved from Guyana to
the United States with nothingand you make it work.
Like those are, like you canget inspiration out every single
day if you think about it.
I mean and I think that's sopowerful, and I think it's also
powerful to say like, becausethere there are people in life
and you know, like I said, fairenough, fair, racism is never
(35:57):
going to go away, unfortunatething.
But if I like, I can't rememberif I shared this when we first
met, but in 2020 was like a huge, huge year of growth for me
from just understanding the wordprivilege and one of my great
friends I met during thisjourney of entrepreneurship, a
guy named Dale Favors, in theheight of Black Lives Matter and
(36:17):
the height of the social unrest, because I used to be one of
these white people that said,when I heard the word privilege,
I'd be like, I'm not privileged, I had to work my ass off for
everything I get.
I just didn't understand art.
And so privilege to me now is Iunderstand like, hey, when I go
to a restaurant, how manypeople of color are there?
When I'm walking down thestreet, do I have to worry about
(36:41):
if I'm holding a purse as awoman, woman do I need to put it
the other side of the shoulderjust in case someone tries to
snap it from me?
Or if I'm in an elevator bymyself and I'm, you know, like
and there's, am I thinking aboutthings that are not what maybe
someone of color might bethinking about or a woman might
be thinking about, and to me,that's privilege?
No, I don't.
I don't.
I, as a white, middle-aged whiteguy who was very privileged,
(37:03):
I'm not going to feel guiltyabout it.
But what's?
What's changed is I'm a naturalempathetic person, but now I'm
like way empathetic to it andI'm and I'm more, and I use a
curiosity which is a superpowerthat we all have.
If you decide to use it, youget to learn a little bit more
about like, hey, just becauseI'm, I don't have racist
tendencies or I'm, but I but,like other people do at times.
(37:25):
So, have empathy for peoplewho've gone through it they're
not making it up and maybe learna little bit more about it to
get them to talk about it.
And so, like during that 2020, Iwent back and interviewed every
I mean not every, but Iprobably interviewed five or six
of my teammates from collegefootball of color and I just
said, man, I wish I was morecurious back when we play
(37:46):
football.
Now you were my boy, like I'vePolynesians, african-americans,
samoans, but I never knew abouttheir family.
I didn't know where they'refrom.
I didn't know, I didn't hearthat stuff and I just and I
remember telling my guys I'msorry, I wish I would have
learned, and just to hearstories and give them a voice
and give them a platform to talkabout, like their journey,
(38:08):
what's good or bad, and so Ijust want to share that with you
because I think it's, I thinkit's important and hopefully
there's a middle aged white guyat home that's listening, that's
maybe not thinking that way.
Hopefully we can changesomebody to get a little curious
.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yeah, yeah, it's, there's layers, there's
definitely layers and, um, ifyou break through and I, I'm, I
I truly believe if you breakthrough a couple layers, you'll
realize that everybody is thesame.
Yeah, there's nothing.
Everybody has issues.
(38:43):
They're going through.
Everybody copes with themdifferently, but at the core of
everybody, we're all the same.
No one's any better or anydifferent.
We all have the issues.
We all have the same stresses.
Sometimes you guys take a stepback and be like hey, what am I
judging here?
Right, let's be curious, likeyou've always emphasized with me
(39:06):
.
Um, let's be curious before wejudge yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Well, I know I'm I've already been inspired by your
story.
I hope there's a mom or dad orgrandpa someone listening that
says, you know, if you've notreally, you know, slowed down to
think about how you can helpyour kids dream like what a gift
.
You know what a gift.
Like my, my son, you can helpyour kids dream Like what a gift
.
You know what a gift.
Like my, my son plays golf, andin college at the NAI level.
So it's not like some of thesecrazy, but he's a really good
(39:35):
player and his team is a reallygood players.
And after his freshman yearhe's like I think I want to try
to play in the mini tours.
I'm like, go do it.
Yeah, why not?
Now?
Are the odds that he will?
It's not for me to judge.
I mean, that's he's got threemore years of college golf, yeah
, um.
So you know, and I think about,like if I, if I would have told
(39:57):
my high school teacher, myenglish teacher, that, hey, this
dipshit's gonna write a bookone day, you're like I'm not
buying that thing.
Hey, this dipshit is going towrite a book one day, you're
like I'm not buying that thing,is it going to?
be a pop-up book, but like, whynot?
Like I didn't know how to write, I didn't know how to write, I
didn't know how to start apodcast, but it's a power of
like you can teach your kidslike visualization, goal setting
(40:19):
.
I love that you said habitsLike those are all things that
we have control over, right, youknow?
Okay, so education, hard work,habits Is there a story that you
might feel comfortable sharing,that where you had to, like,
learn one of those things thehard way that maybe you've used
(40:40):
as a teaching moment with yourkids, or that maybe that, or
just you yourself really learnedthe power of that?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
so my journey to college wasn't a normal journey.
Every one of my peers um incollege is familiar with it and
I had some guys that were alongthe same journey, right.
(41:06):
So, growing up central PA, Ithink I had 17 or 18 D1 offers.
It was the top five.
My top five was Syracuse, pennState, ohio State, virginia I
(41:31):
believe Northwestern was inthere at some point and I had to
pick of any one of thoseschools I could have went to.
I was what I think 70 pointsaway on my sat in qualifying um
and this story is something thatis uh.
(41:53):
But everybody had told me, hey,everything's good, all the
papers look good and I go on tocamp in the office.
I ended up going and I getthere and they check with ncaa
and it's like, oh, you're shortby 70 80 points on your sat
score, based on your average gpaat school.
(42:17):
So like, okay, what do we donow?
So I had to leave camp this.
I was three, four days in thecamp and I went back home and
the next thing was well, hey,you need to take the SAT again,
but the next course is untilOctober.
So I'm like, okay, so then what?
(42:40):
Right?
Like, think about it.
I'm at the top of my game,going into college like best
shape of my life.
Where did it go in this?
It's about school, it's aschool related thing, right?
And the University of Virginiarecommended this school that was
(43:01):
like an hour away, two hoursaway from them, called Fort
Union Military Academy.
They had a postgraduate programwhere you know if you finished
graduate high school you couldtake, go there and get
opportunity to take the SATagain.
So I did that.
(43:22):
So I did that.
When that SAT came around,passed it, got high enough, but
part of the commitment.
So part of the commitment waslike you had to stay there for a
year Because I came in late,they weren't expecting me.
So hey, if you come here here,you stay for a year.
(43:50):
Yeah, we'll get you ready andbe able to take it.
If I didn't pass, then I couldtake it in the spring or I could
take as many times I want to.
So I had to sit out a wholeyear, um to go there.
But while I was there I Istarted.
You know you get a lot of timeby yourself and it's isolation.
I had none of my friends that Igrew up with there and you know
(44:12):
you're in the military.
You're doing drills, you'redoing the whole year doing that.
But somewhere in there I foundlike the discipline again in my
schoolwork, right.
So I took classes, thisgovernment class, these classes
and I excelled, I got all A's onthem, and so that was a
(44:35):
learning point for me, right.
And that was like, hey, I can'tlet this stuff slip, even
though I can do this great stuffathletically, and everybody
wanted me to go there.
So that was, that was a darkmoment for me, right, and but I
I got through it.
(44:56):
I had the right people aroundme.
There was a guy there calledCoach Schumann.
There was a guy there calledCoach Schumann and he was a
tough nose coach, right, but hehe would definitely was the
right person that I needed in mylife then, right, so that
(45:17):
journey.
I share with my kids.
I was like, hey, regardless, itdoesn't matter what you do on
the field, it matters what youget done here in school and your
habits that you develop.
So a lot of that is stemmingfrom you too.
Um, and to make sure that theyare developing these habits that
they don't run into coming outof high school have you ever
(45:40):
asked your parents how hard itwas on them seeing you go
through that?
yeah, it was hard.
It was hard, I mean, you know,expecting your kid to go here um
, and you know they paid for my,my brother, to go to school.
But then they saw theopportunity where they didn't
have to pay for me and thenended up paying for me to go to
(46:01):
this, this school.
That wasn't, that wasn't theplan, right, like my dad.
My dad's like was not the plan.
So he's trying to find money topay because he thought I had, I
had my full ride, right.
So that delayed.
So they did end up paying forme in that short stint, not as
much as if I were to go to areal university, but it's still
(46:23):
something that was unplanned.
And you know that, looking backnow, I was probably in a piece
of depression there.
Sure, it was just, you know, ahumbling experience for me, for
my family, for my friends.
To talk about it.
Hey, I'm not seeing you on thesidelines in Virginia.
(46:45):
What's going on?
Tell them the story Right linesin Virginia.
What's going on telling themthe story, right um, but it had
to happen.
It's part of who I am.
It's part of my resiliencetoday.
I use it all the time now.
It's part of part of my storylove it.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Uh, did I ever show you my my football journey when
I got hurt?
no so it's funny, all what youjust said just spoke to me big
time.
Um, because I use my injury asmotivation still to this day.
As I'm, I'm almost 50 years old, like in March.
So my junior year, high school,well, sophomore year, a guy at
(47:24):
the same age as me, he's playingum, he's a better athlete and
he's on the jv.
So I'm on the sophomore teamnow I was too dumb to realize
hey, bro, your fate's sealed.
Why are you going to keepplaying quarterback?
He's, he's the same age, you'renot going to beat him out.
I'm like didn't even thinkabout.
I was like having fun playing.
We had 14 guys on my sophomorefootball team.
I was 6-1, 134, so pretty muchlooking like a cross-country
(47:47):
runner playing football.
I played middlebacker, I punted, I played quarterback, I was on
special teams, the whole thingand we sucked.
But I had the most fun ever.
The last, one of the last games, my sophomore year.
I get played on j to jv and Ikind of like get a few reps.
Why I start playing?
Well, don't realize it.
And I remember one of mycoaches says Coach Canoon, he
(48:11):
goes, jay Cox, your stock'srising.
I was like what does that mean?
Didn't even, was oblivious tothe stock market.
I didn't know what he wastalking about, just so naive
School was not my thing and IFYI, my SAT was a 740.
I barely even passed, and I wasbecause I just guessed.
I was like I'm too bored totake this test.
It's not, it was not my jam.
So, uh, I learned.
(48:32):
This is where I learned aboutthe power of belief.
And, like so, my coach, martyOsborne coach Osborne, he, um,
he asked me to, uh, he goes.
You can either be an advertisedschool football player or a
really good football player, butyou got to quit basketball and
baseball.
You're going to have a chanceto be a starting quarterback
(48:53):
junior year, but here's what.
Here's what you got to do.
I was like what?
So I learned about goal setting, weightlifting, running, all
these types of things.
Well, fast forward story, Iended up beating this kid out my
junior year.
So I start my junior year andI'm thinking, oh my God, it was
like this high drama thing.
They did announce me as astarter to week one and so much
hard work went into it of likethousands of throws in the
backyard I built a tire swing bymyself.
I was lifting twice a day forthree.
I mean crazy.
(49:14):
I squeezed every ounce ofathletic ability out of me.
That junior summer, before mysenior year, I went to the
University of Washingtonfootball camp, got named best
quarterback of the camp, went toCentral Washington, got awards
there, thinking, oh my God.
And?
And now I'm on UW's radarthinking this is going to be
great.
Well, and now the guy that Ibeat out, he's playing tight end
(49:36):
.
So fast forward to the.
We had these things in Seattlecalled the jamboree, which is
like a practice game.
Yes, we had these jamborees andplayed against Brock Heard.
We lit them up at Piala.
Sorry, brock, but I do rememberdoing that and life was great.
Well, the last play of theJamboree for some reason I get
(49:58):
put back in and it's Leroy 90reads.
So remember the play.
It's pass play.
I'm like why are we calling itpass play?
What's our?
And I got like I'm with theyounger line because Shane, he
couldn't go play quarterback fora reason.
Snap, slow defensive tackleshoots the gap Knee gets on top
of my foot.
I can't move.
Defensive end comes in, blastme from behind, felt like the
tongue of my shoe, flew off,tried to stand up, collapsed.
(50:22):
Trainer came out.
Typical high school trainerSorry, high school trainer, like
I think you'll be okay, you'llbe back by Monday.
Like, okay, cool, within anhour.
Pain was so bad I felt tears inmy eyes.
My parents like maybe we shouldgo to the doctor, go to the
doctor, take an x-ray.
They're like we got to go intosurgery now.
I broke my foot in four spots.
(50:42):
He goes you're, you're done.
You're not playing this year.
Now Shane, who I beat out myjunior year, he would go play
quarterback my senior year.
I was a captain and I had tojust watch.
He would take us to the stateplayoffs first time in 20 years.
He would set single seasonpassing yardage record first
school and he was named secondteam all league and I had to
(51:03):
watch the best thing that everhappened in the yard yeah uh,
after the third game of theseason, because the first three
games, deep down I'm like I hopehe throws 14 interceptions, I
hope we lose, I hope he getshurt, I hope the team sucks,
cause I'm so important and theymiss me.
And false, false and false.
Now, that was true.
That was a story I was tellingmyself.
I was depressed, for sure, andsomething clicked in me where I
(51:27):
said this is not how it'ssupposed to go.
And I remember going to coachOsborne's office and I just said
hey, coach, you got a minute.
He's like yeah, I go.
I just want to let you know.
I'm so mad and angry and I justneed to get this off my chest.
I said I'm hoping you guys playlike shit.
I hope you guys suck.
I hope the team plays bad.
I hope, shane, I'm struggling.
I, he's like man, I'm so proudof you, I go.
(51:50):
Did you just hear what I said?
How could you be proud of that?
He goes because you're askingfor help, and this is what being
vulnerable is about.
He goes, he goes case.
We got a role for you.
We just got to figure it out.
He goes, I got it.
How about you go in the boothand you help me call plays know
this offense better than I do.
I'm like I do.
He's like, yeah, I.
(52:10):
I'm like, yeah, let's do it.
So I went from sadness,depression, anger to purpose,
got a role.
Now it was not the role Iwanted, but I remember crutching
down the field, gave the team aspeech, told him my role.
I'm on the sidelines, you know,freaking out, getting people
jacked up.
I played like two snaps.
(52:30):
My senior year.
Now, central Washington gave mea chance to be a walk-on, end
up being a three-year starter,all-american, my senior year and
all of it's.
Because of that moment, flashforward to business.
I went, I started in thedot-com crash.
I went to the 2008 world crisis.
I've been through 2014, 15,.
One of the biggest failures inour old company history, where
(52:52):
we had to lay off like 80 peopleovernight, goes back to.
I've been through this before.
So, um, I mean, that's why andeven now, like dads, it's like
dad sales leaders, companieslike I think people want to hear
the failures more than thesuccesses, so that we can relate
and we're genuine.
And then, because you only getto the success of the successes
(53:16):
and the big things we achieve inlife through the heartaches of
the tough times, you know, and Ithink sometimes people forget
to share those things.
I love sharing those thingsbecause it makes me more of a
real human.
Um, so I that I did not have 17or 18 D1 offers.
You got me there.
I didn't have one, but I love.
(53:38):
I love the story.
Okay, back to you.
If you were to say the threemost important things that you
and Janet are going to teachJoanna, pardon me are going to
teach your kids from a valueperspective, that will be like
man, I'm proud of them.
Tell me what comes to mind.
Speaker 2 (53:53):
Never give up Okay, never give up and have a
unwavering worth ethic.
Love it.
You know there was this um thisweek at dinner talking to the
kids my wife and I were.
This was part of the theme ofthe dinner.
(54:14):
You can't get frustrated.
You just got to keep pluggingaway.
You're going to get knockeddown several times, but it's how
you respond to that thatmatters.
Right, and make sure you investin yourself.
That was another thing wetalked about just two nights ago
(54:38):
, and when I said investment inyourself, the investment in
yourself is there's going to beso many distractions and more so
than when I was growing up.
I mean, they got the iPads, allthis stuff, their friends,
social media, all this stuff.
But make sure that every day,you put set aside a couple hours
(54:59):
for you to better you and makesure you hold yourself
accountable for that.
There's no, oh, I don't.
I don't feel like it today orI'm too tired.
No, you don't negotiate withyourself in that time that
you're making for yourself, Idon't care if it's an hour or
(55:23):
two hours.
Make sure every day you'reinvesting in yourself.
You're going to be pulled awayby games, your friends, me and
your mom, but make sure everyday, two hours a day, you invest
in yourself.
So that's what we told him thisweek, because it just came up
where hey, did you read today?
Did you, simon?
(55:45):
You know he's about to try outfor next week.
Did you work out today, asher?
Did you throw the ball today,did you?
Did you, simon?
You know he's about to try outfor next week.
Did you work out today, asher?
Did you throw the ball today?
Did you read?
Did you clean up your room?
Did you do the simple things?
Take care of things that areabout yourself.
Speaker 1 (55:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
And consistently.
You consistently do that.
You continue to grow andeverything else will happen, but
at least you took care of thethings that are going to better
yourself.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
So love it.
Such a good and you don't needto be a D1 athlete to get it.
You could be.
You know theater.
So you're going to practiceyour lines.
You're going to maybe you're inpiano practice piano.
It doesn't matter what I mean.
These are like great lifehabits.
I love that you guys areteaching those things.
Speaker 2 (56:33):
Tell me how you got into the wide world of staffing
and how people and then,secondly, how can people learn
more about the work you guys aredoing at Ronstadt?
Yeah, so funny thing I had awife who was in staffing.
She worked for a staffingcompany, um, while I was playing
um professionally and you know,bouncing from team to team, and
(56:55):
when I stopped playing she wasstill working for the staffing
firm.
And every day she'd come homeand say, you know, I got this
guy that you know he's madbecause this consultant was
doing this and this, this, this.
And I would just tell her I'dbe like sounds like you just
need to have a conversation.
It sounds like you just need to, like, bring people together.
(57:19):
And for me, like I was verysocial in that that's the part
of me.
I think that's my little gifthere, right, that's what I do
well, relationships, right.
And so I saw myself coachingher and she'd go and be like, oh
, guess what?
I did talk to them and Iconnected these guys and now we
(57:40):
have more business here.
Right, it worked for her, itwas simple, but she was
overthinking it, thinking thateverything was going to be the
end of the world.
It's like sometimes, talkingabout it with people, it's the
key right.
So I got an opportunity to startout with a company who was just
breaking into healthcare andthey were building this
(58:02):
healthcare division around EMRdeployments and switching from
paper to electronic.
So it was like a bubble, almostlike the bubbles that you were
talking about right Within uhtechnology.
So that was a bubble and Istarted at the ground level and
I said to myself, if I put thesame energy I put into being an
(58:23):
NFL athlete playing in CFL intothis, I'll be fine.
And that's what I did.
I took notes on every person Italked to.
I then asked a lot of questions, being curious.
That's why you know, thetraining you're doing now just
reminds me of what I did when Iwas early in this career, and
(58:46):
now I'm about 15, 16 years inthis field, and you just remind
me to continue to be curious,continue to learn, continue to
ask questions.
And you know, now I'm heretoday talking to you about it.
Speaker 1 (59:02):
So good If people want to, if people, let's say,
your stories inspired them.
They're like man, I got to meetthis art guy and they want to
connect with you.
What's the?
I don't know if you're anInstagram guy, a LinkedIn guy.
Tell me what's the best placethat people want to connect and
meet you or connect with youlive.
What's the best way they canfind you?
Speaker 2 (59:20):
Professionally.
I'm on LinkedIn.
You can find me there.
Something new that is I'mtrying out.
I just signed up for Instagram.
I was on Instagram a long timeago during COVID, and it was
more so around my cookingCooking.
(59:41):
I'm a big barbecue guy so Iwanted to video the process.
My neighbor and I built thisbig cooker like a smoker in our
backyard and we did.
We do whole hogs back there,we'll do pork butt, we'll do
everything.
So now I have an instagram sitethat I just stood up again
(01:00:04):
because my wife early on wetalked about my wife
transitioning to this new role,where it gives me some weekends
to do that, and so I started upagain and now I'm starting to
cook and I just post my cooks onthere.
So if you're a big barbecue fan, feel free to follow me on
there, but professionally,LinkedIn is probably the best
(01:00:25):
way.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Do you know your Instagram handle off memory.
Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
It is WesleyCh Barbecue Bandits.
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
Wesley.
Okay, I'm going to find thatI'm getting hungry just thinking
about this.
All right, well, before I letyou go, it's now time to go into
the lightning round Art, whereI show you the negative hits of
taking too many hits in collegenot bong hits, but football hits
at the quarterback positionShow you why I definitely have a
(01:00:54):
screw loose.
My job your job, is to answerthese questions as quickly as
you can.
My job is to get a giggle outof you.
All right, are you ready?
I'm ready?
Okay, true or false?
Your first NFL 40-yard dash was5.2.
False, okay, true or false?
(01:01:15):
Greg Peglieri can beat you in a40-yard dash.
False.
I just laughed at that one.
I lose already.
Okay, if we went back to Guyanaand they said what would be one
word that would describe art orthe Thomas family, what would
they say?
Leaders?
I like it.
Favorite comedy movie of alltime is.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Harlem Nights.
Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
Okay, tell me what would be one song or genre music
that might surprise your teamthat you listen to.
Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Jazz.
Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Okay, if I came to your house for dinner tonight,
what would you make me?
A steak, okay, I got gout.
I got easy on the red meat.
Do you got anything else?
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I can do fish, I can do anything.
Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
I can do chicken, I'll take chicken.
I think seafood's best for metoo.
If there was to be a bookwritten about your life, tell me
the title Perseverance.
Okay, now I do a littletraveling as well.
I'm trying to look forperseverance.
I went to the airport store.
They said not sold out.
I went to Amazon they're likeno, we can't print enough copies
, it's getting sold out tooquick.
Went to Barnes Noble sold out.
(01:02:34):
So Netflix has found out aboutperseverance art.
They're going to make a movieout of it.
You are the casting directornow and I need to know who is
going to star Art Thomas in thiscritically hit new movie on
netflix my son?
no, can't be family, can't befamily.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
What hollywood actor um um, he like, I like him, but
he wouldn't do great.
I am not sure.
That's a good question you gotme there.
Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
What about the Rock?
Let's go the Rock.
He used to play in the league.
Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Nah, he's Denzel.
Denzel's too polished.
He needs somebody a little bitmore rough around the edges what
about Kevin Hart?
And Get Hard yeah, that'spretty funny.
So you know the guy.
Oh, what is his name?
(01:03:42):
Not Idris, he played in this.
Have you seen that new F1 movie?
No, he's in that, um, and Iforget his name Right, and I've
only seen him in one other showand it was Snowfall.
(01:04:03):
He was really good.
I think.
Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but
Well, that dude's going to playit then.
Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
Yeah, yeah, I just had a brain fart.
I don't know why I can'tremember his name.
Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
It's okay, yeah, all right.
And then the last and mostimportant question tell me two
words that would describe Joanna.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
There's a lot of words.
I'm trying to pare it down.
Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
It's always a hard one, so that's the hesitation.
Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Is the right two words, Because I don't think I
want to just put two words onwhat she's been to me and you're
not giving me enough thereright.
Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
How about two words that are your, her, your
favorite qualities about herpassionate and loving?
Boom lightning round's complete.
We both giggled, I lose.
I laughed at my own jokes,which I tend to lose often.
Um, art, this has been anabsolute joy to spend time
everybody at home.
I showed art the script.
Before we started.
(01:05:07):
It was a blank page of paperand now I got a page of notes.
I hope you guys have notes athome too.
Listen to his story, which iscrazy inspiring, about belief,
about dreaming big, about habits, about work ethic, about
holding yourself accountable,about someone's going to do
something in life.
Why not you?
And the Thomas family hasproved that to be the case.
(01:05:29):
I can't wait to watch Asher inthe MLB when he goes big time.
I hope I get tickets one day.
When it comes to visit theMariners in town, please connect
with them.
Art and his team do a fantasticjob of delivering IT talent
across a lot of big brands, soif you want to learn more about
him, please connect with him.
(01:05:49):
Grateful brother, appreciateyour time and really, really
thank you for spending time withme today, and it's been fun
learning more about you.
Speaker 2 (01:05:57):
Thank you, casey, it was a blast.
It's always good to connectwith you.
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show.
Hey, everybody, it's CaseyJaycox with the quarterback dad
cast.
Welcome to season six, and Icould not be more excited to
have you join me for anotheryear of fantastic episodes and
conversations really unscriptedand raw and authentic
(00:24):
conversations with dads.
If you're new to this podcast,really it's simple.
It's a podcast where weinterview dads, we learn about
how they were raised, we learnabout the life lessons that were
important to them, we learnabout the values that are
important to them and really welearn about how we can work hard
to become a better quarterbackor leader of our home.
So let's sit back, relax andlisten to today's episode on the
Quarterback Dadcast.
(00:46):
Well, hey, everybody, welcome tothe Quarterback Dadcast.
This is Casey Jaycox, your host.
We are in season six and wecontinue to roll along.
I want to thank all the300-plus dads who spent time
with me each and last for thelast six years, and we are on a
quest to get to 1,000 dadsinterviewed, which doesn't even
sound overwhelming.
It more excites me thananything and I'm very excited
(01:09):
for our next guest, who is notonly his.
He is a Virginia Cavalier.
He is.
He's got some some ties tofootball.
He's got some ties to the CFLand maybe had a cup of coffee
with my Seattle Seahawks.
He is a client partner at thefantastic Ronstadt Digital, a
very well-known company doinggreat things there.
(01:29):
But more importantly, our nextguest, art Thomas, is a dad and
he's working hard, continuouslyworking hard, to become that
ultimate leader or quarterbackof his household, and we're
going to find more about him.
So, without further ado, mrThomas, welcome to the
Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Thank you for having me Casey Pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, I'm grateful, brother, so we always start out
each episode with gratitude.
So tell me, what are you mostgrateful for as a dad today?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
To my kids just being healthy and continuing to
better themselves every day.
I'm grateful to be able to seethem as often as I I do from
working from home, that's.
That's a blessing for me Loveit.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I know a lot of us sometimes we say health and it
sometimes can be cliche, but I'mhopeful that people listening
when you, when Art said thatslow down and like, appreciate
that, like I think I've sharedwith are.
Before I do, I do gratitudework in the morning, when I
write my journal and the firstthing I always say is God,
thanks for waking me up today.
And, as silly as that mightsound, people like when I write
(02:33):
that I actually find myselfsubconsciously smiling, cause
I'm like you know what?
I got a chance to do somethingtoday.
I don't know what it is yet,but I got a chance to do
something.
And it's amazing when we, but Igot a chance to do something.
And it's amazing when we, whenwe, when we, when we slow down
our most, just like I tell myson the the, the most powerful
club in your golf bag is not agolf club, it's your mindset.
(02:55):
I think that same mind, thatsame thing, can be talked about
in sales and leadership.
Or our mind's not right, takingit back to fatherhood when
we're not the best dad we can be, we're going to be a shitty at
our job, yeah, and we bring thatnegative energy.
So I love that.
You said that's a great thingfor people to remember.
What I'm most grateful fortoday is and my wife is out of
(03:18):
town so I miss her, but withthat I get more one-on-one time
with my kids, and so I wasgrateful last night.
But with that, I get moreone-on-one time with my kids,
and so I was grateful.
Last night was a.
I got to see my son and hisgirlfriend, my daughter and her
boyfriend.
They were playing cornhole inthe backyard.
That was fun to watch.
And then we had people for thefirst preseason Seahawks game.
My son had his buddies over andtheir girlfriends, and just
(03:38):
like the noise in the house, I'mjust grateful for that.
Awesome, yeah, I'm justgrateful for that.
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Um, well, I know you're a db,but you get to play quarterback
today, all right.
So, uh, tell, bring me insidethat the thomas huddle.
You're, you're the quarterback.
I'm guessing your wife's thegeneral manager, but bring me
inside the squad.
Tell me a little bit about howyou and your wife met and a
(04:01):
little bit about each member ofthe team.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, so many moons ago, we both attended University
of Virginia.
She was a scholarship athletefor softball, I was a
scholarship athlete for footballand we met at school.
From there, we, you, you know,we dated the traditional dating
(04:29):
thing and then, uh, as, as wegraduated, we, um, went our
separate ways but found eachother again.
And then, uh, in 2010, we, wegot married and, um, you know,
we started having kids.
Here I have three kids Oldestis 13.
(04:50):
He's Simon, and then I have adaughter who's 10, jackie, and
then I have an eight-year-oldwho thinks he's going to be the
next MLB player any day now, buthe's doing really well Asher,
who's eight.
So you know, that's the fam,that's the troop, that's the
(05:15):
team right now.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Love it.
Now, what is your wife's name?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Joanna.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Does Joanna, does she stay home or does she work
outside the home, joanna?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Does Joanna?
Does she stay home or does shework outside the home?
She is a nurse who has recentlytransitioned from bedside
nursing to another role that I'mstill trying to understand
exactly what she's doing, but itallows her to be home.
So this and this just happened,like maybe two or three weeks
(05:45):
ago.
So she's still doingorientation and training right
now, um, still learning aboutthis role, but, um, it's
something that will allow her tobe more in the fold of the
day-to-day what we do in family.
Cause, last 10, 10, 11 yearswe've been ships passing the
(06:07):
night and the fact that we madeit this far is a blessing
because, you know, I wasinitially on the road a lot and
when I get off the road, she thenext day she'd go over her
three, twelves and then viceversa.
You know, when she comes backthe next day I'll be on the road
.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
We did that for years .
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It was when the kids were young.
To this day, it's funny I stilltravel in my world today.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
but not as often.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
When I leave, they're like why are you leaving?
They don't even remember howoften I was on the road.
At one point, 52 weeks in ayear, I was on the road.
46 of them, wow, and that's alot.
But they don't remember thatand that was intentional on our
(06:57):
part.
That, hey, once they startasking hey, where are you going
from Monday to Thursday?
Right, I think I need to hangit up.
Hey, where are you going fromMonday to Thursday?
Right, I think I need to hangit up.
And you know they're, they'remy priority, right, I, it's jobs
.
You know I had to change jobsand that in order for that to
happen.
But, um, I think I made theright decision.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It's the best for our family love it, ma'am, um, tell
me about.
So we got Simonon, jackie andasher.
What are their?
Um?
So asher's going mlb.
We got that figured out.
Uh, tell me what.
Tell me a little bit aboutsimon and jackie.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
What, what, um, what they're interested in well, uh,
jackie is is by far my mostathletic kid um, she is very
boys, what's?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
that I said.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Sorry, boys, we're airing you out yeah, yeah, I
mean I I tell her that all thetime um she has, uh, she's just
naturally athletic and um can doanything any sport she's.
She's done volleyball.
She's in the middle of softballright now.
She's played tennis, basketball.
(08:06):
She loves it.
All right.
The beautiful thing is shedoesn't have to work much at it.
But that in itself developssome bad habits.
But she's not too focused onsports.
I wouldn't say I wouldn't sayshe's all about playing sports.
She loves.
She loves to draw, she loves todo um painting.
(08:27):
She does that almost every day.
She loves to read um she's she'smore well-rounded than the boys
um and I'm trying to get theboys into these other things
because you know it, so they'dbe more than just what they do
so and then?
simon.
He is uh, he's 13, um, full ofenergy, always has a smile on
(08:55):
his face, working through thatadolescent phase right now,
where he's trying to figure outwho he wants to be and the type
of man he's going to grow into.
So it's sometimes it's aprocess with him, you know, as
he's growing into his own skin.
He's very he's very tall forhis age, so he has that
(09:19):
awkwardness looking like agiraffe trying to find his way.
But he's just as committed andpassionate about the things that
he does, and maybe doing themthe right way, than anyone else
in the family, right?
So he's a very quick study.
So I have to teach him patiencemost of the time because, you
(09:43):
know, when he was three or fouryears old, he learned about ride
a bike in like a couple hours.
Wow so he thought everythingshould be that easy, right.
And so I'm like you know, westarted playing basketball when
he was young and he wasn't.
He was frustrated with it.
I was like you gotta work at it, you can get it, you just gotta
(10:03):
work at it.
Not everything's gonna comeeasy, and so he's.
He's grown out of that and nowhe's ready to challenge himself
and we're looking forward forhim going into the eighth grade
this year and playing footballand really, really excited about
that.
He's also very interested inbasketball and he's he's
passionate about that as well,so the sky's the limit for him.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So cool.
Now do our, do your kidsrealize hey, mom and dad were
pretty good athletes.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I think, look, we have some memorabilia around the
house.
They've seen the accoladesWe've taken, taken them back to
UVA to kind of see our where wemet, where my wife played.
They know, they know that, um,that, hey, we, we, we've been
(10:53):
through what they're goingthrough, yeah, and I think that
has allowed us to talk to them acertain way where they're more
receptive.
I have a lot of friends, who'swho, who talked to me about, you
know, coaching their kids orputting them on a the right way.
(11:14):
Hey, you should be focusing onthis.
And a lot of them say, hey, mykids don't listen to me.
I don't have that problem withmy kids.
I tell them hey, if you want toget better, this is what you
need to do.
I'm not going to push you.
It has to come from you.
But if you come to me and askfor help, I'm going to help you
the best way I know how, so theyknow what to expect.
(11:35):
We almost set that expectationand my wife has set that
expectation, especially withJackie and Asher, and just how
she taught them how to throw aball I'm a football guy, right,
she was a pitcher.
So she went down technicallylike here's how you throw,
here's how the motion, here'swhat you look at, right.
(11:56):
So she was very disciplined onthat and now they're flourishing
because of it.
Asher is about to go to 9Uwhere before he was that machine
pitch and now he's that kidpitch and he's one of the
hardest throwers on his team.
And then Jackie, she's beenpitching and softball is a
(12:17):
little different because it'svery technical how you pitch.
It's totally different thanmen's baseball.
And she can throw that ball.
It's.
It's amazing to see her getdialed in.
Um, it's just a short amount oftime.
I mean this is very early intheir their careers, but um
they're, they're progressingwell.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So cool.
Um, okay, this is where I lovelearning about my guests, so I
want you to go back and tell meabout what was life like growing
up for you and talk about theimpact that mom and dad had for
you.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Now that you're a dad as you reflect, maybe from a
values perspective- I'm numbertwo out of four and my parents
both immigrated here to the USfrom South America.
They were actually childhoodfriends that got married here in
(13:21):
the United States.
I think it was 1972 when theygot married and they came over
here with nothing Right so, butwe didn't know it.
We didn't feel that as kidsgrowing up.
They gave us every opportunityto do whatever we want.
It was never a thing as anadult looking back at that.
(13:44):
It was never a thing as anadult looking back at that.
We didn't feel that we didn'thave much ever.
But I saw situations in mychildhood looking back like,
yeah, I don't know how we gotthrough that, but we did Right
and you know they're very hardworkers.
(14:04):
Education was a very, very, veryimportant thing for them.
My dad ended up going to lawschool, passed a bar in
Pennsylvania, so most of mychildhood was in that
Pennsylvania, centralPennsylvania area, harrisburg,
(14:24):
mechanicsburg, pa, and just alot of what they've shown us was
like the discipline it takes togo to work every day in the
grind, and my parents I wouldsay out of my parents, my dad
was had the personality of likehe's very charismatic, very
(14:50):
affectionate, loving all thatstuff.
My mom was a workhorse and shewas very different, very
disciplined.
Hey do things this way.
And so it's funny.
In my adult life I find myselfbeing very kind of the same way
my mom is, but also around myfriends, kind of opening up and
(15:14):
having that charisma.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So I feel like I'm a blend of both.
So dad was a lawyer.
Yes, and tell me about mom.
What did she do for a job?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
She worked at a community college.
She's an administrativeassistant for over 20 years in
Central PA.
So when she she, it was amazing, because every time we'd go see
her at work everybody knew her.
She was like oh yeah, she'shere.
She was, she knew everythingabout what was going on there.
(15:45):
She was the go-to person.
So there's a lot of things thatwe were proud of her for and the
way she raised us, even thoughit was very.
It wasn't easy for my brothersand my sisters, but she's.
I would do it all over again ifI could wow so first generation
(16:11):
from first gen guineas.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You said right, guyana guyana, south america
okay, so guyana.
Uh, have you ever asked mom anddad?
Hey, what was the tipping pointwhen mom and dad said we're out
of here, we're going to theStates?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
in the country that allowed them to.
Hey, we have to maybe be in abetter environment so we can
raise kids and have a family.
And the opportunity here.
You know Guyana, if you're notaware, it's a third world
country, right, so there's notmuch of an infrastructure there.
It's really different.
And so the opportunity to cometo the United States presented
(17:09):
itself for them, and not justindividually, but for their
entire family.
So my dad is one of 13.
My mom is one of five.
Very large family, everybodywent Right.
So, um, and it was just Ibelieve it was more
opportunistic opportunity togrow, opportunity to advance,
(17:35):
advancements for their children.
Um, and education was a big,big piece of that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So did they when they moved?
Did they have jobs or did theymove here looking for jobs?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
They moved looking for jobs.
Um, they did not have a job.
Um.
My dad tells a story.
He used to be, um a doorman at ahotel in New York somewhere
while he was going to schoolhe'd work nights, um, and you
know, back then he always tellsme the story.
Just last week he was tellingme a story of how, of how you
(18:10):
know, school going to schoolwhen he came over this country
it was like 300 bucks, it wasnothing like.
And now you know, now you'retelling thousands, thousands of
dollars a semester.
He goes to credit a credit dudecredit was like 50 bucks, like
it was nothing.
So you take, you know, you got300 bucks, you got a whole
(18:32):
semester worth of credits andyou're good.
Wow.
So he's just, he's just, healways reminds me of that story.
He tells it to me probably acouple of times a year, but like
it was very different for themwhen they came over here, Now,
do you guys ever go back?
Yeah, so as kids we never wentback right.
(18:57):
And you always wonder becausewe were, you know, out of my
brother myself, my sisters it's.
It would have been expensivefor us to go Right.
So, um, we never went back whenwe lived with them, but I would
say this was probably five, sixyears ago.
We all went back altogether andI got to take my oldest, simon.
(19:21):
I believe he was nine or 10 atthe time.
So it was a great experienceall around, and to have my son
(19:49):
be a part of that, it was justawesome.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Wow, what was like the biggest maybe learning
lesson for him or for you goingback that made you realize how
fortunate we are in the UnitedStates.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
It's humbling, it is very humbling, um, but it wasn't
.
It wasn't to the point whereyou know where it's like you
felt bad.
Right, because there were somany things that you know in my
as a kid growing up.
The food I ate, that you knowin my as a kid growing up, the
(20:29):
food I ate that reminded me athome, every meal that we had
cooked.
We had a chef there that wasmaking food for us.
Every meal was like oh wow,this is even better than what we
had stateside.
And you know, food for me wasvery, it's very comforting and
it reminds me of home.
But that whole experience kindof like wow, you guys grew up in
(20:49):
this right and it really helpsyou understand their perspective
on things and how nothing thatwe've experienced as kids or
going to experience can compareto their experience in in that
area and how they grew up andthe things they had to do and um
(21:10):
the progress they've made sothat I, I'm always grateful for
that, and it's very humbling toknow that we still have land
there.
Um, we still have a house there.
Uh, for my grand grandfatherthere's just.
There's still family and areason to go back, so that that
(21:32):
will always be with me.
Now we're mom and dad athletestoo uh, so my dad, my dad would
say he's an athlete, he's acricket guy he's a cricket guy,
right okay but let me just putit this way.
So he said he was he's the bestbowler ever right, and that
(21:56):
those are the guys that pitch um.
But, uh, um, out of the 13 ofthem on his side, everybody else
ran track and was probably likethe person at their age group
running track and field.
And I have some uncles thatwould blow a lot of people out
(22:20):
of the way, so he's never.
My dad has never talked to meabout how fast he was.
He's like yeah, that wasn't me,but I could really throw the
ball.
Not to say he wasn't athleticbut he never talked about
running track and that that forme, because of the type of
(22:41):
athlete I am, speed was like Igo, I probably get my speed.
For him and my mom she wasathletic but she she was more
like band, band type stuff.
Um, she paid a little bit oftennis here and there, but
nothing, nothing much.
You know Um, but I, I, really I, I believe I got my athleticism
(23:03):
.
My siblings got theirathleticism from my dad's side,
because there's probably six orseven of them that were like the
person in their sport thatdominated and that sport was
track and field.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Wow.
So education obviously is superimportant, but without without
could give two shits about it.
Yeah, so tell me how, how didmom and dad like get to you and
your siblings to really cementthe education is important?
And then second part of thatquestion is tell me how you guys
are using maybe yourfoundational, how you learned
(23:40):
education to like making sureyour kids appreciate it too.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
If I were to look back, I had to go through my, my
siblings, right.
My brother is, is, is nextlevel smart, right, he can be
anything and graduate from it.
He.
He can be a physicist, anythingvery smart.
I have a sister that's behindme.
(24:06):
She's just as intelligent andsmart as he is, if not even more
.
She went to Vanderbilt.
I have another baby sister whois just like the both of them
all in one.
She's a nurse manager at JohnHopkins.
(24:27):
And me, I was a runt.
I'm going to keep it real withyou.
I was a runt.
I was when it came to school.
It was never a priority for meuntil I was able to kind of tie
(24:50):
school to what my purpose was,and that's when it had to click
for me.
So I've been through somethings that allowed me to
develop this importance ofschool.
But it didn't mean my parentsdidn't push it, that they, they
(25:10):
pushed it all the time.
It's just it wasn't clickingwith me, it wasn't.
I didn't take it seriouslyenough, right and that's on me
with that.
I have developed these habitsthat were like hey, here's how I
succeed in this piece.
Anything physical for me was awalk in the park, um.
But when it came to school, Ijust never put that same energy
(25:32):
in the school.
But when I connected the twoand said, hey, in order to get
here, I need to do this, then itwas yeah, I, I got it now.
So you didn't have to worryabout me, but it was, I think,
seeing them my dad go throughlaw school and we were living in
Toledo, ohio, then, and we'dspend our summers in New York
(25:55):
and he would be, you know, afour year program.
He finished in three years inlaw school.
Like I mean that in itself islike yeah, anything is possible
and you know.
To hear him tell me about hisjourney and how he was so
focused and, you know, beingthere and trying to take care of
(26:18):
us at the same time, there's somany nuggets and so many pieces
of motivation I can use for my.
My parents would be like Ican't let them down.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
I can't let my family down.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
So in that, with me and my kids and with Joanna
together, we are like this stagewe're at, they're in right now,
especially the youngest ones.
One's going in third grade,one's going into fifth grade.
That's the foundation for therest.
So the rest of their school,with Simon he's going into
(26:50):
eighth.
But with him we started thatprocess good habits.
You come home, you get a snack,you release yourself, go
outside, play, come back, let'sget the work done right.
So it's great because now Simonhas a routine in middle school
(27:12):
that we don't have to be on topof him.
He just knows.
He's like, comes in, gets hissnacks, hangs out a little bit,
does his homework, goes topractice.
Last year, the last two years,we didn't have to worry about it
.
Now we're trying to developthose habits with Asher and
Jackie.
And you know Jackie's going onthe fifth grade and she's she's
(27:35):
on it and she's keeping up likethrough the summer she's reading
.
She's on her third book thissummer.
Asher's on his second book thissummer and it's the habits of
being a good student is whatwe're teaching early on.
So, um, we don't know if theywant to go to school.
I mean, simon's definitelytalking about it because he's
(27:55):
like I'm trying to get ascholarship.
Asher's like hey, I don't haveto go to school if I'm going to
play an MLB.
And Jackie Jackie's just likehey, you know, I just enjoy the
process of doing things, anddon't?
She's just in love with thejourney, right?
So they're all a little bitdifferent, but and we want to,
(28:16):
we want to be where they're atRight.
I don't want to kind of pushthem to where we think they're
going to like right now.
Asher thinks MLb is the nextthing after you graduate high
school okay but as he growswe'll kind of redirect him and
say, hey, school is justimportant, but he's developing
the great habits do you guysallow him to dream big and like,
(28:38):
why not go to mf?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
absolutely?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
absolutely I.
I big piece of me is, I think,for some reason, I don't know
what happens when you grow up.
I don't know whether you growup to go to school or grow up,
or you graduate school or whathave you?
Some people just stop dreaming.
No, I'm, I'm dreaming today.
(29:07):
I still have a vision anddreams that I want to accomplish
today that are far fetched,right, but that's my dream.
And at one point, football wasso far fetched for me, but that
was my dream and I got toaccomplish it.
I got to.
I got to play for my childhoodteam.
Like rarely does that happen,right?
So I, I'm all about dreaming.
If you're not dreaming, thenwhat are you doing?
(29:27):
Like, what are you chasing?
I'm, I, let them dream as bigas they want.
So if he wants to play mlb athigh school, yeah, we watched.
We watched the major leaguedraft the other day and he was
looking at the bats getting insketch with people's names.
Like I get that when I gotdrafted.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
I was like yeah, man.
Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEOand founder of ClearEdge, a
company dedicated totransforming the business of
talent.
Through our three lines ofbusiness ClearEdge, marketing,
recruiting and Rising that helporganizations across the
recruitment and HR tech sectorsgrow their brands and market
(30:06):
share while building their teamswith excellence and equity.
I believe we were one ofCasey's very first clients.
He helped our sales and accountteams really those people on
the front lines of building anddeveloping client relationships
in so many ways.
Here are a few.
He helped us unlock the powerof curiosity.
For me it was a game changer.
(30:27):
I was personally learning allabout TED-based that's, tell,
explain, describe, questioning,and that really resonated with
me.
We also learned about unlockingthe power of humility and
unlocking the power ofvulnerability.
Casey taught us to be a teamplayer, to embrace change, to
stay positive.
(30:47):
He is one of the most positivepeople I know.
He believes that optimism,resilience and a sense of humor
can go a long way in helpingpeople achieve their goals and
overcome obstacles.
And I agree Casey's book Win theRelationship, not the Deal.
And I agree Casey's book Winthe Relationship, not the Deal.
It is a must read.
Listen, whether you're lookingfor coaching and training or a
(31:09):
powerful speaker or keynote.
Casey is one of the people Irecommend when talking to
companies.
The end result for us, at leastas one of Casey's clients our
own clients would literallycommend our approach over all
other companies From the way wewere prepared in advance of a
call to how we drove meetings tohow we follow up.
(31:31):
It sounds really basic, I know,but let me tell you it is a
standout approach that led tostronger relationships.
I encourage you to learn moreby going to CaseyJCoxcom.
You have nothing to lose byhaving a conversation and a lot
to gain.
Now let's get back to Casey'spodcast, the Quarterback Dadcast
(31:52):
.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Love that.
That's such an important thingto do.
My son's one of his bestfriends.
He plays hockey.
One of his best friends.
He plays hockey and he lefthigh school as a sophomore.
After a sophomore year he wentand lived in Idaho with a billet
family and played like minorleague and then he went to New
(32:14):
Hampshire.
So he was and I'm like it wasso hard for our friends but when
he was a kid he was going toplay on the PGA Tour and play in
the NHL and then if he couldtry to get MLB in the offseason,
he'd do that too.
Now, asinine thought, right, Imean that doesn't happen.
But his parents are likeawesome, perfect.
How can we support you?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
I think it's such a yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
It's crazy the way these kids think, and I love it.
I just love the way they like,especially my eight-year-old.
He's like well, after I playMLB, then I'm gonna play in the
NFL.
I'm like but, but Ash, you'renot, you're not playing any
football right now.
He's like, yeah, but maybe Ishould start right, like he's
(33:00):
not clicking it together.
But I'm like okay, just it'syour dream, you'll figure it out
all.
But I'm like okay, just it'syour dream, you'll figure it out
All right.
So I'm not going to say youcan't do that, I'm just going to
you know.
encourage them to keep dreamingLike maybe they'll find a way.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Do you ever like reflect and think like, where?
Um, I think I know the answer,but I'm asking a question
Anyways.
Do you think like, have youever like slowed down, thinking
like, hey, where did if I'm artstalking to himself like, or
where did, where did I get the,the power of dreaming, and where
that instilled from?
You ever think about where thatcame from?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
yeah, yes, I have, and I think this stems from my
parents again, right, so in thiscountry, there's, there's an
underlying stigma that, like youhave to see somebody that looks
(33:56):
like you and see whether or notit's even capable of happening.
And if you don't see enoughpeople that look like you, then
probably, yeah, I'm not going todo that thing because I don't
see many of us there.
But for my parents they grew upwhere at the highest levels
(34:21):
government, police, all thisstuff they were people that
looked like him, and so theynever had the doubt in their
mind that they can do anything.
And then they had us.
(34:42):
So there was nothing through ourchildhood that they said you
can do and be anything you want.
We had that from small right.
So I don't have the lens of.
Just because there's nobodythat looks like me up there, I
can't.
I shouldn't be going for that.
Or just because I'm in anenvironment where nobody else
has done it, I shouldn't begoing for that.
I have the lens.
I can anything.
(35:03):
It doesn't matter what you looklike.
If I want to do that, I can dothat and all my siblings have
that.
My entire family, from cousins,uncles, aunts, my extended
family embraces that and theywere just just nothing that
(35:31):
holds them back.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Powerful.
Yeah, I thought that might beyour answer.
Just like, obviously you knowyou, you moved from Guyana to
the United States with nothingand you make it work.
Like those are, like you canget inspiration out every single
day if you think about it.
I mean and I think that's sopowerful, and I think it's also
powerful to say like, becausethere there are people in life
and you know, like I said, fairenough, fair, racism is never
(35:57):
going to go away, unfortunatething.
But if I like, I can't rememberif I shared this when we first
met, but in 2020 was like a huge, huge year of growth for me
from just understanding the wordprivilege and one of my great
friends I met during thisjourney of entrepreneurship, a
guy named Dale Favors, in theheight of Black Lives Matter and
(36:17):
the height of the social unrest, because I used to be one of
these white people that said,when I heard the word privilege,
I'd be like, I'm not privileged, I had to work my ass off for
everything I get.
I just didn't understand art.
And so privilege to me now is Iunderstand like, hey, when I go
to a restaurant, how manypeople of color are there?
When I'm walking down thestreet, do I have to worry about
(36:41):
if I'm holding a purse as awoman, woman do I need to put it
the other side of the shoulderjust in case someone tries to
snap it from me?
Or if I'm in an elevator bymyself and I'm, you know, like
and there's, am I thinking aboutthings that are not what maybe
someone of color might bethinking about or a woman might
be thinking about, and to me,that's privilege?
No, I don't.
I don't.
I, as a white, middle-aged whiteguy who was very privileged,
(37:03):
I'm not going to feel guiltyabout it.
But what's?
What's changed is I'm a naturalempathetic person, but now I'm
like way empathetic to it andI'm and I'm more, and I use a
curiosity which is a superpowerthat we all have.
If you decide to use it, youget to learn a little bit more
about like, hey, just becauseI'm, I don't have racist
tendencies or I'm, but I but,like other people do at times.
(37:25):
So, have empathy for peoplewho've gone through it they're
not making it up and maybe learna little bit more about it to
get them to talk about it.
And so, like during that 2020, Iwent back and interviewed every
I mean not every, but Iprobably interviewed five or six
of my teammates from collegefootball of color and I just
said, man, I wish I was morecurious back when we play
(37:46):
football.
Now you were my boy, like I'vePolynesians, african-americans,
samoans, but I never knew abouttheir family.
I didn't know where they'refrom.
I didn't know, I didn't hearthat stuff and I just and I
remember telling my guys I'msorry, I wish I would have
learned, and just to hearstories and give them a voice
and give them a platform to talkabout, like their journey,
(38:08):
what's good or bad, and so Ijust want to share that with you
because I think it's, I thinkit's important and hopefully
there's a middle aged white guyat home that's listening, that's
maybe not thinking that way.
Hopefully we can changesomebody to get a little curious
.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yeah, yeah, it's, there's layers, there's
definitely layers and, um, ifyou break through and I, I'm, I
I truly believe if you breakthrough a couple layers, you'll
realize that everybody is thesame.
Yeah, there's nothing.
Everybody has issues.
(38:43):
They're going through.
Everybody copes with themdifferently, but at the core of
everybody, we're all the same.
No one's any better or anydifferent.
We all have the issues.
We all have the same stresses.
Sometimes you guys take a stepback and be like hey, what am I
judging here?
Right, let's be curious, likeyou've always emphasized with me
(39:06):
.
Um, let's be curious before wejudge yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Well, I know I'm I've already been inspired by your
story.
I hope there's a mom or dad orgrandpa someone listening that
says, you know, if you've notreally, you know, slowed down to
think about how you can helpyour kids dream like what a gift
.
You know what a gift.
Like my, my son, you can helpyour kids dream Like what a gift
.
You know what a gift.
Like my, my son plays golf, andin college at the NAI level.
So it's not like some of thesecrazy, but he's a really good
(39:35):
player and his team is a reallygood players.
And after his freshman yearhe's like I think I want to try
to play in the mini tours.
I'm like, go do it.
Yeah, why not?
Now?
Are the odds that he will?
It's not for me to judge.
I mean, that's he's got threemore years of college golf, yeah
, um.
So you know, and I think about,like if I, if I would have told
(39:57):
my high school teacher, myenglish teacher, that, hey, this
dipshit's gonna write a bookone day, you're like I'm not
buying that thing.
Hey, this dipshit is going towrite a book one day, you're
like I'm not buying that thing,is it going to?
be a pop-up book, but like, whynot?
Like I didn't know how to write, I didn't know how to write, I
didn't know how to start apodcast, but it's a power of
like you can teach your kidslike visualization, goal setting
(40:19):
.
I love that you said habitsLike those are all things that
we have control over, right, youknow?
Okay, so education, hard work,habits Is there a story that you
might feel comfortable sharing,that where you had to, like,
learn one of those things thehard way that maybe you've used
(40:40):
as a teaching moment with yourkids, or that maybe that, or
just you yourself really learnedthe power of that?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
so my journey to college wasn't a normal journey.
Every one of my peers um incollege is familiar with it and
I had some guys that were alongthe same journey, right.
(41:06):
So, growing up central PA, Ithink I had 17 or 18 D1 offers.
It was the top five.
My top five was Syracuse, pennState, ohio State, virginia I
(41:31):
believe Northwestern was inthere at some point and I had to
pick of any one of thoseschools I could have went to.
I was what I think 70 pointsaway on my sat in qualifying um
and this story is something thatis uh.
(41:53):
But everybody had told me, hey,everything's good, all the
papers look good and I go on tocamp in the office.
I ended up going and I getthere and they check with ncaa
and it's like, oh, you're shortby 70 80 points on your sat
score, based on your average gpaat school.
(42:17):
So like, okay, what do we donow?
So I had to leave camp this.
I was three, four days in thecamp and I went back home and
the next thing was well, hey,you need to take the SAT again,
but the next course is untilOctober.
So I'm like, okay, so then what?
(42:40):
Right?
Like, think about it.
I'm at the top of my game,going into college like best
shape of my life.
Where did it go in this?
It's about school, it's aschool related thing, right?
And the University of Virginiarecommended this school that was
(43:01):
like an hour away, two hoursaway from them, called Fort
Union Military Academy.
They had a postgraduate programwhere you know if you finished
graduate high school you couldtake, go there and get
opportunity to take the SATagain.
So I did that.
(43:22):
So I did that.
When that SAT came around,passed it, got high enough, but
part of the commitment.
So part of the commitment waslike you had to stay there for a
year Because I came in late,they weren't expecting me.
So hey, if you come here here,you stay for a year.
(43:50):
Yeah, we'll get you ready andbe able to take it.
If I didn't pass, then I couldtake it in the spring or I could
take as many times I want to.
So I had to sit out a wholeyear, um to go there.
But while I was there I Istarted.
You know you get a lot of timeby yourself and it's isolation.
I had none of my friends that Igrew up with there and you know
(44:12):
you're in the military.
You're doing drills, you'redoing the whole year doing that.
But somewhere in there I foundlike the discipline again in my
schoolwork, right.
So I took classes, thisgovernment class, these classes
and I excelled, I got all A's onthem, and so that was a
(44:35):
learning point for me, right.
And that was like, hey, I can'tlet this stuff slip, even
though I can do this great stuffathletically, and everybody
wanted me to go there.
So that was, that was a darkmoment for me, right, and but I
I got through it.
(44:56):
I had the right people aroundme.
There was a guy there calledCoach Schumann.
There was a guy there calledCoach Schumann and he was a
tough nose coach, right, but hehe would definitely was the
right person that I needed in mylife then, right, so that
(45:17):
journey.
I share with my kids.
I was like, hey, regardless, itdoesn't matter what you do on
the field, it matters what youget done here in school and your
habits that you develop.
So a lot of that is stemmingfrom you too.
Um, and to make sure that theyare developing these habits that
they don't run into coming outof high school have you ever
(45:40):
asked your parents how hard itwas on them seeing you go
through that?
yeah, it was hard.
It was hard, I mean, you know,expecting your kid to go here um
, and you know they paid for my,my brother, to go to school.
But then they saw theopportunity where they didn't
have to pay for me and thenended up paying for me to go to
(46:01):
this, this school.
That wasn't, that wasn't theplan, right, like my dad.
My dad's like was not the plan.
So he's trying to find money topay because he thought I had, I
had my full ride, right.
So that delayed.
So they did end up paying forme in that short stint, not as
much as if I were to go to areal university, but it's still
(46:23):
something that was unplanned.
And you know that, looking backnow, I was probably in a piece
of depression there.
Sure, it was just, you know, ahumbling experience for me, for
my family, for my friends.
To talk about it.
Hey, I'm not seeing you on thesidelines in Virginia.
(46:45):
What's going on?
Tell them the story Right linesin Virginia.
What's going on telling themthe story, right um, but it had
to happen.
It's part of who I am.
It's part of my resiliencetoday.
I use it all the time now.
It's part of part of my storylove it.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Uh, did I ever show you my my football journey when
I got hurt?
no so it's funny, all what youjust said just spoke to me big
time.
Um, because I use my injury asmotivation still to this day.
As I'm, I'm almost 50 years old, like in March.
So my junior year, high school,well, sophomore year, a guy at
(47:24):
the same age as me, he's playingum, he's a better athlete and
he's on the jv.
So I'm on the sophomore teamnow I was too dumb to realize
hey, bro, your fate's sealed.
Why are you going to keepplaying quarterback?
He's, he's the same age, you'renot going to beat him out.
I'm like didn't even thinkabout.
I was like having fun playing.
We had 14 guys on my sophomorefootball team.
I was 6-1, 134, so pretty muchlooking like a cross-country
(47:47):
runner playing football.
I played middlebacker, I punted, I played quarterback, I was on
special teams, the whole thingand we sucked.
But I had the most fun ever.
The last, one of the last games, my sophomore year.
I get played on j to jv and Ikind of like get a few reps.
Why I start playing?
Well, don't realize it.
And I remember one of mycoaches says Coach Canoon, he
(48:11):
goes, jay Cox, your stock'srising.
I was like what does that mean?
Didn't even, was oblivious tothe stock market.
I didn't know what he wastalking about, just so naive
School was not my thing and IFYI, my SAT was a 740.
I barely even passed, and I wasbecause I just guessed.
I was like I'm too bored totake this test.
It's not, it was not my jam.
So, uh, I learned.
(48:32):
This is where I learned aboutthe power of belief.
And, like so, my coach, martyOsborne coach Osborne, he, um,
he asked me to, uh, he goes.
You can either be an advertisedschool football player or a
really good football player, butyou got to quit basketball and
baseball.
You're going to have a chanceto be a starting quarterback
(48:53):
junior year, but here's what.
Here's what you got to do.
I was like what?
So I learned about goal setting, weightlifting, running, all
these types of things.
Well, fast forward story, Iended up beating this kid out my
junior year.
So I start my junior year andI'm thinking, oh my God, it was
like this high drama thing.
They did announce me as astarter to week one and so much
hard work went into it of likethousands of throws in the
backyard I built a tire swing bymyself.
I was lifting twice a day forthree.
I mean crazy.
(49:14):
I squeezed every ounce ofathletic ability out of me.
That junior summer, before mysenior year, I went to the
University of Washingtonfootball camp, got named best
quarterback of the camp, went toCentral Washington, got awards
there, thinking, oh my God.
And?
And now I'm on UW's radarthinking this is going to be
great.
Well, and now the guy that Ibeat out, he's playing tight end
(49:36):
.
So fast forward to the.
We had these things in Seattlecalled the jamboree, which is
like a practice game.
Yes, we had these jamborees andplayed against Brock Heard.
We lit them up at Piala.
Sorry, brock, but I do rememberdoing that and life was great.
Well, the last play of theJamboree for some reason I get
(49:58):
put back in and it's Leroy 90reads.
So remember the play.
It's pass play.
I'm like why are we calling itpass play?
What's our?
And I got like I'm with theyounger line because Shane, he
couldn't go play quarterback fora reason.
Snap, slow defensive tackleshoots the gap Knee gets on top
of my foot.
I can't move.
Defensive end comes in, blastme from behind, felt like the
tongue of my shoe, flew off,tried to stand up, collapsed.
(50:22):
Trainer came out.
Typical high school trainerSorry, high school trainer, like
I think you'll be okay, you'llbe back by Monday.
Like, okay, cool, within anhour.
Pain was so bad I felt tears inmy eyes.
My parents like maybe we shouldgo to the doctor, go to the
doctor, take an x-ray.
They're like we got to go intosurgery now.
I broke my foot in four spots.
(50:42):
He goes you're, you're done.
You're not playing this year.
Now Shane, who I beat out myjunior year, he would go play
quarterback my senior year.
I was a captain and I had tojust watch.
He would take us to the stateplayoffs first time in 20 years.
He would set single seasonpassing yardage record first
school and he was named secondteam all league and I had to
(51:03):
watch the best thing that everhappened in the yard yeah uh,
after the third game of theseason, because the first three
games, deep down I'm like I hopehe throws 14 interceptions, I
hope we lose, I hope he getshurt, I hope the team sucks,
cause I'm so important and theymiss me.
And false, false and false.
Now, that was true.
That was a story I was tellingmyself.
I was depressed, for sure, andsomething clicked in me where I
(51:27):
said this is not how it'ssupposed to go.
And I remember going to coachOsborne's office and I just said
hey, coach, you got a minute.
He's like yeah, I go.
I just want to let you know.
I'm so mad and angry and I justneed to get this off my chest.
I said I'm hoping you guys playlike shit.
I hope you guys suck.
I hope the team plays bad.
I hope, shane, I'm struggling.
I, he's like man, I'm so proudof you, I go.
(51:50):
Did you just hear what I said?
How could you be proud of that?
He goes because you're askingfor help, and this is what being
vulnerable is about.
He goes, he goes case.
We got a role for you.
We just got to figure it out.
He goes, I got it.
How about you go in the boothand you help me call plays know
this offense better than I do.
I'm like I do.
He's like, yeah, I.
(52:10):
I'm like, yeah, let's do it.
So I went from sadness,depression, anger to purpose,
got a role.
Now it was not the role Iwanted, but I remember crutching
down the field, gave the team aspeech, told him my role.
I'm on the sidelines, you know,freaking out, getting people
jacked up.
I played like two snaps.
(52:30):
My senior year.
Now, central Washington gave mea chance to be a walk-on, end
up being a three-year starter,all-american, my senior year and
all of it's.
Because of that moment, flashforward to business.
I went, I started in thedot-com crash.
I went to the 2008 world crisis.
I've been through 2014, 15,.
One of the biggest failures inour old company history, where
(52:52):
we had to lay off like 80 peopleovernight, goes back to.
I've been through this before.
So, um, I mean, that's why andeven now, like dads, it's like
dad sales leaders, companieslike I think people want to hear
the failures more than thesuccesses, so that we can relate
and we're genuine.
And then, because you only getto the success of the successes
(53:16):
and the big things we achieve inlife through the heartaches of
the tough times, you know, and Ithink sometimes people forget
to share those things.
I love sharing those thingsbecause it makes me more of a
real human.
Um, so I that I did not have 17or 18 D1 offers.
You got me there.
I didn't have one, but I love.
(53:38):
I love the story.
Okay, back to you.
If you were to say the threemost important things that you
and Janet are going to teachJoanna, pardon me are going to
teach your kids from a valueperspective, that will be like
man, I'm proud of them.
Tell me what comes to mind.
Speaker 2 (53:53):
Never give up Okay, never give up and have a
unwavering worth ethic.
Love it.
You know there was this um thisweek at dinner talking to the
kids my wife and I were.
This was part of the theme ofthe dinner.
(54:14):
You can't get frustrated.
You just got to keep pluggingaway.
You're going to get knockeddown several times, but it's how
you respond to that thatmatters.
Right, and make sure you investin yourself.
That was another thing wetalked about just two nights ago
(54:38):
, and when I said investment inyourself, the investment in
yourself is there's going to beso many distractions and more so
than when I was growing up.
I mean, they got the iPads, allthis stuff, their friends,
social media, all this stuff.
But make sure that every day,you put set aside a couple hours
(54:59):
for you to better you and makesure you hold yourself
accountable for that.
There's no, oh, I don't.
I don't feel like it today orI'm too tired.
No, you don't negotiate withyourself in that time that
you're making for yourself, Idon't care if it's an hour or
(55:23):
two hours.
Make sure every day you'reinvesting in yourself.
You're going to be pulled awayby games, your friends, me and
your mom, but make sure everyday, two hours a day, you invest
in yourself.
So that's what we told him thisweek, because it just came up
where hey, did you read today?
Did you, simon?
(55:45):
You know he's about to try outfor next week.
Did you work out today, asher?
Did you throw the ball today,did you?
Did you, simon?
You know he's about to try outfor next week.
Did you work out today, asher?
Did you throw the ball today?
Did you read?
Did you clean up your room?
Did you do the simple things?
Take care of things that areabout yourself.
Speaker 1 (55:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
And consistently.
You consistently do that.
You continue to grow andeverything else will happen, but
at least you took care of thethings that are going to better
yourself.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
So love it.
Such a good and you don't needto be a D1 athlete to get it.
You could be.
You know theater.
So you're going to practiceyour lines.
You're going to maybe you're inpiano practice piano.
It doesn't matter what I mean.
These are like great lifehabits.
I love that you guys areteaching those things.
Speaker 2 (56:33):
Tell me how you got into the wide world of staffing
and how people and then,secondly, how can people learn
more about the work you guys aredoing at Ronstadt?
Yeah, so funny thing I had awife who was in staffing.
She worked for a staffingcompany, um, while I was playing
um professionally and you know,bouncing from team to team, and
(56:55):
when I stopped playing she wasstill working for the staffing
firm.
And every day she'd come homeand say, you know, I got this
guy that you know he's madbecause this consultant was
doing this and this, this, this.
And I would just tell her I'dbe like sounds like you just
need to have a conversation.
It sounds like you just need to, like, bring people together.
(57:19):
And for me, like I was verysocial in that that's the part
of me.
I think that's my little gifthere, right, that's what I do
well, relationships, right.
And so I saw myself coachingher and she'd go and be like, oh
, guess what?
I did talk to them and Iconnected these guys and now we
(57:40):
have more business here.
Right, it worked for her, itwas simple, but she was
overthinking it, thinking thateverything was going to be the
end of the world.
It's like sometimes, talkingabout it with people, it's the
key right.
So I got an opportunity to startout with a company who was just
breaking into healthcare andthey were building this
(58:02):
healthcare division around EMRdeployments and switching from
paper to electronic.
So it was like a bubble, almostlike the bubbles that you were
talking about right Within uhtechnology.
So that was a bubble and Istarted at the ground level and
I said to myself, if I put thesame energy I put into being an
(58:23):
NFL athlete playing in CFL intothis, I'll be fine.
And that's what I did.
I took notes on every person Italked to.
I then asked a lot of questions, being curious.
That's why you know, thetraining you're doing now just
reminds me of what I did when Iwas early in this career, and
(58:46):
now I'm about 15, 16 years inthis field, and you just remind
me to continue to be curious,continue to learn, continue to
ask questions.
And you know, now I'm heretoday talking to you about it.
Speaker 1 (59:02):
So good If people want to, if people, let's say,
your stories inspired them.
They're like man, I got to meetthis art guy and they want to
connect with you.
What's the?
I don't know if you're anInstagram guy, a LinkedIn guy.
Tell me what's the best placethat people want to connect and
meet you or connect with youlive.
What's the best way they canfind you?
Speaker 2 (59:20):
Professionally.
I'm on LinkedIn.
You can find me there.
Something new that is I'mtrying out.
I just signed up for Instagram.
I was on Instagram a long timeago during COVID, and it was
more so around my cookingCooking.
(59:41):
I'm a big barbecue guy so Iwanted to video the process.
My neighbor and I built thisbig cooker like a smoker in our
backyard and we did.
We do whole hogs back there,we'll do pork butt, we'll do
everything.
So now I have an instagram sitethat I just stood up again
(01:00:04):
because my wife early on wetalked about my wife
transitioning to this new role,where it gives me some weekends
to do that, and so I started upagain and now I'm starting to
cook and I just post my cooks onthere.
So if you're a big barbecue fan, feel free to follow me on
there, but professionally,LinkedIn is probably the best
(01:00:25):
way.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Do you know your Instagram handle off memory.
Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
It is WesleyCh Barbecue Bandits.
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
Wesley.
Okay, I'm going to find thatI'm getting hungry just thinking
about this.
All right, well, before I letyou go, it's now time to go into
the lightning round Art, whereI show you the negative hits of
taking too many hits in collegenot bong hits, but football hits
at the quarterback positionShow you why I definitely have a
(01:00:54):
screw loose.
My job your job, is to answerthese questions as quickly as
you can.
My job is to get a giggle outof you.
All right, are you ready?
I'm ready?
Okay, true or false?
Your first NFL 40-yard dash was5.2.
False, okay, true or false?
(01:01:15):
Greg Peglieri can beat you in a40-yard dash.
False.
I just laughed at that one.
I lose already.
Okay, if we went back to Guyanaand they said what would be one
word that would describe art orthe Thomas family, what would
they say?
Leaders?
I like it.
Favorite comedy movie of alltime is.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Harlem Nights.
Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
Okay, tell me what would be one song or genre music
that might surprise your teamthat you listen to.
Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Jazz.
Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Okay, if I came to your house for dinner tonight,
what would you make me?
A steak, okay, I got gout.
I got easy on the red meat.
Do you got anything else?
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I can do fish, I can do anything.
Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
I can do chicken, I'll take chicken.
I think seafood's best for metoo.
If there was to be a bookwritten about your life, tell me
the title Perseverance.
Okay, now I do a littletraveling as well.
I'm trying to look forperseverance.
I went to the airport store.
They said not sold out.
I went to Amazon they're likeno, we can't print enough copies
, it's getting sold out tooquick.
Went to Barnes Noble sold out.
(01:02:34):
So Netflix has found out aboutperseverance art.
They're going to make a movieout of it.
You are the casting directornow and I need to know who is
going to star Art Thomas in thiscritically hit new movie on
netflix my son?
no, can't be family, can't befamily.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
What hollywood actor um um, he like, I like him, but
he wouldn't do great.
I am not sure.
That's a good question you gotme there.
Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
What about the Rock?
Let's go the Rock.
He used to play in the league.
Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Nah, he's Denzel.
Denzel's too polished.
He needs somebody a little bitmore rough around the edges what
about Kevin Hart?
And Get Hard yeah, that'spretty funny.
So you know the guy.
Oh, what is his name?
(01:03:42):
Not Idris, he played in this.
Have you seen that new F1 movie?
No, he's in that, um, and Iforget his name Right, and I've
only seen him in one other showand it was Snowfall.
(01:04:03):
He was really good.
I think.
Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but
Well, that dude's going to playit then.
Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
Yeah, yeah, I just had a brain fart.
I don't know why I can'tremember his name.
Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
It's okay, yeah, all right.
And then the last and mostimportant question tell me two
words that would describe Joanna.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
There's a lot of words.
I'm trying to pare it down.
Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
It's always a hard one, so that's the hesitation.
Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Is the right two words, Because I don't think I
want to just put two words onwhat she's been to me and you're
not giving me enough thereright.
Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
How about two words that are your, her, your
favorite qualities about herpassionate and loving?
Boom lightning round's complete.
We both giggled, I lose.
I laughed at my own jokes,which I tend to lose often.
Um, art, this has been anabsolute joy to spend time
everybody at home.
I showed art the script.
Before we started.
(01:05:07):
It was a blank page of paperand now I got a page of notes.
I hope you guys have notes athome too.
Listen to his story, which iscrazy inspiring, about belief,
about dreaming big, about habits, about work ethic, about
holding yourself accountable,about someone's going to do
something in life.
Why not you?
And the Thomas family hasproved that to be the case.
(01:05:29):
I can't wait to watch Asher inthe MLB when he goes big time.
I hope I get tickets one day.
When it comes to visit theMariners in town, please connect
with them.
Art and his team do a fantasticjob of delivering IT talent
across a lot of big brands, soif you want to learn more about
him, please connect with him.
(01:05:49):
Grateful brother, appreciateyour time and really, really
thank you for spending time withme today, and it's been fun
learning more about you.
Speaker 2 (01:05:57):
Thank you, casey, it was a blast.
It's always good to connectwith you.
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