Episode 68: Interview with Joe Pechauer of J. Pechauer Cues and Dan Bourget of Olhausen Billiards

On this episode of the WWIA Podcast, WWIA Founder and CEO, John McDaniel, is excited to welcome two remarkable entrepreneurs and tremendous supporters of the Foundation to the show, Mr. Joe Pechauer and Mr. Dan Bourget.

Joe Pechauer is the President and master cue maker behind J. Pechauer Custom Cues, a family-owned business that has become one of the most respected names in billiards craftsmanship. Starting in the early 1960s in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Joe and his father, Jerry, combined a passion for pool with an obsession for precision, building cues by hand in their basement workshop. Over time, his unmatched attention to detail, innovation in cue design, and dedication to players’ performance helped elevate the brand to international recognition. Joe’s legacy continued to grow as he recently brought his sons (Riley and Jake) into the craft, ensuring that the Pechauer commitment to quality would span generations. Known not only for his skill but also his humility and love for the sport, Joe has earned the admiration of professionals and enthusiasts alike, recently being inducted into the Wisconsin Billiards Hall of Fame.

Dan Bourget is the majority owner of Olhausen Billiards together with the founder, Donny Olhausen. Olhausen Billiards (The “Best in Billiards”) was founded in 1972 and has been proudly making high-quality, handcrafted pool tables and game tables for over 50 years. Located in Portland, Tennessee, Olhausen is the largest manufacturer of pool tables in the United States, known for traditional craftsmanship, innovative features, durability and value, making them a respected name in the billiards industry. Dan and his wife Paula live near Nashville Tennessee and together, they proudly run Olhausen Billiards. This is a wonderful episode that we’re proud to share with you.

Takeaways:

1. The WWIA Podcast is dedicated to honoring and supporting America's combat wounded Purple Heart Heroes through various initiatives.
2. Joe Pechauer of J. Pechauer Custom Cues emphasizes the importance of precision and craftsmanship in billiards, which has been handed down through generations.
3. Dan Bourget of Olhausen Billiards describes the significance of American-made products, highlighting the company's commitment to quality and innovation in pool tables.
4. The collaborative efforts between Pechauer Cues and Olhausen Billiards exemplify a shared dedication to community service and support for Veterans' organizations.
5. Both Joe and Dan express their deep respect for the sacrifices made by Veterans, contributing to their motivation to support the Wounded Warriors in Action foundation.
6. The podcast shares personal anecdotes reflecting the impact of billiards on community engagement, particularly among combat wounded Veterans.

To learn more about our friends and partners, please visit them online:

1. J. Pechauer Custom Cues- https://pechauer.com
2. Olhausen Billiards- https://www.olhausenbilliards.com

To see the remarkable Purple Heart Hero Pool Cue and the Purple Heart Hero Pool Table designed in honor of WWIA and America's combat-wounded Veterans, go to following link:

https://wwiaf.org/pechauer-and-olhausen-join-forces-to-honor-americas-combat-wounded-veterans

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Foreign.
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you. If you're

(00:21):
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing on thisepisode of the WWIA Podcast. WWIA
founder and CEO John McDanielis excited to welcome two remarkable
entrepreneurs and tremendoussupporters of the foundation to the

(00:43):
show, Mr. Joe Pechauer and Mr.Dan Bourget. Joe Pechauer is the
President and master cue makerbehind J. Pechauer Custom Cues, a
family owned business that hasbecome one of the most respected
names in billiardscraftsmanship. Starting in the early
1960s in Green Bay, Wisconsin,Joe and his father Jerry combined

(01:04):
a passion for pool with anobsession for precision building
cues by hand in their basementworkshop. Over time, his unmatched
attention to detail,innovation and cue design and dedication
to players performance helpedelevate the brand to international
recognition. Joe's legacycontinued to grow as he recently

(01:24):
brought his sons Riley andJake into the craft, ensuring the
Peach Hour commitment toquality would span generations. Known
not only for his skill butalso his humility and love for the
sport, Joe has earned theadmiration of professionals and enthusiasts
alike, recently being inductedinto the Wisconsin Billiards hall
of Fame. Dan Bourget is amajority owner of Olhausen Billiards,

(01:48):
together with the founderDonnie Olhausen. Olhausen Billiards,
the Best in Billiards, wasfounded in 1972 and has been proudly
making high qualityhandcrafted pool tables and game
tables for over 50 years.Located in Portland, Tennessee, Olhausen
is the largest manufacturer ofpool tables in the United States,

(02:09):
known for traditionalcraftsmanship, innovative features,
durability and value, makingthem a respected name in the billiards
industry. Dan and his wifePaula live near Nashville, Tennessee
and together they proudly runOlhausen Billiards. This is a wonderful
episode that we're proud toshare with you, so without further
delay, let's join theconversation now.

(02:37):
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action foundation and this isour podcast, Honor Connect, Heal.
So today I want to say I'm alittle bit nervous. I'm excited more
than I am nervous. I'm excitedbecause I have two titans of industry
with me on the podcast in theBilliards industry in particular.

(03:01):
And so with me today is JoePechauer of Pechauer Cues and Dan
Bourget of Olhausen Billiards.Welcome to the program, gentlemen.
Thanks, John.
Thank you. Great to be here.
Yeah, it really is great to betogether. Let me set the stage before
we start to talk about yourenterprise's respect, respectively,

(03:23):
but. And I don't reallyremember exactly how it all started,
and I should have asked David,but I'm a pool player and I've been
playing pool for, let's justsay, for the argument's sake, seriously,
45 years. I love the sport,always have loved the sport. And
so, you know, I've got a. I'vegot several pool cues. I never had

(03:47):
a Pechauer cue. They werejust, I don't want to say they were
out of my reach. It was sortof like, you know, they were, they
were always represented to mea standard that I didn't know that
I was like, really ready for,if you will. I don't know if that
sounds right or not, but. SoDavid started talking, works for

(04:08):
us. Started talking aboutthese pool cues with, with Pechauer.
And I said, absolutely, that'sa Wisconsin company. I said, my God,
I would be honored to dosomething with them. So the next
thing you know, you know,Olhausen comes into the picture and
I'm like, wow, I know thatname. That, that's. I've played on
an Olhausen tabl before.That's phenomenal. And then you guys

(04:29):
together came together, yourfriends is what I understand, have
known each other for sometime. And then in last year in Vegas,
you guys created Olhausen create a custom table for us, a
couple of them, I understand,one of which, or a couple of which
were auctioned off to raisemoney for the Foundation. And a.

(04:53):
And what it is that, that,that event that you guys do every
year, and I guess it's the BCAExpo was in Vegas earlier in the
year and you auctioned off oneof those tables and raised a pile
of money for the Foundationand Pechauer cues were involved.
And I think we ended up with20 of your cues and have been putting

(05:15):
them out there across thecountryside at auctions and people
buying them and, you know,associating your brand or your brands
with the WWIA. And I just gotto tell you, it's an amazing partnership.
I have to say thank you toboth of you for what you've done
by way of helping our nation'scombat-wounded with your energy and

(05:36):
your efforts and to beassociated with such high Quality
brands especially. I mean,we're not talking about sewing machines
here. We're talking about, youknow, billiards, which is something
near and dear to my heart. Ijust love the sport. And every time
I go to Camp Hackett now, andI'll shut up here in a minute, but
I was up there during the lastblizzard during Thanksgiving. I went

(05:57):
up there, I snuck up there andthere was the table. And one of my
best buddies, Stewie Strunze,came up and he is a phenomenal pool
player, always has been. Weplayed 35 games in one day during
a blizzard, during that bigblizzard. 35 games. I had a Pechauer
cue in my hand. We're playingon the Olhausen table. And it was

(06:18):
a marathon pool session. ButI'll never, ever forget that time.
And I have so much greatthings to say about your cues and
of course your tables, guys.So that's the introduction, so if
you don't mind, we'll startwith Joe Pichar. So tell us a little
bit, Joe, about yourenterprise. I'd love to hear your

(06:44):
story regarding these cues.And I know your, you and your father,
Your father started it fromwhat I understand, but if you would
just talk to us about that, please.
Well, basically my dad gotinto it because he was one of the
top players, pool players inthe area. And he won a pool match
one day against somebody andthey didn't have money to pay him,

(07:05):
like $2. He won back then inthe early 60s, and, and the guy gave
him a shaft for his cue and itwas broken. And so my dad had to
figure out how to fix it. Andit just kind of got from there. It
started spiraling to where hestarted doing repairs for other people,
buying the wrong machines andmaking the right ones. You know,

(07:27):
no machines were really madefor pool cues. You have to develop
it yourself. And reallythrough the years, finding out, trying
to research, find the rightmaterials, get, get them really to
where they are, same as today.We've been making them the same way
since the 80s, so we reallyhaven't changed anything. The quality,
we hope to keep gettingbetter, but the foundation is really

(07:47):
the same. Years back, we foundwe couldn't have a reliable source
for our wood. So we bought asawmill dry kiln and, and started
cutting all of our own woodfor ourselves. And so I go up to
the up a lot of times. My dadwill go with me and we, we actually
pick out the logs. We get themfrom areas to. Towards Camp Hackett,

(08:10):
way up in the upper. And westart right from picking out the
log and doing the whole process.
So is it maple, Is it maplethat you're using?
It's mostly. It's figuredmaple is the majority. It's bird's
eye or curly maple, which isreally hard to find. Really? Yeah.
But we'll get one of thosetrees off your, off your place one

(08:30):
of these days and make a bunchof cues for the vets. That would
be kind of cool.
Yeah. If you could tell me,you know, maybe we'll do this off,
off, you know, off thepodcast. But if you tell me what
you're looking for, I'll findif it's not on Camp Hackett because
we got a ton of maple andeverybody that sees it says, you
know, that's going to be that,that maple right there is going to

(08:51):
be great for if you want tomake, you know, maple sugar. It's
real dark maple, but it mightnot be what you're. What you're looking
for. But I, we have awoodturning association also in Wisconsin
that helps the foundation and,and you know, wood. I mean, I know,
I know guys who've owned, twoguys who've owned, you know, sawmills,
et cetera. That's a big thingup there. The properties in Price

(09:13):
County. It's, you know, soanyway, I think that I would like
to explore that idea down theroad. But you know, it's amazing.
So are you turning these. Arethese turned on lays?
Yeah. Basically the machines,we, we. Everything we do, we. You
have to pretty much build yourown machine to do it because you

(09:33):
just can't go to a, go to astore and buy these machines. So
it's developing them, gettingthem to run right. And, and really
getting, getting everythingfine tuned. And you know, I don't
think we ever try and I thinkjust looking at from where we are
to where we are now have beento where we are now, we really never

(09:54):
stop trying to be better. Andyou know, I think when you stop trying
to be better, you just, you'renot, you're not as good anymore.
You know, I agree with that.
We always trying to be betterand keep doing our thing the best
we can.
I just want to chirp in. Ivisited Joe's factory and I've been
a manufacturing guy my wholelife and I'm blown away by the precision

(10:16):
that goes into his cues. Youcan buy cues from anywhere, right?
And imported cues, cues inAmerica, but the precision and care
that they put into their cuesis just unbelievable to me. They're
really, they're really likeit. I liken it to working on jewelry
or some piece of art. I mean,the intricacy, the precision, how
the inlays fit, the way theybuild up the shaft so that they don't

(10:41):
deflect. I mean, just havingin Joe, you know, he's not this guy
who shows up once a week. Heis in the shop just like this morning
I tried to call him on the wayto work and he's out in the shop.
You know, that's. And thatsays a lot. And that's rare nowadays
to see somebody that's sohands on and cares about it. So.
So I share your peach Hour Q obsession.

(11:02):
Now.
I had no cues of my own threeyears ago and now I have a few peach
hours and you know, they're inmy prized possessions. They're just
beautiful works of art and youknow, and they, they play great.
I don't play great, but theyplay great. It's really amazing.
Yeah, no, you know, and by theway, I have to say, you know, when

(11:24):
we were, when we were upthere, you know, your Joe, your,
your sons Riley and Jakeshowed up to present us with a large
check when we had the heroesin town for an event. And I just
have to tell you, your sonsare amazing people and you've done

(11:44):
well with them. Theyrepresented your brand, you, your
company, exceptionally well.They're a joy to be around. They're
humble, they're knowledgeable,they're fun, they're engaging. They're
everything that you could. Ihave two young sons. I got a late
start in the game, but I'vegot an 11 year old and a 9 year old

(12:06):
and here I am looking at yourboy and I'm thinking to myself, you
know, I hope someday somebodysays something like that about my
boys when they're, you know,in their 20s, which I think you're,
you're both your boys are now,but they're fine young men and you
know, I'm sure you're quiteproud of them, you know, as you should
be. It was a, it was apleasure to get to meet him. I have

(12:27):
one quick story and then we'llget, you know, we'll go, Dan, I want
to, we want to talk aboutOlshausen and your amazing pool tables
and that's not all that you dothere at the factory, so we can chat
more about that. But so here Iam. I've always been taught, you
know, don't break with yourcue. You know, if you're going to

(12:47):
play with this cue, don'tbreak with it. So I'm I'm, you know.
And Olhausen, when your tableshowed up, there was a package with
it that had some really finepool cues in it. They're just. I
don't know who manufacturedthose for you. There was a box of
pool cues underneath there andsome chalk and all of this. And so.
But they're solid cues. So Iwas using one of those to break,

(13:09):
and one of the boys, and Ican't remember if it was Riley or
Jake, said, you know, what areyou doing, man? I was like, well,
you know, I don't want tobreak with your cue. They're like,
dude, that's Wisconsin maple.You know, so, you know, I still don't
want to break with it, but,you know, it's an amazing cue. It's
so true and so beautiful. AndI know that the one thing I'll never

(13:33):
be able to say, going on tothis idea of quality and never ceasing
to improve. Never ceasing toimprove yourself and never ceasing
to improve your enterprise.And that includes your families as
well, I think. Right. And yourrelationship with people and all
of this. But I totallysubscribe to that. As a matter of
fact, I said, someday, if theysaid, hey, man, you can only have

(13:54):
one word on your gravestone.What's your word? My words, improving,
you know, that, that, that,that. That's my word. And I'm all
about it. So I. I respectthat. You don't get to achieve excellence
by just rolling out of bed oneday and going, you know, I think
I'm going to be great today,or I think I'm going to make a great,
you know, pool cue or greatpool table. So, you know, I genuinely,

(14:17):
you know, appreciate, youknow, what. What you've built there,
Joe, and meeting your familywas. Was a. And obviously the resource
that you provided for ourheroes is just amazing.
Oh, glad to do it.
Absolutely.
So let's shift gears a littlebit. I know you guys are friends,
and I know we'll have somedialogue about that here in a bit,

(14:41):
but, Dan, tell us about this.I saw a video. I went to your website,
I've been to both yourwebsites, and I went to the Olshausen
website, and there's thisvideo where I think you've got a
drone going through thewarehouse. And I was, like, blown
away because I did not expectto see what I saw on the Olshausen

(15:01):
website. So if you would sharewith us a little bit about your enterprise,
your connection with Olhausenand what's going on there in Tennessee.
Sure, yeah. First, that is avery cool video. I was blown away
when I first saw it too. Wehad a guy come in and offered to
do that for us and the qualityof it and it kind of gives me goosebumps
flying through the factory.And first thing you see is the huge

(15:23):
American flag that we havehanging in the center of the factory
and then highlighting all ofour American work with workers, you
know, sanding and cutting andhand hand forming all of the, the
products that we make. So itis a really cool video and I would
encourage everybody to go toohausandbilliards.com and scroll
down to the bottom and checkout that video. It's pretty cool.

(15:43):
But yeah, I mean, I know we'regoing to talk about this, but you
know, Joe and I are goodfriends. We met a couple years ago
at the BCA. I think maybe the2023 BCA. We might have met and didn't
know each other at all beforethen, but I knew of the legend, let's
say of Peach over and I methim and I met his boys and you know,

(16:03):
just, I think since thenwe've, we just hit it off really
well. Joe and I have verysimilar philosophies on, I think
on life. We're both veryfamily oriented. I have four children
and seven grandchildren andwe're both all about family and we're
both very hard workers. Youknow, Joe's in his factory 10 hours
a day. I'm in my factory 10hours a day. We care about quality,

(16:26):
we care about the end product.We care about America first. We care
about American made. You know,we're both pushing and striving to
make it in America while mostother brands have moved offshore
and are importing. So I thinkwe both have very similar thinking
and then supporting goodcauses. You know, we're both in,

(16:47):
not necessarily in this forthe money. We're in it because we
enjoy what we do and we likegiving back. And so this, this whole
collaboration was broughtabout by Peach Hours. They, they
approached me on it and I wasall in. I mean, I think it turned
out to be a fantastic thing.We can talk about that a little more.
But yes, yeah. My start withold, My start with Olshausen goes

(17:09):
back about three years now. SoDonny Olshausen started this business
with his, with his brother in1972 in San Diego, California. And
they, they grew it from justselling like a table a week to now
we've shipped over 700,000pool tables. And so it's a really,
you know, we are the largestmanufacturer of pool tables and game

(17:33):
room accessories in America.And so we're pretty proud of that.
And in 2006 they moved thefactory from California to Nashville,
not because of all thepolitics that people talk about nowadays,
but because that's the centerof our universe for shipping pool
tables. So as you can imagine,shipping a pool table with £450 of

(17:55):
slate from California to NewYork or to Florida is a costly endeavor.
So spotting the factorysomewhere dead center of our shipments
made sense. So they did that.And Tennessee is a great place to
build great workforce, greatpeople, great ethics. So brand new
factory in 2006. 270,000square feet. All very modern equipment

(18:21):
and, you know, safety andeverything from spray booth to CNC
machines. So it's a greatbusiness. Donnie bought out his brother
during that move in 2006. SoDonnie's been the sole owner from
2006 until 2023 when heapproached me, a friend, through

(18:41):
a friend of a friend, to comehelp him with the business. And I've
been in manufacturing my wholelife. I worked for a Fortune 200
company called Illinois ToolWork TW since I was a puppy right
out of college. And, and soI've got a lot of experience in manufacturing
and business to business sortof things and business, to distribution
sort of businesses. And. Andso I came and talked to Donnie and

(19:05):
it evolved into me becoming apartner in the business. So I'm now
a majority partner in OlhausenBilliards. And Donnie gets the rest
he deserves. He's 70, mid 70,74, 75 I think now. And he gets to
kick back a little bit insteadof being the guy that' till 8 o'
clock at night checking stuff.He gets to come in a couple hours

(19:25):
a day, do the things he like.He does customer service, he talks
to longtime dealers, longtimecustomers, and keeps. I say he's
the watcher of our culture.You know, he comes in and maintains
and makes sure that thingsstill feel like Olshausen while I'm
in the background trying to,you know, sort of modernize some
things and, you know, give ita new kick of energy and some new

(19:48):
eyes on the business. Sothings like we're doing with Joe
and thing, other things thatwe're doing in the Marketplace. So
since 2023, my wife and I,Paula, have, have been running the
business. And I don't know,it's a, it's a fun thing. I come
from a sort of an industrialbackground with Illinois Tool Works.
And I like to say we buildtoys all day long. Now I build pool

(20:09):
tables, shuffleboards,foosballs, air hockeys, indoor and
outdoor versions. And it'sjust a pleasure to come into work.
Probably like Joe coming inand smelling wood all day long. And
wood chips for me, I mean, Ithink that's a blessing. When I first
got here, I told everybody hownice it is to come into the factory
and smell the wood all daylong. I was in a steel plant right

(20:33):
before Olshausen running agolf shaft manufacturing company.
After I retired, I was doingthat for a while as a consultant
running a factory. And a worldof difference between running a steel
factory and a wood factory interms of, you know, how nice it is
to come in every day. Sothat's kind of my background and.
And how I got involved withOlshausen. And so we're living the

(20:57):
dream. It's a great brand,great product, great distributors,
great dealers, and greatfriends that I've met like. Like
Joe. I mean, I consider that areal blessing, too, to meet him and
his family, his wife Polly,they're all just wonderful people.
You know, speaking of qualityand pool tables, when I first got

(21:18):
up there and saw this tablethat you guys built, it's got purple
heart metal, replica of thepurple heart metal on both ends of
the pool table where you wouldbreak and inlays with a wreath that's
on the purple heart metal allthe way around where the spots or
dots would be. And it's gotthe wood Purple heart, you know,

(21:45):
would like or, you know, Imean, it's stained in the purple.
The felt is purple. It's justthe pockets are leather. Anyway,
the. Just looking at thisthing is kind of intimidating if
you're a pool player, butplaying on it, that goes away immediately
because when you start runningyour hand across the felt and then
you start seeing the way, youknow. And I like, again, I'm a. I'm

(22:09):
a pretty experienced poolplayer, but I've never played on
a table that. Is that true?And the. You. You know, we've seen
balls that'll hang up on apocket, like on the edge of the pocket.
Just sit there like you didn'tmake a perfect shot. And it'll. It'll
roll down there. And most ofthem will go one way or the other.
They'll never get that closeto the edge of the pocket. But, you

(22:31):
know, those bumpers are quiteamazing. The craftsmanship. Craftsmanship's
crazy. And the guy that MikeReed, who was there when it was installed,
and I don't remember thegentleman's name. He mentioned it,
but one of your top installerswho, who essentially assembled the
table right there at CampHackett in the bunkhouse, which is
now the centerpiece to thebunkhouse at Camp Hackett, he's told

(22:54):
Mike he took a dollar bill andI guess you've got a level that's
like a machine level, right?So he took a dollar bill and he put
it underneath the level whenthe table was leveled and it registered
the difference between thedollar bill being there and the dollar
bill not being there.
Yeah, difference between goodand great is

(23:15):
that dollar bill says to, hesays to Mike, he goes, mike, tell
him not to move this.
Yeah, that was my guy, Rex.
I'm pretty sure it was Rex. Itwas Rex.
He's, he's the Jedi Masterwhen it comes to setting up pool
tables. I underestimated what,you know, what goes into that when
I joined a couple years ago.And then at the BCA show, I got to

(23:38):
help set up a couple tables.And there's so much nuance that goes
into setting one up. I gaineda, a tremendous amount of respect
for all, everything that goesin. You think it's a big piece of
slate, it should be prettyeasy to level, but there's so much
tweaking that goes involved toget it right. And. Yeah, and I see,
you know, you'll see peoplewith like a carpenter level as a
joke almost trying to level atable. And, you know, you, you can't

(24:01):
even come close with that. Sowe do use machinist levels. Stare
at machinist levels that arevery, very, very precise to the point
of where if you stick a dollarunder one end of a 16 inch level
on the table, it's gonna, it'sgonna throw the bubble off by one,
one whole line. And so, youknow, just two or three dollar bills
and your table's out of level,and that's not very much.

(24:22):
That's, that's crazy. Well,you tell Rex, on behalf of our nation's
combat wounded, that, youknow, he get, he, he gets a big sharp
salute and he did it, did agreat job there. You know, I want
to switch over to, to Joe fora second because, you know, Dan,
you just mentioned something Iwant to talk about, and that is culture,
right? That's, you know, I'vealways been a student of culture.

(24:47):
I've been in organizations, ofcourse. I was in the military for
20 years, so I was probablyin, in that same period of time.
I was probably in 12 or 13different organizations in that 20
year period. Units. If youWill. And so I have a great deal
of experience with culture.And then when I got out of the militaries
and, you know, did some workin the civilian world and business

(25:12):
and enterprise. And so I'vebeen in a lot of organizations, and
I've always been kind ofdialed into this idea of culture.
The military refers to it, atleast the army does, as command climate.
Like, that's the way civilianswould say, you know, the culture
of the organization. Themilitary would say the command climate,
because they hang thatclimate, that they hang the responsibility

(25:36):
for that climate on thecommander. So that commander is responsible
if the unit's gone to hell andmorale is really low. You know, there's
something there with thecommand, you know, culture or climate,
if you will. So I just wantto. I want to ask you, Joe, for just

(25:56):
a moment to talk about, youknow, Peach Hours, you know, what
your perception of the climatethere. You know, what. What would
you say? Talk to us aboutthat. Because what you're kicking
out there, if you're a poolplayer and you don't have a Peach
Hour cue, you should get one.You know, they're beautiful, but

(26:18):
they play amazing. I've playedwith a lot of pool cues. I just never
played with one that is thatfine and that true. So tell us about
the culture there at Peach Hour.
Well, the main thing, itreally starts with is everybody around
me that, that I come in towork with every single day, from

(26:38):
my sales guys up front whohave been here 25 and 30 years, to
the eight or nine people Ihave in the shop that have been there
in upwards of 5 to 7 to 20 and30 years also. So longevity. I've
been very fortunate withhaving people here. And I think,

(27:00):
because the culture is, I. Ilead by example and what, what I
expect to do, I wouldn'texpect somebody to do what I wouldn't
do myself. And that's why Itry to get here before people do,
and I try to leave at leastwhen they do. And it's. It's a family
vibe here. You know, everybodyfrom younger to middle age to older,

(27:25):
men, women, everybody goesthrough things in their life and
it's understanding that. Andit's years ago, I would think it's
almost like a kindergartenclass. You're a teacher and you got
all these different attitudesnow as people get older in life,
it's more about what's goingon in their world. And you really

(27:46):
never know what's going on insomebody's head while they're working
during the day, if they'rehaving a good day, a bad day if they
have major life trauma. Butwhen that does happen, I work with
that person, and I want tohelp them the best I can. And. And
I. It's kind of. Kind of theway I've always done it, and it.

(28:10):
It works out for me. And wejust, we joke around. We're not afraid
to say anything to each other,and it's. And I. I have a feeling
Dan's culture and his companyis about the same because we kind
of both have the same type ofpersonality that if you can't. If
you can't have fun and make itfun during your day, it's. Nobody
wants to go to work, you know?

(28:30):
Right, right. You know,that's. That's well said. And I want
to. I want to ask. And thenI'm gonna. I'm gonna jump over to
Dan in a minute and ask himthe same kind of question. But, you
know, how. Think I'm justcurious, like, how do you, as the
guy in charge, you know, howdo you. How do you keep your finger
on the pulse of the climate ofthe organization? Like, for me, with

(28:53):
the foundation, you know, nowvery diversified, right. I mean,
there. There are 40 somemissions across the country. I'm
at maybe three of them a year.You know, I mean, I used to be at
all of them, but that was whenthere was only, you know, maybe 15
or 20. Now there's. It'sgrown. And so I can stay connected
to the culture by, you know,hey, looking at the pictures, hey,

(29:15):
talking during the afteraction review, you know, what happened,
talking to the guides, youknow, this sort of thing. And then
there's a culture right herein this office, the headquarters.
It's not very big, but, youknow, I try to keep my finger on
the. On the, you know, theculture here. And I do that through
lots of ways, I think, anyway.But I'm just interested in, you know,

(29:39):
how do you, as the guy incharge, you know, how do you gauge,
you know, the. Where theculture is, you know, in the organization?
Because it's kind of anebulous thing, but it always sort
of aims towards people, right,And. And how people are behaving
and how are they performing? Idon't know. I mean, it's just. It's.
It's.
It's kind of like a Rubik'sCube, you know, it's not the easiest

(30:02):
thing in the world to sort offigure out, but when it's right,
you know, it's right. Whenit's not right, you kind of know
it's not right. I just wantyour thoughts on that.
Well, I, I guess culture wise,you know, for so many years I had
what I would kind of call thedream team. A lot of people that
really developed and gave usour core company. I never imagined

(30:26):
I'd be starting over,especially now at, at this point
in my life. But throughtransition, through people retiring,
all of a sudden I have thatnew younger class in people are really
getting good. And as they getgood, they get more responsibilities,
they get more important in thecompany, they start making more money

(30:48):
and it's just everything,everything that comes out of this
company is a result of all thepeople that are, that are working
with me. And I never say forme because I, I, I hate the idea
of being called a boss. I, Ijust, I, I like to work with people
and we're all, we're all partof the same thing. I'm just the one

(31:10):
that has to have the headachesthat, you know, that go, that go
with it, right?
The buck stops right there.You're responsible for everything
that happens and fails tohappen. And I like to take responsibility
for all the, all the screwups, you know, because I go, hey,
the buck stops here. It givespermission to, for people to, to,
to, to, to make mistakes andto try their hardest. You know, it's

(31:31):
like, listen, I, that I didn'tgive the right amount of guidance
or I didn't, you know, sort ofthing that, but that's my, that's
my default setting. You don'tdo it because I know it puts people,
you know, at ease. But, but Ido it because I always look for the
thing that if something goessouth or didn't go exactly as planned,
you know, what could I havedone to maybe prevent that from happening?

(31:55):
But if on the other side ofthe coin it goes great, then it's
just a great opportunity tohighlight the people who help make
it happen. Right? I mean,that's right. You just deflect that.
Because I go, I just reallydidn't have anything to do with that.
Right. I was just happened tobe the guy that started this thing
and all you people out thereare doing such amazing things. It's
just humbling to be, you know,a person that has, you know, the

(32:19):
helm in his handsperiodically. So, But I want to,
I want to. And thanks forsharing that, Joe. I appreciate that.
I'm always interested in it.As a student of, you know, organizational
culture and leadership, I justlove to talk to guys and gals who
are in charge of stuff andhave this discussion. But, Dan, I'd

(32:40):
love to hear from you on theidea of culture. You're the one that
brought it up, so you kind ofgot me going down this rabbit hole.
Well, it's something youtouched on, and I think the way I
say it is responsibility getspushed down in the organization.
They're responsible, butaccountability flows up.
Yeah.
So when the hits the fan, youknow, we're there to sort of coach

(33:02):
and shield and protect ourpeople and not hang them out the
drive. But I want them to beresponsible. I want them to make
decisions. I want them to knowhow I think and eventually, you know,
have them be able to makedecisions, you know, as I would make
them or better. They're.They're closer to the. To the front
line, to use a militaryanalogy. And, you know, sometimes

(33:25):
they don't see the big pictureof what's going on, and that's my
responsibility to communicatethat and the. The what and the why
of what we're doing. Yeah, thewhat and the why is pretty important
to communicate the how I thinkthey can accomplish if they know
the what and the why. And.
And so.
So that's kind of how I liketo think about it.
It's a great way of saying it.You know, in the military, we. We
talk about, you know, thecommander's intent. You know, like,

(33:49):
I'm not going to tell you howto seize. I mean, I'm going to give
me a mission. Seize hill 1, 2,3, 4. Okay.
Yeah.
Tasks. Seize hill 1, 2th, 3,4. Purpose. Protect Bravo company's
right flank. Okay. I'm notgoing to tell you how to do that.
I just told you the task andthe purpose of it. And I know you're
better at me. Me better thanme at doing it. So go out there and
do it. And if it goes bad oryou need help in the process, 911

(34:12):
me, man. Because that's whatI'm here to do is help you. Exactly
right.
That's exactly right. We'rehere to clear roadblocks, to clear
obstacles.
Right.
Provide cover, you know.
Exactly. Yeah. No, that's right.
And outside of that, man,they're the ones that get stuff done.
They're.
They're closest to the action.So those spot decisions are super
important. I don't needsomebody running to me every time

(34:32):
they have a customer on thephone and the customer needs taken
care of in some way.
They.
They know they don't have tocome and ask, hey, Dan, the guy's
not happier. The rails gotscratched during shipment, you know,
Just take care of it.
Make it happen. That's right.
No, I will never be mad ifthey've taken care of a customer.
Yeah, long term, that's whatit's all about. So.
Yeah, and you know, in my, inmy turn, you know, in my turf, you

(34:55):
know, the customers, thecombat wounded, and I've got this,
this. You've met them, some ofthe guides that are on this team,
you know, and those wounds.We've got now 30 trained professionals
who've been through our guideschool that we've been grooming for
some of them for 20 years. Andwe're always adding new guys and

(35:16):
gals to the roster of guidesthat are also Purple Heart recipients.
But we ran over the weekend,started on Thursday and finished
yesterday. This leadershipdevelopment program, it was the pilot
course, the start of thisprogram. And the idea, the attempt,
intent, Intent of that is tofocus on our guides. Right. And,

(35:38):
and, and help them to betterunderstand me and my thinking and
who I am. Like. And, and Iknow that sounds crazy, but I, I
gotta tell you, I wasthinking, I think, I think about
this a lot ago. Okay. How didit, you know, so maybe there's. When
I was a lieutenant, there's mybattalion commander, my brigade commander
and my division commander. SoI maybe see the division commander,

(36:00):
you know, once a year. I seethe brigade commander, the full colonel
you know, once a month. I seethe battalion comm. Once a week.
But it, it's not. Aslieutenant. I didn't get to like,
interact with him a whole lot.You know, I just, I just looked at
this uniform and okay, he'sgot the CIB was in Vietnam. He's
got the right shoulder patch,he's got a master parachute, his

(36:20):
badge, you know, and he justwalks around like you in this. You
know, you just look at him,you go. Just by virtue of his position.
Gravitas.
Yes, exactly right. Exactlyright. You know, where the French
might say the je ne sais quoi,you know, what is it about, about
this person that makes me wantto be like them? And how in the world

(36:41):
could I possibly everreplicate that for my, for the people
that work for me? Like howone, you got to be genuine. You got
to be yourself. You got. Andto me, what my default setting goes
to is setting and establishingand, you know, enforcing high standards
of performance and in yourcase, creating, you know, gaming

(37:03):
tables and, you know, and, youknow, in your case, making, you know,
in another case, me making thefinest, you know, pool cues on the
planet. You know, those. Thereare standards involved in that process
line, that production line,probably, if you were just to say,
like, you know, how manystandards are involved in the creation

(37:24):
of a, of a pool cue, you go,wow. I mean, how much time do you
got, dad? Right.
Starting with picking the trees.
Exactly right. You and yourdad going out and picking trees in,
in pretty amazing in Michiganor, or Wisconsin, you know.
Right.
And everything from how itgets cut to how it gets transported
to how it goes into the kiln,how it gets cut, you know, put on
the lathe. I mean, if you justwere to think about the standards

(37:47):
involved in, in, in our work,your work, there's a lot of them.
So I'm, I'm a guy that'salways like setting, trying to set
the bar high, you know, arealistic expectation for a very
high standard of performance.And I think it's the boss's job in
your own way to make sure thatthose standards, you know, that is

(38:10):
upheld, that people are awareof what they are, because that goes
to expectations ofperformance. You know, in your case,
both of your cases, you'reproducing a product, that product's
going out the door. You know,I'm more in the service industry.
How do you put your finger onhow well you did by serving these
combat wounded veterans? Well,a lot of that, a lot of those times
it's, hey, look at that smile.Hey, read that testimonial. Hey,

(38:33):
go talk to him. It's not myopinion that matters about what we
just did. It's his opinionthat matters. Because we say it's
like me having your pool cueand, you know, you know, your, your
pool cue, A peach hour poolcue in my hand or playing on an old
house and table. Right. I justlove it. I get so excited about it.
But when, when I'm around guyslike you, I just go, man, we should

(38:54):
do more of this kind of thing.Because leaders don't get a chance
often to, you know, circle thewagons and bump heads and, and share
and exchange information.Because I'm always wanting to get
better, and I feel like I getbetter. You know, I know you guys
both got great stories, but,you know, I want to say, Joe, I understand
you are in the hall of Fame, aBilliards hall of Wisconsin Billiards

(39:17):
hall of Fame. Tell me about that.
It's just a vote that comes upevery year. They usually nominate
players. So I was fortunate toget into that. And actually two years
ago, my dad got, and I gotinto the International Billiards
hall of Fame, so. So yeah,there's a, there's A couple of them
out there. But honestly, it'sthose awards to me, I think are.

(39:41):
I. They're. They're awesomeand I, I appreciate them, but it's
really seeing the product andmeeting people like Dan in the industry,
being in a position to be ableto help your organization and see.
See what that can. That givesme more joy than any money or any
product we've ever given, youknow, for the cause. And, and that

(40:04):
in my life right now isreally, you know, I've been doing
this over 45 years. You know,the same thing, same, same every
day, and turned pretty muchinto a workaholic. If you ask my
wife, she'll say absolutely.But when getting to this point, it's
sponsoring juniors, which Danand I are both, both very passionate

(40:25):
about.
Checking that out on, On. Onyour social media. That's cool.
You know, that. And, And. Andreally, you know, we help. We like
to help breast cancer. Andthen really it's you guys. And you
guys turned into our top. Ourtop one now because all. All it took
was meeting, meeting your guysin Vegas and hearing their stories,

(40:46):
being so inspired. I got. Igot my coin and I was presented that
when we had a dinner and therewas not a dry eye at the table, and
we had 16 people at thattable. And that's what this organization,
when you really see the bigpicture, that's what it does to me,

(41:11):
my team here. And I think Ican speak for Dan because I know.
I know how he thinks in hisheart too. And just to be able to
be a part of helping in somelittle way is amazing.
It really is. I appreciatethat. And I gotta tell you, I still
am like that too. There aremoments where I have to just walk

(41:33):
away and collect myself andgo, okay, take a deep breath. It
never goes away from me. Itnever goes away. I was not wounded
in combat. I. I have been incombat. And just the idea of. And
some of these guys have. Orsome of them are still on active
duty, and they're like, their13th or 14th deployment, and they

(41:56):
got two or three purplehearts. Some of the guys were only
in for a year or less and gothurt, injured, wounded, earned a
Purple Heart, and because oftheir wounds, were. Were discharged
from active duty. So we haveeverything in that spectrum in our
space, but the one thing theyall share is the fact that they bled

(42:19):
in our country's uniform. AndI just have a super soft spot. And
I always have, for the averagesoldier, the person that just said,
hey, I want to go serve mycountry and raise their right hand
and went off someplace inharm's way and did their job and
just unfortunately, you know,got wounded and, and, you know, they

(42:40):
all say, well, it just wasn'tfast enough, or, you know, Acer,
I just, you know, I couldn'tget out of the way of that one, you
know, or whatever the casemight be. But yeah, it's a very humbling
space for me and, and I hopethat never, ever goes away. And if
it does, I'll, I'll hang up mytennis shoes and be. And pass the
reins on to somebody else. Butif it weren't for great country or

(43:01):
companies and people like, youknow, you two, we wouldn't be where
we are. And for me to sit heretoday and be able to meet you, both
of you, and have aconversation about how you've helped
elevate the foundation andthose that we serve, See the faces
on the guys, just a bunch ofguys sitting around playing pool

(43:25):
now in the bunk house, that isjust incredible to me. We had a guide
school up there, a safetysymposium, and, and, and here's five
or six combat wounded purpleart recipients and myself, you know,
playing pool in a, you know,on a rotational basis. Winner keeps

(43:46):
on the table, stays on thetable. And I, I, you just, it's,
it's relaxing. We, we focus onoutdoor, you know, sporting activities,
but this is an indoor sportingactivity, you know, and we're still
doing something. But guys are,these guys are all competitive. Right.
Great.
Still competitive again.
Still competitive, you know,and, and just,

(44:07):
just a little bit of friendly.
It's so great, you know, and so
there's your mind ofeverything, too. When you're playing
pool, you've got to. I mean, Iunderestimated that, too. The strategy
and the thinking.
Yes.
You know, you're alwaysthinking about the next shot, but
it's not the next shot. It's.It's the shot after that and the
one after that.
That's right.
Cue ball placement. There's somuch going on.

(44:28):
Yeah. You know, I want to tellyou real quick. Maybe this, I would
imagine, maybe, maybe Joe,this might be a name that resonates
with you, but I was a studentat the University of Wisconsin, and
I guess I got there in 1983,and I graduated in 86, went on active

(44:49):
duty in 87. But there was aplace called Cunique Billiards. Okay.
Yeah, it was just off of Statestreet. And I was on my way home
and a guy by the name, I knewhis name was Jerry. I had to look
it up this Morning. So I hadto find. With exactly right. Yes.
He was my instructor.
He is a legend and a greatfriend. Yes.

(45:10):
Yeah. He's a friend of yours?
Yes, Very good friends.
My God. Okay. I got goosebumpswhen you. When you see. When you
next meet, say, tell him you.He will not remember who I am. Okay?
There's just no way. I wasjust a student of his, right? And
he had a son, if I rememberproperly, who was also playing and
very talented, and he was myinstructor for a while, too. So I

(45:32):
didn't have a lot of money.Okay. At the time, I was a student.
Student. But I would scrapetogether enough money to go in there
on the way home. As I waswalking, you know, my. My apartment
was. You know, I went pastCunyque. It's no longer there. And
that breaks my heart. But, youknow, it was. It was an old Madison
pool hall, and you just walkedinto that place, and it just. You

(45:53):
know, you'd go up the stairs,and you got up there, you were just
like, whoa. Like, it just. Itsmelled like a pool hall. It looked
like a pool hall. What anamazing place. But I remember he
had me work on my stance for,like, two days, and. And I didn't.
I mean, I didn't get to shoot.I got to shoot one ball in the pocket,

(46:16):
in the pockets. He made me dothat for two sessions, and I was
getting a little frustrated,like, man. But he was. You talk about
standards, man. I mean,everything from how you. You know,
how you're holding the cue,you know, you're placing in your
legs, your body position, allof that. He was just a fundamental.
Like. Like all good coaches,like, we got to work on these fundamentals.

(46:38):
Your base is super importanthere, and we're not going to. I was
thinking I was going to bebusting balls and racks and shooting,
you know, hey, how do youshoot this shot and all that? But
no. And so I have to creditJerry for the fundamentals of. Of
my stance to this day. And Ijust thought he was great, and so
was his son, and I wanted to.I wanted to mention his name because

(46:58):
he. He was a big part of mylife back then.
Then he is amazing. And thereare. There were countless. Countless
pros that are where they arebecause of Jerry.
Really? Yes.
He is. He is arguably the bestcoach in the world. Best ever. He
really is.
Wow.
Yeah.
I didn't know that.
Very fortunate.
Makes me feel good. Yeah.
He lives in Arizona half ofthe year, then comes back to Madison

(47:21):
the other half.
So.
Yeah.
Does he?
Yeah. Amazing, amazing guy.
Yeah, I would love to have abeer with that guy. I mean, and his.
His son was super cool, too.Like, he was also a very good PO
player and a very goodinstructor, and I just. Some of my.
My fondest memories. And thenwhen it. When Kunique went away,
I was, like, heartbroken. Youknow, I went back to Madison just

(47:43):
to play there one day, and itwas gone.
And I was like, oh, man.
Well, all you got to do is letJerry know you'll be in Arizona.
He'll have you stay at hishouse, right on the golf course there,
and he'll take care of you.
I'm gonna. I'm gonna find. I'mgonna hunt him down, and I'm gonna
send him a note. He won'trecognize me from a hole in the wall,
but that's okay. I didn't. Ihad no idea he was that big of a

(48:04):
deal. But I just feel honoredto. You know, I've been around him,
now that you say that, sothat's great, guys. I got to tell
you, this is. This has beenawesome. I'm going to leave you guys
with an opportunity, you know,to, you know, get the last word in
here and, you know, let's gowith you, Dan, first, you know, anything

(48:25):
you'd like to, you know, sharewith us or thoughts that you'd like
to leave us with?
Sure. I've got just a couplethings I would be remiss if I didn't
mention on that table that wedesigned, of course, Joe and I are
like Chip and Dale, going backand forth. When we get going on a
topic, drives everybody aroundus nuts because they. They can't
keep up with our fast pacedevolution of design. Okay, so getting

(48:49):
to that queue and that table,you know, over the course of six
weeks, we were constantlybouncing ideas off each other. Joe
made the sites for the table.We got the purple heartwood, as you.
You indicated, for the rails.He made the cue out of purple heart.
We got a purple heart standfor it. So there was a lot of stuff
going on, but. But ColbyOlhausen was pretty instrumental

(49:10):
in making that thing happen.He's the son of Donnie, and he actually
built the table. He designedit with the stars. He found the replica
purple hearts and the ribbon.And so Colby's actually in charge
of our design group now.
Okay.
You know, it's. He's justreally in a. In a great spot. He's
forgotten more about billiardsthan I'll ever know. And he's just

(49:30):
a super creative guy, sogetting him Getting Joe's input.
You know, Colby wasinstrumental in making that come
together. We built five ofthose. I think you've got two. Well,
I think we raffled one off. Weput one in the clubhouse, and I just
donated one to a place here inNashville called Matthew 25 House,
and it's a. It is a shelterfor men. Oh, wow. Including wounded

(49:55):
veterans. And so, again, thatjust warmed my heart when they approached
me to say, hey, is there.We've got this clubhouse here, and
it would be great if you have.Could you donate some kind of pool
table? And me having those. Acouple of them still left here. You
know, I couldn't think of abetter opportunity or a better use
for one of those. So we. Wedid donate that. And then the other
thing I just want to mentionis I, too, got a medal from you all,

(50:18):
and it really, really touchedme. Of all the things I've gotten
in my career and things I'veearned, that one felt really good.
And I've told Joe this story,but I was telling my brother, who
I Admire, who's about 10 yearsolder than me, like Joe, but I was
telling him about it, and Isaid, this is just really a great
thing. It really warms myheart. I got this nice letter from

(50:40):
the guys, and meeting them inVegas was really cool. And this medal
is just really awesome in it.And then he. So I'm feeling really
good about myself. And then heproceeds to tell me that. That his
heart. It's been put on hisheart to donate a kidney. And he's
went to Vanderbilt University,had all the testing done, and he's
designated his kidney to go toa wounded warrior veteran. And so

(51:04):
I said, oh, well, thanks forrobbing my board. How am I going
to compete with that, donatinga kidney? And all I did was a pool
table. So I was really proudof my brother. He got right to the
end, and it. And it turnedout, you know, he went through. Through.
He was staying at my house. Hedrove in from Kentucky, went down
to Vanderbilt, got testingdone, did this, like, three times
over the course of threemonths, and finally got to the end,

(51:25):
and there was something on hisliver or something, a little spot
or something. He's veryhealthy, no problems, but it excluded
him from being able to donate.But just the willingness and him
going through that and beingso excited about donating to a wounded
warrior was pretty cool. Sothe service in this country overall
is amazing, and we do have ahuge debt of gratitude for those

(51:47):
that serve because we couldn'tdo what we do. Unless they did what
they did. And, and it's a muchbigger sacrifice going into the,
to the unknown, going intobattle. I just can't imagine, you
know, the strength and courageit takes to do that sort of stuff.
Joe come. Joe and I come inand we do little battles every day.
Yeah, exactly.
Life threatening. We're notgoing to lose a limb, we're not going
to lose an eye. So it's prettyeasy at the end of the day. And these

(52:08):
opportunities really warm ourhearts. And we both are very in tune
with this kind of. I hate toeven call it charity, because it's
not charity. It's giving backor generating some good karma. Makes
us feel good.
Well, thank you very much forall that you've done. I was saying
to. I think it was my boys.Yeah, I know it was my boys up there

(52:32):
over the summer. And here weare playing pool now. They love to
play pool, right? And soespecially Dylan, who's the older,
who's 11. And he's like a,he's come a long way. He's like a
natural. He can see somethinglike how, you know, how I'm holding
the cue, you know, how I do ashot and you know that modeling.

(52:53):
And he doesn't like to betaught, you know, like I can remember
like that age too. Like, yeah, just.
They know everything.
Yeah, like, don't, Dad. I gotthis. Like, he's like me, like he
has to figure it out. Like, itdoesn't, it doesn't even like to
be, you know, if you hold itthis way, weight, you know, you start
to get the pushback. Right? SoI just go, shut up, dad. Just, just

(53:14):
let him figure it out. And hedoes. You know, the other day he
actually, he actually beat me,you know, and I'm like, yeah, like,
holy cow. We played. It is, itis. And it felt so good. You know,
we were playing nine ball andI missed the nine and, and, and you
know, he knocked it in. Thatwas one time. But we were playing
eight ball because a little,little different game as you know.

(53:35):
But you know, he beat meplaying, playing nine too. So I guess
he's. But we play a lot. And Iwas just really, really happy for
him and. Yeah, but I told him,I said, you know what, guys? 50 years
from now, okay, when you're myage, this table's still going to
be here, okay? And you guysare going to be playing on this table

(53:58):
with these cues 50 years fromnow, mark my words. And I don't know
what's going to be going on inyour head at that time. But don't
forget this moment right here.And that's what's cool about those
gifts. They're really, reallyawesome. So, Joe, it's your turn.
Sir, again, thanks for allyou've done, but I would love to

(54:21):
give you another whack at thepinata here. Anything you want to
share with us, please?
Well, I guess I kind ofmentioned before the. The best thing
about what I do is being ableto meet people like yourself, like
Dan, and really, really meet.Meet people to where you. You find

(54:42):
you can make friends from whenyou had no idea where they're coming
from. And I respect the heckof a. Out of Dan, and I've learned
a lot from him. And we kindof. The nice thing is we don't compete
because we're in kind ofdifferent lanes. And so we can just.
Just.
We're not afraid to tell theother if we think they're wrong or

(55:03):
made a mistake or is making amistake. And it's really good to
have a partner like that inthe industry because our industry
is very different, and there'snot a lot of. Not. Not a lot of friendly
sharing in ways like. Like Danand I can.
And it's good sounding boardsfor each other.
Yeah, it really is. And. Andit's so. So that I'm very fortunate,

(55:25):
very fortunate to have metScott up in Eagle River. Your good
friend. I met him at a WoundedWarrior in action benefit up there.
And after that benefit wasover, I'm thinking, my God, we could
do so much.
That's how it started. Yeah,that's right. And I, you know, I
know Scott's going to belistening to this, and he's going

(55:45):
to go, John, you know, I'mlike, I know, buddy. It's too much
for me to all keep straight,but you're right, Scott Samuels and
Eagle river is the. Is theconnection. The original connection.
Point. Point.
Yep.
God bless you, Scott. Likeeverybody else, just doing amazing
work out here, but, yeah, youwere. You guys are at a bar. Was
that it. Was that a fundraiserthat you were at? Yep.

(56:07):
Marina bar has a fundraiser.They give away an expensive guitar
every year. They do a raffle.And I'm like, God, you know, my ego
kicks in. And first ego kicksin and says, we can do a lot. We
can make a lot of money forthem. And then we get into the cause
and I start to understand it,and it's like, wow. Wow, now, now
this is really cool. And thenwe got Dan involved, and I. I think

(56:28):
Once we get Dan and I togetheron projects, like he mentioned before,
our, our teams don't love usbecause we go, we go kind of fast
as lightning and then expecteverybody else to catch up. And it,
there's a lot to catch upsometimes, but just Scott is great
and he's, he, I got my sonRiley working with him and, and you

(56:49):
know, the new kids these days,the younger ones, they can make things
happen. I, I, I can come upwith some ideas, but it's, it's really
the smart ones that can followthrough with it and make all this
happen. And, and you've spokenwith Riley a lot of different times.
My son Jake also is a big partof this and both of those together
in our company for the future,I'm, I'm really excited about, because

(57:12):
I figure I'll give anothergood three to five years working
together with them, mentoringthem and get them ready for success.
And in the process, they'lljust slowly start taking over, do
things their way. And I'mexcited for that. I'm not afraid
to give that up because I wantthat for them and I, I think the
industry can be better for it.And, and then, you know, the other,

(57:37):
the other big thing is I thinkwe, we, we're talking about all the
veterans. But, but, but John,man, thank you for your service.
I've heard some of yourdifferent podcasts and trying to
kind of get ready to, to seewhat your vibe was going to be and,
and I'm excited to listen tothe rest of them because I, I hear
what you're saying and I just,I'm, I'm inspired by what you do

(58:01):
and I think dealing with you,working with you makes somebody like
myself and Dan want to keepdoing what we're doing and want to
do more. And, and I can't waitto do our, we're gonna, and I know
Dan and I are the same, sonext one's gotta be bigger and better,
so we gotta figure out how tomake that happen. And that I really

(58:24):
look forward to. And you guysare our cause and you're very inspiring
to. I know us and that means a lot.
Well, thank you very much. Youknow, I've got behind me here, probably
can see the box over there inthe corner right where my finger's
pointing. Right there. Yeah.So, so there's one of 10 sitting

(58:47):
right there now the other oneof 10, we got 20 from you. Right?
So the two number one of 10. Ipersonally have one of 10 and that's
my new cue. And then I Gotanother one over here that I'm just
like bogarting, right? I mean,I'm waiting for the right. I won't
touch it. Like I got my cue.But the right venue is going to come

(59:08):
along and I'll put that infront of a lot of people. And that's
what I've done. That's one ofthe things I can do to give back.
And everybody on this team,the foundations team, knows that
we pride ourselves in givingback too. Like, we don't just take.
Right. Of course we give a lotto our clients, our customers, the

(59:30):
combat wounded. But withpartners like you, we try to do our
best to be really goodpromoters for what you're doing as
well and recognize you. And sowe had put your Q last year in front
of 450 people in an auction.Auction. And we had a combat wounded
purple art recipient who was aRanger regimental guy stand up with

(59:50):
his cue and tell everybodywhat it was. You know, we had a little
script for him to read andhe's actually an auctioneer as well.
And that went in front ofabout 450, you know, folks in Vermont.
And so, you know, we tell thatstory as often as we can. And of
course, all the heroes arecoming, you know, to Camp Hackett.

(01:00:12):
And there's, you know, the oldhouse and table and one last thing,
and I think we'll, we'll wrapher up here. But I have a good friend
who's also another good friendwho's a very good pool player. And
he's a twin. So they're boththe twins that, you know, Mike and
Peter Faust are their namesand they're, they're. We went to
high school together andMadison College together and all

(01:00:32):
this. And we're still veryclose. They're both very good pool
players as well, fromWisconsin. And Pete, who's now an
attorney in Milwaukee, and Iwere chatting and he knows about
the pool table. I mean, I putit on Facebook and stuff like this
too. So he knows about it. Hesays, I got talking to him the other
day, he goes, you know, Igotta tell you something about, you

(01:00:53):
know, the old house andpulling on that thread. I go, yeah,
what's up? He goes, no, he's abig shot attorney, right? He's this
big firm. And, you know, Ithink he's the managing partner or
something like that, right?This big firm out of Milwaukee. So
if you ever need anything, I'msure Pete would be interested in
helping you. But anyway, so wewere chatting about. He goes, you

(01:01:14):
know, it was the first Thing Idid when I, you know, got in charge
and started this firm waslike, you know, I put an old halls
and table up on the, you know,up on the second floor there, you
know, and that's like a commonuse area for the, for the, for the
employees, you know, thelawyers and those people that work
at his home firm, you know,get to you. We just. Now we got to
get them some PTR cues. Thereyou go. You know, as a matter of

(01:01:34):
fact, I think that's wherenumber one's going to come. I'm going
to send it to him.
Number one is yours.
I'm like, God bless you, man.I got to tell you, you guys are.
You guys are titans. Iappreciate what you've done for the
foundation and, and the heroeswe support. Means a lot to me. This
was a great podcast. You knowwhat I think we'll do? I'm going

(01:01:57):
to ask David to get somereally cool pictures together of
the table and the qu. And thenwe're going to introduce that. We'll
have a website or a space, apage or something dedicated to it.
And then so folks who arelistening to this can go to that
URL and click on it and seethe tremendous product products that
you all have done in supportof our cause. Because I know there's

(01:02:20):
been some really cool mediaout there. We'll try to consolidate
it and attach it to this as achallenge to my support team on the
backside. Let's make thathappen. So we have a memorialized
this thing and put it in anice package connected to this podcast.
How's that sound?
It's great. We can both linkit on our websites too.

(01:02:41):
Perfect.
Sounds great.
Perfect. I. I feel the powerof your presence, man, and it's,
it's. It's great. There's agood feeling that I have and I'm
really proud to be associatedwith you and I thank you for your
time.
Yeah. Thank you foreverything. We're honored.
Yes.
Thank you.
All right, until we meet, gentlemen.
Sounds great.
Forward to to it.
Okay, have a great day. Bye.

(01:03:07):
Thank you for listening to theWWIA podcast. To learn more about
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(01:03:30):
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connect and heal our combatwounded purple heart heroes through
the power of the great outdoors.