Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviews Emmy Award-winning sportscaster Brian Custer. He joined ESPN in July of 2021 as an anchor for SportsCenter and a play-by-play commentator for college football and basketball. He also has a keen eye for fashion, with his distinct love for picking out patterns for his custom-tailored suits and finding the right tie to complement his ensemble. This renaissance man is an avid watch collector, sneakerhead, and car enthusiast. Custer holds a degree in broadcast journalism from Hampton University and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. A cancer survivor, he is a spokesman for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's to show that she is the secrets of success
experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And
in case you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know
he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Decision make because it's what he likes to do. It's
what he likes to share.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Now it's time to hear from my man, Rashan McDonald.
Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host, Rashwan McDonald.
Our theme is that there's no perfect time to start
following your dreams. I recognize that we all have different
definitions of success. For you, it may be decided of
your paycheck. Mine has inspire you to accomplish your goals
and live your very best life. It's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
(00:51):
People always talk about their purpose or gift. If you
have a gift, leave with your gift and don't let
your friends, family, or coworker stop you from planning or
living your dream.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
My guest today.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Is Amy Award winning sportscaster Brian custom well dressed.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
He joined ESPN in July twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Is an acre for a sports center and they played
by play commentator for college football and basketball.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
He also has a.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Keen eye for fashion and his distinct love for picking
up patterns for his custom tailor suits and finding the
way to find that right time to match it. This
realis man is an avid watch collector, sneaker head and
co enthusiasts. Customer holds a degree in Broadcast Journalism from
HBCU as they see the real h Hampton University. A
(01:33):
cancer survivor, he's a sposed person for the pro State
Prostate Cancer Foundation. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations master Class.
And I'm gonna get him a hard time because he
ain't well dressed, y'all.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Brian Custer.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Very very well dressed because I got the colors on.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I love it man. How you doing, sir man.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
It's a pleasure to be on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I'm glad we was able to connect me because I
am a fan and uh you know when I when
I when we look at life man, because life as
a young person.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
You don't see thirty. Sometimes you don't see forty.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I'm talking about when your team and then twenty years old,
and then and then as you.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Go through Let's go back to your early years.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Because you came out of high off of the state
of Ohio, Okay, and you went to Hampton. How did
that translate your mind from Ohio to Hampton?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Well, I think like any youngster who was born in Columbus, Ohio,
that's all you eat, live and breathe. Ohio State, love
Ohio State football, love Ohio State basketball.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
And for me, it was.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Always a goal to want to play basketball at Ohio State,
you know, going through high school. And I knew that,
Hey look, you know I'm only six two, so I
wouldn't getting any taller.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
I had dream of playing basketball at Ohio State.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Kind of vanished, and then it was like, Okay, where
else can I go to play? Am I going to
go to like a Division two school in Ohio?
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know what am I going to do? And you
know this is how? This is how the Lord speaks
to you? Was that?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
So I went to church one Sunday and the guest
speaker was the chaplain from Hampton and he was talking
about how Hampton was this and how all of the
best young black men come out of Hampton University. And
it was almost like, you know what, maybe I ought
(03:23):
to just give up this dream of playing basketball and
just go to then HBCU. And sure enough, I went
down after service talked to Michael Battle, who eventually became
the president of Virginia State. And I went down there
and talked to him and I said, man, Hampton sounds great,
you know, And he said, you know, I hear you're
a good basketball player. I hear your grades are good.
(03:44):
Doc tells me a lot about you. And he said,
what are your grades? Like, I said, I got a
three six? He said, you got a three six Sidney
your transcript. Wow, I'll make sure you get into Hampton.
And that's what I did, and he did. He got
me into Hampton, and I just gave up basketball, the
dream of playing basketball in college and to him, university.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Now, let letters this was your initial dream. Now you articulate,
have a nice voce tone, winted. The whole idea of
being in television from from in front of the camera
site start creeping into your mind because it says journalism
but then all of a sudden, now you're in broadcast.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yeah. I mean for me, I knew what I wann't
to do when I was five.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
You know, I was raised primarily by my mother and
my grandmother, and we lived with my grandmother and she
was one of those who watched Walter Kronkrite CBS Evening News,
and so I would sit right next to her and
that's what we watched every night.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
At six thirty booms, she turned it on and we
would watch that.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
And as I got older, I would say, like seventh
eighth grade and you may remember this with Sean kids
now don't remember, you know, listen they had MTV, you
know when we were.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
In college and think that. But before that, on Friday nights,
it was something called Friday Night Video.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Absolutely do you remember that?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And so I remember at Friday nights, I will be
watching Friday Night Videos. But before that came on, my
grandmother used to always watch the show Nightline and Ted
Copple was the host of Nightline and I thought he
had Wow. It was just his voice. It just threw
me in and the way he interviewed people. He could
interview people of all races, all religions, and he just
(05:23):
the way he conducted his interviews. I was enthralled, I
was captivated, and I was in seventh eighth grade. At
that point, I knew I wanted to do television. And
as I got even older, because I loved sports so much,
I knew I wanted to get into sports broadcast.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You know when I was talking to Steve. I talked
to Steve Eismith all the time, and he said that,
like you, he was watching TV and he was inspired.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
He was inspired by Howard Cosell.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And now you know, one of the people inspires him today,
of course is Brian Gumbele. From an African Americans perspective,
who did you have as an inspiration?
Speaker 5 (05:58):
So again from watching sports all the time, one of.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
The guys who I loved was IRV Cross because I
would oh, yes, CBS, CBS man football right before that,
you know, the football games on.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
So as a kid, that's who I saw. I thought
IRV Cross, uh.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Was the guy, And and then it became James Brown
for me. You know, James Brown was a guy who
I just I just loved his professionalism, the way he
conducted himself, the way he used his words, his vocabulary.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
I mean, and and for him and me and him
have become great friends.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
He's becoenna. He's been a great mentor for me. I
you text him, call him for any advice. It's you know,
that's That's the one thing I love about this this
business is that when you've idolized and looked up to
someone and then they become a friend, a mentor.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Uh, there's nothing better. So for me from an African American,
there there were.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
A couple of people earth cross obviously because I would
watch sports all time, James Brown, Uh.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
And then on the female side, right, if you remember
on ABC News Carol Simpson.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Absolutely absolutely, God, I just I mean it was like
for me, it was like the first time seeing a
black woman on network television.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
So those to me, those are.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Like icons Mount Rushmore type people when it comes to broadcasting.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
That conversation we got to talk about.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know you over at Hampton you you know, you
got all these great fraternities.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
On campus, all right, all of them.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know, you know, I'm a I'm a Vega man
and you're a camp aple side knew Kine Walker.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
What inspired you to go that way? Because it's all good.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I'm playing with you because because the bottom line about
black fraternity is about uplift community, you gotta have a
GPA to get in. And a lot of times people
forget that because all they hear about is just just
to step in, and they hear the word party in
and that is such a low level of why we
are part of lifetime members of these fraternities.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What inspired you to become a member of camp aside, well.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Listen, you know you you're influenced by your environment. My
older brother was a kappa, my younger brother is a kapa.
My neighbor growing up was a kappa. Uh, so you know,
obviously that was really for me. That's what I knew.
And you know when I went to Hampton if you
you know, and and for people who know about Hampton University,
(08:21):
it was run by q's I mean doctor Harvey, big
time q uh doctor Khalan who was in charge of
UH punishment and things of that nature. Q. I mean
all the administration were q. Some of my best friends
are cused. But for me, all I knew Waskapa Alpha
said when I got there, Kappas were suspended and uh.
(08:43):
But there were a few noops on the on the
yard and they were just great and befriended a couple
of them. Uh, and I just knew. I mean, for me,
there was no other way uh to go. It's it's
almost like Rashaan, you know, the only thing I could
tell you is now, I don't know what you've been told,
but the streets of having our purple of gold the
world appeared to me in a dream, and he said,
(09:04):
the streets are having are crimson and creams.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Okay, I ain't gonna go ahead on you. I let
you just lie.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Oh oh mag yeah, oh oh mag, god baby.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh oh mad. Somebody trying to sneak in a frat.
I can't finish it on my podcast direction. But you know,
my brother, you know it's great man.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
You know when we think about our lives and our youth,
because that's that's the part of our life.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Where we feel invincible.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
You know, we just see the future, the possibilities, and
sometimes you can't see the possibility because it's so far away.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And when you still you start seeing people thirty and forty,
you can't even imagine that.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Brian, So when did this start coming into play, that
this career it was a possibility for you?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Well, you know when I when I was in high school,
you know, obviously playing sports and doing a lot of things.
The principal at my high school, you know, really he
took a liking to me, and he always said, hey,
look I need.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
You in a leadership role.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
And I went to a school called Westernville North High
School in Westernville, Ohio. It's a suburb of Columbus, and uh,
he said, you know, I need you to take a
leadership role. Especially in my junior senior year. One of
the things we did was we produced a video for
our school, and he went, I had I got to
help like narrate it and do that.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
I was out kind of out front when they shot it.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
So I did those kinds of things, and he gave
me an internship. I got into an internship program that
was for high school and it was about placing you
in a professional setting in a obviously in a job
that you're interested in. So I wanted to be sports,
a sports anchor, and they placed me with the sports
(11:01):
anchor at NBC. And so I would go there every
weekend and I was like an intern man. I did
whatever he wanted me to do, and I did that
basically my senior year. When I wasn't in season playing basketball,
I would go, and then when it was over, I
still went and I would just go and hang out
with Doug.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
I remember the sports taker guy named Douglas Cells.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
And I would just go there and still go and
help out even when the internship was over. When I
was in college, when I would come home from Hampton,
I would still go up to the station and go
help him out.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
And I just knew this was what I want to do.
And I was at Hampton, I mean.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
You know, I got the opportunity to call football game,
I called minor league baseball game, all kinds of stuff,
and I just knew that this was going to be
my calling. And I was lucky enough that when I
graduated from Hampton, my first job was in radio. I
got a job back in Columbus, Ohio at the news
radio station. And this is what you know, kids, they
wanted like this these days. But my first job, man
(12:00):
was that uh news radio station. I worked from midnight
to eight and at the top of the hour, I
came on and I delivered the newscast for five minutes, right,
And that's what I did man, from midnight to eight o'clock.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
In the morning.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
And I worked that job chund for like a year
and a half and and and then uh, they they
promoted me and they said, Okay, what we're gonna do
is now you're gonna, uh, you're gonna come in and
they said, we're gonna shave your hours where you can
work just just halfway.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
You'll work from uh six o'clock to ten o'clock.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
You're gonna come in and do do the newscast top
of the hour, and then we're gonna have you work
another four hours from like it was from four to eight.
You're gonna we're gonna send you out and report. And
then I had to like cover the school board, city hall,
all kinds of stuff like that. I was like, I
can't do sports, and they were like, nah, I and
(12:58):
so but I did it. And the crazy thing was,
and you know this all of like the news directors
in town, you know, their radios were set to that
news radio stage. That's what they got up to, and
so they would hear my voice at the top of
the hour. And the news director at the ABC station,
he thought I was a white guy, right, and he
(13:20):
ended up calling me and right out of the state,
said hey, look, I'd like to meet you for dinner.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
I ended up.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
I'm twenty three, twenty four years old. I ended up
meeting this guy at Chili's. I'll never forget it in
Columbus for dinner one night and I pulled in heat
and the look on his face and I never did it.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Mike Kevio, nice guy.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
He just said, you certainly don't look the way he
told me.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
That's what he said. You certainly don't look the way
you sound. I thought you were much older.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
And quite and you gotta admit you gotta remember see,
people don't realize this too.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
We're shon. This was in the nineties. People can they talked.
We talked much different in the nine gus than we
talked today.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Absolutely, And he said that you look you look much different,
and he goes, I gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
You're you're darker than.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
I thought you were light and h That's how I
got my first job in Tellis. He offered me a
news reporter job.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You know, you know, I know we always said that,
you know, the kids that they don't want to work hard, well,
in some way they don't have to with the way
social media allows them to grow these brands and jump
out on TikTok and jump out on Instagram and especially YouTube.
They're millionaires and thousandaires just tied to their subscriber base
as influencers. It's really incredible how that game has changed
(14:41):
and allow people I call them innovators. I don't I
don't really jump down too hard on because if I
had that technology, no telling what I would be doing.
Because I'm using technology now to be able to produce
this and feel like I'm in a studio and it's
really just in my office building. So technology allows us
to like bridge some gaps.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
But as you as you.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Go through these journeys, you know you and I share
a story. When I say share a story, it's tied
to cancer, and I just want to share a little
bit of my story because I want to hear your
entire story because it's important. And one of the reasons
I brought you on the show, Brian, not the fact
that you are successful. And I feel that everybody wants
to be And I say everybody because everybodys sitting at
(15:21):
home want to be a play by play who watching
watching football, baseball, basketball, soccer, They want to do play
by play. But when I was diagnosed with tyrod cancer
in twenty fifteen. I can remember, just like today, when
they said the word cancer.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You know, I heard.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It, and then they said something that we can. Then
they just use the word treaty. We can, probably we can.
We called it early, sir, we could treat it. But
I just stayed on the word cancer because all I
all I all I heard was Wow, who survives cancer?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
How can I live? How could I tell my family?
How can I go public with this and tell people
that I work with? How would that affect how they
look at me? It really started resonating with me in
such a powerful way that it scared me.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
And it also allowed me to put.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
My life in perspective because I didn't tell my wife
immediately because I wanted to find out where I was
at mentally.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And when I.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Looked at it, it's all about where you at in life.
And at that point, and I still today, I felt
that I was good if it was going to go
that way. I was good because I'd accomplished the things
that I've always wanted to do in my life.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I felt I was a good person.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I felt I had enabled other people to be successful
tied to the talents that God gave me, and I
was cool with it, but it still was a moment
in my life where time did stand still.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Yeah, I tell you, Rachelle, I don't know if you
could see my arm and that hair is standing up,
because it's almost like everything you said happened to me,
because you know it look like you.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
It was basically ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Ten years ago in August was when I got diagnosed
with prostate cancer. Like even like today, I feel like
I'm in the best shape of my life. Even then,
I was a forty two year old man, strong this
and that, doing martial arts, boxing, playing who doing all
kinds of crazy. But the one thing about it was
I'm probably the only person in my family who goes
(17:28):
to the doctor and gets an annual checkup every year.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Religious the only person in my family who would do that.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And just went to my regular checkup and the doctor
was telling me like, hey, man, you know if we
need to do your PSA, you know, because you're forty.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Now, and da da da da da.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And at the time, I was like, what's the PSA
for proste I didn't even know what my prostate was.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
I know what my prostate did and I was like, yeah,
for what.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
And they were like, yeah, well, you know it's something
that is affecting men of color and you should, you know,
we should, you know, take this. It's just a blood test.
And then I've got to do a digital rector exam.
And I was like, oh, all I thought was that
movie Flesh. I don't know about this doctor right, And
it was that kind of that stigma, like I don't know,
and he was like, look, we need to do it.
(18:17):
And we did it. And just to be to be
full full disclosure this, I really got it. When I
was forty we did it, and in any the following
year when I went to my physical, he wanted to
do it again to give me the PSA one I
was giving my face and I was like.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Look, we did that last year.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
The results came back, I was good, and we ain't
got to do that and we blew it off. And
then when I was forty two went to back and
get my physical, He's like.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Oh, let's do your PSA. I was like, ah, we
did it last year. I wouldn't again, stigma. I wouldn't
have him trying to stick his finger up. I was
like that absolutely not down with that, and so he
was like, no, I.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Think we need to do it because we didn't do
it last year.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
You didn't want to do it. And luckily, you know what,
we did it.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
And when he gave me the digital rectord exam, he
felt the bump on my prostat and he said, look,
when the results come back, if they're above a four,
then you know we got to talk. If not, then
you know, maybe it's just a calcium deposit or something.
But I'm a little worried about that bump. Results did
come back and they were a five point four. Wow,
And in my mind I was trying to justify it.
(19:23):
So I was like, oh, that's not that high. Over
a four, maybe it's pretty good.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
You know. I just put the results away and didn't
even think about it.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
And then maybe two weeks later I ended up calling him,
left him a voicemail and he was like, yeah, it
means we need to you know, you need to come
back in and we need to do another one. Did
another PSA test, bump was still there, results were still high,
and then we had the biopsy, and at this time
he was kind of like you. He was like, look,
we're not gonna say don't say nothing to your family,
don't say nothing to nobody, because I think we ought
(19:53):
to know what it is before we go forward, and
we don't want to scare anybody because it really could
just be a spike, It could be a calcium deposit.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
And so I was not saying to anybody. Man. And
I had that biopsy, man, and you know that, as
you know, it was horrible and uh.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
And I just remember driving into work into the city
in New York City one time and I looked on
my phone and it was two one two, so I
knew it was the doctor. And I called and I
was like, oh, yeah, I'm about to go into the work,
into the job right now.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
You can just give me the results. And he was like, nah,
I think you ought to come to the office. Yeah,
And at that point.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Which was basically was giving you the results. Yes.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
I made a five block walk to his office, and
I felt like that movie Dead Man walking because I
knew something was going down and it was kind of
like you. As soon as I walked in the office,
the assistant was like, Brian Custer's.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Here, He's ready for you. And I walked right into
his office.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
He was sitting there and I'll never forget every time
he said, listen, man, there's there's never any way to
tell you this. You know, you got cancer. It's aggressive,
it's looking around, and he said, I gotta be honest,
I gotta I gotta find somebody, a specialist and get
you into surgery.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Like now, he said.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And at that time, all I saw when he all
I saw, all I heard was cancer.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
How did you dance that moment of being confident comfortable
to talk about that?
Speaker 4 (21:23):
And so here's here's the thing again, I'm going back
to what you is. This is in twenty thirteen, so
the times now again are a little bit different. My
whole aspect at that point was I don't want nobody
to know.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
First of all, I was like many other guys. I'm like,
I'm forty two. I got prosta. This is an old
man's disease.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
All I used to hear about was your grandfather and
this and that got prostate cancer, not a forty two
year old man.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
And I'm not trying to.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Tell anybody this and tell anybody I got cancer because
now people don't think I'm gonna be dead. And I
remember the doc was like, you know, look, we'll keep
it to ourselves, you're gonna we're gonna, we're gonna get
you into surgery and you're gonna be okay. And so
I remember going to the network and I had to
talk to our president. Our president. Our president was in
(22:16):
the room, the vice president of the network was in
the room, and so was the PR guy. I told
him what I had. You know, obviously I was very emotional.
They were like, look, we're gonna keep it quiet. We're
just gonna say that you're going off on vacation and
then you know, we'll address it. We will address it
after you have surgery and we know everything is okay
(22:38):
at that point, then we'll let people know. But until
that time, Brian, what do you want to do? And
I said, well, I'm gonna keep working and I'm not
gonna say anything. And they were like, look, we're not
gonna say And I didn't say anything to anybody until
the day I had surgery. Was the day I made
it public that I had prost tact cancer. And the
only reason why was because my doctor he referred to
(23:00):
a specialist who is the guy named David Somati here
in New York who does who does surgeries on prostact
can great urologists. And I remember he's saying, I'm the best, Brian,
You're gonna be great. I know it's aggressive, but we're
gonna go in there. We're gonna get your prostate and
I'm gonna take care of you. And he said, I'm
only going to ask one thing of you, and he said,
I need you to use your platform to help men
(23:24):
of color about this disease, because he says it is
ravaging your men of color and they need somebody to face,
a young face like you to see that look, it's okay,
I have it too, and it's all right, it's not
don't be shameful about it and be honest about it, Brian.
He goes, that's the only thing I'm going to ask
of you, and at that point I was like, doctor,
(23:45):
I'm not trying to tell nobody. He said, that's the
only thing I can ask. And after discussing it with
my family and everything, I said, okay, you know, obviously
I have it for a reason, and God put me.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Absolutely, you know, And it's important.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
He said that because of the fact that when I
talk sometimes a cancer I always tell people I know
I don't look like a cancer survivor because people stereotype
of the cancer survivor look like gray hair, come poorly
out of shape, you know, down on they love you, know,
they kind of like stigmatize them the look a certain way,
so it can't ever be me, when it will definitely
be you because of the possibility of your lack of knowledge,
(24:19):
lack of education, lack of resistance, like you resisted of
years of getting these checkups and and and it only
just got words to think about cancer. Cancer don't go
away without help. It's gonna just keep winning until you
step in and realize that you have to be honest
with your body. Listen to your body, because your body
(24:42):
is telling you, is talking to you, is telling you
these things are not comfortable, that it's not right. And
when you ignore because of manhood, you ignoring because of rumors,
You're ignoring because of stereotypes, that can cost you and
your family and your friends. A great person gets who
that great person is you, So it's good to remember that.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
Yep, absolutely, I.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Know you know.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I'm gonna just tell you this now. You know we're
about twenty six minutes. Man, we've been talking. But before
we go, man, I know you covered this fight this weekend.
I'll call it a fight, Brian. But uh, it was
going good. They were looking good, Tattoo Sweaton. Then all
of a sudden, my man, my man came right under
his ribs and my man back to the collar and squatted.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Anybody knows who's fought you take a shot to the liver,
it's a rat.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
And I think for for Ryan Garcia, that liver shot
had a lot to do with it.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
And too, you know, look he looked down, and I
think Tank even said it. He said when he took
that shot and he took that knee, he said, he
looked up. He saw Tank, Sir said, and he told
him he said, he looked at it. His said, in
other words.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Don't get up.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
If you get up, I'm gonna really put these hands
on you.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
And Ryan's a good looking young man. I think that
was a bit this decision too.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Hey, good good kid.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
And I'm hurting this dude's about to rearrange my faith
and I'm too.
Speaker 6 (26:07):
Crazy right now to have some damage done to this face.
So he said, you know what, Nate, not just go
ahead and get to ten. Yeah, all right, now I
get up and the fight was over. Yeah, it was great.
I'm gonna tell you something. I'm a big fan, Brian,
and thank you. I'm gonna tell you something for us.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
I have this comfortable conversation this journey and it's almost
thirty minutes.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
It really tells us we have a relationship.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And I say that to say that anytime you need me,
anytime you I got something.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I want to promote or get out there.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
You know, I definitely want to be a sponsor for you,
a big brother to you because I am older than
you and I've done this all my life and again, man,
and even more, a more closer relationship like my boy
Steven as my boy. You know, that's my little brother.
It's my best friend. And so now I'm gonna throw you.
I'm gonna lump you in there too, okay, Brian.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Why I love that because I've been I've been such
a fan of everything you do.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
When you look at look, I think people underestimate your
resume and what you had done.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
I mean, you're a freaking legend dude in this business. Man,
and listen, I love working alongside with Steven. I mean,
Stephen has just done great things at the network. You're know,
with the face, you're at you're at the worldwide leader
and we got a black man h black man HBCU
and that to me, that's what I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, thank you, Brian. We're gonna talk to my brother.
Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's to show that she is the secrets of success
experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And
in case you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know
he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Decision make because it's what he likes to do. It's
what he likes to share.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Now it's time to hear from my man, Rashan McDonald.
Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host, Rashwan McDonald.
Our theme is that there's no perfect time to start
following your dreams. I recognize that we all have different
definitions of success. For you, it may be decided of
your paycheck. Mine has inspire you to accomplish your goals
and live your very best life. It's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
(00:51):
People always talk about their purpose or gift. If you
have a gift, leave with your gift and don't let
your friends, family, or coworker stop you from planning or
living your dream.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
My guest today.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Is Amy Award winning sportscaster Brian custom well dressed.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
He joined ESPN in July twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Is an acre for a sports center and they played
by play commentator for college football and basketball.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
He also has a.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Keen eye for fashion and his distinct love for picking
up patterns for his custom tailor suits and finding the
way to find that right time to match it. This
realis man is an avid watch collector, sneaker head and
co enthusiasts. Customer holds a degree in Broadcast Journalism from
HBCU as they see the real h Hampton University. A
(01:33):
cancer survivor, he's a sposed person for the pro State
Prostate Cancer Foundation. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations master Class.
And I'm gonna get him a hard time because he
ain't well dressed, y'all.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Brian Custer.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Very very well dressed because I got the colors on.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I love it man. How you doing, sir man.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
It's a pleasure to be on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I'm glad we was able to connect me because I
am a fan and uh you know when I when
I when we look at life man, because life as
a young person.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
You don't see thirty. Sometimes you don't see forty.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I'm talking about when your team and then twenty years old,
and then and then as you.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Go through Let's go back to your early years.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Because you came out of high off of the state
of Ohio, Okay, and you went to Hampton. How did
that translate your mind from Ohio to Hampton?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Well, I think like any youngster who was born in Columbus, Ohio,
that's all you eat, live and breathe. Ohio State, love
Ohio State football, love Ohio State basketball.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
And for me, it was.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Always a goal to want to play basketball at Ohio State,
you know, going through high school. And I knew that,
Hey look, you know I'm only six two, so I
wouldn't getting any taller.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
I had dream of playing basketball at Ohio State.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Kind of vanished, and then it was like, Okay, where
else can I go to play? Am I going to
go to like a Division two school in Ohio?
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know what am I going to do? And you
know this is how? This is how the Lord speaks
to you? Was that?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
So I went to church one Sunday and the guest
speaker was the chaplain from Hampton and he was talking
about how Hampton was this and how all of the
best young black men come out of Hampton University. And
it was almost like, you know what, maybe I ought
(03:23):
to just give up this dream of playing basketball and
just go to then HBCU. And sure enough, I went
down after service talked to Michael Battle, who eventually became
the president of Virginia State. And I went down there
and talked to him and I said, man, Hampton sounds great,
you know, And he said, you know, I hear you're
a good basketball player. I hear your grades are good.
(03:44):
Doc tells me a lot about you. And he said,
what are your grades? Like, I said, I got a
three six? He said, you got a three six Sidney
your transcript. Wow, I'll make sure you get into Hampton.
And that's what I did, and he did. He got
me into Hampton, and I just gave up basketball, the
dream of playing basketball in college and to him, university.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Now, let letters this was your initial dream. Now you articulate,
have a nice voce tone, winted. The whole idea of
being in television from from in front of the camera
site start creeping into your mind because it says journalism
but then all of a sudden, now you're in broadcast.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yeah. I mean for me, I knew what I wann't
to do when I was five.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
You know, I was raised primarily by my mother and
my grandmother, and we lived with my grandmother and she
was one of those who watched Walter Kronkrite CBS Evening News,
and so I would sit right next to her and
that's what we watched every night.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
At six thirty booms, she turned it on and we
would watch that.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
And as I got older, I would say, like seventh
eighth grade and you may remember this with Sean kids
now don't remember, you know, listen they had MTV, you
know when we were.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
In college and think that. But before that, on Friday nights,
it was something called Friday Night Video.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Absolutely do you remember that?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And so I remember at Friday nights, I will be
watching Friday Night Videos. But before that came on, my
grandmother used to always watch the show Nightline and Ted
Copple was the host of Nightline and I thought he
had Wow. It was just his voice. It just threw
me in and the way he interviewed people. He could
interview people of all races, all religions, and he just
(05:23):
the way he conducted his interviews. I was enthralled, I
was captivated, and I was in seventh eighth grade. At
that point, I knew I wanted to do television. And
as I got even older, because I loved sports so much,
I knew I wanted to get into sports broadcast.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You know when I was talking to Steve. I talked
to Steve Eismith all the time, and he said that,
like you, he was watching TV and he was inspired.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
He was inspired by Howard Cosell.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And now you know, one of the people inspires him today,
of course is Brian Gumbele. From an African Americans perspective,
who did you have as an inspiration?
Speaker 5 (05:58):
So again from watching sports all the time, one of.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
The guys who I loved was IRV Cross because I
would oh, yes, CBS, CBS man football right before that,
you know, the football games on.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
So as a kid, that's who I saw. I thought
IRV Cross, uh.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Was the guy, And and then it became James Brown
for me. You know, James Brown was a guy who
I just I just loved his professionalism, the way he
conducted himself, the way he used his words, his vocabulary.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
I mean, and and for him and me and him
have become great friends.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
He's becoenna. He's been a great mentor for me. I
you text him, call him for any advice. It's you know,
that's That's the one thing I love about this this
business is that when you've idolized and looked up to
someone and then they become a friend, a mentor.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Uh, there's nothing better. So for me from an African American,
there there were.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
A couple of people earth cross obviously because I would
watch sports all time, James Brown, Uh.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
And then on the female side, right, if you remember
on ABC News Carol Simpson.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Absolutely absolutely, God, I just I mean it was like
for me, it was like the first time seeing a
black woman on network television.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
So those to me, those are.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Like icons Mount Rushmore type people when it comes to broadcasting.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
That conversation we got to talk about.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know you over at Hampton you you know, you
got all these great fraternities.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
On campus, all right, all of them.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know, you know, I'm a I'm a Vega man
and you're a camp aple side knew Kine Walker.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
What inspired you to go that way? Because it's all good.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I'm playing with you because because the bottom line about
black fraternity is about uplift community, you gotta have a
GPA to get in. And a lot of times people
forget that because all they hear about is just just
to step in, and they hear the word party in
and that is such a low level of why we
are part of lifetime members of these fraternities.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What inspired you to become a member of camp aside, well.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Listen, you know you you're influenced by your environment. My
older brother was a kappa, my younger brother is a kapa.
My neighbor growing up was a kappa. Uh, so you know,
obviously that was really for me. That's what I knew.
And you know when I went to Hampton if you
you know, and and for people who know about Hampton University,
(08:21):
it was run by q's I mean doctor Harvey, big
time q uh doctor Khalan who was in charge of
UH punishment and things of that nature. Q. I mean
all the administration were q. Some of my best friends
are cused. But for me, all I knew Waskapa Alpha
said when I got there, Kappas were suspended and uh.
(08:43):
But there were a few noops on the on the
yard and they were just great and befriended a couple
of them. Uh, and I just knew. I mean, for me,
there was no other way uh to go. It's it's
almost like Rashaan, you know, the only thing I could
tell you is now, I don't know what you've been told,
but the streets of having our purple of gold the
world appeared to me in a dream, and he said,
(09:04):
the streets are having are crimson and creams.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Okay, I ain't gonna go ahead on you. I let
you just lie.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Oh oh mag yeah, oh oh mag, god baby.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh oh mad. Somebody trying to sneak in a frat.
I can't finish it on my podcast direction. But you know,
my brother, you know it's great man.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
You know when we think about our lives and our youth,
because that's that's the part of our life.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Where we feel invincible.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
You know, we just see the future, the possibilities, and
sometimes you can't see the possibility because it's so far away.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And when you still you start seeing people thirty and forty,
you can't even imagine that.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Brian, So when did this start coming into play, that
this career it was a possibility for you?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Well, you know when I when I was in high school,
you know, obviously playing sports and doing a lot of things.
The principal at my high school, you know, really he
took a liking to me, and he always said, hey,
look I need.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
You in a leadership role.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
And I went to a school called Westernville North High
School in Westernville, Ohio. It's a suburb of Columbus, and uh,
he said, you know, I need you to take a
leadership role. Especially in my junior senior year. One of
the things we did was we produced a video for
our school, and he went, I had I got to
help like narrate it and do that.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
I was out kind of out front when they shot it.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
So I did those kinds of things, and he gave
me an internship. I got into an internship program that
was for high school and it was about placing you
in a professional setting in a obviously in a job
that you're interested in. So I wanted to be sports,
a sports anchor, and they placed me with the sports
(11:01):
anchor at NBC. And so I would go there every
weekend and I was like an intern man. I did
whatever he wanted me to do, and I did that
basically my senior year. When I wasn't in season playing basketball,
I would go, and then when it was over, I
still went and I would just go and hang out
with Doug.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
I remember the sports taker guy named Douglas Cells.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
And I would just go there and still go and
help out even when the internship was over. When I
was in college, when I would come home from Hampton,
I would still go up to the station and go
help him out.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
And I just knew this was what I want to do.
And I was at Hampton, I mean.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
You know, I got the opportunity to call football game,
I called minor league baseball game, all kinds of stuff,
and I just knew that this was going to be
my calling. And I was lucky enough that when I
graduated from Hampton, my first job was in radio. I
got a job back in Columbus, Ohio at the news
radio station. And this is what you know, kids, they
wanted like this these days. But my first job, man
(12:00):
was that uh news radio station. I worked from midnight
to eight and at the top of the hour, I
came on and I delivered the newscast for five minutes, right,
And that's what I did man, from midnight to eight o'clock.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
In the morning.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
And I worked that job chund for like a year
and a half and and and then uh, they they
promoted me and they said, Okay, what we're gonna do
is now you're gonna, uh, you're gonna come in and
they said, we're gonna shave your hours where you can
work just just halfway.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
You'll work from uh six o'clock to ten o'clock.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
You're gonna come in and do do the newscast top
of the hour, and then we're gonna have you work
another four hours from like it was from four to eight.
You're gonna we're gonna send you out and report. And
then I had to like cover the school board, city hall,
all kinds of stuff like that. I was like, I
can't do sports, and they were like, nah, I and
(12:58):
so but I did it. And the crazy thing was,
and you know this all of like the news directors
in town, you know, their radios were set to that
news radio stage. That's what they got up to, and
so they would hear my voice at the top of
the hour. And the news director at the ABC station,
he thought I was a white guy, right, and he
(13:20):
ended up calling me and right out of the state,
said hey, look, I'd like to meet you for dinner.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
I ended up.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
I'm twenty three, twenty four years old. I ended up
meeting this guy at Chili's. I'll never forget it in
Columbus for dinner one night and I pulled in heat
and the look on his face and I never did it.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Mike Kevio, nice guy.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
He just said, you certainly don't look the way he
told me.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
That's what he said. You certainly don't look the way
you sound. I thought you were much older.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
And quite and you gotta admit you gotta remember see,
people don't realize this too.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
We're shon. This was in the nineties. People can they talked.
We talked much different in the nine gus than we
talked today.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Absolutely, And he said that you look you look much different,
and he goes, I gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
You're you're darker than.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
I thought you were light and h That's how I
got my first job in Tellis. He offered me a
news reporter job.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You know, you know, I know we always said that,
you know, the kids that they don't want to work hard, well,
in some way they don't have to with the way
social media allows them to grow these brands and jump
out on TikTok and jump out on Instagram and especially YouTube.
They're millionaires and thousandaires just tied to their subscriber base
as influencers. It's really incredible how that game has changed
(14:41):
and allow people I call them innovators. I don't I
don't really jump down too hard on because if I
had that technology, no telling what I would be doing.
Because I'm using technology now to be able to produce
this and feel like I'm in a studio and it's
really just in my office building. So technology allows us
to like bridge some gaps.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
But as you as you.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Go through these journeys, you know you and I share
a story. When I say share a story, it's tied
to cancer, and I just want to share a little
bit of my story because I want to hear your
entire story because it's important. And one of the reasons
I brought you on the show, Brian, not the fact
that you are successful. And I feel that everybody wants
to be And I say everybody because everybodys sitting at
(15:21):
home want to be a play by play who watching
watching football, baseball, basketball, soccer, They want to do play
by play. But when I was diagnosed with tyrod cancer
in twenty fifteen. I can remember, just like today, when
they said the word cancer.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You know, I heard.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It, and then they said something that we can. Then
they just use the word treaty. We can, probably we can.
We called it early, sir, we could treat it. But
I just stayed on the word cancer because all I
all I all I heard was Wow, who survives cancer?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
How can I live? How could I tell my family?
How can I go public with this and tell people
that I work with? How would that affect how they
look at me? It really started resonating with me in
such a powerful way that it scared me.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
And it also allowed me to put.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
My life in perspective because I didn't tell my wife
immediately because I wanted to find out where I was
at mentally.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And when I.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Looked at it, it's all about where you at in life.
And at that point, and I still today, I felt
that I was good if it was going to go
that way. I was good because I'd accomplished the things
that I've always wanted to do in my life.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I felt I was a good person.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I felt I had enabled other people to be successful
tied to the talents that God gave me, and I
was cool with it, but it still was a moment
in my life where time did stand still.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Yeah, I tell you, Rachelle, I don't know if you
could see my arm and that hair is standing up,
because it's almost like everything you said happened to me,
because you know it look like you.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
It was basically ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Ten years ago in August was when I got diagnosed
with prostate cancer. Like even like today, I feel like
I'm in the best shape of my life. Even then,
I was a forty two year old man, strong this
and that, doing martial arts, boxing, playing who doing all
kinds of crazy. But the one thing about it was
I'm probably the only person in my family who goes
(17:28):
to the doctor and gets an annual checkup every year.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Religious the only person in my family who would do that.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And just went to my regular checkup and the doctor
was telling me like, hey, man, you know if we
need to do your PSA, you know, because you're forty.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Now, and da da da da da.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And at the time, I was like, what's the PSA
for proste I didn't even know what my prostate was.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
I know what my prostate did and I was like, yeah,
for what.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
And they were like, yeah, well, you know it's something
that is affecting men of color and you should, you know,
we should, you know, take this. It's just a blood test.
And then I've got to do a digital rector exam.
And I was like, oh, all I thought was that
movie Flesh. I don't know about this doctor right, And
it was that kind of that stigma, like I don't know,
and he was like, look, we need to do it.
(18:17):
And we did it. And just to be to be
full full disclosure this, I really got it. When I
was forty we did it, and in any the following
year when I went to my physical, he wanted to
do it again to give me the PSA one I
was giving my face and I was like.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Look, we did that last year.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
The results came back, I was good, and we ain't
got to do that and we blew it off. And
then when I was forty two went to back and
get my physical, He's like.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Oh, let's do your PSA. I was like, ah, we
did it last year. I wouldn't again, stigma. I wouldn't
have him trying to stick his finger up. I was
like that absolutely not down with that, and so he
was like, no, I.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Think we need to do it because we didn't do
it last year.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
You didn't want to do it. And luckily, you know what,
we did it.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
And when he gave me the digital rectord exam, he
felt the bump on my prostat and he said, look,
when the results come back, if they're above a four,
then you know we got to talk. If not, then
you know, maybe it's just a calcium deposit or something.
But I'm a little worried about that bump. Results did
come back and they were a five point four. Wow,
And in my mind I was trying to justify it.
(19:23):
So I was like, oh, that's not that high. Over
a four, maybe it's pretty good.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
You know. I just put the results away and didn't
even think about it.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
And then maybe two weeks later I ended up calling him,
left him a voicemail and he was like, yeah, it
means we need to you know, you need to come
back in and we need to do another one. Did
another PSA test, bump was still there, results were still high,
and then we had the biopsy, and at this time
he was kind of like you. He was like, look,
we're not gonna say don't say nothing to your family,
don't say nothing to nobody, because I think we ought
(19:53):
to know what it is before we go forward, and
we don't want to scare anybody because it really could
just be a spike, It could be a calcium deposit.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
And so I was not saying to anybody. Man. And
I had that biopsy, man, and you know that, as
you know, it was horrible and uh.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
And I just remember driving into work into the city
in New York City one time and I looked on
my phone and it was two one two, so I
knew it was the doctor. And I called and I
was like, oh, yeah, I'm about to go into the work,
into the job right now.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
You can just give me the results. And he was like, nah,
I think you ought to come to the office. Yeah,
And at that point.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Which was basically was giving you the results. Yes.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
I made a five block walk to his office, and
I felt like that movie Dead Man walking because I
knew something was going down and it was kind of
like you. As soon as I walked in the office,
the assistant was like, Brian Custer's.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Here, He's ready for you. And I walked right into
his office.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
He was sitting there and I'll never forget every time
he said, listen, man, there's there's never any way to
tell you this. You know, you got cancer. It's aggressive,
it's looking around, and he said, I gotta be honest,
I gotta I gotta find somebody, a specialist and get
you into surgery.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Like now, he said.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And at that time, all I saw when he all
I saw, all I heard was cancer.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
How did you dance that moment of being confident comfortable
to talk about that?
Speaker 4 (21:23):
And so here's here's the thing again, I'm going back
to what you is. This is in twenty thirteen, so
the times now again are a little bit different. My
whole aspect at that point was I don't want nobody
to know.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
First of all, I was like many other guys. I'm like,
I'm forty two. I got prosta. This is an old
man's disease.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
All I used to hear about was your grandfather and
this and that got prostate cancer, not a forty two
year old man.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
And I'm not trying to.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Tell anybody this and tell anybody I got cancer because
now people don't think I'm gonna be dead. And I
remember the doc was like, you know, look, we'll keep
it to ourselves, you're gonna we're gonna, we're gonna get
you into surgery and you're gonna be okay. And so
I remember going to the network and I had to
talk to our president. Our president. Our president was in
(22:16):
the room, the vice president of the network was in
the room, and so was the PR guy. I told
him what I had. You know, obviously I was very emotional.
They were like, look, we're gonna keep it quiet. We're
just gonna say that you're going off on vacation and
then you know, we'll address it. We will address it
after you have surgery and we know everything is okay
(22:38):
at that point, then we'll let people know. But until
that time, Brian, what do you want to do? And
I said, well, I'm gonna keep working and I'm not
gonna say anything. And they were like, look, we're not
gonna say And I didn't say anything to anybody until
the day I had surgery. Was the day I made
it public that I had prost tact cancer. And the
only reason why was because my doctor he referred to
(23:00):
a specialist who is the guy named David Somati here
in New York who does who does surgeries on prostact
can great urologists. And I remember he's saying, I'm the best, Brian,
You're gonna be great. I know it's aggressive, but we're
gonna go in there. We're gonna get your prostate and
I'm gonna take care of you. And he said, I'm
only going to ask one thing of you, and he said,
I need you to use your platform to help men
(23:24):
of color about this disease, because he says it is
ravaging your men of color and they need somebody to face,
a young face like you to see that look, it's okay,
I have it too, and it's all right, it's not
don't be shameful about it and be honest about it, Brian.
He goes, that's the only thing I'm going to ask
of you, and at that point I was like, doctor,
(23:45):
I'm not trying to tell nobody. He said, that's the
only thing I can ask. And after discussing it with
my family and everything, I said, okay, you know, obviously
I have it for a reason, and God put me.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Absolutely, you know, And it's important.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
He said that because of the fact that when I
talk sometimes a cancer I always tell people I know
I don't look like a cancer survivor because people stereotype
of the cancer survivor look like gray hair, come poorly
out of shape, you know, down on they love you, know,
they kind of like stigmatize them the look a certain way,
so it can't ever be me, when it will definitely
be you because of the possibility of your lack of knowledge,
(24:19):
lack of education, lack of resistance, like you resisted of
years of getting these checkups and and and it only
just got words to think about cancer. Cancer don't go
away without help. It's gonna just keep winning until you
step in and realize that you have to be honest
with your body. Listen to your body, because your body
(24:42):
is telling you, is talking to you, is telling you
these things are not comfortable, that it's not right. And
when you ignore because of manhood, you ignoring because of rumors,
You're ignoring because of stereotypes, that can cost you and
your family and your friends. A great person gets who
that great person is you, So it's good to remember that.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
Yep, absolutely, I.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Know you know.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I'm gonna just tell you this now. You know we're
about twenty six minutes. Man, we've been talking. But before
we go, man, I know you covered this fight this weekend.
I'll call it a fight, Brian. But uh, it was
going good. They were looking good, Tattoo Sweaton. Then all
of a sudden, my man, my man came right under
his ribs and my man back to the collar and squatted.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Anybody knows who's fought you take a shot to the liver,
it's a rat.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
And I think for for Ryan Garcia, that liver shot
had a lot to do with it.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
And too, you know, look he looked down, and I
think Tank even said it. He said when he took
that shot and he took that knee, he said, he
looked up. He saw Tank, Sir said, and he told
him he said, he looked at it. His said, in
other words.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Don't get up.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
If you get up, I'm gonna really put these hands
on you.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
And Ryan's a good looking young man. I think that
was a bit this decision too.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Hey, good good kid.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
And I'm hurting this dude's about to rearrange my faith
and I'm too.
Speaker 6 (26:07):
Crazy right now to have some damage done to this face.
So he said, you know what, Nate, not just go
ahead and get to ten. Yeah, all right, now I
get up and the fight was over. Yeah, it was great.
I'm gonna tell you something. I'm a big fan, Brian,
and thank you. I'm gonna tell you something for us.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
I have this comfortable conversation this journey and it's almost
thirty minutes.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
It really tells us we have a relationship.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And I say that to say that anytime you need me,
anytime you I got something.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I want to promote or get out there.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
You know, I definitely want to be a sponsor for you,
a big brother to you because I am older than
you and I've done this all my life and again, man,
and even more, a more closer relationship like my boy
Steven as my boy. You know, that's my little brother.
It's my best friend. And so now I'm gonna throw you.
I'm gonna lump you in there too, okay, Brian.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Why I love that because I've been I've been such
a fan of everything you do.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
When you look at look, I think people underestimate your
resume and what you had done.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
I mean, you're a freaking legend dude in this business. Man,
and listen, I love working alongside with Steven. I mean,
Stephen has just done great things at the network. You're know,
with the face, you're at you're at the worldwide leader
and we got a black man h black man HBCU
and that to me, that's what I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, thank you, Brian. We're gonna talk to my brother.
Host
Rushion McDonald
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