February 26, 2025 • 42 mins
On this epsiode we kick off our new series "Tell me a story" with guests recalling their favourite sporting memories and telling us about the sporting memorabilia that they have accumulated along the way.
On this episode, Director of Communications for the Southeastern Conference, Chuck Dunlap tells us about...
On this episode, Director of Communications for the Southeastern Conference, Chuck Dunlap tells us about...
- his love for sports growing up in Mississisppi
- the story of how he became a New York Mets fan
- joining the SEC and the incredible memories of 25 years of SEC sports
- a virtual tour of his sporting momentos from his time working in the SEC
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm not going to comment on that. I'll get fine
for the rest of my life if I get comment
on that.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
National championship that young stirl.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Everyone, and welcome to the College Chats Podcast. On this episode,
I'm pretty excited to kick off a news series where
we talked to our guests about their favorite sporting memories
and any memorabilia that they've collected over the years. But
first we are the chaps. I'm George. I'm joined by Ac.
Welcome back. Ac dragged himself away from volleyball for at
(00:51):
least an hour. How are you, my friend?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah, good to be back. We're on a bye week
this week as we prepare for the National Chatship semi
final next Wednesday. So very much in a good place
and excited to be back on and chatting with a
great guest.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yes, it's a great guest. When we started thinking about
this series, we tried to think about people who would
have good stories about great sporting achievements, and of course
I mentioned the SEC first, So no great surprise that
we ended up with someone from the SEC. But if
you ever listened to a call with the Southeastern Conference
(01:31):
League office, you will have heard the dulcet southern tones
of our guests. You'll often often see him hovering over
the shoulder of Commissioner Sankey. But his job is much
more than this. He is the communications director of the
SEC as well as spokesperson for the Confidence and I'm
not sure how well known this is. I'm sure it
is for those who know him well, but he's a
huge and I mean massive baseball fan, which we're sure
(01:54):
to talk about in a moment or so. So it's
great to welcome Chuck down Lap Hi, Chuck, welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
How are you hey, George?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
How you Yeah, we're doing fine, thank you, And we
were just chatting before about the great Birmingham, Alabama winter
of twenty twenty five, so we know that you're shivering
and the office is just we thought the idea of
this came about in a slightly separate entity. But one
of the things that struck me when a message you
(02:21):
was that you sometimes post photographs on Instagram of the
of the office and I couldn't help but notice I
think your photograph was about something specific, but I can't
help but notice some of the things hanging against the wall.
So I thought you would be a great guest and
of course having been at the SEC for quite some
time or certain that you've got lots of really great stories.
(02:42):
But let's start off. Let's start off with a pinnacle, right,
because before we delve into college football, I thought it
would be good to talk about the sporting memories that
you have and maybe a little bit chuck about how
you got into how you get into sports. Why is
why sports so so passionate for you?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Uh? Well, I guess, I guess growing up and it
probably is what started my love for for baseball as well.
I was, uh, you know, born in the mid seventies,
raised in the eighties, and and I was raised in
a very rule of Mississippi, halfway between Startville and Jackson, Mississippi.
And if you know anything about baseball in the you know,
(03:27):
early to mid eighties, you know I was literally lived
a little leaguer's dream. Uh, forty five minutes south. I'm sorry, North,
I had you know it was. It was Will Clark,
Raphael Palmero, Jeff Brantley, Bobby Thinkpen. They were all at
Starville at Mississippi State, and then ninety minutes south and Jackson.
(03:48):
The Double a affiliate for the New York Mets was there,
and you had you know, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra. Literally
everybody from that eighty six World Series team came through
Jackson except for maybe you know, Doc Goodin and Keith Nanez.
So that's kind of where my love for baseball kind
(04:08):
of got started. The place I grew up is very
much a high school football mecca. I think they have
the most state titles of anybody in the state of Mississippi,
and I was lucky enough to play for them for
a few years and we won a lot of games,
and just everything about sports, especially football and baseball that
(04:29):
I was around so much growing up. When I got
to college at Mississippi State, after I played, I played
two years at JUCO football and then gave it up
and just decided I wanted to be on this side
of it and no longer on the field I wanted
to I wanted to be behind the scenes and this
so I got into the back then it was called
(04:50):
sports information and then merged into media relations. Now it's communications.
But I was able to do that with some marketing
and administration aspects from Mississippi. At Mississippi State from nineteen
ninety six to nineteen ninety nine, and that's when I,
you know, really realized, you know, I really like this.
I was fortunate and sort of right place, right time,
(05:13):
and was able to get an internship internship here at
the SEC in two thousand and it was just, you know,
like I said, I was fortunate to be here when
changes were being made from the staffing standpoint, and it's
my first and ever job, first and only job. Twenty
five years later, I'm still here. So that's a quick
background on my passion for sports and what led me here.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
What a great job. It's tom day to be talk
about being in the right place at the right time, Chuck.
That explains a lot about your passion for the Mets,
because you very kindly sent across some photographs to us
ahead of the call. And for someone, as you can see,
who likes the odd piece of sporting memorabilia, I was.
I was taken aback by how much stuff that you've
(05:59):
got home.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
It's actually a two part or the double A team
is just part of it. Probably a larger reason for
my passion for the Mets is Believe it or not,
I'm sure you cannot tell from my accent, but my
father is actually from New York and his and his
family is a big Mets family. So when you combine
those two things, the question becomes more or less how
are you not a Mets fan?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Well, that that explains a lot, because my brother's a
big Mets fan and travels across on occasion too to
city field to watch games. And I think he gets
frustrated by the number of certainly in this country, the
number of Yankees fans that are right. So wherever he
finds a Mets fat, he tries to understand where they where.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
They've come from.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
So let's let's touch a little bit on sporting memories then,
And I'm not pushing you into baseball if it's not
going to be baseball, But where where, where do your
where do you really fond sporting memories come from? What's
the one that jumps out at you.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
It's a lot to twenty five years here, it's really
hard to come up with with just one. Well, my
my top if we're talking just my life in general,
my top memory by far would probably be high school
where we won a state championship on the last play
of the game on a field goal. I was the
(07:21):
long snapper, so I was I was on the field
and got to be you know, part of that moment,
that that one defining moment. You know, that's probably the
one that means the most and stands out to me personally.
And then you know, after being here for a while,
I remember once Father's Day and I think two thousand
and seven, I was able to sit in the old
(07:44):
bleachers at Rosenblat Stadium in Omaha with my dad, who
flew up because Mississippi State was in Omaha and playing
that afternoon on Father's Day. So being able to sit
in the stands with your day add on Father's Day,
you know, watching you know the team that you know
(08:05):
thirty forty years ago. You know, he would get in
his truck and take me out to the outfield behind
the fence and park and watch on Sundays after church.
That was. That was a pretty cool moment. So those
are two personal ones and then from a professional standpoint,
oh wow, that's tough. You know. I remember my first
(08:26):
my first national title game as the number two person
with SEC football was in two thousand and seven in
New Orleans with the Ohio State LSU. Uh. That was
that was that was a that was a big one,
you know, the one that really stands out is is
the the year before I took over football. That was
from the communication side of football, it was if you
(08:50):
remember the All SEC LSU Alabama one versus two in
New Orleans, that got so much attention and obviously a
lot of people that we're not in the SEC fan
footprint were not thrilled with that result. But anybody who
remembers college football that year and remembers their overtime you know,
(09:10):
six to three game or nine to six game that
took place earlier in the season, there was no doubt
who the number of the top two teams in the
country were that year. And so to have that game
take place in an all SEC national championship and what
is one of, if not the biggest SEC cities where
are historic a long time SEC Bowl game, the Sugar
(09:32):
Bowl is located, that was that was pretty special. I
always remember that Sunday before the National Championship game, and
it was it was like it was like Marty Grass,
it was. It was crazy. It was it was half LSU,
half Alabama SEC chance and that was that was that.
That was pretty high up there on the list. Just
(09:55):
moving along in some memories. The twenty fifteen National championship
in in Tampa. That was my that was my first,
My first time to win a national championship is the
is the communications lead for football. And I remember getting
a hat on the field, which maybe near the end
of the interview, we can walk around my office and
I can show you a couple of things, but I've
(10:15):
got the hat that I received on the field and
that celebration that that means a lot, being my being
my my first national even though I was there for
the six in a row from six to twenty twelve,
you know, having your first is like, you know, the
person who was truly the you know, the head of
the communications in a football for the SEC. That was
(10:35):
that was pretty special. And then obviously the twenty seventeen
game and the CFP in Atlanta. Uh and you I
don't you may have been at that one, George, but
the Alabama versus Georgia All SEC National championship in Atlanta
where the SEC championship game is played, that that was
truly a incredible moment. And then if you remember the
(10:58):
way that game ended with looking like Alabama and Georgia
was about to win when they sacked too on first
down for a big loss, and then you know, second
down to a chunks a deep second in twenty five
twenty six to a chunk sit deep to a little
known freshman wide receiver that named DeVonta Smith, who many
years later people would come quite familiar with. So that
(11:21):
was you know that that was a big one. And
then obviously you know you had the odd year of COVID.
You know, one of the funniest moments in that your
your jersey in the background makes me think of it.
I think it was that. I think that looks like
a jersey from Miami, where Tebow's last maybe last game
(11:42):
next to the last game where they played Oklahoma and
the BCS National Championship. One of the funniest moments that
I remember, at least from Tebow's career. Late in that game,
he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. A safety that had
been doing a lot of yapping with Tebou in the
media and on the field. Uh, Tim had just finally
(12:05):
had enough and what was very unlike him after a
play after a first down, I think kind of sealed
the game and guaranteed they were they were up ten
and they were going to keep the ball and the
clock were round, Tebow got up and Gator chomped in
his face and drew a fifteen yard unsportsmanlike penalty. And
if you know anyone who is you know, remotely close
to our age and remember sim Tebow playing college football,
(12:28):
that is something that obviously was very unluke.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And that became that became a very iconic moment, didn't it,
because as that that then well not not then, but
now there's like a million means of Tebow doing that
right as you say, it was so so unlike them
too to get into that. But shoush you emotions of
the day.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, so that was that was a pretty uh a
pretty funny moment. And I just I just I see that,
uh look, I remember that my that logo from that
game in Miami. I can see it big and bright
on that on jersey. You have framed behind.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Being with the SEC for the last two and a
half decades, you will have come across some of the
biggest characters in the history of college football. Talk to me,
if you, if you will, about the best character if
you had to, if you had to pick one person
that you've had to deal with in the last twenty
five years. Who would you pick as as the guy
(13:25):
that had probably had the biggest impact on you, the
biggest imprint.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
On your well. Certainly Tebow's final appearance at SEC Media Days,
which is an event that we've been lucky enough to
have for Georgia at the last few years. Hopefully that
will continue in Atlanta here in a little over five months, George,
So I hope you got your sky miles ready to
come play us of this visit. Uh. Tebow's last appearance
that SEC Media Days was was was one of the
(13:50):
most like star studded you got. We had, you know,
from I think a professional boxing champion there, you had
a massive deals es element from a fan standpoint, that
was one of the more that was one of the
big ones that stands out for me. But honestly, I
think it might have been topped a few years later
(14:11):
by a certain Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A and
M named Johnny Manziel who that was an absolute insane
Media Day appearance because he had gotten a little gotten
in some trouble earlier in the summer at Archie Manning
football camp, and I don't think he had spoken about
(14:33):
it since I think there were also some other things
going on from a maybe seemed silly in twenty twenty five,
but from a compliance standpoint and receiving some compensation for
signing some jerseys, I think he was dealing with some
of those things, which back in twenty twelve or twenty
thirteen when this happened was, you know, a much bigger
(14:56):
topic than it would be today. So his appearance problem
from a media standpoint, as far as you have to
keep your head on a swivel or you would literally
get run over, that's probably been the most just you know,
star studed event where you just you know, you have
to stand back and watch because you would think the
(15:16):
biggest celebrity or the president was coming through when when
he made his appearance that year. Uh so that that
that's that's definitely one. I'm trying to think I keep
some helmets back here to to pop my memories, but
certainly those those two are definitely definitely some characters. Obviously
(15:36):
I was, I was around for less miles for many years.
He actually sang me Happy Birthday on the weekly media
teleconference once. So that's plenty of plenty of plenty of
personalities that have come through the League.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
What was with Steve Steve Spurrier likes because he was
a head coach both Florida and so call and who
would have been during during the early against the early
time that you are, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
He was. He stepped away from Florida very early in
my time, and then he was back at Carolina for
a while. I think for with him, the biggest memories
I had for with Steve were he was always the
highlight of media days. For sure. He was the one
everybody looked forward to, just because it did not matter
how you know, what his what his age may be
(16:28):
now compared he was. He was always gonna come ready
and feisty, and people knew he was gonna throw barbs
and people just learned not to take it personally. But
maybe if you threw barbs at just because he liked,
liked you and respected. But you know, one of his
last media day appearances. You mentioned memes earlier, and lord knows,
(16:48):
there's a lot of famous sec memes out there, but
one of the one, one of the most iconic is
probably Spurrier, who was well known for wearing sunglasses and
doors in front of a fountain machine and a soda
machine at an Arby's in Birmingham and at the food
court with his tie in, with his tie undone, sunglasses own,
give it a big smile and thumbs up to the camera. Uh,
(17:10):
that was a that was a famous media day moment.
And uh, but just Springer was always entertaining. But I
tell you well, I used to moderate that that that
big room and at media days before I became the
Communications League in twenty third lead in twenty thirteen, And
I always dreaded that appearance because he's he was he
(17:32):
was the toughest head coach I've ever had to moderate
because he didn't really he really didn't take your lead.
He was gonna lead. He was going he was going
to pick who the next question came from? How many?
How many follow ups? Everybody else is fine to let
you kind of run air traffic control, not Steve. Steve
was gonna is gonna do it himself. And so it
(17:53):
was always a little bit of a of a challenge,
uh to moderate him. So that that's when I certainly
have have not missed.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
I can imagine I think I'm writing saying Shane Beemer
recreated that photograph. I think his first SEC media days.
I'm sure I saw because I wasn't I wasn't quite
certain about the background too, and then very quickly got
got familiar with the fact that he'd recreated it, which
I was quite quite interesting.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And Shane is very good at social I know he
works a lot with his social and marketing folks and
they do they do things like that quite often. But
that was I remember that that remaking of the famous
image quite well. That was very well played by coach
Beember and staff.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Not Tony's not spend any time on it, Chuck, because
I really do want to get to see your the
stuff that you've collected in your in your your office.
How has how has social media changed your job in
the last ten years?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Uh? Well, A good be it? We you know, we
we obviously were, you know, part of every corporation and
company that got in on so I was I have
to check my bio here, but I reluctantly was kind
of forced to get on Twitter sometime during two thousand
(19:12):
and nine, two thousand and ten, bar social media lead
at the time, our first one ever who was you know,
getting the SEC started and so he got me, he
got me going with the sec Chuck Twitter feed, and I,
you know, would play around with it and put some
things in there, and you know, it became fifty, and
(19:33):
then it became five hundred, and I was like, you
know what it's it's it's never going to get above
a thousand, and then that would hit a thousand, and
then I was like, well, it's it's done, you know.
And then it gets to ten thousand, and all of
a sudden, a blue verification thing pops up and it
became where I've had to learn pretty quick that even
(19:55):
though I try to have fun with it and keep
it light hearted and always try to especially respond to
fans who genuinely ask questions and a and a respectful manner,
but it's you know, I've had I have to be
careful because at any point that I tweet anything, especially
if it's a dead time like maybe you know, for instance,
a Wednesday in late February. Uh, it can show up
(20:18):
as a quote in a in a in a story
or a blog, even though it may not be serious
or I'm just having a you know. So, so I've
I've had to learn to be careful about uh my
words and their reach. Uh even even when you know,
kidding around, it's now granted you can you can certainly
tell when I when I tweet a story or official
(20:39):
stance from the SEC or link to our website. It's
a little different than me going back and forth with
with a media member or a fan uh or a
friend uh. And we'll talk about some things. But that
that's been getting used to. But now and I've slowly
got into you know, I'm on. I'm on like the
you know, the the what I call my big three.
Now I have, you know, a Facebook and an Instagram feed,
(21:04):
and they're all kind of the same moniker with the
same the same image of the BCS National Championship trophy,
which is the reason I keep that because that's where
the street happened, you know, the two thousand and six
to twenty twelve, and it just became just kind of
my my icon. And I don't, I don't, I don't
(21:25):
plan on changing it. I've been asked to change it
before by some organizations outside the SEC, but I have
so far refused, and I want to keep my old
school my old school image.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Now, let's go into some of your memorabilia because we're
really keen to see what you've got, and ILike Steve Spurry,
I'm welcome to take your lead on this. I guess
what the big question is going to be, what's just
your favorite piece of sporting memorabilia and the story behind it.
But I'm happy to go with whatever you've got the
if you kicking Bay the office, so anything you went
(22:02):
to a chato.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, no problem. Like well, my favorite my favorite ones
are probably at home. You've seen some of those. That's
in the Mets, Miami Dolphins, Den Marino genre, probably more
related to Mets. I've got you know, I've got a
ticket stubs from the eighty from Game six of the
eighty six World Series, the famous butner through your legs play,
(22:26):
and I've got a helmet signed by Mookie who hit
the ball. I've got a piece of dirt from the
last game at Shay Stadium back in two thousand and
what was it eight? Probably my famous as a World
Series guy I was. I was born on October twenty first,
nineteen seventy five, which may not mean anything to some people,
but most Boston Red Sox fans know that that is
(22:49):
the day in the night that Carlton Fisk hit the
infamous walk off extra ding home run where he was
he was waving it down the line. And that's also
a night that kind of changed sports history and and
and the way that sports is televised. That was on
it was prime time. They did a bunch of stuff
(23:10):
with lighting they've never done so, and that was you go back.
Sports Illustrator had a really big long form article on
that game and just how that that game that night,
that day essentially changed the way sports in America was
presented and televised. Uh And just given the my job
and my involvement with sports and television and our own
TV channel, that that's always something that's meant a lot
(23:32):
to me is to actually be born on that day.
So those are some of my uh, more personal things
at home. I'm going to, uh, George flip my screen
around and uh and guess I just would do a
little walk and you just you just stop and tell
me when when you'd like me to, you know. So
(23:53):
this is just a couple of things. These are pictures
of all of our football fields. Those are actually just
fourteen and we've got to be added here. This is
some things we did with the Street. I had put
together from the Street. That's just all of our Sports
Illustrated covers from the two thousand and six to twenty
twelve National Championship streak under Mike's Live and you see
(24:14):
the trophy there in the middle I'm so proud of.
And then that's a Sports Illustrated one page ad that
just had the you know, one versus two. I keep
those above my dashes because those are things that were
that were pretty memorable. Here's here's that book that I
think you saw the picture of with the Army Italian
and John Tolti. John actually lives here in Birmingham and
(24:37):
he came by to sign it last week. There's just
some things. That's our last game in the Georgia Dome,
a place that means a lot to people in SEC
country obviously with memories. And then and then the first
one from Mercedes Benz Stadium with my role here, I
serve as the media director for the SEC Championship g
(25:00):
so obviously that game and those two games in particular
pay big moments. I don't know if you've ever seen
the this series that we did Saturdays in the South.
It was an eight part eight part feature.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, it's awesome, it's a great. Unfortunately we don't we
don't get it in the UK, but I was able
to see some of it one of my trips. That's
really it's great about the history of the of the conference.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
It's really well done. We put a lot of work
and hard into that, and they had movie posters that
came out with it, and and I I got to
keep this one. They had a big premiere. It's probably
the first and only time my name is going to
appear on a on a movie poster. So, uh, I
do keep that here. So we'll work over here. And
(25:46):
I think this is probably some of the things that
you saw in those pictures. So this is my this
is my credential wall. This isn't this is not this
is not all the credentials I've ever got, but this
is essentially every BCS and CFP related bowl game championship.
(26:07):
I kept all those credentials, which you can see from
the lanyards what they are. But these are mainly BCS
National championship and CFP semi finals and national championship games.
There's some there's a couple of I think Masters passes
in here. There's maybe some college football Game Day Hall
of Fame type things. There's a couple of Before I
(26:29):
ran lead on football, I was I did baseball from
two thousand and two until twenty thirteen, and those were
a couple of national championships that we won. That's South
Carolina and Ray Tanner, who just retired as their athletic director.
And then you've got that's Paul Minary when he won
it with LSU, I think back back in two thousand
(26:51):
and nine. So those are just all my credentials there
and some got some pennants from both Omaha where we
had a lot of teams. So the first year it
was called td Ameritrade parked in when they left, when
they left Rosenblatt, and the two thousand and nine was
the last year at Rosenblat where LSU won. The last
(27:15):
year I actually know that there wasn't the last year
South Carolina won two in a row. It was LSU
won it nine, but then Carolina won it when I
think it was maybe eleven or it was two thousand
and ten, twenty eleven, they went back to back in
both the old mdon U Stadium. You asked me about
some things that meant a lot personally, and this is
this is a big one for me personally. This is
(27:38):
this is a little memento that we used to give
out at basketball tournaments and I found this in a
closet when I was an intern back in ninety nine,
two thousand. Believe it or not, this was the first
SEC event that I ever worked. It was in the
Pyramid in Memphis and Memphis, Tennessee, which now is now
(27:58):
a bass pro shop, but it used to be where
the Memphis Tigers played and they would have a lot
of concerts and a lot of things like that. And
that was the first event I ever worked. I was
I was a student in college and it was my
first SEC event to ever work in volunteer at. So
that was one that I kept just because it had
a lot of personal meaning to me. That was my
(28:19):
first ever event with the SEC, first ever anything with
the Southeastern Conference office, and so I kept that one.
Have a few things framed. Here's your guy, here's your guy.
T Bow he was had one of the most famous
sports illustrated covers that we had, so I'm sure that
you probably remember some of those. We've got here's that
(28:42):
here's that hat that I talked about, So that was
so I got that on the on the field after
Alabama beat Clips and that's when it's got the the
infamous moment where coach Saban did the surprise on sidekick
and because they were literally going back and forth ordinary
possession and he knew he had to score possession. I
(29:03):
think most people remember is that that uh, that smirk
he had on his face when it worked, uh and
they were able to uh to pull away and win
that game. Uh. This was this was another one. This
was from the that that was out Georgia TCU out
in l A, the infamous sixty five to seven game. Yeah,
(29:24):
so so that was one. That's uh, that's one I kept.
They actually at that same year they did these helmets
for the National Championship game since it was our our
second All SEC final we've had in several years in
in in what five years, six years, they did those
for US uh, and then we had the coins uh
(29:48):
for that for that game as well.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Getting down into some stuff. The football there under the
TV is it's got all the national championships that were
that were in the street from two thousand and six
to twenty twelve. Got a mini Georgia Dome here from
when they shut down. The roof actually comes off and
you can see the old Georgia Dome this is from
our ten year anniversary that we did. Seems like it
(30:14):
seems like forever, right, but that was in two thousand
and one, our tenth SEC Championship game. A couple of
things over here. I know I've mentioned just how special
those Alabama Georgia matchups were. This is the This is
the one in Atlanta. It was played in January twenty eighteen,
but it was from the twenty seventeen season. That was
(30:34):
the two second and long walk off, and see another
another coin was done for that game, so that's a
pretty meaningful one. And then similar for the twenty twenty
two game in Indy from the twenty twenty one season.
(30:55):
So anytime you get the all SEC matchup, that's pretty special.
I think you've probably done something like this before. That's
just me and a friend of mine on the set
of game day. I believe that was number two versus
number three Mississippi State in Auburn. Number one had lost
that day, so you know, everybody new going into that
(31:18):
CBS game that whoever won that game was going to
be the new number one team in the nation and
the number one team in the first ever college football
playoff poll. I men I mentioned my love for Dan Marino.
This is one of my highlights. This was on the
field with Ryan Brown, who was a media member here
(31:38):
on radio in Birmingham. That's us with Dan Marino before
the twenty eighteen Alabama Oklahoma semi final down in down
in Miami. Ryan's a big Miami Dolphins fan too, so
we heard he was down there, and we violated everything
that we knew about professionalism and wearing a credential because
we were we were not gonna miss that opportunity. So
(32:04):
here's some other things. So the I don't know how
you see it well, but these are sites from Coke Bottles.
So that's that Alabama ones from the nineteen ninety two.
There used to be a big thing where you sec
national championships that'd be a commendative, a commenmative Coke Bottle made.
And these were some of those. You've got Obama ninety two,
Florida ninety six, LSU two thousand and three, Tennessee and
(32:26):
ninety eight. So those are all those pre national titles
before the streak. There's another Alabama ninety two. You can
see those logos and various things. Here's I mentioned I mentioned,
So this is I actually picked this up on the
field with her Vincent who you know who was at
(32:48):
LSU at the time. But this this is dirt from
the infield the last ever game at Rose in Bright Stateium,
South Carolina won the national championship and we were down
on the field and we brought these with us just
because we knew, you know, how special Rosen Black was
too to our league and our history, and you know,
(33:10):
like for example, her Herb was there back in the
infamous you know, Warren Moore at Boris walk off against
Miami and other walk offs that l s U have
had in their dominant streak, uh in Miami. So and
he's got some various coins. Uh, dropped my ear piece,
put that back in. Sorry about that, George. Uh, some
(33:34):
various various coins, some of which were used Missouri and
uh when Texas A and M first joined the league.
These are the coins that Mike Slive used at the
midfield at the opening coin toss for those games. So
just a couple of things, you know, I mentioned I
mentioned earlier about that Father's Day game. That's you know,
(33:54):
we were both a little younger then, but that's that
was that's me and my dad in front of Rosen
Black for that game and uh and that special moment.
So those are those are a few things. And then
uh obviously got a couple of college degrees here undergrad
at Mississippi State and graduate school at at at U
a B, which for those are not familiar, is fan's
(34:17):
for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. So they have
a pretty good history of of basketball and have had
some some pretty good times in football here the last
ten or fifteen years as well. Uh, And they're they're
and they're here in town.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So the football stadiums just across the road from you,
isn't it?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
It is what what we've we've had. You know, Legion
Field was a pretty historic field that is still still there.
They they recently tore down the upper deck just because
of an age and safety and they and they've built
a smaller stadium right across from our office called a
Protective Stadium, which is home to U a B football.
It is home to the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL
(35:01):
slash XFL. It is the home of the Birmingham Bowl,
which is a college football postseason game that pits the
SEC versus the American team. We have the high school
state football playoffs are played here. Like I said, mentioned concerts,
there's been Garth Brooks and some other acts, so it's
(35:21):
done quite well. There's a minor league soccer team that
plays here, so it's smaller than the Legion field. It
probably sits you know, for concerts, they can probably get
around fifty. For normal sporting events where they need the field,
it's probably in the lower to mid forties. But the
very nice stadium, very well done, and very convenient to downtown.
So that's a quick tour of the office. Happy to
(35:45):
answer any questions or I'll go to any other topic
you want too, but just wanted to show you around
and show you some of those what I would call
a very random item that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
To thank you, I don't I don't want to say
in condescending that the biggest thing that I learned from
that takeaway is that the Memphis put him. It wasn't
always a bass pro shop.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I visited.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
I visited Memphis once in our hotel room looked over
there and we thought, when we in Muscow there what
is it? And when we arrived we realized it was
a bass pro shop, but not not understanding what the building.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Was with a very nice hotel inside too. But I'll
tell you what in the in the mid nineties there
there was there was not a a bigger place in
sports than the Memphis Pyramid. That is where that is
where many of the Tyson fights took place. That would
you know, the pay per view fights back then there
(36:46):
you had you know, obviously some years there was it
was it was pretty grizzlies, but you know, the Memphis
Tigers have always had a pretty big following. It was
the if you were going to do a concert, that's
where you wanted to do it, just because it was
so new, it was so unique. For there was a
probably a five year run where there was no more
sought after venue in sports and entertainment in America than
(37:08):
the Memphis Pyramid. Believe it or not, I missed this
earlier when we were talking and you'd ask about some
of my favorite moments and from my professional role to
my role as a parent, to a lot of different roles.
And this has nothing to do with the outcome of
who won and lost the game, But one of my
favorite moments that I've ever witnessed is that year after
(37:33):
the Alabama Georgia National title, Part one or two of
Through the Walk Off. That following December and twenty eighteen,
the SEC Championship game Alabama and Georgia rematched. It was
very much like the National Championship game. It was Georgia
(37:53):
taking a lead, had a double digit lead coming out
of the half, and if you remember, I think it
was maybe halfway through the third quarter too, it was
injured and he left the game. And then you had
Jalen Hurts come in, who had been benched since halftime
of the National Championship game the year before, had you know,
taken his medicine, been a good teammates, he had played
(38:15):
some mop up duty. But two, it was clearly the
starter and it was clearly his team. And then Jalen
was called on becoming that game for the first time
all season with some you know, really minutes that that
that that mattered, and you know, for him to have
that moment and to from double digits down to to
lead his team back to a last second victory of
(38:38):
which he had a running helicopter type touchdown. He was
named MVP of the game. I can see his smile
to this day, see how much it meant to him
seeing him crying, seeing his family and his parents crying, Uh,
different kind of crime than what they were having to
fight back in January eleven months earlier, obviously because they
(38:59):
they knew that there was you know, it's had something
you to deal with. And then post game that never
nobody's ever seen this, you know, Nick Saban cried. You know,
it's just so emotional. He was so happy for not
just what Jalen did, but how he handled himself, the
example that he was, the example that he set. It
was just everything that sports is about, should be about,
(39:21):
supposed to be about, uh is about to a lot
of us. It just it was just an absolutely defining
moment for for for SEC football, for for for for
Jalen personally, for our championship game, and for really everything
that Jalen Hurts has become in life, you know, which
(39:42):
you know, as of what three weeks ago is now
super Bowl champion and super Bowl MVP. And so that
that that was a that was a very very neat
moment to be a part of and to say I
get to I got to witness it, and man, maybe
one of my professional favorites just because of the a
movie like dramatics that that took place in a complete
(40:03):
one eighty role reversal in that eleven month time frame.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
As always, when we've got a really great guest, we
run out of time. So that's all we've we've got
time for in podcasts. And Chuck has been fantastic to
get the wordw Wind too around about your your office.
It's been been awesome and you've had some great stories,
and he talked about this being something quite a time
for you. What keeps you, what keeps you busy between
(40:29):
now and SEC media days in July.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Well, believe it or not, there's a there's a good
bit of a football wrap up that goes on just
office work, paperwork, Uh, there is some prep work for
the next year. We are and I will go to
our men's basketball tournament in Nashville, help out with some
other championships we have, such as our you know, our
men's and women's golf championships are playing out on the
(40:54):
on the East Coast. I've stayed very involved in baseball
and our baseball tournament which is played here here in
the Hoover at the Hoover met which some of your
bigger sports fans may recall that that is where Michael
Jordan had his minor league career take place at at
that stadium, so I do very much enjoy baseball season
(41:16):
in that tournament in particular, which is a six day event,
probably the longest event that we have, and I'm highly
involved in the planning and implementation of that event. We'll
have college football playoff meetings spring meetings that take place
in April. We'll have SEC Spring meetings that take place
down in Destin, Florida in May. And then obviously you
(41:40):
mentioned just getting ready for media days in the twenty
twenty five season. As odd as that is to say,
I think we mentioned beforehand we're only five months away
from SEC media Days in Atlanta getting going, so it
will be here before you know it.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Certainly, it's been awesome having you on.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Thank you, Chuck.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
That's all the time we have for this episode. Thanks
to Chuck and Alex Weather excellent input. Thanks you all
for listening and supporting us, and stay safe. We'll catch
you next time.
I'm not going to comment on that. I'll get fine
for the rest of my life if I get comment
on that.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
National championship that young stirl.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Everyone, and welcome to the College Chats Podcast. On this episode,
I'm pretty excited to kick off a news series where
we talked to our guests about their favorite sporting memories
and any memorabilia that they've collected over the years. But
first we are the chaps. I'm George. I'm joined by Ac.
Welcome back. Ac dragged himself away from volleyball for at
(00:51):
least an hour. How are you, my friend?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah, good to be back. We're on a bye week
this week as we prepare for the National Chatship semi
final next Wednesday. So very much in a good place
and excited to be back on and chatting with a
great guest.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yes, it's a great guest. When we started thinking about
this series, we tried to think about people who would
have good stories about great sporting achievements, and of course
I mentioned the SEC first, So no great surprise that
we ended up with someone from the SEC. But if
you ever listened to a call with the Southeastern Conference
(01:31):
League office, you will have heard the dulcet southern tones
of our guests. You'll often often see him hovering over
the shoulder of Commissioner Sankey. But his job is much
more than this. He is the communications director of the
SEC as well as spokesperson for the Confidence and I'm
not sure how well known this is. I'm sure it
is for those who know him well, but he's a
huge and I mean massive baseball fan, which we're sure
(01:54):
to talk about in a moment or so. So it's
great to welcome Chuck down Lap Hi, Chuck, welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
How are you hey, George?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
How you Yeah, we're doing fine, thank you, And we
were just chatting before about the great Birmingham, Alabama winter
of twenty twenty five, so we know that you're shivering
and the office is just we thought the idea of
this came about in a slightly separate entity. But one
of the things that struck me when a message you
(02:21):
was that you sometimes post photographs on Instagram of the
of the office and I couldn't help but notice I
think your photograph was about something specific, but I can't
help but notice some of the things hanging against the wall.
So I thought you would be a great guest and
of course having been at the SEC for quite some
time or certain that you've got lots of really great stories.
(02:42):
But let's start off. Let's start off with a pinnacle, right,
because before we delve into college football, I thought it
would be good to talk about the sporting memories that
you have and maybe a little bit chuck about how
you got into how you get into sports. Why is
why sports so so passionate for you?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Uh? Well, I guess, I guess growing up and it
probably is what started my love for for baseball as well.
I was, uh, you know, born in the mid seventies,
raised in the eighties, and and I was raised in
a very rule of Mississippi, halfway between Startville and Jackson, Mississippi.
And if you know anything about baseball in the you know,
(03:27):
early to mid eighties, you know I was literally lived
a little leaguer's dream. Uh, forty five minutes south. I'm sorry, North,
I had you know it was. It was Will Clark,
Raphael Palmero, Jeff Brantley, Bobby Thinkpen. They were all at
Starville at Mississippi State, and then ninety minutes south and Jackson.
(03:48):
The Double a affiliate for the New York Mets was there,
and you had you know, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra. Literally
everybody from that eighty six World Series team came through
Jackson except for maybe you know, Doc Goodin and Keith Nanez.
So that's kind of where my love for baseball kind
(04:08):
of got started. The place I grew up is very
much a high school football mecca. I think they have
the most state titles of anybody in the state of Mississippi,
and I was lucky enough to play for them for
a few years and we won a lot of games,
and just everything about sports, especially football and baseball that
(04:29):
I was around so much growing up. When I got
to college at Mississippi State, after I played, I played
two years at JUCO football and then gave it up
and just decided I wanted to be on this side
of it and no longer on the field I wanted
to I wanted to be behind the scenes and this
so I got into the back then it was called
(04:50):
sports information and then merged into media relations. Now it's communications.
But I was able to do that with some marketing
and administration aspects from Mississippi. At Mississippi State from nineteen
ninety six to nineteen ninety nine, and that's when I,
you know, really realized, you know, I really like this.
I was fortunate and sort of right place, right time,
(05:13):
and was able to get an internship internship here at
the SEC in two thousand and it was just, you know,
like I said, I was fortunate to be here when
changes were being made from the staffing standpoint, and it's
my first and ever job, first and only job. Twenty
five years later, I'm still here. So that's a quick
background on my passion for sports and what led me here.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
What a great job. It's tom day to be talk
about being in the right place at the right time, Chuck.
That explains a lot about your passion for the Mets,
because you very kindly sent across some photographs to us
ahead of the call. And for someone, as you can see,
who likes the odd piece of sporting memorabilia, I was.
I was taken aback by how much stuff that you've
(05:59):
got home.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
It's actually a two part or the double A team
is just part of it. Probably a larger reason for
my passion for the Mets is Believe it or not,
I'm sure you cannot tell from my accent, but my
father is actually from New York and his and his
family is a big Mets family. So when you combine
those two things, the question becomes more or less how
are you not a Mets fan?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Well, that that explains a lot, because my brother's a
big Mets fan and travels across on occasion too to
city field to watch games. And I think he gets
frustrated by the number of certainly in this country, the
number of Yankees fans that are right. So wherever he
finds a Mets fat, he tries to understand where they where.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
They've come from.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
So let's let's touch a little bit on sporting memories then,
And I'm not pushing you into baseball if it's not
going to be baseball, But where where, where do your
where do you really fond sporting memories come from? What's
the one that jumps out at you.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
It's a lot to twenty five years here, it's really
hard to come up with with just one. Well, my
my top if we're talking just my life in general,
my top memory by far would probably be high school
where we won a state championship on the last play
of the game on a field goal. I was the
(07:21):
long snapper, so I was I was on the field
and got to be you know, part of that moment,
that that one defining moment. You know, that's probably the
one that means the most and stands out to me personally.
And then you know, after being here for a while,
I remember once Father's Day and I think two thousand
and seven, I was able to sit in the old
(07:44):
bleachers at Rosenblat Stadium in Omaha with my dad, who
flew up because Mississippi State was in Omaha and playing
that afternoon on Father's Day. So being able to sit
in the stands with your day add on Father's Day,
you know, watching you know the team that you know
(08:05):
thirty forty years ago. You know, he would get in
his truck and take me out to the outfield behind
the fence and park and watch on Sundays after church.
That was. That was a pretty cool moment. So those
are two personal ones and then from a professional standpoint,
oh wow, that's tough. You know. I remember my first
(08:26):
my first national title game as the number two person
with SEC football was in two thousand and seven in
New Orleans with the Ohio State LSU. Uh. That was
that was that was a that was a big one,
you know, the one that really stands out is is
the the year before I took over football. That was
from the communication side of football, it was if you
(08:50):
remember the All SEC LSU Alabama one versus two in
New Orleans, that got so much attention and obviously a
lot of people that we're not in the SEC fan
footprint were not thrilled with that result. But anybody who
remembers college football that year and remembers their overtime you know,
(09:10):
six to three game or nine to six game that
took place earlier in the season, there was no doubt
who the number of the top two teams in the
country were that year. And so to have that game
take place in an all SEC national championship and what
is one of, if not the biggest SEC cities where
are historic a long time SEC Bowl game, the Sugar
(09:32):
Bowl is located, that was that was pretty special. I
always remember that Sunday before the National Championship game, and
it was it was like it was like Marty Grass,
it was. It was crazy. It was it was half LSU,
half Alabama SEC chance and that was that was that.
That was pretty high up there on the list. Just
(09:55):
moving along in some memories. The twenty fifteen National championship
in in Tampa. That was my that was my first,
My first time to win a national championship is the
is the communications lead for football. And I remember getting
a hat on the field, which maybe near the end
of the interview, we can walk around my office and
I can show you a couple of things, but I've
(10:15):
got the hat that I received on the field and
that celebration that that means a lot, being my being
my my first national even though I was there for
the six in a row from six to twenty twelve,
you know, having your first is like, you know, the
person who was truly the you know, the head of
the communications in a football for the SEC. That was
(10:35):
that was pretty special. And then obviously the twenty seventeen
game and the CFP in Atlanta. Uh and you I
don't you may have been at that one, George, but
the Alabama versus Georgia All SEC National championship in Atlanta
where the SEC championship game is played, that that was
truly a incredible moment. And then if you remember the
(10:58):
way that game ended with looking like Alabama and Georgia
was about to win when they sacked too on first
down for a big loss, and then you know, second
down to a chunks a deep second in twenty five
twenty six to a chunk sit deep to a little
known freshman wide receiver that named DeVonta Smith, who many
years later people would come quite familiar with. So that
(11:21):
was you know that that was a big one. And
then obviously you know you had the odd year of COVID.
You know, one of the funniest moments in that your
your jersey in the background makes me think of it.
I think it was that. I think that looks like
a jersey from Miami, where Tebow's last maybe last game
(11:42):
next to the last game where they played Oklahoma and
the BCS National Championship. One of the funniest moments that
I remember, at least from Tebow's career. Late in that game,
he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. A safety that had
been doing a lot of yapping with Tebou in the
media and on the field. Uh, Tim had just finally
(12:05):
had enough and what was very unlike him after a
play after a first down, I think kind of sealed
the game and guaranteed they were they were up ten
and they were going to keep the ball and the
clock were round, Tebow got up and Gator chomped in
his face and drew a fifteen yard unsportsmanlike penalty. And
if you know anyone who is you know, remotely close
to our age and remember sim Tebow playing college football,
(12:28):
that is something that obviously was very unluke.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And that became that became a very iconic moment, didn't it,
because as that that then well not not then, but
now there's like a million means of Tebow doing that
right as you say, it was so so unlike them
too to get into that. But shoush you emotions of
the day.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, so that was that was a pretty uh a
pretty funny moment. And I just I just I see that,
uh look, I remember that my that logo from that
game in Miami. I can see it big and bright
on that on jersey. You have framed behind.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Being with the SEC for the last two and a
half decades, you will have come across some of the
biggest characters in the history of college football. Talk to me,
if you, if you will, about the best character if
you had to, if you had to pick one person
that you've had to deal with in the last twenty
five years. Who would you pick as as the guy
(13:25):
that had probably had the biggest impact on you, the
biggest imprint.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
On your well. Certainly Tebow's final appearance at SEC Media Days,
which is an event that we've been lucky enough to
have for Georgia at the last few years. Hopefully that
will continue in Atlanta here in a little over five months, George,
So I hope you got your sky miles ready to
come play us of this visit. Uh. Tebow's last appearance
that SEC Media Days was was was one of the
(13:50):
most like star studded you got. We had, you know,
from I think a professional boxing champion there, you had
a massive deals es element from a fan standpoint, that
was one of the more that was one of the
big ones that stands out for me. But honestly, I
think it might have been topped a few years later
(14:11):
by a certain Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A and
M named Johnny Manziel who that was an absolute insane
Media Day appearance because he had gotten a little gotten
in some trouble earlier in the summer at Archie Manning
football camp, and I don't think he had spoken about
(14:33):
it since I think there were also some other things
going on from a maybe seemed silly in twenty twenty five,
but from a compliance standpoint and receiving some compensation for
signing some jerseys, I think he was dealing with some
of those things, which back in twenty twelve or twenty
thirteen when this happened was, you know, a much bigger
(14:56):
topic than it would be today. So his appearance problem
from a media standpoint, as far as you have to
keep your head on a swivel or you would literally
get run over, that's probably been the most just you know,
star studed event where you just you know, you have
to stand back and watch because you would think the
(15:16):
biggest celebrity or the president was coming through when when
he made his appearance that year. Uh so that that
that's that's definitely one. I'm trying to think I keep
some helmets back here to to pop my memories, but
certainly those those two are definitely definitely some characters. Obviously
(15:36):
I was, I was around for less miles for many years.
He actually sang me Happy Birthday on the weekly media
teleconference once. So that's plenty of plenty of plenty of
personalities that have come through the League.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
What was with Steve Steve Spurrier likes because he was
a head coach both Florida and so call and who
would have been during during the early against the early
time that you are, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
He was. He stepped away from Florida very early in
my time, and then he was back at Carolina for
a while. I think for with him, the biggest memories
I had for with Steve were he was always the
highlight of media days. For sure. He was the one
everybody looked forward to, just because it did not matter
how you know, what his what his age may be
(16:28):
now compared he was. He was always gonna come ready
and feisty, and people knew he was gonna throw barbs
and people just learned not to take it personally. But
maybe if you threw barbs at just because he liked,
liked you and respected. But you know, one of his
last media day appearances. You mentioned memes earlier, and lord knows,
(16:48):
there's a lot of famous sec memes out there, but
one of the one, one of the most iconic is
probably Spurrier, who was well known for wearing sunglasses and
doors in front of a fountain machine and a soda
machine at an Arby's in Birmingham and at the food
court with his tie in, with his tie undone, sunglasses own,
give it a big smile and thumbs up to the camera. Uh,
(17:10):
that was a that was a famous media day moment.
And uh, but just Springer was always entertaining. But I
tell you well, I used to moderate that that that
big room and at media days before I became the
Communications League in twenty third lead in twenty thirteen, And
I always dreaded that appearance because he's he was he
(17:32):
was the toughest head coach I've ever had to moderate
because he didn't really he really didn't take your lead.
He was gonna lead. He was going he was going
to pick who the next question came from? How many?
How many follow ups? Everybody else is fine to let
you kind of run air traffic control, not Steve. Steve
was gonna is gonna do it himself. And so it
(17:53):
was always a little bit of a of a challenge,
uh to moderate him. So that that's when I certainly
have have not missed.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
I can imagine I think I'm writing saying Shane Beemer
recreated that photograph. I think his first SEC media days.
I'm sure I saw because I wasn't I wasn't quite
certain about the background too, and then very quickly got
got familiar with the fact that he'd recreated it, which
I was quite quite interesting.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And Shane is very good at social I know he
works a lot with his social and marketing folks and
they do they do things like that quite often. But
that was I remember that that remaking of the famous
image quite well. That was very well played by coach
Beember and staff.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Not Tony's not spend any time on it, Chuck, because
I really do want to get to see your the
stuff that you've collected in your in your your office.
How has how has social media changed your job in
the last ten years?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Uh? Well, A good be it? We you know, we
we obviously were, you know, part of every corporation and
company that got in on so I was I have
to check my bio here, but I reluctantly was kind
of forced to get on Twitter sometime during two thousand
(19:12):
and nine, two thousand and ten, bar social media lead
at the time, our first one ever who was you know,
getting the SEC started and so he got me, he
got me going with the sec Chuck Twitter feed, and I,
you know, would play around with it and put some
things in there, and you know, it became fifty, and
(19:33):
then it became five hundred, and I was like, you
know what it's it's it's never going to get above
a thousand, and then that would hit a thousand, and
then I was like, well, it's it's done, you know.
And then it gets to ten thousand, and all of
a sudden, a blue verification thing pops up and it
became where I've had to learn pretty quick that even
(19:55):
though I try to have fun with it and keep
it light hearted and always try to especially respond to
fans who genuinely ask questions and a and a respectful manner,
but it's you know, I've had I have to be
careful because at any point that I tweet anything, especially
if it's a dead time like maybe you know, for instance,
a Wednesday in late February. Uh, it can show up
(20:18):
as a quote in a in a in a story
or a blog, even though it may not be serious
or I'm just having a you know. So, so I've
I've had to learn to be careful about uh my
words and their reach. Uh even even when you know,
kidding around, it's now granted you can you can certainly
tell when I when I tweet a story or official
(20:39):
stance from the SEC or link to our website. It's
a little different than me going back and forth with
with a media member or a fan uh or a
friend uh. And we'll talk about some things. But that
that's been getting used to. But now and I've slowly
got into you know, I'm on. I'm on like the
you know, the the what I call my big three.
Now I have, you know, a Facebook and an Instagram feed,
(21:04):
and they're all kind of the same moniker with the
same the same image of the BCS National Championship trophy,
which is the reason I keep that because that's where
the street happened, you know, the two thousand and six
to twenty twelve, and it just became just kind of
my my icon. And I don't, I don't, I don't
(21:25):
plan on changing it. I've been asked to change it
before by some organizations outside the SEC, but I have
so far refused, and I want to keep my old
school my old school image.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Now, let's go into some of your memorabilia because we're
really keen to see what you've got, and ILike Steve Spurry,
I'm welcome to take your lead on this. I guess
what the big question is going to be, what's just
your favorite piece of sporting memorabilia and the story behind it.
But I'm happy to go with whatever you've got the
if you kicking Bay the office, so anything you went
(22:02):
to a chato.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, no problem. Like well, my favorite my favorite ones
are probably at home. You've seen some of those. That's
in the Mets, Miami Dolphins, Den Marino genre, probably more
related to Mets. I've got you know, I've got a
ticket stubs from the eighty from Game six of the
eighty six World Series, the famous butner through your legs play,
(22:26):
and I've got a helmet signed by Mookie who hit
the ball. I've got a piece of dirt from the
last game at Shay Stadium back in two thousand and
what was it eight? Probably my famous as a World
Series guy I was. I was born on October twenty first,
nineteen seventy five, which may not mean anything to some people,
but most Boston Red Sox fans know that that is
(22:49):
the day in the night that Carlton Fisk hit the
infamous walk off extra ding home run where he was
he was waving it down the line. And that's also
a night that kind of changed sports history and and
and the way that sports is televised. That was on
it was prime time. They did a bunch of stuff
(23:10):
with lighting they've never done so, and that was you go back.
Sports Illustrator had a really big long form article on
that game and just how that that game that night,
that day essentially changed the way sports in America was
presented and televised. Uh And just given the my job
and my involvement with sports and television and our own
TV channel, that that's always something that's meant a lot
(23:32):
to me is to actually be born on that day.
So those are some of my uh, more personal things
at home. I'm going to, uh, George flip my screen
around and uh and guess I just would do a
little walk and you just you just stop and tell
me when when you'd like me to, you know. So
(23:53):
this is just a couple of things. These are pictures
of all of our football fields. Those are actually just
fourteen and we've got to be added here. This is
some things we did with the Street. I had put
together from the Street. That's just all of our Sports
Illustrated covers from the two thousand and six to twenty
twelve National Championship streak under Mike's Live and you see
(24:14):
the trophy there in the middle I'm so proud of.
And then that's a Sports Illustrated one page ad that
just had the you know, one versus two. I keep
those above my dashes because those are things that were
that were pretty memorable. Here's here's that book that I
think you saw the picture of with the Army Italian
and John Tolti. John actually lives here in Birmingham and
(24:37):
he came by to sign it last week. There's just
some things. That's our last game in the Georgia Dome,
a place that means a lot to people in SEC
country obviously with memories. And then and then the first
one from Mercedes Benz Stadium with my role here, I
serve as the media director for the SEC Championship g
(25:00):
so obviously that game and those two games in particular
pay big moments. I don't know if you've ever seen
the this series that we did Saturdays in the South.
It was an eight part eight part feature.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, it's awesome, it's a great. Unfortunately we don't we
don't get it in the UK, but I was able
to see some of it one of my trips. That's
really it's great about the history of the of the conference.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
It's really well done. We put a lot of work
and hard into that, and they had movie posters that
came out with it, and and I I got to
keep this one. They had a big premiere. It's probably
the first and only time my name is going to
appear on a on a movie poster. So, uh, I
do keep that here. So we'll work over here. And
(25:46):
I think this is probably some of the things that
you saw in those pictures. So this is my this
is my credential wall. This isn't this is not this
is not all the credentials I've ever got, but this
is essentially every BCS and CFP related bowl game championship.
(26:07):
I kept all those credentials, which you can see from
the lanyards what they are. But these are mainly BCS
National championship and CFP semi finals and national championship games.
There's some there's a couple of I think Masters passes
in here. There's maybe some college football Game Day Hall
of Fame type things. There's a couple of Before I
(26:29):
ran lead on football, I was I did baseball from
two thousand and two until twenty thirteen, and those were
a couple of national championships that we won. That's South
Carolina and Ray Tanner, who just retired as their athletic director.
And then you've got that's Paul Minary when he won
it with LSU, I think back back in two thousand
(26:51):
and nine. So those are just all my credentials there
and some got some pennants from both Omaha where we
had a lot of teams. So the first year it
was called td Ameritrade parked in when they left, when
they left Rosenblatt, and the two thousand and nine was
the last year at Rosenblat where LSU won. The last
(27:15):
year I actually know that there wasn't the last year
South Carolina won two in a row. It was LSU
won it nine, but then Carolina won it when I
think it was maybe eleven or it was two thousand
and ten, twenty eleven, they went back to back in
both the old mdon U Stadium. You asked me about
some things that meant a lot personally, and this is
this is a big one for me personally. This is
(27:38):
this is a little memento that we used to give
out at basketball tournaments and I found this in a
closet when I was an intern back in ninety nine,
two thousand. Believe it or not, this was the first
SEC event that I ever worked. It was in the
Pyramid in Memphis and Memphis, Tennessee, which now is now
(27:58):
a bass pro shop, but it used to be where
the Memphis Tigers played and they would have a lot
of concerts and a lot of things like that. And
that was the first event I ever worked. I was
I was a student in college and it was my
first SEC event to ever work in volunteer at. So
that was one that I kept just because it had
a lot of personal meaning to me. That was my
(28:19):
first ever event with the SEC, first ever anything with
the Southeastern Conference office, and so I kept that one.
Have a few things framed. Here's your guy, here's your guy.
T Bow he was had one of the most famous
sports illustrated covers that we had, so I'm sure that
you probably remember some of those. We've got here's that
(28:42):
here's that hat that I talked about, So that was
so I got that on the on the field after
Alabama beat Clips and that's when it's got the the
infamous moment where coach Saban did the surprise on sidekick
and because they were literally going back and forth ordinary
possession and he knew he had to score possession. I
(29:03):
think most people remember is that that uh, that smirk
he had on his face when it worked, uh and
they were able to uh to pull away and win
that game. Uh. This was this was another one. This
was from the that that was out Georgia TCU out
in l A, the infamous sixty five to seven game. Yeah,
(29:24):
so so that was one. That's uh, that's one I kept.
They actually at that same year they did these helmets
for the National Championship game since it was our our
second All SEC final we've had in several years in
in in what five years, six years, they did those
for US uh, and then we had the coins uh
(29:48):
for that for that game as well.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Getting down into some stuff. The football there under the
TV is it's got all the national championships that were
that were in the street from two thousand and six
to twenty twelve. Got a mini Georgia Dome here from
when they shut down. The roof actually comes off and
you can see the old Georgia Dome this is from
our ten year anniversary that we did. Seems like it
(30:14):
seems like forever, right, but that was in two thousand
and one, our tenth SEC Championship game. A couple of
things over here. I know I've mentioned just how special
those Alabama Georgia matchups were. This is the This is
the one in Atlanta. It was played in January twenty eighteen,
but it was from the twenty seventeen season. That was
(30:34):
the two second and long walk off, and see another
another coin was done for that game, so that's a
pretty meaningful one. And then similar for the twenty twenty
two game in Indy from the twenty twenty one season.
(30:55):
So anytime you get the all SEC matchup, that's pretty special.
I think you've probably done something like this before. That's
just me and a friend of mine on the set
of game day. I believe that was number two versus
number three Mississippi State in Auburn. Number one had lost
that day, so you know, everybody new going into that
(31:18):
CBS game that whoever won that game was going to
be the new number one team in the nation and
the number one team in the first ever college football
playoff poll. I men I mentioned my love for Dan Marino.
This is one of my highlights. This was on the
field with Ryan Brown, who was a media member here
(31:38):
on radio in Birmingham. That's us with Dan Marino before
the twenty eighteen Alabama Oklahoma semi final down in down
in Miami. Ryan's a big Miami Dolphins fan too, so
we heard he was down there, and we violated everything
that we knew about professionalism and wearing a credential because
we were we were not gonna miss that opportunity. So
(32:04):
here's some other things. So the I don't know how
you see it well, but these are sites from Coke Bottles.
So that's that Alabama ones from the nineteen ninety two.
There used to be a big thing where you sec
national championships that'd be a commendative, a commenmative Coke Bottle made.
And these were some of those. You've got Obama ninety two,
Florida ninety six, LSU two thousand and three, Tennessee and
(32:26):
ninety eight. So those are all those pre national titles
before the streak. There's another Alabama ninety two. You can
see those logos and various things. Here's I mentioned I mentioned,
So this is I actually picked this up on the
field with her Vincent who you know who was at
(32:48):
LSU at the time. But this this is dirt from
the infield the last ever game at Rose in Bright Stateium,
South Carolina won the national championship and we were down
on the field and we brought these with us just
because we knew, you know, how special Rosen Black was
too to our league and our history, and you know,
(33:10):
like for example, her Herb was there back in the
infamous you know, Warren Moore at Boris walk off against
Miami and other walk offs that l s U have
had in their dominant streak, uh in Miami. So and
he's got some various coins. Uh, dropped my ear piece,
put that back in. Sorry about that, George. Uh, some
(33:34):
various various coins, some of which were used Missouri and
uh when Texas A and M first joined the league.
These are the coins that Mike Slive used at the
midfield at the opening coin toss for those games. So
just a couple of things, you know, I mentioned I
mentioned earlier about that Father's Day game. That's you know,
(33:54):
we were both a little younger then, but that's that
was that's me and my dad in front of Rosen
Black for that game and uh and that special moment.
So those are those are a few things. And then
uh obviously got a couple of college degrees here undergrad
at Mississippi State and graduate school at at at U
a B, which for those are not familiar, is fan's
(34:17):
for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. So they have
a pretty good history of of basketball and have had
some some pretty good times in football here the last
ten or fifteen years as well. Uh, And they're they're
and they're here in town.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So the football stadiums just across the road from you,
isn't it?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
It is what what we've we've had. You know, Legion
Field was a pretty historic field that is still still there.
They they recently tore down the upper deck just because
of an age and safety and they and they've built
a smaller stadium right across from our office called a
Protective Stadium, which is home to U a B football.
It is home to the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL
(35:01):
slash XFL. It is the home of the Birmingham Bowl,
which is a college football postseason game that pits the
SEC versus the American team. We have the high school
state football playoffs are played here. Like I said, mentioned concerts,
there's been Garth Brooks and some other acts, so it's
(35:21):
done quite well. There's a minor league soccer team that
plays here, so it's smaller than the Legion field. It
probably sits you know, for concerts, they can probably get
around fifty. For normal sporting events where they need the field,
it's probably in the lower to mid forties. But the
very nice stadium, very well done, and very convenient to downtown.
So that's a quick tour of the office. Happy to
(35:45):
answer any questions or I'll go to any other topic
you want too, but just wanted to show you around
and show you some of those what I would call
a very random item that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
To thank you, I don't I don't want to say
in condescending that the biggest thing that I learned from
that takeaway is that the Memphis put him. It wasn't
always a bass pro shop.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I visited.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
I visited Memphis once in our hotel room looked over
there and we thought, when we in Muscow there what
is it? And when we arrived we realized it was
a bass pro shop, but not not understanding what the building.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Was with a very nice hotel inside too. But I'll
tell you what in the in the mid nineties there
there was there was not a a bigger place in
sports than the Memphis Pyramid. That is where that is
where many of the Tyson fights took place. That would
you know, the pay per view fights back then there
(36:46):
you had you know, obviously some years there was it
was it was pretty grizzlies, but you know, the Memphis
Tigers have always had a pretty big following. It was
the if you were going to do a concert, that's
where you wanted to do it, just because it was
so new, it was so unique. For there was a
probably a five year run where there was no more
sought after venue in sports and entertainment in America than
(37:08):
the Memphis Pyramid. Believe it or not, I missed this
earlier when we were talking and you'd ask about some
of my favorite moments and from my professional role to
my role as a parent, to a lot of different roles.
And this has nothing to do with the outcome of
who won and lost the game, But one of my
favorite moments that I've ever witnessed is that year after
(37:33):
the Alabama Georgia National title, Part one or two of
Through the Walk Off. That following December and twenty eighteen,
the SEC Championship game Alabama and Georgia rematched. It was
very much like the National Championship game. It was Georgia
(37:53):
taking a lead, had a double digit lead coming out
of the half, and if you remember, I think it
was maybe halfway through the third quarter too, it was
injured and he left the game. And then you had
Jalen Hurts come in, who had been benched since halftime
of the National Championship game the year before, had you know,
taken his medicine, been a good teammates, he had played
(38:15):
some mop up duty. But two, it was clearly the
starter and it was clearly his team. And then Jalen
was called on becoming that game for the first time
all season with some you know, really minutes that that
that that mattered, and you know, for him to have
that moment and to from double digits down to to
lead his team back to a last second victory of
(38:38):
which he had a running helicopter type touchdown. He was
named MVP of the game. I can see his smile
to this day, see how much it meant to him
seeing him crying, seeing his family and his parents crying, Uh,
different kind of crime than what they were having to
fight back in January eleven months earlier, obviously because they
(38:59):
they knew that there was you know, it's had something
you to deal with. And then post game that never
nobody's ever seen this, you know, Nick Saban cried. You know,
it's just so emotional. He was so happy for not
just what Jalen did, but how he handled himself, the
example that he was, the example that he set. It
was just everything that sports is about, should be about,
(39:21):
supposed to be about, uh is about to a lot
of us. It just it was just an absolutely defining
moment for for for SEC football, for for for for
Jalen personally, for our championship game, and for really everything
that Jalen Hurts has become in life, you know, which
(39:42):
you know, as of what three weeks ago is now
super Bowl champion and super Bowl MVP. And so that
that that was a that was a very very neat
moment to be a part of and to say I
get to I got to witness it, and man, maybe
one of my professional favorites just because of the a
movie like dramatics that that took place in a complete
(40:03):
one eighty role reversal in that eleven month time frame.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
As always, when we've got a really great guest, we
run out of time. So that's all we've we've got
time for in podcasts. And Chuck has been fantastic to
get the wordw Wind too around about your your office.
It's been been awesome and you've had some great stories,
and he talked about this being something quite a time
for you. What keeps you, what keeps you busy between
(40:29):
now and SEC media days in July.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Well, believe it or not, there's a there's a good
bit of a football wrap up that goes on just
office work, paperwork, Uh, there is some prep work for
the next year. We are and I will go to
our men's basketball tournament in Nashville, help out with some
other championships we have, such as our you know, our
men's and women's golf championships are playing out on the
(40:54):
on the East Coast. I've stayed very involved in baseball
and our baseball tournament which is played here here in
the Hoover at the Hoover met which some of your
bigger sports fans may recall that that is where Michael
Jordan had his minor league career take place at at
that stadium, so I do very much enjoy baseball season
(41:16):
in that tournament in particular, which is a six day event,
probably the longest event that we have, and I'm highly
involved in the planning and implementation of that event. We'll
have college football playoff meetings spring meetings that take place
in April. We'll have SEC Spring meetings that take place
down in Destin, Florida in May. And then obviously you
(41:40):
mentioned just getting ready for media days in the twenty
twenty five season. As odd as that is to say,
I think we mentioned beforehand we're only five months away
from SEC media Days in Atlanta getting going, so it
will be here before you know it.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Certainly, it's been awesome having you on.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Thank you, Chuck.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
That's all the time we have for this episode. Thanks
to Chuck and Alex Weather excellent input. Thanks you all
for listening and supporting us, and stay safe. We'll catch
you next time.
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