February 17, 2024 • 24 mins
As I See It February 17, 2024 is an episode concerning thoughts of the host, Marc A. Medley at the time of the recording. BEYOND THEIR YEARS; The Incredible Legacies of Herb Carnegie and Buck O'Neil is referenced. It is documentary about the two men and the challenges of racism in hockey and baseball. There was a panel discussion about the documentary that included, Jasmine Thomas, Bryant McBride, Cecil Harris, Dr. LaQuinta Frederick, Russell Patterson, led by faciliator Daryl Jacobs. There are other thoughts that are shared throughout this episode of THE MARC MEDLEY SHOW PODCAST. Take a listen and reflect.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Yesterday to see between six and sevenis my commentary, how or if I
choose to do that. As Iput on the music on yesterday, my
school and myself was treated to awonderful experience. For Black History Month,
there is a documentary. It iscalled Beyond Their Years The Incredible Legacies of
(00:26):
Herb Carnegie and Buck O'Neill. Now, Buck O'Neil I had heard. I
knew about Buck O'Neil because Buck O'Neilwas baseball and I followed baseball. Herb
Carnegie I did not know about becausehe was an incredible African American hockey player.
(00:47):
Matter of fact, he never didget to the NHL, the National
Hockey League, because of the colorof his skin. The same thing happened
with Buck O'Neill not get to MajorLeague baseball because of the color of his
skin. Buck played in the Negroleagues along with Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby
(01:11):
and Satchel Page and all the Negroleague greats. Buck O'Neill played in the
Negro leagues. Herb Carnegie played ina hockey league that was just under the
NHL. Probably arguably the best AfricanAmerican who played the game. Of hockey
(01:32):
if you go in the Canadian area. And in fact, my guest this
morning is going to be calling fromToronto. And I asked him last night
when we were talking, because thisis I had never heard of Herb Carnegie.
See he learned something new every day. I had never heard of Herb
Carnegie until the documentary yesterday. SoI asked him last night. I said,
Jose have you ever heard of HerbCarnegie? He was like, oh,
yes, all of us, everybodyup here knows who Herb Carnegie is.
(01:55):
I had no idea, but thedocumentary was produced by the producer of
it was Bryant McBride, and hewas there because what it was it was
we had a bunch of our schoolscome together in a theater at Fabian Theater,
Historic Fabian Theater, and it wasthe showing of the documentary as well
(02:19):
as a panel discussion. And therewere six or seven people on that panel
discussion and they were some powerful folks. I was telling people, my students
didn't realize the collective power that wassitting in front of them who were answering
those questions. Not to mention thepower of the documentary about Buck O'Neill and
(02:46):
Herb Carnegie. There were times throughoutthe documentary where I welled up and teared
up of the experiences of Buck andHerb. For no other They were the
best in their game, they werethe best at what they were doing,
and the only reason they did notmake it to the major leagues in their
respective sports was for hatred. Becausethat's all it can be when you hold
(03:13):
people back, hatred and ignorance,When you hold people back from being where
you are for no other reason thanthe color of your skin, that's just
straight up hatred. Its hatred ofthe other person and his hatred of yourself.
The fact that you can participate thatin that you hate yourself as well.
(03:35):
The oppressed sore is no better thanthose that are being oppressed. That's
what the oppressors don't understand, thatyou are no better than the people you
are oppressing, because there's got tobe some self hatred of you there too.
You may think it's self love,you may think you're all that,
as the kids can say in abag of chips, but the truth of
the matter is for you to inflictthat type of hate on somebody else for
(04:00):
no other reason than their difference thanthere's some health, some self hatred with
you as well. So the documentaryis called Beyond Their Years. And as
God would have it, as Iwas talking to my guests last night,
he saw the same documented documentary onTuesday. He saw Beyond Their Years on
Tuesday, and I said, ohmy god, my boys, we just
(04:23):
saw that today and it was yesterdayFriday. Outstand. I don't know where
it's going to be distributed. Idon't know if it's going to be streamed.
I don't know if it's going tobe in theaters. But if you
get an opportunity to see Beyond TheirYears the incredible legacies of Herb Carnegie and
Buck O'Neill, two icons that blazea trail in sport and changed the world,
(04:46):
I strongly encourage you to watch it. If you see it come up
on Netflix or on Prime or anyway. If it comes that way. I
don't know if that's what Brian intendsto do, but if it does,
let us go that way and yousee that title Beyond Their Years, I
implore you to watch it. It'snot long. It's maybe forty five minutes
to an hour, maybe an hour. It could be an hour I'm not
(05:09):
sure, but they had interviews onthere with Buck O'Neill's family. They had
interviews on there with Herb Carnegie.As a matter of fact, they had
interviews a big, a major portionof the documentary. Bob Kendrick, the
president of the National of the NegroLeague Museum in Kansas City, is in
(05:30):
there. Bob Kendrick has been onthis show. I interviewed Bob a couple
of years ago. Matter of fact, this is black kenstry. Well,
maybe I'll repurpose that and republish itand put it back out again. But
I interviewed Bob Kendrick a couple ofyears ago about the Negro Leagues, so
beyond their years. The producer isBrian McBride, so he was on the
panel. We had mister Russell Patterson. He was on the panel. He
(05:56):
played in the negro Leagues as wellas from the Patterson, New Jersey area.
He was a coach here in thePattison, New Jersey or for years.
Eighty five years old. Memory isstill sharp, still talking trash.
He talked about his years in thenegro leagues. As it turns out,
and I did not know this.His stepson and I played on the same
(06:18):
little league team. We were talking. It was amazing. As I talked
to mister Pattison, how many peoplewe knew in common? So he mentions
Albert Morrison. I said, Isaid, Albert and I played on the
same little league team. He said, well, that's my step son.
He said. Albert was a coupleof years younger than me. But we
were on the same little league baseballteam together. So as the more mister
(06:42):
Pattison and I talked, the morepeople that we knew in common. Also,
we had mister Carl and I'm tryingto think in terms of his like
to think of his last name.It'll come back, and I think it
was Carl Willis. I think thatwas it. Not sure, but he
was on the panel. He washe was a journalist. He was a
reporter for USA Today at one point. He's written books as well. I'm
(07:08):
gonna see if I can get himon the show. And we had doctor
the Tania. Because I don't haveall the names in front of me.
That's why you know, I'm strugglingwith trying to get all their names.
Let me see, let me goit. Because I did to take a
picture of the panel, so wehad Brian McBride, We had Russell Patterson.
We had a young lady who playshockey, African American young lady who
(07:30):
plays hockey. We had the doctorfrom the university down there somewhere in the
Washington, DC area, but shewas in sports management. But it was
then and then the moderator was DarrylJacobs. He's a commentator on ESPN.
So it's one, two, three, four, five, six. Six
people were on the panel, andI'm telling you, the young men had
(07:54):
no idea the power of the sixpeople who were sitting and front of them.
Then who came in was former NBAplayer Rory Sparrow. Rory came in
and he and I were sitting togetherand I said, roh, you know
what I need you to come talkto my boys. He says, okay.
(08:15):
Rory played in the NBA for liketwelve or thirteen years. He played
for the Knicks as well as theChicago Bulls. He had the opportunity to
play with Michael Jordan and I sharedwith him a funny story. I said,
you know, when you come toschool, I'll share your story.
But I'll share it to you realquick. Because years ago we were at
a Nick Spur game. And I'veshared with you before. My aunt at
(08:37):
one point was married and he's passedaway. Now. He was married to
George Gervin, Iceman's cousin. Soevery time the Spurs would come to town,
whether they played the Knicks or theNets, we'd go to the game
and hang out with the Spurs afterthe game. So on this particular day,
and I was telling mister Sparrow thisyesterday, and Rory just had a
street named after him by the wayin Patterson, New Jersey. But in
(08:58):
any event, I was sharing withhim that we were out one night hanging
with George Gervin and Bill Cartwright andJene Banks, and I hope you know
a few other players of the Spursgo to the restaurant and these guys come
up and ask for an autograph.So I was like, okay, I
said, all neg give and autographs. Now they come to me and I
said, listen, I'm not anNBA player. Now. I was in
a sweatsuit. Mind you, Iwas in a sweatsuit cause we'd gone to
the game, so I was comfortable. I was in a sweatsuit and they're
(09:20):
like, we want your autographs.I'm not an NBA player, and they
would not let me rest. Yesyou are, you just don't want to
sign I am not an NBA player, Yes you are. They kept pressing
me. Now, mind you,I knew Rory because Rory came from Patterson,
Rory graduated east Side High School.We were just at the game.
I knew the stats that you knowthat he had just put up in that
(09:43):
particular game because I was there.The guys kept pressing, so finally asked
to give me the paper. Tookthe paper and I signed Rory Sparrow on
there. So now the guys arelike, see, we knew it,
we knew you were like, okay, all right, you know. So
I tell Rory this story yesterday andwe both have a last He said,
oh, so you got to beRory sparul for a day. I said,
yes, exactly. So he said, oh, you got to be
(10:05):
Rory Spaule for yep. I said. These guys said they would not let
me loan. They were, hey, what not? And said and now
crazy. And now this is thepart I didn't tell him because it was
really funny. I have this ring, this pinky ring that has my inities
on there, and the initials areM A M. And I had that
ring on. So one of theguys that was pestering us for the autographs
he sees it. He says,wait a minute, you said you were
(10:26):
Rory Spider. That ring says mAM. His buddy that was with him
turned and I said, oh,that's probably his wife's ring. I was
like, oh my god, Ican't get it anyway. Anyway, So
when Rory, you know, wequickly. I gave him the cliff Notes
version yesterday as we sat together.But when he comes to the school to
talk to the boys, I'll givehim the full story. But you know,
(10:48):
people are great. See That's whyI say I don't get starstruck.
I don't. I don't. I'vemet famous people from across the globe,
and I just don't get starstruks.Like I appreciate your work. I do.
I appreciate what you do. Butin my mind, I'm just as
great, just as good as youare, because I tell you all all
the time. The only difference betweena quote unquote celebrity and anybody else who's
not a celebrity is what they dois seen by more people, and they
(11:13):
make a heck of a lot moremoney for doing it. But other than
that, they are human just likeanybody else. Matter of fact, there
would be no star if there wereno fans. People really need to think
about that. There would be nostars if there were no fans. You
remove the fan base the stars justlike anybody else. The only thing that
(11:33):
makes a star star is the fanbase. So if you remove the fan
base, they're no longer a star. It's like I had discussion with my
students in terms of leaders and followers. A leader with no there's a quote
that says a leader who does nothave followers is just taking a walk.
(11:54):
And my students and I we explodedthat we unpack that quote and so what
is that mean? A leader whodoes not have followers is just taking a
walk? And we unpact it andthe boys understood exactly what the quote meant.
It's the same thing. There wouldbe no star. A star is
(12:16):
not a star without a fan base. That's just bottom line. So for
those celebrities who get all full ofthemselves and they can't take pictures and sign
autographs and be appreciative of their fans, something's wrong with them. For those
especially with kids. Now, maybeyou know with the Grona was like,
okay, because you know, Ican imagine it can be inundating, it
(12:37):
can be overwhelming in terms of peoplealways up in your face wanting you to
sign something or take pictures. Iunderstand it. But when you just take
on this stay away from me attitudeor this cocky attitude or this arrogant attitude
because you claim and you think you'rethis star, without the fan base,
(12:58):
there would be no star, allright, all right, So I'm just
saying all that because you know,yesterday I was actually sitting with celebrities.
I was chatting once again with folkswho had been either in the sports arena
or in the acting world or whatever. When the moderator, Daryl Jacobs started
the session the panel discussion, whathe shared with the students, because my
(13:24):
school wasn't the only ones there.What he shared with the students was,
you all are having an opportunity tolearn about things that when I was your
age, our teachers didn't teach us. And he was absolutely right, because
I say that to my students allthe time. They're getting an opportunity to
learn about how life works, goodand bad. Because racism is not good.
That's just the bottom line. Butracism does and did and probably forever
(13:46):
will exist. It's ignorant, butit is what it is in terms of
understanding how racism works and how youneed to be able to prepare yourself to
be able to navigate through it.That's the type of education my students and
minisons are are having an opportunity toget now. Matter of fact, what
(14:09):
I was as I was talking withmy students yesterday morning before we went to
the session about Buck O'Neil and HerbCarnidy, I said, you know,
there are folks down in the stateof Florida who would not want me to
have this conversation right now. IfI was in Florida, I might get
in trouble for having this conversation withyou right now because folks are trying to
erase and hide and act like historywasn't what it was. History is what
(14:31):
it is, so they're trying toerase it. They're trying to take us
backwards. They're trying When I sayus, I'm talking about the world,
and I'm talking about just black people, not talking about just white people.
I'm not talking about just Spanish people. There are some folks who are out
there trying to take the world backwards, and if we and as I was
(14:54):
talking to Russell Pattant Russell Pattison's eightyfive years old played in the Negro Lees,
Milchick all kinds of stuff, andI made that comment about their folks
trying to take us back. Andhis response was, if we don't get
our education and learn and do andso for, they are going to take
us back, we are going togo back. Now, this is an
(15:15):
eighty five year old man that's saying, yes, if we are not careful,
if we don't prepare ourselves and dowhat we need to do in terms
of education and everything else, it'sgoing to go back. That's a sad
statement. And this is coming byto somebody. This is coming from somebody
who lived through it. Because oneof the questions came up about him and
you know, being in the Negroleagues and how he felt about that,
(15:37):
and he was straight up about thewhole race. Is the only reason I
wasn't in the Major league because Iwas black. And he put his arms
up and took his hand and rubbedit against his arms and say, the
only reason I was not in themajor leagues because of this it's because I
was black. That's the only reason. And he went on to talk about
the racism and the racist acts thatwe're done and the days back when the
(15:58):
Negro many of the Nigro league playerswere far surpassed the active major league players
at that time. The only reason, as mister Pattison said, the only
reason those folks were not playing majorleague baseball was because of their skin.
(16:22):
Called now, mister Patterson, I'msaying he had a sense of humor,
and he because he already told mewhen we were talking here. He said,
man, I had a mouth onme. I know that I argue,
So he was straight up. Hesaid. In terms of going into
the major league, he said heknew he had been in the Martin Luther
King marches and everything, and hesaid Martin was always talking about turning the
other cheek. He said, I'mtelling you right now, I wouldn't turn
an the other chek. That's anotherreason why I couldn't go to the majors,
(16:45):
because there's no way in the worldI'm gonna sit there and let folks
spit on me and slap me andI'll not hit them back. So that's
why he wasn't the one like JackieRobinson was able to do it because they
told Jackie right off the bat,you're not gonna be able to retaliate or
respond. They're going to spike youand spit on you and kick you,
and you're gonna have to go inback doors at restaurants and not sleep in
the same hotel. The team's like, you're gonna have to deal with all
(17:07):
that as you break that barrier tocome into the Major League Baseball and herp
Carnig get it, do the samething you're gonna you're gonna break. In
order for you to break that barrier, you cannot retaliate. You cannot because
once you retaliate, that's the excusethey need for you not be here.
So mister Pattison was very quickly sayhe said, that's why I couldn't have
(17:29):
been made because there's no way inthe world somebody gonna slap me on my
cheek and I'm gonna turn it theother one. And he said that yesterday
as he gave his response. Sohe's like, m so, so Jackie
Robinson was a special individual to beable to take all of that in order
to break the barrier. So again, if you have the opportunity, I'm
(17:56):
laughing based on some text messages I'mseeing here as I'm as I'm screw rolling
through, if you have the opportunity. Again, the documentaries called Beyond their
Years the incredible legacies of Herb Carnegie. That's HRB Carnegie, C A.
R N E. G I.E. And Buck O'Neill. Buck O'Neill
(18:21):
did get to the coaching ranks kindof sorta in Major League Baseball. He
was a part of a program withthe Chicago Cubs, but he still never
had the opportunity to actually be seenor on camera, and he was a
mentor to so many different African Americanbaseball players. Matter of fact, Dusty
Baker, who has won World Seriesin various teams, he's in the documentary
(18:45):
as well, talking about the significanceand the impact of Buck O'Neill. So
this is we're coming down because see, for me, Black history is three
sixty five, twenty four to seven. There's no such thing as just one
month for me, Like that's nonsense. It's nice that the acknowledgement, Okay,
(19:11):
we're gonna pause, just like wedo all the other things that we
acknowledge. But the truth of thematter is Black History is three hundred and
sixty five and a quarter days,twenty four hours, seven days a week.
The documentary is beyond their years.The incredible legacy of Herb Carnegie and
Buck O'Neill, two icons that blazeda trail in sport and changed the world,
(19:38):
and that they did. All Right, my guests to be calling in
shortly, and we'll continue to discussiona lot of things going on. I
mean, in terms of it isan interesting time. I'm not saying that
we haven't had interesting times before.If you go back biblically, they had
(19:59):
some interesting times and through but rightnow in terms of the hatred and the
evil that things that we take forgranted that we would normally do more and
more as being impacted by evil andhate. And where I'm going with this
is the Kansas City Chiefs won theSuper Bowl last week, and as we
all know, World Series, SuperBowl, World Cup, whatever, we
(20:22):
have a celebratory parade. Well formany of you, I don't know if
you've kept it up with current eventsor not, but the Kansas City Chiefs
had their parade and there was ashooter in the midst A bunch of kids
got hit with bullets. Thank Godthey didn't die. But there was a
young lady, she's, a matterof fact, a DJ just like me.
She's a DJ in the Kansas Cityarea, forty four years old.
(20:44):
She got killed. Mother, daughter, sister, so forth and so on.
Woke up that morning to go toa celebratory parade. They wanted to
celebrate the victory of the Kansas CityChiefs under Super Bowl. She loses her
(21:04):
life just going to a parade.So these days, whether you're going to
church, whether you go and shopping, because there was a shooting as you
know in Joel Oldstein's church, andJoel Oldstein's church down there in Texas there
was a shooting there right, Sowhether you go to church, whether you
go into the movies, whether yougo into a parade, whether you're going
shopping, there is no such thingas safety. That's why you know.
(21:29):
For me, I pray a prayerof protection every morning. I thank God
in advance, and then I prayfor protection as I go throughout the day
because in school, there's nowhere youcan go where the possibility of someone perpetuating
or shall I say, acting outof hatred and doing an evil act that's
(21:55):
going to take somebody's life. Wherenowhere is sacred anymore, not church,
not the shopping mall, not thesupermarket, not a parade, not a
school, not a dance hall,not a club, not in anything where
somebody's not inflicting some hatred that leadsto somebody losing his or her life.
(22:23):
So yes, I make sure inthe mornings before I leave, I pray
a prayer of protection. YouTube iswonderful because there are all kinds of prayers
on there that you can listen to. If you don't feel like you can
pray yourself, or that you can'tsay words or thoughts that are prayer for
yourself, you have the opportunity tolisten to some prayers on YouTube. YouTube
(22:48):
is filled with Psalm ninety one prayers, prayers or protection filled And if you
if you go to YouTube and youkeyword in the search bar prayers of protection,
you will get a plethora of prayersthat will pop up that you can
listen to. Do not leave homewithout praying. As kids, when we
(23:18):
would travel south, when we weregetting on the highway, my mother,
father, my sister. Before thecar pulled off, everybody would buy their
heads and we'd say a short prayer. So when I became an adult,
I did the same thing with myfamily, the wife, kids, We
would you know, we were takinga long trip. So one day my
youngest daughter, Nier, asked thequestion, how come we don't do this
(23:41):
every time we get in the car, regardless of where we're going, whether
it's or a short trip or anymeaning. That's a good point. Now
we didn't do it, but Imean, I said, that's a good
point. But in twenty twenty four, Yeah, every time you get in
the car, we need to saythat prayer of protection. All right,
(24:02):
this morning I do
Yesterday to see between six and sevenis my commentary, how or if I
choose to do that. As Iput on the music on yesterday, my
school and myself was treated to awonderful experience. For Black History Month,
there is a documentary. It iscalled Beyond Their Years The Incredible Legacies of
(00:26):
Herb Carnegie and Buck O'Neill. Now, Buck O'Neil I had heard. I
knew about Buck O'Neil because Buck O'Neilwas baseball and I followed baseball. Herb
Carnegie I did not know about becausehe was an incredible African American hockey player.
(00:47):
Matter of fact, he never didget to the NHL, the National
Hockey League, because of the colorof his skin. The same thing happened
with Buck O'Neill not get to MajorLeague baseball because of the color of his
skin. Buck played in the Negroleagues along with Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby
(01:11):
and Satchel Page and all the Negroleague greats. Buck O'Neill played in the
Negro leagues. Herb Carnegie played ina hockey league that was just under the
NHL. Probably arguably the best AfricanAmerican who played the game. Of hockey
(01:32):
if you go in the Canadian area. And in fact, my guest this
morning is going to be calling fromToronto. And I asked him last night
when we were talking, because thisis I had never heard of Herb Carnegie.
See he learned something new every day. I had never heard of Herb
Carnegie until the documentary yesterday. SoI asked him last night. I said,
Jose have you ever heard of HerbCarnegie? He was like, oh,
yes, all of us, everybodyup here knows who Herb Carnegie is.
(01:55):
I had no idea, but thedocumentary was produced by the producer of
it was Bryant McBride, and hewas there because what it was it was
we had a bunch of our schoolscome together in a theater at Fabian Theater,
Historic Fabian Theater, and it wasthe showing of the documentary as well
(02:19):
as a panel discussion. And therewere six or seven people on that panel
discussion and they were some powerful folks. I was telling people, my students
didn't realize the collective power that wassitting in front of them who were answering
those questions. Not to mention thepower of the documentary about Buck O'Neill and
(02:46):
Herb Carnegie. There were times throughoutthe documentary where I welled up and teared
up of the experiences of Buck andHerb. For no other They were the
best in their game, they werethe best at what they were doing,
and the only reason they did notmake it to the major leagues in their
respective sports was for hatred. Becausethat's all it can be when you hold
(03:13):
people back, hatred and ignorance,When you hold people back from being where
you are for no other reason thanthe color of your skin, that's just
straight up hatred. Its hatred ofthe other person and his hatred of yourself.
The fact that you can participate thatin that you hate yourself as well.
(03:35):
The oppressed sore is no better thanthose that are being oppressed. That's
what the oppressors don't understand, thatyou are no better than the people you
are oppressing, because there's got tobe some self hatred of you there too.
You may think it's self love,you may think you're all that,
as the kids can say in abag of chips, but the truth of
the matter is for you to inflictthat type of hate on somebody else for
(04:00):
no other reason than their difference thanthere's some health, some self hatred with
you as well. So the documentaryis called Beyond Their Years. And as
God would have it, as Iwas talking to my guests last night,
he saw the same documented documentary onTuesday. He saw Beyond Their Years on
Tuesday, and I said, ohmy god, my boys, we just
(04:23):
saw that today and it was yesterdayFriday. Outstand. I don't know where
it's going to be distributed. Idon't know if it's going to be streamed.
I don't know if it's going tobe in theaters. But if you
get an opportunity to see Beyond TheirYears the incredible legacies of Herb Carnegie and
Buck O'Neill, two icons that blazea trail in sport and changed the world,
(04:46):
I strongly encourage you to watch it. If you see it come up
on Netflix or on Prime or anyway. If it comes that way. I
don't know if that's what Brian intendsto do, but if it does,
let us go that way and yousee that title Beyond Their Years, I
implore you to watch it. It'snot long. It's maybe forty five minutes
to an hour, maybe an hour. It could be an hour I'm not
(05:09):
sure, but they had interviews onthere with Buck O'Neill's family. They had
interviews on there with Herb Carnegie.As a matter of fact, they had
interviews a big, a major portionof the documentary. Bob Kendrick, the
president of the National of the NegroLeague Museum in Kansas City, is in
(05:30):
there. Bob Kendrick has been onthis show. I interviewed Bob a couple
of years ago. Matter of fact, this is black kenstry. Well,
maybe I'll repurpose that and republish itand put it back out again. But
I interviewed Bob Kendrick a couple ofyears ago about the Negro Leagues, so
beyond their years. The producer isBrian McBride, so he was on the
panel. We had mister Russell Patterson. He was on the panel. He
(05:56):
played in the negro Leagues as wellas from the Patterson, New Jersey area.
He was a coach here in thePattison, New Jersey or for years.
Eighty five years old. Memory isstill sharp, still talking trash.
He talked about his years in thenegro leagues. As it turns out,
and I did not know this.His stepson and I played on the same
(06:18):
little league team. We were talking. It was amazing. As I talked
to mister Pattison, how many peoplewe knew in common? So he mentions
Albert Morrison. I said, Isaid, Albert and I played on the
same little league team. He said, well, that's my step son.
He said. Albert was a coupleof years younger than me. But we
were on the same little league baseballteam together. So as the more mister
(06:42):
Pattison and I talked, the morepeople that we knew in common. Also,
we had mister Carl and I'm tryingto think in terms of his like
to think of his last name.It'll come back, and I think it
was Carl Willis. I think thatwas it. Not sure, but he
was on the panel. He washe was a journalist. He was a
reporter for USA Today at one point. He's written books as well. I'm
(07:08):
gonna see if I can get himon the show. And we had doctor
the Tania. Because I don't haveall the names in front of me.
That's why you know, I'm strugglingwith trying to get all their names.
Let me see, let me goit. Because I did to take a
picture of the panel, so wehad Brian McBride, We had Russell Patterson.
We had a young lady who playshockey, African American young lady who
(07:30):
plays hockey. We had the doctorfrom the university down there somewhere in the
Washington, DC area, but shewas in sports management. But it was
then and then the moderator was DarrylJacobs. He's a commentator on ESPN.
So it's one, two, three, four, five, six. Six
people were on the panel, andI'm telling you, the young men had
(07:54):
no idea the power of the sixpeople who were sitting and front of them.
Then who came in was former NBAplayer Rory Sparrow. Rory came in
and he and I were sitting togetherand I said, roh, you know
what I need you to come talkto my boys. He says, okay.
(08:15):
Rory played in the NBA for liketwelve or thirteen years. He played
for the Knicks as well as theChicago Bulls. He had the opportunity to
play with Michael Jordan and I sharedwith him a funny story. I said,
you know, when you come toschool, I'll share your story.
But I'll share it to you realquick. Because years ago we were at
a Nick Spur game. And I'veshared with you before. My aunt at
(08:37):
one point was married and he's passedaway. Now. He was married to
George Gervin, Iceman's cousin. Soevery time the Spurs would come to town,
whether they played the Knicks or theNets, we'd go to the game
and hang out with the Spurs afterthe game. So on this particular day,
and I was telling mister Sparrow thisyesterday, and Rory just had a
street named after him by the wayin Patterson, New Jersey. But in
(08:58):
any event, I was sharing withhim that we were out one night hanging
with George Gervin and Bill Cartwright andJene Banks, and I hope you know
a few other players of the Spursgo to the restaurant and these guys come
up and ask for an autograph.So I was like, okay, I
said, all neg give and autographs. Now they come to me and I
said, listen, I'm not anNBA player. Now. I was in
a sweatsuit. Mind you, Iwas in a sweatsuit cause we'd gone to
the game, so I was comfortable. I was in a sweatsuit and they're
(09:20):
like, we want your autographs.I'm not an NBA player, and they
would not let me rest. Yesyou are, you just don't want to
sign I am not an NBA player, Yes you are. They kept pressing
me. Now, mind you,I knew Rory because Rory came from Patterson,
Rory graduated east Side High School.We were just at the game.
I knew the stats that you knowthat he had just put up in that
(09:43):
particular game because I was there.The guys kept pressing, so finally asked
to give me the paper. Tookthe paper and I signed Rory Sparrow on
there. So now the guys arelike, see, we knew it,
we knew you were like, okay, all right, you know. So
I tell Rory this story yesterday andwe both have a last He said,
oh, so you got to beRory sparul for a day. I said,
yes, exactly. So he said, oh, you got to be
(10:05):
Rory Spaule for yep. I said. These guys said they would not let
me loan. They were, hey, what not? And said and now
crazy. And now this is thepart I didn't tell him because it was
really funny. I have this ring, this pinky ring that has my inities
on there, and the initials areM A M. And I had that
ring on. So one of theguys that was pestering us for the autographs
he sees it. He says,wait a minute, you said you were
(10:26):
Rory Spider. That ring says mAM. His buddy that was with him
turned and I said, oh,that's probably his wife's ring. I was
like, oh my god, Ican't get it anyway. Anyway, So
when Rory, you know, wequickly. I gave him the cliff Notes
version yesterday as we sat together.But when he comes to the school to
talk to the boys, I'll givehim the full story. But you know,
(10:48):
people are great. See That's whyI say I don't get starstruck.
I don't. I don't. I'vemet famous people from across the globe,
and I just don't get starstruks.Like I appreciate your work. I do.
I appreciate what you do. Butin my mind, I'm just as
great, just as good as youare, because I tell you all all
the time. The only difference betweena quote unquote celebrity and anybody else who's
not a celebrity is what they dois seen by more people, and they
(11:13):
make a heck of a lot moremoney for doing it. But other than
that, they are human just likeanybody else. Matter of fact, there
would be no star if there wereno fans. People really need to think
about that. There would be nostars if there were no fans. You
remove the fan base the stars justlike anybody else. The only thing that
(11:33):
makes a star star is the fanbase. So if you remove the fan
base, they're no longer a star. It's like I had discussion with my
students in terms of leaders and followers. A leader with no there's a quote
that says a leader who does nothave followers is just taking a walk.
(11:54):
And my students and I we explodedthat we unpack that quote and so what
is that mean? A leader whodoes not have followers is just taking a
walk? And we unpact it andthe boys understood exactly what the quote meant.
It's the same thing. There wouldbe no star. A star is
(12:16):
not a star without a fan base. That's just bottom line. So for
those celebrities who get all full ofthemselves and they can't take pictures and sign
autographs and be appreciative of their fans, something's wrong with them. For those
especially with kids. Now, maybeyou know with the Grona was like,
okay, because you know, Ican imagine it can be inundating, it
(12:37):
can be overwhelming in terms of peoplealways up in your face wanting you to
sign something or take pictures. Iunderstand it. But when you just take
on this stay away from me attitudeor this cocky attitude or this arrogant attitude
because you claim and you think you'rethis star, without the fan base,
(12:58):
there would be no star, allright, all right, So I'm just
saying all that because you know,yesterday I was actually sitting with celebrities.
I was chatting once again with folkswho had been either in the sports arena
or in the acting world or whatever. When the moderator, Daryl Jacobs started
the session the panel discussion, whathe shared with the students, because my
(13:24):
school wasn't the only ones there.What he shared with the students was,
you all are having an opportunity tolearn about things that when I was your
age, our teachers didn't teach us. And he was absolutely right, because
I say that to my students allthe time. They're getting an opportunity to
learn about how life works, goodand bad. Because racism is not good.
That's just the bottom line. Butracism does and did and probably forever
(13:46):
will exist. It's ignorant, butit is what it is in terms of
understanding how racism works and how youneed to be able to prepare yourself to
be able to navigate through it.That's the type of education my students and
minisons are are having an opportunity toget now. Matter of fact, what
(14:09):
I was as I was talking withmy students yesterday morning before we went to
the session about Buck O'Neil and HerbCarnidy, I said, you know,
there are folks down in the stateof Florida who would not want me to
have this conversation right now. IfI was in Florida, I might get
in trouble for having this conversation withyou right now because folks are trying to
erase and hide and act like historywasn't what it was. History is what
(14:31):
it is, so they're trying toerase it. They're trying to take us
backwards. They're trying When I sayus, I'm talking about the world,
and I'm talking about just black people, not talking about just white people.
I'm not talking about just Spanish people. There are some folks who are out
there trying to take the world backwards, and if we and as I was
(14:54):
talking to Russell Pattant Russell Pattison's eightyfive years old played in the Negro Lees,
Milchick all kinds of stuff, andI made that comment about their folks
trying to take us back. Andhis response was, if we don't get
our education and learn and do andso for, they are going to take
us back, we are going togo back. Now, this is an
(15:15):
eighty five year old man that's saying, yes, if we are not careful,
if we don't prepare ourselves and dowhat we need to do in terms
of education and everything else, it'sgoing to go back. That's a sad
statement. And this is coming byto somebody. This is coming from somebody
who lived through it. Because oneof the questions came up about him and
you know, being in the Negroleagues and how he felt about that,
(15:37):
and he was straight up about thewhole race. Is the only reason I
wasn't in the Major league because Iwas black. And he put his arms
up and took his hand and rubbedit against his arms and say, the
only reason I was not in themajor leagues because of this it's because I
was black. That's the only reason. And he went on to talk about
the racism and the racist acts thatwe're done and the days back when the
(15:58):
Negro many of the Nigro league playerswere far surpassed the active major league players
at that time. The only reason, as mister Pattison said, the only
reason those folks were not playing majorleague baseball was because of their skin.
(16:22):
Called now, mister Patterson, I'msaying he had a sense of humor,
and he because he already told mewhen we were talking here. He said,
man, I had a mouth onme. I know that I argue,
So he was straight up. Hesaid. In terms of going into
the major league, he said heknew he had been in the Martin Luther
King marches and everything, and hesaid Martin was always talking about turning the
other cheek. He said, I'mtelling you right now, I wouldn't turn
an the other chek. That's anotherreason why I couldn't go to the majors,
(16:45):
because there's no way in the worldI'm gonna sit there and let folks
spit on me and slap me andI'll not hit them back. So that's
why he wasn't the one like JackieRobinson was able to do it because they
told Jackie right off the bat,you're not gonna be able to retaliate or
respond. They're going to spike youand spit on you and kick you,
and you're gonna have to go inback doors at restaurants and not sleep in
the same hotel. The team's like, you're gonna have to deal with all
(17:07):
that as you break that barrier tocome into the Major League Baseball and herp
Carnig get it, do the samething you're gonna you're gonna break. In
order for you to break that barrier, you cannot retaliate. You cannot because
once you retaliate, that's the excusethey need for you not be here.
So mister Pattison was very quickly sayhe said, that's why I couldn't have
(17:29):
been made because there's no way inthe world somebody gonna slap me on my
cheek and I'm gonna turn it theother one. And he said that yesterday
as he gave his response. Sohe's like, m so, so Jackie
Robinson was a special individual to beable to take all of that in order
to break the barrier. So again, if you have the opportunity, I'm
(17:56):
laughing based on some text messages I'mseeing here as I'm as I'm screw rolling
through, if you have the opportunity. Again, the documentaries called Beyond their
Years the incredible legacies of Herb Carnegie. That's HRB Carnegie, C A.
R N E. G I.E. And Buck O'Neill. Buck O'Neill
(18:21):
did get to the coaching ranks kindof sorta in Major League Baseball. He
was a part of a program withthe Chicago Cubs, but he still never
had the opportunity to actually be seenor on camera, and he was a
mentor to so many different African Americanbaseball players. Matter of fact, Dusty
Baker, who has won World Seriesin various teams, he's in the documentary
(18:45):
as well, talking about the significanceand the impact of Buck O'Neill. So
this is we're coming down because see, for me, Black history is three
sixty five, twenty four to seven. There's no such thing as just one
month for me, Like that's nonsense. It's nice that the acknowledgement, Okay,
(19:11):
we're gonna pause, just like wedo all the other things that we
acknowledge. But the truth of thematter is Black History is three hundred and
sixty five and a quarter days,twenty four hours, seven days a week.
The documentary is beyond their years.The incredible legacy of Herb Carnegie and
Buck O'Neill, two icons that blazeda trail in sport and changed the world,
(19:38):
and that they did. All Right, my guests to be calling in
shortly, and we'll continue to discussiona lot of things going on. I
mean, in terms of it isan interesting time. I'm not saying that
we haven't had interesting times before.If you go back biblically, they had
(19:59):
some interesting times and through but rightnow in terms of the hatred and the
evil that things that we take forgranted that we would normally do more and
more as being impacted by evil andhate. And where I'm going with this
is the Kansas City Chiefs won theSuper Bowl last week, and as we
all know, World Series, SuperBowl, World Cup, whatever, we
(20:22):
have a celebratory parade. Well formany of you, I don't know if
you've kept it up with current eventsor not, but the Kansas City Chiefs
had their parade and there was ashooter in the midst A bunch of kids
got hit with bullets. Thank Godthey didn't die. But there was a
young lady, she's, a matterof fact, a DJ just like me.
She's a DJ in the Kansas Cityarea, forty four years old.
(20:44):
She got killed. Mother, daughter, sister, so forth and so on.
Woke up that morning to go toa celebratory parade. They wanted to
celebrate the victory of the Kansas CityChiefs under Super Bowl. She loses her
(21:04):
life just going to a parade.So these days, whether you're going to
church, whether you go and shopping, because there was a shooting as you
know in Joel Oldstein's church, andJoel Oldstein's church down there in Texas there
was a shooting there right, Sowhether you go to church, whether you
go into the movies, whether yougo into a parade, whether you're going
shopping, there is no such thingas safety. That's why you know.
(21:29):
For me, I pray a prayerof protection every morning. I thank God
in advance, and then I prayfor protection as I go throughout the day
because in school, there's nowhere youcan go where the possibility of someone perpetuating
or shall I say, acting outof hatred and doing an evil act that's
(21:55):
going to take somebody's life. Wherenowhere is sacred anymore, not church,
not the shopping mall, not thesupermarket, not a parade, not a
school, not a dance hall,not a club, not in anything where
somebody's not inflicting some hatred that leadsto somebody losing his or her life.
(22:23):
So yes, I make sure inthe mornings before I leave, I pray
a prayer of protection. YouTube iswonderful because there are all kinds of prayers
on there that you can listen to. If you don't feel like you can
pray yourself, or that you can'tsay words or thoughts that are prayer for
yourself, you have the opportunity tolisten to some prayers on YouTube. YouTube
(22:48):
is filled with Psalm ninety one prayers, prayers or protection filled And if you
if you go to YouTube and youkeyword in the search bar prayers of protection,
you will get a plethora of prayersthat will pop up that you can
listen to. Do not leave homewithout praying. As kids, when we
(23:18):
would travel south, when we weregetting on the highway, my mother,
father, my sister. Before thecar pulled off, everybody would buy their
heads and we'd say a short prayer. So when I became an adult,
I did the same thing with myfamily, the wife, kids, We
would you know, we were takinga long trip. So one day my
youngest daughter, Nier, asked thequestion, how come we don't do this
(23:41):
every time we get in the car, regardless of where we're going, whether
it's or a short trip or anymeaning. That's a good point. Now
we didn't do it, but Imean, I said, that's a good
point. But in twenty twenty four, Yeah, every time you get in
the car, we need to saythat prayer of protection. All right,
(24:02):
this morning I do
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