Latest / The Platform: a Michigan High School Powerlifting Association Podcast / Tim Furno, MHSPLA Founder, Millington HS PT 2 | The Platform Episode 12
Transcript
- Chris Whittaker: Welcome to the platform where the stories weigh a ton. This is where some of the MHS PLA's best tell real stories about what it takes to build themselves and their teams under the bar. I'm Chris Whitaker coming to you again from Alpina, Michigan. Again, hopefully you're still enjoying the Fourth of July MHSA Dead Week. We're going to get into part two with Coach Tim Ferno right here shortly. But hey, if you're enjoying this, if you haven't listened to part one, go back. Look on the sheet on the podcast listing. Listen to part one. Come back for part two here with Coach Tim Ferno. but if you are enjoying this show, hey, remember give us a like, share, subscribe, give us a review on any major podcast platforms, podcast, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Amazon Music, right here on our hosting platform, Riverside, wherever you listen to it, follow it, subscribe to it, whatever it offers, write a comment. It helps build more traction for our show. And really, that helps to get more people to see the show and listen to the show and enjoy it. And it allows us to bring the conversations that you want to hear right here to the platform. If you'd like to give us feedback, suggest a topic, email info at mhspla.com and we'll get back with you. So this is episode 12, part two, with Coach Tim Ferno. MHSPLA co founder Tim Ferno. and here in part two, he's gonna talk about why he left the sport of powerlifting in the early 90s. he was a football coach and decided that you know he was going in that gonna go more in that direction. he tells the origins of our multi-platform me system that we use here in the MHS PLA. And he even talks about some crazy things that he has been involved in throughout his career, including a job opportunity with the Detroit Lions. he hits our speed set questions or rapid fire questions and he talks about all of these different things with him. I don't want to give you all the details here in the intro because it's that good. Hopefully you are locked in. Bars loaded Episode twelve part two. with Coach Tim Fern. Hit the intro music. Chris Gilliam: Okay. Tim Furno: Anyway, one thing I do want to cover, the platforms. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Well yeah, I'm I was actually just gonna lead to that with you, Coach, so Tim Furno: You know? The platforms when I was in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Philly, Cleveland, he had one platform. The meets had take two days. It was the show, the pageantry of weightlifting, like, hey, we only have to have one platform because we have an audience. Well, I hated that. I had to take two days to lift and I had to give up. dates with girls, whatever, know, it's just horrible. So I said to myself, how stupid is this? Why don't they have at least like three platforms? We could be done in one day. But no, no, it's one platform. And it took all day. We had to spend a night in a hotel. And of course I had to do it because Bill Knapp, if I didn't do it, I couldn't lift, I couldn't work. He would say, you don't go to work because he... Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Tim Furno: missed that beat. So I put up with all of it, but I didn't like it. And I vowed to myself, I said, there's got to be a different way. So our first state meet, we had 11 platforms. And 165, 132, 145, 148, whatever it was. 165 one year, we had like 62 people in that weight class. So we'd bump them over to different platforms, because 114, were done, heavy weights, they were done. Chris Gilliam: Okay. Tim Furno: So we'd say, okay, 165, you're over on platform three and four and five. We get them done. We're done with the neat four hours. Done. So each weight class had their own platform with separate meat. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. So lesson learned. Nice. Yeah. Tim Furno: Yeah, and I think I think I. Chris Whittaker: The model we still run today. Chris Gilliam: That's good. Yeah, it's very similar to what we do today, yes. Tim Furno: I invented, I brought any of the power lifting because I was frustrated and I very, I disliked the one platform. Meet, nationals took forever. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I I I'm sure. Yeah, I mean 'cause if y one platform you can we know how long it takes sixty kids or forty kids to go through one platform. And if you have two hundred and some people trying to do it Tim Furno: Now down at Oakland University, I had a big, big, big meet. I don't know how I pulled it off. I had 11 platforms or 10, whatever the way classes are. We had. We had people show up big time. That 300 some lifters. We had a lot of little things going on. We got it done. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. So coach, you kinda covered one and two there. so the locations of the state meets, all right. I seen that Hastings hosted a a state meet. Millington was a recurring host of a state meet. what what who decided where the meets were gonna be, I guess. Tim Furno: Look, a handful of people. Linden hosted the. In 1978, Linden hosted a state meet. I believe or 77. We were lifting against Flynn schools in 1974, 5 and 6. We'd show up. Hamity had a meet. Yeah, we go there. It'd be three or four schools. Davidson had one. Or was that school? Hastings. Chris Gilliam: Okay, Lyndon Hy. Okay. Tim Furno: See, Hastings Barbell was a company. So he was promoting his, I forgot his name, he's a great guy, nice guy. But Hastings Barbell, he made his own barbells and the blades. Chris Gilliam: Mm. His own company. nice. Tim Furno: Yeah. But I just want to make sure I want to cover some of the people. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, go for it. Tim Furno: there's Bill Stiff, Bill Knapp, Joe Arangio, Erie, Pennsylvania, great guy, Lloyd Kuhn. Now let me see. Jimmy Witt from Texas. Tony Fratto, Guy Borelli, Lloyd Carr, Russell Hustead. Bob Hoffman, Howard Schultz. Yeah, I was president of National Strength Coach Association for eight years. Of Michigan. The other one was Mike Gittleson, the strength coach of U of And I knew Mike and Mike said, you know, I've had it. You want it? I goes, I don't know. What's it entail? Now they pay for you to go here and there now and then I said, yeah, why not? I gotta go there anyway. Chris Gilliam: Ha ha ha Tim Furno: Olympic search. I sent you the letter. I don't know if it came through. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, you w you wanna share that? coach will appreciate it. Tim Furno: You ever see that? Chris Gilliam: All right, that's for the Detroit Lions, trying to become their strength and conditioning coach for the Detroit Lions. When Daryl Rogers was the coach, right? Tim Furno: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: Mm-hmm. Tim Furno: Yeah, well it says. Daryl Rogers, see I met Darryl in Michigan State. See I did 38 years in Michigan State. I was coordinator. Of their high school football sports program. Their camp. And Darryl at Darryl's crazy man. It was. I'm going to tell you a good story, not not anything really crazy, but we're coaches. Chris Gilliam: coaching their football camp. Tim Furno: our high school coaches. We got two sessions. Darrell comes in and he goes, Tim, do the men have beer to drink? I goes, no, Darrell. He goes, well, tomorrow morning at 830, there'll be a truck pull up. And how many cases do you think we need, He goes, well, we got about 35 coaches in the younger group. We had about 45 in the older girl. goes, ah, okay. Trump pulls up 42 cases of beer. And where they took whirlpools full of ice and they put beer in it. And I'm thinking, okay, so these guys, it's 1130, we're done with the morning session. They're drinking beer. It was, hey man, no, we're gonna stop that right now. No, no. After the last session, yes, no more of that. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, you still got another session to go, right? Tim Furno: I only had one beer. said, I don't care if you took a sip of beer. We're not doing that. We're all getting troubled. So we didn't do that. But after the second session though, we had plenty of beer. They're taking it, putting it in their cars. And I goes, well, guys, that's gotta last us the whole week. You know, don't do that. Wrong, Chris. Wrong. Every day. Every day, 42 cases of beer. I said to Darryl, Darryl, you know, we don't need that. We don't need that. There's plenty of beer, just the men have to have a beer when they're dumped. I said, okay, Darryl. Chris Gilliam: That is nuts. Well, he was thinking of you guys and all your hard work. Tim Furno: Okay, whatever you say, but I wouldn't, you can't have beer under breath and be coaching. can't do that. And I was like a bulldog. So yeah, and it in the letter. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Hey, Coach Medicare. You are. Yeah, I I seen a letter of recommendation from Wayne Fonse too, you showed me. Yeah, but hey, if if you're a Lions fan, you know, those are two Lions coaches. Tim Furno: We're considering it. Yeah, but I'm glad that one didn't Yeah, but it wasn't my cocaine, Wayne. It was your son's. It's not like we nicknamed him. It ain't my cocaine, Wayne Fontaine. No, I didn't want a part of that really after that, but Darryl. Darryl and I were buddies. And men have to have a beer. OK, Darryl, but he did say I was being considered for this to join his staff and then I had an interview with Darryl. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I got you. Mm. Tim Furno: And he goes, Tim, I guess, what, Darrell? I'm not gonna be here. I'm here for the money. I know the last two years, it's the graveyard. I goes, he says, you got a pension coming up there? goes, yeah, stay there. Don't come here. I said, okay. He was a good guy. Darrell Rogers is cool. He's from Arizona State. Brought the West Coast offense into the Big Ten. He was cool. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Tim Furno: He knew what he was doing and he went to the Lions and of course he lost. My wife and I spent a whole lifetime waiting. Waiting for the big show, Chris. We're still waiting. Chris Gilliam: Like many have. Yeah. Yeah, same. that's funny. so, you know, as we've been talking to people, Tim, like we're kind of discovering that the Flint area seemed to be like the mecca of high school powerlifting in the state. is this because of the interest in the local schools or primarily because of the actions of yourself and others that made it such a big deal? What do you think? Tim Furno: yeah. I think it was two people, Russell Hustead, which he was a good weightlifting coach, and myself with the women, Coon. That was about it. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I mean those are the three names that I keep coming across. So yeah, I mean, what what do you you know, I when I was looking at it, some other information, you know, maybe you remember some of or you don't. when we look on trying to find things, it's hard to find some records on stuff, but the US Pf, the United States Power Lifting Federation, was a big federation that meats were sanctioned by. Tim Furno: Yeah. Well, yeah. Chris Gilliam: and so for our listeners, the USPF was created in the early seventies. It came from the AAU, Coach Whitaker. 'Cause the AAU was basically running powerlifting back in the day. I love it. Chris Whittaker: Mm. Tim Furno: ADFPA, Barrett-Pinjabfri. Chris Gilliam: Yep, and then the ADFPA. Perfect. That's one of your national championships. That is sweet. That's something to be proud of. Tim Furno: Yep. And here's the other one. Chris Gilliam: That is awesome. Those are sweet, man. That is that's from the eighty seven and eighty nine teams. That's from eighty seven and eighty nine teams right there. That's awesome. Tim Furno: Yeah, because I as a kid lifted against all these drugies. Because there were no rules. I made sure that my kids are only going to lift in drug free meats. Period. That's the way it was. Chris Gilliam: Mm. Yeah. Yeah, and I you know, coach, w we we've talked about we talked about a lot of the different federations, but it was about nineteen eighty that I first found any hint of the MHS PLA, the Michigan High School Power Lifting Association. And back in the eighties, there would only be one meet each year typically that was associated with the MHS PLA. Tim Furno: That's it. Chris Gilliam: And it was the Michigan High School Power Lifting Championships me. that was you. You started that. Okay. So you had the Federation. You you came up with the the name and the acronym. Okay. So Tim Furno: That was me. That was it. Yeah. I came up with it all the platforms, the how to run the meat. That just started at all. I came from a powerlifting part of the state of our country, Pennsylvania. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right. Awesome. Now, when you guys were having near meets that were, you know, MHS PLA, I'm sure the focus was just high school kids at those meets. But some of the other meets were some of the other meets that you guys may have done were there a mixture of adults at those meets? Okay. Tim Furno: Absolutely. No, no, I was totally interested in high schools. Chris Gilliam: Okay, gotcha. so ADFPA we've we've discovered that's what is now the USAPL. So, you know, it still exists, it's just under a different acronym. So Yeah. Tim Furno: Yeah, that's common. I have all the stuff I'm gonna give him. Chris Gilliam: No, that's sweet. Tim Furno: I a lot of stuff. Yeah, I can go on and on. But I was involved in all kinds of aspects of weight training, just not powerlifting. Olympic lifting, I couldn't do it myself because I blew my shoulders out wrestling and playing football. So I was, my knees are, you know, I got a fake hip. Both my knees have been done over. I shattered this elbow, I blew out this shoulder, I go on and on, you I mean, you know. Chris Gilliam: You had your days and you still have the knowledge, so that you passed it on. That's awesome. Tim Furno: Mm-hmm. But Chris, like you and others, has written hard and left the stall wet. Too many damn times. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I understand. Yeah. well. Tim Furno: quarters them with shots and all kinds of shit, you Chris Gilliam: Well, okay. Coach Whitaker, you want to do letter C? Chris Whittaker: Yeah. So, kind of alluded to these two guys and just wanna tell us more about them. and these these guys along with yourself, you've already mentioned, were the kind of the pioneers of high school powerlifting. And the the first one is Lloyd Coombe from Schwartz Creek. you know, he had a f a female team, won eight straight national titles. He himself was a successful lifter, you know, ten national senior championships. bunch of records like what can you t anything anything, what was it what was he like? What kind of guy was he? You know? Tim Furno: Well, Lloyd was a very, very, very nice man. And we got along real well. He never had a guys team. I don't think he did. He's always with girls. But he could identify with them, but maybe he coached them better. You know, he did a very good job coaching him. He's a great coach. Well, I respected him. He respected me and he is in the Flint. Hall of Fame Sports Hall of Fame. Yeah, and he would put my name up, but I wasn't from Flint as from. Yeah, I'm not Millington. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, front area sports hall of fame, yeah. Because he is he Yeah, he's a he's from Flint. Yep, and yeah. So he's from Flint and you know, he went to high school in Flint and obviously he came back and coached Swords Creek for a little bit. And I know that you are familiar with Russ Hewsted from Mount Morris. and you mentioned him earlier as being, you know, somebody that was really knowledgeable in the sport and Tim Furno: Yes. He's very knowledgeable and he was a good coach. Yes, he was. Chris Gilliam: Very good coach. He was a good lifter himself. you know, we've we've talked to other people about him, but you know, you guys, you and Mount Morris seemed to have a some pretty good competition at the state meets back in the eighties. Yeah. Yeah it was basically Millington or Mount Morris went in the state meet in the eighties. so what do you recall about that? Like Tim Furno: head to head all the time. Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Were those close meets where like it came down to one away class? Tim Furno: Very close. Very close. When Russ first entered into the weightlifting scene, he thought he could develop anybody to lift large amounts of weight. Then he started finding out that you gotta get a certain person, a gifted person. Chris Gilliam: Hm. Tim Furno: a person who's... gifted in strength training and its strength. You know, the kid that can do 40 pull-ups. In my ninth grade physical education class, the average pull-up was one. One pull-up. But there was a couple kids who did like 30, maybe one or two. And those are the kids that goes, hey, yeah, I want you. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tim Furno: And that's how, that was my forte in success. Chris Gilliam: For sure. So Tim Furno: You know the kids that couldn't do a pull up there would be about eight boys that couldn't do a pull up. I would say to them I go and they're they're feeling bad and you know about this. I don't know. It's not your fault. It was way raised. You and if I'll tell you what at the end of the year if you can do one pull up, I'm going to give you an A. Really? Yeah, and they that inspired them and that was cool. But I tested all the time. And. Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah. Tim Furno: Chris, I was fanatic. When the spring broke, I had a 40-yard dash right outside of our gym. We did it once a week. I knew the 40s of everybody. Chris, speed kills. Chris Whittaker: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Yes, it does. Yeah. I I do, yes. Yep, speed kills and strength punishes, right? Tim Furno: Get that one? You know what I'm talking about. yeah. Yep. Yeah, we call them bone crushers. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. nice. That's great. That's a great photo to have. All right, I appreciate that. Tim Furno: Yeah, you'll get it on now. Chris Gilliam: Go ahead, Coach Whitaker. Chris Whittaker: So we took wh so we talked about Russ Houston and and Russ's name came up with Denny, right? He's he's the one that brought Denny into the Chris Gilliam: Danny, Reinhardt. Tim Furno: Denny is a great guy. He coached the Montrose. And what was that coach? He coaches at Ferris State. Tony Anise. Tony Anise butted heads with me a lot. Chris Whittaker: Yep. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah, I got it. Tim Furno: He's a great coach. He is a great coach. I wanted him to be the Michigan State coach, but that's another story. Chris Gilliam: Hey, no one. Knowing all of you guys, you're all very strong willed, independent, thinking men. It's like the y there isn't a room big enough for all the machismo for all of you guys in the same room. It's it's Tim Furno: You Yeah. Excuse Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Tim Furno: me. Pardon me. You're included in that also buddy boy. yeah. yeah. Yeah, you. Where's my finger? Yeah, you. What did you do? you all you guys are. Yeah, you were included. Moving along. Chris Gilliam: sh that's hilarious. this is awesome. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: So were there any other any others? You mentioned Lend Linden. Do you remember the name of the Linden guy that was part of their program? Okay. Tim Furno: No, they were fresh out of college, splashes in the pan. In college at that time, the mid-70s is starting to come in. Michigan State had a weight room, and it was kind of cheesy compared to what it is now. yeah, they had a strength coach and a weight room, and these kids are coming out of college and they're going, whoa. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Tim Furno: Is there any meats around here? They were interested. About 75, 74, we started to see it come into, not high schools, colleges. Chris Gilliam: Sure. Okay. Gotcha. All right. All right. we have this section, you know, we're we're about done with this, coach. I appreciate your time. We have a few more things to go through, but we have this rapid fire set of questions that so just think about it quickly, your first response. You don't need to go into details on it. So when you were training and and powerlifting, what was your favorite lift? The squat, the bench, or the deadlift? Tim Furno: Squad. Chris Whittaker: Low bar position, high or high bar position in the squat? Tim Furno: Low bar. Chris Gilliam: Were you a conventional or sumo deadlifter? Tim Furno: conventional. Chris Whittaker: now the next three are your best accessory movements, right? Your favorite accessory exercises. The first one is for the squat. Chris Gilliam: So what did you use with your for your lifters to make their squat better besides squatting? Tim Furno: put the subscribe. Chris Whittaker: It's quite. Tim Furno: We started off with a front squat because in the front squat you have to have perfect form or the bar will fall down. Chris Whittaker: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Nice. All right. How about Tim Furno: Everybody did the front squat, even the girls. What was weird? The girls liked it better than the guys. I don't know why. I didn't ask them why. Chris Gilliam: Okay. Probably better balance. bench press. What's your best X accessory for the bench press? Tim Furno: Probably. The grip. The grip. The grip in the line with your body and make sure you touch it right below the pectoralis major. Chris Gilliam: Okay. All right. Okay. So you focused on our path and grip. Okay. Tim Furno: Control going down, speed coming up. Control the weight going down, speed coming up. And never go in front, always drifting back over the shoulders. Chris Gilliam: Awesome. yeah, the J pattern, I think is what they call it. So nice. Good stuff. Chris Whittaker: And your best accessory for the deadlift, Coach. Tim Furno: Feel that dead lift? Get yourself pissed off. Chris Gilliam: I I love it. Chris Whittaker: Anger. Tim Furno: Anger. I'm mad, I'm pissed. She went out with your girlfriend. Yeah, that guy over there, he's a hit, yeah, whatever. Get pissed off. Chris Gilliam: So whatever you can do to motivate I love it. that's good stuff. Tim Furno: Don't think about, my back hurts, or ooh, this hurts, or I'm pissed off. Chris Gilliam: Well well that works. it it Tim Furno: As you know, boys, I've been around. I've been around the block a little bit here. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, you have. we're as we're wrapping this up, Coach, is there anything you'd like to add or something that you didn't get to talk about and you wanna mention now before we end this? Tim Furno: Yes. Are you ready? I'm still mad you beat me. I didn't like that. That's number one. But you know what? Chris Gilliam: Yes. Well, it w we we won our fair share, but we also lost our fair share, that's a fact. Tim Furno: Yeah, well you guess what kid you did a great job. That's what I want to sell you. Chris Gilliam: I appreciate that. Those were good years and good rivalry games. there was Tim and I would meet in secret because neither of our towns could know that we liked each other because the the crosses would be burning, man. Tim Furno: And I don't know. Chris Whittaker: Mm-hmm. Tim Furno: Yeah, look, that conference was very competitive, very competitive. And I want to thank you guys for the great job you're doing on seeing this through and making it an important event. I always wanted to do that, but again, I was losing athletes and I didn't like it. That's why I got out and I started the Strongman competition with speed and lifting. because I was just interested in football, period. I hated to lose. still, my son beat me in ping pong the other day and I'm still upset about it. It's not here to hurt. Chris Whittaker: With th Chris Gilliam: I love it. Chris Whittaker: with those strongman contests, can you kinda tell us a little bit more about those? Like you brought brought up. Like you had like a forty yard dash in there. What what other events did you guys do? Tim Furno: Shulman. bench squat deadlift. But incorporated in that. Was the what's your time in the 40? What's your time in the shuttle run? These are speed events. Because as football coaches. Speed the game became. Everything is speed. How quick are you? Can you get on somebody? When my last year coaching we were regional champions. And My two guards, one weighed 148 pounds, the other weighed 150, 155. But they could get off the ball and get into you. I said, I don't care if you knock them down. Don't. Just get into them for two seconds, a second and half. That's all we need. More often running. Right, Chris? Yeah, get them off the freaking ball. I know, but they're like animals. They're animals. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. It it was pretty rare that they were that small, Whitaker. 'Cause th they were usually the biggest team in the conference every year. Tim Furno: I know that last year my biggest kid was 200 pounds. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, they weren't they weren't that big his last year. We actually had a really close game against them at our place that year. coach, real quick just to go back to football for a second, what did you hate about playing at Birch Run while I was there? You remember what you would always tell me that you hated about coming over there? Tim Furno: Was it you? Chris Whittaker: Ha ha ha. Chris Gilliam: No. So hey, Tim Furno: No. Chris Gilliam: so Whitaker at our place we only had one set of bleachers. Tim Furno: yes. Yes. You pulled a Hayden Fry on me all the time. We are bench was right behind all these a holes from Bertrand and he caused it all the time. And I laughed. I knew where two were up to. I said that's cool, cause I was a snake like that also. Right? I did all kinds of things that Frank and both I released. Chris Gilliam: And I always made the visiting team on the bleacher side. And I was always on the other side and Tim would just Chris Whittaker: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Okay. yeah. I'm gonna give another quick story, Coach, that I didn't tell you the other day. So one time we're at Millington for the J V game, Coach Whitaker, and our our coaches are in the locker room, you know, they're looking and then all of a sudden I get a text message, hey come in here. So when the game's over and the JV kids are leaving, they're they're pointing out, Look at it's Millington's game plans here on the chalkboard. And I'm like, this is Tim messing with us. Tim Furno: Alright. Thank Chris Gilliam: They're like, I don't know, I don't think so. And then Tim comes walking through like he doesn't know we're in there. And he's looking around. sorry, guys, didn't mean to interrupt. And he looks and he goes, shit, who left our game plan on the chalkboard? And he erases it. And it was at that moment I said, That definitely was fake. That was fake for sure. it was fun stuff, man. The mind games. It was hilarious. Tim Furno: Only Dylan. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Tim Furno: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Only you. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Well, I gotta ask you, coach, you know when Millington and me, right because I've only been around here for you know, since twenty nineteen. So when I hear Millington, I think of one individual and I don't know if you've ever crossed paths with him. His name is Lenny Dantane. Tim Furno: What about them? Chris Whittaker: Well, he used to he was on our board with us and he and he he stepped away, but he I've laughed as much as we've laughed on this podcast, I've done that with him. So I gotta bring his name up here was we're talking to a former Millington coach. So but yeah, tell tell what did he was is Lenny Millington alumni? Did he play for you? No. Tim Furno: Bring it. He's a uber. Upper Peninsula boy went to very small school. He started at Saginaw Valley. As a corner. And when he first came, he wasn't heavy like he is now, but he he ran a legit about 4645. And even if weights or anything, I don't think he ever did his whole life. He's just gifted. He's freak, but. Lenny and I got along real well. He was, he's black and white. There's not a lot of gray areas with that guy. And he's brilliant. He never got a B in his life, always. And he has like a partially photographic memory. He'd look at a film and he'd go, and he did not like Frankenbuth. I did though. Chris Whittaker: Believe. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, he does. Tim Furno: No, I didn't. I didn't. Right? And we'd do anything to beat him. So, Lenny goes, he studied all the films. goes, they're gonna do this right now. No, they're not. That doesn't make sense. They're not doing that. He goes, they're gonna do it. They're gonna run a belly option. It's premeditated. I goes, no, they went away from that. Ah, belly option. And he goes, oh, okay. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, right. Tim Furno: And then he started telling me what they're going to do. They're going to pass. Oh, yeah. Yes, as Chris. He's such a weasel that made even look at film through. He's smart, he's smart guy. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, no He can figure out a team's tendency so much. Yeah, he is he is so good at that. He is. And he's got he he's got a gift of making sure the players know everything that he knows too. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Tim Furno: We are not normal. Yeah, he's a good teacher. But how was he on the board? Was he outspoken? What did he do? Chris Gilliam: Yeah, without a doubt because He's our he's our comic relief. he liked to play jokes on people and and do silly things. But you know, he was really good with the technology. So he was very helpful with our computer programs. Yeah. Tim Furno: alright. But yeah, that's his forte. We would practical joke each other. We would go to Jermaine's house after we're done celebrating Frank-A-Puth victory. And I'd have my bullhorn in the big ones. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Tim Furno: We have the house surrounded. Come out with your hands up. All the car lights are shining at his house. And Jermana go, you effing assholes. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: Well, Tim Furno: We were the masters at practical joking each other. They horrible, terrible. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I'm sure. yeah, without a doubt. Yeah, he he's pretty good at that. Lenny has the habit of sending like Christmas card things through text messages with people's faces on other people's bodies and stuff like that. But he he likes to pick on certain board members more than others and Tim Furno: yeah, yeah. Chris Whittaker: Mostly Darren Conrad. Mm-hmm. Tim Furno: Oh yeah, that's it Lenny. Am I being filmed right now? Oh geez, can't tell you this story. You would laugh your ass off. Chris Gilliam: Yes, you are. You can wait till we're off air for the next one, Coach. Hey, I wanna I just wanna take this time, Coach Ferno, to thank you for doing this for us. and I wanna thank you on behalf of all the other seventy plus member schools that we have participating in the MHSPLA now. and I want to thank you for starting this organization. Tim Furno: Whoa! Cool. Chris Gilliam: way back in the day before many of them were even born. And appreciate ya. Appreciate your time. Appreciate the effort that you put forth in getting this thing rolling and that it's survived over the years and it's probably as strong as it's ever been. So thank you. Tim Furno: No, that's due to you guys and I appreciate it. You're doing a great job. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. I echo Chris's sentiments, coach. it's been really cool to talk to you and learn all the history. And I think this is gonna be really cool for our our athletes and our coaches to get to hear firsthand of how it all came to be. So from from there, I mean, a big question here is do you are you active on social media at all? I think I know the answer to this question. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Tim Furno: No. Chris Gilliam: Okay. Tim Furno: I'm Chris Whittaker: So Tim Furno: I'm older than dirt. You understand that you know what that means? Alright. Chris Gilliam: We ask it of everyone. But yeah. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Yeah. Well who wa we we interviewed one of one of the guys and he was active on on social media. Was it Todd Miller. Yeah, Todd Miller had a had a a social media page. Chris Gilliam: Todd Miller. Yeah. Tim Furno: Well, I could you're going to tell me I could pick this up. My sons want to see this and stuff. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. yeah, we'll we'll send you the link. It it it'll air later on this summer, you know, but we appreciate this. Yeah, you're you we'll definitely make sure that you get it 'cause the the podcast can be found on any podcast platform, so Chris Whittaker: yeah. Tim Furno: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. A lot of my buddies that laugh at me and stuff, you a lot of them will say, hell, thought he died. But, know, yeah, he he breathes. He's alive. Like in a Frankenstein movie. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, for sure. You'll enjoy it. He's still alive. Nice. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Night. Chris Whittaker: Well, coach, we're we're gonna let you let you go here again. Thank you for your time. Gentlemen, this has been an episode of the platform where the stories weigh a ton.