Latest / Austin Signal / Four accused in yogurt shop murders now exonerated

Transcript

Four accused in yogurt shop murders now exonerated · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  The four men wrongly accused in
• 0:10
  Austin's yogurt shop murders were
• 0:12
  exonerated today in a Travis County
• 0:13
  courthouse.
• 0:14
  More than three decades on, their
• 0:16
  records have been cleared.
• 0:17
  We're gonna hear from family members
• 0:19
  who attended today's hearing.
• 0:21
  And the University of Texas Board of
• 0:22
  Regents has approved a policy
• 0:24
  limiting from classrooms, quote,
• 0:26
  controversial topics.
• 0:27
  What the new policy says and the
• 0:29
  plan for putting it into effect,
• 0:31
  that's coming up on today's show.
• 0:33
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:35
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:37
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:38
  Plus Spurs basketball is back
• 0:40
  at the Moody Center tonight and it's
• 0:41
  a much different version of the team
• 0:43
  that's visited Austin for the past
• 0:44
  few years.
• 0:46
  The reason for that change and
• 0:47
  championship possibilities this
• 0:49
  season, that's coming up today
• 0:51
  on Austin Signal.
• 0:52
  We'll be back right after this.
• 1:06
  Howdy out there, this is Austin
• 1:08
  Signal. We are coming to you from
• 1:10
  listener-powered public radio
• 1:12
  KUT News.
• 1:13
  It is Thursday, February 19th.
• 1:15
  I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
• 1:17
  We're going to start today's show
• 1:19
  with some late breaking news.
• 1:21
  The exoneration hearing for the men
• 1:22
  wrongly accused of the yogurt shop
• 1:24
  murders in Austin has just
• 1:26
  concluded.
• 1:27
  KUT's government accountability
• 1:28
  reporter, Andrew Weber, was at
• 1:30
  the hearing. He's at the courthouse
• 1:31
  now. Andrew, thanks for being with
• 1:33
  us.
• 1:34
  So can you tell us what was going
• 1:36
  on today at the courthouse?
• 1:37
  Yeah, it was a hearing.
• 1:39
  This was back in December.
• 1:41
  Travis County District Attorney Jose
• 1:43
  Garza filed a
• 1:45
  motion to exonerate the four
• 1:47
  men previously accused
• 1:49
  in the yogurt shop killings.
• 1:50
  That was after Austin
• 1:52
  police discovered through new
• 1:54
  forensic evidence
• 1:56
  that they had nothing
• 1:57
  to do with the case.
• 1:58
  And it was ultimately they
• 2:00
  believe with beyond a shadow of
• 2:02
  a doubt that it was a man named
• 2:03
  Robert Eugene Breshears.
• 2:06
  And uh... Who are some of the people
• 2:07
  who spoke to the at the hearing
• 2:09
  Uh, it was, there was the
• 2:11
  lead detective on that case on, on
• 2:13
  APD's part, Dan Jackson.
• 2:14
  He laid this out back in October
• 2:16
  when they announced that they had
• 2:18
  found this, this prime suspect,
• 2:19
  uh, who his, I should say
• 2:21
  he's dead.
• 2:22
  He died by suicide in 1999.
• 2:25
  Uh, and some other folks were just
• 2:26
  family members of, of the men
• 2:28
  who were accused.
• 2:29
  Uh, you had, um, some,
• 2:31
  some really, really stirring
• 2:33
  testimony from, uh Maurice
• 2:35
  Pierce's daughter, Marissa,
• 2:37
  who...
• 2:38
  You know, she basically said that
• 2:40
  the world now believes
• 2:42
  what her dad always said,
• 2:44
  that he was innocent.
• 2:46
  And that's an important thing
• 2:48
  to point out because when his peers
• 2:50
  died, he was shot
• 2:51
  by an APD officer back in 2010
• 2:53
  after he had a sort
• 2:55
  of mental health crisis and he
• 2:57
  attacked a cop with a knife.
• 2:59
  So that was obviously very, very
• 3:00
  stirring testimony.
• 3:01
  And you've been following this story
• 3:03
  for a while, Andrew, what else stood
• 3:04
  out to you at today's hearing?
• 3:07
  I think, you know, it sort of
• 3:08
  started off with a bit of a
• 3:10
  bang, I guess, for lack of better
• 3:11
  phrasing.
• 3:12
  You know, we had an assistant DA,
• 3:15
  Trudy Strasburger, come out and say,
• 3:17
  this is our obligation.
• 3:20
  This was a case that was mishandled
• 3:22
  by APD and by the Travis County
• 3:24
  District Attorney's office that
• 3:26
  they, you now, falsely
• 3:28
  prosecuted and convicted these
• 3:30
  young men and, you
• 3:32
  you know, kind of rob them of a lot
• 3:33
  of their youth.
• 3:34
  You know it's obviously had a huge
• 3:36
  impact on their lives.
• 3:37
  But we can't go back in time and
• 3:39
  change what happened to the four.
• 3:42
  What we can do is make sure the
• 3:43
  truth is known.
• 3:44
  And the truth, is that Forest
• 3:46
  Wellborn, Maurice Pierce,
• 3:48
  Michael Scott, and Robert
• 3:50
  Springsteen are innocent.
• 3:52
  They did not commit the murders, nor
• 3:54
  were they involved in any way.
• 3:56
  Okay we have been speaking with
• 3:58
  Andrew Weber he is KUT's government
• 3:59
  accountability reporter again the
• 4:01
  exoneration hearing for the men
• 4:03
  falsely accused in the yogurt shop
• 4:04
  murders has concluded.
• 4:06
  We'll have more reporting on this
• 4:08
  later today here on KUT News
• 4:10
  and over at KUT.org.
• 4:12
  Andrew thank you for your reporting.
• 4:14
  Yes sir, appreciate you Jerry.
• 4:20
  And it's been a busy news morning
• 4:21
  here in Austin today, the
• 4:23
  University of Texas System Board of
• 4:25
  Regents approved an initiative that
• 4:27
  limits quote, controversial topics
• 4:29
  in the classroom.
• 4:31
  Here to talk more about that is
• 4:32
  KUT's education reporter, Greta
• 4:34
  Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez.
• 4:36
  Greta, welcome back to Austin
• 4:37
  Signal.
• 4:37
  Hi Jerry.
• 4:38
  So tell us a little bit more about
• 4:40
  this policy. I know it was announced
• 4:41
  this morning.
• 4:42
  What does it say?
• 4:43
  Right, so this new policy states
• 4:44
  that faculty must, and I'm going to
• 4:46
  read here the policy because faculty
• 4:48
  must not attempt to coerce,
• 4:49
  indoctrinate, harass or belittle
• 4:51
  students, especially in addressing
• 4:53
  controversial subjects.
• 4:55
  It also says that different ideas
• 4:57
  are welcome, but faculty must
• 4:58
  exclude quote unquote unrelated
• 5:01
  controversial or contested matters
• 5:03
  from syllabi and follow
• 5:05
  the contents of the syllabus for
• 5:06
  each course.
• 5:08
  And it says that if a course
• 5:09
  must address these topics, then
• 5:11
  instructors must have a balanced
• 5:13
  approach.
• 5:14
  I must say, we don't know what
• 5:16
  controversial topics or contested
• 5:18
  matters entail.
• 5:19
  The policy passed without any
• 5:21
  questions from the board this
• 5:23
  morning, but Chairman Kevin L.
• 5:24
  Tiff asked the chancellor and
• 5:26
  vice chancellor of the system to
• 5:28
  continue working with institutions
• 5:30
  to ensure the compliance of this
• 5:32
  new policy, but also to
• 5:34
  make sure that federal and state
• 5:36
  directives related to gender
• 5:37
  identity are being compiled with.
• 5:39
  So we, I think that gives us an
• 5:41
  idea.
• 5:41
  Okay, we had you on Austin Signal
• 5:43
  last week talking about several
• 5:45
  UT departments collapsing into a
• 5:47
  new department, and that was
• 5:49
  a move that had been expected for a
• 5:51
  few months. This change that was, or
• 5:52
  this policy, not this change, this
• 5:54
  policy that was approved this
• 5:55
  morning, was this something that was
• 5:56
  expected?
• 5:58
  I think we can't say it
• 6:00
  wasn't, because we've seen other
• 6:02
  university systems making similar
• 6:03
  decisions.
• 6:04
  In November, the Texas A&M system
• 6:06
  placed limitations on how professors
• 6:08
  can teach race and gender.
• 6:10
  Then in December, we also saw it in
• 6:11
  Texas Tech University system, they
• 6:13
  prohibited advocacy and prejudice
• 6:15
  from faculty when it comes to
• 6:17
  teaching race and
• 6:19
  gender, and so
• 6:21
  once this wasn't the agenda.
• 6:22
  I think advocates and faculty saw
• 6:24
  this coming.
• 6:26
  There was public comments before
• 6:28
  the Board of Regents decided to vote
• 6:30
  today. What did you hear in those
• 6:32
  comments?
• 6:32
  Yeah, so they raise concerns,
• 6:34
  faculty, students, they raise
• 6:35
  concerns about how this policy will
• 6:37
  affect other areas, not only gender
• 6:39
  and race related courses,
• 6:42
  someone brought up how it will
• 6:43
  affect her teachings in
• 6:45
  art history, someone else talked
• 6:47
  about physics, economy,
• 6:49
  even evolution was brought up at
• 6:50
  some point.
• 6:51
  So you can imagine but it
• 6:53
  this policy really extends further
• 6:55
  than the UT system academic freedom
• 6:57
  advocates in Texas and in the
• 6:59
  country. Are worried that this
• 7:00
  policy is incredibly vague,
• 7:02
  that we don't know what
• 7:03
  controversial topics means.
• 7:05
  So let's hear Jonathan Freeman, who
• 7:07
  is Managing Director of US Free
• 7:08
  Expression Programs at PEN America.
• 7:11
  UT institutions must continue
• 7:13
  to take steps to build appropriate
• 7:16
  breadth and balance in the faculty
• 7:18
  body, in the curriculum, so
• 7:20
  that students have access to a
• 7:21
  variety.
• 7:22
  So right now we are listening,
• 7:24
  that was the audio of Kevin Eltyv
• 7:27
  who is reading another
• 7:29
  part of
• 7:30
  the guidelines that was worrisome
• 7:32
  to advocates because he is
• 7:34
  saying that universities must
• 7:36
  ensure that there's appropriate
• 7:37
  breadth and balance in the faculty
• 7:39
  body. And this is worrisom because
• 7:41
  for advocates this is worrison
• 7:43
  because they don't know what this
• 7:44
  means and Friedman said that
• 7:46
  this could be used to justify
• 7:48
  faculty terminations or new faculty
• 7:50
  hires.
• 7:51
  And other advocates told me that
• 7:53
  this specific line, they worried
• 7:54
  that it will mean that universities
• 7:56
  will only hire faculty who have
• 7:58
  certain political views.
• 8:00
  Okay, well, as I said, this news
• 8:01
  came down this morning and you have
• 8:03
  been reporting, talking to lots of
• 8:05
  people.
• 8:06
  We don't know exactly what
• 8:07
  controversial topics means yet, as
• 8:09
  you said.
• 8:10
  What do we know about when
• 8:12
  this policy might be implemented?
• 8:13
  I mean, since the policy has been
• 8:15
  approved, is it in effect
• 8:16
  immediately right now?
• 8:17
  That is something else that it's
• 8:19
  unclear. We did hear LTIF say that
• 8:21
  universities would, um,
• 8:23
  or that the, the chancellor and vice
• 8:25
  chancellor had to make sure that
• 8:26
  universities were putting in
• 8:28
  place, um, these, these
• 8:30
  guidelines, but we don't know
• 8:32
  exactly when or how we
• 8:34
  reached out to the UT system to get
• 8:35
  more details, to know about how it
• 8:37
  will be enforced. But really all
• 8:39
  the institutions in the UT system
• 8:41
  are left kind of like to implement
• 8:43
  them. However, they,
• 8:45
  they read the guidelines.
• 8:46
  Yeah, they see it.
• 8:47
  Okay, well we have been speaking
• 8:49
  with KUT's education reporter,
• 8:51
  Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez.
• 8:53
  Her latest story is at KUT.org
• 8:55
  right now. We're going to have a
• 8:56
  link to that article in today's
• 8:58
  podcast, Show Notes. Greta, thank
• 8:59
  you for your reporting.
• 9:00
  Thank you.
• 9:05
  In the weeks since the latest
• 9:07
  Epstein files have been released, it
• 9:08
  came to light that a University of
• 9:10
  Texas classics professor asked
• 9:12
  Jeffrey Epstein's charitable
• 9:13
  foundation for money back in 2015.
• 9:16
  The funds were going to be used to
• 9:18
  help pay for a conference on campus
• 9:19
  rate policy.
• 9:21
  It was a story that first was
• 9:22
  reported in the Daily Texan, that's
• 9:24
  UT's college newspaper.
• 9:26
  Investigative reporter for the
• 9:28
  Daily Texas, Justin Doud, broke
• 9:30
  the story. He's talking with us now.
• 9:32
  Justin, thanks for joining us.
• 9:33
  Thanks for having me.
• 9:34
  So tell us a little bit first,
• 9:36
  how did you find out about this
• 9:37
  story?
• 9:38
  Yeah, so when the latest
• 9:40
  drop of the Epstein Library and
• 9:42
  the Epsteine files came out from the
• 9:43
  Department of Justice, we
• 9:45
  kind of had a hunch based off of
• 9:47
  what other campus newspapers were
• 9:48
  reporting that there might be some
• 9:50
  sort of UT tie.
• 9:52
  So I ended up going through every
• 9:54
  mention of the University of Texas
• 9:55
  in the library.
• 9:56
  So about halfway through the
• 9:59
  University Of Texas mentions, I
• 10:01
  stumbled across the letter that
• 10:02
  ended up being kind of the catalyst
• 10:04
  for the story, and it kind of
• 10:05
  sparked the idea. So.
• 10:06
  It let me down a rabbit hole, but it
• 10:08
  started off with kind of a wild
• 10:10
  goose chase. Yeah. What does that
• 10:11
  letter say?
• 10:12
  Basically, the letter is a request
• 10:14
  from a former University of Texas
• 10:16
  professor. He worked in the classics
• 10:17
  department for 33 years, and
• 10:19
  he is requesting from the Jeffrey
• 10:21
  Epstein Charitable Foundation 10
• 10:23
  to 20 thousand dollars to fund a
• 10:25
  conference on campus that
• 10:28
  would have discussed campus rape
• 10:29
  policies. And that was in
• 10:31
  2015. So right around the time that
• 10:33
  the Department of Education.
• 10:34
  Was implementing a whole
• 10:36
  new host of Title IX policies
• 10:38
  and guidance for Title IX
• 10:40
  changes that universities,
• 10:42
  specifically public universities
• 10:43
  like UT,
• 10:45
  would adopt likely.
• 10:47
  And so basically he kind of
• 10:49
  disagreed with the
• 10:51
  policies that were being implemented
• 10:53
  and with the impact that they could
• 10:54
  have on students, specifically
• 10:56
  male students that might be
• 10:58
  expelled or face disciplinary action
• 11:00
  for things that they had done.
• 11:02
  So he wanted to host this conference
• 11:04
  on campus,
• 11:06
  basically discussing the pros and
• 11:07
  cons of these policies, inviting
• 11:09
  people from all over the country.
• 11:11
  And in order to do so, he needed a
• 11:13
  substantial amount of funding.
• 11:14
  So he was basically asking the
• 11:15
  foundation to kind of help him
• 11:17
  build that.
• 11:17
  This professor's name is Thomas
• 11:19
  Hubbard. Does he still work for the
• 11:20
  University of Texas?
• 11:21
  He does not. He was tenured in the
• 11:23
  early 90s and then left in
• 11:25
  2021 after he settled
• 11:27
  with the university for $700,000.
• 11:29
  So that settlement came after he
• 11:31
  sued three students of his at
• 11:33
  a variety of levels, undergraduate,
• 11:35
  PhD students that he said libeled
• 11:37
  him.
• 11:38
  So those students had formed
• 11:39
  protests or made social media
• 11:41
  comments, basically in opposition
• 11:43
  to the things that he was saying in
• 11:45
  his classes.
• 11:46
  One of those classes was called the
• 11:48
  mythology of rape.
• 11:49
  And it was a pretty controversial
• 11:50
  class that he taught at the
• 11:52
  university.
• 11:53
  So once they made those comments, he
• 11:54
  said that they were libeling him.
• 11:55
  He took them all to court and they
• 11:57
  ended up settling out of court in
• 11:59
  2021. One of the stipulations of
• 12:01
  that settlement was that he retire
• 12:02
  immediately.
• 12:04
  So within 21 days of
• 12:06
  the settlement being approved,
• 12:08
  he left.
• 12:09
  Okay, you say that he
• 12:11
  requested this money.
• 12:12
  Did that money ever actually come
• 12:13
  through for the conference?
• 12:15
  No, he said that he didn't
• 12:17
  hear back from the Epstein
• 12:18
  Foundation, that he didn't end
• 12:20
  up getting any of the funding that
• 12:21
  he requested, but the conference did
• 12:23
  still happen.
• 12:24
  So the conference was funded
• 12:25
  actually by the university directly,
• 12:27
  according to Hubbard.
• 12:28
  The university declined to provide
• 12:29
  those financial records, so we
• 12:31
  couldn't, you know, kind of verify
• 12:32
  that. But according to hubbard
• 12:34
  himself, the
• 12:36
  university funded $10,000 from
• 12:37
  the College of
• 12:41
  from a centennial professorship that
• 12:43
  he received right around the time
• 12:44
  that the conference was being held
• 12:46
  in 2016, and
• 12:48
  a number of private donors that he
• 12:49
  declined to disclose.
• 12:51
  What else did you hear from UT
• 12:52
  during your reporting of this story?
• 12:53
  They didn't decide to
• 12:55
  comment. They declined to
• 12:57
  issue a statement.
• 12:58
  We gave them multiple days.
• 13:00
  We asked them a few times as we kind
• 13:01
  of ended up going
• 13:03
  further down the rabbit hole and
• 13:05
  discovered new information.
• 13:06
  But ultimately they decided not to
• 13:08
  comment and it was the same for
• 13:09
  other outlets that picked up the
• 13:10
  story after we broke it.
• 13:11
  So the Austin American Statesman,
• 13:13
  cron.com, and Houston, all of them
• 13:15
  reported and reached out
• 13:16
  individually and none of them
• 13:18
  recorded a comment from the
• 13:19
  university.
• 13:20
  Okay, we have been speaking with
• 13:21
  Justin Doud.
• 13:22
  He is an investigative reporter at
• 13:23
  The Daily Texan.
• 13:24
  He first broke the story there.
• 13:26
  He is a junior in journalism and
• 13:28
  government here at UT Austin.
• 13:29
  We're gonna have a link to his
• 13:30
  reporting at kut.org
• 13:33
  slash Signal and in the podcast,
• 13:34
  Show Notes.
• 13:35
  Justin, thanks for coming on the
• 13:36
  show. Thank you for having me.
• 13:38
  And thank you for spending part of
• 13:39
  your Thursday here with Austin
• 13:41
  Signal. We have more coming up
• 13:43
  after the break, including some
• 13:45
  music and some basketball.
• 13:47
  Stay with us.
• 13:58
  This is Austin Signal, thank you
• 14:00
  for tuning in. We're gonna talk a
• 14:02
  little music on this Thursday
• 14:03
  afternoon and here to help us
• 14:05
  do that is our friend Miley Carbayo
• 14:07
  from our sister station KUTX.
• 14:09
  Miley, it's great to see you as
• 14:10
  always.
• 14:10
  Great to see you, thanks for having
• 14:11
  me, Jerry.
• 14:12
  We are glad to chat with you
• 14:14
  because we wanted to know, we
• 14:15
  haven't chatted with you since the
• 14:17
  Super Bowl, so we wanted you to know
• 14:18
  what was happening over at KUTX.
• 14:21
  One thing we haven't talked about is
• 14:23
  February's Artist of the Month.
• 14:24
  Who is that for February?
• 14:26
  Absolutely, it's the Animeros.
• 14:27
  They are kind of a smaller group
• 14:30
  coming out of the Superfonico's
• 14:32
  Colombian-style mix of
• 14:33
  genres, cumbia group, who is
• 14:36
  also excellent in their own way.
• 14:38
  But yeah, the Animeroes are super
• 14:39
  cool. We actually had them out at
• 14:41
  our ACL tent this
• 14:43
  year. You can find a video of that
• 14:45
  at kutx.org.
• 14:47
  And really cool thing about them is
• 14:48
  they're championed by Dan Auerbach
• 14:50
  of the Black Keys.
• 14:52
  So keep your ears out for what
• 14:54
  they have coming up.
• 14:54
  That's a good stamp of approval to
• 14:56
  receive, Peter Babb from KU-TX
• 14:58
  told me that he caught the Animaeros
• 15:00
  at Seaboys because they're doing a
• 15:01
  residency on Thursdays, I believe is
• 15:03
  what he said.
• 15:04
  So that should be happening tonight.
• 15:06
  He said it's a great show.
• 15:07
  He said they start at 10 o'clock, so
• 15:08
  if you can make it, you can and I
• 15:10
  think I can make. I'm not that old
• 15:11
  yet to fall asleep before 10 o
• 15:13
  clock. So okay, the Animeros, check
• 15:15
  them out. In fact, I saw a really
• 15:16
  cool reel on the KUTX
• 15:18
  Instagram that you can check out the
• 15:20
  arrows there.
• 15:21
  Uh, so we are almost
• 15:23
  done with February, still a little
• 15:25
  bit left in February, but next month
• 15:27
  is shaping up to be a big one for
• 15:29
  lots of different reasons.
• 15:30
  But that also includes the, the
• 15:32
  return of rock the park.
• 15:34
  Absolutely. Yeah, Rock the Park will
• 15:35
  be back for its 10th year.
• 15:39
  Our Jackie Fuller at KUTX
• 15:41
  has informed me of that today.
• 15:43
  And we are so excited.
• 15:45
  It's it's if you're not familiar
• 15:47
  with Rock the Park, it's a series of
• 15:48
  free, very family friendly
• 15:51
  and very awesome concerts
• 15:53
  that we put on at Mueller Lake Park,
• 15:55
  curated by our very own live music
• 15:57
  producer, Deidre Gott and Bill
• 15:59
  Childs of our Sunday evening show,
• 16:01
  Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child.
• 16:03
  And yeah, once again, it's just fun
• 16:05
  for the whole family.
• 16:07
  Bring your dog, bring your grandma.
• 16:09
  There's accessible seating for folks
• 16:11
  and it's a great
• 16:13
  way to chill with the whole family,
• 16:15
  see some local Austin music.
• 16:17
  A lot of the time, Bill Childs
• 16:18
  brings in family friendly
• 16:21
  kind of artists like Banana
• 16:22
  Man.
• 16:23
  The Nanner Man.
• 16:25
  And that will be Friday, March
• 16:27
  27th.
• 16:28
  So it will be starting out with
• 16:30
  Bananerman and following with
• 16:32
  Doryo, who is a really
• 16:34
  great three-piece indie kind
• 16:36
  of soft, fun band
• 16:38
  that we champion here at KUTX.
• 16:40
  And a fun fact about them too,
• 16:42
  Rachel Rasco, who was in the band,
• 16:44
  was the ex-music editor of
• 16:45
  Austin Chronicle.
• 16:47
  So it's just a very Austin
• 16:49
  vibe overall and
• 16:51
  a great way to start your
• 16:52
  weekend.
• 16:53
  Okay, so that's starting later in
• 16:55
  March.
• 16:56
  And so between now and then,
• 16:58
  there's this little festival
• 17:00
  happening called South by Southwest.
• 17:01
  Just a little one. What does KUTX
• 17:03
  have planned for that?
• 17:04
  We have a lot going on.
• 17:06
  So this year we are continuing our
• 17:08
  residency at Schultz Garden,
• 17:10
  doing our morning broadcasts there
• 17:11
  live.
• 17:12
  You can come in person, pay $10.
• 17:14
  It goes to the Central Texas Food
• 17:16
  Bank. You can also listen live on
• 17:18
  air on KUTX.
• 17:20
  The Austin Signal will be there as
• 17:22
  well.
• 17:23
  Shout out, shout out. Out.
• 17:24
  We will also be partnering with
• 17:26
  Rivian this year, so stay tuned
• 17:28
  for an announcement on dates
• 17:30
  for that. That is coming up.
• 17:32
  And South by South Breaks is also
• 17:34
  coming back this year.
• 17:35
  Very cool.
• 17:36
  We will have more information about
• 17:38
  all those goings on in
• 17:40
  the show notes for today's podcast
• 17:41
  and at KUT.org slash
• 17:43
  signal. We've been speaking with
• 17:45
  Miley Carvallo from our sister
• 17:46
  station KUTX.
• 17:48
  Miley, thank you.
• 17:48
  Thank you, Jerry.
• 17:54
  The San Antonio Spurs are back at
• 17:56
  the Moody Center tonight and
• 17:58
  Saturday for a pair of games here in
• 18:00
  Austin.
• 18:00
  Here to talk more about the team is
• 18:02
  Tom Petrini, publisher for Spurs
• 18:04
  on SI, that's Sports Illustrated
• 18:06
  Spurs website, and he's one of the
• 18:08
  hosts of the Silver and Black Coffee
• 18:09
  Hour podcast.
• 18:10
  That's an Austin-based show about
• 18:12
  the San Antonio spurs.
• 18:13
  Tom, thanks for being here.
• 18:14
  Thank you so much for having me to
• 18:16
  talk about my sp-
• 18:17
  interest spurs in Austin this is a
• 18:19
  bit of a special interest of mine
• 18:20
  but I'm gonna try to be reserved let
• 18:21
  you do your thing so start first
• 18:23
  by telling me and the listener
• 18:25
  out there is this the best spurs
• 18:27
  team that's come to play here in
• 18:28
  Austin without a doubt
• 18:30
  Um, last year would have been great,
• 18:32
  but this is the exact point in
• 18:34
  the season where we learned that
• 18:35
  Victor Wembenyama would miss the
• 18:36
  rest of it with a blood clot,
• 18:38
  uh, which was obviously very,
• 18:40
  uh.
• 18:41
  You know, out of the blue and kind
• 18:43
  of scary.
• 18:44
  And thankfully not only is he
• 18:46
  healthy, just in an off the court
• 18:48
  way, but he is,
• 18:50
  uh in his
• 18:52
  Prime that we've seen.
• 18:53
  Yeah, he's having a great year.
• 18:55
  This is his third year in the league
• 18:57
  He's having an awesome season, but
• 18:58
  he just had a pretty good weekend
• 19:00
  out in Los Angeles, no?
• 19:01
  Absolutely, I was there, it was my
• 19:03
  first All-Star weekend,
• 19:06
  and between the attendance level on
• 19:08
  Friday and Saturday that I'm sure
• 19:10
  you might've seen online,
• 19:12
  the empty seats,
• 19:15
  the stars don't do the dunk contest,
• 19:17
  are these guys gonna compete, was
• 19:18
  the big question.
• 19:20
  And I heard a lot of people who have
• 19:22
  been to many more All-star games
• 19:23
  than me talking about, is this just
• 19:25
  cooked? Like, should we just scrap
• 19:26
  this whole weekend?
• 19:28
  And the main questions were,
• 19:30
  is Wemby already the face of the
• 19:31
  league?
• 19:33
  And is his call
• 19:35
  to make this a competitive game
• 19:37
  going to be heard?
• 19:39
  And the answer to both questions
• 19:41
  was a resounding yes, in a way
• 19:43
  that became sort of the story
• 19:46
  of the weekend that even
• 19:48
  among stars,
• 19:51
  he's, you know, I remember seeing
• 19:53
  Anthony Edwards, one of the most
• 19:55
  confident people on the planet
• 19:56
  Earth. He could not stop
• 19:58
  giving Victor Weminyam a credit
• 20:01
  for he's gonna be the face of the
• 20:03
  league. He's the reason this game
• 20:04
  was so successful.
• 20:06
  And that's the guy who wound up
• 20:07
  winning MVP of the game.
• 20:09
  So I think that
• 20:11
  this was sort of a
• 20:13
  very earnest coming out party
• 20:14
  for him as the main
• 20:17
  star of the NBA right now.
• 20:18
  Yeah, and there's
• 20:20
  a section of that that's like his
• 20:22
  off-the-court escapades, right?
• 20:24
  Like this summer he was training
• 20:25
  with monks and all these different
• 20:27
  things. But specifically on the
• 20:28
  court, what is he putting into
• 20:30
  action this season that's kind of
• 20:32
  changing the Spurs' fortunes?
• 20:34
  I mean, he's...
• 20:35
  He's seven foot five and plays
• 20:37
  like a guard, you know, it's
• 20:39
  something that that nobody's ever
• 20:40
  seen.
• 20:42
  And you know
• 20:44
  it's he's incredibly talented.
• 20:46
  He's huge.
• 20:49
  The most impressive thing about him
• 20:50
  remains the way he carries himself
• 20:52
  and his curiosity and his attention
• 20:54
  to detail and he's always got a book
• 20:55
  in his hand and he is just a
• 20:57
  very mature kid, especially for
• 20:59
  somebody who's been sort
• 21:01
  of anointed from a
• 21:03
  very young age as the
• 21:05
  next phase of this thing.
• 21:06
  But to sort of give you an idea of
• 21:09
  how much he is breaking
• 21:11
  through with even non-sports people.
• 21:14
  My mom and sister are coming to
• 21:15
  visit this weekend and
• 21:17
  they are non- sports people.
• 21:18
  Their favorite sport is birding,
• 21:20
  right?
• 21:21
  And in birding there's something
• 21:23
  called like a lifer.
• 21:24
  You see it once, you write it down
• 21:25
  in your book and you can tell people
• 21:27
  that you've seen that one in real
• 21:28
  life.
• 21:29
  And, you know, I kind of joked, do
• 21:31
  you want to come to the Spurs game
• 21:32
  with me? And they were like, yes, we
• 21:33
  want to see this guy. Yeah.
• 21:36
  So the star power that is coming to
• 21:38
  Austin this week is really special.
• 21:40
  And the team is great.
• 21:41
  They're second in the Western Conference
• 21:42
  right now.
• 21:43
  Well, tell us a little bit about,
• 21:44
  you know, the team comes to Austin
• 21:45
  for these games.
• 21:47
  The Austin Spurs are the G League
• 21:49
  affiliate for the San Antonio Spurs
• 21:50
  that play up in Cedar Park.
• 21:52
  What is, what have these
• 21:54
  visits to Austin done for
• 21:56
  the Spurs? What are they learning
• 21:57
  with these visits?
• 21:59
  On a basketball level, they've used
• 22:00
  Austin as a proving ground as a
• 22:03
  training place for their
• 22:04
  coaches, for their players.
• 22:06
  Kelden Johnson cut his teeth here
• 22:08
  seven years ago as a rookie.
• 22:11
  Mitch Johnson got his first three
• 22:12
  years as a coach here.
• 22:14
  And as the team gets better, we're
• 22:15
  gonna see more of their draft picks
• 22:16
  come through and play.
• 22:18
  We're also seeing now on the
• 22:20
  business side of things that the
• 22:22
  Spurs are taking a similar approach
• 22:23
  to what lessons can we learn in
• 22:25
  Austin and how do we apply
• 22:27
  that to beyond central
• 22:29
  Texas, because Austin isn't the
• 22:31
  only city that the Spurs have
• 22:33
  on their list as this
• 22:35
  should be a Spurs city, right?
• 22:38
  They played a game in Mexico City.
• 22:39
  That's right.
• 22:40
  They believe that
• 22:43
  San Antonio is the center
• 22:45
  of their home base, which reaches
• 22:47
  up to Austin and beyond and
• 22:49
  down to Mexico and Latin America.
• 22:53
  This year, they're not going
• 22:54
  physically the team to France,
• 22:56
  which they did last year.
• 22:58
  Um, but they are sending sort
• 23:01
  of their, their staff, their
• 23:03
  marketing people, their event
• 23:04
  planning out over there to
• 23:06
  sort of replicate the events that
• 23:07
  we're seeing here in San Antonio,
• 23:09
  because it's not just the games they
• 23:11
  take very seriously, um,
• 23:14
  you know, the activations and
• 23:15
  engaging with the fans, especially
• 23:16
  the ones who, who might not be able
• 23:18
  to make it out.
• 23:19
  And this morning I was just down.
• 23:21
  They have, uh, they're calling it
• 23:22
  Casa disperse.
• 23:24
  It's, uh right on Congress.
• 23:26
  You could see the, the Capitol.
• 23:27
  From the front door and
• 23:29
  they had a live podcast recording in
• 23:31
  there, the No Dunks guys who I love.
• 23:33
  And it's Thursday morning in a
• 23:35
  city with no NBA team
• 23:37
  and the place was packed.
• 23:39
  And so we're seeing
• 23:41
  the fruits of
• 23:43
  their labor here in
• 23:45
  Austin.
• 23:46
  This is the fourth year that they're
• 23:47
  doing this. And when they started,
• 23:48
  they did not have Victor Wembenyama.
• 23:50
  That's right, yeah.
• 23:52
  Greg Popovich was talking about Zach
• 23:53
  Collins as the starting center next
• 23:55
  year.
• 23:56
  And so their plans
• 23:58
  to engage this
• 24:00
  market and really capitalize,
• 24:02
  pre-date their good fortune
• 24:04
  in the NBA lottery.
• 24:07
  And it's just sort of all coming
• 24:09
  together for them.
• 24:11
  So it's cool to see here
• 24:12
  in Austin.
• 24:13
  We have about a minute left before
• 24:14
  we get out of here.
• 24:15
  What are you most excited to see
• 24:17
  with the rest of the season playing
• 24:19
  out?
• 24:21
  Everybody keeps
• 24:21
  saying this team is too young
• 24:24
  to actually
• 24:26
  win the title.
• 24:27
  There's this idea that you have to
• 24:28
  get beat up in
• 24:30
  one year and then adjust
• 24:33
  and then go back out there.
• 24:35
  And I think for most people
• 24:37
  and groups, that is true.
• 24:39
  I think that it's
• 24:41
  long past time that we stopped
• 24:42
  treating Victor Wemunyama and
• 24:45
  any team that he's at the
• 24:46
  head of as normal.
• 24:49
  Because it's not.
• 24:50
  And that's what makes it so
• 24:52
  captivating.
• 24:53
  Obviously Spurs basketball is about
• 24:55
  the team, right?
• 24:56
  And he's very much about the theme,
• 24:59
  but it's impossible to
• 25:01
  deny the effect that he has for
• 25:03
  this team both on the court in terms
• 25:05
  of winning games and off it in terms
• 25:06
  of winning new fans and sponsors,
• 25:08
  especially in a city like Austin.
• 25:10
  All right, well, Victor Wimbenyama
• 25:11
  and the Spurs will be back at the
• 25:13
  Moody Center tonight and
• 25:14
  Saturday.
• 25:15
  We have been speaking with Tom
• 25:17
  Petrini. He is the publisher for
• 25:18
  Spurs on SI, that's Sports
• 25:20
  Illustrated Spurs website.
• 25:22
  And he is one of the hosts of the
• 25:24
  Silver and Black Coffee Hour
• 25:25
  podcast. That's an Austin-based show
• 25:27
  about the San Antonio Spurs.
• 25:29
  Give them a listen.
• 25:30
  Tom, thanks for being on the show.
• 25:31
  Thank you so much for having me,
• 25:32
  Jerry. And thank you out there for
• 25:34
  tuning in to Austin Signal and
• 25:35
  making us part of your Thursday.
• 25:37
  We have more from today's show and
• 25:39
  all of our shows at kut.org
• 25:41
  slash signal.
• 25:42
  And we're having a link to all of
• 25:44
  today's reporting in today's
• 25:47
  podcast show notes.
• 25:48
  I'm your host, Jerry Keconnell.
• 25:50
  We'll be back with you same time
• 25:51
  tomorrow. Have a great day.