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Iowa RB Kaleb Johnson · The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome to the official Island TV podcast.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_04: And the winner is, here's your host, Chris Houston.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome to this week's episode of the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_04: September is in the rearview mirror.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_04: We are now in October.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_04: This is my favorite month.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_04: The leaves are changing.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_04: You can wear a light sweater, turn off the AC, and of course, college football's about to get really good.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_04: Not that September wasn't a tremendous month.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_04: One of the big games coming up this Saturday is Iowa at number three Ohio State.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_04: And with that matchup in mind, our featured guest on this week's episode is the Hawkeyes junior running back Caleb Johnson.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_04: Johnson is currently second in the nation in rushing at 171 yards per game.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_04: He is second to Ashton Genty of Boise State, who was on the official Heisman Trophy podcast earlier in the season.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_04: We also talked to 1967 Heisman Trophy winner Gary Bieber of UCLA.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_04: He's going to talk a lot about the idyllic setting that was Los Angeles in the mid-1960s and just the amazing roll call of athletes who emerged from that period and place.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: And then we're going to close out the show with Andrew Seau, the Executive Director of South Bronx United, a very impressive charitable organization with which the Heisman Trophy Trust is involved.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_04: But before we get to that, how about a little Heisman Punditry?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: Who wants September?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_04: That's the question.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_04: And here's an answer in four parts.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: Part one, Jalen Milrow, Alabama.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: The junior signal caller for the nation's number one team has 1,237 yards of total offense in four games.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_04: He has accumulated 10 passing touchdowns and eight rushing touchdowns for a total of 18 total touchdowns.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_04: He is currently on pace to have over 4,000 yards of total offense and 59 total touchdowns by the time the Heisman Vote is due.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know whether he'll keep up that pace, but it stands to reason that given his natural progression as a quarterback, plus his progression inside of Calen DeVort's system, there still may be a lot of upside there.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: And of course, his massive game against Georgia, 374 yards passing, 117 rushing, four total touchdowns, that game will act as his tenthole the rest of the year.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_04: Part two, Travis Hunter, wide receiver cornerback, Colorado.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_04: Merely doing things that no one has done in college football for decades.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: He's got 46 receptions for 561 yards and six touchdowns already through five games.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_04: Over on defense, he's got 16 tackles, three pass breakups, a tackle for a loss, a forced fumble, and two interceptions.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: Players who can capture the imagination of Heisland trophy voters do very well in the Heisland trophy race.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_04: And Hunter is one of those players.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_04: Part three is Ashton Genty of Boise State.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_04: Through four games, the junior running back has 845 yards and 13 touchdowns and is averaging 10.3 yards per carry.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_04: He is currently on pace to break some of the most hallowed records in college football history.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: And the closer he gets, the more people are gonna tune in to see if he does it.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_04: And if he does it, then he's gonna be tough to beat.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_04: And finally, there's quarterback Cam Ward of Miami, formerly an incarnate ward in Washington State.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_04: He's on pace for over 4,700 yards of total offense and 52 touchdowns.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_04: He's got the Canes at 5-0 off to one of their best starts in a while.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_04: And what's gonna attract voters to him is the return to glory narrative.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_04: Could it finally be the case that Miami is back?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_04: If the answer to that is yes, then Cam Ward will reap the benefits when it comes to the Heisman Trophy race.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_04: Now let's caveat all this by acknowledging that there's still a long way to go this season.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_04: We are maybe only a third of the way through, and a lot can happen, a lot will happen in October.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_04: By the way, for you dedicated fans of the show, you might notice that three of these four players have been featured guests on the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_04: And we're working on getting Travis Hunter for next week.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: So while these four players currently, I think, lead the Heisman Trophy race, there's a group of players waiting in the wings, ready to step forward as the season goes on.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: There are several players out there with the potential to catch fire this month, and one of them is this week's featured guest, Caleb Johnson.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: He has been an absolute beast so far this year, and he's on pace to rush for over 2,000 yards.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_04: And there is an opportunity for him this Saturday against Ohio State.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_04: Have a big game against the Buckeyes, and he's suddenly in the thick of the Heisman conversation.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_04: And we're gonna start talking to him right after these words from Barry Sanders.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_04: We're here with Caleb Johnson, a six-foot, 225-pound junior running back out of Iowa, who after four games is second in the nation in rushing at 171 yards per game.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_04: He's also scored nine touchdowns, is averaging an eye-popping 8.4 yards per carry.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: His Hawk eyes are three and one, and he's coming off a career high, 206 yards rushing against Minnesota.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_04: And after a bye week, Iowa travels to Columbus next week to take on number three Ohio State.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: Caleb, thanks for coming on the show.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, you're up to a great start this season after being injured quite a bit as a sophomore.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_04: You're the first Iowa back to score at least two touchdowns in the first four games of the season since 1997.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: Coming off that injury last year, what kind of preparation did you go through in the offseason to get yourself ready for your junior year?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just did the little basics by going back and, you know, just recovering.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's the main thing.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's just going in there, make sure I'm getting uh physical therapy in like three times a day, every day, because I was in a I basically lived in a training room when I was hurt because all I wanted all I want to do is get back to my team and help my team win.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I that's all I that's the only thing I really did, which is like go back and you know, just really heal my ankle and give it time to rest and you know put my my mental into the game too, because I need to learn to play playbook too, also.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that's all I did, you know, cheer my teammates on and you know now we're here.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_04: So now you got full command of the playbook and you're and you're constantly going for uh for uh you know making sure your your body's all taken care of afterwards, right?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, sir.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, there was a run early against Minnesota, I think it was your fourth carry of the game, Cade McNamara under center.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_04: You got three straight runs up the middle, and you popped this one outside and just barely stepped out of bounds of the one.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_04: I thought that was just a really outstanding run.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: What do you remember about that one?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember um really it was it was supposed to be outside zone and me cutting it up, but I remember it just like just being so clogged, and you know, my uh one of my old linemen's chop bot down the dude, so it was really clogged in the hole.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I just I just said, dang it, and I just went out went outside.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I got to do.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So broke a tackle, you know, broke a few tackles and you know got upfield being aggressive.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, shame you didn't score on that one, but you got the touchdown, you know, I think one play later.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_04: Much of the game was just you pounding up the middle until you found a crease.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_04: I noticed that a lot of your best runs happened with the QB under center.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: Do you prefer to run when the QB is under center?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to me, right now it really don't matter because I like from a gun too.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it gave me a chance to read it more and stuff like that.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: On the I only like from the um from the under center, it's it's the same thing, but it's more like quicker.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I like both.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have a specific preference for them.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: So tell me about your offensive line.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_04: When you're pounding the ball over and over and you guys are huddling, what's your communication like?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: Do they help fire you up or is it all business in there?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's all business.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's strictly business.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, they have we we get fired up in a huddle and we just say, let's go, let's, let's, let's bring it to them, let's show them what we can do.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I just really, you know, just appreciate my O line for opening up them holes.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have scored no touchdowns, have no yards, no nothing.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I just really give all my credit to my O line and you know, my Rivers here is my tight ends for blocking for me and allowing me to do what I need to do.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: One thing I like about you and how you run is your forward lean.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_04: You've got your helmet over your toes in most carries.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_04: There's that much wasted movement.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_04: How would you describe your running style?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I describe my running style as more like a, you know, get vertical guy, you know, one cut, get vertical.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't like, I mean, I don't like juking.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: If I have to, then I will, but that's not my that's not my my uh my preference at all.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I like running over people, I like stiff arm and I like outrunning, you know, catching the ball at the backfield, getting upfield.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_04: You're averaging 24 yard uh 24 carries per game last three games.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_04: Does that feel like that's the upper limit of your of your capabilities, or do you feel like you have uh more gas in the tank and some games coming up?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I feel like I feel like I can have way, way more gas in the tank right now.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I can just feel like keep going and keep going.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, whatever they do for me, whatever they set me up, and I'm gonna do it at full my full potential.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: So help it's helping my team win.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever I could do to do that, then I do it.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: You're out of Hamilton, Ohio, which is in the Cincinnati area.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_04: How did football become your sport growing up?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, really, um, really, football was not my sport.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, it was it was actually baseball.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Baseball was like actually my sport.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then told my pops that I saw someone on the billboard.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think it was Derek Henry on the billboard one time.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was like, ooh, pops, let me uh I want to do that.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he he said we go try.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, after that, it was just history from there.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_04: So 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_04: I hear your grandfather was a big influence on you.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: What did he do to help you become the player you are today?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that that that man did everything he could, and I just really appreciate him so much for just like sacrificing things to make me, you know, happy and you know, keep me satisfied and stuff like that, and keep me focused.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like he just he just do he just did everything he could to you know just to put me in a position I am now.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So without him, I won't I won't be here.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I just really appreciate him and my grandma for everything they did.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_04: When did you realize that football was gonna be your thing?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um I realized that when I like when I was like five, six, I just really it was just it was just there.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like football, baseball, football, baseball, football, baseball.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I got to high school, my pops had to tell me to make a decision of what we need to focus on.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I said football.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So after that, it's just just head forward football now.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: So what position did you play in baseball?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh first baseman, pitcher, and left field.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, okay.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_04: Which one did you like the best?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Pitcher.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm left-handed.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_04: So Ah, perfect.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you were gonna be a pitcher.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_04: So who are your who were your football teams growing up, uh growing up in Cincinnati?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, right now, um it would it was in between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why I like the Dallas Cowboys so much was because I followed Ezekiel Elliott when he was with Ohio State 2015, 2016, all them times when he was rushing and stuff like that.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I just followed him then, and then he went to the Cowboys, and I like the Cowboys, and I like CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott, Micah, Micah Parsons, all of them.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just, you know, it's just a lot of character built up there.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_04: I saw that you started out uh at maybe I think it was five or six, or maybe later you were a defensive lineman at first in Pop Warner.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: When did you turn into a running back?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's that's a funny story because it was when I was little, uh, yeah, I played D-line and then um I saw the ball, and you know, I would just getting pancake, pancake after play, after play after play.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I went to my pops after the game, I was like, look, I'm all dirty, and my whole front, my whole front was clean, but my back was pretty.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it was just so after that, it was just after it was just history after that.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: So my when I came to my first grade, for no, when I was eight.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: When I was eight, that's when I started playing running back in it.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's when it started getting, you know, straight to business and you know, doing our little things to what I can do to be a running back.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was a pretty big running back.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_04: When you see uh when you see opposing D-linemans get uh pancaked by your your O-line, you can say, I know what that feels like, right?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_04: Who were your running back role models back in your high school days?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like I said, uh Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, uh Najee Harris, um Eric Dickerson, um, Barry Sanders.
• 12:14
  unknown: Yeah.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_04: So going old school, Barry Dick uh Eric Dickerson and Barry Sanders.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_04: You originally committed to the Cal Bears before flipping over to Iowa.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_04: Tell me about your recruitment, what you liked about Cal so much and why you ended up becoming a Hawkeye.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: In general, I just like the recruitment process in general because you could just like, you know, on the weekends instead of staying home, you could like take business from a different state that you've never been to and try it out for a whole weekend and then go next weekend and try a whole different one out.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really fun.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, but with Cal, the reason why I committed to them was because of the coaching and the schooling.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I heard the schooling is really, really, really good down there.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another reason why.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then I could I could have played earlier too, also.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: So and AT, he's a good running back coach.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: So when I came, when I came to Iowa, I was committed.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I came, like they told me to take a visit.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: I took a visit during the uh Penn State game when we beat Penn State at uh Kinnock.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And after that, I just I just said I'm here, I'm I'm committed.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to tell the coach that I want to decommit and commit to Iowa.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: So rest is history from there.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, sounded like you had a lot of fun on your on your visits.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: What were what were some of the highlights of those visits?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um just you know, just taking it all then, you know, just seeing the stadium and looking and imagining myself inside the stadiums and different stuff.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: So like when I when I came to Iowa and saw that, I was just I want to play here.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_04: Your running bass coach is former NFL Liddell Betts.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_04: I think he recruited you too, right?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_04: What are some of the things he's working on with you right now to help make you a better back?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the little things, pass protection, getting out to my roster faster, you know, running, running even harder, even even harder than I'm running now.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, because he knows my capable, my capability is, and you know, I believe in him, he believes in me.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just the connection we got, and we can tell each other anything.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So me and him, we have a really good, strong connection, and I listen to everything he has to say because he's been there.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_04: So uh you're a very goal-oriented person.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_04: So, what kind of personal goals did you set for yourself this year?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_04: And now, how specific did you get?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one goal, I I I manifest every day.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, one goal that I set was to get over 1200 yards and 12 touchdowns.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm on a roll for that.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_04: So you're almost you're almost there.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I want to get even more.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it was that, and to be successful in life and you know, to you know, be be uh win Dokuacker Awards.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my whole point.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what are you studying uh at Iowa?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um right now I'm studying enterprise leadership business.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: And what what is what is enterprise leadership?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's kind of a a new new nature.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a it's like a it's like you it's like balance on everything, like financing, business, marketing, real estate, all that.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just like all those bundled up together.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, what what's the favorite part about that that major that that really that really draws you to it?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just you just like you know, selling your products.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can sell your products, you can like invest and all that.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I just like I feel like I can do that.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really I'm a very tech guy.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so I feel like that fits me well because before I was going to do computer science and information technology.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I had to do a lot for that.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I just say in the process.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's like in this in this day and age, college football players have to be good at all that stuff now, right?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Man, exactly.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_04: Ohio State coming up next, big game, number three.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_04: You have an extra week to prepare.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_04: Preview this game for me a little bit.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Man, um, I feel like our our run game is awesome right now.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like we just go keep you know relying on that and you know, come out with it with passes and you know, play Iowa football.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's all we go do.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: We just we just being neutral right now, being calm and you know, taking it day by day, and you feel me doing the play at a time, play at a time.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're doing now.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, you can't come on a Heisman podcast without talking a little Heisman.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_04: I know we mentioned Derrick Henry and Barry Sanders the past.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_04: Are there any other past Heisman winners you really enjoyed watching?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh Reggie Bush.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_04: Reggie Bush, yeah.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, awesome.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_04: And and and any current running backs in like in the league that you try to look up to and emulate?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um Derek Henry, who else?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_04: Uh that's all you need.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_04: All you need is Derrick Henry.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_04: That's really what I'll be looking for.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_04: So follow my footsteps after.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_04: So awesome.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, Caleb Johnson, appreciate your time.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_04: Uh good luck uh this Saturday against Highland State, and then good luck the rest of the season.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: The Heisman is handed out every December, but the history of the trophy lives year-round at Heisman.com.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_04: Home to the most iconic trophy in sports, Heisman.com tells the stories of all 88 of our winners and features news, bios, and statistics on all your favorite Heisman heroes.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_04: Heisman.com also highlights our Heisman humanitarians, the many charities supported by the Heisman Trust, and so much more.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_04: Make Heisman.com your first stop for all things Heisman.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_04: We are here with the great one, Gary Bieben, the 1967 Heisman Trophy winner from UCLA.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_04: Gary, thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Chris, thank you very much for the invitation to participate.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_04: We talked to you a little bit uh last year when you came up for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_04: We talked to you, and then right after you, we talked to Mike Garrett.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_04: And it was interesting to me because he won the Heisman Trophy in 1965 and I believe your plays prevented him from going to the Rose Bowl, and then um and then we talked to you who won the Heisman Trophy in 67 and some plays by a USC guy who prevented you from going to the Rolls Bowl that year.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um so but I thought it was really interesting to have just two players who played in the same city, Heisman Trophy winners almost back to back, just one year one year separated.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_04: And we talked a little bit about this online, and before we get into all the details of your career, just the extraordinary athletic talent accumulated in the city of Los Angeles at those universities, USCUCLA in the let's call it from 1964 to 69, that that incredible period.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um and and do you think that's something that doesn't get the recognition it deserves?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's it's interesting that you asked the question because I've thought of this quite often over the years.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you take a look at what was going on between the two schools at the time, let's just start at 64.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I literally learned the UCLA eight clap at the Los Angeles airport as I was greeting the UCLA basketball team back from the NC2A championship game, beating Duke for their first title.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: So that's how I actually met as a recruit Walt Hazard and Gail Goodrich.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: Right, Keith Erickson.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Meanwhile, back at campus there's Rafer Johnson and CK Yang are working on the track working out of the track through Ducky Drake for the Olympics.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Arthur Rash and Charles Purcell are playing tennis.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: We had actually some very good football players on the prior team, and then across town we've got a guy named Seivers who was playing on the SC baseball team, let alone Mike Garrett and a slew of outstanding football players who we happened to just get lucky on one certain day.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that just gives you a sense.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's not even talking about UCLA's volleyball team that was winning NC2A championships, even though they weren't recognized as that at the time.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: But this city literally was the Athens of college athletics in the mid-60s.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's the start of the Pac-12.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: Ironically, we're talking on the demise of the Pac-12.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: It actually was the start of a 20-year run in which the Pac-12 won 16 out of 20 Rose Bowls.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: And we started it beating Michigan State in January of 66.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, five of the next 10 Heisman winners come from the West Coast.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: The Beben, Garrett, O.J.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: Plunkett run.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: So all of a sudden even before that.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean it was just an incredible age, rich in successes for the West Coast.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I have always considered myself very, very fortunate to have been one playing at UCLA at the time, at UCLA at the time, and uh in Southern California among all these players and a and a and a gentleman like Mike Garrett.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_04: But you weren't from Southern California, you were from uh Sequoia High up in Redwood City, the Bay Area, for those who don't know, just a little bit north of Palo Alto.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_04: You had a successful football career, obviously, at Sequoia, and you were considering where you wanted to spend your college days.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_04: And for a kid who is in Northern California at that time period, what is the perception of Los Angeles?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_04: What are you thinking when when the schools down there are are asking you to come come play down there?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_04: What do you what are you thinking about the city, especially as it compares to the City that you that you come from, the area you come from.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, in the mid-60s, Southern California was surfing USA.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: And my parents were very flexible.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: They allowed me, I actually went to UCLA four or five times without UCLA knowing that I was there.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: But for me, coming out of Redwood City and being born and raised in San Francisco, North Beach, Italian was my first language.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Westwood Village to me was sort of a mini North Beach.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I got very comfortable at UCLA very quickly.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: I just didn't let them know it.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: And probably in the back of my mind, that's where I was heading.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: Plus, there were two senior quarterbacks, Steve Sindel and uh Zeno, Larry Zeno, who would be graduating when I show up as a sophomore or after my freshman year.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: So all the parts were just right.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: And the campus felt right for me.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Westwood Village reminded me of North Beach.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I could see apartments less than 20 minutes from the beach.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: So it was a very easy decision for me once I considered that one cow was uh and Stanford were too close to home.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Stanford dropped me for Menlo College because suddenly my grades weren't good enough in the middle of my senior year when they pulled the kid down from the state of Washington.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: So suddenly my grades weren't good enough.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's another story.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: They eventually my high school transcript was published in the local paper.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: But going to UCLA was uh uh uh an easy one, especially after Marv Gu at SC told me in a letter that I was too small and too slow to play at SC.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_04: Well, what an incredible thing for him to say, considering that he was an undersized linebacker and and and was you know considered uh too slow.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it's interesting.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, go ahead.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: My dad, my dad kept the letter, it's in the scrapbook.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_04: How did you get involved in in football?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_04: Like what what what drew you to the sport and when did you realize you were you were pretty good at it?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, my I didn't play my freshman year at all.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: I played basketball and baseball.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: And baseball was the game I loved.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: And when the baseball coach came to me and said, Well, Joe Marvin, the football coach, and the high school was on a 29-game winning streak, the longest in California at the time, has just told me that if you don't come out for football, you're not going to be playing baseball.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess that's known as an arm twist.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: So my sophomore year, I played freshman sophomore.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: They had that in those days.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I started on the varsity team as a single-wing tailback, and most of the people in the stands had never seen you uh Sequoia High School lose.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: We were on the verge of a 29-game winning streak.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we took it to 34 and lost.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to get past 34.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: It was uh it was a long night, let me tell you.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_04: Coming out of Sequoia, you go down to UCLA and and if I recall, this is sort of there's sort of a sea change in college football going on around that time, right?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: You I think you're just because the the the previous five, six, seven previous, let's say the previous decade, there'd been all kinds of crazy rule changes, a lot of chaos with the rules, right?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_04: With substitutions and uh and so on and so forth.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_04: But now you had I think it was 64, was the first year where it was full fully double platoon.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_04: I'm pretty sure.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm not sure if that was the first year, but let's put it this way.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: I never played defense.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_04: Well, they they had experien experimented with a couple years where they had double platoon, but they had never stuck with it.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_04: And they'd gone back, and then that's why you had like in over at LSU, you had the the Chinese bandits and the Chinese bandits and Paul Diesel, you bet.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so they had probably my favorite.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: Right, and because of these substitution rules.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_04: So now you're coming in and and you're not playing any defense, you you're a you're a quarterback, right?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh in those days, there was a real freshman team.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: There were 40 of us on scholarship, uh, plus walk-ons, plus anybody that wanted to get beat up by the varsity during the summertime, which is what the freshman team used to be.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: So we were there and we actually had three games.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: We played Stanford and Cal in USC.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: And we were uh we won two and tied one.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: The Babes?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: Pardon me?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_04: Bruin Babes, is that what that would you recall?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: The Bruin Babes, the Bruin Babes.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: We beat uh Stanford and SC.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: We beat SC 14-7 and we tied Cal up in the mud in Berkeley.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: So we had three games.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_04: What kind of crowds did you get for those for those freshman games?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there were barely ghosts in the stands.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if you put freshman uh games in if you had freshman games now, they'd get a lot of crowds, I think.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think people would be really into those.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: One of my uh issues today is I still don't think freshmen should be playing varsity football.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: If you think about big movements in one's life, it's probably the first time the individual's away from home.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's the first time mom's not around cooking or doing the laundry.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: You have to find your own way to the bathroom, plus you got girls around, you got studies.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and by the way, let's play varsity football.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: I happen to think there's plenty of time to play varsity football.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I'm not sure that these kids really get their foot feet on the ground anymore and really understand the the amic uh the value of the academics that they have to go and take on.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: But that's another issue for another day.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_04: You were majoring in European history?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_04: That was your field?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um when you came on your recruiting trip, did you know that's what you wanted to study or did it take time for you to figure that out?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I knew that one coming in.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um I wanted to try to figure out and know better why one country was in the center of two world wars.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's it was that simple.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not because somebody just brought it wasn't an argument at the house.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it was just one of those things that popped up during history class in high school, and I just wanted to know more about it.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh boy was I lucky I had Robert Dalek as a professor who eventually went on to be quite a historian, wrote books on Robert F.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: Kennedy.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it was just a great time to be at UCLA, both from the academic and the athletic, and then of course, then I you pile it on with what was going on in Southern California.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me about January 5th, 1965.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's the day that Tommy Prothro decided to leave Oregon State.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: They had just lost in the Rose Bowl uh to Michigan, and he had decided he decides to come to UCLA.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: And uh at that time, the varsity uh senior class was 10 wins, 20 losses.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: And uh he decided to take us on, and it was the most critical step because uh because without him and his coaching staff, uh the next three years would have been a very miserable time.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_04: What did he do differently that because he's a because he's known as an innovator, uh he is he he was known as an innovative coach.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_04: Well, what did he do differently from other coaches?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_02: Without getting into the individuals, he brought down a great staff, brought over Pepper Rogers from uh from the South.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: Future coach.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: They made decisions after watching us practice to implement an offensive and defensive system or systems that allowed whatever talent we had to maximize its potential.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: They moved some players around.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: The juniors and seniors they did, they left the sophomores, my class, alone.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: We played the positions that we came in on.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: But a couple of the juniors and seniors moved around.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_02: And there wasn't much recruiting that went on for them, other than they ran around some of the JCs and picked up a couple critical players.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: Probably the most critical one was Dallas Grider out of out of Bakersfield.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: But in essence, they I think the great skill, aside from great game plans, was the ability to assess whatever talent we did have that they saw, and then put us in offensive and defensive systems that allowed us to play at our highest potential.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_04: We talked about the USCUCLA game of 67 a little bit earlier.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_04: I don't want to get too much into that because that game's been talked about a lot.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_04: But you had a career high, 301 yards passing in that game, two touchdown passes.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_04: Setting aside the loss and the circumstances around it, did that performance at least give you some idea of your capabilities as a passer?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I I I was hoping that I could have played that game without the rib injury that I had.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um didn't give me the chance to be as mobile as I needed to be against you know an SC team that had nine first-round draft choices.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, they were loaded.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and you know, we lost 21-20.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so yes, I I uh and plus we didn't have Pepper up in the box.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: And and if Pepper had been up there, I think there might have been even more passing.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I I was pleased in that sense that we were able to move the ball that well against the air.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, SC did not pass the ball once that game.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: Steve Sagi was the quarterback, and they look and they had Earl McCullough as one of the receivers and Klein as a tight end.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and all they did was run.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: All they did was run one great running back.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_04: Probably still the pinnacle of that rivalry, I would say, that that that year.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: Tell me about how you found out you won the Heisman Trophy.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, life was a little different then.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there wasn't quite the buildup either during the season or at announcement time.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, I was in my uh apartment studying finals.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we did have to go to class in those days.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and uh got a call from JD Morgan who said, uh, you're needed in Franklin Murphy's office, who was the chancellor of the school.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought to myself, uh-oh.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then I think, oh, well, maybe the announcement's been made.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: I was aware that the announcement was going to come down.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I show up uh in my corduroy sport coat, and there's some press people there, Tommy's there, uh, and that's how I learned.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there was not the kind of preview television shows in all the buildup that goes on today.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and in fact, we were so focused on trying to win the national championship, I really hadn't thought much about the trophy at all.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: And and and realistically, you don't play the game to win trophies, you play to win games and championships.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it's uh it's uh it's an add-on, it's a wonderful add-on, and and it's been something I think my teammates appreciated because they know that their game and how they played it would not be forgotten because it's not forgotten.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, you're visited every year, sort of like this, but it certainly wasn't the uh the show that it was that it is today.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_04: 62 you had Baker, like you mentioned.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_04: 64 was John Hewart at Notre Dame, but he was from the West Coast, modern day.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you had you had um Mike Garrett in six in 65, you in 67, OJ in 68, Plunkett in 69.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_04: So that's Plunkett was 70.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sorry, plunk it in 70, my mistake.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, plunk it in 70.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: So you were right.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_04: That's six winners in seven seasons, basically, who who were from the West Coast, five who played on the West Coast.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_04: Did you guys have a special bond uh over the years as you came back to the ceremonies?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_04: And were you guys like, hey, that's my my West Coast crew?
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_04: That's these are the guys that were from my period, and and we all kind of uh helped build this this thing up together.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think we had a uh a uh glance at each other knowing that we helped build West Coast football.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I think we all recognized how fortunate we were to be playing on the West Coast at that time because we did get a run.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um the Rose Bowl was a West Coast uh winning series for 20 years.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the winners were coming from the West.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so we were we thought we were playing the best football, college football in the country, and and we were.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: And uh uh it was a prideful thing, and it it it it allowed us to say hello to each other a lot easier.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_04: And then, you know, you mentioned during your senior season, you guys didn't talk about the Heisman, but over the years, 60 almost 60 years on from that win, what has the Heisman come to mean to you and and what have you observed as far as its place in in college football?
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it certainly has become uh the most significant award uh uh in the trophy case.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but my feeling is the same today as when uh it was initially announced that basically our time on the field, the 65, 66, and 67 UCLA teams, uh the hard work that we had done, the games we had won, yeah, the games we lost, really would not be forgotten.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know you back in the mid-60s, you know, one college game was on Saturday afternoon.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: And this is hard to believe, but the station then used to erase that film to use it for the next Saturday.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: So for example, the 65 UCLA USC game where we hit a couple late passes to win the game, nobody has that film.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's gone.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so when I say our time on the field will not be forgotten, uh literally, uh the trophy does that.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that when I have the occasion to meet with reunions with some of the guys, uh it's appreciated.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it does give us an anchor to our days on the field.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_04: You were drafted by the Rams coming out.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_04: Uh tell me about your your uh your attempt at a pro career and and and and what led you to eventually uh give up football and and move into uh private business.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh I had been disappointed that it wasn't until the early in the second round, but it was LA, and that was really exciting for me.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: I I literally had not seen much snowfall in my life being a California.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_02: Same stadium too.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and same town.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh unfortunately, uh Dan Reeves at the time was not well.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it was terrible negotiations, and uh my representative had the wherewithal to uh figure out a better place for me to at least try and start.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then the mistake we made, I I should have looked harder at Canada because the type of game that's played there would have been a little more to my fancy.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I should have looked at Vancouver.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: I was actually drafted by Toronto, and to me, Toronto meant Antarctica, and uh I uh didn't really think twice about Canada.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but the opportunity to go to the Redskins uh was uh a positive step in my mind as much as I didn't want to leave California.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'd never lived out of California.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I didn't know much about any place other than California.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_02: I actually had had a discussion with Paul Brown, uh, who offered to perhaps consider me as a first-round pick at Cincinnati, which would have been a first-round pick, period.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I had dinner with him in LA, and I said, you know, coach, I can't even spell Cincinnati.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't even know where it is on the map.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_02: And he said, Yeah, I appreciate your frankness.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you're not happy where you live, you're not going to play well.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: And life moved on.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I was excited about going to the Redskins and the opportunity to learn the game from one of the greats.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I will tell you, I don't think there are many quarterbacks even today who play the game who could throw the way Sonny Jerkinson could pass.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so in that sense, uh I was excited about heading to the Skins.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_04: So tell me about your transition going from football to to your private career.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it was becoming apparent.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and particularly after the second year, uh people don't always remember Vince Lombardi was our head coach the second year, and he basically took the same team from my rookie year from uh '68, added Larry Brown from Kansas State, and we went from the seller to actually the playoffs.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if someone said, here's what's going to happen in your pro career, I'd say, I'll do it again because of the one year of well, almost two years of being around Lombardi.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that was to me my MBA.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_02: That was a real learning experience uh on how to manage and lead people.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_04: And then uh you went off into a successful career in was it is it banking or finance?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_04: What was what did you end up doing?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: It was actually a uh uh a real estate brokerage company in Los Angeles at the time, actually, and still is today, the largest in the industry.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it was then uh Cobalt banker.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh today it's CBRE.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I was one of the lucky ones.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: I found something on my first shot that just grabbed me and kept me busy and happy and challenged uh for the next 46 years.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh most players don't get that kind of opportunity coming out.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_02: And in a way, I I'd almost thank Sonny for not being a great tutor because he would have delayed my entry into a business that was extremely good to me.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: And on top of that, I met some wonderful, wonderful people that are still friends.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Gary Beaven, we really enjoyed you taking the time out of uh taking care of your ficus tree to uh hang out with us for a bit.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_04: Just enjoyed your thoughtful answers and and uh talking about stuff that that maybe uh we don't usually get a chance to talk about.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_04: So we appreciate you taking the time for the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much for the invitation.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: I really enjoyed the opportunity to speak with you, Chris.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: You don't need to throw for over 4,000 yards or rush for 2,000 yards to attend the Heisman Gala.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_04: That's the annual celebration in New York to honor the Heisman Trophy winner the day after the announcement.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_04: Tickets to the gala are open to the public and will go on sale soon, so be sure to keep checking at Heisman.com for information on how to secure your seat and witness Heisman history.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_04: We are excited to welcome Andrew Stowe, Executive Director of South Bronx United, yet another of the many charitable organizations the Heisman Trophy Trust supports.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_04: Andrew, thank you so much for joining us on the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for having me.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_04: South Bronx United began in 2009, and you serve some 1,700 children annually of all ages, really.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us about your mission and which communities you're serving, which I hear are some of the most need based groups of people in the country.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, our mission is to leverage the passion of soccer, so the other football, uh, to engage.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Young people, children and youth in the South Bronx.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: And the South Bronx does have one of the highest poverty rates in the whole country.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of people don't realize that being just a short trip, subway trip or bridge over from Manhattan with everything, all the wealth and everything there.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, there's a lot of needs here in the South Bronx, and our goal is to reach those and do it through the passion uh through through the power of sports.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_04: Soccer worldwide or football worldwide is the sport of the uh of the youth and impoverished youth.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's it's one of those things that you just take a ball and you can start playing, but it hasn't always caught on as easy amongst uh the youth uh in areas like the South Bronx.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_04: How do you attract uh kids to the sport uh in these areas?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's a good question because I think for a lot of folks, uh especially uh us on the little older side didn't grow up with soccer such an integral part, but I think it's grown in this country tremendously.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh so I think it's it's much more well known and taken to now.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: But I will say for our program, we do serve primarily uh youth from immigrant families and immigrant backgrounds.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: So we have a lot of youth that are coming, either their families moved here or they moved here already with soccer as part of their blood and part of their culture.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's not a hard stretch for them to jump in and and engage them through through the program.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but I will say that we're we're growing throughout the broader community, and we have programs that start with children as young as two, three, four years olds, and we have families, parents that are looking for any program, any recreational opportunities for their children to participate in, and and they see now between the World Cup and see how the sport has grown and see the how how soccer as a sport lets kids run around and really express themselves and they really take to it.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_03: So we do have a lot of uh, even though we serve primarily immigrant youth and families, we have tons of families that are coming in saying, hey, this looks like a great sport.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: I want to introduce this to my kids.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense uh the way you uh explain that.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_04: You really do have an impressive array of services that go well beyond sports, though.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_04: There are multiple levels of soccer teams and levels that you sponsor, but you probably spend more resources on all the academic missions supporting young students from elementary up through college.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_04: You're active in moving the social change needle.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_04: Please tell us about that.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that thanks.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's absolutely true.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_03: That most of our resources, and if someone goes to support the organization, uh most of the resources from that are actually going to our academic programs, to our college prep programs, and other social services that we provide to youth and families.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um within our core program, we have young people that are coming in and spending um up to 12 hours a week in our program.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: They're in after school and out-of-school time, and most of that is in the classroom or through mentorship programming.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so for middle and high school students, they're in the classroom doing homework help, English and math workshops, social emotional learning uh groups, a college prep.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: So we have uh 10th, 11th, 12th graders going through the whole college prep process with us.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_03: Most will be the first in their families to end up going to college.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_03: So it's supporting them in all the steps to get them on to higher education.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then we provide a range of um uh college success and career success programming as well.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: So supporting them even after they're through high school, figuring out what are the careers, help them through workforce development programming, a range of different supports.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then we also have uh social workers on staff that are providing um direct social work services to youth and their families from mental health services, helping connect them to other community resources.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: We provide immigration legal services in-house to youth and families that need that.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so it's really a range of different supports to using the passion of soccer to bring them in, but then connecting them with the different resources and providing those academic and college prep supports directly to help them into the next stages of their lives and careers.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I must take uh a very dedicated staff uh to you know get make this happen.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_04: Um tell me about how you how you hired your staff and how you choose the people to help implement uh this vision, and then what kind of infrastructure is in place uh for them to work on all this stuff.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we've continued to grow to bring in the resources needed to support those young people.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: We now have about 20, uh 23 full-time staff that are providing support in a range of different areas to youth and their families here.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_03: And as we were just talking about, the majority of those are on the academic side.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: So we have a staff that's in charge of working with seniors and uh and alumni, those in college, um, connecting them with financial aid, helping them do the uh work through their college applications, connect them when they're thinking about I'm struggling at at school, I'm not sure what to do, or what are the best places to apply.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_03: We have a high uh high school education manager, a middle school education manager working with those groups.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_03: We have coordinators that are working on a day-to-day level with youth in the classroom.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um we have someone in charge of our workforce development program, we have two social workers on staff, so it's a range of different programs uh supporting them.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then, of course, we have the team that's that's providing the programs on the field, um, uh provide community programs after school and on the weekends to support youth and families and giving them the joy of soccer and of recreational programming here in the Barunk.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's a it's a great team that comes together, and then on top of that, uh we we employ some of our alumni, youth have gone through our programs as coaches and mentors, so they're coming back to coach after being in the program.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we have other uh coaches and mentors that are working part-time, and then we have over 300 volunteers that are volunteering their time to come back and and work with uh children and young people, either as coaches, as tutors, as mentors.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: So it does take the dedication of a lot of folks that are giving, donating their time back to work with children and youth uh here in the South Bronx.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's always a great sign when you have uh alumni of the the organization coming back to help and and and to work.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_04: Uh early this year you received a tremendous honor and a tremendous gift, a two million dollar grant from Yield Giving, which I imagine really validates your work and propels it.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_04: And back in 2020, uh you were recognized with the Laureus Sport for Good Award, Laureus Sport for Good Award in Berlin, Germany.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us about uh the grant and then this award and you know what that meant for your organization.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sure.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'll take it chronologically.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, in 2020 we had the opportunity to receive the Sport for Good Award from Laureus World Sports Awards.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_03: I think here in the uh US, a lot of people don't haven't heard of that.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: But uh internationally, it's it's kind of like World Sports was kind of like the S fees in in Europe.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_03: So wow uh was uh amazing honor.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_03: The Lorious Foundation supports a range of different um initiatives that leverage sports for social good, particularly with youth around the world.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so to be selected for that was a great honor.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_03: And we we I took two young people from our program out to Berlin, Germany to accept it, and we were in a room in front of um Olympians uh and and World Cup stars and uh a range of different um amazing folks.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_03: I remember we had Simone Biles, she she wasn't there, but got up on the video screen in front of everyone.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um we had several other Olympians.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_03: I uh Hugh Grant gave us the award, Michael Johnson was in the room.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: So uh it was it was quite an amazing honor and a great experience, the young people that were able to join and um kind of opened up the work that we do to to a lot of other folks um uh that are they're looking to either uh replicate and do something similar there at or or just introduce them to the work that we're doing.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_03: So that was a huge honor and and certainly really memorable.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: And then yeah, this earlier this year we received the grant from McKenzie Scott Um McKenzie Scott Bezos, if you're familiar with her.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_03: Her yield yield giving um award, and and she's become really philanthropic over the past five years.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: And then she's given given away a lot of her money these days, I think.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of it, it's quite amazing.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_03: And and last year was the first time they opened up an open RFP process that we applied to, along with I think it was over uh tens of thousands that that uh initially applied.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: It got narrowed down to about 6,500 to go through the process, and then uh we were fortunate uh to be able to be one of uh 360 organizations that end up receiving that award for to support the work that that we're doing in the community.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_03: And and that's really been transformative, I think, especially as as we try to make sure that our work is sustained.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, because we're we're fundraising our budget year to year, um, our our 90% of our budget through private support, donations, grants, sponsorships, and the like.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: So to receive such a large donation really helps um sustain our our work in the future years and make sure we're gonna continue to be here and build our capacity to also um grow that that impact, reach more youth, expand our programs.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it's been uh quite amazing and uh uh honor to receive that and free us up to kind of uh figure out those next steps, how we can continue to grow our impact here.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, definitely wonderful news there.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_04: Like many organizations we've talked to, yours takes great pride in graduation rates for high school students and those that not only attend college but graduate from it, and then not only graduate, but no, you you mentor these young people to be ready to take on life's challenges.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_04: Someone walks through that door at whatever age, uh what process do you have to identify who's who's the most at need, who's most in danger of maybe not getting to graduation, and and do you uh what are the keys to success in identifying uh these children and trying to focus uh resources toward the ones that are most gravely in need?
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh it's it's a great question.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_03: We're always trying to think about how to ensure we're we're serving youth with with the need, and and and there is so much need here in the community that we know we're we're really touching just the sliver of it and and trying to work together with other organizations within the Bronx to really collaborate to see how collectively we can have a greater impact in in the community and how as I was just talking about how we can continue to grow our impact.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: So that's um really important as we're looking to help be a part of transforming the South Bronx for good.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and and we're only touching a part.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a it's a process, but to your specific question, um, we leverage the power of sports and we leverage the power of soccer specifically.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_03: So for us, that's one of the biggest keys to our program is leveraging youth that already kind of have that passion for sport and might then be able to leverage that to help them onto the next stages.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_03: So youth that come into our academic program already kind of have that passion for soccer.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_03: And and that's that's a key is one bringing them through soccer, and that leads to actually a real range of youth coming from a range of different backgrounds.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_03: As I know, the Heisman Um Trophy Trust supports a range of different organizations that leverage the passion support.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's the key for all, the connector for all of our organizations is we're finding youth that have that passion, but maybe don't yet have that connection to academics or that boost that they need to get onto the next stage, even though they love maybe being on the field or on the court.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_03: So uh that's kind of the connector for us.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and youth will come in through a range of different backgrounds.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_03: We have some youth that are not in school at all, but but go out and play soccer.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_03: So, how do we get them into school?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_03: We have youth that are really struggling in school or don't speak English and need that boost.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_03: And then we have youth that might come in that are doing well in their schools, but have never had that college prep support, never don't have a family member or parent that has gone to college.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so they don't and their school maybe is overwhelmed.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, they have one college counselor for hundreds of kids, so they don't have that individual attention they need to go in the next stage.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's youth coming from a range of different uh backgrounds.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we do have a requirement that they live either here in the Bronx or in northern Manhattan, that they have um their family income is not more than two times the poverty rate.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um so there there are, and then they can attend all of our academic programs.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's not just about coming to practice, they have to be all attend their academic programs.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_03: Other than that, again, they could come in without even being enrolled in school, they could come in struggling, failing all their classes.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's not a barrier to us.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's making sure they can be here and then we can work with them.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: So that's that's the key.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_03: And and um within that academic program, we work with about 200 middle and high school students annually.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_03: So again, there's so many more we hope to be able to reach over time as we can grow uh our services.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, but anyone that comes in is able to uh we're able to work with them and provide them that boost onto the next stage.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_04: Leveraging soccer to to get kids um interested in in school and and education uh is one thing.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um I would imagine sometimes you get kids that are maybe able to leverage their talent in in soccer to go on to bigger, better things.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_04: Do you ever come across kids where you're like this kid's really good and you have to get on the phone with the with the coach in your in the soccer community somewhere and say, hey, you got to keep an eye on this kid, or this is a kid that has the talent to you know to make it at the next level?
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we do.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we have we have some uh tremendous uh players, and and there's on an occasion that um we'll recommend a kid over to another program.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_03: So recently we had an 11-year-old that just made the New York City FC's uh academy team, and New York City FC is the not familiar, is the professional team here in New York City, uh connected with MLS, um, and they have a tremendous uh soccer program.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: And we always want to make sure that they're also uh also supported kind of academically.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_03: But so so that's that's a pretty rare um case for most of our kids.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: We're looking to figure out how to support them and use that soccer um talent on onto college.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um and we have youth that that will go on and that that that it helps them kind of get into college, whether it's through scholarships or get get recruited, and it's something we'll continue to build on, even though we've been going for 15 years, there's always more we can do, and I think that's one area how uh we're trying to figure out is continue to strengthen that recruitment piece because it's hard to actually bring college coaches and folks in into the the Bronx.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's not as um it's it's different perhaps than than basketball, where folks are looking directly into the inner cities.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_03: We don't see that as much on the soccer side, but we do leverage the the that uh um the talent that a lot of youth have on the field to get them into that that next stage often.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_04: Coaches, all you have to do is take the four, five, six, go right up, you'll be fine.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_04: Anyone wants to find it?
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_04: You guys are located in the shadow of Yankee Stadium.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_04: You actually have a field right out right outside of it, is that right?
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we do um a lot of our programs right in McCombsdam Park, which is right across the street, provides great, great photos.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's part of the New York City Parks Department, so we're fortunate to them.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um so we do a lot of our program there on a few parks around the Yankee Stadium area and another in the South Bronx.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but we also opened our clubhouse uh two years ago.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_03: So uh just a block from the stadium, we have our offices and a little clubhouse with a mini soccer field inside and a classroom.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a nice space for kids to come hang out during after school time.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's kind of that safe space for them.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we also do classes on the weekends, we'll do practices for younger kids, and uh we can get uh we'll do classes for little kids, two to three, four years old as well.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's a fun space uh for kids to come hang out, and again, it's right next to the stadium.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_04: And one of the newer initiatives you have is a partnership with a coffee house, which serves as one of the many work opportunities that older members of the program can access to get real world experience.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_04: Any Yankees ever pop in for a pregame Cup of Joe?
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's not only a partnership.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we actually opened the Clubhouse Cafe earlier this year in January.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's totally run by the organization, fully operated by us.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's a part of the nonprofits.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_03: So if someone drops in and gets espresso, tea, coffee, pastry, lemonade, whatever they do, it goes right back to the organization.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_03: And the young people that are working there are part of our program.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_03: So they've gone through our workforce development program where they do weekly job skill workshops and then get paid employment to work in the cafe, or they also could work on the field as coaches.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_03: So if if you're ever coming to a Yankee game or NYCFC game, you can stop by before to come to the Clubhouse Cafe just a block away and help young people train uh and get jobs and build their resumes while also supporting the organization and our programs directly.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_03: And to your question, yeah, actually, just recently, a couple weeks ago, we had uh Nestor Cortez, um Clay Holmes, uh, and um Matt Tomkin come in, three pitchers come in to and really enjoyed it and then took home some espresso to the clubhouse.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I think before our pregames, they're they're getting making sure all the Yankees are getting their uh pre-game espresso.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_03: But it was great to have them stop on by and we welcome anyone to come on by and support authorization, but also get a great great cup of tea or whatever uh suits you.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_04: Fantastic.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yours is a year-round program, offers 48 weeks of programming.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_04: How much does the support of the Heisman Trophy Trust mean to South Bronx United?
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_03: The support is really tremendous.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_03: As I mentioned before, we're supported fully, uh, almost almost uh fully through private support.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_03: We fundraise 90% of our annual budget to make make it all work.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's through really tremendous uh institutions and and funders like the Heisman Trophy Um Trust and the Fund for Youth Development.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_03: So um it's specifically supported our coach mentors initiative.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_03: And that's such a the coach mentors are such a key part of our program because that's really the clue for our young people.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_03: And as you can imagine, I don't know if you played, you must have played sports, and so many listeners I'm sure did.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_03: Your coach is really the key.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_03: They're the main connector for for you, and they provide and probably having a positive mentor that really supports you and provides that support network.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_03: And it's thinking about what's going on not just on the field or in that game, but you as a person and how to support you off the field as well.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what we've really developed through the support of the Heisman Trophy Fund.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_03: And um it's about developing well-trained coach mentors that know how to provide that social emotional support beyond just how to make a great soccer player.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's how to develop a great person to be that support for them.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_03: So we've been continuing in the process of professionalizing that and bringing in really strong coach mentors, training them well.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_03: And um, this year we've made the shift actually hiring two full-time coach mentors that can coach multiple teams, are on full-time staff, work on other initiatives like our girls advancement programming, bringing more girls in the program, or work with English language learners and supporting them that maybe don't come in with um with English, strong English skills, and helping them on and off the field through that.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_03: So we've been really fortunate that the Heisen Trophy Trust has supported that initiative and supported over the years as well, as we've we've uh strengthened that really core bridge in our program, our coach mentors.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_04: You mentioned earlier about just the number of immigrants and and recent arrivals to the country and how you know you're on the front lines helping these youth and families.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_04: And you know that the environment right now is not always so welcoming to immigrants.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um how rewarding is that to to show um these youth that that this is a like you said, safe space, a place where they're welcome, place where they're valued.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, tremendously.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I think what one of the main things are you say is this feels like a family to them when they come in and they they found another family that's there to support them in whatever way they need.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_03: And and I youth come from different so many different challenges, obstacles in their background, whether it's from them or their parents moving near this country, or whether it's the day-to-day things that they face here in the South Bronx, um uh and that we're able to support them with it.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_03: And and sometimes it's heartbreaking, but often it's really rewarding to see that the difference that we can make and that our that our teams can make, that our coach mentors, that our staff, that uh social workers, everyone that that's there can make.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_03: And and we know that young people and their families are just coming here looking to find uh someone that could support them, find a better life, finding um whatever uh that that might be to help them and overcome all those challenges.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_03: And we're really glad to kind of be the ones that that can because we know there is so much need and and uh want to be part of that community network that that's able to support them.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we we love highlighting the the many great organizations such as yours, especially in the hope that that we can inspire people to get involved.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_04: Tell our listeners how they can support South Bronx United and how they can get involved.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's there's so many ways.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if you're here in New York, if you're listening from New York, you can easy way come up to our the Clubhouse Cafe that I mentioned and stop in.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's the easy way anyone can support.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_03: Come in person and experience it.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna do that.
• 1:05:55
  SPEAKER_03: Next time I'm in New York, I'm coming up for coffee.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that would be great.
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_03: And then ping me when you're there and we'll come meet.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_03: But um uh yeah, so that's that's easy.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_03: Literally, anyone anyone can stop in.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_03: Folks can also get involved as volunteers.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_03: As I mentioned, we have a volunteer network of over 300 individuals, so you can give your time, um, whether it's a one-off event or whether it's coming up to coach.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_03: You don't even need you could you could be a football player, uh American football player, but maybe have a passion for work with kids and want to work with four or five six-year-olds all the way up through 16, 17, 18, 19 year olds.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_03: So that's that's a way.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_03: And then from anywhere, um, you can support our organization by supporting our campaigns.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_03: You can donate at southbronxunited.org slash donate.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you can check us out on social media and online.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_03: Just check check out South Bronx United or even the Clubhouse Cafe BX and check out both of those and support us online.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_03: And we have uh initiatives uh coming up.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_03: We have our annual benefit coming up in November.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_03: Folks can support by attending or or supporting that event.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we have a campaign in the spring called the Power of Eleven, which is a big campaign folks can support.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you could also uh order order gear, order a sweatshirt, a jersey, or whatever at our uh on our website as well uh from the cafe or from the organization that gets sent to you too.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_04: So a lot of ways to support.
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_04: Get some new swag over here.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Andrew So of South Bronx United, thank you so much for coming on the show.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um Heisman is very proud to work with you, and we are in awe of the work you do.
• 1:07:23
  SPEAKER_04: And all we can say is just keep up the good work.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks so much, Chris.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_04: I look forward to seeing you at the cafe soon.
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_04: And that does it for this week's show.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_04: Next week, I'm not sure who we're having on, but it's gonna be somebody very, very, very good.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_04: Have a great week.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_04: The official Heisman Trophy podcast streams every Wednesday during the college football season and is hosted, co-produced, edited, and engineered by Chris Houston.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_04: Paul Goldberg is the executive producer and editor.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_04: Special shout out to Isaac Lohencron, and big thanks to the Heisman Trophy Trust and its executive director, Rob Whalen, and associate director Tim Henning.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_04: The official Heisman Trophy Podcast can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcast.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_04: You can also find clips of our show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_04: Just go to at Heisman Trophy.