Stories from the Center of the Universe

Marlee and Chris Gaskell join Paul for both the SCOTU and the VA is for Sports podcasts. Marlee is the first high school athlete to be on the podcasts as well as the youngest person Paul has interviewed. Marlee is a junior at Midlothian HS and is a left handed pitcher for their Varsity Softball team. Marlee started playing at a young age and says it’s the competition from both the individual and team perspectives that has fueled her passion for the sport of softball. They discussed her schedule which includes travel ball, going to camps, off season training and school ball. The three of them talked about the recruiting process and Marlee told Paul what was important to her when considering both softball and the school itself. Marlee has decided to attend Florida State and is very excited at the prospect of playing for a national championship. Marlee shared the best thing her Dad has taught her during her time playing softball. Paul also got some insight into the pitches that Marlee throws … and how she throws them. He also discovered a little bit about Marlee’s teammates at Midlothian HS and what advice she would give her 10 year old self.

Pictured - Ernie Johnson (left) and Lane (right)  Lane Casadonte was born in upstate New York, but considers Richmond home. A lot of you know Lane by sight or voice as he has been reporting on Richmond area sports for thirty years. They discussed his last name, family history and growing up twenty minutes north of Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. They discussed him growing up and knowing at 7-8 years old that he wanted to be a sportscaster. He has been to Super Bowls, NASCAR races at Daytona, the World Series and many other major sporting events. He takes great pride in covering local college and high school sports and he and Paul talked about some of the best athletes he has seen from Virginia. Paul learned about what a “normal” day is for Lane, how he almost left RVA early in his career and what kept him here. They finished by talking about his wife Deborah and their kids Conner and Mary Catherine.

Brice Fritts is the Head Football Coach at J.R. Tucker High School in Henrico County, Virginia. Paul and Brice talked about growing up and playing several sports, but over the years he settled on three very physical sports … football, rugby and wrestling. He played high school football at Freeman High school and then went on to play football at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, PA. They discussed his time at Robert Morris and how much he enjoyed competing at the college level. He came back to the Richmond area and has previously coached high school football at four different schools which has led to the head job at Tucker. They finished by talking about his wife Alyssa and their three daughters as well as Brice coming on the Virginia is for Sports podcast when it gets closer to the start of football season.

Lyndsey Hodgkins is from Redding, Pennsylvania, grew up with two brothers and a sister and had a childhood that included riding bikes and spending a lot of time outdoors. Lyndsey played a lot of team sports growing up, but soccer became the main focus and she played for a year in college. She transitioned to boxing her last two years where she learned resilience and that she could take a punch! Paul and Lyndsey discussed her time with two different Army National Guard units as well as being active duty in the United States Army. The talked about her career path, her three overseas deployments and retiring after twenty-three years of service. They talked about her fondest memory from her time serving and then they discussed what she is doing now in the logistics and operational field. They finished by Lyndsey talking about what she’s doing now to stay active including learning about and competing in weight lifting.

Frank Shamrock, the former UFC Champion and #1 ranked pound for pound fighter in the world joins Paul on the podcast. Frank told Paul about his tumultuous upbringing regarding family, being in foster homes and spending time in juvenile detention. Things turned around when he was emancipated then married at 17 and when his son arrived. That fell apart and Frank fell backwards and ended up in Folsom Prison. He told Paul about his time in prison and Paul learned of two famous inmates who were in prison when Frank was there.  Frank has been a voracious reader from a young age and he has traveled the globe teaching and studying martial arts. Frank discussed training his body and mind, his fighting style and how he approached each opponent. They finished by talking about what the future may hold for Frank as well as talking about his son and daughter and a new addition to the family.

JR Wilburn is from Portsmouth, Virginia where his dad worked in the navy yards. He had a lot of friends in the neighborhood playing sports for much of his childhood. He started late with organized sports and football became his focus. He went on to play college football as a wide receiver at the University of South Carolina. JR talked about rivalries and how they both have some disdain for UNC. After college, JR was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills. He played for the Steelers from 1966-1970 with one of those years catching balls from Terry Bradshaw. He was coached by the legendary Chuck Noll. They talked about some Steeler greats like “Mean” Joe Greene, how great a place Pittsburgh was to play and their incredible fan base. Paul also learned a lot from JR about the Rooneys who own the Steelers. He told a couple really nice stories about them, one which involved his induction into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. They ended with JR talking about his family and his unique grand dad name!

Eddie Webb and Paul first met in September of 2023 when Eddie was inducted as part of the inaugural class of the Patrick Henry HS Hall of Fame. Eddie moved to Ashland when he was three because his Dad, Paul Webb got the head coaching job for basketball at Randolph Macon College. They discussed growing up in Ashland and how he played all sports, but how basketball became the focus for Eddie. He went on to play for four years for his Dad at RMC and then he started a twenty year college coaching career. Paul learned about some of the great players his Dad coached, that Eddie coached and how Eddie still keeps in touch with them today. After he stopped coaching in 1995, he became the Director of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame which was located in Portsmouth, VA. He guided that organization to national prominence until he retired from there in 2019. They spoke about the basketball camps that his dad started in 1965 and how Eddie is still running them today fifty-nine years later. They finished by talking about his family and how they are what he is most proud of in his life.

Carroll LaHaye is a legendary basketball coach amassing 647 wins during her coaching career at Randolph Macon College. Carroll was born in and mostly grew up in Maine where she was one of six kids. That led to lots of sports (basketball was her favorite) and competition growing up and she played three sports in high school and two in college. After college, she landed a job in Hanover, Virginia and after being a volunteer coach for RMC’s Women’s Basketball for a year, Carroll found herself in the right place at the right time. The head coach left the next year, she took over the program and Paul then discovered that the job had some extra responsibilities that Carroll had to take on as she started her time at RMC. They talked about their 2005 season when they finished 2nd in the nation and Carroll reminisced about her teams and the relationships she had with the players and their families.

Dustin Ingle was born in Arkansas, but grew up in Texas. Dustin and Paul spoke about growing up in the Fort Worth area of Texas and playing all the sports growing up, but settling on soccer in high school. After a couple of jobs, Dustin decided to go into the U.S. Army. Paul and Dustin spoke about his early training and then his first three deployments to Iraq and Paul learned just how different those three deployments were for Dustin. They talked about his progression and attending a specialized school that led to an interesting first six months of his second deployment. They briefly touched on his family and the surprise he got when he came home between his first two deployments. Dustin will be back in the near future for part 2 where they will discuss his deployment to Afghanistan and further discuss his family.

Debra & Steve Hall join Paul on the podcast because Bobby Malone (Episode 150) has the pleasure of being Debra’s brother! Steve and Debra talked to Paul about their first date, Debra not liking Steve, Steve being in love with Debra and how he finally won her over which has led to forty-six years of marriage. They talked about Steve’s time in the U.S. Army and how after getting out and a few jobs, he landed at Phillip Morris for thirty years. Debra was an educator in the Richmond School system and taught literacy and she told Paul how she still keeps in touch with some of her students. Paul also received a quick education from Steve on how to start a bourbon collection. They finished by talking about their home, their kids and grandkids and Paul learned about some uninvited guests that come visit Debra and Steve from time to time.

Wayne Elliott joins the podcast via a connection with Bobby Malone (Episode 150). Wayne and Bobby knew each other from the time when they worked at Reynold’s Aluminum together. Wayne retired, moved to Kansas and they lost touch, but got reconnected about two years ago and have been talking ever since. He grew up in Essex County, VA and played a lot of baseball. He went on to play at both Ferrum and Randolph Macon. His love of baseball came from his Dad who he unfortunately lost when he was in eighth grade. They talked about his work, baseball, playing softball and golf and we learned about a unique backyard game he played growing up. They ended by talking about what keeps Wayne busy nowadays and vowed to meet each other if Wayne ever makes his way back to Virginia for a visit.

Chris Gaskell joins Paul on Stories via knowing Stu Brown (Episode #257). Chris is from the Hampton, VA area and grew up playing sports and working with his step-dad for a couple of summers in the shipyard. Chris learned a valuable life lesson from those summers and ended up attending Wake Forest University where he played offensive line on the football team. He got a masters in Education and put it to use at Varina HS, but we would learn he was just biding his time for his long term career choice. Paul and Chris discussed his job in the United States Secret Service and all that it entails. They covered where he started, how his career progressed and he told Paul several stories about his time working investigations, protecting presidents and traveling the world. They finished by talking about his wife, two daughters and another family member who is an inspiration to Chris.

In Part Two of a now Three Part Series, Paul talks to Tyler Owens. They began Part Two by discussing what changed his mind to enter the military and joining ARMY ROTC at VMI his senior year. Tyler told Paul about the start of his military journey, a move to San Diego and how some blamed that move for his failed Army Physical Fitness Test (the last requirement needed to be commissioned as an Officer in the US Army). As you'll learn in this episode, there was a very good and scary reason Tyler didn't pass the test. He told Paul about the challenges of finally obtaining his commission, Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Benning and his unique US Army Ranger School experience. Tyler finished this episode by telling Paul about his wife and their story, including first meeting her when he was only nine years old. Part Three is coming and they will wrap up the series by talking about more of his Army career, his overseas deployment and what he's up to now.

Hamill Jones is the Head Basketball Coach and Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at St. Christopher’s (StC) in Richmond, Virginia. The first thing that Hamill and Paul talked about were their recent games versus John Marshall High School. Hamill discussed his current team, how they are doing and what the rest of the season looks like for them. They touched on high school recruiting, NIL and how it is affecting the college athletic landscape. He talked about going to StC and then going to Washington and Lee, playing basketball at both schools. They spoke about some of the teachers and coaches they both had in middle school and high school. He then discussed a basketball history project with ties to StC that he is working on with Andy Smith (Episode 149) . They finished with Hamill talking about his family.

Rabbi Sherry Grinsteiner joins Paul via a connection through Ben Ipson (Episode 252). They first spoke about how Rabbi Sherry recently delivered the convocation at the Virginia House of Delegates. She told Paul about her parents being from Yemen and how she was born in Israel. She told Paul she had a wonderful childhood even though she lived through and amongst wars … “it was just life”. They talked about her service as an officer in the Israeli Army and the culture change when she moved to the United States. She told Paul how she met and married a tall handsome U.S. Marine and their children. She became a U.S. Citizen on 10-31-2000 and she told Paul how happy and proud she is to be an American. They discussed the events on October 7, 2023 and the sheer panic and terror she felt for the people, including her family, in Israel. They finished by talking about human nature and Rabbi Sherry gave a wonderful analogy about how we can and should all get along.

Dr. Tony Crisp is a pastor, an educator and a leading authority on Israel. Tony and his two brothers were raised in eastern Tennessee by their grandmother. They were poor and Tony told Paul how he knew that and how it filled him with anger. He spoke to Paul about his troubled childhood and then how he came to know Jesus when he was nineteen years old. Over the last forty-nine years, Tony has dedicated his life to God and is consistently busy being a pastor, developing curricula for various schools and organizations and traveling all over the USA as well as to Israel several times a year. Tony finished by talking about his childhood sweetheart and wife Karen, their three children and five grandkids.

Stu Brown joins the podcast courtesy of knowing the former Occasional Co-Host, Kevin Flippen who also joined the podcast. Stu was born in Hurt, Virginia and ended up settling in Henrico County, Va., specifically the Varina area. They talked about his time in Hurt and playing football, basketball and baseball growing up. Football was his favorite, but he went on to play baseball in college @ Concord University. Stu is retired from coaching now, but was a long time coach in the area and talked about well known coaches he would talk to and some of his best players that he coached during his career at both Varina and Deep Run high schools. He entertained Paul and Kevin with several stories. To end, Paul asked Stu what he was doing now and Stu also told Paul and Kevin about his family.

Jeff is back for round 2 to chat about Skull Games and his recently published book “Where Have All The Heroes Gone?” Jeff has enabled a useful learning opportunity for our listeners, Protect Your Family Course. The coupon is: skgtf2024 for a 100% discount. This course is one of the many positive aspects Jeff and his team enable through his non-profit, Skull Games, focused on counter-human trafficking. The coupon is: skgtf2024 for a 100% discount.

Earl Kinney had a busy time moving around in his first twelve years. He was born in West Virginia, moved to Richmond when he was six then went to New York City at eight and then his family settled in Ashland when he was twelve. They talked about his parents and what he did besides sports when he was growing up … which depended somewhat on where he was living! In sports, he was very good at both basketball and football. He discussed the college recruiting process and the advice he received. Football won out in the end and he played football for four years at Howard. After college he talked to Paul about what he almost did, what he did on the weekends and then what he found was his calling which was to be a teacher and especially a coach. He has had a long career as both teacher and coach and is currently the Head Football Coach at Godwin HS in Henrico County. They finished by discussing his boxing podcast he had during the pandemic and he told Paul about his family.

Tyler Owens grew up in Georgia and he and Paul talked about youth sports and how he dabbled in many, but settled on football. He talked about how he started playing later than his friends, but his hard work and how that led him to being highly recruited by some major college football programs. He then talked about how he was unfortunately injured in the first game of his senior year and the mental and physical challenges he experienced. With major D1 programs pulling offers, Tyler attended the Virginia Military Institute as a scholarship football player. At first, he did not plan on going into military service after VMI, but due to his family’s history and some great mentors, he went into the ROTC program his senior year. He finished this part 1 of his SCOTU experience telling Paul about a VMI story that had a profound effect on him.