ConnectTheKnox

Melissa Blettner is the Chief Executive Officer for Ancient Lore Village, a one-of-a-kind fantasy resort right in the heart of Knoxville. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, Melissa shares her philosophy of hospitality with purpose and how her role with Ancient Lore Village brought her from Wisconsin to Knoxville. Melissa describes some of the similarities between her hometown and Knoxville, as well as what she feels are the biggest opportunities for Knoxville to attract new businesses and residents. Melissa also reveals the plans to expand Ancient Lore Village into new locations, and some upcoming attractions and events you can expect to see at their Knoxville location.

Highlights

00:00 Intro

00:44 Melissa describes how the Ancient Lore Village project brought her to Knoxville

03:21 Julia and Melissa discuss the magic of Ancient Lore Village, and Melissa explains how they developed such an immersive experience and her plans for the future of the resort

08:31 Ad - Dr. Joe Chiro

09:01 The long-term vision for additional developments in Ancient Lore Village

11:09 Melissa describes the similarities between her hometown and Knoxville

12:39 The ways Ancient Lore Village is working with the University of Tennessee

14:11 Melissa talks about the unique location of Ancient Lore Village and how it's deceptively close to downtown Knoxville

17:47 Melissa explains what amenities and activities are handicap-friendly at Ancient Lore Village

18:53 Ad - Just Homes Group Realty Executives

19:27 Melissa outlines the timeline of finishing the development at Ancient Lore Village and the plans to expand into additional locations

21:03 Julia and Melissa explore what Knoxville can do to continue attracting new businesses and new residents

23:14 How you can stay updated on all the events happening at Ancient Lore Village

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncientLoreVillage/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ancientlorevillage/

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ancientlorevillageknox

• Ancient Lore Village: https://www.ancientlorevillage.com/

• Dr. Joe Chiro: https://goseedrjoe.com/

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• Podcast Created With Riverside.fm

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- Buy or Sell a home in Knoxville -

• Just Homes Realty Group: www.justhomesgroup.com

• Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley

Glenn Jacobs is the Mayor of Knox County, but many people first knew him from his professional wrestling career. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, we discuss why Glenn chose to settle in Knoxville over all the other cities he's traveled to and how he decided to get involved in politics. Glenn discusses his collaborative approach to solving the challenges of the recent population boom, as well as his initiatives to make Knox County a better place to live. Tune in to find out what's driving our local economy, Glenn's plans for future development in Knoxville, and how Glenn intends to ensure younger residents stay in the area for their career.

Highlights 00:00 Intro

00:54 How Glenn ended up in Knoxville

04:00 Glenn's plans for Knoxville's unprecedented growth

10:04 Glenn explains what a county mayor is and how his role works with other local leaders

12:06 The demand for mixed-use development and why Glenn feels it's important for attracting young residents and the future economy of Knoxville

15:47 The hidden gems and amenities that Glenn feels most people don't know about in Knox County and some up-and-coming local developments

18:09 Ad - Just Homes Group Realty Executives

18:43 Why Glenn feels the innovation economy is going to position Knoxville for economic growth

22:22 Glenn explains why he settled in Knoxville over all the other cities he's traveled to

24:54 Why East Tennessee has always been a popular spot for wrestling and how our local media & entertainment industry contributes to that

27:18 How listeners can get in contact with Glenn's office

27:56 Julia takes Glenn through her lightning round of questions about his favorite Knoxville spots

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• Knox County website: https://knoxcounty.org

• County Mayor email: [email protected]

Connect with ConnectTheKnox

- Follow the Podcast -

• iTunes

• Spotify

• Or wherever you listen to Podcasts

• Podcast Created With Riverside.fm

- Connect with Julia -

• Follow me on TikTok

• Connect with me on Instagram

• Find me on Twitter

• Follow me on Facebook

- Buy or Sell a home in Knoxville -

• Just Homes Realty Group: www.justhomesgroup.com

• Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley

In this episode of ConnectTheKnox I'm joined by Dave Hooker, owner of Off The Hook Sports. Dave is a Knoxville native who has made a name for himself breaking stories in sports and eventually creating his own sports media empire. In this episode, we discuss how the world of sports journalism has changed in the face of social media and a 24/7 news cycle, and why it's so important for up-and-coming athletes to learn how to market themselves and communicate online about their achievements. Dave gives us his predictions for the upcoming baseball season, as well as his insights on the long-term effects of growing up in the participation trophy generation.

Highlights 00:00 Intro

00:39 Dave introduces himself and explains how his Knoxville roots led him to sports broadcasting

01:46 How Off The Hook Sports got started

03:34 Dave explains what he feels are the downsides and upsides of news being reported on social media

05:26 The impact of athletes posting their own news on sports journalism

08:01 Dave and Julia discuss the importance of up-and-coming athletes knowing how to communicate and market themselves

10:11 Ad - Dr. Joe Chiro GoSeeDrJoe.com

10:43 Julia and Dave chat about helping kids understand managing their NIL

13:40 The importance of teaching young athletes financial literacy

18:51 Ad - Just Homes Group Realty Executives

19:27 Dave's predictions for the upcoming baseball season

24:44 Julia and Dave discuss why today's generation of young athletes is so talented but lacking a competitive edge

Connect with ConnectTheKnox

- Follow the Podcast -

• iTunes

• Spotify

• Or wherever you listen to Podcasts

• Podcast Created With Riverside.fm

- Connect with Julia -

• Follow me on TikTok

• Connect with me on Instagram

• Find me on Twitter

• Follow me on Facebook

- Buy or Sell a home in Knoxville -

• Just Homes Realty Group: www.justhomesgroup.com

• Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley

Transcript

Julia: Welcome, everybody to another episode of Connect the Knox. I'm your host, Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation. Today's guest is Dave Hooker, one of my all-time favorite sports people to follow, with Off The Hook Sports. Let me tell you if you're not following Dave on Off The Hook Sports on Twitter, you're missing out on so many sports updates. I mean, it's consistent, we know exactly what's going on. Going into baseball season, Dave's the man. Dave, let's start out a little bit. Tell us about yourself and how you're connected to Knoxville.

Dave: Well, I was born and raised in Powell, so I got my PHD, my Powell High Diploma, there at Powell High School. So, that's where I'm from. I started being around Tennessee Sports when I was 12 years old. Back then my mom would drop me off the stadium and I'd sell programs and I made 20 cents a program—and I don't know that it was best parenting by her—and then ended up going to Tennessee. Thought that you couldn't make a good dollar in the broadcasting business so I took two years of business school and they put me—as they politely asked me to leave for a little bit.

And so, then I said, you know, I'd rather do what I want to do. You only have one life. And when I went back, the grades were much better and fortunately, the reception to what I've been doing professionally since 1998, which was a good year to get started has been pretty good. So, I enjoy covering Tennessee football, I enjoy learning more about people, and I also enjoy the SEC. So, connected to Knoxville, I'm pretty connected.

Julia: I love that. I love that. Tell us about kind of your story, and how we ended up with Off The Hook Sports.

Dave: Well, a couple of different things went into that. I think that's where the business is trending to. I think you're seeing a lot more digital and you're going to be seeing more and more of that in the future. You know, I have kids that are 20 and 18 and they don't know what a radio station is. They listen to podcasts all day. And then I started talking to more people and then it was up in the mid-30s.

So, you know those are people that are going to be listeners and potential business owners for years, and I just saw that trend happening. And then really what was the final straw is when I saw a group out of Birmingham, and they did the morning show in Birmingham at WJOX, one of the biggest stations in the nation, and they decided to leave what I would argue is the best slot in college football—because Atlanta has a bigger market, but it's not all college, it's more pro—and they left and started their own thing called The Next Round. And when they did that, I said, "I'm going to do the same thing for Tennessee and not have to cover Nick Saban."

Julia: Oh, [laugh] well, the tan. The tan is just… the tan is too much, man. The [tan 00:03:07] is too much.

Dave: [laugh].

Julia: So, [laugh]. That just needs to be its own hashtag: #thetanistoomuch. So, the digital presence in sports in America today, I literally get a lot of information, 90% of my information on what's going on with sports comes out or Twitter, comes out of accounts like yours. Like, "Hey, this high school wide receiver is getting picked up by so and so," or, "This is the conversation that's been had." That news comes faster through avenues like yours than it does any other possible place when it's a slotted time or required time on radio or TV. So, you have to wait for the information. I mean, we don't have to wait for information anymore. How's that a positive impact, and in your opinion, how's it also negative?

Dave: Let me start with, let me start with the—well I guess they're both kind of negative and positive. So, when I worked for the Knoxville News Sentinel and I would break a big story, you kind of felt good and stuck your chest out for the remainder of the day. And you had a 24-hour news cycle that you're like, "I'm the man," you know? "I broke that and nobody else had it. How about that? Yeah, you can go on your website if you want, but everybody saw the paper this morning."

And so, that was kind of cool. And it was that competitive type of environment that was a whole lot of fun. Nowadays, I don't know who breaks anything and you probably don't either. I mean because what we do at—we credit whoever breaks it, but at Off The Hook Sports we provide kind of our take on it and what it means for Tennessee. So, I guess from a negative perspective, I do miss the fact that you break something and it's kind of like you hit the winning shot at the buzzer.

But on the flip side, you get to take more time when news breaks and you get to provide a little bit more insight, which you couldn't do if you're trying to get something together on people's doorsteps the next morning. So, I guess it's a little bit of both. Now, I will say this, just in the business in general, I think people take that a little bit too far and have these outrageous takes. We don't go that far. But other than that, I mean, like, where the industry is going, just as long as people realize that there is sports news and there's sports fake news, to use a political term.

Julia: [laugh]. Fake news. It's everywhere and we really never know. And what I have started to see as a trend growing, where athletes themselves have started taking over their own news and then releasing their own news. So like, "Listen, I'm going to control my own narrative now, so I'll let you all know when I'm ready." How's that impacting sports news as a whole?

Dave: A lot. A lot. So, you bring up even a better example. And really, these happen all the time. So, let's say Tennessee had 25 commitments, which is about the number you can have in a particular football cycle. And, by golly, I wanted to break 25 of them. And I didn't; there are a lot of good reporters that were on the beat, but you know, 12 to 15 in a lot of years, which was pretty competitive.

And ESPN would pay me—when I worked for ESPN for two years—to go to Washington, DC, and make sure I had the breaking story ready so as soon as the young man said, "Florida State," that story was up and we already had it written because he gave me quotes beforehand. And so, you know, I think that the kids want to break their own news and I'm fine with that. You know, I think that there is an insulation between the athletes in a lot of perspective, and a lot of times that actually is a little bit harmful. I think that they need to learn to deal with media—and people—just like we all do in those ages. But if they want to throw it out there on Twitter, that's fine. Hopefully, we'll have a good reaction and a breakdown of what they actually mean to their chosen program. But you're right. I mean, the days of breaking a commitment, they're pretty much over.

Julia: Yeah, it's been an interesting—this past whole year, so let's get into [NIL 00:07:16], get it in there because one of the situations that I'm seeing with my kids that I sponsor at NIL and some of the people that they work around and work with, is that we're so far behind on communication, regulation, education, I think is the biggest one we're so far behind on is understanding how to incorporate just—because these kids need to understand how to market themselves doesn't mean they know how; it doesn't mean their parents know how. And nobody's actually taking that on. So, you can be an NFL agent, you can be an MLB agent, you've made NBA agent, but as far as NIL goes, basically it's a permit number just so the state of Tennessee knows who you are. And if you're making some money on these kids' contracts, and that's just like, here you go. Free game.

So, these kids have no idea where they're getting their information a lot of the time or who to go to trust and sometimes they fall back on the collectives we—we, Knoxville, Tennessee, having the largest collective, thank goodness, you know, we get to protect our kids—but where does that fall in the grand scheme of a, say, a kid out of Timbuktu, North Dakota, who wants to announce his stuff and he has absolutely no idea how to manage any of this and there's not an agent or any NIL person out that way. How does this impact the future of communication for kids?

Dave: Well, that's a good question. And [clear throat] I'll tell you, first and foremost, that I am a part of NIL. I pay two players, Jacob Warren and Cooper Mays, to do regular podcast with me and I love it. And the relationships have been fantastic. We're getting ready to re-up their contracts for another year. And for the record, I'm glad to Jacob stayed for another year.

So, as far as Tennessee, I think they're in good shape. I think if [clear throat]—excuse me—if you're a left guard or a backup left guard, you're going to have some sort of opportunity and probably a little bit more money than a lot of people would think. And that's because of the collective. Whereas there are other schools that have not gotten that in line and you had the Jaden Rashada incident where he showed up on Florida's campus and he thought he was going to get $13 million and nothing had been worked out, so he's like, "Peace. I'm out."

So, I think that Tennessee is handling it the right way. Now, are some players going to get way more money than, like you say, the guy from Timbuktu who's a three-star offensive lineman? Yeah, they are. But the thing that I've found through players, that Jacob and Cooper, is I asked them about that—because the first person I reached out to because of my last name is standing, was Hendon Hooker. I quickly realized I could not afford Hendon Hooker.

So, [laugh] I went and I asked UT, I said, "I want three things. I want a guy who's a good talker, a guy that starts, and he's not going to get arrested." And so, they helped me with that and that's worked out with Cooper and Jacob. So, they're all getting a piece of the pie. But those players I talked to specifically about that early on in our NIL agreement, I said, "How does this all work out? When you've got Hendon Hooker—or whoever the quarterback might be—making more money?" And says, "Well, that's the quarterback." Says, "It's the same thing in high school. He's the guy that everybody loves, he's the guy that probably has more dates, and just across the board, he's the quarterback. That's life."

And I haven't spoken to one player who thought that was an issue. And again, if you come to Tennessee—I'm not promoting Tennessee, there are other schools that have this as well, but if you come to Tennessee, you're going to get some piece of the pie. If you go to if you go to other schools, there's the chance you could be left out of the loop and that's no fun. I think that's when the resentment starts.

Julia: Yeah, I think Tennessee has got a good handle on it and I think the kids themselves being able to have non-compete NIL contracts, I mean, even our largest collective here is like, "Hey, if you find a great deal for yourself, we don't want to ever tell you you can't make money." And I have found that very rare collectives across the country have that ability to say we don't do non-competes, they all want exclusivity with their students. And it's like, you're limiting their potential. I mean, they may not be able to do what you want them to do. So, I think that instills the loyalty.

But catching those kids in high schools is where it is. Catching the kids when they need to communicate they are announcement. Because that can affect their NIL money. I mean, you can be a third-star—or three-star whatever, or four-star whatever and still have the correct digital marketing footprint to make yourself popular and wanted at signing events or, you know, whatever it is for businesses. So, as long as you're marketable.

So, where do we catch these kids and have these conversations that early? Is it just relationships with recruiters? Relationships with collectives ahead of time that have recruiters? Is it per campus? I mean, how do you catch these kids early enough to say, "I can help you digitally market yourself so you're worth more to the collective and to yourself later on in business?"

Dave: I think the media has naturally done that for a lot of years, especially with Twitter more so than Facebook. So, I think, you know, oftentimes, when we write about a young man, we include him, so he's going to get naturally more followers, just in droves, especially if he's a four or five-star guy. So, I think the media has promoted these guys and will continue to do so and that's to their benefit, which I think is good financially. Now, as far as recruiters being involved, technically, you're kind of living in what you can do with that, but let's be honest, if you're at a Power Five school, are you telling me that the head coach doesn't have the number of the local collective and say, "Hey, this guy is pretty good. Maybe we should look into him." I mean, come on. I mean, that's got to happen.

And I think it probably is warranted and apt and that it does happen. But yeah, I mean, I think that we're just in a brave new world, and the NCAA they have to blame themselves, you know? They got sued by—they got sued by Ed O'Bannon because of using likenesses in video games 20 years ago, and they didn't do anything about it to give players a piece of the pie. So, the NCAA is not happy about it. I've talked to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey; he's not happy about that it's being used in recruiting, but the bottom line is, that's the law. That's not a SEC rule. That's the law. They're 18-year-old men. They can make money on their own—or women as particularly the case with the LSU gymnasts—but yeah, I mean, that's just kind of where they are and the NCAA has nobody to blame but themselves.

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Julia: I think one of the conversations that I have a lot with my kids is on the back end of that. So, what I do when I work with kids, and I've probably got, God, [unintelligible 00:14:30] 15 now, 15 kids that I work with at this point, and what I do on the back end of that is let's review your contract, let's talk about how much money you're making, let's do something with that. Like let's start you at S corp or an LLC. We don't need to buy a new truck for $45,000 or have off-campus housing in the most expensive apartment complex in downtown Knoxville. What are we going to do with this money?

And teaching them how to use that properly has been one of my biggest give in that whole scenario. It's, I get the phone calls of, "Hey, well, so-and-so got a Mercedes. I want a bigger car." "Awesome sauce. Do you also want to house one day?" Like, what are we talking about as far as long-term goals?

And kind of setting those conversations ahead of time has is really not been a focus yet because I don't feel like the NCAA has got a grasp on even what's going on as a whole. And you're right, they've had 20 years to catch up and still can't do it. So, you've got past players trying to step in and help, the collectives are competing for attention with each other for the students, and the students are kind of out here and we use the word segregated because they are; they're in a bubble. You got to check in three days—three times a day, seven days a week, and requirements on two days after spring. Where are you going to get that knowledge base and that protection level, outside of just being on your football field, going back to your campus dorm, studying for your classes, you have no way whatsoever to be socialized in the business world. This is your first piece of true business is marketing yourself and no one's really teaching you anything about it after the fact. Where do we see that maybe, somebody stepping in on behalf of the kids at some point?

Dave: Well, I think you and I would agree that you can depend on the NCAA to do that, right?

Julia: [laugh]. That's the truth.

Dave: So, I mean, that's not going to happen. It's interesting you bring up that topic. So, I was made aware of a team meeting yesterday at Tennessee's football team, so I just was curious what it's about if it's a hastily called meeting, you know, maybe it's something. And somebody sent me a picture, and it was of a big screen, a presentation screen in front of the whole team. And it was, "NIO and taxes."

So, that's something that I bet a lot of the kids haven't thought about and that's something that maybe people at Tennessee hadn't thought about, but they're starting to get their 1099s and they're going to have to file their taxes. And, you know, we sent out our tax paperwork to our guys, Jacob and Cooper, and all that we employ at Off The Hook Sports. But if you're in a smaller school, you know—and say—I'm just picking Bowling Green out of nowhere, but say at Bowling Green, and you pick up an NIL deal and you make grand a month. Do you know to claim your taxes? Is that guy just giving it to you in cash? Is there any record of that?

So, much like a lot of professional players get to the pros and they don't spend their money wisely, you're going to see that at the younger level. And I think that's why you're going to continue to have the haves and the have-nots. And that disparity is going to grow even bigger because big schools like Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, they're going to make sure their players are educated in that, but I wonder about other schools that are just borderline Power Five schools. Those guys could be in a pickle when the taxman comes calling.

Julia: Well, I think the long-term ramification of it is athletic directors, while their main job, obviously, is to just do what they need to do for their university position, right, they don't necessarily get involved in this section of it, but if we don't come to some kind of an agreement with making that part of it, that what's going to happen is that these kids—on any sport—their focus is going to be on worrying about paying the taxes, like an actual adult would have to every single day, except their job is to actually go and play their sport. That's their actual job. They get a scholarship, they get NIL money, but the reason they are there is to play that sport, play it well, and win because the universities make money on those winning teams. And if they're too stressed out about having to pay their taxes or manage their finances, they may not be able to play as well as they think they need to play. And that is a trickle-down issue that if we don't start worrying about today and offering opportunities for better education on that today, that can actually affect our sports teams later on. Stress is real and it impacts people in different ways.

Dave: No, I completely agree. And one of the players I covered incredibly close and got to know his family was Jonathan Crompton, who I'm sure you remember. And Jonathan, through coaching changes, his career wasn't what he had hoped it would be, but ended up salvaging it at the last half of his senior year and now is beloved by Tennessee fans. But that wasn't the case for a long time because of outside circumstances. So, what happens, he was highly rated as a recruit is the reason people got so upset when he didn't play well early in his career.

But what happens if he's also getting $8 million, like a certain guy named Nico? I mean at what point does that pressure begin to intensify, does the corporate pressure say, "Hey, we're paying this guy $8 million; he needs to be the starter." So, there are all kinds of weird things that could go on with it. And I think it's going to evolve and I don't think we know what it's going to be in three to five years.

Julia: So, let's switch topics. Baseball season is coming up, actually, like, in a week. I'm super excited about it. What are the predictions?

Dave: Well, Tony Vitello is going to keep being better-looking than me.

Julia: [laugh].

Dave: I will g—that is a bonafide, going-to-happen prediction.

Julia: I think every man in Knoxville when Tony Vitello—because Tony has been here five years, right? Five or s—

Dave: Yeah.

Julia: So, I think when Tony V started becoming, like, this icon of male superiority, of good looks, every man in Knoxville started wearing a baseball cap, growing their hair out a little longer, had the beard going. It was like, okay, okay. This is a lot [laugh].

Dave: I actually, I just shaved the beard three days ago. I tried that. It didn't work. It was white unlike his. So yes, he is kind of like Magnum PI with an athletic side. So, I think that as far as Tennessee's baseball team, I think the pitching is going to be really good to keep them one of the elite programs in the nation. Is the hitting going to be as good? Probably not. But I also think this team might benefit from flying under the radar a little bit.

I mean, let's face it, last year, there was all kinds of things going on with the, you know, the celebrations, the one-finger salute run around second base. And I think that they might want to come into the season just fly a little bit more under the radar. But man, last year was such a cool year, if you were to, you know, pick a year to write a book about, that would certainly be one. But it just didn't in the right way. So, I think you'd probably learned from that. But I think their pitching is going to be really good and they'll be one of the better teams in the nation, for sure.

Julia: What's going on with Rick Barnes? Twitter—Vols Twitter, boy, they're on the attack. So, I'll tell you, I have told people, I will tell people this every time I relocate a business—which, you know, in the last few years have been a ton of people relocating to Knoxville—if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. And they go. "Isn't that New York?" And say, "No, honey. No." New York is a place where people go and expect the competition. They expect that kind of pushback, so they're armored and ready to go. It's all kinds of different people in this melting pot of competitiveness.

You come to Knoxville, and it's like, "Hey darlin', how are you? Hope you're having a great day." Pitchforks out two days later because you didn't do something. And it catches people off guard. They're not ready for Vol Twitter. And I warn them, when you come here, be ready. Be ready to win. Because if you can't win consistently, Vols Twitter's coming for you. And they're coming for Rick Barnes. What's going on?

Dave: Yeah, and Kelly Harper, as well. So, I—um… yeah, I think Greg Barnes… I want to say this with all due respect to his career because it's been fantastic, but just one final four of parents and, you know, didn't—[sigh] I look at—wasn't willing to ever adjust in his career. So, it's a really defensive style of basketball. And it's not up and down, right, that's been successful. And I think that's always going to hurt you in the tournament because if you hit a hot shooting team, it's one and you're done. It's not like a seven-game series in the NBA.

So, I think that always hurts him. Still a Hall of Fame career, so I don't want to sound like I'm knocking him in any shape, form, or fashion. But with this particular basketball team this year, I mean, they're not even hitting the outside shots when they get them. So, they run an inside-outside game with no outside. Because right now, I don't think there's any fear that they can convert consistently from the post, so what happens is those defenders that might crash down on the inside, man, they're staying outside on the perimeter and Tennessee hasn't been able to hit shots.

Can they overcome that? You know, if I was a betting man, I'd say that it's Sweet 16 at best. But if they're able to overcome that, I think they have the talent at the guard position. They just haven't played like it to this point. But you know, it's not the style that wins nowadays in college basketball and that pains me to see because I would love to see Rick Barnes win a championship after the career he's had, but I just don't know that it's going to happen.

Julia: So, we hardly ever go to the games ourselves. Like I said, we give our stuff to the kids. So, other than football, we give our tickets to the kids as much as possible—so obviously, they're the football kids, so we can't give them tickets to their own game—but [laugh] we hardly go. But we did go a couple of weekends ago and we left at halftime and I was like, "This is ano—this is the least aggressive basketball game I've ever seen UT play."

Dave: Which game was that? Which game did you go to?

Julia: God, what was that? Missouri.

Dave: Missouri. Yeah. And then, you know, the Auburn game was a win over a ranked team and Bruce Pearl and all that, but that was ugly, too. And, yeah, I just… they've had injuries along the way, which maybe makes it hard to find chemistry. I just don't see a lot of the fire in this group and it reminds me a little bit of some of Jerry Green's group, not to date myself.

But if you go back to Jerry [laugh] Green's group, I mean, they had a ton of talent. A ton of talent. And I remember the ongoing joke was, we're going to have this come to Jesus or players-only meeting. And they had, like, eight in a season. So, nothing changed after those meetings.

So, I feel like they've got a little bit of that going on that maybe they think they're better than they are and they don't have to be at their best every night. But the simple fact is, they do. And yeah, that can change. You know, we're having this conversation in mid-March. We could be having a different conversation where they're elite eight in final four. But right now, um, I'm not so sure.

Julia: I agree. And kind of some of the situation that we're also seeing with the Lady Vols. Same conversation. And this is something I equated it to which I find very interesting, I had this conversation with a couple of other people, this is the generation that we see the result of participation trophies. So, we're seeing the most talented generation sports-wise I've ever seen—talent, abundant amount of talent—every kid that's coming out of high school, going into college, maybe junior, senior year in college, all of them are so unbelievably talented. It's almost like NFL quality.

At what—what is it? A point one-tenth of a run difference between you and the guy next to you? Talent. Real talent at such a young age, but you didn't have that competitive aggression to go with it. This is the result of that raising of kids without that competitive, you have to be a—somebody has to win. Somebody's got to have the attitude to want to win. That aggression has got to be there. Just don't feel like very many teams, even UT, are aggressive right now. It's gone.

Dave: I think that's a societal issue as well. I mean, I was watching, I think it was a sociology professor talking about how, you know, if you are aggressive and if you work hard and you do things like follow-ups and stuff like that that we were talking about before the podcast, just simple little stuff that was just, you know, when I was younger, man, that was common knowledge, if you didn't do that, you weren't going to have the respect of your peers. If you do that, nowadays, just the basics, you're probably going to slay in whatever field you go after because a lot of people aren't. So, I think there's some of that in sports, too. And I think that the Lady Vols have a little bit of that going on with their group.

But you know, that if you flip it to football, it's the exact opposite. I mean, that team believeD from last January, that they were going to be special. And I got little hints from Cooper and Jacob and other players at press conferences that they were going to be better than expected. And I said, "Eh, yeah, whatever." You know? There a seven-, eight-win team. And they turned out and they win eleven and beat Alabama.

So, those were guys that went out there and just absolutely slayed with their mindset, starting in January. Not in August in pre-season camp, but in last January. And if they're doing the same this year, then the talent level should be better and we'll see what will happen. But yeah, I mean, to the young kids out there watching or middle-aged people, whoever may be, if you just go out there and work hard and do what you're supposed to do, you're going to do well.

Julia: I agree. And we're going to end it right there because that's the perfect ending. Go do what you're supposed to do, but do it with aggression and do it well. So, tell us and all of our fans here at Connect the Knox, how we can find you, how we can follow you, and all of your links.

Dave: Just go to offthehooksports.com is probably the easiest way, and all of our links are there. So, our niche is, we don't charge any subscription fee, but we're free. We're advertising-based and I think that's the way things are going in this market.

And I also would encourage people to check out the YouTube channel. You can subscribe there just so that you get notice of our latest videos. But that's free as well. So yeah, and you can go to Twitter at @TheDaveHooker, or you can go to Twitter at OTH—which is Off The Hook—Sports Media @OTHSportsMedia. So, that's where we are.

Julia: Awesome. Thank you so much for connecting the Knox with us today. Everybody, this was David Hooker, owner of Off The Hook Sports and he's [moving back to Knoxville soon 00:29:01]. [unintelligible 00:29:03] lookout for him at your press conferences. Thank you so very much for visiting Connect the Knox.

Thank you for tuning into the show. Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five-star review on your podcast player of choice. And if you would like information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message. As always, this is Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.

Moshe the Chief Geek is my secret weapon when it comes to all things cybersecurity, and on this special episode of ConnectTheKnox, we're covering all the best practices when it comes to protecting yourself online. Moshe explains how common phishing scams are, and why it's important that real estate agents know exactly how to protect themselves and their clients. Moshe also gives invaluable best practices for individuals, so that you don't fall victim to online scams yourself. Tune in to learn more about how simple cybersecurity can be if you have the right tools in place.

Highlights: 00:00 Intro

00:44 Moshe describes his background and the importance of cybersecurity

07:36 Julia and Moshe discuss an email phishing scam incident

11:26 Moshe gives his best advice to real estate agents on how to protect yourself and your clients from phishing scams

15:09 Ad - Just Homes Group Realty Executives

16:06 Best options for individuals who want to protect themselves from phishing scams

22:03 Moshe shares tips on the best authenticator solutions to avoid common frustrations and pitfalls

26:53 Moshe recaps the best practices covered in this episode for businesses & individuals

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• Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley

Marissa Kalsey is a pole vaulter and Olympic hopeful who moved to Knoxville to train with world-class coaches. In this episode of ConnectTheKnox, we explore how living in a central southern location like Knoxville affects training for track and field athletes. Marissa also describes the risk involved in pole vaulting, and the intense qualifying process athletes like her go through to compete at the Olympics. Tune in to learn more about the track and field community in Knoxville, as well as Marissa's favorite local hangouts.

00:00 Intro

00:36 Marissa explains how she moved to Knoxville for Olympic pole vault training

02:04 Marissa describes what the Olympic training process looks like here in Knoxville for the pole vaulting program

05:30 How Knoxville differs from where Marissa grew up in Pennsylvania, and why our central location makes travel for fun and pole vault meets convenient

08:26 Julia asks the question on everyone's mind: How heavy are pole vaulting poles?

10:24 The equipment used in pole vaulting and the potential for injury in the sport

14:55 Marissa explains the process of qualifying for the Olympics

17:31 Ad - Just Homes Group Realty Executives

18:14 How the pole vaulting and pro athlete community is growing in Knoxville

24:38 Marissa's favorite spots around Knoxville, including Three Rivers Market, downtown restaurants, and more

26:06 How the ConnectTheKnox audience can support Marissa's Olympic dreams

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Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley

Zane Chavez is a former pro baseball player who has traveled all over the U.S. and to 5 different countries in his career. So what made him decide to settle in Knoxville and open up a training facility for aspiring young athletes? Zane answers these questions and more in this episode of ConnectTheKnox. Tune in to learn the role No Chance HQ has had in multiple marriage proposals, why Zane feels the networking opportunities in Knoxville are an untapped resource, and the future plans for No Chance HQ's baseball training facility.

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

00:35 Zane describes how he came to Knoxville by way of his lifelong baseball career

05:10 What about Knoxville stood out to Zane amidst all his travels, and why he decided to settle here

07:35 Zane tells the story of how the No Chance baseball cap has played a role in multiple proposals

08:46 Ad - Dr. Joe Chiro

09:36 What Zane thinks of the biggest misconception he hears about Knoxville

12:18 Zane's thoughts on the value Knoxville's networking opportunity presents to the younger generations

16:23 The types of training that Zane offers at his facility in Knoxville

20:33 Ad - Just Homes Group

21:08 Zane fields Julia's lightning round of questions about his favorite Knoxville spots

Connect with ConnectTheKnox

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• Just Homes Realty Group: www.justhomesgroup.com

• Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley

Transcript:

Julia: Hey everybody, welcome to Connect the Knox. I'm your host, Julia Hurley. Today's guest is one of my all-time favorite baseball players, Zane Chavez. Zane, thank you so much for being with us today.

Zane: You got it. Anytime.

Julia: Absolutely. Well, I am super excited that you're taking time out of your day for us here in the Knoxville Tennessee market. I'll see you got your Tennessee flag back there. Thank you so much for repping the UT Vols. Hey, Zane, let's start this whole thing off with, tell us, you're—basically, just tell us your whole life story. Where'd you come from? Where did you grow up? How did you end up in Knoxville, Tennessee?

Zane: So, I'm originally from San Diego, California. Played baseball my whole entire life. I was drafted out of high school. I did not sign out of high school. I went on to play junior college, Division One Baseball, and then NAIA Baseball.

And then I started my professional career in independent baseball. So, I did that for four years. It's gonna be a lot of baseball stuff. I went down to Nicaragua for a winter to play winter ball. And then I came back to the states and then that's when I signed with the Baltimore Orioles at 26 years old.

Made the high all-star team that year. Got hurt with an oblique injury. That kind of set me back that year. Came back the next year in Double-A with the Orioles. So, I played two years with the Orioles, in the Orioles organization.

They released me. I went back to independent baseball for two years, actually got released in independent baseball, and then started doing, like, Uber Eats in Dallas, Texas, where I was living at the time. The manager of that, of who I got released actually called me back and wanted me back that year, so we negotiated me going back down there. So, I went back down there to Laredo, Texas, actually, and then actually made the all-star team there for that year. And that was my eighth year of pro ball.

I decided that was—I played eight years I got to play in affiliated baseball with the Orioles, so I was going to hang them up. And then that winter, the Pittsburgh Pirates ended up calling me and purchased my contract. I was 30 years old. Didn't think I had shot at going back to play affiliated baseball, so I said heck yeah, let's go. Went up to Double-A that year. We won a championship that year.

And then they released me, the Pirates released me after that year. So, I finished in independent baseball. And at that time, that's when I was like, okay. I had always wanted to open a baseball facility or be around kids, train kids, and do that whole aspect. I had started the brand No Chance in 2011 And it was a term that we used in the clubhouse, like, "You can't beat me kid. No chance."

And we ended up getting the championship series that year. It was the best of five. We went up to St. Paul, Minnesota, for two games and we lost two games, so we were down 0-2 going back to Grand Prairie, Texas—which is basically, like, Arlington and Dallas-Fort Worth area—and we won three games in a row to win that championship series that year. So, it was a great, great year. Awesome group of guys.

And then after that season, I love graphic design. That term had stuck with me so I just started throwing it on t-shirts and hats and stuff and carried the brand kind of as a hobby throughout the minor leagues in a, "You can't beat me. No Chance," mindset as we're all chasing the major leagues. So, I did that and then I trademarked 'No Chance' and I trademarked 'Let's Chase it' because I believe that we're all chasing something in life, greatness, happiness, success, all that stuff. So, ended up playing nine years and that's when I moved out here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Best decision of my life.

Was out here training kids and then after about four years of bouncing around and training kids here and there in facilities and stuff like that, we wound up finally opening our own facility. So, we have an 8000-square-foot facility here in Knoxville, Tennessee. We now have six travel ball teams, and we do camps, clinics, and everything like that, and in the middle. Last thing, and I'll let you out ask the next question. So, after about three years of retirement, when I was out here, I got an opportunity to play baseball overseas in Europe, and that was awesome.

It was a two-week tournament. It was a little vacation, brought the family, got to play baseball again. And then I came back here to the States and kind of still had my itch to play. So, I hit it up an Australian guy on the team that I played with and all my buddies that have played ball always said, Australia, if you get a chance to go down there go, it's the best. So, hit him up, like, "Hey, mate, you got a need for a catcher, first baseman down there?"

And he said, "Yeah." We worked something out. And I went, I got the opportunity to go down to play in Australia for four months. So, that was something I always wanted to do was say that I played ten years. I had nine years and I had retired for a couple. So, now I can say I played ten years of pro ball, traveled to over five countries, five, six countries, and played ball. So yeah, now I'm here doing what I love. And now we have facilities.

Julia: I love that story. I think that is one of the better stories that we've heard. And we interview so many people who've ended up in Knoxville, Tennessee, as their living place, like, the end result of all of the culmination of everything. And one of the questions I always ask is, how is Knoxville different? Like what makes Knoxville the place that you want to come and raise your family? Like why is Knoxville or what about Knoxville so special?

Zane: So immediately, I had lived in Dallas for probably six years, the most time away from—moving away from San Diego. So, I got to travel the entire United States, from Texas to Florida to the East Coast, Midwest, and everything like that and Knoxville gave me the home vibe that I grew up with in San Diego, California. We ca—it was a small town on the very tip of North County of San Diego. It was in the hills, we had lots of curvy roads, about 25 minutes from the beach. So, this kind of gave me everything that I grew up with and that home vibe.

You got the river that runs through here, so I get the water feel that I had growing up. Like, you can feel how there's the water that's close, so you always have that kind of escape to be on water. And then the mountains are just amazing out here. And that's how I grew up. California, you can go surfing in the morning and you can go snowboarding at night, or you can go surf in the morning or you can go out to the desert at night.

There's no desert out here, but it gave me the vibe of where you'd want to raise a family and really the home vibe. And it's a big little city and it feels safe here. And honestly, I'm very, very thankful that I found this place and it's home now. I had opportunities to leave, but after training kids, I've had so many kids I train, I couldn't leave them, and I mean, I've built so many great relationships here in the community. It's just been one of the best—or the best decision I made in my life to end up somewhere.

Julia: That is so awesome to hear. So, many pro athletes are here. And I think one of the biggest things about Knoxville is that nobody has a clue how accessible training from an actual athlete is. And they're all over Knoxville. I mean you are one of the better facilities that we've seen.

Our baseball tickets are literally right in the middle of thirteen of the kids and their families that you train. So, as we're watching the baseball games, all the parents are talking about you and talking about No Chance baseball, and every single family member that's around there is like, "Who are you getting with?" So, the entire baseball stadium by the end of the season last season was like No Chance baseball, No Chance baseball. So, word does get around this big, small town because it is still so intimate. I've heard a rumor that several people have gotten engaged wearing the No Chance baseball cap. Tells me this story.

Zane: Well, the first one was a guy that I met in independent baseball in Arlington, Grand Prairie DFW area. And he just posted a picture of him on his knee, and I was like no way. He's rockin' one of my very first No Chance hats. And what was funny is, I hit him up. Number one, I was like, "Dude, nice, and no chance she's going to say no, right, because she's staring at it right in her face."

And the second one is Joe, your husband. So, I was like well okay. This is a—

Julia: [laugh].

Zane: —he has one of my favorite ones with the camo with the orange. And we did that logo because there's—everyone loves to hunt out here. So, what's funny is, I tried to bring the Cali vibe, San Diego vibe, beach five into, like, flat bill snapbacks, and then I kind of made an adjustment to how I designed out hats a little bit and said, "All right. These guys like camo out here and they like their orange and obviously the Vols." So, it was pretty cool. And I'm very—it's exciting, it's cool to see that, dang, they actually rock that hat. And I know some of them are getting old, so—the hats—but they still rock them, so it's cool.

Julia: I think you should put an engagement section on your No Chance website of just engagement announcements, and just make sure that everybody gets to post it on the No Chance website. I think that's hilarious. When you had sent us a message, like, "You're wearing my hat." I was like, "We are. That's amazing."

Zane: Yeah. That was great. That was awesome.

Julia: It was pretty great. It was pretty great. All right, next question. What do you think is the biggest misconception that other people outside of this area have about Knoxville?

Zane: I think it's, some people don't—some people like big city life, maybe. I don't. And I'm just going to—I kind of relate kind of cities now to LA and San Diego, like, where San Diego is more of a chill vibe more, and LA is really uppity and fast-paced. And don't get me wrong, San Diego is a big city, but it's just a beach vibe there, and it's—and then I moved to Texas, and then I kind of related Dallas more to LA and then Fort Worth, kind of, to San Diego at the time. They're both big cities, but you kind of feel a vibe.

And then for here I felt like Nashville to Knoxville was that same: Nashville to LA, tons of everything. And then Knoxville is a smaller, big city. You know, I prefer a Knoxville area. I mean, it's a great col—I mean, people say it's a college town, but it really is. But there's so much other stuff outside in the community that makes it, you get everything.

I mean, it's not like you just go and it's just college, you know? I'm saying there's tons of other things to do here that makes it actually a very great city that has everything. And it's not just labeled as a college town because there's so much other things to do like camping and hiking and boating and fishing. Really, I don't think there's any, for me—I mean, no misconception if you're asking me. Like, it's a no-brainer if you want to move here. So, that'd be my answer.

Julia: Yeah. We have a lot of people that are just like, oh, "It's super hick-y," or, "That's in the south, and they're in the middle of nowhere." And they think that Dolly Parton is serious when she tells jokes. And they think that that we're all kind of like that. And I think it's really funny, the drawl of our accent, they're like, "Eh, they're kind of stupid." And I'm like, "You know, I really wish you would visit." And I'd encourage people to visit because every person that I've ever had visit wants to stay.

Zane: Yeah. I a hundred percent agree. And it's not like we're out in the middle of nowhere. We're actually not. I mean, everything's pretty close. So, if you relating everything else to other cities, you can get places in 30 minutes here, which is phenomenal.

And the traffic is super low. Which I had a cousin that just came out here a couple of weeks ago, and they're thinking about moving from New Mexico. And she asked me the same questions. Like, "Why here?" And I was like, "I just flew back to some other bigger cities and there's traffic everywhere."

So, I spent—I mean, you could be—anytime, at least in San Diego or even Dallas now, it's going to take you 45 minutes to an hour to get to one place. Here it's not that way, I mean. And, like, you say, hicks and stuff like that, but it's really not. It's… this a small city. It's a beautiful city. It's growing. I mean, you have the Vols here, which is amazing. You have the Double-A Cubs organization with the Smokies out here. So, it's not. It's not anywhere near that. There's a lot of things happening here that are really neat. And it's… I mean, it's great. I would—I love it here. I mean.

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Julia: One of the biggest things that we've had in the Knoxville market just as a whole—and of course that surrounds all of Knoxville—is that Knoxville, Tennessee, Maryville, Tennessee, Loudoun County, Tennessee, are all retirement communities. A lot of lakefront land, a lot of lakefront property, and we've attracted over the course of I don't know, since 2003, really, being ranked as, like, number one or number two in the country with which to retire. Basically, outside of Ocala, Florida, this is it. And we're starting to see younger people flocking to the Knoxville, Tennessee, market because now you can work from home, we've got great internet, we're affordable, we have things to do, but we're not retaining the talent and the young people here that are from here. They are all leaving. What would you do or what do you think that people could do to attract a younger generation of people to stay and raise their families?

Zane: Well, I think it's—the younger generation is, I wouldn't say, moving towards more minimalistic things, but I mean, you see all the small houses and things like that. I mean, if there's that group of people that likes small things and stuff like that, I mean, I've seen plenty of people, building tiny homes and creating little communities themselves, or making those glamping places like that, I think for the younger—and they might not just be educated enough. I mean, they might not be educated enough on what opportunities they can actually do here when they come here. And I don't think that's not a good enough reason to leave because there's—if you know one person or you're trying to meet one person, well guess what? You talk to your friend, and they probably know that person.

And if you want to get an opportunity to do what, actually, you love, you're one person away. So, just like in baseball. Like, I may not know everyone in baseball, but I'm one person away from them knowing. It's like, "Oh, hey, do you know him?" He's like, "Yeah, dude. I played with him." So like, the networking opportunities here, I feel like, are great.

And I mean, just knowing, like, someone like yourself, if I wanted to do something, if I wanted to be a woodworker or anything like that, or if I wanted to go into IT or whatever, I mean, I would just hit up Julia. That way, she knew where to point me in the right direction. Like, what do you want to do with your life? Like, you know, okay, then I'll put you in contact with someone that can build a career for you here. And I think that's something.

And I think, like, younger people, and maybe their communication skills aren't that great and maybe they're timid to go out and ask or network or anything like that. I think that there's way more networking opportunities that, if people just search them out, and found that it's more of a, this is actually where you want to be, you know? People are great here, they'll give you the shirt off their back to help you. And that's one of the main reasons why I stayed here, too, is like, no one's just going to say, hey, and then just leave you. You know what I'm saying?

I have plenty people's—if I need to borrow a trailer, like, "Hey, man, can I borrow your trailer?" "Yeah, dude. Like, go ahead, borrow my trailer." It's just a great community and there's not a lot of that out there. You know, everyone's kind of to themselves in other places, I feel like. And I know that if I hit up someone here, if I hit up one of my parents from a kid that I trained, they're like, "Yeah, let me help you. Let me help you. Let me help you. Let me help you."

And honestly, with the culture that we're building here in No Chance, I mean, a lot of parents come up afterwards and they're just so thankful that the way we train their kids, how we're building them into young men, they're like, "What can we do? How can I help you? What do you guys need? Can I even, like, can I help you clean? Can I help?" And it's like, it's a great community here. And once you dive into it and you really want to actually grow a family, and you want to do things here and spread your wings, it's really, really possible because everyone knows each other.

So, that'd be my answer. I mean, it's a lot easier, I feel like, to make it here than it would be possibly to go somewhere else just because there's so many more dots to connect other places. And the way of life is a lot faster, I'd say, in a San Diego or California so, like, you got to keep up with people's schedules in other places to where, you know if—I mean, it's—and I think something like that goes back to traffic and there's just so many people in other places, that you come here, your phone call away, and they'll actually call you back or they'll actually meet you because it's close in proximity and it's not too far to drive as well.

Julia: And that's a really good point. Our traffic has gotten a little worse over the last couple of years, but still nowhere near as bad as anywhere else we go. So, I used to be able to make it to Knoxville in about 15 minutes. Now, it takes me 30. If I were in Atlanta, I would not even make it out of the airport in 30 minutes. So, putting that into perspective, Knoxville is a pretty fantastic place to be, honestly, at the end of the day. All right. Tell us about the UK flag hanging in the back up there I just now noticed. Is this all the colleges that you've sent kids to or is this just—what is this?

Zane: This is where—yeah, I've trained some of the guys here that have gone on to go there and then Kole Cottam right there, he is with the Red Sox; I had to represent him. And I did not put it all up in any specific order. Tennessee happened to go on top though of Kentucky, so sorry about that, but—

Julia: You're like, "I'm not saying that I helped you win. But—" [laugh].

Zane: And then over here we have some of the countries that I've played in over there. So, we're going to add a few more.

Julia: That's awesome.

Zane: Just represent the culture. And at least in baseball, there's not a lot of other countries here in Knoxville, so that's what's cool about this facility is we actually have some culture from outside the states training here. We got the Aussie flag back there because we had an Australian guy come in a few months ago. So yeah, just creating a culture.

Julia: That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, tell us a little bit about—so if the kids and the parents in Knoxville—or anywhere they are really because they can bring their kids, you travel—tell us about the, like, the types of training that you do, what you offer, how people can find that about you.

Zane: So, we have travel teams, baseball travel teams, that we only specifically focus on high school age, possibly 14, but we want to focus on the older guys right there. We offer strengthing, conditioning here. We do one-on-one training, we do group training, and then we're getting into—we're building a little field out back so that we can actually provide baseball development and not so much half an hour lessons—excuse me—half an hour lessons to where we actually teach the game of baseball. They can find me on @nochancehq on Instagram, and then nochanceHQ on Facebook. And then our website is nochancehq.com.

And for that, I mean, we live in a town that we have to play against the elements and against the weather, so growing up in San Diego, it was beautiful all year round, so we could actually get on the field all the time. So, some of the best, at least, per capita baseball players come from warmer regions because they can get on the field more, so their baseball IQs are higher. So, that's what we're trying to do is change the culture here that, you know, we can provide a service that we not only do the training, the hitting inside, but we also teach the game of baseball outside. And that's the best way to learn is on the field. So, that's something that I've been trying to do for the past three to four years here is to be able to get that field.

And it's an infield, so I mean, that's all we really need right now for development with bunt coverages and first-and-thirds and ground balls and showcasing and stuff like that. So yeah, we're just trying to teach the game more because the IQs, at least in this town, are down. And I honestly correlate that to not being on the field as much, you know? And I mean, that's how you get better at baseball. It's the most difficult game to get better at in the world. So… such a mental game that, you know, we need to be on the field, that way they can fail on the field in those elements, as opposed to failing all the time inside.

Julia: That's a really good way to look at it, pretty much for every sport that you can think of. And people from up north just so happen to be better at hockey because they're indoors all the time because it's freezing outside, so the only sport that they really get to play all the time is hockey. So, if anybody in the South wants to compete in hockey, which Nashville has done well, but just recently here with the Preds, your kids grow up playing the sport that their outdoors create for them. So, that actually makes a lot of sense. How's that going? How's the field coming along?

Zane: Good. We're looking at, we're actually going to start a little model or marketing plan to raise some money to actually donate into the field. We're looking at just getting used turf on the field, that way the rain doesn't slow us down at all. I know once now it's going to start raining a little bit more, so that's always an issue. There's not enough baseball fields in Knoxville to actually host and handle all the practices and games and tournaments because there's not enough turf fields.

And we don't have a complex that has multiple baseball fields on it made of turf. So, a lot of fields that you have to rent here play on the dirt and that always is an issue in the fall and early spring because I mean, you get washes or wash-outs, rain, and it cancels tournaments, it cancels middle school games and that's a big issue. So, we're trying to put some used turf out there, that way we can at least, you know, get on the field as much as possible.

Julia: Sure. So, anybody watching this that has used turf, any of the college campuses that take theirs up, anybody just got it, baseball teams, whatever it is out there if you need to contact them or they need to contact you, go to @nochancehq. So, I think that that is an absolutely fantastic idea. I know Farragut is probably one of the biggest baseball high schools that we have in the area. Very big baseball-oriented high school, so I think that that would be something that maybe some of the parents watching can assist with.

And once you put that campaign together, come back and let us know. We'll add that website and donation link. You know, as I always do, I'll share anything that you share with me. I always want to support your growth. I think you're fantastic. So, I really appreciate all of that. We've got five minutes left and I want to do a fire around of random questions about Knoxville. So, I always start off: favorite restaurant?

Zane: Chivo.

Julia: [laugh]. It's so good. It's so good.

Zane: Lakeside Tavern.

Julia: Oh, Lakeside Tavern's made it three times so far. What's your favorite thing on that menu?

Zane: The strawberry chicken salad. Yeah, Katie brought it home one night [unintelligible 00:25:43] school. So, I get that all the time.

Julia: It's very good.

Zane: Yeah, the Buffalo [unintelligible 00:25:49].

Julia: Oh, that's delicious. I just finally learned how to make that myself on a TikTok video. I had to figure it out. It's so good. It's still not as good as theirs but it's still pretty gosh darn good. Favorite bar, pub, or brewery? Or all three.

Zane: Phew. Not that I can't choose; I just haven't been to the bar brewery in a while. I like—well, when I was living in South Knox, Alliance down there, Alliance Brewery down there on Sevier Avenue, I liked that little strip right there. They got a good thing going down there with the breweries down there.

Julia: They really do. South Knoxville is growing quite a bit. It's very impressive. So, where are you at now? West Knoxville. So, what's your favorite thing to do in West Knoxville?

Zane: West Knoxville? Well, we have Carl Cowan Park right across the street, so Katie and I like to bring our two golden retrievers over there and run around and the dogs both jump off the dock now, so we just like bringing the dogs over there to the park. When my buddies come out or when my buddy comes out from East Knox, he always goes and fishes over there for catfish. So, down there at Concord is a great fishing spot that he goes out there and sometimes I'll tag along because he's on the hunt for the biggest catfish in Tennessee. So.

Julia: You should probably just take him to a Calhoun's, during, like, game—right after game day where everybody throws their bread off of the thing. There's catfish everywhere.

Zane: Oh, I'll let him know that, actually.

Julia: Yeah that's a huge one. Calhoun's has all the catfish that come around there. They [unintelligible 00:27:24] have those little catfish feeders. It's a very interesting dynamic that Calhoun's has there. Yeah, it's very interesting. All right. What is, in your opinion, the best-kept secret that you've discovered about Knoxville that every time you tell your friends about it, that's, like, the thing?

Zane: I mean, one of the very first thing that I heard was the tailgating for Vols football game. So, I don't know if it's a kept secret, but these people here go nuts for Vols football or baseball. Any sport here with the Vols. So, I mean, I don't think it's a secret, but I mean… and I have not yet thrown on the checkered suspenders and stuff like that, but these people get crazy. I mean, you saw the game the other day against Alabama and everything like that.

So, it's a… people have to experience a football game here and the vibe and the energy and stuff like that. I mean, I believe it's one of the biggest stadiums in the world. So, you just got to come out and experience that. And they have great concerts there, too. So, they get some good names in there.

Julia: So, in the history of you playing baseball, have you ever seen people tailgate for a baseball game?

Zane: Yeah.

Julia: So, that's normal? Because when we started that last year at UT it was the first time we had ever done tailgates for baseball.

Zane: Yeah. Any professional game, everyone's tailgating in the parking lots and stuff like that. That's why you see probably fights go on inside stadiums at games because everyone comes in a little bit hammered. So.

Julia: See at UT, we just throw mustard bottles, just [laugh]. All right, anything extra that I haven't talked about that you want people to know about Knoxville?

Zane: If you play baseball or softball, definitely come check us out. This is the place to be honestly. I mean, I've traveled all around the world, all around the states. You don't have to—you get all the seasons here of weather. I think that's really neat. It's not just hot all the time or 70% a year. Although this past summer was pretty hot, but—

Julia: It was warm.

Zane: We're rolling into fall. You know you'll get your snow a little bit here. The leaves change colors here, so it's really a very beautiful year of weather. And yeah, like I said, play baseball, softball make sure you come here. No Chance HQ and we'll take care of you whatever you need defense, hitting, speed, agilities, and yeah we're—this is where to be.

Julia: It is. Zane, thank you so much for spending time with us today. We appreciate everything that you do for Knoxville and all the talent and time and energy and positivity that you bring our way. Joe and I are so excited for you and Katie to bring your very first child into the world. We are super excited for your growth and your future. Knoxville, if you need Baseball and Softball Training, this is the only person that I can refer you to. And if that's something you need, we're here to Connect the Knox. Bye, everybody.

Kole Cottam is a professional catcher for the Boston Red Sox and a long-time Knoxville resident. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, Kole describes why he loves Knoxville compared to all the other cities in the country he's traveled to as a professional ball player. Kole also reveals what he thinks can be done to attract younger residents to Knoxville, and why he feels Knoxville is a perfect place for his growing family. Julia gets Kole to open up about some of his favorite Knoxville spots, and Kole gives some encouragement to all the up-and-coming baseball players at UT.

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

00:23 Kole describes his journey to Knoxville and how he became a pro baseball player

04:07 Julia and Kole discuss Kole's growing family

05:22 How is Knoxville different from Boston in Kole's point of view

07:49 Kole reveals his favorite city in the country (besides Knoxville, of course!)

10:11 Ad - Dr. Joe Chiro

13:22 What Kole thinks Knoxville can do to attract younger residents

18:00 Ad - Just Homes Group

18:35 Kole answers Julia's fire round of questions about his favorite Knoxville spots

21:55 Kole shares his favorite experience at a Knoxville sporting event

26:17 The advice Kole would give to up-and-coming baseball players at UT

Links Mentioned:

The Never Ever Give Up Jessie Rees Foundation: https://negu.org/

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Transcript:

Julia: Hello everybody, welcome to Connect the Knox. I'm Julia Hurley connecting you locally here in Knoxville to the nation. And today's guest is Kole Cottam. Kole, tell us a little bit about you, how you're connected to Knoxville, and what you're doing now?

Kole: Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me. I was born in Memphis, moved here with my family. I was around two. I've lived here since. I currently play for the Boston Red Sox and in their organization, and currently living in Knoxville, spending my offseason here. So, it's uh… I love it. I love it. Lived here my whole life and I don't really know much else.

Julia: Well, tell us a little bit about that entire journey because becoming a pro player in any sport requires so much, and Knoxville, as far as the nation is concerned, it's just a really small town. How does the guy from a really small town get to go play for a pro team?

Kole: So, I grew up—like I said, I grew up here. I went to Knoxville Catholic High School just down the road. And fortunately, the University of Kentucky gave me a chance, so I played there for three years, had an unbelievable time there. And you know, I had a few good years, and so the Red Sox, they drafted me back in 2018 and then have been playing for them since.

Julia: That is so fantastic. What's your position?

Kole: I'm a catcher.

Julia: Oh, my goodness. Okay. Somehow, magically—I'm going to tell you this story and tell the whole world this story—I don't know what it is about baseball players that are catchers, but you all seem to be the crowd of people that I know. Another friend of mine who I'll be doing another podcast with, I relocated him here and he was a pitcher—a catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And then he trained other catchers. And so, now there's this gaggle of kids around us at all the UT baseball games, we have season tickets, they're all catchers. They're all being trained.

Kole: Yeah, I've known Zane for few years now, so—

Julia: Yes.

Kole: —so he's a good friend of mine. So, I've known him for a few years. Great, great guy.

Julia: I don't know what it is with the catchers coming in from Knoxville area, but that seems to be a thing. And tell us a little bit about how the small town of Knoxville affected and impacted you throughout your entire career, start to finish, like, high school and to now. Because we hear so many different stories about people from larger cities or from smaller towns than Knoxville, and the way that their environment shaped their success was huge. How did Knoxville impact you?

Kole: Absolutely. You know, like I said, I grew up here and when you're younger, you don't notice as much; it does seem a lot smaller. You know, your family, your friends, and your teammates, and people you go to school with. So, you know, being from here, you know, growing up, it seemed like a very small town to me and, you know, it was especially in the sports world, you know, we were traveling to a few different places every once in a while, play some bigger tournaments and all that but, you know, the high school—Knoxville Catholic—I went to, it's a smaller high school, private school, but, you know, some of my best friends in the world go there and—or went there with me and we, you know, like I said, it kind of seems small. When you look back, it's not as small as you think, you know, you just didn't really know a whole lot else.

But absolutely, I mean, just being able to play ball against the same guys growing up, being able to hang out with them on the weekends and everything. And you know, the higher you get for professionally, also college and everything, you notice a lot of guys, you play with a lot of guys, and so it kind of—it makes it, makes it a lot—it's a lot bigger in terms of the people you know, but the circle itself is smaller. So, I think—and there haven't there's a lot of people from Knoxville that are very, very good at baseball and you know, we've kind of all grown up together, and the ones we haven't, we've worked out with in the offseason. So, it's an unbelievable city, an unbelievable town and I think just being able to spend my time here with my family and everything has been nothing but great.

Julia: So, tell us about your family. Do you have kids? Are they in school? Are they going to, like, follow in your footsteps and go to the same school that you went to? What's your outlook for them?

Kole: I actually I have—we're expecting—me my wife are expecting our first kid in February, so no—

Julia: That is exciting.

Kole: Yes.

Julia: Congratulations and best wishes [laugh].

Kole: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, so a little girl in February. So, we're very excited. And that's going to be our first one. So.

Julia: So, I have heard through the grapevine from several of my pro athlete friends that every one of them are having girls. I don't know what it is about pro athletes lately so all of the baseball players are going to be playing softball very soon. How's that transition going to go [laugh]?

Kole: Absolutely. I think we'll be their biggest fans. So, we're very excited. It must be something in the water. So.

Julia: There must be something in the Knoxville water. All the pro athletes from here having females. So, let's go, go softball. Go—that's what we're doing. So, what's the difference, in all the places that you've traveled—so I said, did you have—have you start—did you start with the Boston Red Sox and you've been there the whole time?

Kole: Yes, I've been in their minor league system for a few years now. So, was drafted by them, been with them since 2018.

Julia: That's am—so one whole team. The whole team, that's almost unheard of.

Kole: Mm-hm.

Julia: That's amazing. So, how is this different than Boston? Like, what are the biggest differences that you feel and can tell, and just like, crowds as far as sports go, support systems? How is Knoxville different?

Kole: Yeah. So, we fortunately, you know, going through the minor league system you know, you're not quite in the biggest of cities. So like, I've been to Boston a few times, you know, visiting, practicing, and stuff like that, but I've never played there or really lived there. So, it's definitely a different field from Boston, that's for sure, I think, in terms of just the infrastructure alone, but also the community there's, you know. It's just a lot broader scale of people.

But, you know, going through the minor leagues, I've been to any random city in the country is probably a good chance I've been there. It gives you an unbelievable perspective on life because, you know, you go to some really big cities, some really small cities, and you see the different types of people in the end the entire country. So, I think, you know, growing up only really being in Knoxville, going to Lexington for school, you know, you kind of get the same southern, you know, the southern vibe. And so, I think being able to kind of just broaden the horizons a little bit, experience a little bit different, you know, food, culture, people, has kind of been a very big blessing for me and my wife and everything. But again, it also makes us appreciate Knoxville that much more, I think.

You know, this is the first season she traveled with me for most of the year, and so we lived up in Portland, Maine, and Worcester, Massachusetts, and traveled a little bit up in the Northeast this summer. So, I think, you know, it was an unbelievable time, great time of year to be up there, but you know, it makes us kind of appreciate home and we're back here a lot more.

Julia: Yeah. What are some of the best things about Knoxville food versus Boston? Because I've never been to Boston, it's on my list—

Kole: Yeah.

Julia: I don't know, but I hear there's a lot of amazing things up there but I also use no sweet tea, no cheese grits, I don't know, I don't know how I'm going to survive.

Kole: Yeah, the food is different. And like I said, you kind of experience a lot different, the culture and the food and everything. I'm a big food guy. So, I love food. I love eating food, but it is different. I think you know, I wasn't exactly the biggest seafood guy, but they've got some unbelievable—some lobster mac and cheese is kind of right up my alley.

But you know, again, it's just different. I think you can always get the traditional food, but you know, we'd like to especially on the road, you go to different cities, random cities, you try to explore a little bit of, you know, that town and kind of the food and the landmarks. You know, we like going on, like, hikes or walks or everything like that. So, it's kind of just exploring a little bit more.

Julia: What's your favorite city other than Knoxville, out of all the to—I mean apparently being a pro player, y'all go to all 50 states and some, so you've a big array of choices and enjoyment and socio-economic advantages and sports and outdoors.

Kole: Yeah, I'll take Lexington out of it, since you know some bad blood for this last weekend, but I definitely think Greenville, South Carolina. So, we were there for a little over a year, probably, with everything and 2019 and 2021. And you know, my brother goes to Clemson—went to Clemson there. So, it's kind of close, and so—but I mean, it's something about Greenville that, you know, it's the people. It's kind of like an up-and-coming city but it's also just so beautiful. A lot of really good things to do outdoors. And the baseball was great there and just the people and everything was awesome. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but Greenville is probably at the top of my list.

Julia: I would say it's a beautiful area. I visit there all the time. Relocate a lot of people there to here, oddly enough, because they equate the Knoxville area with that same kind of intimacy and camaraderie, but less expensive taxes [laugh].

Kole: I'm sure. That sounds exactly right. Yeah, that sounds exactly right.

Julia: Okay, so what do you think One of the biggest—or many—but the biggest misconception about Knoxville other people in the nation have that have just maybe they've only heard about Oak Ridge National Lab or they've only heard about the Vols, which were finally winning, so everybody gets [crosstalk 00:09:17] Rocky Top now, but what's the biggest misconception you think that you've heard about, traveling?

Kole: That's a good question. I think one of the biggest things for me is the suburbs, like, you everyone knows downtown Knoxville. It's the same with a lot of bigger cities, but you know, a lot of they know the big things and the, you know, the downtown, like you said, the Vols, everything like that. But for me, you know I grew up, I've hardly ever went downtown. You know, we lived probably 20 minutes outside downtown.

I would always you know just travel all around Knoxville but it's the I think it's the suburbs and the people, just the people here is a lot—it's a lot different, you know? It's, you get the southern hospitality, the people are so, so nice, but you also there's so much more to do outside of downtown and. You know, even the mountains and everything are unbelievable, but there's so much more outside of the big-name kind of things to do around here.

Julia: There's a lot of mom-and-pop places in Knoxville that I don't think that people really think about when they travel through. Because most of the time, they're just stuck on I-40, they just kind of see what's available, they jump off the interstate exit and just go to whatever. But Knoxville is such an immersive town. I think the assumption is, well there's the Sunsphere and the stadium and nothing else exists.

Kole: Yeah. I agree with that. And you know, Knoxville is—I was learning it the other [laugh] day, I mean, I've been here forever I don't know quite the boundaries of Knoxville yet. But you know, it's a bigger city in terms of, you know, location. Like, it really surrounds other neighboring counties and everything, so it's pretty large in terms of areas.

So, you know, you can get a lot different—you can pretty much get anything you want within the confines of actual Knoxville. So, it makes it so much more diverse and so much more—you know, so much—you can really find what you want and, you know, explore the other things around town.

Julia: I agree with that. I think that our downtown has a ton to offer, but I think really and truly, overall the best thing that we have to offer is the diversity. And people really don't know how different Knoxville is. They kind of just visit or they're just coming through, and then they stay—they'll come right outside, like into Farragut. And I remember—you know, and this was pre-me but I just remember during that time, Farragut being if you lived in Farragut—and I lived in Lenoir City, I'm way past Farragut—

Kole: Mm-hm. Yeah.

Julia: I'm seven miles away, so it's far. But I remember saying to my [unintelligible 00:11:38] I'm going to go visit some friends in Farragut, and my friend's eyes, "Oh, I can't believe you're going all the way out there." And I'm like, "Okay." [laugh].

Kole: Yeah, we live in, like, West Knoxville, you know, right, off, like, Rocky Hill area, but you know, we—

Julia: Okay.

Kole: Yeah, so we would go all the time, some of our best friends lived out Farragut, and you know, play golf out there, play a lot of sports, we play a lot of sports out there growing up and then, you know, I'm actually living on the other side downtown now. So, it's kind of a different—it's a longer drive out there.

Julia: Are you up in the north Knoxville side now?

Kole: I think so, yeah. So, read it right around there. So, it's yeah, it's a little bit longer of a drive, but you know, it's great for us. And we—it's not, I assumed it would be, like, an hour's drive. But it's really not. You know, it's you just jump on the interstate and you're there in 25 minutes, max. So, it makes it really seem small, like, a smaller town, but it's you know, it has so much to offer that makes it seem a lot bigger.

Julia: I agree with that. I think that you run into a lot of the same people in the same places. And then you meet new people everywhere you go at the same time, and you're not really ever sure if it's a big town or a small town. You just feel very at home in Knoxville. I think that's [unintelligible 00:12:49] space.

What do you think, and this is something that the current—the county mayor has been, I wouldn't say babbling, I would say more giving opportunity of conversation to other leaders that have traveled outside of the area and are coming back. What is your thought process on being able to attract and maintain younger people to stay? Because as you know and maybe other people don't know, we have more lakefront land than anybody else in the southeast. We are a massive retirement community, however, we have started to attract younger people. So, what would be something that would be. The advice that you could have given your younger self to learn to appreciate Knoxville and say, "Hey, stay?"

Kole: Yeah, absolutely. I think it kind of goes what I was saying with you know, growing up, you know, you don't really see a whole lot you kind of see what your—you know, your what you do to and from school, and you know, where your parents go, everything like that, I think you know, being older and being able to have the ability to kind of—having the ability to move around and, you know, I'm never really in a spot for longest time other than in the offseason, and Knoxville I think gives you a different perspective on seeing different things and everything like that. But I think the biggest piece of advice is you know, like, the expanding and everything is great. I think you know, there's always room for improvement, but also, like, sticking to the roots and everything. So, I think—I love it—like you said—I love the, like, the mom-and-pop restaurants, the being able to go and do what you want, like, downtown.

It's kind of—the infrastructure is great and everything like that, but I think, you know, sometimes with expanding population all that, traffic becomes a big issue as well. But you know, they put the Topgolf in and out in Farragut; I'm sure that'll, like—kind of that wave of building all the buildings out there and all the different restaurants and stores, kind of attracting the—that probably would attract the younger crowd. And I think also, you know, with the lakefront property, you know, it's expensive, I think so I think, you know, being able to kind of counter that is difficult.

Julia: I would agree with that. We talked a lot about in expansion and opportunity and being able to have affordable housing, affordable meaning God knows what anymore in this market.

Kole: [laugh].

Julia: Definitely a two-million-dollar lakefront property is not for everybody. And I was so excited to get Topgolf. And Joe and I checked that out a couple of weeks ago. I am not great at it yet, but I am going to master the ability to drop those balls in the baskets. So, I took it at the driving range. That was not the win.

Kole: [laugh].

Julia: But you've got to master, you know, just dropping them in those buckets. So, I also agree that's going to start to attract younger people into doing things outside of just the downtown area. So, I think that's good.

Kole: Yeah. And I think also, you know, having the ability to drive 45 minutes or 30 minutes up to the mountains and have that, I think just making that more aware to people. And you know, Knoxville is fortunate where, you know, the summer is not crazy hot and the winter is not crazy cold, so it's not you know, being in the valley is a little bit different, you know? You're not—sometimes you will get really hot and really cold. But, you know, you can always hike and you can always, like, go outside and do a lot of activities outside.

You know, I think that's something that I've enjoyed doing grown up and even more so now. You know, being able to just kind of… do what you want outside, I think that's kind of a big thing for me with everything, you know, everything going on inside with all the video games and TVs and stuff, but I think being able to—Knoxville really offers a lot of outdoors and everything like that.

Julia: Yeah. Knoxville River Sports has—they—so they've got these little trucks—they're not little trucks—they've got these trucks where they put all their paddle boards and all kinds of things and they drive them to the parks outside of just downtown Knoxville, and you can rent out their out all their paddle boards and do outdoor things. I think it's genius idea. It really expands the opportunity to experience the lake for the younger crowd at 10, 15 bucks a pop and just enjoy the day. And I think that was outstanding.

And nobody really does talk about the mountains. I mean they're in my backdrop. This is my backyard. They're right there and they're always available and it's quiet and peaceful. Just hike the chimney, go down to [crosstalk 00:16:56] nature. Anything that you can do, and connecting to nature so refreshing. And I think Knoxville offers something very special in that I don't think a lot of towns have.

Kole: Yeah, I agree. I think the fall in Knoxville is always known for football and all that, and always will be, but I think you know being able to go outside and do what you want during the day, it's not—you know, you don't get the cold—the winter doesn't get here as soon as other places up north and, you know, same with the summer. So, it just offers a lot in that aspect.

Julia: It is a beautiful. Sometimes you get all four seasons in one day.

Kole: [laugh] Absolutely. Absolutely.

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Julia: All right, here's the fire round. It's coming quick.

Kole: Okay.

Julia: It's not really that quick, but it's coming.

Kole: Okay.

Julia: Favorite grocery store?

Kole: Ah… probably Butler & Bailey.

Julia: Oh, I love Butler & B—no one has said that yet. Let me tell you a story about Butler & Bailey is black walnut flavoring years ago was very difficult to get. You could not get your hands-on black walnut flavoring. It's very difficult to crush those green [puffies 00:18:26], though we all have them in our backyard, but the syrup itself is very difficult to get. They were the only grocery store that had it, and that one item is used in, like, 50% of Christmas cakes.

Kole: Oh wow.

Julia: So, they were the only place in three counties that would have it.

Kole: Yeah, I grew up, you know, you go to Kroger, you go to the Publix and all that, but I think you know Butler & Bailey is right down the road and we enjoyed going there whenever you need something quick, so it was good.

Julia: Yeah. They have—honestly I feel like they have everything. They're the Whole Foods slash Kroger of Knoxville. A very hidden gem there in Rocky Hill. That's so fascinating. All right, favorite restaurant?

Kole: Probably Calhoun's on the river.

Julia: Oh, good ole locally owned. I love that.

Kole: Yeah. We went there recently so it was kind of the top of my mind right there. But it's delicious, so you can't go wrong there.

Julia: Favorite bar or pub?

Kole: It's a tough one. I don't really go downtown too much. I'll say Rooster's or Wagon Wheel.

Julia: Oh, I love Rooster's. So, I'm telling you, everybody in Knoxville knows all these places, but people outside of Knoxville have no idea. And every person we've interviewed, it's all been local. And this is what I love about these conversations. Every person we've interviewed lived here, grew up here, or relocated here from a massive city, and they all have locally owned and operated names for all of these questions. So, that says so much about the Knoxville market.

Kole: [laugh] Absolutely.

Julia: Favorite gas station?

Kole: I don't know, I've heard rumor on the—or people have been talking about that one off of, I think, I-40, that big one that just got put in—

Julia: Oh. Oh—

Kole: —Buc-ee's I think's the name of it?

Julia: Buc-ee's.

Kole: I haven't been there, but I—

Julia: I have not.

Kole: —that's, so I don't know. I haven't really grown—I didn't really go to too many gas stations other than just the ones down the road at Rocky Hills, so [laugh].

Julia: Yeah. I grew up in Lenoir City and the Pilot gas station, which is now Casey's because Pilot sold out—

Kole: Oh, yeah. So I—Mm-hm.

Julia: Locally owned, but sold out to Casey's out of Chicago, and they had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle gummies—

Kole: Okay.

Julia: They were the only gas station in all the Pilots that got those gummies.

Kole: You know what? I'll give you my answer. I'll give you Weigel's. So, I was—

Julia: Oh. Best coffee in town.

Kole: So, in high school, we used to go there was a Weigel's right next to Catholic, and—I'm sure it's still there—but we would go there after workouts in the mornings and get chocolate milk and biscuit. So, I think that that's kind of—the Weigel's chocolate milk's always—it's up there with for me. And especially, you know, you're—there's someone who wouldn't be doing great after that, but you'd have you know, eight hours until the end of the school day to feel better.

Julia: Well, chocolate milk's a good recovery anyway.

Kole: Yeah. Yeah.

Julia: Especially for a long run or workout. So, Weigel's milk is special milk. I think they have their own [unintelligible 00:21:16] cows or something. I don't know what they do, but it tastes amazing. So, Weigel's is always, always a good one. All right. Best experience at a Knoxville sporting event?

Kole: Other than L—okay, so I'll say… we played UT in college. I played at UT, you know, we visited my junior year and hit a home run with all my family and everything there, so that was kind of a fun experience. So.

Julia: I bet that was so—oh my gosh, I bet that was amazing.

Kole: Yeah.

Julia: That is such a good story.

Kole: Yeah, I've been able to come back to Knoxville and have friends and family and everybody. You know, we had probably ten guys come back to my parent's house the day before and just hang out. And you know, my dad grilled out, and you know, the next day play in front of all of them was… it was a very special experience, you know? I will never forget that.

Julia: I think that, again, just harping on Knoxville is such a big small town because even if you leave and you play for a different team, and if you come home, people show up for you. They're like, "Hey, this is our hometown person. We're going to support the home team." And that doesn't just mean the Vols. That means whoever is here.

Kole: Yeah. It was very special for me.

Julia: I'm so glad. That is so good. Okay. Best kept secret that if you told other people about it, they may or may not know. About Knoxville.

Kole: Knoxville. I'm not sure. I think you know, there's a lot of golf good golf places here, I think. I'm big into golf, so—

Julia: A lot of people have no idea how much golf we have to offer. That's a good one.

Kole: Yeah, there's a lot of golf out in Farragut and a lot of golf—I, for the first time, I went out past downtown, the Kodak area, I played there. So, there's a lot of golf I think here, too. So, there's—you know, I don't know too many secrets. I think there's a lot of places that, you know, out near parks and everything that are just they're pretty well known but I think it's definitely related to some golf.

Julia: Are they so many people, they ask that all the time? Like is there anything—is there any golf in Knoxville? And I'm like, "Well, let's start the list." You know? And then you have to ask them, like, "How good do you want the course to be? How hard do you want it to be? Do you want to country club there? Do you want the ability to have beverages and a meal after the fact? Do you just want to go for a par three?"

And they realize that as you're asking these questions, they have no idea what Knoxville has to offer. So, we can go all the way from Wind River, which is totally private, completely gated, one of the hardest courses I've ever played, and all the way downtown to the parts where you just you're having a good day, you want to take a couple hours to play with friends and just grab a bite. So, golf is big here and I didn't even think about that. That's a really good—it's not a secret, but it's a secret.

Kole: Yeah. I think, like, and the best part about it is goes back to the weather and everything. We have a lot of opportunity to play golf around here where other people don't, and you know, especially my buddies up north, and even down south, it gets too hot in Florida and all that. So, I think it's a good middle ground. And I think it's just, it's a lot of fun places around here.

Julia: Favorite chiropractor [laugh]?

Kole: [laugh] Joe. Joe [laugh].

Julia: And for everybody out there, my husband, he's a chiropractor. He owns Dr. Joe Chiro. So, it's fine. He's one of our [laugh] patients. That's hilarious. I ask that question to everybody that goes and sees Joe, which is most of the people that we also interview on the podcast [laugh] so far.

Kole: Oh, he's great, he's great.

Julia: He is. He's a wonderful person. So, anything else that you would like to add about Knoxville for everybody out here this? Is going to be a national—probably international; got a few people that have already started to download it in other countries. They need to know about the Knoxville area, just in case we missed anything.

Kole: No, I think we've covered a lot. But you know it's a wonderful talent it's a great place to, like you said, relocate or grow up and I think you know, it's only it's only going to get better as the years go and I think how much it's changed between, you know, the time I've been here has been unbelievable. And it's, you know—the friends are still here. Everyone loves Knoxville when they come to visit, so I think just being able to experience that with everybody has been great. And hopefully other people think the same.

Julia: Well, I appreciate you being an advocate for Knoxville on your way through all 50 states in playing. We really hope that you will crush it again coming up this year in your season. Who do you think is going to be your biggest challenger in 2023?

Kole: I'm not sure. I'm just hoping to have a healthy season, have some success, and you know, I think it's going to be tough, but we'll see. We'll see. I can't put a name on it.

Julia: You have any words of encouragement for the baseball players coming up at UT?

Kole: Absolutely. I mean, it's a tough game. Just always have fun. That's the base thing, but work harder than you think. There's always other people trying to outwork you. But I think just have fun, enjoy it, and make sure you always thank your parents. They do more for you than they'd ever know. So.

Julia: Well, if you ever have a chance to visit, Joe and I have season tickets, so let us know. I'm sure you can [unintelligible 00:26:15] walk out there on your own, but just in case. Ust the case. We're really excited about your addition to your family and thank you for taking the time for us. We wish you the best of luck on your upcoming baseball season.

If anybody wanted to get merch from you or find a way to support you and your team is there a not-for-profit that you have or a way to donate something and then also do—is there something that we can help you with?

Kole: Yeah, you can message me on Instagram or Facebook or anything. I work with the Never Ever Give Up Charity pretty closely, so it's an unbelievable foundation and everything. But yeah, just reach out to me, everyone feel free to reach out on Instagram, Twitter, or anything, and I'll get you connected with that, or we'll figure out a way to do it differently.

Julia: Perfect. I love to support people that support us here in Knoxville. We appreciate you, again. Everybody, this is Julia Hurley. Thank you very much Kole Cottam for your time today. So, appreciate it. Thank you for taking the time to Connect the Knox. We'll see you next time.

Kole: Thank you for having me.

Julia: Bye.

Episode Summary

Gloria Johnson, State Representative in House District 90, is a former educator who ran for office after seeing certain political issues not getting the attention they deserved. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, she describes what that journey was like and how important it is to get involved politically if there's an issue that's important to you. Gloria also reveals her deep roots in Knoxville, and shares wonderful insights into why people love our city.

Highlights 00:00 Intro

00:19 Julia introduces Rep. Gloria Johnson, who describes her Knoxville roots and why her and her family were eager to return to Knoxville

03:31 How Gloria went from being an educator to running for a seat in the state legislature

07:06 Ad - GoSeeDrJoe.com

08:30 Julia and Gloria discuss why it's important to speak out about political causes you care about

12:20 How children's mental health affects the classroom

14:20 Gloria discusses the importance of teaching children how to think, not what to think

16:47 The big issues that Gloria is planning to push for this year in the state legislature

19:26 Ad - Just Homes Group

22:21 Gloria and Julia discuss the importance of women running for political office

23:50 Gloria's favorite memory of growing up in Knoxville

24:39 Gloria describes some of her favorite restaurants and spots in Knoxville

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Transcript:

Julia: Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of Connect the Knox. I am your hostess with the mostest, Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation. Today's guest is one of the top performing state legislatures in Nashville, Tennessee, the Honorable Gloria Johnson who represents Knoxville, part of Knoxville city. So, Knoxville has gotten so big now there are several people. We'll let her explain that to you. Gloria, welcome. Thank you for taking the time. And if you don't mind to introduce yourself, and your connection to Knoxville and just tell us your whole story here and how you ended up where you are.

Gloria: [laugh]. I don't know we have time for the whole story, but thanks for having me on. I'm excited about doing this and having this conversation. Yeah, well, I am Knoxville. My family has been here for generations, my father's family, and after dad graduated law school, they live down in Fort Sanders and then they lived in Norwood.

But when dad graduated law school, instead of going into practicing law, he went into the FBI. And so, when you go into FBI, they start you out in a large city and then they move you to—you have to go after that to a top ten city. So, we moved to Denver—or my parents moved to Denver—after law school with the FBI, and I was born in Denver. And then Denver was the large city we went to. Then he got transferred to Los Angeles, and that was the top ten city he got sent to.

And you know, my dad is a Tennessee—he was a Tennessee boy, and so his goal was always to get back to the city. And so, we went from Los Angeles to San Diego. There was an opportunity to come back to the southeast in Jackson, Mississippi, so we came back to Jackson. But we got back to Knoxville when I was in the sixth grade. So, I've been here since the sixth grade and my family's been here for generations and Knoxville is definitely who I am.

I lived in Denver briefly and I love that, but I always miss the people. The thing that is so different are just the people here. And so, I stayed in Denver for three years when I moved there back in 2001. And came back because my dad wasn't doing well. He had a mass and mom needed help, so that's why I came back, but I also came back because I knew I always would.

It's just one of those things that you try moving away but you're always drawn back to Knoxville. I know so many people who have done the exact same thing. So, I absolutely love it here. Grew up in West Knoxville, went to Farragut—Cedar Bluff and Farragut. But as soon as I—after college, I knew that I wanted to stay, you know, closer to that area, and so moved there and lived around downtown for several years before finally buying my house over by North Hills.

Julia: That's fantastic. I have met so many people that own businesses in Knoxville that I've known for years and had no idea the history that they had connected to Knoxville. So, it's really been a treat for all the people that I've known and got to know over the last 20 years to understand how deep-rooted you all really are in the Knoxville area. So, tell us about—so I know you are a teacher. Tell us about how that ended up, and then get into what made you want to run in a political setting. And you went there as a female in any party that it's not one small feat in this area. So, how did you go from teacher to legislator? How did we get there?

Gloria: So, I love teaching more than anything. That is the greatest career. It's one of those things. I'm a lucky human being in the fact that they say you know, get a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life and that's certainly how I felt about teaching. The kids part, I'm not going to say it was easy.

I worked with teenage emotionally disturbed students who, you know, that had special needs. And usually it was behavioral, not academic but more behavioral. That's the majority of my 27 years in education. And just, you know, I learned so much about these families, how these kids get to this point, you know, what systems in our government and everything else that has led to them being in the situations that they are, and you know, knowing lots of ways that we could improve those situations. And so, it was always something that was on my mind.

But until there were all the attacks on teachers and the attacks on public education, where they're [removing 00:04:57] a teacher sitting at the table, I'm mean, no one consults teachers anymore when they're making policy on education. Teachers are making less today than they did ten years ago based on the cost of living. So, this is outrageous. And so, that is what got me into it. Then and a combination of another thing.

I got involved with the Obama campaign and learned a whole lot about organizing and all of that, and one of his big issues, of course, was health care. That was big for me because I had a sister and her brother-in-law, who own their own business, and struggle because it was a small business, getting health care is difficult. She had a long-term illness that required multiple brain surgeries, and ultimately, they were kicked off their insurance while my two nephews were fighting in Afghanistan. They lost their home and their business—

Julia: Oh, my God.

Gloria: Because of health bills. And she needed another brain surgery. And those two things, you know, made me run. Because there was a situation of a special election here back in 2011, and listening to the three candidates that were running on the other side, there was no discussion of health care. There was none.

And that was a huge discussion nationwide. And everybody's like, "Gloria, if you don't get in that race, no one's going to be talking about health care." So, I knew the numbers were impossible, but I got into the race, just so I could talk about health care.

Julia: How did that first race end up? I honestly don't remember, I was coming out of Nashville as you were trying to come into Nashville. So, I was coming out of a seat and I did not keep up with that one.

Gloria: Well, it was a special election when Jamie Woodson went to SCORE, and it—

Julia: That's right.

Gloria: Yes.

Julia: I'd completely forgotten what how that was—that feels like a lifetime ago.

Gloria: It was a li—it was 2011.

Julia: Yeah [laugh].

Gloria: Special election. It was a short timer and I had already—you know, we had just been watching and I was at a debate with a bunch of college students and the three people running were just trying to [outright 00:07:09] themselves. It's like if they kept going, they were going to fall off the stage. And I know that didn't all feel exactly the way they were saying. And I was just like, "Somebody's got to do something."

And then the state party contacted me, and they said, "Gloria, we're not going to have a conversation if you don't get in the race, and there's only two-and-a-half months left." And I did it. And it was a 75/25 district, I think. We moved the district about seven points in two-and-a-half months. Never expected to win.

It was about bringing a different conversation to the race. And I believe that everyone, every voter deserves a choice. I think every race should be challenged. I think voters deserve a choice. And they also deserve a good, thorough, in deep conversation about the issues. They owe that to the people voting for them.

Julia: That is something that I think is the new conversation—not to change topics about a whole different subject but it's kind of related—that you're starting to see Gen Z talk about a lot, especially on the ne—on TikTok. And a lot of people don't like TikTok. You don't have to, but billions of people are on TikTok every single day looking for new ideas and new conversations. And what I am seeing in the younger generation—I mean, I'm 40, so I'm an elder millennial. So, there are two generations after me now, which makes me feel interesting—

Gloria: [laugh].

Julia: —but the next generation, the Gen Z generation, all they can talk about is options. It's not necessarily that they aren't willing to have a conversation about what they believe versus what you believe, but they want the option to talk to both or multiple. And not throwing your hat in the ring is taking something off the table. And that in and of itself, as a female in the political arena, in the Knoxville market, in the southeast as a whole, is a feat in and of itself. So, it's like, "Hey, look, I'm from here, my family's from here. I moved away a little bit. I'm back. I was a teacher for something I loved, and now we have a real issue and I'm going to leave this thing that I love to contribute back to my community, at least give an option." I think that's huge. And I think that as we progress into the next decade, that's going to be—every race will be challenged. Every conversation will be on the table.

Gloria: Yeah. And it's really interesting where Knoxville is so far ahead in some ways, but so far behind in others. When I went to Denver when I taught there, one of the most interesting things was they really treated teachers as professionals. I've never seen teachers get treated so well. And I'm not—you know, it's just and it's little things. It doesn't cost money to treat teachers well.

When we had in-services or professional days or something like that, we'd go to some business center where other folks met and we had an adult-sized table, I didn't have to put my 37-inch inseam into some kindergarten chairs for eight hours, you know? And they served as, you know, nice lunches and not anything, you know, exorbitant or anything like that, but treating you like any professional in any business. And it makes such a difference about how you feel about—when I got there, I felt like, "Man, these teachers are so on top of their game," but it's because they required continued education to get the salary bump every year. Your bump came from how many hours you took, graduate hours you took. And so, the first year I got there, I took 20 hours because they paid for a lot of it, and that bumped my salary up $12,000 by taking 20 hours.

And they allowed you and they encouraged you to do that. So, I was working with teachers who had not gone a year without at least having one class. And here, you know, you there's nothing, there's no benefit to continuing. And I think we're doing a disservice in education and especially in Tennessee now, where they don't even want to recognize graduate degrees and master's degrees, you know, doctorates, that sort of thing. And we should not just—one of the goals you see on every website for schools is, "We want our kids to be lifelong learners."

It doesn't say they want teachers to be lifelong learners, though. It's just, we need to be smarter and more intentional about what we do in education. And I think we can do that. But one thing that Colorado did terribly was special education. They broke a lot of rules and did not acknowledge—when I went there, I taught at a school that was about three miles from Columbine. And they had no program for mental health. And so, I literally wrote a grant using our program from Knoxville, and they loved it and they put it into practice.

Julia: That's fantastic.

Gloria: And my school was one of the two schools that the kids who couldn't—some kids just couldn't go back to Columbine, and so I was one of the two schools where those kids came, and we were able to get help and support. I had a psychologist in my classroom, you know, every day. So, it was—they were open to new and great ideas, and that was a Knoxville idea that really brought Colorado forward, at least in Jefferson County.

Julia: I think mental health for kids now has been—we talk about it a lot.

Gloria: [laugh]. Yeah.

Julia: A big hot topic to talk about. Action is lacking. But I really feel like the conversation is shifting at least. So, as you know, Knoxville is 20 years behind some of the biggest cities in the world, so if we can start talking about it more, maybe we can bump that timeline up to only a decade behind, which [laugh] I would not be upset about [laugh].

Gloria: It's so important because I think about the structure of the classroom, the intervention classroom that I taught would be beneficial to any class all regular ed kids. It would be beneficial to those teachers because it makes your classroom so much more manageable. Because part of what you do is build trust between the classroom. And kids have so much problem with trust these days. And so, spending some time in the first two weeks of school on team-building and trust-building activities would make a huge difference in the rest of the year as far as discipline and all of those things go.

And every kid needs it. And it benefits the entire classroom, how much information you can get to your kids, and how much time you're spending on discipline. Because it will—I would maybe send a kid to the office three times out of the year and I had the worst kids two steps away from juvenile. But the behavior management system is so good and it's all about making them responsible for the teamwork and the trust in the group.

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Julia: I think something that we struggle with as a society as a whole—not just Knoxville but as a whole—is the conversation that we want children to grow up to be independent thinkers and want them to be creative and we want them to understand that they have power, but then we sent him to school eight to ten hours a day and say, "Nope, do as you're told. You don't need to know this information. We just need you to stay here and be quiet and do this." [laugh]. And I think that it's a stark contrast to what we want for them.

Gloria: And a lot of that is, you know, would come through if you use some of the activities and some of the mindsets in my classroom because it was a lot of thinking outside of the box a lot of problem-solving. We did a lot of problem-solving activities, which are great soft skills that all of our kids need and we see that they're lacking in those skills. And I have seen a shift in teachers being more consciously considering, you know, asking probing questions and doing more problem-solve activities and critical thinking. But yes, within the legislature, they're trying to take away all the time for those things to happen.

You know, they think there's this idea that teachers are indoctrinating. Look, it's the same teachers they had years ago and they were not indoctrinated. It's all made up. But the reality is, we teach kids how to think, not what to think. We never tell them, "This is right or this is wrong."

You know, you lay out all the different things and you decide which one you think is best. I always did during the presidential election, I would—there's a world's smallest political quiz and then there's a little more in-depth political quiz for which candidate do you align with. And so, we would always go through the questions and the kids would always decide. And it was always funny because it was usually somebody that they really didn't pick, you know, that they didn't think about. And sometimes it was some obscure candidate even I hadn't heard of [laugh] because there's a lot of them on there. The big quiz had all of them.

But I would have them do some in-depth research, you know, and write about that candidate. And if you are going to, if you are going to design a logo or a sign for that candidate, what would it look like? You know, those kinds of things. It just got them to think. And it may not have been somebody they would have voted for, but it made them think civically, you know, and it made them think about why did I align with this candidate, and you know, what issues are important to me, and you know, what should a president been doing?

Julia: What a great segue to my next question because you have a, you know—and again, we're going back to what you just said—you are an advocate for challenge every seat, you get challenged every year. I've never not known you to have a challenger. And good for you, you keep pulling out those W's and that is tough to do, that is tough to do anywhere. So, you consistently are running a campaign. I don't think you've had one year unchallenged.

And as you continue to go and you are solidifying that power base—that's what I call it; your power base is Knoxville—people in Knoxville continuously choose you. And once you put yourself out there and you keep doing that is that is an amazing step forward. What are the topics that you're going to be taking to Nashville this year, this coming up legislative year that are important to you? Because I think that civic-mindedness for kids, just putting that kind of conversation out there at any age is really important. But I think as we age, we tend to curb our open-mindedness to conversation because of what our experiences are versus what's going on around us as well. So, what are you taking in Nashville that your constituency is bringing to you to take this year? What are your hot-button issues?

Gloria: Yeah. Well, there you know, there's so many things, and it's hard to narrow it down to one. And there's so many things—I still am going to push for Medicaid expansion. I'm still going to push for adequately funding public ed and teacher pay, those things. Never going to stop making sure that our schools get better and better.

But also, you know, to me, making sure that people have good jobs with good wages and benefits. I mean, we need to be lifting people out of poverty and not letting them drop back into it. And part of that is making sure that everybody earns a wage so that they can support their family and not have to decide between groceries and medicine, you know, that they can get both of those things. And one thing that I brought because I had at one time, within one year, I had three friends pregnant with triplets.

Julia: Oh, my God. How does that happen, statistically [laugh]?

Gloria: One was a police officer, one was a firefighter, and one owns her own business. And so, having triplets automatically means a C-section, and that automatically means six weeks off. That's if, you know, a lot of times they come early, they're small, there's NICU time, all of those things. And how does somebody who's a police officer or a firefighter, they don't have six weeks off, you know? That just doesn't exist.

And so, in talking to so many people and looking around the country at how paid family leave can work, I brought a paid family leave bill every year since 2018 and I'm going to keep doing it. Because the reality is the program that we picked—I work with a group called A Better Balance because they help, all around the country, they've worked with people on paid family leave—and so I chose the most conservative plan because this is Tennessee. It doesn't require any—this doesn't cost the state a penny and it doesn't cost the business a penny. It's employee-driven, it's kind of like insurance. I put in the cost of a cup of coffee a week, that's about 3 to $4, and then when they've been there a year's time, if you've been there a year's time, when you have—either you want to have a baby, or your child has an illness, you have your own long-term illness, or say you have a parent who's ailing and you need to stay with them, you'll have 12 weeks paid leave for that time that you put in.

Julia: So, is it kind of like a program where I can pay into it, kind of like a medical savings program?

Gloria: Well, everybody pays in, you would pay and your 3 to $4, whatever the comptroller's office or, you know, whatever they decided what that amount needs to be for all of Tennessee—and even sole proprietorships you know, anybody and [that's working 00:21:40] getting a paycheck can be a part of this plan. So, I just think it's important that if we're going to prioritize families if we're going to force people have families before they're ready, we should be able to take care of them.

Julia: Yes. Because we've both—I've been in Nashville—I understand. I understand. If you only could have one thing, one bill, and you know what, you know how it is, you're going to present your ten and you're going to get maybe a half of one. So, if you only had one, what would be the bill for 2023-2024 that you wouldn't do nothing but that bill?

Gloria: Always—until we get smart, Medicaid expansion. I mean, it would change the life of every Tennessean. Because when people have access to affordable care, guess what that means? Mental health is health care. And so, everyone has access to that mental health care.

When you look at the states who expanded like Michigan, those great study out of Michigan, what they wanted to look at was how did it help people in Michigan when they expanded Medicaid? Was it effective? Did it work? And what they found, they looked at low-income people, it raised them up. They were able to get loans because they didn't have to worry about not having health care or not having affordable health care.

They were able to get insurance, improve their health. They were able to, they save enough money to have loans, they bought new cars, which got them better jobs, they didn't have to be on a bus line. It was an enormous boon to their economy. And so, the 10% at this point that there were required to pay after the federal taxes coming back to your state, easy peasy. They said it overwhelmingly paid that much.

Plus, it will pay in perpetuity because it will always do that. And that's what they found. And then in Ohio, what they found was everyone they were able to insure on Medicaid expansion—which is most people in addition to those who already had insurance—of those with opiate issues, they were able to treat 96%. We only treat 13% in Tennessee.

Julia: We do have that problem in Tennessee.

Gloria: We do have that problem. And we've lost, you know, 13 rural hospitals because of Medicaid expansion because that's our poor community, they don't have that money, the hospitals aren't getting their typical reimbursement. Everybody should have insurance now. And what so many don't understand, it is this leadership that is keeping that from happening. And you know, something you said before which I think is so important, talking about women and women running for office, I think if there were 50% women up there, we would have Medicaid expansion.

Julia: I think if there were 50% women up there, we would have a whole different state.

Gloria: Yeah. We would.

Julia: [laugh].

Gloria: I was the first woman in House District 13. I'm wondering, were you the first woman in your district or no?

Julia: No, actually, there was a lady—oh my gosh, and everybody knew her name and I never met her, she passed away. So, she was the mentor to my predecessor. And then she had passed away and then I had taken that seat. Now, we were the only two women that have ever held that seat. And I don't believe—I actually don't believe Loudoun County, the other half of my seat, had ever been held by a female. So, I was the first female in Loudoun County to hold a statewide position. And as I can recall, the last so far [laugh], in a decade.

Gloria: Kind of shocking to me that your county beat Knox County, though. I mean, really. Just wow.

Julia: You never know [laugh]. You never know. All right, we have four-and-a-half minutes. So, shifting that, we wish you the absolute best of luck in Nashville. We really hope that you get something that you want one.

I know your constituents where they may be in the minority still want to see you succeed and they elected to you to do that, so we do wish you the best of luck. But let's reel this in to be more Knoxville-oriented and less Nashville at the moment because I've got so many questions for you. Because you're from here and your family's from here and you're going to remember so many cool things. So, what is your best memory as a child in Knoxville as a whole? Like, like any memory, like, other than the World Fair; that doesn't count because everybody says that one [laugh].

Gloria: I wasn't a child in the World's Fair. But I was in school at UT in education and so I got a gig doing tours for school groups that came from all over the country.

Julia: [laugh]. That's awesome.

Gloria: I had to carry this tall thing with a little flag on the end with our number so all the kids could follow along. And it was so [laugh] much fun.

Julia: Try that today. 30-something kids with a flag. They're not—you're done. You're out.

Gloria: You're going to have to get a rope and a leash [laugh].

Julia: "My dad's bonafide." I don't know if you remember that scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou? where she tied all of her kids—

Gloria: Oh, yeah [laugh].

Julia: —to one rope. She was like, "My dad's bonafide." That's all I can remember of the rope of the kids. Anyway, so okay. Best remembered restaurant versus now favorite restaurant.

Gloria: Okay. So, I have to—let's see, I have to go back to places that—not such a great restaurant necessarily, but that I remember Steak and Ale [laugh]. It had another name too, but I can't remember. But I worked in high school and in college at Kingston Four Theater, and so Steak and Ale was right across the street. So, we used that a lot. Also, Michael's was down—no not on Michael's. What was that? Doodles. Doodles—

Julia: Oh, my God [laugh].

Gloria: And we would go over to Doodles on our dinner hour because they would have ten-cent shrimp or something like that [laugh].

Julia: That was expensive. Ten-cent shrimp's expensive [laugh].

Gloria: [laugh].

Julia: You were at the classy bar.

Gloria: Now, my favorite. I've got so many favorite restaurants, but like, a standard of mine is probably Bistro at the Bijou. You know, I like comfort food, you know? I'm not a fancy—I'll eat any kind of food [laugh] but you know, I love that they have this varied menu. Every time you come in the specials are really different. And it's dark and cozy [laugh]. I like that.

Julia: Yeah, I love it there. Their brunch is good.

Gloria: Oh, their brunch is really good. Yes.

Julia: Yeah, their brunch is fantastic. All right. Favorite, like, scene I guess you could say. Like, give me—set the scene? Where do you go, like, for hiking or biking or relaxing or just to read a book? Like, favorite, favorite place?

Gloria: Well, so just any of our parks. I mean, we have amazing parks. I like to go to UT Gardens. I mean, they're absolutely gorgeous. And a friend of mine, [Anne 00:28:54], goes there all the time and she kept saying, "Gloria—" You know and so now I've gone and now I go back and now I take my mom and I just—it's beautiful. And it's a wonderful place to just sit and be quiet. But there are so many places like that around here.

Julia: We're very blessed. Knoxville people don't even know, Knoxville is the hidden gem. All right, one last question. What is your best-kept secret that whenever somebody comes to visit you from out of town, you take them to this place and no one really knows about it. Only you know about it.

Gloria: Well, it used to be, years ago, it was King Tut.

Julia: Oh yes.

Gloria: [laugh].

Julia: Yes. Oh man, I'm so glad you said that [laugh].

Gloria: Always. It was always an experience. But now, it's just some of my favorite little, like, you know public house or some of my favorite little places to go and just down around here. Used to be—again another place that's gone was Tootsie's.

Julia: Oh. Oh yeah, that was a fun place.

Gloria: Tootsie's in Nashville, but Toot's here, which is down sort of around in my neighborhood. And it was so interesting because it went from being kind of a—people thought it was a scary Happy Hour kind of place, to being this place where the hipsters did karaoke, you know?

Julia: Yes [laugh].

Gloria: So, I had some friends from Colorado come in and I took them there and they were just—they loved it, but they were sort of stunned [laugh].

Julia: Knoxville is a special place. I hear that a lot. It's like, "Oh, well I came to visit. I may want to—I'll invest in this place. I might relocate here, I might retire here." But it just kind of that. "This was so much fun and I don't know what I was expecting. It wasn't this." And just kind of the deer-in-headlights look.

Gloria: And my friends from Colorado, most of them were younger than me and just really energetic, but I remember my friend Casey doing the worm on the floor at Downtown Grill and Brewery [laugh].

Julia: I mean, why not? [laugh]. Naturally. Naturally.

Gloria: Oh, but they absolutely had a blast. And a couple of them have come back and they still want to come back. So, it's been great. And then a couple of them I did a road trip of with a RV, we did a redneck road trip and we came from Colorado in a principle friend of mine's RV and we stopped at Graceland and we stopped at the Jack Daniel's distillery.

Julia: Where they don't actually give you Jack Daniel's because a it's dry county. Oddest place to visit but I love it.

Gloria: The final stop was Dollywood, and I had never been to Dollywood.

Julia: Oh, my gosh.

Gloria: First time to go to Dollywood was with them, and we just had an absolute blast.

Julia: We went there in Covid. There were eight people in the whole park.

Gloria: Oh, my God.

Julia: We had the best day of our lives. We literally rode the same roller coaster three times.

Gloria: You're outside. It's perfect.

Julia: It was great. We had a blast. We love Dollywood. All right. Well, everybody, listen, our time is up. We're going to have to bring you back after session to see how something turned out for you, so count on that invitation. We appreciate your time today. Everybody, this is the honorable Gloria Johnson. Very good friend to all people in Knoxville, but especially for women in Knoxville. We appreciate you very, very much, touting our flag, as I guess you could say, as we follow you through your trips to Nashville. We appreciate you. This is Julia Hurley, hostess of Connect the Knox. Thank you Gloria thank you, Gloria.

Gloria: [laugh]. Thank you. I really enjoyed it.

Julia: Bye.

Gloria: Bye.

Tammy White, President & CEO of Leadership Knoxville, came to Knoxville in 1990 and has been working to shape the growth of the city ever since. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, she describes the incredible work that Leadership Knoxville is doing in our community, including the many programs they offer for UT Students, business executives, and the leaders of tomorrow - the youth of Knoxville.

Highlights:00:00 Intro

01:06 How Tammy came to Knoxville and what it was like as a newcomer and now

03:40 The history of Leadership Knoxville

06:53 Ad - Dr. Joe Chiro www.goseedrjoe.com

07:25 Tammy walks through the programs that Leadership Knoxville offers and their focus on diversity as an organization

11:56 Tammy describes a partnership with UT Knoxville called Leadership Knoxville Scholars

13:37 Leadership Knoxville's fourth program, Youth Leadership Knoxville

17:09 Tammy describes Connect Knox, a civics solutions lab, started by Leadership Knoxville

18:57 What is The Big Table program, and how it brings people together throughout the community

22:58 Ad - Just Homes Group

24:01 How people can get involved with Leadership Knoxville and find more information on their programs

25:56 Julia takes Tammy through a lightning round of questions about her favorite spots in Knoxville

Links:

• Leadership Knoxville: https://www.leadershipknoxville.com
• Email: https://[email protected]

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Transcript:

Julia: Welcome everybody to another episode of Connect the Knox, connecting the nation to Knoxville, Tennessee. I am your hostess with the mostest, Julie Hurley, and today's guest is a true leader in the Knoxville area. You will want to connect with her, promise when this is all done with. Who we are interviewing today is the president and CEO of Leadership Knoxville, in itself one of the coolest entities in the Knoxville market, Mrs. Tammy White. How are you today? And thank you for being here.

Tammy: I'm doing awesome, Julia. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to be with you.

Julia: Absolutely. Tell us, aside from number one just signing your daughter to a lacrosse scholarship who got recruited—congratulations, Courtney—aside from all that amazing that's going on, you stay so busy. Tell me about Leader—tell us all, tell us all about Leadership Knoxville and how you found your way into that, and kind of your backstory of Knoxville.

Tammy: Yeah. It's kind of a crazy story. So, I will tell you I came to Knoxville in 1990. I was born and raised in South Carolina, and yes, I'm a Gamecock. That was my—I grew up really close to Clemson, right, so, so I still don't wear orange just because it's sacrilegious at this point, you know from that Penn State rivalry of Carolina/Clemson.

But I do pull for UT every game except for this one game every year that when they played my Gamecocks and I have to pull for my alma mater. So, needless to say, this past weekend, I was very surprised. I didn't see a single play because I was in Dallas with my daughter at a lacrosse tournament. So, we never saw any of it.

But anyways, I came to Knoxville in 1990, and I remember coming up and visiting a friend when I was in college and I remember thinking, "Wow, Knoxville is, like, this really cool, fun place I would love to live here." Never had any thought, you know, that like, six years later, I would end up here. And I did. And it was just, you know, it's just kind of been a God thing and I love it. It's been a great place to live and to work and to raise my daughter.

And my parents actually retired from their jobs in South Carolina when Courtney was born and they moved here, and they just live up the street from me in my neighborhood. So, the family came, right? So, it's been a great place. So, I worked for a company out of Wisconsin, I was doing sales for them when I first came here. And ended up leaving that company and doing sales for Bell South at the time, so that shows you how old I am. It's now back to AT&T [laugh], right?

At the time, nobody knew who AT&T was when I went to work for Bell South. It's kind of funny how all of that comes full circle and makes you dated. But anyways, and then I did a lot of political work throughout the years and just made a lot of friends, a lot of connections. And that's one of the things I've loved about Knoxville is that, you know, being an outsider, it was truly easy to get plugged in here. I mean, people were very welcoming.

You know, and Knoxville has really changed a lot. I think back to that 1990 timeframe when I first moved here, and that I was somewhat bored as a single person, I didn't feel like there was a lot to do. And now there is just a plethora of opportunities every night, you know, and every weekend, you could go and do something in this town, where it wasn't always like that when I first moved here. But it's evolved into a phenomenal place, again, to live and work.

Julia: Well, tell us a little bit because I don't know—has Leadership Knoxville always been an entity here?

Tammy: Yes. Yes. So—

Julia: Okay—

Tammy: So, this is kind of a good history lesson. And I may not get the dates exactly right, but I'm going to be pretty darn close. But it was around 1957 that the first leadership program in the country started and it was in Philadelphia. And then the second program was Savannah, Georgia, around 1962. And then Atlanta, Georgia was around 1965, '67.

And so, there was value in doing this. And the reason why they started was really to prepare people for change and things needing to change in these cities. And then you had a whole swath of leadership programs that really evolved in the 1980s. And I believe Leadership Nashville started in 1978. We started in 1984.

And it was really the result of Jim Haslam and Honey Alexander being on a trip, an economic development recruiting trip to Japan when Lamar was governor, and Honey said to Jim Haslam, "Does Knoxville have a leadership program like Nashville?" And he said, "I don't know what you're talking about." And so, they had this conversation and then Mr. Haslam came back to Knoxville and put together a steering committee, and then Leadership Knoxville started in 1984. And so, you know, we'll be celebrating our 40th anniversary in a few more years.

But typically, there's about 800 leadership programs around the country today, and practically every city has some sort of community leadership development program. The vast majority of the programs that exist today are based through a Chamber of Commerce. We have always been a standalone 501(c)(3). We just happen to, at this point, lease our space from the Knoxville Chamber, which they're great partners. And they were one of the three founding partner agencies, along with United Way and Junior League, when we started to support leadership Knoxville's evolving.

And so, you've got 501(c)(3)s, you've got the chamber-based model, and then you have a few that are based through a university or community foundation. By and large, what I will tell you, while there are lot of really strong chamber-based programs, the vast majority of the, you know, chamber-based programs are also in smaller rural communities, and so they're not necessarily as big. And so, most of your bigger city programs are standalone 501(c)(3)s. And right now, we consider ourselves just based on the affinity groups that we're in at a national level, we participate with Austin, Texas, and Cleveland, Ohio, and Denver and Seattle and Louisville and Baltimore. And, you know, so it's pretty big cities compared to Knoxville, but we're on par with a lot of them, based on the size of our staff and also the size of our budget and the number of programs that we offer. So, that puts us in about, probably, the top 10% of leadership programs, nationally. And right now we are the largest leadership program in the state.

Julia: As well it should be. I feel like there's a lot of leadership in Knoxville.

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Julia: You said programs within it.

Tammy: Yes.

Julia: So this, in and of itself, is the 501(c)(3), what are the programs inside of Leadership Knoxville?

Tammy: Okay. So, I'm glad you asked. So, I don't want to miss any of these. So, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the first and I'll walk you through where we are today. So, the flagship program started in 1984 and it's a ten-month program, and that's what the vast majority of leadership programs have is that type of program.

And that's really geared for people who are, like, seasoned C-suite leaders or nonprofit directors. We're very intentional about creating a very diverse group, and that's from racial, you know, from male, female, from gender, to sexual orientation to religious beliefs, et cetera. I mean, we really need to have, for the best experience possible, we need to have a group of committed leaders who really look like in our entire community. And so, that's really important. And that's what gives it, I would say, the depth in making relationships because people were coming together for this ten-month process and they're spending an incredible amount of time getting to know people that they would probably never ever cross paths with otherwise.

And that's where the richness happens. It's where people change jobs, or they start organizations or they start businesses or they work to find solutions on issues that are happening in the community. So, it is more—it's an in-depth. And our focus is teaching servant leadership in the flagship program. But we are also very intentionally designing the program to talk about our biggest community issues and challenges and then what are those opportunities> and so it's, you know, carries—you know, we think servant leadership carries this ethical and moral obligation as a leader to do something, right? To be a positive change agent. And that's what that program is really about.

The second program that we have is called Introduction Knoxville and it started in 1993. And Natalie Haslam was actually the person who started that program for us. And that program is really geared—it's a six-week, one day a week for six weeks. We now run that program. Initially, it started, you know, just that one time every year. In 2010, we changed it to be twice a year, and then in 2017, we've added a third program.

So, we run it in the spring, in the fall, in the winter. And so, three times a year. So, we have about 150 people a year go through that program. And it's geared for people who are either new to the community in a new management positions who need to quickly learn a lot more about the community. And it's a great networking opportunity as well.

And so, people sign up and they're in. The flagship program is much more challenging to get into because we have about 400 nominations and about 200 applicants every year, and we only have 55 seats. And so, it's a selection process because we want that diverse makeup, right? We want diverse makeup in all of our programs, but the others are, more you sign up, you pay, you're in. But Intro Knox has been a really fun program.

And we actually—you'll appreciate this Julia—but we actually worked with our friends in Nashville to help them start Intro Nash a few years ago. We served as a consultant in helping them. With the growth in Nashville, I kept saying to them, "You guys need a program like this." And they're up and running and doing fantastic. So, that's a really important, you know, piece to the puzzle of everything we're trying to do.

And when you look at the growth of our city, if we just had the one program, we're not building to scale for impact. And so, that's really the other piece here is to think about, you know, what's missing? What can we do? How can we best impact? And so, what used to be just two programs when I started, and we would have approximately 85, maybe 90 people you're going through Leadership Knoxville program—two programs—we now have other programs and we have about 250 alumni coming through every year.

Julia: Wow. I mean, still 250 people in the grand scheme of Knoxville is not a lot of people, but for Leadership Alumni Association, that's big.

Tammy: Bingo. Bingo. And so—

Julia: Yeah.

Tammy: —so here's the other the beautiful part of it is, so the other programs that we have, in 2013, we launched our third program, which is called the Leadership Knoxville Scholars. And it is a partnership that we have with the University of Tennessee, for the Jones Center for Service and Leadership at UT. And it's a two-year cohort. And again, they have to apply, they have to compete for the seats, but there's about—it's two years, so they apply their sophomore year, they go through their junior and senior year. And so, we have guest lecturers from our alumni that go and go to their classes, which are credited classes, but we also work to pair each scholar with one of our LK alumni to mentor them in their, you know, career field.

What do they want to do? So, we're trying to—how do we keep this best and brightest talent in the region after they graduate? So, that's really the intent of the program. Our retention rates been around 50 to 55%. I mean, we'd like for it to be higher, but a lot of these kids I mean, we've had—

Julia: What do you mean, retain [crosstalk 00:12:57] graduate rate, or stay in the program?

Tammy: How many are staying in Knoxville after they graduate.

Julia: Got you.

Tammy: And so, what's interesting, though, a lot of them, you know, they're really bright students and a lot of them are going to grad school and other states or they're going to do Peace Corps or Teach for America, but the indicators are that they want to come back to Knoxville, which that makes it a higher percentage, which is great. But we've got work to do. I mean, we've still got, you know, to work to keep them here, right? But the beautiful part of that is in our—so that was in the ten years that we've had it, we've had 23 Torchbearers come from our program. So, we love that. That's the highest academic honor at UT.

Julia: Wow.

Tammy: Yeah. And one year, all seven torchbearers were from our program, which that was kind of unheard of. But um, yeah, so we love that. So, then the fourth program, we started in 2014, and that is Youth Leadership Knoxville. And this is for, the students apply their sophomore year and it's about February timeframe of their sophomore year, and they go through their junior year of high school.

And about three years ago, I approached Pellissippi State with this idea because I thought, you know, we've got this great partnership with UT and we love Pellissippi State, and we love Dr. Wise, and how can we do something that would work with them, too? And had this idea approached him with it and he didn't hesitate. He jumped in, you know, all in, which I love about him. But the idea was, you know, could we change our curriculum somewhat for the youth and could we partner with Pellissippi State and have one of your college professors who teaches leadership, teach the leadership curriculum to the youth and make this an accredited class?

So, the beauty of this—

Julia: Yeah. Okay.

Tammy: We have about 50 to 55 students every year. They come from all Knox County public high schools and private schools, and we have a few home school students every year as well. But again, once they're selected, they have to register as a student at Pellissippi State. And so, then they do their classwork online as if they were a full-time students at Pellissippi. They are having the experience of communicating with a college professor.

So, it's kind of giving them a leg up. If they've never done dual enrollment, this is giving them that opportunity to experience what taking a college class is going to feel like. And at the end of their youth leadership year, they earn three hours of college credit from Pellissippi State. So, we love this program. And it's a lot of fun.

I will tell you, Courtney was actually in last year's class and she still talks to her classmates. And I love hearing the stories of these kids and how they're coming home from college and they have groups getting together. And it's all because their friendships, you know, formed in youth leadership. And I'll tell you my favorite story was probably about three years ago. It was pre-Covid; I guess it was in 2019.

I was with our kids and we'd gone to volunteer at the Knoxville area Urban League Shoes for Schools. We're one of the largest volunteer groups, we take our kids every years the volunteer service project. They're wearing their youth leadership t-shirts and they help whatever needs to be done, we do it, whether it's picking up trash, interpreting for some of this lost kids to help them find their parents, giving out waters, you name it. And I happened to come across a booth and it was a senior who had just graduated. And she had been in the cla—no, actually no. She was going into her senior year, forgive me. But she had been in the previous year's youth leadership class. I'm like, "What are you doing?"

And she said, "I loved this event so much last year that I've spent the last year collecting 2500 books and I'm giving them away today. And I've categorized them by ages for the kids." So, that's one student and that impact of that exposure to this event and how it moved her to action. And that's just a simple example, though, of the things that we see happen. And sometimes we know the stories and sometimes we don't, but that's the beauty of it, right? And when it connects in the servant leadership kicks in, and they want to give back and they want to be a change agent. So, that's that program.

So, then in 2017, we actually started a civic, what I call is a civic solutions lab. And it's called Connect Knox and—not Connect the Knox, but Connect Knox—

Julia: [laugh].

Tammy: —[laugh] and what we've done in this is we were identifying through—we did some report cards for the community, and we did those in '17, '18, and '19, where we had the data guys from the chamber and from the city and the county and from UT worked together—they had never met, never worked together—and so we put them together to help us measure some key factors, you know, to see as a city are we thriving? As a city and a county are we thriving? And then how do we compare on these indicators to the 865, the region? And then how do we compare to the state? And what it gave us were green, yellow, or red lights of where we're doing good, where we need to be looking out, and where we've got work to do to move the needle in a different direction.

And so, we're in the process of maybe reconstituting that work—again, Covid put everything on hold—but when we were identifying issues, part of our work was also, you know, it was trying to identify, like, early childhood literacy was one of the huge indicators for us, right? And so, one of the things we did was identify who are the stakeholders that are doing all of this work around literacy. And then we would invite them to meetings. Nobody had ever been inviting them all together to be in one space to talk about what everybody's doing and to talk about where we are and where we need to be and how can we collaborate. How can we work better together to get us, you know, to move that needle?

And so, that's really the role of Connect Knox. And then, in addition to that, another thing that we launched in 2017—and we did it 2017, 2018, and 2019, and I'm committed to bringing it back in 2023—but it was called the Big Table. And what I loved about this, I got this idea from Cleveland, Ohio—actually, I'm sorry, Columbus, Ohio. Sorry, to my Cleveland friends. It was from Columbus. And they had actually—they are the ones who launched this, but there are cities all across the US that are doing some sort of event like this. They may call it different things.

But what we would do is we would identify a day for the Big Table. And let's say it's—I'm going to make up a date—it's August 23rd. On August 23rd, leading up to that time, we would ask people all across Knoxville to be a Big Table host. And so Julia, if you are Big Table host, I'd say, okay, you get to choose what time you want to do it on August 23rd, if it's in the morning, if it's early morning, mid-morning, noon, night, whatever. If it's around, you know, lunch, or if it's around drinks, or if it's just around water and lemonade, whatever that looks like for you.

And you want to do it at your home or your place of business or in a community library? You choose, right? That the concept was, you would invite four people that you know, that probably don't know each other, and you would ask each of them to bring someone that you don't know.

Julia: Wow.

Tammy: And so, the idea was to have 10 to 12 people sitting around a table for about an hour, hour-and-a-half, meeting each other, probably for the first time. And just talking about what are the things you love about our community? What do you love about Knoxville? And, you know, then if there are things that you could change, what would those things be? And I'll tell you, I hosted—and you'll love this as a realtor—I hosted some guys in my neighborhood that had moved here from Chicago several years ago. And they came in 2019, that was the last year that we did it.

And one of the things they told me is when they moved from Chicago, they knew they were moving to the south, and it was either going to be—they were looking at Asheville, North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, or Nashville. They had only been to Asheville, they'd never been to Knoxville, and they'd never been to Nashville. So, they went to Asheville and they were kind of iffy. They didn't know that they liked it as much as they thought they did. So, they came to Knoxville and Bill says, "Gary and I are driving down Kingston pike and we see a Jewish synagogue." And he said, we looked at each other and thought, "Wow. We thought this was the Bible Belt. There's a Jewish synagogue here. This is great." And then he said, and not even, you know, half a mile later, there's a second temple. And he said, "This is amazing. This has to be"—their thoughts immediately went to—"This has to be a welcoming community." And I completely paused because I thought I've lived here 20 to 30 years and I've never looked at the diversity of religion and how we have it and that for a same-sex couple was viewed as a way of welcoming them.

Julia: Yeah.

Tammy: And that really was—that really blew my mind. Long story short, they had a house under contract in Knoxville within four hours of being here.

Julia: Wow.

Tammy: So, you know, little things like that we can't take for granted, right? They didn't talk to anybody. They just went and found a house and made an offer, and it happened to be in my neighborhood. So anyways, those are things, those are the kinds of stories that I love hearing. And I don't think we get there and get deep enough, necessarily, unless we're intentionally in relationship with people who are very different from us. And so, it takes work.

Julia: Well, we only have eight minutes left. So, I feel like we need to do a podcast on each of the programs—

Tammy: Yeah, I'd love that.

Julia: Because I feel like each one of those in and of itself is a—yeah, I would, too, actually. Do, like, a leadership series on Connect the Knox. I think that's a big deal. So, we have eight minutes left.

Tammy: Yeah because I've got two things left to tell you.

Julia: Well, we're going to have to—we're going to—we'll have to bring them back because we need to talk about how people can get in touch with you—

Tammy: Sure.

Julia: Where they can go to learn more about it, websites, information. Let's get into that a little bit. So, that way we can ask just a few more questions.

Tammy: Absolutely.

Julia: How can people find you and find more information?

Tammy: Absolutely. They can call our office or they can email me. My email address is twhite, T-W-H-I-T-E—at leadknox.com. And our website address is www.leadershipknoxville.com. And then our main office number—and you know, I never call it—oh, it's right here. It's [laugh] 865 I knew you were going to laugh—523-9137.

And I do have to tell you, we are launching another program next June and it is going to be called Encore, and we are targeting people who are either close to retirement or in retirement and looking for ways that we can really plug in for their talents of these sages and get them better engaged in community.

Julia: You're going to have to make that a year-long event that can't be just six weeks. There are so many retirees here. I get asked that all the time. "What can I do? What can I do?"

Tammy: Yeah.

Julia: I've got a whole book of people to send to you.

Tammy: Okay, awesome.

Julia: You already got—I've got a built-in volunteer base for you for your very first time.

Tammy: That's awesome.

Julia: Seriously.

Tammy: And then hopefully we can toss you some business Julia because we're going to be hosting our national conference, people who do what I do and our team does. I have an amazing team at Leadership Knoxville that our colleagues from across the country are coming to Knoxville next July for our national conference. So, we'll be hosting them here. So, maybe there'll be some of them might be wanting to stay.

Julia: Yes. And some people to interview.

Tammy: Yeah, absolutely.

Julia: Yeah. We got the podcast, so we thought—yeah, and at that point, they will be connected to Knoxville. So, a lot of their conversations can get out. We've got about 175,000 followers on TikTok channel—

Tammy: Awesome.

Julia: So, we kind of we tend to, like, push out our local content very hard. It's very relative.

Tammy: Oh, yeah. I've seen it. It's awesome.

Julia: All right, four minutes left. This is my favorite round of every podcast. It's my absolute favorite—

Tammy: Oh, this has to be the favorites stuff.

Julia: Okay. It is my favorite. So, this is the most difficult question I always ask.

Tammy: Okay.

Julia: When people visit you that have never been here before, what place do you take them that if any—like, no one else really knows about? Or maybe you think no one else knows about? What's your secret spot to entertain out-of-area people?

Tammy: Oh, my secret spot. Oh, gosh. Okay, I love the Botanical Gardens. I think that is an amazing place. And I love Ijams, as well. And then always go to the KMA, the Knoxville Museum of Art, and then the East Tennessee History Center.

Those are probably my four favorite things, favorite places to visit and take people. And in fact, we're always taking our classes from Intro Knox to all of these venues because it's they're so important. And they're little hidden gems to a lot of people.

Julia: Our mutual good friend, Glory Johnson said the same. The Botanical Gardens was her very first one. I was like, "Man, that's a good one. That is such a good one to add to the list."

Tammy: Yes.

Julia: Favorite restaurant?

Tammy: Any Randy Burleson concept. I love Randy, I love everything from Aubrey's to the—

Julia: I need this man on my podcast.

Tammy: Yes. It's a—

Julia: Oh, my gosh. Every single person—not a joke. Even people that aren't from here. I interviewed a guy from Johnson City. Not from here. I said, "What's your favorite restaurant?" He said, "Aubrey's."

Tammy: Yeah, I love Aubrey's, I love Bistro, Sunspot, Fieldhouse Social. Like if you want if you don't want to watch a game at home, go to Fieldhouse Social. It's amazing. Yeah. Any anything he does is awesome. And he was an LK alum, too, so I got to talk good about him [laugh].

Julia: Oh, that's fantastic to know. I'm telling you, though, every single person has said Aubrey's. Hands down, Aubrey's. So, I think that man has definitely got a talent for pleasing people. All right.

Tammy: I love it.

Julia: Favorite grocery store?

Tammy: Butler & Bailey, hands down. Rocky Hill, that's my hood. I love it. And it's so small but it's got everything you need. In and out. You're in and out. It's awesome. But because it's so small and it's so popular, you don't want to go looking haggard because you're going to run into somebody you know, always [laugh].

Julia: [laugh]. I learned that the hard way. I learned that the hard way. I would go out and I would just be normal, you know, ponytail, hat, and I would always run into somebody. And then I would dress up and no one would ever be around. I'm like, "Listen."

Tammy: [laugh]. Love it. Love it.

Julia: Favorite bar. It can also be a restaurant, but favorite bar.

Tammy: Okay. I do love, if you want to drink with a view, the Five Thirty Lounge rooftop at the Hyatt Place downtown. It is spectacular.

Julia: Oh, my gosh, yeah. I totally forgot about that.

Tammy: Yeah. You're looking at the amazing mountain view of East Tennessee. And then if you want a little privacy and you don't want to be seen, the speakeasy bar which is called the Library at the Oliver Hotel downtown. Love it that it's limited capacity, like, 40 people.

Julia: It is. All right. One minute or less, so I'm going to sign off here. This is Connect the Knox. I'm your hostess with the mostest, Julia Hurley, connecting the nation with Knoxville, Tennessee. And today's guest—and we are having her back to talk about every single one of these leadership programs—Leadership Knox CEO, Tammy White, one of the most important people in Knoxville, and she claims that she's not, which tells you servant and humble leadership is at the forefront of Knoxville. Tammy, thank you. Hug Courtney for me. I'm very excited for her future. Very big congratulations. Thank you for Connecting the Knox.

Tammy: Appreciate you, Julia. Thank you.

Randy Boyd, legendary Knoxville entrepreneur and current President of the University of Tennessee, is a lifelong Knoxvillian who's dedicated to giving back to his community. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, he describes how an early failed business in his career lead him to where he is today, and the work he's doing to help send Tennessee kids to college free of charge. Randy and Julia discuss how UT is growing along with the rest of Knoxville, and ways that the local community can get involved in their Everywhere You Look, UT campaign.

Highlights:00:00 Intro

00:50 Randy introduces himself and describes his dedication to Knoxville and family

2:13 Randy describes his entrepreneurial journey and how he started his non-profit, tnAchieves

05:12 Why Randy launched the "Everywhere You Look, UT" campaign

10:32 Randy describes the partnership between UT and Oak Ridge National Lab

12:33 The Tennessee Promise program and how it inspired Randy to create something similar for UT

16:10 The growth plan for UT Knoxville and the rest of the UT campuses state-wide

19:13 Ad - Just Homes Group

19:58 How people can help support the Everywhere You Look, UT campaign

21:03 Randy describes his running career and his favorite marathons

23:46 Julia fires off her lightning-round questions on Randy's favorite local spots

Links:

• tnAchieves: https://tnachieves.org/

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Transcript:

Julia: Welcome, everybody to Connect the Knox. I'm your hostess with the mostest, Julia Hurley, connecting the nation to Knoxville, Tennessee. Today's guest is literally my all-time favorite Knoxvillian. I don't know how everybody else feels about it, but that's just how you're going to get it today. Mr. Randy Boyd, University of Tennessee Knoxville's president, all-around most amazing father, most amazing son, most amazing husband, most amazing friend, I think the best president UT has ever had. I'm going to keep going. But we're going to start and let him talk a little bit about himself. Randy, can you tell us a little bit about you, about your family, your Knoxville history, and how you ended up where you are today?

Randy: Oh thanks, Julia. And I'm going to go back and check your other podcasts and see if you introduce all your other guests exactly the same way.

Julia: [laugh].

Randy: But for the moment at least, I'm going to suspend disbelief and say thank you for that very kind introduction. But yeah, I'm a Knoxville native, born and raised, president of the University of Tennessee. I tell everybody all the time that I'm going to be a resident long after I'm a president. This is where I was born and this is where I'll finish the rest of my lives. I guess if I started with the most important thing to know about me is that I'm a grandfather.

I'm called Poppi and I have two granddaughters that are the most adorable in the world. One's four-and-a-half; she's [Wiley 00:01:23]. Another that's two; her name is Penelope. I have two sons. One is the father of my granddaughters, Thomas, and his wife Lindsay, and my younger son is Harrison.

Both live in Fourth & Gill in Knoxville, Tennessee. I've been married to Jenny now for 37 years. We've known each other for 39 years, and we built this wonderful life here in Knoxville. She's the talent in the family. She plays the clawhammer banjo, the fiddle, the mandolin, and owns Boyd's Jig and Reel. That's her place where she has—

Julia: My favorite restaurant.

Randy: Oh, thank you for that. She tries to—her mission is to preserve and promote our musical heritage, which is the Scots, the Irish, the African music that kind of combined here and created this great music scene that we think of as Appalachian Country, and all the things that emanated from it. So, that's her contribution to the community. For me, Born and raised in Knoxville, went to the University of Tennessee. First one of my family's history to graduate from college.

Started my first business at age 23, which failed. I always tell young people that it's always a good I—

Julia: Fail forward.

Randy: Yes. It's always good to get a failure out of the way early. You learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes. Started a second company that was a bit more pedestrian, selling electric fencing out of the back of a Dodge [unintelligible 00:02:41] van with no air, no radio. Customers started asking me for this product called the Invisible Fence.

Make a long story short, I decided to make one of my own. 30 years later, it's an $800 million company with 4000 products and 1400 employees selling in 45 countries around the world. I sold the company about July of 2020. Meanwhile, had a few other little side projects. I've been Special Advisor for higher education for Governor Haslam and was able to create something called the Tennessee Promise and the Drive to 55.

I was able in 2017 to start a nonprofit called tnAchieves, which has now sent over 130,000 kids to community college free of charge. They've all on their own, have provided 4 million hours worth of community service, so we're really proud of that little organization. Got to serve as Commissioner of Economic and Community Development. Had a lot of great projects working with Governor Haslam that I wanted to keep going and the best way I felt like to make sure that they didn't end was to run for governor myself. That didn't work out but I ended up in an even far better place.

I believe God always has a better plan for you than you do for yourself and I'm now the president of the University of Tennessee. I'm just about to hit my four-year anniversary on November 26th, 2022. And it's been just an incredible adventure. I believe that if you want to serve the people of Tennessee, the University of Tennessee is the best place that you can do that.

Julia: I feel like after you lost the gubernatorial election, that Covid hit, and honestly [laugh] I was like, "Hmm…" I felt like God had a better plan for Mr. Randy Boyd. When you started at the University of Tennessee—it's one of the biggest campuses that I've ever visited. I've visited all the state—the SEC colleges anyway. I was very lucky to have that, my very first failure, at the age of 23 myself, so I understand and appreciate that.

As you continue to grow UT, there's a project that you all have: Everywhere You Look, UT. And when you started doing that and really promoting it, I genuinely felt like, even just living in the area, we saw more of UT everywhere. And now we're looking at—I can see places—the second largest fanbase in the world by the way, right behind Florida, and I think that's only because they have Gatorade. That's the only reason I think that people know about Florida is Gatorade. But University of Tennessee is the second largest fanbase, and I feel like as president, you're not just growing the sports fanbase, you're actually growing the college fanbase.

I've relocated less than I think 25 to 30 new professors that are teaching new and exotic ways to think outside the box, new curriculums, new conversations. Tell us about that project and what you're really growing there.

Randy: Well, so the Everywhere you Look UT campaign isn't so much a project but a brand awareness campaign to make sure that people understood that Everywhere You Look, UT is present across the state of Tennessee. We are the land-grant university for the state of Tennessee, which means we are here to serve the people of Tennessee. Unlike a lot of other universities, our mission is to serve the people of Tennessee. And we literally are everywhere. And you know, President, I'm not just responsible for UT Knoxville, but for all of our campuses.

In the West, we have the UT Health Science Center that trains over 70% of the dentists and over 40% of the doctors for our state. And they have five campuses around the state. They're not just in Memphis. They have faculty and students in Nashville, working out of the hospitals in Knoxville, in Chattanooga, in Jackson, Tennessee. And they have exactly 888 different clinics across the state of Tennessee providing medical care to people in the state at the same time training students.

Then of course we have UT Martin in Northwest Tennessee. And they have five satellite campuses all across West Tennessee. We have UT Chattanooga. They became a University of ours 52 years ago when they were acquired into the system. They had 1000 students then; now they have over 11,000. Doing a fabulous job in that part of the state.

At UT Knoxville, our flagship, we've grown by over 15% last year in our undergraduate enrollment. It's 32,000 students now. And within UT Knoxville, we also have the Institute of Agriculture with an extension office in every single one of our 95 counties across the state. And then finally, we just added a new campus called UT Southern in Pulaski, Tennessee. We created something called the UT Promise a few years ago that says if your family income is under $60,000, you can come to any of our campuses, free of tuition and fees.

Julia: Wow.

Randy: So, that makes it possible—

Julia: Wow.

Randy: —for over half the population to come to UT for free. But if you can't, if you lived in Southern Middle Tennessee, there was no campus anywhere near you. The only way you could have come get a college education at UT was to move and live on campus. And if you're like a lot of people, leaving your family is not an option. And so, by acquiring what used to be called Martin Methodist, we now have a new UT campus in Pulaski, Tennessee, changing and transforming that part of our state forever, giving more high-quality public education opportunities for the people in that area. Also, by the way, we manage this little laboratory over in Oak Ridge called Oak Ridge National Labs, which I'm currently the chairman of UT-Battelle that runs the lab as well. So—

Julia: Just a little, just a little something extra [laugh].

Randy: Across the state, literally everywhere you look, UT is there with the mission of providing more opportunity for more people to get a great education and a better job and a better life.

Julia: Combined with what you have actually been able to accomplish in your very short lifespan of being here, let's say, you know, at all—at 23, so you barely had 30 years in this business of being in business, what you have accomplished in this very short time having such a successful campaign of passion, especially toward education. We—I just had an interview with Loudoun County Education Foundation Director, Michelle Lewis, and she actually commented on this as well that education feels like—and I've said this—it feels like it's changing and it's changing so fast. And having someone like you're passionate for this education growth and the workforce development, what future do you see UT playing in more of a mechanical, hands-on process, versus just the university path? Where are we headed with that, do you think?

Randy: Well, I think the University of Tennessee is going to be training a lot of the teachers that provide the education and a lot of our other types of schools. But that but there is a difference between I think what maybe what she was referring to in the technical fields that you would [unintelligible 00:09:29] one of our Tennessee colleges of applied technology. Those are critically important to our state and we're trying to be great partners with them in our community colleges. Where I think the university's biggest role is in providing transfer pathways to those students. So, they should go to the state—the [unintelligible 00:09:46] should go to a technical school and get some of that hands-on training, but then some will want to transfer into a community college, and then others still will decide, you know, actually, I want to learn even more and I'd like to transfer to a university and be able to get a bachelor's degree in engineering. It was great to learn to weld, it was great to get a mechatronics associate's degree, but I think I could actually like to get it all, a mechanical engineering degree. And our role in that continuum is to be great partners for the technical colleges and the community colleges.

Julia: That is amazing. What's the new partnership—it's not new—but what is the partnership like with Oak Ridge National Lab? That's actually been a topic of conversation a lot recently. A lot of relocations coming in with Bechdel on top of that and a lot of things come out of Washington DC. In this very small town. I don't think people know that the Knoxville, Tennessee, area houses all of this and the responsibility is connected.

Randy: Yeah, Oak Ridge National Labs has had tremendous growth over the last ten years. In fact, I'm going to be celebrating soon at a retirement party with Thomas Zacharia who has led a lot of that growth after having served as the lab director for the last five years. But the lab has grown over 2000 employees in the last five years. There are now an organization with 6500 of some of the smartest engineers and scientists, the most loyal, dedicated staff in the country. They'll do $2.7 billion in research this year, which is also up, like, 40% over what it was just ten years ago.

The partnership with UT has been since the very beginning. UT's engineers and faculty members helped in the creation of the lab back in the '40s. Twenty-two years ago, the Department of Energy had a bid for a contract to manage the lab. The University of Tennessee partnered with Battelle out of Ohio for that bid and we won. And so, now we've been the managing partner in partnership with Battelle for 22 years.

Every five years, the bid comes up for renewal. We're hopeful that we're going to be the managing partner of Battelle—or Oak Ridge National Labs, hopefully for decades to come. We have a really, really close relationship.

Julia: Yeah. Huge. It's huge. I think that is one of the biggest research facilities in the country.

Randy: It is the largest non-weapons research facility in the country.

Julia: Right. All housed again, in the Knoxville, Tennessee market. A lot of things that people just don't know. A little bit about the Connect the Knox situation is connecting the dots in Knoxville to the things that go outside of this area. And a big question I had for you—going to revert back to education; I still think that is such, such an amazing opportunity for the rest of the country to mimic, maybe, or possibly, you know, rip off and develop your process for getting kids a free education. How is the University of Tennessee Knoxville's platform, I guess, as president allowing you to have those conversations and show the rest of the nation, hey, this can work and you can build your workforce out at almost no cost?

Randy: So, I'm really—as I mentioned—really proud of the work that we did around the Tennessee Promise. And that's a state-led program that allows everybody in the state of Tennessee to be able to go to a technical college or community college free of charge, forever. And they were matched with a mentor, which is so critically important to make sure that not only go but they're also successful once they get there. And they also—and it's technically not free because when they go, they also had to do one day's worth of community service each semester. So, that's the Tennessee Promise program.

When I got to UT, seeing how well the Tennessee Promise program worked for students wanting to go to technical community colleges, I wanted to do something similar at the University of Tennessee. The trick to the Tennessee Promise was that it's a last-dollar scholarship so that at the state, we would apply or provide the funding for students to be able to go that was already provided by either state programs like HOPE Scholarship, or federal programs like Pell. Now, the fact is that 53% of those students could have gone free anyway, they just didn't know it. We apply that same kind of logic and same kind of plan to that program that we call the UT Promise which says that if you can academically earn the right to any one of our colleges you can go—universities, you can go free of tuition and fees. We're the first system across the country to be able to do that.

[unintelligible 00:14:21] means there have been a few other single campuses that have done some programs somewhere, but no statewide system had ever done anything like what we were able to do. And I mean, it's been game-changing for so many families and students. Last year we had over 1100 students be able to come to one of our campuses completely free of tuition and fees as a part of this program. They also are required to have a mentor, which even though it's a requirement, it's actually a benefit to have somebody, like yourself maybe, like so many others that volunteer to help support these students and then also like Tennessee Promise, they're required to do a community service project, which I think is also not only something that—a way in which they're giving back but they're also learning at the same time. Because a lot of times they get exposed to programs they might not otherwise have known about and find that they have a passion for it. So, we actually create lifelong people that want to give back to their community. So, we're really excited about that program.

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Julia: It feels good because I was actually waiting in line, I don't know, a [Petros 00:15:50], I think, at the UT football game a couple of games ago, and this young lady next to me, she says, "Julia?" And I was like, "Yes, that would be me." She goes, "You were my mentor in Tennessee Promise." And I was like, "That is—" right there, just standing right next to me.

So, I mean, you get some sense of she's there, she's accomplished, she's telling me all about it. And she walked back to our chairs with us and she was so sweet. And I was like, one, I can't believe you remembered me, and two, I can't believe that fortuitously we were standing here together, it's your junior year, you're about to graduate. You get such a reward of giving back to these kids. And it's just like they actually remember the impact you have on them and it changes your life and their life and the whole community. It's an opportunity.

Randy: I think sometimes we mentors, or just adults in general, forget how—or even supervisors or leaders in organizations—forget how a kind, supportive word at the right time can transform somebody's direction. And you don't—sometimes you don't even think about it. You don't think it's very material, but it really does make a huge difference. And we're always recruiting mentors [unintelligible 00:16:55] turns into a pitch for recruiting mentors because we'll always be [closing 00:16:58]—

Julia: That's okay. Take what you can get [laugh].

Randy: But the time that's required is so minimal but the impact that it can make on a person's life can be so, so transformative. It's a great investment that really makes a difference.

Julia: Where do you see the future of the University of Tennessee, including—I mean, it's a small town in and of itself, right? 32,000 people, that's almost as big as our county over here, one county over. Where do you see the growth on that? How are we going to continue housing the students on campus? Are we going to continue to build outskirt campuses? What's your growth plan there?

Randy: Yeah. Well, so—and remember, I as the president of the University of Tennessee system responsible for all the campuses, and we have 53,000 students across the state and each one of them has their own growth plans. UT Knoxville has a tremendous amount of demand, more than we could possibly bring in. Well actually, we had 38,000 students apply to come to UT Knoxville, we're only able to bring in 6800. This coming year, I can tell you that the applications are going to be even greater still.

So, it's a real challenge to be able to choose the few very fortunate students to get to come. But in every case, we've got to make sure we give them a great experience. So, one of our challenges as we continue to grow is to make sure we're building out housing, building out apartments on campus, but also encouraging the broader community. If we had a growth plan to add 5000 additional beds—we have about 8000 now—if we had another 5000 over the next five years, which would be incredibly aggressive, that would only meet the enough for the freshmen and about 25% of the sophomores, which means as this growth keeps continuing, your upperclassmen are going to need more and more beds.

So, the same number of beds that we're having to increase for the freshmen and that percentage of the sophomores, the broader community is going to need to be able to create. So, we're—just for Knoxville campus alone, we need a tremendous amount of new construction. And then you add to it all the faculty and the staff that come here to support them. One of our biggest challenges in Knoxville is creating the housing to meet just UT Knoxville's growth in addition to all the other businesses that are growing.

Julia: Amen to that. It's one of our biggest struggles in my industry as well. We're constantly asking for more land to be open for development. There's only so much land around your campuses, even statewide though. How do you find more opportunity for growth, like the land and the building? How does that come across?

Randy: Well, I think [unintelligible 00:19:38] of think about land differently. If you look at the University of Tennessee on an aerial map, there's a tremendous amount of it—I don't know the exact percentage, but a tremendous amount of surface parking. I think we just can't afford to have a significant part of our campus anywhere taken up by surface parking. So, changing the way we think about parking is one. And also maybe the way you think about even allowing cars on campus.

You know, a lot of campuses around the country don't allow cars for their students in their freshman year. And so, we think about what kind of impact that would have on the need for parking, which then what impact that would have on our space. So, we're going to have to be more efficient with the land that we have, we're going to need to be going up, and we'll have opportunities to go and expand a bit as well. A project that—this will be interesting to the those that are in Knoxville, if they don't know, but the city along with UT has proposed to the governor to finance a pedestrian bridge from Thompson–Boling River over to the South Knoxville waterfront, if the state provides the funding to do that, if the governor funds that, then suddenly, there could be a whole community on the other side of the river that can walk to UT's campus within ten minutes. And that would be a tremendous boost for that part of our community and gives us the ability to have some additional very accessible residential space.

Julia: Is there anything that the public in all 95 counties can do to educate themselves more on what they can be involved in, what they can't be involved in, how they can help grow or maintain? What can everybody help University of Tennessee do for that Everywhere You Look, UT, and they can understand how to be involved in that and watch its growth?

Randy: Yeah, there's so many opportunities, but reaching out to your local campus. If you're in Northwest Tennessee, reaching out to UT Martin or UT Southern, there's so many volunteer opportunities. One of the things that I've been amazed at in this University of Tennessee system is how many people step up and volunteer. So, much of the work is done by volunteers, people that either graduated or just have an affinity to the University of Tennessee. So, reach out to the local campuses and volunteer.

Another opportunity is reach out to the local extension office. Again, we have one in every county, they have all kinds of programs, including 4-H. We have 186,000 4-H students in the state of Tennessee. They're all managed by the 4-H agents at UT's extension offices. So, UT manages that whole program and they are always looking for volunteers. There's unlimited ways in which one can volunteer. If you have no time, you just got a lot of money, you can also donate as well.

Julia: [laugh]. If you have a lot of money and you're looking to donate, I'll find a way to connect you. That's the whole point of the podcast. I'm going to shift gears just a bit. A lot of things that people do know about you and don't know about you: you are an avid runner, and I think that by even just looking at your social media pages, and now UT's social media because you are head to toe orange wherever you go; everyone knows where you UT is. Tell us a little bit about your running career and some of your favorite places and maybe not so favorite places of where you run.

Randy: Well, first of all, I will say, I do run a lot, but I do it from my mental health as well as my physical health. And I only get participation medals. I'm never standing on a podium, just to be clear. But I have done a lot. I have ran 47 full marathons and 85 half marathons. Goals would be to run 100 halves, 50 fulls.

And I want to do a full one every continent. I've done three continents so far, including Antarctica last December, which that's a whole podcast story, but it was very, very challenging. It just turns out by the way, it's pretty difficult getting to Antarctica. Getting there was an adventure just by itself. But my favorite marathon is New York. I've done it 15 times in a row.

I just did it two weeks ago and I like it because of just the pageantry and the immenseness of it. There's 35,000 runners from 150 different countries, 2 million fans along the way. It's a spectacle. And it's just really fun to be a part of. And so, that'll probably the one that you know, at age 90, I'm just trying to stay ahead of the street sweepers and try to get my medal and finish. But that'll be the one that I'll continue to do forever.

Julia: I just finished a half marathon at Disney about three weeks ago and it was not—

Randy: Good for you.

Julia: —yeah thank you. I'm back running. It took me two years to heal for my injury. It's not going to keep me down, so I was like, "We're going to fix this. I'm getting back on the road." Those balloon ladies were one mile behind me the whole time. I was like, "You're not getting me. You're not getting me." I made it, but I [unintelligible 00:24:18] understand the struggle bus. I understand the struggle bus.

Listen, is there anything that anybody out here right now, anything you need to be connected to? You're very connected in and of yourself, but is there anything that anybody on our podcasts that can help UT or help you grow, get to know? Is there anything you need to be connected with that Connect the Knox can help you with today?

Randy: I'd say just what we talked about earlier. Go to the local campus website, reach out to a local extension office. Probably most everybody on this call knows somebody that is involved in UT; ask them how you can help. This university is here to serve the people of Tennessee, but it serves best when the people of Tennessee are also serving the university and we all work together to make a difference. And I hope that we can. Julia, thanks so much for letting me be on with you today.

Julia: Oh no, this has been my pleasure. It always is. You always make time for everybody, and I think again, that's the servant leadership part you've always had, always. Love to do a whole 'nother podcast on that. I'm telling you. I got a whole lot of [unintelligible 00:25:18] Randy Boyd stories. Anyway, fire round: favorite Knoxville restaurant?

Randy: Boyd's Jig and Reel.

Julia: Boom. It is the best. It's where I take all my [NIL 00:25:28] kids on the football team for lunches because they never leave campus and I'm like just meet me at the Jig and Reel [laugh] and they love it. They love it. Favorite bar?

Randy: Also Boyd's Jig and Reel.

Julia: [laugh]. Why, though?

Randy: Yeah. But I'd say Brother Wolf, right next door—

Julia: Oh yeah, it's really good.

Randy: —would be—

Julia: Jig and Reel has the world's largest Scotch selection, correct?

Randy: That's right. And if I were going upmarket, I go to the Brasserie.

Julia: Oh. Off Northshore. Yes, yes. Yes, they still have the whole Fish Fridays, which is rare to find anymore. Rare to find. Okay, let's see what we've got. Favorite grocery store?

Randy: I like Fresh Market. My wife likes Butler & Bailey though, so we're kind of a split family on that. I like Butler & Bailey, as well.

Julia: Butler & Bailey actually came up two podcasts ago. It's very interesting. Everybody's got a different conversation with how all the favorites. Favorite gas station?

Randy: Any Pilot. But also, I like [Weigel's 00:26:22], too.

Julia: Coffee?

Julia: Uh… you know, it's maybe not politically correct, but I do like Starbucks. I like to get a grande black [unintelligible 00:26:34]. It's two shots.

Julia: I'm big on the flat whites. They're fantastic. Flat whites. All right. I appreciate you. I'm not going to grill you anymore on favorites. Thank you so much for taking time. We know that your time is valuable. Everyone: Everywhere You Look, UT. This is UT president—and this is statewide—Randy Boyd, again one of my favorite people. And no, I don't introduce everybody like that. We're going to do another podcast on that run in Antarctica, and do just a runner's Podcast. I'm really excited for everything that you've done and appreciate you so greatly, again. Thank you for being on our show today. Is there a website specifically that everyone can go? I would love for them to look at the volunteer opportunity for tnAchieves.

Randy: Just Google UT and you'll find plenty, plenty of different ones. Thank you, Julia.

Julia: Thanks, Randy. Have a good one.

Randy: Bye-bye.

Julia: Bye.