Huddle Up with Gus

Welcome to Huddle Up with Gus, with 15 year NFL quarterback Gus Frerotte. As the United States is in full swing at the Tokyo Olympics, Gus is pleased to reprise his interview with Paralympic athlete Melissa Stockwell. Melissa is an amazing athlete, triathlete, swimmer and former U.S. Army officer. Stockwell is a co-founder of the Chicago-based Dare2tri Paratriathlon Club with Keri Serota and Dan Tun. She is a USA Triathlon Level I certified coach, and serves as a mentor and friend to her fellow Dare2tri athletes as they train and compete. She also serves on the board of directors for the Wounded Warriors Project, USA Triathlon Foundation, and the USA Triathlon Women’s Committee. She is a licensed prosthetist but is currently training for triathlon full-time at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. One of her pre-race rituals is that she always has to eat gummy worms the night before a race. She is married to Brian Tolsma and has two children, Dallas and Millie.

Welcome to the very best of Huddle Up with Gus! You’re in for a very special treat as we revisit Gus’ discussion with the great Matthew McConaughey about his love of football, how he became a Washington Football Team fan, what life was like growing up and how he juggles being a busy Hollywood icon and cheering on his favorite team in burgundy and gold.

Welcome to Huddle Up with Gus, with 15 year NFL quarterback Gus Frerotte! On today’s show Gus welcomes former professional baseball player Brett Lorin to discuss his love of all things sports and especially baseball. Brett shares with us what brought him to baseball, how he became disciplined enough to make it to the professional diamond and what life has been like for him and his family since leaving his active playing. The fellas also discuss the latest in what’s going on in the National Baseball League and look to rule changes and which players are going to end up where for the next season.

Welcome to Huddle Up with Gus with 15-year NFL quarterback Gus Frerotte! On today’s show, it’s a full hour with one of footballs nicest guys off the field, yet when on the field, was able to do serious damage to running backs skeletal structures. We are speaking of course of George Teague, who played with the Packers, Cowboys, and Miami and broke records and bones in each city. George shares is youth with Gus and what brought him to the gridiron, having grown up as an Air Force Brat. When his family did settle in one place, Gus and George discuss how life was like living in a small Alabama town, especially issues of race, competitive sports, and his education. Then, it is onto the NFL when Gus and George go through some of the best and the worse their careers offered them at the time. As mentioned, George is an awesome guy who you just want to hang out with and you’ll enjoy your time with him on today’s show. Thanks for tuning into Huddle Up With Gus!

Welcome to the Gus Frerotte Show with 15-year quarterback Gus Frerotte, who interviews the greatest sports figures, journalists, and supporters with compelling and often humorous discussions. To celebrate the 4th of July weekend, Gus is presenting a double-feature of interviews with two prominent sportswriters. First up is Andy Martino, a longtime sports journalist who has covered the New York Yankees for years and knows the ins and outs of the game like no one else. Then, Gus is honored to host Leigh Montville, author of tons of awesome sportsbooks with his latest being “Sting Like a Bee,” covering the late great Muhammad Ali.

Joining the Huddle this week is Duff Goldman. Duff is a chef and artist known for his dazzling, creative approach to food and his fantastic stories describing the simple science of baking. Duff starred on the hit Food Network show Ace of Cakes, set in his bakery, Charm City Cakes. He now has cake studios in Baltimore and Los Angeles. You can watch Duff bake and decorate on Food Network’s Duff Takes the Cake and mentor bakers on Kids Baking Championship. Duff believes we can discover our inner creativity and celebrate with each other through the fun of baking!
Duff played hockey and football in High School and went on to play Hockey and Lacrosse at College. Sports helped Duff understand the meaning of teamwork, and he is an incredible Captain and leader for his company. 
Check out all that Duff is doing on his website.
http://www.duff.com

Joining the Huddle this week is NFL Qb Drew Bledsoe. The First pick in the 1993 draft. Drew helped improve the fortunes of the Patriots, who had fallen on hard times. During his tenure as starting quarterback, the Patriots ended a seven-year postseason drought, qualified for the playoffs four times, and made one Super Bowl appearance. He also made it to three Pro Bowls.
Drew suffered a near-fatal injury early in the 2001 season; he got hit by New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis and suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest, which almost resulted in his death. This terrible injury leads to his backup Tom Brady becoming the team's starter. He could not regain his starting position for the remainder of the season due to Brady's success; Bledsoe subsequently played three seasons with the Bills. He made a fourth Pro Bowl appearance, and two with the Dallas Cowboys, before retiring during the 2007 offseason.
Upon his retirement from the NFL in 2007, Drew Bledsoe "doubled back" to his hometown of Walla Walla, Washington, to realize a long-held dream. Drew and his wife, Maura, purchased a piece of property on the southern edge of the Walla Walla Valley and subsequently launched Doubleback, https://doubleback.com, as an estate-focused winery to craft America's best Cabernet Sauvignon. Drew had long been planning for this moment during his years playing football, and success came immediately as the first vintage earned a spot in Wine Spectator's Top 100 List.

This week on Huddle Up with Gus is the President of Joe Gibbs Racing, Dave Alpern. Dave grew up in Northern Virginia and went to Oakton HS. When Joe Gibbs came to Washington to coach, Dave became friends with Joe's son JD. Dave attended George Mason University and would go to many Redskin games and become very close to the Gibbs family. Dave started his career as an unpaid intern selling T-shirts for the newly formed Joe Gibbs Racing team. Since then, he has held nearly every position in the front office, including overseeing consumer products, communications, and sponsorships before being named team president.
As one of the longest-tenured executives in the sport, Alpern has seen the team grow from 18 employees to nearly 600 and has worked with C-level executives for many of the world's top brands, such as Toyota, FedEx, Mars, Stanley, the Coca-Cola Company, and Comcast. In addition, Dave had been invited to the White House on multiple occasions after winning NASCAR championships in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2015, and 2019.
Dave is a regular university guest lecturer, particularly at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School for both their undergraduate and graduate business programs. He teaches marketing, sponsorship, and social media and also enjoys corporate speaking.
Dave is married to his college sweetheart, Stacey. They have three sons: twins who recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an audio engineering student at Belmont University in Nashville. His interests include snow skiing, snowboarding, surfing. He is also an avid fan of the Washington Redskins, the Washington Capitals, and the Carolina Tar Heels.

Check out Dave's new book: Taking the Lead.
In Taking the Lead, Dave shares the wisdom he's learned along the way: fundamental principles that will equip you with what you need to rise to the top and succeed with integrity and purpose—whatever team you're on.

This week's guest on Huddle Up with Gus is former professional soccer goalkeeper Jesse Bradley. He shares the journey that led to the end of his soccer career and his transition to becoming a pastor. Jesse is from Minneapolis and is a Vikings fan at heart--SHHH don't tell that to any Seattle fans.  
Jesse said his love of sports at an early age."At age three, I told my parents that I wanted to be a professional athlete." 
His parents divorced when he was 7, and he became more focused on academics and athletics during his teenage years. After graduating from Dartmouth College with a degree in Psychology, He was living out his childhood dream as a soccer goalkeeper. Jesse played soccer as a goalkeeper in the US, Scotland, and Zimbabwe. He currently leads faith and family night with the Seattle Sounders. 
Here is Jesse telling me an abbreviated version of his fight to stay alive and save his career.
"In Africa, I took prescribed medication to prevent malaria, and it built up toxic levels in my system. I was fighting for my life for a year, and it took ten years to recover. During this time, my life was transformed in the most profound ways: identity, faith, mindset, habits, career, and relationships. The greatest blessings and growth in life can emerge from the worst situations." After denying God's existence throughout his childhood, he never anticipated deciding to follow Jesus.
Thank you, Jesse, for sharing your story!
You can find Jesse and everything he is doing on his website: 
https://jessebradley.org

This week, joining me in the Huddle is Greg Nared. He holds the position of SVP Player Relations for the Dallas Mavericks and offers more than 25 years of experience in sales, athlete management, client relations and sports marketing. His primary focus is to provide strategic direction for youth basketball, community, player relations, and Mavs Entertainment. Greg has played an integral role in having one of the most innovative youth basketball programs in the NBA. Greg operated and owned the Greg Nared Agency, where he worked directly with professional athletes in both golf and basketball, including marketing the clients or products in promoting their career within his or her given field as well as any interests off the field of play. Greg is also responsible for meeting with team owners, managers, coaches, and other individuals to develop rapport and partnerships promoting the organization and the clients GNA represents. Much of his day is spent in contract negotiating, working with athlete sponsors, networking, speaking with other professionals and keeping abreast of current trends and information that may affect decisions the organization and agent recommend to the clients. Lastly, Greg's expertise and experience in investments, business management, finance, risk analysis, and trends in sports helped facilitate success in recruiting, developing, and sustaining clients and sponsorships. Before working at the Greg Nared Agency, Nared worked as the Vice President for Golf for the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, California. Greg was responsible for working directly with LPGA / PGA executives in helping to promote the athlete's career. Greg also worked on negotiating contracts in the best interest of the athlete. His role included improving salary, making provisions for injuries, and taking other options in place of salary increases. He made a recommendation to athletes regarding long-term as opposed to short-term benefits. Greg also worked on Brand and PR plans for athletes. In doing so, he worked on a short-term and long-term strategy that best fit the overall goals and objectives for athletes. Nared recruited athletes to increase the client base. Lastly, Nared worked very closely with Professional Golfer Extraordinaire Michelle Wie. He was responsible for day-to-day operations with the Wie family. He negotiated corporate sponsorship and appearance fees contracts, coordinated public relations, handled Michelle's schedule, and worked as an adviser to Wie. Nared also delivered 15 years of athlete management and strategic planning to Nike.
First joining Nike as the East Coast Field Representative for professional basketball in 1992, Greg led in the strategic development of NBA brand athletes, including Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Penny Hardaway. Nared was involved in orchestrating Sports Marketing efforts to support all product engines. He cemented the bond between Nike and key players, teams, and coaches through attention to service detail, personal relationship building, basketball knowledge, and intuition. Nared negotiated contracts managed marketing and advertising campaigns. He was promoted in 1995 to work as the Product Line Manager for Nike Basketball, consisting of men's, women's, and Jordan apparel. Two years later, he was promoted to work as the Business Affairs Manager for Tiger Woods. He managed all aspects of business around Tiger, including product development, budget, marketing, promotions, and public relations. He was also a key advisor to Tiger in the non-Nike industry. Nared played a crucial role in new business development for Nike Golf and Tiger, managed relationships with Tiger's sponsors, and helped generate over $10 million in incremental sales with critical partners such as General Motors, Tag Heuer, EA Sports, and American Express, and Upper Deck. Greg played a massive role in developing the Tiger Woods brand today. Before joining Nike, Greg was a Sales Manager for the Washington Bullets (Washington Wizards). He managed a sales representative team that sold season tickets to both individuals and corporations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. A native of Wilmington, Ohio, Nared holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of Maryland in College Park, where he lettered in basketball for 4 years. Nared founded the Boost Foundation, a non-profit organization serving Portland's at-risk youth. He also served as a board member for Self Enhancement, Inc., a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit organization, for 4 years. Greg speaks around the country at schools and on behalf of corporations about the value and importance of education.