Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview of the 2021 Thomas More Saints football team… We also use this opportunity to release the pregame interview that will air on the Saints Sports Network’s “Soon to be Awarding Winning” Pregame Show ahead of it’s home opening game against the Faulkner Eagles. Our guest is the head coach of the Saints Trevor Stellman and we talk about the program as a whole leading into the new fall season. We talk about the hard hitting issues both on and off the field. We start with the short recovery time after an unprecedented spring season and keeping his team healthy and safe during these times that younger people are more vulnerable during this time of the pandemic. We jump into what most wanted to really want to talk about and that’s football. We break down each position group and the tough Mid South Conference schedule that awaits the Saints this upcoming season. We also recap the 45-33 road win during week one over the Bluefield Rams plus preview the Faulkner matchup. We wrap things up by talking about the events surrounding the home opener kicking off the Centennial Season at Thomas More University. Episode #41 of Nobody’s Safe is a deep dive into the playing career of Trevor Stellman and you listen to that using this link: https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/41 You can follow Trevor Stellman on Twitter @CoachStellmanTM and the Thomas More football team @TMU_Football. You can also the Thomas More athletics department @tmusaints or visit the website thomasmoresaints.com. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our the fourth episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast we remember GLSCL Hall of Famer and former Cincinnati Steam General Manager Max McLeary. Brady, who succeeded Max as the GM of the Steam is joined by the current Steam General Manager Tony Brumfield to reminisce and tell Max stories. You can follow the Cincinnati Steam on their website at cincinnatisteam.com on its Facebook page, on Twitter @cincinnatisteam and Instagram @cincinnatisteam You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook and Instagram its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it’s simply @GLSCL… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest on the third episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast is the President of the Grand Lake Mariners Bill Montgomery. Bill helped bring the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League to Celina, Ohio in 1989. You can follow the Grand Lake Mariners on their website at grandlakemariners.com or on Twitter @GLMariners or on Instagram @grandlakemariners You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook and Instagram its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it’s simply @GLSCL… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest on the second episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast is Tom Usher from the Lima News. Tom has been around the Lima Locos franchise since its formation in 1987. You can follow Tom and his coverage of the Lima News on their website at https://www.limaohio.com/sports and Tom’s Twitter account @LimaUsher. You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook and Instagram its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it’s simply @GLSCL… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest on the first episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast is founded and the first commissioner of the GLSCL Gary Henschen. You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook and Instagram its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it’s simply @GLSCL… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is the recently retired head baseball coach at Northern Kentucky University Todd Asalon. This is super sized two-hour long episode where we cover it all. We talk first about Todd growing up on the Westside of Cincinnati as a good young catholic boy that transferred to Oak Hills becoming a three-sport star for the Highlanders. Todd played baseball at Northern Kentucky University from 1980-83 under the legendary head coach Bill Aker. We talk about “Akes” with this section being exclusive to Todd’s time playing for Aker. After his playing career ends Todd joins the work force running his own catering business until a chance encounter leads to the start of his coaching career. Todd begins coaching high school basketball and later baseball before he becomes an assistant coach at his alma matter NKU under his college head coach Bill Aker. He is hired for his first college head coaching job at Thomas More College. His last two years he serves as the athletic director and he finds it to be a challenge but very rewarding. In 2001, Todd replaces his mentor Bill Aker as the head coach of the Norse. He talks about even to this day it’s still Bill Aker’s program and the responsibility he felt in making “Akes” proud. We talk about all of the great teams he coached during the Division-II era and the challenges that he faced when the athletic department made the leap into Division-I. Todd was good friends and had great rivalries with the other coaches in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. We talk about Todd being at Bill Aker’s side when he passed away in 2011 and how Bill’s wife Joan insisted that he coached his team that day. One little known story we talk bout was how Todd and his pitching coach help stop an unmanned tractor trailer that was rolling through traffic on Alexandria Pike in Highland Heights. As we wrap up Todd talks about some of fondest memories as the head coach of the Norse and what is in store for his future. Todd gives his full endorsement to his pitching coach Dizzy Peyton who is the only candidate with ties to the program interviewing for the job. On June 8, 2021 just days before this podcast is released its announced that Peyton was hired as the third head coach in history of the NKU Norse baseball program. You can follow Todd Asalon on Twitter @ToddAsalon and keep up to date with the NKU Baseball team on Twitter @NKUNorseBSB or via the official NKU Athletics website at nkunorse.com You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Byron Larkin who is all-time leading scorer at Xavier University and since 1998 has been the radio analyst for the Musketeers. Byron is part of a famous family from Cincinnati, Ohio that includes four boys that all achieved athletic success. We first talk about Mr. and Mrs. Larkin (Robert and Shirley) and how they had just three rules for their sons when it came to playing sports. We talk about each one of his siblings including the eldest of the five Larkin children and the only girl who’s name is Robin. She didn’t play sports and was more into concentrating on her academics. Oldest brother Mike specialized in football and went to Notre Dame where he was a team captain as a linebacker under head coach Gerry Faust. Next in line was Barry who was a Hall of Fame shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds. Byron was next oldest and Stephen is the youngest of the group and he was mostly a career minor league baseball player who did play one game with the Cincinnati Reds. We get into Byron’s career starting with his time in high school at Archbishop Moeller High School. He was a Parade All-American football player. The 1986 team he played on won a state championship and a mythical national championship. His basketball career was very successful at Moeller as well. He looks back on playing for head coach Danny Ragland who he credits as being the best coach he ever played for during his career. After a recruitment that includes offers for both football and basketball, Byron commits to Xavier University for basketball. He talks about some of the interesting recruiting visits from coaches during his recruitment including from head coaches Bob Staak (Xavier) and Rollie Massimino (Villanova). We talk about some of the great highlights of Byron’s playing career at Xavier starting with the second game of his freshman season against Pitt where he has a breakout performance. Another highlight is his 45 points performance in the 1986 Midwestern City Conference tournament game against Loyola-Chicago. Byron credits his greatest moment during his college career when he helped lead Xavier to its first ever NCAA tournament win in 1987 against Missouri. We also talk about how he passes Anthony Hicks as the program’s all-time leading scorer and finishes his career with 2,696 points. You can’t talk to a Xavier basketball player without bringing up Crosstown Shootout against the University of Cincinnati. Byron is proud to boast that he is 3-1 against the Bearcats. Byron’s post-Xavier highlights we cover include a tryout for the Cincinnati Bengals, his six-year professional career overseas, having his jersey number 23 retired and Hall of Fame induction at Xavier University. In closing we talk about Byron’s broadcasting career as the radio analyst for Xavier games with his longtime play-by-play partner and dear friend Joe Sunderman. You can follow Byron on Twitter @blarkxu23 and keep up to date with Xavier on its athletics website at goxavier.com You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Richard Skinner who is Digital Sports Editor for Local-12 WKRC and the host of the Skinny Podcast. Skinny was born in Cincinnati and his parents worked for American Airlines. He spent his early years being relocated to New York and Oklahoma before returning to Northern Kentucky permanently when he was in middle school. He credits playing sports and his dad’s love for the Reds, Bengals and UK Wildcats for developing his passion. He has the opportunity to do play-by-play of UK home games and as a senior writes for the student newspaper The Kernel. Skinny was able to develop relationships with many of the veteran local media members. One person in particular that helped him was Keith Elkins who he teamed up with on those broadcasts of Kentucky games. After graduation Skinny returned to Northern Kentucky writing for a weekly newspaper and working as a producer at WCPO Channel 9. His first full-time job was working for a daily newspaper in Maysville, Kentucky called the Ledger Independent. After a few years, Skinny catches on with the Cincinnati Post doing a variety of jobs before landing his first full-time beat to cover. A fellow by the name of Tom Gamble is who got Skinny on board at The Post. Skinny was with the weekly paper called The Recorder when he started to doing some play-by-play work working for a man named Ted Bushelman. He credits Ted with taking a chance on him and giving him the opportunity to grow as a broadcaster doing many different such as bowling and steeplechases along with the more traditional sports. Skinny starts to also do radio shows on the local sports talk scene. One on his first pairings is with Art Schilchter. Skinny recalls Art and how talented he was a football player and broadcaster but how he was also self destructive due to his gambling addiction. Skinny also did a sports talk show on a local cable television show hosted by Don Weber called The Press Box. We talk about Don and the mark he left on the high school sports scene. This is also where Skinny was first paired with Tom Gamble and shortly thereafter the duo become the Two Angry Guys. If you would like to listen to listen to my full conversation with Don Weber on Episode 12 of Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber click here. Skinny and Gamble where first teamed with the originator of sports talk radio Bob Trumpy for a morning show. He talks about working with Trumpy and how that was sometimes difficult. He also talks about working with Gamble for many years and how successful the show was before it became emotionally draining. He talks about some of the beats he covered for The Post and Cincinnati Enquirer focusing specially on the Kentucky Wildcats and Cincinnati Bengals. Skinny has many different versions of The Skinny Podcast but the two that are the most popular is a college basketball one with Rick Broering and Chad Brendel along with a weekly potpourri edition with Broering. We talk about a specific segment of that show that is very entertaining called Ask Skinny Anything. If you would like to listen to listen to my full conversation with Rick Broering on Episode 39 of Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber click here. To close out we talk about his versatility and how it seems that he rarely says no to an opportunity. He talks about how he has had a lot of people help him throughout his career and prides himself on doing the same with people who are up-and-coming in the business. You can follow Skinny on Twitter @Local12Skinny, view his content on Local12.com and listen to The Skinny Podcast anywhere podcast are available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Trevor Stellman the head football coach at Thomas More University. Trevor was a multi-sport athlete who’s first love was soccer. He would eventually add baseball, basketball and of course football to his arsenal. We look back at Trevor’s early days growing up around his father the legendary head football coach Conner High School. Trevor goes into some of his dad’s background that predates his time before arriving at Conner in 1987. Trevor played for his dad at Conner and was a two-year starter for the Cougars. He led the Conner football team to back-to-back undefeated regular season records in 2003 and 2004. We look back on those teams and some of the big games. The one game that stands out to a lot of people was a Thursday night game against Dixie where Trevor lead his team on a 4th quarter comeback to win the game. Trevor was Northern Kentucky Player of the Year and Tom was Coach of the Year in 2004. This success on the field eventually lead to Trevor taking his football talents to Thomas More University. We also talk about playing baseball and basketball at Conner. Two of his coaches that we cover was baseball coach Andy Wycoff and his freshman basketball coach the late Shawn Garnett. He was recruited heavily by Georgetown College but ultimately landed in Crestview Hills for the school’s medical program as he initially wanted to become a doctor. He talks about the early struggles that most freshman go through especially when opportunities for playing time are limited. He would go on to start as a sophomore but an injury ends his season prematurely and an off-season knee injury causes him to redshirt the next season. Jim Hilvert is hired as the head coach and with Trevor as the quarterback the Saints qualify for the NCAA playoffs two years in a row. He sets a number of passing records his senior season as the Saints host two playoff games. After his playing career is over Trevor gets a job in a pharmacy and is planning on going to pharmacy school and coach high school quarterbacks in his spare time. That changes when Coach Hilvert offers him the spot as quarterbacks coach at Thomas More. After two seasons he is promoted offensive coordinator and the team has great success as Trevor is able to coach one of the great football player in Thomas More history Dominique Hayden. Hayden lead the nation in rushing his senior season for the Saints. We talk about Trevor being promoted to the head coaching job and how challenging it has been during his first three seasons. He also talk about him having a young family where his wife Hanna is the head coach at home. He talks about his small children that are able to come to work with him and grow up around the facility the same way he and his siblings did while his dad was working at Conner. We also have a little fun talking to Trevor, a Northern Kentucky guy through and through, moving to the Westside of Cincinnati and setting down roots closer to his wife’s family. You can follow Trevor Stellman on Twitter @CoachStellmanTM and the Thomas More football team @TMU_Football. You can also the Thomas More athletics department @tmusaints or visit the website thomasmoresaints.com. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber we look back on the career of the first head baseball coach of the Northern Kentucky University Norse Bill Aker. I take some excerpts from past episodes and some bonus content to remember the who built the NKU baseball from the ground up. Coach Akes was a hard working coach who was a no nonsense guy that has the ability to relate with his players and get them to win for him and the program. We start with former sports information director and longtime NKU historian Rick Meyers. Rick joined us on episode number 13 of Nobody’s Safe and one of the subjects was Coach Aker starting the program and his early success on the field. Click here to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Jeff Hetzer played for Coach Aker at Northern Kentucky for two seasons in the mid-1990’s. He was also an assistant coach the staff before eventually taking over as the head coach at Thomas More University. In episode number 18 of Nobody’s Safe, “Hetz” tells some great Bill Aker stories including how “Akes” helped him get the Saints head coaching job at just 26-years of age. Click here to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Terry Connor is the athletic director at Thomas More University and the son of legendary Saints head baseball and basketball coach Jim Connor. The elder Connor was not only a great friend of Coach Akes but also a rival on the field. In episode number 11 of Nobody’s Safe, Terry talks about the friendship between these two coaching icons. Click here to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Chris Hook played and coached for Coach Aker at Northern Kentucky University. He is on of a few select few Norse alumni to make it the big leagues, pitching for the San Francisco Giants and now coaching for the Milwaukee Brewers. In episode number 25 of Nobody’s Safe, “Hooky” talks about his love and respect for Coach Aker including getting emotional telling a story about getting himself ejected from a game when he felt Coach Aker was being disrespected by an umpire. Click here to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Next, he break out a sound clip from the old NKU Sports Show where Brady interviewed NKU head baseball coach Todd Asalon about Coach Aker and how much he has meant to him as a mentor and as a man. You can follow the NKU athletics department on Twitter @NKUNorse and the men’s basketball program @NKUNorseBSB. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices