Stories from the Center of the Universe

Blair Dobbins visits the podcast by way of a previous guest, who intends to marry next month. He grew up in Philadelphia but a lot of his family is from Virginia. That part of his family influenced his early childhood and at times that commonwealth influence didn’t mesh well in Philly. His mom passed away far too early. His widowed father did not do a great job raising Blair due to some personal flaws. Despite these flaws and significant challenges in the school system, Blair eventually excelled in college and graduated from law school. He learned in his forties why he struggled in K-12 but performed at a very high level after high school. He is the proud father of 3 and is excited to be getting married soon.

Rick Jeffrey and Paul met just three weeks ago when Rick was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Rick was inducted primarily due to his work with the Virginia Special Olympics. Rick is from the Richmond area and played many sports at Douglas Freeman High School. He went on to play basketball at Hampden Sydney College and then did some coaching and was a referee after college. He then told Paul the story of how he got involved with the Special Olympics and how that has led to a piece of advice that he gives to young people. Rick spoke about the Special Olympics and how it is not a series of events, but an Experience. He talked about the Virginia Special Olympics and how it grew over the thirty-six years (22 as the CEO/President) he was associated with it as well as the incredible staff that he worked with on a daily basis. He told some amazing stories about several of the athletes and Paul learned about the incredible work the Special Olympics does in schools across the country.

Pictured: John Hollis (R), The Nature Boy Ric Flair (L)

John Hollis joins the podcast via a mutual friend he has with Paul … Mike Woods. John is from Fredericksburg, Va. and grew up with two brothers and his Mom. He talked about his family especially his Mom who raised all three of her boys by herself. She ran a tight ship and John and his brothers were expected to excel in school or their extracurricular sports lives would suffer! John went to Woodberry Forest for high school and then went on to UVA. John told Paul about his time at Woodberry Forest and how it is directly linked to his success in life. They reminisced about their time at UVA and discussed some interesting things that John did while he was there. They talked about John’s career as a journalist and some of the amazing things he has seen and covered in his life. He told Paul about some of the famous people he has interviewed or just met throughout his career. John and Paul had a lot of laughs during this episode and John is scheduled to be back for a second episode.

Brent Scopel and Rob Dull have consumed every episode of this podcast. Since they're the only two folks on earth to have accomplished this feat, I asked them to join me to share their top 10 episodes out of the first 250.

Rayne Wright and her dad/coach Rasheed join Paul to talk high school basketball. Rayne is a player on and Rasheed is the coach of the current Class 6 Virginia State Champions, Manchester High School. Paul talked to Rayne about her basketball journey from the beginning as well as what the future may hold for her on the hard court. They discussed what she loves about the game and Paul learned about what kind of leader Rayne is for her team. Paul discussed with both of them what the dad/daughter/coach/player dynamic is between the two of them and Paul discovered an interesting way they will communicate with each other at home and on the court. They finished by the three of them discussing the rise of women’s basketball in both college and the WBNA and the differences between the way the game is taught in Europe and the U.S.A.

Paul and the podcast travel to interview Laura Peery who lives in the Richmond area on the James River. Laura comes to the podcast via being friends with Debra and Steve Hall (Episode 264). They first talked about how her house on the James grounds her, is very peaceful and has lots of wildlife. Laura spoke about being a U.S. Army brat as she was born in San Francisco, but lived in Japan and Germany by the time she was six. Paul learned what her dad did in the Army and also about a fear she developed while in Japan. They moved to the Richmond, Virginia area when she was six. She attended the Collegiate School from second grade through high school. They discussed a major injury she sustained and how that helped her in one of her careers which involved a unique form of therapy. They talked about her college experience(s), her latest career as a realtor, how she is excited to be getting married in a couple of months and finished by talking about her three kids.

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

Pictured - Ernie Johnson (left) and Lane (right) 

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

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

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