Underdog

Trip Hawkins built Electronic Arts and created the most widespread and popular sports video game of all time, Madden. He pioneered the video game industry and is one of the most well known video game creators in the industry. Trip went on to start many more companies with various levels of success. He is a professor at UC-Santa Barbara now. In this episode:

• Getting hooked on the idea of video games at an early age
• Creating his own major at Harvard – Strategy and Applied Game Theory, and becoming a pioneer
• Finding a mentor in Tom Schelling, Noble Prize Winner, at Harvard
• Trailblazing his own path to learn more about computers and video games
• Joining Steve Jobs’ team and working for Apple
• Leaving Apple and launching Electronic Arts
• The birth of EA Sports - Having the first ever celebrity, Dr.J, involved with making a video game; Dr. J and Larry Bird go 1-on-1
• Creating the most interactive sports game of all time – Madden football
• How the biggest strength can become a blind spot and become the biggest weakness
• Ego – the most potent part of the subconscious
• Leaving EA, his first baby, behind and forming 3DO
• Overcoming bankruptcy and the dissolve of 3DO
• Finding gratitude in anything
• Not tying yourself to an outcome or desire
• Helping other technology startup entrepreneurs with his consulting practice
• Why Tetrus and Fortnite have Trip’s utmost respect

You can find more information on Trip at https://tmp.ucsb.edu/about/people/trip-hawkins

Haley Moss is the first openly autistic person to pass the Florida BAR exam and become an attorney. She is now practicing healthcare law in Miami. In this episode:

• What is autism?
• Her symptoms and signs at an early age
• Struggling to make friends and overcoming sensory overload
• Overcoming indirect bullying due to a lack of awareness
• Advocacy – not doing politics; being able to make a decision for herself
• Deciding to pursue law for the first time while she was an undergrad
• The spoon theory, a way of looking at energy allocation throughout the day
• Writing 2 books to help others with autism navigate through middle school and college
• Adjusting to her new career
• Haley’s suggestions on how to treat a person with autism
• Different can be extraordinary

You can follow Haley on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @haleymossart, or you can check her website out www.haleymoss.net

Brad Smeele was a professional wakeboarder at the top of the sport performing tricks that no one else could do. However, during one attempt at a trick, Brad crashed into a ramp and broke his neck. He instantly lost the ability to move his arms and legs. He learned to live life without the physical talent he once had, and instead embraces the deeper perspective he has gained. In this episode:

• Falling in love with wakeboarding
• Becoming a professional athlete and training year round
• The first ever to land a specific trick and winning Trick of the Year
• How another attempt at the trick led to permanent injury
• Learning how to live life as a quadriplegic
• Losing his identity in his physical talent and abilities, and gaining a greater perspective
• The Movement Collaborative – Trying to speed up the research process by collaborating with other spinal injury organizations to find a cure
• The Keep or Cut Challenge – Taking the challenge involves taking the risk of allowing your friends, family and followers to vote on whether you keep or cut your hair in order to raise money for spinal injury research.
• "I wish everyone could learn what I’ve learned in my journey without having to go through what I’ve had to go through."
• Breakdowns lead to breakthroughs

Brad is the founder of The Movement Collaborative. You can find out more information about the organization here, http://themovementcollaborative.com/. And you can follow Brad on Instagram @bradsmeele

Mark Grant grew up with parents who were addicted to alcohol. He eventually lost both of his parents to alcohol related deaths. However, Mark decided to never drink alcohol throughout his life and became a successful sports journalism major at LSU. Early in his career he became a director for ESPN, and he is 1 of 10 directors for CBS Sports now. In this episode:

• Growing up with an alcoholic father
• Becoming the man of the house after his dad left when Mark was 16 years old
• Watching his mother turn into an alcoholic herself after his father left
• Grieving two parents that passed away due to alcoholism
• Learning to be like the good in his dad
• Never seeing his father again after he abandoned Mark’s family
• Changing majors from pre-med to broadcast journalism
• Pursuing ESPN wholeheartedly
• “Sometimes the opportunity hits you on the side of the head”
• TV Director – Conducting the TV team orchestra
• Overcoming racial prejudice in the industry
• Holding 1 of only 10 Director spots for CBS Sports

You can follow Mark on Twitter @megcbstv.

Stephen Wampler is the first man with cerebral palsy to climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He created a stretcher and pulley apparatus that allowed him to pull himself up 2-6 inches at a time which equaled over 20,000 pull-ups over the course of his 6 day ascent. Stephen is also the founder of Camp Wheelchair Adventure Mountain Programs, or Camp Wamp for short. This organization sponsors children with disabilities to experience all of the fun activities of the great outdoors in Lake Tahoe, California. He empowers them to live beyond their disability. In this episode:

• Growing up with Cerebral Palsy
• Viewing disability with humor rather than shame
• Outdoors is a challenging classroom to learn how to overcome the obstacles of life
• Pushing through the fear of rejection and finding a wife and raising children
• Camp WAMP – providing the ultimate outdoor experience for children with disabilities; helping the kids achieve more than they ever thought possible
• The first person with Cerebral Palsy to climb El Capitan
• Gym time = 6 days a week, 5 hours a day, 3,000 pullups at twice his body weight, everyday
• Climbing 2000ft of El Capitan, 6 days to complete, 20,000 pullups, 2-6 inches per pullup
• Getting back down the mountain with the help of Marines
• Inspiring others with his climb and using it to grow his foundation

You can find out more information about Stephen and Camp WAMP at www.wamplerfoundation.org. Please contribute to this worthy cause or ask your employer to become a part of Project 120 at https://www.wamplerfoundation.org/donate.html. You can follow Stephen on Twitter and Instagram @stephenjwampler

Mackenson Bonnell was born in Haiti and lost his parents as a teenager. He became the caretaker of his younger siblings, and eventually developed Type I Diabetes when he was living at an orphanage. He was adopted by US parents and together they formed Kay Mackenson which is a clinic in Haiti that provides treatment and education to Haitians regarding diabetes. Mackenson just finished his collegiate career in soccer and is hoping to attend physical therapy school in the near future. In this episode:

• Growing up in Haiti
• Losing his parents at a young age and becoming the caretaker of his siblings at 13 years old
• Having faith and trusting God throughout his loss
• Learning English at the orphanage
• Waiting 3 years to get adopted and live in the United States
• Diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at 17
• Forming the Kay Mackenson Clinic – Providing healthcare and diabetes education to Haitians
• Overcoming the culture shock of transitioning to small town Texas
• Earning a position on a collegiate soccer team without playing high school soccer

You can find out more information about Mackenson's clinic at https://www.kaymackenson.org/ and you can follow him on Instagram @mpbonnell

You can grab a copy of my book, Underdog - True Stories of Overcoming Adversity, which features 10 stories from the first 40 episodes of the podcast at www.underdogpc.com/book, or on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Brett Bramble has been affected by the harmful side effects of drug abuse both directly and indirectly. He was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison for drug possession, and lost his sister, Brittany, to a drug overdose shortly after he was freed from prison. He decided to take action against drug addiction and walked across America twice to raise awareness of the harmful side effects of drug abuse. He is now planning to open Freedom to Grow which will be a drug rehabilitation center in Georgia. In this episode:

• Violating probation and being sentenced to prison for 18 months
• Breaking addiction through counseling
• Losing his sister to drug overdose
• Taking action by raising awareness against the harmful effects of drug use by walking across America to find relief from pain
• The strong support community he met along his walk
• Meeting a woman in Kansas City who also lost her sister, Brittany, to drug overdose
• Raising money for his own non-profit Freedom to Grow
• Walking across America a second time and becoming the first person to finish the East Coast Greenway
• Having a stranger join the walk for 300 miles and 3 weeks so that she could save her own life from addiction
• Having his dog accompany him for most of the 1st walk and all of the 2nd walk

You can find out more information on Brett at www.brettbramblewalks.com as well as on Facebook @brettbramblewalks.

John Peck served as a Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his second deployment, an IED detonated after he stepped on it, and he lost all four of his limbs. After a long road to recovery, he received a double arm transplant and became the second veteran ever to receive this life-changing surgery. He has regained motor function in his arms and he can accomplish numerous tasks that most never thought he would be able to again. In this episode:

• Being broke down and built back up during Hell Week in the Marines
• The brotherhood mindset in the military
• Excitement to deploy
• No regrets in serving as a Marine and sustaining injuries
• 1st tour of duty to Iraq: enduring a frontal tear in his brain lobe that led to a 21 year loss of memory
• 2nd tour of duty to Afghanistan: stepping on an IED and losing all 4 limbs
• The pain of divorce after losing his limbs
• Overcoming suicidal thoughts by learning that he can find love as an amputee
• Becoming the second veteran ever to receive a double arm transplant
• Relearning how to wiggle his fingers
• Throwing out the first pitch with new arms at a baseball game

You can follow John at "John Peck's Journey" on Facebook. He has a new book coming out on May 7th called Rebuilding Sergeant Peck that you will be able to find in any bookstore.

Travis Mewhirter picked up sand volleyball for the first time at 24 years old and found a way to become a professional athlete in this sport. Life on the beach as a sand volleyball player may seem glamorous, but there are often extensive hardships outside of the court that all sand volleyball professional players deal with day-in and day-out. Travis shares how he turned pro, the sacrifices he has had to make, and why he loves this sport above all others. In this episode:

• How a bartender initiated his interest in volleyball
• Sacrificing brand name credibility in his career with the Washington Post to pursue a better lifestyle
• The training, practice, and regimen that a 24 year old with no volleyball experience did to become a pro
• Newfound motivation after getting embarrassed in his first professional competition
• Pursuing greatness in a sport that doesn't offer much financial compensation, even if you are one of the best in the world
• Using a passion to create a platform and find a career in writing about volleyball
• The man in the arena
• The most exhausting sand volleyball day ever
• How his best friend retired from volleyball for 2 years due to an autoimmune disease and returned to compete at an elite level

Travis Mewhirter is the co-host of the Sandcast Beach Volleyball Podcast and the author of We Were Kings: A Deep Dive Inside the Lives of Professional Beach Volleyball Players. You can buy his book on Amazon or online at Barnes and Noble. You can follow Travis on Instagram @trammew and on Twitter @tram_mew.

Yonas Hagos was born in Africa and grew up in a Sudanese refugee camp before he came to America as a young boy. He enlisted in the Army after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and was hit by an RPG in Iraq during his tour of duty. He survived and went on to become a successful serial entrepreneur in Illinois. In this episode:

• Growing up in a Sudanese refugee camp
• Muslim vs. Christian persecution
• Family is important and family must stick together
• Coming to the United States and living in the projects but feeling like a king
• Learning English, preserving Ethiopian culture, and avoiding the hood life by listening to his parents
• Serving in Iraq and getting hit with an RPG
• Overcoming PTSD and how he views it now
• Transitioning to an entrepreneur: 16 Dunkin Donuts, 2 Pet Supplies Plus, and a gun manufacturing company
• Persistence beats resistance

You can find out more information about Yonas at www.yonashagos.com or on his public Facebook profile https://www.facebook.com/yonashagospage/