Holt Brothers on the GSOT, Holt House Battles, Honoring Mom Through Service

I'm Peanut Tillman and this is the NFL Players Second Act Podcast. I got my high school librarian, Roman Harper right over here.

What you're gritting. What you're grinning for?

Because every time you just get more and more creative with how you name dropped me. So I appreciate it as more. As long as I stay in your life, I appreciate it. However I get there, I don't know anyways, all of our listeners out there, make sure you hit give us a five star rating, hit the subscribe button. Come come part of the family of the NFL Player second X podcast, and also anywhere you pick up your podcasts, whether it's Apple or iHeart. Tell a friend, to tell

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Today's interview. I'm super super excited to have a duo. I think it's our first duo we've had on the podcast. Is really looking forward to it. We got my man, my partner in crime, Charles P. Nut Tilman as always, and today's guests. Let's go down the resume. All right, it's the Holt brothers, both of these guys attended NC State for I was a teammate with one of them, the brother Terrence hol who I'm not gonna read off his stats yet. I will go start with Tory Holt,

Congratulations, my boy, Terrence.

Holt, my favorite hole because my team for a year came in taught me some ropes, you know what I mean. As an older guy, was always looking for that safety to look up to. He was a great blend, a great person. I get to bounce a whole bunch of ideas off love playing beside him. Hope was a fifth round pick in two thousand and three. Play six years and is and at the same time together as well during Tony So uh Toys Toys Time. So welcome to the podcast.

Having us brothers.

Yeah, man, and like.

I said earlier, Toy you should be used to this, all this coverage around, all these dvs around you in space, So feel comfortable sharing today.

No doubt.

Man, it's certainly a pleasure to be here for sure. When when when when making them reached out was like, yo, the podcast, it's happening at the draft, which I would be willing to join. I was like, can I bring my bro? It's like, yeah, so good to have my brother here? Is good to be able to be.

Able to be man still looking out for your little brother.

And that's what we do a lot together, man, a lot of that. It's started from how we was raised.

Before now, let's let's address the elephant in the room, all right, So at what point does the younger brother get bigger than the older brother?

And like, how did these things start to happening?

Because I got all older brothers and I cannot I've never beat my older brother.

It's like this block. Yeah it doesn't matter.

I'm a little bit bigger than he is, but you're you're the youngest, right and the youngest, but you look the oldest.

The youngest clarified.

We got that clarit.

Well.

I was I was always chasing my brother. I always wanted to be around my brother, and uh he oftentimes he in our neighborhood. He hung with the older kids as well. So the kids, the kids or guys that he was hanging with were always like four and five years older than him. So I'm four years behind him, So I'm hanging around guys that are eight years older

Him playing with.

Older kids in the neighborhood helped develop his game physically and kind of understanding that at some point you're going to be playing this is your competition. So yeah, they're older than you now, but if you go to college, you go to pros, this is what you're going to be going against. And then for me that was just it was just normal, so playing up playing competition that were bigger, old, and more mature to you, and just

Even though we got a lot.

Of brothers in the league that have played, statistically, it's not a lot of brothers that that have played in our league or made.

It to the league.

So anyway, it's just just a natural thing. He's doing something. He's been very very uh nice and uh and and I was always thought about me and invited me to it and uh and that's just how we do. It's from my mom and our dad.

Yeah, so let me start this next question off. I'm across my legs.

So we got, you know, right now where we get that growth sexy going on right now.

So I think it's cool that you could, you know, you get.

You have your brother to look up to, and then I know probably when you got to the league you had an idea of what to expect, right, and maybe you didn't just because you're the oldest and you're kind of setting the tone. What was your welcome to the

I think for me it was when I was running out I think it was like zero forty eight and the defense was in zone and I sat, I chose to set down, which I did. What I was supposed to do is my responsibility, And I'm thinking it's.

You know, you know how how in practice? You know they asked you how to tag off? Yeah?

Nah, Charlie, Charlie Clemens, excuse me, crush me.

Yeah.

It was like, yo, welcome to the NFL, young boy. So for me physically, that was my welcome to the National Football League. Mentally was playing in the Super Bowl was my welcome to the National and that that was my rookie year. So that took me to a whole other level right from the gate. So my expectations were high, right, from the door. So those are my two welcome to the National Football League moments that stuck with me right And for me, I had the fortune of I think

Gonna be different when the when the Vets come here. And you had your O.

Yeah, and so you know that's me a little nervous. Yeah, I said, it's some anxiety to come with that, like to day. You know this this is the league and we you know we running on. I mean you ran on and.

Off the field when you was in college. But it's just tempo.

Everything's tempo period to period, and everybody's trying to get you used to the NFL life. And they were saying, OTAs hit, come the hit, come the vest. And again we in shells and in team drill.

I'm out there.

We're going against the first team offense and Corey Schlessinger, which was a full back, yeah, full back for us, yes, from Nebraska. It's coming through the hole and coming down the sideline, and he likes to finish a drill. So he finishes the drill. We got the ball maybe forty yards out. He's going to finish all the way to the end zone. And so we're being talked tag off like you just was talking about. So I'm tagging off and I had not got the memo with Corey Slessinger.

So in my in my thirteen years, you know, I

Yo. That's no chest. That's the ball. Never touches, never hands.

Only time, only time in traffic, because you know, sometimes you gotta in traffic, you gotta go up and body the ball.

Sometimes the collision allows you to catch the ball.

So but other than that, I'm using all my hands to catch the football, like that's as receivers, that's our job is to catch the football.

So I was very I've always been very, very comfortable around the ball.

I was talking about this last night thing me in London fletching and was talking and I used to sleep with the ball.

I used to be just landing in the bed flipping the ball.

I mean, he knows that's throwing multiple tennis balls off of the wall and catching it out in the neighborhood. Like I've just always been very comfortable catching the ball. So I'm a natural master of catching the football with my hands. And funny thing about his finger. We're in Arizona in two thousand and seven. By that time, I had moved on to Arizona, and we're playing the Rams and we're out there as we always did when we played.

Like this game going on, right He just ran a go route whatnot.

I'm coming back from covering somebody and we just talking to each other and he's like, man, I just I just man. He was blocking somebody. It was talking about his fingers. Man, I just broke my finger again. Showed me the finger and popped it back in. But this, this finger has gotten uglier over the years, and I'm like.

Man, they can fix that, you know.

And he's he's just big and this is this, this is his you know.

I'm the surgeries. I'm tired of the surgeries. This joint, yeah, say it is what it is. We all have wounds, we all have our water. I told him, scaring people, you know what I'm saying.

He's not lying.

I just saw this fingers for the first album when you first talk, I mean I was I wouldn't gonna talk about.

It because you didn't want to jump out your skins.

Seem very comfortable with it.

I'm very, very comfort to be a.

Professional, very comfortable over here queezing for the told it's one thing to be a badge of honor, but if you can't hold no changes, it ought to be like a no change.

You can't hold limit to the badge of honor. We got to get it fixed.

So tell me this. How does it feel when when

How much pride does that bring you? I got three older brothers.

So I would have loved to have an older brother play in the NFL and achieve that goal.

But for your family, how much pride?

And for you guys individuals, Now, I'll say I'll go first.

I mean you mentioned pride, I mean we we hold this.

I mean it allows us to have the type of pride that you look for in the family. And then particularly being able to share something with their brothers. So we don't take it for granted for sure, and we know we have a responsibility as being brothers and having the.

Success that we had.

Coming from a small town of Gibsonville, North Carolina, you know, there's a lot of little ones, a lot of folks in the neighborhood that look to us.

So we're very aware of that.

But to be able to share something like this stage with their brother, the high, the lows, the difference, all those things is just really to me, it is the ultimate. Because we also come across siblings that don't get along.

It's crazy, and.

We we we look we look at like, how do you not talk to your brother in a six months, three months?

What what is that?

Yeah, so so so to be able to to be able to have a biological sibling and you have that type of connection with it's it's really dope.

And it's the same with our sister.

My sister is a school teacher, she's she we we all pride ourselves on serving and we got that from my father. So my sisters is a teaching terms and I obviously played sports and we have our foundation. Now we're able to able to serve.

But to be able to.

Do all those things and I'm going going a little long, but to be able to do all those things, but the one that you love and your and your brother, now it's it's dope.

It's really cool.

Yeah, And I say, for me, it's it's it goes back to my first statement.

I always wanted to do what my brother wanted to do. Yeah. So it was it was both.

To have that example kind of to follow and a good example at that because you know, not every older brother or older sister is a good example, but they want you to be the best you can be in most occasions. And for me, it was both me trying to do what he done and follow kind of in his footsteps, which to some people they'll talk about the pressure that comes with that, Yeah, they're always coming behind your brother and him having.

The type of career.

But for me, it was it was competitive because, like we talked about this a great deal where having an example in seeing that somebody can do it is sometimes all you need. And I had the ultimate example of my brother. And I'm kind of like my brother. Oh he had thirty two points.

I know I'm afford it.

So it was kind of that competition that was breeded with us being young. And he made the thought of going to college earning a scholarship while seemingly daunting. My brother did it. I know I can do it. That's proof of concept that I can do it. Plus I'm competitive, I want to do what he's done, if not better and more. And so I was just I just had that mindset and thought process that I'm gonna make the league.

I'm gonna play it and do it.

And and I had his tutelage all the way you know through that's you know, I think the beauty of he and I is that we've been best friends throughout the process. We've competed and been best friends. And when he when he lost Super Bowl in two thousand and one, I lost the Super Bowl. Yeah, he wanted to go out. It's a funny story. We were after they lose to the Patriots. They're in New Orleans.

He comes to the room, We all walk back to the room.

He finally get back after all the media and all that kind of stuff, and comes to the room.

Hey, he's dressed, ready to go ours and ain't going out? Man, Like I'm crying.

This is how invested that I've always been in him, in his routes and stuff that he's done. You know, playing against the Rams was the easiest thing in the world for me, the greatest show on turf. While they were great, I knew him. I've been watching them as a fan, but also watching them with a competitive mind. If I was ever on the field against them, this is what I would do. And so all that to say, man, that we understand that we've done something that is unique.

Just whatever, bad decisions.

So I love that because that is my story growing up in Pratt, Alabama. Nobody that looked like me had ever made it to the NFL. We had a full back named Kevin Turner. God rested soul. He passed away from LS a few years ago, but that was.

The only guy.

Wow.

And so because that, and like you said, once somebody that you know does it, Like, dude, I can do like I didn't know I could achieve that. I thought it was I ain't got but two hundred people. Our ceiling was on top of us and it's not even there. And so it's beautiful to hear you talk about that and really tour you just bursting through and really, man, we all can do it now.

Yeah, you open up a floodgate with with competition.

I know I'm a baby and my brother would pick on me, and like you, I want to hang out with my brother and he didn't want to hang out with me just because he was older.

There's a three year gap.

Difference, age difference, and I just was like, man, every time I tried to beat my brother or something, basketball, run and whatever, he used to kick my butt. Not until I got in the high school. I was probably my sophomore year we played. We finally played basketball one on one and this was like, I, damn it, I'm drawing my foot that putting my foot down.

You were not.

And it's funny y'all say that, though, But that was the first time I had ever beat my brother. I was fifteen and I beat him in our first we went to ten. I finally beat him and it was at that moment in time, I was like, you will never beat me again.

Same story from that.

From that moment on, I never lost to my brother because it was just like I got you, because I could like I beat him now, it's real. So I know y'all got some competitive stories, you know, like going going at it like give me, give me, give me a give.

Me a good story. So one of the same, very similar or we had. We went to Easton Gildford High School and so I had grown six inches in my freshman summer and he was back from back from college and came to one of our practices, and after the practice, he and I played one on one and again, by that time I developed I was taller than him, and uh, and and again I got him and I beat him that particular day. But with football, it's it's, it's it's always been a challenge. I don't know that I can

I was y'all, y'all, y'all, y'all.

We beat y'all, but y'all, I was. I was mad at y'all because y'all were headed to the playoffs. We were headed home with the way y'all played the game. But uh, but I say, we got stories from at our grandma's house, where black grandma's houses are oftentimes more like museums.

Right everywhere, everything is just an antique.

Everywhere everywhere that ain't from Africa.

Ex label when did you none of this stuff flipping over made in China?

Right man, So were grandma's house and uh, he and I, like most occasions, got some ball made up game, were playing, were getting rough and we hit one of the antiques or hit one of the tables in the corner of his of his head table and he's bleeding, but we can't.

Tell you're doing nothing, not in grandma's house.

So we compete in so much and so heavy, we can't tell nobody this story.

He got a.

Cut in his head that he can't we got to hide, and we can't tell nobody. It was luckily enough it had he didn't need any stitches or anything. But we got more examples of stuff like that where we competed. I'm telling you everything it didn't matter.

We didn't even have to have.

And that's why we get on our kids now oftentimes, where kids need to be set up with with everything. You got to have a baseball glup to play baseball or or back to play baby.

We went got sticks we had we had we didn't.

Yeah, my driveway is on a slant, and my wife's like we shouldn't even have a basketball goal because like it's not it's on a slant.

I played on grass.

Already doesn't matter, and so often I call it so many of our kids and we're blessed, we're fortunate.

I get it.

You know a lot of first world problems on this conversation, right, But they live on a.

Yacht, ye, and so they don't know.

It's really hard to tell somebody that lives on the yacht that you know, your life is not not that it's bad when you.

Know, that's all they life exactly.

And to this day, we you know, we still are very competitive, but we're respectful and we certainly have reached an age which competing against one another it's kind of less.

So I like that, all right, We're gonna put a pin in that because I want to get into the business ventures in a second. But before we get that, I want to talk about the greatest show on turf?

We bomb shelter.

That very unique.

That kind of started happening a little later on in our career because you know, we dealt with so many coverages many you know, I took some shots in the National Football League. Unfortunately I didn't take a ton of percussions, but I took some legitimate shots across the league. So at times I thought, you know, like your primes others

On you the next next thing, you know, I mean your end zone.

So but in terms of my introduction into the team with the greatest showing turf for me, I had Isaac Bruce, Ricky prol Aza Quem guys when I.

Came into the room that were true pros, true.

Vets, and was really good wide receivers in all fasts of the position. So I had a luxury of seeing that every day. So as long as I felt, as long as I stayed the course, I could become that complete receiver because I was seeing it in my room

Just showing you the way every single day.

I was fortunate enough to have that in our room and on the team, guys like brother Ray Agnew who's naw with the Detroit lines. Kurt Warner was Kurk Marshall Orlando Pace who was dominant. I had the luxury of watching the Lando dominate guys because I played the X so I'm right on the ball.

I could see the left tackle working. He was destroying Dominique.

He's a big human, it's like a bear.

But general Johnto he is so like hey, yeah, but he's so solid.

The Super Bowl for the first time and I was like, man, this is huge man.

And he was a tremendous athlete.

You know, you play basketball, so I had a luxury of you know, watching, watching, So seeing that on a day to day basis, Man, if you love ball and you're competitive and you want to be you know, established at that at your position, establishing the game, it's like, man, I gotta.

Do do what they do with more so.

Having that and then seeing how we formed and how we jailed, I think how we became the greatest show on turf. Our practices, Like, our practices are greater than we had some awesome games, but our practices were even greater. To me, That's where the greatest show to me was born. It was how we practiced, how unselfish we were, we celebrated each other. Yeah, which was which which was? Our coaches used to just tell us how rare that was, Like we can't believe, like like no one's tripping over

Yeah, you know where I feel, You know how I feel about the game.

So that's how That's what I was introduced to as a rookie. So you gotta only imagine what my expectations were going to be each year, right that we had success or whether we didn't, I was just I just had a good We had a good foundation of players that showed us how to do it, and we had a really good foundation of coaches. Coach Dick Vermeille, who just went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was

So for a rookie, it was good to get that kind of tutelage early.

I think everybody I've spoken to who has been to a Super Bowl or if won a Super Bowl, they always talk about how dope or how amazing that locker room is. They hang out outside of the lockero. It's like it's it's it's a must. I feel like if you don't do that, you're not You're not You're not going to be tough. It's gonna be extremely tough. And

So what are you four? For?

A time finalists? Like I know you're you're you're knocking your beating We just had Leu Ray Butler on the show and he was really talking about and he really gave a beautiful dection of what it meant for him to finally get that knock. And I'm hoping, I'm praying. I see your name every year for the last couple of years and you you were damn You're so close and looking at you like when you just run off the stats earlier, I'm just like, man, this what is what? Why?

Who's ever.

Watching?

Like, let's do the damn things.

It's about I appreciate that. Yeah, and I appreciate it's about that time. It's it's It's been a cool it's been a cool journey.

Man.

I've been you know, you mentioned I've been a finalist four years and just every year the process and just learning something different and seeing how it all works.

Certainly certainly.

Excited for the guys that go they go in, but it's always a level of dis important when you know for sure. But I will say this, coming out of this year, we feel like our team, my presenter who was Who's how it balls and my team, we feel like we are a step closer. So to your point, we feel like it's going to happen soon, but it'll be.

It'll be an incredible moment to be you know, to be able to.

Did you think it would be like this though?

Like did you think, like, yeah, maybe my work will just speak for itself, absolutely certainly. Or there's a lot of politics campaigning, and I still I want to still explain a presenter as well, Like I didn't even know you got to have a present Yeah, it's like so.

Each each guy that goes in has a presenter, and a lot of times it's someone that covered them at that particular city of that particular team to beat right right, so you know, so they have to go in and present your case of why you should be a pro Football of Fame. And to Peanuts point, my thing has always been it's my work is done. It's it's all worthy, great if it's if it's not, okay, I get it.

Playing the game. To me, y'all know that, y'all know that means everything. It does when your.

Dude come up to you like yo, y'all know that that shape and that hug like you're a bad boy, that in the hall is the hall is great, But that y'all know, means a whole hell of a lot. So just just feeling that being on that wavelength is great. I can only imagine with that and the hall and wearing a jacket. I mean, it's it's icing in the cake. And in regards to how we feel and play this game and how we view.

It, at what point did you know when it was

This is what you've been doing your whole life.

You've been chasing your brother, You've had all these dreams, you've accomplished so many things. Can you talk about that transition, because that's what this play podcast is really it is all about.

It is talking about the.

Second act and we all figuring out.

What to do next.

Sure, and kudos to both you all for doing this podcast, because I mean it's the thing that every player will go through and to hear players that played thirteen years, eighteen years, fifteen years, whatever have you, and to know that they may have the same struggles they've set themselves up financially, they've played as long as they can play, but they still struggle for a guy that maybe played two years or six years or four years, where their

As a rookie, only rookie.

Youngest person twenty four years old, and there's thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven year old guys in there at this Wharton event in school to learn about kind of transition. It was transitioning with success, and so I've always kind of been ahead of the curve trying to think about my next act, not hoping that it would come anytime soon, but I got to prepare for it and start thinking

LLLC that we had started. And so we just started to learn.

We had great business advisors and people that we've been fortunate to be surrounded by to kind of talk to us and UH and that we could trust that wasn't in it to have us invest in something that they wanted to do. And that's oftentimes what players can be surrounded around is people that they trust that are in it for themselves to say, you know what, let's take I can make your money work for you. You know what I'm saying, Just invest in me and invest in it.

Our sports careers. And so fast forward to that.

You know, for me, I just and with my wife's support, because I went through a period where I was down. I didn't have a locker room to support me and pick me up. So I probably I told my brother this, I probably I didn't.

I don't.

I didn't know that it was depression, but I probably was going through depressions, you know what I'm saying, And so I had to find that next thing. And I think what has helped me and me and Tory talk about this all the time is if you're trying to get in one big bite all of the joy that you get, an accomplishment you get from playing in the National Football League and running out there on the field with eighty five thousand people either booing you or cheering

And there was.

Opportunities for both public and private projects that could benefit from diversity and inclusion and from a minority owned company like Whope Other's construction. And so we went about that course of pursuing public and private opportunities. And eleven years later, Man, we've kind of grown our kind of revenue, pushing kind of like nine figures now and in some big opportunities in front of us. And it's it's just been just

Ourselves with a really, really really good team.

They are really what make Toy and I successful and we have the benefit of all the lessons that we've learned and people that we've talked to coaches being coached. We have that, and we are in the position now to coach, to coach and own and UH and stepping in the fray when we need to to UH to provide a plan of action and the course of action and letting people grow and work and and all those kinds of things. So that's that's really what's been been beneficial for us and been helpful for us.

And I appreciate that kind of give us that whole what you guys are up to a little bit more so, and what I was thinking of before I kind of lost my thoughts. What you said was so true is that the respect mutually from your peers and being called a true pro. That's like the ultimate college pro for

Well, it's funny because when when he when he and I had this conversation with my kids. When Terrence was in high school, I talked to him as a high schooler. When he was in college, I talked and treated him as he was a high school when he was in college when he came to the pros, All that's over. You're a pro now, Yeah.

Like it's a whole and it's a whole level of expectations and you got to do it every day, your pro the expectations for you to show up every single day.

And I tell my and now I'm having that conversation with my daughters. I'm not I'm not talking to you like I talked to you and he was in high school. I'm talking to you now you're in college. Dad hasn't been through that. Mom has been through that, and we and we speaking that way. And as you move up.

To shut and I appreciate that. And then, you know, just talk about your transition a little bit. I mean, what made you decide to retire when you did. I mean you're still productive your last year. I think you believe fifty.

And you're like, you know what, I'm good, I'm ready to go.

Yeah, my body, my knees told me, yo, you just time for you to be be done.

Do it.

Lot of turf days, you know, lot of t yeah, you know a lot of you know, I've had surgeries, had issues. I came into to the pros with with the knee issue that I suffered down at the Yeah, and so I knew early on that I would have knee issues. And because of the way also how I practiced and how I played and how we cut and moved. As a receiver, you gotta do a lot of bend and a lot of cutting. So I knew I had

Again I I anticipated it happening. I knew it was coming.

When it does, it's it's not what we what we want, but it's reality.

It is reality. Yeah.

Yeah, So I spoke to coach Belichick about it, and you know, and we came up with a plan and and remember calling home, calling my wife, calling my grandmother, calling Terians, calling my pops. Hey, this was the day. It was, you know, this was yeah, I was this is it, This is it? I was coming from a business conference and he called, and uh, it was. It was kind of a pregnant pause there where it was like he said.

Man, I'm done, and I knew it was. I knew

And when he said he was done, it was it was we done. It was right because I had transition before him. And what I was gonna say. The funny thing about transition, I'm chasing my brother, right, I'm always coming after my brother, middle school, high school, college pros. This is the first time that I was able to go before him, so I was able to talk to him about transition and what it was going to be like.

You know. It's and and when you step in the business people may.

Allow and set up a meeting with you because again that they know you and and and kind of appreciated the career that you had. But when they're talking about giving you a business opportunity, that ain't got nothing to do because you caught you know seven again, if it's there's money that you're spending, they want a return on their investment. They want a service that isn't keeping with that car. So I was telling my brother at these business conferences, it's people that you.

Know, will chew you up elevator speech, what do you do?

And and and and to that point, we went to an event and I wasn't ready.

Yeah, he wasn't ready. I got humble, Yeah, real quick, real quick, I went. I told him. I was like, man, I ain't nothing. Man I ain't never felt like that.

It was discurious because because the guy, the guy was kind of go ahead. You know, it wouldn't have been no different if he came on my turf in the Pro Bowl and he you know, and then I'm on his turf as a as a businessman. I wasn't ready, you know, in my mind, I'm thinking, I am okay, here I am.

You know, I canna man. I didn't even know how

How long did it take you say, like, well, how long did it take you to figure that out? During that transition phase? Like say, okay, I retired January one, and then you're talking to your brother.

He's giving me some advice. Did you sit out a year?

Did you wait a year?

Did you? Or do you get right into it? You know?

I was was, I was done and I was probably a couple of years out. Oh we actually really went into that, So I was, I was done. I was done in my after going into the Old nine season. We started the business in October seventeenth, twenty eleven, is when we got going. But we were but we were in it. But we were going around taking coffees, lunch, then us with people to tea to tell us before we spend money, tell us we'll pay for coffee, lunch

And stuff like that.

They seen our personal investment and interest in coming back. And if a guy told us or girl told us, young lady told us to be hey, come to this conference and it's in San Diego, but come to this conference, what was happening was they was testing us.

Yep, we show.

Up, We on time, We suited and booted, you know, were seeking knowledge, were there. First thing is show up and y'all know like I know, in our sport and for our meetings, coming to a meeting and just showing up a meeting and eating clock. That ain't it, you know what I mean? Eight o'clock you late. If the meetings started at eight and you dad, eight, you late. So we showing up fifteen minutes early, attentive, ready to go. People started to invest in us, they started champion us.

So you just learn to clean it up. You learn to get better.

But you got to give yourself to grace to do that, and you got to know what you do. That was the biggest thing is people asking what do you need to know what your business does? And you got to do it in a concise way because you might have the benefit, especially at these big conferences where people meeting a lot of people, you may have the ear of an executive or CEO for sixty seconds you're coming down.

That's why it's call e because everybody, everybody, everybody want to chat.

Everybody want to and what the and the thing I'll say to players in their sacond act, if it's business, if it's you know, uh, philanthropic work, whatever is. What we learned very quickly was while humbling ourselves is something that.

We needed to do.

We didn't need to fray from who we are and what happens is is in business right if you know, everybody goes toward and everybody goes to Howard or whatnot, and they are betrayed to be these business folks. Their dim a dozen't like they've gone the path towards being the business people we are.

What we had was that we were unique.

And what you'll learn in doing business and trying to do businesses that ninety percent of the discussion that you may be have that you may have with somebody has nothing to do with that business you're talking, you know, sports, topic of the day, and being unique and having something to talk about other than the widget or the thing or business culture and discussion made us stand out. And so that's what I say to players is don't worry about changing who you are.

Be who you are. It's that uniqueness.

It's gonna be different and gonna make you stand out amongst everybody else.

But be ready.

Once in that ten percent of that discussion, you got to know your business right and come with what you want? What do you want? What are you trying to get out of this meeting. We shouldn't just be meeting just to meeting. You're dealing with somebody's time. It might be an hour, thirty minutes, twenty minutes. What do you want and don't be afraid that tell people what you want?

All I can say is wow, I like that you just said. It seems like and You're not the first person to do this. I'm the same way I think you are too. When we retire and we get out and we get into that transition and then we get humbled, we somehow get back into how we prepared, how we got to the league. I'm sure you do it when you do your notes and stuff right when you on TV, and it's just like, no, hold on, hold on that, I got to teach you thse real quick. Like we

Do that, like once we came to the professional football league, once we once we became professionals repros for the rest of our life, y'o.

For sure, it's a great point.

And whatever we do, it's a great point because we only know one way it's like fight or flight, and there ain't no flight.

You're dealing with a pro. Yeah.

And that's why I encourage guys that your sack and act can be better than your first Yeah. Yeah, right now, because now we hopefully you've done right by your money.

And it's the same thing with businesses. Do your homework, especially on who you meeting. If somebody sends you a meeting, invite, what's the agenda, what we're gonna talk about, ask about it right. I'm not going in a meeting that I'm not having no kind of understanding the way we mean about exactly.

I think that's very important to you try and encourage a lot of guys that are going through that transition to you know, a lot of us are fearful of the unknown, sure, and so a lot of times you know, you've great, You've given some great nuggets talking about you know, be who you are, right and I've got some advice that Hey, look man, some of you guys are stars.

Naturally.

People will be attracted to you because you're a natural star. And when you dim your life, other people can't shine. So when you shine and continue to be who you are, it lets everybody in the room shine and be seen.

We've evolved, We've a changed, We've we've got more focus. Whole Brothers Inc. When we started was kind of the parent company for LLC's like Whole Brothers Football Whole Brother's Development and Whole Brother's Construction LLC. And then we've had before Whople Brothers Inc. Was born, we had Whole Brothers Foundation, Inc. Which is an affiliate two hours. That's a lot of websites. Yes, but but we've narrowed our focus where our primary businesses aren't.

We're getting to come home, come back home, and we're through some stuff.

It probably means.

A lot more mans.

When you see a building that you could help construct on your old stumping grounds and campus, that's a lot.

Of pridect you.

It is.

Yeah, So I say me and Toory talk about this like I know my campus like I've never known my campus places. I never went on campus. You know how we all we got. If you're in sociology degree, which I was, I went through the buildings of a sociology and.

I was going back to the degree.

Football facility and the dining hall, those are the places I know. So now we've learned a whole lot more about campus because we're working on campus. But we've done do work for our city. We do parks and recreation. We're doing this cool project that I want to kind of elaborate on. It's called North Carolina Freedom Park, and it's the first and only park to commemorate the efforts

And I'm sure you guys are gonna have Charles L.

Sifford on there's ye I think African American PGA golfer, you know.

But yeah, we so so to do stuff like that and to be able to take our kids to see tangible things.

That you know what that you know, Dad built that.

You know that gas station that you're pumping that gut dad Dad and uncle built Dad.

So it's a it's legacy building. I love it. So it's a cool thing to do. I love it. You know.

The thing that's we tend to do things at least from a foundation standpoint or a charitable standpoint. You know, my daughter had a hard transplant back in two thousand and eight, and I had my whole foundation set aside and we were doing education, but once she got sick, I decided to change it.

It was we're more education based.

So I was just like, my heart's not really an education, but I do want to keep my foundation and help these kids. So we ended up changing the mission statement

Yeah, So Whole Brother's Foundation is our mission.

We support young kids with a parent or guardian that's balance cancer. We lost our mom, Aillon Foma in nineteen ninety six. She was forty three years old, so we vowed to do something out of her name. Once I made it to the National Football League, won the Super Bowl, and then after the year after that, went to this meeting called Bear Essentials where it was all these families and these kids and these families that were going through cancer. And I had never been to a meeting like that.

Getting on how to deal with and cope with cancer.

And you went to this meeting because like y'all know, when y'all play, our community, folks would try to connect you to the community for things that resonated with you, right, And they know that toy mom had passed away from cancer, and they was like, hey, you probably should go to

To go on.

And one of the other things about the foundation that we're really excited about too, is we have a scholarship program now. So the kids that go through the Kids Can program at ages six to seventeen. So a lot of those kids, once they finish high school have aspirations to go off to university. Well, again, the resources are dried up and maybe able to get some pension plant, you know, maybe it to get some type of college

So it gives us great joy and it makes it you know, it makes it.

Easier to go and to go out and the fundraise and to keep this thing going and and have the type of impact that we have.

So you got Whole Brother Foundation, Hope Brother and Holt Brother Plumbing, Whole Brother.

You got media.

You know what I'm saying.

Y'all got all the Whole Brother this and everything. But but I will say this two peanut, and I'll say to to our listeners. With your foundations found we've also found that having a foundation has also.

Brought us business. Yeah, vice versa, vice versa.

So so there's so there's as you as you get into continue to get into your business and continue to get into your career, you'll learn how how the two can can intersect and how the two can can help and play off each And we've done some things strategically.

It just we had a foundation and then we started a business. Right. But we see that and I say this real quickly, too cut you. I'm sorry.

You know, we often hear people often say to us how unique we are as a as a UH as a firm. It's because we do provide that foundation art right.

So we're a for profit, but we also have a nonprofit arm as well, So we're obviously nonprofit.

What we're going out and we're solictening to business and we're doing a service, but we're also doing a service with our foundation by building our community where we live, eat and play right. And so it's it's it's connected. Yeah, it is connected. And I was gonna say that's another thing about players that we oftentimes, as you talked about, you know, we start foundations before we finish our career. You know, we're helping, we're involved in the community. And

I don't want him.

Look, I would just say this, Uh, A person I love and respect a lot is a pastor of Mind's Ain, Pastor Duran Gray. He said something so great and you guys have really hit it home today is that once you're affected by something, you become an advocate for us. Yeah, and so you guys are talking about this with with

My work, my work ethic, it comes from my mom.

I mean, not not that my dad, because my dad certainly wasn't a slouch and he was a he is a is a marine and was provided to I say careful not to say awarded, because you don't get awarded to purple Heart, but you definitely earn earned the Purple Heart might lose some flesh served in Vietnam. But our backbone to our house was our mom. And I to this day cannot remember a day that my moms worked.

And so it's it's it's her work ethic.

It's it's little that I know in nineteen eighty six, we talked about kind of my mom being diagnosed with lymphoma. She was diagnosed in nineteen eighty six with on phone. I was six years old, he was ten, my sister was fourteen. Well, my mom was so strong that me, as a six year old tory them and my sister knew, but I didn't know. So cancer went into remission in

But it was her work ethic that wrong.

I can tell you, pen, I can tell you no matter the defensive drills wave, you know, backpedaling down the line, you know, from one side line to the other side line, how that would burn my quaus and your cuaus and all those kinds of things, and I think about my mom and I work at it. I'm out here getting paid to do this in the National Football League. So for me, it's that memory of her and her work ethic and her persevering with something that unlike mostly what

When I think about my mom, it's her being there and just herle.

She's always say to you know, you know people, you know, folks that have something to say about you, where you're doing good or bad, So you might as well keep going.

That's great, you know, and do it.

You do it with grace to do it with and do it with the smile is Terrence mentioned so well, well, look, man, I appreciate it.

Cold brothers. By the end of the day, we'll have another hope electronics do something else.

What it won't be because y'all do so well with sack and acts and in the way y'all transition. What it won't be is a podcast.

All kill it.

Guys for coming here, man, Terrence, I love you, guys. Luck.

I can't wait to knock that door down, man. And probably the only person that's gonna be happier than you will be your brother.

Yes, I have them come out, pull the cloth off the bus man.

Congratulations, Thank you, Thank you much, live, thank you guys for listening. You know, with with every show we do, in every guest we have, we try to make it very authentic and just be vulnerable and open and secure and make this a safe place for these guys to talk. And you guys have been awesome for supporting us. We can't thank you enough. We are here to educate and entertain.

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I think he needs to stop now