Stories from the Center of the Universe

Episode 175: Donnie Morris and Jock Jones

On this episode, we have two repeat guests who are here together, know each other well, but haven’t seen each other in about twenty years. Donnie Morris (Episode #138) and Jock Jones (Episode #148) played football at Patrick Henry and Lee-Davis (now Mechanicsville) High Schools respectively and at the same time. They played against each other and their senior year they were the two best players in the state of Virginia. They reminisced about the rivalry between their two schools in all sports as well as the infamous Tomato Bowl match ups. Kevin had a list of rapid fire questions that he posed to both gentlemen and Paul added a couple as well. Kevin even had an epiphany about when he played youth football during the episode! Jock and Donnie gave some advice to kids playing today, talked about the NFL and what changes they would make to football as it is played today. They finished by exchanging cell phone numbers and agreed to see each other soon.

Episode 174: Your Path Counseling Center - Eddie Martinez-Cunion

Eddie Martinez-Cunion joins the podcast via the Ashland Downtown Association to talk about her business, Your Path Counseling Center. Eddie says she is a military brat, but she calls Maryland home. As a youngster, she was an avid reader and that has continued into adulthood. Eddie worked as a counselor and then decided to start her own business. She told Paul why she picked Ashland and they discussed her business’ objectives, the types of therapy used and how treatment goals vary from person to person. She encouraged people to reach out to her or any of the many resources that are available including the new nationwide 988 line. They finished by talking about her family, what will make her happy when she retires and the train effect in the Center of the Universe.

Episode 173: SpeedyCop

Jeff Bloch, aka SpeedyCop, comes to the podcast via a connection with John Watts (Episode #50). Jeff grew up in New Jersey and New York and was the 2nd of nine kids. Jeff and his family did a mission trip to China when he was a teenager and they did some interesting smuggling while they were there. As Paul and Jeff were talking, Jeff relayed that he knew two things early in life - he was going to be in law enforcement and he loved cars. Jeff is nearing the end of a long career with the United States Park Police. He relayed a bit about the agency’s history, some interesting stories from his career and some of the famous people he has met over the years. Jeff is SpeedyCop (speedycop.com) and when he’s not working, he dreams up, builds, shows off and races his vehicle creations. Jeff is about to retire from the USPP and he told Paul that he will have a unique way of getting to work as he does SpeedyCop full time. They finished by talking about Jeff’s siblings, parents and his wife Jamie whom he called the love of his life and his rock.

Episode 172: Ross Luck

Paul, Rob and Ross Luck have been friends since childhood. Ross grew up just outside the Ashland limits and growing up, he spent time going to Kings Dominion (later worked there) and the Hanover Country Club. He told Paul and Rob about playing a lot of sports growing up including a story about a little league baseball match up versus Paul. Ross said he had a couple hobbies growing up one which was a game he played with Rob when they were 10-11 years old. Ross played basketball and football in high school at Patrick Henry and he and Paul talked about some of his teammates. Ross attended the University of Richmond and told the stories of some of the great Spider basketball upsets as well a story or two about being in a fraternity at UofR. Ross majored in Business and after he and his dad Jack (Episode 139) talked, Ross joined the family business at Luck Motor Company in Ashland and has been there thirty-two plus years. We finished the podcast with Ross telling us about his family and we discussed playing 35+ Rec Basketball together and all the unique nicknames we had on the team.

Episode 171: Kevin Mills, Part 2

Kevin Mills is back for Part 2. Paul and Kevin finished the story about Kevin being diagnosed with a tumor. Kevin went into detail about finding out about the tumor, the surgery and the first thing he said when he woke up. They talked about him going to college at VCU, what he majored in, sitting for the LSAT, but having a change of heart about what he wanted to do for a career. He is twenty-three (23) years into his career as a Richmond City Police Officer. He has been in patrol, special drug and gun units and has been a detective and K-9 handler. Kevin talked to Paul about many of these assignments and how overall, he has enjoyed his career. He told Paul a few stories including one where a guy, who was much larger than Kevin, tried to take his weapon. They talked about what is was like having a dog for a partner and Kevin’s narcotics dog, Sarik. They finished by discussing his fondest memories so far as an law enforcement officer, what his plans are after retirement and his family, especially his kids Peyton and Erin.

Episode 170: George Monroe

George Monroe knows Paul and Kevin from when they worked at the Bakery. George lives in Hanover, but grew up in Albemarle and Charlottesville. While in Albemarle, he grew up on a farm where he said he learned the value of hard work. He then moved to Charlottesville and later went to Charlottesville High School where he played football and ran Track. He also told a funny story about how he almost played Lacrosse. He went to Lynchburg College to run Track and he discussed that things were going well until an incident occurred and he ended up leaving Lynchburg. George then went into the United States Marine Corps and after that, he came home to Charlottesville. He later moved to Richmond where he attended Virginia Union and received some help from a legendary coach at VUU. Through the next couple of years, he got his degree, became a single dad and got the job at the Bakery. They finished by talking about some history that George has done research into as well as him coming back to discuss his genealogy which he has traced back to the late 1700’s.

Episode 169: The Boogie Woogie Man

Jimmy “The Boogie Woogie Man” Valiant joins Paul and Kevin on the podcast and he started off with a bang! Jimmy was born in Tullahoma, TN and just turned 80 years old a couple of weeks ago. Before he could remember, his family moved to Hammond, IN where his father took a job as a millwright at a Ford plant. Jimmy’s career in professional wrestling has taken him all over, but he has called Virginia home for the last thirty-one years. Jimmy played baseball and football growing up, but also started lifting weights and spending a lot of time in health clubs/gyms. Jimmy talked with Paul and Kevin about his training, mentors, jobs, raising a family and his wrestling bouts over the years. Jimmy discussed how he re-invented himself throughout his career and how he was the first to come out for a match to music. Jimmy talked about his wife Angel, how they met and their blended family. He finished by inviting all SFCOTU listeners to come meet him at Boogie’s Wresting Camp and Hall of Fame in Shawsville, VA any Sunday at noon.

Episode 168: Daninelle Derricott

Dani Derricott is from Ashland, went to Patrick Henry and told Paul and Kevin the story about “the trail” as an alternate way to get to school. As a younger kid, Dani talked about how they played all day and he was always playing sports against the older kids which made him tougher and better at the same time. He had a major change in his life at 10 years old and was playing basketball and football. He later had to make a choice and he decided to focus on football. The 1994 Patrick Henry football team is still the only state football champion from Hanover County and Dani was instrumental as the QB and as a DB for that team. Several big schools were interested in Dani, but Dani didn’t have the grades. After a year in the Fork Union Post Grad school, Dani went to Marshall University where he was a standout player and was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. He played with (and against in practice) one of the greatest NFL receivers of all time at Marshall. Dani had a very successful six year career in the Canadien Football League and was on two Grey Cup (championship) teams. Dani finished by saying how grateful he was for everything in his life and talked about his future plans and his children.

Episode 167: Kevin Mills, Part 1

Kevin Mills and Paul know each other from their time in the National Guard together. Kevin grew up in Ashland (Paul did know his older brother) and he told Paul he did all the normal running around a kid would do, but also mixed in a lot of motorcycle riding. Kevin’s dad was former military and his brother was in the military when he graduated high school. Kevin decided he would do the same and he and Paul talked about his unique recruitment process, what he wanted to do and what he ended up doing. After his active duty time came to an end, he went to college and joined the National Guard. He had to leave the Guard due to a medical diagnosis - a brain tumor. Kevin ended Part 1 by telling Paul the type of doctor (not what you would expect) that discovered the tumor and the story of the diagnosis and the treatment.

Episode 166: Tony Tran

Tony Tran comes to the podcast through Mike DiMaggio who he went to school with and Paul knows Mike via a family connection. Tony and Paul talked about many things, but started with an amazing survival story for Tony and his family. Tony is from Vietnam and he and his family had to escape during the fall of Saigon. They discussed the memories he had before they left and the amazing journey they went on to get to the United States. Tony gave deep reverence to his parents and the way he and his siblings were raised. He told Paul about the culture change of coming to the USA and about growing up in the Chicago suburbs. Tony went to the University of Illinois and he and Paul talked about jobs he had and his career in software engineering. Tony dropped a couple of his keys to success during this part of their conversation. He told Paul what he has done and what he enjoys doing in his retirement which includes spending time in Barcelona, Spain. The way Tony talked about Barcelona, Paul declared that a visit there is now on his bucket list!