Episodes
Monday Apr 22, 2024
Episode 274: Laura Peery
Monday Apr 22, 2024
Monday Apr 22, 2024
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.
Monday Apr 15, 2024
Episode 273: Marlee and Chris Gaskell
Monday Apr 15, 2024
Monday Apr 15, 2024
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.
Thursday Apr 11, 2024
Episode 272: Lane Casadonte
Thursday Apr 11, 2024
Thursday Apr 11, 2024
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.
Monday Apr 08, 2024
Episode 271: Brice Fritts
Monday Apr 08, 2024
Monday Apr 08, 2024
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.
Monday Apr 01, 2024
Episode 270: Lyndsey Hodgkins
Monday Apr 01, 2024
Monday Apr 01, 2024
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.
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Episode 269: Frank Shamrock
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Frank Shamrock, the former UFC Champion and #1 ranked pound for pound fighter in the world joins Paul on the podcast. Frank told Paul about his tumultuous upbringing regarding family, being in foster homes and spending time in juvenile detention. Things turned around when he was emancipated then married at 17 and when his son arrived. That fell apart and Frank fell backwards and ended up in Folsom Prison. He told Paul about his time in prison and Paul learned of two famous inmates who were in prison when Frank was there. Frank has been a voracious reader from a young age and he has traveled the globe teaching and studying martial arts. Frank discussed training his body and mind, his fighting style and how he approached each opponent. They finished by talking about what the future may hold for Frank as well as talking about his son and daughter and a new addition to the family.
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Episode 268: J. R. Wilburn
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Monday Mar 25, 2024
JR Wilburn is from Portsmouth, Virginia where his dad worked in the navy yards. He had a lot of friends in the neighborhood playing sports for much of his childhood. He started late with organized sports and football became his focus. He went on to play college football as a wide receiver at the University of South Carolina. JR talked about rivalries and how they both have some disdain for UNC. After college, JR was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills. He played for the Steelers from 1966-1970 with one of those years catching balls from Terry Bradshaw. He was coached by the legendary Chuck Noll. They talked about some Steeler greats like “Mean” Joe Greene, how great a place Pittsburgh was to play and their incredible fan base. Paul also learned a lot from JR about the Rooneys who own the Steelers. He told a couple really nice stories about them, one which involved his induction into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. They ended with JR talking about his family and his unique grand dad name!
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Episode 267: Eddie Webb
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Eddie Webb and Paul first met in September of 2023 when Eddie was inducted as part of the inaugural class of the Patrick Henry HS Hall of Fame. Eddie moved to Ashland when he was three because his Dad, Paul Webb got the head coaching job for basketball at Randolph Macon College. They discussed growing up in Ashland and how he played all sports, but how basketball became the focus for Eddie. He went on to play for four years for his Dad at RMC and then he started a twenty year college coaching career. Paul learned about some of the great players his Dad coached, that Eddie coached and how Eddie still keeps in touch with them today. After he stopped coaching in 1995, he became the Director of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame which was located in Portsmouth, VA. He guided that organization to national prominence until he retired from there in 2019. They spoke about the basketball camps that his dad started in 1965 and how Eddie is still running them today fifty-nine years later. They finished by talking about his family and how they are what he is most proud of in his life.
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
Episode 266: Carroll LaHaye
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
Carroll LaHaye is a legendary basketball coach amassing 647 wins during her coaching career at Randolph Macon College. Carroll was born in and mostly grew up in Maine where she was one of six kids. That led to lots of sports (basketball was her favorite) and competition growing up and she played three sports in high school and two in college. After college, she landed a job in Hanover, Virginia and after being a volunteer coach for RMC’s Women’s Basketball for a year, Carroll found herself in the right place at the right time. The head coach left the next year, she took over the program and Paul then discovered that the job had some extra responsibilities that Carroll had to take on as she started her time at RMC. They talked about their 2005 season when they finished 2nd in the nation and Carroll reminisced about her teams and the relationships she had with the players and their families.
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Episode 265: Dustin Ingle
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Dustin Ingle was born in Arkansas, but grew up in Texas. Dustin and Paul spoke about growing up in the Fort Worth area of Texas and playing all the sports growing up, but settling on soccer in high school. After a couple of jobs, Dustin decided to go into the U.S. Army. Paul and Dustin spoke about his early training and then his first three deployments to Iraq and Paul learned just how different those three deployments were for Dustin. They talked about his progression and attending a specialized school that led to an interesting first six months of his second deployment. They briefly touched on his family and the surprise he got when he came home between his first two deployments. Dustin will be back in the near future for part 2 where they will discuss his deployment to Afghanistan and further discuss his family.