Stories from the Center of the Universe

Episode 93: Phil Stinnie

Joining the podcast is Phil Stinnie.  Phil is a former VCU basketball player and was connected to Paul through another VCU player, Lionel Bacon (Episode 81.) Phil talked about the bond that is formed by VCU players and how Lionel is his “little brother.”

Phil is from Charlottesville, Virginia and he discussed how his Mom had him when she was only 14 years old.  He was an only child, but they had a large extended family and he was like a little brother to his aunts and uncles.  His mom was tough, but had lots of love to give and this helped Phil go down the right path of life.

He discussed not really playing sports growing up and how he got a late start playing basketball.  He did not play AAU and college interest in Phil happened because of the hard work of his high school coach. VCU eventually won out because Phil said it felt like home.  He discussed his most memorable moment at VCU, getting drafted by the NY Knicks and his basketball career after VCU.

We ended by talking about his family.  He has two sons who both played college football.  Brian is a Medical Device Representative and Aaron is still playing football in the NFL … currently for the 2021 Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Phil gives credit for Brian and Aaron’s success to his wife!

Episode 92: Jay Strath

Jay Strath joins the podcast thanks to a connection with guest host Kevin Flippen … they married into the same family! Paul, Kevin and Jay started off by talking about Jay growing up on a farm in eastern Henrico.  Jay said he worked on the farm a lot with his dad.  He said there was only one reason that his dad let him out of that work and that was sports.

Jay discussed with Paul and Kevin the change in culture in youth sports and how it has effected the kids, the coaches and the parents.  Jay believes you can see the difference today even in the professional ranks, specifically the NBA. Jay talked about his sports experience growing up and how one catch in a football game got some really big name programs interested in him.

Jay spoke about how he decided to attend UVA and some of the famous players he got to be around and play with during his UVA career. Jay finished up by talking about his sons Evan and Gavin, his daughter Taylor and being a dad. He answered the end of the podcast question from Kevin and had a final message which was, “Be good to your neighbor!”

Episode 91: Dave Thach

David Thach (pronounced Tot) joins the podcast because of his relationship with Paul. Dave has been Paul’s barber for over a decade. Dave grew up in Maryland, but has called the Richmond area home for about fourteen years. Dave’s parents are Cambodian, but Dave considers himself Vietnamese. Dave spoke in Vietnamese and even taught Paul and Kevin a word or two in Vietnamese during the podcast.
 
Dave gave his parents a great deal of credit for his work ethic which he is in turn passing on to his sons. Dave has a barber shop in Hanover County and he stated he has a lot of loyal customers.  Dave, Paul and Kevin talked a lot of sports. Dave is a huge sports fan and is a Washington Football Team (he still calls them the Redskins) fan as well as an Orioles fan. Dave stated that Sports Center is the only thing on the TVs in his barber shop.
 
Dave also spoke about becoming a barber and his brothers influence on that career choice.  His philosophy on the art of being a barber is to “keep it simple.”  Dave talked about his wife Carrie (she’s not a sports fan), how they met and their two sons, Connor (12) and Carter (9).

Episode 90: Frederick James Koch

Joining us from Australia is Frederick James ‘Jimmy’ Koch.  Jimmy and Paul were connected through John Watts who was the guest on Episode 50 of the podcast. Jimmy is a professional actor, musician and dancer.  Jimmy was born in Sydney, but currently lives in Melbourne.

Jimmy tells us about growing up in the “bush” of Australia. He recalls one particular encounter with a deadly brown snake during a game of hide and seek with his friends.  He talks about how he has traveled to some incredible places especially one amazing trip to Africa where he did a documentary on the Maasai people.

Jimmy also discusses how his love for the arts started at a young age and how he and his cousins would recreate Michael Jackson videos at family gatherings. He talked about his family including his dad who is a well known singer and how he inherited his stage presence from his dad.  Jimmy touches on his career, his journey as an artist and the difference between the arts.  He talks about his films and some pretty famous costars including his latest film Nightwalk with Mickey Rourke.  He ends by discussing the pandemic in Australia and his love for various types of martial arts.

Episode 89: Mila Liakhovitser

Mila Liakhovitser comes to the podcast by virtue of working together with Paul.  Mila was born and raised in New York City, and though she was born on Long Island and lived for a brief time in Queens, she is a Bronx girl through and through!  She is also a long suffering NY Jets fan.

From the beginning, Mila was recognized as very intelligent and gifted.  She attended math camps after school for most of her childhood and then went to a math and science high school.  She attended what she referred to as "nerd camps" and took her first SAT when she was 12.  She later had a super score of 2380 out of 2400 with an 800 on the math portion.  She got accepted to several great academic schools and all the hard work paid off when she decided to go to Duke University.  She told Paul about the culture shock and differences between NY City and Durham, NC. Mila double majored in Math and Philosophy with a minor in Economics.

Mila told Paul about the incredible relationship she had with her grandfather.  From her grandfather's birth in 1924 to her family's Jewish and Russian history, Mila discusses how she believes fate saved her grandfather from being killed by the Nazi's.  She discussed how he went in the Russian Air Force when he was 16 and came home at 21 and then became an engineer. She discusses the interesting decision that her grandparents had to make when they immigrated.  She finishes by talking about her Mom, all her mom’s accomplishments and the calming force her mom has been in her life.

Episode 88: Andrew Slater

Andrew Slater joins us for the podcast today.  Andrew is the Head Baseball Coach at The Collegiate School.  Paul and Andrew have known each other since they were both at St. Christopher’s though Paul is a few years older.  Andrew attended St. Christopher’s through 6th grade and then went to Collegiate where he graduated in 1996.

 

Andrew talks about getting a football scholarship to the University of Richmond where he also played baseball.  He tells us how his life changed when he suffered a back injury at the end of his freshman year.  He left UofR and headed to Auburn University where his brother Tom was a baseball coach.  Andrew played baseball for two years at Auburn and spent a third year there as a student assistant coach and he said this is when he really developed a passion for coaching.  He then went onto coach baseball at VMI and then Western Kentucky.  In 2008, Andrew and his wife Samantha decided it was time to move back to Virginia and that’s when he started at Collegiate.

 

Paul and Andrew also discussed how Andrew believes it is important that kids play multiple sports when they are growing up.  They discussed his baseball journey as a player and a coach and how Collegiate won a State Championship in 2016.  Andrew talked about his other duties at Collegiate (he’s busy,) his dad’s work ethic and 1 on 1 basketball games with his big brother.  Andrew finished by talking about Samantha and their three boys … Will (16), Jake (13) and Sam (11.)

Episode 87: Trip Chalkley

Trip Chalkley is the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Hanover County, Virginia.  Trip has known Paul since he was a kid through Paul’s dad Larry.  Both Larry and Trip went to the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond and worked together in Hanover County.

Trip talks about growing up in Richmond, attending John Marshall High School and how he almost didn’t go back for his second year of law school. Trip talks about his father and how he and his sister learned later in life that he was a WW2 hero.  Paul, guest host Kevin Flippen and Trip discussed Trip’s 45 year law career as both a defense attorney and as a prosecutor and the difference between the two.

Trip also talked about some memorable cases, playing billiards, his favorite meal and his love of reading and golf. Trip finishes the podcast by talking about his family and his future as the Hanover Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Episode 86: Lynne Hughes

Lynne Hughes joins us this week.  Lynne , with the help of others, runs Comfort Zone Camps.  CZC is a camp for people who are grieving.  It started out for kids and has now expanded in many ways.

Lynne has personal experience with the grieving process.  Lynne, who has 3 brothers, lost her Mom when she was 9 and her dad when she was 12. She lived at various places until she graduated high school and then she attended Michigan State University.  Lynne discusses how a lot of different jobs and experiences set her on the path to finding Comfort Zone Camps.  Because she lost her parents at an early age, Lynne believed that God thought she was special.  She always wondered what his plans were for her and CZC became her purpose in life.  Lynne talks about the ups and downs before, during and after she founded CZC.

Lynne is married to Kelly and they have two kids.  Evan just graduated from Virginia Tech and their daughter Jaime just finished her freshman year at VA Tech. 

Episode 85: Kevin Flippen

On this episode, we have Kevin Flippen who is a previous guest (Episode 32 with Al Lester) and now doubles as an occasional guest host. Kevin aka Flip, and Paul have been friends for over 28 years.  Kevin talks about a myriad of subjects including being adopted by awesome parents and all things sports from being a long suffering Padres fan to wiffle golf.  Kevin also discusses the tragic death of his sister Denise and ends with a chat about his wife Angel and their three boys, Brody, Briggs and Beau.

Episode 84: Chase Miffleton

This week we welcome Chase Miffleton.  Chase grew up in Powhatan and played baseball and also competed in cross country and track.  Chase gets his running genes from his grandma who has run quite a few marathons.  

After graduating high school, Chase attended Va Tech. Influenced by a family member, Chase applied for and got a unique job on campus as an equipment manager for the Hokie Football team.  After receiving partial scholarship money his first three years, he was selected by the program to receive a full scholarship his senior year.  Only one senior is selected each year to win this scholarship. During his time at Va Tech, Chase interned twice with the Washington Football Team at their training camp in Richmond.  This was special to Chase as he grew up a Washington fan.  

After graduation from Va Tech, Chase was hired as a full time equipment manager by the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Even though Washington is still his favorite team, Chase has nothing but high praise for the Steeler organization from Mr. Rooney to Coach Tomlin to the players.  Chase is engaged to his fiancé Stephanie and they are moving back to Virginia and getting married in 2022.  Pictured L-R is Chase with Alex Smith, the 2020 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.