Stories from the Center of the Universe

Episode 262: Chris Gaskell

Chris Gaskell joins Paul on Stories via knowing Stu Brown (Episode #257). Chris is from the Hampton, VA area and grew up playing sports and working with his step-dad for a couple of summers in the shipyard. Chris learned a valuable life lesson from those summers and ended up attending Wake Forest University where he played offensive line on the football team. He got a masters in Education and put it to use at Varina HS, but we would learn he was just biding his time for his long term career choice. Paul and Chris discussed his job in the United States Secret Service and all that it entails. They covered where he started, how his career progressed and he told Paul several stories about his time working investigations, protecting presidents and traveling the world. They finished by talking about his wife, two daughters and another family member who is an inspiration to Chris.

Episode 261: Tyler Owens Pt 2

In Part Two of a now Three Part Series, Paul talks to Tyler Owens. They began Part Two by discussing what changed his mind to enter the military and joining ARMY ROTC at VMI his senior year. Tyler told Paul about the start of his military journey, a move to San Diego and how some blamed that move for his failed Army Physical Fitness Test (the last requirement needed to be commissioned as an Officer in the US Army). As you'll learn in this episode, there was a very good and scary reason Tyler didn't pass the test. He told Paul about the challenges of finally obtaining his commission, Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Benning and his unique US Army Ranger School experience. Tyler finished this episode by telling Paul about his wife and their story, including first meeting her when he was only nine years old. Part Three is coming and they will wrap up the series by talking about more of his Army career, his overseas deployment and what he's up to now.

Episode 260: Hamill Jones

Hamill Jones is the Head Basketball Coach and Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at St. Christopher’s (StC) in Richmond, Virginia. The first thing that Hamill and Paul talked about were their recent games versus John Marshall High School. Hamill discussed his current team, how they are doing and what the rest of the season looks like for them. They touched on high school recruiting, NIL and how it is affecting the college athletic landscape. He talked about going to StC and then going to Washington and Lee, playing basketball at both schools. They spoke about some of the teachers and coaches they both had in middle school and high school. He then discussed a basketball history project with ties to StC that he is working on with Andy Smith (Episode 149) . They finished with Hamill talking about his family.

Episode 259: Rabbi Sherry Grinsteiner

Rabbi Sherry Grinsteiner joins Paul via a connection through Ben Ipson (Episode 252). They first spoke about how Rabbi Sherry recently delivered the convocation at the Virginia House of Delegates. She told Paul about her parents being from Yemen and how she was born in Israel. She told Paul she had a wonderful childhood even though she lived through and amongst wars … “it was just life”. They talked about her service as an officer in the Israeli Army and the culture change when she moved to the United States. She told Paul how she met and married a tall handsome U.S. Marine and their children. She became a U.S. Citizen on 10-31-2000 and she told Paul how happy and proud she is to be an American. They discussed the events on October 7, 2023 and the sheer panic and terror she felt for the people, including her family, in Israel. They finished by talking about human nature and Rabbi Sherry gave a wonderful analogy about how we can and should all get along.

Episode 258: Dr. Tony Crisp

Dr. Tony Crisp is a pastor, an educator and a leading authority on Israel. Tony and his two brothers were raised in eastern Tennessee by their grandmother. They were poor and Tony told Paul how he knew that and how it filled him with anger. He spoke to Paul about his troubled childhood and then how he came to know Jesus when he was nineteen years old. Over the last forty-nine years, Tony has dedicated his life to God and is consistently busy being a pastor, developing curricula for various schools and organizations and traveling all over the USA as well as to Israel several times a year. Tony finished by talking about his childhood sweetheart and wife Karen, their three children and five grandkids.

Episode 257: Stu Brown

Stu Brown joins the podcast courtesy of knowing the former Occasional Co-Host, Kevin Flippen who also joined the podcast. Stu was born in Hurt, Virginia and ended up settling in Henrico County, Va., specifically the Varina area. They talked about his time in Hurt and playing football, basketball and baseball growing up. Football was his favorite, but he went on to play baseball in college @ Concord University. Stu is retired from coaching now, but was a long time coach in the area and talked about well known coaches he would talk to and some of his best players that he coached during his career at both Varina and Deep Run high schools. He entertained Paul and Kevin with several stories. To end, Paul asked Stu what he was doing now and Stu also told Paul and Kevin about his family.

Episode 256: Jeff Tiegs part 2

Jeff is back for round 2 to chat about Skull Games and his recently published book “Where Have All The Heroes Gone?”

Jeff has enabled a useful learning opportunity for our listeners, Protect Your Family Course. The coupon is: skgtf2024 for a 100% discount. This course is one of the many positive aspects Jeff and his team enable through his non-profit, Skull Games, focused on counter-human trafficking. The coupon is: skgtf2024 for a 100% discount.

Episode 255: Earl Kinney

Earl Kinney had a busy time moving around in his first twelve years. He was born in West Virginia, moved to Richmond when he was six then went to New York City at eight and then his family settled in Ashland when he was twelve. They talked about his parents and what he did besides sports when he was growing up … which depended somewhat on where he was living! In sports, he was very good at both basketball and football. He discussed the college recruiting process and the advice he received. Football won out in the end and he played football for four years at Howard. After college he talked to Paul about what he almost did, what he did on the weekends and then what he found was his calling which was to be a teacher and especially a coach. He has had a long career as both teacher and coach and is currently the Head Football Coach at Godwin HS in Henrico County. They finished by discussing his boxing podcast he had during the pandemic and he told Paul about his family.

Episode 254: Tyler Owens

Tyler Owens grew up in Georgia and he and Paul talked about youth sports and how he dabbled in many, but settled on football. He talked about how he started playing later than his friends, but his hard work and how that led him to being highly recruited by some major college football programs. He then talked about how he was unfortunately injured in the first game of his senior year and the mental and physical challenges he experienced. With major D1 programs pulling offers, Tyler attended the Virginia Military Institute as a scholarship football player. At first, he did not plan on going into military service after VMI, but due to his family’s history and some great mentors, he went into the ROTC program his senior year. He finished this part 1 of his SCOTU experience telling Paul about a VMI story that had a profound effect on him.

Episode 253: Rich Dalton part 3

Rich Dalton joins the podcast for Part 3. Paul started off by talking about and thanking Rich for the guests that he has referred to the podcast. They did a recap of what they had covered the first two episodes and then Rich talked about his bout with Lyme Disease and how that related to his overall health. They then discussed his battles with addiction and depression. They discussed his first addiction to food when he was young to the multiple times he was addicted to drugs and how that led to trouble at home and elsewhere. He spoke about a time when he was in such a dark hole and didn’t see a way out and the journey to where he is now which is a very good place. He talked about that place and how he has confidence and peace again in his life. He finished by thanking Paul and others as well as the biggest lesson he has learned from his life’s journey.