# George Tinsley Sr. on Legacy, Faith, Family, and Franchising

An episode of [Behind The Story Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1896272055), 14 Jun 2026, 54 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2615825/episodes/19342036-george-tinsley-sr-on-legacy-faith-family-and-franchising.mp3

George Tinsley Sr.’s story begins in Smoketown, Louisville, where he was raised by Willie Tinsley, a woman with one leg who could not read or write but gave him the foundation of loyalty, responsibility, and resilience. In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with George to talk about the journey behind the championships, the businesses, the book, and the legacy. George shares what it was like growing up during segregation-era Louisville, discovering basketball, winning three NCAA Division II national championships with Kentucky Wesleyan, being selected as an Olympic alternate in 1968, and later making the unexpected transition from professional basketball to teaching, coaching, corporate America, and franchising. George also opens up about working alongside Colonel Sanders at KFC, becoming a franchise owner, building a family business, founding the KFC Minority Franchise Association, and the deeper meaning of legacy after reconnecting with his birth family later in life. This conversation is about more than success. It is about family, faith, discipline, leadership, reinvention, and learning how to turn obstacles into opportunities. Send us Fan Mail Connect with Jelani Youtube Channel Instagram Tik Tok 5thavenuemedia.com

## Transcript

[0:00] SPEAKER_00: Rough roads.
[0:00] SPEAKER_00: There are gonna be there's gonna be restaurants that burn down.
[0:03] SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be people that say no that you can't do this.
[0:08] SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be those those blips in the road, but you have to stay positive and know have confidence in yourself that you can achieve, you can do it.
[0:16] SPEAKER_00: And uh surround yourself with positive people, surround yourself with people who are trying to achieve just as you're trying to achieve.
[0:23] SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily the same thing, but you know, iron sharpens iron.
[0:28] SPEAKER_00: And when you're when you're around people that are uh full of gusto and they want to succeed and it gives you motivation to succeed also.
[0:39] SPEAKER_02: George, most people who know your name, they may know about the championships, the business portfolio, the book.
[0:48] SPEAKER_02: But I want to start somewhere most people probably don't know, especially the the behind the story audience.
[0:54] SPEAKER_02: Let's start uh at the beginning, back in uh in Smoketown, Louisville, Kentucky.
[0:58] SPEAKER_02: Take me back.
[0:59] SPEAKER_02: Who who was young George?
[1:01] SPEAKER_02: What was that world like?
[1:02] SPEAKER_00: So so uh Smoketown is a famous area inside of Louisville, Kentucky.
[1:09] SPEAKER_00: It's the it's the one area where all the African Americans settled early, and it was a it was a uh pretty large uh community.
[1:19] SPEAKER_00: It today it's not as large, not as uh not as populated with the uh African American race as it was at that particular time.
[1:30] SPEAKER_00: So I moved into the Smoketown area when I was in middle school, junior high school, as it was at that time, which it was the eighth grade.
[1:40] SPEAKER_00: Prior to that, I w was adopted and raised by uh Willie Tinsley, the lady who had one leg, uh, couldn't read or write, uh, and uh, you know, walked with a crutch.
[1:51] SPEAKER_00: And her and I lived in a one-room facility and kind of moved around different parts of Louisville and right outside of Louisville for a period of time until school started and I came back in.
[2:03] SPEAKER_00: So, bottom line, Smoketown is where I uh entered into uh the middle school era and and started developing uh my uh self-confidence and and got into athletics and and so forth.
[2:18] SPEAKER_00: But uh it's a real historic area, an area I'm really proud to be from, and uh and I'll always remember it.
[2:24] SPEAKER_02: I I remember reading about your story, and I guess you were left with with Mrs.
[2:29] SPEAKER_02: Tinsley when you were just seven months old and and she she raised you as as her own.
[2:34] SPEAKER_02: How how did that shape the way that you understood loyalty family and and showing up for people?
[2:41] SPEAKER_00: It it's a good question.
[2:42] SPEAKER_00: It was really unique because it was just her and I.
[2:45] SPEAKER_00: And uh so she looked after me, I looked after her, if if if you could put that in perspective as a as a real young uh child.
[2:55] SPEAKER_00: I had interests in wanting to go out and play and be involved in the neighborhood, which was a tough neighborhood and a lot of crazy things going on, but I think in the back of my mind, my loyalty and and concern about her did not let me drift too far outside of uh her uh coverage, yeah, if you will.
[3:18] SPEAKER_00: And so uh but that shaped a lot of responsibility at an early age uh because I had to do the shopping.
[3:25] SPEAKER_00: Occasionally she would go out uh with me, but we had a neighborhood store that's still there today called Webb's Meat Market, which she we were able to set up a uh an account there where I would go to the go go to the grocery, purchase uh the what we needed, and uh then at the end when she got her social security check, she'd make an X, I'd sign for her, take it there, and and we'd pay for the bill.
[3:51] SPEAKER_00: So it had a it had a lot to do with me not going too far and getting into any real trouble.
[3:58] SPEAKER_00: I did the normal things that kids would do, especially those that weren't supervised closely.
[4:04] SPEAKER_00: But uh to to the credit the the ladies in the neighborhood and the building that we lived in, there were was all females except for one other child, male chow.
[4:15] SPEAKER_00: But uh the ladies kind of kept an eye on you and wouldn't let you drift too far, and they knew our circumstances, so they kind of looked out after me after me also.
[4:24] SPEAKER_02: You you when you speak about your upbringing and and that place, I I can sense a certain fondness of it.
[4:31] SPEAKER_02: But I'm curious, you know, growing up in a s in segregation era Louisville, what what did you understand even as a child about the kind of world you were growing up in and and how did it affect the type of person that you became?
[4:46] SPEAKER_00: Well, it it uh you know the first thing that early on when I started the school first through the fourth grade, I was in an all-black elementary school.
[4:55] SPEAKER_00: That elementary school closed down in my uh fourth grade years, I was passing to the fifth grade.
[5:02] SPEAKER_00: Well, at that time we went to the we were transferred to different schools.
[5:06] SPEAKER_00: My closest school was the school called Nicholas Finzer, was was uh the area that I went into.
[5:11] SPEAKER_00: And the first thing that we did when we got there was we took tests.
[5:15] SPEAKER_00: And those tests, we had no idea, I at least I didn't have an idea what we're doing, and thought it was just normal tests, that those tests decided where we would be placed within the uh school.
[5:27] SPEAKER_00: And and uh coming from uh black school or the where the books and curriculum were behind the uh the white school, then uh I uh didn't do well in the test, and so therefore I was put back a year from the fifth grade that I was passing to back to the seventh to the fourth grade, which was a combination fourth and fifth grade uh group.
[5:50] SPEAKER_00: And uh so I was taller than than most of the kids.
[5:54] SPEAKER_00: And uh so that was my first and and the teachers uh had low tolerance for uh for the new students coming in, uh black students in particular, that they were being you know, having to face this whole whole situation.
[6:10] SPEAKER_00: That was probably the first thing that I uh feel that I had of uh of of the racial uh makeup at that time because largely I'd been in the black community the majority of the time.
[6:23] SPEAKER_00: At the same time, Emma Teal uh was killed, you know, in Mississippi, and and uh that whole thing had a had a big effect across the entire country.
[6:33] SPEAKER_00: And uh mama, who was raising me, she knowing about it, was always highly concerned, and don't do this, don't do that.
[6:41] SPEAKER_00: If you're walking down the street, and if a white lady is coming towards you, don't look her in the eye, look down across the street, all of those kinds of things uh that uh that affected me and was kind of ingrained in you, and you reacted one way or the other.
[6:56] SPEAKER_00: You reacted militantly, or you reacted that you just let's just be smart and uh avoid controversy.
[7:03] SPEAKER_00: And one other thing that happened was excuse me, I had uh real close, what I felt was real close friends, uh that uh white family that uh I I gotten close to the sons who we went to school together, and they would invite me into the house and and so forth.
[7:22] SPEAKER_00: And uh, but one day we were out on a uh riding our bicycles, and some teenage boys chased us and used a lot of an N-word, and uh so we abandoned the bikes and you know ran for safety and so forth.
[7:35] SPEAKER_00: But when we got back, I noticed from that particular point the parents had had suggested to the kids not to get too close and not to go anywhere, and so kind of a coldness came over.
[7:49] SPEAKER_00: So that was those three situations all occurred in my fourth, fifth grade year.
[7:55] SPEAKER_00: And uh, so that was my first experience of uh racial concerns and issues and being careful and and kind of guiding me moving forward.
[8:06] SPEAKER_02: When did uh basketball first enter into your life?
[8:09] SPEAKER_00: Basketball entered into my life in junior high school and middle school.
[8:12] SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's when uh I was introduced to the gym teacher, and uh he was a coach.
[8:18] SPEAKER_00: And uh because of my height and my athletic skill, not necessarily basketball skill, but athletic skill, uh, was recognized and uh got involved in from in the team aspect of uh participating in AAU and and boys' club, boys and girls clubs uh playing playing there.
[8:38] SPEAKER_00: So that's where it that's where it entered.
[8:40] SPEAKER_00: It never really started to developing until I moved to Smoketown and playing on the playground there at a famous park called Ballard Park is uh where I really started honing my skills uh and uh became uh a much much better player.
[8:57] SPEAKER_02: So let's let's talk about the the championship years.
[9:01] SPEAKER_02: You you took all that upbringing, all that hunger.
[9:05] SPEAKER_02: And you took it to university to uh Kentucky West Island College.
[9:09] SPEAKER_02: And and what you built there is is still one of the most remarkable runs in in college basketball history, in my opinion.
[9:17] SPEAKER_02: I mean, you won the the NCAA Division II National Championship as a freshman in 1966, I believe, and then again in 68 and 69, three championships in four years, right?
[9:30] SPEAKER_02: That's correct.
[9:30] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but when you when you think back on that team, on the team that you were a part of, what made it what it was?
[9:37] SPEAKER_02: Was it talent?
[9:38] SPEAKER_02: Was it the culture, coaching?
[9:40] SPEAKER_02: What was it?
[9:41] SPEAKER_00: It was a combination of all.
[9:42] SPEAKER_00: And I might add uh to your introduction there of uh the basketball at Wesley is that we're presently uh nominated for the Naismith Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame.
[9:54] SPEAKER_00: We're uh thank you.
[9:57] SPEAKER_00: And so uh hopefully we'll we'll make it over the hump.
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: Division two basketball then was not what the Division II basketball is today.
[10:06] SPEAKER_00: Back in the day when when I played, a lot of the players that we played against are now in the Hall of Fame themselves individually, like like Walt Frazier and uh who else uh there was about four or five, Earl Monroe and that uh Willis Reed, those guys all came out of division, division two uh basketball.
[10:25] SPEAKER_00: But what happened there was I went out of out of high school, I had several college offers, track and basketball.
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: But the high school, the high school coach, um, the coach of Kentucky Wesleyan had been the high school coach at Louisville Mail High School where I attended.
[10:42] SPEAKER_00: And he he was there, and he had he had recruited another player off our team who was a year ahead of me, Dallas Thornton, to Wesleyan.
[10:50] SPEAKER_00: So I had two people at Wesley that I knew and had a relationship with.
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't that familiar with what what all was going on at other schools.
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: I visited several schools, and but I decided to go to Wesleyan, which was closer to home.
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: And once getting there, we we we went in with uh six freshmen that all came in together.
[11:13] SPEAKER_00: Three of the six freshmen I knew extremely well, had grown up with one and and had played with the other in uh high school.
[11:20] SPEAKER_00: And of course, Dallas, who was on the team a year ahead of me, uh, I knew as well.
[11:25] SPEAKER_00: The coach I knew of him, but I got to know him real well.
[11:29] SPEAKER_00: But we bonded together.
[11:31] SPEAKER_00: Uh we we practiced uh five, six days a week, seven days a week sometimes.
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: And we after practice, we'd still go play together in our in a little facility there on campus.
[11:42] SPEAKER_00: So as I said, we bonded real well.
[11:44] SPEAKER_00: We had one guy on our team that was a transfer end by the name of Sam Smith, who was a great player.
[11:50] SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, he was MVP that year we won the championship in '66.
[11:55] SPEAKER_00: But in winning the championship, then after winning the championship, we uh were uh honored to become ambassadors for the United States traveling in Europe and Africa, teaching basketball, spending a whole summer together uh teaching basketball and playing together.
[12:13] SPEAKER_00: When we came back the very next year, my sophomore year was probably the best team that we had, but that's the team we came in third place.
[12:22] SPEAKER_00: But I got sick going into the into the championship final four round and and wasn't able to play the last two games.
[12:30] SPEAKER_00: So I always tell my teammates we lost because I wasn't there.
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: But just joking.
[12:35] SPEAKER_00: But that was probably our best team.
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: And and so that tradition and that unity, and we had players that came from all over the state of Kentucky, and and and a couple from one from New York and one from uh Chic uh Illinois area that uh we just became one big family that uh that played well together, and we had a great coach uh that uh had a had a great history.
[12:59] SPEAKER_00: He was a uh Hall of Famer himself.
[13:01] SPEAKER_00: So uh, you know, once you win it, you learn you know what it go what you go through in preparation and and so forth, and we just continued on.
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, the four years we played, I played there, we lost very few games at home, and uh, you know, we we won the majority of our games uh on the road, too.
[13:21] SPEAKER_00: I think we won like 118 games and only lost about eight or so in those uh in those four years.
[13:27] SPEAKER_02: You were named the most outstanding player in the 1969 tournament, but I want to ask you something beyond the individual honors and accolades.
[13:37] SPEAKER_02: What did sustained winning over that period of time uh do for your understanding of yourself as a person?
[13:45] SPEAKER_00: Well, I I began to understand myself on that trip to Africa and bonding with the uh with the players and understanding my position within the group as a leader, if you will.
[13:59] SPEAKER_00: I think it began at that particular time.
[14:02] SPEAKER_00: My my basketball skills rapidly uh developed to be better.
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: I was a nine-point scorer in uh in my freshman year, and I jumped from nine to fifteen in my in my uh sophomore year as well as rebounding.
[14:17] SPEAKER_00: I was uh probably the second lead rebounders or freshman, and in my junior year I would continue to be uh the second leading rebounder behind Sam Smith, who was our all-American.
[14:27] SPEAKER_00: And uh we can and you know, still today I still hold the leading rehab rebounder there at the school.
[14:33] SPEAKER_00: So my skills on the court continued to develop, but more importantly, my skills off the court really developed self-esteem.
[14:41] SPEAKER_00: I became almost flunked out in my freshman year, and uh which scared the heck out of me because I would have lost my scholarship.
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: So I learned how to uh to study, I learned how to uh work with my professors and and understand what it took to be uh be successful.
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: So those four years, I gotta mention in my junior years when my my future wife attended came into came to Wesleyan, and uh and I think part of my success uh has to be attributed to her being there because I wanted to impress her both on the court and off the court.
[15:16] SPEAKER_00: So uh became a uh Dean's List student, left there with uh quite a few awards, uh high high high awards, uh leaving Wesleyan academically, and and also joined a Jewish fraternity, which was the only fraternity that you could join on a black could join on the can on on campus there when school with Sigma for you.
[15:37] SPEAKER_00: So being being a part of that group also created another bond of individuals that uh helped me uh off-camp off the court as far as developing and understanding people across the board.
[15:51] SPEAKER_00: I'd always been an outgoing person and and uh very interactive, probably one of the few guys on the team that spent a lot of time on campus, getting to know everybody and so forth.
[16:03] SPEAKER_02: You were you were selected as an alternate on the 68th U.S.
[16:07] SPEAKER_02: Olympic team.
[16:08] SPEAKER_02: And that era in Olympic history, 1968, is one of the most, I would say, politically charged in in sports history.
[16:16] SPEAKER_02: What what was what was that moment like for you?
[16:19] SPEAKER_02: What did it mean to represent the country at that time?
[16:23] SPEAKER_00: Well, what yeah that's that's a good question.
[16:25] SPEAKER_00: Uh that was in uh 68, right, as Martin Luther King was was assassinated and Bobby Kennedy was a lot of a lot of political turmoil going on.
[16:35] SPEAKER_00: And going into that, we we were told uh that no Division II player had ever been selected for the team.
[16:44] SPEAKER_00: And so we kind of went in with the idea that uh you know we weren't going to to make it.
[16:50] SPEAKER_00: But uh Dallas and I uh we you know we took up took that on as a challenge.
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: And uh I mean I think I was averaging like 20 plus points a game during the scrimmages and and playing time, but but actually busted my ankle up.
[17:06] SPEAKER_00: So that the last part of that uh trial, I wasn't uh able to participate.
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: But being selected as an alternate, there were a number of different players that were selected as an alternate, which meant that if they needed you, they could pull, they could to could would pull you up on the team.
[17:23] SPEAKER_00: But other than that, it was just, you know, you you were selected.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: It didn't mean a whole lot.
[17:28] SPEAKER_00: It meant a lot to go participate, but a lot of a lot of key players like Blue Alcinder, Karim Abdul Jabbar, Wes Unsel, quite a few guys that Elvin Hayes, those those guys didn't, they did not try out because they took the political stand to not go uh represent the country.
[17:47] SPEAKER_00: But having that experience and going to Africa and understanding what was going on abroad in other countries and what was going on in Africa and the and and our experiences over there gave me a new view of the United States.
[18:02] SPEAKER_00: And so I was rather I would I would rather take my chance in improving the situation here in the United States rather than leaving the country and going to going to Africa or going wherever.
[18:14] SPEAKER_00: You know, I I felt that we uh had a good country, just needed it was needed it all all of us to work together to improve it.
[18:21] SPEAKER_02: After the the ABA, you you made a transition.
[18:24] SPEAKER_02: And here's where I think uh your story takes a turn that I think most people have never heard.
[18:30] SPEAKER_02: After professional basketball, you went into teaching and coaching, and uh you coached alongside, I believe it was Wade Houston and and one of your players was was Daryl Griffith, who went on to be an NBA first round pick.
[18:44] SPEAKER_02: What did coaching teach you about people that playing never could?
[18:48] SPEAKER_00: Well, what what what my goal in life was to get get into coaching, excuse me, at that time, after playing professional basketball.
[18:58] SPEAKER_00: And the reason I stopped playing professional basketball rather than going trying out with other teams was because I just got married and I had an education, so I could find a job, excuse me, and really you could find a job making almost as much working summer and teaching as you was as you could playing in the in the ABA with uh teams.
[19:22] SPEAKER_00: So my my choice was to stay close to home and just starting a family and just get a get that second career started.
[19:29] SPEAKER_00: In coaching and teaching in my old high school was was a dream.
[19:33] SPEAKER_00: It was those those coaches were very, very important in my life in attending mail.
[19:40] SPEAKER_00: So it was my opportunity to give back, and I was giving back right in the same neighborhood I grew up in.
[19:45] SPEAKER_00: So a lot of the young young players were from that area.
[19:49] SPEAKER_00: Daryl Griffith, who you mentioned, my wife knew Babyset Durrell when he was a youngster.
[19:55] SPEAKER_00: So I knew Durrell, I knew several of the players on the team, so it was it was just natural.
[20:02] SPEAKER_00: I had actually applied for the head coaching job and it came down between Wade and myself, but Wade had the experience, so I told him that if Wade got the job, I would uh certainly stay and and learn, you know, because that's the career I wanted to get into.
[20:16] SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, uh after two years of coaching, we won the state championship, we were runner up one year.
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then the third year, uh busing came along in Louisville, so I got moved to a different school, which created havoc in my life.
[20:32] SPEAKER_00: Uh the school I got got transferred to was a school where all the riots and uh and uh a lot of craziness was going on uh at that school.
[20:42] SPEAKER_00: So uh by the time I got back to mail, practices were already started.
[20:47] SPEAKER_00: So I just I fell out of sync with things.
[20:49] SPEAKER_00: So that's when I started thinking about the next opportunity.
[20:53] SPEAKER_00: The FBI came in and offered me a job, uh, recruited me and and offered the job, and I uh was getting ready to sign on a piece of paper after passing the all the background checks and and everything else, which was a kind of a highlight to be able to know that you qualified.
[21:09] SPEAKER_00: Uh but during that time, a couple of agents got killed up in the up in the uh up in Idaho or Colorado somewhere, and uh so I could see myself being sent to New York or somewhere in Holland or something, you have to fight crime there.
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: So I got an offer to go to work at uh Kentucky Fried Chicken and change my career there and and start something new and different.
[21:33] SPEAKER_00: And uh I was I was up for the challenge, and so uh I accepted that opportunity.
[21:39] SPEAKER_02: Now that's that's the story that I really want to get into, you know.
[21:43] SPEAKER_02: Instead of going to the FBI, going to Kentucky Fricken and working alongside the late Colonel Colonel Saunders to be exact.
[21:50] SPEAKER_02: What what was happening inside your head?
[21:52] SPEAKER_02: You know, because a lot of people they make safe choices and call it wisdom, but you you seem to have made a bold choice looking back.
[22:00] SPEAKER_02: What what do you think you knew internally about yourself in that moment that led you to say no to the FBI and yes to a chicken company?
[22:10] SPEAKER_00: Well, saying no to the FBI was was fairly easy because uh the the job was somewhat dangerous.
[22:17] SPEAKER_00: The all the rumors about G Edgar Hoover and what the FBI had done with Martin Luther King and so forth, that that uh that was a part of uh my thinking and process.
[22:29] SPEAKER_00: Uh but uh KFC, corporate America offered me more money, and then it was a lot safer.
[22:35] SPEAKER_00: So I chose and into uh if the job was right there in Louisville.
[22:41] SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to leave Louisville, where initially they they were gonna move to to uh Illinois, uh Chicago area, but uh excuse me, they changed and we started there in Louisville.
[22:52] SPEAKER_00: So they that made it easier.
[22:54] SPEAKER_00: Uh the bowl uh part was going into business environment, uh corporate America, but I was somewhat somewhat safe.
[23:03] SPEAKER_00: I felt somewhat secure because I was going into the training department, which is which I'd been a school teacher, and so you know I felt comfortable handling myself in a classroom environment, but I had no idea I'd be working with the colonel.
[23:17] SPEAKER_00: Uh that was uh the last minute scenario that came about that he and I would be teaching uh class.
[23:24] SPEAKER_00: So uh that was pretty intimidating, you know, given he was the face of the brand, and uh and also it was uh it was it was the business aspect of it, which I didn't have a lot of background, but I've you know I I felt like I was a quick learner, and uh so uh you know I was I was down for going going after it and fell in love with it after the the first uh several months.
[23:47] SPEAKER_02: You you worked directly alongside Colonel Saunders for for three years, and that is I think genuinely a rare thing.
[23:55] SPEAKER_02: Most people only know the Colonel as a logo, like me, for example, right?
[24:00] SPEAKER_02: But but you knew him as a man, as a person.
[24:02] SPEAKER_02: What was he actually like?
[24:04] SPEAKER_00: Well, just to be clear, he was not with me every day.
[24:08] SPEAKER_00: And and the one particular class, I taught three different classes.
[24:13] SPEAKER_00: KFC Basic Management class was the class that he came in and was a part of.
[24:19] SPEAKER_00: And typically that was three days out of seven that he would come, and both those were three half days.
[24:25] SPEAKER_00: So whenever he came, it was all about him.
[24:28] SPEAKER_00: And uh, we made sure that the because these people were investing a million dollars to get into the franchising business, and so we wanted to make sure that they were satisfied in their uh initi initial uh beginnings with Kev's with KFC as franchisees.
[24:44] SPEAKER_00: So we did a lot of cooking, a lot of storytelling, a lot of QA, a lot of those kinds of things.
[24:52] SPEAKER_00: We didn't get into really meat and potatoes until he was gone.
[24:55] SPEAKER_00: But what I learned from the colonel was his passion for the business, his passion for passion towards customer service, which was a little bit different from the corporate thought process.
[25:08] SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, but he was more about uh hands-on, um, you know, going out, greeting, coloneling, talking to the customers, and and seeing where they were going, and and and that whole history, which was very, very important for these new people getting in to understand that and and and really um and get caught up in that and understand how to sell the business.
[25:32] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it was uh it was a it was a good experience.
[25:36] SPEAKER_00: I understood the colonel and and his mentality and where he he came from, his upbringing and what he had gone through, and and he came from a city called Carbon, Kentucky, there in uh Kentucky, and that was a city that at one time ran all the blacks out of the city for a period of time.
[25:57] SPEAKER_00: So there was some real racial hatred in that particular area during a certain time in in the history of Kentucky, history of Carbon, Kentucky.
[26:07] SPEAKER_00: So the Colonel brought some of that thought process with him.
[26:12] SPEAKER_00: So we didn't we didn't have dinner together, we didn't uh break break bread together, we we just did business together.
[26:19] SPEAKER_00: He signed, if you will, he signed a check, and uh so uh you know I I dealt with what I had to, and I mean I've become pretty good at uh at controlling the environment that I was in.
[26:31] SPEAKER_00: And so being the lead instructor, uh I kept everything on a certain level.
[26:36] SPEAKER_00: And if I seen, if I noticed that it was going anywhere sideways, then we'd we would take a break and we could I could actually get him, move him on to other endeavors within the corporate uh instruction.
[26:49] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you you worked your way up from you know being instructor, lead instructor, up to uh, I believe the director of human resources.
[26:57] SPEAKER_02: And then you made the leap from there into having your own franchise.
[27:00] SPEAKER_02: And I think uh most people don't appreciate how psychologically complex that transition is from being an employee to being an owner.
[27:09] SPEAKER_02: What did that shift feel like for you?
[27:11] SPEAKER_02: What what made and what made you finally believe you were ready to make that transition?
[27:16] SPEAKER_00: You know, I what what happened initially was after about a year of actually teaching these classes, in particular the KFC class, you know, it it came to me that I'm the instructor and I'm teaching these people who are investing to become a franchisee.
[27:34] SPEAKER_00: I'm teaching them how to be be a franchisee.
[27:36] SPEAKER_00: So it in the back of my mind, I started thinking in terms of of becoming a franchisee at some time, you know, myself.
[27:44] SPEAKER_00: But I but I knew that you had to have a million dollars liquid to even qualify to become a franchisee or come through one of the franchisee's families uh to be able to get into franchising.
[27:57] SPEAKER_00: And at that and at that time with KFC, franchising was a lot different than it is today.
[28:02] SPEAKER_00: Uh then you uh Carlson had a contract where he signed on the back of a piece of paper, and and a lot of these guys got into the bit of got into the business that way versus going through the to contractual agreements that came later with be in becoming a KFC franchisee.
[28:21] SPEAKER_00: So as as uh as I'm teaching these classes, I was getting a lot of offers to different jobs within the corporate structure.
[28:30] SPEAKER_00: And uh one of my mentors uh mentioned to me that you you know you can't you can't say no all these stuff, you'll quit getting the offer.
[28:38] SPEAKER_00: So finally I accepted a position down in Atlanta, Georgia, to go down and and actually run seven restaurants, which was another leap in experience in actually running the entire operation, PL, the responsibilities, hiring, terminating that whole hands-on operation in real world.
[28:59] SPEAKER_00: Did after doing that for a year, then I got promoted to uh the district manager, uh, which was 51 restaurants, excuse me.
[29:08] SPEAKER_00: And then after another year, I got promoted back to corporate as director of human resources with everything from Kentucky to Hawaii, working in the human resource field.
[29:19] SPEAKER_00: Uh at that point was where I felt that I was getting a little burnt out with travel.
[29:23] SPEAKER_00: I had two young kids and leaving on Tuesday, coming back on Thursday, missing a lot of that.
[29:29] SPEAKER_00: And so got kind of burnt out uh there and and uh was getting ready to become a Burger King franchisee.
[29:36] SPEAKER_00: I'd gone, took a vacation, and went through the Burger King program and uh qualified to become a Burger King franchise.
[29:43] SPEAKER_00: And I went in to retire resign, and the president of the KFC uh they uh countered and made me another offer, which uh was much better than what I was doing at that particular time.
[29:55] SPEAKER_00: So I figured, hey, you know, let's stay with this.
[29:57] SPEAKER_00: My wife had got a uh a position down in Jacksonville, Florida, to become a radio uh manager of a radio station down there, general manager.
[30:06] SPEAKER_00: And so uh I took the job of of a new uh franchise manager, which was work a liaison between the corporation and the the franchisees.
[30:16] SPEAKER_00: The K KFC had just bought the state of Florida back from the colonel's uh grandson and and daughter, and so they were reopening that whole market.
[30:28] SPEAKER_00: So my job was going to be to go in and take north north uh Florida and and South Georgia with all of those franchisees, which is about a total of about 30 franchisees.
[30:39] SPEAKER_00: And so, excuse me, so I took that job to uh work with those franchisees, and and uh in doing so, it gave me another perspective and how the franchisees actually run their restaurants versus corporate operators and how they operate.
[30:55] SPEAKER_00: So uh that was rounding my skill set.
[30:58] SPEAKER_00: Um, during that time, uh along came uh Jesse Jackson with Operation Porsche that opened the doors for a lot of minorities to get in into franchises with uh the support of corporate uh guaranteeing the financing for six, seven years.
[31:15] SPEAKER_00: And uh the and then you you know that was an that was a way that for people for minorities that didn't have the uh the net worth to make it make it happen.
[31:25] SPEAKER_00: And so we had a lot of people that actually got into the KFC uh business during that time frame that didn't make it well, then it wasn't that to their fault, it was because KFC Corporate at that time was spinning off of some of their low performing markets.
[31:42] SPEAKER_00: So these these black franchisees or minority other minorities franchisees were coming in, were inheriting low-performing restaurants and they were failing.
[31:52] SPEAKER_00: They just weren't making it.
[31:53] SPEAKER_00: So the the vice president of the market that I was that I was in, I had actually trained him in Atlanta.
[32:01] SPEAKER_00: So when uh he he made the suggestion, why don't we let George uh have an opportunity to become a franchisee in Florida?
[32:09] SPEAKER_00: So that opened the door of the conversation, and I jumped on it, and uh that's how I got started in uh in Central Florida, in his in his particular market.
[32:20] SPEAKER_02: Let's go back to 1984, your first your first actual uh franchise.
[32:24] SPEAKER_02: You didn't have the the capital, the money up front, but somebody you trained helped you to get started.
[32:31] SPEAKER_02: Tell me about how that went about and how that happened.
[32:34] SPEAKER_00: Well, it wasn't someone I trained, it was actually my cousin who uh I helped him be get the franchise in Louisville, Kentucky.
[32:43] SPEAKER_00: Now he became the first black franchisee in Louisville, Kentucky.
[32:47] SPEAKER_00: Now he he had a relationship with the president of KFC Corporate as he was catering, he was doing catering business.
[32:54] SPEAKER_00: So his name was one of about four that was uh that were was put up.
[32:58] SPEAKER_00: So I made sure behind nobody knew that we were relatives, and I made sure behind the scenes I I uh got him, I was helping him on one side and and making sure he was up front uh from the corporate standpoint.
[33:11] SPEAKER_00: So he was able to get into the business and develop three restaurants himself.
[33:16] SPEAKER_00: And so when uh the opportunity came for me, he was one of those that the family members that I contacted and borrowed some money from him along with another family member and uh that helped us uh get started in our very first restaurant.
[33:34] SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, that restaurant was an overwhelming success when we opened it, and I was able to pay him back and everybody back the money that uh that we uh borrowed to uh help uh get that first restaurant financed.
[33:48] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, from that first location in Florida, I mean, you built something that most people in in franchising never even come close to.
[33:56] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I I saw that you had uh TGI Fridays at the Tampa Airport.
[34:02] SPEAKER_02: You were number one in in sales, what is it, for for nine consecutive years, I believe?
[34:08] SPEAKER_02: And you ended up in more than 60 locations across what KFC, Starbucks, Chili's, Wendy's, on and on.
[34:16] SPEAKER_02: When you look back at that now, what was the most for you, the most critical decision that you made that you believe separates what uh what happened from that what most people believe would have been possible with the same resources you had?
[34:31] SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, we initially starting off, uh, my wife was involved in in the business.
[34:39] SPEAKER_00: She worked in the restaurant for a short period of time, and then of course, with our two young children, she uh stepped out and uh did administrative uh work from outside.
[34:50] SPEAKER_00: She got involved in community projects.
[34:53] SPEAKER_00: I realized real quick that our customer base, we were the first rather large uh black business in the area, excuse me.
[35:02] SPEAKER_00: So it was an opportunity there to get involved in the chambers and get involved in in boys and girls' clubs and so forth during some of the downtime that I had.
[35:13] SPEAKER_00: And I started coaching some of the youth in the area, one of the great names, Tracy McGrady, who's a Hall of Famer from the area, who was uh amongst those players I was uh coaching.
[35:23] SPEAKER_00: But uh that had a direct correlation with our customer base, the number of times that a customer would come, putting it real simple here, uh, that a customer would come visit you and and then had an opportunity for to relate to the customers in the lobby and uh let them know who we were and and and uh how we were in our business, which was at a higher standard than a lot of the other businesses in the area.
[35:49] SPEAKER_00: We, you know, lobbies were clean, we had lobby hostesses, restrooms were clean, product was good, the the employees behind the counter understood that they they uh that we practiced what we preached, and uh so they their standards were higher, and we had longer-term employees uh during that that first phase of the business.
[36:12] SPEAKER_00: Also, in year five, the restaurant burned down.
[36:15] SPEAKER_00: I'd built uh three restaurants in in about four or five years.
[36:19] SPEAKER_00: So in the fifth year, that high-volume restaurant burned down.
[36:23] SPEAKER_00: And when it burned down, uh one of the things that I did is I stood down in the parking lot and uh watched it go up in flames.
[36:31] SPEAKER_00: I saw these lunch trucks uh out there, and it that uh the idea came to me that while my restaurant's down, let's let's develop a truck, put a warming cabinet, you know, outfit it for sales, and and I followed every one of those lunch trucks to the different stops that they were made.
[36:49] SPEAKER_00: And so once I got that truck built, I went to one of my existing restaurants, loaded up, and I beat them to the spot and and and grew my sales to help offset the loss that we had there.
[37:01] SPEAKER_00: That sparked a major marketing uh appeal to the our entire trade area.
[37:06] SPEAKER_00: So when we reopened, our sales doubled.
[37:09] SPEAKER_00: We went from one million to two million in that particular restaurant.
[37:12] SPEAKER_00: So my point here is that whole work ethic, uh, the relationship with the community, relationship with the customer, uh, relationship with your employees, and them understanding that you're about serious business, not just lollygagging around, you know, you we want you to dress right, we want you to treat the customers right, and so forth.
[37:33] SPEAKER_00: I carried right on into when I got into the airport business, which was our first restaurant, was the TJI Fridays.
[37:40] SPEAKER_00: Uh when we opened that restaurant, main pre-security, main terminal, which is usually the slower part of the business in the airport, you know, I got involved with the community there and and the traveling public and and uh developer relationships.
[37:56] SPEAKER_00: And so that restaurant uh was doing over nine million and uh just just uh just went right off the chart, which opened the doors for us to have opportunities to develop inside that Tampa Airport where the Fridays was, as well as going into Miami, Florida, and Miami International Airport, and also Louisville Airport, which is where we're from.
[38:16] SPEAKER_00: So we were able to uh and win the numerous awards and and uh you know we're still still operating in those in those airports today, and we sold the restaurants we had on the street.
[38:29] SPEAKER_00: So uh it was, you know, it it's that that skill set that I learned playing basketball, the teamwork, leadership, understanding uh if you have a bad uh, you know, the resilience that it takes to bounce from uh turning an obstacle into an opportunity.
[38:44] SPEAKER_02: So perfect.
[38:45] SPEAKER_02: I saw that you founded the KFC Minority Franchise Association.
[38:50] SPEAKER_02: What was the push to start something like that and how did it help the different franchise owners?
[38:55] SPEAKER_00: Well, as go back to uh as that last job that I had with KFC when they and when they presented that opportunity, that was the franchise manager position that I was working with the franchisees.
[39:10] SPEAKER_00: Well, that's when the program that Jesse Jackson initiated, Operation Porsche initiated, and a lot I mentioned a lot of those franchisees that came in, they weren't successful.
[39:20] SPEAKER_00: They were failing, they weren't making it a sometimes a year.
[39:24] SPEAKER_00: So as a franchise manager on the KFC side, I had two franchisees that were in my two black franchisees were in my territory, and through them and my cousin, who was a franchisee, I initiated with them, let's start.
[39:40] SPEAKER_00: You guys should start.
[39:41] SPEAKER_00: I couldn't start it because I'm working for the corporation.
[39:44] SPEAKER_00: You guys should start a minority franchising program, which it was initially about seven or eight franchisees that were involved.
[39:52] SPEAKER_00: And so that grew from seven or eight to over 60 uh owners at one particular time.
[39:58] SPEAKER_00: Once I became a franchisee, then I became an official member of that of the association and eventually became president of the association, the French Minority Franchise Association.
[40:09] SPEAKER_00: But how it all got started was I worked with uh a guy named Brady Keys, who was a great entrepreneur who came down from Detroit, former professional football player, and a guy named Milt Sanders, who was a uh one of Jesse Jackson's friends.
[40:24] SPEAKER_00: So uh working with them, uh we we pulled all the others together, and they initially started.
[40:31] SPEAKER_00: I was just kind of a liaison from from the outside.
[40:35] SPEAKER_02: Let's slow down for a bit and and talk about family and legacy and the the the hall of fame.
[40:42] SPEAKER_02: Because I I think this is where possibly the the deeper story behind George lies.
[40:49] SPEAKER_02: You you put your family name on a few businesses.
[40:51] SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh Pengeo Inc., which is named after your your daughter uh Penny and your son George, and then there's the Tinsley Family Concessions, the Tinsley Group.
[41:02] SPEAKER_02: So it seemed as though you were not just building businesses, you putting your family's name on them.
[41:06] SPEAKER_02: What what has it felt like to watch the people you love and really care about grow into what you built?
[41:14] SPEAKER_00: It's been beautiful.
[41:15] SPEAKER_00: It uh and two sides.
[41:17] SPEAKER_00: One side is the immediate family, to see my son, who today is now the president of the company, to see him rise and and then take over.
[41:26] SPEAKER_00: And uh certainly we're still we are still involved, but to see him and work with him and as as he's taken on and developing restaurants.
[41:36] SPEAKER_00: Uh we just opened Auntie Ann's up in uh Louisville, Kentucky, which which he uh experiented totally.
[41:42] SPEAKER_00: So that's been a real uh real heartwarming experience.
[41:46] SPEAKER_00: But you know, we have employees on the other side that were with us 40 years.
[41:51] SPEAKER_00: We have employees that have gone on to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, and so forth.
[41:57] SPEAKER_00: That legacy was has been extremely important to see these individuals who, through watching us work and seeing how we handle business and how we handle things, let them know that they can do the same thing.
[42:13] SPEAKER_00: And uh and they have gone on to do great things.
[42:17] SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it's it's heartwarming every day to hear from one of them when you know through social media now it makes it makes it more uh more open, easier to communicate.
[42:27] SPEAKER_00: But I think that that uh that whole legacy thing uh is something that we're we're really extremely proud of.
[42:36] SPEAKER_00: But you know, Jelani, let me mention that you know being adopted and uh not having a family and growing up, one that I could truly say was my family, even though the people who who grew who uh raised me and the ones that uh I call sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews are are family to me.
[42:57] SPEAKER_00: I really didn't have any blood family until I was until 1972, and that's when I found my mother and I found my father, and I found 16 brothers and sisters on both both sides, because they mother and father, they both had started their families.
[43:11] SPEAKER_00: So the whole family thing and the legacy behind it has always something been something very dear to me.
[43:18] SPEAKER_00: I stay in touch with as many of the brothers and sisters and their families as I can, uh, but at the same time, um, you know, those uh family members that help raise me, uh the ones that are still living, I stay close to also.
[43:33] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it is kind of what we're all about, family and and being there to help and give back to the communities that we do business in.
[43:42] SPEAKER_02: You mentioned earlier that your your team from uh Kentucky Wesley in 66, 68, and 69 are currently nominated for the Danay Smith uh Basketball Hall of Fame.
[43:52] SPEAKER_02: And this has been in the process for years, from what I understand.
[43:56] SPEAKER_02: What do you think about that nomination?
[43:59] SPEAKER_02: Not not as What does it mean to you and what do you think it it would mean to your teammates?
[44:08] SPEAKER_00: I I think that it's uh it it would it would really kind of put the icing on the cake, if you will.
[44:16] SPEAKER_00: Uh that was 60 years ago that we won our first championship.
[44:20] SPEAKER_00: A lot of those players that were on those teams, those four teams that are still living, we still stay in touch with each other, communicate from time to time.
[44:31] SPEAKER_00: Several of us communicate monthly.
[44:33] SPEAKER_00: Uh that we we stay in touch.
[44:35] SPEAKER_00: It would mean a lot for the college, which uh which I'm I've served on the board uh for a number of years and now still serve on the on the board uh with the college.
[44:47] SPEAKER_00: A lot of the success that I have have achieved has come from those four years uh spent at Kentucky Wesley.
[44:55] SPEAKER_00: And so I think the the importance of people understanding that Division II basketball then was it was an opportunity for a lot of players that couldn't play in some of the major colleges because of race or whatever the situation was, had that opportunity to go to a D2 school and play at a D2 school.
[45:17] SPEAKER_00: It gave me four years of an opportunity to start versus three years at in in the in the major schools, D1 schools.
[45:26] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the the the nine or so hall of fames that I've been able to be to uh to make, uh a lot of that came from uh playing at Wesle and and and and the business, uh being involved in business afterwards, even my high school, which I was not a great player in high school.
[45:46] SPEAKER_00: I was uh a made third team all-state, made all city and so forth, but not in make that wasn't one of the top players.
[45:54] SPEAKER_00: But as I look back today on those guys that played uh during the same time, uh equally are have out outperformed some of those guys.
[46:03] SPEAKER_02: George, you've you've already accomplished things that most people never will.
[46:08] SPEAKER_02: At this stage in your life, you're still speaking, obviously, you're having a conversation with me, you're you're still consulting, you're still pouring into people.
[46:17] SPEAKER_02: Is there anything that still feels unfinished for you from a legacy perspective?
[46:23] SPEAKER_00: I I think that uh you know you always find, at least I always find reasons to uh try to move another notch down the road and to be able to pull or help others achieve their dreams and goals.
[46:38] SPEAKER_00: And so when when when when I have an opportunity to take on a new project, to do something, and I'm able to influence others to to achieve and to let them know that uh it's not where you start, it's where you where you finish, where you are, that uh you can turn their obstacles into opportunities and and uh share my story with uh with others, then that uh that's that's satisfying to me.
[47:07] SPEAKER_00: And it it uh as long as I can do that, as long as I can you know get out there and and show that you you you know you can be the best you can be if you just uh stay positive and work hard and uh and uh you know believe in the higher power and and uh trust trust God to uh see you through it.
[47:26] SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about your book for a few minutes, Catch Us Catch Can.
[47:30] SPEAKER_02: It it became an Amazon number one bestseller and won the International Impact Book Award.
[47:36] SPEAKER_02: For someone of your generation and and your background, I'm always so appreciative talking to people from your generation because of the lessons we can learn and and from just your experiences and what you had to navigate and still accomplish what you did.
[47:51] SPEAKER_02: And and I think you know, putting your life on paper is an act of courage and responsibility.
[47:57] SPEAKER_02: But the title itself, catches catch can.
[48:00] SPEAKER_02: Speak to that phrase.
[48:01] SPEAKER_02: Where does it come from?
[48:02] SPEAKER_00: It is it's another nice way of saying turning your obstacles to opportunity.
[48:08] SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, the uh publishing company that I worked with to develop the book, they actually came up with it.
[48:15] SPEAKER_00: It took me a while to actually buy into it and understand, but we did a lot of research on with the with the public to see see what phrase worked on.
[48:26] SPEAKER_00: And uh it once choosing it, it just started to grow, get momentum, and it's catchy, and it's uh it uh it's it's it's begun to to be quite popular.
[48:37] SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of touch uh turning obstacles to opportunities out there, a lot of mottos.
[48:42] SPEAKER_00: My first book was the the The Determined Entrepreneur, uh, which was basically an overview of turning obstacles to opportunities that you that you have.
[48:53] SPEAKER_00: So uh it uh it it's turned out real well.
[48:56] SPEAKER_00: I'm glad we uh we made that uh choice, but it's it's just another way of saying, you know, it's not where you not where you start, it's what you what you do with the opportunities that you that's presented and uh it's where you end up.
[49:11] unknown: You know.
[49:11] SPEAKER_02: Couple more questions before I let you go, George.
[49:14] SPEAKER_02: If if someone in their twenties is listening to this right now, someone who's who's in the middle of building their story, who can't yet see, you know, how it turns out, what do you want them to take away from your journey?
[49:27] SPEAKER_00: I want them to know that uh they should uh believe in uh in their course, uh stay the course, but be the best you can be, but always be open to a different door that might open.
[49:41] SPEAKER_00: But if you're going to go into that door, go into it with the same dedication, same positive attitude as you've been traveling so far uh so far.
[49:52] SPEAKER_00: But there are going to be rough roads, there are gonna be there's gonna be restaurants that burn down, there's gonna be people that say no that you can't do this, there's gonna be those those blips in the road, but you have to stay positive and know, have confidence in yourself that you can achieve, you can do it.
[50:10] SPEAKER_00: And uh surround yourself with positive people, surround yourself with people who are trying to achieve just as you are trying to achieve.
[50:17] SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily the same thing, but you know, iron sharpens iron.
[50:22] SPEAKER_00: And when you're when you're around people that are uh full of gusto and they want to succeed and it gives you motivation to succeed also, be an avid reader, uh look at opportunities, new opportunities that may be out there, but but do your homework, don't just jump into something willy-nilly.
[50:41] SPEAKER_00: Know what you're gonna do, and once you make that step to do it, go full force.
[50:46] SPEAKER_00: I I tell people that uh when I've got the first year in franchising, a lot of my friends who got who had gotten into franchising also, they went off to Hawaii to conventions and doing different things.
[50:58] SPEAKER_00: I literally, literally almost cried, you know, that I wasn't able to uh to go along.
[51:03] SPEAKER_00: But I knew that if I left my restaurant within that first year and started taking vacations and so forth, it I wouldn't have been able, would not be able to achieve the dreams that I had for myself and my family.
[51:15] SPEAKER_00: So we stayed the course for a good three or four years before we had our first vacation and making sure that we had the uh right mentality, philosophy, and ingrained in our employees and our community knew what to expect from us.
[51:30] SPEAKER_00: So it's a commitment when you make a choice in whatever business, whatever goal you have, but you got to uh put your best foot forward.
[51:38] SPEAKER_02: George, final question.
[51:39] SPEAKER_02: You've built businesses, you've won championships, traveled the world, written books, and you've spent decades actually giving back.
[51:49] SPEAKER_02: If if the people who've been the closest to you throughout your entire life, your family, your teammates, business colleagues, the people you've mentored, if if they were asked to describe not what you accomplished, but who you were, what do you hope they'd say?
[52:06] SPEAKER_00: I'd hoped that they would say that he was a positive role model, that uh always was willing to give back, willing to offer a helping hand, uh positive advice that uh was willing to uh if he had to roll up his sleeves, get in there and help them do what uh do if they needed help.
[52:24] SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, someone that uh they could always, you know, reach back to and get uh good, solid uh wealth, all that advice.
[52:34] SPEAKER_02: George, this conversation is exactly what Behind the Story exists for.
[52:38] SPEAKER_02: And I thank you for your time, your honesty, your example.
[52:41] SPEAKER_02: And for everyone listening, Catch As Catch Can is the book.
[52:45] SPEAKER_02: It's available on Amazon, Bonds and Noble.
[52:48] SPEAKER_02: And if this conversation moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.
[52:52] SPEAKER_02: And if you're watching on YouTube, subscribe.
[52:54] SPEAKER_02: George, thank you again.
[52:55] SPEAKER_00: Jelani, thank you.
[52:56] SPEAKER_00: And I and I really appreciate the uh preparation that you have gone into to prepare for this.
[53:02] SPEAKER_00: You you uh have some pretty pretty great questions there.
[53:06] SPEAKER_02: Well, someone with your background and story, you have so much to offer that we can learn from.
[53:11] SPEAKER_02: So I am so grateful that you you've accepted uh the invitation to come on behind the story.
[53:17] SPEAKER_02: So thank you again.
[53:18] SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
[53:18] SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.

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