ep. 38 - Jim "The Rookie" Morris: Coach Turned Pro That Inspired The Movie The Rookie
Bio
Jim Morris is the subject of Disney's film "The Rookie." He's the science teacher/coach who made a bet with his baseball team; if they won district he would try out for an MLB team. They did, he did and made it to the major leagues in three months!
Aside from speaking, he also established The Jim “The Rookie” Morris Foundation, which exists to give back to impoverished communities across America through mini-sports camps, meals, and sports equipment.
Transcript
ep. 38 - Jim "The Rookie" Morris: Coach Turned Pro That Inspired The Movie The Rookie
Gail Davis: Jim Morris was a 35 year old high school teacher, who had left his dreams of major league baseball pitching far behind him. Jim's leadership inspired a group of kids to respect themselves and to [00:01:00] reach for their goals. By pushing his students to chase their dreams Morris found his own. His inspiring story of meteoric rise from teacher to flame-throwing major league pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made cinematic history with the release of the Disney movie "The Rookie" starring Dennis Quaid. Please welcome to the GDA podcast Jim "The Rookie" Morris.
Kyle Davis: Hey Jim, how are you?
Jim Morris: Hey [00:01:30] Kyle, Gail, how's it going?
Gail Davis: Great, so glad to have you on today. My gosh, a major motion picture with a major actor made about your life. That's very exciting.
Jim Morris: It is, you know I ...
Kyle Davis: Go ahead.
Jim Morris: I go around and I talk everywhere and people are expecting Dennis Quaid to walk out and I'm like uh, nope sorry.
Gail Davis: Well, just on the off chance that there's someone out there that hasn't seen the movie, can you share [00:02:00] your story and what's portrayed in the movie?
Jim Morris: Absolutely, well from the time I was a kid my dad was in the military and it was a very harsh upbringing, and so the one way I could make friends everywhere we moved was to play baseball. Or any sport. I would show up in a new neighborhood in a new state, every six months or so. Show up with my glove, had a team full of friends. Never had to say a word. I was quiet. Introverted. I never really said anything but just played. And [00:02:30] baseball became my game from as long as I can remember. Just to be able to play and make friends that way meant the world to me.
So the movie kind of picks up later on, where I'd had six surgeries, washed out of minor league baseball, gained fifty pounds. High school coach in West Texas. Working with a group of kids that people didn't think could go very far either. We made a bet, well they made a bet. They said if we win a district championship which the school had never [00:03:00] done, then I had to try out for baseball again. In the back of my mind I'm going; all right, nine surgeries now, 260 pounds. They're going to make a comedy out of this if anything ever happens. It's a joke. I don't want to do this. But after 20 minutes I did what every parent in the country does and I caved in.
I just went, district championship, I will find a try out somewhere. And again in the back of my mind I'm going, "Okay, this is going to be embarrassing and humiliating. Which you can do nothing about because you are old and fat. And you're wife's [00:03:30] going to kill you."
I didn't tell her. The only people that knew about the bet were my high school kids, my 8-year-old son, and my dad. When I told my dad he said, "Son, even at 35 you're not very bright are you?" I'm like, "Well thanks dad."
And so, we make the bet. And we go through this stuff and the kids start winning and they start winning by a lot. And school's over, we're in the playoffs, it was the third game of a three game series, we're out of the playoffs, I've got [00:04:00] to find a try out. These kids are calling me, they're showing up ... I live an hour away from Big Lake, they're showing up at my house going, "Hey coach you need to try out."
My dad helped me find one at [inaudible 00:04:11] in my hometown of Brownwood. Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Doug Gassaway the scout. He's about 70. I show up with my [inaudible 00:04:19] time. We go up to the sign-up table Gassaway looks at me and goes, "How many kids you bring to try out?" And I said, "I brought three." He's like, "No, to try out." [00:04:30] And I said, "Well let me explain something. I made a promise to a group of kids, they did something nobody thought they could do, I would try to do something I know I can't do, it's going to be embarrassing, humiliating, you'll get a great laugh out of it. But I made a promise, I'm living up to that promise, so, that's what's going to happen."
And he goes, "Okay, I'll let you throw, but you can throw last." And I had to wait there four and a half hours man changing diapers, having a picnic, getting sunburned with the kids. Four and a half hours later he calls me up [inaudible 00:04:57] handed me a baseball, he goes, [00:05:00] "How many pitches you need to warm up?" I said, "To embarrass myself? None. I would just like to pitch and go home." So hands me the ball, he walks back behind the back stop, picks up his radar gun, young guy catching me giving me a sign for a fastball, I wind up I throw it as hard as I can. And, you know, I'm 35 and fat and I'm like, that is a good pitch right there. Over the catcher's head behind the screen Gassaway's shaking his radar gun violently. And I'm like, "I didn't even throw hard enough to register."
And you know, we switch back in time to when the kids and I made the bet, they couldn't hit me. [00:05:30] Couldn't even foul the ball off. By the end of the season I cannot get high school kids out. And I think, this is just part two of that, now you can't even throw hard. And we get done, the scout meets me at my car, he goes, "You were throwing 98 miles an hour." And I'm like, "That is ridiculous I didn't throw that hard when I was young, I threw 88." "You just threw 98 and you hit 100?" As a man you're like, happy dance, as [00:06:00] an educator you're like, "I'm getting sued because I've been throwing 100 miles an hour to high school kids."
He looks at me and goes [inaudible 00:06:09], and I said, "Well thank you." He goes, "But you're lefthanded and you throw 100 man, I gotta call it in. They're going to think I'm crazy."
So, I drive an hour and ten minutes home with my kids. [inaudible 00:06:21] other was twelve. They didn't think he was crazy. They called to see if I actually existed. [inaudible 00:06:29] I was 31 instead of 35, [00:06:30] the last thing he said to me was, "You are now 31 years old." I'm like ... You know, start going backwards every year that'd be great. And, they wanted me to come back two days later and throw again. I did, in rain so bad they had to hand me a brand new baseball every pitch. Slamming up to my knee in mud, every time I threw a ball 98 miles an hour.
And then I called my kids and I said, "Look, I got offered a contract." And they said, "Coach you told us if we ever had our dream in front of us, you'd chase it no matter what." And I'm [00:07:00] like, "I taught you that?" And we kind of went back and forth and I ended up signing the contract. [inaudible 00:07:07] It was a minor league contract and I took a pay cut from teaching to play minor league baseball.
I go to rehab camp where guys go to get well from injuries and surgeries they sent me there to lose my diet of Dr. Pepper and Famous Amos cookies. Three weeks and thirty pounds lighter I go to meet the Double-A team on the road and it's just, I am mesmerized because ... [00:07:30] People are always asking me, "What was it like playing with kids who were barely older than the kids you were coaching?" It was in Double-A I found out. First place I go to meet the Orlando team is on the road in Zebulon, North Carolina. I walk into the clubhouse which is a loose term for a trailer, I walk in with my bags, a guy sees me and says, "Hey we got a new coach." Here we go. And I come in the first night I throw 91, 92 miles an hour strike out a guy, get a double play ball. And they're like, "Hey, he's [00:08:00] not crazy he's pretty good for an old dude." I'm like, "Oh great, I'm an old dude."
The second night I throw two innings, strike out five guys, 98, 99 miles an hour and they're like, "Hey, how do you throw so hard." And they start asking me questions about my family and everything. This one kid's looking at me, he's got this exacerbated look on his face, he goes, "So after each kid, do you start throwing hard?" And I'm like, "Holy cow." I now understand [00:08:30] the difference in maturity between 19 and 35. And I said, "Well yes I did, wait until I have a couple more."
Next I'm in Triple-A, and I'm already two levels higher than I was the first time when I tried to do all this stuff on my own. All because of a group of kids. When they pushed me, and I pushed them, we became better on both sides. And, I'm one phone call away now, I'm in Triple-A, Durham Bulls. I didn't know anything about Durham, I loved it. Two months in the next to best level of baseball in the world. Guys on their way up, on their [00:09:00] way down. Guys just trying to hold on to that dream man. [inaudible 00:09:04] I got to meet a lot of people who had been there.
While I'm there, you know there were times when I wanted to quit, there were times when I wanted to walk away, and the movie depicts that pretty well. And it was amazing because [inaudible 00:09:17] in town, [inaudible 00:09:19] one of the guys who had been in the big leagues talks the Louisville Slugger guy into giving me a glove, right when I was getting ready to quit because there's no money at home, we're not paying the bills. The next [00:09:30] week ... Somebody had my picture with Louisville, straight across the screen. It's in the paper, it's in Sports Illustrated, Louisville Slugger calls me, they send money home, they give me a glove contract. I stay another month. The next month it was about shoes, a shoe contract because I ended up on the front page of Time Magazine. Unbelievable how I got to stay.
I should be home raising my kids man. [00:10:00] If I'm supposed to do this, I need a sign. Nd so I'm sitting there, and I go to this little league game. Kid in left field turns around and looks at me and he just waves. And then he turns around and starts playing. And I'm like, "I'm a 35 year old kid again man, I'm getting a second chance at this. How could I walk away and not wake up one day and go, what if? If I had walked away. At least now if I don't make it, I know the answer and there it is. And so, [00:10:30] two weeks later I'm in the big leagues. Go to all the movie studios, Bill Plaschke for the LA Times writes this big story about it. I go down to the restaurant in Anaheim, California. It's on a Sunday morning, covers the whole page, this article interviewing my high school kids. I didn't know it.
I pull the paper out, I pull the sports page out, I look at it, and everybody in the restaurant is looking at me. My third day in the big leagues is the first day I know, I've got to have room service from now on. [00:11:00] I packed my paper up, "Ma'am, can you please send my meal to my room?" And it was crazy from there. They had to change my name the third day in the big leagues because of Bill Plaschke's article.
And when they interviewed the kids, and they interviewed me, and they interviewed everybody in my family, and that ended up in the paper, all these [inaudible 00:11:21] 750 phone calls that first night. People wanting to do documentaries, books, movies, TV shows. I mean, [00:11:30] I have no idea how movie stars handle it because it was just a whirlwind and so, for the next four days my agent and I played baseball at night and during the [inaudible 00:11:41] deals and met with people. Disney was the one that made sense. They wanted to keep the story true. It's over 85% accurate. I appreciate that. And Dennis, I love Dennis. He said, "If you see anything being filmed at any time you don't agree with you tell me, it's out."
Gail Davis: That's awesome.
Jim Morris: That's how we went at it.
Gail Davis: That's awesome. When [00:12:00] did the movie come out Jim?
Jim Morris: It came out in the spring of 2002.
Gail Davis: 2002. Okay. So when a major motion picture hits the big screen and it's about your life, how does that impact you, what did that do to you and your family?
Jim Morris: It's amazing because, the first thing is my agent goes, "You're going to be a motivational speaker." And I said, "You, are out of your mind." [00:12:30] And he goes, "Nope, you're going to be a speaker." And I'm like, "No." And he sets this speech up and I didn't even know about it.
So I go and talk and he goes, "You've got to talk for 45 minutes." And I'm like, "Great, I don't talk for 45 minutes to a classroom of 30 kids." And so I go and it's Major League Soccer front office people, and an hour and a half later I finish. And I'm like ecstatic, the guy helping me write the book is ecstatic. We walk out I call my agent I go, "Man I talked for an hour and a half." He goes, "You can never [00:13:00] talk that long." I'm like, "Dude, you just said I gotta talk for 45 minutes." He said, "You just talked twice that long." I said, "I thought it would be twice as good." And he goes, "Nope."
And the speaking career took off and it became so much more than just baseball. It's about life, it's about issues that we face nowadays. It's about things not going as smoothly as we want but getting a second chance at doing something over and doing it the way it can be done. It's about putting your faith in other people. [00:13:30] It's not about yourself at all. It's about lessons my grandfather taught me. And so all that came in, my family ... You know, so many things have happened for them. And I think overall it's been a good deal. But there are times when they're like, "Are you the Rookie's kid?" And they're like, "Ugh, yes."
But it was amazing, they had the premier in New York City. They took us to the 21 club. And while we're filming the movie they talked to Dennis and I and [00:14:00] they're like, "Who do you guys like? If you could meet anybody you wanted to in the hall of fame, who would you meet?" And so, [inaudible 00:14:05] we go to the 21 Club and their are 21 hall of gamers there. I mean all my childhood heroes, I'm just like. They [inaudible 00:14:16] we ate dinner with them. Wasn't smart enough to get autographs from people because I was just stunned going, "I watched them play." You know, and it was just cool. And then they interview Ozzie [00:14:30] Smith after the movie and Ozzie Smith goes, "If you have a heart you're going to cry during this movie." And that's when I think the impact hit me. Is when it made an impact on other major league players. Because you know, 35 year olds don't come out of nowhere, 10 years out of retirement from the minor leagues and make it to the big leagues, they just don't do that.
Gail Davis: How long did you play in the big leagues?
Jim Morris: I played for two years, I came back for a third year [00:15:00] with the Dodgers and during that time I went through a divorce and I went home to get my kids, like I said, your dreams transforms [inaudible 00:15:12]. And it's time to go home and get my kids. And so I went home and got my kids, my wife and I now have been married for almost 15 years. We didn't even want to go out with each other the first time.
My step sister goes, "I got somebody for you to meet, you're going to go on a date." And I said, [00:15:30] "I don't like women any more." And she goes, "No, you're going to like her." I said,"You didn't hear me." And so she's talking to her and she's like, "I don't like men anymore." We'd both been burned we'd been down that road, [inaudible 00:15:43] too much. And we go on a blind date. 15 years later here we are, we've raised five kids, the last one went to [inaudible 00:15:51] this last fall. And it has been a blast, the kids have just ... They get along better than most brothers and sisters do in [00:16:00] regular families.
Gail Davis: Congratulations, I love those stories, that's awesome.
Jim Morris: Thank you.
Kyle Davis: Don't we all.
Gail Davis: So awesome.
Kyle Davis: Now, when we were talking prior to recording, you mentioned that one of the things you like to do in telling your really kind of amazing story. Which, I personally have a lot kind of in common with it, which is great, but it's ... In taking the story of having an opportunity, [00:16:30] walking away from it, and having it thrust back upon you, you said that what you like to do, is you like to use your career in baseball as a teaching point to students and to other people. Could you expand on that just a little bit?
Jim Morris: Baseball is a game of inches. And one of the things you have to do is, your dreams are a game of inches too. We're either this close to making them or not. But if you don't take that chance you're odds vastly decline [00:17:00] quickly. And so being able to teach kids how to do things, not just do them over and over and over, but do them right, over [inaudible 00:17:09]. When it comes time to make that decision and react to a play, you are reacting and it's just natural. And being able to do that has helped them, has helped me.
I never ever saw myself getting back into baseball, I never saw myself have a movie made about me having Dennis Quaid [inaudible 00:17:27]. My kids have seen that, [00:17:30] and because of that I think they now go out and chase their dreams. They don't take no for an answer. If somebody slams a door in their face, they find another door to go in. And I couldn't ask for [inaudible 00:17:44] They've never given me an inch of trouble and, you know my college freshman at A&M came to me last spring and she goes, "Dad, I've narrowed my choice down to two schools." I'm like, "Okay." [00:18:00] She goes, "University of Texas and Texas A&M." And I said, "Babe, that is awesome, you can go wherever you want, but the money is going to A&M."
Kyle Davis: Anything over the University of Texas makes the Boomer Sooner crowd in here very happy.
Gail Davis: Yeah that's right. I'm curious have you stayed in touch with the kids that inspired you?
Jim Morris: I have, [00:18:30] and you know, it's amazing, everybody goes, "Were those kids like the kids in the movie?" And the one example I give is my third baseman Matt flies helicopters for the Coast Guard. After high school he went to the Coast Guard Academy, then he flew helicopters, which I find amazing because he is like 6'5. And so, I'm talking to Matt one night and I live outside [inaudible 00:18:51] outside of Houston, and I'm like, "Matt, man I would love to fly in your helicopter." He goes, "Coach, just go out in the bay and turn your boat over and I'll come get you." And I'm like, [00:19:00] "That is not what I had in mind Matt." So, Matt does not watch shark week, but his coach does.
But I also have a foundation that JTRM, Jim the Rookie Morris Foundation, which we go into inner city schools and re-do fields and give the kids uniforms and stuff to play. And I've got my kids from high school, who are now men. They're they age I was when I went ... Which makes me feel really old ... But they want to be involved with this too [00:19:30] and so they're a part of my foundation.
So, it lasts a lifetime, when somebody means something to you that much, [inaudible 00:19:36] they're family, that's a good relationship. And so I'm proud to still have them in my life, I go see them. They come see me. And we talk. Constantly, what it's like to be really old now.
Gail Davis: Jim I think you've had some health challenges, is that something that you'd be willing to talk to the listeners [00:20:00] about?
Jim Morris: Sure, one of the things ... You know I left baseball to go raise my kids. And I went home and I got my kids and I did that. But the other reason I left baseball was because while I'm still throwing 100, balls are being hit back at me and I can't really judge them. And I'm like, "What is going on, I'm not that old man."
And then once out of every ten plays I make this play that is just unbelievable and they're like, "Hey that's awesome." [00:20:30] The next one I get hit in the [inaudible 00:20:31]. That's not awesome and it took me literally ten years after baseball of chasing down what was wrong with me because my [inaudible 00:20:44] my balance was off. I started not being able to button my shirts or get dressed. I was traveling on my own, I'd go downstairs I'd look like a raving drunk because my shirt's untied, my collars undone, and I'm like, "Oh this is [00:21:00] great I can't even get my jacket on right."
I go to this doctor in Houston and he goes, you have Parkinson's. Get out of her, I don't shake like Michael J. Fox, that's not me. And he goes, he did about eight hours of tests on me, and then he comes back in and he goes, "You have CTE induced Parkinson's." And I'm like, I've heard about about CTE in football, I played high school and college football and [00:21:30] I'm like, "Uh, isn't the only way you can prove that is if I'm dead?" He's like, "Well yeah." And I go, "I'm not ready for that." And so he starts having me do stuff and writing, my writing is a little bit funny, and the balance thing, is just not right.
And so he puts me on this medication. Well, the medication destroys my stomach. Two years after that I meet a surgeon in San Antonio [00:22:00] and he does deep brain stimulation and puts these electrodes in my head. And it's got like a pacemaker on my chest, and I've got this little gizmo I can turn it up or down if I need it. But when I woke up from that surgery, I had not been able to smell [inaudible 00:22:16] taste [inaudible 00:22:18] my shirt in three. I woke up and he goes, "This won't fix any of that, this is going to help with the Parkinson's."
I wake up I can smell what my wife has for dinner in the room, I can get dressed by [00:22:30] myself, I can move and not fall over, I mean it just cured everything. He goes, "I found the perfect place in your brain when I opened it up to put that. There was such hyper activity in these two areas that I knew that's where the Parkinson's was. That's where I put the electrodes."
Since then my wife travels with me, but it's because, all my kids are gone. I can get dressed, I can tie ties, I can do everything, I go hiking I work out every day, it has been such [00:23:00] a blessing and a God-send to look [inaudible 00:23:04] wow that was a mess and now here I am and I'm healthy and I'm happy and I'm ready to take the next step in my life man.
Gail Davis: That is good.
Kyle Davis: So I'm curious, I played football, so I did my whole concussion screening stuff actually over the summer. And you cut out just a little bit, so I want people to hear it, but did you say that you played football when you were in high school and a little bit in college, or how did that work out?
Jim Morris: [00:23:30] I played in high school, I played quarterback, defensive back, punter and kicker. And then in college I played punter and kicker after baseball just to finish up my degree. And in college I actually got knocked out during a game. I mean I punted a ball, this kid runs it back, and as I turn to chase him I get hit in the side of the head which is called ear holed, and he knocked me 15 yards. And they had to come get me and I sat out [00:24:00] the next two games.
But along with the football concussions I had the [inaudible 00:24:05] concussions. As you grow up you do stupid things like fall out of tress, jump into an ocean and hit your head on coral. Just stupid things, break your wrist and crush your head playing Frisbee. Playing Frisbee, yeah that's awesome. So ... Just, those things added up. He goes, "The amount of concussions you have had have definitely added [00:24:30] to your issues." And even before the surgery, my daughters will watch some of my speeches when people send them to us and they're like, "Dad, you're not making any facial expressions any more." And I'm telling story and part of them are funny and part of them are sad and I'm just sitting there like a stone face and I'm like, oh that's not good.
And then my voice, I start losing my voice before the surgery. And that was our big hang up about the surgery. He goes, "Now you can lose your voice entirely, and since you speak do you really want to do this?" And by that [00:25:00] point we were so desperate we're like, "Yes, I don't care." And I wake up and my voice is strong, I make facial expressions. It is funny because now I watch movies with my girls and they look at me and they're like, "Dad's crying again." You know, it's just, it is what it is man. It's just one more obstacle on which to over come. And I'm doing that. And God willing I'm going to keep doing that and we'll keep going and see where this all goes. Because I don't know what the next dream [00:25:30] is, I don't know what the next thing I want to do is.
Gail Davis: That's awesome.
Kyle Davis: And in case people are wondering what CTE is and I had to Wikipedia it so I could tell people, because CTE is the acronym, but it's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. But yeah, it's not good stuff. Yeah they did a big concussion research and that's where the movie concussion comes from. I don't know why I felt like saying that but there you go.
Jim Morris: Kyle, all I can think is, I played in high school and college. I cannot even begin to imagine what the guys in the NFL go through. Because they hit a lot harder and a lot quicker than we did in high school and college, and they're a lot bigger and stronger. And I'm just like, holy cow, I understand why there's depression and other things. But I've got friends who played and they'll go leave the house to pick up their kids and forget where they're going. And [inaudible 00:26:28] [00:26:30] And they forget their phone numbers so they have to have all their numbers punched in so they can go, "I'm lost again." And it's just sad. All for the sport of the game.
Kyle Davis: Yeah, I quit playing in college after I got really sick and my whole thought process after, I had to get an extreme tonsillectomy because my tonsillitis was so severe, and I think lost something like 50 or 60 pounds and I was like, "I don't really want to gain all that back." And so ... And I didn't end up going to play at a level of college [00:27:00] that I wanted to. Actually was supposed to go play at the Coast Guard Academy but that's a whole other story. This isn't the Kyle Davis podcast.
Gail Davis: Actually it had something to do with concussions didn't it?
Kyle Davis: It did, they rejected me because I had 13 concussions. Boom
Gail Davis: Huh, interesting.
Kyle Davis: If the government says I shouldn't be doing it, what was I doing it for when I went to the other school. Darn. Ugh. Oh well whatever. Okay, I think we have one other, [00:27:30] we're trying to read each other's lips over here, we're like, what did you talk about?
Gail Davis: I know what I was going to ask. I always say that we're in the inspiration business for sure. And I'm always curious like, who inspires you Jim?
Jim Morris: My biggest inspiration now is my wife. Just because she smiles and she's happy and that's how we approach life now. Before, when I was growing up, at the age of 15, my [00:28:00] parents moved me to Miami, Florida to Brownwood, Texas and I lived with my grandparents for three years. And while my parents argued, cursed, hit, threw, and said obnoxious things to each other and me, in the next three years when I could have gone way left and fallen off the planet, my grandparents straightened me up, took me to church, and they showed me what a good marriage was.
They never said a cross word to each other. They treated each other with respect, dignity and because of that, you know my grandmother was our church secretary, [inaudible 00:28:30] [00:28:30] owned a menswear store in Brownwood, Texas where people like Gene Autry would come into Brownwood, 20 thousand people, and buy suits from him. Just because of the type of person my grandfather was. The most amazing and best two people I've ever known in my life. They're the reason I am who I am and what I do.
It took me until five years ago, and I was doing a speech in Houston and this 92 year old man came up to me and he opens up his jacket, it had "Earnest Morris Men's Ware" in it, and he just started crying. And he's just like, "Wow, [00:29:00] your grandfather was almost as good as speaker as you are." I'm like, "What are you talking about?" He goes, "He talked. Ask your grandmother." And you know, I asked my grandmother and she's like, 90 by then, and she goes, "Whatever."
But he was. He did that big speaking deal and it was just amazing that's what I do now. And the mentor of my life. I [00:29:30] mean he taught me about integrity, he taught me about character. He taught me how to shake hands firmly, look people in the eye, yes sir, no sir. Yes ma'am, no ma'am. He taught me about life. And he also taught me about giving back.
You know if you ever want to see a picture of something funny, just imagine in your mind your grandparents dropping off Christmas presents at a home for kids that have no money, ringing the doorbell and then running off. You'd see my grandparents right there.
I mean, they did it, they wanted people [00:30:00] to appreciate stuff and they didn't want to be known for it, and they wanted to do it anonymously. And because of them I fashion a lot of my life after them. And you know, I lost both of them, my grandfather had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. I watched him go through that my senior year. But the way he carried that disease with such grace and dignity amazed me.
And so one of the biggest things I teach, you know I say teach because of my audiences everywhere, one of the biggest things I talk [00:30:30] about is what my grandparents meant to me. And what they stood for. And what they stand for are the principles that America was built on and that is something that I don't think needs to go away on either side. And so I'm going to stand up for what's right. And what's right is doing it right, and that was my grandparents.
Gail Davis: What a lovely tribute, that is so sweet. I love that.
Kyle Davis: So I think we're going to go ahead and just wrap up because I think this is a good way to kind of put the bow on it if you [00:31:00] will, as I search for words. But you did mention your foundation and in case people want to make a contribution and everything else they can do so by going to JimTheRookieMorrisFountadion(dot)org. Which is pretty awesome as I type it all up on my hands. If they also want to help you Jim, by having you come out and get away from everybody else and get an opportunity to have you come speak. They can do so by contacting GDA Speakers at 214-420-1999 [00:31:30] or by visiting GDA Speakers(dot)com. Other than that, Jim the Rookie Morris, thank you for joining the GDA Podcast.
Gail Davis: Thanks Jim it was great. What a great inspiring story, really appreciate having you here.
Jim Morris: Absolutely, thanks so very much.
Kyle Davis: Thank you.
ep. 38 - Jim "The Rookie" Morris: Coach Turned Pro That Inspired The Movie The Rookie by GDA Podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.