1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Marc Smith (CEO of The Icon 1901 Collective) - June 6th, 2024

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

Marc Smith (CEO of The Icon 1901 Collective) - June 6th, 2024Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Coming at you live from the couple Chevrolet GMC studios. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. Brought you by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul. On 937 the Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. On a Wednesday, we thank you for hanging out with us. Here on 937, The Ticket, you can be a part of what we're doing. We're live on the video streams all over the place. Facebook, YouTube X, Allo Channel 961.

you can follow what we're doing. Names and faces together. You can see them. Follow along, jump in. You also can text in. Some of you already have in anticipation of the conversation. 402, 464-5-6-8-5. If you want to be a part of the starter

of Hammond text line, if you have questions. Because today we're going to dive into the space that is NIL. And I want to talk to outside sources who can tell you, kind of answer some of the questions of what folks are going through, whether it be from the athletic side, the mentor side, the business side, from all of that. And to do so, we're going to go south. We're going to go and we're going to talk about, actually, he's probably in, he's probably in Minnesota. We'll find out where he is.

He is the CEO of the Icon 1901. And he is helping the folks down at Grambling get their NIL together and to be in that space. and we've had several conversations and he is an expert in the field. So let's welcome Mark Smith to one-on-one. Mark, what's happening, brother? It looks like Brevin's about he just chimed in. He can't hear D.P.

So what we're going to go ahead, plug him out here. Have him reboot? Yeah, if Mark, if, yeah, I'll send him a text here, DP, I'll care with him. I'll get him set up. Yep, no worries, no worries. So a couple of things. Talk to Mickey Joe.

who is now the head coach, Dan, Grambling, and a big part of the process for them is getting players all the resources that they need. And we think from a Nebraska standpoint that all the resources already exist in the space, Nebraska doesn't have a competitor. They don't have a business competitor for NIL dollars, sponsorships, boosters, etc. Some would say Creighton, but Creighton, okay, great for basketball. But for football, this is a Nebraska state.

And if you think HBCUs, Harrison, what you'd have to imagine is that grambling and its space in the HBCU world is comparable to Nebraska and its space in the NCAA. A iconic names, iconic coaches, players, Hall of Fame players in huge number. And they are in the place that they don't have, I mean, they're in Rustin, Louisiana, which is not exactly a hub for big business. So imagine trying to generate enough resource, money, funding, etc., or even meals for these student athletes down at Grambling.

And it's not just grambling, that it's also Howard University. It's also Norfolk State. It's also Hampton University. It's also like they're Southern University, Spellment. And all of these programs have to be better at NIL than the big dogs in the power conferences. They have to be better on it because they can't miss. You can't waste money. You can't waste opportunity.

You can't waste time. But they need fewer resources to have the same level of success in the space that they're in. Imagine, I mean, we know seven-figure deals are in play in the Power Five. And we know that several high six-figure deals have to be required in every program. And with that being said, I think we can dive into that. and let's go ahead and try to plug him back in here. Let's see if we can get Mark Smith in and see if he can hear. You got unmute yourself there as well, Mark.

There we go. We can get that. Right. Rookie. Hey, Mark, listen, no worries,

brother. First of all, again, let me welcome Mark Smith from the ICA 1901 into one-on-one. How you doing, brother? I'm great, man.

This is exciting. Excited to be here. Couldn't wait, couldn't sleep all day and ready to just go and talk. about this great initiative and everything that's going on so happy to be on with you well it's inside in your experience of what you're going through um for grambling kind of highlights the good in nil and then the friction the problems that exist and i i was making the point that grambling in the hbc u world in the historically black college and university world is parallel to nebraska and its place

in the Power 5. That when it comes to football and the level of iconic people in the programs, that if you're talking black college athletics in America, Grambling's the first name that comes up, right? It just is.

Nebraska and what it was, and Grambling isn't having the current success that it had back in the Eddie Robinson Doug Williams days. Nebraska's not having the success that it had in the Tom Oswald, born Bob Devaney days, but both have the brand recognition in those two spaces that if taken advantage of and used properly will help benefit and return those programs.

Now, Mickey Joseph is down there and a big, what's the catchphrase that Mickey is using and getting grambling back to where it belongs on the hierarchy of HBCUs? Yeah, Mickey has said, restore the order. That is his call. That is what he is putting out there. He leads with that every time you talk to him. In every event that he's there, he's talking about restore the order. And he knows what that means as far as gambling football being at the top and the icon of black college football.

It's through all of this, right, that having somebody that's connected to both grambling and Nebraska allows us to have conversations. and when we were connected, it was, okay, let's get to the base level of what every athletic program in the country, who has football or basketball or whatever your top program is, what are the needs? And that's the important. What are the needs? So for your student athletes down there, what are the needs? what are the things that you're trying to create for them to benefit them? Yeah, so what we're really trying to do with the HBCU Icon Exchange,

the Icon 1901, is create student athletes that can become entrepreneurs and be able to sustain themselves while they're in college. We know as student athletes, I was a student athlete at Grandma. We can't lead like the normal lives of being able to go out and work a job and provide for ourselves. So we have to find other means to be able to do. do that. So NIL is a great vehicle to be able to do that. Now, with that being said, it's just some of the basic necessities, being able to do some social media post or do some autograph signings to where they can pay their rent, to where they can go buy a pizza with their

friends. I mean, these are simple, basic things. I had one of our student athletes, he just said, hey, I'm going to Walmart to just buy some things that I need. And we take those things for granted at DP because we've had those things. I mean, we're long in our careers now. So we don't we take those things for granted. But these student athletes that are really performing their job and doing it well and at a high level, they're eating, sleeping, training, or doing something like that, they have to find other means to do it. So NIL is a great vehicle and it provides them a space to really grow and be able to present themselves to the public and to their fans. Mark, you've played at Grambling. And so you went through the

process of yes you know what need here's what the program provides here's what the university provides here's what the community provides so from your recollection and your own personal experience what are those things that can be done right because in a space again restaurant maybe some clothing maybe sometimes it's you know what's gas uh maybe it's paying a parking ticket because you had a thing what are those things that in that space in the grambling space specifically in Rustin, Louisiana, what are those items of need? And at what level does Grambling have those needs? Right. So, Grambling has a bunch of needs, right? As to all the other HBCUs, but we're talking Gramley-specific. Rustin, Louisiana is about five miles away. And now that you see Grambling

from the 30 years when I was there until now, they have the Walmarts, the targets, the coals, I mean, the other big stores there. And guess what? That's what. That's what. where those kids go to get things to take care of themselves. So we say with NIL, hey, you've got all these different stores there. Why not support these kids in another way, right? They're great marketers. They want to be loyal customers, and this builds loyal customers. Those that support them, they're going to support. So we want to make sure that we build that ecosystem that continues that cycle all the way through. But Grambling's needs are no different from anyone else's. You know, it's the facilities, it's the nutrition piece.

You know, I believe that especially with football, it's one of the training table, right? So do they have the proper nutrition? And sometimes they have to prepare their own meals or feed themselves, and they need to be able to go somewhere where they can afford to eat healthy in order to continue to perform at a high level. So just the basics there is where we're trying to build from, and then we'll get there.

And we're talking a couple hundred dollars a month, two, $300 a month, things like that that really allow these kids to be able to take care of themselves. These kids are coming from all over, D.P., California, East Coast, West Coast. Mom and Dad may not have it to send there. That's why NIL is so important for them to be able to do for themselves. I love the idea that you mentioned mom and dad, because a big part of what we've done here at the ticket and introducing young people to this thing that is media and then inviting the parents into the conversation so that one they understand what the student is going through and it's a great way

for students and parents to connect for parents to know to be able to be home you know if you're in rusting louisiana or lincoln erasca and your child is from florida it's a way for you to keep track of this and i thought it was important for your student athletes to have other people that they can lean on for some of this like you've got marketers you've got professional media professionals you've got legal, you've got professionals who have corporate experience who can just simply advise the young student athlete about, hey, here's a blind spot you may have missed. Here's some tax expertise. You know, keep receipts, so you have the information. And then consider this as a deal brokered.

How many student athletes currently at Grambling receive NIL some deal of some sort? I would say there's probably about we're going off last year now because, you know, this NIL stuff starts over every single year. So when we started about two and a half years ago, we put together some deals, especially for the football team, right? But we also expanded that to track and basketball as well. We don't want to leave anybody out, especially we want to leave out the women's sports because those are important. They do a great job of marketing and doing things like that. I would say there's probably about 80-so students that have benefited from it, but there's probably another 250 that could benefit from it.

I mean, Gremlin has, you know, just recently won two SWAC championships and men's basketball and men's baseball. I mean, those are not easy feats when you're competing for your conference championships, and we know that. So probably about 80 or so, but we're looking to be able to take that to every student-athlete And that requires resources. It requires funds. And we work with our students very closely on their social media and their presence and how they present themselves.

Because we know that if someone's going to come and say, hey, I want to do an NIL deal, they had to present well. Through all of it, right, that number. And that was part of the discussion with NIL was, would there be balanced? Would there be, would this be wide covering, wide reaching, wide ranging, wide ranging? but I think the idea is that everybody should have the ability to do so and here's the thing about grambling and about HBCUs. You don't need the full volume of money that Nebraska has. If Ohio State says we're going to spend $22 million for football,

wow, that's the entire, that's right, like that's a number. Do you know how many schools we could impact with that? Not only gambling, but we can set gambling. at a at a stratosphere that no one has seen before like it's not even like it's not even i keep trying to compress my brain into the space that if if 1901 and that community rallied together and generated let's start with a round number that folks can deal with a hundred thousand dollars that what that five thousand dollars would do for the the starters at Grambling Football changes how they live.

Is that not a statement of truth or no? That is a statement of truth. We actually did an NIL deal last year with four of our top football players. And what we did was it was $5,000. And when they're able to pay their rent, they're able to put food on their table, gas in their car, pay their cell phone bills so they can stay in communication with the coaches. and different things that's going on,

stay up on their classes, it is a game changer. And those men, we know that their lives were impacted just by that $5,000. So imagine if it's $10,000 and things like that. Now it's not to go out and increase your drip and your swag and stuff like that. It's not it.

And we talked to them about that. We talked to them about being responsible with what they're given and what they're provided and the opportunities that they have. Mark, there's a humility involved in Again, perception is reality to a lot of folks. And the belief is that NIL is a get rich scheme

and it is going to allow people to be wasteful, boastful, as you said, bling it out. But the reality is, for 92% of student athletes, it takes them from a position of poverty-based living to simply having enough, right? And that exists at Grambling. Yes. That's true. When you go on the campus, it's a very close-knit community, right? So it's not kids on there saying, I'm better than this kid or better than that kid. Kids like a winner, right? So this impacts the student body as well as far as kids want to go there just to go support winning sports, right? Be a part of that. That carries on long after their alumni and giving back to their school. So we know that this NIL provides us to get better students.

student athletes, but not only that, just how their quality of life is improved, right? For some, you never know the background of where they came from or where they, you know, if they had their own room, you know, some of them get to college and now they got their own room and like, this is great. Or I got a bathroom, you know, where I live at. Right. So we have to think about those things. And we can't take it for granted.

And that's why we work with our student athletes to make sure that they are doing the things that they need to do, being received. responsible citizens and working with the community as well. So gambling has a great opportunity here, and we're here to seize it and to make sure that gambling leads the way for not only gambling, but other HBCUs and how NIL is going to be done. And that's why we've been here for two and a half years doing this. It started out as just a labor of love. And it was just simple. The kid came up and it came across my Twitter feed and said, I'm hungry. I don't have enough to eat. And I said, wait a minute, time out. Time out. Where are we at with NIL? Why are we not

participating? Who is working with these students to make sure that they are feeling included in this NIL space? Mark, I mean, that that lands so heavily because you think, okay, everything's taken care of. And I think that the Power 5 programs have the ability to help the HBCUs and help the FCS schools because it will take less to do more. It will take less to do more. How did you get involved? When you see the tweet that says, you know what, there's an athlete at your alma mater who's hungry. I think in making that statement out loud and sharing that, it moved you to get into the space. Now, what are the biggest frictions? What are the biggest potholes and speed bumps that 1901 that the icon faces and trying to generate money for young

people who are playing sports there well d p i'll just be honest it's a trust factor right trust has to be established first and foremost right um one thing i can't say about the icon 1901 we've done numerous nil deals we've had no issues with compliance no issues with with anything and that's huge for us right? We had to present ourselves and earn the trust. We feel that now we've earned the trust. So now we want alumni to participate. We want the community to participate. We want just a regular student body to participate. I mean, this is for them. And I used to say NIL for everyone. That was one of the things that I came up with, NIL for everyone, because I truly believe in that.

You know, the student athlete that's the walk on, right, he makes the starter better because he's He's going up against him every single day. And he knows that if he does not do his job, how can that starter be prepared to go out there and perform? Right. So there's no, I'm a starter and you're not, we're one team, right? And this NIL movement is one team. We're all moving in the same direction to make these kids lives better through this. And the NCAA, yeah, they may not have given us all the guidelines we need.

But guess what? We said we were going to do NIL the right way, and that's what we've done so far. It is that thing, right? That boundary, and you have a great team around you of folks who can kind of help bridge the gap and then fill in those empty spaces. You have legal resources around you. You have legal professionals who can advise you on what can be done and can't be done. How important is that?

And what does, like, David, what does he provide for you to help you to generate funds and access and resources for those students? Yeah, so you're talking about Attorney David Dirk's, who is one of our business partners, and he handles everything from compliance to just making sure things are done right. He's been on the phone with parents. He's talked to kids about it, and he has no time to get it wrong, meaning we can't make a mistake when we're doing this stuff, when we're advising a young student athlete or talking to their parent.

Now, with this, they can work. with any collective they want, right? However, I take this very personal in working with our student athletes. So David provides that comfort where I can go out and I can do things like this and I can speak freely about NIL and what we're doing and who we're working with and how we're going to help the students. And therefore, when that deal comes in, he makes sure everything is done right. And we've got a good process on that, which helps us move fast so that kids don't miss out on opportunities. Case in point, you know, Buffalo Wild Wings,

NCAA Final 64. You know, we had a young man who hit a game-winning shot, put us in the overtime. Buffalo Wild Wings was running a competition. And that gentleman, had we not been here, had the Icon 191 not been in existence, he misses out on a phenomenal opportunity. right and it happened in a matter of 12 hours and David walked that from start to finish and it was seamless so

we're able to be nimble enough to move like that and make things happen it is so important right just because we have we get the ESPN feed of NIL you get the social media feed of an iL and i keep saying, well, that's the 0.1%. And you're missing the real grind. You're missing the real hustle. You're missing the real issue, the real friction that happens because there are young people and there are programs that need everyday help with base level things. Yes. And to me, that should be more the focus than the new car than the new, right? Like I, and I, and I speak that for even, I mean, Mark, you and I have. We have enough.

You're right. We have enough. We do. But we know what that grind is like, especially from the baseball side, because we were both baseball players. We didn't have the football player swag. Like, we didn't get any of that. And I know, I can imagine what gambling baseball was giving you.

So, or not giving you. And so I tend to think from that side, let's help. There's a great grambling volleyball team, women's volleyball. volleyball team. There's a great women's. I know that Grambling and Nebraska have a thing in common. They are two of the top women's bowling programs in the country. Absolutely. Right. And that Nebraska bowling has shows on this network because we want them to get exposure and have the opportunity. And I can't imagine how much we could change grambling women's bowling with simple support. Yes. And they're out there working just as hard as everybody else. I mean, they are. And I love when I

listen to the Nebraska Bowling Women's show, and it was phenomenal. I mean, they were engaging, they were asking great questions. They knew how to, you know, just communicate and vibe off each other. And I said, wow, they're learning a skill set that is valuable in today's world, right? How to resent yourself, how to hold a conversation, how to tell a story. I mean, D.P., you're a TED Talk guru. So, I mean, you have this down pat. I'm learning from you. I watch your stuff as well. That's why this is important. We're teaching something that they're going to be able to use for years to come. We are changing the space that we're in. We're going to leave it better than we found it. That's literally the mission behind it. A couple of things in play. Mark, we're going to go to break.

When we come back from the text line, I had a listener text in about how to support. Yeah. Grambling, Grambling State, Coach Joseph, you know, they want to buy gear. They want to know how to support. And because it's the same thing that happens in every space. And I want to teach other programs how to do what Nebraska, what we're doing here at the ticket, so that we can help young people. So I'll have that text for you when we come back.

But I'll read it now and you'll have time. to collect information, but it says, listen, I need a small favor. I want to support. Maybe send a check. Would love some grambling gear. How to go about it. Is there an address?

Is there a website? I'll let you answer that question when we come back to one-on-one on 93-7 the ticket. You're listening to One-on-One-on-one with DP. Brought to you by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul on 93-7-the-ticket and the ticketfm. Welcome back. one-on-one with Mark Smith from the icon 1901. And we appreciate him sharing knowledge and allowing us to get advantage and perspective. Sometimes you have to fly at 10,000 feet and sometimes you got to get up close and hear these stories about what's going on and how this works.

But I asked a question from the text line. John and Cortland, appreciate your brother. But he asked the question, he said, listen, how can we help? How can we help if he wants to, you know, maybe buy some gear, maybe just send a, check. Mark, how can folks participate? How can they help? So I'll tell you a couple different ways. One, of course, is going to www. The icon 1901.com and making a donation there. Those proceeds go to the kids. That's how we do deals. That's how we make things happen. Right. But for the gear, I'm going to give you a little secret of mine, right? Grambler's not easy to get to. But I

tell you what if you went to that bookstore they got some of the best gear you could ever find so i dropped in the in the chat um the website to the um to the bookstore and i'm online right there and man it's going to cause me to shop and go buy some gear yeah i'm going to donate i'm going to donate harrison if you can put that link into into the into the stream so folks can have it and see up there it is so folks can uh know what it is and and it's and it's the thing. So here's another part of what we want to do. And I said I would I would come out of pocket to do it because I want it to happen and I want it to be launched properly. But I said what we're going to do is I'm going to go down to grambling. And I'm going to break my piggy bank

a little bit. I'm going to go down there and we're going to give some of those student athletes a chance just to get together and feel like NIL includes them, considers them as well. just in a meet and greet. Just let them go. I mean, there are a couple of places where we can go down there. Purge is down there, which is really good place. They can go down there and have a burger together. But here's why I think it's going to work down there

and how it's going to move, is that Coach Bicky Joseph has been supportive and has given full access and said, you know what? I'm in, do what you need to do, DP, get with Mark, let's make this work. How important is it to have a coach who's willing to step up and give you the support so that you can fundraise for his student athletes? Yeah, no, it's everything.

I'll just tell you this. And this is no lie on how this work. I'm sitting in an airport in Houston. And I see a gentleman walking down the walkway with a bunch of black and gold. And I said, I bet you that's Mickey Joseph. And I went up and I said, Coach Joseph. I'm Mark Smith, the icon 1901, and I'm going to make sure that you have what you need. And we got to do this together, right?

Now, he trusts me to handle all the NIL stuff, meaning he's not going out saying, you got to do this, guy, do that. He trusts me to do that. And he knows that I'm going to be fair. He knows that I'm going to do it the right way, and I'm going to be in compliance every single time we do something. But having a co-sick that understands the business side of this is, it's every, everything, right? Because then, guess what that allows him and his coaches to do? Focus on what they're supposed to do.

Coaching. That's what they're there for. Developing these young men, making them good leaders, good community people. That's what they do. So NIL is going to help accelerate that, and it's going to be that vehicle that drives everything that we need to do to get them to the next level and to put Grambling on top. Let's face it. Grambling is the icon of Black College football, Coach Eddie Robinson, Doug Williams, the numerous players that have come out of Gremlin that are in the NFL, I mean, it's there. So we have everything we need to build on this. We need the support of the world. And that's why we are here and then we're having this conversation.

Well, I think a big part of it is that, I mean, in understanding that in comparable worlds, in the HBC world, gambling is Nebraska. At level. Same level of players of the year. You're talking about some of the great football players. There's more than 100 grambling alumni who've played the NFL. Over 100. And look, we're talking about Willie Brown, Hall of Fame, Buck Buchanan, Chiefs, Hall of Famer. And in this space, when we say Buck Buchanan and Willie Lanier and those guys,

they know that HBUs, HBCUs produce talent. and these young people deserve it. Charlie Joyner, who at one point led the entire NFL in career catches. Willie Davis, old man Willie, with the Raiders and what he did. Doug Williams, two of the first black quarterbacks in the NFL history, Doug Williams and Jack Harris, James Harris from the Rams. Giving grambling the shine that it deserves is in the same parallel to me to giving Nebraska, the same shine in Power 5 football

because Nebraska and Coach Osborne and Mike Roseer and Eric Crouch and listen they're not where they once were but as Mickey said, restore the order and the easy way for a fan and businesses and community to support that is

help get athletes there to those programs, the right athletes and then help them have an experience that's worthy of being the icons of Power 5 football in HBCU. Like it's just the thing, right? Now, I'm not missing anything, am I? No, you're not. And not only that, we know that if we do this right, well, not if, when we do this right,

this helps other HBCUs. I mean, and I'll just mention it. I mean, they're our rivals, but they're all family, Jackson State, FAMU. I mean, all those schools right there, Howard University. they all have these students. And guess what? You know this DP, your long coaching career. You find the right talent that's developed.

It can go pro from anywhere, right? Yep. But a lot of them are not going to go pro in the sport, but they're going to go pro in life, right? And that's where we need to make sure that they really win at, right? When that playing career is over, can they be a DP that owns a radio station and does his thing and, you know, learns a different skill set and, you know,

has a long career and doing that, right? And it's happy doing it. Being happy in what you do, I think is really important. So, you know, the mental health piece of it, of having them feel good about themselves every single day, I think it's so key. So we focus on all these things, the complete athlete. Mark, when I first got here and started doing this, and Harrison Arons can jump in and validate this. but a thing that we've discovered is that of these are student athletes at the University of Nebraska

and they love doing these shows. They love creating content. They love being heard. They love being seen. They love being known. And you just mentioned the mental health part of it. All of our athletes are in a better place. And Harrison, I'll ask you to jump in here real quick. But you spend time with these student athletes two and two at one each at every single one

enjoys their time doing these shows as much as anything that happens on campus. Yeah, it's been pretty incredible. I mean, this thing started out small, but now we have so many student athlete shows and it's just the opportunity. I mean, one of the more popular shows we have is obviously speed and power with Megan Walker,

but what she's done with her show and how she's able to use that to leverage for better deals, and then not just for every athlete. I mean, we brought attention. You mentioned the bowling team. I was not a lot of places they're going to have the bowling team. You can go listen to those guys on here, get to know their story. Same thing with a swim team.

It's cool. There's so many stories out there that are missed. It gives these guys an opportunity. It gives them some leverage for future business. If that's the route they want to go. And yeah, I mean, it's always a lot of fun. Mark, I think that in our conversations, when we say student athletes, especially grambling, that you immediately have some players that come to mind that,

are such personalities and deserve such opportunity. And it's not just football. Yeah, football is going to be the launching patents, the mothership. But think of the student athletes. Think about that when you were in college or the young people that you've been around that are now in college, what it would mean to them to have voice, to be heard and to be known. What is that value like? Yeah, I think it's everything, right?

I mean, when you look at them having a platform to be able to speak, right, they can touch people in different ways. You never know how your story is going to motivate someone or even save someone, right? And give someone that motivation that they can do the same thing as well. Being a part of a team is everything, right? You're a part of a community. I still talk to 25 of my teammates every single week, even if it's just a, hey, how are you doing? How's life? We still communicate.

and I wouldn't have that had I not been a part of a team, right? So I think the whole thing about putting these shows together, and there's a whole bowling community out there. Guess what? There's a bowling community out there that we don't even know about that. Tune in listening to that show, and they love it because they're like, man, I never got to compete in college, but this is cool. I get to hear who they're going up against and what their struggles are,

and maybe I have something that helps. Let me chime in on this, right? I mean, so these are the things that connect the alumni back to it, collect the community back to it, and just a fan. And that's one of the things, DP, that we're really striving for with the NIL, is how the fans get to know our players better. Nebraska, hey, the parents are there, the fans are there, they got the walk through and people know who they are.

But our students come from all over, and sometimes they just feel disconnected. So we're even trying to make sure that they are even more connected. give our fans a way to connect with them even better. And these shows are going to do that. You know, we're definitely going to make this happen. So I appreciate you even being the pioneer of this. And this is what was needed, especially for Brambling State University.

I just think it's fantastic that golf, our women's golf program. And it was funny because, Mark, you can imagine. I mean, there are a lot of Grammy alumni that play golf. And we would have alumni. listening to our women's golf shows. And then they would actually send in donations because as the young ladies talked about their game, they helped these golfers actually be better at golf. And they said, man, I listened to one show that took two strokes off.

I'm like, I need to thank them. Like I need to thank them. I need to be around them. But to know that, look, NIL is the opportunity to be the bridge between. the student athlete and the community. Like the alumni and the boosters being around it and then giving additional exposure to the stories, to the stories about why people love their alma mater,

why they love the student athletes, why they love the games and the game experience. And listen, we want it to matter more. We want it to matter more. That's the mission of NIL coalitions around the country, should be to make this thing connected and be the bridge between the two things. That's exactly it. I mean, be that bridge, right?

And, DP, we're not only talking about the four years that we have. We're talking about after the four years. We're talking about when their kids go to college. And this stuff, you know, you've been around the NCAA for years, right? At the professional ranks, at the college ranks, it does not go away, right? It continues to evolve and change. And that's why we have to be. at the forefront of this of making this work, right,

and making it happen and showing people that when they donate how their money impacts these students' lives, right? And that's the big thing about it. I want to be accountable for that. You and I have talked about accountability, right? It's everything. Straight from the student athlete to hear, thank you. This is what you did.

Yes. And being able to give them that means to thank their fans, to thank the person that's sending that $25, you know, that helped them go buy the toothpaste that they needed because they were running low. I mean, these stories here are real. They're not something that's made up. These are real things that are happening.

I remember DP, when you and I were in college, we go in on a pizza and everybody get two slices, right? Hey, man. Hey. Hey, hey, hey, listen, that money order that I got from my mom every two weeks, look man that was community food we were going to take care of everybody

but this is the thing we have the opportunity to be pioneers and helping young people have a better collegiate experience that's what we're going to do we're going to throw the break we'll come back we'll close out

with Mark Smith from the icon 1901 here on one-on-one 93-7 the ticket you're listening to one-on-one with DP sponsored by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul

on 93-7 the ticket and the ticketfm.com. The final segment of one-on-one, don't go anywhere, ticket weeknights. Domorne, Pierce-Dell, immediately following, and then Chancellor Brewington. Yep, and we got the Malone radio show tonight as well.

John Goodwin, Michael Hunter. Those guys are hilarious. If you haven't tuned into them, you've got to listen to it at least once. Rib cage will hurt afterwards, and of course we'll have Don't athlete to wrap things up for us tonight. Like, it's a busy night.

And these are, I mean, again, these are programs that didn't exist. These are resources that didn't exist four years ago, three years ago, two years ago. And Mark Smith, you're being a pioneer, bro. Like this is the stuff of legend, right? That people are going to talk about what Mark Smith did for generations because

you're going to give light voice amplification celebration for athletes that you're never going to meet. but you're going to make their college athlete experience better by your labor of love. Congratulations on it because it needs to be said, we have enough settlers. There are times for Pioneer. You're one of them. Congratulations.

Well, I just want to say thank you very much and thanks for the opportunity, DP. You have been true to who you are since day one. and I want to say I appreciate that. None of this, of course, is possible without my business partners, Marvin Nichols, who you all hear from and you're going to love here for her. And the next two weeks, man, you're going to get them. And David Dirks, none of this is possible without them. But being a pioneer means taking risk, right?

And I've taken risk. I've been up late at night. I'm just telling everybody, I've doubted myself, right? I've said, is this worth it? Should I continue to do it? I have a son to play college baseball at HBCU. And I could be just supporting him and doing this just for him. But I saw a greater need.

And I say, well, who helps the other kids that are out there? Not every parent is equipped to be able to do this or has resources or even the relationships. DP, this is a relationship type business, right? You and I have built a relationship. When you go down to Gremlin, I'm going to be right there with you. And it's a relationship. It can't be one person taking this on and making this. happen. We have to do this as a community. And that's why this movement is so important. And I'm here

to see it through. And you're right. They're going to be kids that benefit that I don't even know. Maybe you never have a conversation. But they're on our platform. They get a brand deal. They build a skill set. They learn something from it. And you know what? That is me paying it forward for goodwill for whoever knows who it benefits in the future. Mark, let people know how to get in from on the icon 1901. If they need to reach out, they need to track you, find you on social media. Let them know how, brother.

Yeah, so, of course, I'm on LinkedIn. It's Mark Smith. Everybody's like, wow, there's a million Mark Smith, but you'll see my picture out there. The other way is, of course, on Twitter, at Slide Edge, J2. And it's slight edge because I always believe that we've got to be just a little bit better

in everything that we do. That's why I had that Twitter name, and then of course at www. the icon 1901.com. That is where you can reach out to us. You can send us an email there or a note there. We're there to respond. We love getting those things.

That's how brands find us to say, hey, I got a great product. I want it out in the West Coast. Okay, let us find the students in the West Coast. Let's do an NIL deal for them. So that's how this happens. It's really a grassroots effort. And we have an army of students that are ready to go. We have over 40 HBCUs represented on our platform.

And guess what? We're going to grow that to 103 HBCUs. And D.P, you're going to be the vehicle, and you're going to be the pioneer, brother, that's going to make this happen for everybody. Well, this is why we're here. Mark, appreciate your brother. Thank you for entertaining and informing anybody that wants to be interested in this thing.

We'll do it again in a couple of weeks, but we'll have David. We'll have David on Monday and then we'll have Marvel the following Monday. So we're going to keep having these conversations putting highlights and amplification

on the Icon 1901 and what you're doing down there so others will have a plan for that is Mark Smith from the icon 1901. I'm DP. Don't go anywhere. DeMorne Pearson L.

he tells you, don't punt.