An Army of Normal Folks - The Fraternity That’s Raised $3.5 Million For Those With Paralysis (Pt 1)

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

After Ole Miss football player Chucky Mullins’ devastating injury left him as a quadriplegic, Sigma Nu approached him about starting a football game called The Charity Bowl that would raise money for those living with paralysis. Chucky enthusiastically endorsed it and since 1990 these fraternity brothers have raised over $3.5 million! We talk to current students Jagger Mooneyham and Julian Knott.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How much is this thing raised historically? Over three and a half million. Your fraternity's raised over three and a half million dollars. The first year they raised $25,000, if I'm not wrong, and it's grown, I mean, so much since there's last year they raised about 220,000 and the year before that they raised 300 something and then the year before that they raised I think it was the record it was 337,000. So the record the best year ever's yeah 300 and what? 37. And you guys want to do 400 this year? Well we had to make the goal

bigger than the record, so yeah. Ha ha ha ha. Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in inner city Memphis in the last part somehow. Well, it led to an Oscar for the film about our team.

That movie's called Undefeated. Guys, I believe our country's problems will never be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice suits using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army of normal folks. That's us, just you and me deciding, hey, I can help. That's what the Ole Miss chapter of Sigma Nu has done.

Many years ago, after football player Chucky Mullins' devastating injury left him as a quadriplegic, Sigma Nu approached him about starting a football game called the Charity Bowl that would raise money for those living in paralysis, just like him. Chucky not only approved it, he endorsed it. And since 1990, this fraternity at Ole Miss has raised over $3.5 million for others suffering with injuries similar to Chuck E's. I cannot wait for you to meet two of Sigma News current members right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max.

You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout?

Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. you get your podcasts. little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's,

to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Astead Herndon. But we're also gonna have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlemagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well.

I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. So whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all. I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast, When You're Invisible, is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season 2 is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood.

It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this, start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it.

I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of La Donia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capriburg. I am the supreme leader of the Grand Republic of Montonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. Well, why can't I trade my own country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong?

No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a racket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warheads. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help!

We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. ["Jingle Bells"] Jack or Mooney Ham?

Mooney Ham. Mooney Ham or Mooney? Mooney Ham. Huh? Mooney Ham. Mooney Ham? Mooney Ham. Mooney Ham.

Julie Knot. God. You ready? Yes, Ham. Mooney Ham, Mooney Ham, Mooney Ham, Julian Knot. God. You ready? All right. From Oxford, Mississippi, Julian Mooney Ham and Julian Knot. What's up? No, you said Julian Mooney Ham and Julian Knot.

What'd I say? You said Julian Mooney Ham and Julian Knot. We'll start over. No, let's start over. Keep it in there. Oh God, don't do that. Your boy's name. I don't even have paper in front of me. We're keeping it in there. Oh, God. Don't do that. Can't even get your boy's name on it.

I don't even have paper in front of me. I'm doing this from memory. Sorry. Jagger Mooneyham and Julian Knott drove up from Oxford, Mississippi to join us today. Actually, they didn't drive today. What? They didn't drive. Oh, they had a young man drive them up.

Not just a young man. Come on. Let's go. What is he? He's a candidate for admission into Sigma Nu Paternity. Drove them up here because he quote, didn't have anything else to do. Is that right? You volunteer for this? See another volunteer. It's great. Yeah. From Oxford, Mississippi guys. Welcome. Thanks for joining us. Um, let's start with you, Jagger. Where are you from?

I live in Brandon, Mississippi, but I went to school in Jackson prep. So high school in Jackson. Pressure and what year are you now? I'm a junior. You're a junior junior at Ole Miss. Jillian, what's your story? I'm from Newport Beach, California. And I'm a junior to a Jagger. Yeah. What does that guy from Newport Beach, California doing in Oxford, Mississippi for college, dude?

Would nobody in California accept you? Well, you gotta have like a 4.5 to go to any good school in California. So I was set on going to either Boulder or Ole Miss like the whole time since I was a freshman. You could have been with Prime, dude. Well, we had family friends that went to Ole Miss and everything and I came and visited and

liked it way better than Boulder so let's talk about what it's like to be a student at Ole Miss you know from what year you're a junior a junior both juniors so you guys are just kids at Ole Miss. And when you show up as freshmen at Ole Miss, the Greek system is a huge part of campus life at Ole Miss. So when you show up, most people are leaving high school, big man on campus, and then you kind of starting over as a freshman. Tell me what, Jagger, your experience

as a freshman at Ole Miss was. Well, I mean, it was really distracting because in high school, you didn't have as many distractions going on with all the events you get to go to and all the opportunities you have to do stuff other than school. And so, coming to Ole Miss, you have,

you can fill your schedule with a bunch of different things that are more fun and you think are more important in school, but you also got to balance your grades. And so it's a lot different than high school because there's just more distractions and you're not really focusing on it as much. So why'd you, why'd you join a fraternity? I really just really, why'd you join? I felt like it was the normal from people that I knew before.

And it was normal to join a fraternity. Everybody did it. And so I felt like it would be, I would be like an outcast if I didn't. That's the true reasoning. What about you, Jillon? Why not join one? Yeah. Well, I mean, Ole Miss, part of the reason for coming to Ole Miss is the Greek system. And when I came to Ole Miss, it was like a whole new world. Like any other California school or anything, joining a fraternity is completely different from Ole Miss. And for me, it kind of started off to have fun

and I was lucky to get a Sigma Nu bit, I guess, cause not a lot of kids from California are Sigma Nus. I mean, there's only been a couple of us. And at first it was was just have fun. And then now since I've gotten older and after freshman year, I found myself kind of getting more involved and being more part of it. And being a part of the Greek system has kind of leaned away from that having fun aspect. I mean, we do have fun, but it's kind of provided me with like a lot of good tools

and a lot of good things I can be a part of, such as Charity Bowl. Yeah, well see, that's the thing, is one of the greatest movies ever made in the world was Animal House. It's hilarious, all right? And the vast, vast majority of the people that think about fraternities, when they hear

the word fraternity, that's what they think. And I would imagine coming out of high school, let's just say you're a senior in high school and you think I'm going to join a fraternity, you got to believe that 90% of your reason for joining a fraternity is you're thinking it's just going to be lots of fun, parties, craziness, stories to tell the rest of your life and all that. So genuinely, is that what it was about in high school when you were coming to Ole Miss? You're thinking of going to Ole Miss, it's kind of known as a party school, join a fraternity,

you've got this whole animal house mentality, you know, what's going on between a senior in high school's ears when he's going to Ole Miss thinking about joining fraternity? Well, I mean, I always thought that a fraternity was just the aspect of having fun, like that's really all it was until I became, got initiated into a fraternity and then I realized that there's a lot more to it, but in high school, I felt like that was the only thought I had about

a fraternity was the having fun part of it. And I thought that was really all it was. But then getting initiated into when you realize it's a lot more. What about you? Same thing. Like it was pretty much a hundred percent about having fun. And then now, like I said, I've gotten way more out of it other than just having fun. And the things I've gained, like that are the most important or like charity bowl, all the stuff that like we've gotten to do. Having fun isn't even really that big of an aspect to it anymore. So I think most people listen to us might think that's counter to what it really is.

Jagger, you said once you became initiated, you learned more. Share with us some of that stuff that you think has transcended from what you thought it would be as a high school kid to now as a young man who's been through it a little bit. What are the aspects of it that has mattered to you? I think a lot of it's the leadership part of it because you want to have the best reputation for your fraternity. You want to be the best you can. And so you want to have leaders around campus and you want to stick out to everybody. And what I kind of got out of it was being in different organizations and actually doing something that can set my fraternity apart and make it seem like we are the best fraternity.

Just being a leader around campus and people looking at our fraternity at the right. What are the types of things other than charity bowl, which obviously that's why you're here and we're definitely going to get into that. What are the other stuff the fraternities try to get involved in? Well, I don't think it's more of the organizations. I think it's more of like focusing on grades and cause you want to have the best GPA on campus every year. Just so you have that look at while we have our stuff together and other people might not. And then, but also you mean we as the fraternity, as a collective, yeah, together. And so your fraternity actually gives a crap about their GPA. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, that's not animal housey. Yeah, it's not. And it's not what I thought it was in high school. And so now we want to, we want to have a good reputation around campus with grades, with how we treat girls, with everything in life, you know, being leaders around campus. And so, well, that's not racist. That's not misogynistic. That's not spoiled. That's actually responsible.

Right. And that's that's, I think that's what's, don't you understand that most people don't think that when they hear frat life? Right. I mean, it gets it stereotypes for sure. Everybody thinks that we don't give a crap about school and we just pass through with the easiest majors and everything and we don't work hard for anything. They think we're spoiled and it's all given to us, but that's really not it. So, June, what was, so the way it works is you show

up, you get a bid, and then you become a pledge or a candidate. And then for some period of time, you're a pledge or a candidate and then you become initiated. So the old school thought is during that period of time, you basically get hazed. You have to do whatever people tell you to do, including drinking too much and doing all kinds of other stuff. And then I guess eventually pass muster and you become initiated. Was that your experience? Not at all.

What was your experience? If anything, we drank probably less as pledges. We had to do like a bunch of community service events, a bunch of like bonding events, like all of our best friends now we became best friends with in half a year versus to in high school. You know, you were friends with these kids from preschool. And because of the whole process that we went through, it made all of us so close and all the guys that were surrounded around are some of the most like stand-up guys I've met my whole life and

I had that same you know kind of stereotype to fraternities I guess coming into it coming into it yeah and kind of thought I'd just be surrounded around a bunch of guys who really only care about having fun which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's honestly the complete opposite. Like the guys that I'm surrounded with in our fraternity are like some of the best guys I've ever met who, you know, have goals, want to be like lawyers, doctors, all know what they want to do. And it was a great experience from the start. of fraternities all have, you know, the secret handshake and they have rituals and all of that stuff that only people in the fraternity are supposed to know because it binds you

together and makes you close. But to some people on the outside, it seems all very cloak and dagger. So, Julian, from, you know, from what you can, what you can discuss, because I know there are things like creeds and oaths that only people who've been initiated into your fraternity are supposed to know, and I'm not asking you to share that, but talk about the process of being a pledge in your fraternity. What does, what do, what do those days and that time look like? What are you being held to account to do? Well, it starts off, we go out morning meetings every morning. We have study hours.

We're with that group of 70 guys pretty much all day. And I had that same impression that joining a fraternity was gonna be, you know, I drink this, eat this, just like a bunch of not helpful things or useful tools. But that's what I thought was gonna happen. But everything that we, I was honestly kind of shocked cause I was waiting for that to happen.

And they like said from the beginning, none of that will ever happen to you. I was like, all right, these guys are clearly messing with us. And it never did. It was really everything was just built on making us better people. And now a few messages from our generous sponsors. But first, I hope you'll consider signing up

to join the army at normalfolks.us. By signing up, you'll receive a weekly email with short episode summaries in case you happen to miss an episode or if you prefer reading about our incredible guests. We'll be right back. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. We'll be right back. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise

once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy and very fun. Listen to Post

Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. But turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha B., Roy Wood Jr., and Charlamagne the God.

We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. So whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz.

My podcast, When You're Invisible, is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season 2 is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said,

this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament.

Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this.

It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of La Donia. I'm Jackson the First, King of Capriburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Montonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition.

Why can't I trade my own country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warheads. Oh my god. What is that? Bullets. Bulls. We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know you are in charge of this year's pledge class.

What do these kids have to do to become an active member? Now, do they have to stand and lie naked and drink whiskey bottles? Do they have to all the things we've heard? No, none of that. It's really just- What do you mean none of that? That's not what everybody says.

Demote your time adults to the fraternity and we really emphasize on them we've heard. No, none of that. It's really just- What do you mean none of that? That's not what everybody says. Demote your time and thoughts to the fraternity. We really emphasize on them getting to know the people in the chapter. Also, we tell them that they need to know everybody's name and where they're from, just so you can build that personal connection. It's really a lot of time management. We want to build tools for maybe your future job. You're going to have to get up early sometimes.

We expect them to show up on time and look presentable. They're going to be clean shaven, haircut off the collar, above the eyebrows, look presentable and kind of get out of their comfort zone a little bit and become leaders and do things that are uncomfortable to them like having uncomfortable conversations that need to be had with each other to become close. And so they're going to log study hours. They're the study hours, five hours a day. And so they, uh, five hours. Yeah. We, uh, just to make sure that they, they held their GPAs. Cause I think they have an average right now of like over a three, seven as a pledge class,

70 kids pledges freshmen at Ole Miss and a fraternity have a 3.7 GPA. Their average is just above a 3.7. Last time we did a grade check. Do you know where that ranks among other groups? We usually get second. So, what are they doing during these study hours? I mean, you can only study so much. Well, I mean, they're sitting as a pledge class

with the people that they might have not known in high school, but that they're getting closer with. They're sitting with them whenever they need help on subjects. If they're taking the same class with one of their pledge builders, they're going to help each other out, kind of group up and get their schoolwork done. And then we have nights where we can't do study hall because there might be an event or anything, but they have plenty of time to get their stuff done. If not, they are focusing

on getting to know the active chapter and the pledge material. That just doesn't agree with the popular notion of what fraternity life is and Greek life is. Well, that's why we say that I think our fraternity means more than any other one, because a lot of fraternities are the stereotypical fraternity, but we are not. And so we take pride in that. Okay. That's interesting. And I think it's interesting for people to hear that, you know,

there is a form and a function to this that can matter and be meaningful long after your freshman year in college is over that is completely counter to what even you guys thought only three years ago coming in the fraternity. So every year there's some fraternity on some campus that does something that gets national headlines. And it is spread all across the country. And it's almost like, to me, it's the stupid, horrible, horrific cop that does something bad in some city that he shouldn't do, that he should be locked up for, that nobody excuses. But that's one really bad incident when we have millions of cops all over the country every day doing good work. But all of a sudden that one bad cop who represents one one thousandth of one one thousandth of a percent

of the cops in the world, that guy ends up being the face of all cops. And it leads to all kinds of social issues. And just recently, in the last decade, I think our country has done a much better job of holding the bad cops accountable. The problem is the pendulum swings and we say it's all cops, we need to defund police. And now we're saying, well, you know what, it's really not all cops, there's some really bad cops, and we all got to hold them accountable, but we need good cops. And now we're saying, well, you know what? It's really not all cops. There's some really bad cops, and we all got to hold them accountable. But we need good cops. And there are plenty of good cops out there. But the thing is, we don't

celebrate those stories. We always highlight the bad one. In the same respect, it just takes one idiot at one fraternity on one campus to do something bad, that story hits their ways. And then every person in the Greek life must be just like that. And Jagger, you said something a second ago that was really interesting to me. You said we want people to be leaders, we want them accountable, how to get to keep their grades up, how to treat women. And then we went on past that. But the how to treat women thing, that was interesting. What do you mean how to treat women? Well, I mean, we want to treat them with the respect that they should be treated and be

the gentleman that we want them to be. So from day one, we emphasize how to how to treat them and not to maybe do some things that you wouldn't want somebody to do to your sister or your mother, you know, be gentlemen that we should be in life because it is about respect and it gives us a good look on campus when we are known as the gentlemen guys that treat girls how they should be treated. Once again, that flies in the face

of what everybody would think about Greeks and women and parties and everything else that goes along with it. What if somebody steps out of line? Then we can dismiss anybody from the chapter when we want to. Do you, would you and have you? We haven't had that problem yet.

This year? Right. We try to emphasize that with our candidates, also the active chapter, that it's one strike when disrespecting women and that it's not acceptable and you're going to get dismissed from the chapter. Julian, what do parents from California think about Greek life in Mississippi for what they thought when you were showing up versus what they think now? They honestly, they honestly really like it.

I mean, all my friends' parents who I talk to honestly like really support and like the fact that I went to school here. And with Greek life, they think, I mean, I have friends who go to Berkeley or like really good colleges who might be getting a better education than me. My brother, for instance, he goes to USC, which is- USC? Yeah.

Hard to get in? Really hard to get in. And competitive? He had to do a year at community college before he could even get in. My parents thought him going to USC, me going to Ole Miss, he might be a little better off. And then my dad, this summer I was talking to him and he was saying, just because of the guys

I'm surrounded by and all the people in my fraternity, he was like, I think, he's not gonna like to hear this, but he was like, I think you're gonna be better off than him just because all the people you're surrounded by and the system that you're a person and education didn't just what's in the books exactly And you're receiving an education through Greek life as well as the university life that is Maybe more universal. Yeah It's interesting so That's kind of the Greek experience for you guys,

which is really cool. Your fraternity has engaged for many years in philanthropy. And I assume most all fraternities have community service projects or something, right? Each fraternity has their own service projects or something, right? They all, each fraternity has their own event. The university requires us to have two community based events every year. Oh, the university requires fraternities to do that? Yeah. I didn't know that.

They, or I don't know if it's necessarily required, but it's heavily encouraged. Encouraged, yeah. So it's one first semester and one second semester. You need one each semester. Got it So what did y'all do first semester? We did food stock We supported love packs which a guy in our fraternity his mom who lives in Oxford Liza Frugé, she's a huge part of it. So we kind of work it makes a little easier

We work with her to do it and we raise money to provide meals for families in Oxford and Lafayette County that just don't have the money to, you know, just have a meal. So how do you do that? What do y'all do? We just raise money. We'll do, we'll also do like a food drive, like people bring in food and for raising money it's pretty much just emails to families and friends and blitzes like going door to door, stuff like that.

And then we also have a lot of the chapter packing these love packs for them. We'll use the money, go buy all the food, and then we'll put them all in bags and separate it evenly. How much money did you raise? This year we raised about three grand for Love Packs. And then you put these things together and did it. Yeah. So we already helped out with it too, putting them together. That's cool. Right. But that's the first semester thing. It is. Tell me about the second semester thing. We got charity bowl for the second semester.

thing. We got charity bowl for the second semester. It was started in 1990 for Chuckie Mullins. Basically, Chuck. First of all, who's Chuckie? Okay. You want to? Yeah. So 1989 homecoming game against Vanderbilt. Brad Gaines was going in for a touchdown and Chuckie made the hit to stop him and break the ball loose.... By the way, Brad Gaines. Riley Gaines is a person who's become a national face of women sports trying to argue that male transgender athletes competing against women is not fair and in some cases can be dangerous. That's Brad Gaines' daughter. I don't know if anybody knows that or not, but that's it. So you're right. Chucky went to hit Brad to keep him out of the zone.

Go ahead. 89. He was paralyzed immediately on the field. Not Brad Chucky. Chucky was. Yeah. And so he was paraplegic and the next year charity ball was started to raise money for Chucky.

And it's been going strong ever since. So 1990 was the year after the injury and it's Charity Bowl has been going since then. We'll be right back. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about.

It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. wherever you get your podcasts. need a little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends, like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlemagne the God.

We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. So whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeartRadio, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all.

I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast, When You're Invisible, is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said,

this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things, bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this, start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of La Donia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capriburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Montonia.

Be part of a great colonial tradition. Why can't I create my own country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with the black powder, you know, with explosive warheads. Oh my God. What is that?

Bullets. Bullet holes. We need help! We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. The Charity Bowl is now, how many years? 25. 89. Yeah. Or 21. 21. This is the 25th year.

30. 35. 35, yeah. All right, so the chapter'sth year. 30, 35. 35, yeah. All right, so the chapter's been doing this for 35 years. So what is charity ball? So basically every year we will play a football game in the vault and then it started off at Oxford High School was the first year they did it.

We'll play a football game in the vault against whatever fraternity pledges the most money. Right now we have a bid from a fraternity at State. A fraternity from State wants to drive over here and play. How much? They pledge 15 grand. We'd rather play a school here, but it just kind of depends who puts up the most money. And we'll play a tackle football game in the stadium and we raise Pets. Pets. A bunch of fraternity guys. Yep. And then before the actual event, we have a cheer competition, which almost every sorority competes in the cheer competition. And then at halftime, we have a homecoming

court and yeah, it's a cool event. But, and we raise money for one recipient with paralysis every year. There's, this year we had about six people who applied to be our recipient. And we chose Hannah Johnston to be this year's recipient. And along with that, we also support the William McGee Center for Mental Health and Education on campus.

And then the Manning Center which directly impacts the Larry Batson's Children's Hospital. Tell me about your recipient, Tisher. Hannah Johnson, she's 26. She's from Cartridge, Mississippi. She's a teacher there. Hannah is kind of like embodies everything we look for in a recipient when about three years ago, she had a Second grade student who had a super tough family life and I talked to her about it I didn't get all the details exactly on it, but That kids now her son. She took him in and adopted him and when during the ice storm, I mean she's just

Always willing to help people. She always has helped people and during the ice storm, I mean, she's just always willing to help people. She always has helped people. And during the ice storm, a family, their heat and AC was broken and she was driving to go deliver them blankets and pillows and pulled off on the side of the highway. And when she was parked, it was her, her husband and her son and an 18 wheeler hit a patch of black eyes spun out uncontrollably and hit her car and It caused her to be paralyzed from the shoulders down. So she still has no feelings She was paralyzed from shoulders down going to deliver blankets to a family Whose heat was out? Yeah

And now she's a quadriplegic. Yeah That's horrific. Yeah. And now she's a quadriplegic. Yeah. That's horrific. Yeah. And so this year's charity ball is to raise money for her care. Yeah. Well, she just now started a new research program. I don't know the exact terminology for it, but it's, there's a bunch of new different research programs. Our charity board recipient two years ago, he's a really good friends with one of our friends from Collierville. JD Mills is the kid's name and he's in one of those research programs too. And supposedly a lot of them have pretty, they're pretty certain that they can hopefully gain the feeling back with like stem cell replacements and stuff to get her to be able to walk again and have feeling again so she is right now in one of those programs which are very

very expensive and so all the funding will go pretty much just towards her care and mainly towards that program. So Jagger, $15,000 pledged and all of that. How much money do you think you guys are going to raise? 400 grand. That's our goal. And I think we're going to meet it this year. $400,000? 400,000.

This year? This year. Playing a football game? Yeah. How much do we have we raised already? Right now we're at $60,000 and we started about a month ago. When's the game played? We don't have the exact date yet but we're hoping, we asked the Athletic Center, we're hoping for, it's late March, it's like the weekend of like March 22nd, I believe so we're talking five months from now Yeah, how are you gonna raise three hundred and forty more thousand dollars between now and then? It's gonna take a lot. It's gonna be a lot of hard work the

Philanthropy chairs this year. The two other ones are Sam Wallace and JD Montgomery both of which are very determined people to meet this goal. And we're lucky to have them to be able to meet that goal. And pretty much the way we fundraise is it's family and friend donations, so just personal donations, all of it's a tax write off. And this year we're trying to incorporate big ass. So we're trying to go to companies who are already donating, you know, X amount of from a company would really help us meet that goal and along with that we have sponsorships there's sponsorships raising from a hundred dollars up to

two thousand dollars. So Jagger when you were a pledge and you're coming for this big party atmosphere and your mind's opening oh it, it's really not about that. Now I gotta be held accountable, I gotta keep my grades up, and oh, by the way, we gotta go raise money. When you first heard that, was that a drag? Be honest. Yeah, yeah, it was a drag. Like, oh my gosh, I gotta go raise money now, too?

On top of everything else? It's unexpected, but then I grew a personal connection with the recipient we had our freshman year, because it's one of my buddies friends home It's JD Mills from Collierville. And so he's actually gotten we've gotten really close with each other we'll go dove hunting every every season and And so it just really opens your eyes like there is a bigger part bigger picture to a fraternity when what a group of people of

270 guys can do together as one and what you can accomplish. I mean, it's 270 guys could come together and raise 400 grand. It's pretty rewarding, it feels like, and that you're doing that for someone else. So what, what, what, what, what is an average just member of eternity doing to raise money? average just member of eternity doing to raise money? For families that they know, they'll go sell ads for Charity Bowl magazine. So we have put out a big magazine every year and you can buy a half-page ad for $100 or a full page ad for $400 and it goes in this big book that everybody receives at the Charity Bowl. And what like, for example, when I was raising

money, I would go to family friends of mine that own businesses and know that they would like to get their business out there. Both my parents are business owners, so it was easy for me to get them to donate. And so I think that's what the minimum people will do is raise $500, $600 using a couple magazine ads. How much is this thing raised historically? Over three and a half million. Your fraternity's raised over three and a half million dollars. It did.

The first year they raised 25,000, if I'm not wrong, and it's grown, I mean, so much since there's, last year they raised about 220,000 and the year before that they raised 300 something and then the year before that they raised I think it was the record of 337,000. So the record, the best year ever's? Yeah.

300 and what? 37, I believe. And you guys want to do 400 this year? Well, we had to make the goal bigger than the record. So yeah. So is the fraternity behind it? Is this one of these things where you've got 250 kids in this fraternity and there's 10 people really working and everybody else is just hanging on or is everybody really involved?

I think people are more involved this year, especially since years prior. It was the way to kind of get the chapter involved was just there was no like set goal. It was just we have to raise money. And then this year we actually have a goal that we want to meet. So it's kind of getting more of the chapter behind it because, you know, they want to see they're a part of it just as much as anyone else, every single person in the chapter. So they want to just see us hit that goal. Our show is an army of normal folks and our

overarching narrative is that you don't have to be part of some big NGO. You don't have to be part of some massive organization. You don't have to be part of some massive organization. You don't have to be Powerful and rich To do something for someone in your community. That's not as blessed as you that's the whole idea And if we had an army of normal folks across this country regardless of who you come from what you look like how you vote Just seeing area need, using their ability and their passion to fill those areas of need, that we could change the world. And oftentimes that looks like a guy with a business who sees an area need and invest

money in it and starts a small organization. Sometimes these organizations become huge. It looks like all walks of life, but rarely do we think of college kids and of eternity as members of the army of normal folks helping to solve somebody's issue in society. Six months ago or so, we did a story on some college kids who during COVID, started rounding up food that

was being wasted. And they didn't know what they were doing. They just started rounding up food to give it away. And I think the first thing they did was they found a whole truckload of onions. They gave away onions somebody and I think the first thing they did was they found a whole truckload of onions. They gave away onions, somebody. And I think they were, they're you Cal people, right? Cal Berkeley, Alex. Yeah. And what? Yeah. One was Brown university. Anyway, little by little, four years later, now they have this massive organization that feeds people all over the world

collecting food that farmers would otherwise throw away and it was so inspiring because these aren't people who are Already established in the world who have careers and have access and everything It's a bunch of college kids that threw together something that's now feeding the poor It's a bunch of college kids that threw together something that's now feeding the poor. You guys are the same. You're just a bunch of college kids. You've got grades to keep up with. You probably have a girlfriend or at least looking for the next one.

You've got parties going on. You've got all this stuff going on. And in the middle of it, you're talking about raising $400,000 for what seems to be an amazing young woman who gave of herself who ended up in a tragic accident. Now she can't move anything from her shoulders down. And that concludes part one of my conversation with Jagger and Julian, and you don't want to miss Part 2 that's now available. Together, guys, we can change this country, but it starts with you.

I'll see you in Part 2. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your

podcasts. Hey, everyone. It's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the homestretch, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Esthed Herndon. But we're also gonna have some fun

thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlemagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz.

When You're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped me. Season 2 shares stories about community and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. We get paid to serve you, but we're made out of the same things. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds

of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my god. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.