An Army of Normal Folks - There Is No Finish Line

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

For our “Shop Talk” series, Coach Bill tells the inspirational story of Paralympic gold medalist Katie Holloway. And what we can all learn from her. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney's Shop Talk number eight. I cannot believe we're on Shop Talk number eight. Alex is going to get pretty upset with me when I run out of ideas for shop talk, but maybe we'll start talking politics soon. Y'all will love that, won't you? Shop Talk number eight, we're going to talk about this. this in every single race that I've ever seen, whether it's a 50 yard sprint or a marathon, there's a tape at the end. There's a finish line in every single race. There's a finish line except one the race on life because in life there is no finish line. Because perseverance never takes a break.

We'll talk about that right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. I'm Hannah Storm and my podcast, NBA DNA with Hannah Storm, digs deep into the history of professional basketball, along with my own, as one of the first female sportscasters. Now let's get you up to speed on what else happened around the NBA today. We talked to all sorts of people I interacted with, from Dr. J to Charles Barkley, and recap iconic moments.

Yes, he's got it. Here he comes. Way rock the baby to sleep and slam dunk. As well as some of the wild stories behind the scenes. We were like, what? What are we in for? The scoreboard crashes before we even tip a game off. Today, the NBA is a global sports and entertainment giant. Players are multimillionaires and cultural icons.

Igadola to Curry, back to Igadola, up for the layup. Oh, blocked by James. LeBron James. Players are multimillionaires and cultural icons. And these stories are about how we got here, both on and off the court. And what's next? Listen to NBA DNA with Hannah Storm on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Johnny B. Good and I'm the host of the new podcast, Creating a Con, the story of VidCon. Over this nine part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Tripani.

I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone was like, Oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, Oh, we should start some sort of scheme. You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them. They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it. His company, Centratec, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017.

It was gonna change the world until it didn't. I came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world?

Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello. From Wondermedia Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. This month, we're bringing you the stories of disappearing acts. There's the 17th century fraudster who convinced men she was a German princess. The 1950s folk singer who literally drove off into the sunset and was never heard from again. The First Nations activist whose kidnapping and murder ignited decades of discourse about

indigenous women's disappearances. And the young daughter of a Russian czar whose legendary escape led to even more intrigue and speculation. These stories make us consider what it means to disappear and why a woman might even want to make herself scarce. Listen to a manica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. ["The Big Bang"] Oh, a few years ago, I was in Colorado Springs

at the United States Olympic Committee thing, and I was speaking to the Olympic swim team, a bunch of Olympic places, and I was invited to address the United States Paralympic team before they went off to, I think it was UK, to compete for the United States in the Paralympics. And I'm gonna tell you something.

You talk about inspiring, amazing people competing for our country in the Olympics and the Paralympics. While I was walking around campus, I'd actually just left the the swimming pool area, which was incredible because Michael Phelps was in there and that dude is long, and was walking with a person that was on the Olympic Committee, not an athlete but an administrator. And as we pass by, I see this really tall, dark-headed girl, she's probably 6'3", sitting on a bench and the administrator introduced me and her name was Katie. I later found out Katie Holloway.

And we started talking and as we're talking, I'm just sitting on the bench and the administrator ran off and I had a few minutes before I had to go in and do my next address. And as we're talking, Katie removes her leg. I swear to you, just removes her leg. And I'm like, Whoa, what's that? And she's like, Oh, I'm on the Paralympic volleyball team. And I'm like, that's crazy. Have you

always played volleyball? And she said, No, I've always played basketball. And I said, you've always played basketball. And she said, Yeah. And I said, I'd love to hear about that. And she said, well, I'm going in to listen to your speech. I said, if you want to meet, I'll tell you about it. I said, great. So I did my speech and there she was afterwards and we sat down at a table and she grabbed an orange juice and I grabbed a diet Coke. And I found out Katie's story. She was born with both legs. And shortly after, when she was young, she had to have one of her legs removed below the knee. But she was really athletic. And her mom, she wanted to play basketball with a prosthetic, believe it or not.

And her mom took her to Little League and everybody said, no, no, no, no, no. But she kept practicing and she kept practicing. And finally, like junior high, she made the junior high basketball team wearing a prosthetic leg. And y'all, this was 15 years ago. Then she made her high school basketball team with a prosthetic leg. Then she started for her high school basketball team and was dominating folks with one leg.

And. Thought of playing in college actually came around and that's really what she wanted to do. That was her dream. And obviously coaches would come watch her play because they heard her name and they saw her numbers and the athletic director and her high school coach were sitting out and they would come watch her play and they would be impressed until they recognized she was running around on one leg and they would immediately back off. So Katie came up with an idea.

She started wearing a knee brace on the one leg that had a prosthetic. Now just so that you know, you don't need a knee brace when you don't have the bottom half of your leg, but she wore it to cover her prosthetic. And she got a scholarship to Cal State Northridge. While at Cal State Northridge, she played her entire time when she was there and ended up, I actually think she ended up winning the conference six man of the year award and I think led her team in rebounds with one leg. All from a kid who was told she'd never play sports. After that, she was recruited by the Paralympics and the Paralympics don't have basketball.

They have wheelchair basketball and she didn't want to do that. So she went to play volleyball and her first year on the Paralympics volleyball team, she won a gold medal for the United States. Guys, when we talk about perseverance and we talk about sticking to it, we talk about never quitting, whenever I hear that, I think of Katie Holloway. I think of a little girl who loses her leg and gets told she can never play sports and ends up becoming an all-star in high school, hides her prosthetic because she knows what people are going to think when they see it. She's not embarrassed about it.

She's just keeping people from knowing it so they'll at least give it a fair shot when they check her out. Ends up going to play college basketball, becomes the sixth woman of the year for the conference, and then wins a gold medal for the United States in Paralympic volleyball. Kate Holloway is a phenomenal human being and she is now working in the Pacific Northwest doing good work for people who need it. You see, here's the deal.

Perseverance is understanding that you just don't take a break. You don't stop. In the marathon of life, there is no finish line. If Katie Holloway had ever seen a finish line, she would have quit playing sports in middle school because she was told she couldn't. If there was a finish line, she would have quit playing basketball in high school because she was told there's no one in the right mound going to give a scholarship to a girl with one leg that played basketball. And if she'd have quit there, she wouldn't have represented our country in the Paralympics

and have a gold medal to her name. But see, she never saw a finish line. She never saw a tape. She didn't say a place to stop. How's things going in your marriage? Is there a finish line? How things going with your kids? Are you persevering?

How's things going at work? As you listen to an army of normal folks, how are things going in your quest to fill the void in your part of the community that desperately needs it? Y'all, perseverance never takes a break. There is no finish line. There's always going to be need. There are always going to be those that aren't as fortunate as you. And there's always going to be an army of normal folks. Their numbers and their effectiveness completely depend on you deciding perseverance never takes a break and there is no finish line.

I hope you'll think about that next time you listen to Army Normal Folks and as you listen more think about think about how you can persevere and how there's no finish line on the work we're trying to do and the work that you can do in your community to help somebody around you that's shop talk and Before we go I want to let you know If there are any topics you'd like to hear a shop talk on Societal political racial Faith societal, political, racial, faith, or cultural, we'd love to hear about them. You can email me anytime at bill at normal folks dot us. Drop me a line on

some topics you think might be appropriate for shop talk and if I feel like I have anything to offer, well I'll open my big mouth and share them with you. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week. Every family has an origin story, one passed down through the generations. Mine happens to be a mystery involving my great-great-grandmother left behind in Sicily. I'm Joe Piazza and my new podcast will transport you to the gorgeous island of Sicily as I trace my roots back through a whodunit for the ages. Listen to The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Hannah Storm and my new podcast, DNA with Hannah Storm chronicles my six decades in professional basketball from growing up in the sport to becoming one of sports TV's

first female broadcasters. Join me as I dig deep into the game's history, unearth some wild stories and talk to my friends from the world of basketball, from Dr. J to Charles Barkley. It's been a wild ride, and now I get to take you with me. Listen to NBA DNA with Hannah Storm on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg News brings you what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and best informed business reporters around the world. We cover the stories behind what's moving money in markets and help you understand what's

happening, what it means and why it matters every afternoon. I'm Sarah Holder. I'm Saleh Emosen. And I'm David Gura. Listen to the big take on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.