Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Hey there, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to your best you real conversations around mental wellness, not just that you're watching Starlight Spotlight, our new segment where we're interviewing people in the entertainment industry about their success and their psyche. We're getting into all of that. Hopefully you enjoyed last week's with Hollywood effects artist Mark Viniello. Now with us and in studio, we have with us for. For several decades. How many years was it now? 24. Was the voice in the Renegade?
[00:00:31] Speaker B: No, 28.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: 28. Jesus. 28. That's fantastic. 28 years as the voice of the Renegades. He's currently working over at Pamel. Not just that, he also does his own entertainment business. He's been consulting, working with people all throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond. Broadcasting legend in and around New York. With us, we have Rick Zolzer. Rick, how are you?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Nice to show the bobblehead. That's pretty cool.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Yep. Noel gave me that one. Is like, you have to bring it out when Zoltz comes in.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Yep. So, again, thank you so much for coming in here and getting to, you know, talk about your life and career. So one of the ways that we were able to get reconnected in order to do this, it was when you were DJing our holiday party, which I've
[00:01:06] Speaker B: done that every year for like six, seven, eight years at this point. It's always a highlight. I give Andrew a ridiculous break because it's him.
But, yeah, I look forward to it every year. There are very few parties I do in the middle of the day.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: That's fair. That's. It is a weird one. The fact that it is in the
[00:01:21] Speaker B: middle of the day, noon to 3.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's odd. It was odd for me, too. And I don't know if you remember, like, I was so knew at the time and.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Yeah, you were a rookie.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I was such a rookie. And we were doing that game and we're like, what's your name? Connor. And then crickets. And it's like, I'm still new. Nobody knows me yet.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: It's like, who brought in the guy from hitchhiking?
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. But the fact that you've known Andrew for as long as you have, what kind of dynamic have you guys had? When did you guys first meet?
[00:01:45] Speaker B: That's a great question.
I don't know what the genesis was. I know part of it is through sports. He pitched at Mount St. Mary College a million years ago. I've had a connection to the Mount for a long time. I played against a lot of those guys in the summer leagues, played against him as well.
And he's always been a great guy. And I didn't even know who he was in the business world until probably like 10, 12 years ago when really, holy moly, man. You're actually a big shot. And I'm proud to know that. The guy that I met through sports, because you meet so many people in what I do through sports, and he's not only got a great job, he's got a great job that helps a lot of people.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Big time. Big time. And the fact that, you know, Andrew was able to bring in so many awesome people and get them to work and collaborate together, that's fantastic. So that's, that's cool and fitting that you guys know each other through sports and everything, getting that going. So when it comes to your broadcasting career and you're mentioning sports, you were the voice of the Renegades for many years. I got to ask, what was the catalyst for it all? Was it because you were a sports fan? Was it because you were an entertainment fan? What got you into the broadcasting world?
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Quite by accident, I. I djed at let's Dance for a lot of years. Way before your time.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: I'm familiar with it. I heard plenty of stories and they,
[00:02:52] Speaker B: they decided they were going to do a rock and roll night.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: And PDH was going to be the radio station to support the rock and roll night. And me, I'm one of the few white guys my age who doesn't like rock and roll music. Even though I was the sports guy at rock and roll at PDH for over 20 years, no matter what the morning show host was, they always got stuck with me. So I was on the microphone and doing games like you've seen me do in the nightclub to in transition. And Billy Palmeri came up to me and goes, man, you know a lot about sports. Were you a player? Say, yeah, I'm lucky enough to have played all three sports in my life. I was a quarterback, a point guard, and a catcher. I like control. And you're, you're comfortable on the mic. Have you ever thought of doing sports on radio? And I went, well, I went to college for communications, but I've never done anything with it. And he goes, well, how would you like to do the sports from your bed? And I went, what? He goes, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna call sports from his bed with the Zol. And every morning for the first year and a half at 7:30, I'm on my phone doing the sports reports of the local teams. I don't mean local as in Marist or John Jay or Spacken Kill. I mean the local pro teams did that for about a year and a half. Then Wolf came to town. That was with Greg o' Brien and Shelley Sexton. Sexton. And then Wolf came to town. I was with him until he left. Then Coop and Tobin and Mikey and all those iterations. I was always the wise ass sports guy. And when there was thoughts of the Renegades coming to town, I was really on the side of saying how important it is to get a minor league baseball team here. I mean, you know, I still play hardball and I'm 69 at this point, so hardball is in my blood. And I was trying to explain to everybody that, you know, through my, my stuff with the Spartanburg Phillies in Spartanburg, South Carolina, you have no idea how much it's going to galvanize the community. And there were eight guys who were completely against the process. One guy was named Woody Cloakson in Red Hook and he like was just, it's, it's bad, it's horrible. It's a scam. I mean he was killing it. And every morning Woody became the target. Because on PDH in those days, we were the bad boy rock and roll station. And the stuff we got away with, quite frankly is amazing.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: You can't do that anymore.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: I gave out that guy's home phone number and address. Oh my God. And I told people to call the 2 in the morning and tell him what an idiot he was.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: I bet people did.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Yeah, they did.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: Knowing PDH's audience.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Yes, they probably did. They certainly did. And it got such, became such a big deal that when they were doing the vote with the legislature.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: To approve or disapprove of the project, they said, you know, there's too much interest, too many people coming. They took the entire legislative body and recreated it on the floor of the civic center and put all the people in the bleachers. And we were telling everybody for weeks, you need to go, you need to wear your uniform, you need to bring banners, you vus and make noise and be rowdy. And they packed it standing room. Only 30 people got to talk. I wanted to go last. Well, my name is Zolzer Z. It fits. And out of the first 29, 27 were in favor and two were against.
Okay. And the two that were against were like 80 plus. And the other people don't want any change. And don't, don't, I don't want to pay any more taxes. And I have to.
So I go up to the microphone last and I, I said, you know, Mr. Close, I just want to tell everybody what a bully you are and how out of touch you are. Because if you this park was coming in Northern Duchess, you'd be all about it, but because it's going to interfere with your little movie theater up there that in Red Hook, said, you got a problem. And then I said, and let's be honest, folks, I'm the 30th person, 20, 28 of us are in favor and two are not.
By the time, excuse me, by the time that building is built, most people are going to be dead anyway, so who cares what they think? Of course, the audience went wild. Woody's just staring at me like, what a jerk.
They finished the vote somewhere around 2:30 in the morning. There are multiple votes because you have to have a certain ratio. And I don't remember what it was. I'm gonna say something like 12 to 7. And they kept getting closer everything. And they finally got it 12 to 7. And I went to Denny's with a couple of friends, my then girlfriend who became my wife, now my ex wife. And we were finishing up and the folks from the Renegades came over. I had no idea who they were. I never met them, never saw them. They said, you know, we really appreciate your passion, your help and getting this done. And the GM says to me, you know, want to come down to the ballpark later? I'd like to have a conversation. I went, have a conversation with, I'm too old to play. He goes, no, I want that personality. I went, okay, sure, dude. So I, I go to that day and the next day, right? As soon as I get off with with Wolf, I said, dude, I can't do any post prep. I'm going to the stadium. He goes, go for it. I get there and I go in his office. He says, you know, we'd like to make you our PA announcer and be involved with the entertainment. And he goes, obviously, you know a lot about entertainment and we just want to turn you loose. I said, you know what? I'm a treat like a wedding with 4,000 people. That was my, my from day one. I thought it's about music programming music to the middle. You play a little bit of everything every single night. And you play fun games that, that hook the fans to the point where they'll go to the restroom into the concession stand during the game to make sure they're in the stands to watch what wacky thing we're going to do and what stupid thing I'm going to say.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: And it's true. As somebody who has been going like a lifelong Renegades fan, you know, hearing your voice, seeing the wacky things that were going on, anytime I brought anybody from out, whether it was friends, family, whatever, I told them it was like, you have to be around for between the innings. That's going to be the fun stuff. Even if you're not a baseball fan, you got to check this out.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Well, because we aimed it at people that weren't baseball fans, because we knew that baseball, at least I knew that baseball again, would galvanize the community. I remember the last thing Woody Close said to me. I said, well, Mr. Zolzer, when that thing's a great big giant failure and it's only drawing 1500 people a night in year 10, you'll see. And I'm like, sir, most minor league clubs would kill to have 1500 people year 10. But I have a funny feeling this market's going to do better. Well, little did we know, 28 years later when I left on their 30th anniversary, that they would sell 98% of their tickets in those 30 years. So Woody was so far off, it was silly. But anyway, I treat it like a wedding. They don't. They don't even sell out on opening night, which was June 22, 1995. 94.
And they don't even sell out the first eight games. And then it catches on, all the stuff we're doing. Then they went four years with sellouts every single night.
And then in 95, after 95 season, that's the year I got became the first piano announcer to ever get thrown out of a ball game. That's that. That is what this bobblehead is celebrating. It is celebrating me being the first guy to get tossed.
I got fired after that year, and I went and worked with the Northern League for three years after that. And they brought me back in 99. And then I was there from 99 until two years ago. And it was the same philosophy the whole time. Treat it like a wedding. Because that's all about families. And people will have a good time and they'll come back. And I'm always going to walk the line. And when you walk the line, sometimes you step over it or sometimes you fall over it, but you can't think about what you're going to say. If you're funny, you have to say it and live with the consequences. Yeah. And there were a bunch of times I got in trouble besides this.
But it was my passion and I so miss the fans, the players and the intoxication of making 3,500 people laugh and hearing that.
There's nothing like that, I'm sure. And, and I also miss raising the money and giving it away to local charities and stuff, so. But I don't miss the grind. I don't work 95 hours a week anymore. Those homestands, they were killers by the time you got. Because all minor league baseball after Covid went to Tuesday through Sunday games. No matter what level it was, you went six games Tuesday to Sunday against the same team. And what it did was it cut down on transportation. There's a lot of good reasons and I supported it. But oh my God, by Sunday you are dragging because you're at the ballpark, 9 o' clock in the morning, you're there till 11, 11:30, 12 o' clock and you're back the next day the same way. So I miss the game, I miss the games, I miss the players, man. But I don't miss that 95 hours.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: I can. I don't blame you there. I don't blame you there. But one thing that you got out of this in the very beginning, when they saw what you had to offer, they saw the energy, they saw the personality and what you're saying, treat it like a wedding. That's such a great mentality to have it with it. You were able to build something from the ground up. This was like. It's not like there was anything like this before this is coming into the area. There was no huge precedent here in the area, nothing. You could make it your own, which this is something that I'm very grateful for to do here at mha. Like I was brought on to build this department and I get to grow from the ground up and I'm excited for that because there's a lot of different directions that can be taken with that. You had that in your career. So what was that like? To take something and truly make it your own, make it unique and make it something that's truly authentic, not only to you, but to the community?
[00:11:04] Speaker B: Well, it's unique first and foremost. I can assure you that when I got the job as a part time PA announcer for $50 a game in 1994, that was not my vision. My vision was to do the best I could because again, I still played baseball. I mean I've played games at the then Dutch and I feel it. I would go on the field 28 years later and still feel the Energy of stepping on a professional field that's like no other. Yeah. And then I got the ripples in the water and that's what kept me there. The ripples in the water, things like, you know. I ended up getting a job with then New Jersey Nets and was their PA announcer for three years. So I got to go to the NBA Finals two years in a row and had Bob Costas introduce me for the starting lineups of Game one in New Jersey. Both years, Once against the Lakers, once against the Spurs.
I got to train and mentor probably God, 300 kids who came through the program. The kids who left me became so successful in various degrees and various fields that they called my trailer my officers, and they called it the launching pad.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: Because inherently, if you are an athlete, you are also probably a good coach. I coached football at Marist for three years. I did football, basketball and baseball at Lord's for seven years and I did football at Beacon to round out my coaching career. That naturally led to teaching. So then I taught at Lord's, I taught at Marist and recently taught at Mount St. Mary College. So those again are the ripples in the water. And when I, when I taught in those places, I taught Intro to Sports Management, Intro to Sports Media, and then a graduate class at the Mount Sports Sports pr.
So all of those opportunities of just being the wise guy and getting paid 50 bucks a game led to one year of full time employment. And then the fact that I went to the Newburgh Nighthawks in 96 and when I, I got the job, it was a big deal, big press conference because the Renegades fired me. Nobody could believe it. I'm like, oh yeah, listen man, when you work in sports, get ready for the day you're going to get fired. Because that's how it works in sports. Yeah, nobody lasts forever. And I said, just give me a chance in Newberg, come see me, come say hello. Still go to the Renegades games because they're the number one show. I don't mind being number two to the Renegades. And that was my philosophy. And their average attendance went from 350 a game up to 1300 a game.
So the Northern League commissioner noticed what I did and then he hired me the second year to be a consultant for the league and to travel around to all the clubs in the league and teach them how to do entertainment better.
And I'm getting paid an obscene amount of money plus a stipend for hotel, food and gas and stuff like that. Turns out that Marv Goldklang, who Owned the Renegades, also had two teams in the league. And he's like, let's keep Zols. Keep him close. You never know, we may bring them back someday. Blah, blah, blah. So the tentacles were unique and they're cool. And it's not just about doing the game. It's about a legacy of going from the part time PA guy who only got hired because of the noise he made. And it's the truth. And I'm not silly, because I'd never done P.A. anywhere. I was a player. I never did P.A. i had no idea what I was going to do. I'll even treat it like a wedding. And. And that led to make. They made me a vp. I'm like, when he said they were going to make you vp, I'm like, did you need a drug test?
I'm the wise guy. What are you talking about? He goes, yeah, we're gonna make you vp. You deserve it. Blah, blah, blah. I was so honored.
It didn't come with any additional pay, but the title was really cool.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: The title helps. That's at least a nice perk.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Yep. And I mean, I got to go to the winter every year in professional baseball. I got to go to what's called the goal climbing meetings, which every year was in a different city in America. I mean, it was an amazing job.
That was the highlight of my professional career, bar none. But it was time to turn the page. And I had multiple people tell me when I got fired the second time two years ago in July, that it would be the best thing that ever happened to me. And this is right after I got fired. Like, no way, dude. And you know, when you get fired from a high profile job twice, it kind of kicks you a little bit. And I wasn't ready to be down. And everybody kept saying, I swear to you, give it a year. You're going to be so thankful you got fired. They were right.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Really? What about that then? What are you thankful for at this point?
[00:15:00] Speaker B: Well, a. I get to have a life. Yeah. I really do have the energy of a 20 year old. Even though I'm 69. I go 100 miles an hour every day, seven days a week. And. Which is not a complaint. That's how I want it. I don't want to go fishing or play golf. I could retire. I choose not to.
And I have a life. And I. I have a new relationship, Someone I'm going to marry in November.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: And I get to have an entire new chapter. Like almost like starting from scratch. Wow. And and the professionally, you know, I get to do my sports on the Beacon every day, which is a conglomerate of 3am, three FM stations and it's on 15 and 45 once an hour for three hours. Then Monday night it's a live call in talk show on the Beacon. Then I'm live on WBPM every morning at 7:55 with live sports with Bob Miller. So that's all the stuff that's really cool. And closer to heart, the selling stuff is a little different for me because as outgoing as I am.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: Oh wait, they got you doing sales?
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. As outgoing as I am, I, I really suck at cold calling. I rely on the people that are friends. Yeah, Andrew has been a sponsor since I got there. You know, he sponsors my live sports talk show and he's done some other things throughout the last couple of years.
And most of my sponsors are friends because it's about building relationships. I will never walk into somebody's deli, go, would you like buy some commercials?
Never, ever, ever cold calling. It's so tough. And yeah, and, and the boss doesn't understand why because everybody else in the building, building does. And Chuck Benfer, who has been a long time friend has been patient with me. I more than make my salary up. I mean that's not an issue. But I'm sure they would want more. And they see this big potential that I haven't delivered yet because I won't cold call. And I know in that business you have to cold call.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: It's tough. It's very tough. You know, the fact that, you know, I worked at Town Square for a number of years and PBS before that, making cold calls are tough. And especially in a post Covid world, everything's changed. And one thing that hasn't changed is connections. How you know people who you know and how you know them. So the fact when you're able to bring in your friends and you know, make business relations that way, that's huge.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Listen, I networked back before it was called networking when I was in because I'm a really picky eater. While I've never told this story on air before, when I was in third grade with Mrs. Calise at PS3 in the Bronx, I learned that if you're nice to the lunch ladies that they'll do extra things for you. So I was always nice to see you. How are you today? Thank you very much. And then they would say, well, why aren't you taking this? I'm like, I really don't eat vegetables. Well, why aren't you taking this? Well, you put celery in the egg salad. And I would always say, thank you so much. And I was like the most polite third grader those women ever saw. Well, here's the deal. The next time they had egg salad, they would give me a small Hellman's mayonnaise jar filled with egg salad. They made it home without celery and onions in it. And it started to do things like if they did. Like if they had Salisbury steak, it wouldn't be mushroom gravy. They would do plain brown gravy for me. So I found out early, if you network and you learn people's names and you look them in the eye and you don't shuck and jive, that good things happen. So I learned that same thing. I was always, yes, sir, yes, ma', am. No, ma'. Am. Thank you. A pleasure to meet you. Nice spending time with you. Good to see you. I've done that my whole life, accidentally at first, quite frankly, because it's almost Pavlovian. Be nice. Get egg salad without onions.
So I networked before it was even called that. And I've done that my entire life. And every class I teach, I teach them. If you get nothing else out of this class, nothing.
Learn to network now. Don't wait till you graduate. Learn now. There's professors that. You're like, Larry Force. We saw him in the hallway. He teaches at the Mount.
Those kids love him. Yeah, you know what? Because he's a normal guy. They love me because you get me in the classroom, you know, with my potty mouth that I'm not gonna have here, and I dress like this and I'm not uptight, and I don't. I don't beat him to death with assignments and grading. I'm kind of like the Paula Abdul of grading professors.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: But, Larry, that's an interesting analogy.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: Okay, well, yeah, dude, you know what? College is hard enough when you're taking an elective like, Like Intro to Sports Management or Intro to Sports Media or. Or even Sports pr, which is graduate class. I had to be a little tougher on that one. But you're taking, like, chemistry and biology and all those really hard courses. You're going to learn, you're going to have fun, and I'm not going to beat you over the head with stupid tests. None of my. None of my classes have finals. They have projects, and they're projects that are fun. And I teach them this.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: I teach them how important it is to be a one man news service to Use your iPhone to have a message and to have a hook and get out into the world and make sure that you're on all the platforms. I mean I'm so lucky. Like I got 5,000 followers on Facebook. I literally have a thousand other people in the queue that want to be my friend. But Facebook won't let me do that. You're only allowed 5,000? Yeah.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: And then everybody else just has to follow.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Yes. And then LinkedIn. It's the same way TikTok. You know, I know it's really weird to see an old guy my age, but Dude, I love TikTok. I post on TikTok.
I will make at least a half hour day every day to watch TikTok. Not because I watch the 20 year old girls giggle, you know, shiggling all over the screen. I get the sports people, the sports people who are like really whack jobs and wear the tin tin hats. And then I get like the make money people and, and, and, or the Disney people because I'm a Disney adult. So I, I, I circle in on the things I like. I probably didn't even answer your question. I've gone so far off track. I don't remember what it was.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: But you did a good job.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: But the hope has been in, in my career and my post career is that I like to help. I've raised probably $4 million in my life for various charities in here because I used to do roof a thons on PDH for years. Yeah, they were cool. You know, and, and my, my, actually my, I think it was my last roof a thon was when they moved it to foam and wash on Route 9. Oh really? And Carlson and Mackenzie were the morning show and those guys quit the Thursday of Roofathon. Remember you start Friday. They quit on Thursday because they went to Boston for half a million dollars each a year. You know how, how do you turn that? How do you turn that down?
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Especially in radio.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like we're breaking the contract. Come get us if you want to, but that station has way more, more money than you guys do. And Chuck Benfer who was there then comes to me, he goes, what are you doing this weekend? I said, I'm going to the shore with the family. Goes, nope, you're not. I went, what do you mean nope? I'm not. He goes, you're going to anchor the Ruathon. I said, I'm going to do what? He goes, yeah, you're going to anchor the roof a thon. You're going to be at the mic and we're going to put people around you and there'll be times you're there on your own. You've done enough. I. I think I had done probably 20 up until that point. Oh.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: So really not that much.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Yeah, but being in charge is a whole, you know, being the ringleader. Yeah. So I did it at that. They raised the most amount of money they ever had up until that point. And I'm lucky. I've gotten to raise money, help people, teach kids in sports and academically and make a lot of people laugh and happy at the Renegades.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: That's beautiful. That's a really beautiful way of going about life. Putting your passions together, putting your life together. That's a gorgeous way of going about it. Quick side note about the roof. A thon were were you still affiliated when they had Southside Johnny come in at Dutch A stadium?
[00:21:34] Speaker B: That was a disaster, by the way.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Oh, I. It was a disaster as a 10 year old kid. To me it was fantastic.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Well, do you remember how many people were there?
[00:21:44] Speaker A: I don't remember, but I remember getting lost in the mosh pit and my parents freaking out.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: Well, the mosh pit only had about eight people in it because there was less than 125 people there.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Was it really less than.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: It was an absolute disaster. A disaster. And they meant well and they were trying to hope. In fact, it was so desperate. I'm going to break another story for you. They were so desperate in those days that they started to create a rumor because I guess Springsteen was in Albany or something that because he's friends with those guys that he may come down and make an appearance.
Of course he didn't. Yeah, but it was. I think it was the worst show in the history of Dutchess Stadium.
There was nobody there.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: I had fun.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Listen, and here's the truth. A band that had a hard time selling out the chance can't possibly put a. It was such a small crowd. Let's see how you remember it. They put it in the left field picnic area and the band was elevated. And you guys were essentially. The mosh pit was the bullpen. Yes, you were in the bullpen.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: I thought that was neat, actually.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: Well, that is cool. But there's only about 125 of you.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Yeah, but again, I was like. I was a kid. I was enjoying.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: And that's why you thought it was a big crowd. There was a mosh pit. No, son, there was less than 10 people in the mosh pit.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: Mosh pit. But I know I freaked out My parents, because I ran off and they had no idea where I was.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: You're pretty safe in that building.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: I was, yeah. No, I knew I was safe.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: And that was one of the selling points in the beginning. It's reasonably priced, safe family entertainment. Very few minor league teams go after family. They do now. Yeah, we were kind of a trendsetter. In fact, our players throughout the years used to complain to us, yo, dude, man, there's no single women our age. Every ballpark we go to, it's nothing but single woman. All you got is 40 year old women and their children. I'm like, well, dude, that's what we are. We, we, we are all about families. Yeah. Plus we market it to women. People go, would you advertise on the S network, on, on the Fan, espn? No, we are on yes. Network. I'm sorry, Oxygen and all of the other women's networks. Because here's the truth. As someone who was married once. If I come home on a Friday and say to my wife, hey, you know what? The Renegade's got fireworks tonight. Let's go. It's going to be a no. 99 of the time. However, if she hears that commercial or sees that commercial and it's Renegades, it's two for one. Pricing a firework. She's going, you know what? Tonight, let's pack up the kids. We're going to Renegades game. Hello. And that's why we, we market it to women. That's smart. Not men.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: No, that's really smart. It's like when you think about it, like they're all the matrix. They're the one that's running the kids. They're the ones that know the schedules. Yep, without a doubt.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: No, that smart marketing right there. I got a couple of follow up questions based off what you were saying there. But let's talk about the entertainment side of it all and how you, how you said you marketed to women, you marketed to the families, you had all the stuff in between all of the innings.
Take a look at something like Savannah Bananas Today is like who have made a whole brand on banana ball and finding ways to make baseball more engaging, more fun between innings, between pitches and all that, seeing something like that and what they're doing. What do you think of that and how much of it reminds you of what you were doing over at the Dutch.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Well, there's a couple things. First, most people my age hate them. Really? Oh yeah. Because they're all the baseball purists. It's the idiots who say loves them by the way I'm saying most. Yeah. And. And they're the idiots who say, you know, baseball was so much better when I was young. No, it wasn't, you moron. Here's the God's honest truth. Athletes today are bigger, stronger, quicker, faster and better. No two ways about it. Let's go back in 1969 because I. My first baseball game was 1962. The Orioles against the Yankees. Yankees won two to one at this. the Big Bow Yard in the Bronx. The original.
Each team had one guy who threw high 80s to low 90s. There was, of course, the freaks of nature who threw Harder than 90, but not much harder than 90.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: Bullpen guys were starters with bad wings. That's why they were the bullpen guys. Yeah. So you had guys literally coming out of the bullpen throwing 80 miles an hour.
Fast forward to the 70s. The 70s, you had guys who may have sniffed 94. And every team had one of them and had a couple of guys who threw 90. And the rest were the same thing.
Today you have guys throwing 103 with a 92 mile an hour change up.
The change up. That's harder than the old guy's fastball.
Another example, Jerry Kramer, who played for the Green Bay packers, was considered the greatest lineman of all time back in the day. Hall of famer, he's 6 foot 2, 250 pounds. He couldn't make an NFL roster. Today, athletes are bigger, better, stronger, faster, quicker. So if you're over 60 and you think otherwise, you didn't open your eyes back in the day. These kids are better. So there's no two ways about it. Again, I forgot your question.
[00:26:11] Speaker A: Talking about a banana ball.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: Okay. Banana.
I love banana ball. To me, they're doing stuff that I did in 1994.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: And what it's doing is, if you paid attention, the last five to 10 years, Little League attendance has gone down year after year after year. It used to be like a town like Fishkill would have eight to 10 teams and the kids would have to try out. Yeah, same thing in Poughkeepsie. There'd be 20 teams. Now Fishkill has a couple. This guy has a couple to the point where when I moved out of the Bronx, we lived in Coltsburg, which is called Phillipstown. The Phillipstown teams now play in the Fishkill Little League because they don't have enough. There were 10 teams in Phillips Town when I played Little League in Phillips Town. But here's the deal. Little kids are excited about banana ball. Little kids are starting to play Baseball again. Now they're doing some of the antics on the field, and I don't care about the antics as long as you get the runner out, as long as you make the play. But little kids aren't gonna be able to do that on a regular basis. Not yet. The kids in banana ball are so good. I mean, they're all, at least Division 1 athletes. They're not, like, guys off the street who can just sing or dance. They're ball players who have that. I firmly believe if they did that back in 1985, I would be a banana. I played well enough. I could sing, I could dance. I'm comfortable on the microphone. I would have been a banana. And I salute them because they're bringing energy back to listen. Dude, they're there this weekend. They're selling out Yankee Stadium for two games. Yeah.
No, three games. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
They sold 110,000 tickets where Nebraska plays football and made this weird shaped field to fit it in their football field. Banana ball is real. They now have six teams. They have a league. They're going to have a banana ball. World Series. And here's the. Here's where I was starting the point. They have banana ball, little leagues now, where those things are encouraged and taught. And I don't care what it takes to get a little kid on the field to play baseball, get him on the field to play baseball, and banana ball is it. And it makes my heart sing that they do the stupid stuff that I used to do in 1994.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: That's pretty impressive. That's pretty impressive. And what a legacy. Whether intentional or unintentional, you know, how it all just trickles forward. And that must be really heartwarming to see the way that it's moving these days.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: I sat there last year, it was a Saturday afternoon, beautiful Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. I was with my fiance, Allison, and she goes, you. You did this stuff a million years ago. Yep. And it's really cool that someone has figured a way to take it all and blow it up, because I know that Jesse Cole, who owns them, when he started the idea, he bought a minor league team that was an affiliated team in a league, and he literally sold his house to pay the bills and slept in, like, an equipment room or something with him and his wife, and they couldn't sell any tickets. It was. It was. The joke is. Is Bill Beck, who is in the Baseball hall of Fame, who owned the White Sox and somebody else back in the day, if someone called the ticket office and said, what time is tonight's game. He would say, well, what's convenient for you?
It was like that with Jesse Cole in the beginning. They had to find a way. And then they started to get some attention and fans started coming out. Then they came out with everything included for $25. That's what it was. 25 bucks for your tickets and you got all the food and. And sodas and whatever you could drink. Beer different. Yeah, but it. So it. He struggled in the beginning and he built something, and now he is a mega, mega millionaire and he's giving back. He gives back to the fans.
And the Yankee Stadium couldn't hold him, quite frankly. I wanted to get some banana ball merch the lines, and they had 30 merch stands available all over the ballpark. Not in the traditional Yankees, because all the Yankee stuff is in there. Yeah, but they couldn't keep up. The lines were 45 minutes long. So I went without banana ball gear.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: Oh, what a shame.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: I'm going to be okay.
[00:29:40] Speaker A: I think you'll make it. But what an incredible way to be able to, like, witness the evolution of baseball.
That's incredible.
On one of my other programs, Welsh Wednesday, we had Savannah Banana pitcher Connor Harrison. And he's going to be making his Yankee Stadium debut there, like, after this weekend of rowing up, going to Yankee Stadium and seeing all of it. And we were talking about how emotional it's going to be when he goes onto that mound this weekend to do all of that.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: He may throw the first pitch over the backstop because he's going to be so nervous and so geared up. I mean, understand something. I grew up in the Bronx and I love the Yankees until 1963. And then I discovered this ball club.
And it's a long story that I won't tell you because there's been too many long stories already.
But it is a funny one with me and my mom and my uncle and my grandfather. But I understand the power of that building. Whether it's the first building they played in, the second building that played in Shea Stadium for a year, and now the new building.
There's something that rings different about Yankee Stadium. No matter what team you root for, you see visiting teams going to that building all the time, and they're like, yeah, looking around. I mean, the Yankees beat the Padres in that one World Series because the Padres really felt and heard the ghosts of Yankees past. I mean, they got blown out because they were intimidated being in that building.
So if you get a chance to walk on that field, which I've done now, Half a dozen times.
It's something different. And even as a Dodger fan, I understand the power of the interlocking NY for the team in the Bronx, not the team in Queens, because they have an interlocking NY in their hat as well. But there's something special, and if you get an opportunity to play there, oh, my God. How cool is that?
[00:31:15] Speaker A: So cool.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: Just doing PA in that building.
I was, I was all choked up to talk on Bob Shepard's microphone because when I was doing PA for Army football, another one of the tentacles of the Renegades, I did that for seven years and I got to do two games at Yankee Stadium. And I got to go on the microphone at Yankee Stadium and say, good afternoon, everybody, welcome to Yankee Stadium. I'm Rick Zolzer. And then I actually did this. I went, turn the mic on and then turned it back on today's opponent for army football. So I actually screamed, turned the mic off and screamed and then introduced the two teams. So if people were listening, go, what happened? Where'd he go?
I had to gather myself.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: But that's so cool, though. It just goes to show you, like, first of all, that's real life. That's something you're able to manifest and make happen. And, oh, the way you're saying it, the different tentacles that branched off of
[00:32:00] Speaker B: it, off of just from being a wise guy and giving Woody Close his home phone number on the phone. And I, I really, I think that's the tipping point for me, that, that. And I'll tell you what, I got ended up getting fired because of the way I handled that at PDH at the time. I mean, they brought me back, but I was gone for about a year and a half. I was welcome in the building by Mike Harris, the guy who ran the place, and they ended up bringing me back. But I really, I went after the opponents hard.
And because I firmly believed that minor league baseball, without knowing I was going to work for him, that minor league baseball would make a difference. And I can also tell you that they probably in there from. From year one. So from 94 till when I left, I would say, conservatively, they gave away about $550,000 in actual cash to local children's and family initiatives. And, and you could take that and times and times, six or seven for the in kind gifts, for always making sure people had tickets that did this, that or the other thing, or making a kid a bat boy. Because there was an auction. We always made sure we never said no to anybody. We may not give you the bat boy to auction off all the time. So we made sure they were special for the big charities that were raising, that were aligned with what we wanted. Children, family initiatives. But it. The tentacles were ridiculous. Yeah. And they. I still feel them today because people will call and text me and say, hey, we're at the game. We miss you. I wish you still did that. I'm like, I miss you, but, no, I'm good.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: This was your. This was your time. And as you said, you can enjoy this new chapter.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: Yep. Let Jonesy, who does a good job, let him do his thing. Turn it over to the youngsters. He's a guy who's a college football player. He's. He's got a booming voice. He's got a lot of energy.
It's just like regular baseball, regular football, basketball. Turn it over to the youngsters. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:33:38] Speaker A: No, I think your legacy is in good hands. I've been there for several of his games, and he sounds great over there, so definitely a lot of fun. So you were mentioning before how much you've been teaching and how much you've been educating everybody. And one of the things that I've been lucky enough to do in my own right is to consult, to go to schools, to.
Not to stereotypically teach, but have workshops or speak on panels or. I was a camp counselor, and we would do programs there. And one of the things that I always found about, quote, unquote, teaching and educating is it felt like a performance. It felt like entertaining. So when it came to you doing your teaching, I want to hear about your philosophy. Did entertainment feel like teaching? Did teaching feel like entertainment? Or was there ever a difference?
[00:34:22] Speaker B: No and yes.
Yes and no.
It's.
I. I firmly believe this, and I say it all the time. If you can coach, you can teach. Coaching football is no different than teaching Intro to media, Sports Media 101. The difference is sweat, spit, and blood.
Hopefully there's none of that in the classroom.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: Sweat, maybe. Definitely. Hopefully not the blood and spit. Yeah, that's principal, so.
[00:34:46] Speaker B: Oh, no, it's not spitting. Spitting. It's just drooling. No. Guys are messy and they.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: So it's. It's. It's an opportunity to teach someone how to be better at what they've chosen to do and. And to learn.
And it's really cool because I follow a bunch of guys on TikTok, like Rob Tansey. He's huge on Tick Tock, and he was in my class where I taught them how to do that. And this guy's got a couple hundred thousand followers, and he's now talking about mindset and spirituality while being an athlete. And he played basketball at the Mount, which is where I met him, because I did basketball PA at the Mount for about 14 years.
And teaching. You stand up in front of the classroom, first of all. You can't let him see you sweat. That is 100% true. I remember when I got the Marist job, my first year of teaching anything.
Somebody called me from the school, and this was a Friday at 2 in the afternoon and said, Mr. Zoldier, this is Mrs. Jones from Marist College. We've had you on our radar for several years. We feel that if anyone could fake teaching a college course, it's you. And I went, thank you. I think.
And I said, why do you ask? And she said, well, we have a class in. In. That's in the comm department, sports media. We think you could teach it. And the teacher who was going to teach it just got a job at Penn State. Oh. I went, can you blame them? Silence. She did not like that. Oh. And she goes, well, we're interested in talking about this further. I said, oh, great, let's talk. She goes, I'm going to send you the syllabus so you can see what the course is about. Hold on.
Sorry. So I said, I'll look at it. So I. I look at the syllabus and I go, oh, boy.
I call her back and I say, here's the deal. I know 80 of it and could teach 80 of it. 10 I heard of, but I couldn't teach. And 10 I've never heard of have no shot at teaching. She goes, you'll be fine. The class is at 10. See you Monday. Hangs up. She doesn't even, like. I don't even get a chance to say yes. Oh, wow.
So I talked by fire. I talked to some people and I say, these kids, they're gonna sniff me out if I BS them. There's no way I'm gonna BS these kids. I'm gonna go and tell them, I'm not a teacher, I'm not a professor. I don't have a master's. I don't have a doctorate. I have two associates and a bachelor's.
And. And they're telling me, no, no, man, you gotta lie. You gotta lie. You gotta say that you have the education. Like, nah, I can't do that. So I stood up in front of the classroom and I said, hey, my name is Rick Zolzer.
I coach Ripple here for three years. I Love Marist College. You know, I told him to coach football, basketball, baseball, lords, all that other stuff. And you're stuck with me because your teacher went to Penn State.
Sorry, I should have took your water when you said that the first time.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: I can still get you one.
[00:37:29] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I may need it because I feel like I'm going through puberty.
So they're looking at me, and I'm telling them the truth. I said, but here's the deal.
Two years, three years, four years from now, you're going to sit across a desk from me and you're going to ask for a job. Because I work in sports and I groom people all the time and I hire people all the time. And if I don't hire them, I know 35 people that can hire them. So having my world experience is way more than some guy who has a master's or doctorate because they're reading out a book. I do it every single day. Yeah. So the kid who's in the first row raised his hand. He goes, hi, Mr. Zolzer. And I went, you can call me Zolz. He goes, okay, Professor Zols.
All right. He goes, you may not remember me. I'm Craig Wallace's son, and I've watched you play in a men's hardball league for years. So I know you could play the sports you're going to talk about.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: And so immediately, I'm getting a little bit of. And then one guy goes, well, my dad's the coach here, and he knows that you coach football here and that you were a scout team quarterback. And I went, who?
And then it. One after another, the dominoes fell, and I told the truth. I then had the kids like this. Yeah, I had credibility. I was a wise guy. But I also played sports, all three of them. And I had them, and I taught him. And many of them I still. I'm still in touch with. And they are ridiculously successful because that was probably 15 years ago, if not more.
[00:38:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: And that led to Lords, because my kids were going there, and then that led to the Mount, because I was PA now. So the reason I said yes and I'm out to a BA the year after I left the Nets was I knew the athletic director. And he goes, do Pa. Do me a favor. We need to get younger. We need to have more fun.
We'll get you a job teaching here. Well, it took 10 of the 15 years, but I finally got that job. And, you know, by then, I love the kids. Each. I always say I'm Going to leave. And then the next freshman class comes in. I get friendly with the kids. Now they're in my class. Yeah. Because they're all like, you know, we want to take Zolz's class and my class sells out.
So it's teaching and, and playing and coaching. They're all related. Because if you're a good player, you're coaching the people around you. If you're a veteran, you're teaching. If you're a varsity guy, you're teaching the sophomore and you're teaching the freshman who gets an opportunity, that this is what you got to do. Here are the ropes. We're all pulling the same direction. One thing that I, that I've learned about sports is I don't have to like you to win with you. And Enterprise Rent a Car built their entire business model on hiring ex athletes because they know how to set goals, they know how to win, and they know how to win with each other, even if they don't like each other. If you played sports, you know, there's no way you liked everybody on every team you played on. No. But you know how to win. Yep. And, and, and that all carries over into the classroom. You set goals based on the syllabus. Every day you show up and you achieve. No different than every day. Showing up for practice and practicing the plays to get to the game, to run the plays you just practiced or taking batting practice and ground balls, pitching in the bullpen, working on your curveball, your splitter, your four seam, your two seam. All of that is the same exact thing. I was just lucky enough to do all of it. Yeah. And I loved it.
[00:40:26] Speaker A: And how many people can say that they did truly do all of it? Not everybody. A lot of people feel like there's some kind of fear that's holding them back. Whether it's one way or another, somebody in their life said they, they couldn't or just fear or whatever, you were able to take it by the reins and you truly did it. You are somebody who lived by a mantra that I've lived most of my life. I'd rather, I'd rather. Sorry.
I'd rather regret doing something than regret doing nothing at all.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: And I, I had something like that. I would teach all my kids. Besides networking, I would say, you know, how important is networking? Don't have a what if. Yeah. Don't have a what if in your life. Fail. It's okay to fail, especially at this age. You don't have kids, you don't have a husband or wife. You don't have a car payment. Well, theoretically.
So take the chances you can take now. Learn as much as you can learn now. Branch yourself out by networking, meeting and seeing people from all walks of life. And that'll serve you later. And then do this for me when you become me. Reach down and pull up.
And it's the same way in sports. Reach down and pull up. So the next generation takes your place and they do a good job and hopefully they'll leave it in better shape than what you left it in.
[00:41:36] Speaker A: I think you pretty much just said it right there, but I think the best follow up and we're probably running out of time.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: He's been on for an hour and a half.
[00:41:43] Speaker A: I think three hours now. I have no idea. No, we're good. But that being said, what is the legacy?
[00:41:49] Speaker B: If.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: If you had to choose, like one thing, what would be the legacy that you would hope to leave behind throughout your career, throughout your teaching, throughout everything that you've done in sports and media? What would you hope your legacy would be?
[00:42:02] Speaker B: Crazy work ethic. Because used to tease me on pdh, I had five jobs and they would say, he's got more jobs than a Jamaican. And they said it on the air many times. Any new jobs this weekend? Souls Work hard.
Network don't have a what if.
And this is the most important one. And I've told my kids this. I live by this. I told my CL kids in my class this, the kids I coached. Worry about the stuff you can control.
If you can't control it, it's going to drive you nuts. It's going to give you a heart attack, it's going to give you ulcers. If you can control it, then worry about it. If it's out of your hands, just leave it alone. If there's an opportunity to control what you can't control, eventually, then you worry about it. But leave the stuff you can't control on the sideline. It will kill you. Because the stuff you can't control is being manipulated and done by someone else. And chances are they're doing it differently than you would. Let them sink themselves, then go in, pick up the pieces and make it better.
That is it.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Zol's beautiful, beautiful stuff. Seriously, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did because I'm over here beaming. Souls, thank you so much here on this episode of Starlight, Spotlight. And your best you. We could have had you on for champions. That's going to be our athletics one. That's later. Bring me back too. We'll bring you back. We'll talk more about your next time.
[00:43:18] Speaker B: I want water and pizza.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: Water and pizza.
[00:43:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: We can do pizza.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: I know.
[00:43:22] Speaker A: We gotta. We gotta hook up with Giacomos. Noel's daughter. She always bringing pizza over.
[00:43:25] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: Phenomenal. Guys. Thank you so much for checking out this episode. We're going to be having more Starlight spotlights under the youe best you umbrella. We're going to have a lot of fun stuff. Please make sure that you check those out and check out everything that souls is doing. We're going to link everything in the description as well. Make sure that you keep listening. And just as he said, you know, don't live with a what if. Just live your best life. Regardless of whatever that might be.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: Be your best.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: You have a good one.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Sa.
