Authentic: Conversations with Stock & Hicksy

There's a reason that Stock and Hicksy are excited about the limited-edition jacket that our guest is wearing but we are getting ahead of ourselves. Beau Higgins, retired colonel, U.S. Marines, served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading 500 men in reconnaissance and intelligence in combat. The New Orleans native and UVA grad had twenty-five years of distinguished service. He l...

(Hicksy is looking better even though he's getting a lot of grief about his pickleball-related knee injury.) Gib Staunton, an old friend of Hicksy's, has had a stellar career and a long list of causes that she has supported. She met the love of her life, Platt Staunton, a widower, in Boston, MA. They moved to Charlottesville in 1994 where she became the admissions director at St. Anne'...

"You had to want to be at the U.S. Naval Academy or you wouldn't survive," said our guest, Rear Admiral Paul F. Sullivan. "But I wanted to be a naval officer," and so began a highly decorated thirty-five years as a career submariner. He completed graduate studies in Ocean Engineering at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His first assignment was Basic Submari...

Stock is quite ecstatic. He finally has guests on the podcast from Atlanta! And what incredible work they are doing, too. Michelle Rooks and Susan Watson, founded Daughters Against Alzheimer's, in 2017 after seeing their mothers suffer from it. So, they decided to do something about it. Their annual event, "Battle for the Brain" has raised more than 5.5 million dollars. Proceeds go t...

Our guest's journey to the highest echelon of presidential politics all began with a 7th-grade extra credit assignment for the Ford Presidential Campaign in 1976. Professor Mary Kate Cary tells how her love for politics led to working for Congressman Hamilton Fish (NY) and to ABC News's "This Week with David Brinkley." The George H. W. Bush Presidential Campaign brought her on to...

Stock and Hicksy are back in the podcast studio as Hicksy rests his fully braced leg. It couldn't have happened at a better time as they welcomed guests, Tad and Kelly Coffin. Tad is a multiple Olympic medal winner and saddle designer, and Kelly is an aviator and painter. Tad won his first Gold Medal at the 1976 Olympics as an equestrian. Following the event, he was approached by a saddle comp...

We are happy to be back after our podcast was delayed due to Hicksy rupturing his knee during a pickleball game. We are happy to say he is recovering well. Our guests, Jack Totty and Turner Brennan, are the owners of Antigua Threads, which also happens to be our sponsor. Jack and Turner, who live in Austin, Texas, were inspired to start Antigua Threads after getting cheap airfare to Antigua, Guate...

"The more I open up to people, the more they open up to me," and thus begins an authentic conversation with Mike Matarazzo, a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y, and then completed a three-year culinary apprenticeship at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W. VA. Chef Mike learned the hard way about pushing his limits when he found himself passed...

Stock and Hicksy celebrate their 20th podcast (actually 21st but we just got the notification from our podcast channels!) The podcast metrics make them both quite proud. With listeners in eleven countries and a rating of 5.0, these podcast rookies feel like the show is building an audience and they could not be more grateful. They have learned that there is one common thread for each of their gues...

In this 20th episode, Stock and Hicksy go very deep with their guest, David Fife. David has experienced a lot of traumas in his life. His mother died of cancer when he was ten years old. His dad traveled a lot. But none affected him as much as his son, Stewart's death in an ATV accident. It sent him on a journey that has led him to become an advocate of psychedelic drug treatments. Though he h...

Ever since she was little, Debbie Easter loved to participate in sports. She was so good at lacrosse that she's listed in the "50 Greatest Lacrosse Players" in Virginia college sports history. UVA's Women's Basketball Coach, Debbie Ryan, was so impressed with her skills (and 6'2" height) that she recruited her to play for the program. But her real passion was for hor...

If you were to ask Clarke Murphy, renowned leadership expert, popular author, and podcaster, "What makes a great leader?" (which Stock and Hicksy did), he would say "Sustainable Leadership. These are leaders who solve complex social and economic challenges." They have a strong "LQ" and create a "followership". Leadership isn't his only passion, though. C...

Sunny has been an artist almost her entire life. This creative outlet helped her through many difficult experiences. Her path to being a commercial artist began at a paint store in Richmond, VA. developing a line of paints for Benjamin Moore. She learned how color affects the brain and became an expert in color construction. However, it wasn't until her luggage was stolen with her favorite sca...

"I never believed that I would fail in whatever I do. When I put my mind to it, I want to accomplish it," said Grenada native and Charlottesville resident, Gimond Sylvester. He spent his childhood building homes in the family construction company in Grenada. Though he liked it, he wanted new opportunities. So, he got a job on a cruise ship and worked his way up to bartender. He loved his...

"I'm driven by shiny objects." And so begins the curious career and adventurous life of Scott Johnston. Scott opened two nightclubs and a restaurant in New York City in the 1980s. He loved the nightclubs which were a classy alternative to the Club 54 disco-type places that he hated with a passion. Then he worked on Wall Street with Salomon Brothers. After that, he started a hedge fun...

"We spend a lot of time on things we cannot control," Professor Moore says to her students at the end of each semester in her presentation known as "The Last Lecture" at the  ⁠UVA McIntire School of Commerce⁠ . She understands that statement well. Her first husband died suddenly only eight months after they married. Her mother died four years later from blood cancer. "I wa...

Don't mistake Tom Brannock for a boxer, though he looks the part. Yes, he trains five days a week at Madabolic . Yes, he spends hours in a gym preparing for The Beltway Brawl from the Haymakers for Hope charity this September in Washington, D.C. But don't call him a boxer. He's doing this for a good cause not for money or fame. In fact, Tom is doing all of this training and traveling t...

It's hard to teach but it's great to play! John McAllister, of the podcast "The Setting Trick" , gave up his career to play bridge. John didn't do it just for himself, he wanted to see young people play the game, too. In 2012, he took a film crew to China for an international bridge championship. The documentary, available on PBS.org , follows the USA 1 Under 21 team in the p...

She has been called "the perfect embodiment" of UVA's athletic program. And while she appreciates the accolades, Anna Williamson, the former trainer for the University of Virginia Basketball Program under NCAA Champion coach, Tony Bennet, says it's really all about servanthood. While she is paralyzed below both knees from spina bifida, it has not stopped her from accomplishing he...

For Texas native, Dr. Byron Hulsey, becoming the Headmaster of Woodberry Forest School (Madison County, VA) was a natural progression for him. He wanted to teach young men how to work hard, build character and take care of each other just like his father taught him. His father greatly influenced his life by teaching him to be a "servant leader" and to just be there for someone who is hur...

You say the name "Barry Parkhill" around the University of Virginia Basketball community and immediately you will hear him referred to as a "Legend." Barry still holds the single-season scoring record for most points in a game with 51 (vs. Baldwin-Wallace College, 12/11/1971). The Philadelphia, PA native was selected by the Portland Trailblazers in the 1st round (15th overall)...

Breathing is the key. We all do it to live, however, did you know that if you breathe into your heart, you could greatly reduce stressful situations and improve your health? Dr. Nora Brookfield, a somatic coach, and therapist, tells and shows Stock and Hicksy how just by changing their way of breathing they can reduce anxiety instead of trying to push it down. Stock, who admittedly talks too much,...

Vinnie Tortorich has truly done it all, but it took a while to get there, and it didn't come easy. The Baton Rouge, LA native, who was legally deaf as a child and has had a speech impediment all his life (he hides it) began working out at eight years old. Childhood obesity became his focus at 15 so after college, he moved to Hollywood to do television. He soon became a celebrity trainer. From...

Paul Walker didn't plan to be a minister. In fact, he grew up wanting to be like "Atticus Fitch", the fictional lawyer from the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird . That career path, however, changed traumatically one night. While driving recklessly, Paul crashed his car with his best friend, Drew, and three other people in it. Drew was permanently maimed. Paul figured that his dearest fri...

Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America and the bug bit our guest, J.P. Christen, hard. The San Francisco Bay Area native and Wharton School (PA) graduate came to Charlottesville, Virginia in 2008 to work for General Electric after several career jumps to New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Hong Kong. He met his wife and soon made Central Virginia his permanent home. But it was during...