Fish & the Flint Chronicles

Geena Gall Levoe is an elite American middle-distance runner and Olympian whose remarkable career solidified her status as one of the greatest track and field athletes in Michigan history. Born in Flint and raised in Grand Blanc, Michigan, Levoe was naturally athletic from a young age. At Grand Blanc High School, she initially excelled as a standout point guard on the varsity basketball team befor...

The 1980 Soviet Union hockey team wasn’t just the best hockey team of all time; they were arguably the best athletic team ever assembled. They had just dismantled the NHL All Stars in the third game of a best of three series in a stunning 6-0 blowout victory. The unfair rules of Olympic competition at the time allowed Communist countries like the USSR to use professional players (pretending them t...

Another year conversing with the CANUSA fellas is always a reason to cheer!  In its 67th year, it's the last of its kind in the country, this international Olympic-style rivalry between two cities:  Flint, Michigan, USA and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.   ​Let the games begin! You can also visit this episode at Fish's website: https://www.flintchronicles.com/

The Flint Central Indian basketball team posted eye popping numbers between 1980 and 1983 with Coach Stan Gooch leading his squad to three straight Class A state titles, and a 100-9 record. Along with that were multiple all-star performances, including a parade of Division 1 talent. The 1983 team capped off that run with the 100th win coming against Detroit Southwestern in the state finals at Cris...

When Flintstone Javale McGee won his first of three NBA World Championships one of his first acts was to bring the trophy home to Flint, the city in which he spent the first 13 years or so of his life growing up. With “Flint” tattooed on his torso this native son has proven his mettle as the most accomplished basketball player to ever hail from The Vehicle City.   He finished  second place in the...

Without question one of the most interesting guests we have ever had in The Aquarium is Eddie Robinson. In a city with the athletic tradition of Flint, it’s hard to pinpoint who the best athletes were. There are just so many to pick from it often settles into people picking folks from their sport, generation, or neighborhood. Nothing particularly wrong with that except it usually negates a truly a...

The annual conclave with the CANUSA team is as always a riotous good time! The CANUSA games pit Americans from Flint against Canadiens from Hamilton, Ontario Canada against each other in an international friendly Olympic style athletic competition. It's the 66th year the two cities have met and the fellas are all here to break it down! You can also visit this episode at Fish's website: h...

Segment three of Fish's two hour show on Flint's music scene is an explosion of energy coming like a blow torch out of California in the persona of the legendary Peter C. Cavanaugh, Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame radio deejay. Cavanaugh's ebullient personality filled the airwaves of the Flint area for two decades.  Like a ringmaster, he hosted wild and infamous concerts held at loca...

A product of Montrose, Michigan, Dan Severn was an absolute legend in the Flint area. Known as the “Baddest of The Bad Asses’ he stood as a man among boys in one of the toughest sports in the world. His amateur wrestling career started in high school and according to many was an "absolute machine" at 191.5 pounds. Dan won both sports' national championships in 1976 and was named the...

Tredale Kennedy has been on “Fish and The Flint Chronicles” several times, and each time it’s a different topic. But in fairness, he’s never been on board to participate in a story quite like this one. It’s close to home too, because it involves a close friend, fellow North Ender, and Flint Central Indian Michael Gatewood. In fact Gatewood and Fish go back almost as far, from their early days as 1...

Growing up in Flint, Kevin Conroy was offered the opportunity to experience diversity on a scale most kids in America never get to know. That was all an elemental part of his early years at Civic Park Elementary, and exploring the neighborhoods of the city. Not only did he get the chance to participate in sports at a high level, he met kids from backgrounds as wide as the city limits and beyond. T...

A real live Motown-to-Flint connection visits the studio! Flint's very own Norma Fairhurst, of the Velvelettes, dishes with Fish about Motown "in the day", Little Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, Berry Gordy, and more, and how the Velvelettes got their start, and kept Motown in business early on. Norma went to both Flint Central and Southwe...

It’s a truly epic day in the Aquarium!  Flint has produced so many incredible athletes in virtually every sport, and we’ve had a ton of them on “Fish and The Flint Chronicles” over the years. However, we rarely have more than one at a time, and only occasionally two. But today we have a truly special moment. We’ve brought four of the GOAT’s together for one show today. This is pure Flint sports hi...

Kim Crawford discusses his book "The 16th Michigan Infantry", and it's a classic. Kim was here previously to talk about Jacob Smith, the first white settler and generally acknowledged founder of Flint, Michigan. Now, he moves us forward about 50 years to the American Civil War, and the role the 16th played. The story includes soldiers from around the state, but it all starts with Fl...

Growing up on Indiana Avenue on Flint’s East Side, Pete Flanders couldn’t have known that he would one day be a key associate of the Godfather of Soul James Brown. But he was. He couldn’t possibly have known he would be on the vanguard of Rock and Roll, Pop, and R & B music. But he was. ​ He couldn’t have known that he would enter his name on to the Mt. Rushmore of Flint radio. But he most cer...

Taylor is a champion. Yet, he's no ordinary champion. Sure, he's a boxing national title holder, and he has his sights set on a WBC World Title, currently ranked 13th in the world. But his fight is a lot bigger than that. ​Taylor is a heroin addict. In fact, he's a already won the battle that few will ever win - he beat death. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times. Four ti...

He’s back! The ultimate “Fish and The Flint Chronicles” guest, Ernie Gilbert is back for another swim in the Aquarium. This time he’s right here on the bricks of Saginaw Street doing the show with his signature hat and grin. Ern is in town as the star attraction for a huge gig he’s doing at Churchills in Downtown Flint, so it’s a big Flint week for him. For those who don’t know our favorite guest,...

“I was a 29-year-old heroin addict who had taken barbiturates and quaaludes like daily vitamins since I was in my teens, and I had done cocaine, LSD, and MDA hundreds of times. I had been a prostitute and a member of an Arizona biker gang, a member of a Chicago street gang, and a drug dealer. I had ridden in limousines and stayed in the finest hotels. I was an accomplished thief and a con artist,...

This episode aired on April 12, 2023.  Sadly, Angelo Papadopoulos recently passed on November 30, 2024, but we were fortunate enough to have Angelo into The Aquarium for an interview and conversation about his life and times as the owner of the world famous Angelos Coney Island last year. We have lost a giant.  Family was everything for Angelo Papadopoulos. Starting with his wife, his kids, and gr...

Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Vladamir Klitchko, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, and  Tyson Fury. Legendary names in sporting history. They come from different eras, races, creeds, religions, and nationalities. What they have in common is one thing- they were all boxings Heavyweight Champion of the World. The baddest man on the planet, and the most...

Growing up on the Eastside of Flint, David Blight never knew he would some day receive the literary world's highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize.  Now that he has, it all seems to make sense.  David learned how to tell a great story, understand different perspectives, and above all, keep it very real, while learning the ropes of life in Flint. He attended Potter Elementary, Lowell Junior High Sc...

Jim Abbott  Olympic Gold Medalist Pan American Games Gold Medalist Sullivan Award Winner Golden Spikes Award Winner 3rd place in the Cy Young Voting Former Major League Baseball Player No Hit pitcher for the New York Yankees Jimmy Abbott is back for a return visit with Fish and The Flint Chronicles. He was the very first guest on the show back in 2018, and it’s perfectly fitting to have him back a...