Stories from the Center of the Universe

Buck Sessoms and Paul graduated from St. Christopher’s together and share a common bond in that they both served in the United States Military. In Part 1 of this podcast, Buck tells Paul how he got his name and they talked about his fondest memories of St. Christopher’s. They talked about him attending VMI, the brutal first year as a “rat” and how he lacked motivation and was on some form of proba...

Dr. David Jones and Paul haven’t talked in quite some time, but they went to St. Christopher’s together and graduated in 1987. David, who Paul said is one of the nicest guys he has known, grew up on the north side of Richmond and later in the Midlothian area. David, who is one of six siblings, played tennis at St. Christopher’s and was a captain his senior year. David knew early on that he wanted...

Paul and Silent Rob discuss episodes 101-150. 

Cherud Wilkerson comes to the podcast courtesy of knowing occasional co-host Kevin. Cherud is from Long Island and he grew up going to different schools. He played football and wrestled in high school and even played against a famous Bengal QB. Football was his main sport and it got him looks from various colleges and he ended up playing at Va State. Cherud was in US Navy for eleven years. He star...

Rob Stiles, possibly the first guest with three first names, joins Paul and Silent (?) Rob on the podcast. Paul and the two Rob’s all grew up in Ashland and have known each other since they were kids. Rob lived a couple places in town, but spent most of his time on Caroline St. near the Randolph-Macon campus which became his “playground” growing up. Paul and Rob first talked about his dad. Rob des...

Edouard “Edy” Asmar works with Paul and this episode took two tries due to a bad storm which cut out communications the first time they tried to chat. Edy was born in Washington, DC and says he is “a DC guy through and through”. He has a great deal of exposure to different cultures mostly due to travel opportunities because of his mom’s work. He lived in Ecuador for the first 3-4 years of his life...

Magnus Nordenman joins the podcast courtesy of former guest, John Watts (Episode #50). Magnus is from Sweden and lived there until he was 18 when he came to the United States to go to The Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. He told Paul about previous visits to Virginia, but it was a different and very unique reason that led him to VMI. They talked about his experience at VMI and how it...

Dave Tribble knows Paul’s dad Larry (Ep. #9) and he joins Paul on the podcast. Dave is from the Richmond area and after his U.S. Army service was completed, he and his wife settled in Hanover, Virginia.  Dave talked about growing up, a long list of jobs he held as a young man and a car accident that changed his life. Dave is a United States Army Veteran and he and Paul talked extensively about his...

David Chappell knows Paul’s parents Brenda (Ep. #46) and Larry (Ep. #9) and he joins Paul for this episode. David moved around a bit due to his Dad’s job as a Methodist minister, but his family settled in Ashland and that is where he grew up. David told Paul that he was just an okay student and about a series of events that changed his attitude towards school … which in turn changed his life. Afte...

National Champion and National Player of the Year Buzz Anthony joins Paul on the podcast. Paul first told Buzz a story about when he attended the NCAA Elite 8 game this year and Buzz in turn told Paul what his given name is and why he is called Buzz. Buzz is from Annapolis, Md., his parents (Belinda and Don - they have other names as well) were both athletes and his two main sports growing up were...

Josh Merkel is the head coach of the Men’s RMC Basketball team who are the current Division III National Champions. We connected with Josh through Pedro Arruza (Episode 99) and he joins us to talk about his journey and RMC basketball. Josh is from Walkersville, MD, is the oldest of nine kids and he grew up on a farm. He spoke about his mom and dad and learning about having a passion for life from...

Ellen Zavian joins the podcast because she knows and works with Andrew Ting (Episode 40). Ellen is from Maywood, NJ and spent her summers at the Jersey Shore. Ellen went to the University of Maryland and then to American University where she earned her law degree. She was friends with several UMD football players and interned at the NFL Player’s Association while studying at American. She had inte...

Paul has Matt Williams on this episode due to a connection Matt has with Boomer Muth (Episode 77). Matt and Boomer are in a band together (Acoustic Underground) and Paul and Matt talked about music and Matt being a bass guitarist. Matt was born in Delaware and grew up in Wilmington and Cincinnati, Ohio. He played baseball growing up, was a baseball fan and he got to attend many Phillies and Reds g...

Chris Rutherford is a friend of occasional co-host Kevin and joins Paul and Kevin for this episode. Chris was born in Richmond, moved to Philadelphia with his mom when he was one and then came back to Richmond in 5th grade. Chris has fond memories of Philly because of sports, the snow, the community pool and mainly because of family. They discussed Chris’ favorite pro sports teams and there is one...

Paul takes the podcast mobile for Episode 150 and interviewed Bobby Malone at the Rivah. Bobby grew up in Chesterfield and rode motorbikes and played sports growing up. He said he wasn’t big on school, but it allowed him to play sports and he explained why football was his favorite. Bobby also told Paul about a crazy injury he suffered playing baseball. After high school, Bobby had a successful ca...

Andy Smith was Paul’s 8th grade English teacher and basketball coach. Andy grew up in the lower east side of Manhattan, but came south for his education at Johns Hopkins, UNC and VCU. He played soccer all four years at JHU and also played a less well known sport his first year. That move south eventually led him to settle in the Richmond area and start a forty-eight year career in education as a t...

Jock Jones joins the podcast through a friendship with Tim Sutton (Episode #130). Jock is from Hanover County and is a well known athlete in Hanover from his days playing at Mechanicsville High School. Jock told Paul about a very rough beginning to his life and how he got his unique first name and why. Jock talked to Paul about growing up playing sports, riding his bike quite a ways to school and...

Colin Thompson is a professional football player and plays Tight End for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. He comes to the podcast via Mike DiMaggio who is a friend of Colin’s and a relative of Paul’s. Paul and Colin discussed playing football in college where he played for Florida one year and then finished @ Temple. Colin said the best thing that came from his time at Florida was his then girlfriend,...

Bill Coffin and Paul served together in the Army National Guard. Bill is from Boston area and one of the first things they discussed was how big a fan Bill is of the Boston professional teams. They agreed that after some lean years, Bill and other Boston fans have had a great run the last twenty years! Bill and Paul talked about his Army journey which started when he enlisted right out of high sch...

Jeff Uerz comes to the podcast via Paul’s father-in-law Al Draper. Jeff is from upstate New York and grew up hunting, fishing and trapping. Jeff told Paul that this led him to having a particular type of transportation before he even had a car. He also told Paul about a particular skill that he and his high school classmates were required to have before they were allowed to graduate. Jeff knew pre...

Andre Buckner, a.k.a. Buck, is from and grew up in the historic Berkeley town area of Ashland, Virginia. Buck played all the sports growing up and he and Paul reminisced about playing Little League basketball together. They talked about their great coach who has been on the podcast as well (Episode 9). After high school, Buck enlisted and spent six years of active duty in the United States Navy. A...

Matt Pulisic grew up in Long Island, NY and had a great time growing up in a small neighborhood playing all the sports. Matt’s father immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia (now Croatia) and met his mom at a dance in NY City. Family was a very important part of Matt’s life growing up - large family gatherings and lots of good food, mostly from his Italian mother’s side! Matt’s best sport...

Matt Goff joins the podcast courtesy of Paul working with his sister. Matt is from northern Virginia and played all sports growing up and then mainly focused on football, wrestling and soccer in high school.  He faced another podcast guest several times during their high school careers (hint - episode #133.) Matt went to JMU where he played football and majored in Sports Management.  This led to i...

Robert Pratt was born in NY, but moved to Richmond at a very young age. Robert played all sports growing up and he particularly loved baseball as a kid.  He even had a future Supreme Court Justice as his little league baseball coach one year. He went to St. Christopher’s for high school where he excelled in football and went on to play college football at UNC. Paul and Robert reminisced about St....

Luqman Jabber is a former college basketball player, coach and National Champion. Luqman played at Virginia State, but transferred to Virginia Union where he played for Hall of Fame coach Dave Robbins and won a national championship his senior year.  He played professionally overseas, coached in the ABA and also returned to his alma mater to coach.  Luqman now runs his own player development busin...