Episode 28

full
Published on:

13th Jun 2023

Vince Evans | The Power of Faith - From USC Aspirations to NFL Triumphs

On this episode of The Last 10%, former NFL quarterback, Vince Evans, shares his inspiring story of resilience and determination. Vince takes us through the highs and lows of his career, from experiencing fame and endorsements, to being paralyzed in his lower extremities due to a staph infection. Vince talks about the rare and unique type of coach that helped him become the best he could be, and how his strong faith has guided him through different phases in his life. He also shares his experience with listeners about how he got involved in bringing NFL football back to Los Angeles in 1998. Tune in to this episode to hear Vince's story of grit and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Transcript
Dallas Burnett:

Hey everybody.

Dallas Burnett:

We're talking to Vince Evans today.

Dallas Burnett:

What an amazing guy.

Dallas Burnett:

He's a former NFL player, has some incredible stories.

Dallas Burnett:

You don't want to miss this conversation.

Dallas Burnett:

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

I am Dallas Burnett in Thrive Studios, sitting in my 1905 Koch Brothers

Dallas Burnett:

Barber chair, but more importantly, have a fantastic guest today.

Dallas Burnett:

Former U S C Football standout played with the N F L in for the Bears.

Dallas Burnett:

The Raiders real estate developer lives in california with four beautiful children.

Dallas Burnett:

Welcome to the show, Vince.

Vince Evans:

Man, I'm glad to be here Dallas.

Vince Evans:

Thank, thank you for having me.

Vince Evans:

How are

Dallas Burnett:

I am good.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm good.

Dallas Burnett:

Ed Norwood just was absolutely just emphatic.

Dallas Burnett:

We needed to get you on the show.

Dallas Burnett:

So when Ed Norwood says you need to have Vince on the show,

Dallas Burnett:

then we get Vince on the show.

Dallas Burnett:

So it's a pleasure to talk to you today.

Vince Evans:

It's a pleasure to be here with you.

Vince Evans:

ed had talked about his experiences on the show and, thought it was a good idea that

Vince Evans:

maybe I might be a part of it, and I'm looking forward to being with you today.

Vince Evans:

Dallas.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah, we're excited.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm excited to, for you to be able to share some of your wisdom with

Dallas Burnett:

all of our listeners and, everybody.

Dallas Burnett:

We have a lot of coaches, leaders, business leaders and coaches

Dallas Burnett:

that's listening to our program, all actually all over the world.

Dallas Burnett:

It's amazing how many people are tuning in to the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

So, what's it like growing up in the Evans home and going from.

Dallas Burnett:

Start to NFL

Dallas Burnett:

career.

Dallas Burnett:

give us a taste of

Dallas Burnett:

your story and upbringing.

Vince Evans:

wow.

Vince Evans:

it was, I'm 67 years old today, and as I look back on my life and I

Vince Evans:

think about, my upbringing with my parents, my, my dad was an industrial

Vince Evans:

arts teacher as well as a principal.

Vince Evans:

My mother was a, a teacher as well, home economics for 35 years.

Vince Evans:

actually both of 'em, were in education about that length of time.

Vince Evans:

And, we were a normal family just like everybody else.

Vince Evans:

we had responsibilities around the house.

Vince Evans:

we went to church on Sundays.

Vince Evans:

we were involved in sports, just hanging out with the kids in the community.

Vince Evans:

and as I think back, my parents were, they were probably my

Vince Evans:

biggest role models, Dallas.

Vince Evans:

and I say that because.

Vince Evans:

In the 35 years that you know that they worked in the educational field.

Vince Evans:

Man, I can count on one hand the number of days that they missed work.

Vince Evans:

Okay.

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Vince Evans:

they missed work.

Vince Evans:

and that's, and what's more amazing is that, not only

Vince Evans:

going to school, we had one car

Vince Evans:

and sometimes my mother would have to catch the bus to go to work

Vince Evans:

and to come home because my daddy had to use the car to go, to the

Vince Evans:

post office as well as, teaching.

Vince Evans:

And they were the people that I looked up to that we had

Vince Evans:

structure, we had discipline, we had, we, they gave us vision.

Vince Evans:

They gave us the ability to hope, to dream, to think about the possibilities

Vince Evans:

of things that, that you could do if you were willing to work for it.

Vince Evans:

And, and it was a good upbringing and.

Vince Evans:

the way that I got to, sort of start my journey out into the, collegiate

Vince Evans:

world was, I was a high school kid that participated in sports and, played all

Vince Evans:

different sports, baseball, basketball, football, but I really loved football.

Vince Evans:

And, it was, I became a senior in high school and got some acclaim there in

Vince Evans:

the city of Greensboro, being the all city player and that sort of thing.

Vince Evans:

But I remember one day, I was sitting in front of the television set, and

Vince Evans:

this was about 1967 and we had just not long gotten a colored TV set.

Vince Evans:

And I'm sitting in front of the TV set with my dad, and I think

Vince Evans:

my brothers were also there.

Vince Evans:

And there was a football game being played on the west coast.

Vince Evans:

They were playing in the La Coliseum.

Vince Evans:

U USC was playing u UCLA for birth to go to the Rose Bowl.

Vince Evans:

Whoever won that game would go to the Rose Bowl.

Vince Evans:

It was a capacity crowd in the coliseum, maybe 90,000 people.

Dallas Burnett:

Good

Vince Evans:

And with minutes to go in the game, the quarterback

Vince Evans:

for U S C handed the ball to

Vince Evans:

this.

Vince Evans:

I guess he was a pretty average running back at the time.

Vince Evans:

His name was OJ Simpson.

Vince Evans:

he makes this 64 yard touchdown run Dallas to win the game for usc.

Vince Evans:

And that's what I was saying.

Vince Evans:

I was saying, wow, did you see that run?

Vince Evans:

And the crowd is erupting.

Vince Evans:

But what captivated me was this beautiful Arabian white horse that

Vince Evans:

was galloping around the coliseum floor, which was USC's mascot with

Vince Evans:

a Trojan on the back of the horse.

Vince Evans:

And so I told my dad, Dallas, who was sitting next to me, I said, dad,

Vince Evans:

that's the school I'm going to someday.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh wow.

Vince Evans:

He looked at me just like you are looking at me and

Vince Evans:

said, boy, you have lost your mind.

Vince Evans:

You have lost your mind.

Vince Evans:

and why did he say that?

Vince Evans:

He said that Dallas, because I'd never been out of the

Vince Evans:

state of North Carolina before.

Vince Evans:

I'd never been on an airplane before.

Vince Evans:

In fact, I'd never been on a bus.

Vince Evans:

like a Trailway bus or something like that, that would take you, and so he

Vince Evans:

was probably saying, hi, in the world you think you're gonna get to usc.

Vince Evans:

And quite frankly, I didn't know how I was gonna

Dallas Burnett:

Right, exactly.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh man.

Vince Evans:

But as, as God's providence would have it, there was some, there

Vince Evans:

was my brother Tyrone, and this other friend of mine, Perry Nichols,

Vince Evans:

they had already gone to California.

Vince Evans:

And, they had graduated from high school.

Vince Evans:

They were a couple of years older than me, and so they had gone to California

Vince Evans:

and, they didn't know about this thing that had happened to me and in, in terms

Vince Evans:

of this dream that I was thinking about.

Vince Evans:

And so when it came time for me to leave high school and I had other, recruits

Vince Evans:

and, scholarships that were offered to me and I turned them down because

Vince Evans:

I wanted to go to the west coast and my dad, he really could not understand

Vince Evans:

how I could turn down something that was concrete right there in front of

Vince Evans:

me for something that was in his mind and maybe in mine a pipe dream, right?

Dallas Burnett:

right?

Vince Evans:

But to make a long story short, so I, my mother gave me the

Vince Evans:

last $50.

Vince Evans:

I had a one-way ticket and I had one

Dallas Burnett:

Oh my gosh.

Vince Evans:

And I left Greensboro, North Carolina

Vince Evans:

and set my site to Los Angeles, California.

Vince Evans:

And I went to, California, enrolled in a junior college Los Angeles City College.

Vince Evans:

And during that time, junior college football was, was pretty

Vince Evans:

big because it was a feeder system into the, the D one schools.

Vince Evans:

And so I went there for young one year, we had a great year.

Vince Evans:

We advanced to the all time great potato bowl up in, uh, Bakersville,

Dallas Burnett:

nice.

Dallas Burnett:

the potato bowl,

Vince Evans:

The potato bowl.

Dallas Burnett:

This straight.

Dallas Burnett:

Let me just, so when you left North Carolina, you said, I'm

Dallas Burnett:

gonna go play at usc, but you didn't go from Greensboro to usc.

Dallas Burnett:

You actually, went to a junior college.

Dallas Burnett:

You had to work additionally after high school to get to usc and it wasn't

Dallas Burnett:

a sure thing at that point in time.

Dallas Burnett:

you were really.

Dallas Burnett:

You stepped out on the, is that true?

Dallas Burnett:

would you say that you stepped out on a little bit of, faith on that

Dallas Burnett:

one to chase your dream a little bit?

Vince Evans:

it's not a little bit?

Vince Evans:

true.

Vince Evans:

It's fully true.

Vince Evans:

Yeah, it's fully true.

Vince Evans:

And I think that's, my dad being a reasonable man, this defied reason.

Vince Evans:

th this was about faith.

Vince Evans:

It was about taking a shot.

Vince Evans:

It was about a feeling that I had in my heart, Dallas, that I didn't know

Vince Evans:

what the outcome was going to be.

Vince Evans:

I just know that I was driven, by this notion that this is

Vince Evans:

where I was supposed to be.

Vince Evans:

I didn't know all the details and I just, like I say, I told my mother

Vince Evans:

and she said, Vincent, you know, just know that God is with you.

Vince Evans:

and, she gave me that last $50 man, and I had a one way ticket that

Vince Evans:

cost me 99 bucks, and I hit him to the West Coast, man, listen.

Vince Evans:

Me going to Los Angeles was like going to Beirut or someplace foreign man.

Vince Evans:

I, it was like the biggest move that I had ever made because again, I'd

Vince Evans:

never been out of the state before.

Vince Evans:

And so in getting to Los Angeles, enrolled in this, junior college LA City.

Vince Evans:

And let me backr just a little bit.

Vince Evans:

I had written a letter to John McKay.

Vince Evans:

John McKay was the coach at USC at that time.

Vince Evans:

And, I'd said to him that, I wanted to come to his school,

Vince Evans:

I'd sent him some film.

Vince Evans:

And, you know, it was one of those things like, you're a good athlete,

Vince Evans:

but we're not ready for you right now.

Vince Evans:

You know, something to that effect.

Vince Evans:

Ready in terms of offering me a scholarship.

Dallas Burnett:

Sure.

Vince Evans:

and so, I said, okay, I'm just gonna go get near

Vince Evans:

him so at least they can, see my, my, my gifts and talents.

Vince Evans:

So I enrolled in LA City College and, was intending to go there for a couple years.

Vince Evans:

We had a great year.

Vince Evans:

ended up going, like I said, to the Potato Bowl in, in Bakersville.

Vince Evans:

I was the MVP of that game.

Vince Evans:

and there was a scout.

Vince Evans:

There were many scouts at the game up in Bakersville.

Vince Evans:

And after the game was over, there was a scout that came up to me.

Vince Evans:

His name was Willie Brown.

Vince Evans:

And Willie Brown came up and said, Vince, I'm from usc.

Vince Evans:

We would love for you to come to our university.

Dallas Burnett:

good gracious.

Dallas Burnett:

He came up right after the game's over after the potato

Vince Evans:

right after the potato bowl, Dallas.

Dallas Burnett:

gracious.

Vince Evans:

and so, he couldn't get the words out fast enough before I

Vince Evans:

said, man, where's the letter of intent?

Vince Evans:

I will sign right now.

Vince Evans:

And I tell you, Dallas, it was really.

Vince Evans:

It was heartwarming, man, because that was, one of the first steps,

Vince Evans:

toward where I wanted to be.

Vince Evans:

The next day I called my dad up and I said, dad, guess what, man?

Vince Evans:

He said, what?

Vince Evans:

I said, they offered me a scholarship to go to usc.

Vince Evans:

And you know what he said, Dallas

Dallas Burnett:

What, what?

Vince Evans:

He said, boy, I knew you could do it all the time,

Dallas Burnett:

I had never liked confidence.

Dallas Burnett:

It was like, yeah, I bet you did.

Dallas Burnett:

I appreciate you, dad.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Vince Evans:

But you know, that incident really, he never, ever doubted me again.

Vince Evans:

So I got to U usc and that was major man.

Vince Evans:

I mean, because going to u USC, that, just the fame school, all the great

Vince Evans:

running backs, the Heisman trophies, the Rose Bowls, just the great school

Vince Evans:

and the teams that they had over the year were years it was like a, it

Vince Evans:

was a big thing for me to get there.

Vince Evans:

and I was so excited about it.

Vince Evans:

pat Hayden, he was the starting quarterback.

Vince Evans:

He was a senior when I be, when I was a sophomore.

Vince Evans:

and, just really admired him and learned a lot from him.

Vince Evans:

just watching him play and how he did things so it was great, being a part

Vince Evans:

of that team and that fraternity.

Vince Evans:

But it was not all rosy.

Vince Evans:

And what I mean by that is, in the history of usc, prior to me

Vince Evans:

being there, there had only been two African American quarterbacks

Vince Evans:

that had played at that school.

Vince Evans:

yeah, Willie Wood, and then, Jimmy Jones.

Vince Evans:

In fact, Jimmy Jones when I was in North Carolina, because you have to understand,

Vince Evans:

Dallas, that during that time I did not see any African American quarterbacks

Vince Evans:

playing football at any major college.

Dallas Burnett:

hmm.

Vince Evans:

Jimmy Ray who was at, Michigan State, but I didn't, we didn't

Vince Evans:

get his games, they weren't televised and whatnot, and there may have been

Vince Evans:

some others, but I didn't see them.

Vince Evans:

And so Jimmy Jones, I saw him playing at U usc and I told my dad,

Vince Evans:

I said, man, Man, I want to go there.

Vince Evans:

I want to, that's, I'd never seen an African American quarterback, so it was

Vince Evans:

an inspiration, in seeing him and do, he went to the Rose Bowl and, in fact, when I

Vince Evans:

got there, they asked me what number that I wanted and I said, I want number eight.

Vince Evans:

like Jimmy Jones.

Dallas Burnett:

that's cool.

Vince Evans:

Yeah.

Vince Evans:

And after Pat Hayden had, graduated, you know, I was the next guy in line

Vince Evans:

and, SC was, they were used to winning, national championships and rose bowls

Vince Evans:

and things of that nature, as I said.

Vince Evans:

And when I got the first shot to, to be quarterback, we were eight

Vince Evans:

and four and that by SC standards was considered a losing season.

Vince Evans:

somebody came up with a bumper sticker, after that season

Vince Evans:

saying, save USC football.

Vince Evans:

Shoot Vince Evans, you know,

Dallas Burnett:

Good gracious day.

Dallas Burnett:

It's a ruthless fan base

Vince Evans:

it was, they were accustomed to winning and that sort of thing and,

Vince Evans:

would always, get a lot of hate mail and things of that nature, from some fans

Vince Evans:

that didn't think it was a good idea that I would be the quarterback there.

Vince Evans:

and I remember my senior year, we were about to play UCLA and, I'd gotten

Vince Evans:

this piece of mail that was different.

Vince Evans:

I mean, I'd gotten a lot of, hate mail and things of that nature over the time there.

Vince Evans:

But this one was different insofar as it was crypted in, its in its lettering.

Vince Evans:

And, uh, it said, the n word, if you go out there today, we're

Vince Evans:

gonna blow your brains out.

Vince Evans:

We're getting ready to play U ucla.

Vince Evans:

So I, I thought this was a serious, piece of mail.

Vince Evans:

And so I took her to Coach Robinson.

Vince Evans:

And Coach Robinson read it, and he thought as well, that this was pretty serious.

Vince Evans:

So I'm told that they, he called the L A P D and put them on notice, that,

Vince Evans:

this kind of thing was out there.

Vince Evans:

and they said they were gonna do it at the UCLA game.

Vince Evans:

They were gonna shoot me, if I played quarterback, against ucla.

Dallas Burnett:

Good,

Vince Evans:

And, and then Coach Robinson said, what do you want to do?

Vince Evans:

And I said, coach, listen, man, I grew up doing this kind of, time and back in

Vince Evans:

North Carolina and, you know, I'm not gonna let this deter me from, going out

Vince Evans:

here and, participating with my teammates.

Vince Evans:

And, so we go out and play and, uh, end up meeting UCLA and, and

Vince Evans:

then going on to the Rose Bowl and being the MVP in the Rose Bowl.

Vince Evans:

and Coach Robinson was just, I'm so thankful that he was in my life at

Vince Evans:

that particular time during my journey, because he was just an encourager.

Vince Evans:

He was a father type image bearer.

Vince Evans:

He was, just a wonderful person, man.

Vince Evans:

It was fair.

Vince Evans:

and always did the right thing.

Vince Evans:

and I just, I have, he's one of my heroes in my life, man.

Dallas Burnett:

That's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

So you went from eight and four.

Dallas Burnett:

To the last season you won the rose balls.

Dallas Burnett:

So what was your record that year?

Vince Evans:

Oh, we were 11 and one.

Vince Evans:

We lost our first game against Missouri, and they wanted to run

Vince Evans:

Coach Robinson and me out of town.

Vince Evans:

but, we ran the table after, after that.

Vince Evans:

And, it was a, just a combination man of a wonderful, season and to cap it

Vince Evans:

off, playing Michigan in the Rose Bowl and, And I remember as I, we talked

Vince Evans:

about earlier, I remember walking off of the field with Coach Robinson after

Vince Evans:

that game was over and him putting his arms around me, he saying, what do

Vince Evans:

you think they think of us now, buddy?

Vince Evans:

You

Dallas Burnett:

There you go.

Dallas Burnett:

That's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

That makes it all worth all the, all the mail and the different comments and

Dallas Burnett:

the commentators and all the naysayers that, that definitely makes it, uh,

Dallas Burnett:

makes it sweeter when you can walk off the field and have a season like

Dallas Burnett:

that where it's, you've definitely proven everybody, everybody wrong.

Dallas Burnett:

That's

Vince Evans:

yes sir.

Vince Evans:

Yeah, it is,

Dallas Burnett:

so you get through, you've, you graduate, you've made

Dallas Burnett:

your dream of playing for usc.

Dallas Burnett:

you, this

Dallas Burnett:

is What you had been

Dallas Burnett:

inspired to do.

Dallas Burnett:

What happened?

Dallas Burnett:

What happened after that?

Vince Evans:

Well, I entered into the, uh, to the nFL draft.

Vince Evans:

I was drafted in six rounds by the Chicago Bears.

Vince Evans:

It was wonderful to be chosen, as an NFL player.

Vince Evans:

you think about it, it's what, 350 million people in the United States of America.

Vince Evans:

And, I had one of those, I think there's approximately 34, maybe 4,000

Vince Evans:

jobs that are in all of sports, right?

Vince Evans:

And to have one of those jobs for, 17, 18 years was, was just a blessing man.

Vince Evans:

and to get drafted by the Chicago Bears, to meet the, the pioneer of

Vince Evans:

football in George Hallis, who was the owner of the Chicago Bears and

Vince Evans:

having a great relationship with him.

Vince Evans:

It was special to play for them.

Vince Evans:

Walter Payton's sweetness was the guy that I had the pleasure

Vince Evans:

of handing the ball too.

Vince Evans:

And, and man, Even though I was on the field, I enjoyed

Vince Evans:

watching that dude run, man.

Vince Evans:

he was just the prolific runner.

Vince Evans:

They called him sweetness for a reason.

Vince Evans:

Okay.

Vince Evans:

Uh, I mean, he could do some pretty fabulous things out

Vince Evans:

there on that football field.

Vince Evans:

And, but more than that, he was just a heck of a person.

Vince Evans:

And, and it was one of my joys and dreams to be able to, to play,

Vince Evans:

for the bears and be around such, wonderful human beings as players.

Dallas Burnett:

What was one of the hardest things about being in the nfl?

Dallas Burnett:

Because, I know it's a ton of work and commitment takes a lot.

Dallas Burnett:

What, for you, what was one of the what, did you have any struggles or what was the

Dallas Burnett:

hardest thing for you being in the nfl?

Vince Evans:

Well, I think, uh, my preparation coming from college, was

Vince Evans:

really good because I had grit coaches in college and it was, Very much, preparatory

Vince Evans:

for me going into the next level.

Vince Evans:

in fact, I thought I was, ahead of the curve because of all that

Vince Evans:

I'd learned in my senior year.

Vince Evans:

I had a great, quarterback coach and Paul Hackett, and he taught me

Vince Evans:

really, everything or a lot of what I learned, about reading defenses

Vince Evans:

as a quarterback, in the NFL.

Vince Evans:

And but I think, just anything that you want to be really

Vince Evans:

good at, you gotta work at it.

Vince Evans:

You gotta, study, film, you gotta, repetition, doing things over and over

Vince Evans:

again until, when you step out on that field, it's like clockwork and, and

Vince Evans:

that was something that was sort of innate within me because again, like I

Vince Evans:

said earlier, my parents were my role models, so they had already set the

Vince Evans:

gauge for me in terms of work ethic.

Vince Evans:

That was not something that I was, afraid of, because it was a part of my life.

Vince Evans:

And you recognize to be on that level, because they were putting

Vince Evans:

the, the best guys on the field.

Vince Evans:

And so you had to make sure that your skillset was being tuned in every

Vince Evans:

single time that, that you stepped out on the field, whether it was

Vince Evans:

practice or whether it was game.

Vince Evans:

And I used to always, you know, after practice was over, I would

Vince Evans:

pull guys and they were tired because we had just practiced.

Vince Evans:

But I would get 'em, after practice and, Hey man, let's work on this.

Vince Evans:

Go router.

Vince Evans:

Let's work on a comeback.

Vince Evans:

Let's work on this or work on that.

Vince Evans:

And, and so it just made me feel more comfortable, you know,

Vince Evans:

once, uh, the game started.

Dallas Burnett:

That's wonderful.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's, that's very inspiring and it's, and I like that, that you

Dallas Burnett:

spoke so much about preparation and repetition and just how it almost sounds

Dallas Burnett:

like when you had done it so much.

Dallas Burnett:

That it just slowed down.

Dallas Burnett:

So you could just, it was just like the speed of it slowed down because it was

Dallas Burnett:

like second nature, when you're going out there and running around, That's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

So then you transitioned, you were at the Bears and had a great time

Dallas Burnett:

there coming out of the college, and then you transitioned to the Raiders.

Dallas Burnett:

How was that, how did that go down?

Vince Evans:

Yeah.

Vince Evans:

That happened because, after my, let's see, I was seven years with

Vince Evans:

the Bears and I was, I was up for renegotiation with my contract and.

Vince Evans:

I wanted to stay with the Bears.

Vince Evans:

They know they were a great organization.

Vince Evans:

had been there for seven years, had, become familiar with

Vince Evans:

management and the players.

Vince Evans:

and it was, I was treated well there and so there was another

Vince Evans:

league called the United States, football League, the U S F L.

Vince Evans:

And, they were just beginning and trying to make their mark,

Vince Evans:

as a competitor, with the nfl.

Vince Evans:

And although they would play during the springtime.

Vince Evans:

and so they offered me, and so I was hoping that the Bears would at

Vince Evans:

least, come close to matching that.

Vince Evans:

and they didn't.

Vince Evans:

And so I think probably looking back in retrospect, it was my ego that,

Vince Evans:

said, okay, I'm gonna take this.

Vince Evans:

this contract with the U S F L and show the bears that they made a mistake.

Vince Evans:

I was the one that made a mistake, and because the league ended up collapsing

Vince Evans:

after a couple of years, I was actually out of ball for, two years.

Vince Evans:

and then there was an N F L strike that took place.

Vince Evans:

And and they had these strike games where they would have, replacement

Vince Evans:

players that would come in and play during that strike period.

Vince Evans:

And, once the strike was over, there was no guarantee that they

Vince Evans:

were gonna keep those players.

Vince Evans:

And so I was playing with the Raiders during that strike league.

Vince Evans:

And, and so after the league was over, the strike, games were over.

Vince Evans:

there were two players that were kept.

Vince Evans:

And I was one of those players.

Vince Evans:

So that's how I got to be with the Raiders and ended up staying there

Vince Evans:

for what, another eight years.

Vince Evans:

And it was just great, man.

Vince Evans:

But again, it was the same sort of, thing that we just talked

Vince Evans:

about in terms of the work ethic.

Vince Evans:

I was not gonna let anybody, outwork me, I wasn't a starter, so I had to do

Vince Evans:

extra just to, make sure that when I was called upon to come into games, that

Vince Evans:

I would be ready to perform well and, and that the team wouldn't miss a beat.

Vince Evans:

And so that was really, as I look back on my time there with the Raiders,

Vince Evans:

there would be many games where I would come off the bench man and we'd

Vince Evans:

win the game in the closing minutes.

Vince Evans:

Or, throwing a winning touchdown to Tim Brown against Washington,

Vince Evans:

or, Playing against Indianapolis, making some big plays.

Vince Evans:

and it was just exciting and I don't know that I would've been able, in fact,

Vince Evans:

I know that I wouldn't have been able to do that, had I not, been prepared,

Vince Evans:

and it's tough when you're coming off the bench, because you don't get the

Vince Evans:

reps doing the, regular practice because they got a, they make sure that the

Vince Evans:

number one guy gets most of the snaps and then they give you, whatever they

Vince Evans:

have time for, which is not very much.

Vince Evans:

So yeah, my, my stay there with the Raiders was really awesome.

Vince Evans:

And, so I'm really grateful for that.

Dallas Burnett:

Was that transition period after that league collapsed

Dallas Burnett:

and there was no, you weren't in the nfl, you were out for two years.

Dallas Burnett:

Was that a difficult period for you?

Dallas Burnett:

Just cuz you've come through this, set of highs?

Dallas Burnett:

you, when I look at your career, it was like you, you make it to

Dallas Burnett:

California, check that box, then you make it to usc, you check that

Dallas Burnett:

box, then you make it into the pros.

Dallas Burnett:

You're drafted and you go to the bears, which you enjoy that organization,

Dallas Burnett:

you check that box, then you move.

Dallas Burnett:

over to this new league that collapses and you're out for two years.

Dallas Burnett:

Was that tough?

Vince Evans:

Yes, it was very tough.

Vince Evans:

you think about, as a young kid, you dream of, of being in the National

Vince Evans:

Football League or playing, you know, in a major, for a major college and,

Vince Evans:

there are very few people to get a chance to realize those dreams.

Vince Evans:

And so when you have the opportunity to experience those dreams and to live out

Vince Evans:

those dreams and all of the highs that go along with that, it was very devastating,

Vince Evans:

because I didn't know exactly, I felt like my career wasn't over.

Vince Evans:

And so it was like this pause that it caused me to just reflect and to, realign

Vince Evans:

or to reset and to figure out, okay, what do we need to do now, in order.

Vince Evans:

If it is over, then, life does go on and you gotta prepare for that as well.

Vince Evans:

but I didn't feel like it was over.

Vince Evans:

But yes, there, there was a period there where, it was sort of a

Vince Evans:

lull and trying to figure out what the next step was gonna be.

Dallas Burnett:

you look back at your professional career, because we have

Dallas Burnett:

a lot of leaders and leader coaches and people that are development

Dallas Burnett:

in developing in their career, you know, and their, whether that's, in

Dallas Burnett:

business or other facets of their life.

Dallas Burnett:

When you look back on some of the great coaches, cuz you've referred to them

Dallas Burnett:

as good, great men, great mentors that were very influential in your life.

Dallas Burnett:

What are some of the key attributes or things that a

Dallas Burnett:

great coach that you experienced?

Dallas Burnett:

Either gave to you or did for you or taught you that was formative?

Vince Evans:

Yeah.

Vince Evans:

when you ask that question immediately, there are certain characteristics of these

Vince Evans:

coaches, that have influenced my life, that it's almost like a common thread.

Vince Evans:

from my high school coach to, Claude Maney was my high school coach.

Vince Evans:

Neil Armstrong was the coach, that coached me with the Bears,

Vince Evans:

John Robinson, at, at usc.

Vince Evans:

And, and, and Coach McKay.

Vince Evans:

The common thread that all of these coaches had is that they

Vince Evans:

knew how to just talk to people.

Vince Evans:

They were just regular guys that were, they were leaders, right?

Vince Evans:

But they didn't, they weren't so big that they couldn't reach down to where

Vince Evans:

you were and make you feel special, make you feel like you were heard, make

Vince Evans:

you feel like, that they understood what you were going through, man.

Dallas Burnett:

Yes.

Vince Evans:

and, and all of those coaches had that same sort of persona,

Vince Evans:

that mentality, that personality, that, that uniqueness of, not overemotional.

Vince Evans:

But yet stern, they knew how to get their point across, but were

Vince Evans:

very engaging with everyone.

Vince Evans:

How many times can someone lead the masses of people?

Vince Evans:

they're all kind of personalities.

Vince Evans:

There's all kind of traits, there's all kind of dispositions

Vince Evans:

that, that people have.

Vince Evans:

But these guys were able to make you feel like they understood

Vince Evans:

exactly what you were going through.

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Vince Evans:

And

Vince Evans:

and that's, to me, that's a great leader.

Vince Evans:

and you are willing as a

Vince Evans:

player to recognize that what they're trying to tell you is for your benefit.

Vince Evans:

It's not to punish you in any way.

Vince Evans:

It's not to do anything other than to make you the best player and the best

Vince Evans:

person that you can be, to be productive.

Vince Evans:

Because again, your gift and your talent.

Vince Evans:

That will make room for you in whatever your vocational skill may be, but Okay.

Vince Evans:

What do you do when you get there and how do you respond?

Vince Evans:

Because most of our talent is one thing, but what is your

Vince Evans:

mentality to utilize that talent to the fullest?

Vince Evans:

I think, some of the greatest players, I think about Michael Jordan.

Vince Evans:

I don't know him other than he's, from the University of North Carolina.

Vince Evans:

I got a root on Tar heels, but he was coached by Dean Smith.

Vince Evans:

Dean Smith was the same persona as these coaches that I mentioned

Vince Evans:

to you about in, in my career.

Vince Evans:

And I think that it set a comfort level with Mike, even on that collegiate level,

Vince Evans:

that he was willing to, at any time take, the last shot because he knew if he hit

Vince Evans:

it or missed it, you know what, so be it.

Vince Evans:

I was willing to take it, you know,

Dallas Burnett:

Yes.

Vince Evans:

And those kind of coaches, they're rare, but yet when

Vince Evans:

they're there, they are personified just in their humility and, uh, just

Vince Evans:

great leadership skills with people.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's so important.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's so overlooked because sometimes people, when they're in a leadership

Dallas Burnett:

position, they feel like they either have to have all the answers or they have

Dallas Burnett:

to, since they, they feel this weight of responsibility, they've got to push people

Dallas Burnett:

to achieve this result that, for them.

Dallas Burnett:

but I think that they overlook so many times the simplicity

Dallas Burnett:

of what you just said.

Dallas Burnett:

It's some of the greatest leaders that you've been

Dallas Burnett:

impacted by throughout your life.

Dallas Burnett:

Were just able to talk to people as a person, just me to you.

Dallas Burnett:

And they had this ability to build trust with you in the sense that they knew they

Dallas Burnett:

could relate to you and where you were.

Dallas Burnett:

And you knew based on, on that time you spent with them, that they really

Dallas Burnett:

were, whatever they told you, they were doing it for your benefit.

Dallas Burnett:

Yes, everybody wants to win the games, but they're coming to you and they're

Dallas Burnett:

saying, look, if we're asking you to do this, it's to get you, make you better,

Dallas Burnett:

faster, stronger is your benefit.

Dallas Burnett:

You know?

Dallas Burnett:

So I think that's, it sounds so simple.

Dallas Burnett:

It sounds so simple.

Dallas Burnett:

And yet there's so many leaders that I think overlooked the power that, that

Dallas Burnett:

brings to a team, to an organization.

Dallas Burnett:

and so I appreciate you sharing that, cuz that's very wise.

Vince Evans:

and I think if I could just add a little bit more, when I think

Vince Evans:

about that, I think about my mother.

Vince Evans:

I think about she was a leader, insofar as, think about it,

Vince Evans:

raising a family, right?

Vince Evans:

There's different personalities.

Vince Evans:

she would talk to us, my brothers like, in a very calm voice until

Vince Evans:

we were getting ready to get a spanking, then it would change

Dallas Burnett:

It gets real then

Vince Evans:

it.

Vince Evans:

And believe me, I pu I pushed that level um, yeah, but she was able,

Vince Evans:

Dallas to just talk to us in ways that was just reassuring, it was

Vince Evans:

reassuring and, it, she always

Vince Evans:

incentivized us.

Vince Evans:

To be the best that we could be.

Vince Evans:

And sometimes, like you said, it was real, where she had to, make sure

Vince Evans:

that we understood the guidelines and, but yet when it, she just always

Vince Evans:

was able to be calm and that was, that, that was effective for me.

Dallas Burnett:

Mm.

Dallas Burnett:

That's great.

Dallas Burnett:

So you had, some time at the Raiders though, and you were talking to me

Dallas Burnett:

about it before the show that you had some personal kind of journey that you

Dallas Burnett:

were going on during that time as well.

Dallas Burnett:

tell us about that journey that you experienced while you were at the,

Dallas Burnett:

raiders and the impact it had on the, your life and how that transformed.

Vince Evans:

I need to take it back just a little bit, Dallas too.

Vince Evans:

The, just the real indoctrination into the National Football League.

Vince Evans:

we talked about it a little bit before.

Vince Evans:

we talk about their approximately 3,500 to 4,000 jobs that

Vince Evans:

are in professional sports.

Vince Evans:

Okay.

Vince Evans:

Football, basketball, baseball, soccer, whatever.

Vince Evans:

Okay.

Vince Evans:

I had one of those jobs, man, for 17 years.

Vince Evans:

But on the front side of that, it was amazing to be there.

Vince Evans:

I'm a star quarterback, I'm playing for a recognizable, iconic

Vince Evans:

team and the Chicago Bears, and, they're people that know my name.

Vince Evans:

They're like, Hey man, we'd like for you to, sign this endorsement.

Vince Evans:

We would like for you to come to this event.

Vince Evans:

these are things that I wasn't really accustomed to growing up

Vince Evans:

in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Vince Evans:

working on a farm and, I was just Vince man, and and so these exposures, they

Vince Evans:

were addicting, insofar as, I was starting to think more highly of myself than

Vince Evans:

I should have been, meaning that, my humility was on the back burner and I was,

Vince Evans:

my head was getting a little blown up.

Vince Evans:

there were women that were available and things that were going on

Vince Evans:

in my life that, that kind of, skewed my thinking for a while.

Vince Evans:

And so there was a, an event we were playing the, we were playing the Tampa

Vince Evans:

Bay Buccaneers man down in Tampa.

Vince Evans:

And I had, for those of you listeners or viewers that didn't really see me play.

Vince Evans:

I was a sort of a mobile quarterback.

Vince Evans:

And so I was trying to evade this wouldbe tackler, and he ended up,

Vince Evans:

scratching me on the left arm.

Vince Evans:

and, uh, and so after the game was over, didn't think anything

Vince Evans:

of it, told the doc about it.

Vince Evans:

He put some antiseptic on it, put a bandaid on it.

Vince Evans:

We flew back to Chicago, right?

Vince Evans:

And so I had to get up earlier in the morning to go to the bathroom.

Vince Evans:

and as I was trying to get out of the bed, Dallas, I couldn't move, man.

Vince Evans:

my, my lower extremities were paralyzed.

Vince Evans:

And so literally, I literally had to crawl man to go to the bathroom.

Vince Evans:

And I said, oh my God.

Vince Evans:

It was in, I was in such excruciating pain.

Vince Evans:

So I called some friends of mine up and they came and got me, took me

Vince Evans:

to the hospital, and they diagnosed me as having a staph infection.

Vince Evans:

Characteristic of a staph infection, man, is it Attack

Vince Evans:

the weakest tissues in the body.

Vince Evans:

So it conceivably could have gone to my heart or brain or anything,

Vince Evans:

and it would've been instant death.

Vince Evans:

But anyway, so I'm in the hospital for 30 days.

Vince Evans:

I'd never

Dallas Burnett:

Oh my gosh.

Vince Evans:

I'd never been in the hospital for over three

Vince Evans:

hours and time was a time of reflecting on my life.

Vince Evans:

I grew up in a Christian home and I'd sort of put those values on

Vince Evans:

the back burner because I was this star now and that sort of thing.

Vince Evans:

and, and so when I got outta the hospital, I had to learn how to walk again.

Vince Evans:

My legs had atrophy.

Vince Evans:

My mother came up from North Carolina cause they thought I was gonna die.

Vince Evans:

And,

Dallas Burnett:

unbelievable.

Vince Evans:

oh, it was unbelievable, man.

Vince Evans:

and so

Dallas Burnett:

happens so fast.

Dallas Burnett:

Like you're saying that literally you're in Tampa, you get scratched on the arm,

Dallas Burnett:

you go home and it's is it the, is it just a few days that this all this goes down

Vince Evans:

No, it was when we got back from that trip, from Tampa and I

Vince Evans:

got back to my apartment in Chicago.

Vince Evans:

It was that night, brother, and yeah.

Vince Evans:

And so the next 31 days I was in the hospital, right?

Vince Evans:

Legs, atrophy, temperature over 103.

Vince Evans:

And they didn't know how to get it down.

Vince Evans:

They were putting cold packs on my body.

Vince Evans:

I thought I was gonna freeze the death.

Vince Evans:

And, and they called my mother up.

Vince Evans:

And so that's when I knew it was serious.

Vince Evans:

I mean, I knew it was serious before, but so she comes up and, I'm learning

Vince Evans:

how to walk again and this and that.

Vince Evans:

And thankfully the doctors, through antibiotics and all of that, were

Vince Evans:

able to eradicate the staph infection and, But I didn't know what if I

Vince Evans:

would ever play football again.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh

Vince Evans:

And some months later,, I was, at home watching this program

Vince Evans:

on television and this preacher, and I'm in Chicago and it's a gloomy day.

Vince Evans:

And this preacher is talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Vince Evans:

and how he had died for my sins.

Vince Evans:

I'd heard that growing up as a kid, cause we went to church and everything, but

Vince Evans:

it didn't really have an impact on me at that time cuz I, I just thought, I

Vince Evans:

was a good person and, it was all good.

Vince Evans:

And but this day it was transformational when this preacher said that

Vince Evans:

Jesus Christ had died for my sins.

Vince Evans:

Man, the sun came out, I'll never, ever forget this.

Vince Evans:

As long as the sun came out, it beamed in my eyes.

Dallas Burnett:

Mm.

Vince Evans:

And all I said Dallas was, God, if you are real, I

Vince Evans:

want you to do something in me.

Vince Evans:

That's all I said.

Vince Evans:

And it was like my life changed that day because the hedonistic lifestyle

Vince Evans:

that I was leaving before and all that I was doing, I had a desire man to want

Vince Evans:

to know God and to learn about him.

Vince Evans:

And through Bible study and through things of that

Vince Evans:

nature.

Vince Evans:

And, so now fast forward to the Raiders.

Vince Evans:

When I got to the Raiders, now I'm living this lifestyle from 79 to, the time with

Vince Evans:

the Raiders in the eighties and nineties.

Vince Evans:

And, uh, I'm a different man.

Vince Evans:

And, uh, you know, even when I was with the Bears, when I threw a

Vince Evans:

touchdown, from that time that I was with the Bears, I threw a touchdown.

Vince Evans:

I would get down on my knee and just, thank God for, his presence.

Vince Evans:

And,

Vince Evans:

one day after, we're in training camp.

Vince Evans:

We're in training camp, and this guy Steve Wiki, who was our starting

Vince Evans:

left guard, okay, Steve is about, man, Steve is 6 6 360, right?

Vince Evans:

He was a stud.

Vince Evans:

He was a straight stud man.

Vince Evans:

so listen, Dallas, after training camp Steve, after training camp practice,

Vince Evans:

he says, Vince, would you baptize me?

Vince Evans:

And I'm like, and that's what I said.

Vince Evans:

I said, oh, wow.

Vince Evans:

and I said, baptize you.

Vince Evans:

Now Steve was a strong believer in his own right, but

Vince Evans:

I think the reason he asked me that was, it's not so much what you say,

Vince Evans:

but it's how you live and what you do.

Vince Evans:

And he just saw that I was one of the first guys on the field.

Vince Evans:

I was one of the last guys off the field.

Vince Evans:

and and he said, when?

Vince Evans:

And I said, yeah, I'd be happy to do that Steve.

Vince Evans:

And, and so it's during training camp, so I didn't know how many guys, we

Vince Evans:

didn't know how many guys would show up cuz guys are tired and they're, they

Vince Evans:

want to get their rest and everything.

Vince Evans:

And so there was a, it was in Oxnard, California,

Dallas Burnett:

Hmm.

Vince Evans:

and they had a whirlpool there at the facility

Vince Evans:

at where we were staying.

Vince Evans:

And so we invited, about 25 guys.

Vince Evans:

And again, we didn't know how many guys were gonna show up.

Vince Evans:

and so it was that, it was about 25 guys that showed up and, we sang some songs and

Vince Evans:

then, there was this guy named, Dan Turk.

Vince Evans:

He's since gone on to heaven, but he was our starting center and he

Vince Evans:

was on Steve's left side, I was on his right and we baptized Steve.

Vince Evans:

and then there were 17 other guys that wanted to make a professional

Vince Evans:

faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Vince Evans:

and they wanted to be baptized that day, man.

Vince Evans:

And so that was on the Raiders

Dallas Burnett:

On the Raiders.

Dallas Burnett:

This is the Raiders football team.

Vince Evans:

Raider nation, man.

Dallas Burnett:

You guys are having church after practice.

Dallas Burnett:

I love it.

Vince Evans:

it was great.

Vince Evans:

It was great.

Vince Evans:

And so I just thank God for that opportunity, man.

Vince Evans:

and, and yeah.

Vince Evans:

and

Vince Evans:

so just, uh, You know, I was just so thankful to be able to be there with

Vince Evans:

that organization to,

Vince Evans:

for Mr.

Vince Evans:

Davis, Mr.

Vince Evans:

Al Davis, to, see enough in me to allow me to be a part of his organization.

Vince Evans:

In fact, they were one of the organizations that, as a kid, when

Vince Evans:

Darryl Lamonica used to hit Warren Wells in the, in the corner of the

Vince Evans:

end zone, those were things that were my inspiration growing up.

Vince Evans:

And so to be able to.

Vince Evans:

Have had that opportunity to play for them.

Vince Evans:

And Mr.

Vince Evans:

Davis.

Vince Evans:

it was great, man.

Dallas Burnett:

That's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

good for you, man.

Dallas Burnett:

That's such a cool story and I like how it you had these kind of dreams and goals

Dallas Burnett:

and, you had the work ethic that goes behind it and, what was necessary to get

Dallas Burnett:

there, and then you got it and it almost seems like it was almost overwhelming and

Dallas Burnett:

it started to change you a little bit, but then you had this reawakening essentially.

Dallas Burnett:

and I think that, 31 days of sitting in a hospital, like you said

Dallas Burnett:

earlier that the, career had taken a little bit of humility from you.

Dallas Burnett:

I had actually, I dislocated my hip in my twenties and, during an athletic

Dallas Burnett:

event, and obviously not pro sports, but I dislocated that and I remember

Dallas Burnett:

the recovery of that was weeks.

Dallas Burnett:

You can't bend over, you can't pull your own pants up.

Dallas Burnett:

And so you you get a dose of humility, and it's it's painful, but it's good.

Dallas Burnett:

it's like good.

Dallas Burnett:

medicine.

Dallas Burnett:

So I can relate to that in that way.

Dallas Burnett:

And so, you get out of, you get out of sports and I'm assuming at the end of the

Dallas Burnett:

time with Raiders, was that clear at that time that you were gonna lead professional

Dallas Burnett:

football and go into a another career?

Vince Evans:

Yeah.

Vince Evans:

It was pretty clear, Dallas because, Mr.

Vince Evans:

Davis wanted me to stay another year, not, again, I'd played 17 years up until

Vince Evans:

this time, and, so it was a blessing.

Vince Evans:

I'm 40 years old and, but, and, to be asked to maybe

Vince Evans:

come back and compete again.

Vince Evans:

But I felt like it was time and so I had my moment of.

Vince Evans:

Morning, if you will, or grieving and that sort of thing because it's a game

Vince Evans:

that we all love and have played since we were kids and that sort of thing.

Vince Evans:

But it was time to move on and I really wasn't, sure what I wanted to do.

Vince Evans:

I was a speech communications major in school and so I didn't particularly want

Vince Evans:

to be on television or anything like that.

Vince Evans:

Like you see so many guys do.

Vince Evans:

And so I tried different things here and there just to try to find my niche.

Vince Evans:

And I remember in 1998, it was talking about bringing N F L football back

Vince Evans:

to Los Angeles and the guy that was helping to sort to shepherd that

Vince Evans:

cause was a guy, named Ed Roski.

Vince Evans:

and he was a real estate developer and also a trustee over at the

Vince Evans:

college that I, went to U S C.

Vince Evans:

And I was able to sort of be a part of that whole little campaign.

Vince Evans:

But more so than that, it was connecting the dots to, to, to Mr.

Vince Evans:

Roski, and, uh, cause the deal was, is he said, Hey, if you can help me with the

Vince Evans:

football side, maybe I could teach you something about the real estate business.

Vince Evans:

Because I wanted to learn, about the real estate business.

Vince Evans:

And it wasn't like, selling houses.

Vince Evans:

This was commercial development and buying raw land and bringing, entitlements to

Vince Evans:

the property and things of that nature.

Vince Evans:

So it was a learning curve that I had to go through to, to be in that business.

Vince Evans:

So I worked for him, for five years and, and it was some great years.

Vince Evans:

He's a, he was a great man and offered me the opportunity to be educated there.

Vince Evans:

and so I just, stepped out on my own and started my own company and, and so there

Vince Evans:

was a, found a really wonderful piece of property here in Southern California

Vince Evans:

where the city, owned the property.

Vince Evans:

And we were able to go in there and buy that property, get it

Vince Evans:

entitled, bring all the utilities and infrastructure there, and build

Vince Evans:

a, a very successful, real estate development with, major anchors there.

Vince Evans:

and just brought, sales tax and property tax.

Vince Evans:

But more importantly, it brought jobs to that community and, and was

Vince Evans:

able to, to hold that we ended up, ended up selling it or during a 10 31

Vince Evans:

exchange, into another, type of property because, commercial real estate or

Vince Evans:

commercial retail was sort of changing, the, the big box, brick and mortar

Vince Evans:

stores, people weren't going to those.

Vince Evans:

As much as they were, picking up the phone and seeing it online and

Vince Evans:

having it delivered to their house.

Vince Evans:

And so we saw that market was changing a little bit.

Vince Evans:

And so we got out of that and more into the industrial warehouse

Vince Evans:

business where we, lease space to, manufacturing, distribution and

Vince Evans:

warehousing companies, that need the utilization of that kind of space.

Vince Evans:

And so that, that's been very good for us.

Dallas Burnett:

That's wonderful.

Dallas Burnett:

Good for you, man.

Dallas Burnett:

Making the pivot.

Dallas Burnett:

That's a very difficult thing.

Dallas Burnett:

I was talking to on another episode with an Olympic coach, and he had

Dallas Burnett:

transitioned from being an Olympic athlete to an, to an Olympic coach.

Dallas Burnett:

And just the period of time when he left the Olympics, it was kind of

Dallas Burnett:

like, he felt like he was on this high.

Dallas Burnett:

And he goes, nobody, essentially, nobody tells you how to

Dallas Burnett:

get down off the mountain.

Dallas Burnett:

You know, you, you make it to the peak, and then you, how do you get here?

Dallas Burnett:

And so he was he struggled in that transition period because he

Dallas Burnett:

didn't have a lot of guidance and mentor and coaching like you, you

Dallas Burnett:

were able to find and develop.

Dallas Burnett:

So I think well done on that because I think for whether you're coming out

Dallas Burnett:

of pro sports or whether you're coming outta the military, taking those

Dallas Burnett:

skills that you learned in those areas and then reapplying then relearning

Dallas Burnett:

something completely different, that's, that's a very difficult skill set.

Dallas Burnett:

So well done.

Vince Evans:

and let me talk about that a little bit because I know, I feel like

Vince Evans:

sometimes, whether you're a, an athlete or you know, somebody that's graduated

Vince Evans:

from college or, you know, they're, they're, they're trying to find the

Vince Evans:

next niche in their, their pathway or their journey, or maybe even a person

Vince Evans:

that has been in a, particular vocation for a number of years and they're just

Vince Evans:

feeling this, sense that it's time for them to move on to a different place.

Vince Evans:

the, I think sometimes we, overstep when things are quiet.

Vince Evans:

And what I mean by things are quiet is that it's a waiting period.

Vince Evans:

It's a time of just reflection.

Vince Evans:

It's a time of just sort of processing, what is the next step?

Vince Evans:

we always, not always, but there's a time I think where, we think that I

Vince Evans:

gotta go from this to this right away and not sort of think about, what

Vince Evans:

am I supposed to be doing right now?

Vince Evans:

there, and I'm saying that because, I'm learning how to wait and be patient.

Vince Evans:

It's, and it's not waiting, sitting around doing nothing, but it's

Vince Evans:

waiting to allow the next journey or the next vision or the next

Vince Evans:

opportunity for you to get involved in.

Vince Evans:

And I'm saying that because after the real estate thing, there was

Vince Evans:

a, an opportunity for me to get into the manufacturing business.

Vince Evans:

and what I manufacture is, and this is just unbelievable.

Vince Evans:

It's, it's a football helmet.

Vince Evans:

If you can envi, who's your favorite team?

Vince Evans:

Dallas.

Dallas Burnett:

Ooh,

Dallas Burnett:

I, I, um, I actually have several.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm a, I'm a, I'm a Clemson, Clemson.

Dallas Burnett:

Tiger footballs college, So I'm a

Dallas Burnett:

Clemson tiger man.

Vince Evans:

all right, let's stop with Clemson.

Vince Evans:

Okay.

Vince Evans:

So if you can imagine Dallas a Clemson

Vince Evans:

football helmet, right?

Vince Evans:

You

Vince Evans:

lift the up on this, on this, um, football helmet, and inside of that

Vince Evans:

is a Keurig single serve coffee maker.

Vince Evans:

Okay?

Vince Evans:

Now

Dallas Burnett:

I love it.

Dallas Burnett:

That's awesome.

Vince Evans:

okay, I have the patents on the utility and all the intellectual

Vince Evans:

properties on that development, right?

Vince Evans:

Where, we're licensed.

Vince Evans:

With Clemson and all the D one schools under

Vince Evans:

the, leader under the purview of, the collegiate licensing corporation.

Vince Evans:

and that's what we do.

Vince Evans:

We sell helmet coffee makers.

Vince Evans:

Now what's, and I'm so happy that you laughed about that because that lets

Vince Evans:

me know that you're probably gonna be one of those buyers once they hit the

Dallas Burnett:

Uh, a hundred percent.

Dallas Burnett:

That's a hundred percent.

Dallas Burnett:

That's so, that's so fun.

Dallas Burnett:

I mean, that's just a really creative idea, but I mean, I would

Dallas Burnett:

love to go get coffee out of my

Dallas Burnett:

favorite

Dallas Burnett:

Clemson helmet every day.

Dallas Burnett:

That's, uh, that's awesome.

Vince Evans:

Well, and that, That's what we're looking at it as.

Vince Evans:

Dallas.

Vince Evans:

It's, novelty product.

Vince Evans:

You know, it's a novelty product insofar as, it's,

Vince Evans:

your man cave there, where, you know you're there.

Vince Evans:

Some, you got some of your buddies come into the office, they look at it and they

Vince Evans:

say, oh, Dallas, man, what a cool helmet.

Vince Evans:

And then you go and offer 'em a cup of coffee and they're like, whoa.

Vince Evans:

and, and we're selling the product now, we launched this year with, with Ohio State.

Vince Evans:

and, it's selling at the Barnes and Noble on, on Ohio State's campus there.

Vince Evans:

and, so yeah, it's just one of those things.

Vince Evans:

But, if we don't wait to get these opportunities for the dots to connect

Vince Evans:

for us, sometimes we can get ahead of the process and, and I think, when we just

Vince Evans:

wait and, calm down and listen and, be available for other people and serving

Vince Evans:

other people, there's amazing, the results that can come, for your next, next journey

Vince Evans:

walk.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's so important and I, it,

Dallas Burnett:

that's just incredible wisdom.

Dallas Burnett:

You've just laid out a lot of good stuff today and I think that the, the

Dallas Burnett:

temptation that people have, especially in our society, and, the social media

Dallas Burnett:

and all this environment, it's like, You're seeing all these things coming at

Dallas Burnett:

you and all this success You're you're seeing everyone's best day all the time.

Dallas Burnett:

and you know what I mean?

Dallas Burnett:

If you log on social media you see everybody's best day, best

Dallas Burnett:

life all at once, all the time.

Dallas Burnett:

And then you look like it, you look in the mirror and you go, I'm a, I'm a

Dallas Burnett:

total loser if I can't be doing this.

Dallas Burnett:

You know?

Dallas Burnett:

And so I think there's a pressure that comes with that, If you got,

Dallas Burnett:

if you don't go from one success directly to the next success, then

Dallas Burnett:

you're some type of a failure.

Dallas Burnett:

And life is just more of a zigzag pattern.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think to what you're saying there is.

Dallas Burnett:

We all have these experiences where we're building momentum, we're

Dallas Burnett:

growing, and we kind of hit that peak.

Dallas Burnett:

And then it's like, okay, now what's the next thing?

Dallas Burnett:

And, and I love the fact that you say, don't rush.

Dallas Burnett:

Because what you're really seeking in that moment is clarity.

Dallas Burnett:

You're trying to figure out like, what's the next thing?

Dallas Burnett:

And you can't make this big decision without, you know, That's a really

Dallas Burnett:

good decision without having clarity.

Dallas Burnett:

But clarity's not something, you just go, Bing, I have it.

Dallas Burnett:

I mean, it's, it takes time, it takes time to develop.

Dallas Burnett:

You're, you're looking at opportunities, you're mulling things over.

Dallas Burnett:

You're thinking, what, where does my skill align?

Dallas Burnett:

Where does my passion sit?

Dallas Burnett:

you know, where, where, where am I in this stage of my life?

Dallas Burnett:

How much risk can I take on right now?

Dallas Burnett:

these things, what opportunities are in front of me?

Dallas Burnett:

what opportunities, will be in front of me?

Dallas Burnett:

You know?

Dallas Burnett:

And so it just, you can't, if you just make a quick decision, there's so much

Dallas Burnett:

that you might miss out on because you can't, you're just trying to jump to that

Dallas Burnett:

next ring of success when really what you're missing is, Something that may go

Dallas Burnett:

much higher if you just take a minute.

Dallas Burnett:

Take a minute.

Dallas Burnett:

you know?

Dallas Burnett:

So I think that's great encouragement for entrepreneurs, especially for

Dallas Burnett:

business owners, for business leaders, people that's graduating from college.

Dallas Burnett:

Anybody in transition, I think, I take, I think you take Vince's advice

Dallas Burnett:

and just hold off for a second.

Dallas Burnett:

Just think about it.

Dallas Burnett:

take don't be afraid to take a minute, you

Vince Evans:

Don't take a take a minute.

Vince Evans:

Yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

get ahead of the process.

Dallas Burnett:

I love how you said that.

Dallas Burnett:

Don't get ahead of the process.

Dallas Burnett:

Let the process play out.

Dallas Burnett:

You know, I

Vince Evans:

it play out.

Vince Evans:

Let it play out.

Vince Evans:

Yeah.

Vince Evans:

I've been talking to my daughter about this very thing and it's interesting

Vince Evans:

that you would bring up the, the social media platform because she is of that.

Vince Evans:

ilk and that, that age range where, it is, it's an impressionable,

Vince Evans:

thing that, that, in some respects, I think it just captivates,

Vince Evans:

the audience of so many people.

Vince Evans:

and as you said, you know, there, there's so much enticing things out

Vince Evans:

there, having your best life now, that is just not the real life.

Vince Evans:

And so I'm, we've been having some good conversations because she has.

Vince Evans:

sort of hit a brick wall, in her life.

Vince Evans:

And I'm saying this is the opportunity right now, baby, for you to just pause,

Vince Evans:

to look within and just, keep doing what you're doing to develop your best self.

Vince Evans:

and, it'll be clear.

Vince Evans:

And she is such a, she's such a compassionate person

Vince Evans:

for serving other people.

Vince Evans:

I said, you know what, you're gonna, where you at now and where you gonna be,

Vince Evans:

maybe a year from now, two years from now is gonna be two different places.

Vince Evans:

just because you are going through what you're going through now, only to learn

Vince Evans:

where you're gonna end up being, you know?

Dallas Burnett:

That's exactly right.

Dallas Burnett:

Sometimes it's very hard to see that right.

Dallas Burnett:

in that between stage, you're like, it's never gonna get here.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm never gonna get out of this.

Dallas Burnett:

But that's the that's the process, right?

Dallas Burnett:

That is the process, is going through that and, and coming out the other side

Dallas Burnett:

with that endurance and perseverance.

Dallas Burnett:

So I think that's wise, wise advice for your daughters and our listeners too.

Dallas Burnett:

All right.

Dallas Burnett:

Well, we have, um, we have just had the best time today.

Dallas Burnett:

I've really enjoyed our

Vince Evans:

Oh, likewise,

Dallas Burnett:

has been fantastic.

Dallas Burnett:

I have a question for you.

Dallas Burnett:

We always ask our, listeners at the end of the show, if they have

Dallas Burnett:

anybody that they would like to hear be a guest on the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

and so I didn't know if you had someone in mind.

Dallas Burnett:

It can be someone that you know, it can be somebody that you just

Dallas Burnett:

always wanted to hear on a But is there anybody that you would like

Dallas Burnett:

to hear be a guest on the last 10%.

Vince Evans:

Well, right now I've got, I've got emotion, uh, cuz

Vince Evans:

I'm thinking about my daughter and, I just know that her story is

Vince Evans:

gonna be a gir a great story man,

Dallas Burnett:

hmm.

Vince Evans:

because of the process that she's in right now.

Vince Evans:

And she's very articulate.

Vince Evans:

she's very, talented and, I'd like to hear her story, and because I

Vince Evans:

think that she would be able to inspire other people, you know,

Dallas Burnett:

Hmm.

Dallas Burnett:

That's wonderful.

Dallas Burnett:

Well, thank you for sharing that today, Vince and I, I, uh, I know

Dallas Burnett:

your daughter is a wonderful.

Dallas Burnett:

person and , we would like to hear her story too.

Dallas Burnett:

So That's uh, that's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

Thank you for being on the show today, and thank you for sharing your story.

Dallas Burnett:

I think you've been a very.

Dallas Burnett:

Good encouragement to our, our listeners, a great encouragement to our listeners.

Dallas Burnett:

I would like to say, give you an opportunity, if you would, if you would,

Dallas Burnett:

share advice, if you had anything like a, a parting, uh, advice or wisdom for

Dallas Burnett:

anybody that's, uh, an entrepreneur, a leader, a business leader, or a, a coach.

Dallas Burnett:

what would, what encouragement or advice would you, would

Dallas Burnett:

you offer that that community

Vince Evans:

what I would say to that community is that There was

Vince Evans:

a young lady that had a cosmetic product that she was trying to get

Vince Evans:

into the marketplace for many years.

Vince Evans:

She believed in the product, 100%, but every time that she tried to get that

Vince Evans:

product into a major, distribution channel, she was just turned down.

Vince Evans:

She was turned down, and she was turned down for 12 years.

Vince Evans:

She was turned down for 12 years, but yet she did not, lose hope.

Vince Evans:

She did not, she was never discouraged about a product.

Vince Evans:

And so after, or in the 13th year, there was a company, a

Vince Evans:

major company that offered to buy her product for 1.2 billion.

Vince Evans:

Okay.

Vince Evans:

Yes.

Vince Evans:

and the point of this story is that.

Vince Evans:

we all feel like sometimes, is this worth it?

Vince Evans:

is it worth me, continuing another year.

Vince Evans:

I've been going at this for, this many years and seemingly not getting the

Vince Evans:

results that I, you know, had hoped for.

Vince Evans:

But I'm encouraged by her because she didn't give up.

Vince Evans:

She didn't give up in the 10th year, she didn't give up in the 11th year.

Vince Evans:

She didn't, you know, and then the fruits of her labor were rewarded in

Vince Evans:

ways that she probably never dreamed of.

Vince Evans:

And so, you know, I would just encourage, these entrepreneurs, coaches,

Vince Evans:

whoever it might be, to never give up.

Vince Evans:

stay in the moment and just trust the process, man.

Dallas Burnett:

Trust the process.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that is wonderful.

Dallas Burnett:

Words of wisdom and advice I know our listeners appreciate and just,

Dallas Burnett:

it's been a pleasure, having you

Dallas Burnett:

on the show today.

Dallas Burnett:

Vince, thanks again for being on the last

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The Last 10%
Inspiring People, Coaching Teams, and Improving Cultures
Join The Last 10% for incredible conversations that help uncover the secrets of what it takes to finish well and finish strong. Our guests share their journeys, hardships, and valuable advice. We release new episodes every other Tuesday. If you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to level up, you are in the right place!

You can give 90% effort and make it a long way. But it’s the finding out how to unlock the last 10% that makes all the difference in your life, your relationships, and your work.

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Dallas Burnett