Beyond the Checkered Flag with Dr. Jerry Punch

Show Notes: In this episode of More Living with Jim Brogan, host Jim Brogan welcomes Dr. Jerry Punch, a physician and renowned sports broadcaster known for his work with ESPN and ABC covering NASCAR and college football. Dr. Punch shares his remarkable journey from a small North Carolina town to dual careers in medicine and broadcasting, inspired by a beloved local doctor and a passion for racing. He discusses unforgettable moments on pit road and sidelines, leadership lessons from elite coaches, and offers timeless advice: pursue education, find mentors, and pause to appreciate life's moments. Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze Jim Brogan 00:00:02 You're tuned into more Living with Jim Brogan, broadcast live from the Brogan Financial studios at Newstalk 9087, where old fashioned values, expert knowledge and genuine understanding come together to give you the retirement straight talk you deserve. Jim's a former National Advisor of the year recipient and a financial educator, and he's here today to talk about how you can live out the best years of your life. Jim and the Brogan financial team have been helping retirees and retirees across the southeast for over 20 years in their pursuit of financial independence. You can reach them during the week at 865862 6800. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn because More living with Jim Brogan starts now. Speaker 2 00:00:46 Hello, East Tennessee, and welcome to More Living with Jim Brogan, where it's all about living the best years of your life your way. And you know, as you listen to us here on Newstalk 987 Wookey we in the 20 years on the radio, the one of the things I've really learned is how much we can learn from the lives and stories of others. Speaker 2 00:01:08 They really can inform and inspire us. And today we welcome a very special guest, doctor Jerry punch. many know doctor Jerry punch is one of the most trusted and recognizable voices in sports broadcasting, especially from his years covering NASCAR, college football, and other major sporting events for both ESPN and ABC. his story, however, does go far beyond the broadcast booth. Doctor punch is also a physician whose life has taken him from the emergency room to pit road, from caring to patients, to covering some of the most unforgettable moments in sports history. And so today's show, I'm on to talk with doctor Jerry about medicine, about motor sports media, and the lessons learned from a remarkable career that he has spent helping people, telling stories and living life at full speed. Good morning, doctor Jerry. Welcome to More Living. It's great to have you back with us. Jerry Punch 00:02:05 Hey, it's great to be be here, Jim, thank you so much. Thank you for the kind introduction. Speaker 2 00:02:10 Absolutely. You built a remarkable career. Speaker 2 00:02:13 Well, careers really, both medicine and broadcasting. And for those that don't know a lot about you, your background, doctor Jerry, what first inspired you to do these two paths parallel to each other? How did that come about? Jerry Punch 00:02:29 Well, it's funny, I grew up in a in a small, small town in western North Carolina, and there really was only one general practitioner physician in that town, and Doctor Sinnett. And he had a small he had a house, you know, with a white picket fence on the corner and near downtown Newton, North Carolina. And people would go in and sit, you know, in his on his porch or, you know, that his waiting room or in the living room and, and he would see people. And I remember when I was, just a child, he. He would come. He made house calls. He'd come out at night when I had croup. One time I was running a fever and had croup. He came out and put me in a tepid water tub on the back porch in the wintertime. Jerry Punch 00:03:09 And I went to break my fever. And I always thought, you know, you know, everybody in town loved this guy. You know, he was the original Marcus Welby kind of guy. But everybody loved him because he just cared so much. And, you know, and it wasn't about the fact that he made a lot of money. It's the fact that he was so respected and so appreciated by the community. And he gave back. He was always, I don't know how much time he ever had with his family, but he was always seeing patients or making calls coming to people's homes. And I said, boy, wouldn't it be great to be someone like that. And that was really a role model. In fact, I told that I told that story when I did a feature for one of the networks a few years ago about my interest in medicine, and about two months later, I heard from a a relative of his, a grandson of his who's living outside of Charlotte and said, we heard your story and it all made us tear up thinking about my grandpa and how much of a difference he made in your life and others. Jerry Punch 00:04:06 And so thank you for telling people about him. But that's really, really where the the medicine part started. And sports have always loved. And I grew up in, in that same town and we had a driver there, a NASCAR champion I named Bobby Isaac. We called him Uncle Bobby. He really wasn't my uncle. He was related to one of our dear friends in the community. And so I would I would go with my friend and we would go to the track, and Bobby would get us the NASCAR credentials, and we'd go watch him race. And he was sensational. so then we started. And so that was that was part of the big time racing. But my grandfather, my grandfather was a gate guard at a local short track, Hickory Speedway. And the reason he became a gate guard is because the guy who who was a promoter of the track, He hired the local local deacons of the churches in the area to to work on Saturday afternoon Saturday night, and he and he would not only pay them, but he would donate money to the church funds. Jerry Punch 00:05:08 And so and he also knew that these people worked for the local churches, weren't going to steal from and weren't going to slip people in the gate without paying that they were going to be honest and they were going to be, you know, have character and integrity, going to be treating people the way they should be. So my grandfather would, would have had to turn for gate, the biggest gate. My grandfather was a big guy, and my grandmother and I would sit on the upper steps of the concrete there every Saturday night and watch, watch these guys race. Some guy named Ralph Earnhardt would be racing, and all the local guys in jalopy would be racing. And and in the early years, you know, the junior Johnsons of the world. And so and then, and also the other the other part was most of these times, most of the time that he would hire the women of the churches in the area would run the two concession stands there, so everything they made, the concession stand was homemade. Jerry Punch 00:06:00 So if you wanted a good place to eat, you just came to the racetrack and went there and everything you bought at the concession stand, not many places you could go and buy, buy Salisbury steak or meatloaf, you know, at a at a racetrack concession stand. But it was all it was all homemade and delicious. and so yeah, that was my so the racing started there. And then I grew up and I started working on race cars, in the community as a teenager and in barns and local garages behind people's houses when I was a kid. and then that sort of then my involvement just continued to blossom from there on. Speaker 2 00:06:35 Those are great stories. I really like the impact of the doctor role model and hearing about that. It's just it still is so interesting hearing about these parallel paths. Now, in terms of your broadcasting that was born out of in high school, is that right? Jerry Punch 00:06:52 Well, it was a little bit. It was a little bit. There was a radio station in high school that I would go by intermittently. Jerry Punch 00:06:59 But the real, the real broadcasting thing, because when I, when I, you know, I ran local, some local short tracks, driving a hobby stock class and then a limited sportsman class and a bunch of us, you know, we're really good friends. You know, Dale Earnhardt would come there and race some and, and all the local guys that I got to know so well. I worked for Tommy Houston for a while, and Harry Gant, some of those guys that were there, were local short track legends in the Carolinas, and they would come run Kingsport. They'd run, you know, Lonesome Pine Speedway, they'd run Asheville and Asheboro and Hickory. That was sort of a little circuit. Everyone ran sometimes South Boston, Virginia. But I would, And then when I went to college, I couldn't really race much. and then I went to medical school at Wake Forest, which is about an hour from Hickory and in Wake Forest. The irony is, is this is I think this is back in the mid 70s. Jerry Punch 00:07:53 And Wake Forest University said there's a growing trend of of mental illness among the stress stress of physicians, especially physicians and training. There's so much stress on you, so many hours. You don't get sleep, you don't eat well. and so we want to mandate that every week, every medical student takes a few hours off, preferably like on a Saturday afternoon. You're not in lab. You're not in a library, you're not in on the classroom studying. So those few hours off, I said, well, you know what? I can't race anymore. But. So the local promoter at Hickory Speedway was a dear friend of mine. His name was Ned Jarrett. And Ned, said, well, why don't you come up here, you can sit in the tower, beside me and and Ned, Ned on the track. and everyone loved it. And he worked every Saturday night as the announcer there on top of the being the promoter. And on Sunday mornings, he would leave and go wherever the Cup race was. Jerry Punch 00:08:49 Back then it was called Grand National Racing, and he would do radio for Universal Racing Network or Motor Racing Network. But anyway, so I was sitting up there in a booth beside Ned, and I ran the scoreboard, and did all the electronics. And because my major in college was math and chemistry. So I loved the, you know, the numbers was a good thing with me. I could do scoring. And and beside me were two NASCAR officials that ran the ran the event. So there was four of us in the tower one night. Ned had to be in Darlington on a Saturday night and to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. And he had hired. He knew it was a special ladies night. It was going to be a packed house, you know, standing room only crowd. So he hired one of his buddies from the motor Racing Network, the legendary Barney Hall, who lived in Elkin, North Carolina, to come down and be the announcer for this big night. And so, and and so I get there an hour and alone with the two NASCAR officials, and there's no announcer. Jerry Punch 00:09:40 And the place is packed, and we need to start the program. And Ned's youngest son, Dale Jarrett, comes running up the steps. And Dale was only a few years younger than me. and he back then he was really shy. I imagine that day was one of the best broadcasters now in motorsports. But back then he was really shy and he comes running up in the air and he said, I guess there's a mix up, but there's no announcer here. Barney didn't show, so he said, Jerry, you got to do it. You sit beside that every Saturday night. You know what he says and how he does it and how he runs the programs and blah, blah, blah. He said, you got to. So basically, out of necessity, there was no choice. And so I picked up the microphone and I did the show that night. and now, you know, two, four hours away in Darlington, South Carolina. Ned walks into the room that night for the Hall of Fame event, to sit down at the head table to be inducted. Jerry Punch 00:10:30 Looks up and there's Barney Hall, emcee in the event, and he says, oh my gosh, we're in trouble because the guy is supposed to be at Hickory. And Barney had gotten the dates mixed up. Well, anyway, man gets back the next day. Hickory, early next week. And he gets, I guess he gets good feedback from the people in the crowd and people that were at the event and said, hey, this kid did a great job. And Ned says, hey, why am I killing my voice on a Saturday night every week? And then I have to go do broadcasting on Sunday, when I could be sharing this with you. So from now on, you and I are going to share the mic. and, and then Ned, Ned, you know, he said okay. And then he talked to Motor Racing Network and he said, I got a I got a young man who's who knows the sport. He built race cars, he built engines. He, he built, you know, he, he worked in garages and barns, welding frames and cars together and raced the short tracks. Jerry Punch 00:11:21 And you know, a lot of these guys here racing are his buddies. You know, he needs to be on pit road with me. So I started as a runner for Ned, and then next thing you know, I'm also doing the pits for with Ned. so here's a guy who was one of my heroes growing up. And the irony is, is that when I was a kid growing up in Newton and loved racing, there was no racing on television, very little, maybe a few minutes every now and then on Wide World of Sports. But most of it was on radio, And so my family would sit home after church on Sundays, and we'd go on the back porch with a radio and sit and listen to the races, and that's. But. And so I heard Ned racing back then, and I got to hear him, but he was one of my heroes when he suddenly, not only had I met my hero who runs the local track, I'm sitting beside him and I'm working with him, and he becomes, you know, almost like a second father to me. Jerry Punch 00:12:12 So, Yeah, that's how I started. Ned. Ned was so instrumental. and they were weekends. I couldn't get away when I started doing medical rotations at Wake Forest. My commitment was, and funny. The funniest part is that back then, they had little bitty pocket transistor radios. We didn't have the really high tech stuff we had today, and I had a wire run up through my white coat with an earpiece in my ear and a radio in my pocket, and I'm walking around the medical center, you know, making rounds on weekends. And and all these attendings thought I was listening to to medical programs and trying to learn on top of and in reality, I was listening to the race. That's it. So, Yeah, it's it's, But Ned was special in so many ways. And that's really how the how the broadcasting thing. Thing started in radio. Speaker 2 00:12:59 Well that's interesting. So many careers, mine included. I mean, my undergraduate degree was music education. And here I am in the world of finance. Speaker 2 00:13:08 And that's a long story, too. But, I just it's amazing how God directs our paths. What would you say for young people today, doctor Jerry punch that are trying to choose a career path? What advice would you give them about pursuing multiple passions? Jerry Punch 00:13:26 Well, I think diversity is so important in terms of what you want to do in life. I mean, and I think that sometimes you don't choose a path, sometimes many times the path chooses you. And and I think that, you know, it's it's you. You have to be open minded. And, my mom, my mother always, always said to me, you know, if when you decide what you want to do and where you want to do it and and it's the key ingredient to help you would be your education. And, and so I'll get as much education as you can get. And she always likened it because I was a little boy who loved to eat and still do. But she said, it's like you're going to a buffet. Jerry Punch 00:14:11 You eat, eat and, you know, eat what you want to eat and, and and absorb it as much as you can, you know, without overeating. But that's why that education is when people when teachers come into classroom and want to teach, coaches come in a gym or a weight room and want to teach you, you absorb it all. You'd be a sponge and so, you know, get as much, you know, and we we, my mom and dad each worked two jobs in a small town, to make ends meet. And my, my dad worked in a furniture plant and and and my. And then he worked at night and little shed up behind our house, Real plastering and building furniture for people in the community. They love my dad because he was. He was quite a craftsman and doing that. My mom worked at the and she ran the elementary school cafeteria. Miss Betty, Miss Betty Jo and everybody, all the kids loved her. They would come through the lunch line every day and hug her. Jerry Punch 00:15:01 And then she. And in the evening, she worked. you know, she did other things, helping cook and cater in the community. So they each worked really hard. And I saw that. I saw firsthand how hard my parents worked. And I said to myself, my mom's telling me, you know, to get as much education and I get my my mom said, go out and borrow money if you have to, you know, whatever to get, to get your education because no one can ever repossess your education. So that's important if you want to choose or choose a route. you know, and also look around you and find role models. Speaker 4 00:15:36 Find people that. Jerry Punch 00:15:37 Find people that are, that, that have that have worked from nothing to be, you know, to do, you know. And I've made it. My dad, my dad, my dad didn't have a lot of formal education, but he told me, he said, when you have to make those really serious decisions in life, he says, sit down and think about someone you respect. Jerry Punch 00:15:57 You may not even know him that well. Someone you respect, someone you appreciate, someone that's been there and been successful because they have a strong work ethic and a strong ethic. And then see what you can do, see if you can get with them and have a cup of coffee or lunch and then ask them a question or two and then shut up and listen. So when I moved to Knoxville and I, and I, I was thinking, you know, do I, you know, I had some decisions to make with regard I still still doing some medical stuff. I'd sold the er group that I was a part of, and I'm working for ESPN and ABC and I wasn't sure if I was going to, you know, they were getting out of motorsports and I had I was blessed to have offers from the top people at Fox and top people at NBC called me And I really didn't know what to do. And I thought, well, maybe I just got out of broadcasting altogether. And I love sports. Jerry Punch 00:16:47 Maybe I get into some kind of athletic, you know, situation because I had a a university in North Carolina call me about possibly one and one. And if I put my name in as an athletic director, because I've been around sports all these years in travel and spoken and done, and I knew, quite a bit about athletics and having been an athlete in school, in college. So my dad's advice was, he said, find somebody that can give you great advice. Find the smartest man you know, invite him a lunch and then ask him questions and shut up and listen. So I called Jim Haslam in Knoxville, Big Jim Haslam, and I asked him kindly because I met him when I'd come to speak at a few events at the convention center, and he couldn't have been nicer. And he said, absolutely, doc, we'll go have lunch. So he met me at Cherokee. We said at his table we had lunch and, and, and I just asked him a couple of questions, and I just sat and listened to his wisdom and his advice. Jerry Punch 00:17:41 so I was fortunate that I had someone that was kind enough. And, you know, his story was is one of hard work and dedication. And obviously, he's been incredibly, incredibly successful with him and his family. So, if you if you're going to choose a path, find someone that's been there and done that, you know, keep an open mind. But take. Take advice, listen to advice, get as much education as you can get. because all of that will help you help, help you choose a path and more importantly, help a path. Choose you. Speaker 2 00:18:13 Yeah, those are great words I have always wanted to search out. Hey, who is where, who is done, what I want to do and go listen to them, ask them questions. And I think young people would be surprised at how receptive other professionals are that have that have achieved what you want to achieve, how receptive they are to having those conversations. We're visiting with doctor Jerry punch. When we come back, we'll talk about some of the real special stories over the years, some of the unique experiences that he's had both on pit road and also on college sidelines. Speaker 2 00:18:44 So stay with us. This is more living with Jim Brogan here on Newstalk 987. Jim Brogan 00:18:51 Welcome back to Newstalk 98. Seven's Brogan Financial Studios or Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan. Speaker 5 00:19:06 Welcome back to the warm. Speaker 2 00:19:08 Welcome back to More Living Here on Newstalk 987. Wookey, we're with you every Saturday from 9 to 10 a.m. and again from 3 to 4 p.m. and we're visiting this morning with doctor Jerry punch. What a just fascinating story and things we can learn from visiting with doctor Jerry. And, Doctor Punch. You've witnessed some very unique things. probably covered some of the most dramatic moments in NASCAR history. Or is there any race or event that really stands out to you as the most unforgettable. Jerry Punch 00:19:41 Well, I mean, there's there's so many. Every week, as you said, I was blessed to go to the racetrack and go to these college football contests and do the major rivalry games over the years, every major rivalry in college football, I actually did live at least once, and I, I, I don't know, I learned so much. Jerry Punch 00:20:02 The best part about doing those games wasn't going on television or wasn't the best part was developing is meeting the players and getting to visit with them at practice and then meeting the coaches. And so you become friends with coaches and coaches. What had my cell number? And I've kept my same cell number I had many, many years ago because those coaches and friends have it, and if they're on vacation or they're coming through Knoxville, they'll call or, or coaches would just simply call me for a question. And the interesting part is some of them, knowing that I was physician and I got to be so close to the medical staff at these schools that, that they'd call me, ask my opinion. you know, I think it's I think it's okay now to mention that, you know, you know, as you, you grow closer to coaches and their assistance and then, you know, the players. I had a situation where the University of Nebraska had a had a Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, and I had done 2 or 3 Nebraska games, and coach Tom Osborne had become a friend and and and so, so did some of his assistant coaches and one assistant he had that had recruited. Jerry Punch 00:21:10 This young man was named Kevin Steele, who actually played at Tennessee. And so, the quarterback had a medical problem. the mom was living in Bradenton, Florida. They called me and said, doctor Punch, would you help us? Because she knows you from television. She knows you're a doctor and you come across, you know, with, with, you know, credible and honest and said, if we can put you on the phone with her and Coach Osborne and me and let's discuss. Tell her what's going on with her son and tell her what we're going to try to do. And I wasn't. You know, I said, well, we got to be honest. I said, if we're going to talk to the mom. I said, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we got. And so I got all the information I got on the phone and with the mom and tried to make her understand that what was going on and, and, and, you know, trying to help out, you know, which which is wonderful. Jerry Punch 00:21:57 I mean, I remember one night I was doing a, I was doing a, an Auburn at Florida football game, and there was a running back at Auburn named Carnell Cadillac Williams. And he was a great running back and and early right before about five minutes before halftime, he ran a sweep and got hit from the side and came and couldn't put weight on his lower leg. And he came to the sidelines and, and they took him in the locker room and did an X-ray. I'm standing there on the sidelines, and one of the doctors, the doctors for Auburn, Alabama, were where Jimmy Andrews, the orthopedic surgeon, and Larry Lemak. They were the two. Two great ortho orthopedics that did suffer Alabama and Auburn. Larry was there that day, so he comes out of the lock out of the locker room. And I'm it's about a minute and a half, two minutes before halftime. And he walks over to me and he says, hey, he said, can I. Can I borrow you a second? And I said, sure. Jerry Punch 00:22:53 And I walked over with him and we walked in the edge of the tunnel, and he had these X-rays, and he's playing these very crude X-rays that they had there in the stadium at Florida. And he said, there's no view box where I can really see these in the in the locker room really very well. And he said, you E.R. doctors are accustomed to looking at these things. Looking at these things are flashlights. How about taking a look and tell me what you see? And so he had already looked at the X-ray and quite honestly. So I'm, I'm in the tunnel with the with the ESPN microphone in my pocket. And we're holding this thing up to a light bulb. And I see that he's got a spiral fracture of the fibula, the non weight bearing bone in the lower leg. And so I said that's what I see. So yep that's what I see too. I wanted to make sure he said hey can you not say anything for a few minutes until I can tell coach? Coach Tuberville, who was the head coach at Auburn at that time, and I said, sure, no problem. Jerry Punch 00:23:43 So I walked back out to the sidelines. What halftime happens. They start to run off, and I and I stopped to interview Tuberville and just ask him a couple of generic questions and then asked to do the interview. He's walk. He walks over toward me again and says, hey, have you said anything? about about our running back. I said, you mean, you know Cadillac? He said. I said, I have not. He said, you know what's going on with him? I said, yeah. He said, how do you know? I said, because I read the X-ray. And he laughed. He said, well, do me a favor and don't give a report until we can reach his mom and let her know, because she saw him go down and us help him off. And so anyway, second half comes out, they come out of the locker room and, and and Cadillac and the and the coach comes over to me. Tuberville comes over and said, okay, we talk to the mom. Jerry Punch 00:24:27 She's scared. She's petrified, but she knows what's going on. Thanks for holding up and giving a report, he said, when are you going to tell it? I said. Right after the kickoff. I'm going to go down to the end zone because you have time after kickoff and I'm going to I'm going to give a report. So he said, okay, great. Well, then the doctor comes over to me that the team doctor for Auburn says the mom is petrified. She is so afraid that her son is. Not only is he hurt and he has a broken leg, but that may impact the rest of his college career and he may never be able to play pro ball again. And I told him, I said, you tell mom to watch television in the next five minutes after kickoff, I'm going to do a report and she needs to watch it. And so I get on the end zone and they kick it off. They come to me and I knew where the fracture was, and I knew it was minimal and a little, little hairline fracture of the fibula. Jerry Punch 00:25:13 And so I kneeled down and took a Sharpie, pulled my sock down, pulled my pant leg up, and I drew a little line on the outside of my leg. I said, here's what Cadillac Williams got, folks. He's got a little hairline non displaced fracture of the non weight bearing bone in the lower leg. He's not going to play today. He's done. It'll heal but it's going to heal from not going to impact his career. It should not impact the rest of his college career. Once his heels, and should not have any impact on whether he plays and has has a rewarding career in the NFL. So, so, you know, he's he's done for the night, but and it could have been a lot worse. Fortunately it's not. And so the guys up in the booth, Ron Franklin and Mike Gottfried are saying okay thanks, doc. Well, what a great report. Because they knew they had no idea that I had seen the X-ray. And I didn't tell anybody. Nobody, nobody's business at that time because I was just doing a favor of sure for an orthopedic guy. Jerry Punch 00:26:04 So as I'm walking back to the Auburn sidelines, here comes the team doctor jogging toward me. And, and and I thought something was wrong. And he stops right in front of me, and I said, I'm about the 20 yard line. He hands me his cell phone. He says, listen to this. And he said, it's his mom. And I said, hello. She says, Doctor Punch, thank you so much. I feel so much better. Thank you. My boy is going to be okay. I said, well, you're very welcome, ma'am. You're very, very welcome. So people even today had no idea why I did the report the way I did it. But I wanted her to know that he was going to be okay and she didn't have to worry. But so the relationship you have, you can't do that really today because there's a lot of things that would intervene or interfere. Somebody would be all over you about HIPAA or this or that and the other. Jerry Punch 00:26:52 but back then, in those days, you did what you did to try to help people and to make a difference. And people didn't realize why you were doing it. I didn't realize my involvement in that. But that's why I did what I did on the sidelines. And obviously I intervened a lot more times as a broadcaster at the racetrack, as a physician slash broadcaster, when I was at the racetrack as well. Speaker 2 00:27:13 That's doctor Jerry punch. When we come back, I want to talk about life lessons, leadership and legacy and what we can learn from his many, many experiences. So stay with us. This is more living with Jim Brogan here on Newstalk 987 W. Jim Brogan 00:27:29 Welcome back to Newstalk 98 Seven's Brogan Financial Studios, where Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan. Speaker 2 00:27:44 This is more living with Jim Brogan where it's all about living the best years of your life your way. Speaker 2 00:27:50 Today we're talking about life leaders, leadership, legacy, life lessons. What can we learn from the remarkable experiences of Doctor Gerry Punch, who is a physician, was in retirement, excuse me, emergency medicine for so many years. And then also, with parallel tracking, brought sports broadcasting very, very ingrained in the NASCAR culture, but also college sports, especially football. And, as we kind of move along here, doctor Gerry, I do want to ask you about the Indy 500. You know, I've never been to an Indy car race. I've been to a couple of NASCAR races. talk about that experience of the Indy 500. Because I'm trying to decide, I feel like that needs to be on my bucket list. Jerry Punch 00:28:41 Well, I can I can tell you that that race. That event needs to be on everyone's bucket list. And I'm from from. From the early announcers. From the from the from the Brent Musburger to the to the, you know, to the Chris Mackey's to Keith Jackson, all those guys that I worked with over the years. Jerry Punch 00:28:59 Jim Simpson, I mean, all those people at ABC sports will tell you that you don't have to be a motorsports fan. You don't even have to be a sports fan, but you owe it to yourself at some time in your life to to go and just see that. What? That it's the largest single day sporting event in the world. There is nothing, that compares. You know, I grew up going to Daytona. Daytona 500. Darlington. Charlotte, you know, you name it. Texas. But. But in Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And I started doing the race. The first race that I saw at Indianapolis. The first race I actually saw in person was 1989, because I had listened on the radio and watched a little bit on television. But the first race I saw live, I was actually broadcasting for ABC. So you talk about intimidating, but you walk into that place, you know, and it's 350,000 people plus in one place. And one day, they do a remarkable job. Jerry Punch 00:29:59 Yet it's traffic. But they do a great job getting people in and getting people out. It is a a you look everywhere and there's just a a wall of people in the grandstands. They'll get on the front straightaway. And it's just like this ribbon of asphalt with these tidal waves of grandstands on both sides full of people. And, and it's, it's it it's emotional and sensory overload. I remember standing there, you know, and I did 28,500 live. I think I still hold the record by about six by 28,500 live on ABC starting 1989. And I remember I would always get the opportunity to interview the celebrity, the grand marshal or whatever during the right before the green flag and legends and sports and broadcasting presidents, vice presidents, you name it. But but one year I had we had Joe Montana there who had just won the MVP, the Super Bowl against, I think, for the third time. And so we're in a commercial right before we're coming back and they're on the pace lap. And I look over and it's an overcast day in May in Indianapolis which is typical. Jerry Punch 00:31:01 It looks like it's going to rain, but it was a little breezy and overcast and and he's standing there and his his arms are quivering and shaking. And I said, Joe, I've got a I've got a rain jacket here and ABC Jack Oliver if he won't, if you're cold. He looked at me and said, doc, he said, this is not this is not temperature. He said, I'm shivering just from pure emotion. He said, Holy cow, look at this. So I look down the straightaway and there's there's people everywhere, he said. You realize I played in five Super Bowls and there's more people here right now than in all five Super Bowls combined, he said. Over 300,000 people. And he said, this is unbelievable. This is absolutely unbelievable. And he said, so it was pure emotion. Here's a Super Bowl MVP that's shaking from the emotion of of what he's seeing. It is absolutely amazing. Cars coming by you at 240 miles an hour. The legends in sports I mean that race is a day you can be nothing. Jerry Punch 00:31:58 You can be you can literally not have made anything. And then you go there and you win that race. I had a young driver who had raced a few races in Formula One and, and he had a, his dad had quite a bit of money in California and bought him an opportunity to race for him with the one he went over there and raised 3 or 4 races. He didn't do very well, could barely get get in the race, much less pass anybody. And so they came back and he was out of money. He had a little bit of money. So they came to me the week of the opening week of May and the dad said, hey, my son's got, we bought, we had enough money. You have to get him in one of the Andretti cars here for the for the Indy 500. But after this we're done and I have a little bit of money left because you helped me get the NASCAR and I told him, he said, he said, he said, he said, I know Jack. Jerry Punch 00:32:41 Jack Roush has some cars that run in what was then called the Busch Series or the or the. And I said, sure, I'll call. I'll call Jack and set up a meeting you guys can meet. I think with what you've got left, you can get him in for half or almost a whole season in NASCAR compared to what you're paying here for the month of May, he said. Oh my gosh, if I don't do something like that, I don't think I think his racing career is over. And the kid was, I mean, really young. Well, guess what? Things happened. And that kid won the Indy 500 that day. And the rest of his rest of his story, you know, is, you know, is history. So I'm in victory lane. And the dad looks at me and said, you might want to go ahead and cancel the appointment with Mr. Roush. I think we're going to be okay here. Speaker 4 00:33:20 So that's great. Jerry Punch 00:33:21 So It's a day that can change your life forever. Jerry Punch 00:33:26 you know, in the meeting, people that come there being a part of that program. I rode in a car with Muhammad Ali a couple of times. I've ridden with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I've interviewed in countless. And people get to know you and, David Letterman and I got to be friends, and. And David would come down. I didn't even see he come and tap me on the shoulder. And we'd be talking and and visiting and hanging and just all the people you get to know up there, because of what you do. And, you know, it's it was it's pretty doggone special. But I encourage you, if you've never been to Indy, you don't have to really get get by a seat, sit in the stands if you want to get there early, because and and just watch what happens. Speaker 4 00:34:10 As you get on the. Jerry Punch 00:34:10 Straightaway. The pre-race. Yeah. The pre-race. The back home again in Indiana. It's amazingly patriotic. It is Memorial Day. They pay tribute to all the men and women and their families who sacrificed for our freedoms, because we all know that freedom is not free, and that and that pay the ultimate price for sacrifice. Jerry Punch 00:34:27 So much of their lives and themselves to be able to to defend peace around the world and for us. So it's it's special. The military bands, the tributes, the taps, the back home again, the national anthem. I remember, you know, I used to love it when Jim Nabors sang Back Home Again in Indiana. You know, Gomer Pyle. and Jim, Jim Nabors would do that because he had an incredible voice. And then every every year on Saturday there was a huge on the on Friday there was a huge fashion show downtown that at the convention center where all the drivers would be in it with their wives. And, and it was also the day when they. So we're, we're at the track and the carb day is over, and they got a big bus surrounded by police cars to escort the drivers and, and the three broadcasters down to the convention center so we can change and put our tuxedos on. And our wives are down there already dressed and and, you know, you know, in the big gowns. Jerry Punch 00:35:20 And we walk out on the fashion show and people. It's sold out. People. It's for raising money for local charities. So we get down there and here's all the drivers in the Indy 500. Jim Nabors and some other celebrities are there, myself and Paul Paige and and and Bobby Unser. That's on our board. Danny Sullivan's on our broadcast team. And we walk in to this big dressing room to get ready, and nobody has pants. We've all got shirts, jackets and our bow tie, but there's no pants for our tuxedos. They've got to put them in the bags. So we're all sitting there, sitting there at this big table, and different drivers are laughing, saying, what if we can't walk out on the runway with our wives without pants on first? It wouldn't bother any of them or any of us, but it probably wouldn't be a good look for the Indy 500 to have 33 drivers strolling out with panelists, you know, in front of a convention center full of people. So they so the pant that was panic in this in this place. Jerry Punch 00:36:11 And they were they were running back to find the pants. They had them all. They just didn't make it in the bags. So we had to sit there and delay for like an hour. So I'm sitting at a table with 3 or 4 drivers and Jim Nabors, and we all got our shirts on in our jackets and just no pants. So we decided I grew up watching Andy Griffith and Gomer Pyle, those shows. You know, when I was a kid growing up, The Andy Griffith Show and with, you know, with, with Don Knotts and Jim Nabors etc. and then Gomer Pyle. So we're sitting at this table doing Andy Griffith trivia. Do it playing the Andy Griffith trivia game, just, you know, asking questions and answering with Jim Nabors. How cool is that. That's amazing. He's looking at me. He said, doc, how do you know all this stuff? I said, man, I grew up watching it. I'm watching that show. He said, how'd you did you not go to school when you were a kid? I said, I went to school, but I come home and be on the afternoon, and I watched that show. Jerry Punch 00:37:00 But just things that things that just happen in life, it just that you just wouldn't believe occur the way they occur. Speaker 2 00:37:07 Doctor. Jerry, before we get just briefly before we get to our last break, you spent decades in your life around elite athletes, coaches, team leaders, just all kinds of a fascinating but also very successful people in your view. Doctor punch, what separates those who achieve long term success from those who do not? Jerry Punch 00:37:30 a lot of it is, you know, I I've been around a lot of coaches, some coaches who like to yell and scream and intimidate and and others who didn't. And I never thought that threat and intimidation was a leadership style. The leaders I saw who did so well, the the, the Bobby Mountains of the world, that I was around in Lavell Edwards at BYU. you know, you know, all these guys over the years, Nebraska, Penn State, the guys who were really successful in coaching. they led by example, and they and, you know, Joe Gibbs was one of my one of my neighbors. Jerry Punch 00:38:13 And I lived in the Carolinas. And Joe, you know, won three Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins. And Joe led. LED by example. And he didn't micromanage. He hired good coaches and let him coach. Now he was the head coach with the buck stops with him. But most of those guys said, I trust my coaches and I'm going to lead by example. And and if you if your players know how much you care, you know, they'll say, no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. the players need to know how much you care, how much you're invested. Tom Osborne at Nebraska, how much he was invested in those players. He's on the phone with one player, his mom. Now, how about he cared about everybody and he was involved with that. and so, that, you know, I think the important part of, of life is these coaches that I know, the Bobby Bones at Joe Paterno's over the years, the Joe Gibbs is et cetera that I you know, those people really, really. Jerry Punch 00:39:09 They lived. They lived it and they and they were honest with their players, you know, and I got I was I be in the locker room. Because of my friendship with so many coaches, they let me be in the locker room at halftime. I'd hand the microphone off so it wasn't. There were no microphones in there, but with an ESPN mic. But I was staying on the wall. All back in there. I'd go back in with the doctors, but I would listen to so many halftime speeches and, and, and I saw teams that were heavily favored, ranked number one in the nation who were behind at halftime, and the coach would get in there. I remember Bobby Bowden stood up on it, was in a visitor's locker room, and he took a bunch of bags of laundry and piled them up so he could climb up on top of these bags of laundry and stand where everybody could see him. And he delivered a message. you know, I saw coaches do that. You know, Lou Holtz, you name it, that delivered. Jerry Punch 00:40:00 And what they said and how they said it, those were different difference makers. And you know, that coach isn't going to make a tackle. He isn't going to isn't going to score a touchdown. But he's going to make you believe enough in yourself. And that's the key. Not only do you believe in them? Do you want to help them believe in themselves and help them believe how important it is to be to be a part of something bigger? And and you know, the Lou Holtz thing, not everyone can be first team, but everyone can put the team first. and I heard that time and time again, and those players have come roaring out of the locker room and find a way to win. Find a way to claw back from three touchdowns or four or whatever. And, and and that's what you do. And you know, it's funny part I got to coach middle school football for a couple of years in Knoxville, Tennessee. And every every day before practice and every day at the end of practice, I would talk to our team and a lot of the parents would gather around and listen. Jerry Punch 00:40:55 But they wonder, why are you doing this? Because it was my opportunity to share some of the things I had heard and and we were blessed. We went on we didn't lose the game the whole year. And, and so, you know, but it wasn't because of coaching. It was because of kids that, that, that wanted to play for each other and wanted to believe in themselves. We had 15 players and we won every game, including the championship game. And those same 15 players went on to a local high school and won a state championship. and and in, in for a, for a five a football. And it's funny and I see those kids today that have been out of college and in business. Some are very successful, some are car dealers in town, some are lawyers and business people. They still call me coach and I. That's the most proud moment I can have. Not someone call me doctor, but someone call me coach because of maybe the impact I had on them when they were younger. Speaker 2 00:41:47 That's a great, great word. We've got one final break. When we come back, I want to ask doctor Jerry punch, what is the legacy he wants to leave behind and what he wants people to remember. So stay with us. This is Moore living here on Newstalk 987 Woking. Jim Brogan 00:42:02 Welcome back to Newstalk 98. Seven's Brogan Financial Studios or Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan. Speaker 2 00:42:17 Thank you for tuning in this week, doctor Jerry punch. We're about out of time. I've only got about 30s. So instead of asking you a big, big, powerful question like what legacy do you want to leave behind? Let me ask this question. If you could sit down with your younger self and offer one piece of advice, what would it be? Jerry Punch 00:42:36 Maybe take a minute and pause and enjoy the moment. sometimes I think I was too focused on trying to do something tomorrow or the next day that I didn't enjoy what was happening today. Jerry Punch 00:42:48 Enjoy every moment. Inhale it. And hopefully by doing that, you can make even a bigger difference, with the people and for the people that are around you. Speaker 2 00:42:58 That's a great word. I'm 56 years old, and certainly as I have age, that has become, a more and more important consideration. Doctor Jerry punch. It's so great having you on. I wanted to I was hoping we would be able to get into time to talk about what you're doing with medical research. Maybe we can have you back another time for that. Jerry Punch 00:43:18 I'd love to. There's some incredible things happening, and I'm blessed to be a part of it again with the doctor Smith and Amr Clinical in Knoxville. We're doing clinical trials, new antibiotics, new drugs, new treatments, Alzheimer's, you name it. And it's pretty cool. All those years trying to save people's lives, keeping them alive for the next 20s in the E.R.. And now my job is to try to keep people alive for the next 20 years by developing new drugs through working with some really, really smart physicians. Jerry Punch 00:43:44 And I'm blessed to do that. Speaker 2 00:43:46 Well, we'll have you on sometime in the coming months, and we'll talk about all the great things you all are doing over there. So thank you so much, doctor Jerry punch. You've been generous with your time. It was just a real pleasure having you on the air with us to share many of your stories, and some of the wisdom you've learned over those those stories. Jerry Punch 00:44:02 Well, Jim, thank you so much for having me. It's always a pleasure to get on with the financial experts, but be able to talk a little bit about life. Speaker 2 00:44:09 Absolutely. That's doctor Jerry Punch, physician and also sportscaster. Just just unbelievable. The experiences. I could listen to him just talk all day long. We could talk about. He could probably tell experiences that would just. We just sit there and listen for hours at a time. Today we've discussed life lessons and leadership and legacy because a greater life provides for more living. So you can live the best years of your life your way. Speaker 2 00:44:35 Many thanks to Wayne for engineering the show and to Mary Caroline for helping to produce the show. Have a great weekend! This is more Living with Jim Brogan right here on Newstalk 987. Speaker 6 00:44:46 The views expressed by Jim Brogan and his guests are not that of Cumulus Media. Any discussion of financial, legal and tax planning strategies is not intended to be individualized advice and is general in nature. Always consult with your advisor for advice specific to your needs. This program's content does not represent a recommendation of any particular security strategy or investment by Jim Brogan or Brogan Financial, Incorporated.