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Rick “Doc” Walker on motivation –
“My philosophy is that you have to learn how to push your own button. . . if I teach you how to hit the reset button, then you can reestablish yourself. Because I’m not going to be there to hold your hand. . . People have power within themselves, they just need help getting there.”
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, and this is Our Town. I’ve known our next guest, I don’t even call him a guest, our next friend almost 40 years. That’s a long time. He’s a giantin his profession. He was the UCLA Lineman of the Year Honorary, a Rose Bowl Champion when he explained to me that he beat Ohio State, that ain’t easy. The AP named him an All-American. Then he played starting tight-end for Coach Gibbs in the Championship game of 1983 Superbowl of the ’82 champions. If you remember Doc, that was a strike year. That was then and now is now.
Doc, where does he not work? He’s the Redskins’ pre-game show for Fox 5. He’s the analyst for ESPN Radio with Sonny, Larry, and Chris Cooley. He works at Comcast Sports Network. He hosts the ProView on MASN. He owns the ProView, which is also an excellent magazine. He co-hosts a daily talk show on ESPN Radio 980. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
What does he do in the off-season? He has his own business. A motivational speaker and was chosen one of the regions top speakers. We’ll get into that later. Where does our guest not work? Please welcome my dear friend Rick “Doc” Walker.
Rick Doc Walker Hey Boss.
Andy Ockershausen: You are the best. Incredible. I call you because when I listen to you, you are as good an analyst as I’ve ever heard of a game. And I’ve been listening to football since the Redskins were broadcast by Harry Wismer.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh I know you are. You are so important to Our Town Doc. And you’ve gotten around so much, and what you’ve contributed is your thoughts to young people make a big difference. It does Doc.
Rick Doc Walker Well most people here are afraid of barriers. When you’re in Southern California, I mean we go 100 miles to a party, like to San Diego and L.A. Well here, people from Virginia don’t go to Maryland. Maryland don’t go to Virginia. D.C. doesn’t go to Virginia. So in most of my days I’m in Fairfax, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, all in the same day. I mean I just-
Andy Ockershausen: That’s Our Town. You get around in Our Town.
Rick Doc Walker But if you’re not from here. People here are landlocked. And they have these fences built. And they’re so limited in my opinion.
Andy Ockershausen: But the river closes a lot of that. It scares people to cross that river. I’ve seen it both ways, Doc.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah, but still. I have a car. People go … Well I’m over in Prince George’s County I go, “Okay, I have a car. I’ll be okay.” Prince William, I go to Woodbridge, Springfield-
Andy Ockershausen: Where do you not go? Whatever happened to your restaurant that I remember so vividly.
Rick Doc Walker Scoreboard.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember Scoreboard very well.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah, we had a great time. The problem is in that business, if you grow too fast, we had a great idea, great concept-
Andy Ockershausen: Great food, incidentally.
Rick Doc Walker Great food. But if you stay in one place, you got a shot. Two, you cut your resources in half. Most people aren’t worth their weight in terms of work ethic. You know the average person is lazy as hell. And so most people are out trying to get what they can take not what they can earn. So you better be in the management business, otherwise everything you have will be gone. So I’ve learned a lot about civilians since I stopped playing ball.
Andy Ockershausen: You almost have to live there.
Rick Doc Walker Well yeah, the smart people do.
Andy Ockershausen: The restaurant business.
Rick Doc Walker Duke was always there. He got to be there by the cash register.
Andy Ockershausen: So true.
Rick Doc Walker Absolutely.
Andy Ockershausen: And then people think that they know what they’re doing, they don’t. But Doc, you’re telling me the story of what happened. But anyway, I liked the place. We did something out there one time with Ken Beatrice. I remember that.
Rick Doc Walker Oh yeah. Yeah we did a lot of shows. I had Monday Night Football there. See I figured that when the ‘skins played, the broadcast teams came out to interview the coaches. Well they had to eat. So I always made sure that the networks, I made sure they had lunch at my spot. So they were comfortable. I took care of the crews. So they did the live shots from our spot, because that’s just a … This is a process of knowing where people are gonna be, what they need, and being accommodating for them. So I understood the business. And so, you know, Coach Madden loved our food. All the guys did, because we made sure they had it.
Andy Ockershausen: You took care of them Doc.
Rick Doc Walker Absolutely.
Andy Ockershausen: I also-
Rick Doc Walker Well, I learned from one of my early mentors in 1989, this young gentleman was running WMAL at the time, and I’d never seen anybody embrace marketing the way he did. And he took advantage of metro stops. He understood that people meet in large volume at the metro spots every morning. And they needed hot coffee and doughnuts. And this guy was so smart, because he went where the business was. And he knew that everybody there had to understand that WMAL was going to keep them informed. And I thought that was genius. He was first-class. He fed his people breakfast. Everything he did was first class.
So I saw that and saw how he operated. His business, they were number one, but he worked as if they weren’t even in the top 10. He outworked everybody, and he had the best product. And that’s when I saw it, and I go boy, that guy, that Andy O, he’s sharp. Yeah he’s sharp.
Andy Ockershausen: I was lucky enough to be married to the right woman.
Rick Doc Walker You had just met her then, so, don’t give me that crap.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s true.
Rick Doc Walker Remember I was there.
Andy Ockershausen: Doc, you’re very complimentary, but we love Our Town. And we paid off, like you said, no matter what it was, our morning guys worked-
Andy Ockershausen: Everyway, everywhere you’d call them up they’d show up. They never got a fee, never asked for a dime. They made all those appearances to promote their shows.
Rick Doc Walker Wow. Tim Brant. My guy Timmy.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh Timmy. Timmy is such a great part of what we are, and what we’ve been. Johnny Holliday.
Rick Doc Walker Legend man. Beatrice, Holliday. Johnny Holliday’s work ethic for a guy that on top of his game, up at 3:30-4:00 a.m. every morning of his life.
Andy Ockershausen: He never slept.
Rick Doc Walker You know and what he was doing-
Andy Ockershausen: He did baseball at night.
Andy Ockershausen: Everybody, no question about it.
Rick Doc Walker If you look at what happened at Channel 9, and Glen Brenner, everybody talked about how funny he was. He also outworked everybody. So he was also comical-
Andy Ockershausen: And he had talent.
Rick Doc Walker But he had skills and he outworked everybody. So when you look at that, Frank Herzog, so you’re looking at role models of people who were never slackers. And that’s how competitive it was. So I looked at that and go, there was a really good lesson to be learned if you simply understand that you gotta work at it. There’s not a gift.
Andy Ockershausen: It doesn’t happen.
Rick Doc Walker No, no, no. You gotta work at it. Yeah, you really do.
Andy Ockershausen: And you’re living proof of that Doc, cause you do work like a beaver and it pays off for you and for the community, and Our Town loves you. We’re gonna take a break. This is Andy Ockershausen. We’ll be right back with Rick “Doc” Walker.
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Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town. We’re talking to Rick “Doc” Walker. I’ll just say Rick. Everybody knows Rick. There’s certain things in this town you can say, and you may not believe this, but I believe it. There’s certain words you can say, “Rick”, people do not think of anything but Rick Walker. I’m serious Doc. I’ve been around a long time. I know that. You can say Sonny. You don’t have to tell the last name. There’s certain names, and you’re one of those. And you’re special.
One of the things that you have done to make such an impact on Our Town is your work with charities, which is not a sidebar, but that’s part of your life. The charity work you do is part of your life.
Rick Doc Walker Well my mother was a nurse. For 29 years she worked at Fairview State Hospital where at the time, kids referred to as mentally retarded.
Andy Ockershausen: In Southern California?
Rick Doc Walker Yeah. Her whole life was dedicated to that. So we grew up with kids that a lot of affluent people left behind. So my mother … Those people they were their kids. So for Christmas, holidays, Thanksgivings, you’re at the hospital, and we’re bringing gifts. So I was introduced to hydrocephalics, kids with enormous heads, with very small heads, microcephalics. All of the deformities that can happen in life. When you’re young and you’re exposed to it, and you’re taught not to be afraid of it but to embrace these people as human beings. And then you find out how neglected they are. It becomes a very passionate part … That’s who she is.
So she was a caretaker in my mind, and these people labor, and the parents would show up birthdays and maybe Christmas. And some very famous people that I never discuss about it, because they have their own reasons. But it taught me that people are not disposable. And that you treat them like … Most people treat their pets better than I saw humans treated. And I then developed this when someone asks me … Like I was asked many years ago to help out with the Alzheimer’s Association. I didn’t know what it was.
So I got involved because I didn’t know it was, didn’t know anybody who had it. And I was asked to help them with a golf tournament, that I did for 12 straight years. Now Alzheimer’s is affecting people in their 40s. And I’m still with the program.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s more than memory too.
Rick Doc Walker Oh my God it’s … So that, the National Kidney Foundation, I’m very fortunate. We’re going into our sixth year with this tournament. So I’ll do the tournaments that help causes, and then I get to mess around, have a few beers, hit a few bad balls and help somebody’s life.
Andy Ockershausen: But being involved in the public like that is very important to the public. It’s all important to you. You get something from all that. You give them a lot, but you get a lot. That’s what it’s all about.
Rick Doc Walker Oh yeah see, because the caretakers are the people that need help. The patients are taken care of for the most part. But the people who take care of the patients are forgotten.
Andy Ockershausen: They’re neglected.
Rick Doc Walker They’re just … Nobody thinks about them. So the people who do the bedpans, the baths, all the things, brushing the person’s teeth, taming their hair.
Andy Ockershausen: All the work.
Rick Doc Walker When you have an elderly person, still has pride, wants to be groomed, has self-esteem. Like my mother had double knee-replacements surgeries over the past two years. When you are a very independent person, and now you can’t get up steps, you have to depend on people. That is a process that as I age, you start looking at it going, wow.
Andy Ockershausen: Getting wiser as you get older.
Rick Doc Walker Oh my goodness. So you want to help those causes. Help the people, so that by the time you get to it, maybe it’s automated.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s a wonderful attitude Doc. Again, I say, and I tell this to everybody we talk to. When you give, you get back far more than you give. You get it back in many, many ways. I mean this has helped you, and opened your eyes to the world. Charity work.
Rick Doc Walker Oh yeah. Yeah well again my mom was an usher.
Rick Doc Walker She had a tough year last year recovering from the surgeries. Now the arthritis is kicking in, but she’s a fighter. And she’ll kick it.
Andy Ockershausen: Well I remember the story, Rick “Doc” Walker, of inviting all the guys to dinner. And your mother was fixing dinner for the group.
Rick Doc Walker She fed them all.
Andy Ockershausen: You had a football game the next day, but you guys ate and ate well.
Rick Doc Walker Wednesday and Thursday, two days, she fed them all and George Michael, we filmed it. It was a … The guys still talk about it. They still talk about it.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh I’m sure, Doc, because it’s unusual for-
Rick Doc Walker Yeah. And she came here the next year, went to Superbowl XVIII, and I had the house out in McClean. And she cooked for the whole squad, did it again. Her and my aunts.
Andy Ockershausen: And you lost the game.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah we lost that game, yeah. So we were second in the world.
Andy Ockershausen: To the champion.
Rick Doc Walker Second in the world. And so our country makes fun of the second place team, but they let the last place team get away with murder. I don’t play that crap. Okay. We were NFC Champions.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Rick Doc Walker We got our butts kicked in the biggest game in the world, but we were better than 31 teams.
Andy Ockershausen: You got out-coached Doc, not out-played. I was there. You got out-coached. Janice was at that game.
Rick Doc Walker No, we got out-played. If we got out-coached, we got out-played, whatever else happened.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, they had some players too.
Rick Doc Walker Oh they were the best, yeah for an hour that day, yeah they were the best.
Andy Ockershausen: Raiders. Well Doc, we talked to somebody … Back to the Alzheimer’s. Chris Broullire I believe now, he’s got something to do with it. He’s a fine man.
Rick Doc Walker He’s a great guy.
Andy Ockershausen: We work with him. You know he used to work for Comcast, that’s how I know him.
Rick Doc Walker Yes, I know.
Andy Ockershausen: But his family were very friends of mine, and his … I can’t remember if it was his father or his brother had some disease that he died of. So Chris is committed. He’s a good man.
Rick Doc Walker He’s a good guy. The Brain Ball, I’ve hosted the past couple of years. They call it the Brain Ball.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that right?
Rick Doc Walker It’s an unbelievable affair downtown. So I try to help out in that capacity, but at this point there’s only so much you can do. I like to do what I do well, but I can’t do it for everything and everybody. So the National Kidney Foundation, they’re just such a great group. The support group’s phenomenal. I really enjoy that relationship. And then there’s smaller ones, but anything you do is better than nothing.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Andy Ockershausen: We’re going to take another break and come back and talk to Doc. This is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town.
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Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen. Brought to you by Best Bark Communications.
Cincinnati Football
Andy Ockershausen: This is Our Town. Andy Ockershausen and we’re talking to Rick “Doc” Walker. Somewhat about the football, Doc, at least I did not know that you were drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Rick Doc Walker Yes sir.
Andy Ockershausen: And then how did you end up with the Redskins? Money?
Rick Doc Walker Well, no, injuries. No, I broke my arm twice my first year. Then ankle, second. And then I had the first problem with my neck. It was shoulder injury in the preseason, and me and Forrest Greg, was the coach. My first five years I had five different head coaches. So I came to the realization that they didn’t know what the hell they were doing at all. And I wasn’t going to let my future be affected by some people that completely were clueless. And the guy, he wanted me to go into a preseason game. Couldn’t lift my arm up over my head, so I politely said some very strict things to him and went and told Mike, “Look, I gotta go get a second opinion. This is not going to work out. I’m not stupid. I might play in the Superbowl hurt, but I’m not playing a preseason game hurt.”
It was a bad fit, and at the point, the point I never looked at, the game is that I had to play to survive. I played because it was fun. I enjoyed it, but it was no fun being hurt. We lost, and I had really never lost big before, because I’d won in high school, college, won at every level. It was very difficult to be in a program that sucked, and then not be able to play. Just a bad, bad deal.
So fortunately for me, I went out to the Chargers and Niner doctors. Got a second opinion, and the guy said that I had like a six-week injury. And on the second week, Bobby Beathard called … He had scouted, and he said, “What is going on?” I explained to him. So it was that first week here, and they had an injury, and so I said, “Well I don’t really want to go.” I wasn’t interested in anything on the East Coast. I was trying to play in paradise.
Andy Ockershausen: Sure.
Washington Football
Rick Doc Walker Any of the four teams on the West Coast. So you know I knew Bobby pretty well. He’s not a BS-er. Beathard’s a sharp guy. Came out, physical, went through everything, and then got signed on a Thursday, really wasn’t 100% but I figured let’s go for it. That Sunday we played the Giants. I had to play like a half, because he had another injury. So that’s when I fell in love with these guys, because I’m in the huddle with George Stark and these guys, and I didn’t even know the plays. I’d been here two days.
Andy Ockershausen: You were offensive linemen too right?
Rick Doc Walker Yeah, but I’d only played here two days. But I was trying to pick it up, and they were telling me. So we got through it, and we won the game. Mo kicked the field goal, and these guys are clapping and having a great experience. I looked around. It looked like a M.A.S.H. unit. The older guys … You know in Cincinnati we had 24 I think, 25 young people. It was just young athletic people. Here it was a lot of old people that I couldn’t understand it.
Andy Ockershausen: The Hog.
Rick Doc Walker No, no, no. Not then. This the Over-the-Hill Gang. 1980.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh I beg your pardon. They’re really old.
Rick “Doc” Walker on Coach Joe Gibbs
Rick Doc Walker Yeah this is Pardee. I’m watching people going, “How do these guys play?” But not only did they play, they knew how to win. And they had a spirit. Something that was overwhelming that I saw. Jack Pardee, good man. Then he got fired. Then Joe Gibbs comes. So that’s five years for me, five different head coaches. And then we go-
Andy Ockershausen: But you hit the jackpot at the end.
Rick Doc Walker Well we also started of 0-5. So at that point, you think it’s the Titanic. And then it just, you saw a man who was really solid in his conviction, smartest offensive guy I’ve been around. He was the strategist. His number one attribute is that he can outthink the opponent, and his best trait is that he became humble enough to not fall in love with his plan, but adapt the plan based on his talent. Which most of these young coaches can’t do.
Andy Ockershausen: They just stick to the plan instead of sticking to the talent.
Rick Doc Walker He changed to fit us.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Rick Doc Walker Not what he’d done in San Diego. He understood, just like Belichick, they ask you to do things you do best. They put you in the position to succeed as opposed to challenging you and hoping it works. They’ve already figured out what works, and that’s why Joe Gibbs became a genius, and that his staff, good communicators, that could talk to people. Dan Riley, most valuable person in the whole organization.
Andy Ockershausen: Strength coach.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah absolutely.
Andy Ockershausen: Knew him quite well.
Rick Doc Walker Him and Jim Speros our assistant. Bubba Tire-
Andy Ockershausen: Medical staff.
Rick Doc Walker It’s all the people surrounding you that you have relationships with. You talk to your coaches a few hours a day, you don’t have relationships with them. You barely know them. But these other people you come in contact with, they keep you on the field. So you develop that, and the guys we kept because Joe kept people that were smart. You have to have smart players that love to play the game. You know guys like Dexter there at five in the morning, talented but love the game.
These people were, our players were fanatics over the process. They loved the process. A lot of these kids now, make a fortune, they don’t even like the game.
Andy Ockershausen: They just want the money.
Rick Doc Walker They just . . .Well I don’t know . . .
Andy Ockershausen: I understand.
Rick Doc Walker But we had to win to make money. These guys make money now just for playing. It’s a big difference.
Rick Doc Walker You know Joe Theisman said, $70,000 up. That’s what we were going after. We were winning to make money. That’s the way the game should be.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s right.
Rick Doc Walker They’ve got this thing ass-backwards. You should make two-three million per player for winning the Superbowl.
Andy Ockershausen: Well Doc, this leads me into asking you about your work off the field when you were a player, but now your work away from your profession, and that is as a speaker and a motivational inspiration for a lot of people. People hire you to talk motivation. And you’ve motivated people a lot, and I know it. And it’s so important to Our Town. And I’d like you to talk about that a little bit, and-
Rick “Doc” Walker’s Post-Football Work and Philosophy
Rick Doc Walker Well I think the word is kind of overused. You have to motivate yourself. My job is to make you aware of what you’re capable of. I don’t motivate anybody but myself. And so, the idea is that once you get tired of wasting talent as a human being, that’s the first test. That you’re wasting talent, or you’re yet to live up to your capabilities. People want to make more. They want to be happier. They want to be fulfilled, but they’re relying on someone else to put them in that position.
My philosophy is that you have to learn how to push your own button. Because for me, if I teach you how to hit the reset button, then you can reestablish yourself. Because I’m not going to be there to hold your hand. People set up systems that they have to become dependent upon people. These egomaniacs who want people to bow down to them and worship them. I don’t believe in that. People have power within themselves, they just need help getting there.
And then when you help them get there, you move on. And they’ll figure it out based on how important it is for them to succeed. It’s like a single mom. I’d take a single mom over a CEO most days of the week, because of her resourcefulness. Whereas a lot of these clowns have unlimited budgets, and they fail over and over and over because they have no common sense. They may be scholastically superior. They don’t understand how to connect. Human beings require sincerity, and the fact that you care about them.
A lot of these businesses are run like they’re military institutions, and they’re not. Or these egomaniac people at the top think the power comes from their control. They’re afraid of their own shadow, and so what they’re giving you is a false sense … You don’t even know who they are. So once you cut through all the crap, and you just figure out what do people want to do that they haven’t accomplished. For me, it was to see people succeed, that had been told they can’t. Because a lot of these losers who are in charge gain their power by restricting people, and it’s sad.
I see it all the time. The biggest problem in corporate America is a lack of communication, because of the insecurities of the people at the top. And rather than ask for help, they feel that’s a weakness. It’s a strength to ask for help. The strength is recognizing that you need it.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Rick Doc Walker That you need it. Why are specialists so important in our society? Because they’ve proven to be better than the norm. Because most people are just average, and they settle for mediocrity all the time. That’s what our whole welfare system was based on, just cutting people in half. It was never designed to build people up. It was to keep them down, because once I could get you to shorten your goals and accept something for nothing, you would never ascend to be great, because you thought you would get nowhere.
I remember growing up, and my cousins, I’d overhear them saying they got $800 per child. They thought they would beat the system by having three. Not recognizing that you had to educate those three. That you gotta get them through. And the system, to me I thought, was a racist attempt to debilitate people that don’t have money. And to keep them in a lower class, to be subservient, for wages and slave labor, this whole process is by lazy people trying to take advantage of other people. And as soon as you give them the power to understand that they don’t have to be that, then they become empowered.
And that’s what the cat and mouse game is to me. People like to keep people stupid. That’s why education’s the key.
Andy Ockershausen: Doc, I’m sure this message must make powerful impact, because they keep asking you back. I know that, and it’s important Doc, what you’re saying is enlightening people.
Rick Doc Walker Most people are afraid. No, most people are afraid. They’re afraid-
Andy Ockershausen: There’s a lot to that.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah, they’re afraid. They clap, but they don’t step up. And I know they’re afraid, and that’s the beautiful thing about it because if people want to reach their potential … First of all, so few of them have ever hit the finish line. They don’t know what it’s like to be in first place. They’ve been the middle of the pack so long, they don’t even know what it feels like. Once they remember what a victory feels like, what it tastes like, then they become interested in doing it again. I want people to be greedy about enjoying success and about seeing themselves accomplish things they didn’t think they could. That becomes empowering to you, where deep down inside most people don’t want you to grow. And that’s the lie.
Andy Ockershausen: They’re afraid of it.
Rick Doc Walker There you go. They’re afraid of your growth.
Andy Ockershausen: Fear. But Doc, I’m so, so happy for Our Town that you’re here and able to speak from the heart, which you do, and it makes a big difference. You gotta big heart. I mean you do a lot of work, but you don’t get paid all the time. You get paid back many times by the information and the thought you take from your conversations with your people.
Rick Doc Walker Well how you influence people is your reward. Because I ask my audience all the time, if there’s somebody out there that if I ask them, who’s the most important person outside of their immediate family in the development of their life, would anybody choose you? And I know for a fact, I have hands that will go up. And so and their … They don’t have to be immediate family. You affect the stranger that pays attention to you, he may have overheard something. The key to it is that once you challenge yourself, then you start to understand what you’re capable of.
And that’s why if a person, whether it’s weight management. There’s no reason for a person to be overweight. They’re cheating themselves. You’ve got one heart. Why on Earth would you do anything to hurt it? Yet it happens daily because of lack of discipline. And people are afraid to put themselves under the scope. See nobody wants to be exposed, yet they talk about social media. That’s a bunch of crap. I’m all for that. Expose yourself. Challenge yourself. Then everything changes because sooner or later, look at everything now Andy. Every camera, everywhere you go, you’re televised, you’re videoed.
Andy Ockershausen: Everywhere.
Rick Doc Walker Everything is out there. And so now that’s a good thing, because now we get to see you in 3D. The question is, what are we looking for? And then what are you showing us?
Andy Ockershausen: Doc, you know what you’re saying is just so profound that you can say it to people, and they take it away with them. And I hope they do because, we just love you Doc Walker and have at WMAL. And so glad you’re going to be back this fall, doing your broadcast for the Redskins’ Football. I’m not sure that number nine’s gonna be there. He’s saying he’s not but-
Rick Doc Walker He’s always there in spirit.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, I know that.
Rick Doc Walker I mean you can’t … The game doesn’t happen without Sonny, and you remember-
Andy Ockershausen: But being back.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah, Mal, Sonny, and you … That first 1989 playoff game that I got a chance to do, and I’m interviewing Sam and Sonny and Mal Campbell.
Andy Ockershausen: Mal. Oh my …
Rick Doc Walker Mal, all these guys-
Andy Ockershausen: You go back a long-
Rick Doc Walker The old school, because Bob Yeagen introduced me to him, and also working with the sports guy with The Star who was … We did a pregame show here together.
Andy Ockershausen: Not Mo Siegel.
Rick Doc Walker My man. The great Mo Siegel.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh yes he was.
Rick Doc Walker That’s my first broadcast partner here on the pregame show.
Andy Ockershausen: Was Janice your producer then?
Rick Doc Walker I mean that’s what I’m saying, with my start and these people, it’s impossible to fail.
Andy Ockershausen: Just being in that atmosphere was good for you.
Rick Doc Walker Seriously.
Andy Ockershausen: Well you’re such a legend Doc, and I say that not condescendingly, you are a legend. Well you know why? Because you made yourself a legend.
Rick Doc Walker Well Holliday, tell Holliday. He’s my hero because, well I don’t know. I know Charlie Brotman is pissed now because you know I set my standards really high.
Andy Ockershausen: I hope so.
Rick Doc Walker And Brotman, I mean he’s like, he’s way out there.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh he is.
Rick Doc Walker And so when you’ve got Brotman and Holliday, look at these people. They’re still in the game, you know and I tell them I’m chasing them. And when they retire, I’m going to take over for them. And so that’s been our running joke for 30 years.
Andy Ockershausen: You can do it.
Rick Doc Walker And I hope we’ll keep doing it 40 years.
Andy Ockershausen: Well Charlie lost his gig as the President’s announcer.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: And ended up working for Channel 4 getting paid, how about that?
Rick Doc Walker He survived. He’s still on the air. And another one, you know Jim Vance, a guy who has been-
Andy Ockershausen: We love him.
Rick Doc Walker … Been there, open arms, the one guy I was able to actually lean on the most for advice early on, whose door was always open. You know I had Arch Campbell and Jim Vance at my disposal.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh my.
Rick Doc Walker You know, so I’m able to … See that’s the difference, the difference these of these young people, they don’t understand how you get the knowledge, because they think they’re smarter than people older than they are. My generation looked at people that lived longer than you as … I think it’s an obstacle course, and they survived it. These young idiots, think … Because they’re young they don’t realize what they don’t know. And so I always credit the people … You know it’s almost like the four guys on the mountain, the Mount Rushmore. There’s a Mount Rushmore in every category.
Andy Ockershausen: Rapid City, South Dakota.
Rick Doc Walker Yeah, and if you can surround yourself around the Mount Rushmores of every particular category-
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah what you have done. Right.
Rick Doc Walker … No matter what it is, I guarantee it, you’ll end up in the winner circle.
Andy Ockershausen: Doc it’s just so great to hear you say those things, because the people sitting in that chair the last two weeks was Jim Vance and Arch Campbell.
Rick Doc Walker Are you serious?
Andy Ockershausen: Oh absolutely. They’re Our Town. You can be in the same thing with them. But see they’re part of Our Town. They made it so great, and Jim Vance is so, so special to us because he’s been around a long time, baby. And he still goes strong. Every day he sits in that chair he looks like a million dollars.
Rick Doc Walker He’s still dominant. He’s just like, you know Coach Thompson and Gary Williams. One thing that ProView has afforded me that’s been so awesome is when you had Arnold Red Auerbach, and you’re sitting down talking to Red about his philosophy, Bill Russell’s philosophy, these winners, these champions in life, Gale Sayers. When you’re able to understand what these guys credit their success to, when I listen to Dusty Baker here now, see old school is going to teach these youngins to pay attention.
Andy Ockershausen: Right. A different world.
Rick Doc Walker Because they’ll never be around long enough, as these guys. Because they’ll flame out, so I’m hoping they pay attention to the people that are making things happen in this town, because Our Town’s evolving. Nats are kicking tail, Capitals, Wizards, I mean we’re about to hit an area where I think we’ve been rare air, where everybody’s got a chance to win.
Andy Ockershausen: Boy isn’t that amazing, and isn’t it great for Our Town?
Rick Doc Walker It’s awesome.
Andy Ockershausen: And we want them all to … Maybe the soccer team will come alive too at the stadium. It happens.
Rick Doc Walker Well, D.C. United was really the first ones, the first champions.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s correct. I remember that.
Rick Doc Walker They won when people didn’t know how to spell winning.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, we’ve also got something called Team Tennis, and those kids play, and they win.
Rick Doc Walker Oh my God. It’s incredible.
Andy Ockershausen: They win like six championships.
Rick Doc Walker It’s incredible. They’re incredible.
Andy Ockershausen: Mark Ein has done a great job. Now he’s bought the whole suit and match you know. He’s got the whole Team Tennis. He’s going to run it all.
Rick Doc Walker Loves his passion. Loves his passion.
Andy Ockershausen: He’s a smart guy. But Doc, this has been so special. Really appreciate your participation. You mean so much to us, particularly to Janice and to me, as friends, not about broadcast or podcast. We love you, what you are. You are a legend Doc Walker, and we appreciate that.
Rick Doc Walker That’s funny.
Andy Ockershausen: Thank you again Doc Walker. This is Our Town, Andy Ockershausen.
Rick Doc Walker Thank you. Thank you Janice.
Andy Ockershausen: Rick “Doc” Walker.
Announcer: You’ve been listening to Our Town Season Two, presented by GEICO, our home town favorite, with your host Andy Ockershausen. New Our Town episodes are released each Tuesday and Thursday. Drop us a line with your comments or suggestions. See us on Facebook or visit our website at ourtowndc.com. Our special thanks to Ken Hunter, our technical director and WMAL Radio in Washington D.C. for hosting our podcast. And thanks to GEICO. 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance.
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