Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Life Reviewed a podcast by Hope House Colorado, where we invite you into conversation with teenage moms and the people who champion them. These stories of struggle, overcoming and perspective shifts will challenge you to review life as you've known it. One story, one person, one conversation at a time.
Welcome to Life Review today. I'm excited to have a dear friend and colleague on. On the show with me today.
Gary Corbett has been our auctioneer at Hope House for. I don't even know, for over 15 years. I've been here for 14 years.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: I don't know. I think you go back maybe 17.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: Maybe 17.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Let's go with 17.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Okay, we're going with 17.
I'm not sure how you first got connected, but, you know, I was a board member before I was on staff here, and I'm guessing you've been around for, we're going to say 17 years. And our gala initially was held at Denver University. We did the Arvada center, but I. The very first one you came to was the Omni in Westminster, right?
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: You remember.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I do.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: Do you remember, like, first getting involved with us or first getting a phone call from Hocus?
[00:01:14] Speaker B: You know, I don't know how that happened. I can't remember how. I do remember John and Laurie.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Oh, John and Laurie Scott.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Yeah, John and Laurie Scott. John was doing it, and I remember walking into the room and John. I remember John looking at me saying, who is this guy? And.
And then he. And then I started into my auction routine, you know, and anyway, and John and Laurie become friends over the years.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Longtime supporters of ours, too. Yeah.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: He kind of said, who is this guy?
[00:01:47] Speaker A: That's funny. So John was the board president when I joined the board of directors 17 years ago.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: So they go back. They go way back with us. They go back to the beginning, I think, with Hope House 23 years ago, which is crazy.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah. And he is part of the Ravenna community, as you say, Ravenna or Ravenna.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: I think it's Ravenna.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Ravenna. All right. Ravenna community. And I mean, to put it pretty bluntly, it's a bunch of rich people out there. But, you know, people have asked me, you know, what's the secret to having a really good auction? I said, that's easy. Room full of rich people, but dedicated.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: See, I thought it was liquid courage, Gary.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. No, it's a room full of rich people dedicated to a cause.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: I have been so impressed with the Ravenna community and the Hope House community. Because they truly are dedicated to Hope House. And it's not an accident.
I know you and the other Lisa. I call you Lisa Squared. And we've been together for so many years.
I am so impressed with Hope House and how. I mean, it's an amazing organization, but it's an organization of people who really care.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: I will never forget, I was in the car with Lisa, and I just joined the board of directors. Actually, I had not even joined the board of directors, but I'm in the car with the director of development, Katie Cassidy. Maybe you remember the fiery redhead who was working here when I started.
And Lisa. And we're driving into that community. We're driving, and Lisa's on the phone with, like, the lady that's hosting, like, a lunch or whatever for us. And she's on the phone, and she's driving, and she says to the lady, oh, I see you. I'm watching her. Like, she did not see her. We just drove past this lady's house, and I look at Lisa, and I go, liar. Like that.
And Katie turned around, she goes, I can't believe you just said that to the executive director.
We laugh about that to this day, but, yeah, I had to call her a liar at the very beginning when I first met.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Well, maybe not my finest moment right there, but anyway, that's what I remember about that community.
Gosh, let me. We just had our golf tournament, and we just had record results at the golf tournament, like, every single year that I'm with you, Gary, like, you set the bar even higher than the previous year. And that is so crazy to me. Like, I guess one of my first questions for you is, how do you read the room? Like, how do you know? Like, last year at the gala, you asked. We had the meeting with Lisa and I. It's right before we go, right before we open the grand ballroom doors. And I told you what the goal was, and you looked at me and you said, I think we can raise more than that. I was like, what are you talking about?
How is it that you're able to read the room and kind of know.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: What the goal is to. You know, I really. I don't know how to. How to answer that.
I'm the oldest of six kids, and so I. I. Everywhere I go, I. I feel like I'm in charge. I don't know why.
And so I look at room as sort of like my family.
And we grew up. I mean, my brothers and sisters, they're funny. They are all funny. My kids are funny. Everybody around me is funny. And so it's just so natural. But I. I don't know. I don't know exactly. It's.
I guess, you know, I don't even know how to answer that. Maybe other people could answer it. I mean, it sounds like I would get into braggadocio because. But I wouldn't even know how to do that. I just don't. I just.
I don't know.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: The other crazy thing that happened last year was I got a little tap on my shoulder if anything's going wrong in the room. I get a little tap on the shoulder from somebody on my team, and they called me out and said, hey, there's some strange guy at the back of the room. Like, you need to come back here.
So I get up, I go to the back of the room and I introduce myself and I ask him if he wants, like a seat at the table. I'm trying to get him to tell me a little bit about himself. And he goes, oh, I just came to watch Gary. I'm a friend of Gary's.
I'm like. I'm like, oh, okay.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Oh, you know what I think?
[00:06:01] Speaker A: So we found a seat for him. And then afterwards, the best part of the whole night, he's like. He's looking at you and he's like, gary, I can't believe you're saying this. You're saying that like nobody else could get away with that in the room.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: I know exactly who it is. It's Paul C. Bear.
Paul is a very, very close friend of mine, but he is also a three time international auctioneer champion.
His auction chant is pure, just beautiful. I mean, every once in a while I get to the point, and it's usually in the shower when I think I'm pretty good, you know, But I mean, I have no delusions when I see Paul do his. What he does. And he was the owner, operator of the Worldwide College of Auctioneering, which I think is. Used to be called the Mason City Auction School in Mason City, Iowa, which I think is a much better name. I mean, a Worldwide College of Auctioneering.
But I was an instructor there for. For, I think, 20 years.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: And so I learned so much from Paul. And, you know, I just. I don't know. But we're not here to talk about me and my auctioneer. We're talking. We're here to talk about Hope House, which is what I would rather do.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Okay, all right, well, I know you feel connected to Hope House. Why don't you tell us a little bit about how and why you Feel connected to what we do.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Well, you know, this is amazing, but coincidentally, my mother, my godmother, Aunt Shay, my two sisters, my wife and my former wife and my daughter, coincidentally, they're all women.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: They're all women.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: I just. I'm surrounded by women. And so. And I.
I. You know, people.
You know, I've heard people say, you know, well, I'm a feminist. I think I am. I really believe it. I mean, it's just. I see, you know, what goes on with women and the struggles that they go through. I mean, men, let's face it. I mean, if.
I mean, honestly, if men.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: So you're saying men have it easy, is what you're saying?
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Well, my God, if men were allowed to be pregnant, the population would go to nothing.
Women are so strong.
And I'm not saying that just to be, you know, just whatever, blow smoke. But it's absolutely true. I mean, and my mother. I'm the oldest of six. Mom was pregnant 12 times.
And, yeah, so she went through that. And every time she got pregnant, she was threatened with her life. I mean, and I watched it as the oldest, and so I grew up in that kind of environment.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Was she having babies at home?
[00:08:56] Speaker B: No, no, not at home. But I drove her to the hospital for one of her pregnancies. Deb was at work, and I remember that. But, you know, and my name, Gary, is a nickname. My name is actually Joseph Gerard Corbett. And Joseph is after my dad, but they didn't want to call me Junior because they hate that name. Sorry for all you juniors out there, but Gerard is a patron saint of pregnant women.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Oh, I did not know that.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah, nobody does.
And Mom. Everybody says that mom fell out of a car when she was seven months pregnant with me, which explains quite.
But Gerard is a patron saint, and Gary is a nickname for Gerard, so I always have trouble with Nate. Bragazzi, by the way, does a routine about this. It's so good about going to the airport. And he says, my name's Nathaniel, but people call me Nate and all this. Well, I have the same problem.
My driver's license says Joseph Gerard. And one guy that I happen to know at Southwest Airlines, he said, I thought you were Gary. I said, well, I am. Yeah, I'm Gary. Anyway, I'm getting off on a tangent, but if that explains anything, that's my background or why I guess I connect with Hope House. And what you do has to do with my family, I think, and how I grew up and where I grew up in Northern Kentucky, which is right across the street from Cincinnati. So I grew up in Northern Kentucky. That's why I talk like a snobby.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Is that what that is? That accident is.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Well, down Southern Kentucky kind of talk. Like it, you know.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: And, yeah. But anyway, Hope House, you know, I.
I hate to say I'm a professional, you know, but I mean, I've been doing. I, I. Well, I've been doing auctions for 40 years. And before that, I was in. In conjunction with that, I was a probation officer and administrator and all that. But I do. I am comfortable with a microphone very.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Although these are really big microphones, Gary.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: Well, these. Yeah, this is a giant. I'm not so comfortable with this microphone, but most. But when every time there's a gala or the golf tournament, you have one of the young women here give a speech, and I'm so incredibly impressed with their poise, their humor, their delivery, their comfort with a microphone. That's not an accident. That in itself tells me. I mean, because people tell me that the greatest fear in life is public speaking.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: I know.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Well, I'm amazed at the poise that these young women have. That's no accident.
That has to do with what Hope House gives to these young women who come in here with all kinds of troubles and turmoil in our life, and you give them experience. I saw the alliteration up and when I was waiting tonight, what was it?
Live, Love, Laugh, Learn.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, it sounded.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: And that's what you do. I mean, it's like there's Hope Houses. It's just. I mean, you and Lisa, what you've done, and all the staff. But you really do deserve credit. It's just not an example. And I know you well, and I have the greatest admiration for what you do, and it really is demonstrated by the young women.
And then just coming here. I've been here several times.
It's put together now.
I have a bachelor's degree in sociology, which means I really don't know a whole lot, but I can kind of, you know, talk about it a little bit. And then I have a master's from the University of Denver, Daniel School of Business and Public Administration.
I was not a good administrator. I think I was pretty good as a probation officer, and I think I'm pretty good as an auctioneer, but I really did not excel at what I had a master's degree in, and that's administration. And you and Lisa do excel in that. It's obvious.
This place is clean, it's put together. It's smart, it's artistic.
And it all shows that all has to do with what your goals are. And it's obvious to me, and I've met several of the young women and their. And their babies and their. And then they grow up. And then your receptionist told me, and I already knew it, but she said, you know, a lot of these graduates come back here and work.
And I. That's not a surprise.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: And then also what I have noticed is that you.
You. You give people the confidence to do what they should do. I mean, I love being an auctioneer, and I actually loved being a probation officer, but some people love being a plumber and a pipe fitter and a receptionist, and others love being a doctor. My wife is a psychotherapist. She's lcsw. You know what that means, and she loves doing that. It's hard work. But if you do what you love and.
And you have the support, and I had the family support, a lot of these young women come in with no support, and then you give them the support.
It's obvious to me, you know, I've done. I brought my calendar here just to do a little braggadocio. I won't show it to you now. I thought this was going to be a visual thing, and I was going to hold it up and look how cool I am. I've done so many. But I have seen a lot of organizations, and when I do go into a new one, they'll say, let me show you around. And what they want to do is show me, you know, the desks and, you know, and the rooms and all that. I said, no, what I want to see, I want to see people, the staff. I want to see them when they're with their clients or whatever, you know, patients, in some cases, students and others, eye contact.
I want them to see how they react and interact with people. And, you know, as a probation officer, you know, I learned that if you give respect, you get respect, and it's got to be real. You know, people say, oh, do I need to call you Mr. Corbett? I don't care what you call me. I'd rather you call me Gary. But it's. We need to respect each other.
And I always tell, you know, and my kids have learned this, you know, I can. Eye contact and a firm handshake does a lot more than a shiny desk. And, you know, and so I see that. I see that here. And this is the model. I mean, if there's a hall of fame of. Of organizations, I swear you guys are in it. And you're, you know, I. I have several others. I don't want to put any of the others down. And I won't name names because I'm afraid I'd leave others out. Organizations and people, and I've seen a lot, but you're right up at the top. I mean, it's just amazing. It's incredible. Incredible.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: We. We know. We call our moms our moms. We call them our girls. Well, we don't. We don't say clients or anything like that because we feel that connected to them. And. Yeah, I mean, we're holding their babies. We're giving them advice for having them go to the classes and stuff like that. But that's why we all show up every single day is like, we want to help the girls that come to Hope House. That's really, really important to us.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Well, you're real.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: One of the questions I have for you is you talked a little bit about where do you live today? Like, where are you from?
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Like, you flew to where I live now. Well, here, I'll tell you. And this is pretty, pretty true. I say this all the time. I grew up in Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, and across from Cincinnati. And then for a number of years, I grew up in. I was growing up in Denver.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And now I'm growing up in Tucson, Arizona.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: No, you're still growing up.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: I see. Still growing up.
[00:17:26] Speaker A: You're from Tucson, though, right? Like, you flew in Tucson.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: I live in Tucson now. Yeah.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: You've been down there for a long time.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Yeah. My daughter is 24 now, and we moved there when she was in kindergarten.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: We lived here in Denver, and it's a second marriage for me, and my wife Tracy said, you know, we're doing everything. You're always going off to meetings, and we had a condo down in Tucson, and we go down there and visit. And she said, I'd like to move. I said, okay, let's go. I don't think we'll really move there. But we found a realtor, then I found a place, and then next thing you know, we had everything we owned in a U Haul truck, and there we are.
And, you know, Tucson is interesting. When I first moved to Denver, it was like, Tucson, it was more of a cow town. Now it's a metropolis. I mean, it's just incredible, the growth. And with the growth comes pluses and minuses, you know? And Tucson is a bit like Denver used to be. It's, it's, it's. It's. It's hot, you know, three, at least three months a Year. My wife would argue five months a year. It's beyond belief hot, you know, And I know, you know, what are the circles?
Who is that guy that wrote all that stuff? If I studied hard, I could tell you.
But anyway, there's.
It's just. It's. It's hot.
But I think seven months, it's paradise. It's really nice. I mean, I did.
You know, I live in kind of a desert community. Not many houses. My neighbors are saguaro and javelina.
You know, you got all these coyotes and tarantulas and scorpions. Yeah, rattlesnakes.
But it's not really. It sounds, you know, worse than it is. But, you know, we do. We have a snake fence around.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: A steak fence.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Because. Yeah, that happens. But once again. But I do.
I miss.
I miss Kentucky, I miss Denver. And, you know, I get to travel a lot because of what I do. And so it's a little bit. And my kids live in Seattle. My two of my kids live in Seattle. My two older boys and my grandkids are in Seattle. My four grandkids.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: And your youngest daughter or your daughter is.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: Youngest daughter. She just graduated in pre med at csu.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: And now she's working on a master's degree in social work. Oh, good for her. And she says, dad, I don't ever want to.
I don't want to have anything to do with organic chemistry ever again. I said, well, I have to admire you, you know, at least she knows that. Went through all that and never did it get any help from me.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: I mean, you didn't help her on the chemistry, Kerry.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: No, I remember flunking chemistry in high school, and then I took it in college one time to prove that I proved that I could at least do it, and I flunked it again. So, no, I'm not.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: My worst grade in college, I will confess. Chemistry. I got a D and I got all. I got A's on every single class. And then my dad was like, what in the world is this? He couldn't wait to tell every. All the relatives. I had to go out to the. To the cabin. And he made a big production out of yeah, she got all A's and she got one D. I'm like, oh, my gosh.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I mean, it's interesting, isn't I, you know, education. I always make some sort of a joke about, yeah, I was an English major during one of my sophomore years.
But it's true. I really was. But.
And then I did one group access opportunity. It was really great.
And they send a handful of kids to Harvard, MIT and all that otherwise couldn't go. And this young woman gave a talk ahead of time, and she was going to Harvard. And I couldn't believe she was so good. She was poised, much like the Hope House people.
So at the end of it, it just came to me, and I got to the microphone, I said, well, I. I don't usually brag, but I also went to Harvard. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express.
The next night, I went to Yale.
But, you know, it's education. You know, I am proud of my master's degree. And I Actually, after. I mean, I was pretty good in grade school and in graduate school. In between, I was not a sterling student.
But then when I went to graduate school, I said, you know, I'm going to.
I'm going to be like, my roommate in my freshman year. During one of my freshman years of college was a valedictorian of my high school class, Tom Agamire. And I said, I think I'm going to do what Agamire did. I sat in the front row and I took notes, and I read the material, and I got all A's, and I thought, oh, my God. I mean, I could have been doing this all along.
That's amazing.
Again, I'm getting off on tangents that I. When I come on, Ask me more about Hope House.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Okay, I will do that.
One of the things that I'm really proud of is that we're able to, like, help our moms, like, have that conversation about, what do you want to be when you grow up? Like, I would start asking my kids that when I was driving them to kindergarten, first grade. And it's often the case when our moms come here to Hope House. No one's really ever asked them that question.
And so we'll start talking to them. Like, they know they need to finish their high school diploma and get their GED or whatever. But what do you want to do after that? Like, that's really to be. To not be thinking about that when you're. As you're growing up. Like, you go through all these different things. Like, my son Max was like, well, I want to be a football player. You know, I want to do this, I want to do that. And it's just really hard for our girls to, like, figure that next step out. And that's what I love. Where Hope I was coming alongside of them and helps them make decisions about.
You're really good at this. You're really good at science. You're really good at.
You're really interested in the law field and stuff like that. So one of our speakers this year for the gala, she's going to be talking about her law background and stuff like that. So that's going to be really big. And then so many of our moms really want to work in the medical field. They want to help people. They really have a heart for helping people. And we'll see a lot of our girls go down that path and stuff like that, which is pretty cool. And then we have a lot today, we have like moms that are wanting to work at the early learning center. They want to work with children and stuff like that. So. So your background, you've been like all over. It seems like.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I zigzagged my way through life to a certain extent, but I think I did.
I sort of consider myself a pathological do gooder in a way.
When I was, you know, I was young, I mean, I went to Catholic School, St. Joe's and Crescent Springs, which was a real country school.
And we're still in connection. My grade school friends, we have a breakfast club every once in a while.
And I don't know, it was just all inside of me. I think I got a lot of my values from my mom.
My mom, she was what a religious person should be.
She really did believe that God loves everybody again. Back to Hope House. What you do, you. You have those kind of values that I saw with my mom one, one event that I've done for years, the Captain Friars. And there they, they work for the homeless people.
They're a new name for that. You're not allowed to call them homeless people anymore, but you know, it's people without houses or something. But let's face it, they're homeless people and they treat people the way my mom would treat them in the way. Way Christ taught. You do that. You do that. Well, a Hope House is, it's beautifully named Hope House.
You give the young women hope at a time in their life when maybe they didn't really know that they had any hope.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: I think I like what we do best is like we just meet girls where they are.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: Say it again. I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: I think what I like best about Hope House is that we meet girls where they are, right?
[00:25:37] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:25:38] Speaker A: And whether you're a believer or not a believer, that's fine.
We want you to know that we're a Christian based organization.
You're gonna like our staff members pray before meetings. You're Going to see Monday morning devotions.
They are exposed to that.
And we don't push that down their throats. We. But it's amazing. Like so many we had. I forget the exact number we had that showed up for Faith Week this week. It was kind of like a vacation Bible school.
So I think we were like over 30, close to 40 girls that came to that.
And they've. A lot of them have had bad experiences with church and stuff like that. And we're able to kind of meet again, meet them where they are, to help them, that God loves them, but we're not shoving it down their throats. And I love that about Hope House. Like we're, we're not hiding it right? At the same time, we're opening the door to expose them. And then our early learning center, that's a Christian based tool that we're using to teach those kids.
[00:26:41] Speaker B: And you're the Christian base. And I say this with not just a flippant remark, but you're Christian based in the truest sense of the word. Christian. My mother again would be proud to come here. You're a Christian organization and what Christ taught people is what you're living. And you know, and I've seen, I'm lucky that I've been involved with an awful lot of groups and that have a similar basis.
And I can't stand to see the stereotypical thinking that is making us look at people as if they don't believe that this, if they don't belong to this group or that group, if they don't look like this or they don't love like this or they don't do that, then, you know, I'm going to reject them or make fun of them.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: You know, I think it's important.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: You got me preaching here. I didn't mean to do that.
[00:27:41] Speaker A: I didn't give you any coffee, Gary, so I don't know what's going on here, but I'm gonna give you water.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: No, I know you told me you were gonna treat me to some Mexican food afterwards. I saved my appetite for that. Okay, so ask me more questions about.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: I will do that.
I just think it's important, like what you said today, like the political climate that we're in and all that kind of stuff. Like, I mean, we're supposed to love one another, right?
[00:28:06] Speaker B: I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: We're supposed to love one another.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: And I try to like see myself in another person's shoes, right? Like, what's that look like, to be. Not necessarily be in the middle, but, like, to understand where someone is coming from.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: So I think that's important to. To know. Like, I want to understand, like, where. Where our moms are coming from.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Like, I want to understand where what you're. What growing up has been like for you.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: When I meet other people, I want to know, like, what part of the country are you from? Like, what's that look like for you? Like, what was your home life like? What was your. The school like that you went to? I just want to understand that it tells so much about somebody when you understand their background a little bit.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
So, yeah, it has to do with empathy, and empathy has to do with looking at another person and seeing yourself. One other group that I do is.
I've done is.
What is it called? Hidden.
Oh, God, I can't even think of the name of it right now.
It's escaping me.
But it's called.
What is it called?
But it has to do with problem troubles, physical problems that you have hidden. It's not hidden maladies, but something like that. But, I mean, like, this Saturday night, I'm doing an auction for ms, and people with ms, they look like anybody else walking down the street, but they have this problem. Well, if we looked at each person at what is.
Maybe. Maybe everybody has a hidden disease or problem or whatever, because we all do.
[00:29:51] Speaker A: We all do.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: We all do. I mean, we're all the same.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: I mean, we're all the same.
[00:29:55] Speaker B: We have fear and hope and, you know, and aches and pains and insecurities. We're all the same.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: You brought up earlier about how, like, how many different people support Hope House and everything. And one of the things that we do at Hope House, we're always trying to figure out, like, well, what is it that. Why is it that you want to be in the room with during the gala? For example, like, when you make a gift to Hope House, we're going to pick up the phone and call you and thank you for your gift and find out why you feel connected to hopehouse. That's super important to us.
So all those people coming together and everything. And I was thinking about the very first gala I went to.
It actually happened to be at that Omni, and that's where Jeff and I got married.
And on the way to the Omni that night for the gala, I picked up the phone, called my maid of honor, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm more nervous tonight for the gala than I was when we Got married. And she's like, what is going on? And I was like, I am just so stressed out about the event and everything. Like, again, I'm, like, practically throwing up in my mouth. I'm, like, so nervous. And she's like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe that. And that very first gala, I wasn't nervous at the gala, but I just wasn't enjoying myself.
And afterwards, it was one of those, aha moments where I was like, gosh, I just let Satan rob me of the joy of the night.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: And I went home and I just said to myself, I am never letting that happen ever again. I'm just gonna.
Things always go wrong. Like, there's always one, two, three things that go wrong.
Every single one. And you think we write notes to ourselves for the next year about, hey, let's make sure this doesn't happen again or that doesn't happen again. And there was one gala downtown, and my mom flew in, and one of the girls that was speaking, she bent over and the whole back of her dress ripped.
And so I had my mom take her upstairs to our room and, like, sew her into our sewer. Sew her into the dress. It was, like, one of those crazy things. But today, I don't let.
I know stuff's going to go wrong. It's about how you're going to navigate through that and everything. And it was so crazy.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Well, you know, you got to take yourself off the hook because you have a lot to be nervous about.
My job is easy. Have a microphone, and I get up there and I do my thing. But you've got all these, you know, things that you're to. To get together. I mean, do we have enough people in the seats? We've done this. How's the food?
What's it going to be? The entertainment? Are they going to show up in time? What's the sound system? You haven't got a lot to.
[00:32:35] Speaker A: There's a lot of moving parts and everything.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: I mean, all I have to do is show up with a microphone and spout off my stuff.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: I mean, you show up with your cowboy hat. You're. You're all ready to rock and roll and everything.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: Do the soundtrack check. And you're. You're good.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Yeah, as long as the sound is good and, you know.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: And so you're picky about the sound.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I am picky about that. Yeah. That's for. That's for sure. But, you know, the people. It's fun. It's Just, I feel like when I'm up in front of the crowd, that I'm just having a. Kind of a conversation, and we're back home and we laugh a lot and we all.
And I never. I try not to make fun of people. I try to have fun with people. Unless they're really good friends, really close. Then I'll make fun of them.
[00:33:19] Speaker A: Then you can make fun of them.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. That's right.
They'll make fun of me back. But for the most part, it's just like people that are sitting in the seats, and I think they want to be involved.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: They really do, I think.
You know, I wrote something last week or so about Facebook, for example, and I.
You know, with social media, people are at each other's throats. Well, but face to face, they're not correct. You really. I mean, I have good friends who think differently than I do, have different political views or religious views or whatever. And face to face, we get along great.
And same with. That's why people love the galas. I do. I think people want to get together.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: Well, I think about, like, during COVID We didn't get together during COVID Well.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: We did, but again, that was our. I did a couple of events in front of a. A screen, you know.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: Well, I think you did our event. We did. We did the screen for golf.
In fact, you came to the resource center after golf, and everybody. I sent everybody home with steaks and red wine and tune in tonight for the golf tournament.
[00:34:35] Speaker B: I mean, I hated it. I really did.
I tolerated it, but I want to be in the room with people, and that's why, you'll notice I never stay up on the stage. I go into the room because I want to be around them, you know, I mean, it's just like.
It feels good. I feel really, really at home that way. And back to being at home, that's how I grew up. I mean, we were my brothers and sisters.
They're way funnier than I am.
They're hilarious. I mean. And so I steal a lot of their jokes, and I use them all the time.
But, yeah, it is like a family. And I think the atmosphere you've created is like that, and it shows. Golf tournaments, by the way, are really usually very bad fundraising activities. They're not good. Except for yours.
I don't know.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Well, we're super blessed to be at the sanctuary for the golf tournament.
[00:35:29] Speaker B: Well, sanctuary is great.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: Those guys are awesome.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: I say, I'm a golfer, I own golf clubs, and I actually Go there. But I don't know that I could really say I'm a golfer.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: Yeah, Clubs, too. But I don't say, yeah. Only if I get back into a corner. Do I golf.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Yeah. I played in one of the tournaments there. I played in Sanctuary. I did their fundraiser for Dave and Gail Lineager for the thing that they created that. And it's just.
It's an incredible, beautiful place. It's a beautiful place, but it has nothing to do with that. I've done other events for other. At Sanctuary. Yours, again, has to do with your community.
They know either there, and they know the women and the young women, and you always have a speaker from your, you know, from your clientele, and they really grab the room right away.
And then it's easy to follow them because they set the tone.
And then we have fun, you know, again. And they know how to take a joke.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: That's right. That's right.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: You know, I always say I don't mind if people don't get my jokes, but when they don't get that they are jokes, then I have trouble.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Well, then everybody else is laughing at them.
[00:36:49] Speaker B: Yeah. There are groups, they just almost, like, have to have permission and.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: And so.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: Yeah. We had, like, a really great golf tournament this year. We raised $270,000, the most we ever raised, which is crazy. And gala, where I always feel, like, good if I'm able to, like, hit my goal for our sponsorships at our goal for the number of people in the room. And I'm. Everything is set up, but it boils down to what happens in the room that night.
[00:37:20] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:37:21] Speaker A: So it does. Anyway, I'm on track. I hit the sponsorship goal. We're on track for this year. We're working on the number of people that are.
But again, it'll boil down to how you felt last year, like, when you're. Oh, that's all. Like, I think we can raise. Blah, blah, blah. I was like, what? Yeah, I didn't pick up on that.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I have faith. I mean, your job, you know, it's the crude way of putting it. Auctioneers always talk about our butts in the seats. And that's your job, to get the butts in the seats.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Well, I am almost there for the.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: Gay laugh, but those butts better have some pretty big wallets and some purses.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: Well, that's why we throw in liquid.
[00:38:00] Speaker B: But they're willing to give, and they know what they're there for. And you you know, I think you set the stage very nicely.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: What do you think's the craziest thing you've ever auctioned off or happened to? Happened in the night. In the night of the room.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
Yeah, I get that. Asked a lot. I've sold a lot of crazy things. Well, the. You know, the cows in the streets all over Denver that. Remember those for the stock show. Yeah. I was the auctioneer for that. And my wife was in the crowd, and I kept ignoring her, and she kept raising her hand, and I kept ignoring her. And so we have a cow in our front yard. And it's full size cow, beautiful cow. It's called rhythm and Moos and has to do with. It was all the. Not all the artists, but a number of the artists really did beautiful jobs on those. On a. Scott, I think I got the best one.
Now. When we lived in Littleton, I hid the cow, and the cow was bigger than our backyard, and.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Oh, that's funny.
[00:39:04] Speaker B: And in Tucson, it's great. We live in a, you know, kind of a better place. And it fits right in there with the saguaro. So the Amazon guys really love it.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: You know, Trey, they know where you live then.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: Oh, man. Yeah. If the Amazon guys with the cow, sometimes they'll knock on our doors and say, hey, you didn't order anything today. Everything okay? And. But they love the cow. And so that was one of the. Well, I do. There was one group I did, I sold a designer casket.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: Designer casket?
[00:39:33] Speaker B: Yeah, and it was for a religious group. I. Which I forget which one. I'm glad I forget because I'd probably offend them, but they did not believe in burials. They believed in cremation. And so the casket was against our faith. And so. And I don't know how it got donated, but it's a beautiful, beautiful casket design. It had. I don't know if it had Elvis on it or something stupid. But anyway, I said, you got to sell this casket to a bunch of people who don't believe in burials. And so I said, you know, to the crowd, I said, you know, I was hoping they believed in drinking and maybe not burials, but I said, this will be a great cooler for being. For a backyard party. So I sold it as a cooler, and I think it went for two or $3,000, and that was a pretty good one.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: Okay, well, I could put that on the list, but I can't imagine auctioning.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: I did the Denver Broncos charity auction for several years, and that proves that, you know, that greatest fear is public Speaking. Because I get these Broncos. They were afraid of a microphone. They're not afraid of a linebacker coming out like that, but they're afraid of. And Mike Shanahan was with me up there, and he's. He's a good guy to work with, but he and I did it together. And then.
And I. I pulled out. It wasn't going very well, so I pulled out a hundred dollar bill out of my pocket. I kind of had a plan, and I started selling that. And I started at $10, you know, and. And I'm 10, 15. I was 20, now 21. I got it up to almost $5,000. And Ralph Klopp was on the board of. It was called. Was a Courthouse Inc.
With series of group homes. And I said, Ralph, you know, who's the diamond guy? What's his name? Tom. Tom Shane.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: I said, Ralph.
Tom Shane is in the. You know, you think if he'd give. Give $5,000, you could, you know, he'd match it. And.
And I forget it was back. One of the. One of them stood up and said, you bet your sweet ass I will. In front of 1200 people.
[00:41:49] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: And so I sold a hundred dollar bill for $10,000.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: And I tore it in half, gave one to half to Ralph Clump and the other half to Tom Shane. And that's funny. I visited Ralph Clamp. He has a. He had it.
Had it framed. And I did that $100 bill for $10,000.
Another one, a guy walked in, he had the ugliest tie I've ever seen.
And he walked in front of the stage, and I said, man, that's the ugliest tie. I said, I'll just sell that tie. So I sold it for $15,500. Sold that tie right on the spot. Not planned.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: Not planned.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: And the guy who bought it said, this is the ugliest tie. I'll give it back. So we sold it again, and we did it 10 times. We made $15,000.
[00:42:38] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. That's hysterical.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: That was. That was. That was kind of free. I'd say, I. Do I have any others that I remember. I had. I've had so many experiences. I had St. Mary's Academy. Sister Rosemary, she was wonderful. And we were doing. I think it was. I forget who it was, but it was. One of the local TV personalities was the MC and Sister Rosemary. I had just sold a, you know, a golf outing or something for ten grand or something like that. And. And Sister Rosemary fainted. Right, right. In the front row.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: She fainted.
[00:43:13] Speaker B: Yeah, she fell. Had to stop the auction. And the paramedics came in from the fire department and they carter her out, and she, I. And I looked at the, you know, I said, oh, my God, it's. Did she croak? And.
And MC said, no, no, no, she's fine.
So how do you get the crowd back? Well, I told her, I said to crowd. I said to the crowd, I said, yeah, I have to tell you, sister Rosemary is fine. She just fainted. She actually thought she bid $10,000 on that golf.
Fainted that away. She was fine. So that happens, you know, I go, what else? I don't know. I didn't plan on these things. I wish I had planned. I might.
[00:43:56] Speaker A: I remember, like, being at one of the. I can't remember what the charity was, or it was the Denver Broncos, but I remember being at an event where you were the auctioneer, and it was at one of the golf tournaments or golf courses down the south.
And I was so excited because I was in light for food, and Peyton Manning was right next to me, and I was just like, yes.
I didn't really rub up against him, but I was, like, right next to him. And then I saw Elway was there and a bunch of the Bronco players were there. That was pretty cool. I just was like, yes, I'm in the same room or I'm in the same buffet with Peyton Manning. I was so excited.
[00:44:33] Speaker B: Yeah, even, you know, famous. I've worked. I say work with.
I have been the auctioneer when there's a lot of famous people, you know, Jay Leno and, oh, I saw the.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: Picture of you, and I think it was Jay Leno on one of your websites.
[00:44:49] Speaker B: It's interesting, but there are people. They're just people, you know, it just.
Dana Carvey was really great. I, I got.
He was just a great guy. And we, we did some. A little bit of rehearsal together, and I learned a lot about him because he just, you know, he, he, he just was just a good, decent guy, you know, and, And I, I, I went before him, which is always better than going after.
[00:45:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: Just walking off stage and, you know, I'm so proud of this moment. He looked at me and he said, you killed.
Which is a great. That's a great compliment, you know, that we all look for. But, yeah. And so I felt really good. I've had a lot of those kind of good then. I've had a ton of flops, too.
[00:45:41] Speaker A: I was at an event. You were not the auctioneer at this event, but they were auctioning off a trip, but you had to, like, leave that night to get on the trip.
And I felt so bad for the auctioneer because during that was the first thing they auctioned off. And by the time they got to the end of the auction items, the person who had bought that very first item changed their mind, so they had to auction off again. I was just like, you can't do that. The momentum in the room really changes.
And I felt bad for the auctioneer. That was not cool.
[00:46:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:12] Speaker A: I don't think people would sometimes realize that when you put your paddle in the air, that's a. Like, what is that? It's a legal abiding agreement. Like you're. You're basically bidding. I mean, I've let people off the hook when they've bid on stuff they didn't mean to or. Oh, gosh, this one year I had a guy, he probably had too many drinks and his wife went to the bathroom and then he bid on a trip. And then when she came back, she was like, mortified that they had bidding. We obviously didn't enforce that, but. And I was able to sell it again. But it's one of those things where, like, you're in the room and you can kind of get carried away a little bit.
[00:46:47] Speaker B: But drunks are usually easy to deal with because they're drunk and.
But I have to say, in the top five or bottom five worst auctions I've ever done, I did one in the Napa Valley in Marin county in a vineyard.
And it's for. For a Catholic school back there. I forget which one. But the crowd had been tasting the wine all night long, and I was the only sober person there. And that crowd, they were dead and they. And. Or some of them were obnoxious. And then they reneged on their bids and they did all. It was horrible.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: That's not good.
[00:47:27] Speaker B: It was. No, it was terrible. It was hands down the worst all auction I've ever done.
Oh, my God. They. They didn't hire me. Of course, when you're. When. When the event goes bad, they're going to blame the auctioneer, you know, that's true. So I was never hired back for that one.
[00:47:41] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: I've had a couple of bummer events. I did one and sound went out and was up in Aspen and sound went out and they said it's not going to come back. It's. That's terrible. So here I have 500 people in a room. So I got in the middle of the room, stood up on top of a table, and I just yelled, and that's all I could do. Well, then all of a sudden, the sound popped back on.
And I think. I mean, they thought that was the dumbest thing that I should have done. I should have just. But I just thought, wow, what the hell? I got.
[00:48:15] Speaker A: I mean, you got to move forward.
[00:48:16] Speaker B: Show must go on, you know? And so, yeah, I didn't get hired back for that one.
[00:48:23] Speaker A: Oh, that's crazy. Well, I remember when I first took this job the year before, we had somebody say, hey, let's just try it without, like, a professional auctioneer. Let's just do our own thing.
And the difference between that year of doing it and when you came back the next year and again, this was 15 years ago, was $100,000 difference. So I strongly endorse having a professional auctioneer do your event.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: Oh, well, thank you. You know, there's a lot of young ones now that are.
I'm young, too, but they're younger and they're real good. But I don't get a chance to see them.
But then I do get calls. Gary, would you please? We had this auctioneer, and they were terrible, and they had such a good website. And I said, well, if you want to hire somebody who's a good web or you get a good auctioneer, well, it's hard to do. I don't get the chance to see them. And I know a lot of them. As I said, I was an instructor in auction school for about 20 years. And some people really get it, and they're really good, and you can see right away. And others, I wasn't so good. I just kept at it, you know, and learned. And I was a judge in the International Auctioneer Championship a couple years ago down in Jacksonville, and they were all international champions, and me as judges. And, you know, I just love listening to a good auctioneer. And I, you know, I try and I keep trying, and I'd love to, but some of the. Ralph Wade is everybody's guru, and Paul C. Bear and my buddy Adam Kevl, he does such a good job. And Haley Bear, she's Paul's niece, she has such a warm. Such a beautiful chant, and they're so good.
And, you know, I keep trying to.
I don't practice at home in the shower when anybody's home, because my wife drives them nuts, you know, So I don't do that. So. And I, you know, practice. I don't really. I do so many auctions. I. That's my practice, but I still. I still would love to be able to, you know, to do that. People ask me why I didn't compete, why I've never competed in the championship kind of thing, and I just. Well, I'm just not there yet. I gotta keep trying.
[00:50:45] Speaker A: I think the real reason would be you're probably gonna show everybody up. So.
[00:50:48] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe. Maybe one of these days I'll get a prize for being the oldest competitor ever, so.
[00:50:54] Speaker A: Oh, that's funny. That's funny.
[00:50:56] Speaker B: Yeah, that'd be all right.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: Well, I think our time is coming to a close here. And, Gary, I can't thank you enough for flying in and doing this podcast with me today. And you do such a great job. You've received so much money for Hope House over the years. I just want to say thank you for that.
[00:51:10] Speaker B: Well, I want to thank.
[00:51:11] Speaker A: Really appreciate that.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: Let me thank you.
I've been your auctioneer for 17 years or whatever, and another number of the other organizations, you know, that pop to mind, the Adaptive Sports center up in Crested Butte, for example, they do skiing and downhill racing, doing all this stuff for people that are people with real severe physical disabilities. And so I'm such a lucky person. I get to challenge any of the biases that I grew up with. And we all grow up with them, whether they're religious or racial or gender or whatever bias you end up growing, you get them challenged.
And I really, really appreciate all that you've done and that you've had me as your auctioneer. I'm so proud of being involved with you. So thank you.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: Thank you very, very, very much. Thank you.
The things I didn't know the things I didn't know about you oh, precious soul the things I didn't know the things I didn't know about you about you Sam.
