Okay, that's the most athletic thing I'll do
all day. Mike, we're gonna see with you here
on a special edition of Good News York. We're
live, well, we're not live, but we're here at
the Timberbanks Golf Club or Country Club. I
should probably figure out which one it is. In
Baldwinsville, New York, the NFL Alumni Golf
Tournament. This is a golf tournament that they
do every year put on by the NFL Alumni Association.
Gene Mills, Hall of Fame wrestler. Mean Gene.
If you don't call him that, he'll kill you. He
is the chapter head for the Upstate New York
chapter of the NFL Alumni Association. They pick
a different charity each year. They do a big
golf tournament, former players, former coaches,
prominent people in the area, and then idiots
like me. And this year, they chose David's Refuge
as their charity of choice. David's Refuge, friends
of ours on the show. We've had Diana Nightingale,
Kate Halk. and from David's Refuge on the show,
they were talking about this tournament and the
old light bulb went off and I thought, why don't
we head down to the tournament when that happens
and get some footage. So I'm gonna be doing some
interviews, getting some footage, hopefully not
getting kicked out. And I want to challenge Daryl
Luce Johnson to a push -up contest. No, I don't.
But either way, we're gonna have some fun. Let's
see what happens here at the Timberbanks Golf
Club for the NFL Alumni Golf Tour. Hi. Hello.
You're gonna do this like this, too? We have
to do it like this. This is my buddy Kate. Hi.
I said I read Kate Hulk, right? You did. Okay.
Yes. Maybe. Maybe. This is our buddy Kate Hulk
from David's Refuge. We just talked about David's
Refuge. We had you guys on Good News York. We
absolutely love what you do for families, caregivers,
and for people with illness. I was talking to
Diana about these lemons. I love this. You have
a basket of lemons here and she has no idea what
the hell it's for. So I am glad that you're going
to see that past the lemon. Yeah. So I thought
it was when life hands you lemons. Right. That's
a great. Yes. Yeah. But we tend to be accused
of David's refuge of being toxically positive.
So for us, hey, it's a. It's a compliment. We're
good news York. We only do good news. That's
right. So we will do it, especially in the current
world we're living in. I will be toxically positive
to the day I die. If that's toxic, then I want
to be the most toxic person ever. So during COVID,
we started to think about things and everything
we had to do was with a twist. We're like, Oh,
you know what? Let's do our annual big fundraiser,
but with a twist. And let's think about something
bright and fresh and restorative. And we all
thought of lemons. And so this went together
and we started to leave lemons in people's mailboxes
and we started to put lemons on a lot of our
different marketing materials. And it really
just started to become something that we thought
did connect David's Refuge, the mission of light
and love and be the light. came out in the lemon.
So here we are today, still giving lemons away
as stress balls. See, that's why I knew I should
talk about these lemons. I knew there was going
to be a story behind it. Did you hear that, Diana?
There's an actual story behind the lemons. Further
training needed. Further training. But no, I
think that's a wonderful message and it really
represents David's Refuge because you guys are
so unique in what you do and how you approach
things. Here we are at the golf tournament. How
beautiful is this? I have a problem because I
don't want to be the cliche guy that's walking
around going, beautiful day for it. Perfect day.
But it is. There's not a cloud in the sky. It's
not very humid. Yes. But let's remember, if it
was raining, we would be saying, wow, the grass
is going to be so green tomorrow. That's right.
And we would say, hey, plants somewhere. are
coming alive again. Yeah. And we would just.
You get to use that golf umbrella you never got
to use before. Look at this. We're just going
to pour toxicity all over this golf course. Toxicity
of happiness. And happiness. Yes. I love it.
I love you. All right. Here we are. Kate Hauck,
David's Refuge at the NFL Alumni Golf Tournament.
All right. Thanks for being here. Thank you for
having us. For me. All right. Mike Brindisi,
Good News York here with Marlon Greenwood. Former
NFL player, Marlon, it is an honor to meet you
and to get to interview you. You're here for
a great cause. Tell us, who did you play for
and what position? So I played for the Miami
Dolphins and the Houston Texans. But the college
I went to, Syracuse University. You know, went
there from 1996. Last season was 2000 season.
I got retired in my first year. Started 48 consecutive
games at Syracuse. And I was fortunate to get
drafted by the Miami Dolphins. I started four
years with them and then signed with the Houston
Texans and started four years with them. But
it's so glad to be back here in Syracuse to be
able to support such a good cause and it's such
a wonderful feeling being home. I call it home
because, you know, New York and also this is
what was responsible for me getting a chance
to go into the NFL. So it's a great feeling,
you know. Growing up in life, you all get busy,
but it's always good to come home. So well said.
I mean, it's so great. People don't get to see
outside of, you know, the NFL, how much you guys
do for the communities and coming back to where,
you know, where you either went to school or
grew up is so important. How did you get involved
with this NFL alumni tournament? All right. So
the vice president, James Mongrel, played with
him at Syracuse. He also played for the Indianapolis
Colts. And Gene Mills, he was the wrestling coach.
Mean Gene. And I wrestled in high school. Gene
actually tried to recruit me when I was at Syracuse.
Is that right? Yeah. Well, good thing you didn't.
Well, you know, I really enjoy wrestling and
wrestling. I was a five time state champion wrestler.
I won the New York State Championship my senior
year, but in Greco -Roman and freestyle wrestling,
I won the state Empire State Games. Actually,
the first Empire State Games I won in my sophomore
year at even within the carry -dome. No way.
Before I even started playing football. That's
awesome. I started playing football my junior
year in high school. And after my first year
at Syracuse, offered me a scholarship because
I played soccer before then coming from Jamaica,
the long story. You know, I think you made the
right decision because, you know, in football,
there's a wrestling element to it, right? In
wrestling, there's really not a football element
to it. I always said that if I, God forbid, I
was to get in a fight... You never want to get
in a fight with a wrestler because you either
got to knock them out because once they get you
down, that's it. Am I right? You're absolutely
right. You know, and that's why most of the MMA
fighters are good wrestling with a good wrestling
background to make great great fighters there.
And, you know, the wrestling definitely prepared
me for football with the tackling and everything.
Sure. But one of the things coming up here to
be able to give back to a cause like this is
very important to me. I have my own foundation,
MG 52, Marlon Griner Foundation. We do free football
camps for the kids. We serve with over 12 ,000
kids for free today. We started doing it back
in 2015. And I was that youth coming up looking
for a way out. I have seven brothers and four
sisters. We had to help my family, and football
gave me that avenue. My coach, Russell, in high
school, gave me the opportunity. to wrestle,
he was the one that dragged me into wrestling
and he was the head football coach. Took him
one month to convince me to play. And I was telling
someone yesterday that I said, let me play football
to do Coach Salon a favor, but actually he was
doing me a favor because I didn't know the opportunities
of football. But he was such a good guy and he
was also the assistant wrestling coach and I
had a relation. with him knowing what type of
person he was. So when you were like, come on
and join the football team. I was like, you know
what, maybe I should, but football and soccer
within the same season. And it was a difficult
decision to make. But he said, football starts
two weeks before soccer. Come on, try it out.
And if you like it, stay. If you don't like it,
you go back to soccer. Perfect. And that's what
happened. And after my first year playing, I
got offered a post -college at Syracuse University.
We went to play in the NFL. Orange. All because
of the cold selling. I have to give a shout out
to Coach Ed Ogeron, who are recruiting me from
out of high school, and also Coach Bob Pascolone,
Chris Ripon, Mike Gerber, all the great coaches
that we had at Syracuse, who really helped George
De Leon, you know, so many people that impacted,
and if I... forget to mention someone, you know,
that all of us impacted our lives. It's amazing.
And I know you got to get back to golf, but real
quick, Syracuse Orange, the program always been
a respected program, but there's been quite a
lull. And then we noticed, you know, Malarkey,
excuse me. Well, Babers came along and a bunch
of other coaches. And it seems like the program
is really starting to. you know, they're starting
to recruit better, get bigger and better players.
It seems like, I don't know, the Syracuse Orange
football is back. Are you excited about that?
Do you feel the same? You know, I'm very excited
about it. I was very sad to see Coach Paul Pascaloni
go, but I think that really impacted the program
because of the years and the relationship that
he's built because he's a man that stands by
his word. And we won three biggest championships.
but we went to some good bowl games. You know,
we moved down to Manab, Keith Bullock, Dwight
Franey, you know, all these guys that we had.
Alindomare? Alindomare, yeah, I played with him
down in Miami. In Miami, yeah. Rob Conrad. Yeah,
fullback. Fullback. Yeah. You know, just to name
a few guys that we had on the team. But Coach
B really did a great job of recruiting and having
a great coach with around him and just being
a person that felt tough and full of integrity.
And one thing I always remember what Coach P
said, one year, the year when we won, won the
Big East title, we were 0 -3. I remember he came
into the team meeting room and he said, he said,
if you don't remember one thing, remember this,
tough times don't last, but tough people do,
right? And we won eight straight games. The Big
East went to the Orange Bowl that year. That
was the year we went to the Orange Bowl. I remember.
And it was just a tremendous year, so I just
always want to give a lot of respect to the people
that have helped to mold my life. You're such
a great guy. You've named off, I think, every
player that you've ever played with, which is
amazing of you. And before I let you go, is there
anything you want to plug, your foundation, anything
like that? Oh, so we have our free football camp
coming up. I'm out of Vegas. I'm the president
of the Las Vegas chapter. founder of the Marlon
Grino Foundation. We do a free football camp
every year. All the information's on my website,
mg52 .org. The name is Marlon Grino, so MG. My
number was 52. 52 in high school, 52 at Syracuse,
52 at Miami. Only time it changed, 56, was when
I was with you in Texas. And my father, I found
out later, was born in 1952. You should know
when you think of one, of course. Well, you gotta
play 52 when you're ever your best or anything
like that. That's your magic number. So it's
mg52 .org. Awesome, man. Marlon Greenwood, thank
you so much for your time and good luck today.
Appreciate you very much. All right, Mike Brindisi,
Good News York here with our friend, Diana Nightingale
from David's Refuge. The reason we're here because,
Diana, we had you on Good News York. We talked
about David's Refuge and CNY mental health, Melissa
Carmen. And you mentioned that you were chosen.
David's Refuge is the charity of choice for the
NFL Alumni Golf Tournament and here we are on
a perfect day. So beautiful. Remind us, well
first of all good morning, good afternoon. Remind
us about David's Refuge, what it is that you
guys do. David's Refuge provides respite, resources,
and support to caregivers of children with special
needs. or life -threatening medical conditions
so that they can be renewed refreshed and restored
in their role as caregivers. It's absolutely
beautiful and you know we talked about that on
the show how you know when when people come down
with with illnesses that you know obviously we
think of them and what they're going through
but a lot of times we don't think about the caregivers
and so what you guys do is unique and it's important
and amazing and you have a whole crew here today
back Can I call her that now? Bex? Are we on
that level, Bex? We are, Bex and the crew. We're
at the putting green. What are we doing at the
putting green? I love this idea, by the way.
This is a really fun game. So in between holes,
the force ones can come over and compete. We
measure to see who gets the closest to the hole
that they're shooting at. And they win a free
day of golf here at Timber Banks. Which... a
free round of golf. It's not like putt -putt,
which I know you're really good at. I am. But
this is not your average course. This is absolutely
beautiful. So winning a round of golf here would
be amazing. Anything you want to talk about other
than the golf tournament and the putt -putt contest?
Anything else coming up for David's Refuge? Well
June we were very busy of course with events,
but throughout the year We just have a variety
of events that caregivers can participate in
as well as different fundraisers So looking forward
to the rest of the year, of course, we have events
throughout the community over the summer Just
sharing the mission of David's Refuge. We also
have National Family Caregiver Month Which is
in November and right before that we have our
caregiver summit and Wellness Retreat in October,
which will be in Syracuse this year, which we're
very excited about, at Hotel Syracuse. Oh, that's
perfect. Absolutely perfect. And here comes Kate,
who's just completely sabotaging this interview.
No, I'm kidding. How are you, Kate? Doing great.
Kate Howell, another one of the wonderful people
from David's Refuge that came on the show. So
here we are. I want to talk about one more thing.
I love this. You have a basket of lemons on your
table. Can you explain what's going on with the
lemons? Well, they're great because you can squish
them, but other than that, hold on, Kate knows
the best about, it's not when life gives you
lemons. It's not when life gives you lemons?
Oh, I blew it. I mean, that is one thing. That's
what I thought it was. That's what I thought
it was when life hands you lemons and it's like
a little stress squeeze ball. It's the little
things that I love. But either way, we're going
to be here all day, set up by the putting green.
um thank you for having us and thank you for
being here of course we love david's refuge and
uh let's see what the day brings us maybe we'll
get you golfing maybe that would be a miracle
that would be a miracle and i think we've already
got you driving a car yeah your first time so
let's see if you can get you didn't crash so
you did not not yet right it's more to come