Building Youth Development Downtown: A Conversation with Tyrus Thomas

Tyrus Thomas is quietly revolutionizing youth development in Winchester, Virginia. As president of both the Youth Development Center (YDC) and Winchester Rising Stars, his visionary leadership has transformed these organizations while maintaining their core mission of community service.

The conversation begins with exciting news about YDC's relocation to downtown Winchester at 302 South Loudoun Street (the former Perk Fitness building). This strategic move solves one of their biggest challenges—accessibility. "For a while, it was just always a challenge to try to get a bus out to our location," Tyrus explains. Now centrally located, the facility provides walkable access for youth throughout the community, particularly those without transportation options.

What makes Tyrus's approach remarkable is his balanced vision of both youth development and community building. The YDC has evolved from solely youth programming to becoming a true community center offering activities for all ages. While maintaining a "youth first" philosophy, they've expanded to include programs like pickleball and tai chi for seniors alongside e-sports, art classes, and basketball for young people. This intergenerational approach strengthens community bonds while maximizing their impact.

Fundraising innovation has been another hallmark of Tyrus's leadership. Their signature "Pig and Pork" bourbon tasting event demonstrates how adult-focused fundraising can coexist with youth programming, creating a family-friendly environment that doubled their revenue simply by virtue of their downtown location. These resources directly support making programs affordable and accessible to all income levels.

Beyond his YDC work, Tyrus manages an impressive portfolio of personal businesses—including a vending machine company, lawn care service, party bus rental, and auto detailing—while coaching basketball at Handley High School. This entrepreneurial spirit infuses his nonprofit leadership with practical business acumen.

Perhaps most inspiring is Tyrus's collaborative philosophy. "I ain't gotta be the smartest person in the world," he reflects, "I just gotta be around people who are just as smart or smarter than me." This humility has fostered partnerships with organizations like Hood Love and Teams Inc., creating a support network far more powerful than any single organization could provide.

Looking for ways to support your community's youth? Visit the Youth Development Center downtown or consider volunteering with one of the many partner organizations making Winchester a better place for all generations.

Transcript

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Introducing Tyrus Thomas

Speaker 1 0:19

I was ready , bro . It's a hindrance . Silence is cassette , so let your voices be heard , man , we brothers with opinions . Now we spreading the word , Bringing light to the dark Revolution is our art man a lot of people talk , but they ain't never walked apart .

Speaker 2 0:34

Gotta shine a light on poverty and fight against injustice and always speak the truth . Hey , Chris , what's up ? What's going on , fam ? How's everything tonight ?

Speaker 3 0:44

Good , good , we're back here , Brothers , with Opinions , and we got a special guest , tyrus Thomas , the president of the YDC here in Winchester Virginia . So Tyrus welcome .

Speaker 4 0:54

Thank y'all for having me yeah man no problem , I greatly appreciate it .

Speaker 2 0:57

Yeah , definitely excited to have you on , man . I know he says Tyrus . Man , you know me , I'm going to be a hype guy . I'm going to be real . That's my man , citrus , right there . Mr Loris fed me back in the day . That's real people . Man , tyrus , you do big things . We're excited to have you on .

Speaker 4 1:12

Thanks man , I'm excited to be here .

Speaker 3 1:14

Yeah . So , tyrus , you want to tell a little bit about myself . I'm from Winchester , I own a couple businesses .

YDC's New Downtown Location

Speaker 4 1:29

I coach at Hanley High School , the JV head coach , president of Winchester Rising Stars , president of the YDC . So I've been with the YDC now since 2018 . I've been a part of the youth development . Yeah , I've been there that long as a part of it . So just try to be a community guy where I can be . So that's a little bit about me .

Speaker 2 2:00

How long have you been with the Rising Stars ?

Speaker 4 2:03

I've been with the Rising Stars . This I've been with the Rising Stars . This is my seventh year . No so president for seven years . I've been with the Rising Stars for eight years altogether , but I've been the president for seven . Nice and October will be seven years .

Speaker 3 2:22

And how many years have you been in Hanley ? I've been at Hanley .

Speaker 4 2:25

This is going into my sixth year Basketball coach at Hanley . I also coached under Eric's . I've known for girls for a year . So you learned from the great Eric Green huh . Eric is a great coach . Eric is still a mentor . Mr Dixon , I a mentor , mr Dixon . I'll reach out to Mr Dixon if I have some challenging things as well when it comes to the coaching front , sometimes just the life front . You know , I learned a lot from Mr Dixon , learned a lot from Eric . Eric and I still talk often . So it's those things and like we will continue to talk , but Eric and I are competitors , um , and we got to compete against each other , but he's always like the big brother , like we just talk about life . We don't even talk about basketball half the time . Right , sometimes we do , but not most of the time .

Speaker 3 3:21

Gotcha . Okay , uh Ty . So I'll start off the questions here . We'll get to the YDC , because that's why you're on here , right ? So I know they got a new facility , correct , new ?

Speaker 4 3:31

location . Yes , that was the exciting thing For a while . For us at the YDC , it was just always a challenge to try to get a bus out to our location . We could never since I've been on the board , like I said , since 2018 , we could never get a bus stop at our location . So we had the dream of , you know , just having kids in the building , and we had an opportunity to get downtown . At first we had actually two other locations that we were looking at , on the north end actually but those locations fell through . But we wanted to try to be just downtown , kind of like the old team center , right Like where kids can walk to it . So that was our dream . So when we had the opportunity to look at some places , my executive director , nancy , she found this . She found the place we're in now , and when she showed it to me on the computer , I said we got to go look at it . So we looked at it multiple times with different board members and now we're in the building , in the building .

Speaker 2 4:48

Where's the exact location at .

Speaker 4 4:50

So the exact location is 302 South Loudoun Street .

Speaker 3 4:56

So for most people it was the mall .

Speaker 4 4:57

Yeah , so it's a block away from the walking mall . So if you're , it's the old Perk Fitness building . It was Jones Furor home back in the 60s , so it's right of catacord . It's an Italian touch . The big old parking lot that backs up to Cameron Street as soon as you go down the hill . If you look to the left , that's our building . So we were able to acquire that . We were able to acquire the house and the garages that went along with it .

Speaker 2 5:32

Do you guys have a gym in that building ?

Speaker 4 5:34

So we have three racquetball courts currently there at the facility . The goal and what we're working on is putting a full-size gym in there , not full-size like Hanley's Gym , like court-size . We're talking about court-size , as a college court-size gym is our desire , so something like SU-size .

Speaker 1 6:06

No , not building .

Speaker 4 6:08

The building itself is big , but we're not looking to go as big as Shenandoah , we just want the size of the court to be that big , yeah , yeah , 94 feet 94 feet . So that would be . Our big hope is to have that .

Speaker 3 6:24

Yeah , that's dope man .

Speaker 2 6:27

Nice you guys have what Art and dance classes in there going on Like some trunk or treat things coming up .

Speaker 4 6:34

Yeah , those are the exciting things . It was harder to do that stuff at our other facility . Obviously , we had the big gyms and all that stuff , but the trunk or treat and all that stuff , with the big parking lot and all that stuff and being downtown , you get it was more right , so you get a lot more engagement with the community being downtown .

Speaker 4 6:56

Now , we just had a . It was called a pig and pork . It's one of our fundraisers . We probably , from last year to this year , doubled the amount of money we made just by being downtown , so it was a blessing for us .

Speaker 2 7:11

Some of the guests we have on next week for the show . I think they're part of your organization with that big and poor . I think they're actually on that board on that board .

Speaker 4 7:27

So one year before COVID I had people over at my house and we had a bourbon tasting and Andy Vipperman was over there with us . And then after we came out of COVID , andy and I was like , why don't we take that and try to do a fundraiser for the YDC ? And then Michael Partlow brought him on board to help us with it , because Michael Partlow he's the treasurer and VP right now .

Speaker 3 7:58

You have the YDC right .

Speaker 4 7:59

Yes , and then Andy just stepped down from the board like literally , just like after the pig and pork , basically he's going through a lot too man he's dealing with a lot of stuff , but he stepped down from the hall of fame and everything like .

Speaker 2 8:16

You know what I mean .

Speaker 4 8:18

Andy has great insight for a lot of different things . He knows a lot of people , so we were able to grow it . Each year we've done it , so that was the exciting thing about that . Like I said , we just had that here a couple of weeks , maybe three weeks ago .

Speaker 2 8:36

And that's been a good fundraiser for you guys right .

Speaker 4 8:38

Yeah , it's been our biggest fundraiser , so it was pretty exciting .

Speaker 3 8:43

Yeah , all right . So since we're on that topic , what's your favorite whiskey ? Or like a little

Fundraising Through Pig and Pork Event

Speaker 3 8:49

off topic , it's not off topic , if you're talking about a pinion .

Speaker 4 8:56

Tyrus he's a connoisseur of tasting that liquor yeah , so I mean , I have a couple different ones , but one that you can it's a higher end , but you can get is EH . Taylor , it's pretty smooth , that's liquor . Yeah , it's a bourbon .

Speaker 2 9:15

Yeah , yeah , never had that .

Speaker 4 9:16

I don't drink them more . So yeah , I mean I don't .

Speaker 2 9:21

I'm not one to drink often , but yeah , when you do , you like something nice and smooth , right right , right , right , right . That's dope , y'all do that and it helps your community . Man , like , regardless of how you do it , like cause , I will be honest , like if I'm first looking from the outside in , I'm like liquor and roasting pigs for the kids , like that's a little different .

Speaker 4 9:44

But if that's what helps in this community , people involved , and it really is helping give back to your community kids , that's dope man well , what it does is it basically lowers the cost of event , uh , for things for kids to do , right , because we're not just trying we're trying to capture all kids right . Like Like so low-income kids that can't afford it at all . Like we're capturing it all . Like we're not trying to leave any kid out because we're a community center . Like we are actually rebranding to not just a youth development center but more to a community center so we can have adult-type paintings and all that stuff . So we're going're glad you just talked about , touched on . One of the programs we have for kids is painting . We're actually going to do that for adults as well too .

Speaker 2 10:33

Is that going to be a sip and paint ?

Speaker 3 10:38

No , no , no , no no .

Expanding from Youth to Community Center

Speaker 4 10:39

So that's not going to be that we're just . You know , there's just a lot of people . If you go around , there's a lot of adults that need things too . So like , at the old YDC we had pickleball . Frederick County Parks and Rec did pickleball . For adults , we had tai chi . It was an older group of folks that would do Tai Chi at our building . So again , so like rebranding and being a community center for all and not we're still youth first . But those are one of the things that we would like to capture and , especially , being downtown , want it to be for all . So like , even when we had the pig and poor , we had things for our kids all the time , like it was a family event . So inside we had , um , our , um , we got donated , uh , from the elks club some nintendo switches because we have e-sports there as well um , and so the kids got to do the e-sports and was able to be in our gaming room . So it wasn't just for adults , it was a family event .

Speaker 2 11:52

Good Nice . Do you take any inspiration from our caretaker days ?

Speaker 4 11:57

I do , I do .

Speaker 2 11:59

That's just what I envisioned us to become , because it seems like you have a lot of that in you too , like a little June bug and stuff , and I know we didn't have so much adults back then unless they was like kind of working and helping out . But it seems like you have some of that in you . So I was wondering and curious if you was , you know , inspired at all by those days when we grew up in caretakers .

Speaker 4 12:21

Yeah , so , like one of the builders we was looking at was right beside caretakers actually . Um , so , yeah , um , it was under contract so we couldn't get it , unfortunately . But , um , yes , caretakers , I like my senior year I did some tutoring there help with all that stuff . So you know , Ms Gwynn , back in the day we were able to get in the gym . It was like our first experience of really getting in the gym all the time and being able to play and having a place to call hours as a group of young kids where we could stay out of trouble . So that's what we're trying to do , Like it's trying to , for me , caretakers slash the teen center type vibe where kids just had a place where they could have fun at , but also we got to have a little learning behind it as well too .

Speaker 4 13:15

So Wednesday night church we used to at the old YDC . We had two different churches that were there . We had one old YDC . We had two different churches that were there . We had one in the big gym , we had one in our theater . So it was cool that you could get those different things , a mix of things . Right now we don't have that . We're just we're just getting in there . We just got the blessing to change the CEP to make sure we could be a community center there . We got that done , so yeah , Nice , tyrus .

Speaker 3 13:55

I got a question . Yes , sir . So , tyrus , what is your leadership style ? How do you foster and collaborative and support the environment ? You know , the community and your staff and volunteers at the YDC ?

Speaker 4 14:09

For me . Like there Shaquille O'Neal said I ain't gotta be the smartest people in the world person in the world , I just gotta be around people who are just as smart or smarter than me .

Speaker 4 14:24

So rather than yourself , or smarter than me , yeah , so rather self or smarter , yeah , like there there's a lot of our board is a lot of different folks from a lot of different walks of lives and by that , like everybody has something , something good to say in the room .

Speaker 4 14:42

So it does . You know , you gotta allow them to do it , and then you gotta allow the allow them to do it , and then you've got to allow the younger folks to do it too , because they're more in touch with the younger people and what they want to do , like the eSports thing . That wasn't anything the board came up with . We had a former employee who was going to Lord Fairfax for eSports saying we should do esports . We got connected with another employee who helped us get connected with Dave Gardner and the Elks to get us a donation to get this stuff running . I connected with Scott Brathwaite , who was the esports coach at Hanley , got him in contact with our executive director . Scott took over that and he became a board member at the same time . So it's like you just got to know people really .

Speaker 2 15:37

Shout out to Scott man when I was in fifth grade at Frederick Douglass the newer one I was sick and missed a whole week of school . That kid , scott Brathwaite man he showed up with his mom at the newer one I was sick and missed my like a whole week of school . That kid , scott Brafway man he showed up with his mom at the Evans home man , and we ain't even know each other that well , but that was the kind of dude he was man . He showed up and showed me love and I'll never forget that . I'm like this dude , scott Brafway . He's coaching at Hanley too . Right , you're helping .

Speaker 4 16:01

Yeah , he was helping with football . He was helping with football . I'm not for sure . I think he may have stepped down , but he did last year .

Speaker 2 16:12

I know that was a little awful when you said his name . I'm like dude . I'll never forget that little story that kid showed up . Out of everybody that I was cool with , that guy showed up in fifth grade at Frederick Douglass when I was in the Evans home and brought whatever they brought balloons or whatever they brought . But it was cool man . So I ain't going to lie . Shout out to you , scott , that was dope .

Speaker 3 16:33

Right , okay , tyron . So what I know ? You don't want to give away much , but what is your ? You know the YDC's plans . Upcoming plans say your goals for the next one to three years . Where do you want to ?

Speaker 4 16:46

be . We want people to know who we are . Like I told people I made this statement as old as the YDC is is as new as we are , too , meaning we've been around for a very long time but we were on the outskirts . So even the new people that moved in who you know , not necessarily going to outskirts really don't know who the YDC is and all that stuff . Some people don't even know that our name is the youth development center .

Speaker 2 17:22

Right , it's the young dance club , right . So ?

Speaker 4 17:27

now that we're coming downtown and then there's more people going to be able to see who we are and different things like that , I think our quickest thing to do is want to get in front of as many people as possible . So we have , like , different committees now our marketing committee , our programs committee , all that stuff . We have a great marketing committee . These folks are in marketing for their lives and different things like that , so they're known to start and market us in a way that gets us in front of more people and folks like that . So that is our short-term goal . Our long-term goal would be to be the place that every kid wants

Leadership Philosophy and Future Goals

Speaker 4 18:11

to be and to have our gym in place . That's the goal . But you know , the landscape of the world is ever-changing , so we try to stay on top of that by making sure that youth are involved in the conversations with that as well too .

Speaker 3 18:33

Okay , how do you involve the youth , honestly , well ?

Speaker 4 18:39

we involve the youth from different points of views .

Speaker 3 18:42

I should say I'm sorry . Decision-making no um , I should say I'm sorry . Like you know , make decision making .

Speaker 4 18:51

No , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah . So it was cool , like the one year . Um , we uh task Michael Partlow's uh daughter and a couple other folks , because we don't we , when we employ , we usually employ some youth kids and then some adults . It's a mix of it so we get their input . So , like this summer , we had Kian and then we had Isaiah . So Kian Omer and Isaiah Baxter , along with some college folks , do our summer fest . So we let them come up with the programming had to be approved , but we let them come up with the programming and the ideas to make sure we have the connections that are needed for the youth . So , because it makes it better the things that we liked as as us growing up , it's not what kids necessarily appreciate this day and age all the time . Now they still love the kickball , they still love the wiffle ball . All that stuff's never going to go away , right ? So no crap soccer or nothing like that .

Speaker 4 19:56

Right Well there's different things that we did and that they had fun with , but those are things that Isaiah and the Keons and all them had to put together . One of the people that was really great who led it was Gracie . Gracie did a great job of leading us in that aspect as well , too .

Speaker 3 20:18

Okay , nice , I mean , I love you , know you guys get the youth involved and get their you know input and ideas , because that definitely helps . Yes , it has to . And then so what is the center's philosophy on youth development and how is it reflected in the program's offer ?

Speaker 4 20:39

Well , we just started with programming again . It took us a while . I mean to be honest with you getting out of again um , it took us a while . I mean to be honest with you getting out of covid . It took us . We had a few programs but we didn't have like the programs that we wanted . We just got a ? Uh , a new program director , um , and , uh , lindsey browning . And Lindsay Browning she's phenomenal . She teaches at SU dance . She's a , she's an artist . I'm like Lindsay she's right now has artwork in Crate and Barrel , so she is really doing big things . So Crate and Barrel is selling .

Speaker 2 21:25

Y'all have that store in Winchester .

Speaker 4 21:28

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 21:29

So there's a but like she got with the I ain't gonna lie , I didn't hear about that store until like two years ago . Y'all have that down there , yeah .

Speaker 4 21:36

So she got contracted . She's a great artist . She got contracted , her work was put out there . It's great . So she became my program director and she's connected with different people at SU and around the community like her and Jaden . They did the handling . They were the people who did the handling 100 , like the marketing and all that stuff for that Taking the pictures .

Speaker 2 22:03

You said Jaden .

Speaker 4 22:04

Yeah , Jaden Cyber Mm-hmm yeah .

Speaker 2 22:09

So , like you know , you really connect with all your people . Man , that's dope .

Speaker 4 22:12

Yeah , so like just getting connected with all those folks and you know it's easy to get them to do the programming , so you leave that stuff to them Like I don't , I ask them , do they need help ? But you know that's not my struggle to figuring out the programming and all that stuff . You know what I mean . I have a stepson and he's , you know , in college , a junior .

Speaker 4 22:47

And then after that I coach basketball right like so you coach a lot of basketball programs , yeah , but I'm just saying like getting those other people who are , who can touch um that stuff , and then the marketing folks , like I said before , they make sure that we're in everything that the city's doing now , like with the things downtown . We're there , so it's pretty amazing .

Speaker 2 23:13

I'm excited to come and check you out when I get back in town . Man , that's dope man . I'm glad you guys are downtown too , because , like you said , there's way more people that can come and be a part of the community , especially people that are underprivileged . That helps a lot . Caretakers you know where caretakers was , so that helps a lot to have people from that side of the town to be able to be there more frequently .

Speaker 3 23:36

Yes , that leads to one of my questions about the youth . How do you guys help , I guess , to say underprivileged youth , low-income families and stuff like that ?

Speaker 4 23:50

Well , we partner with folks , right , like , everything costs money , right , at the end of the day , things cost money , but that's why you have those fundraisers , that's why you gain partnerships , that's why you use other nonprofits to support each other . I tell you , for me , one of the partners that I like the most . We have a lot of partners , but one I appreciate the most is Hood Love most . We have a lot of partners , but one I appreciate the most is hood love because we partner and we partnered a lot , um , for different events and different things like that , and our mission is the same as everybody else's mentioned .

Speaker 4 24:34

Who's dealing with the youth ? I just have a great appreciation for anybody who is volunteering to help in any capacity , right , because , like right now , life is life at the end of the day . So , like , how do you take your free time and dedicate it to make somebody else's life easier ? So , anybody who's doing that , I appreciate you for doing that , because it's not something that all people are willing to do . So , like , just connecting with different nonprofits .

Speaker 4 25:08

Like in our building , we have Johnny Craig . Johnny Craig is a great partner of ours . He rents some space at the top part of our building for teams Inc . And tech . So for some troubled youth and different things like that , johnny know how to connect with those kids in a way that not most people can . So you also got to have a space for them . So joining them have done a great job and they've been a great partner . It went from our old space to our new space with us . So you know , just making sure you're partnering with the people , make sure like we're kind of on the same page on how we need to deal with the youth , but you can do it in your own style and so like that , that Johnny's been great to us too . We've been great to him . It's just something

Community Partnerships and Impact

Speaker 4 26:01

that works hand in hand to him .

Speaker 3 26:03

It's just something that works hand in hand .

Speaker 4 26:07

So can you name a few of your partners that we've partnered with ? Like I said , teens Inc . Tac partnered with Hood Love . We've partnered with Frencher County as well . Frencher County used our old facility for summer camp . They did the pickleballs , different things like that . We're looking to partner with some other folks and how we connect with them . So we have a lot of different partners that we look to . You know reach even more now that we're downtown . Reach even more now that we're downtown , because when the YDC was built , it was built as a nonprofit to support other nonprofits . Right , okay , so we still have that's still a part of our foundation is how can we help others ? But those are things that will continue to dude . How can we grow , how can we support others at the end of the day ?

Speaker 3 27:11

Now , are there any schools getting involved ?

Speaker 4 27:16

Before I got on the board , dr Van Heuselen was an advisor of our board . We also just had Ms Natalie Jarameta . She was on our board . She just retired from our board last year , but yeah , like we get those connections with that as well too Okay . I'm just kidding , because I've never , seen like any school shadows .

Speaker 4 27:47

Yeah , like we connect with a lot more folks than with people , especially with the school system , with people . But for us , like we're just starting out in a new space , Like we had to get approval to have people in a building . We had to get an approval process that it goes through , so that took a couple months . So like that stuff is , when you're moving and have to get like building permits changed and all that stuff , it just takes time . So like we wasn't able to get in front of like the school right away Now at this new location , the way we want to , because we had to wait like we were at a pause . So but that stuff is . There's conversations that will be had . We just had our strategic . We have a strategic planning meeting that we had at the end of July on what we want to do . So we will move forward with that strategic plan . So there's things in the works .

Speaker 3 28:52

All right , you don't want to give anything out ? Not too much . What's in the works ?

Speaker 2 28:58

I got something that's in the works . I'm not giving it all away Working with my favorite non-profit , which obviously is the Class of 2000 . Thank you , Robert Fowler and Ashley Pitts .

Speaker 3 29:10

Oh .

Speaker 2 29:14

I think that could be a good thing for both parties involved . Hopefully you know what I mean . I would definitely speak up for both .

Speaker 4 29:21

Yeah , you know . Over at the Evans home you know that the court's about to be redone over there .

Speaker 2 29:35

You know that the one that you was at back in the day when it got dedicated .

Speaker 4 29:40

So when it got dedicated to you guys , so , um , I was reached out to him to go look at the court and condition it was in and what I thought needed to happen for the court yeah , because they turned it into a skate park for a while yeah so , but the court's about to .

Speaker 4 29:59

Um , there's uh people that are about to start redoing your court over there at the add-ins home . Um , like I said , I had to give input on what I think needed to change for for that court , right , and so it's about . It's about to happen , man , for you like . I literally just went there last month I'll be fired .

Speaker 2 30:18

No lie , I've always had a dream of one day being able to afford to come back and fix it up and make it real nice . But that's dope . If you were really doing something , I'd be fired .

Speaker 3 30:30

I just was a consultant .

Speaker 4 30:32

Yeah , yeah , yeah , so I'll figure it out .

Speaker 2 30:39

I was just a consultant on what needed to happen for you guys but that's still .

Speaker 4 30:42

There's no flash , yeah , yeah yeah , there's no flash .

Speaker 2 30:43

Very commendable man Respect .

Speaker 4 30:46

Sorry , you didn't know , chris . Yeah , yeah , yeah , that's awesome , exactly , that's awesome .

Speaker 2 30:50

Exactly that's what I'm saying . Tyrus is on it .

Speaker 4 30:53

Yeah , man , I got reached out too , so I went over there , checked it out and just let them know what they needed to do to make it right .

Speaker 3 31:05

Nice yeah . That's dope man , chris you got any more questions for Tyrus ? I don't have too many dope man , so Chris you got any more questions for Tyrus ?

Speaker 2 31:12

I don't have too many questions , man . You spoke very eloquently and , like you're doing your thing , man , I'm proud of you . I don't really got too many more questions because we can go into a whole lot of different avenues and we don't need to do that .

Speaker 3 31:25

Don't go down that road , I'm just proud of you for real .

Speaker 2 31:27

Tyrus , like keep doing your thing , man , keep being a leader in the community and helping give back . Man , we appreciate you and even though I'm a far away from you right now , I see it , man , and it's not a lot of people like you , man , I'm proud of you , thank you man Can't say it enough .

Speaker 3 31:42

I greatly appreciate it . I just wanted to .

Speaker 2 31:45

And you two are the only two that , at the Hoops for Hope , in the four years that it's happened so far , have been honored . That weren't so-called basketball legends .

Speaker 4 31:56

Awesome , correct .

Speaker 2 31:57

Because you guys give back and do for the community man . But Tyrus , you do big things , man , Keep going , Thank you , sir .

Speaker 3 32:02

I just wanted to give you your flowers , tyrus , because I think the world of you know you might not know that , but I do . World of you know you might not know that but I do sometimes be bickering what ? But hey you , you was there at the hospital for when I was in my surgery , like one of the few that showed up . You know you're a good dude . I just want everybody to know that because a lot of people think you know you got that resting pissed off face . I just , I just again the guy he's a great , just Deep in thought .

Speaker 4 32:31

How can I make the next move ? Yeah , I'm always deep in thought . I'm just going from the Next day , like you know , I'll get off work , I'll go back to work Like I mow grass . I went to go check out a building For the new detailing Business just started with Chad Moore and Tim Keeler , like . So it's just go , go , go . Plus , I had a board meeting last night for the YDC . It's like it's never ending . But it's okay that it's never ending because I'm just impacting people and I think you know I had this guy in my life . He said said you're not put on this earth to have fun . You're put on this earth to help people and impact people . So , if you really think about it , most of us in our time of need , we had to have somebody else along the way . So that just tends to happen that we need to be able to support each other , and so you just got to go get it . Most of the times when people see me , it's really more tired than anything else that's cool too .

Speaker 3 33:39

We just want to give you a big thank you . You're a great guy , thank you .

Speaker 2 33:45

Keep doing your thing , man . You really are crushing it , man . I'm proud of you .

Speaker 3 33:49

Before we get off , I got to shout out Keep doing your thing , man . You really are crushing it , man .

Speaker 2 33:50

I'm proud of you .

Speaker 1 33:50

And we'll let you grab a little pro Before we get off I got to shout out Sleazy .

Speaker 2 33:54

He just celebrated his 45th birthday . Happy birthday , he did .

Speaker 4 33:57

He did , Mr Harris man congrats .

Speaker 2 34:00

You're doing big things over there at the dealership .

Speaker 3 34:03

Tyrus , you want to shout out your businesses ? Oh wow , Go ahead . If you want to let the people know .

Speaker 4 34:10

So I own a vending machine business . It's called TJT Vending . I mow grass with other , but I have a party bus called Drive you to Party and then just opening a section of detailing ,

Multiple Business Ventures and Closing Thoughts

Speaker 4 34:30

like I said , with Chad Moore and Tim Keeler . So just went to detail in school . Four businesses , yeah . So I just went to detail in school , yeah that doesn't include Rising Stars .

Speaker 4 34:44

That doesn't include Rising Stars . That doesn't include the Wadding Sea . That's six , that's dope man . Yeah , so just the detailing business . It's exciting because I just went all the way to like I did . I did detailing in college . It was a part of uh , jermaine and I . We never lived on a rapid .

Speaker 4 35:06

We never lived on campus so like we always had an apartment , jermaine and I worked full-time while we were in college and I detailed cars on the side . And then when I went and worked for Enterprise , I did detailing , I did cleaning of their cars . We didn't really detail cars , we just cleaned cars . So the things I didn't know what . I knew how to buckle car , I didn't know how to do paint correction , so I just went to school for paint correction and ceramic coating and I went all the way to basically where Spooky Nook is at . It was in the same Mannheim , pa , right there where the biggest auto auction is to detail and work . So I learned a lot . I got my certifications in that and we're ready to rock . We got some cars to do this weekend . We did some cars last weekend . We're just ready to go .

Speaker 3 36:01

man Well , I might have to get my car in there , hey , bring it .

Speaker 2 36:06

I mean if you can't support each other's businesses , man , that's a tough day , and that's a thing support each other .

Speaker 3 36:12

You just touched on that earlier . Yeah , everybody . Support each other .

Speaker 4 36:16

Like you know , at the end of the day , like you're not going to be able to touch everybody , everybody's not going to like your personality , but there's somebody that's going to like the other person's personality and there's multiple businesses out there , there's multiple organizations out there . Pick what's best for you and that's cool . Like I think sometimes it becomes more than what it needs to be , but I think the more people go and really celebrate each other , study each other , I think that's the thing that you should really look at into and so I think that's it for me . That's it At the end of the day , as long as you work and you're taking care of your family , and then , if you can support organizations , support those organizations . They really need the help . These nonprofits , they do need the help to do the good work for the communities .

Speaker 3 37:26

Right , love it , man , love it . Hey , I appreciate you having you , having you know , having you on today and hey , best of luck to you and all your business adventures so I'll definitely . I'll definitely support you I already got you more my loan no , but that's real .

Speaker 2 37:44

A lot of y'all need to support man . Don't sit back and be like I wish I had my grass cut or I could get my car detailed and stuff and then don't act upon it . Somebody like tyrus is out there trying to ground and feed his family and help other people in the community . Go support that young man and go support everybody else in your community that does . That helps give back . And if you can't help give back , at least support the others that can . Tyrus keep doing your thing . And no lie , tony , you know I can't leave this part out because you fumbled a little bit .

Speaker 3 38:10

I'm always hyped .

Speaker 2 38:12

Here we go . Tyrus and I grew up from the days of the Little League , Jets baby .

Speaker 3 38:18

Oh God , yes , it did . Oh , my God , jeez , sorry , art the . Falcons sucked my boy , we were just undisciplined and horrible .

Speaker 2 38:31

Sorry , javon , no , I just love Javon .

Speaker 3 38:33

Spencer , we had the talent , but we just couldn't win .

Speaker 2 38:37

Definitely a great show man , Exciting and fun to have you on Tyrus . Wish you nothing but the best . Winchester , the whole surrounding area , man , you guys go support them and do more for the community yourself , man , Give back show love , that's what it's about . Tyrus is one of the ones that lead by example . I love it , and everybody .

Speaker 3 38:55

please subscribe to our YouTube channel please . It's free . Yeah , it takes two seconds . All right everybody . Tyrus enjoyed having you on . Thank you , that's the show for today . We'll catch everybody next Sunday . 1994 State Champs Hanley Champs on next Sunday . Everyone , we're scheduled at Sunday because that's when we can get all the guys together .

Speaker 2 39:19

Yeah , ain't going to lie . Tyrus and Wayne and all of them should start a pig roast that day just to have fun with it .

Speaker 3 39:26

All right Chris , all right man . Y'all be safe man . All right man , all right Chris , all right man , y'all be safe man . All right man , all right man . I'll see you next Thursday . All right man , all right man , all right man , all right man , all right man , all right man , all right man , all right man , all right man , all right man .

Speaker 1 39:44

All right , man , all right , but then you must comprehend . Outro Music .