In this engaging episode of The Good News with Angie Austin, listeners are treated to an inspiring story of perseverance and philanthropy through the lens of Jim Stovall’s scholarship journey. As Angie and Jim discuss remarkable stories, they highlight how scholarships have changed countless lives, including those of previous recipients now finding success in various fields. With anecdotes that could be mistaken for fiction, Jim shares the powerful impact of giving back and the unexpected rewards that it brings.
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KLTT and KLTT-HD, Commerce City, Denver. You’re tuned to AM670, streaming worldwide at 670KLTT.com. And now FM at 95.1.
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Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello there, Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with The Good News. And The Good News is I want to start before we talk about your column, Jim. In the break, we were talking a little bit about your scholarship board. And how many scholarships have you how many kids have you helped with school or how many scholarships have you given away?
SPEAKER 08 :
We just awarded scholarships for our 38th year, and we have given a little over 500 of them. Is that a semester, or is that a whole year? It’s a year, and the amount varies depending on the need. And, you know, we work with the financial aid people, so they send us the package that a student gets, and they have figures on unmet need, and we try to do what we can do to offset a lot of that. And so we’re a little over 500, and it’s amazing because we started – I mean – There are students now who are scholarshiping. We scholarshiped their parents. And what was really amazing is we started the scholarship in 1988. And then just a few years ago, Crystal and I funded the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship at the university. And they went on this search. for somebody to be the executive director, to be the dean of that school at the university, and they picked this guy named Dr. Kevin Schneider. And we were there on that day to give one of those big million-dollar checks, you know, the size of a ping-pong table or something. And we’re there to do that and have a press conference and all that. And then they introduced me to Dr. Schneider. And he came up to me backstage and he said, I want to thank you for what you did. And I said, you know, he had just been selected as the executive director, the dean of the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship. And I said, well, I’m so glad they selected you. They made me aware of their selection. But the university picked you. I didn’t pick you. So if you want to thank someone, thank them. And he said, no, you don’t understand. He said, I’m not thanking you for that. He said, 22 years ago, I was an undergrad. at the university, and I ran out of money. And I was dropping out of school, and I went over to the post office to turn in my post office box key, and there was one envelope left in my box. And I opened it up, and it was a letter from you, and you gave me a scholarship my last two years of college. And if it wasn’t for that, I’d have never graduated from college and then got my master’s and my Ph.D. And now 20 years later, I’m the executive director of the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship. So it’s amazing the way, you know, the scholarships and everything have come full circle. And it’s just it’s fun to see what these kids go on and do.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. I just it was funny because, as you had mentioned, the scholarships, I thought, what was that story that Jim told me that was so amazing that had to do with, you know, with his scholarships? And I was like, oh, my gosh, it’s that’s the story, Jim. That’s it.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. And there are these I call them divine nudges that really happen in life. And if I wrote one of my novels or a movie script and I made that the basis of a movie script, the studio would throw it back at me and laugh. You know, nobody would believe something like that would really happen because, you know, truth is stranger than fiction. And there are these amazing things that happen. And so we just continue to enjoy the scholarships. And, you know, it keeps you in touch with the kids. I mean, I was so young when we started giving the scholarships. We would show up every day, every year at freshman orientation and go on stage and tell the kids how to get a scholarship. And I remember being there with one of the other guys on the board, and I said, go up there and tell them we’re not students. We’re here to make the presentation. And he did, and then we made the presentation, and the year after that. And it was several years later, I said, you need to go up there and tell them we’re making the presentation. He said, Jim, I believe they’ve got us spotted now. And so I don’t pass for a student anymore. Okay.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s funny. That is so funny. All right, I also have to say, I sent you something this morning, and I don’t know if you could see it, but UCLA, I’ve got two friends, Michelle and Andy, and my kids moved to the neighborhood many years ago. When their kids moved to the neighborhood, I think their oldest daughter, Lauren, who’s just graduating this year from college, she was eight, and I think my son was seven. So the kids were seven, five, and three when we moved to this new neighborhood. So anyway, they had moved from Spain because… Andy, their dad, the one that we’re friends with, the mom and dad, the mom and dad, he was a European basketball player, and he’s like 7’1 or 2 or something. Anyway, so two of their girls play for UCLA. Lauren, who my son adores because they’re around the same age, and she’s 6’7. My son’s maybe 6’4, but they’re taller-ish people. Well, she’s not taller-ish. I mean, she’s really tall. And they all swam together on the swim team. And Andy, the dad, coached my daughter Hope a year or two in basketball and blah, blah, blah. So anyway, they get recruited to UCLA and that coach close. I was so impressed today. Well, of course, they won the national championship. In fact, my boss at the radio station, his wife played for UCLA. I’m like, when he told me that, I’m like, yeah. You never told me. I mean, that’s a big deal, D1. He goes, oh, it wasn’t a big deal back then. I go, no, anytime you play a D1 school basketball, that’s a big deal. I don’t care what it was like. That’s a big deal. And so she’s very active in the program. So they win the national championship. And I was impressed that Coach Close from UCLA, that she talked about your mentor, Coach Wooden, and how much he helped her. And did you get to see what she said?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, thank you for sending that. I did. We opened that up and reviewed it this morning. And, you know, people are aware, most people, if they’ve read any of my books, you know, a number of years ago, I grew up in the 60s and 70s watching sports with my dad. And there were two people we never missed. One was Jack Nicklaus in a golf tournament, and one was Coach John Wooden in UCLA. And he won 10 championships in 12 years. I mean, I remember being introduced to the sport. I didn’t think anybody won but UCLA. It was every year they’d win this, you know. And then later, Jack Nicklaus and I became friends, and I interviewed him, and he’s a fan of my books. And then I was such a fan of Coach Wooden, but I didn’t. He was somebody I admired from afar. And then I remember the day the young lady comes running into my office from the front desk. And she said, John Wooden is on the phone. He wants to talk to you. And she knew she knew I loved him because I had a picture of a poster on my wall. And I said, I said, you know, there must be 50,000 guys in America named John Wooden. Come on. She said he asked if he could get you to autograph a book to Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And could he please speak with you? She said, I think this is your guy. And I said, I believe it probably is, yeah. So he and I talked that day. And then Angie, he was 95 years old at the time. And we talked every week until he passed four months before his 100th birthday. And those four and a half years were an amazing time in my life. But the UCLA women’s coach that you sent me the interview with, she pointed out something that was so true. Coach rarely talked about basketball or sports. He would talk about his guys, but so-and-so had gone on to law school, or he was a great dad, or this guy’s in the ministry, or this guy’s a doctor. And even when he was coaching, it was so much…
SPEAKER 05 :
people skills not basketball skills yeah yes and i love what she said about how he never talked down to his players and so many great coaches belittle people and coach close at ucla the current coach said i she said i didn’t want to be like that and she saw from wooden you didn’t have to be like that i mean wooden’s like words of wisdom jim like everyone you read you’re like how did all of this come into his brain like it’s so impressive what he said and like the standards he set and how he treated people
SPEAKER 08 :
It came from his father, and he grew up on a farm in the upper Midwest and got that ethic and then came to coaching later in his life. He always considered himself a teacher. He would consider his profession as an English teacher. And he said, I still teach. I just have a 94-foot classroom with baskets at either end. But he said, I’m a teacher. And he said, even in a national championship program, he said, the majority of my players are not going to play at the next level. They are not going to play in the NBA. Most of them did not. And a few did, of course. But he said, so I’m much more concerned about them becoming good people, good fathers. Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, I love that. I absolutely love that. All right. So I’m glad you were able to view that. Sometimes my husband, he’s not on Instagram and he’s like, I can’t see the reels. I’m like, is Jim on Instagram or will he be able to? Are you on Instagram?
SPEAKER 08 :
I have no idea. There are people that handle my… I did not know I was on any social media. Anygram.
SPEAKER 05 :
You didn’t know you were on Anygram.
SPEAKER 08 :
I remember years ago, I was in an event signing stuff, and somebody said, are you on Facebook? And I said, no. And the young lady with me said, yes, you are. I said, I am? I said, really? And she said, you have 100,000 followers already. I said, why? And she said, well, you know, I come in periodically and tell you, say something really cool. And then I go away. And I said, I thought you just wanted a thought for the day. She said, no, that’s what I do with those.
SPEAKER 05 :
I put them on there. Oh, my gosh. That’s so cool. That’s really cool. I love it. I love it. All right. So today we’re talking about, and I, I’ve so much has happened since we last spoke, you know, just the vacations and all the things that I’ve done and it’s places I’ve taken the kids. And it’s just been, I’ve had the best, like wonderful, most wonderful month. And of course, Easter was amazing. My daughter did say to my husband, she’s like, I almost cried like four times during the service. Like you just feel overwhelmed with emotion or And then Faith said to my husband, because they did a science talk, and he loves science, and he likes to debate my daughter. And Faith is super into her faith, and she goes to Bible study every week in Young Life and church. And she says she always prays for her dad because she wants to make sure that he is, you know, a Christian full on. And Mark’s like, well, don’t you worry about, you know, what I believe in, which I think, you know, we have this family discussion all the time. Yes, all of my kids are Christians. And Mark likes to debate them about science. So we loved it that they were talking about science. And Faith kept elbowing me because her dad was Googling stuff. And I kept trying to see what he was Googling on the screen. And he was Googling some of the science stuff they were talking about in church. And then Faith said, Dad, you can’t tell me you don’t feel something when you walk into church. And I said, well, I sure did. I almost cried four times. And it made me so happy to know that my daughter, Faith, feels something like i feel when you go into church that i’m like sometimes overwhelmed with emotion or like the service was just so touching to me and they had to have an overflow room because uh mark goes yeah a lot of these people just come like once or twice a year and faith and i looked at him like uh-huh like you you know anyway but anyway it was just um it was interesting to get that you know science discussion going all right so i’ve digressed a lot here about the last month let’s talk about your column special needs and special gifts
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, this came a number of years ago. A guy named David Hirsch contacted me and asked me to speak for an international conference he had called Dad to Dad. And it’s a group of fathers of special needs kids. And David has a new book out called Fathers of Special Needs Kids. But, you know, it’s just amazing, and he wanted me to speak. And, yeah. and he really wanted me to share. I grew up in a family. I’m my parents’ third child, and the first two died. My brother had cystic fibrosis. My sister had leukemia, and then I’m blind. But I always want people to understand that We succeed in life not by being normal. We succeed by having an abnormal skill or talent or knowledge that we’ve developed in one specific area. So when I talk to parents of special needs kids or people with disabilities, I always tell them, you know, look, I don’t care what you can’t do. You just need to find one little thing you do better than everybody else. You know, I am a best-selling author. I have 10 million books in print, 65 titles, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Angie, I can’t type. I can’t read. I write books I can’t read that are turned into movies I can’t watch. And, you know, I have one little skill there. I can tell a good story.
SPEAKER 05 :
You can. All right. Wait, Jim, stay right there because we’re out of time. But I want to continue this conversation. Hold on. We’ll be right back with the good news.
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Hey, Angie Austin and Jim Stovall here with the good news. Well, I took up so much time talking about basketball and vacations and, you know, church, blah, blah, blah, that I used up a lot of Jim’s time to talk about his column this week, special needs and special gifts. And I just want to pick up, Jimmy, we’re talking about losing two of your siblings to cystic fibrosis and then your brother died of cystic fibrosis and your sister leukemia. And then you’re blind. And you said that You can do one thing really well, and you’re talking about special needs kids and how parents need to focus on what they do well. And it really hit me because I do a lot of work here with AHRQ and their special needs ambassadors. They have about 500 employees who have special needs. And one of the girls came in. She wrote a book on Asperger’s and autism, you know, being on the spectrum. And she said she wasn’t diagnosed. So she was in her twenties and she just always thought that she was, you know, different and bullied and had deficiencies. And she said, and now she works in the business office. She’s doing extremely well and has some real gifts. And she said, the one thing I wish was that my parents would have focused on the things I do well, instead of the things I couldn’t do well. And that would have made all the difference in the world because that’s now what arc does for her and her job. And I was like, That’s exactly what you’re talking about.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, you got to do. I mean, to be a great success in life, you only got to do one or two things really, really well. And you don’t have to do anything else. You know, and you mentioned autism. I printed a quote from Temple Grandin in this week’s column. And she said, were it not for people on the autism spectrum, we would all be gathered around a firehouse. A fire outside of a cave. And then I list a fairly lengthy list of people who are on the autism spectrum. And I’m talking about Henry Ford. I’m talking about Thomas Edison, Beethoven, Mozart. I’m talking about Michelangelo and Newton and Mark Twain. And these are all people that had amazing gifts to do certain things, and they couldn’t do a lot of other stuff. I always remember reading about Einstein. I mean, he couldn’t figure out how to do his taxes. He would get lost a lot of times. He never understood the concept of coordinating his clothes. So he owned 10 suits, and they were all exactly the same. And every day he would just put on the next one. And because he could never figure out why, you know, this concept of people coordinating their clothing. He never got that. And he couldn’t drive a car because he couldn’t pay attention long enough. He would just get to thinking about something and run into stuff. Oh, my goodness. you don’t have to be great at a lot of things. You just got to do one thing really well. And I was talking to a major league baseball player one time. And I mean, he’s got the great, I mean, the boys of summer and he gets to play baseball every day. And he said, Jim, I can only do, you know, he said, I’m left-handed and I can throw a ball a hundred miles an hour. That’s all I can do. Well, that’s all you need to do. That’s what I say.
SPEAKER 05 :
I can only, what can I do? I, well, I, I speak, I can speak.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. Well, and if you can do it, but, you know, I love the concept of getting on stage in an arena and talking to thousands of people.
SPEAKER 05 :
You do. Do you ever get nervous, by the way?
SPEAKER 08 :
No, no.
SPEAKER 05 :
Do you ever dread it?
SPEAKER 08 :
No. You look forward to it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there’s not a lot of big conferences between mid-December and mid-January because of the holidays. And comes, you know, mid-January, I tell my team, you know, get me on stage somewhere. I’m getting, you know, I just… I, you know, I always look forward to it. And no, I don’t get nervous. I mean, as a blind guy, I get a little nervous about how many steps are there and where’s the podium and all that stuff.
SPEAKER 05 :
Where’s the plant going to be? Yeah, where’s the podium? Right, right. You don’t want to walk off the edge.
SPEAKER 08 :
But getting, you know, once I’m on stage comfortable, I mean. And I’m always amazed because, you know, in surveys they do, it’s people’s number one fear is public speaking. You know, it’s, it’s ahead of dying, which really amazes me. But, um, you know, I am grateful that I can do that. And I enjoy that. I remember my mentor in that business, Zig Ziglar telling me once we were backstage and he said, can you believe they pay us to do this? And I thought, you know, it’s the greatest thing. And, um, You know, I remember telling a guy out in L.A. I’d spoken to 18,000 of his people, and we were walking out together, and I said, I want to thank you. He said, no, I want to thank you. You’re the one that did this. I said, no, no, no. I said, what you don’t understand, you pay me a ridiculous amount of money, and I would do this for free. Now, I only mention that to you once you’ve already given me the envelope and the checks in my pocket. But, you know, I… You know, I remember asking Katherine Hepburn when I interviewed her for television, I said, Ms. Hepburn, what would you have done if you weren’t an actress? She said, I would have had to have found another way to support my habits. Because I act for an innate need to do this. I have to do this. So if I had to wait tables in order to make a living so I could act, I would do it. She said, thankfully, you know, it’s been a great life for me. I don’t have to. But I don’t do this for the money. The money is just something that happens. I have a need to do this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. I really appreciate this particular article. Jim Stovall dot com. Special needs and special gifts. Such a blessing to have you on the show, friend. Changing gears now, Jim. You might want to stick around. This will be a good one. If you’re just joining us, this is Angie Austin with the good news. Well, spring is one of my favorite times of the year. You know, lots of celebrations like graduation parties, weddings, end of school parties. But you don’t just want to throw the party. You want to enjoy it, too. Well, joining us is one of my favorites, Chef Jamie Quinn, who’s going to help us learn how to throw a party we can actually enjoy and not be trapped in the kitchen. Hello there, Jamie.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hello, sweet Angie. Thank you for having me back. No one wants to be trapped in the kitchen.
SPEAKER 05 :
No. no hey whenever I see you whenever I see you on my calendar I get excited because I love interviewing you and I just have to tell you I’m getting that your cookbook or at least I’m looking it up or the last bite a lean and clean cookbook because you have so many great like workarounds or ways to make things that are delicious but you always kind of teach me how to still enjoy the party so let’s get into that today how do we enjoy it oh you’re the best
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow, that’s a lovely compliment. Thank you. You flatter me. But I am about enjoying the party, enjoying the dinner. I think in today’s time, we’re all too busy, stressed out. We’re short on time, and especially when it comes to the party season, moms, dads, grads, etc., there’s something to be said for really finding a way to enjoy the party, right? Because you deserve to do that. And whether it’s Mother’s Day and our celebration, or if you have a graduate, yes, the party’s for the kiddo. But look what you’ve accomplished, too. They’re graduating, right? And there’s so many palates out there to please, Angie, and so many crossroads to cross. that when I say permission to party, ask for help. Make it happen where it’s not all on you, because the biggest mistake everybody makes is taking it all on.
SPEAKER 05 :
Mm hmm. I agree. So that is the big mistake, right? Taking it all on. So, you know, you want to especially for graduation party, there’s like a wide range of people to feed from little kids to the teenagers, of course, and their parents. So what are some of the go to dishes you like for that wide range of, you know, guests, age range and palates?
SPEAKER 07 :
Sure. Yeah, I always do try to create a very craveable, crowd-pleasing spread, and that’s something for everyone. And we all have really advanced palates today, right? We eat around the world. We like a little bit of spicy. Everybody loves the Mediterranean influence. Like you said, I’ve got a bevy of kiddos in my house to feed. And so you want to cover all your bases. I will tell you I am a huge noodles and company fan. from their bevy of hearty noodle dishes to the salads and the sides. You can please the vegetarians. There’s a gluten-free option. There’s always Aunt Jane who can’t eat almonds. I mean, there’s something for everyone. And when it comes to planning the menu, I start with something familiar. So when it’s comfort food, when it’s hearty, Everybody loves it. Noodles and Company does this huge sheet pan of creamy, dreamy mac and cheese, and they accentuate it with all these toppings. They call it a mac bar, Angie, and it’s brilliant. You put out a macaroni and cheese bar, and who isn’t going to love it? It has pulled pork, grilled chicken, crispy bacon, crispy onions. green onions, all the good stuff. And it becomes like interactive entertainment for your party. It’s like DIY, right? You put out a Mac bar, everybody’s going to be talking about your party. And then I like to supplement with other dishes like the rigatoni rosa, spaghetti and meatballs. Maybe you make your signature dish and then you add in other dishes. Start with something familiar and then add some big, bold flavor so you stand out.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I like that idea. This is my daughter, Faith. This is her favorite restaurant, so I’m quite familiar with the mac and cheese. I didn’t know they did the big bar, but I like the idea of then maybe adding all of those extra things to add into the other dishes as well, like maybe the fresh basil for your mac and cheese. spaghetti and meatballs and maybe the nuts for the people that can’t have nuts. You have them on the side and can be added to a lot of the dishes. So I love the idea of not just the mac and cheese having all the toppings, just in general other things that you can throw peanuts in or cashews in or almonds or whatever.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so Angie, that’s really smart. And what you’re speaking to is the fact that we all have elevated palates today, right? We’ve watched a lot of food TV. We’ve tasted new ingredients. We go to multiple markets. And we have a bevy of different flavors that we’re drawn to. And I love your idea of really putting out all these different, you know, varying tastes to please the palates that are at the party. It becomes a conversation piece. It becomes what people talk about after the party, too. And if you think about it, Angie, and you’re a Noodles & Company fan, as am I, it’s really a very cost-effective way to cater to When we know that our grocery costs have risen exponentially, the amount of time spent grocery shopping and then prepping, and then you’re up till 3 in the morning, and then you wake up the next day and you throw a party, and who could remember any of it by then, right? I mean, it just becomes overwhelming. So this is the way to really plan a celebration that you get to enjoy the party too.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I love the idea of like a charcuterie board, right? But this is like a topping and maybe sausage charcuterie board. My husband’s obsessed with sauces, so I always have like eight sauces. So why not with the toppings also add out other things they can put on top like that, you know, that spicy Asian, you know, like, oh, sriracha. Sriracha, is that what it is? Yeah. Yeah, just different things to throw on top.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s perfect. The Mac Bar from Noodles & Company, Angie, comes with buffalo sauce and barbecue sauce. So I’m the buffalo, my kiddo’s the barbecue, right? And I love that idea, put out sauces and toppings and otherwise. Here’s another tip, Angie, that I love. Set your platters out days in advance. You know, set up the dining room table, whether it’s a backyard shindig or a great big party, and set out your platters with Post-it notes. mark what each dish is going into fill the pitchers with water and lemon slices and store them in the fridge lay everything out in advance so you are prepared to enjoy it and then you have those memories where the friends and the family came in to celebrate and you were present I love it anything else you want us to know Yes, I want you to know that you can get 15% off catering orders at Noodles & Company on orders over $150 for more than a month. That celebrates moms, dads, and grads from May 6th to June 9th by using the code GRAD2026. And you go to noodles.com, and you can place your order in advance. You can mull it over. You can figure out what it is you want to serve. You can, you know, weigh all the options for pickup or delivery. But please use that code, GRAD2026. Go to noodles.com slash catering.
SPEAKER 05 :
I love that because then I can use that extra money for the tip. I love to get, like, a code, and then I can be a good tipper.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes. All right, Angie. I love that about you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Jamie, I can’t wait to talk to you next time. Hopefully then I will have read the last bite, a lean and clean cookbook as well. I can’t wait to try this out. This is really a great idea. My daughter will be thrilled. She graduates next year. But, you know, we’ve always got Mother’s Day. Thanks, Jamie.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, Angie, so much. Happy celebration season to you.
SPEAKER 03 :
You too. Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM 670 KLTT.
