Adam Torres and Gordon W. Davis discuss the Texas FFA, Gordon’s career and books.
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Show Notes:
The Texas FFA grows future leaders who will later become core to the workforce and society as a whole. In this episode, Adam Torres interviewed Gordon W. Davis, Founder of CEV Multimedia & President of the Gordon and Joyce Davis Fdn. Explore the benefits of the Texas FFA, along with Gordon’s books, Cashup Davis: The Inspiring Life of a Secret Mentor, and Mission Matters: Mission-Based Leaders Share Inspiring Stories on Leadership and Success (Texas Leaders Edition Vol. 1).
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About Gordon W. Davis
Gordon W. Davis has had a larger impact on the College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources than just about anyone else. A local businessman who spent 10 years as an associate professor in the college, Davis and his wife, Joyce, have given a $44 million donation, which represents the single largest philanthropic donation to Texas Tech in school history and is one of the largest investments in people and programs in an agricultural college in the US.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I wanna welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres and I’m so proud and excited to say that I am at the 95th Annual Texas State Convention, and my guest today, he’s been on the show before Gordon Davis, but only virtual. I’m so excited to finally get an in-person interview with Gordon.
So Gordon is the president of the Joyce and Davis, uh, excuse me, the Gordon and Joyce Davis. Foundation and he’s also the founder of C E V Multimedia Gordon. Hey, just wanna say I finally get to do this in person. Welcome to the show. Great to be here, Adam. Alright. You do a good job. Oh, too kind. And uh, we got some books to talk about today.
So Gordon and Jeff Burnside are the author of Cash Up Davis. The inspiring life of a secret mentor. So we’re gonna talk about this and then I’m also proud to announce, come on, Gordon is in the very first edition of the Texas Leaders Edition of Mission Matters. So, um, man, I’m just, I’m just so pleased to have you here, multiple time author, and we’re at Texas F F A Convention.
How much better can it get? Wonderful. It’s good to be back. Alright, Gordon, so to kick off this interview, I wanna know, because even though we’ve worked with each other before on, on an interview, um, like how did you get started or how did you first learn about Texas f f a? Well, I was in a meat cooler in 1972 at College Station, Texas.
I was a graduate student. Mm. And, um, I coached 73 meet team. Mm. At a and m. And when they had the state f f A meets contest. Mm-hmm. Then Dr. Smith, my, uh, major professor had the meet coach as the official judge. Mm-hmm. And so I was in the cooler after the contest and the ACT teachers came by that might’ve missed something, kind of questioning the points here, there.
So I got a corner to some of the AG teachers. I, I saw a lot of passion. Wow. And, uh, a lot of teachers do a great job for training teams, so, So my connection was way back in the early seventies. Mm-hmm. And so where did it go from there? So you learned about the organization then. How did it, like, how did it continue to build?
Well, in 81 it started, uh, c e v multimedia mm-hmm. In the early eighties. And, uh, got a lot of suggestions for, for experts. Our idea was to bring the expert to the classroom. Mm-hmm. Well, when I wanted to know who the expert was on livestock judging or horses or welding or whatever the topic was, I’d usually ask some ag teachers.
They’d know, word of mouth they’d know. Mm-hmm. And, uh, so we just had a, none of hired some, many, some many Ag people. Yeah. And the history of the company, which, uh, sold, uh, it’s still going on. Mm-hmm. It is sold back in December of 2000. Uh, 21, I, and I put this in the book, that we’ve had 17 different leaders that have worked for c e b that were also, uh, prominent members of the F F A.
Wow. Many of ’em were f f A officers, but there’s 17, including, uh, Three of the top four people in the company, the president, c e o, now the former f f a officer, state officer. Mm-hmm. Another one of the national, uh, finalist for public speaking at Clayton Franklin. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and she, she of course was, uh, and a pre, uh, was the f f A and then, then a previous president was Jeff Landell.
Yeah. And he’s from East Texas. And, uh, and he, he was in f f A. Mm-hmm. So it’s, uh, uh, it’s been leadership. Mm-hmm. Jerry rides through the company. Yeah. So I, I do wanna go, we’re gonna circle back to c e v because I know that, um, that you mentioned that there’s a, um, one of the pioneers in education really bringing education in the classroom through video and other things.
But before we go there, um, you are a, a, a living testament to hiring out of Texas f f a. Mm-hmm. And, and to, and to recruiting, you know, talent from here. So there’s a lot of, you know, a lot of corporate leaders that watch this. So business owners, entrepreneurs, executives that watch this and, you know, maybe some aren’t here.
Right? And why should they be here? Like why did you choose to recruit so heavily in, in your career, and why should they consider being here and being sponsors and getting involved recruiting these kids? You’d have to have an IQ about 1.6 if you couldn’t figure that out. These kids are motivated. Yeah, they wanna work.
They show up in the morning work. I had one kid, he used to come work at four 30 in the morning, what? Four 30? Earliest I ever came to work was one 30. But one day I got there about five 30 and he’d already been there an hour. Wow. Because he found a dead guy out hanging over to the edge of the paved road, said, oh, plate, what?
What are you doing? You’re sleeping in? I second one there. But everything happens. But yeah. Showing up and get the job done. Showing up and being president and innovative and, and, and they’re just competitors. Mm. Because we we’re trying to make payroll. Yeah. And there some tough times to, to build that company the way it was.
It was tough at times. I had some rope holders around. Hmm. And so I just love the work ethic. Was f f a kids always have. Always will. Yeah. Yeah, I’m inspired. I mean, that’s why we keep coming back. Of course we wanna, we wanna cover the story and we wanna spread a little bit of that f f a magic out to people that maybe haven’t experienced it yet or haven’t been to a state convention.
So one of our big goals, so it’s good to hear from a corporate leader here that’s also, um, very involved. Uh, let’s talk a little bit more about CV, multimedia. ’cause as you mentioned, um, as we are kind of warming up for this, like all, all, all the kids, like all the, all the members, like they’re in one way, shape, or form, like affected by it, right?
I. Well, most of ’em are, uh, used I c v in the classroom? Yeah. In the state. I don’t know the numbers, but it’s probably over 90%. Mm-hmm. I, uh, it’s amazing the penetration. We went online in 2011. Mm-hmm. And we v h Ss starting in the early eighties. Mm-hmm. And went d v D in 2000. 21. Yeah. 2001. 2001 then went to online 2011.
Each one of ’em was a substantial financial risk. Mm-hmm. But we somehow another made it. Yeah. And, uh, and the platform has, uh, been well developed and pretty well designed by former F F A members. Mm-hmm. Um, and just, just millions of Yeah. Kids on that thing. So I every day, so I know like some one a, a big word that’s been used with some of the individuals to describe a Texas F f a member is grit.
They got grit. Like they’re, they’re, they’re gonna get the job done. So I know that some, like last year, I, I haven’t been on the floor as much this year, but last year I was talking to somebody and there’s some entrepreneurs. There’s some in high school have business. I talked to some, a gentleman last year who, he had a power washing business.
He talked to another person, like they had all these little businesses. I shouldn’t say little, actually, he was. Off the top of my head, making like $2,000 a month. And I’m like, what In high school? Like, like power washing. And he is like, yeah, and I just do it after school, or I do it on the weekends. And he was telling me about his business.
So maybe let’s, let’s kind of pay it forward a little bit and talk to those f f A members that are gonna watch this about entrepreneurship. Like what kind of advice would you give them on, on kind of getting started. So again, thinking about that high school, they’re just getting started. F F A member.
Well, I reminded this morning, uh, at the opening ceremonies mm-hmm. Of our meeting this morning and they recited the park for the treasure. Mm-hmm. And then the treasurer says George Washington was better able to serve his country ’cause he was financially independent. Mm-hmm. Well, when I was 26 years old, I decided to be financially independent.
Yeah. And I decided I couldn’t be financially independent as a teacher. I had to come up with one idea. Mm-hmm. And the idea turned out to be c e v, which was to bring expert to the classroom. But my advice is come up with one idea. You just need one. Yeah. And it’s not a good idea. Uh, you might try it, but I suggest you keep your day job while you’re trying this idea.
Yeah. And it is really tough. Really. It is tougher than you can imagine to become financially independent. Mm-hmm. Um, I remember reading a book and it was about entrepreneurship. Only 20% of all the entrepreneurs make it, the companies make it for five years. Wow. 4% make it for 10 years. And now we’ve been in business 39 years, so, and we’re well on our way, but you, there’s those early years.
You gotta figure out how to, how to, how to make it. Mm-hmm. Get to the bank and get a loan. Mm-hmm. And go back to the bank and pay it off. Hmm. And the only way you get a loan is they have a good idea. The only way you pay it off is the good players. Yeah. You gotta have some players. And boy, I like the grit.
I like, I like the horsepower behind those kids. You can teach anybody anything. Mm-hmm. But you gotta have the attitude to take it. Mm. And you need people in accounting, you need people in sales. You need people in customer service. Mm-hmm. In our case, you keep behind the camera editors. And you needed executives, you, you need the guys that could make the deals.
Mm-hmm. And now we’re end up making deals on a statewide basis. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And as I see, um, in some of the other individuals that I’ve, I’ve interviewed earlier in the week, they, they’re talking about this idea that, like the competition side of F F A and the idea that, and how that translates into the adult life.
Like to me, Um, and let’s just say not, not to stereotype and say everywhere is like this, but in the day of like the, you get a trophy for showing up, like you gotta earn it here, you gotta earn it here. And you get to have those early experiences of defeat that build character. Like that’s what we’re talking about.
Character being a solid citizen. Oh, absolutely. I’ve been 147 teams. Hmm, that’s quite a few. That’s sports. F f A teams. Wow. I was even on a beer drinking team. I was on four of those when I was in college. I won’t go into that detail, that’s part a story, but I just love being on a team. Hmm. And a team achievement is so much better than individual achievement.
Yeah. It’s, uh, yeah, you can get your name called Office High Individual or third or something. Mm-hmm. But it’s so much better to be on a team and experience all the kids and everybody working together. Mm-hmm. And some of the weaker ones gotta learn from the, you know, you got green hands, you got young kids on the team, you got everybody’s, uh, on the team and all part of it and, and is equal credit for the whole team.
Mm-hmm. And I love the team events. Yeah. And, and, uh, f f A is the best at that. And I coached, I even coach a potato judging team. I coached an apple judging team. I had a horse, I had horses, I had livestock, I had dairy. Mm-hmm. Um, and I, when I was in a high school, it was all the soils team. We had a land judging team.
Mm-hmm. Livestock, dairy, and so forth. Everybody’s loved all those teams. And we won. Yeah. And we got, got our tails handed to us. And, but that’s part of it. Like, that’s the, oh, you gotta learn how to lose the Exactly. The, the failure part of it. Like that’s part of the journey, whether it’s entrepreneurship, whether it’s business, whether it’s life Right.
And potato judging. I didn’t know anything about it. His ag teacher’s named Ron taught me. He was at Maryville, I was at Lake Stevens High School. He was at Marysville. First year we got fourth. Hmm. And for the freshmen, all he had to have a sack. We didn’t have any money. All he had to have was sack of potatoes and somebody probably jumped over the fence to get the sack for us.
You pull one out, tell the kid the grade and give a set of oral reasons. Yeah. If he missed it, it went to another kid. Next year we got third. ’cause Ron didn’t, I was learning, I was getting better as a coach. Yeah. Next year we got second. Mm-hmm. But I only taught three years. Mm-hmm. And I told him when I left, I said, you know, I know you didn’t teach me everything.
Yeah. There was to know about this. And, uh, but I love the comp. I love getting better. And the fact we went fourth, third, second, it was potato judging. Who’d ever heard of that? I didn’t not.
I’m in, I did not know. Yeah, but it’s competition. Oh, no, that’s the thing. Yeah. Had a tractor driving team. Kids love that deal. Mm-hmm. But it didn’t matter what it was, we we’re, we’re showing up. Yeah. Yeah, we’d bring our livestock, our pigs, and our cattle and our sheep, and we’d show up at stock shows too and compete at that.
But that was just, but of course you lose more than you win. Yeah. But the fact is you’re trying to win. Mm-hmm. You know, that’s the thing. That’s the key. And that’s where, that’s where I feel like some of that grit comes from. Mm-hmm. Like having those losses, learning how to, you know, lick your wounds, get back in the game, come back the next year.
How are we gonna be better? How are we gonna like. Pivot, what are we gonna do next? Like, that’s awesome. So I wanna switch it up a bit here, Gordon, I do wanna start getting into some of these books. So we’ll start with this one. So cash up Davis, the inspiring life of a Secret mentor. So I, let me tell everybody that’s watching this.
I brought this all the way from LA so I could get Gordon’s, uh, signature on this. ’cause they mailed it to me and I’m like, you forgot my signature, man. But, um, tell us a little bit more about why you decided to, to bring this work out. Well cash. My secret mentor, he was born in 1815, he died in 1896. Mm-hmm.
He’s my great-grandfather. And you talk about grit, there was no, there was no internet around. There wasn’t even indoor plumbing. Mm-hmm. And, and he, I thought he wanted to become finance independent. Mm-hmm. And they named cash up. He was named cash up ’cause he paid in cash and he. And, and he wanted to be paid in cash.
And so that’s one of the reasons I wanted to become financially independent ’cause of cash. Mm-hmm. Well, it turns out all he wanted to do is finance his next gig. And he took his family from, uh, Wisconsin, uh, then, then had, uh, 11 kids 22 years in Wisconsin, went to Iowa and they were there for a while, and then it loaded up.
The, the whole family and went west. He, he, he wanted to go west, not for gold. Yeah. He wanted to go west, uh, looking for a better life. Mm-hmm. And he found the pollute country in, uh, Washington state, the great wheat ion, the greatest, uh, dry land farming area probably in the world. Mm-hmm. Uh, average about a hundred bushels an acre in wheat and never had a crop failure Wow.
In this. But, uh, but he was a pioneer. And he got most famous because he built a hotel on top of a mountain. Another, another one of his ideas, and don’t, I don’t wanna glance over that. You heard that correctly, A hotel on top of a mountain. And when you’re talking about, when you’re talking about, I mean, that’s equivalent to like, like how does that happen?
Well, everybody told me It’s crazy. Yeah. I said, what are you doing? And he put his whole, first of all, I bought the mountain. It’s called the Butte. He bought it. Then he find a contractor, he’d be able to switch back road and to climb up, to drive up there. Now it’s about 15 minutes. Mm-hmm. Rocks. And those days, you know, they had to get up there on, on a horse and buggy.
Mm-hmm. No water up there. Hire the contractor to build a, to build a hotel. Mm-hmm. And what he wanted to do is bring joy to the homesteaders. Mm-hmm. And, uh, People in an area where there wasn’t much joy because they’re chasing Earth’s Indians out there and hardships that, and that’s a hard life. We’re talking homesteaders like this is, this is a long time.
That’s a hard life. And the, and the Eastern Washington is four seasons. Mm-hmm. Uh, 20 below zero, sometimes the wintertime. And, um, but nevertheless, he put that hotel up there. And one of the things I’ve always remarked. He, he, he wanted to put a hotel in a remote part of the country. Mm-hmm. But today, that’s where everybody wants to go, is the remote part of, is somewhere where, you know, come in on a ship or Yeah.
Come in on an airplane or something. Yeah. And Las Vegas, the first, uh, luxury hotel in Vegas, I think was put in, in 1941. Mm-hmm. So he is way ahead of his time out in the desert. Yeah. And, uh, Bugsy, Bugsy, uh, Siegel was the, uh, Uh, was a band that was building it and it went over budget and so he ended up getting assassinated by the mob.
Mm-hmm. And, but nevertheless, uh, cash up was ahead of his time. It opened on July 4th, 1888. Wow. But what the moral story is that we put in the book, you chase your dreams. Even if somebody tells you it’s pretty crazy. Mm-hmm. I would probably say as entrepreneur. That don’t chase ’em too far. Mm-hmm. Just be sure you test your hypothesis.
Mm-hmm. And don’t grow, don’t get across, don’t get in front of your skis. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and grow, grow your company. Grow your idea. Mm-hmm. And it might, it, it just, it, it might, uh, make it Yeah. But the odds are against you. Oh, yeah. And, and for anybody that’s been watching this show for a while, like sometimes we’re like, As the entrepreneurs I bring on here, we don’t sugarcoat it.
It’s hard. Entrepreneurship is hard. Right now I may get a lot of play in the media. Mm-hmm. Or be an entrepreneur, chase your dreams, this, that, and the other. But once you’re in that seat, once you’re doing it, I mean, it’s hard. Yeah. I actually mentioned this before, but I had got him, Dean Allen was my accountant in the 1980s, and I was doing c E V part-time.
Mm-hmm. I said, what do you think of this video idea, Dean? And he said, well, Gordon, I’ve heard a lot of ideas. He’s a man in his sixties, so I suggest you keep your day job.
I never forgot that, that, so that was, and again, for everybody watching right now, you may be thinking that, um, you know, oh, well video in the classroom, duh. But no, you’re looking at a pioneer in that. So we’re talking, you started in V H Ss, like that was not happening back then. Uhhuh. That was a new and novel idea, what we take for granted now.
Mm-hmm. I wanna talk a little bit about what it was like to put together a book like this for cash on Kaha Davis. Because there was an investigative side of it. There was a collecting artifacts, like this wasn’t just, this was a hands-on sport put in this book together. I rarely see one that’s put together like this.
Well, See, he died, uh, in, in 1896. Mm-hmm. So everybody that knew cash up. Yeah. They’re all deceased too. Mm-hmm. So we dig us out of newspapers, uh, uh, old archives, films, attics. We had a group called the Cash Up Crew. Yeah. That was their name. The cash up crew I was trying to remember. Yeah. And these are people that mighta had something about cash up, up in their attics or something, found a.
Box it. And I has a bunch of stuff that had been handed down to me. Yeah. Um, about cash and we just put all that together. Mm-hmm. And, and microfilm and so forth. So on Cash up was known, uh, when it had a grand opening on July 4th. That was a national event in 1888. And there was stuff in the newspapers all the way back east.
We found some of that. And when he died in 1896, We found a, uh, obituary in the Minneapolis, uh, newspaper. In, in, in Minnesota. Mm. But you know, he just, uh, his, his, but Jeff Burnside, an investigative reporter. Yes, yes. He, I give him full credit for that. He wanted me to be senior author. I said, no, I wanna be on the second team.
I’ll be second. He said, well, it’s about your grandfather’s. No, you’re doing the work. Yeah. And he’s the one that, to his credit, yeah. He just, he dug it out. Investigative reporter like Jeff didn’t he dug it out. Like you cannot believe it. Yeah. And there’s, and for everybody watching this, by the way, or listening to this, there’s pick up a copy of the book, of course.
And you’re gonna see pictures, you’re gonna see all kinds of things like what it took for the cash, the cash up crew to get this done. And so what my role was is that the family is, Over the years, I’ve said you probably have the most traits of cash up. Yeah. Uh, in the family, I would imagine. Build a hotel in a mountain or a Butte.
Um, and then, uh, oh, education experts in the classroom, video. What? Mm-hmm. Like that’s a novel idea, both of them. Mm-hmm. And, but I always felt like I had a little advantage genetically. Mm. I knew I had some Kup Davis genes. Yeah. And I just, I just figured I’d figure out some way to get it done. Mm-hmm.
Because one time I won payroll, we were about ready to go, broke in, uh, spring of 2004 and I won payroll in a poker game. Oh my gosh. I dunno if you knew that or not. I did not know that. Yeah, we, we needed 3.6 million to pull off, uh, to go from individual textbooks. Hmm. Individual video titles to courses. Mm.
And I had 1.5 million. I managed to borrow 1.8 million. Mm. And we ran outta money in February of 2004 mm. And 2004 was a recession. I had to figure out how in the world gonna make it until we got paid. Mm-hmm. And we finally got paid, um, October 5th at 7:57 AM Mm. 2005. And we got paid 9.3 million. Mm-hmm.
And I’ve been financially independent ever since. Amazing. Amazing. And, um, it, it is a tough long haul. Mm-hmm. But we made it somehow. Yeah. It’s interesting how that works. Like I’ve, I’ve had the, you know, the pleasure and the opportunity and the privilege really to, to interview a lot of. Leaders like yourself on this show and to hear these stories is so inspiring to me.
And the reason is because for myself, of course, building a company, so everybody that watched this mission matters. Um, but also for the people out there that are maybe going through it, like there is potentially another side, like there is some good things that can happen if you. Persist and you just keep pushing and keep pushing and get smarter.
And that’s not about necessarily doing the same thing. Maybe you had to, you went through the pandemic and you had to pivot, and now you’re doing a different business than you thought you’d be doing, or you use some of the resources that you had and you. Repurpose them. And all of a sudden your your original vision maybe isn’t exactly what you wanted, but you’re still doing, I mean, you just gotta persist.
You gotta make it happen. So hearing stories from someone like yourself on, you know, having that, like, that human experience of entrepreneurship, man, that’s inspiring. You know, it’s a gr it is a grind. You start putting in a hundred dollars a week. Oh yeah. On the job. Yeah. And that year we’re going broke. I, my attorney talked to me about, uh, bankruptcy and I said, no, not going bankrupt.
I said, well, you get some partners. No, I don’t want anybody buying in that’s gonna tell me what to do. Mm-hmm. And want a big piece of the company. And he said, what are you gonna do? I said, I’ll figure it out. And I found a bridge loan. Wow. Mezzanine fund in Dallas, Texas. Mm-hmm. And, uh, And we had $1,200 left when we got paid on October 5th, 2005.
Oh, wow. Everybody listening. There you go. I wanna switch it up a bit here, Gordon. Let’s, um, yes. So let’s talk about the most recent release. Um, so we have Mission Matters again, volume one of the Texas Leaders Edition, which I’m so. Thrilled that you’re a part of. I mean, for us as a company, like this is a historic moment.
This is our first ever book that’s done for a particular state or an organization. So we put this together with. Texas f f a. So thank you. Good job so much for participating. Of course. And, uh, being part of this inaugural edition, we don’t launch a lot of number ones in terms of volume ones. Our other series where Volume 10, volume, uh, bunch of different series, but volume one, and I’m like, if there’s a state that’s gonna get their own book, of course it’s gonna be Texas.
Right. Has to be. So what are some of the things that you hope that the readers of this book take away from your chapter and what you contributed? Well, I titled the chapter It’s Okay to Win. Mm-hmm. And Aaron asked me, what is your greatest achievement? Mm-hmm. Put that in the book. And I said, founder of C E v multimedia is my greatest achievement.
Yeah. And so I put together 10 tenets of my career. Mm-hmm. In the book, um, that has to do with what it takes to win. Mm-hmm. And I put, uh, I can name a few of them. Mm-hmm. Uh, pursuit of excellence. I have no interest in mediocrity at all. Mm-hmm. None including that chapter or anything I do. And then I put success against success and then it’s all about the kids.
It’s important to give back. It’s okay to win. It’s okay to have fun. Mm-hmm. All those are some of the tenets that were in the book. Mm-hmm. And the chapter was actually okay to win is what we called it. Mm-hmm. But I’ve had fun my whole career. Mm-hmm. We never had much stress at cv. Mm-hmm. Even when the pressure’s on.
Yeah. Uh, we still had fun. We had fun figuring it out. Mm. And all the teams have been on and coached when we lost. Mm-hmm. First one to graduate the winners. We had fun competing. Mm-hmm. If we won, we might had a little bit more fun. Yeah. But, uh, then we see reunions, you know, of course you talk about the good times.
Mm-hmm. And then it asked for advice and there was one word that was edited out of the book. Mm-hmm. Your, your authors have got a lot of class. The first thing I put in the book, Under advice to the kids. Mm-hmm. I says, don’t be a jackass to anybody. And they edited that out to don’t be a jerk to anybody.
So it’s gonna say a jerk, but that’s not my intention. Yeah. And I can’t tell anybody. I can’t tell the kids or anybody listen to this. Don’t be a jerk to anybody. You, you don’t have to be a jerk to anybody. I don’t care if you’re here. Mm-hmm. And, and it’s somebody taking your money at McDonald’s. Yeah. Um, I’m aptt to give ’em McDonald’s girl at six o’clock in the morning when I go through to get my, uh, biscuit a bigger tip than somebody at a restaurant that’s trying to impress me.
Mm-hmm. Because a lot of times you get talk to ’em, they’ve got a couple of kids and they’re there working in the morning. Oh yeah. Uh, and they show up at work at five o’clock. I’m impressed by that. Amen. And so, and Joyce and I are lucky enough to have a maid at our house or house. And, and we take care of her.
Mm-hmm. You gotta take care of, of everybody. Mm-hmm. And so you don’t, I I don’t like to see any arrogance. I’ve reached the status of where I could probably do what I want to do. I don’t, I don’t do that. Mm-hmm. And, and, uh, but, and I like to really take my time with kids. Mm-hmm. I really like being around young people.
There’s a lot of ’em here. The ambassadors. Uh, they’ve been helping me out and mm-hmm. And, uh, but I was a kid like that one time, didn’t have anything, might’ve had a pig out there I’d taken care of. That’s about it for a project. And then other advice was, uh, you know, look, look for your opportunities, sort through ’em.
And, but there was a big list of, of advice, uh, about 10 things listed there. What do you think was some of the secret to like, keeping that, that fun component through these things? Like what do you think. How’d that, how’d that happen for you? Oh, I just kind where I am. Yeah. Um, I don’t like a lot of stress.
Mm-hmm. And I can handle a lot of pressure. Mm-hmm. But they can’t tell. Mm. And if I feel I was the leader, they see me sweating, maybe I’d be sweating. I was probably having a good time. Um, We, it is been a long time. Mm-hmm. Since, since we’re sitting there trying to mm-hmm. Uh, make ends meet. I remember one in the spring of 2004, I remember I applied at the city for mm-hmm.
Uh, they called Lead a Lubbock, uh, see, Lubbock Economic Development Association. Mm-hmm. And they, they’re there to, to help businesses, uh, you know, to hire people and so forth, so you can apply for some money. Yeah. So Kenny McKay came to the office. This is spring of, uh, 2004, and he brought a check for $85,000.
Mm-hmm. And he knew me. Mm-hmm. He held the check out in my office. He says, Gordon, he looked me right in the eye. He says, Gordon, you’re not gonna go broke, are you? I says, no. And jerk, check out his hand, called my, uh, county manager and said, Karen, Karen Kroll’s, her name, Karen. I got a check for you. Take it to the bank.
That’s no kidding. That’s a true story. Oh, so we were having fun going broke. Well, we didn’t go broke. Yeah. Never missed a payroll. Mm-hmm. We never missed one. Mm-hmm. Of course, payroll’s are nothing like they are today. Mm-hmm. We had a few people, but today we have 160 employees. Wow. It’s a lot of difference.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So circling back to the, uh, to the f f a, um, Texas f f a mm-hmm. What keeps you coming back? Like, what keeps you coming to convention? Like what, what keeps you here? Kids. Yeah. It’s all about the kids. Mm-hmm. It just all about the kids, you know, some of ’em got their little braces on, they got the little jackets on, and, and they’re on this team or that team and they’re helping out.
Just look at ’em. They’re happy. Yeah. And they’re. I had a little girl named Lily from White House, um, f f a chapter in East Texas by Tyler, and she’s been walking me around for about the last hour. Mm-hmm. I can’t find anything. Same, same here. Yeah. And she, she, lovely kid. Mm-hmm. And I found she was president of her chapter.
Wow. And I, I just liked that kid. Mm-hmm. And you had talked to him and, You know, I remember being 16 one time. Mm-hmm. Been a thousand years ago, but I remember that. But it just, uh, it just, uh, quite a, yeah. It’s interesting to me because I think they look at us as adults and they’re kind of thinking about like, we’re the ones that you know mm-hmm.
To learn from. But I learn so much from them. Mm-hmm. And I get so filled up from being here. It’s so interesting to me. Mm-hmm. ’cause I always think that, okay, I’ll, you know, answer their questions, do everything else. But when I get to talking to them and hearing about their stories, like they’re the ones filling me up.
To be honest, I had tears mouth, like I said before, when I. Retired from, uh, Texas Tech University on May 12th, 1990. Mm-hmm. I was a tenured associate professor at the time, but I knew I was gonna go to c e b and hire young people. Mm-hmm. So I was gonna get to be around young people except they’re gonna be employees instead of students.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. And, uh, we’ve had some, we’ve had some dandy, we’ve had some ringers. Yeah. I made some players. Yeah. Just, and that’s what it took. Well, Gordon, I just have to say it. It’s really been an honor to get to do an in-person interview with you. Finally. I had to, I had to track you down, or semi tracker speaking to F F A.
Sean was out there working, finding you. I was like, we gotta get Gordon before he goes. So. Um, really appreciate you coming, uh, into town and also obviously doing this interview for everybody that’s watching. Just one more time, go grab a copy of this cash up Davis, the inspiring life of a secret mentor. Um, and of course, uh, you know, you already know this one, so make sure you grab a copy of this if you haven’t already.
And Gordon, seriously, really been a pleasure to have you back on the show. Thank you so much. And both books are on Amazon. Absolutely. Thank you. You do a good job. You’re a pro.