Shownotes
The central focus of this podcast episode revolves around a compelling dialogue with Neil Lomax, a distinguished former NFL quarterback, as we delve into the intricacies of his illustrious career and his enduring passion for both golf and charitable endeavors. Lomax reflects on his journey from a local sports icon to a prominent figure in professional football, sharing anecdotes that illuminate his experiences, including memorable moments from his athletic pursuits and his interactions with notable personalities in the golfing realm. We engage in a thoughtful examination of the nuances of sportsmanship, the importance of community involvement, and the profound impact of mentorship in shaping one's trajectory. As we navigate through his reflections, Lomax imparts wisdom on maintaining a balance between competitive spirit and personal integrity, emphasizing the significance of building lasting relationships within the spheres of both sports and life. This episode serves not only as a tribute to Lomax's achievements but also as an exploration of the values that resonate deeply within the world of athletics.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- NFL
- Lake Oswego Review
- Alice Cooper
- US Open
- Carson Solheim
- Ping
- Royal Oaks
- Portland Golf Club
- Bandon
- Gold Mountain
- Coeur d' Alene Resort
- Pumpkin Ridge
- Waverly
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Welcome to Grilling at the Green After Hours.
Speaker A:The conversation that took place after the show ended.
Speaker B:Everybody, welcome to After Hours here on Grilling at the Green.
Speaker B:I'm jt and we have got Neil Lomax with us.
Speaker B:Local superstar from back in my day and went on to be a mega Superstar in the NFL.
Speaker B:Played for St. Louis and then when St. Louis moved to Phoenix, played for Phoenix and has done the Neil Lomax Shootout.
Speaker B:Very involved in his church and his charities and loves to play golf.
Speaker B:So with that said, now I'm going to try to play Stump the Stump the jock here, okay?
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:Here you go.
Speaker B:Well, first of all, here's another question for you from my buddy Steve.
Speaker B:He goes, do you remember ever playing a pickup basketball game with the guys from the Lake Oswego Review?
Speaker B:One late afternoon, early evening, and Steve said you smoked him.
Speaker B:Just laid them out.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:You must have played it at Lake Ridge or Lo or something.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Well, I went out.
Speaker A:I went out my freshman year for basketball and played.
Speaker A:And then my sophomore year, they were.
Speaker A:They're really good, and I just wasn't good enough.
Speaker A:Spend more time on baseball and football, going to high school.
Speaker A:But we played on those intramural teams back in those days.
Speaker A:Those intramural teams were tough.
Speaker A:Yeah, we had a pickup game.
Speaker A:I appreciate him saying we smoked.
Speaker A:I don't think I was that good.
Speaker A:You know, besides being slow, I couldn't jump either.
Speaker A:So, okay, they put me at quarterback.
Speaker B:Which is better, throwing a TD or getting a birdie?
Speaker A:Well, now.
Speaker A:Now I can throw to you.
Speaker A:So now it's birdies.
Speaker B:Now it's birdie.
Speaker A:Back in the day.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's no, there's no better thrill than in football.
Speaker A:You know, as a quarterback when that all connects and.
Speaker A:And you get to throw that touchdown pass, especially in front of, you know, 50, 60,000 people.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Who is your favorite person you ever played golf with?
Speaker B:You played with a lot of stars.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, I'll tell you.
Speaker A:Peter.
Speaker A:Peter started it.
Speaker A:But I tell you what, Alice Cooper is one of my top five.
Speaker A:And people, I had a really cool experience with him and we became friends and got to play with him a few times.
Speaker A:Steve Jones from the US Open, winner way back in the day, is a good friend of mine.
Speaker A:Those are old ones.
Speaker A:But again, I think.
Speaker A:I think going way back, my first Phoenix Open, having Carson Solheim, I mean, people who know the man, the pink story.
Speaker A:If you don't know the pink story, you need to go Google and YouTube it.
Speaker A:There's a really cool two hour documentary on, on Carson, Solheim and Ping.
Speaker B:Yeah, they.
Speaker B:Well, back in the day when I was in Scottsdale and Phoenix, they were, they were getting rolling down there.
Speaker B:You know, they had a little shop down there.
Speaker B:What's your favorite course in the Northwest?
Speaker A:Man, I put Royal Oaks right in there.
Speaker A:So Holly up there in Seattle.
Speaker A:No, no question.
Speaker A:Going to Gold Mountain.
Speaker A:There's so many really good.
Speaker A:I mean the Coeur d' Alene Resort up there, if you consider that still the Northwest.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:I mean that whole area.
Speaker A:Gosser Ranch and Yakima Valley, Central Oregon.
Speaker A:Are you Bursada Horn, Tethyro.
Speaker A:So many good ones.
Speaker A:But you know, when our little gym right here in the, in the Tri county area to me is I put Royal Oaks up there with Portland Golf Club.
Speaker A:Oring Golf Club.
Speaker A:Pumpkin Ridge would be a top, top five, six.
Speaker B:You know what's funny, Neil, to me is when I talked, I have like, you have friends scattered around the country and they, they all want to come play Bandit.
Speaker B:And I understand that Bandit's kind of the west coast mecca of golf, you know, and all that, but it's like we really have some really great kick ass courses around here.
Speaker B:If you stuck around for a few days, you know, I take you to them like that.
Speaker B:But they.
Speaker B:And nothing, nothing against Bandon whatsoever.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:No, but we take that for granted because we're here.
Speaker A:You and I are here.
Speaker A:So I'll put people who want to come to the, I would say the Vancouver Portland area.
Speaker A:I would tell them you need to go play.
Speaker A:Definitely play Royal.
Speaker A:Try to get on Royal Oaks, Royal Oaks, Columbia, Edgewater.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Portland Golf Club, Waverly.
Speaker B:It's okay.
Speaker B:It's all good.
Speaker B:It's all good.
Speaker A:Duncan Ridge, those two courses out there in North Plains, Jeff, they're.
Speaker A:They're so good.
Speaker B:They are so good.
Speaker B:They are.
Speaker B:Okay, here's some fun stuff for you, all right?
Speaker B:What's the one song you want to hear on the radio when you start your car in the morning?
Speaker A:Boy, anything by Fleetwood Mac or the Eagles.
Speaker A:So you just take your pick by.
Speaker A:I'll tell you what, if Stevie Nicks is singing or Glenn Fry singing, you give me Eagles or Fleetwood Mac in the morning.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:I love, I love it.
Speaker B:Here's a tough one.
Speaker B:Neil, what's your favorite color?
Speaker B:Lifesaver.
Speaker A:Color.
Speaker A:The flavor.
Speaker A:The flavor better be red because it's strawberry.
Speaker A:If it's strawberry in there, red or strawberry, does Lifesavers have raspberry?
Speaker A:What's red?
Speaker A:Raspberry I think it's strawberry.
Speaker B:I think it's strawberry.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Or cherry.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:Maybe it's maybe.
Speaker A:Okay, There you go.
Speaker B:Cherry.
Speaker B:Cherry's good.
Speaker B:Terry's good.
Speaker B:What's the funniest thing you ever saw happen at one of your golf tournaments to one of your buddies who was playing?
Speaker A:Well, here?
Speaker A:The most funny thing that happened to me, sure.
Speaker A:I'm playing in Tahoe one year and I sliced my drive on 18, hit a big old drive and it hits a kid in the head.
Speaker A:Oh, it's kid in the head.
Speaker A:In the gallery.
Speaker A:The gallery's line.
Speaker A:Well, you know who the kid was?
Speaker A:My son.
Speaker B:Your son?
Speaker A:My 7 year old son, Mitch.
Speaker A:Now tell me the odds of that.
Speaker B:Oh, Lord.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Hits him in the head.
Speaker A:Ball, drive.
Speaker A:I don't care about him.
Speaker A:I want to get a ruling like, can I move the ball?
Speaker A:Can I?
Speaker A:He's over there crying, getting a ice bag on his head, and I just give the kid a popsicle.
Speaker A:I got to figure out how I'm gonna bury this hole.
Speaker B:How'd they go over?
Speaker B:Had that go over with his mom.
Speaker A:How about that?
Speaker A:How about that right there?
Speaker A:I mean, what are the odds?
Speaker A:So that I think that's one of the most unique, craziest, funniest things ever happened and happened to me.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:So, Neil, if you were declared supreme ruler of golf for one day, just one day, what would you, as supreme ruler decree?
Speaker A:Oh, you got to get free relief from divots in the fairway.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:You got to get.
Speaker A:It's ground under repair and I'm a divot freak, man.
Speaker A:I'll be up and down my course.
Speaker A:And I got two sand bottles.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:That's just one of my things.
Speaker A:My grandfather told me, you're fixing ball marks, you're raking the bunker better than you saw it, and you are fixing divots.
Speaker A:And I'm going to my golf course, looking around for divots, filling the divots up with sand.
Speaker A:So just make that because there's no beautiful manicured, any type of property in the world in these beautiful golf courses.
Speaker A:I love the way they maintain golf courses.
Speaker A:They're absolutely.
Speaker A:I don't care if it's from Heron Lakes to, you know, Bandon to Royal Oaks.
Speaker A:I love keeping a golf course nice and green.
Speaker B:You know, it's interesting, Neil, is when I asked that question, probably 75 to 80% of the time, that's the answer I get.
Speaker A:I mean, it's just.
Speaker A:It's just look at all the changes they've made.
Speaker A:Jeff, look at all the different rule changes they made.
Speaker A:They're more concerned about not calling a lateral or calling it a half.
Speaker A:It's a penalty area.
Speaker A:No, no, I don't want to die on that hill.
Speaker A:Let's just fix.
Speaker A:I got a ball in the middle of the divot in the fairway.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker B:What's the first thing you reach for when you're done with a round?
Speaker A:My phone, so I can get that gin.
Speaker A:Put that.
Speaker A:Dang.
Speaker A:Post that score, that number in there.
Speaker A:Get that number.
Speaker A:Check all my email.
Speaker A:Now, I think that or I'm not a big.
Speaker A:Have a beer when I play, but if it's a nice warm day, we're going in and having a nice cold one.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker A:Have a nice cold beer.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:If you could play around a golf with one of your golfing heroes who you've not played with, who would that be.
Speaker A:Alive now?
Speaker A:Jeff, we'll dig them up.
Speaker B:It's okay.
Speaker A:Well, I'll tell you, you know, again, growing up, I had pictures of Jack Nicklaus and Palmer Messi Nicholas all over my wall.
Speaker A:All from Sports Illustrated, 9, 10, 11 years old.
Speaker A:So, man, if I can.
Speaker A:I met him once at the Waste Management when they brought him it.
Speaker A:But I've never loved to play.
Speaker A:That'd be Jack Nicholas.
Speaker B:I met Palmer, like, got to shake his hand.
Speaker B:I don't really think you'd call it a real how do you do?
Speaker B:At one of Peter's parties.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, like that.
Speaker B:And that was, you know, he was very kind, very nice and all.
Speaker A:He's the king.
Speaker B:He's the king.
Speaker B:Like that.
Speaker B:Who was the biggest influence on you personally, Neil, in any aspect of your life?
Speaker A:I would start with my high school coach, Boyd Crawford, who gave me, you know, not just a chance to play.
Speaker A:I was at that time, I was the best player my junior and senior year, so I'm going to play, but not that.
Speaker A:He went out of his way to get a hold of the Kiwanis Club to give me a scholarship to attend my first football FCA Fellowship of Christian Athletes football camp in Bakersfield, California.
Speaker A:And for my summer, my junior year and summer my senior year, he made sure that happened and that.
Speaker A:That pretty much, I think, physically, mentally and spiritually, Jeff grew me up from a boy to a man, and I want to thank boy Boyd Crawford for that.
Speaker B:Very good, Very good.
Speaker B:Neil, if we put your skills to music, what would the music be?
Speaker A:I'm going 80s, 80s.
Speaker A:Either easy listen or some nice easy rock.
Speaker A:A rock.
Speaker A:Anything in rock, like I said, if it's Eagles, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, but going to Aerosmith.
Speaker A:You remember Boston?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, that Boston.
Speaker A:I mean, that would be my genre right there.
Speaker B:Yeah, I started when I started in radio.
Speaker B:I was at Cal Poly.
Speaker B:I just walked into the radio station because I was fascinated with it, and my next door neighbor had a show, and I started hanging out in the production room, and they showed me stuff to do, how to do things, and about six weeks later, their morning guy quit.
Speaker B:I didn't know what it entailed running a morning show.
Speaker B:I could barely run the board and became a dj.
Speaker B:I became a dj, and they stuck with me all these years like that.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker B:The crowds now we're seeing at some of the golf tournaments.
Speaker B:So one of the questions I always ask, and people can answer it any way they want, but what is one thing you wish spectators would not do at these big golf tournaments?
Speaker A:You know, they're not.
Speaker A:They're going to throw alcohol, Beverly.
Speaker A:They got a. Consume the beverages.
Speaker A:Don't throw them.
Speaker A:I think any derogatory comment at their family members, and I'm hearing that a lot.
Speaker A:It's not so much to them.
Speaker A:They don't mind that.
Speaker A:Like, when I played Jeff, I never, never cared if they're.
Speaker A:They're ripping me.
Speaker A:Yeah, they're.
Speaker A:They're booing me.
Speaker A:They're saying things about me.
Speaker A:But when you start talking about my wife, my kids, my mom in that.
Speaker A:That just.
Speaker A:So in golf, you know, football, you can't do.
Speaker A:Hopefully they're going to eject them.
Speaker A:They got to find him in the stadium.
Speaker A:You see that happen quite often now.
Speaker A:But now in golf, if they're going to say stuff like that out.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, any professional, whether it's sports or broadcasting, and you.
Speaker B:You're in front of the public a lot, you get a thick skin, and it comes with the territory.
Speaker B:But again, old school, family, off limits.
Speaker B:Completely off limits.
Speaker A:Well, you never.
Speaker A:You never took your helmet off in Philly because they.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:They were still selling cans and bottles of beer when I played at Philly.
Speaker A:So you.
Speaker A:You learn really quickly, you're not going to take your helmet off at Vet Stadium because a lot of those guys have really good arms, and they got.
Speaker A:They're very accurate.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:You got to be moving a little bit before they nail you in the head with those beer bottles and beer cans.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:Okay, a couple more here, Neil.
Speaker B:I'll let you go.
Speaker B:If you could dine with a historical figure, who would it be and what would be on the menu.
Speaker A:Oh, God.
Speaker A:Any of the Founding Fathers.
Speaker A:I'm taking George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Quincy Adams.
Speaker A:Sam Adams, all those guys.
Speaker A:Thomas Jefferson to me.
Speaker A:I love American History.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Never really studied.
Speaker A:My wife's like a history major.
Speaker A:We just got an American History, but something about.
Speaker A:Something about our Founding Fathers.
Speaker A:And, boy, if we're going to be.
Speaker A:I'll take them back up to Boston and Adam's fan.
Speaker A:We got it.
Speaker A:We're going to go chow, we're going to go lobster, we're going to go chowder, we're going fish, and we'll even have some tea from England so that we threw all that tea in the Boston Harbor.
Speaker B:So, yeah, we could do that.
Speaker B:What's one thing you miss about your 20s?
Speaker A:I miss my healthy knee and my healthy hip, my healthy shoulder.
Speaker A:Those are three areas that I miss in my 20s.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Kind of fun to be healthy and run and jump like I used to.
Speaker A:Those.
Speaker A:Those guys.
Speaker A:If you don't know it, football is a collision sport.
Speaker A:Ain't no contact sport.
Speaker B:It's a collision sport.
Speaker B:If you could erase one mistake from your past, what would it be?
Speaker A:Only one.
Speaker B:Just one.
Speaker A:Probably agreeing to the $100,000 bonus.
Speaker A:I should have held out for that.
Speaker A:125.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:See, well, if I was your agent, you would have got it.
Speaker A:Okay, 25 more K. Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Could have bought that car.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:And last question.
Speaker B:Neil, if I gave you a box with everything in it that you've lost in your life, what would be the first thing you would reach for?
Speaker A:That I lost in my life?
Speaker A:Well, family members, I think.
Speaker A:Getting my dad back.
Speaker A:My mom passed away nine months ago.
Speaker A:You know, people don't consider.
Speaker A:I just need to have family back in that box because that box gets smaller and smaller and smaller every year.
Speaker A:And you want to enlarge that box and bring all those great memories, and that's family.
Speaker A:So I'd love to have my mom and dad back.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:You know, people have their own choices, and on one of my other shows, we ask a very similar question, and they'll go, well, I lost a.
Speaker B:A watch or something like that.
Speaker B:But when somebody turned the table on me a few months ago and said, what would you, Jeff, pick?
Speaker B:I said, my dad.
Speaker B:Just my dad, you know, because he and I were pretty tight.
Speaker B:He was quite the character and veteran and all that stuff.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I did that.
Speaker B:Anyway, Neil Lomax, thank you for taking the time.
Speaker B:I'm glad we finally connected.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Enjoyed it.
Speaker B:It's been fun.
Speaker B:We'll do it again someday, and maybe we'll play golf together.
Speaker A:One of these birdies or bogeys.
Speaker A:You all got smile.
Speaker B:You all got a smile.
Speaker B:Okay, that's going to wrap it for After Hours with me and Neil.
Speaker B:And so we'll be back next week with another edition of that.
Speaker B:Until then, like I always say, go out, play some golf, have some fun and be kind.
Speaker B:Take care, everybody.
