12/13/2025
Greatness.
Approximately 15 years ago a teen student of mine, John Nagel, medaled at the AAU Junior Olympics. He was nominated that year for the prestigious National Sullivan Award. College star athletes are always on the yearly list of nominees. John was attending Bishop Dwenger High School. WOWO 1190 am sports and ESPN radio heard about this. John was the first athlete from Fort Wayne EVER nominated. John was invited for a live Saturday morning interview. I was invited to witness this event. During a commercial break the host , Mr. Jim Shevlin looked at me and said “You’re on next.” I wasn’t told anything about this in advance! I said that I wasn’t prepared. Host brushed it off. Then we went live. The first question asked me was “When did you first see greatness in John?”. My spur of the moment honest answer was “I see greatness in everyone that walks in my door. The hardest part of my job is getting everyone to believe me. John believed me “. Moving on. A couple of decades ago Mr. Rod Swann and a close friend attempted to get a Raccoon out of his fireplace chimney. Rod fell off of his house severely injuring his lower spine and hip. Many years later he started training with me. Multiple awards. Rod Gold Medaled at the AAU Indiana State Championships for one. Fast forward to August 25th, 2025. Mr. Swann passes his 4th Degree Black Belt test with flying colors. He had been struggling with some hip pain for several months and worked past it. He finally got diagnosed. Apparently Rod had his hip joint fully disintegrate. Went to bone on bone. Early December he had a hip replacement. Just weeks before he was sparring teenagers and doing jump kicks! He is expected to fully recover and get back to training with me soon. Rod is nearly 60 YEARS OLD! The moral of this story? Like John, I saw greatness in Rod. Rod BELIEVED ME. Be like Rod. Don’t give up no matter what and …..STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM RACCOONS!