(exciting music) - [Announcer] This program is made possible through a grant from the Greater Peoria Leadership Council, a coalition of business and civic leaders working together to shape a stronger, more connected region, through the Choose Greater Peoria Initiative.

(bright upbeat music) ♪ Well no matter what the question is ♪ ♪ We will say ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ If we wanna cause some trouble ♪ ♪ We'll say yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Woo ♪ ♪ Woo ♪ ♪ You're amazing ♪ ♪ Baby, you're amazing ♪ ♪ You just remember, you just remember ♪ ♪ You're amazing, yeah ♪ (audience cheering) (audience applauding) - Thank you, thank you!

Good evening, Greater Peoria!

Welcome to season two of "Vibe 309".

I am your host, Blake Wirth, coming at you from the WTVP Studio corner State and Water, downtown Peoria.

The vibes are high, the audience is buzzing in anticipation, because we got a good one tonight.

Our first guest is one of the more accomplished individuals you'll ever meet.

As polished as they come, as cool as the other side of the pillow.

A former Division 1 basketball player, a former Division 1 basketball coach, a trial attorney, and a darn good one, and now, one of the most influential voices in the country for college athletics.

He's a partner at Quinn Johnston Law, and last year, everybody, he was named the Peoria County Bar Association's Lawyer of the Year, after donating hundreds of hours of legal services to people who couldn't afford an attorney.

He's one of the good guys, people!

A gentleman and a scholar.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mitch Gilfillan!

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) What's up, buddy?

How you doing?

- Thanks so much.

Thank you.

- Take a seat.

Woo, we got a bit of a packed house tonight.

- Great crowd on hand.

- Who we got out there?

Who we got?

- A lot of friends that are out there.

Certainly two of the most important people in my life are here, my daughters, Hadley and Harper Gilfillan.

Give it up for them.

(clapping) - Give it up for them!

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) Is it right, one of them just had a birthday?

- Birthday yesterday, turned 10.

- You turned, Hadley?

- Harper did.

- Harper!

Happy birthday, Harper.

Who else we got out here?

- I got some friends from community boards that I've served on in the past, whether it's the Pediatric Resource Center, the Children's Hospital of Illinois, Peoria Friendship House, we got a star, Marcella Sommerville, coming up next, so certainly very honored to have people here with me.

- I love it, I love it.

So before we get into it, and you've got one heck of a story, man.

So you grew up on the other side of the tracks over there, other side of the river.

(Mitch laughs) Over in Morton?

- Yes, correct.

Grew up in Morton, which I'm very, very proud of.

Will always claim Morton to be my hometown.

It's where my parents still live.

But now, I planted the flag in Peoria, and I'm so proud to be a Peoria resident, and obviously, I have my daughters raised here.

- Yeah.

So obviously you went to Notre Dame, you were a star athlete.

You go to Lehigh, go Mountain Hawks.

- Hey, good shoutout there, yes.

- Right?

Patriot League champion.

You do your basketball career.

Did you study pre-law out there?

- I did political science.

I always had an interest in law, having a dad that was a lawyer, and then ultimately a judge, so it was kind of innate.

It was a little bit in the blood, if you will.

But political science was my chosen major in college, but I actually thought I studied basketball throughout college.

- Yeah.

(audience chuckles) Well, and the game of basketball, yeah, it teaches us things.

So after you graduated from Lehigh, tell me where you went, and what you did.

- Ultimately went to law school, at Valparaiso University, which is in Indiana.

Went to law school for three years, and had a job lined up in New York City, and due to some financial times, in 2008, 2009, ended up changing career courses completely, and becoming a college basketball coach at the Division 1 level for six years, which was quite the career shift.

- Is that Ball State?

- Ball State, Southern Illinois Edwardsville, and Illinois State University.

- And then you become a lawyer?

- Then I started practicing law, so to be closer to home, and obviously, to be involved in my daughters' lives, and to be able to coach their teams, and be as active as I can as a dad.

That was the best decision I could have ever made.

- Yeah, so we're obviously happy to have you here, have you back.

So you just, you get into coaching, and then you become an attorney, and now catch me up to the NIL topic, because that's something you do a lot with now, obviously I said you're one of the country's leading voices in the Manor.

I think you were voted Top 80 Most Influential People in the Country for the NIL expertise.

- Well, something like that.

But here's the thing.

College sports and law have never been intersected more than they are now.

It's a great time to be a sports lawyer, and involved in the space, and I've had the opportunity to speak all across the country, from New York, to California, and everything in between, about NIL, which stands for Name, Image, and Likeness.

And that has to do with student athletes branding themselves, and basically marketing themselves, and making money off of their image, and their talents, and what they're able to provide or market for their community or for their school.

And so NIL has never been more popular than it is now, and there are student athletes across the country, whether it's high school or college, that are making millions of dollars based on their talent.

- You make me wanna run through a brick wall, Mitch!

- Yes.

- Okay, so- - Let's work, let's work!

- You probably have a unique perspective, 'cause you know what it's like to be a player, you know what it's like to be a coach, and you know what the law says.

So combining those three, is that why you're so good at what you do?

- Well, I don't know about that.

You may say that, I appreciate that, but I think coming at everything in life with a humble attitude, and being as kind and as professional and as respectful as you can be with everybody that you deal with is the ultimate flex.

And I think that's something I've been able to take on with me, that I was taught at a very young age by two incredible parents, is to always have that caring first attitude, and being a people person, and being the best person that I can try to be, has helped take me a long way.

- Well, and obviously, guys, he's done hundreds of hours of pro bono work for those who don't have the resources to be able to have legal representation.

Clearly, you have a good heart.

I just, I wonder, like, can you talk a little bit about that, and why you're so driven to help those in need?

- Yeah, you know, pro bono work is so important for our community.

It helps the judicial system run smoothly.

It helps judges, it helps other attorneys kinda navigate the space, and ultimately, it helps litigants that have the inability to help themselves.

And there's no greater feeling in life than helping someone that cannot help themself.

And that is the ultimate reward.

You could save a client millions of dollars, you could have the biggest trial verdict, but helping a mom or a dad or a child overcome something that is unbearable, that none of us could ever imagine, through the court system, is so rewarding, and just so uplifting to be an attorney, to be able to do that.

You know, the Peoria legal community is the 10th Judicial Circuit.

We've got wonderful judges, it's got some outstanding lawyers.

A lot of people that give back.

And there's other people that are doing an outstanding job with pro bono.

Not all lawyers do it.

I wish more did, but again, giving back to our community is something that's just, you and I both, we see eye to eye on.

- Yeah.

You ever see yourself up there on the bench?

(Blake bangs desk) - You know, you never know.

- [Blake] We're asking the tough questions here.

- Yeah, I'm so happy with where I am now.

I work at a terrific law firm called Quinn Johnston.

I work with some of the smartest people, not just in the area, but in the country.

And so to be surrounded by excellent legal minds is truly rewarding for me, and has the ability to help me go to the next level.

- I love that, man.

I was gonna list all the boards you serve on in the community during the intro, but we would have never gotten you up here, 'cause you serve on so many.

There is one I wanna hit on, you mentioned it briefly.

We were talking briefly about it, the Children's Hospital of Illinois.

Can you talk to me a little bit about that?

That's a big deal.

- Yes, thank you so much.

I love the OSF Healthcare Children's Hospital of Illinois.

Community Advisory Council consists of about 30 to 35 members.

Some are honorary members.

I've been the president now, this is my second year.

And the Children's Hospital of Illinois does wonderful things for this community.

Helps kids with cancer, helps kids with blood disorders.

It's within 10 minutes of pretty much everybody's location, and did you know that the OSF Children's Hospital of Illinois, last year alone provided 67 million in charitable care?

How about that?

(clapping) (audience applauding) - Did you guys know that?

You guys didn't know that.

I didn't either, but that's amazing.

- Yeah, and so we have a wonderful hospital, wonderful medical community, right here in our hometown.

Not to mention so many other things going on in Peoria, this place that we all call home.

- You know something we got, something we just had come up, was the Steamboat Classic.

And we did a Vibe Check there.

You ran Steamboat.

- Oh yeah.

- So I think this is a good time right now to put a pin in it, and I urge you guys to please, watching at home, do not touch that dial.

We have a very special guest coming up next.

You won't wanna miss it.

But in the meantime, the Toddfather and I went downtown Peoria to check out the Steamboat Classic, AKA, SC415.

Go ahead and roll the tape.

Oh!

Ah, ooh!

Just kidding!

Welcome to the Steamboat Classic!

(bright upbeat music) A summertime staple in the 309, a tradition since 1974.

- This race is iconic.

It is one of the classic American road races.

It's been going on for 52 years, so I mean, obviously, it is part of the fabric and the DNA of Greater Peoria.

So to have the honor and privilege to be carrying the torch, to be the third race director here.

Steve Shostrom founded it, did it for 20 years.

Philip Lockwood, 30 years.

So now to be able to carry that baton for a little while, and try to, you know, support what's been done, a privilege and honor.

(crowd cheering) - Go Katelyn!

- Go Katelyn!

- Really fun race.

I enjoyed the course.

I liked that it was a low elevation.

The humidity was a little brutal, but other than that, great vibes, and enjoyed running it.

- [Blake] How many years have you run Steamboat?

How you feeling?

- This is my first one!

I know.

So I was so stoked.

And I'm feeling better than I was about a mile into it, so.

- It's just a really cool Peoria event that ties people together.

Kinda reminds you of there are other people out there working hard, you know, sometimes you're in the trenches by yourself.

And this really brings people together, and I think it creates a lot of pride for Peoria, as well.

- [Blake] Give me your thoughts on the race.

How'd it go?

- Whew, I mean, it was a beautiful race.

It was a lot of good energy, and I was physically dying the entire time.

Feel great that we ran it, but glad that it's over, as well.

- This is my third, and I was a lot slower than I figured, but that's okay.

I'm coming off vacation, so.

- This is one of my favorite races.

I've been coming here since 2015, except for one time, and I love it.

- Because of him, I knew about this race.

Like, he loves this race, and he's always encourages to come and run, so it was because of him that we came to Peoria.

- This is my first time doing Steamboat!

So I'm really excited.

I've been running off and on.

I'm like a mediocre runner.

So I enjoy that it's four miles, and then I just push myself really hard.

- Running out into that crowd just gives you a lot more energy, super fun to be able to do it with my son.

I ran the 15K back when I was 19 and 20 years old.

I'm turning 50 soon, and I did the four mile this time, and we'll see what next year brings.

- That's awesome.

Andrew, what's your favorite part about Steamboat?

How long you been running it?

- This is my second year, and my favorite part is just seeing the community, and what Adam's done with Running Central, and just thinking about every corner you turn, you see the firefighters, the police officers, the whole community that always has your back, whether you see them or not, but every corner, ever blacktop section is a reminder of what we have in this area.

- Today, it is powerful.

It's kind of emotional, and sparkly.

(laughing) - [Blake] Did you do a good job?

- I think so, I hope so.

I feel like I did a good job.

- [Blake] You're happy with it?

- I'm proud of it, yes.

- You're proud of it.

- So it's happening, I mean, we are bringing some serious BA talent right back to the streets of Peoria.

And it is lightning on the streets.

USATF 4 Mile Championships for men and women, and then we also have the USATF Championships for Masters, men and women, at the four mile distance.

So we said a couple years ago when we were gonna do this, we were gonna have Olympians here in Peoria once again, and it's already happened.

So the SC415, right?

So a health and wellness movement mobilizing Greater Peoria, right?

Steamboat Classic, SC, 4 mile, 15K.

So the Steamboat Classic happens one day a year, but the SC415, what we brought now, that goes on the other 364.

So we got an opportunity to celebrate, come together as a community, and prove our overall health and wellness as a collective whole, celebrate the entire time while doing it, and make ourselves and our community better and better.

- Hey man.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) - I love the Steamboat.

I love the Steamboat Classic.

I don't ever run in it, but I like to go watch others run.

I'm not much of a runner, I got sciatica.

(audience laughing) But okay.

It was an amazing event.

Our next guest is someone who needs no introduction, one of the best hoopers ever to come out of the 309.

He's a Bradley Basketball legend, a Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Famer, and now, president and CEO of the Peoria Friendship House.

Please put your hands together for Mr.

Marcellus Sommerville!

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) How you doing?

- Good to see you, brother.

- [Blake] Thanks for coming.

- Oh, thanks for having me.

- Oh, you bet, man.

You're a tall drink of water.

(audience laughing) 6'7.

Okay, so.

We'll get to the hoops in a minute, 'cause we have to.

I got the Macker shirt on, specifically for this sit down here.

But Peoria Friendship House, you do amazing work in the community.

- Thank you.

- [Blake] Can you talk to me a little bit about that?

- Yeah, I took over six years ago.

Just with the heart of just trying to have a vision for giving back to Peoria, and it started with this guy, actually.

- [Blake] No kidding.

- He was the board president at the time.

And so ironically, we're doing the show together today.

But- - Wow.

- Yeah, just wanted to give back, and we had just moved back, me and my wife, and our four children.

So very excited about the opportunity to give back, and that's how it started.

- Well, you're doing a great job.

So you played 14 years overseas?

- Yeah, 14 years.

- [Blake] Where all did you play?

- France, Germany, Turkey, little bit of everywhere.

- You have a favorite?

- Argentina for a year.

- Do you have a favorite place you hooped?

- France.

My daughter was born, my youngest daughter was born in France.

- Okay.

- [Marcellus] So my oldest children speak bilingual.

- [Blake] No kidding.

- So I would say France.

- That's awesome.

- Yeah.

- Can you tell me a little bit about your day-to-day at the Friendship House?

Like what you do, and kind of the people you interact with?

- Yeah, so at Peoria Friendship House of Christian Services, our mission is to do the work of Jesus Christ, providing hope, respect, and a pathway to prosperity.

We do that through our after school programming.

We have adult literacy, also we're always engaging parents into different resources in our city.

So we also have a food pantry, as well, where we're servicing over 185,000 meals a year.

- [Blake] Wow.

- So we're impacting families in the household, and making sure that they alleviate barriers that they have.

- 185,000 meals?

- Yeah.

- Can we give it up for that, guys?

(audience applauding) That's amazing.

That's the stuff I like to hear.

I love that.

Outstanding.

You're a Hall of Famer.

- [Marcellus] Yeah.

- Recently.

What the, what are you, "Yeah."

(Marcellus chuckles) He's a Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Famer, as of last, was it last year?

- Yeah, last year, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Last March, yeah.

- Last year.

That's a big deal.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Man.

So, okay.

I wanna transition to hoops.

I have to.

I got you both on the hot seat here.

Let's just go into the question I asked you before, 'cause I know that's all you've been thinking about since we got in, so guys, I'm gonna have them put on their team captain hat.

You guys have both obviously been team captains throughout your careers.

And I'm gonna have you draft a Gus Macker team, so you each get three more players.

You're the fourth, but you get three more players to go against each other.

It's top men's court.

It's for the championship.

So you have to draft, all Peoria great players.

All the Peoria great players.

We got the Bradley, former legend in the front row there.

Dave Klobucher, he played in the 70s.

I don't know if you'll pick 'em.

(audience laughing) I don't know if they'll get picked.

- Can you still play?

- Yeah.

(laughs) Okay, so.

Let's do a simple rock, paper, scissors to see who drafts first.

- Mm.

- Ready?

Rock, paper, scissors.

- One, two, three.

- He get, yeah.

- [Blake] Let's do the one, two, three, shoot.

- All right.

(audience laughing) - Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

- [Both] Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

- I knew he was gonna get it.

- Oh no, I think I know who, okay.

So Mitch Gilfillan- - I know who he's gonna pick.

- Has the first draft.

Who we taking?

- First off, because we're picking such elite players from Peoria, I'll be the one sitting the bench the whole game, and that's fine.

But the number one player I would take from Peoria, Illinois is no doubt Shaun Livingston.

- Woo!

S Dot.

Give it up for S Dot.

(audience applauding) Okay.

Mr.

Marcellus.

Who you got?

- That's a great pick.

I'ma go with, in terms of height, I'm going with David Booth.

- Ooh.

- Very good.

- David Booth, I like that.

(audience applauding) Okay.

So you got a tall guard, but just two guards, nonetheless, on your squad at this point.

Who we got?

- The next person, I'm gonna need somebody who can do it all, physical, big, strong.

Mike Robinson from Peoria Richwoods.

McDonald's All American, Purdue University.

Give it up for Mike Robinson.

(audience applauding) - That's a great one.

That's a very good one.

All right.

What do you think?

- I'm gonna go guard.

I'm gonna go Howard Nathan.

- I was wondering if Howard Nathan was gonna get picked.

- He's gonna make it.

- Man, these are great teams.

Okay, your last pick, Mitch.

Who you got?

- I need somebody to be able to distribute the ball, and get to the shooters, or feed Mike Robinson the post.

One of the best Peoria guards ever to come outta here, let's give it up for A.J.

Guyton.

(audience applauding) - Oh!

Okay.

He is a central guy.

He took your, I was actually writing Frankie down as you said, but I don't want to give you, you took Guyton.

Good pick.

- I gotta get someone to guard Guyton, so.

- Yeah, who's the lockdown defender?

- I have to go with Brandun Hughes.

- I don't know about Brandun Hughes.

- Yeah.

- Peoria Manual.

- Peoria Manual.

- What year?

- Played at Michigan University.

Pretty outstanding player.

- The hoopers that have come out of this city is ridiculous.

- Probably one of the best athletes to come out of Peoria.

- Okay, real quick.

So Mitch has Shaun Livingston, Mike Robinson, A.J.

Guyton.

Marcellus has David Booth, Howard Nathan, Brandun Hughes.

Who do you think wins?

Mitch's team, round of applause?

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) Marcellus' team, round of applause?

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) - Think I got it.

- Looks like Cellus has it.

(buzzer sounding) I'm not gonna give you my trophy back there.

(audience laughing) Gus Macker trophy.

- But can we all look at Blake's shirt today?

From vintage Gus Macker, 1994.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) - Impressing condition.

(Mitch laughs) - Remember Marcellus, cover of Sports Illustrated?

- Yeah, that was pretty sweet.

- Right?

- That was sweet, yeah.

- Okay.

All right, I think this is a good time to do the Rapid Fire section.

Okay?

So in this section, we'll start with Mitch.

I'm gonna ask you a few questions.

They have not been given these questions ahead of time, so this is purely improvisation.

All right, you ready, Mitch?

- Yes.

- Favorite place to eat in the 309.

You can name multiple places.

- Ah, so many great options to choose from.

I do love Eat and Evolve over in Junction City.

I certainly love some of my neighborhood places, like One World.

I live over by Bradley.

And then certainly cannot forget the folks down at Country Club Barbecue on Farmington.

- Ooh!

- Yeah.

- They have Golf Simulator upstairs no one knows about.

- Yep.

- Yeah.

- I knew about it.

- You know about it?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- My son broke my club there.

- Okay.

(all laugh) All right, where you eating?

- I'm going 2Chez.

Probably our favorite.

- Good taste.

- Where else?

Obed & Isaac's.

- [Blake] That's a good one.

- Eat a lot of lunches there, so.

- [Blake] Okay, I like that.

- Yeah.

- Okay, those are good ones.

All right, we'll start with you, Marcellus.

Most underrated thing about Peoria?

- Mm.

- [Blake] You got someone talking smack about your hometown.

What do you tell them?

- Challenge them to a basketball game.

(audience laughing) - That is, the talent, man.

The hoop talent.

- Yeah.

- You beat 'em, they can't talk.

What about you?

- You know, one thing I think is a hidden gem about Peoria that's not discussed enough is our Peoria Airport.

It's how we go out there, we can get anywhere we want to, anywhere in the country.

And if we have to wait five minutes in line, we're shocked.

- [Blake] Yeah.

- And that's the accessibility of Peoria, is the airport's underrated.

- That's a great, I love the PIA, man.

- Traffic, too.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Now there's only always one spot open, but there is one spot open, and it's free parking, so you just have to find that one spot.

- Yes.

(audience laughing) - When you go there, you park for free, and you stay.

I love that.

One local business you think deserves more love, Mitch.

- I love shopping local.

I think it's so important that we all do, that we keep our money local as much as possible that we can.

I think Running Central, which is just down the street here.

Steamboat coming up, I think it's a wonderful place.

It has the top name brands that you could ever ask for.

Run by local folks, and I think Running Central deserves the love.

- Hmm.

Love Running Central.

Um.

Yeah, I'm not sure, actually.

- You're not sure?

- Yeah.

- [Blake] That's okay.

We probably won't come back.

- Probably won't come back.

(audience laughing) - We probably won't come back to it, but that's a good one.

All right, Marcellus, let me ask you this.

If you had the opportunity to call yourself when you were a 10-year-old kid, what would you tell him?

- Um.

Congratulations.

You've made it.

(Blake clapping) - I love that.

(audience applauding) I love that.

You made it.

You've had one heck of a life.

What about you, Mitch?

- I would say you have more gray hair than you ever expected.

(audience chuckles) But no, I would say, my 10-year-old self would tell my future self is continue to remain humble, give back, and lead with a giant heart.

And I think that's a recipe for success.

- Yeah.

- I love that.

- Sweet.

- I love that.

Okay.

This is, let's end on this one here.

It's another deep one.

It's what we do around here, though.

Mitch, I'll start with you.

When you look back at who you've become, who are three people you can't tell that story without?

And you can use your parents as one.

- Sure.

You know, I think anybody in life, we make mistakes in life, we learn from our mistakes, and we try to move on to be better.

But I think for me, the most important thing that's ever been around in my life is my family.

And so I would use my entire family as the outlet that I always go to.

Other people in my life, faith is so important.

I love going to church.

And so I think keeping your local faith, your local parish close to you, whether it's your priest that you have, or somebody close in your parish.

And then three, I think it's the people that you work with, the people that you surround yourself with everyday, is uplifting them, and being close to them, and obviously, they can help uplift you in return.

- Yeah.

- I love that.

- I would say, obviously, my parents.

I did have a challenging childhood, but at the same time, I would say my parents, I wouldn't change anything.

I would also mention my grandparents, who raised me.

My mom and dad had me when they were 17, and so a lot of that.

And then just overall, just coaches, teachers.

People who saw things in me that I didn't necessarily see in myself, and help me develop into the young man I am today.

- That's terrific.

- Yeah.

- I gotta say, I mean, I think I speak for everyone, having you guys back in the community, you guys both left, you went and did your things, you came home.

It just always means a lot when you, I mean, and I looked up to you guys as basketball players, but even to have, and you guys are leaders in the community, so to come back to the city, man.

It really does mean a lot to us all.

And on that note, I wanna give you guys something here.

Got a couple Vine 309 lids for you.

- Ooh, sweet.

- Nice.

- Snapback.

(audience applauding) - Thank you.

- There you go.

- Thanks.

- This is awesome.

- Put 'em on?

- [Blake] How's it look?

- Ooh, crisp.

- Crisp.

- How we look?

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) - Okay, okay.

All right.

I'm getting the one minute down.

That is all we have for today, so I wanna thank you guys so much for coming on.

You guys continue doing what you're doing.

You guys are a vibe.

Give it up for Mitch Gilfillan and Marcellus Sommerville!

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) What happens when the thing you're known for is no longer the thing you do?

Mitch was a standout athlete who went on to play Division 1 basketball, Marcellus was a star at Central, then became a Bradley legend.

A player people still talk about 20 years later.

If you grew up around here, you knew these guys as hoopers, certified hoopers, both known for their basketball prowess on the hard wood, or blacktop, if you're Gus Macker.

And yet neither one of them is defined by basketball anymore.

Eventually, the games end.

The crowds go home, the jerseys have to come off.

Then life asks a different question.

Who are you now?

Not what did you do, not what were you known for.

Who are you now?

I think that's a question all of us face eventually, right?

Maybe not as athletes, but certainly as people.

Student graduates, the parents whose kids move out, the person who retires, the business owner who sells the company, the person who moves to a new city and has to start all over.

At some point, every chapter closes, and when it does, it could be tempting to keep rereading it, to keep talking about the good ol' days, to keep wishing things were the way they used to be.

Here's what I admire about Mitch and Marcellus, though.

Neither one of them got stuck in an old chapter.

Basketball wasn't the end of their story.

Mitch took the discipline, preparation, and competitiveness he learned on the court, and built a nationally-recognized career in law.

Marcellus took the leadership, resilience, and heart that made him successful as a player, and poured it into serving people through the Peoria Friendship House.

The thing that made them successful wasn't basketball, it was becoming the kind of people who could keep growing after basketball.

I don't think life is about finding yourself once, and then being done.

I think it's about having courage and curiosity to keep growing, to keep evolving, to keep reinventing yourself, to keep turning the page when the chapter ends.

Because we're all the authors of our own story, and I truly admire the people who strive to write an unforgettable one.

That's what it's all about, baby.

And that is my take.

So thank you for tuning in, ladies and gentlemen.

It has most definitely been a vibe.

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