(lively music) ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ - Welcome to "A Shot of AG."

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

Food, it's the great uniter, right?

We all eat it, as farmers, we grow it, but let's be honest, farmers, we don't necessarily worry about where our next meal is coming from, but a lot of people do.

And that brings us to our next guest.

Marcellus Sommerville, how you doing, Marcellus?

- Doing good, Rob, how are you?

- Good, I feel like I should be.

(both laughing) You're a tall individual.

- Yeah.

- How tall?

- Six-seven.

- Six-seven, all right.

Well, congratulations on genetics, I guess.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) Might be the tallest nonprofit CEO.

(both laughing) - I'm pretty sure, yes.

You're from Peoria, right?

- Oh, yes, sir.

- And you were born here, raised here?

- Yeah, born and raised here in Peoria, Illinois.

Went to several different high school, I mean, not high schools, middle schools, and ended up at Peoria High.

- Okay.

- Graduated from Peoria High School.

- Gotcha, you are the President and CEO of Friendship House.

- Yes.

- Okay.

Could you, in a nutshell, can you tell us what Friendship House is?

- First and foremost, it's a faith-based organization.

It was founded in 1951.

- [Rob] Okay.

- So we've been around 74 years.

And honestly, it kind of, I would say it follows the mission.

Our mission is to do the work of Jesus Christ, providing hope, respect, and a pathway to prosperity.

And we do that by empowering our families through hope and through all of our programs, so.

- So this is more urban-based.

- Right.

- So are you talking like families that are struggling financially?

- I mean, you're talking about families that are just down on their luck.

You're talking about families who, honestly, depend on our services.

You're talking about families who need resources, just information, health support, financial support, food insecurity support.

- [Rob] Mm-hmm.

- Just a whole holistic approach when it comes to supporting the community and the families.

- Yeah, you know, years ago, I was talking to a guest that was, they were filling out like the book bags.

They were little snack things you would take and send 'em home on the weekend.

- Yep.

- And I remember being like annoyed because I'm like, "Okay, we're feeding them Monday through Friday, now we gotta feed 'em on the weekend too."

But the more he talked about, you know, it's not the kids' fault.

- Yep.

- And when they come back to school on Monday, it takes 'em a day to catch up because they haven't hardly eaten anything all afternoon.

I guess sometimes it's hard to fathom for people that have not struggled with getting nutrition that, yeah, it is definitely a problem.

- Yeah, it's an issue.

That's one of the things we do, too, as well, is we make sure that the kids have a heavy lunch or heavy snack, let's say, where we feed them.

We feed them before they go home because we're unsure, and we're just unsure of what's expected sometimes at home.

But at the same time, we've been able to develop relationships with the families and just be able to serve where they need it.

And we have a pantry at the Friendship House that we've had since its existence.

And just last year alone, we did over 155,000 meals.

- 155,000 meals, huh?

- Mm.

- It's just like those cans of Pringles, you just toss 'em to 'em and say, "Have a good day."

- No, it's a pretty hardy stuff, shelf-stable stuff.

- Yeah.

- Things that they can cook fairly quickly and, you know, be able to support their families.

- Yeah.

I'm not saying Pringles aren't bad, though.

- (laughs) Once you pop you can't stop.

- Pretty good.

(both laughing) Now, the Friendship House, We're gonna get into all the stuff you've done, but I mean, did you have experience with it before you went to work for 'em?

- To be honest, no.

I just know I had a heart to give of myself and my family, and me and my wife started our own nonprofit in 2014.

And it just started with the simple mission to put a smile on kids' face.

We started with back-to-pack backpacks, polo shirts for kids to start the school year.

I think that was around the time where they moved to uniforms.

And so a lot of families were up in the air on it, and we just wanted to support and give.

And then from there, you know, me and my wife felt like, along with some friends who saw something in me that I didn't necessarily see in myself and just pushed me to be like, hey, you can do this on a bigger scale.

And so that's kind of how I stepped into Peoria Friendship Houses, just because of friends and family believing in me and then just having a passion for the community.

- That's interesting.

You know, basketball has been the big part of your life.

You say that the friends saw something in you that you didn't, I mean, did you, in your mind, did you think you were just a basketball player?

- I wouldn't say that, but in my mind, I thought I was going to have a professional career after playing in coaching.

- Oh, gotcha.

- In coaching basketball and mentoring and giving back in that way, right?

because I was afforded a blessing to be able to play the game as long as I did, and then be able to play, at the level I did, for as long as I did.

And so I've always had a...

I always thought I was gonna be a coach.

- Yeah.

- And you know, they kind flipped it on its head and it's like, you're still coaching people.

You're coaching people through life.

You're coaching people from circumstances and situations you've been in.

I don't know, you know, we're gonna get into it, I'm sure, but I grew up in the Taft Homes, which is a project home in Peoria, Illinois.

And you know, like I said, just made a way with people around me who push me to be the best version of myself.

And, ultimately, I wanna do that too as well.

And that's pretty much, I'm coaching people and through life and helping them understand how relationships work and things like that.

- So I'm from Bradford, not from Peoria, so help me out on, I mean, Taft, I always had the impression that that was kind of the tough neighborhood.

- It was one of the tough neighborhoods you could say, but yeah, it's urban homes, you know what I mean?

And you have several different ones in Peoria.

Back then, we had the Warner Homes, we had the Harrison Homes.

But, yeah, we lived in the Taft.

- So life was not always roses?

- No.

- Yeah.

- No.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- All right, well, that transition into, when did you find basketball?

- I found basketball when I was, earliest I could remember was probably when I was like seven, maybe eight.

- Were you always tall?

- (laughs) I was pretty tall, yeah.

I think that's how he found me.

(both laughing) The kids always like, "I want that guy even if he can't play."

(Rob laughs) And you know, I played out in, we had a park right outside of the Taft, and we played right over there in a little square and, you know, got beat up a lot.

And it, you know, it's different today.

We played outside more than the kids do today.

And it was, I mean, it was just different.

- You sound like an old guy.

- Yeah, I sound like an old guy.

- Walk to school outside, uphill both ways.

- Nice, (laughing) I went to Irvine School, so walked there, yeah.

- So you did well in high school, and that led you to Bradley?

- Yes.

Did well in high school, led me to Iowa actually.

I went to Iowa University out of high school.

Played for Steve Alford, and played there a year and a half.

And then transferred to junior college, and played in junior college for a year, and then to Bradley.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah, a different path.

It wasn't just direct.

- So was it a deal, I don't know, College Basketball.

- Yeah.

- Is it a deal where you go to the junior college and you are standing out, and then a university like Bradley says, "Hey, come to school with us."

- Yeah, I would say, yeah.

- Okay.

- It was like a mutual understanding that I probably was gonna come to Bradley.

- Yeah.

- After I left Iowa.

But I had to go to junior college for a year to be eligible to play at Iowa.

- Mm.

- I mean, play at Bradley, sorry, - You know, as a farmer, you know, like a pinnacle would be on the cover of like one of the farm magazines and that.

I've never even been in one, but hey, you hit the Grand Slam Home Run.

- Yeah, that's pretty cool.

- "Sports Illustrated" back in the prime of "Sports Illustrated," not just in it, you were the cover (laughs) that had to be awesome.

- Yeah, it is still so surreal, like when it comes to looking at it and, you know, it's not a makeshift copy, it's a actual copy of the printout.

And no, man, it just, it brings you joy to be able to do something like that for your town, for your team.

You know, they painted the streets red when we made our run, which was awesome.

And so, just putting Peoria at the forefront of something like that was pretty cool.

- Well, and like every kid that, you know, had grew up like you did.

- Yeah.

- You know, didn't have everything handed to 'em.

They gotta see that and go, "My gosh," you know, "I can do stuff too."

- Yeah, kids come into the office, they're like, "Is that real?"

(laughs) (Rob laughs) I'm like, "Yeah, it's real."

- And the Bobblehead, not everybody has a Bobblehead.

- Yeah, (laughs) that story is pretty cool too.

Bradley, my senior year, ended up making those and it's the one of its kind.

So they haven't had one since.

And I think that's pretty special to, you know, all the amazing athletes that'll come through Bradley.

- Yeah.

- And to be one of one, it's pretty cool.

- Obviously, you did well in college.

So what did you do post-graduation?

- Post-graduation, continue to follow the dream of wanting to pursue the NBA and I mean, I had workouts with Spurs.

Mavericks, was close to making the Spurs team, but it ultimately ended up playing professionally overseas.

Did that for 14 and a half years and then, you know, was in France for nine of those years.

Got to show my family what Europe was.

We exposed it and experienced it all at the same time for the first time, so it was cool.

- At what point did you and Brooke get married?

- We got married my junior year, going into my junior year at Bradley University.

- Oh, okay, all right, so she was with you the whole time?

- Yeah.

- Over in Europe.

- Yeah.

- How'd you guys meet?

- (laughs) High school in computer class.

- In computer class.

(Marcellus laughs) (cards tapping) That's not that romantic, man.

(both laughing) - I'm a hopeless romantic, I guess.

But, yeah, we met in computer class.

She's six-two, so she stood out right away in the, yeah, the rest is history.

- Okay, you have how many kids?

- Four.

- And my youngest son is a fan of your oldest son, right?

- Yes.

- Where's he playing?

- He's playing at Rutgers currently, but he's transferring, so he's going to Washington University in Seattle.

- Gotcha, you know, as you're watching your son now go through the same kind of scenario that you did, are you, (laughs) what is... Is the pride more than the nervousness or how's that work?

- It's, I mean, you know, I think we all as parents are here to help our kids understanding what life is about and, you know, relationships matter.

Being in the right situation matters for you to excel in life.

And that's ultimately what I've given him in terms of advice.

And he's made pretty good decisions from there.

- Did well over in Europe, what, 2010, you guys were champs?

- Yep.

- Okay, yep.

As you look back on that, was that the right decision?

- Yeah, actually, I had to decide that in four hours to go to that team and- - Oh - Yeah, I'll never forget that either.

It was mid-season, and I was transitioning out of an injury and just didn't know what to do.

You know, the offer that I received from that team was not great, truly wasn't my value but me and my wife prayed, and she saw a sign and she expressed that sign to me, and I went there unexpected to play right away, unexpected to do much because I was coming off an injury and worked my way into the lineup, worked my way into the starting lineup.

And lo and behold, we worked our way through, with the team through.

It was probably one of the most successful teams that I ever played that for that club, and ended up winning a championship.

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay, so you say your wife, you know, followed a sign.

I do my absolute best to be a Christian.

Very flawed at it but- - We all are.

(laughs) - You don't want people talk about, you know, I was given a sign or something.

I still struggle with that because like, if the Good Lord slaps me in the back of the head, but I'm like, you know, but I want this over here.

You guys, you followed though.

- My wife, I followed her.

(laughs) I'm like you.

(both laughing) I get slapped, it's like, yeah, yeah, I like this, but she expressed the importance of praying about it, and letting God lead us.

- We got your- - We let us into a remarkable situation.

- Yeah, this is your wife here, Brooke?

- Yep, yep.

- You said Brookey, but I didn't wanna... (Marcellus laughs) I don't know her, so you know how that goes, yes.

- I do.

- And then four kids.

- Yep.

Four kids.

- Tell me about your daughter's name.

- London.

So Lathan is the oldest.

London's the second oldest.

She's a sophomore at Richwoods and a scholar student, scholar student athlete.

She does well in both volleyball and basketball.

- Well, Brooke's six-two and you're six-seven.

- She's six-two too, the little one.

- The little one.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- Incredible career.

Did you know it was time to retire?

- Yeah, that's a sign from God too.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Came home for Thanksgiving 2019.

Hung out with the family because the family didn't travel the last year 'cause Brooke wanted to get acclimated with school for the kids and start them off.

And I met her like that, and you know, just, you know, find some work that she was passionate about too.

And she worked at the Boys and Girls Club at that time.

And so, came home, visit with the family, had a great time.

And then the day before I leave, I'm tucking my youngest son in, Lawson, and he's like, "Dad, when are you coming back?"

And I'm like, "Oh, I'll be back for Christmas, a month away, four weeks, three and a half weeks."

And he's like, "No, you've been gone so long."

And I had been gone since August until November.

And so he thought that was gonna happen again.

And he kind of put some pressure on me and I left out of there crying, and just like, geez, what am I gonna do?

This is becoming kind of tough, and prayed about it.

And was it December 15th, I've hung 'em up.

- Okay, which, I mean, how many years did you play pro?

- Fourteen and a half.

- That's, it sounds like a really long career.

- Yeah, yeah, and I was, I could have played, I could have been playing now.

- Really?

- I was averaging 20 points, 12 rebounds, three or four, I was doing great at 38, 39.

(laughs) - Can you still dunk?

- Yeah.

(cards tapping) Sometimes I have to prove it to the kids, yeah.

(laughs) - And so can I.

(both laughing) - I'm gonna put you to the test on that one.

- Well, you know, the little Nerf ones you put on the door, man, I can (whooshes) reverse everything.

(laughs) - That's cool.

- So then was it immediately back to Peoria?

- Yeah, yep, flew back on the 19th.

- Okay, I forgot to ask you, what was the name of the, you said you and your wife started a non-profit?

- It was the Marcellus Sommerville Family Foundation.

- Okay, is that still going?

- Yeah, it is, but it's not operating, I guess you could say, at its capacity because we have, you know, other responsibilities.

- Yeah, you're doing other things.

- Yeah.

- And you were doing 'em well too.

Where's the, yeah, I got the award here.

Yeah, it's heavy too.

I don't wanna, here, we have no fingerprints.

So tell me about this.

- Peoria Friendship House, obviously, when we took it over five years ago, you know, it was in the heart of COVID.

- Oh.

- You know, so, just uncertainties, unknowns were at the forefront of everyone and everything, especially businesses.

And so, you know, my goal and objective was to build a good team, and obviously, put together a good board.

And so that's just a, you know, I guess you could say results of what we did over the last five years.

That's a award that we received from the Chamber at the luncheon.

And we're trying to put together great services for families, great programming for kids, and with the team that I have in place, we've been able to do that.

And it's just a sign that people appreciate it.

- How do you do that though?

We could, I mean, your experience is basketball.

- Mm.

- I mean, to switch over - Yeah.

- Even before that with your own nonprofit, I...

The learning curve of that just seems like it would be too intimidating to tackle.

- Well, it starts with the passion to want to do it, right?

And then wanting to be educated.

I have some great mentors today, and that's what it takes.

It takes, you know, leaning on people that's done it, done it at a high level, and then, you know, tapping into the relationship side of how do you grow, how do you do things.

And I think athletics is undervalued in that area.

It's really a business to play professionally, or really a business to be a collegiate athlete.

And then you're rubbing elbows with the coaches.

You're learning how to manage time, you're learning how to, you know, manage your money, and how to be involved in all the process.

And so, it's just moving it to running a business.

And we run our nonprofit like a business.

And yes, we do make sure that we give to the community, and we're providing services, but we run it like a business.

And it's been appreciated to be in that space.

- You know, one thing about like what you do that I always think about that would concern me is that I would lose passion to do it because not everybody's gonna turn out like you.

Not everybody's gonna appreciate the help that you're giving them, and you're gonna be burned.

I mean that's, I imagine that's just part of the game.

How do you, mentally, how do you deal with that?

- Honestly, combat that with the good stories, the testimonies.

I've heard so many amazing testimonies.

We have a one-off that we do every year with Turkey giveaways we give over for Thanksgiving.

So we give out a small portion of a preparated meal, and then we give out a huge Turkey.

And a gentleman came to us probably a week after.

It had a letter for me.

And he used to be a chef at a really nice restaurant, and he ended up going to jail for whatever reason.

And he, this was the first meal he was able to make for his family after getting out of jail.

- Oh.

- And he appreciated us for being able to come and have something like that as he was on down on his luck and just in a bad space financially.

But he had that to help him.

- So that gets you through.

- Yeah.

Those testimonies get me through, kids get me through when they need a hug and they come up and like, "Mr. Marcellus, can I have a hug?"

And you know, those moments where, and there are definitely a few that are trying in terms of challenges, but the triumphs get me through.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- Like the story where, you know, Jesus goes to cure the maniac, you know, going over the sea and doing all this stuff.

The whole time I'm reading that, I'm like, "Ah, I would've quit."

(both laughing) "That guy's, I'm sure, he's gonna be fine."

You know, but you, kind of a lesson that you go to all that effort just for one person.

It sounds like you're actually living that.

- Yeah, yeah, and my mom, when I was younger, she used to always say, "God, God gave you those big shoulders to hold a lot."

And so just kind of what goes on.

(laughs) - What is the Next Generation Academy?

- Next Generation Academy is a basketball-skilled mentoring organization that I partner with the Friendship House with to be able to train kids throughout the year to be able to inspire them through the game of basketball.

Like I said, basketball afforded me a ton when you're talking about getting free education through college, making a living, buying my first home with my family through basketball.

So it afforded me a lot, and not just on the financial side, and things like that, but just the structure and discipline it provided for me.

And then I think, you know, it's my way of giving back to kids to understand the big picture of how athletics can support you.

So we cultivate athletes through that Next Generation Academy to better help them understand what that does.

- With the Friendship House, obviously, donations would be welcome.

What else would you guys want?

I mean, if somebody's watching this and like, you know, "Man, hey, Marcellus, he's an all right guy, I want to help out some height, and somehow," what would you suggest?

- Right now, we have a project that we're trying to continue to progressively improve our outdoor space and (laughs) landscaping.

We have a, we're in need of a new fence.

The old fence is pretty worn out, torn up.

I don't know why someone felt the need to jump the fence, and they broke it.

And so we're looking for support there to be able to put the kids in a safe environment.

We've acquired some new land, so we want to expand that as well.

So I would say we we're in need of things like that.

And then there's always monetary donations that we need because of the funding throughout the grants and state, and things like that.

I don't wanna get too political with all the grants and stuff like that, but at the same time, to fill in those gaps, we need individual contribution.

- You have not asked for my advice, but I'm gonna give it.

- Okay.

(cards tapping) - So if a farmer's watching this and he is like, "Oh, I'll help with the fence."

Tell him, "Thank you, but no thank you, yeah."

- Okay.

- Because they're gonna come in with a tractor and a Backhoe, and a dozer that are all made in 1970, and they're going to wreck everything.

And then they're gonna say, "Oh, it's time to plant.

You guys figure the rest out."

- Oh, wow.

- Yeah.

So that's just a little advice.

- Okay.

(laughs) - Yeah.

So farmers out there maybe just, I dunno, write a check.

- Yeah, that helps too.

- How about food-wise?

I mean, is it all pretty regulated?

Or like if somebody that has, you know, fresh raspberries or whatever, do you ever deal in anything like that?

- Yeah, so we partner with several different organizations in Peoria and we get Fresh Produce Thursdays.

And we put it out, bread and produce on Thursdays.

And then periodically, through the different food banks, there'll be some produce to put out as well.

And we make sure that we get it out.

Get it out in a timely manner.

- Well, if people wanna find out more about Friendship House, where would they go?

- They can go to our website, which is ww.friendshiphouse, and everything will come up.

- Is there just one or is there different Friendship Houses in other cities?

- There is.

There is.

So we're a part of a, I guess you could say a bigger organization called American Baptist Missionary Society.

And there was another Friendship House in Montana.

I forget the city, but it's in Montana.

- Gotcha, well, I'll tell you what, Marcellus, you are such a great example of what a human being should do.

I mean, you had this amazing ability and talent and you capitalized on it, but then, after that season was done, you looked at helping others and continue to look at help at others.

I think it's fascinating.

I think it is something that, I love that my son came to Emily and I, and said, "Hey, you should really talk to these guys on your show because what they're doing is a good thing."

- Wow.

Cool.

- So, I know you put yourself in a situation where sometimes you don't always hear all the positive things that you're doing, and sometimes you just, you know, some people, whether they just don't need help or they just know how to show appreciation, I guarantee the world is a much better place because of you and your family.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, I want to thank you for that.

And again, don't let the farmers, don't let 'em in.

- Don't let 'em in.

(laughs) - No.

Marcellus Sommerville from Peoria.

Go follow up the Friendship House.

Very, very cool story.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.

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