In the Ring with Billy Moore
In the Ring with Billy Moore
Honest Broken Men
Billy Moore invites Joe Sigurdson from Boys to Men in the ring to discuss how to get to our youth. Joe shares how providing a safe space with love and accountability allows youth to break free of their past behaviors and learn to move forward with courage and dignity.
ABC teaches our youth to step off into life with their best foot forward without cowardice, but with courage and dignity. ABC was founded by legendary Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore in 1957. He had a heart and passion for helping the youth. He believed if we went into the business of prevention, we could save billions of dollars and millions of lives. He started ABC to teach us the basic ABCs of life. Are you concerned about the world today? Do you want to help train our youth to be the change needed in the world? Join us in the fight for equality in the fight for justice in the fight for our youth. If you would like to help, go to www dot ABC youth foundation.org. That's www dot abc news. foundation.org. Be well and be blessed.
Billy Moore :Good morning. Good morning. Welcome. Welcome. My name is Billy Moore. And with Joe sigerson. And about that, but first of all, I'd like to like to welcome everybody to in the ring with Billy Moore. Now you know that anything goes in the ring. Yeah. At all costs. You got to win. You got to win in a job. How did? How did you?
Joe Sigurdson :What was working down at bait street boxing club? Okay. I don't know if you remember that. Yeah. This was like, early 90s. And that was I was coaching down there. And and I was raising money for the club. And and we approached you dad to do a dinner, you know, and we thought, Well, if we did a dinner featuring Archie Moore, we could get people to come and pay for that dinner and raise money for the club. And, and you dad wanted to know more about Bates Street and more about what we were doing down there. And so you brought your dad down, down to down to the club. And it was just, you know, it was it was a row of garages, and we knocked out all the walls and we put in a ring and the charges donated a bunch of weights and stuff. It was a it was really a charger Community Relations project that this thing grew out of the Bay Street Boxing Club. Anyway, when you dad came in, I remember your dad, you know was he was well into his 80s at this point. And and it was moving pretty slow. But once he got into that ring, man, and once he stopped move, man, he had the hands he had the footwork, and he took our boys through the concept and and that's when you and I initially met and then of course, you know, we're both community guys. And and you know, I went from bait street boxing to creating voice to men and then we would see each other at community events and breakfasts and luncheons and stuff and, and we were always friendly to each other. You know, but but you know, I think, you know, I don't know, it was four or five years ago. I ran into Bert Grossman. And I was I was actually in Washington DC calling by accident this morning. Oh digit. Isn't that. That's why that term. This Shigg got me one of them that GM smartphone. Yeah, yeah. And so I'm
Billy Moore :messing with the phone. And it took five o'clock in the morning. Yeah, it calls Berg girl. Good girl. Good. So I was
Joe Sigurdson :I was in Washington, DC. I was at a mentoring conference ran into Bert. And we started talking. And he said have you done anything with with Billy Martin said, You know, I you know, Billy and I know each other. We've been friendly. I haven't done anything with them. You should talk to Billy. And then you know, and you know, I'm friends with Chris Aaron's. He's, you know, big in the surf community. And we do a 100 wave challenge and, and Chris has been a, you know, a big part of that doing commentary on the beach and interviewing surfers. Keeping the energy up. Anyway, so Chris, Chris said, you know, building one, yeah. Have you done anything with Billy? I said, No, not yet. And then. And then there was somebody else asked me something about you. And oh my gosh, I think God's leading me to believe more. I think Billy and I are supposed to do a lady. It was a lady. Oh, yeah. That was it was a it was a woman. Yeah. can remember who you told me was it? Yeah, I don't know. You know, might have been new Tran. from St. Gigi. It might have been anyway. I so I just called you. I said Billy. I'm three people in a week have asked me to short time. I said why don't you and I go get a coffee and just And, you know, we went we went out for coffee, we met down at Starbucks, yep. You know, in on Euclid and market there. And. And, gosh, I remember, like, we couldn't even get two or three words started. And then somebody had to come back, coach, coach, Coach anymore more instructor more, as you know, is like sitting with a celebrity man. I mean, and I am I'm sitting in Starbucks with a celebrity and, and, and and then we just start making that a ritual. And you are committed to that. And I was committed to that. And here we are, I don't know, three or four years later, and
Billy Moore :we give God the glory.
Joe Sigurdson :Amen. Amen. And, you know, we've pulled off a couple of joint ventures between ABC and Boise men, and I know we're talking about doing more together.
Billy Moore :Generally. Tell me Tell us a little bit about boys to me. Yeah. So, you know,
Joe Sigurdson :I know, you know, that, you know, weren't in school group mentoring program. And so we have, we have teams of mentors, right, that that show up every week and sit in circles with the boys. And well, you know, we we share our stories. You know, we talk about the choices we've made the price we've paid for those choices, and the consequences are suffered, you know, and we're authentic with the boys, you know, and when they hear our stories, they feel safe enough to share their stories, you know, they resonate with the truth, when you know, when you when you got an older guy talking about when his parents got divorced, and what what happened to him and the choices that he made and how he dealt with that pain, and that grief and what he turned to, and the boys are hearing the men say this ago, oh man, I'm doing the same stuff. And then they feel safe enough and then they start unburdening their souls, and they talk about the choices they're making, and the price they're paying for those choices and how they feel about themselves. And then our job as mentors is to say, Is this what you want, and help them identify what they really want, and then ask them to make a choice to move towards being that man, and when they make a new choice in their life, our job is to apply a lot of support, and then hold them accountable for the things that they say they want to do, to become the men they say they want to be. So it's an interesting process, week by week, the boys, they're getting rid of their secrets, they're making new choices, they're getting support and accountability around those choices. We never tell the boys what to do. They're charting their own path to their own youth to be in the men they want to be. And we're just applying a bunch of love. And what happens is, when they when they start, like exercising these demons getting rid of these secrets, they, they start feeling better about themselves. When they feel better, they do better, we don't do any tutoring. But we know tracking the metrics that the grades come up, their attendance code goes up. But the biggest thing we noticed is that their discipline problems, you know, virtually disappear. You know, they just they stop acting out, because they get this weekly release valve where they there's a community of guys that show up that are there to love them and support them unconditionally, and never tell them what to do, but just share our stories about what we've done. And Billy, you know, you and I both have a sordid past.
Billy Moore :Yeah. Well, that's right. Yeah. You guys need to start. Okay, good. Yeah, boys to man, what you guys need to start is a mean to me. Yeah. Right, man to me. We do
Joe Sigurdson :that. And, you know, the mentors. Yeah, and put the men that are that are drawn to this work, you know, see the value because it is a very symbiotic exchange when you're sitting in a circle with a young man. And if you can, you know, you know, get some of your own healing by helping somebody else out. And that's what it's all about, man. Is this is how we we've got guys that have been mentors for 17 years in this program, you know, because they get so much out of it for themselves. And, and, and yeah, so there's a whole healing process that goes on in these groups as well, that that, you know, is, is priceless.
Billy Moore :Well, I think that I don't think I know. And we know we're talking about it, and we're getting closer and closer. Because with as you know, with what ABC does where prevention program, yeah, we stopped the problem before it starts. You catch kids as early as seven years old. And we've we've got to come up with a way that we can interact. Yeah. with the kids. Yeah. With the youth. Yeah. And and because our kids need a lot and need a lot today. I was in a this morning. You know, I stopped down at freshies it's down at Euclid in on 47th Street, you know the place yeah. Yeah. And get the two avocado toast and, and the brain. Brain drink. Yeah. I'm mad at you. Young lady in there. Yeah, her name is loose. Yeah. She's 15 years old. And everyone wants to start a talk when we started talking to everything. You know, I kind of I'm in my element now, because I really like just going out, meeting youngsters off the cuff. And come to find out. She's a world class soccer player. Yeah, she goes to Hoover High School. Yeah. She is supposed to went to Spain, but because of the Kovac Yeah, she couldn't go. And so I gave her one of our brother Shea had some, some brochures made up that we can go through the community. Yeah. And hang on the doors. Yeah. You know, I gave him one of those random. And as I walked out, I could see her she just lit up. Yeah, looking at it looking at, you know what ABC does? Yeah. And so that would be so something. Yeah. If those abmc in boys to me. Yeah. Good. put together some kind of Ben quit or shown or something. Yeah. And we can do it. Yeah, I know, we can do you know,
Joe Sigurdson :and that that would be great, you know, to create sustainability for both have communities. But the big, I think the bigger picture is we got we got to do some we got to we got to bring a voice man program down here, you know, and start integrating the two programs and, and, and offering resources to one another. We got to send like, we got it. We got I mean, we got a big group right here at King Charles. You know, once a block away, you know, those who don't walk yesterday. Feel digit. Yeah, yeah. So. So we, you know, and we have we have referred a few boys into the gym.
Billy Moore :There you go. There's a kid's name that David. Yeah, he still Shona will, will not know, because it was shut down yet. But he was doing really well. He's doing really well. Yeah, that's it. It's just we just, you just asked a good question. Is he still showing up? It's a hat this thing to where we've got to come up with a way and I don't want I don't want to say it on air. But I'm going to show you after we leave out of this room. I'm going to show you how we can beat this code COVID with our kids. Okay.
Joe Sigurdson :Okay. I know you told me, You told me this. No, sir.
Billy Moore :We're talking. It has been around. It's been around for years. Yeah. For years. But now there was a time that we have to unveil it. Okay. Because our kids were, you know, you say, Well, have you David been around say, Well, no, he hasn't been around because of the nobody's been around, right.
Joe Sigurdson :I know, we've been doing all of our mentoring socially, you know,
Billy Moore :the COVID. The COVID is getting COVID is getting ready to have a fight. He's getting ready. Yeah. So but we just, you know, our youngsters, there are kids today, they're so determined. They so want to do what's good. And right.
Joe Sigurdson :You know, you're right. You're right. And, you know, and expect, you know, I know, you're working with this with seven year olds, and yeah, you know, but when we're working with the 13 1415 year olds, you know, you know, this is, this is, you know, they're still connected to that innocence, they're still malleable with you, they still, they still want to be good. You know, and they're not, you know, the difference between working with a 1213 year old though, and our 16 and 17 year old, in that timeframe, if there's not an intervention, if there's not the kind of support, if there's not the, you know, the guidance, or at least the bumper guards to keep them like on some kind of a track, you know, they, they start getting into some darkness and, and you and then and then they got to start armoring up and they start shutting down their heart and they start, you know, and a little tough place to play in and, and so so. So really, the critical years for us are seventh, eighth and ninth grade, to really stay with those guys and give them some fundamental, some foundational things around community and support, reminding them of who they are and what they want, you know, and then, you know, if they get off course, they've actually got a foundation to return to her back to exactly now, but if that's not in place, and they get off course, you know, I mean, I tell you what, Billy, you know, you get two degrees off course, and you play that over out over the next 10 years. You're in another university book, different ballgame. Exactly. So so every week when you get that weekly in our action to have that course correction, and bring you remind yourself of who you are. Remind yourself about what you want. Remind yourself about what you've committed to do differently to be be that guy, and be validated and affirmed for those choices by a community of elders.
Billy Moore :Well, that's it's, it's good stuff. Well, that's why it's so important. Yeah. To teach our youngsters to step off in life, put their best foot forward without cowardice, but with courage and dignity. And we must teach them constantly, constantly. And it because it's in teaching in the way that we do it, ABC and boys, to me, it's fun. It's fun to the kids experience our job, right, we teach them how to step up in life with best foot forward without cowardice, but with courage and dignity. We teach them as simple basic do's and don'ts of society. And once they grew up with that, and as you just got through saying, if they may drift off? Well,
Joe Sigurdson :we've done some drifting.
Billy Moore :I was getting ready to see what degree do I want to do? But we do. You know, it's really, it's good to be able to sit back and talk about things like that. The mistakes that we've made, right, drifting that we've done yet, because it lets people let our youngsters know that everybody is nobody perfect. Yeah.
Joe Sigurdson :Yeah. No, and we're not looking for, we're not looking at, you know, we need broken men, broken men that that are honest, and are willing to, to make some new choices in life. You know, you know, my story, man, you know, I was at your booth was a bad bad dude. So, um, you know, it's our sordid past. That's our greatest asset. And for these boys, see? Yep, we're right there with them.
Billy Moore :We are writing, you know, in what we're saying here, and we're talking here. I really hope and pray that there's some, some adults that will hear this. Because what a lot of a lot of people they wound up going and going and going and holding a lot of stuff in because you you feel you have to carry a certain facade. Yeah, go You have to carry that. Yeah. So Can anybody know this? Anybody on this here? You know, what, really what I like saying, I tell everybody. I said, Well, you know, I used to be a biker. Yeah. Because you didn't figure bikers do everything. Yeah. Yeah. And they do. Yeah. But you know, it's, uh, but, Joe, it's, uh, I really think it's imperative that we come together. Yeah. And work together. Boys to Men. We've got to figure that out how to say that properly. Because, you know, we have women that you have to deal with, just like Kamala Harris. Yeah. So see now that you that y'all know right now. See, I'm one of the ladies in my church. Yeah. Well, I'm in the ladies prayer group. Yeah, they won't admit it. But I'm in the prayer group. Yeah. So. Yeah. So I think that's a women that women in you know, a woman has always been been powerful. Yeah. And to see what's happening and to see the strength that they're displaying. Without a doubt, we're gonna say it Boys to Men. Abs ABC. Anybody can that means girls in boys? Yeah. Well, boys to me and ABC, but that didn't. That didn't fix it all.
Joe Sigurdson :You know, I do have we do have a parallel girls program girls swim, but they're, they're operating independently of us, you know, but we, we've shared all of our materials with them. Yeah, you know, there's enough crossover in the things that we're doing in providing safe places for kids to thrive, which is what you're doing with ABC, which is what we're doing with boys men. And and and we've got several chapters of this girls to women program around the country that and they're doing the same thing for young women. Yeah. We
Billy Moore :need to set up the what the, in the ring with Billy Moore with Joe sigerson. Number two, okay.
Joe Sigurdson :Yeah, we'll get into our own stories. Yeah, I've we're able to do what we're able to do.
Billy Moore :You know, and the only way that we're able to do what we're able to do is because of what we went through, exactly.
Joe Sigurdson :And you know, and when a young person meets your eye, that they're not seeing that part of us though. So it is very important to us that we are transparent and when We let these guys know, we've been in their shoes, we've walked this, this this life, we've, we've made our fair share mistakes. And nobody gave up on us, Billy, you know, so so so so we can't give up on our youth fellow, you know, it says right here, what, what our youth need, you know that, you know what, what they need is they need a safe place for them to dump their stuff and be as ugly as it is. They need to be acknowledged for their willingness and their courage to lay themselves out. And for the for their capacity to be challenged around what they really want. And and then providing that that support and accountability to help them become the best they can be.
Billy Moore :Well, I'll say this here, we you know, we have a board. Yeah. Oh, and you know, a piece of work.
Dwayne E. Shigg :Yes, you are.
Billy Moore :Sometimes I get off on the on the wrong track. And these guys, man. Starting with terrorists, these guys, they they don't give up. They don't give up on me. I'm grown man. Yeah, but they don't give up. Yeah, they keep those arms away. And I thank God for that. You know, we just an example of what ABC does here. as a little kid. Eight, nine years old. Two years ago. He had laid his wallet down on a table, and he came back. And so we came in office, he's crying. So what's wrong with you? Did you coach had $20 in my wallet, and it's gone. I'll say what the heck did you lay your wallet down for? A kid looked at me. He said, Coach, you teach us that this is our home. Yeah. Just from my home. I should be able to leave my wallet down. Think they can eat your kid? Yeah. You have your old guy. Yeah. 70. Well, no, I'm not. I yeah, I wouldn't. I would just say, yeah, we really think a little kid. say, well, you teach us this stuff. Yeah, yeah.
Joe Sigurdson :Yeah. All right. So there's this young this young man. I won't use his name. But
Billy Moore :this guy brought hold is he?
Joe Sigurdson :Well, when when I met him, he was 15. Okay, Hosea, he's 23.
Billy Moore :I probably should.
Joe Sigurdson :Yeah. Yeah. So so so he was a, he was a third generation gangster. And he was marked to be a shock collar. He would he, he had that mantle to meet, you know, he was a kind of a big deal. And he, he got himself into some pretty serious trouble. He, he was, he was a good student. He was a good athlete. And, you know, he was on the football team at his high school. And he went back to his locker and it was PD waiting for him. And they, they went through his locker and he had weapons, and he had weed. And they arrested him. And he got sent to a continuation school. And he was sent to a continuation school where there was a voice to men program. And so we met this young man, and he was angry. And he didn't want to be there. But the way that this school had it set up, he actually got community service hours for attending Boys to Men. So he came reluctantly, and he was, you know, kind of a distraction and then didn't want to be there and was resistant to the process. And, and we, we, we, we recognize that in him and we we thanked him for coming anyway. And, and, you know, but week after week, we just kind of earned his his trust and earned his respect and, and long story short, that young man now works for Boys to Men. He is our, our, our boy, our youth coordinator, your movement. Jose. Jose. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's our youth coordinator. And he's, he's, he's brilliant. He's a brilliant IT guy. He has totally developed and engineered our virtual program that we are running. And he has written like a manual on how to do it. And we shared it with other Boys to Men centers around the country. And we're running virtual programs in in Hawaii, in Tucson in prescot. In Washington, DC in Virginia. they've adapted The model that he's that he created, and we're serving boys around the country because of this young man and, and I remember the first time I met him, we were, we were up on our ranch, you've been to the ranch, yeah, we're doing a boys two men retreat. We do this process called balls of truth. And you and and it's a it's a, it's an opportunity for the boys to tell the truth about, about, you know who they are and where they are in their life. And he picks up the big ball and he says, I don't know any white people. I don't like white people. And I don't want to be here. And he puts the ball out. And and you know, and you know, there were we had, we had a lot of white staff and volunteer mentors. And, you know, I want to pick them all up, man. So thank you for telling us the truth. Thank you for letting us know where we stand. Appreciate you appreciate that about you. And, and now this guy is like, just just, you know, he he's he you know, he, he walks in a lot of worlds, you know, and he's been a great champion for the cause. super bright, super articulate kid that can that knows his himself and knows his story. And is fairly fearless around sharing it. And so he's Yeah, he's just one of many success stories we've had in, in this protocol over as long as you've been in.
Billy Moore :Been doing Bushmen, you know, you have a gob of stores. Yeah,
Joe Sigurdson :we got a bunch of Yeah. such a privilege to be a part of somebody else's success. Right? It is.
Billy Moore :Yeah. Well, I think that over time, we're going to get a chance to, to cover quite a few youngsters. Yeah. So the, the, the marvelous work that we get a chance to do. And then to look and see. And you get a no, you get youngsters coming to you all the time. Students are still with you. And those that are going Oh, yeah, yeah, come back. I'm not Yeah. You know, that's something that's something Joe and, and
Joe Sigurdson :I know, I know, Billy, I've been I've been, I've had enough coffee with you at Starbucks to see the generations of, of young men coming back to you. Where we give God the glory.
Billy Moore :You thank him. And we just, and it's going to get a because with what's going on now with this Kovac I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever stop to me to judge. I don't know if we'll ever be back to where we once were. Yeah. With the freedoms and doing what we do with the youngsters. Yeah. So we've got to be constructive. And we better be dreamers. We got to be dreamers. So, Joe,
Joe Sigurdson :yeah, brother.
Billy Moore :I want to thank you, thank you for being with us. In the ring, and I'm sure that we're going to have many other times and we're going to be together. Yeah, it was others. All right. She knows in the ring, you know, you have to have a referee. Yeah. So we're gonna have to get a referee and he with this, so I want to thank you. Yeah. Thank you boxing, tennis. All right, until the next time. Thank you all for being in the rink with Joe sigerson and Billy Moore. Transcribed by https://otter.ai