Gridiron Lessons in the Pecan Orchard with John Murray at 96 Pecan Company

In this episode, I visit 96 Pecan Company and sit down with owner John Murray, whose story blends farming, faith, football, and community. What started with the purchase of a historic southern property—complete with pecan trees planted in the late 1800s—turned into a full-time commitment to preserving tradition and sharing the experience of farm life with visitors. John shares how the orchard, the store, and the tasting experience were all built around one simple idea: when people walk through the doors, they should feel like they’re stepping back onto their family farm. 

During our conversation, John reflects on lessons from his time playing college football, the values that shaped his approach to business, and why generosity has become the heart of everything he does—from giving out samples to taking time to listen to the stories people bring through the door. What I discovered while visiting is that this isn’t just a pecan store. It’s a place where conversations happen, burdens are shared, and strangers quickly feel like family. 

Episode Highlights

[01:10] – John shares how purchasing a historic property with pecan trees planted in the 1800s led him into pecan farming after retirement.

[02:14] – We talk about what makes the pecans at 96 Pecan Company unique, from the varieties grown to the importance of freshness.

[03:52] – John explains why he encourages every visitor to sample the products—and why hospitality is more important than sales.

[05:04] – His vision for the farm: creating a place where visitors feel like they’ve stepped back onto their grandparents’ farm.

[06:01] – A mentor’s advice leads him to expand into candy making, creating a more sustainable business alongside pecan farming.

[08:44] – John reflects on his time playing college football and the powerful life lessons he learned from legendary coaches.

[14:10] – Why the historic town of Ninety Six, South Carolina, holds such deep meaning for him and why he hopes to leave it better than he found it.

[15:53] – Emotional moments with visitors remind him why this place matters—many arrive carrying burdens and leave feeling a little lighter.

Links and Resources

 96 Pecan Company

Audio and Video: Melanie Lech Multimedia

Special Thanks to Old 96 District

Follow Amelia

Instagram: @AmeliaOldOfficial

Website: https://AmeliaOld.com

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:03

Everyone has a story to tell. We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories. My name is Amelia Old and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration. Join me as I share stories of friends, family and strangers from my everyday life and travels. You will laugh, possibly cry or walk away, feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

Speaker 2 0:38

Welcome to Voices of Inspiration. I'm your host, amelia Old, and today we are at the 96 Pecan Company with owner John Murray. Thank you so much for having me. This is my second time here and I know it's not my last, so thank you.

Speaker 3 0:54

Well, thank you for coming. We really appreciate y'all and appreciate you coming and helping us farmers get our word out. So thank you so much.

Speaker 2 1:01

So let's just start off from the beginning of why, pecans, what led you to this?

Speaker 3 1:10

Well, it started off 1998. This old southern mansion came up for sale and it was only the third time in history, since it was built in 1847, that it came up for sale and it had the pecan orchard which was planted in the 1880s. And so we went ahead and bought the place and I knew when I retired from my regular job that I wanted to get into farming. My granddad was a big farmer and we wanted to do I wanted to do farming when I retired and it just made sense, since we had the pecan orchard, to get into pecan farming. I just didn't realize how intense pecan farming was. I thought it would be three months out of the year, make some money, enjoy it and rest the rest of the year. But I found out quickly that it's 24-7 year round.

Speaker 2 2:02

So what makes your I mean there's, there's, because we're in the South pecans, pecans, they're, they're everywhere. What makes your product unique?

Speaker 3 2:14

Well, we, we deal with mainly just desirables, and there's about a hundred different varieties out there and we have a lot of the older varieties, which is moneymakers, and we have Stewart's, of course, but we dearly love our Desirables and what's called Elliot's, which we call a candy nut, and it's a smaller nut. Fat nut has more of a nuttier taste to it, where the Desirables have more of a sweeter taste to them. And just the way we treat our nuts and they're fresh Freshness makes all the difference. A lot of stuff that you get in grocery stores I hate to say it, but it's coming out of Mexico and it's been in storage for who knows how many years or a year, and then they ship it by the tractor, trailer load from Mexico to wherever it has to go and then it sits on the shelves of your grocery stores for who knows how long. Our stuff is never, ever.

Speaker 3 3:15

We turn everything over with. Well, just like the candy, we turn it over every two weeks. There's nothing in here that's over two weeks old. We turn it over that quick. And then the raw stuff we store most of it in very cold temperatures and you bring it out and you barely do like you do chocolate. You temper it back to this thing you start off at minus 10, go to 20 degrees for 24 hours and up to 30 and up to 40 and then up to room temperature. So you don't 24 hours and up to 30 and up to 40 and then up to room temperature. So you don't let the nut degrade because the enzymes can start to break down very quickly.

Speaker 2 3:51

When I was here before, something stuck out to me and I have shared this story a thousand times over and we were here and some customers were in and out and you have a tasting experience, and someone said to you, john, you're just going to give it all away, you're not going to make any money. And you said, look, if I'm meant to be successful, I'm going to be successful at this, but I want people to you know, to enjoy their experience here. And that stuck out to me and that was so important to me and I loved that and can you?

Speaker 2 4:25

talk a little bit about it, yeah.

Lessons From Clemson Football Coach

Speaker 3 4:26

When we started the place it first started that there was nothing like my family farm going to see my granddad and out on the 250 acre farm and it was just the most beautiful place peaceful, safe, everything to explore, just anything a child could want. And I want people, when they come here, to feel like they're going back to their family farm, that they're going back to their granddad's farm, and that's why we try to make it inviting and we're trying to do a lot more things going to start hay rides and to show people the rest of the farm, what we're doing and where we're headed. But then we got into just selling raw nuts when we started in the bag, and then we got into the cracking expert and we had to learn all that. And once we got that under control then we decided well, heck, let's get into the candy aspect. Because I met with an older man. He was a good friend of mine, mr Watson from Ridge Springs, and he's been doing pecan since 1936. He passed away about a year ago but we would pick him up and take him to the pecan conferences in Georgia and different places and he's the one who got me started. And he said, John, he said he showed me how they made the candies and stuff. And he said, john, if it wasn't for my little candy company, he said, I would have went broke many times, because the pecan prices is a commodity and it goes up and down. And so I thought about that. And you either listen to wisdom or you don't. So I listened to him and that's how we got into the candy aspect.

Speaker 3 6:01

And then, as far as giving it out, we want people to feel like they're back home, and I don't know how you were, but every time you leave home, your mom's here, here, here. It's just a sign of love. It's not a sign that you're trying to push a product. That's just how a lot of people and families would show love by food, and that's how I grew up too, and maybe that's why I'm here. But we decided I had taken a load of pecans to a company to sell and they sold candy, but they wouldn't let me try anything. So I bought a bunch of the stuff and I got home and half of it I didn't like and I hate to use a pun, but left a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't want to go back and so I told my wife, I said no, when we start our candy stuff, we want people to try it. I don't want you leaving here until you try it. So we give out a sample of everything, let people try everything, give them a little bag to take home with them. And it does cost us a lot of money, more than most people would ever believe.

Speaker 3 7:05

But I look at it this way. The good Lord has led me. He's taken care of me all my life and if he wants me to make it, I'm going to make it, no matter if I give everything away in the store. But if he doesn't want me to make it, there's nothing I can do in this world to make it. If he's against you, you're not going to make it. But if he's for you, there's nothing you can do that you won't make it.

Speaker 3 7:26

And this doesn't belong to me. Everything in here, everything that I've ever acquired, it doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the good Lord. And I'm just a Stuart passing through. And I want to make sure when I leave here I leave it better than I found it, because I have no idea who planted those trees in 1880, 1870, but it's been a blessing for me 150 years later, so it's been a blessing.

Speaker 3 7:55

So I want to leave something for somebody. They may never ever know me, but it'll be a blessing for them, hopefully, and that's why I look at things. I just want people to feel like they're going back to their family farm and everybody comes in here. They're going back to their family farm and everybody comes in here. They're not customers, they're family, and I really believe that and I feel that we have great conversations, people share their faith with me and it's just a great experience. It's been the best thing I ever did to open up this little thing, because I meet such great people and there's more good people out there than there are bad. The good people just stay quiet and the bad people throw temper tantrums and get all the attention. But there's a lot more good people out there. There's a lot of hope out there.

Speaker 2 8:39

So you played football at Clemson.

Speaker 3 8:44

I did.

Speaker 2 8:45

And you know, you and I have spoken off camera about your experiences and that was a a pretty um amazing journey for you. Can you share a memorable lesson from that chapter of your life that has influenced this chapter?

Speaker 3 9:02

Well, yeah, clemson was probably one of the greatest things I ever went through. I was there for a little over a year or so before I blew my knee out and dislocated my kneecap and had to be operated on and I ended up finally deciding to transfer back to the University of Pittsburgh and I finished my football career at the University of Pittsburgh. But Clemson Coach Ford, coach Pell was my head coach when I first started and Coach Danny Ford was my offensive line coach and I was a blue chip athlete and I was 17. And I came into camp and I was able to win the second team job behind Joe Bostic, and Joe went down with mono. And so I was able to start a lot of games as a freshman, as a 17-year-old, and I did quite well and we played in the Gator Bowl.

Speaker 3 9:59

But Coach Ford to toughen me up, what he would do and Coach Ford was really the toughest coach I've ever met and any player that ever played for Coach Ford would tell you that there was none tougher and anyhow he would make me run first and second team and wouldn't bring anybody up from third team to run my second team position. And he did that to toughen me up. So when everybody went through the chutes, first team I'd go with first team I'd have to go back through second team I'd had to do double. When we drove the sleds I'd have to do first team I'd go first team I'd have to go back through second team I'd had to do double. When we drove the sleds I'd have to do first team, go back and do a second team the whole time. Well, one one day I was doing it and we were. It was very hot that day and in september and he was running me both teams and I was hitting line backwards. I was offensive guard and uh, I was buckling and uh, the trainer saw that and they ran out and took my temperature. Next thing I was, I was there in a big, huge bucket of ice because I was fixing to have a heat stroke and coach Ford walks over, said huh. He said Murray, don't worry about. He said you'll pass out before you die, you won't feel nothing. And he was dead serious and that. And later on I found out that was an old Bear Bryant because he played for Bear out. That was an old Bear Bryant because he played for Bear Bryant. That was an old Bear Bryant saying but Ford was.

Speaker 3 11:13

Coach Danny Ford was very serious about it. But I learned more from him and I talked to him not too long ago and I told him. I said you know, coach Ford, out of all the coaches I ever played for, you were the toughest coach I ever played for. But you know, and you were the meanest. But I said because of you I learned.

Speaker 3 11:32

When I thought I couldn't take another step in life, I did. I said so. I knew after I survived you, I could survive anything. And that's what? The main thing? Because when I got to Pitt those guys thought practice was hard and I just laughed at him. I said you don't know what hard is. I mean, that was like a cakewalk on the pit. It was great, it was easy, but those guys are dying. I'm like you have no idea.

Speaker 3 11:58

You know, but Coach Ford was a great coach and he pushed you and all he expected from you he didn't care and it didn't matter if you were fourth team or first team. He treated you all the same. All he expected for you was give him a hundred percent everything you have. And that's all he said I can expect from you. And if and if you didn't have the ability to play a certain position. He understood that, but he expected you to give a hundred percent. And uh, uh and I'll just throw this one time when we he did the same thing when we went to play Ohio State in the Gator Bowl and I was supposed to start that game because Joe went back out with Mono again. He had come back and then went back out. Well, what happened is he ran me both times and it was hot.

Speaker 3 12:41

We practiced a week in Daytona before we went to Jacksonville, and down in Daytona it was hot and he worked me and worked me and worked me and this was one of the nicest things he ever said to me. But I got to the hotel lobby after practice and anyhow, it was a marble floor, beautiful, and I was so exhausted. But as soon as I got into that lobby I all over the marble floor. I was just that exhausted and sick. He looked at me and the coaches looked and I kept walking, of course.

Speaker 3 13:17

Then at dinner that night, coach Ford wasn't happy with the practice and he chewed the whole team out. He chewed all of us out and he said you guys should be eating hot dogs. You don't deserve these steaks. He said you don't deserve this. He said your practice was pitiful and he said the only one that deserves this food is Murray, murray's the only one. So you know, when you get called out in front of the whole team and saying that you deserve to eat your food and you deserve the steak, because he knew how hard I practiced, because he was my main coach, even though he had just taken over his head coach, he oversaw the whole offensive line. But that's the most I learned from Clemson. When I thought I couldn't take another step, no matter what happened to me in life, I knew I could. I knew if I could survive coach forward, I could survive anything.

Speaker 2 14:02

That's a great lesson. What do you love most about this community that you've been a part of?

Speaker 3 14:09

Well, it's like I said, I want to leave this place better than I found it, and 96 is one of the greatest little towns and kept secrets in South Carolina.

Speaker 3 14:21

It's one of the most historic towns in South Carolina because you have Fort 96 out here Star Fort as it's known and it was the furthest Fort West back in the early 1700s besides Fort Pitt up in Pittsburgh. Fort Pitt and Fort 96 were considered your wild wild west and people don't think of South Carolina as a wild wild west but it was back in those days and everybody headed up to Kentucky or the Appalachian Mountains or Tennessee would have to pass through Fort Pitt because this was all Indian territory. But this is just a great historic town. It has such great bones and I hope we can keep making progress forward to make this into like a little Hendersonville. This town could be a little Hendersonville. The people up at Hendersonville did a great job turning that town around and I'm hoping, with good leadership in the town we have a new mayor. Hopefully the city council can work with them and, you know, get this place really, really nice, because it's such a great place and the people are very, very nice.

Speaker 2 15:25

Can you share one moment? I know there's lots and I've witnessed some of them. Can you share a moment that you've had, maybe, with a customer that you can say this is my why, this is why I'm doing this?

Speaker 3 15:52

I have. There's so many of them. But I have people come in here and everybody's carrying a burden and you just don't know it. People put on a happy face. But when we get in here and it's just one on one, we can talk and you know you talk about the good Lord and you talk about your faith and then people will break down and you know, like I had a lady in here, her husband had just died and you know it's really tear dropping. But you know you help them out, you pray with them and you give them some free candy to try to make it easier and it's just. I can't tell you how many stories I've got people fighting cancer, people doing this. It's just amazing the stories that people tell me and you just realize what burdens everybody's carrying and everybody's carrying a different burden and this is more of a. It is a pecan store and a candy store but it's kind of like a community gathering thing. The people that come here again are family, they're not customers.

Speaker 3 16:56

I don't look at them like cash cows, like businesses. Look at them. You know, that's the last thing. If, like I said, if good Lord wants me to make money'll make money. If he doesn't, I won't. And he'll either let me make it or he won't, and uh, so that's why I give so much product away. So heck, and it has worked out very well for us, you know, and a lot of people say exactly what I've heard. I can't tell you how many times. How can you do this? How can you? Why are you not going broke? I said be honest with'll, be honest with you. I don't know. I said it's only the good Lord, you know. That's why Awesome, because we do give a lot of stuff away, because a lot of times, people come in here and we give a pound of product away you know of candy and that adds up over a year's period of it does.

Speaker 3 17:45

But you have to treat people the way you want to be treated and just nowadays you go in a store and everything's so cold, so impersonal. You know it's just not good. We've lost that touch with society and with each other. So it's just great.

Speaker 2 17:58

I have one more question for you and I ask everyone do you have a favorite quote or any words of wisdom that you would like to just leave behind?

Speaker 3 18:08

Oh, a famous quote. You have to let me think about that one for a minute, because there's so many, or even a piece of inspiration that you'd like to a little nugget you would like to leave behind.

Speaker 3 18:24

Well, it's like some people ask you if you were dying, what would you want written on your tombstone? You know that's kind of a psychological question that people ask in job interviews and stuff and my answer to that was always you know and it's dear to my heart that I was a good always. You know and it is dear to my heart that I was a good father, you know and that's, and I was a good dad to my son and that's very important to me. Yeah, but as far as a good quote, I always tell people, you know, when I hand them their samples, I say I hope you enjoy this. I say it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Speaker 3 19:05

You know it's one of those old quotes, but no, there are so many quotes. The good Lord, you know, it's very simple and I wish people would follow the Bible and what Christ taught wasn't meant to be hard and what Christ taught wasn't meant to be hard. It was just really simple that you know you're to love God for your heart, mind and soul and strength and love one another. You know, that's it. You know he says if you do that, you do well, and it's just that simple.

Speaker 2 19:36

Just be a good person. But, thank you so much for having us.

Speaker 3 19:40

Well, thank you. We love coming here and we love buying some goodies, and you know that.

Speaker 1 19:42

for having us again.

Speaker 2 19:43

Well, thank you we love coming here and buying some goodies and you know that we will be back.

Speaker 3 19:47

Well, I appreciate y'all coming very much and hopefully when you get here next time we'll have other things started on the farm that we can share with you and hopefully we'll have expanded and we have, you know, a one-year plan out to a five-year plan where we want to be and where we want to grow to.

Speaker 2 20:07

So we'll see how that all works out.

Speaker 3 20:10

Exciting secretive things in the works, yeah well, and we just want people to really feel at home and we want to look out for a lot of the people like at Wesley Commons nursing homes because they can't get out, like at Wesley Commons nursing homes because they can't get out. So we want to make something here where they can get out and maybe even use our ponds and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 20:31

That would be wonderful and set up for older people that have, because Wesley Commons does bring buses down here and they come down here and they're so sweet and they need to get out and a lot of times they can't get out. And it's very important, if people can, to visit people in nursing homes, because the worst thing I found out going to nurse homes and visit with older people is the loneliness and that's the hardest thing. It's not being sick, they don't have anybody to talk to. The loneliness and it's just, you know, just terrible for them, the sheer loneliness of being older and kids are off doing their thing and they get left behind.

Sharing Joy Through Giving and Growing

Speaker 2 21:20

Yeah, and I encourage that too. There are a lot of stories and a lot of things that you can learn by having conversations with some of those individuals.

Speaker 3 21:30

Yeah, we forget about our elderly and they have so much, they've learned so much in their 70 to 90 some years of life and we just don't pay attention to it. We don't learn. I mean, how many people in society now even know how to can or put up food? Very few. How to make grape or blackberry jam or jelly? Hardly anybody. Everybody's relying on the corporations to supply their food and supply this, and you really need to know how to do things yourself. Just, it's just a good thing and also it's also a very heartwarming thing to do to see something grow and mature and then you make it into something. You grow flowers and you know what it's like to start with nothing, and then here's this beautiful flower that you have Absolutely, and then, when we talked earlier, you said you give your flowers away and that brings a lot of joy to people. It does.

Speaker 3 22:33

And see. That's what it is when we give our product away. When we give it away, it brings a lot of joy to people and that's that's what it's all about, because some people come in they can't afford a product and some of them we just give them a sample bag. Sit here and we'll take some sample bags to the nursing home and bags and give them out to the people that can eat them, because some people are on sugar restrictions and stuff like that, of course.

Speaker 2 23:01

Well, I think what you're doing is wonderful and thank you so much.

Speaker 3 23:04

Of course, you know Well, I think what you're doing is wonderful and thank you so much, thank you.