Welcome to “The Horse’s Mouth” with Tom McManus. Sponsored by Foodies Care, The Horse’s Mouth is a unique talk show where Tom’s guests sidle up to his bar to discuss the intersection of sports, business, and life. Today, Tom talks with Gary Chartrand, Brian Sexton, and Coach Dave Campo.
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From Studio three at HBO’s TV. It’s The horse’s Mouth with Thomas Mann
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it five. Three. Two. All right, time for Campus corner here on the horses right there, Tommy. Max. Of course, at my bar. We got a special treat for you this time around because we’re going to talk about a legendary coach other than Coach Campo, who has done some tremendous work here.
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You’re a legend. You’re still head over Jersey. Of course it’s coach Tom Kaufman in the J fund. Gary Shark trainer is here, Brian Sexton is here, and coach Dave Camp, they all been a part of it as have I. And we’re going to talk a little J funny coach Kaufman here at the bar Gary how are you my man I’m great to see you rest to see you.
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Always a pleasure Tommy. Welcome back norm. Yes. On the north of the bar flier this girl. You’re sure you’re not Cliff? Yeah, well. That’s true. Well, we all are very close with coach golf. And over the years, we’ve gotten to know him, become really good friends with, Brian, you and I’ve known him forever. It’s intense. You know, look where we all believe he should be a Hall of Fame coach, right in the Hall of Fame.
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He is all a Famer to us. But what he’s done off the field with the Jason and all the families, I mean, you’ve seen it firsthand. Where’s your Hall of Fame human being. Right. And and I don’t I don’t know that I can say that about a lot of people. Yeah. And I’ll say this with no disrespect to any other Jaguars coach, Keith, he is the only coach that the Jaguars have ever had who left a legacy behind, who did an event right?
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Oh, Jack, none of the other guys have ever done anything that has endured, even during their tenure, let alone the span of the Jaguars. So yeah, this is the 29th. Tom Coughlin, Javon Gailey, you were there the night that it started around the pool 650 guys. You and most of them your teammates at the at the at the arena was there.
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Yeah. Well yeah he’s you’re you’re and what it’s become is I think Kelly said they raised 50 or $60,000 in that first year. And it’s become a and you know better than most I think last year, $4.9 million distributed $4.9 million from a coach, his board, his daughter, his vision based on who Jay McGillis was. And you obviously can tell that story.
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Yeah, absolutely. Jake. Phenomenal. Gary, you you’ve been around forever, man. This is very near and dear to your heart as well. Tom came to me when I was still working at Acosta and explained the J fund to me and asked for our support to the golf tournament and whatnot. And, you know, how do you say no? I mean, kids with cancer.
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I mean, there’s nothing worse than that. So we jumped on board and we’ve been a big sponsor. Acosta had been for for years. And then I joined his board and we did an endowment. That was kind of fun. I said, Tom, you know, you’re not going to be around forever. Yeah. Which I’m sure. Yeah, I wanted to argue with you, but yeah, I can tell you what you do.
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And, you know, not always going to have the celebrity status and the fame and all that. And, you know, you’re going to ride off into the sunset. And so we need to do something to make sure this thing is sustainable. So we said let’s let’s start an endowment. Yeah. And so we went out and we raised $5 million, over about a year’s time.
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And we haven’t touched it, up until last year. I think we just took a little bit of draw from it, but it’s I think it’s a little over $20 million. All right, let’s do this again. Remember that. You guys put that together. Yeah. So that that means that that the J fund is going to be around forever.
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Forever long just to play out that real quick. Sorry, Dave, but no, go ahead. The reality of it is, is that when Tom left after the 2002 season, the fine could have disbanded, right? It could have real funds off. Yeah, it could have decided, well, we’re going to go wherever we’re going next, right? Didn’t end up going there, but it stayed here and it has grown year over year over year.
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He hasn’t been the coach here in 23 years. That sounds so weird to say. Yeah, right. But but his presence and and we all know the strength of his personality. Absolutely. And the determination with which he does everything. Gary goes to what you said. I mean, it’s over 20 million and it’s got it will live in perpetuity to benefit kids and families with childhood cancer, no doubt.
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I know you got involved right away. Yeah, I did it. And and again, you know, obviously, kids cancer was number one. Tom Kaufman was number two. I spent many years playing against him and saw the discipline he had and all the things there. I told him the first time I got back, I said, Tom, I said, look, you’re going to be in the Hall of Fame eventually, but you’re already in the Hall of Fame.
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Yeah, yeah. Period. Just like you said. He, you know, to be able to do what he’s done and to have it work in both in Jacksonville and New York. Yeah, right. I mean, you know, he’s done it in both places I sure. And that’s fantastic. And I just love playing in the tournament. The guys that he has coming back at the gala, you know.
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Fantastic. Absolutely. Well, listen, Jay was that kind of kid. He’d do anything for anybody. You know, the good egg. Well, he’s a good egg. You said up north a lot, right? Yeah. Jamie Gillis was a good egg, man. He did nothing wrong like I was a delinquent. He went home every night. He was a good boy. You was inside.
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He was good. But he was a great player. And, he was close to everybody on the team. Everybody loved Jay. And when he got sick, it was really devastating. Then we thought he was going to make it because the bone marrow. I think it was Michael, his older brother. Right, was a match and then it didn’t take.
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And then he passed two weeks later and we were just devastated. You know, for a lot of us, I mean, my grandmother died when I was a senior in high school. Barnett never really experienced that. Didn’t understand why young kid that did nothing wrong. Yeah. He’s being taken away from us. But what coach has done in his honor and his family’s honor because he saw it firsthand, he go visit the family, he go visit the house, he go see how the family was dealing with want, you know, parent not having to work any more to be there.
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You know, family coming in and his sister sleeping next to him. You know, just everybody being there. And that’s what the slogan is be there for these families. And it’s just a tremendous thing. What he’s done I mean, it’s made my PC buddies talk about it all the time. It’s amazing what he’s done for, with our with it for our teammate Jamie Gillis is the amount of lives they’ve touched.
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And, you know, the great leaders have empathy. Yeah. They care about the guys that they’re with. I think when I look back and I’m not putting myself at Tom Kaufman’s, you know, by any stretch of the imagination. But the one thing I miss more about coaching is the is the players, the people you’re around. That’s something that you really he he he proved that.
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There’s no question about it. You know I was with him here. You you’re with him all the time too. So you can appreciate this. I was with him and he was he was he was sharing the story with a perspective, the celebrity, you know, donor or a person that he was introducing it to. And this guy had been up in New York and he knew the Giants and they were talking Super Bowl.
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And you know, this play on third down and the helmet catch and what Belichick was doing. And then seamlessly transition without losing an ounce of the passion to the story of McGillis and the J fund. And I we would be remiss if we didn’t say what the Javon really does in being there is they make it so that families don’t have to worry about how they’re going to pay their bills.
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That’s right. Tom talks with incredible passion, as does his daughter Kelly, about making sure there’s food on the table. There is mortgages paying attention. Absolutely. And it’s it is a bedrock feature of the medical community in North Florida. It is part of the fabric of this community. You know, I would dare you to go and look in every NFL city and find a former coach who has built something this strong.
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There is lasting. Yeah, there is in in the great markets in the New York, the Dallas, the LA and Chicago’s. Maybe there’s something like it, but nothing greater than what Tom and his family and his board have created with the G5. Yeah, no question about it. How about Tom as a person other than being a great guy? Gary, you spent a lot of time with him.
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Is he funny? I know what he’s like with your body. Does he have any jokes? Well, if you want a good laugh, go play golf. And you know, know he’s going to see this. Yeah. Oh, I’m going to make sure he sees it. Now I always like to say that he’s funny at your expense, because he can tell those biting little quips and jokes and you’re like, what?
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What did I do? Right. And he’s he’s he is he’s he’s he’s a really great human being. Yeah. He really is. He really is. And, we’ve been friends for a long time. Yep. And, I think the what he’s doing with the Jdrf on cancer, the kids with cancer, that’s, you know, his legacy. Great. Two Super Bowls, whatever.
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But that’s equal. It says equal, maybe even better. Yeah. So what he’s been able to do for the community. Yeah I played I one of the one of the tournaments I played and he was standing on the seventh. Yeah yeah yeah yeah t I had a Dallas Cowboy visor. Oh boy. So, so I light it up and I take a shot and it goes about ten feet okay.
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In front of me. So it looks like me goes Campbell. Yeah, it’s that high. But at least you didn’t go in the water. Yeah. You kept the drive. Yeah. There’s no one like him. No there is. And I tell you what I know he’s old school, but I appreciated his coaching style because it was always consistent. It was fair.
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That’s another hard. That’s another leader was honest. You didn’t always like what he said, but he’d give it to you straight. But the one thing people that I know me to you, I know you. He would come up to you, you’d be walking to practice, and he kind of like, just slide his arm and be like, hey, that was a great day yesterday.
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Let’s do it again. And you’d be like, okay, you crawl up for it. Yeah, yeah. But you know it. He had come up to you like he had a great game. Yeah. Do it again. You’re like whatever it was. But then he repeats, you screwed up the practice. Well, here’s the greatest testament to what you just said. All those players that used to.
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Right. I know because my microphone caught a lot of in the locker room through those years, but all of them, if called, would sit on his back porch, right, to talk football, because that’s what you talk about. The older players and older coaches, you know, you want to sit on the porch and tell stories. Yeah. You remember that night in Cincinnati where we were down by two touchdowns?
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You had the people that will line up, the players that will line up to beat in his presence today. Yeah, we’re the laundry list of guys who groused about him when they played for him. But that’s because, like you, they value what he meant to them. Yeah. That first spring, remember Dexter McNabb, the runner, Dexter McNabb, he sat down next to me after a spring practice.
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He was like uppers. And, you know, it was hard. We did conditioning all that and and we’re still in gear, you know, sitting in the lockers, he goes, you chose to come here. And I was like, hey, this is my last shot. And be this is nothing compared to Boston College is like, get out here. I’m like, yeah, yeah, things are about, trust me.
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But anyway. But then you see the good side. And he’s done so many great things. I love the guy. Yeah I’ll always love coach if he calls me and says the need you to crawl to my house. Yeah, I live around the corner. But you need I need you to I need you to walk crab style. And and I would do it.
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Whatever it takes. If he needs something and he’s calling, I’m going. Yeah. What is the date this year? The 18th. May 18th for the 29th for the 29th annual annual. Joyful and proud to say it’s one of the best events ever. And the really great. Yeah, the dinners on the 18th. The golf is on the ninth. Yeah, yeah.
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But and listen. And we we can’t let it go without saying that, you know, he hired Kelly. Yeah, yeah. You, you know, the ball fired Kelly and she took it to a completely different level, no doubt. You know, in 30 years, I’ve hosted nearly every big event in this town. Yeah, there’s nothing that beats that. No, no, nothing.
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And I tell people when they’re starting events. Do you know Kelly Loughlin? Yeah. No, you need to. Yeah. Because you need to see what the pinnacle looks like. The top of the mountain is the job. No doubt about it. Thanks for being here. May 18th. Teague from.org. Is that correct still. Yes I believe it is correct to go to Teague.
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Fun dawg and see all about the information for May 18th. For the weekend Sunday and Monday. The dinner is phenomenal. The golf is phenomenal. And if you can do it man it’s a great cause. And you’re going to see some of that coach component Gary, that you got to see these guys, but you see some really big NFL celebrities.
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And every year you’re you’re always going off who’s there? So it’s always a great time. Until next time y’all stay safe out there and stay cool and give when you can. Because we are giving community here in Jacksonville. That is for damn sure. We’ll see you next time right here on the horse’s mouth. Cheers. Cheers.
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