ShowsJack Nicklaus, Golf Legend - Segment One
Pat Cronley, Jazz Empresario - Segment Two September 18, 2019 There is a LOT going on this weeks episode of Fish and the Flint Chronicles! There are only a few people that I have met along my path that made me stop and say "whoa" my friend and former client Muhammad Ali was one. When I met him the first time in a Los Angeles hotel lobby in 1987, I was stunned to see him sitting casually chatting with a custodian behind a partition. Really no one could see him, it was his voice that I recognized. I was lucky enough to have a Sports Illustrated with me, and he signed some white space inside and I later had it framed with my original copy of his 1974 Sportsman of The Year SI cover. When he became my client 7 years later, that sense of awe never really left me during our interactions.
Although I have met a lot of other luminaries along with the way, it's been a long time since one evinced the excitement of meeting Jack Nicklaus. The GOAT of Golf, the Golden Bear, the best to ever do one of the hardest things in sports. That he turned out to be a really cool guy with a great sense of humor was a big bonus. A part of my conversation with Jack is included on this week's show. The entire Ally Challenge presented by McLaren was fantastic, but meeting with the star of the show Jack Nicklaus will be hard to top. I was able to chat with last year's winner, Paul Hardcastle, country music star Dierks Bentley, do an interview with former Detroit Red Wings superstar Henrik Zetterberg, chat with both Bob "Kid Rock" Ritchie, and his brother, Billy Ritchie. It was a perfect day, and a great addition to the Flint area's golf legacy, and particularly the Grand Blanc community and Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club. We will post that video up on the website soon. Kid Rock had to bolt as soon as Jack Nicklaus dropped a FIFTY FOOT chip shot to win the chipping contest...his comment to partner Kid Rock "Bobby we got lucky"! What a day! We also touch on the ongoing General Motors /UAW strike. I went out to visit with strikers outside of the Chevrolet plant on Van Slyke and talked at length about what they are after in this strike. During the week I was invited on to ABC 12 WJRT to talk with Dawn Jones during her "Focus at Four" segment about the famous Flint Sit Down strike, as well as the seminal 1970 and 1998 strikes, plus what this strike might portend. We'll have that video segment posted up here soon as well. My in studio guest is local musician and community leader Pat Cronley. He's an incredible musician with scores of albums and recordings including "Soulfish" (my personal favorite!), "Tenacious", and "Resume The Beguine", among others. He is also the leader of an amazing local outfit called 'Jazz On Wheels'. Pat and his rotating bandmates bring the soothing sounds of cool jazz to events like the Bobby Crim Festival of Races, and other happenings, as well as providing educational and motivational community events in underserved areas of Flint. It's art in action, and a great example of the kind of grassroots caring and giving back that typifies the Flintstone experience. It's hard to put numbers to the kind of work that Pat does in terms of lives changed and kids motivated, but it's easy to see the impact when you watch the crowd reaction to Pat's performances. He's a genuine local hero, and a shining example of precisely what makes us tick in this community. A great interview, and an fantastic addition to the "Fish and the Flint Chronicles" pantheon of community superstars! 
Fish and the Golden Bear
Fish and Pat
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Bob "Kid Rock" Ritchie at the Ally Challenge
Jack Nicklaus and Kid Rock during their foursome and the Ally Challenge
Henrik Zetterberg and Fish
Fish and Billy Ritchie (after Billy saved a woman from a rampaging patio umbrella)
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