Transcript of Unapologetic Truth: The Relentless Spirit of Adam “Pacman” Jones New

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Start your free trial at Shopify. Com. All right, this episode, my guy Adam Pacman Jones. We cover the whole spectrum of a lot of things on this episode. Talk about his journey growing up in Atlanta. If you don't know, PAC is one of the greatest athletes to ever come out of the city of Atlanta. He's on my Mount Rushmore. We talk about that. You're going to find out why and how he actually left the Tennessee Titan. Most people don't know why or how. We talk about his mentorship and what he's done. In the top five, we talk about who his goat of NFL all time is. It's a Tar Hill, by the way. Great episode. I'm just going to let you go. This is Adam Pacmanjian. You're listening to Mic Unplug, hosted by the one and only Mic Hunt.

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How are you doing today, brother?

Man, I'm doing good, man. I'm happy to be a part of this, man. I appreciate you for having me on. We're long lost friends, definitely Instagram friends, but it's finally to get on here and sit down and share some words with you.

Hey, I'm going to It goes straight to it, man. I've been telling everybody for the last 20 years, I'm from Greenville, South Carolina. I'm from the South. We know what Atlanta is in the South. I tell everybody that will listen. My Mount Rushmore of athletes from Atlanta. I'm not talking about that played in Atlanta, that went through Atlanta. I'm talking about from Atlanta. My Mount Rushmore is this in no order. Calvin Johnson.

Love it.

Cam Newton.

Love it.

Dwight Howard.

Love it.

Pacman Jones.

Let's go.

What you did growing up in the city of Atlanta, and I'm talking about before high school, bro. People that don't know, PAC was playing with grown men when he was seven years old. I'm talking about football, basketball. You were You're the guy that honestly set that new generation of athlete from Atlanta, man. Talk to us about just that growing up being the guy in Atlanta, which is a lot. People talk about New York and basketball, but they don't know, man. Atlanta has athletes, all sports. I think it's the sports capital of United States. Talk to us about that growing up in Atlanta.

Man, a lot of credit goes to my grandma, bro. She killed me out the project, made me go and play basketball up at Santown with the privileged kids instead of playing. We had a team in the projects for us, basketball, not football. A dude named Coach Knight really changed my whole perspective and look at a lot of things because he was coaching 18 U. He wasn't coaching my age at the time. I was 12 years old playing with 18 U. That really changed my mindset as far as the physical quality of playing basketball with these older guys, the training, the dialect of you got to work to get there, man. I think that transferred into me when I did go and play with kids that was my age. But man, Atlanta has always been all them guys you name. I actually went to school with Kevin Johnson's sister. Cam went to West Lake. Dwight Howard, dad, coached me in track. I I had a track with Dwight Howard. And who was the other name you had for me?

You.

Well, oh, yeah, myself. It was a great group of athletes. And I had AJ Moyet, I had Sean Jones, Kieran Fox, David Jacobs. David Jacobs was my idol growing up because he was in the same projects that I was in. And he was the first person that I seen that was trying to get out the projects and had every coach pretty much in the world stopping at the top of the hill because they were scared to come down to the bottom. So he had to go up and get them. But that was my idol looking when I grew up. You know what I I was telling this to somebody else. I wasn't allowed to be up there on the corner selling dope, selling weed, and all that. I did gamble. We gambled a lot. I'm talking about dice, basketball, football, softball, Anything you can name, track.

If you can compete.

Anything you can compete in. But I wasn't allowed to compete up there at the corner, though.

Yeah, man. This prolific high school career you had, man, like running back, DB, all state, Mr. Everything. I got this question because this is before N-I-L, bro. How in the hell did you get out of the state of Georgia and go to West Virginia? I don't want to know the back number, but how did How did you get to West Virginia?

It was a bag number. I'll tell you that. It has my time now, so I could talk about it. But I was committed to Georgia Tech. Kieran Fox was at Georgia Tech at the time. Georgia offered me, but I didn't like the way they treated Dave Jacob after he had to stroke. You know what I mean? He was like, Oh, well, he's a good player. That's the reason why I immediately tied down the Georgia offer. I had pretty much anywhere I could go, but I was He admitted to Georgia Tech. And it was like a week before signing day, bro, Fox come to me, which, shout out to Kieran Fox and his family. They did a lot for me, changing my life and making me see different things besides the project. He's like, Bro, this shit is school up here. I know you want to come in and play football, but this work up here is pretty hard. I think you're going to school to play football, right? I was like, Yeah, I am. He's like, Bro, these classes and stuff is super hard. I'm like, All right, but I'm pretty smart. I made 1,250 on SAT.

I think I can do this, Fox. He was like, Do you want to go to the NFL or you want to go to school to play football. I was like, I want to go to school to play football. And it changed my whole outlook. West Virginia with Coach Rob, Gibby, and Coach Bird at the time, I knew they was first year coaches, and I was their first recruiting class. So I just put two and two together. I'm like, All right, I can go up here. And the visit was unbelievable. So when I went up there, I got to meet Coach Rob, got to go around Morgantown, got to go to a couple of frat parties. I'm like, This is a little different. All white, you know what I mean? Besides the players at that time. But the love and everything else was there. I was probably the only four or five star that they had at that time. So I'm like, Fuck it. I'm out of here. You know what I mean? And my grandma was sick at that time, too. And she was like, look, I don't want you to stay in Atlanta. So I'm like, you don't want me to stay in Atlanta?

I'm the reason why I was going to Georgia Tech because you're going through lung cancer and you can come see me play. And when she told me that, it kicked in. She really wanted to get away from all of the energy around here. And that was it, bro. I ended up going to West Virginia and wrote a story. You know what I mean?

You sure did. I went to UNC. I'm a Tarhill. So you're saying that if UNC could have got enough bag, we could have got a look? Is that what you're saying?

Unc could have definitely got a look. Actually, they offer me because I was all into the sky blue, the joints, and all of that. And it just, football-wise, it wasn't there. When I went to the visit, the whole campus was quiet as hell. I don't know which one was more quiet, a UNC or Duke. I took a visit to Duke, too.

Well, you didn't need that one.

Yeah, I wasn't going there.

But I did need you to be a target. But at UVA, man, or at West Virginia, you, again, broke records. I say this, one of the best competitors I know is you. Again, if you can compete, if there's a way to win, I'm putting my money on pack every time because that's who you are. Again, Mr. Go get it. You're going to go get it every time. What was that like? Going from dominating a high school in Atlanta to then saying, All right, now I'm almost with some grown men up here at West Virginia and just dominating there from literally day one, bro.

My mindset was, I'm three and out of here. I told them that time I got there, and everybody was looking at me crazy because nothing was happening like that in West Virginia. You got to realize I played with grown men. I always played up a age group. I really never played with my age group, except in high school, I guess I'll say. But I've always played with guys that are older than me. Growing up in the projects, when we're playing basketball, I was probably the only kid that was fucking 10 years old that was out playing with guys that are 17, 18 years old and still giving them buckets, still making moves. So my mindset was like, Shit, if I can do this here, this can't be that hard because all of them are way better than the guys I'm going to play against. Only reason why they are not there because they don't have the grades to go or they didn't pass the SAT. So my mindset have always been like, kill it, be killed, period, point blank. Put in the work, prepare yourself, Watch your film and everything else will take care of itself.

I didn't even live weeks in high school, bro. Never touched the weight. When I went to West Virginia, I had Mike Barr as my strength coach, which is one of the best strength coaches in the world. If it was up to me, I would put him at number one. He would make you think you could run through a fucking brick wall. I mean, it wasn't no limit to how we beat it up our body to make sure that we can perform. In high school, I was fast. I ran like 10,7. Man, after my first year of college, they started calling me Lightning. And I would come back home and the kids, Travis Maroney is a good example. He was just fast as hell, a little older than me. Same grade, but just didn't have the grades, got kept back once or twice. He was running 10: 5. I would make it my interest. When I get back home, I'm calling him, Hey, yo, where you at, bro? Like, What's up? I'm on a race. And the reason why I was doing that mindset was I wanted to show them, look at all this work I done put in in one year.

And I'm not just beat them, I beat them with some room. You get what I'm saying? You come back from there, you're like, damn, this shit really is working.

Yeah.

That's always been my mindset, bro. Never let nobody outwork you no matter what you're doing. You're going to have ups and downs through the situation. But the work ethic, you can't judge that. Two things you can't judge. Work ethic and speed. Some guys got a motor, some guys don't. But if you work, you eventually have a motor. Some guys got speed, Naturally, or you have to put in the work to get faster. But that's always been my motto is, If I don't let them out of work, they can't beat me.

That's, again, why I say, I separate you from almost everybody that I know because of that mantra right there. You're a draft here. Again, I've always been a huge PAC fan from day one. I told people, The best player in this draft is going to be PAC. The person that's going to make impact day one is going to be PAC. And everybody's like, Why? And I said, You're looking at a skill set, which is great. But what I can tell you is he will be the most prepared person moment one to make an impact in the NFL. And they're like, How can you say that? I'm like, You're not looking at his journey. You're not looking at the work he's put in because the results just don't happen because you're the fastest. There's always going to be somebody tomorrow that's going to be faster. But the way he prepares, the way he studies, you're not seeing that, and that's going to separate. It proved with your career, right? You know, how many people did you see as teammates, as rivals or whatever that aren't willing to put in that work? It's like, oh, they'll be out in two or three years because there's a certain Talk about that with you.

How preparation became a skill set for you, too.

Well, preparation was never one at West Virginia. It was like, You're going to be prepared. Coach Givy, you're going to watch a film. You're going to go down here and run these hills. You're going to go to this weight room and spend half of the day in the weight room. But me coming from the inner city and always having to prove myself because I'm I'm 5'9, bro, like 180 pounds at the most, 185, I'd say. So I had to be, first of all, physically prepared, second of all, mentally. And I came from being the number one running back in the state of Georgia to get in the West Virginia and be like, Hey, look, we really want you to go play defense because we got a kid named Avon Coburn. That was Biggie's player of the year. And there's no way we can start you over here, which I could share carries. I'm like, Fuck that sharing carry shit. I'm not with that. I'm trying to be three and done. That was my whole mindset. Three years in West Virginia, and I'm out of here. And I asked Coach Ra, Can you let me do punt return, kick return?

He's like, Yeah, I'll let you do that, but you got to go over and play on the other side of the ball if you want to have a chance to be a day one starter. And I did it. And really, it wasn't that big of a change because all of this hips and turnings, you know what I mean? So me being a running back, I had good feet. Me playing basketball, I knew how to backfill. You know what I mean? I know how to cut people off to whatever side they're going to. So I just used that. I was like, Fuck it. I'm just out here playing. I'm playing basketball. Let me see how long it's going to take him to get off the line. If I can hold him on the line or shadow him for four or five seconds to play over with, to play on the last eight seconds in the NFL. I mean, in college, NFL or whatever it is, the average play is eight seconds. So even that little tool, me using that right there for a whole different sport, I shall say, can tell you how mentally I was preparing myself.

I would watch film, bro. And I would go out. I like to party, but in my house, I've never watched. I wasn't a movie guy. I never played Madden, Call of Duty. Even growing up, I stayed outside. I had to go in the house, which when the street light came on. Besides that, I'm doing two things. I'm out here running, catching a route, running against somebody, playing basketball or shooting dice. That was it. I wasn't one of those kids. I did like fashion and all that, but that wasn't my main mental when I was growing up. And I had a kid named Smitty on my team when we was playing AAU basketball. We had... Rasha Carouf was the best player that I ever seen in person at that time. So I played up with Coach Knight, team Georgia. We won three national championships. And when he went to Kentucky, I'm like, damn, it's got to be something like, he should have been one and out, like how good he was. He was the only one that had a Puma commercial in high school. This was like, I heard of back then, bro. Yeah. And this kid can shoot the ball from anywhere.

And why is he not wanting to come back home that summer? And I'm asking him, but I'm watching everything, too. I'm watching him like, What are you doing? How are you doing it? Is he taking this serious? He smoking. And I took a little bit from everybody that I was around to change the shit that I didn't want to be. I already knew I wanted to be three and done. You know what I mean? So I took a little bit from everything. His work ethic won there, but he was an unbelievable player. And I was like, that's what it is. You can't let the work ethic catch up because everybody's good. Everybody's good, bro. What separate good and great is work ethic.

All day.

Period, blah, blah. You can be the best kid right now in high school. You go to college, it's 10 of you all. Yup. Some of them don't like the work. Some of them soft as a motherfucker. Some of them put in the work. You can tell which ones put in the work because it shines. It shows. You know what I mean? It definitely shows in the long run.

I think you're a testament to that off the field, post career. You have that same mentality with what you're doing now the NFL is done. I actually think you get to be more the real Pac-Man, but you're doing it your way. And I think that that's critically important. You're not trying to be someone else. You're not trying to be what other people may want you to be. I think this is my perception. You're like, Hey, you all don't really know PAC or what you think you know about PAC. I'm about to give you the real me. And that's what I love because you're putting in the work ethic to understand different things in media, to understand social more, to look at branding and brand partnerships. I've been so proud of you, When I see the things you're doing during college football season, during NFL season, the things you're doing when sports aren't even the topic, you really getting to be you. I'm just so damn proud of you, bro.

I'm so proud. Hey, man, I appreciate it. I'm a big soaker. I watch everything. People just think I'm just a guy that smoke weed and drink, which is A great perception. If you all want to think that, shame on you. You didn't read the whole fucking book, you just read the cover. I watched Trends. I watched stuff that's going on, NIL with kids. And at this day and time, that same NIL That we're talking about that the kids are getting right now. Guess who else is getting it? The grownups, too, if you know how to use it. So marketing yourself, believing in yourself. If I could change anything, bro, it's a couple of things I could change. And I talk about that when you ask me. But as a person, me, I know who I am. I'm loving and caring. Do I got a temper? Yeah, but that comes with being a little bit competitive. Can I turn it down sometimes? Yeah, I can. Is my words always right the way I want to say it when I'm hot? Maybe not sometimes. But passion, that comes with the territory of what I've been doing my whole life.

I've been hidden, hidden fucking people my whole life since five years old. So my mental is a whole lot different. It's down there like a person going to war. Your mental is going to be different. Period, point blank. We're It's the dollars of what anybody say, because you only have a flight or fight mode. You get what I'm saying? And now it's like, all right, I can go fight a flight, but I just need to know, all right, sometimes I got to turn the light You might say you've got a temper, but I think what you really have is a discernment of people.

And PAC is never going to let somebody take advantage of you.

No. I don't care who it is. I don't give a damn if it's the police, the mayor, the governor. I'm standing on business, right or wrong. If I think I'm right, I'm standing on business.

And that's what I think it is. I don't think it's a temper. I think what you're really good at, blessing or a curse, is you know the true intent, and you're just cutting the intent off early. You're not going to let somebody mess with you for an extended period of time. It's like, no, if I see that this is what this person wants or this entity wants, I was like, I'm just going to cut it off right now. I actually think it's a great skillset, bro.

Well, I do too, but sometimes it bites me in my ass. But for the most part, it's been pretty good to me.

Now let's talk about it, though. If you could change something, and I'm not going to call it a regret, I'm going to say change. What's something you would have changed or done differently, knowing what you know now?

Once I got to the lead, I didn't know how much of a business it was. Yeah, you're the first defensive player pick, but this is business. And my buddy, Keith Bullet, was trying to tell me that early on. He's like, Pat, no, you're not going to be young this whole time. I'm like, Yeah, I am. Shit. I'm going to play there. I'm 40. You know what I mean? Which I could probably have. I fucking retired at 34, 35, and that was on my own. It wasn't like teams wasn't calling me. But I wish that if I could change anything, I would have had a better circle around me as far as making sure that I knew that it was a business. I don't know if I'm saying it right, but you signed a $42 million deal, $28 million up front. The next day you wake up, you got $12 million in your bank account, which I did have some good financial people around me. I put five of that up, so you can't touch it to 35. So I had some good advice. But when it comes to prime example, I shouldn't have never left Tennessee.

I should have stayed there. That was my decision. I went and told Fisher, I want to be traded. And Because I was just too... At that time, Nashville, it wasn't a hunky-tunk town. It wasn't a party town. It was all Whites, period, point blank. And I ain't going to sugar-cutter the name. If you was White around a Lamborghini, it was cool. And the number around here around Lamborghini's and Bentley's, it was a problem. And at that time, I just didn't understand that coming from Atlanta, coming from West Virginia shit, you ride whatever the fuck you want. I was the first person in West Virginia with a Louis Vuitton top at 18 years old. And the 70 SS Monte Carlo with a 454 in there. So this is new to me. This is new to me. Now that I got a bang, I can do I move how I wanted to move, which was ludicrous. A lot of that shit that happened in Tennessee, man, was just because I was a young, black, flamboyant, and politely raw, I would say, person. I'm the one, Hey, bro, you got a book in your nose? I'm like, Oh, damn, why you couldn't wait to tell me?

No, bro, I'm going to tell you right now, so you don't have to walk around and fucking let everybody see the book in your nose. I just think I was a little bit too fast for the culture in Nashville when I was there. But going back to what you said, if I could change anything, I would change that little circle when it comes to the business part, because it's hard to look up to somebody when you've seen your daddy get killed in front of you. And when you're going through the hardest time, you ain't got nobody. Now, when I get out of my money, everybody want to come around. And that was the part that I didn't understand. I'm like, why would I fucking listen to these people? Where have these people been? My first 20 years of my life. And now that I look back, maybe one or two of them I could have listened to. The rest of them was full of shit. But That circle is very pivotal. I truly believe in you are what you hang around.

Absolutely.

Period point blank. Yeah, you can have your homeboy You can have your friends. It's a time and place for that. But surround yourself with either what you want or someone that's got what you got. You know what I mean? Because if you don't, it's always going to be a little hate. Yeah. If somebody don't have the, I'm not going to say the means, because if you got the hustle and you got the work ethic, you can get to where we are right now. But if you just hang around anybody and not really paying attention to the details, I think it's stunt you, bro.

For sure. And again, another testament to Pac-Man is this. I also know the business of football, and if If you didn't become that circle for other people, you personally would not have had as long a career as you did. You became a locker room glue person, and you became the person that teams were like, you talked about it, you chose to retire, but you had people still calling you. Tell us about that evolution of pack of going from the person needing the circle to the person that now was a part of the circle for others.

Well, I've always been a part of the circle for others. I took kids that didn't even have a scholarship to West Virginia to stay with me, that stayed in my projects, two of my closest friends, you know what I mean? Because I was trying to show them something different. And then the locker room, I really believe lead by example. Once you lead by example, then you own the circle. If I go out and I take a fucking limo all the way back from Magic City on Monday to be at the stadium at 6: 30, and we ain't got to be there at eight o'clock. You did all that, this motherfucker sleep in the parking lot, but I'm the first one in the wait room. 250 on the squad, 300, 400, 450. So I think The reason why I got a chance. In every locker room I've been in, I've been pretty much the guy. Might be some guys getting paid more than me in a certain position. But when we're talking about relationships, talking, sitting there, bonding. I've always been the guy, Hey, PAC, what do you think about that? Hey, PAC, what do you think about that?

Hey, PAC, what do you think about that? Hey, PAC, what do you do in this situation? Hey, PAC, how is this right there? How is that right there? And you'll be surprised, man, how many guys... Women is probably the biggest question in the locker room. A lot of guys haven't really had no girls until they got some money. That's the crazy thing about it. And It's some of the biggest names. And have two touch downs, go bar, you're Dane Kim Kardashian. And I grew up... And everybody know, Magic City is the real club, a club to us in Atlanta. All this shit they have right now with girls going while I did that shit in college. Like, literally, we had six girls stand in my house. We had mud parties every Friday. Like beer, kegs, everything. I've done all that shit. You don't know until you know. And I'm not trying to say everything, but I grew up in an era where it was popping. I grew up in that era, that big niche, young Jesus, when it was okay to go to the club and spend 20,000. I That was my error. I understood like, all right, no, this is not going to last for long.

But let's go ahead and enjoy while we can. You know what I mean? I had a lot of teammates like, Bro, how in the hell do you just cut it on and cut it off? I'm like, bro, same way. We get paid to perform. You got to turn the light switch on. Sometimes you got to turn it off. I've always been like that, bro. That's just been my mentality of work play hard, play hard. Sometimes you got to turn it off.

Absolutely. Man, I could talk with you forever. I know you got stories that are going crazy. We might have to do a part two where we just do Story Time with Uncle PAC.

I got some stories. A lot of stories.

But I would be remiss if I didn't give you props and give you your flowers for this. Again, people that know the real PAC, man, that know PAC, that you allow to know you, all will say this. One of the greatest fathers, one of the greatest mentors. Pac does so much in the community that he does not talk about because you genuinely care about kids, man. I want to give you just the floor to talk about the things that you do in the community or the things that you do for kids, man, because.

That's my calling. I was one of those kids. He lost his dad early. Stayed with my grandma. We wasn't hurting them. I'll say that. My grandma, we was the bootlegger. So everything went through 146, which was our apartment number. I seen her work so hard, bro, and try to do everything to provide for us. But I've seen other kids in Boat Rock or Bankhead that didn't have that, who dad was gone away, who dad was incarcerated, who mama was a crackhead. I've seen a lot of shit during my younger age that was just so crazy that I'd be like, damn, if I was back as an adult, I would have grabbed it. You know what I mean? I didn't have the means to grab. But now I truly think that my calling are the kids. If I can help, and you can't help everybody, but my relationship here I take care of damn near 40 kids. We travel all the way around the country to play football. My best friend passed away. I had all his kids here. I got my own kids who I love dearly. But my true calling is, I think, with the kids, the reason why I'm saying this is because I'm vulnerable.

I'm not scared to admit when I make a mistake. I was like, Dad, I sent you on the news yesterday. Yeah, I had. I shouldn't have been drinking. I had a little bit too much to drink. That's why you don't need to drink. And yeah, I just tell him to fuck off, and he got mad, so he locked me up. And some parents are not willing to admit their mistakes because they don't want to be shamed on, I guess. But I live in a glass house. Everything I do, if I go outside right now and take a piss, it's going to be on channel 5, 2, 12, 11, and 19. So I've used switch day narrative to like, all right, I can touch every kid because everybody going to make a mistake. During your journey of life, you're going to make some mistakes. But if you can capitalize off the mistakes and flip some of those into a positive. And even if you don't and you have to go through something, but you come back out fighting, that's the definition of a man. That's the definition of a winner. You get what I'm saying? It's just like playing a game.

You ain't going to win every football game. You are going to get a flag sometimes for whatever the cause may be. But at the end of the day, you got to have a quick... I got to forget about the last play. And I ain't saying that in everything. Some things I'm like, God damn, why you just going to shut the fuck up? But most of the things you be like, all right, I know what this is. I know how they're trying to make this deep. For I used the example in Dallas. I'm minding my own business. I get approached by a Mexican guy. He was pretty drunk. Call me out my name, boom, boom, boom, boom, this, that. So I said, Hey, bro, you got two more times to do this or we're going to step outside. I'm going to beat your motherfucking ass. Here comes the police. I'm like, Yo, you need to get him. Stop fucking talking to me. He calling me, da, da, da, da. And so he went to do this. I smacked I got this hand down. Here I go, straight to jail.

Yeah.

I do this from the officer in Dallas. Oh, now you're assaulting the officer. Then a week, two weeks later, everything gets dismissed. But on the news to make a headline. Here you go again. You just punched somebody in the club. We're just fucking a total false fucking accusation. So I'm I'm more vulnerable because I don't want my son and all these kids that I'm taking care of to not know how to play the game because the game is to be played regardless of what anybody say. Now, I have to keep security with me everywhere I go. I have to have a second opinion with me. I don't drive nowhere by myself. And it's sad, but I ain't going to say I put myself in this situation, but for what it may be, I did have... I'm into the shit that I've done, too. But you got to learn how to play the game. I got to have somebody with me at all times so I can have a second eye. If not, I don't know what this person intentionally of doing or what it's narrative of doing about any situation. So that's my main thing, man.

I love kids, bro. I I want all these kids to be better than me. All of them. I sponsor three, four football teams, soccer teams. I had a gym over here where I'm at, but they didn't really understand the sports because we're in a whitey, whitey, whitey area. So I'm opening up another gym not too far from the middle of the city so I can get back. It's going to be called D1, too. I'm doing it D1. But yeah, man, my job is to be a sponge for the kids so they can soak up everything I went through, the good and the bad. And if you do it right, it'll help you. You can take these little pieces that I was taking from everybody and trying to build what I was trying to build. It'll help me a lot. Bro, it'd be sad. Some of these kids don't even have a bed to sleep in, up here where we at. You go over to the house just to deliver a Christmas gift to surprise them. All right, I'm bringing you a PlayStation. Don't even know I'm coming. And don't even want me to walk in.

That's how bad the house is. You know what I mean? I do a thing called check in with my players. I just pop up. You'll never know when I pop up, but I want to see what's in the refrigerator. You will be surprised, bro, when you see some of these kids and where they're living, you're like, God, damn. And the parents won't ask for help because they don't want all of their... Nobody to know their shit. But I'm like, I'm a private person like, I'm not doing this. First of all, I don't even like half of the shit that I do. I don't even tell them. Because then they look like, oh, pack trying to do this. No, no, no, no, no, So 90% of what I done gave or giving to the family. And I'm talking about Cincinnati-wise now because I do a lot of stuff in Cincinnati. And I still do a lot of stuff in Atlanta, too. But you all know about the bike drives and all that. I give 100 bikes away every Christmas. But you all don't see everything else that I do on the daily when it comes to our community and helping these kids out.

But I do that because I ain't having nobody to do it for me. And I ain't saying that it ain't other people that is doing this, but what I'm trying to do for the community, and you hear kids talk about it. A lot of kids now with social media, NIL deal. I've had, Hey, man, do you mind me talking about what you did for me? To a certain extent, yeah, but to a certain extent, no, because I didn't do it for that. I did it for you to be where you were. Now you got a full ride at the University of Kentucky. Now you're getting paid $250,000. Another one. Now you're getting paid a million dollars. Now you got an Adidas deal. That's why- You know what I mean?

Those are stories people don't know about you, man. And again, I'm not going to go into the details of it, but that's why I fucking love you, bro. To see what you do with intention, I think that's what people miss, right? Because you know it's the truth. There's a lot of people that do it for the attention, and they only do it when the cameras are around or the phones are out, right? You see it, I see it. You do it with intention, man, and most of it goes unseen. And that's why I freaking love it, because you don't care. You care about the person on the other end, and That's what matters.

Yeah, I do, man. I just did a thing for Christmas, and my group, Shai and Val, we was talking about, All right, we're going to go down and get a homeless some coats and feed them food. I'm like, They don't want no fucking coats and food. They want some money.

Right.

Let's go and get $10,000 out the bank and give every last one them $10.

There you go.

And maybe a blanket. The food, they don't really care about the food. They're going to find the food. Now, what they do with the money, that's on them. I can't control what they do because that's not why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because this is out of the countens of my heart. Hey, maybe one of you all might take advantage of this. Maybe one of you all won't. But that's the reason why I do certain things the way I do it. My team be on my ass like, Bro, why don't you just tell people what you're doing? I'm like, No.

Not about that.

No, not about that. Certain shit I will tell them when it comes to organizations and stuff like that. But me personally, my intent for doing it is because I come from this. I come from the struggle. I come from not not having shit. I've come from a people around me not having shit. You know what I mean? You never know, bro. I got this one family that was pretty bad, and the mom was just like, I just need to get over the home. I was like, What's it going to take to get over the home? She was like, Well, my rent is $420. I said, All right, so what are you saying it's going to take for you to get over the home? She's like, Just maybe help me out for a month. And I won't say the people's name. And I paid her rent for the whole year. I was like, So you can keep every one of your checks. I pay you rent for the whole year. And now she is working for a Fortune 500 company. They'll move from the house that she's in. Got her own little side cleaning business. And that's what we doing it for, bro.

And no, you don't owe me shit. This is what I got to see from Some of the kids that I had a chance to play with that was pretty wealthy because I was playing sports that was doing for me, the Kieran Fox dad taking me in like, Hey, PAC, let's help you get over the hunt. So that's what I I do it, bro, because without the families that I've had that's been in my life, I wouldn't be in the same situation.

I agree. Man, I know you're busy. I know you got to run. I'm going to get you out here with my rapid fire quick five. Let's do it. Rapid fire. You ready? Yeah. All right. Favorite NFL city to play in?

Miami.

All right. Your favorite flavor of wings from Magic City?

Hot Sprinkl with lemon pepper.

There you go. The best teammate you ever had.

Vontez Burfield.

Greatest NFL player of all time.

Lawrence Taylor.

Love it. Most Most overrated NFL player, according to Pac-Man.

Most overrated NFL player. Of all time or right now? Of all time. All time.

However you want to give it to me. I don't care. Right now, all time. It doesn't matter.

All time, most. Steve Smith.

We'll let you tell why on episode two. How about that?

I went there.

PAC Bro, love you like a brother. You are my brother. You already know this, but if there's ever anything I can do, I'm here. This has been an honor just spending time with you, bro.

Man, I appreciate you for having me, man. I hope this can get to somebody that might need this. Mental health is real. I want to say that before we get off here, bro. Make sure you're all checking on your mental. It's okay to talk to somebody. We all go through something to get to something. I'm a big mental health guy. My family is big in bipolar disorder. So check on yourself. It's okay to go get checked in to check on yourself. It's okay to talk to somebody and to express how you feel. So don't put no shame, guilt. And don't be scared to be vulnerable when you're going and talking to these people. And tell the truth, because this is the only way you're going to get some help.

I love it. I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been Pac-Man Jones. And always remember, your because is your superpower. Go unleash it. That's another powerful conversation on Mic Unplug. If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen, share it with someone who needs that spark, and leave a review so more people can find their because.

I'm Rudy Rush. And until next time, stay driven, stay focused, and stay Unplugged.