From Tragedy to Triumph: Building a Community That Supports Fatherhood - Interview with Reggie George

Reggie George shares his inspiring story of his daughter's near-fatal stabbing and miraculous recovery. After being stabbed in the head with a pair of scissors by another student, his daughter underwent an eight-hour brain surgery and suffered a massive stroke. She was paralyzed and had to spend 92 days in the hospital, including time in the ICU and rehab. Despite the initial prognosis, she defied all expectations and made a remarkable recovery, regaining her mobility and cognitive abilities. Reggie attributes their strength and resilience to their faith and the support of their family. Reggie George shares his journey of forgiveness and the birth of Father Figure Apparel. He talks about the importance of father figures and the impact they have on children's lives. Reggie emphasizes the need for fathers to be present and intentional, rather than striving for perfection. He also discusses the role of the community in supporting and uplifting fatherhood. The conversation highlights the power of vulnerability and the lessons learned from difficult experiences.

Key Takeaways

• The importance of faith and spirituality in dealing with difficult situations
• The power of resilience and determination in overcoming challenges
• The impact of strong family support in times of crisis
• The ability to find strength and purpose in being a father and leader, Father Figure Apparel was born out of Reggie George's journey of forgiveness and the desire to highlight the importance of father figures.
• Being present and intentional as a father is more important than striving for perfection.
• Fatherhood is not limited to biological fathers; father figures play a crucial role in children's lives.
• The community has a responsibility to support and uplift fatherhood.
• Vulnerability and open communication with children can strengthen the father-child relationship.
• Difficult experiences can teach valuable lessons and lead to personal growth.

Transcript

Robert (00:00)
Hey everyone. Welcome back to the dad dad's podcast. So as many of you know, the goal of the podcast is to inspire fathers to become better dads, but also to educate society on the importance of fathers. Well, when I heard this one guy's story, I was like, man, I have got to meet him and I want him on the podcast. So I'm fortunate enough today to welcome Reggie George to the podcast and

Reggie, you've got one heck of a story to share and welcome.

Reggie George (00:30)
Man, I appreciate it, man. It's an honor to be here, Robert. And we do have a story, man, but like you say, it's to inspire and educate, man, and hopefully help all of our communities, man, all of our men, all of our fathers, man. So I appreciate you having me, Doc.

Robert (00:48)
I love it. I love it. I think of all of us fathers are all one. And I think of that as one community because I think it takes every one of us standing arm in arm with each other. So, Hey, I wanted you to give a, before we go into your story and before we go into a father figure apparel, I wanted you to give a little background on yourself.

Reggie George (01:09)
Cool man, again Reggie George, man, I am 48 years old, man. I've been married, shout out to my wife Tiffany, man, we've been married for 23 years. I appreciate it. I have 18 year old daughters, man, who are as a Friday newly graduates, man, so that's a big deal. I'm a military brat, man.

Robert (01:20)
Congrats.

There you go.

Reggie George (01:35)
Grew up in a two -parent household, man. My father, who is not my biological father, adopted me when I was two. And from that point on, like I said, became a military brat, man, living overseas in, you know, five or six different states in this country, man. I'm an ex -athlete. Again, man, I'm a maybe fourth generation father, father figure.

My grandfathers and fathers, man, they were the pillars in our family. And even the brand and even before our story, man, that was one of the passions of mine, man, is just fatherhood and being an uncle and being a brother. And so that's always been a big deal, man. So that's, you know, a little, a brief snippet on me.

Robert (02:25)
No, that's great. Hey, so tell me this. what branch was your father in? Okay. Okay. So you were overseas and even in the States, different places. Is that tough?

Reggie George (02:29)
He was an arm.

man, it was tough when we were young. My sisters, man, I have three sisters. One was born in Germany. One was born in El Paso. I was born in Arkansas. So that's, you know, that's the that's the life of military kids, man. But after after about elementary school, man, we got used to it. You know, you just move, you make new friends, man, or, you know, you just keep the friends you got. They come from overseas to the same place you had. So.

It became more of a badge of honor than a curse for us.

Robert (03:08)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet. And I bet it makes you,

I bet it makes it a lot easier for you to meet people too, because constantly having to get new friends and having to reintroduce yourself and.

getting acclimated to new classroom and everything else. I bet it makes it that part a little bit more probably well rounded.

Reggie George (03:24)
Nah, 100%. And it really, we never were able to truly get comfort zones, you know? And as you get older, man, and you create a family, and you get married and businesses, it really becomes a gift because you're not looking for a space to be comfortable in. You're almost seeking out the challenge, and you're almost seeking out the comfortability just because...

Robert (03:32)
Yeah.

Reggie George (03:52)
you know, that became a space that we thrived in.

Robert (03:54)
So tell me this, what sport, you said athlete, what sports did you play?

Reggie George (03:59)
Man, high school man, I played them all like football, basketball, ran track, but I was naturally a football player, man. I've always had a passion for basketball, but I've never been six foot anything.

Robert (04:14)
How tall are you? I thought you were taller.

Reggie George (04:16)
No, I'm right at six foot man. So I've never been, yeah, I've never been six anything like, and man, I was a, I was a, I was an elite basketball player, man. But my statue was just, and I was naturally gifted to play football, you know, so, so that's, you know, collegiately and that's just where I gravitated just because I played running back play tailback.

Robert (04:18)
Okay.

Really?

What position did you play in football?

There you go. There you go. Hey, so I want to jump in to your story. Myron Edmonds, who was just on the podcast, my initial call with him, when we were talking, he's like, man, I have got this dude that I want you to meet. And, you know, I think it was shortly after that. I think he connected us by text and then we talked and you know, I was like, after hearing your story,

and also the person that you are. I was, I was like, man, I've got to get you on and look, thank you for coming on. And you talked about your two daughters graduating and congrats on that. But the story involves one of your daughters. Do you mind sharing that?

Reggie George (05:28)
Not at all, man. That's the mission, man, is to share the story and inspire fathers and father figures on why it's important for us to be present. So again, I have twins, man, and my girls just turned 18. But when they were 13, eighth grade, my daughter Camden, which is the younger of the two twins, my daughter Camden,

was stabbed by a by a boy in the cafeteria of their school. He stabbed her with a pair of scissors behind her ear, puncturing her skull, puncturing her brain, and essentially almost killing her man. Her sister had to witness all this man in the cafeteria. This was like at dismissal time.

Robert (06:10)
is.

Reggie George (06:18)
maybe about three days before school let up. And the boy said that there was a verbal altercation between his younger sister. He was in the eighth grade. My girl's in the seventh grade, going to the eighth grade, I'm sorry. And he said he was just coming to kind of come to her aid with the verbal altercation.

but had the scissors to seem more threatening. So I guess in his fear, I guess in his, you know, I don't know what it was, man. He just stabbed her. Like I said, almost essentially killing her in the cafeteria, man. She's passed out. And of course, as a man and as a father, when I get that call, man, that's one of the most disturbing things.

that you can ever hear over the phone. My wife is trying to convey to me what's going on and I hear commotion in the background and I hear people telling her, Camden, please stay awake, don't. My other baby, man, she's screaming in the background, like, man, you stabbed my sister and luckily for me, man,

Robert (07:13)
Yeah.

my gosh.

Reggie George (07:33)
I was able to go straight to the hospital. My wife went to the school and she actually got a chance to lay eyes on this boy. But had I gotten to the school and laid eyes on him man, I don't think we were here talking about the brand. We're here talking about the story. So that's a piece that they really got. God kind of protected me by, you know, having me go straight to the hospital, man, because like I said, I don't think we're here.

Robert (07:49)
Yeah, of course.

Reggie George (08:01)
if I put my eyes on the boy But what happens is, man, they put her in the ambulance, my wife and my daughter, my other daughter, head to the hospital. I meet them at the hospital where I see them wheel her in, man, and she's kind of in and out of consciousness, which is great and disturbing all at the same time. But...

Robert (08:22)
Sure.

Reggie George (08:23)
My wife and I pulled aside by a physician who tells us like she is conscious, but the scissors have punctured her skull, punctured her brain, and have caused several blood clots to set up on her brain. Therefore, if we don't get her to one of the children's hospitals ASAP, she probably won't make it. And man, that's super tough.

Robert (08:34)
Cheers.

my gosh.

Reggie George (08:51)
That's super tough because I think in that moment, I really started to think like, man, this is really happening. Like, you know, for me, I had been dropping my girls off at school, man, from kindergarten through seventh grade. And just to drop them off at 730 in the morning, and here we are at 435, 30 in the evening.

Robert (09:09)
Yeah.

Reggie George (09:17)
I'm about to have my daughter care flighted to hope to go have emergency brain surgery. It is, it is wild Man, it is, it is.

Robert (09:26)
Gosh, I can't imagine that as a parent. I hope that's something I never have to experience.

Reggie George (09:33)
And I would never wish it on my worst enemy, man, just because the range of emotions, man, is indescribable. You know, it's anger, it's fear, it's concern, it's doubt, it's, you know, even the thoughts of death start creeping in at that point. Like, man, is this thing about to kill my baby? So.

Robert (09:57)
Before we go into the story with your daughter,

I want to ask like, as a parent, how do you, you're helpless. You know, you can't do anything. How do you get through that? Like, how do you deal with those emotions? What do you, what did you do?

Reggie George (10:08)
100 percent.

Man, it's a hundred percent of faith based. It's a faith based. Like if we're not people of faith or if I'm not a man of God, then there's no way, Robert, I could tell you how to deal with it without immediately going to God. And even for me, man, I was kind of questioning things, but I knew who to ask. Like, God, what is going on? Like I need...

I need you to give me some insight on how to deal with this thing, on how to navigate what we're dealing with and what I'm feeling right now. Because if not, something is going to go wrong. Either that's internally, externally, because trying to navigate those emotions, man,

And then trying to be a husband and still trying to be a father to mother, baby, and trying to stay strong over here and not go crazy on the other side, man, like it's 100 % faith -based. And again, I don't tell people what God to worship and what lane they should be in, but if you don't have a faith -based or a spiritual foundation,

Robert (11:12)
Yeah.

Reggie George (11:29)
probably want to find one pretty quick.

Robert (11:31)
Yeah, yeah, I think that's so important. And I'm thinking about, you were talking about strength, and a lot of times you look to the father for strength. And if you had just been a mess, that would have just trickled onto everybody, poured onto everybody else, from your wife to your daughter, just everybody around there. But I'd...

Reggie George (11:44)
Yeah.

Robert (11:57)
Man, I can't believe that. All right, so your daughter's in the hospital. And.

Reggie George (12:04)
Yeah, man, they fly her to Cook's Children's here in Fort Worth. And when they get her there, we get there. Scary moment, man. We're met by a chaplain outside. My wife is met by a chaplain. I'm met by a chaplain. And for me, that's never good. You know, even though we're talking about being a god, but when you get met by a chaplain at a hospital, you know, that's not...

That's nothing good. But you can tell that they had put them on high alert and they assured us immediately because that was my question like, man, why are y 'all out here? But they assured us that's just protocol, man. She's still alive. But it is a dire situation. So they put them on alert. But we're met in a hallway by a neurosurgeon man who's already prepped. He's already geared up.

And he just comes out with paperwork like, man, listen, I need you all to sign here, here, here, and here. And I'm going to make an incision from the top of her skull all the way behind her ear, remove her skull, and go in and try to get these blood clots out. And about two minutes later, man, he's like, man, I don't know how long it's going to take. This is not one of those surgeries where I can tell you three hours or whatever. He's like,

You know, we just gotta go and I'll talk to y 'all later. That's how abrupt it was, man. It was. And man. The.

Robert (13:31)
Cheers.

Reggie George (13:34)
The surgery itself took about eight and a half hours. So just imagine, man, having to sit through. And of course, man, we had a lot of family and friends and everybody started piling in, man. But I probably remember every minute of those eight hours. That's how tough it was, man, to...

Robert (13:39)
my gosh.

Mm -hmm.

Cheers.

Reggie George (14:00)
Because again, man, you're like, first of all, brain surgery is probably, outside of heart surgery, man, it's probably the most serious surgery any of us can have. But to be having a brain surgery to save my daughter's life, man, is beyond belief. And again, this is just a normal day for, or was a normal day for us.

Robert (14:13)
Yeah.

Reggie George (14:28)
that now has turned into a surgery that's attempting to remove blood clots from her brain because a boy stabbed her with a pair of scissors, man. That's like some Netflix movie or, you know, like to sit through an eight hour surgery, man, and think about that is a tough place to be, man. It's a tough, tough place to be.

Robert (14:41)
Yeah.

my gosh. And after that surgery, she wasn't out of the woods. I mean, she wasn't fixed then. I mean, what else?

Reggie George (14:57)
Stop it.

Yeah, man, she, you know, once she came out, man, the doctor came out, man, and he actually pulls up a seat right in front of me. And he's like, man, your baby's brain was beat up. Her brain was swollen. There was a lot of bleeding. There was a lot of brain fluid. And he said, because of the blood clots on her brain during surgery, she had a massive stroke.

And man, basically from the sounds of it, man, he was telling us that my baby was a vegetable. That's really what it sounded like because there was nothing positive about his report. And he said he had to bring in another surgeon to help him stop with the bleeding and the brain and the brain fluid. And man, he literally told us, man, that she was minute to minute.

And for me, man, that's one of the moments that I consumed it, but I had to step outside, man, and really, that's probably the only time throughout this whole ordeal where I really kind of broke down from a strength standpoint. Like I could feel all of the, you know,

Robert (16:03)
Yeah.

sure you did.

Reggie George (16:11)
the strength and the fight, I could feel it just kind of empty out. And man, I kind of laid in the floor in his waiting room. And again, it was my father who is not my biological father, but our relationship, blood couldn't bring us any closer than we are. And it was him who came in and kind of picked me up off the floor and...

Man, his thing was like, listen, man, we heard what he said, just like you heard what he said, but he did not tell us she was dead. And who we are, we know that what we put in her is fight. So we got to get up, we got to dust ourself off. And we both crying, man. And he's like, so let's go fight. Let's go fight. Like there is no fight without us. Like if she don't see you, she don't see you.

what we got going on, man. And Kennedy, my other daughter, he like, man, listen, we got to get up, dust yourself off, and we got to go win this battle. And Robert, that's exactly what happened, man. From that minute on, it was just a battle. It was a battle for her to recover. It was a battle for me to.

Robert (17:20)
great advice.

Reggie George (17:33)
Stay in the place of a husband, stay in the place of a father, and stay in the place as a leader. Like, man, it's a lot of people, my uncles and aunts and family, everybody's looking like, man, Reg, you're the leader in this space. What do we need to do? And man, from that point on, they put her in ICU. And every day, man,

things that they say she wouldn't be able to do, or brain function, or vital signs, and you know, even talking, man. My daughter, we didn't hear her talk for eight days. And we didn't know if that was cerebrally, we didn't know if that was because of the stroke, we didn't know if that was because she was brain dead. But man, she started to gain steam.

Robert (18:14)
my gosh.

Reggie George (18:26)
every day, every minute, every day. And especially the nine days she was in the ICU, man, like it was, it was a miraculous feat to say the least.

Robert (18:37)
So in the ICU, you're starting to see changes in her already. How long was she in the hospital?

Reggie George (18:42)
Right. Right.

Man, she was in the hospital a total of 92 days.

Robert (18:51)
My gosh over three months

Reggie George (18:53)
over three months, man, we had literally, my wife and I, my daughter, we had literally moved into the hospital. Like they gave us a suite. Because like I said, man, at this point, man, she is, her stroke completely paralyzed everything on the right side of her body. Like man, she couldn't move her eye, mouth, hand, legs, nothing. She's completely immobile.

Man, my 13 year old, she's in a diaper. She's got a feeding tube, man. She probably got three different tubes running out of her brain for one to drain brain fluid, one to drain blood. One, there was like a Frankenstein type knob to keep the swelling down in her brain, man.

Robert (19:48)
And as a dad, I'm thinking you just want to hug your little girl, you know, and you really, you really can't. That's just,

Reggie George (19:48)
Man.

Man.

And then the difficult part, especially the first two days in the ICU, is that you don't know cerebrally if she even knows what's going on. You know, between being super sedated, between the stroke, between the brain damage, like man, you don't even know if your child recognizes you for three or four days. And that's tough.

Robert (20:21)
I don't want to skip ahead too much, but she just graduated from high school. So she must have had a miraculous recovery. And.

Reggie George (20:26)
Amen. Listen.

Man, and that's the beauty of God's creation, man. Her young body started to do what the young body is supposed to do, Like I said, we heard so many different things about what she wouldn't be able to do cerebrally, what she wouldn't be able to do physically, what she wouldn't be able to do. And 60...

65 days of that 92 days, man, we were in a rehab unit where every day, man, she would just, I mean, blow everybody's brain, man. Like, you know, they started out, like I said, in diapers to where she couldn't even use the bathroom by herself, She couldn't, for sure couldn't walk, her brain. She was trying to find words and, you know, couldn't read on a first grade level, but.

By the time we got out of the rehab unit, the only thing that she still couldn't move was her right arm and right hand. But other than that, she had shed everything, You know, one day we would shed the feeding tube, the next day we would shed a drainage tube, and the next day, man, she'd get up and, you know, be attempting to walk and...

speech therapy, man, they're like, man, like I've never seen anything like it. Like, you know, for her brain to be beat up and damaged the way it was, and I'm gonna tell you a quick story, man. We go down to the cafeteria one day where she's able to get out of the unit, and one of the nurses that was in the surgery recognized her, and man, I'm talking about, she is weeping.

Like this is her daughter. And man, she comes over and we don't even know why she's, first of all, we don't know who she is, but she is like, my God. Like I was in your surgery. And I'm saying like she is bald and chronic. Like there is no way that you're down here in this cafeteria eating. And man, like the people,

on this unit, man, everybody was mesmerized, man, like a hundred percent miracle, man. Like I say, if she, and I, and I tell my girls all the time, man, that y 'all are at a place that people ask you the miracle question or ask you the God question, because when they walk in a room, you have to ask which one of y 'all got hurt.

Robert (22:47)
It's a miracle.

Really? There's there's there's no signs there's gosh.

Reggie George (23:06)
And man, that's a, they don't, man, listen, most people would guess it was Kennedy because Camden looked so athletic. She looked so strong. She looked so, man, she had to completely get her left side of her head completely shaved, man. But now she has this, you know, flowing head of hair, man, and, and.

We back on the basketball court, something that we thought we would never be able to do. Like I tell her, man, I've been around people a long time and she is the only person that I know who has brain damage, who is a stroke survivor, and there's no remnants, zero.

Robert (23:53)
That is amazing. That is amazing. Well, you know what? You and your dad, your father said that about having a fighter in her, and she definitely did. That is amazing. Hey, what happened? What happened to that kid? What? Yeah.

Reggie George (24:11)
to the kid, man, that's a good segue, man, because that's really what burnt the brand. Of course, who I am as a father, who my father is, who my grandfather is, man, but for me, as we started to go to these hearings, because they actually charged him with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. So they had him locked up in a juvenile facility.

So eventually we had to start going to the juvenile hearings.

Robert (24:41)
Did you, during this time, did you still have that anger? I mean, I know some of it's probably subsided, but were you still just furious with this guy and?

Reggie George (24:50)
Man, listen, man, I was in as dark a place as this shirt that I got on. And man, even as my baby was getting better, man, I would still be getting, woke up out of my sleep with these almost demonic images of just me hurting this boy and...

Robert (24:57)
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure.

Revenge. Yeah.

Reggie George (25:16)
So to even lay eyes on a man in the courtroom was a tough ordeal. But again, spiritually, I just wanted God to give me a reason. Like God, I need you to give me a reason not to act on what I'm feeling or what I'm thinking. And so I remember maybe about the second time we were in the courtroom, I hear in my head, like, look down there.

And I'm like, nah, man, because I'm already upset. I'm angry. I hate looking at the boy. I hate being in this courtroom. And it kept saying like, you know, look down there. And man, from that point on, when I look, I would always see mom and sister and auntie. And I saw zero male representation at all. I'm talking about like not a brother, not an uncle, anything. And.

And man, I immediately remember having that aha moment with God. He's saying like, man, I'm not, I'm not giving you a reason to forgive him. I'm not giving you a reason not to be angry, but I am giving you a reason to understand why what happened happened. Because if you don't have that male representation, if you don't have that father, that father figure,

You're not rationally thinking I should never approach young girls like this. I should never have to wield a weapon to take up for my sister. And for me, man, that truly became, and I'm talking about literally and figuratively, became the birth of the brand This print right here was designed the next day.

just so me and my dad and my uncles could wear these shirts to the courtroom. Like, this brand never started to be sold or, you know, sought after all over and, you know, all these celebrities wearing it, man. This started for representation inside of a courtroom for my child, who had almost gotten murdered by a boy who, again,

didn't have a father.

Robert (27:30)
Have you had any contact with him, with that boy?

Reggie George (27:34)
Man, Robert I get asked that question all the time, man. I haven't. And even in my forgiveness, man, I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that.

Robert (27:45)
Yeah, yeah.

Reggie George (27:46)
And not to say that I wouldn't invite it, but I would almost be fearful of reopening a door or reopening some emotions that...

Robert (27:54)
Yeah. Was he remorseful at all? Could you ever see any remorse or see?

Reggie George (28:01)
Not even from the beginning, man, he was he was remorseful because I don't think and even for me, man, the first couple of times we met with the lawyers, man, I wanted I wanted an attempted murder charge. I mean, I thought he was trying to kill. But even in his confession, he was remorseful immediately, like, you know, I just want to threaten them. And because what happened was he actually went after Kennedy.

And Camden came to her aid and I guess that's what scared him. And then he just reacted by swinging at her head. But yeah, I mean, he seemed remorseful immediately.

Robert (28:41)
You know, and you go back and you were talking about father figure in his life. There's so much that kids learn from fathers, whether it's that emotional control, the anger control, how to deal with complex situations when you are pushed to the brink. They learn that. They see that from us and they learn that.

You know, it's.

I think it was Myron that brought it up and I totally agree where a mother's job is for nurturing. And then with life and how to deal with life, that's where the father becomes so impactful. And I'm not saying, I'm not discounting some of the single moms out there where there's not a father in the life, whether through...

Reggie George (29:21)
Yeah.

Robert (29:38)
You know, being widowed or the father has absolutely nothing to do with the child. I'm not discounting those efforts by any means, but you know, it's very telling with, you know, when you were in court and there's no father there. I mean, you look at, you know, Myron and I were talking about this. You look at the statistics. The stats are there when there's no father in the home, there's a

significantly higher rate of incarceration, of suicide, of unwanted pregnancies, of not graduating high school. You know, the list goes on and on and it's not even close. It's not even close. These kids just, they don't mature.

Reggie George (30:22)
I mean, and Robert, you know, the old saying says that men lie, women lie, numbers don't. And that's the thing. Sometimes stating the facts sometimes comes off as offensive. Like, you know, you may be watering down motherhood or that's not the case. Like, it's just highlighting the fact that both entities are needed and needed in different ways.

Again, it's the ying and the yang. It's not saying that nurturing is a bad thing, but if a child only gets nurturing, or if they get a mother that's overly hard or has to become like a father figure, now the woman is too hard. Or,

Robert (30:46)
Absolutely.

Reggie George (31:08)
or the child is too soft when she's over nurturing. But if you have both entities, now you get the ying and the yang Because what my wife does, I'm not supposed to do. What I do, she's not supposed to do. And again, in the makeup of the decision making of the character of our children, of the character of how to deal with adversity, how to deal with your emotions, how to deal with, like I say, decision making.

both parties have to play their part. And if that father or that father figure is not there, regardless of how many accomplishments or how many degrees they get or how many, you know, a lot of times we try to match that with accomplishments, but the psyche and the internal part of children who become adults with our father figures, man, that part,

That part is still there. You know, we see it with athletes. We see it with, you know, they, we think because people make it to the NFL and the NBA and like, nah, man, that, that does not fix what's broken. And, and, and all we're talking about, even with this little boy, man, is, is that there's, there's a part of them that does not know how to deal with.

the opposite sex or does not know how to deal with adversity or does not know how to deal with. Again, even for myself, man, like if I have to deal with the range of emotions that I, that I had to deal with, but my only alternative is to. Circum to those emotions and not know how to manage them, not know how to go to the heavenly father, not, not, not know how to go to my physical father.

Then again, man, I'm probably sitting in jail. Now, my kids are without their father. My wife is without her husband. I just completely leave him uncovered because I don't know how to deal with the situation as a man.

Robert (33:14)
Well, sounds like you had a very good role model growing up. Very good role model as to how to deal with situations as a man and as a father.

Reggie George (33:23)
A hundred percent, man. I had several great role models, man. Again, there was a covering even over me in the hospital and, and after man where I understood how important it was to have father figures and, and, and to have, like you say, an umbrella of men that I could really tap into and say, listen, Reg, how you doing?

And then I could really be vulnerable enough to say like, man, I'm not really having a good day. I'm really, I'm really struggling or I'm really, and, and another little story, man, I remember the first time we had to watch the video in the cafeteria. it was my uncles and my dad that was like, man, come on, come on outside. because they understood if any of us watched this, we'll, we'll, we'll never get to a place where.

you don't act on how you see. You know, so even that tells you how important father figures are, how essential they are, because in that situation, we're all thinking the same thing, but it takes them to come and say, listen, man, we're not gonna watch that. Like, I respect the court system, I respect everything, but we're not gonna watch him stab her on camera.

Robert (34:36)
Mm -hmm.

No, no, no, there's no way. There's no possible way. So, you know, when I was introduced to you, I'm like, gosh, his name sounds so familiar. And then when I was told what your company was, Father Figure Apparel, I'm like, that's who that is. And I was introduced to you through, I was introduced to the brand because you're right, a lot of celebrities are wearing.

Reggie George (35:04)
Right.

Robert (35:13)
your shirts, hats, and all of that. I mean, I can't remember if it was Cuttino Mobley who I first saw it with, but you've had several that have really picked up this brand.

Reggie George (35:13)
Thank you.

100 % man. And matter of fact, Deon Sanders was one of the first guys to really put it on the radar, man. And he just got wind of it, you know, just because our slogan is be present, not perfect, man. And man, I had people calling me one day a couple of years ago, like, man, the brand is all over Deon Sanders' page, man. And he's reposting it. I'm like, man, get out of here, man. And I go on there, man, and...

From that point on, man, like, you know, he's just DMing me, man, like, make sure I get some stuff I want to pay for whatever, man, and I want for my whole team. And, you know, whether it's Shaq or, you know, Charlamagne The God on the Breakfast Club, Cuttino Mobley, man, we got a lot of people. And what's great about the brand and the brand message is that all of those people organically, I've never had to...

Robert (36:00)
my gosh.

Yeah. Yeah.

Reggie George (36:20)
to reach out or, you know.

Robert (36:24)
So you've never said, hey, I'm going to send you this shirt or cap. Will you wear it and take a picture? That's amazing.

Reggie George (36:28)
Meh.

Yeah, everything has always been, man, I love the brand, bro. How do I get involved? Or, you know, like everything like me, like even Cuttino man, you would think, you know, I played ball with Cuttino man. We have built a super dope relationship. MyRon even MyRon, man, as close as we become, MyRon was introduced to the brand just through the brand message. And,

Robert (36:48)
He's a good guy.

Reggie George (36:59)
Man, I've never, and that's a blessing on top of a blessing is I've never had to reach out and say, listen, look, man, will you please wear my stuff or, it's always been the exact opposite, man. Like I love the brand. How can I tap in?

Robert (37:15)
That is amazing. And it's amazing where this all started. I mean, it started from tragedy, right? And to kind of a...

you know, a unity of solidarity with, with you and your father and such wearing, you know, wearing father figure to the trials. And then where this has taken off. I mean, that's, that's incredible. And what a great message to what an important message.

Reggie George (37:38)
 man. And this is really been therapeutic for me more than anything because even interviews like this, man, and meeting people like yourself and MyRon like that's what really motivates me and keeps the brand and the brand message going because it's organically reaching platforms and people that.

I have again, just like releasing my baby to God, man. This brand is just one thing. God, I'm gonna let you have your way with it. We do what you do.

Robert (38:15)
So I want to talk to you about fatherhood. You know, I brought this up in the last interview that unfortunately, we are in a very divisive time. There's no gray. It's, you know, you're either one side or the other. It doesn't matter if it's political. It doesn't matter what it is. And I see that a lot.

with fatherhood and the values of fathers, how they are viewed in society. Is there a way to come more center? Is there a way to bring back that role? I mean, I think there is, but what are your thoughts?

Reggie George (38:44)
Yeah.

Yeah, man. Our brand is, the foundation of our brand is scripturally Malachi 4 and 6, man, which says that fathers turn the hearts to the children and children turn the hearts of the father, at least I, I, unlease curse on the earth. And the reason why it specifies...

fathers turn the hearts of the children and the children turn the hearts of the fathers man because it's about leadership, it's about structure, it's about the foundation of a thing and we've we've systemically allowed things to create that gray area that you're talking about, create that that discounted area for fatherhood and man

just because there are so many things, especially in this country that are put in place to diminish the men, to, to diminish the fathers and, or to diminish fatherhood as a whole. and that's where our platform, that's where our brands, that's where our messages have to come, come into place and really highlight that.

that structure, that foundation is still the core of everything. That's the core of the black community, the white community, the Hispanic community. Everything is centered around what kind of men are in that community. And then what kind of fathers are in that community, what kind of father figures are in that community. So if we can't...

get that kind of momentum back and I think we will because I think everybody is starting to have this swing of understanding how important a male figure in our community, in our children's lives.

Robert (40:49)
Yeah. Don't you feel like there's kind of a don't you feel like there's kind of an uprising? Yeah.

Reggie George (40:54)
100%. 100%. And that's because, and that's because I think we're in a space with social media. We're in a, we're in a space with the internet. We're in a space with TV where there's a swing on what we highlight. Now we're high, we're, we're back to highlighting fatherhood and manhood and, and how important it is. And especially,

in times of adversity and in times of conflict and in times of turmoil. Like that's the part that I think we're seeing that uprising is saying that let's highlight what we are, but not only that, let's highlight who we are. You know?

Robert (41:39)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we've swung so far in one direction and it's kind of like, okay, what's missing here? Well, it's pretty easy. Fatherhood and the value of fatherhood, the family unit for one. And you know, fatherhood, fatherhood is absent. And yeah, as you said, men lie, women lie, but stats don't and And that's so true. Hey, look,

I know we're getting to the end of the interview, but, and I want to thank you for coming on. Advice for fathers. What, what advice would you give dads out there?

Reggie George (42:15)
Man, again, and the reason why we came up with our slogan, be present, not perfect is exactly that. Our presence is what's needed more than anything. You know, us being active, us being intentional is far more important than us trying to live some perfect life or be some perfect father or be some perfect father figure.

Because even in my situation, I had to learn how to navigate a space of watching my daughter in the hospital or a space of not acting on emotions and not acting on anger and rage, but being present for my daughters and being present for my family.

That's the piece of advice that I always give because I think a lot of times there is a scale that we grade ourselves on and we allow society to grade us on. Like a lot of times, if you're not getting 100 on the test, people want to diminish what you do. But like in any other walk of life, man, if I'm getting a 90 on my father test, that means I'm getting an A.

You know, but a lot of times we allow people to highlight that 10%. And now we say like, man, he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Robert (43:39)
There you go. And I love that. And don't you think your daughters learn so much more from you knowing that you're not perfect and like, Hey, dad, really dad really messed up on this dad. You know, dad was wrong.

Reggie George (43:47)
Thank you.

and seeing me go to therapy with them, seeing me deal with, man, my daughter, we were riding all the hard, and listen, and I'm gonna tell you a Clark Kent story, man, because this is what really opened my eyes to them being able to see us in our imperfection. Camden and I were riding from a game one day, man, and I was kinda going through it, and I'm telling her like,

Robert (44:00)
Because I know they think you're Superman. I mean, I'm sure they do, you know?

Reggie George (44:21)
You know, that thing kind of took a lot out of that, man. You know, it kind of put me in a dark place and, you know, it really, it really took me down through there. And she like, dad, I know. So I look at her and I'm like, man, how do you know? And man, she says, and I could tell that she had been thinking about it because she said, I had never seen you cry before then. And, and that lets me know just exactly what you just said, bro, is they see us as Superman.

but they gain so much more about us when they see us as Clark Kent. You know what I'm saying? Like I can tell that her admiration just for seeing me cry made her understand how important they are to me. Like, I mean, she immediately said like, dad, cause I've never seen you cry before that.

Robert (44:53)
Yeah, yeah, that's so true.

Do you ever stop hugging those girls?

Reggie George (45:10)
Man, I love all my girls man. Everything is like they have to push me off like man. Get away from me.

Robert (45:12)
hahaha

I just think of man, if, if that had happened to one of my kids, it's, I don't know if I would ever stop, man. It's just, you know, I just, my goodness. I, I, you know, Reggie, I can't believe all that you've gone through and, I just thank you for coming on. I really do. And sharing your story. I mean, I, I really do. And to go from just a nightmare.

I mean, it truly a nightmare that nobody should have to walk through. And gosh, for Camden to come out on the other side and be as she is and just graduate high school and then to your business, Father Figure Apparel and all that it stands for. I mean, that is a blessing, that it truly is.

Reggie George (46:04)
Now, I mean, and I appreciate it more than you know, man, because like I said, for me, it's the purpose behind the brand. It's the purpose behind what happened, but it's also purpose behind building community and creating relationships and alignments, man. Like I love being in spaces that are aligned with each other and help us both highlight.

fatherhood and highlight how important that we are not only to our own children but to those that we have dominion over as well.

Robert (46:40)
You know, that's so important right there, Reggie, is they don't have to be your own. They don't have to be your own children. I mean, kids, you know, I've said this before in other interviews. I mean, So many times coaches are, you know, a father figure to kids and just being a male. And if you see a need, you know, stepping in.

Reggie George (46:46)
100%.

Robert (47:03)
and helping out and just being that positive role model for these kids.

Reggie George (47:09)
And that's the community piece, Again, we grew up, again, I'm 48, and I grew up in communities where it was truly a village, you know? And that's a lot of the piece that we're missing in today's age. And I know it's hard to kind of find that space, man, but...

Robert (47:19)
yeah.

Reggie George (47:31)
any influence over children who might not have a father figure, even this boy that stabbed my daughter. And that's why it's called the father figure movement. Like, it could have been anybody that just poured into him a little bit or made him understand the dynamic between male and female. Made him understand that, you know, we don't physically approach girls like that. So for me, man, that's why it's such a passion to...

Robert (47:47)
Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Reggie George (47:57)
understand the importance of father figures, not just fathers, because again, I'm raised, I've been raised by a man who is not my biological father. But again, based on his presence and based on our relationship, man, like I said, blood couldn't bring us any closer.

Robert (48:14)
Well, you know what? You have two wonderful daughters. I've seen them online when you post pictures of them. They're beautiful, but they have one amazing dad as well. They definitely do. And I know they're very appreciative of you. Hey, I want to, I want to give you time to promote, father figure apparel, how, and everything else. You've got a podcast you've, you know, you do public speaking. How can people find you?

Reggie George (48:39)
Man, of course, on social media platforms, man, we're on Instagram as Father Figure Apparel on there. We're also on Instagram, the Father Figure podcast. We're on most of the audio platforms, but we're definitely on YouTube, the Father Figure, the F2 Father Figure podcast on YouTube. We also have our site, which is www.

That's the old school www .fatherfiguremovement .com, man. So those are the ways to get in touch, to get involved, to just check us out, and hopefully help, like you say, bridge this gap, on fatherhood.

Robert (49:20)
There you go, and I've already told you before, I'm ordering a shirt from you. I already know the one that I picked out. So you'll be getting an order being shipped to Atlanta soon, so just know that. But.

Reggie George (49:32)
Nah, I got you man. I'm gonna put you some. I'm putting some surprise items in there too.

Robert (49:36)
No, you don't need to do that. Look, you coming on is a huge gift for me. I mean, it really is. And I appreciate you coming on. And I hope we have other conversations in the future as well.

Reggie George (49:48)
100 % man, I'm definitely gonna have you have you on the father figure podcast man. So be looking for that invite.

Robert (49:54)
All right, sounds good. Reggie, thank you again for coming on. Okay. And hey, thank you all for listening to Dad Dad's podcast. You can find us on Spotify or Apple podcast, as well as on YouTube and Instagram. And don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button so you don't miss any future episodes and we'll see you all next time.