0:02

As an original member of Charlie Dayton's

0:05

PR media relations staff, Bruce

0:07

Spate remembers long hours, lots of

0:09

work, but in a uniquely collaborative

0:11

atmosphere. When Charlie gave us a task,

0:14

we worked out a wan Of University out

0:16

of wanth Of Coliseum. We just worked.

0:19

You just grind it and we

0:21

enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun. Like

0:23

many in media relations, Bruce Spate is a

0:25

rememberer and he has some great stories

0:27

to share. Next on the podcast, five

0:32

Seasons of Panthers Football, a

0:34

celebration of the players, coaches and

0:36

other people who have contributed to the organizational

0:39

success. Now to mcmixon,

0:43

we are privileged to have as our guest

0:45

on the podcast now as we celebrate, as the

0:47

Big Boy said, twenty five years

0:49

of Carolina Panther football. The incomparable

0:52

Bruce Spate sp e I G h. D.

0:55

Legendary media relations

0:57

guru here with the Panthers in the early

0:59

days, a k A. Bobo?

1:01

How did you get that nicknamed Bobo? I got

1:03

it from you Bow. I

1:06

told that story later in the podcast. You

1:08

go from Howard University graduate then

1:11

joining the Panther staff. How many years after

1:13

that, five years after that, what did you

1:15

do in the interim? UH? When I came

1:17

out of Howard University, UM, I

1:20

was doing the term paper my senior

1:22

year for a class and UM

1:25

I always wanted to be involved in sports, and

1:28

UM I asked the UH. I

1:31

was doing the term paper on minorities and sports,

1:33

and I called the Washington Redskins. At the

1:35

time, Bobby Mitchell, who was the

1:37

first African American player ever to play for the

1:40

Redskins, UM was the assistant

1:42

general manager and I just cold called

1:44

him nasal when he talked to me from my term paper. Went

1:46

out to Redskins Park. I was a big time Redskins

1:49

fan growing up, went to every prey when

1:51

they won the Super Bowl. UM, weeks

1:53

were long when they lost, and

1:56

I couldn't believe I was going to Redskins Park. Sat

1:59

down with Bobby Mitchell, talked to me from my paper,

2:02

and UM I was kind of contained

2:04

myself because I'm like, there's Joe Gibbs, there's

2:06

different guys like walking through the lobby. And

2:08

at the end of the time, when you talked

2:11

about my talked about my turn paper,

2:13

I asked him, I said, I don't know how all this stuff works.

2:15

But y'all have internships or something.

2:18

And he took me down and introduced

2:20

me to Charlie Dayton and that's the first

2:22

time I met Charlie. And um,

2:25

he was a vice president of communications for the

2:27

regul at the time. And then that was

2:29

before computers and Twitter and

2:31

social media and all that stuff. Typed

2:33

up my resume, he says, seemi a resume and cover that

2:35

had typed it up, mailed it in or

2:38

maybe facted, and I think a fact machine was around

2:40

at that time. And Charlie gave me

2:42

a training camp internship

2:44

in ninety with the Washington Redskins.

2:47

Uh. Joe Gibbs was a head coach, Mark

2:49

Rippon was a quarterback. Uh

2:52

Todd Bowles was a safety on that team.

2:54

So yep. Then

2:56

I went to graduate school for sports administration

2:58

at Ohio University. UM.

3:02

After that worked at Hoop It Up three

3:04

and three basketball company.

3:07

Then Hoop It Up an NFL aired out for a couple

3:09

of years. Then Charlie left the Redskins,

3:12

came to the Panthers and asked it I want to join them,

3:14

And that's how I ended up here in ninety five. From

3:16

where in your background, Bruce, does

3:18

your work ethic come my

3:21

parents? Um?

3:23

You know my mom, uh,

3:26

she was an organist for arch and still isn't noticed

3:28

for our church for over thirty years.

3:30

And she was an elementary music school teacher. And

3:33

my dad worked in public school education.

3:35

He was a um A

3:37

teacher and the vice principal. But it

3:40

was funny. I remember my dad. He never

3:42

cared a briefcase. He organized his stuff,

3:45

all his work, all his files in a brown

3:47

box and he would bring it back and forth

3:49

to work. And I remember as a child

3:51

and looking at that, that kind of taught

3:53

me the lesson is it's not about the stylus, about

3:55

the substance. And that's something that I,

3:58

you know, always tried to carry forth pretty

4:00

squared away. It sounds like, so,

4:03

so you joined Charlie Dayton staff. The Panthers

4:05

have just gotten an NFL team. The region

4:08

is alive with excitement. What was it like

4:10

in those early days trying to put a staff together

4:13

and do your work? Man, that was incredible

4:16

amount of fund um.

4:19

One thing about it is Charlie hired

4:22

everybody on Charlie's Charlie staff.

4:24

It was myself, it was um

4:26

Lex Sant and it was D D.

4:28

Mills for us. It was all

4:31

our first full time season in

4:33

the NFL. None of us had any experience

4:35

at all, so I think it almost

4:37

um worked out better because

4:40

we had no expectations. We didn't have a baseline

4:42

for how much work it would require. So

4:44

when Charlie gave us a task, we worked

4:46

out of Rantham University, out of Wantham

4:49

Coliseum. We just worked. We

4:51

just grind it and we

4:53

enjoyed it, and we had a lot of fun. Me and Lex

4:56

we shared the same office. Um our

4:59

desks used to each other, so

5:01

every conversation I had he heard, every

5:03

conversation he had I heard.

5:06

Um. We were both dating women at the time

5:08

that would eventually become our wife, so we

5:10

got to know each other. Lex and I got to know each

5:12

other very very well. And I remember,

5:15

you know when they started, Uh,

5:17

we had to come up with credentials, and Charlie brought

5:20

me a box of credentials and

5:22

he said, here's credentials from all the other teams

5:24

in the NFL. Figure out how I'm gonna

5:26

do our credential and playing Okay,

5:29

we went into his office one day and he sat

5:31

down and put a a pad

5:33

of paper on a like

5:36

a yellow you know Stino pad, and he drew

5:38

a line down the middle and he said

5:41

credentials. Who wants these? And

5:43

then I was like, I'll take those. Lex said game

5:45

program and he would just write down

5:48

and pencil who was doing exactly

5:50

what. So it was a very old school approach.

5:52

But you know, we worked at credit, worked incredibly

5:55

hard, but didn't know any different, didn't

5:57

have anything to compare it to, and you

5:59

know, had a out of fun and which was funny because

6:01

we always think about at that time,

6:03

like, hey, we're just starting this team,

6:06

and I wonder what it's gonna be like when

6:08

you have a whole generation of people

6:10

to kind of grow up looking back

6:13

and saying, wow, we grew up Panthers fans

6:15

and we just had the kind of special opportunity

6:17

to be in being it from the ground floor.

6:21

Bruce Spade our guest on the podcast.

6:23

We're talking with Bruce from the Charlie Dayton

6:25

press Box the Lanktonian Institute of Broadcasting

6:28

Studios. Charlie has been a guest on this

6:30

podcast. What did you learn from him?

6:32

Bof what

6:34

I learned from Charlie is

6:37

shoot die. I

6:40

couldn't. I still

6:42

can't Cathole in all the lessons that I learned from him

6:44

or put him in perspective. But one

6:47

thing I learned from Charlie he was always

6:49

the same person, UM, whether

6:51

the team was going well or you know,

6:54

you know, whether we were facing challenges. He

6:56

was the same person every day. Always

6:58

had a very even

7:00

kill about himself. UM was

7:03

very approachable and very

7:06

selfless. Always put others

7:08

above himself. UM always

7:10

put the your organization first. And UM

7:14

incredibly smart, but in a very

7:16

humble kind of manner. Um,

7:19

you brought a problem. You know, people would bring

7:21

all the type of challenges and problems to

7:23

Charlie and sometimes

7:26

it felt like you had the weight of the world on his shoulders,

7:28

but you could never see it. You could

7:30

never see it. Charlie hild

7:33

And holds Mr Richardson in high

7:35

regard and has spoken eloquently

7:38

about that. What was your relationship like with

7:40

Mr Richardson? UM, I would say

7:42

Charlie Baton and Mr Richardson

7:44

probably had from an NFL

7:47

you know, my career, from an NFL standpoint,

7:50

they probably had the most, um significant

7:52

impact on me. Mr

7:55

Richardson invested, you

7:57

know, countless hours. Um

7:59

in personally, UM

8:02

and professionally. UM

8:05

knows my wife, Uh knows, my

8:07

uh knows, my two daughters, my wife Angel

8:10

and my two daughters, Bailly and Brandon.

8:12

Um. When he was making

8:15

key decisions in in the franchise, you

8:17

know history, it was

8:19

not in common for him to stop by the desk and kind

8:21

of he come on down, I want you

8:23

to see this and just exposed me to it and

8:26

talked me through the different

8:28

things that he was going through in his head as he

8:30

made a decision and why he made

8:33

um different decisions. Um.

8:36

From a career standpoint, Um,

8:39

you know, I was here for twelve years and I went to work for

8:41

the Jets. Instrumental

8:43

part of me getting a job with

8:46

the Jets was just Mr Richardson speaking

8:49

on about my behalf to Mr Mr

8:51

Woodie Johnson at the Jets. So, UM,

8:55

how he built the team.

8:58

Why he sat in the end zone because

9:00

as a player, he wanted he was

9:02

used to seeing him from an exit and those in the game

9:04

film perspective, So that's why he wanted

9:07

his suite um in the end

9:09

zone. Um.

9:11

Just um,

9:13

all those different lessons um

9:16

that he taught me walking through the office. You

9:18

know who wants barbecue, will be going down the City

9:20

of Arts, sit down at Arts Barbecue.

9:22

And he want to know from all levels

9:25

of the organization, not just the people that reported

9:27

directly to him, UM,

9:29

what was going on UM with the

9:31

team, and and how we could work and how

9:34

we could get better. So I

9:36

just can't say enough about how much he invested

9:38

in any personally. One of the first

9:40

things new employees heard back in the those days

9:43

working when Mr Richarson is number one, you don't

9:45

call him Jerry, you call him Mr Richardson.

9:48

And then if he comes down to your office, even

9:50

if it's three o'clock in the afternoon or twelve thirty or

9:52

whatever, and that's if you've had lunch, you say

9:54

no, even if you just ate a full on sirloin

9:56

steak Intrust, because you were

9:58

going to be going to lunch with Well,

10:01

for me, I would always say if I had lunch,

10:04

I would tell him yes, but I'm always But I was a younger

10:06

guy then, so I was like, you know, yes,

10:08

but I'm always down for more, especially when it came

10:10

to Arch Barbecue. That's

10:13

fantastic. Bruce bade our guest on the

10:15

podcast one of the originals from the back

10:17

of the media relations era and

10:19

what do you what are some of your favorite people,

10:22

memories, games, characters

10:24

from back in those days, Bruce, all time

10:26

favorite player. UM. Sam

10:29

Mills just

10:31

different in terms of his leadership,

10:35

his uh humility. UM.

10:38

I remember the day he came

10:40

here from the Saints and he came on his free agent visit.

10:43

UM, and he eventually signed that night, but he

10:45

sat in my office and he kind of talked to me about

10:49

why he was gonna sign with

10:51

the Panthers, and he was like, Bruce,

10:54

the money from both places of the same UM,

10:57

But I wanted here. I wanted

11:00

year, and I felt I can come here

11:02

and I can make a difference. And I

11:04

like it because nobody can say

11:07

I left for the money or I can say anything

11:09

else. They can say I left. Everything was equal,

11:12

and I left and I wanted to be here. Um

11:15

in Carolina. His ability to lead

11:17

men, you know, Uh, I

11:20

remember on the January it

11:22

was, you know, like January.

11:25

I think we run in the playoffs at that particular

11:28

time where it was maybe a February and he's

11:30

the only one in the run on the treadmill

11:33

And I said, Sam, you know, when do you

11:35

take a break and he said, Bruce and may you got

11:37

you can't. You gotta stay in shake. You can't

11:39

get out of shape, and you gotta keep running.

11:42

And he said, I said, well, what do you think about when

11:44

you run on the treadmill? And he said,

11:47

I think about all the other inside line box NFL,

11:49

and I think about the fact that there running.

11:52

I think about Jesse Tuggle of the Falcons, he's

11:55

running somewhere. I think about I

11:57

don't know who the other I can't remember who the other Ken Norton,

12:00

Ken Norton somewhere running and I can't

12:02

lose ground. And I remember the story

12:04

he told me about when he was

12:07

UM. And I've told this stories to other undrafted

12:09

rookies. He said, when

12:12

he was trying out for different teams and

12:14

he was trying to make it into the league. UM,

12:17

somebody had told him it's gonna

12:19

be a day where when you're at training camp

12:21

when all the other veterans are tired and

12:24

nobody wants to practice, and you can

12:26

feel that the team is a little down and

12:28

a little you know, exhausted. He

12:31

said, those are your days that you

12:33

rise to be a cage and those are your days that you show

12:35

that that you can make a difference. Those are the days

12:38

that you make your impact. And I remember whenever

12:40

I, you know, maybe a friend of particular,

12:43

rookie free agent or undrafted free agent,

12:45

because Sam was an undrafted free agent, I

12:47

tell them about that story that Sam Mills, and I was

12:49

like, there's gonna come a time in training camp when you're

12:52

tired and everybody's tired and nobody wants to do it.

12:54

Those are the days that you can make your mark. Those

12:57

are the days that you can separate yourself U

13:00

m uh Julius Peppers

13:03

phenomenal athletes, Steve Smith

13:06

phenomenal athlete. Remember one day at practice,

13:09

um Julius

13:11

had running gassers with the defensive line,

13:14

and Uh, the

13:17

skilled positions asked him, challenged him

13:19

and said can you keep up with

13:22

us? And then after running gas with defensive

13:24

line, he ran gassers at the pace

13:26

that the skilled position players ran. And

13:29

then he came in the locker room and I remember

13:31

one day we were joking in the locker room

13:33

and talking about if you had to start a four by

13:35

one hundred team, on a four by four

13:38

hundred team, who are the four players you would want

13:40

on your team, and then that will be Julius Pepper's

13:42

name came up every time in terms

13:45

of being on that UM relay

13:48

team. UM, Steve Smith, the

13:51

competitiveness. You know, a lot of people

13:53

look at Steve Smith now, but I remember

13:55

when Steve was a returner and he

13:57

was drafted as a returner. He wasn't drafted as

13:59

a while receiver. And I

14:01

think he had ten catches his

14:04

rookie year. And to watch him

14:06

work and literally will himself into

14:09

becoming one of the game's great

14:11

wide receivers. His level of competitiveness,

14:14

his fearlessness. Two thousand five,

14:16

going against the Chicago Bears vone at defense

14:19

and players were dropping left and right because of

14:21

injuries, and everybody on that and

14:24

UM and Soldiers field new Steve Smith

14:26

was getting the ball, and Steve Smith would

14:28

get the ball and he was still productive,

14:31

just incredible. And then the third story that kind

14:33

of sticks out to me is UM, we

14:36

lost the Super Bowl UM to

14:39

the Patriots. And during

14:41

that game, UM, John

14:43

Casey had the unfortunate thing

14:47

of hitting that kickoff UM

14:50

out of bounds and the Patriots started

14:52

their last drive at the fourth yardline. That would have, you

14:54

know, result in the winning field goal.

14:57

And I remember John Casey uh

15:00

standing at his locker after

15:02

the game, full

15:04

uniform and

15:07

addressing every media question until

15:09

they were finished asking them questions at the game,

15:11

and a couple of times, you know, typically in PR,

15:14

if it's run a certain amount of time, you try to end the

15:16

press conference. And I said,

15:18

hey, we can stop now. He was like, Bruce, No, I'm

15:21

gonna be here and I'm gonna answer every question until

15:24

they're finished. You know, That's the least that I can do.

15:26

And just that incredible display of accountability

15:29

is something that I will I will never forget. Bruce's

15:33

roots go into PR media relations.

15:35

He's now back with the Panthers August returned

15:38

to US as a manager social engagement

15:41

and alumni affairs. Have Have

15:43

you enjoyed your new responsibilities

15:45

back here, Bruce Um? You

15:48

know, for me, it's been a great opportunity. I worked

15:50

with Stephen Drummond

15:53

and Ryan Anderson and Preston

15:55

Edwards and Maria Vanderfrid

15:57

and PR. I worked with Riley Fields,

16:00

Jill Cole and Lanny Hudson

16:02

and Aaron and Trip and

16:05

um Kyl and Heather and cr

16:07

and then I work with my old friend good old friend

16:09

Demonroe, UM and alumni affairs,

16:12

and you know, it's just been great to be back and UM

16:14

connecting with all the you know, new

16:16

friends and old friends. And I just thank with

16:18

the loyerd bless me with this opportunity. You're

16:21

like, oh, positive blood, You're the universal

16:23

donor on the second floor. You can you go

16:25

anywhere and do anything. It's amazing what

16:28

you do. But one or two last

16:30

questions for you, and then we'll tell how you got the nickname

16:32

of Bobo. Bruce baid our guest

16:34

on the podcast. How how do you know? Because

16:36

football it's it's it's

16:39

not always smooth sailing. Their life intervenes.

16:41

There are controversies. There are like

16:43

Sam Mills when Sam Mills got sick. There are other

16:45

things that happened. Happened with the Jets

16:48

and then with the Panthers. How do you know how to handle

16:51

those and how to how to represent your

16:53

organization to the media and vice versa

16:55

in the way that you do UM. I

16:58

think number one, I had great teacher UM

17:01

and Charlie Dayton, and I

17:04

think over the years you just encounter UM

17:06

every time something comes up, every time a Christis

17:09

situation comes up, you know, you

17:11

would never be have a pitt in your stomach because

17:14

you're not not for yourself, but you want to be able

17:16

to do what's right, um, for the

17:18

your organization. And I think over time,

17:20

as you see more, you know, see more things

17:22

and encounter different challenges,

17:25

the pitt in your stomach last shorter

17:27

and shorter, and you can kind of get to

17:30

the point. And I think, Uh, for

17:32

me personally, I always try to take the approach,

17:35

um that we're gonna be loyal to the truth and

17:38

then um, we're gonna we're

17:40

not gonna do what's right for ourselves. We're

17:42

gonna you know, you just kind of continue trying to focus

17:45

on doing what's right for the

17:47

your organization. Um. So

17:50

trying to keep those two thoughts in my mind,

17:52

um, and in the minds of the people that you're working

17:54

with. Front and center the Great

17:57

Bruce Spait on the podcast all right, last thing,

17:59

I've had to watch myself during this interview with

18:01

you to call you by your proper name, because it

18:03

makes me want to call you just when I see you sitting there, I

18:05

want to say, hey, bo, bo, what about this? When did this happen?

18:08

So? How did you get that nickname. I

18:10

think we got it one night. We were in the conversation

18:14

and um, it was me you

18:17

who was he? Who was the intern? Bow

18:19

Round bow Roun? Yeah? Uh

18:22

what was Brian? Yeah, Stephen

18:24

Drummond was and Brian Stephen Drummond. But I

18:26

can't remember the specific

18:28

conversation. And we said, we're gonna come up with the

18:31

podcast. Let me tell you something. That's

18:34

right, we did before podcast

18:36

had even been invented. What happened was, I

18:38

remember I had agreed to host

18:42

some tours of fans through

18:44

the stadium, so I've only been working

18:46

with you guys for a short period of time. And I came

18:49

up the elevator and I went into your office

18:51

and you're sitting there with with Stephen and and

18:54

bow Round the rest of them. We didn't know what we were gonna call

18:56

him that. You nicknamed him that, and I

18:58

said, I cannot stand to be called bo.

19:00

I said. This couple from Fattville just braced me up

19:02

against the wall and said, he Bow, can you tell

19:05

me why we drove all the way up here from Faville and

19:07

we didn't get Jake de looms autograph. I mean,

19:09

call me anything but that. So then immediately

19:11

you started calling me Bo, you

19:14

became Bobo. Let me tell you something,

19:17

Let me tell you something both. I still

19:19

think you got you and Stephen Drummond should do that.

19:21

That would kill Let me tell you something,

19:23

Bo. No, let me tell you something Bo. Y'all used

19:25

to slug it out in the best possible

19:27

way. Bruce. I appreciate you. It's an

19:30

honor to work with you and have you on the podcast, and

19:32

welcome back home, and thanks for what you do for the Carolina

19:34

Pan anything for you, Bo. We'll

19:39

continue our historical perspective of

19:42

the first quarter century of Panther football next

19:44

time, right here on the podcast.