Former Denver Nuggets player and longtime Altitude analyst Bill Hanzlik joins Tom Green to reflect on his basketball journey—from Notre Dame and the NBA to becoming a fixture in Colorado sports and community leadership. Hanzlik shares stories from the high-scoring Nuggets teams of the 1980s, what it was like playing for legendary coach Doug Moe, and how he carved out a role in the NBA as a defensive “pest.” The conversation also dives into today’s NBA, including the physical defense Denver faces from Oklahoma City and players like Lu Dort. Beyond basketball, Hanzlik explains the mission behind the Gold Crown Foundation, the youth sports and education nonprofit he helped build into one of Colorado’s most impactful community organizations. From girls basketball camps in the 1980s to serving thousands of kids each year through sports, STEM programs, and career readiness initiatives, Hanzlik discusses how Gold Crown continues to grow and shape young lives across the state.
Tom Green welcomes longtime Denver sports figure Bill Hanzlik for a wide-ranging conversation about basketball, coaching, and community impact. Hanzlik reflects on his unlikely path to the NBA, including how his defensive mindset helped him stand out at Notre Dame and eventually carve out a role with the Denver Nuggets. He shares behind-the-scenes stories from the Nuggets’ fast-paced 1980s teams under coach Doug Moe and explains why that system fit his game perfectly.
The conversation also touches on the modern NBA, including the Nuggets’ battles with Oklahoma City and the physical defensive style that players like Lu Dort bring against Nikola Jokić. Hanzlik explains how he approached being a defensive agitator during his playing career and how that mentality translates to today’s game.
Beyond basketball, Hanzlik discusses the origins of the Gold Crown Foundation, the nonprofit he co-founded to provide youth sports and educational opportunities in Colorado. What began as a girls basketball camp in the 1980s has grown into a large organization serving thousands of kids each year through athletics, STEM education, career readiness programs, and community outreach. Hanzlik shares how Gold Crown expanded its facilities, the impact it’s had on young athletes and families, and plans for a major new sports complex that could double the number of kids the organization serves.
The episode closes with stories from Hanzlik’s broadcasting career and reflections on the friendships and experiences that have defined more than four decades in Colorado sports.
00:00 – Tom Green’s path to Colorado and ESPN
02:09 – Bill Hanzlik arrives in Denver after NBA trade
04:17 – Becoming a defensive stopper at Notre Dame
06:00 – Notre Dame teammates and future NBA talent
07:41 – Being an NBA “pest” and dealing with physical play
08:28 – Nuggets vs. Oklahoma City and Lu Dort’s defense
09:12 – Playing in Doug Moe’s fast-paced Nuggets offense
10:58 – The high-scoring Nuggets teams of the 1980s
12:39 – Doug Moe’s coaching style and player freedom
16:43 – Playing center and guarding NBA big men
17:36 – Coaching the Nuggets and the 1997 season
20:16 – The origins of the Gold Crown Foundation
22:04 – Why girls basketball camps started in the 1980s
23:28 – Building facilities and expanding youth programs
25:34 – STEM education and career readiness initiatives
28:39 – New sports programs including girls flag football
30:31 – Youth sports, officiating shortages, and parents
31:13 – How youth sports culture has changed
33:24 – Plans for a new Gold Crown sports complex
36:14 – Gold Crown fundraising and March Madness picks
37:00 – Broadcasting and working with Vic Lombardi
39:30 – Memories of covering the Nuggets in the 1980s
42:31 – ESPN’s early days and “Shot of the Day” story
44:40 – Final thoughts on Hanzlik’s impact in Colorado
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00;00;01;19 - 00;00;26;22
Tom Green
Hi, there. Welcome to another edition of the other Tom green show. One of the things I like doing on this show is, is wandering back through time and trying to understand how people end up where they are today and why. Often it just seems to fit. In my case, how I ended up in Colorado was this confluence of good luck that just kept finding me and opening doors for me.
00;00;26;24 - 00;00;49;06
Tom Green
I got my first real professional TV job, but, TV in New Haven, Connecticut. While I was working there at a very entry level position, just about 25 miles to the north in Bristol, Connecticut, a start up got underway named ESPN. Well, they hired anybody with a pulse. And, what they would do is hire people from Connecticut.
00;00;49;06 - 00;01;06;17
Tom Green
They were nearby. So they hired some of the people from my station, and they were kind enough to tell them, hey, there's a kid down the road who knows everything about sports. We should bring him up here for an interview. And I went up there and I left WTNH, as a very young man, to go work at ESPN.
00;01;06;20 - 00;01;29;06
Tom Green
The boss I left at WTNH is a man named Tom Kirby. Tom Kirby, while I was gone for more than a year up in Bristol, became the news director at what was then Cbc-tv, now KUSA here in Denver. He became the the boss of the newsroom in Denver, Colorado. And he called me up one day and said, I've got an opening.
00;01;29;08 - 00;01;45;17
Tom Green
The reason was Jim Gray was leaving. Jim Gray had been working at an entry level job on the air for Nine News. Well, Tom Kirby called me up and invited me to come on out and try to get some air time, try to break into the career I'd always wanted as a sportscaster. And I ended up moving to Denver.
00;01;45;20 - 00;02;09;00
Tom Green
And now, 40 plus years later, here I am still in Colorado. We're going to track, another story of how a man ended up in Colorado and has made a big difference here in our state. The path to Colorado with Bill hands look next.
00;02;09;03 - 00;02;16;15
Tom Green
And here he is. Bill hands like long time friend. You and I both got to Colorado in 1982.
00;02;16;18 - 00;02;17;18
Bill Hanzlik
That's right, that's right.
00;02;17;18 - 00;02;30;24
Tom Green
And you got to. Yeah, you got here. It's a very strange story. People always reflect on it. The short version is David Thompson had run out of rope here in Colorado, and they sent him to Seattle and they got you. But in.
00;02;30;24 - 00;02;31;17
Bill Hanzlik
A first round pick.
00;02;31;17 - 00;02;41;20
Tom Green
Right. Rob Williams but that's not how it first worked out. They tried to get Wally Walker and then there was some. The NBA didn't like that trade. It had to do with a person's rights and all that. And they said.
00;02;41;20 - 00;02;43;00
Bill Hanzlik
You got agency and.
00;02;43;00 - 00;02;54;28
Tom Green
Start again. And it's funny because you think of your entire lifetime afterwards has been centered here in Colorado. And you just wondered, like it wasn't like you chose Colorado.
00;02;55;01 - 00;03;16;27
Bill Hanzlik
No, but but it it perfection. I can't I can't say how great it is, but you're kind of like you're your story. And I had come back from our honeymoon, my wife and I, and I just happened to call Seattle and say, hey, just checking in. We're getting mail in the. And the secretary says, hey, the GM wants to talk to you.
00;03;16;28 - 00;03;29;05
Bill Hanzlik
Well, that's not so good that Doug did. The GM and I write down on a piece of paper. My wife's right there. Denver and Mary Beth grew up in Denver, and she was like, yeah, so get traded Denver. That was.
00;03;29;05 - 00;03;44;20
Tom Green
Great. And it's funny because we talk about you played it collegiately for Digger Phelps. You go to Seattle as a first round draft pick and you play for Lenny Wilkens, one of the all timers. And then you come here and you've spent eight years with Doug Moe, one of the all time.
00;03;44;22 - 00;03;48;13
Bill Hanzlik
That's that's two ends of the spectrum coaching wise right there.
00;03;48;13 - 00;03;58;29
Tom Green
But you all I mean, three legendary coaches. I mean, that's also when you talk about good fortune, you you also could have ended up anywhere with anyone. And these were good landing spots.
00;03;58;29 - 00;04;17;18
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. And especially with Doug because, face it, I was your. Whatever I was. Average size, below average speed. Can't jump. I could run all day, but that was Doug. Doug was a running. If I was in some pattern or offensive system, I don't know if I would have lasted in the NBA.
00;04;17;20 - 00;04;36;01
Tom Green
We'll talk a lot about Doug in a minute, but your path to the NBA was interesting because there's a high school player. You were an offensive player, you scored, you were the leading scorer in your team at Notre Dame is when you made that transition or had to make the transition to become a stopper, a guy who was out there like a glue guy, if you will.
00;04;36;03 - 00;04;40;09
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, I had this competitive nature about me, which most people had.
00;04;40;11 - 00;04;41;21
Tom Green
You still have.
00;04;41;23 - 00;05;06;26
Bill Hanzlik
So yeah, there were so many, all Americans, great players from big cities, L.A., New York, Washington. And how was I going to crack, you know, how was I going to crack some playing time? Well, my break really became my sophomore year. We're playing a national broadcast game against Marquette. It's a CBS big game. Back then. It you know, not every game was on TV.
00;05;06;26 - 00;05;07;09
Tom Green
Then.
00;05;07;11 - 00;05;31;20
Bill Hanzlik
You know, if you're on, that was really big. So I'm on the bench and we get down early. And Marquette had a player named Butch Lee was the player All-American. Yeah, All-American. And my coach, digger Phelps, said, you to go in, you got you got to put the clamps on him. Well, I did him up. I'm not so sure he end up shooting five for 19.
00;05;31;20 - 00;05;45;04
Bill Hanzlik
I don't know if that was all my defense or he just had an offensive shooting night. Well, I become player of the game and that sort of injected life into my defensive abilities that that gave me playing time. And later on the.
00;05;45;04 - 00;06;00;27
Tom Green
NBA, you also played with a lot of NBA talent at Notre Dame. I mean, you played with some great players, including, you know, some of those guys. Are you Kelly, Tre Puka and his connection to Denver, of course, with with Frank being the first Broncos quarterback. Yeah. And Orlando Woolridge ended.
00;06;00;27 - 00;06;01;27
Bill Hanzlik
Up playing you a little bit.
00;06;01;27 - 00;06;03;14
Tom Green
Yeah. But you played with.
00;06;03;15 - 00;06;03;23
Bill Hanzlik
We.
00;06;03;26 - 00;06;04;12
Tom Green
We.
00;06;04;14 - 00;06;27;05
Bill Hanzlik
Tom we we we should have won the tournament. We should have won this maybe multiple times. But but anyway, during my four years we had 13 guys play in the NBA and not for a cup of coffee. I'm talking metal over the years. And I always say that, okay, here's our NBA playoff roster. John Paxson and I would be the guards.
00;06;27;08 - 00;06;35;11
Bill Hanzlik
Kelly, if you got Orlando George Fords and everybody's favored Bill Laimbeer would be the center. You know that that's an NBA playoff team.
00;06;35;13 - 00;06;47;15
Tom Green
Scott Hastings told me about when he got traded to Detroit about Laimbeer. And he wasn't kidding around about being physical and being a Punisher, if you will. Was he that way in college?
00;06;47;16 - 00;07;05;20
Bill Hanzlik
You know, and let it take a while to describe Laimbeer. But but but most of the time you just say, lam shut up and quit being a jerk. You know, if he's on your team, you love him. If he's on the other team, you hate him. Well, but he he had a committed nature about him, too.
00;07;05;21 - 00;07;14;20
Tom Green
You were the same way, though. You were a pest, if you will. And anybody who plays defense in the NBA is considered a pest. Yeah, but that that's how you made.
00;07;14;20 - 00;07;17;23
Bill Hanzlik
Pressure with the nuggets because we didn't there weren't a lot of pests on.
00;07;17;23 - 00;07;18;20
Tom Green
Our team. You and TR.
00;07;18;22 - 00;07;22;20
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah TR and I the two guys played some defense and everybody else shot the.
00;07;22;20 - 00;07;41;11
Tom Green
Ball well. So you end up in Denver and you play the role of pest. So let's go to the present. And the nuggets are having problems with a pest now in Oklahoma City Lou Dort. So you as a career pest to at one point got Ralph Sampson ejected for trying to punch you out.
00;07;41;12 - 00;07;44;07
Bill Hanzlik
Trying to rearrange my dental work.
00;07;44;09 - 00;07;50;10
Tom Green
What do you what do you see when you see the Dort incidents with Joker over the last couple of weeks?
00;07;50;13 - 00;07;53;22
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. He crossed the line. There's no question. I mean, I.
00;07;53;29 - 00;07;55;13
Tom Green
He always does that, doesn't he?
00;07;55;13 - 00;08;07;11
Bill Hanzlik
I yeah, I would play and I would use everything up to the line, but I was not going to throw a punch an elbow, do anything that might take money out of the pocket because my wife would be really mad at me.
00;08;07;11 - 00;08;08;19
Tom Green
A upset if you get fined.
00;08;08;21 - 00;08;28;01
Bill Hanzlik
But but you play outside. Yeah. That door. I mean, Oklahoma City. I love their coach. Knows how to coach their front office. Incredible. The talent they have acquired. And they have all these draft picks on top of it. I mean they're they're they're they are loaded. They're deep. But they play a physical defense. And that's what you got to have to move on.
00;08;28;01 - 00;08;30;15
Bill Hanzlik
And in the NBA you better be able to defend.
00;08;30;15 - 00;08;37;18
Tom Green
What do you do if you're the nuggets about Dort. Do you just do you move on or do you have to do something. Do you have to.
00;08;37;20 - 00;08;56;05
Bill Hanzlik
I don't you don't want to if you get in the game or you're tit for tat, that kind of stuff, it's going to throw your game off. So you just kind of play with it and, you know it. Or. Interesting that the last game they should have had Dort shoot the ball because the guy can't shoot that well, so but whatever.
00;08;56;06 - 00;09;12;04
Tom Green
Instead of Testa doing his thing. So in your playing career, you, you had times when you were asked to shoot the ball, you're comfortable shooting the ball. You wanted to shoot the ball. Doug didn't want you to shoot the ball or did he?
00;09;12;06 - 00;09;15;07
Bill Hanzlik
He didn't go as far as to. He told T.R. never to shoot it.
00;09;15;08 - 00;09;16;07
Tom Green
Never, never.
00;09;16;13 - 00;09;47;18
Bill Hanzlik
Not just the game. Never, ever. And then he had a layup and he passed it up. And Doug said, I didn't mean ever to shoot the layup. But yeah, I mean, in Doug's system, there was a lot of freedom to do it. And, you know, I had I had a couple years where I, I think the, the interesting part, we had a bunch of injuries one year and I played a whole bunch and, and I remember the media relations guy said, hey, hey, you know, if you get 22 or something in the next game, you're going to be in the top 20 in scoring in the NBA.
00;09;47;20 - 00;09;54;28
Bill Hanzlik
You know, really well. Just turns out that was my career high. Did I get 33? So I was like 18 for about a week.
00;09;55;01 - 00;10;07;05
Tom Green
I saw a lot of, old newspaper copy when the Sonics drafted you that you had the lowest points per game average ever of a first round pick at that point. This would have been in the 1980s.
00;10;07;05 - 00;10;10;17
Bill Hanzlik
Is it ever there was something with John Havlicek?
00;10;10;19 - 00;10;11;09
Tom Green
Well, it was.
00;10;11;09 - 00;10;13;20
Bill Hanzlik
Close to, but only be again with him.
00;10;13;20 - 00;10;16;21
Tom Green
And you're in a good club if you're in a club with. Yeah, I'd have.
00;10;16;24 - 00;10;36;22
Bill Hanzlik
To, but. But he was on Ohio State team that had a bunch of Jerry Lucas. They had a bunch of guys. Yeah a bunch of guys that could play a little bit. I was still a defensive player, but we had a boatload of guys that could score, so some would. Yeah. Wasn't a great score in the college, but but you know, if I was going to play I had to defend.
00;10;36;22 - 00;10;40;01
Bill Hanzlik
And there you know I didn't get that many shots.
00;10;40;03 - 00;10;58;26
Tom Green
What about that. The nuggets team you played on I mean like I said, I want to talk to at length about Doug, who of course recently just passed away. But all those teammates, it seems like it was the most unique team to many in the NBA that you had so many weapons who were free to free to be.
00;10;58;26 - 00;11;16;28
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. I mean, when you think of the Denver Nuggets during the, the 80s, kind of when you when you were that guy in the locker room and doing interviews, I mean, right off the bat, you think Alex letting you go a guy averaged 25 points a game for the decade or more.
00;11;16;29 - 00;11;20;17
Tom Green
He had more points in the 80s than any other player in the NBA. Total points.
00;11;20;17 - 00;11;28;16
Bill Hanzlik
That's incredible. And no. Three well, there was a three point line, but nobody shot threes. No, it wasn't like Mike Evans.
00;11;28;22 - 00;11;34;17
Tom Green
You know Michael Adams later yeah a little bit. But but one guy on your team was the three point guy.
00;11;34;17 - 00;11;43;16
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. But we had some I mean fat Lever was and let our team in rebounding. Here's a 63. guard. Let our David rebounding.
00;11;43;17 - 00;11;54;01
Tom Green
Oh I read where you almost were as a I think as a rookie traded for Kiki because Kiki wouldn't sign and Dallas and Dallas was talking to Seattle but I didn't.
00;11;54;01 - 00;11;54;14
Bill Hanzlik
Know that.
00;11;54;14 - 00;11;57;14
Tom Green
One. Yeah. Yeah. But Kiki was always, you know.
00;11;57;16 - 00;12;14;02
Bill Hanzlik
One of the great trades, you know, maybe not the greatest to the NBA because the greatest trade to me was when when Oklahoma City traded Paul George to the Clippers. Got MVP shells gather. You didn't know. Yeah five first round picks it I think it got another.
00;12;14;02 - 00;12;27;14
Tom Green
Player that might have been a little one sided. But Kiki was a very popular explosive offensive force. But when Vince Barella had the chance, he moved him to Portland for Fat Nat. And Coup and and picks.
00;12;27;16 - 00;12;29;29
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. Got some picks first and a second or something.
00;12;29;29 - 00;12;39;12
Tom Green
And and Calvin. That kind of changed it Calvin and Fat certainly changed. Yeah. You know talk about a team that wanted to maybe play a little more defense or go get the ball off the glass.
00;12;39;14 - 00;12;45;24
Bill Hanzlik
Have some physicality. And we you know we we went deeper in the playoffs with those that roster.
00;12;45;27 - 00;12;54;01
Tom Green
When you got traded from Lenny to Doug Moe I mean did you really have any idea you were a young man this your third year in the league?
00;12;54;01 - 00;13;18;29
Bill Hanzlik
Zippo. Zippo not not one of my favorite stories is that, you know, this a little bit into the Doug it we play Seattle like in Denver at McNichols arena maybe, I don't know, 4 or 5, six games in the season. And I've kind of I want to go see my buddies on the team. So I go in the locker room, the Seattle locker room, after the game just to say, hi, guys.
00;13;18;29 - 00;13;33;00
Bill Hanzlik
And I'm looking at the chalkboard bed that was chalkboard. And there were like 8 or 10 plays on the board. And I go, who did that? Think, oh, well, I was bad, Scott. I go, we don't have any boys. I never.
00;13;33;00 - 00;13;33;12
Tom Green
Did.
00;13;33;16 - 00;13;35;13
Bill Hanzlik
Oh never did. Oh yeah.
00;13;35;15 - 00;13;55;14
Tom Green
So how did how did you and Doug obviously became great friends and you were through the course of, of your playing career, also one of those legendary whipping boys. One of those. Oh, yeah. One of those guys he love to yell at. But how did that evolve your relationship with him starting as I'm here, I can play. What do you want to do with me?
00;13;55;14 - 00;14;16;07
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, I again, I think I think my talents fit really well with I could run. Yeah, that's a one thing I could run all day. Not that fast, but I could run all day. Defended, defended at multiple positions. I think I can turn my career. I might have started all five positions. If you if you thing, but,
00;14;16;10 - 00;14;34;02
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. Doug would just scream and holler and and do his thing. But once the game was over, the great thing about Douglas, once a game where that was that a lot of coaches, they're going to remember you. You jacked up that play two weeks later he's remember you still mad. You know you mad. But Doug Doug was a special coach.
00;14;34;02 - 00;14;39;09
Tom Green
Yeah. Did he ever cross a line. Did he ever hurt you. Did he ever say something that you.
00;14;39;11 - 00;14;57;11
Bill Hanzlik
Know I mean, did I ever get mad at him and, madam, during the game? Absolutely. And I can remember Doug just screaming at me, and I, and I finally I just go, Doug, I'm working as hard as I can. And Doug would just t just start laughing at you go, oh, that's good, I like that. Yeah, you like, you like.
00;14;57;13 - 00;15;01;03
Bill Hanzlik
You just wanted almost to get mad back at you. But he didn't.
00;15;01;05 - 00;15;06;03
Tom Green
What what did your relationship what was your relationship with him like post basketball.
00;15;06;05 - 00;15;07;21
Bill Hanzlik
Oh, you know, like,
00;15;07;24 - 00;15;13;28
Tom Green
He's such an easy guy to know. Like, well, you know, he did the radio show with me for a couple of years, but it's just which.
00;15;13;28 - 00;15;19;12
Bill Hanzlik
By the way, that was awesome. That was. Well, they should have best of bring that back.
00;15;19;14 - 00;15;23;24
Tom Green
That was fun. That was that was fun. But to you guys stayed.
00;15;23;25 - 00;15;41;10
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. Yeah yeah, 100%. And with big, Bill Vicki at Big Bill's New York pizza and stuff that you meet out there, but then he you moved down to San Antonio. But the funny thing about Doug is, are you remember when the nuggets, were having all the financial problems and.
00;15;41;13 - 00;15;41;28
Tom Green
Bino and.
00;15;41;28 - 00;15;56;14
Bill Hanzlik
Lee and. Yeah. And the well before that when they were really but they had like 30 owners and Red McCombs buys. Yeah. So get to know red and Red becomes the guru with, a stock called Clear Channel communication. Yeah.
00;15;56;17 - 00;15;57;24
Tom Green
And the broadcast. Yeah.
00;15;57;25 - 00;16;17;06
Bill Hanzlik
And the Fox TV and Red told me, you know, want to take care of your kids education. Didn't say much more than that. You should buy some of the stock. And I was like, that was like 1983 when I bought some. And you know, Doug, later on he buys them. So every time we read drive we did Red say about Clear Channel.
00;16;17;08 - 00;16;17;24
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;16;17;26 - 00;16;20;04
Bill Hanzlik
Clear day. He just want to know if I understand you.
00;16;20;05 - 00;16;43;12
Tom Green
Yeah. I found this one clip. This is a stretch, in 1986 where you were, asked to and told to play center for five, six games in a row. Big guys, you're playing a team, you're playing Mark Eaton, you're playing Kareem. Yeah. And, so Wayne Cooper's got a hamstring, Danny shaves has a knee or something. And you become the center for Doug.
00;16;43;15 - 00;16;57;23
Tom Green
And Doug had a great quote. He said he has no idea what he's doing or where he's going. He's so flaky that he makes something happen. He gives those guys trouble. He can play almost any center in the league. Did you like going down? Oh.
00;16;57;26 - 00;17;20;08
Bill Hanzlik
I loved it. It was a it was a no lose situation because you're not supposed to guard him. Yeah. They should just crush you. But because Doug's system was about sprint speed running, the ball went through the hoop or I'm taking off down the centers. Didn't like to run. They chase you? Yeah. So it would it. It's sort of like the odd man rush in hockey.
00;17;20;10 - 00;17;36;05
Bill Hanzlik
We could always create a five on four, four on three, three on two. Even on a made basket. Yeah. So we would get a great check. You they might, they might run a play and it take them 15 seconds to score and we would score and five. Okay. Next up you know. Yeah.
00;17;36;11 - 00;17;54;16
Tom Green
So let's, let's talk about coaching because you dabbled in coaching and you're part of an infamous year with the nuggets 1997. But what weird thoughts. What are your thoughts now looking back on a year where you guys went 11 and 71, it was, you know.
00;17;54;19 - 00;18;03;18
Bill Hanzlik
You know Cowley we that that was such an interesting time. I got that opportunity because I, I never thought I'd get in coaching ever.
00;18;03;18 - 00;18;03;29
Tom Green
Right.
00;18;03;29 - 00;18;23;00
Bill Hanzlik
Ever. And some weird things have I had my third back operation in middle of the summer. I get a call the, my buddy Alan Bristow was Doug's assistant, was Tate, was GM down in Charlotte, was taking over the coaching and said, would you like to come down and and coach with me? And, I actually consulted Vince Marella.
00;18;23;01 - 00;18;23;28
Tom Green
This is in Charlotte.
00;18;23;28 - 00;18;42;01
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. And and Vince was, you know, still in town here. And he said, you know, if you ever thought about coaching, don't let this opportunity go by. You may never see it again. So go check it out. So all right, we packed up the four kids. We moved to Charlotte and we we had a good run down there.
00;18;42;01 - 00;18;51;11
Bill Hanzlik
And then I was hired over, Atlanta for, lanta Hawks, Lenny Wilkins. And we stole the camp. They made Dumbo.
00;18;51;11 - 00;18;53;09
Tom Green
Right. Got the guy for free.
00;18;53;09 - 00;19;09;16
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. Got, you know, we overpaid him for, like, a three year contract. And, you know, nuggets just didn't have the money or the wherewithal to. So we got him and that vault. You know we we had a pretty good plan. We got beat by the Bulls who won it all that year.
00;19;09;19 - 00;19;10;13
Tom Green
We're good back then.
00;19;10;13 - 00;19;27;13
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. And then I get the call to come to Denver, and I'm the greatest six that spread that we'd ever nine mud step by Slater. You go. You're out of there. Well, you know, you learn a lot when you're thinking back, and and we we again Allen Bristow was the GM of the nuggets.
00;19;27;13 - 00;19;27;20
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;19;27;21 - 00;19;52;22
Bill Hanzlik
So we hook up again. And we had this plan. The plan was to to accumulate assets get off some guys that were expensive that that we didn't feel we could move forward with and acquire draft picks power. But we were going to have to bite the bullet a little bit for a year. Well pro sports, you don't have time to bite the bullet.
00;19;52;23 - 00;20;16;09
Bill Hanzlik
No. And then we had some injury. I remember Cub games started five rookies. Yeah you don't win and start five rookies. But so things moved on. But but you know, it got me back to Denver. Yeah. You know, it got me even more attached and rolled into. And we'll talk about a little bit about Gold Crown Foundation, which was is really my passion.
00;20;16;13 - 00;20;41;02
Tom Green
So the gold Crown thing I think is an extraordinary endeavor in a million ways. But let's just start with how it began, because I remember I was working at channel nine and covering what was then Bill Hand's Alex girls basketball camp out at Metro State, and that's 40 years gone by now. So you're still playing, but in 1986, you start this camp and it's become I mean, Gold Crown.
00;20;41;02 - 00;20;47;29
Tom Green
We'll talk about the size and scope of what it's become and becoming. But did you ever dream that it would be anything like this?
00;20;48;00 - 00;21;07;06
Bill Hanzlik
No. I mean, people say, do you have a big business plan? No. Our my partner, Ray Baker is very involved with, sports in Colorado. And arenas. Sure. And chairman of the stadium authority for football and baseball. He's the one that came up with the idea of let's do something for girls.
00;21;07;06 - 00;21;08;19
Tom Green
How did you meet him?
00;21;08;21 - 00;21;25;14
Bill Hanzlik
1982 when I first meet, I was at Cherry Creek Sporting Club. A guy said, you want to meet anybody? When I said, yeah, I don't know anybody, he said, I think he'd like this guy. So 82 a meet him. We become best friends and we still office together. And yeah, Ray's incredible. But he came up with the idea of Gold Crown Foundation.
00;21;25;14 - 00;21;37;13
Bill Hanzlik
When and why? Gold Crown Foundation was company was called gold Crown management just put lay the foundation gave away all the money we raised. And then we just started adding things and things and adding things.
00;21;37;13 - 00;22;04;21
Tom Green
And also, I think it's important maybe for people who are younger, to understand that Caitlin Clark and Mikaela Shiffrin and all the people who are really driving women's sports, you know, the new Denver summit, the national women's professional soccer team, it's it's so big now. But when you in 1986 said, let's do a girls basketball camp, girls sports, we're still very much in the shadow of boys sports.
00;22;04;22 - 00;22;05;10
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;22;05;12 - 00;22;23;29
Bill Hanzlik
Absolutely. There was nothing for girls. So we just first we we said, well, let's do a camp. And then I said, look, Ray, I have a six month old and a two and a half year old girls. I said, that's really enticing to me, but let's wait a little bit. And then later on, I don't know, a couple months, he comes back.
00;22;23;29 - 00;22;45;19
Bill Hanzlik
He goes, you know what, let's do a girls camp, but let's make it nonprofit. Let's just give away everything, raise I go, I love that idea. That's great. So that's how it started. And one week, 150 girls scholarship. Like 50 of the high school primarily. And, now we're serving, excess of 15,000 kids a year is.
00;22;45;21 - 00;23;05;17
Tom Green
The growth has been extraordinary to watch what you guys have done. You know, you built All Star Park, you built the great gold crown Fieldhouse. I mean, you became a very important part of the community, you know, outside of, you know, people trying to make a buck. Yeah. You guys were trying to make an impact.
00;23;05;20 - 00;23;17;16
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. We just we love doing things for kids. I'm a big believer that sports can teach life skills. Every day, stuff you do, teamwork, character, commitment, response, those kind of things that we
00;23;17;20 - 00;23;28;15
Bill Hanzlik
work with, the parents, that are, that are, you know, coaching their kids, trying to just help them and do stuff. So we we've had so much fun doing this since it's it's great.
00;23;28;17 - 00;23;41;02
Tom Green
The growth, from girls basketball, you kept adding sports, you kept building facilities. You've also worked outside of athletics with some of the classroom stuff has been a big part of growth, too.
00;23;41;03 - 00;24;07;28
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. It that's that's a great story in itself because we hit this level. We started in 86 and it's it's oh I don't know 92 9394. We're saying if if we're going to try to do more, we have to have our own facility. We're like we're struggling. Like, okay, we're going to whoa, what what was then Alameda middle school was an abandoned middle school, in Lakewood.
00;24;07;28 - 00;24;28;02
Bill Hanzlik
And, Ray would drive by it every day and we acquire it and we think, wow, this is great. We they got classrooms, a couple gyms. We can expand what we're doing, what we get in. It's got a specialist, some wiring problems, and it's like, you got to be kidding me. So it cost us 300 grand to scrape it money.
00;24;28;08 - 00;24;53;12
Bill Hanzlik
And we're like, now what? Are we getting it? Well, yeah. Grace of God, everything. It was what needed to happen because we scraped it. We built exactly what we wanted. It took us five years to raise up money to do that. Sure. But. But, Yeah, I mean, 13.5 acres. We have a mini course field, 56,000 square foot field house in about 1500 square feet of classroom.
00;24;53;12 - 00;25;15;26
Bill Hanzlik
But going back to the building, part of it again, we we got this land, we got the baseball park up. But it took us five more years to raise enough money to, to to build a field house. But while we're doing that raise wife who's kind of an education specialist brand for and Baker says, oh, we're going to have 1500 square feet of classroom.
00;25;15;28 - 00;25;34;03
Bill Hanzlik
I said I'd looked at it and I said, well, we can't afford the gyms. Let's just not afford the classroom stuff. That sounds like a great idea to me. Best thing we ever did. That combination of education enrichment programs, heavy steam stuff. It's it's incredible, explained steam.
00;25;34;03 - 00;25;37;03
Tom Green
Because, yeah. Science tech.
00;25;37;06 - 00;25;55;10
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. Engineering, art, math. Yeah, that kind of stuff. You know, it, you name it, we probably have it in there. Robotics, 3D printing, drones, music studio, Aqua Phonics, laser cutting, any you can imagine on the computer. And guess what it costs kids is zero.
00;25;55;10 - 00;25;57;15
Tom Green
How old are these kids?
00;25;57;17 - 00;26;03;16
Bill Hanzlik
Probably. I mean, the Corvette, a little bit outside this, but the core is probably 12 to 16 year olds.
00;26;03;18 - 00;26;04;19
Tom Green
Pre high school and high.
00;26;04;19 - 00;26;25;19
Bill Hanzlik
School. But then we have a a career readiness program that is lights out. I, I can't think of one in, in the area any better were kids we, we now have 80 I think I should we had 80 kids apply for 30 spots. And you go through the it's a it's a really great program that starts in September.
00;26;25;19 - 00;26;51;24
Bill Hanzlik
Goes all the way to May and in May it ends up we help you find your interest okay. And then we, we we we have probably about 30 plus companies that you will have 120 our paid internship paid. These kids are getting paid and and it could be engineering, could be health care or nonprofits. I mean all over the board.
00;26;51;24 - 00;26;55;07
Bill Hanzlik
And we're we're changing some lives. With that.
00;26;55;09 - 00;27;12;06
Tom Green
I was going to say it's so important to think about what these programs, what these facilities, what these people are doing. Sometimes it's another way to look at is imagine if it wasn't there in especially for all these years, you think of all those young lives and all those. It's not just the young life, it's the families life.
00;27;12;06 - 00;27;14;04
Tom Green
It's the mother, you know, father.
00;27;14;07 - 00;27;35;09
Bill Hanzlik
You read about. So my son calls me off of drive it in today and he goes, dad, you won't believe I had this business meeting with a lady, single mom. And she said, she goes, your name is Rob Hansen. Are you related to Bill goes, well, that's my dad. She goes, unbelievable. She said, my son graduated from Cherry Creek High School 2006.
00;27;35;09 - 00;27;55;20
Bill Hanzlik
Now back up about, I don't know, four years, five years when he was playing in our basketball leagues at Gold Crown. Well at that point we had a program I think it was through Merrill Lynch where we were, kids would would put what they were up to, I don't know, write a resume in an essay and stuff.
00;27;55;22 - 00;27;58;17
Bill Hanzlik
And we were given out $250 savings bonds.
00;27;58;19 - 00;27;59;05
Tom Green
Okay.
00;27;59;05 - 00;28;09;16
Bill Hanzlik
And the mom goes, my son Nick got one of these saving bonds. It's an unbelievable program. Like, oh, wow, we have done those. You know, that was.
00;28;09;16 - 00;28;09;29
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;28;09;29 - 00;28;23;28
Bill Hanzlik
20 something years ago that we did them. Just had a sponsor at that time. But but weird things come up like that all the time. I often say at our camps and stuff, we have the kids of the kids coming. Yeah, soon going to be kids that the kids are the kids.
00;28;24;00 - 00;28;39;24
Tom Green
You know. But I look and I see what you guys have done with athletics in different sports. You guys have kept branching out. But also when you talk about education and it seems like you guys are very active and looking for where the vacuum is, where where there's nothing, where there's. Yep, help needed.
00;28;39;25 - 00;28;40;22
Bill Hanzlik
That's exactly it.
00;28;40;24 - 00;28;42;09
Tom Green
Very aggressive.
00;28;42;11 - 00;28;59;08
Bill Hanzlik
We want we're not we we no interest in in competing in somebody else because we think we we're trying to fill voids every every area we get into voids. One of our new one is that's just exploding is, you know, it's girls flag football. We love doing stuff for cool.
00;28;59;08 - 00;28;59;18
Tom Green
Man.
00;28;59;23 - 00;29;21;06
Bill Hanzlik
Girls. Well, in high school, it's a, it's a it's a sanctioned state tournament sport. It's common but middle school middle school. So we have a practice play model. We have the next round of that is coming up in early April. We'll sell it out 300 girls and they have a blast playing this. So it's.
00;29;21;06 - 00;29;41;20
Tom Green
Great. I always remember this is kind of a sidebar here. One of the things you struggled with and are trying to help with is officiating for all these sports. Because officiating is tough. Nobody likes you but you. You have to have officials, and they have to be good at what they do. And you guys train them and it's that's a tough yeah.
00;29;41;22 - 00;30;03;13
Bill Hanzlik
You know, you go back. Okay. So this year's, go cram, programs during the middle of the year, we have approximately 500 teams in, in all of our different areas that are 500 teams. And you're playing doubleheaders on the weekend. The volume of officials you have if you don't have a fish, can't play the game. Yeah.
00;30;03;15 - 00;30;29;00
Bill Hanzlik
Okay. Sometimes their official doesn't show up. So you only have one official. So often you get a lot of complaints. Yeah. We'll leave it at that. But but it's, it's, you know, you can help again. We had some younger kids that start off with their fishing careers and they make some money, and we hear some great stories about how they continue on and things.
00;30;29;02 - 00;30;31;18
Bill Hanzlik
We we've had some interesting situations.
00;30;31;18 - 00;30;31;29
Tom Green
Oh, man.
00;30;32;00 - 00;30;50;10
Bill Hanzlik
With officials. Officials are officials, officials and parents, officials and kids. But we've we've learned to manage it. And one of the great things about what we do, we're we're not a government entity. I don't want to throw it out of government, but we just say, hey, you can't do that or your God. Yeah, that's we can do.
00;30;50;10 - 00;30;52;04
Tom Green
That's the rule. The rule is we don't like it.
00;30;52;04 - 00;30;54;00
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, we don't like it.
00;30;54;02 - 00;31;13;09
Tom Green
When you were growing up and you were becoming a young star athlete, you think of the programs that kids are now process through and what is asked of them, and the parental involvement as we keep calling the Tiger Woods effect. You didn't really have that, did you, when you were young, you just kind of say, okay, guys, get out the door.
00;31;13;10 - 00;31;43;19
Bill Hanzlik
Kids want to be good. And they're, you know, the parents, they get a little overbearing with, you know, doing too much way too many games. Too many games. I remember when I grew up, especially moving around, I, you know, it was me, a basketball hoop, 95, 98% of the time. And I tell kids, if you want to be good, work on your own, you don't need the games or just kind of to put you where you're at, what you need to work on and stuff.
00;31;43;19 - 00;31;54;08
Bill Hanzlik
Some of these kids that you know, they baseball season, they might play whatever major league plays 162 games. Some of these kids are playing 80, 90 games. Go work the fundamentals if.
00;31;54;08 - 00;31;57;07
Tom Green
You what about other sports because they did you play other sports?
00;31;57;07 - 00;32;10;12
Bill Hanzlik
I played baseball, football, basketball through middle school. And I might have gone on a baseball a little bit, but I heard a shoulder. I was a pitcher, kind of. You kind of need.
00;32;10;12 - 00;32;14;23
Tom Green
That, you know, kind of need that. But do you also played some ice hockey?
00;32;14;25 - 00;32;19;24
Bill Hanzlik
Oh, I yeah, I played a little hockey where you throw water on a football field that that was the rules.
00;32;19;26 - 00;32;20;07
Tom Green
When you were in.
00;32;20;07 - 00;32;23;04
Bill Hanzlik
Boy, I was in Wisconsin. Yeah, yeah.
00;32;23;06 - 00;32;34;03
Tom Green
And you told me, we were going to go play hockey one time, but you said because of your back injuries, you you didn't trust your feet, but you used to play. You used to, like, play hockey.
00;32;34;05 - 00;33;02;25
Bill Hanzlik
I like playing hockey. We we where I grew up, I don't know, maybe, a couple hundred yards down a hill and across a field, there was a there was a, kind of, I'll call it a half river. Not a really big, not a creek, but bigger than not full size. And we would we would, push the snow back, take a pump, drill down in the ice, pump water out and make a rink.
00;33;02;26 - 00;33;12;01
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. And then sticks. We couldn't afford to stick to you hockey sticks. You you tree. Right. You go find the right tree branch. You get a tree branches. Yeah, yeah.
00;33;12;07 - 00;33;24;06
Tom Green
Well, the gold crown project going forward now involves another giant field house, and it sounds like it's coming together. You still need some help, but tell us about how.
00;33;24;07 - 00;33;49;23
Bill Hanzlik
You got a few bucks. Yeah, yeah, well, we've gotten to this point with our programing is exploded. It's just everything. Pretty much everything we do sells out. Based on facility space. Usually is what we have. So, and for the first time, a couple years ago, we got completely out of debt. We had a lot of debt on our current facility.
00;33;49;23 - 00;33;58;15
Bill Hanzlik
And Ray and Kevin Petty, our outstanding executive director, president. You know, Tom, we just sat and we said, you know.
00;33;58;16 - 00;33;59;22
Tom Green
Let's get some debt.
00;33;59;24 - 00;34;16;23
Bill Hanzlik
We we can't we we got to do more for kids. We just we can't we just can't sit here the way we are. So we're going to go back into debt. We we've got an incredible location just south of Castle Rock in a new development called Dawson Trails.
00;34;16;25 - 00;34;18;24
Tom Green
This is by Lone Tree.
00;34;18;26 - 00;34;45;09
Bill Hanzlik
Further further south. Okay. What it does it it alleviates the strain of our current field house with people like from Highlands ranch area that have to drive north in the traffic times when we open that. That wasn't an issue because you could get there pretty quick. Now they can go south so Highlands Ranch people can can go south to some of our program and then really over to Parker, east there.
00;34;45;11 - 00;35;08;29
Bill Hanzlik
You know, it's a shorter drive you can get over. But what it really does, is it opens up the Colorado Springs and El Paso County, a lot of rural stuff that we can do. So it's just an absolutely perfect location in, in reality, if we can do everything we want right off the bat, we're going to have eight full courts and we'd have 12 volleyball courts.
00;35;08;29 - 00;35;10;19
Tom Green
So this would be bigger than LA. Yes.
00;35;10;19 - 00;35;12;16
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. So with some classroom two.
00;35;12;17 - 00;35;18;27
Tom Green
If it all comes together on time, which is always tough. But when would you see it being built.
00;35;18;29 - 00;35;37;24
Bill Hanzlik
We could possibly. This is a long shot end of, this this say November 1st this year. More like March 1st, possibly June of 27. Okay. Well, but but in that lot depends on the fundraising we can do. It's an expensive project.
00;35;37;24 - 00;35;44;12
Tom Green
So if anybody's watching and they've got a couple of million. Yeah, yeah. But you have, you have a lot of the money raised.
00;35;44;18 - 00;36;08;06
Bill Hanzlik
We have about two thirds raised. And some big gifts. We have the third largest gift ever from Daniels Fund, which is incredible. Always there we we timing was right. They were very involved with youth and youth sports facilities. So, Yeah, we're we're just we're working really hard. We have design drawings going. It's just an outstanding location.
00;36;08;13 - 00;36;09;24
Bill Hanzlik
That's what I'm so excited about.
00;36;10;01 - 00;36;13;27
Tom Green
You can also raise money. You get you get your March Madness tournament coming up. Right.
00;36;14;02 - 00;36;22;17
Bill Hanzlik
Gold crown picks for kids. Yeah. So GC picks for kids go right. Whatever. Go on our website GC picks for kids.
00;36;22;20 - 00;36;24;11
Tom Green
Okay.
00;36;24;13 - 00;36;33;11
Bill Hanzlik
GC is gold crown, obviously. And we'll have we don't want to get a raffle price, so we have a suggested donation, but you can play for free.
00;36;33;16 - 00;36;33;26
Tom Green
Okay.
00;36;33;26 - 00;36;42;25
Bill Hanzlik
You're kind of that's you're kind of reloading. Yeah. We'll have, 35 ish prizes, some great stuff that people can win.
00;36;42;25 - 00;36;45;02
Tom Green
But a good cause, whether you get a prize or not.
00;36;45;08 - 00;36;49;05
Bill Hanzlik
So let people know a lot about what we're doing. A gold crown, too. So.
00;36;49;08 - 00;37;00;11
Tom Green
All right, I got to ask you about some people, before we run out of time. So now you spent a lot of time on the set at altitude working with Vic Lombardi. Did you know? Do you guys just sit around and talk about.
00;37;00;14 - 00;37;01;27
Bill Hanzlik
A little Italian guy, you know.
00;37;02;00 - 00;37;04;00
Tom Green
Teach Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Notre Dame.
00;37;04;00 - 00;37;10;28
Bill Hanzlik
But, you know, he was ballboy for me. What up? Yeah. Yeah. He said don't wonder I couldn't shoot it. Took him too long to get the ball back to me.
00;37;10;28 - 00;37;18;09
Tom Green
Hey, kid, hustle it up. Yeah, but, you were ten years ahead of him at Notre Dame.
00;37;18;09 - 00;37;25;09
Bill Hanzlik
1012 like that? Yeah. Maybe, maybe a little bit more. Put him, maybe 15, 15 years.
00;37;25;11 - 00;37;31;15
Tom Green
But is that. Do you guys just tell everyone how great Notre Dame is? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Did you ever think about going anywhere else?
00;37;31;15 - 00;37;41;09
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, I, I took some trips. I went to Kansas, you know, I had maybe a 150 ish offers.
00;37;41;09 - 00;37;42;17
Tom Green
That Ted Owens back there.
00;37;42;17 - 00;37;47;16
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, Ted Owens was there, and then Hank Raymond's at Marquette. Bobby Knight was at Indiana.
00;37;47;16 - 00;37;53;22
Tom Green
Did Bobby Knight want you to go to Indiana? Oh, man, what would I I already we've already talked about your coaches.
00;37;53;22 - 00;37;56;17
Bill Hanzlik
You played on Bobby Knight. Well, duh.
00;37;56;19 - 00;37;57;25
Tom Green
I mean, that's.
00;37;57;28 - 00;37;58;06
Bill Hanzlik
That's a.
00;37;58;09 - 00;38;09;23
Tom Green
He's an on the brink. That's all I remember about that book. Christopher Dempsey, you work with a lot, too, Christopher. I've known him forever. Just, you know, a local kid who's become a star moving from print to TV.
00;38;09;23 - 00;38;24;29
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, he dances great. You know, his only problem is he drinks the Kool-Aid a little too hard, Eddie. I'll deny it to this day, but 100%. When? When they got Deion Sanders said National top. We're winning their battle, right?
00;38;25;01 - 00;38;29;00
Tom Green
The best shooter on your TV squad, Katie.
00;38;29;03 - 00;38;33;08
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. Katie. Windy. She she's got but she shoots her the girls ball. So they didn't count.
00;38;33;09 - 00;38;36;00
Tom Green
Really? Yeah. Really. You want to go there? Yeah.
00;38;36;01 - 00;38;37;22
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, yeah. She can play.
00;38;37;24 - 00;38;41;29
Tom Green
She's she's terrific I think you know her analysis of games.
00;38;41;29 - 00;38;44;03
Bill Hanzlik
You know she does a great job.
00;38;44;09 - 00;38;55;05
Tom Green
You know you hear that noise that first that they they've hired a female analyst and people go oh yeah. And then you watch Katie and you go oh well scratch out female. They hired an analyst. She's good at.
00;38;55;05 - 00;38;57;03
Bill Hanzlik
It. She really does. She's got passion too.
00;38;57;04 - 00;38;57;21
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;38;57;23 - 00;38;59;03
Bill Hanzlik
She's good, good person.
00;38;59;03 - 00;39;04;23
Tom Green
And then you got, the gold medalist, Marlow and Scott Marlow.
00;39;04;26 - 00;39;07;29
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, yeah. Marlon Hastings. What a combo.
00;39;08;06 - 00;39;15;29
Tom Green
Yeah, the good luck with that. And then, you know, I do the other show with Robbins Apollo and Woody Page here. Those goes. Guys. Been here before you got here?
00;39;16;00 - 00;39;30;05
Bill Hanzlik
Oh, the Robbins, Apollo and and Doug. Moe and you doing nugget games back then was an absolute comedy show. Well, that that was just the best.
00;39;30;07 - 00;39;35;00
Tom Green
You guys were easy to cover. I mean, you guys were accessible. You were decent guys. You won already.
00;39;35;01 - 00;39;40;25
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah. Well, then let's be honest. You used to interview me, but it was only when you could get, like, the top eight guys know.
00;39;40;25 - 00;39;52;20
Tom Green
If you get a off by everyone in the hands, like, I'll get you, but you would oftentimes I would find you sitting at center court, sitting down, trying to make a bucket from your butt.
00;39;52;22 - 00;39;53;10
Bill Hanzlik
Oh yeah.
00;39;53;13 - 00;39;54;07
Tom Green
That was your shot.
00;39;54;09 - 00;39;56;21
Bill Hanzlik
Well, I would bet Bill Dickey.
00;39;56;21 - 00;39;57;09
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;39;57;11 - 00;40;03;17
Bill Hanzlik
We were heavy bettors. Like five bucks. Yeah. And and. Yeah, I brought two. I could make them.
00;40;03;23 - 00;40;16;25
Tom Green
Oh, I saw that. Rocky makes more than you did of Rocky with his half court shot. I hope the gold crown, continues to succeed as it has. The 40 years. It's been unbelievable.
00;40;16;27 - 00;40;43;21
Bill Hanzlik
Our growth is it's we serve about 15,000 kids, about 19,000 opportunities. We will double that. Plus, when I'm going to say when because we're going to get this up when we open the second facility, it'll be 30,000 kids. It'll be we have a half a million people go in and out of our facility currently, in Lakewood might be 600, so we'll be in excess of a million people.
00;40;43;21 - 00;40;54;07
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah, it'll be multiple visits, but that that it's so thrilling for me. Everybody at Gold Crown, because we know we're impacting kids lives in a good way.
00;40;54;12 - 00;41;13;11
Tom Green
Well, you've become such a fair piece of the fabric of the community, and it's been. You do it with grace and and fun. And, it's always been a great commitment to see. And if nothing else, you also, are an example to many of the people I know who you work with and people who've worked around you.
00;41;13;11 - 00;41;14;18
Tom Green
They, you know, you look up to you.
00;41;14;21 - 00;41;30;11
Bill Hanzlik
You've been a big part of Gold Crown, by the way. Well, and we we decided green. Well, how? Oh well, can't even remember 25, 30 years because we, like everybody else, does a golf tournament. I said, we're doing a golf tour. We're not doing it. The same like everybody else.
00;41;30;12 - 00;41;31;20
Tom Green
No, it's different pictures.
00;41;31;20 - 00;41;32;24
Bill Hanzlik
We're not doing trophies.
00;41;32;25 - 00;41;33;26
Tom Green
Make it fun. Well, we're.
00;41;33;26 - 00;41;56;03
Bill Hanzlik
Going to make it fun and we pay out every foursome. But the original, it's now called the Gold Crown Golf Classic. We had to elevate the name a little bit, but back in the day it was the m t b Golf Classic for Mark. We've Tom green and Bill Hensley. I kind of like that. Maybe we should have an MTB.
00;41;56;05 - 00;41;56;24
Bill Hanzlik
Comebacker.
00;41;56;24 - 00;42;09;14
Tom Green
We could do it. I got I got to try to get Weebs to do the show with me. He's living down in Scottsdale now, but I'm going to try to get him to come in, Masters Week so we can talk golf with him a little bit. But if we get him in, we can. We can put.
00;42;09;15 - 00;42;31;19
Bill Hanzlik
You know, I got one more thought for sure. I know we got to get going that day. You you talked early on how your career started, in Connecticut. And then you went to ESPN. I don't know if you saw that or you remembered, but maybe you do. So I'm playing for the nuggets and the ESPN is a brand new thing.
00;42;31;22 - 00;42;49;20
Bill Hanzlik
And they had ESPN shot of the day. Did you realize that was on shot of the shot of the day. Yeah. No. I'm going to shock you. This is a true story okay. So I called my buddies. I said I said check this ESPN channel I'm shot of the day. So here's the shot of the day. It's the end of the third quarter.
00;42;49;22 - 00;43;00;26
Bill Hanzlik
I have the ball and there's like six, seven seconds to go in the quarter. And you're playing for last shot, maybe 10s Doug Mo screaming at me to give up the ball. And I'm like.
00;43;00;26 - 00;43;01;13
Tom Green
Anybody.
00;43;01;16 - 00;43;13;01
Bill Hanzlik
I'm going to be smart. I'm going to take the last shot. I'm beyond the three point line. I shoot it airball. Guess who grabs it? Magic Johnson.
00;43;13;04 - 00;43;13;13
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;43;13;14 - 00;43;24;03
Bill Hanzlik
It's in LA at the four one dribble, three quarter court. Nothing but net. And DeVoe just lights me off. Coming to the end like you.
00;43;24;05 - 00;43;42;27
Tom Green
Well I before shot of the day. One of the first things I remember at ESPN when they really I was still there. So this would be 1980 I think. And they were doing March Madness back then. And they would just punch around game to game. Nobody had the rights to any game, so they would. And what became.
00;43;42;27 - 00;43;43;07
Bill Hanzlik
Yeah.
00;43;43;12 - 00;44;02;23
Tom Green
The way we watch it now. But Bob Lee was in the studio and he was masterful at it. Bobby was great, but they were punching around and it was Danny Ainge dribbling the length of the floor against the Fighting Irish and dropping one in with a second left was was the the Cuda graph that that ESPN performance.
00;44;03;00 - 00;44;18;28
Bill Hanzlik
You just associated ESPN with March Madness. Yeah. And it grew you know they went from when I first was at Notre Dame I don't know, there were maybe 24 teams that got in. Yeah. Then it went to 32. And then then eventually 64.
00;44;18;28 - 00;44;28;14
Tom Green
Well yeah I left there at the end of 81. So that might be that was an 81. But I left there in 81 and I, I came apart without me.
00;44;28;14 - 00;44;33;26
Bill Hanzlik
They never really they that you got them going buddy. It then got on going hands.
00;44;33;26 - 00;44;34;28
Tom Green
It's great to see it. Thanks for taking.
00;44;34;28 - 00;44;36;23
Bill Hanzlik
Good to see you, Greeny. Always fun.
00;44;36;23 - 00;44;38;16
Tom Green
I'll see you soon. Maybe on the links.
00;44;38;17 - 00;44;40;00
Bill Hanzlik
On the other.
00;44;40;02 - 00;44;44;14
Tom Green
Top three each other. Tom Green show.
00;44;44;17 - 00;45;05;11
Tom Green
Obviously, what you do with your time is of the utmost importance to anyone. How you affect others. Bill. Hands, like, has always been one of those guys who seemed to be able to put the needs and the wishes and hopes of others, into his pocket and do something with them. His role both as a player here, and as a commentator here.
00;45;05;18 - 00;45;25;05
Tom Green
But most importantly, his work with Gold Crown Foundation has had a tremendous impact on many people. He's been a longtime friend, and, he's always been a great example to so many people. So it's great to have him here on the show today. That's a wrap on this edition of the other Tom green Show. Hopefully we'll see you back here again next week.