Host: Welcome to season one, episode one of Difference Makers, where we ask our guests the big question: “Who made a difference and how?” Today, we have my dad, Jim Maddock. So, Jim, how are you doing today?
Jim Maddock: I’m doing well, Owen. How are you?
Host: I’m doing pretty fine. As a guest on the show, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Jim Maddock: I am a teacher here at Clayton High School, and I’ve been lucky enough to be your dad for the last 15 years.
Host: Great. I’m extremely happy about that. When we asked you to be on the show, I told you that Difference Makers is about the people who have impacted you and made you better. So, here’s the question: “Who made a difference in your life, what was their name, and how did they make a difference?
Jim Maddock: The easy answer to that would be my dad, who’s also a Jim Maddock. I’m not a junior, and he’s not a senior, but he was easily the biggest impact maker in my life.
Host: What was some of the stuff that he did to make an impact on your life?
Jim Maddock: Just teaching me and showing me how to do things growing up. He was the person who taught me how to play baseball. He was the person who gave me the confidence to keep pushing and striving to be better, and he was just always there for me.
Host: That’s amazing. Now we’re going to do some rapid-fire questions.
Jim Maddock: Okay.
Host: Alright. What do you think was your biggest accomplishment in life?
Jim Maddock: Oh, goodness. That’s a tough question. Would it be cheating if I say I haven’t gotten it yet? That way it justifies that I’m still always pushing to get the accomplishment.
Host: I mean, if it’s your biggest accomplishment, it’s your biggest accomplishment.
Jim Maddock: Let’s just say that I haven’t quite gotten there yet.
Host: What makes you smile?
Jim Maddock: Oh my gosh. There are a lot of funny videos that I’ll watch every so often that make me smile, but watching you and your sister succeed in sports makes me smile the most.
Host: What is your dream job?
Jim Maddock: Doing it right now. I’m a teacher. If you had asked me when I was a kid, though, I would have said a professional baseball player. But right now, this is a pretty sweet gig.
Host: If you had to do one job that you would never do, what would that be?
Jim Maddock: I was talking about something like this with somebody the other day—a school bus driver. You couldn’t pay me enough money to be a school bus driver. Even with kids having phones nowadays, I think it’d be pretty miserable to have kids on a bus.
Host: They’re pretty loud back there. What is your favorite college?
Jim Maddock: Just like a college, or a sports team, or what?
Host: Overall—college, sports, everything.
Jim Maddock: I am not sure. I mean, obviously, I think my college, which was Webster University, was pretty sweet. But I’ve been to the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana quite a few times with you, your mom, and your sister. I’d say that’s probably up there, too.
Host: That was a pretty electrifying experience. Alright, what are your top five food spots?
Jim Maddock: Top five? You are hitting it hard today. Probably Soul Taco is a solid, solid choice. Goodness. Can I do a top three, because top five is way too hard to pull. Let’s see… Mission Taco was always pretty solid. I’ve always been a big fan of that. Annie Gunn’s is just a really good restaurant. Yeah, that’s pretty good. I can’t believe you put me right on the spot with that one. That was a tough one.
Host: Alright, one more question for today. What is your favorite sport and favorite sports team?
Jim Maddock: Favorite sport is still probably baseball. My favorite team is the Cardinals, even though they’ve been pretty rough to watch for about a couple of years now, and I don’t know if it’s gonna get any better. So we’re just gonna have to kind of wait and see. But, yeah, that was probably the one right there.
Host: Alright, Mr. Maddock, thank you so much for being on the show. That wraps up season one, episode one of Difference Makers. We’ll see you in episode two.
