- Coming up on the "Whitney Reynolds Show," we're talking legacy.

- Said, "Why don't we provide scholarships to the kids who serve aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, who are trying to better their education?

So we began that project back in, gosh, early 2000s, and it goes on today.

- I'm Sir Early Toon from the world-renowned band Kool & the Gang.

- The "Whitney Reynolds Show" is supported by BMO, boldly grow the good in business and life, the Together at Peace Foundation, remembrance, resilience and comfort, creating a hopeful space for those who are grieving, Kevin O'Connor Law Firm.

When it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

10 West Real Estate Group, providing multifamily investment and property management services.

Center for Beautiful Living, empowering people to live rich, robust, and beautiful lives.

Additional funding provided by facial plastic surgeon Dr. Stacie McClane, Lifeway Kefir, Respiratory Health Association, Kevin Kelly, Kid Friendly Venues app, joeperillo.com, Hi-Five Sports Club, and by these sponsors.

(upbeat music) - In a world that continually evolves, our legacies become paramount.

Today we are hearing stories that are connecting the generations, awakening the soul of our stories.

♪ Come for the stories ♪ ♪ Stay for the heart ♪ ♪ Where every journey is a ♪ - And sharing those in a safe space to inspire others.

♪ Whitney's here to share your dream ♪ ♪ It's the the Whitney ♪ - Yo, I'm watching the "Whitney Reynolds Show."

Be careful.

♪ Real voices, real lives in every episode ♪ ♪ This is the Whitney Reynolds Show ♪ - Sir Earl Toon, a celebrated member of Kool & the Gang, is a musical force whose impact on the industry is undeniable.

He contributed to the band's signature sound that blended jazz, R&B, and funk.

Kool & the Gang emerged in the 1970s, and their infectious grooves and catchy melodies with hits like "Get Down on It" and "Celebration" turned them into icons.

We wanted to learn more about the lyrics that shaped so many parties then and now.

So take us back to writing this legendary song.

- Something that a lot of people don't know, something that I've told before, but to share it with you and your audience, when you listen to song "Ladies' Night..." ♪ This is your night tonight ♪ That was before "Celebration."

And that's how that transferred into.

And our fearless leader, Kool, most definitely was the first one to hear that when I wrote, "Yahoo, celebrate good times, come on."

And the yahoo, believe it or not, which I didn't know at the time, like Yashua the Messiah and Yahweh, Yahoo, not spelled differently, was giving God grace, glory to God.

So when people don't realize that, "Yahoo," that's the reason why because anything you can ever celebrate that's righteous, it's by the love and grace of God.

- Yeah, so you were part of this group.

What was that like?

- Well, that was because see, and Kool would tell you, I spoke with him yesterday, God bless him, and there's a lot of us gone now, but once a gang member, always a gang member.

- I love that.

So you are part of this group.

Let's get it right.

Walk us back to what that was like.

- Well, there were some times that we went through things like everyone.

There were a season that was, if we didn't pull up our boots straps, that saying, expression, there wouldn't have been certain songs.

I mean, we truly, even at times when our families didn't, said, "Why?"

Then when they saw us on "American Bandstand-" (laughs) - They're like, "That's why."

"That's why."

- That's why, yeah.

It's a family.

Remember, once a gang member, always a gang member.

And believe it or not, when you're talking about alpha males, you're talking about those that are so talented.

Oh my gosh, Ronald Bell, I gave him the name as the captain because he was the captain.

He was our captain of music.

George Brown, drummer, unbelievable.

They call him Funky George.

And we're talking about DT.

People thought DT was cool because he was so cool in blowing the saxophone.

Even Prince said, one of Prince's thing from Kool & the Gang, he plays a lick when he first learned how to play guitar, what he wanted to do, and that was from Charles Smith, played a Smith.

- Wow.

- I mean, what I'm saying to you is that we were all blessed to be able to share with the world.

And I'm so happy just to be a small part of the bigger picture.

I'm humbled by it.

I'm thankful.

I'm grateful.

- What is one of the biggest lessons that being in such an instrumental band taught you?

- To thine own self be true.

Even if in fact you feel that you have something that could be or may be more of substance, you keep that within you, but always allow others to express themselves because what you may throw on the wall, someone else may throw something on the wall that's just as good, if not better.

In other words, like iron sharpens iron, man sharpens man and woman.

And to know that the same gifts that you bring to the table, others bring those gifts too.

It may not be the same as yours.

- Right.

- It may not be, not even the quality.

It may be the quantity.

It might be more or less.

It makes no difference.

The bottom line is that it makes no difference how much or less, more or less.

The bottom line is that when you're working together, when you're truly working together, then you're working together.

- Mm.

Well, and you're proof that that works because you, when you bring that many people together in a band, that's a lot that a lot, a lot of personalities.

Like you said, everybody was alpha.

You all came together.

- But we had a fearless leader.

- There, see, leadership.

- And that leader is Kool, Robert Kool Bell.

- Through the band, Sir Earl learned how to be part of a bigger collective and has carried that with him today through his non-profit Give a Kid a Coat.

- We give coats not only in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and all of Texas, but Oklahoma and Louisiana.

And we wanna spread it around.

And not only do we give coats, we're giving coats to people to give to other countries too.

But charity starts at home and spreads abroad.

We have to also take care of our kids.

And I'm there to help kids all over the planet, but I gotta also make sure that the kids in our house is taken care of.

- Right.

- In our cities.

You understand that?

In our town.

I believe when they say...

I used to say, "The best is yet to come," but I don't say that anymore.

No, I don't.

And it's like something came to me and said, "Why would you say, 'The best is yet to come' when you woke up this morning?"

- Wow.

- The creator gave you another day to make it better than the day before, the year before, the decades before, a lifetime before.

How is the best is yet to come when you're breathing, and you can help not just yourself, but others and give them to others and share?

The best is already here.

- And the best is now.

- I'm with the best right now.

I'm here with the best right now.

- I'm excited for like what you said, the best is now, but I know that goodness is coming after you too in the future.

- Oh, but that's again, because of being man and because I'm not perfect because I have dropped the ball at times myself, but I pick it up, and I ask for forgiveness, and I humble myself.

But given the chance and opportunity to be a better me, a better friend, a better son, a better brother, you know, a better friend, it gives me hope.

You know?

- Oh, yeah.

Thank you so much for coming on.

- No, it's my pleasure.

It's really a pleasure being here with you.

- Now to legacy and leadership.

Michael Reagan joins the conversation about his dad, the late President Ronald Reagan, and the light that we can all leave behind.

- People need to understand he never worried about legacy.

We all worried about his legacy.

He never worried about legacy.

- Michael, you are the president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation, whose mission is all about individual liberty and global democracy.

You are keeping your father's values alive today and even honoring those on the USS Ronald Reagan.

Let's talk about that coming back stateside.

- My wife came up with the idea, Colleen, said, "Why don't we provide scholarships to the kids who serve aboard the USS Ronald Reagan and go a step further and make those scholarships available to their family members who are left at home waiting for them to come back from their tours of duty, which are usually six months' duty, who are trying to better their education?"

So we began that project back in, gosh, early 2000, and it goes on today.

We'll be sending checks out to go to these kids.

Now the USS Ronald Reagan is back in California, and so we're excited to have her back.

- And speaking of California, that is a state where so many things happened for your dad, from Hollywood and now a new movie.

Let's talk about it.

- Yeah, it was honest look at his life having to do with communism and what he went through in the movie business, the strike.

A lot of people don't know that the reason actors have in fact healthcare and residuals is because of Ronald Reagan when he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild.

He was the last one to take 'em out on strike, the actors and the writers back in 1960.

And so it is an honest depiction all the way through of the players, all that, the "Tear Down the Wall" speech, and so on and so forth.

But the way they depicted it, it's an honest biopic of my father working to in fact bring down the Berlin Wall and bring peace and freedom to the rest of the world.

- Yeah, and during his presidency, some wild things happened, from his role in the Cold War to bringing the Berlin Wall down.

- It's great, I mean, to have the wall come down, have him be the catalyst on that.

But it's because he built relationships, Mikhail Gorbachev and what have you, over the years.

He didn't make enemies of friends.

He made friends of enemies, if you will, but he didn't do it alone.

And you know, if you're ever able to talk to him, he wouldn't take the credit.

He would share it with Pope John Paul II, Maggie Thatcher, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Helmut Kohl.

He would share it with them as well he should.

What we do not do in American today, we do not share credit where credit is due.

We take it all, pat ourselves on the back, like we've really accomplished something.

And that's bad.

And I think we need to get back to the Reagan doctrine of no telling what a man can do and how much he can accomplish if he doesn't worry who gets the credit.

- Well, if your dad was with us right now on this Zoom, what would he say?

- He was worried about the country, the world, freedom.

That's what he was worried about.

So if you wanna know his legacy, think about freedom, never more than a generation away.

And boy was he right when he said that.

We need to fight for it.

We need to be there.

We need to educate our children.

We need to let them know the history of who we are, what we are.

And that's the only way we're gonna solve any problems in America.

But if you're always gonna think about your legacy, you're never going to accomplish anything.

Ronald Reagan was right, made his own legacy by not giving in to those who were so worried about his legacy.

- For our full interview with Michael Reagan, head over to our podcast, "The Whitney WRap."

We are here with the legendary Drew Pearson.

Welcome.

- Thank you, thank you.

Glad to be here and welcome you.

- Ah, to Dallas.

- To Dallas, another day in paradise for you.

- Tell us about your run with football because I would say you're still running with football, with your legacy of what you've done over the years.

- I started out playing all sports.

My first love was baseball.

You know, I was never big enough, you know, to think that I'd ever be a pro football player.

But I knew I had talent, athletic talent and ability.

I was more towards sports than academics.

But in my house with my dad, we had no pass, no play, so we had to do both.

But anyway, when I got out of high school, I was 5'11", 145 pounds, okay?

(laughs) 145 pounds.

I wasn't built like no baseball, football player.

So one reason I chose Tulsa University coming out of South River, New Jersey going to Tulsa, Oklahoma was because they had a great baseball program, and they were gonna let me play baseball and football.

- That was a very formative time for you.

This is whenever you didn't give up on yourself, and you really pushed the limit.

- It was a tough time at Tulsa.

- Why would you say the word tough?

- You know, I grew up in south of New Jersey.

I was the only African American, only black on the football team, but I stuck it out.

- Yeah, you did.

That's what I was gonna say, you did.

- That's what I tell the young people.

You know, you might get into something doesn't seem ideal initially, but if you stick it out, and you weather that storm, you use those challenges, that adversity, as stepping stones and step right through it to bigger and better things.

- I wanna walk our viewers back through now going pro.

- And I knew if I was gonna play pro, it wasn't gonna be a quarterback.

I just didn't have the necessary skills to do that on that level.

And so I asked the coach to move me to receiver.

We weren't getting much notoriety.

Scouts weren't coming around, but we had some good players.

I had some players that I played with my senior get drafted, you know.

- So when did you know- - But I didn't get drafted.

- Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

So you didn't get drafted?

- Nah, they made me cry.

- Hmm.

- That's two days, you know, waiting for your name to be called.

That's back when you had 17 rounds of the draft, two full days.

And it was heartbreaking.

And so I'm sitting there, and the phone rings three times.

First call was from the Green Bay Packers.

Second call was from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And the third call was from the Dallas Cowboys.

And what made the difference with that third call, that scout that called was in town.

What?

(laughs) They wanted to sign me right away.

And the scout said, "Wow, we couldn't believe you were not drafted, and we think you could play in the NFL, and first year salary is gonna be $14,500."

And I said, "Oh, okay, they must gonna make it up in a signing bonus."

He said, "Yeah, we got a signing bonus for you."

I said, "Good.

How much?"

He said, "$150."

(Whitney laughs) Oh, it's funny to you, huh?

- Funny now 'cause- - I wasn't laughing.

- I know where you are now.

- I'm laughing now.

I can laugh at it now, $150.

- Wow.

- I said, "If you pay me that signing bonus in cash, I'll sign right now."

And I went down to the dorm, had a party with the boys in the dorm, the guys that got drafted.

I'm letting everybody know I just signed with the Dallas Cowboys.

I was so happy.

It was an opportunity.

That's all I wanted.

And that's why I tell these young kids, you know, just to get your opportunity.

Get in the door and then grow your footprint from there.

- Drew Pearson's journey in the NFL is a testament to perseverance and belief that ultimately led him to become a Dallas Cowboy legend.

Now he's approaching the 50th anniversary of his iconic Hail Mary catch.

Drew's legacy is ever-present, and that moment didn't just change the game.

It ignited a career and cemented his place in football history.

Now a Hall of Famer, Drew Pearson's story reminds us all to chase our dreams relentlessly because everything can come full circle.

- The first preseason game I played was in the LA Coliseum against the Rams.

I get to my locker, and I got number 13.

I went to my best friend Harvey Martin, and I said, "Harvey, look what number they gave me.

I'm cut.

They got me.

I'm cut.

They gonna cut me.

They gave me number 13."

I played that game against the Rams.

I'm returning punts.

And finally in the third quarter, they punted, and I'm on the 50-yard line, and I'm waiting on this ball to come down through the lights.

And it came down, hit me right in my shoulder pads and went right through on the ground, and they recovered at the 50-yard line.

And I'm laying there on one knee, and I looked over to the sideline.

Coach Landry's shaking his head.

I said, "Oh Lord, I'm cut."

So later in the game, the fourth quarter, they punt again.

Coach Landry sends me back out there.

I catch it and run 59 yards down the sideline to the one-yard line.

(laughs) - Oh my goodness.

- God took care of me like that.

He kept doing things all along the way through the preseason, one play, something big to live the play another day on that roster.

- Well, that's what I was gonna say, is like one thing that you've stayed super positive, even whenever there is that setback, and you said, you know, it's that fire within you that keeps you going.

And so your career with the Cowboys, incredible.

- I was watching some CNN the other day.

That candidate's gonna need a Hail Mary to win that election.

It's everywhere.

- Yes.

- And so, you know, to be part of an iconic play like that, and you the one that caught that, you know, that's pretty cool.

- That's really cool.

- And again, that's God putting you on a path to have these kind of things happen in your life.

- What would you say to the little kid that's dreaming of being something pro or dreaming something big?

- Everybody's born and blessed with a talent to do something, what you gotta do.

And it's hard to find that talent at a young age, so don't get caught into one box, you know.

Try a lot of different things and find out what it is 'cause the good Lord blesses us with something.

- You literally have me speechless 'cause you can tell story after story of perseverance and tenacity.

Thank you so much, Drew.

- Well, it's like therapy.

Thanks for listening.

(Whitney and Drew laugh) - Every police department around the country is a community, and you'll find that, you know, you're from the Chicago police, and you meet somebody from another town.

There's an instant camaraderie.

- After 24 years on the front lines as a policeman, Rick Simon is now amplifying officers' legacies through his role with the Chicago Police Foundation and their initiatives.

Drawing from a deep sense of community and brotherhood that he found during his time in the uniform, he's supporting the next generation of officers by empowering them to not only uphold the traditions of service, but to carve out their own stories.

When you started as a police officer in the '70s, because so often we see stories now about the police and where we are as a community, but what was it like for you?

- Back in the 1970s, the world was totally different.

People really liked the police.

So becoming a policeman then was kind of a really good thing.

And I think you're seeing that come back again today.

- What made you want to continue and help?

- I don't think that's what made you want to.

This is what the need is, and you're doing something else, but you still are part of that police department.

- One thing I love about what you're doing in this chapter of your life, Rick, is really elevating your original story and connecting the dots for people around the community.

- The Chicago Police Foundation is there to provide goods and services for the police department and for the individual officers.

We've done things supporting mental health issues.

- So you really go in and support some of these initiatives.

- One of the things the mental health professionals asked the city to do is to provide a quiet room in each one of the districts.

So, you know, go sit in the room for a little bit, get a book, and turn your radio off.

- Wow.

- So we've outfitted police quiet rooms in every one of the districts and units throughout the city.

- With all of his work in the community, it's watching young officers create their own story that resonates the most with him.

- I think the things that stick out a lot, you know, you look at some of the kids that are coming in, I call 'em kids, but, you know, to me they're kids that are coming in the job today, and some of 'em are so appreciative of the job and do such great, great work today.

- How far does a thank-you go for our police?

- It's huge.

It's huge.

We had a dinner last Saturday night, and we got one of the key people, one of the key citizens that was there to support and speak.

This individual, there's about 350 people at dinner.

This person got a standing ovation for saying two words, "Thank you."

- I can see the emotion behind your eyes when you say that.

It strikes a chord.

- Mm-hm, it is because you need to hear it.

You need to hear thank you once in a while.

- Well, thank you so much for sharing your story and doing everything you've done for our city.

- You're welcome.

- And as we wrap today's topic, take a moment to reflect the profound meaning of legacy.

You have an impact.

Remember, your story matters.

(upbeat music) - The "Whitney Reynolds Show" is supported by BMO, boldly grow the good in business and life, the Together at Peace Foundation, remembrance, resilience, and comfort, creating a hopeful space for those who are grieving, Kevin O'Connor Law Firm.

When it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

10 West Real Estate Group, providing multifamily investment and property management services.

Center for Beautiful Living, empowering people to live rich, robust, and beautiful lives.

Additional funding provided by facial plastic surgeon Dr. Stacie McClane, Lifeway Kefir, Respiratory Health Association, Kevin Kelly, Kid Friendly Venues app, joeperillo.com, Hi-Five Sports Club, and by these sponsors.

- Before we go, we wanna show you what's coming up in season nine.

- I'm a Haitian-born girl that was raised in Paris and that came to the US without speaking a word of English and obviously teased and bullied and so forth.

And I knew that I had something in me that, you know, was unique, and I kept that resilience through and through while I was learning a new language and battling a lot of different obstacles.

- A vibrant soul and living a glamorous life, Guerdy Abraira, known for "The Real Housewives of Miami," walks us through her newfound reality.

- I walked out of there saying, "Okay, on to St. Bart's I'm going."

And it wasn't until I was on my trip to St. Bart's that I get a call that they found something, and that was an noninvasive tumor until I went back again for an MRI.

And then they found a second invasive tumor.

So it was a trickle-down slow trickle of information.

And that's what, you know, people don't understand, that you don't just get diagnosed, and it's a flat-out deal where there's an A and B solution, and it's not a perfect formula.

There's always a wave because there's different tests, and different tests tells you different diagnosis.

- So you know, I was born missing my right leg, and it was kind of crazy because back then they didn't have the technology that they have now, so the doctors did not expect it.

And so basically my mom was there, and, you know, they took me out of the operating room.

She's like, "Where are you taking my son?

I wanna see my son."

And they came back to her and told her, "He was born missing his right leg."

And growing up, I didn't understand it.

You know, I didn't understand why kids and adults would be looking at me as I'm walking down the street.

But luckily I was blessed with an amazing mother who always taught me to not focus on what I didn't have.

Started to learn that through wrestling when I got introduced to it because, you know, growing up everyone said or focused on what I couldn't do.

But wrestling, that wrestling mat was my platform to kind of control the narrative of my life.

You know, it's like I have the power now to show people it didn't matter what I didn't have, you know?

And it didn't matter what opponent I was facing, whether it was flesh and blood or something else.

- Domestic violence can and does happen, can happen to anyone.

And there's this perception out there that it doesn't happen to somebody who's educated.

- And there's women and even men, I mean, abuse happens on both sides, but there are people watching today that are probably in that same whittled-down posture you were in.

It's like, "How the heck did I get here?"

- So what I would say to them is, you know, you are not alone, and if you feel like something isn't right, trust your instinct.

- All episodes are available for streaming anytime.

♪ Hi, mommy ♪ (children laugh) (bright music)