In this world of social media where common interests often tie us together, it is rather common to connect with someone that would have been impossible in previous decades. It just so happens that is how I chanced upon Russ Gangler. I am not a sports aficionado, and it would be unusual for me to reach out to the sports world to interview an industry professional. (Of course, I did have the opportunity to interview Joe Theismann when he appeared in the Hallmark movie Snowcoming.) Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Russ who is not only the Seminoles Baseball President, but he is also a Hallmark fan.

RH: Russ, it’s nice to connect with you here today.
RG: Ruth, thank you. I have been impressed with your work and it’s great to be with you today. I have friends at Hallmark and I love Hallmark movies so it’s an honor to be interviewed by you.

Thank you, Russ.
You know, my life has gone down a couple of different avenues. I went from thinking I was going to do a lot of acting to working at two different firms in the city. And then coming back to my number one passion in life–baseball. With these different paths, I’ve always tried to put them all together. I had baseball going, and I had a new radio show for five years. I have juggled many things, and I am proud of that. I am very happy with what I’ve been able to achieve. Sometimes I wonder how my life would have been different if my life went down a different path. But it does make me think that if anything happened to come with Hallmark down the road, I would be very happy to pursue that. I have done a few things in the past in the industry that might lead to something in the future here, but you never know.

So, Russ, when you were growing up, what was your passion? What were your interests?
Sports were such a huge part of my life since birth. As a kid, my parents took me and my brother to many Cubs games every year. So growing up sports was a big part of my life as a fan and athlete. In 2016, after attending a thousand plus games throughout my life the NL Championship game when we beat the Dodgers for the Pennant was special. I tell ya, you never saw anything like it at Wrigley Field! It was like everybody won the lottery. The Cubs won the Pennant first, and then about two weeks later, they won the World Series.
Also, growing up besides playing baseball I loved playing basketball and bowling as well. I got into coaching in my mid-twenties. And here I am twenty years later running a national program and having a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work. People don’t often realize how much work goes into coaching and running a successful program.

What was it that sparked your interest in sports?
I think we really just grew up with it as a family. We were a Cubs household. My Mom and Dad had season tickets before I was born. I think everyone that’s a big sports fan would probably tell you it started with your upbringing and how you were raised. My dad was also a very good baseball and basketball player in his day. He passed away thirteen years ago and I know he was watching the Cubs win it all four years ago with a big smile in heaven. I can remember watching games on WGN when I was growing up and coming home from school at 1:00 for their games. I can remember friends inviting me to do all sorts of activities after school and I always said, after the Cubs game. I’ve always been a die-hard Cubs fan. I can’t express enough how great 2016 was. It was one of the most historic events in sports history. Hopefully, when this crisis is over this summer we are able to go back to playing baseball, we can start working on another championship.

I’m so glad you shared all that, Russ. I think it was really fascinating. How long have you been coaching?
I started coaching in the fall of 2000, but the first regular season was 2001. We’re in our twentieth year. What’s really cool now is that some of my former players–our alumni–are coaching in the program and they are the age I was when I started. It tends to make you feel a little older, but it’s a proud moment to have former players still involved in your program.

I understand that. That’s how I feel as a teacher when I see some of these kids I have taught all grown up and in college and out in the world. It’s definitely a different world now.
Oh, that’s so true. I do a lot of reflecting. Music was so much better back in the ’80s and ’90s. And there are still so many people who don’t believe there weren’t phones back in the ’90s. We didn’t have text messages, voice mail or Instagram. No smartphones. I think in the ’80s and ’90s, people used to talk to each other a lot more. There was more communication. The trend has been that nobody talks anymore. They text or email each other. The internet is good. It’s great for marketing and business. But not as much communication between family members except through text messages. Families will go to restaurants, and they are sitting there–even the grandmother–they’re all sitting there on their phones.

That is so true. But thankfully, because of our current crisis, there has been a resurgence of real communication. There has to be. And now we see people using the internet to stay connected which is great.
I agree with you there.

Since you’ve been coaching for twenty years now, what has been some of the accomplishments of your organization?
With this being our twentieth year, we’ve won four national championships, and that consists of defeating the best teams around the country. We were the first Illinois team to win the CABA World Series. It was a historic win for our program and the state of Illinois. It’s all about the team. There’s a lot of good teams and talent here in Illinois.
Another thing my staff and I are proud of is that we’ve helped over two hundred of our players go on to get college scholarships. There’s not as many baseball scholarships as there are football scholarships or even basketball scholarships. I get a lot of reminders from families, thanking me for that. The kids put in the work on the field and in the classroom, and I’m most proud of that.
We’ve also had fourteen players so far drafted in the MLB Draft. That’s another huge accomplishment. We’ve got a great coaching staff. We do things the right way, and so many of our players have gone on to do great things.

Speaking of this program of yours, what are the ages of the kids who are involved?
Right now, our teams are fourteen thru eighteen. Our games are played on almost all college fields. The recruiting process has really picked up when it comes to college. Players are getting recruited now when they are freshmen and sophomores sometimes. You can’t technically sign with a college until your senior year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t verbally commit earlier than that. It’s really an exciting process. These players play at the elite level and our program is one of the best around in providing these opportunities. We also run many college showcases at our training facility, Noles Nation Training Academy located in Itasca, Illinois.

What are the requirements for the kids that join with your organization?
We typically have tryouts every August for the following year. We have a very good returning ratio of players. We don’t have a set GPA that students are required to keep, but we do expect that students are passing all their classes. We do keep up with the kids’ grades and check their SAT’s and ACT’s their junior year; that’s a key part of the recruiting process too. We don’t have a strict grade requirement, but obviously, if someone was failing, I would assume that their parents wouldn’t be shelling out thousands of dollars for them to play.
As far as the team rosters, we try to make sure that every player on the team gets good playing time. Some play more than others because of their talent. We are out there to win. Most of the kids who are with us travel through the system for four or five years. We’re always looking to add talent and new blood every year. Nobody wins every game every time, right? But there’s always room for change. And it’s good to note that there’s only so much scholarship money out there baseball-wise, so if you get some academic money as well, you can save yourself a lot of student debt or save your parents or your credit card a lot of money.

I know you mentioned you used to do a radio show. Can you tell us about that?
That was a really exciting time for me. I was asked to be on the show “Livin Sports” out here in Elk Grove, Illinois. I was asked to be a guest. One of the families from one of our teams was friends with the person who ran the show, Robin Earl, a former Chicago Bears football player. I came on the show, and I really enjoyed it. A couple of weeks later, they brought me back to the show again. Robin had to leave for a football camp that he runs for a month, and the station called me and asked if I wanted a full-time job hosting the show each week, and I took it. It was a blast. I ran the show for five years.
The first year, it was a taped show. Then it became a simulcast in four different states and went live every Sunday night for an hour and sometimes two hours. It got to the point where I couldn’t juggle being out of town with baseball on Sunday because you had to be in the studio there, and they would only give me so many weeks where I could get someone to cover for me. All I could do to host the show then was call on a landline. And if you’ve ever been in a studio with millions of dollars of equipment, you sound a lot better and more professional than if you’re calling on a landline. The guests were the ones that could call in, but I couldn’t do the shows that way. I couldn’t be in two places at once. All too often, I would be getting off a plane Sunday and I would run over to the studio and prep for the show, do the show, have a guest on…it was a lot of work. It was a lot of fun, and I had a lot of great guests on there.
I didn’t have to spend a lot of time preparing for the show because I’m a sports thesaurus. I was usually in a hurry, and I’d just wing it. Sometimes when you wing it and you’re not reading off a sheet of paper or a teleprompter, people tend to appreciate that a lot more. They appreciate your knowledge. I think that people on TV could learn from that now. Too often when they’re reading, they sound like a robot. It’s better when you speak from the heart, and I think people respect that a lot more. You are going to make the occasional mistake, but that’s okay. If you’re giving them good information and working hard, they’re going to appreciate your efforts. That started in 2011, and it went for about five years. I miss it a little bit. I’ve been offered other opportunities that I’m looking at pursuing in the radio business. But right now, I got a lot of irons in the fire.

You know, Russ, you really do have a nice-sounding radio voice. That struck me from the first time we started talking.
I appreciate that, Ruth. I really got good at radio during the time I did it. I learned to slow down a little bit. It was a successful show during the time I was able to do it.

Do you have one or two memorable guests or shows that stand out to you?
That’s a great question. I would probably say that one of the best guests for me, since I’m a Cubs fan, was when Joe Maddon came on the show. He was the Cubs manager at that time. He signed with the Cubs in 2014, so his first season with them was 2015. We got an interview with him in 2015, which was awesome. I’ve worked with Joe and his foundation a little bit. I’ve gotten to be friends with him. Now he’s coaching in Los Angeles with the Angels, so I wish him well down there. It was such an honor to have him on the show.
If I were to name a couple of other ones…that’s a tough one. I don’t want to leave anyone out. But I think one of my buddies from the past, Mike North, who had his own show. He was one of the first in Chicago to really build up the radio out here. He was the king of Radio. When he was on, we were talking basketball during the NCAA tournament. That was a really cool one. People were calling in, asking about our picks.
There were so many great guests! College coaches, pro coaches, NFL Hall Of Fame Players, alumni, some of our players when we won the national championship in 2011. They came in the studio about a month after we won it. They had a thrill being on the air and answering questions too.
I was there five years and did two-hundred twenty shows. Probably out of those shows, two-hundred shows were originals. Then there were some reruns. I know there are probably many more I could name, but that’s some I remember.

I understand completely. That’s how I feel when people ask me what my favorite interviews are. I always feel like I’m leaving someone out. They are all memorable for different reasons. In fact, sometimes, they are memorable for unusual reasons.
Yeah, now that you’re saying that, I remember a friend of mine, Stephanie, who was a cheerleader with the Tennessee Titans. I got to know her down in Nashville. She came on the show. I remember we did the interview over the phone live, and a lot of people didn’t know who she was. She was a cheerleader, and she talked about the process of becoming a cheerleader. She talked about going through the process in high school. People often don’t give cheerleaders a lot of respect. She’s very good at what she does, and it’s hard work. She was a good dancer as well.

I’m always fascinated by professional cheerleaders. I know the auditions are brutal, and I have no idea how they do what they do. I understand you also do some work with local charities. Can you tell us about that?
Yes, I volunteer at the pediatrics wing at a local children’s hospital. We go up there at Christmas and at Easter. I also help and donate my time and money at a local animal shelter, which is great. It’s such a great cause, and I wish I could do more. I’m glad to see that Hallmark has brought a lot of recognition to all the work that animal shelters do. I’m glad to see these animals in Hallmark movies. It is a need, and I hope that people continue to give money towards these animal shelters and adopt pets if they can. I always tell people, “How would you feel if you were cooped up and didn’t have a friend?” That’s what these animals in the shelters are experiencing. I think it’s great to give as much money as you can to these shelters. There are dogs in there that are sick and have kennel cough. They need the help.
As for the pediatrics wing, it’s something that means a lot to me. We brought our team to the ward a few years ago because we wanted them to see that their lives are pretty darned good when compared with these kids. These kids in the hospital aren’t worrying about their next home run tomorrow. They’re hoping they wake up in the morning. We bring Christmas presents for the kids. You would think that these guys would get everything. They’re in a big hospital, but their playrooms are very weak. People don’t donate as much stuff as is needed. They got kids in there from two weeks old to eighteen years old. These kids are fighting for their lives.

Again, Russ, thank you for sharing. And thank you for being so active with these charities in the local community. It’s so easy to get caught up in our own lives, and sometimes we forget to reach out and help others around us who really are in need. Hopefully, this crisis has opened our eyes a little bit more to the world around us.
I agree with you there. I hope that everyone can find something they are passionate about. There are many worthwhile charities all over, and they need help. Especially with what is going on in our world right now. I encourage everyone to find a cause where they can donate time, money, supplies, whatever they can.

I know you’ve done a few things in the entertainment industry. In fact, I believe you auditioned for a music video back in the day.
Yes, two decades ago I did. {laughs} I was twenty-four years old. A lot of younger people might not know this song, but it is a big hit from 1998 called “Crush.” Jennifer Paige made it famous. Gosh, it was one of the best songs of that decade. I auditioned for that music video along with a hundred and fifty other people. I made it to the last three people, which was really cool. I got to meet some great people. Even though I didn’t make it into the video, it was a great experience and a wonderful memory. And third place is better than one-hundredth place.

What prompted you to go to the audition for that music video?
A friend of mine who was an actress in the New York area and was on a local soap opera…she told me about this audition, and she twisted my arm a little bit. I decided to give it a shot. I didn’t have any expectations about it. I met a lot of cool people, and I thought I did very well. It was neat to meet Jennifer and audition with an upcoming artist like that. I recommend that everyone listen to the song and download it right away if they haven’t already.
I have always had a slight passion to be involved in film and TV. Going back about twenty-five years ago, I did a few commercials for a clothing store called Bachrach. I did a couple of commercials for them and was in a local catalog. I was called the “Bachrach man.” That was back in 1995 and I think I was paid a couple hundred bucks for every shoot. It was nothing to prestigious, but I got to get free clothes there. I was really excited about all the free clothes! Here I was at twenty-one getting all these free clothes that I couldn’t afford at the time. I was with them for over a year and I did a pretty good job.

I understand you are a Hallmark Channel fan.
Yes, it is a great network and as you know, I have a few friends there. The Christmas stuff is the greatest, I think. They really get you in the Christmas spirit. I love that they always have a running countdown to Christmas all throughout the year. If life could be a bit more like Hallmark, the world would be a better place. I would love to be able to work with them on a consistent basis one day. In fact, let me tell you this. The next baseball or basketball movie that Hallmark does, I’m applying for that lead.

Oh really? Well, that’s great. Though you might not get the lead role.
Yeah, I know. I’m taking baby steps. So I understand that. But let me say this. If it’s just ten minutes in a movie next winter or if I was fortunate enough to have a great, huge role in one of their movies, there would be a heck of a block party out here in Illinois and Las Vegas. I have a good fan base out there. Hallmark has a good fan base as well. A Class Company. I should also be a spokesperson for the station because I talk to people about Hallmark movies all the time. (Laughs)

If you were in a Hallmark movie, who would you like to work with?
I would love to work with my friend Jen Lilley. She’s made so many fantastic films for the network. It would be an honor to work with her. I would also like to work with Merritt Patterson. I think she’s a very talented actress. If I had to put my dream team together, I would say Jen or Merritt to be my significant other or to be the fiance who gets dumped and I have to apologize at the end. And for a buddy, I would probably say Andrew Walker. He’s been in so many good movies and some very cool roles.

Well, that’s definitely a dream team, and you’re thinking big, Russ. So thank you for your time today. And we’ll look for things to pick up for you after the coronavirus situation ends.
Thank you, Ruth. I hope that everyone keeps safe and healthy during this time. We all look forward to getting back to work and seeing more new Hallmark movies soon.

I am certainly happy to network with Hallmark fans in every walk of life, profession, and corner of our globe. As a result of interacting with Russ, I have learned a little bit more about the sport of baseball, and I was quite pleased to learn of his charity work as well. I can only wish him well in all his future endeavors, and if he is truly serious about getting involved with Hallmark, I wish him all the success with that once this current crisis of ours ends. If you are interested in learning more about him and the Seminoles Baseball program, I invite you to check out his links below. I appreciate the fact that Russ took the time to chat with me, and here’s to a soon return to “normalcy” so that baseball and other sports can slowly make their way back into the fabric of our American culture.
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