Jeff Dudan

I just I learned and I learned and I learned. But then when I sat in school, it didn't land on me and I didn't want to conform and I didn't want to comply. And I look back now and I realize that probably maybe things could have been different if I was a better student. But at the end of the day, there's a reason why people like me end up doing what we're doing.

I took the standardized testing and I made a really high score. And my guidance counselor called me in and he's like, your grades and your test scores do not match. I was an athlete. I mean, I was a gym rat. I grew up in Chicagoland and out there on the playgrounds playing basketball every weekend or in the rec center. came to play football.

I took the standardized testing and I made a really high score. And my guidance counselor called me in and he's like, your grades and your test scores do not match. I was an athlete. I mean, I was a gym rat. I grew up in Chicagoland and out there on the playgrounds playing basketball every weekend or in the rec center. came to play football.

You know, we got a new coach and he wants to throw it and you recruit people. Basketball players have good hands, like we can catch it. So recruited me to the football team and that was great. And I loved it, but it wasn't very good. So I had to walk onto a school that would also academically accept me, which was the University of Northern Iowa.

You know, we got a new coach and he wants to throw it and you recruit people. Basketball players have good hands, like we can catch it. So recruited me to the football team and that was great. And I loved it, but it wasn't very good. So I had to walk onto a school that would also academically accept me, which was the University of Northern Iowa.

I'm not saying anything about their academic standards. I'm sure they're very rigorous today. This was, you know, 1986. Yeah. Only made it through there one year, dropped back to a junior college. That was an inflection point in my life where I said, I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to have one shot to do it. It's going to be through a football scholarship.

I'm not saying anything about their academic standards. I'm sure they're very rigorous today. This was, you know, 1986. Yeah. Only made it through there one year, dropped back to a junior college. That was an inflection point in my life where I said, I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to have one shot to do it. It's going to be through a football scholarship.

So I basically pulled myself out of anything that I was doing. And I just focused on... really a couple of things that I needed to do to get that. Some of it was grades, some of it was working on some speed and things like that, deconstructing speed and doing the things I needed to do.

So I basically pulled myself out of anything that I was doing. And I just focused on... really a couple of things that I needed to do to get that. Some of it was grades, some of it was working on some speed and things like that, deconstructing speed and doing the things I needed to do.

And I just was barely good enough to get a scholarship out to Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and got there, met my wife February 2nd, 1989. She took on the project and I attribute our longevity to many things, but we're passionate about similar, but one of which is we're both constantly working on me.

And I just was barely good enough to get a scholarship out to Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and got there, met my wife February 2nd, 1989. She took on the project and I attribute our longevity to many things, but we're passionate about similar, but one of which is we're both constantly working on me.

Then I started the painting business because I needed the money to stay during the summer.

Then I started the painting business because I needed the money to stay during the summer.

Not to be overly dramatic about it, but the shift really came, like, I mean, I failed in my first college. And I went back home. And at that point, my parents were divorced. There was always enough, but there was nothing extra. There was nobody at the house. My parents had kind of moved on. We had the house. I had a younger brother that was there. He didn't have any support.

Not to be overly dramatic about it, but the shift really came, like, I mean, I failed in my first college. And I went back home. And at that point, my parents were divorced. There was always enough, but there was nothing extra. There was nobody at the house. My parents had kind of moved on. We had the house. I had a younger brother that was there. He didn't have any support.

And I'm just like, wow, this is what life's going to be. There was another thing that made impact on me. I've really actually never mentioned it before, but we had a friend that was a couple of years older than me and he got killed. Being somewhere he shouldn't have been, he wasn't really involved, but he got in the middle of it and he ended up getting murdered randomly.

And I'm just like, wow, this is what life's going to be. There was another thing that made impact on me. I've really actually never mentioned it before, but we had a friend that was a couple of years older than me and he got killed. Being somewhere he shouldn't have been, he wasn't really involved, but he got in the middle of it and he ended up getting murdered randomly.

And I was like, wow, if I was there in that group, I probably would have been the one that would have tried to step in the middle and say, guys, we don't need to be doing this. And that could have been me. So that made an impact. And I'm just like, you know, I really need to think about what I'm doing here.

And I was like, wow, if I was there in that group, I probably would have been the one that would have tried to step in the middle and say, guys, we don't need to be doing this. And that could have been me. So that made an impact. And I'm just like, you know, I really need to think about what I'm doing here.

And I also, regardless of the actual performance of the grades and such, not, I actually had a high opinion of myself that I was smart, that I could accomplish things. And that, you know, if I set my mind to it and having some success athletically, I think bolstered a little bit of that confidence. The social confidence wasn't there. The academic confidence, the rigor wasn't there.