Rob: Welcome to the Pro Talk Podcast. When you look at someone's resume and you say, Wow, that's impressive. Well, let me tell you, today's guest, impressive doesn't even scratch the surface. I'm proud to welcome a longtime friend, Mr. D excuse me, Doctor Jack Leahy. Jack, how are you, man? Jack Leahey: No Yeah, no, it's not doctor, but thank you for saying that. I have a graduate Rob: I it's not? I thought you got your doctorate from Jack Leahey: degree in physical chemistry, but I I I I got a master's degree, but I dropped out of my doctorate when I started having headaches to chemicals in my research lab. Rob: Okay. I thought you were getting your doctorate at Mississippi State, but Jack Leahey: I was I was working on it, but it didn't happen. Rob: Okay. PhD. Okay. Almost PhD, but anyway. Jack Leahey: It's one of my stories. That's yeah. Rob: So you had a double major chemistry and then computer science at Barrie College, correct? Jack Leahey: That's correct. Rob: Now, what was computer science like back then? That was early eighties, correct? Jack Leahey: Yeah, that was on a deck PDP eleven computer. you know, with screens, at least screens hook to it. We weren't running cards through it. But it was COBOL, Fortran, basic Pascal type languages, you know, it was before any of the modern computer languages came out. Rob: Yeah. I remember taking computer science as a senior in high school. It was a joke because the teacher didn't know anything. And we we we learned how to play some games on there. That was about it. Jack Leahey: Yeah, yeah, that's what normally happens. Rob: Yeah. And then I do you remember was it Doctor Price and the lab at Barrie? Jack Leahey: Boy. Rob: Trying to think who was there. Jack Leahey: Yeah, I I McCrae was there. the the organic guy, he's his name escapes me, I have to go back and look. I spent a lot of Rob: Okay. Yeah, I took one c Jack Leahey: time in the Cook building though. Rob: okay. Yeah, I took one class and it wasn't much more advanced than what I did in high school. But it was a requirement, got it, got it done, so Jack Leahey: Yeah, the Cook Building was a science chemistry building for Barry. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: And yeah, I end up you know, you take electives at Barry, you get choice of electives, and I ended up taking advanced analytical chemistry and a few other chemistry courses as my electives. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: Most people, and they're probably right, thought I was crazy. Rob: Right. Yeah. So how's that chemistry tie in with computer science? If it's just something you're interested in or what? Jack Leahey: well, you know, it's in days when you started using a lot of computer technology for chemistry research as well. So it's not all wet chemistry. So in physical chemistry there's a lot of calculations that take place. Rob: Okay. Now you are, I forgot to mention you're the CEO of the industrial data hub. That's correct? Okay. Jack Leahey: That is correct. That's correct. Rob: Now, usually when I talk to a guest, I know a little bit about their background of what they do. my first question is it seems to be in my county and up in Rome, they're talking about putting in data centers. What are data centers and why are people so uptight about them? Jack Leahey: Yeah, data data data centers have been happening for a long time. So in 2000 and when was it probably 19, I was working with Facebook. I was selling reliability and we did vibration testing on fans and motors inside of face in inside of Facebook's data centers. So in that year, 2019, I think the Facebook annual budget for data centers was forty billion dollars. That was years ago. And now this has just exploded. Right. And so what's really changed like in AI is not the algorithms that much. They do improve. But neural nets have been around for 30 or 40, 50 years. It's really the compute power, the ability to parse big sets of data into many computers and paralyze many computers to do the computing. And that's what data centers do. Is, you know, in the old days when you have your computer on premise, you said, Hey, I don't have a powerful enough computer, you go buy a new one and buy newer chips, right? you didn't have the choice of putting ten computers into your lab and then paralyzing these computers to do bigger compute problems. That's what the that's what the data centers in the cloud do. So the big deal is they have tremendous compute power and tremendous storage power. That's where all these big LLMs run that we use today, everything from you know chat to Gemini to Copilot to you name them all that people use on d their daily lives now. It all is coming from data centers. So big positive, the big negative on it is they're, you know, large water resources to cool all of the heat that's coming in out of those systems, and then there's a a big electricity bill to run all those things. And so people, I think, are and not against them, but they're against their all their water being used by this huge data center, which can, you know, be, you know, many, many, many acres large. I mean, it's just a huge footprint. Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: So it takes up a lot of land, takes up a lot of water, takes up a lot electricity. And so there's counties here in Florida that are have banned data centers from coming in to build in the counties. the Republican primary for governor, the guy who just won is is all for building data centers in Florida. And so there's gonna be some big arguments about this one. Rob: Say that that's interesting, yeah. Jack Leahey: Yeah. So with everything that's really good, there's always issues that, you know, people have to get over and figure out how manage. They do they do try to recycle their water a lot now. So they use less water, but you still have a tremendous amount of evaporation occurring in especially hot climates through their cooling towers. Rob: Yeah. So it's like anything else that it's a good thing on one side but then there's a negative on somewhere else and now we have to deal with it, right? Jack Leahey: Gotta manage it. so they'll f you know, I think they'll figure it out. So supposedly, and and I've not actually been in these data centers. I I did sell stuff to I had people that worked for me that went in the data centers to do the work. They supposedly make a lot of noise too. Rob: Okay. Jack Leahey: And it and it I guess there's some frequencies that maybe we can't hear but wildlife can hear. Rob: okay. So there's an argument for Florida. Jack Leahey: Yeah. Yeah. Rob: That's definitely gonna be interesting. Jack Leahey: Yeah, yeah, we'll see where it comes out. I think the counties there's probably maybe seventeen or so counties in in Florida now that have have bands through their county commissioners. our primary just happened here for our commissioners, and we did elect some very I would not say zero growth, but s you know, people call it smart growth or manage growth or whatever. I mean growth is good. You everybody makes a living, you know, with construction and growth. But you can also destroy the quality of life of a lot of people if if it's not done properly. Rob: Right, right. So but that's with technology though, that you can't stop it and you know, what about the person that says they don't like AI because it's making us dumber that we're relying on AI? How's that sit with you? Because I mean i i looking back, AI has been around a lot longer than people think. Jack Leahey: It has been. Like I said, the neur it's the neural nets and they've been around almost fifty years at least. so the math equations have been around. It's the compute, it is the data centers that have changed changed the you know, the NVIDIA chip, you know, that's why they're worth a trillion dollars. They're, you know, their their chips are in these data centers running all this heavy compute. But I think it's another evolution that's just like the ones we've seen, the industrial revolution of the of the United States. Then we went through the Internet Revolution. Now we're going through the AI revolution. And so each time that those happened, everyone said, you know, we're gonna automate, you know, production line, where people are gonna lose their lose their jobs. Well Rob: Mm. Jack Leahey: it ended up that you produced more and more people got jobs. And the internet boom, it was the same thing. People are, you know, gonna lose their jobs because you know, well ended up creating more jobs. So I'm gonna stay positive and say, you know, AI I think is gonna create more jobs, not lose jobs. It's not gonna make us less smart, it'll make us smarter. Rob: Mm. I I think I heard Paul Zane Pilsner five, six years ago, saying but in ten years twenty five million jobs will be gone, but there'll be twelve and a half new jobs that have not been created. Do you agree with some of that? Jack Leahey: Yeah, it's hard it's hard to read the future, in my opinion. I I can just go by what the you know the internet boom did and the industrial revolution did. And I think it's will be similar because people today, yes. Is it true that in my business, they if you go into a chemical plant or a utility power plant or a refinery, name all the plants we work in, steel factories, whatever. One engineer today can do the job of probably five. maybe ten engineers, depending on how good of an engineer they are, with the new tool sets they have. And so, you know, it's gonna start Making people think about what their degrees are gonna be in, what education they're gonna get and pay for, and is it gonna be a good investment? I would say there's a lot of education today that's a very poor investment. A lot of people a lot of people coming out with two hundred thousand dollars of debt and can't find a fifty thousand dollar job. Right? And so those everybody's got to rethink these things. Rob: Yeah. Now would you recommend somebody that you know eighteen, twenty years old talks to you about what you're doing? Would you rather they take an internship for a summer or, you know, small position, entry level position, or go ahead and get that college degree? Jack Leahey: That's a hard one. I've got, you know kids that we we got through college. my stepson just came out of the Navy, he's considering finishing his degree, he's got a two year degree, got a four year degree. There's so many large corporations that won't even look at your resume today unless you have a college education. That's the problem. Rob: Okay. Yeah. Jack Leahey: it's just one of those things in search firms and large corporations where they write specs for positions and you know, four year degrees required. Rob: Right. Jack Leahey: and and normally it really doesn't matter which degree it is unless you're really going in looking for engineering people Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: or architects or things like that. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: And so it's a it's a real dilemma for the young people. But I tell you right now, I have people have been in business, have degrees, multiple degrees, and have been very successful that are in their forties, say, and have have asked me, you know, do I know any business brokers because they want to buy a plumbing business or something that It's not gonna go away. AI is AI is not gonna, you know, come to your house and fix your plumbing. It's not gonna Rob: Right. Or your A C. Jack Leahey: or your AC or it's not gonna come fix your roof problem. And Mike Rob: Yeah. Right. Exactly. Jack Leahey: diagnosed it, but it's not gonna fix it. You know, Rob: Yeah. Yeah. Jack Leahey: and and when I went to school, West Rome High School, now you know, Sam's in a Walmart. Rob: Right. Jack Leahey: When I when I went to West Rome High School, there was still the Coosa Valley Technical School. option for people to take every day. So at noon, you know, roughly 30, 40% of the students left school and they went to Cusavelli Tech. And so I've never done the analysis and I think it'd be a worthwhile analysis to do. Because I know some of the fellows that were in that Cusavelli Tech ended up being very wealthy. Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: one was you know trained to be an AC technician to your point, doesn't fix your AC. He went to work for a carrier dealership. And the guy passed away, he ended up buying the business, ended up buying another one, another one, another one. I don't know how many ended up with, you know, six to a dozen, half a dozen to a dozen carrier dealerships. It was massive wealth. Massive wealth. Right? Rob: Right. Yeah. Jack Leahey: But we also had, you know, lawyers and doctors and very smart people that went the college route. But it'd be an interesting analysis to see what the accumulated wealth is of the Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: Cousavelli tech population versus the college. population coming out of Westrom high school in nineteen seventy eight. Rob: Yeah. What was it? was it Homer Bryson who taught shop? Was he in junior high or did he do high school too? Jack Leahey: I think he did high school too, yeah. Rob: Okay. Yeah. And you know, mechanics. I can't I can't go fix my car. It doesn't matter what my college degree says. Jack Leahey: Nope. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: Well you almost have to be a a software expert now to to fix cars. Rob: Well, the computers and all that, right? Jack Leahey: The average car probably has twenty to thirty computers in it. Rob: And that was the big deal about COVID, like we weren't getting chips from China, right? Jack Leahey: Yep. Yep. Rob: No. Jack Leahey: I I think there's you know, there's something to be said for just having a a nice old Jeep with no with zero computers in it when, you know, catastrophe hits or an EMP goes off or something that disables all the cars, you might have one that works. Rob: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now do you drive an electric car or a regular car? Jack Leahey: I I live in Florida. We a we can drive on the beach here in Saint Augustine. We've got about ten miles of really nice beach that has a very thin lane and soft sand and so I have a jacked up Jeep. Rob: That's perfect for the for the beach, right? Jack Leahey: Perfect for the beach. Rob: is that Crescent Beach? Jack Leahey: yeah, that's Crescent Beach. Rob: Okay. My wife's gonna wanna hear this 'cause she grew up in that area. Jack Leahey: Crescent Beach, Butler Beach, they're the different, you know, names. But yeah, so from A Street on Anastasia Island down to the next inlet you can drive on the beach. Which is a pretty good distance. Yeah, Rob: Yeah. Nice area. Yeah. Jack Leahey: yeah. So it's nice 'cause you can just go out and find s an empty spot, you know, fifty yards each way. Even even during tourist season, you can always find a nice spot on the beach. Where where did Rob: Yeah, that's really cool. Jack Leahey: your wife grow up? Rob: Her dad started the dentistry school at UF. Jack Leahey: wow. Rob: And they divorced soon after moving from Massachusetts down to UF. And my wife's mother raised five girls. Amazing lady. I never met her. She tragically died in a car accident when my wife was twenty one. But growing up, every Sunday, they were at Crescent Beach. her mother that was their downtime. Jack Leahey: well. Rob: They would load up with the snacks and stuff and hang out at Crescent Beach every Sunday. So and we've been down there once or twice as a family. So it's a nice area. Jack Leahey: And where'd they live? Did they live in Gainesville? Rob: Yeah. And then had a sister in law. She lived in Melrose for a while. And then Jack Leahey: Yep. Yeah. Rob: my wife's got a very good friend who lives in St. Augustine. So I guess we're coming down to visit you soon. Yeah. Jack Leahey: V well, you're more than welcome. I got a house project going on. I'm actually sitting in my neighbor's house right now. She lives in North Carolina during the summer and she's very nice to let me use her house. Rob: Nice. Jack Leahey: So we've got our entire kitchen, our entire main living area is all ripped apart. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: so we're doing a a redo. But it'll be done end of September. So anytime after that, you're you're welcome. You can come you can come stay here if you want. Rob: Yeah. All right. All right. Hey, I'll come teach in the winter down there. So you mentioned the great Westrome High School. I'm a proud alum and I wore our green West Rome here. Now, Jack Leahey: I love it. Rob: what was your athletic background? I know you were a phenomenal basketball player. Tell me the first sport you played. Jack Leahey: the first organized sport was before I moved to Rome, Georgia. I was in Rochester, New York, was basketball. That would be the fifth grade. And so I moved, I moved at the end of that fifth grade year, I moved to Rome, Georgia. And then tried out, you know, for the basketball team. And then they had two teams at West Rome Elementary, enough players for two teams. And I was an unknown, you know, element. And so I I got on the I'd say lower skilled team. But scored a lot of points, made made All Star that year, played in the All Star game. I think I hit double digits points in the All Star game that year too. Rob: Nice. Jack Leahey: So then seventh grade year came around, I got on the good team. Yes. Rob: Okay. This w this boy can play, huh? Jack Leahey: So yeah, and then yeah, all the way up to I actually my ninth grade year, I could have played the still in the fourteen and underleague. I I I chose to go on the J V team, but I broke my foot that year. I twisted my ankle, came down on the side and broke. broke some bones in my foot and so then played J V again in a tenth grade year and we won the regional championship. and I don't think there was a most valuable player in that tournament, but it was pretty un well understood that I would have been the most valuable player if they gave a trophy for that for that tournament. I was a high scorer several games in a row. I think yeah we it was played out at the model high school gym was the Rob: Okay, yeah. Jack Leahey: That was fun. And then played varsity my junior and senior year, but my s my freshman year, I made the varsity golf team. And so Rob: Hm, cool. Jack Leahey: I I had not played a lot of golf you know, probably a few times here and there. And they were doing golf in physical ed out on the you know, baseball football field combo that that they had there at the school, Rob: Yeah. Yeah. Jack Leahey: and we're hitting balls, and I think I was hitting a seven iron or something and and the golf coach walked by and he stopped and he said he said hit it again. So I hit it again. He goes, hit another one. He goes, he goes, what are you hitting? I said, seven iron. He goes, you're hitting that seven iron further than most of my boys hit a five iron. He goes, You going out for the golf team? I said, I had thought about it, but yeah, I would love to. Rob: I guess so, yeah. Jack Leahey: And so I made the varsity golf team that year. And then you had to that's in the days where you had to qualify every week to play. Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: But I think I did make the top six several tournaments my freshman year and played. my junior year at West Rome, we won the regional championship and went to state tournament, which was fun. but I had played all four years golf. Rob: Nice. Did you did Jack Leahey: And then I played baseball. Rob: Okay. That was my next question. Jack Leahey: Wait. Yeah, baseball, I played up until my tenth grade year, for the summer leak down there behind the levees. Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: What they call it, Colt Colt lead, I I think. So I think Rob: Right? Yeah. Pony Colton Legion, I think. Yeah. Jack Leahey: Yeah, yeah. So I played up through my tenth grade year and then you know, a lot of that was in the spring too and it conflicted with golf. And so I I I didn't play the last two years. I just did golf and basketball. And because of basketball, they made me run track, which and cross country and cross country, which I was not very competitive in, either one of those, but I did it be because it kept me in shape. Rob: Right. Exactly. Yeah. Jack Leahey: I'm actually very slow, you know, for as far as a forty yard dash or a hundred yard dash, whatever. what I was quick at was the shuttle run. from the baseline to the foul line and back. And so, you know, West Rome was a good mix of athletes, you know, the quality athletes there at the time was pretty high, actually. And I set the school record in the shuttle run. Rob: Cool. Jack Leahey: so my my my top speed is hit within a couple strides. The problem is it doesn't get faster. Rob: Right. But being a basketball player, you know, you can take somebody off the dribble and you know, the the head and shoulders fake and the qu quick first step. Yeah. Jack Leahey: That's correct. And it works well in my my senior tennis league as well. Rob: Okay. Out of boy. Yeah. Jack Leahey: I didn't start playing tennis until I was in my forties. Rob: Okay. But it's fun, right? Jack Leahey: I love tennis. I wish I would have played it more seriously earlier in my life. I didn't. it happened. I I had a house on a golf course in Villarica, Georgia, where my boys were raised. We had 36 holes built around a hundred acre lake, and both of them decided to play tennis instead of golf. Rob: If you live near tennis courts they would play golf instead. Jack Leahey: I we had tennis courts in the neighborhood as well. but you know, the we had a really good good guy start teaching, probably similar to what you're doing to with kids and start a whole youth program around tennis and the whole neighborhood and just they they loved it. And they they both played I think they both probably played four years of varsity tennis at at Bremen High School. So they both went Rob: Nice. I got l Jack Leahey: to Bremen High School. Rob: Okay. Jack Leahey: In Bremen, Georgia. Rob: Did either one play in college? Jack Leahey: no. both of them went to college. My younger son was much more disciplined and architect of strategy in tennis. and so he he won a lot, but he but I'd take my older son probably was a a little bit more athletic, but also came with the hot temper and other things that didn't help his tennis game. Rob: Yeah. That can affect your game. A little bit. Jack Leahey: So my younger son is a computer science grad out of Georgia Tech, and my older one is an economics major out of West Georgia College, university. Rob: So the computer science son, does he has he ever worked with you or just get your advice? Jack Leahey: just advice. he he works for Slalom Consulting now. He's starting a new job next month with Voya Financial. So it's a very he makes a lot of money. He lives in a great condo that he bought himself on the corner of 13th in Piedmont, right across the street from Piedmont Park. Rob: Okay. Yeah. Jack Leahey: So when he went to tech, he had the choice of going to Cornell, tech or some other really good, you know, schools. He was a very good student. I think he In his days, I think they chose two valedictorian, a male and a female. I think he might have been the male one, but he didn't have his name. It's all based on your schedule and how many of these advanced classes you can take that up your GPA. But he he never made a B in his life until he got to be a sophomore or junior at Georgia Tech. Rob: Okay. A real dummy then, huh? Holy cow. Jack Leahey: Yeah, he's he's the smartest one in the family. Rob: Okay. Jack Leahey: But my older son takes probably after me a little bit too. He's a salesman, very good one. Manage he works for Ill Illinois Toolworks and manages nationwide Napa account for them for for auto parts sales. And so he does very well. He's very good with people, he's very smart. and I pushed him into economics, my older son, just because He was bad at math and I thought if he could just conquer enough math to do economics, it would give him some confidence, you know, to do some other things and and and it worked. Rob: Yeah. Yeah. Math is or money is math, right? Jack Leahey: analytical skills in general are something I think a lot of people don't value as high as they should. Rob: When you when you were talking about your athletic background, do you remember specific defeat? Could have been on the golf course or in basketball that you remember to this day? Jack Leahey: yeah, for sure. I mean my s let's see, was it V well, my senior year. varsity basketball. We were playing for the regional championship against CUSA. And we were down two points with and they were shooting a foul shot. We were down two points with about five seconds, six seconds left. And I tell everybody that I was honored that I got chosen to take the final shot, but I was pretty disappointed I missed it. Rob: Okay. But you took your shot. Jack Leahey: So the guy missed the foul shot, missed the foul shot, put threw it to me on the on the flank. I dribbled down as fast as I could and and put up about a 25 footer. And it was one of those ones that rattled, rattled between the the rim and popped back out. So Rob: that close. Jack Leahey: that close. Matter of fact, one of our good guys was there to tip it back in, but it was just after the buzzer. Rob: really? Jack Leahey: Yep. Rob: So you didn't lose, you just ran out of time. Jack Leahey: We ran out of time and we lost. Rob: Ha ha ha. Jack Leahey: Yeah. So that was the last basketball game I played, you know, in in high school and that was yeah, I do re I do remember feeling pretty bad about missing that shot. Rob: Who was your coach at the time? Jack Leahey: Ronnie Williams. Rob: Okay. Jack Leahey: No, yes, Ronnie Williams. Rob: Okay. Jack Leahey: He was a football coach. so we had a fantastic coach at Westram High School, Baines. I think his name first name was Eric Baines. he played college ball, big time college ball. He was probably six six ish, you know, fella, African American fella. He coached us in Elementary school. I had him in elementary school, then he went up to J V team was coached by him. So I won the region championship under him as a starting point guard. And then the Jameson left Westrome. They were going to replace him. Baines, I thought for sure, was going to get the job. He just won the championship for the J V Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: team. And they gave it to a football coach, Ronnie Williams. And so at the time, you know. I was disappointed, but you know, you play for whoever you're gonna play for. Rob: Sure. Yeah. Jack Leahey: And and you know, look looking back retrospectively, I think there was a you know, a healthy dose of foot football's king and take care of your football coaches thing and Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: probably a hint of racism in there too. Rob: Really. Jack Leahey: Gave it to the white football coach versus the black fellow that won the regional championship. Rob: Really? Yeah. I know the the football's king thing. That's been around a long time. I'm not sure what it's going like at Rome high school, but that has nothing to do with coaching the sport, whether you can coach defensive backs or whatever. Yeah, that's frustrating. Jack Leahey: Yeah, yeah. So and it turned out okay for me. I ended up being kind of the captain on the floor. And so w we won a lot of games. I mean, I would switch defenses every time down the floor. I would Rob: Really? Jack Leahey: go out Yeah, I you know, and I would just read what they were what they were doing to us and and could we stop and I would just switch, you know, between between zones or you know, man to man even. We'd we'd go all kind of ways and I was calling those plays on the floor and Just, you know, coach Williams, let me do it. So I w that was nice. Rob: Do you think a lot of your success as a leader is because you're a point guard? Jack Leahey: could be. I mean, it's a lot of responsibility when you're a young person playing ball. you you call in the offensive plays and defensive plays, you're a person running the the show on the floor. I had some really good players as well that we we leaned on. matter of fact, probably the best player on the team was Kirk Alford. He he moved from Adairsville to Rome his his junior year. and really was I mean He he probably made me a much better player. We the year he moved to Rome, I hooked up with him and we played one on one almost every day in the summer. And I think it took me about the whole summer just to get just to get one win off of him. And so so Rob: To hang, yeah. Jack Leahey: he was better than he was better than I, but you know what made me better. And so we I think he and I were the top scorers on the team. And what Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: I tell everybody today is like, you know, how many do you average in high school? I'm like, well, probably fifteen. Rob: Okay. Right, Jack Leahey: Right, as a point guard. Rob: that's a lot. Jack Leahey: I said, but we didn't have a three point line. Rob: Yeah. New d new world, right? Jack Leahey: Yeah. And so the three point line I finally I I went on to win two internal championships, both as a undergrad and and a graduate student at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. and I and I put together a chick super hoop three on three team. Rob: Okay. Jack Leahey: And won the state of Alabama and came to Atlanta for the for the southeast regional and made it to the southeast regional final. Rob: They played in the Omni, right? Jack Leahey: the the f the the guys did yeah. not when we did it. We were not in the Omni. But guess who guess who beat me in the final game? Barry College. Rob: No kidding. Who did they have? Jack Leahey: They they had taken some really good red shirt players. So they weren't officially playing, Rob: Okay. yeah, right. Jack Leahey: but they were practicing every day with the varsity. And yeah, they beat us in the final game. So we didn't go to nationals. But that was some of the Rob: Okay. That was a big deal. Jack Leahey: most that was a big deal. It was so much fun. It was the fastest Rob: Yeah. The chick super hoofs. Jack Leahey: game I've ever played. Because I don't know if you remember there was no checkball when when the other team scored, you grabbed the ball, you could you could take it out anywhere behind the three point line and and immediately shoot it. Immediately. That's how fast it was. Rob: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jack Leahey: And so we had w I had device for our team series of plays, rotation around the three-point line. We're all good three-point shooters. I had one one big guy, the rest, I had a six four, like two, two, six, four, one, one, six, six, me six two, main type players, right? So you you you were allowed some substitutions. So we take it out in a rotation around the and the person would shoot and throw up and they shoot. And but we do it different every time. And if and and if you know they didn't have the shot, You know, we did pick and roll. And then if if that didn't work, you did a give a give and go. You know, and then if that didn't work, you just one on one. But it was like this, just just just really, really really fast. Yep. The guy Rob: Yeah, right. Good old fashioned ball. Yeah. And you wear out. That's great. Jack Leahey: we beat the Georgia State to get to the finals in the Southeast Regional. They had a six ten guy on their team. You know, ex varsity basketball player. and they had a another six maybe six seven, six eight guy. And we we beat him with three pointers. So the three Rob: Nice. Jack Leahey: point game changed it changed basketball a lot, but I really I tell you I enjoyed playing a lot more in the three point era than I did the two point only era. Rob: Right. As a point guard, did you enjoy scoring or that good pass, the assist? Jack Leahey: I was probably accused of passing too much. I was a really good shooter. And so I I did I really did like to feed feed the open guy and get the open shot. Rob: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jack Leahey: But both most of my shots were taken from the top of the key, which was three point territory. And Rob: Right. You Jack Leahey: I'd take it to the hole every now and then, you know. and and and the fast break, we we did a lot of fast break. Rob: Yeah. Well, I remember your game and you were you were just a little bit earlier than Mark Price 'cause he could fill it up from right up top of the key. And that's when they started that. Remember when he was at tech? Jack Leahey: Yep. Yep. I wish I would have had the three point line. Rob: Yeah. You know, Pete Merovich, some S I D at L S U went back and watched his games. The year that he averaged forty four, they superimposed a three point line. Now, granted, he wasn't trying to shoot from that far because it didn't serve Jack Leahey: Right. Rob: me, but they said he would have averaged sixty three if there's a three point line. Yeah, right. Yeah. So well, I gotta t Go ahead. Yeah. Play to Cusa, play for the Hawks. Jack Leahey: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So I don't maybe don't know if you remember Mike, Mike Glenn coming out of Rome. Yeah, played at Cusa. And and they and they went to the state championship underneath him, but they didn't win it. I think one of the big Atlanta schools won it that year. But I went to a Rob: Did you play against him? Jack Leahey: I I have played pickup ball with him at the Barry Gym in the in the summertime. Rob: Okay. Yeah. Jack Leahey: And I went to a basketball camp. at Coosa that he came back from college and did in the summertime. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: And it was it was really good. Rob: Yeah. You know, there's some games there in the summer at Barrie. Yeah. Yeah. Jack Leahey: big time. Big time. Rob: Remember Ray Donaldson? He he he'd Jack Leahey: yeah, very well. Rob: be in there and just take up the lane and just people would bounce off him. It's like that guy plays for the Baltimore Colts. Jack Leahey: And who was the other gentleman that played next to him at both at Georgia and Ray Donaldson and n was Rob: Was that Hudson? Jack Leahey: it Nat Hudson? Rob: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So some players coming out of West Rome. Yeah, and Rome. Yeah. Yeah. Back on that old wooden floor. Man, those summer games are great. Yeah. Jack Leahey: Yep. So yeah. Yeah. I used to play basketball with Nat in in the gym. And yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rob: I need to tell everybody that you were my fourteen and under coach. Jack Leahey: Yes. Rob: And good memories and you know, you talk about defeats. Jack Leahey: That last game. Rob: Yeah. And I stunk up the gym. I was your point guard and Jack Leahey: Yep. Rob: I'll never forget I remember it was Steve Green was your assistant coach. And we were playing Dar Jack Leahey: That's correct. Rob: we were playing Darlington in the semifinals at the main gym. Early in the game, I got the ball near half court and we had a two on one. Cash Covington was wide open. And I remember Steve saying, You got cash, and he was our shooting guard. He could fill it up. And I remember dribbling down, but the defender was like he was noncommittal. He wasn't coming to me and he wasn't playing cash. And I kinda hesitated and didn't get the ball to cash and blew an easy two points, one of those games where we couldn't score. And just I we had won it the year before you guys started coaching us. I was a backup point guard. And then I felt like this was our team. It was fun to be the the starter. We had won we won that Christmas tournament out of Coosa and I remember telling my parents, Jack Leahey: We did. Rob: That's twenty seven. Yeah, we had won twenty seven straight. No, that was twenty in a row. And then I think we won twenty seven and then we lost to Darlington. But my dad who coached little league baseball and stuff, and I remember when I was a little kid before I could even play sports, he mentioned that y you don't cry when you lose. You know, you need to learn how to take it like a man, you don't cry. that game hurt so bad. at Memorial Gym and I was terrible. And I remember it's just like we just had one of those bad days. And Darlington was pretty good, but I thought we were better. Anyway, he was over in the corner, by the exit. And after you guys had talked to us and so forth, and you know, there's not much you can say. The season's over, right? And I'll never forget he was standing by the that that side door and he had his trench coat on and I got right there. I just lost it. And I just started bawling and he put his arms around me and hugged me and we walked out and it was It was comforting to get that hug, but it sucked 'cause it's like I can feel that pain now. It's like we were so bad or I was so bad. Like, 'cause you know, you you envision winning the championship and that's what you're supposed to do. Jack Leahey: Yep. They they had a very good press. And remember practicing with you guys on how to break the press and we had to score off of their press, which is, you know, back to your t two on two or you know, two on one, whatever it was, that's where we that's where the the game would have been won is is scoring, you know, breaking their press and scoring off of it. And we just weren't able to do it as well as we wanted to. Rob: Yeah. We we had a fun team though. Jack Leahey: Yeah, what was the we had a big fella that went on to play at George w w didn't he? Was it William was William Kent on that team? Rob: Yeah, yeah. We played a running back at Alabama. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jack Leahey: Alabama. Yeah, no, we had some athletes. Rob: I and and I have to I brought this up to you in our phone conversation, I don't know, nine months ago, but we were pre we were stalling. That's before people don't know what stalling is because we didn't have shot clocks. But it was like one of the fifth or sixth games of the season, we were stalling and you're like, Hold the ball, hold the ball, right? And this kid was guarding me and I grew up Up north, Titan Tikes, we had Pete Merovich drills, and you could basically do what you want with the ball. And this kid couldn't take it from me because I was going between my legs. I remember passing it back to Cash Covington, passed it back to me, and I'm dealing on this kid, right? And it was close, but he never never picked it from me. And Jack Leahey: Yeah. Rob: and so we won the game. And then at practice, the next day, you said on the press or when on the stall, I want that ball moving. I don't want it to touch the ground. And none of this between the legs, S H I T Carver. And you you single me out. And I'm like, I wanna I I didn't back talk you because I wasn't, you know, and n you never back talk a coach, but I want to say he never stole it from me. He couldn't get it. At the end of practice, Cash Covington came up to me. He goes, You were mad at Jack for getting on to you, weren't you, Carver? I'm like, Yeah, he couldn't take the ball from me. Jack Leahey: One of my favorite sayings from a coach is is Wooden out of UCLA. He says don't don't be cute, just execute Rob: Okay. Right. Yeah. I was being cute, no kidding. I was curly Neal out there, man. Jack Leahey: That's why you're a point guard, you had you'd handle the ball better than anybody on that team. Rob: yeah, but but it it was fun. It was like you know, and that's before I don't know how I think coaches freely curse at kids, you know, in all kind of levels these days and kids freely back Jack Leahey: Yeah. Rob: back talk them too. But you got my attention. But I was like, He called me out, nobody's stealing the ball from me, but Cash was laughing at me saying, You got mad I'm like, Yeah, I got mad, but you're not gonna say anything about it. So Jack Leahey: Right. Rob: but yeah and Jack Leahey: Yeah, d I mean it I think people totally forgot about, you know, the four corners and the stall game and everything that used to happen there. Rob: Yeah. Well, Coach Ellenberg did this one day. He had us all on the baseline and he said, Who thinks they run fast? And he goes, I bet you I can get to this ball to the baseline and letting you guys run to half court first. And so we took off. And by the time we got to half court, he threw the ball. And the ball got to the other and before we got there, he said, When you break the press, that ball does not hit the floor and you just get the ball moving. It's just almost impossible to stop somebody. Jack Leahey: Yep. That's a good that's a good point. That's a good visual too. Rob: Yeah, exactly. So anyway, but Jack Leahey: I love it. Rob: I I I got something from Mama coaches and I had a I had a fun time that year playing for you guys. So too bad we didn't get the ring. Jack Leahey: That was I was that I mean, I was still in college, right? And so Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: that was after my dream of playing college ball had had had gone away and I was hitting the books to to graduate in four years. paid for most of my school myself, so I had some student loans and things and I I didn't wanna prolong that process and spend any more money than I had to. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: so I I did play for Barry. they actually fielded J V team my sophomore year. And I was believe it or not, I was not the point guard. I was shooting forward. Rob: Okay. Number Jack Leahey: and and we played mostly junior college schedule, which was fun. And Rob: Yeah. Still some good ball. Jack Leahey: higher level than I ever imagined. So I remember going to was it to Cab South or some junior college in Atlanta? And and I had no idea that. Georgia Tech was sending their boys there to get their grades up so they could get in Georgia Tech to play ball. Rob: Right. Prop forty eight guys, right. Jack Leahey: And wow, did they have a team? I mean, when you're on the floor with it and guys are just you know, that was when Duncan was wide open and you Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: know we could dunk my I think my senior year in high school they made it legal. Rob: So that alley, oop. Jack Leahey: Yeah, you speak against the rules. Rob: Yeah. Jack Leahey: The dunk, yeah. Rob: Was Dent Posey at Barrie when you were there? Jack Leahey: Play he played on that team with me. Rob: Okay. Yeah. Jack Leahey: He was the point guard. That's why I didn't play point guard. Rob: Okay. What an athlete he was, right? Jack Leahey: He was really good. Rob: He could dunk and he was like five ten or something, wasn't he? Jack Leahey: Yeah. Rob: Yeah. You know who his son is? Jack Leahey: Buster. Rob: Yeah. Coach Pearson reached out to my dad when Buster was a rookie and he said, You know whose Jack Leahey: Yeah. Rob: kid that is? And it's like, well, you know, Demp was probably one of the best all around athletes at Barrie at the time. Jack Leahey: Yep. He was very good. Yeah, I had fun with with Demp and and all the guys playing ball that year. It was it was a really good good year. Rob: Okay. Yeah. Jack Leahey: Yeah, he I asked Demp. I saw him again, can't remember, maybe maybe a reunion or something at Barrie. I can't and you know, when did he know Buster was special? He goes, gosh, it was when he was like four or five years old. Rob: Really? Jack Leahey: Yeah, he goes I he goes, went out to hit balls to him, crown balls. And he kept telling me, he says, Hit it harder, Dad. Hit it harder, hit it harder. Hit harder. He goes, Pretty soon I'm hitting up just about all out. And he's gloving every one of them. Rob: No kidding. Jack Leahey: Yep. He goes, so Rob: Wow. Jack Leahey: he knew pretty quickly. So fast forward, funny story. I hired a guy a few years back. he lives in Houston. His name's Patrick Murphy. he grew up in the Cordill area. and so his his father, mother still live in Cordille. And this and that. And so I he came to Jacksonville because he has a he has a a cousin that married a guy that I actually started a business with a few years ago in Jacksonville and invited me up to see him at the condo on the beach. And so I went up there and yeah, the whole, you know, the Posey they knew every Posey f the Posey family. There's only like like four names, big names, last names in Cordille. It's the shepherds and the bushes and the posies and there's one more, right? And so that was really funny that they knew him all and grew up with them and you know they're like, no, no, I you know, I know Demp's grandfather, you know, or whatever, you know. And Rob: Yeah. Yeah. Jack Leahey: then my youngest son, Barry, his girlfriend, but it's been his girlfriend now for six or eight months, so it looks pretty serious. She's the chief of staff for the Georgia Tech Athletic Department. She played Division I volleyball at the University of South Carolina. and she grew up in Cordille. And so I told him like my well, my son's, you know, whatever. And they said, What's her last name? I'm I'm gonna forget it again. But I told him la the last name and and Patrick's father said, he goes, I guarantee you we're related to her family. Rob: Right. Small world. Jack Leahey: He goes, he he goes, Is is she tall? I said, Yeah. Sh I just before I explained she played division one volleyball. I says, Yeah, she's five foot ten or eleven. You know. He goes, Yeah, her B or her her great grandfather was Cecil. He was six eight. Rob: No. Jack Leahey: He goes, That's where those jeans came from. So I asked my son to ask ask her if she knew Cecil or, you know, her great great grandfather, I guess, at that time. And she goes, yeah, no, I never heard stories about I said, Yeah, well that's where she got her tall jeans from. So such a small world, right? It's Rob: Yeah. There you go. That's Yeah. Jack Leahey: like playing ball with Demp at Barrie and then, you know, she's from Cordille. Rob: Mm-hmm. Jack Leahey: And then Patrick, the guy who worked for me, is and he's he's he's got two young kids. but you know, just a really good friendship. We help we help each other in business all the time. Rob: Yeah. Well, I wanna get back to your business and I gotta be considering your time. you've s you've done several startups. Is it more of a thrill for you to see your startup get profitable or is it more fun for you now being a CEO to to land a big deal? Jack Leahey: Yeah, so my startups I've done, I've been mostly on the chief commercial officer side. And usually joined those startups after they had received funding. sometimes they needed more funding, sometimes I was part of that as well, and you know, did those things. so I would consider well, I had my own company and did it another medical company previous to this. but this one is is a little different. It's you know, one hundred percent. From the bottom floor up. So still trying to raise funding, still trying to get our first client. Matter of fact, tomorrow's a big day because our would-be first client's gonna tell us whether they're gonna go with us or not tomorrow. It's a big big, it's the largest US steel company. and so you know, we built we we we built a platform. my CTO built it out in California. with all of our, you know, inputs. So from from ground zero, we've done it everything. So it's always like this one customer away from being successful, right? And and that's what we need. I got a couple others that may could could land. But then we'll go we'll go get funding after we get a couple clients to prove that it works in the industries that we're putting into. And so we're trying to solve some of the hardest problems out there, which is not D L LMs and some of the AI that's going on there, but this is, you know, taking plant data, which these plants have between five thousand and thirty thousand sensors that produce data every few seconds. And then they have systems like maintenance, they have systems for quality called LIMS laboratory information management systems, they have systems for inspections, they have systems for safety, and they're all very different systems. But the main heart is this sensor data, which is Which is called time series data. So a sensor that's telling you a temperature, it will tell you the temperature and the time that it took the reading. So you have the the value of the temperature in in degrees, whatever you want to put it in, and then you have a time. And so you think about 30,000 of these things putting this time and value out every few seconds and trying to take data. for for the whole year or say of that data, plus add in this maintenance data, this LIMS data, this energy savings data, and put it all into a data set that AI can make sense of and take advantage of the deep learning that's going on now.