He has an exceptional story. The epitome of grit, perseverance, no excuses. Butler running back Albert Kunicus was born without his right hand. If I wasn't perfect, then I was nothing. He went on a bus was my mentality. I was exhausted by gave a mile.
Never show weakness when the other kids did. I opened my phone. I was on fire. When I was 250 yards, 530. What would you tell that person or those people about dealing with adversity? Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are, however you may be listening.
Thanks for tuning in to the Get Indiana podcast network. My name is Dominic Miranda and I've been covering sports for nearly a decade. Most of which right here in Indianapolis. This is the Get In Sports Podcast. We're going to be covering everything in the Hooser State, high school, college, pro, in the sports capital of the universe in the greatest state on planet Earth. Thanks so much for coming on this journey with us.
Let's get into it. On today's episode of Get In Sports, we welcome on a very special guest. He has an exceptional story, the epitome of grit, perseverance, no excuses. We're very pleased to have Butler running back Albert Kunicus on the program. Albert, thanks so much for coming on, man. This is really cool.
I know you have a great story and I know you're busy with football, but we appreciate having on. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Yeah, of course. Right off the rip here, we were not going to bury the lead. Albert was born without his right hand and forearm.
Is that correct? Totally. Okay. So, his story is exceptionally inspirational. He clearly hasn't let it stop him. All right.
He's played football at Northwestern before coming a graduate student at Butler. Is that right? Getting the NBA. Yes, sir. Love that. Love that for you.
Again, just an awesome story. One I'm really excited to learn more about, get into here. It begins in Illinois where you're born and raised and from. Tell me about where you grew up, how you were entranced by sports and kind of your childhood as you kind of navigated this this this card you've been dealt in life. Totally. So, grew up in Lamont, Illinois, about an hour southwest of the city, Chicago, of course.
And it's a small, gritty town. You know, obviously it's getting better now. You know, it's getting a lot better now. Getting a lot more upbeat, whatever. A lot of people moving there. But when I was growing up, it was very small.
Wasn't really known, if that makes sense. So, you kind of had to fight to make your name worth something. You know what I mean? And my parents always, you know, put us in a bunch of sports, me and my brother and sister, you know, threw us in every sport, try to make us fight and understand that we we can do anything that we put our minds to, right? So with me, for example, they they treated me the same as everyone else, you know, and from there it kind of just took over in sports, you know. I had the mentality like I'm the same as these kids.
I can do what they do with two hands, you know. Yeah. And that it translated in soccer, of course, you know, you're using the feet, whatever, you know, but then it also started to transition into uh into football and basketball, right? and football really became my true love, you know, like hitting kids on the field and, you know, just from there I just worked my tail off to be the best, you know. Was there a moment that you remember or kind of just figuring this thing out for yourself that maybe you realized or your parents talked to you and just said, "Hey, you know, things might be challenging, but we're not going to let any of this stop you. We're going to empower you to do everything that everybody else does."
Or like how what was that kind of realization like for you? Honestly, it didn't really have to do with sports. Um, it had to do with zipping up my jacket. Dude, it took forever. It was crazy. Every day we'd put a winter coat on in the middle of summer and like just I'd have to try to zip it up myself, right?
Took a bunch of times, bunch of attempts. I was bribed with a Spider-Man action figure. If you get it done, you get the figure, you know? Um, my brother and sister got theirs. They're kind of just rubbing in my face like, ah, you know what I mean? Playing with them in my face and I'm like, "Okay, bet.
Let's go." You know, ended up getting it. And that kind of, you know, built confidence in myself. I'm assuming you had a group of people around you that never was excuses for you. It was always, well, you know, this may be difficult, but we're going to do it. And did you did you see that just like the people you surrounded yourself, whether that be family or friends throughout your life, did you kind of feel that situation?
Totally. Uh, you can sense a little bit of doubt. They wouldn't, you know, be forth with it, but you can kind of sense it. You know what I mean? Like there' be teachers growing up like, "Oh, do you need help with your shoe?" I'm like, "No, I got it."
And they're like, "Are you sure?" And they're starting to like lean down trying to like push me out of the way to tie my own shoe. And it's like, brother, I'm I'm good. You know what I mean? But like, you know, there was always support, of course, but you could sense the the little bit of, you know, doubt cuz I mean, they don't know better. You know, they've never lived life with an arm like this.
You know, they've never had to adapt in situations like that. So, I don't blame them or fault them at all. It's just that's what they're, you know, accustomed to do. For sure. And they're trying to help. But for you, it probably means a lot to do things yourself, right?
And as as you hit those milestones growing up, whether that be in sports, whether that be in life, whether it be zipping up a jacket, it probably is like, okay, that's another hurdle I just jumped and I'm just going to keep doing this. Like, what what where did that kind of meet the intersection of sports where not only were you playing football and you were you were good at it, but to play at the next level, that's a milestone as well. You know, you're trying to go further in sports and everybody's looking at you like, "Oh, but he probably can't." But you were a stud and you and you absolutely could. So, what was that high school football experience like for you, dude? So, it was crazy.
My freshman year, you know, I was one of the bigger kids, almost 200 lb, 190ish, right? Taller, whatever. Polish, bigger, whatever. You know what I mean? Drank a lot of milk, ate a lot of eggs, whatever. Serious.
Speaking my language, you know what I mean? Yeah. So, like, I already knew I had a physical edge on people with my, you know, height and weight, right? So, I needed to continue to build that to make up for the loss of not having my right full arm. You know what I mean? And freshman year felt easy.
I mean, I was on the freshman year team. It wasn't like I was playing varsity, whatever. I felt like I did my part. I played both offense and defense, outside linebacker, running back, and I even kicked the football. So, I felt like I had a pretty good grasp of things and I was like, you know, this is it feels a little too easy, you know what I mean? And the way Lamont football program was structured was, okay, freshman year, you're playing on the freshman team, so you're playing with a bunch of kids who might be in their first year of football, tackle football, the Pads, right?
Sophomore year, you're playing in this sophomore team, sophomore only team. I see. And then junior or senior would be the varsity jump, right? And how how many kids went to Lamont? I was relatively smallish. I I couldn't really give you the number.
I'm not going to lie. I forgot. But it wasn't as big as, you know, the other bigger name schools in the Charlotte area. Of course, as a sophomore year progressed, I was, you know, doing my thing, you know what I mean? I felt pretty good. And they actually moved me up to varsity for the playoffs as like a kind of a lead, like a blocking back, you know, just cuz of my size, you know, for sure.
And I was like, okay, if I'm playing in this playoff game, right, we went down, I think it was near Springfield, Illinois, something like that, you know, 2 hours south, whatever, for this huge playoff game. We were we were a lower ranked team playing one of the higher ranked teams in Illinois. We had a couple D1 kids on our team, but it was like scarce, you know. That was like an anomaly in Lamont at the time. It was like, you know, who wa we have a D1 receiver, he's going to Western Illinois or sorry, Western Michigan and we have a quarterback going to Drake. And that was like a woam.
That's massive. And I always told myself like that's really cool, you know what I mean? But, you know, like I want to I want to be like them, you know what I mean? I want to be one of those anomalies. I want to be one of those dudes who is seen as a Lamont legend. You know what I mean?
Absolutely. And with that, it all kind of stem from being pulled up to varsity my sophomore year. It was only for two games, right? I got a couple carries. It was pretty cool. Felt the hits of the bigger dudes, you know what I mean?
It kind of just stem my confidence from there. You know, that blossomed my junior and senior year. And obviously with the co break, we didn't play in the the fall for my junior year. So, I had five more months roughly to prepare for my junior season, which was shortened, of course, but it gave me more time to learn the game, understand what I needed to improve on, and go on from there. You know, if I'm if I'm not mistaken, next to zero fumbles, right, if not zero, next to zero drop passes. Like, how much work did you have to put in to ensure that that was the case basically?
And how much extra did you have to do to make sure nobody questions what I can do on the football field or in life? And I it's just I have to imagine it was very rewarding for you. And it's it's really cool that you're able to have so much success at your last few years at high school, right? I mean, that was the the sole focus, you know what I mean? I I had to cuz you take a running back with two hands, he fumbles the football, it's like, "All right, dude. Like, let's hang on to it, but you're good.
You know, let's get back out there. Let's fight." You know? But if it's me, it's like, "Okay, I drop a simple pass." It's like, "Oh." Mhm.
This kid can't catch the football. Like, let's try someone else. You know what I mean? That I knew it. Like, I knew that was kind of the precedence that was always held me. You know what I mean?
It's like that that was always held over me. And that I had to focus on it insanely to be perfect. like if I wasn't perfect then I was nothing. That's what I thought and that's what I figured that others thought. You know what I mean? That's just that's just really cool man.
And then so how does how does Northwestern come into the mix not only just you know close to home I imagine elite academic institution but then to further your football career as well. How did that all come to fruition? Right. So obviously like as I mentioned before we had those two Lamont kids who you know went to the next level division one football. We had a lot of D3 kids a lot of NIA whatever. You know what I mean?
But I I always strive for I want I want to go D1. You know what I mean? That was that was the goal. Nothing else. D1 or bust was my mentality. Always told my pops that told my brother that we were we were both on the same page.
We were locked in. All that good stuff. Love it. Junior year, as I mentioned, was shortened. It was supposed to be six games, but ended up being five due to co the team had to cancel, whatever. It was me and this other back.
Really good back, smaller than me, shifty, quick, whatever. We kind of split carries for the first four games. And he went out with co in the last game. So, I'm like, "Okay, it's time to shine." I was the only back. And they they said like, "You got to be Iron Man this time."
I'm like, "Okay, cool." when I was 250 yards, five Tutties. I was like, "Okay, here we go." In the spring finale, I was like, "Here we go." From there, I'm like, "All right, like I I need to I need to go to these camps in person." Cuz I mean, it's weird.
You have five games in the spring, right, of my junior year, my senior year is in 4 months, right? Recruiting at Lamont, like I said, I mean, we're a low we were a lower recruiting high school, you know what I mean? Like, no one really knew us, right? So, I'm like, I got to go show them in person, you know what I mean? So, throughout that winter, I before the season, sorry, I'm going to back up a little bit here. before that game where I, you know, went off whatever.
I went to a bunch of um camps. I actually went to traction AP in Fort Wayne, Indiana, if you know what that is. Pooped. It was crazy. Pooped. I didn't even think I did well.
Like I didn't think it was my best performance. I knew I did pretty well cuz like everyone was getting excited, whatever. But like I was so critical of myself. I was like, damn, I had 18 targets. I only caught 13. You know what I mean?
It's like I need I need what happened with those other five. Exactly. I hear you. You know, um but I went all it was explosive. Whatever. So from there, from those two experiences, it was like, "Okay, I can really compete with these kids and I feel like I'm a step ahead.
So I'm going to go to these college camps and show these coaches in person cuz they're not going to find my film." You know what I mean, right? That's what I did. So the summer before my senior year, it was crazy actually. Uh me and my brother Dad, we went to I think it was 17 or 18 different universities. Wow.
Their like their camps, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Michigan, Harvard, Penn. Yeah. Alabama, Clemson, you know what I mean? And we just hooped like we just we just went at it every day. Like every day it was a grind. Gave it my all.
I was exhausted, but I gave it my all. Never showed weakness. Never showed that I was exhausted when the other kids did. They're bent over, you know, heaving, weaving, whatever, throwing up. I I just had to stand tall and fight. You know what I mean?
I gained some interest from schools like Northwestern, Notre Dame, Michigan, even Harvard, too. A little bit of Minnesota as well, but Northwestern was the main one that was like, "Hey, like we love what you did today. This is awesome. They pulled me aside after the camp. Like, let's give you a tour of the facility, all this good stuff." I'm like, "Okay, sure."
Like, whoa. You know what I mean? I like that. walking around my dad. We're just like, "Yo, this is crazy." You know what I mean?
And at the end of the end of the day, they're like, "All right, you need you need this SAT score. If you get it and you have a pretty good first half of your senior season, like you'll be our first preferred walk-on offer of this next class, whatever." And I'm like, "All right, I I got to get it." And I got it. And you know what I mean? I up the SAT score.
Yeah. Hooped the first six weeks of my um senior season. Like bald. So, all came from there. Wow. Crazy.
What a story. How good. and like you know justifying for you and just exhilarating that process of not only like I've worked my butt off to get to where I am and to prove these people wrong and this this you know organization this university took a chance on me they saw it right and was it cool that it was close to home too that that mean a lot to you phenomenal dude hour away hour 15 north side of Chicago beautiful great academics northwestern is beautiful dude it's gorgeous right the lake how was your experience there just like not only for football. We can get into that a little deeper, but just Northwestern has this reputation of just elite academically, beautiful, right? And like you can do a lot with a Northwestern degree. I mean, here you are getting your NBA at Butler.
That's two pretty sweet degrees right there. But uh but what was your experience like just as a student and enjoying that lifestyle there, dude? It it was crazy. It's pretty hard to explain, but like so you live your normal life, whatever, but then you'd stop every once in a while and be like, "Dude, I'm at Northwestern. Damn." And I'm seeing my teammates.
We're putting on the purple and white every day and I'm like, damn, this is nuts. You know what I mean? And being right on the lake, you see the skyline in the distance. You see all these smart kids. You're just conversing with individuals who say things you never heard of before. Like, hold on.
What? Wait one more time for me, bro. You know what I mean? The Northwestern network, right? Dude, it was crazy. Yeah, there's a lot of people there, too.
Everyone likes helping others out, you know what I mean? So, I could reach out to any anyone from Northwestern. They'll be, "Yeah, let's go." Phenomenal experience. Crazy, dude. That's really cool.
And and and let's talk about the football. I mean, kind of a a transitional period. Talk to me about coach Braun and like it's not easy. Not easy what you know, he was asked to do, but I think surpassed expectations and you know, here here he is and new stadium the whole thing. I'm sorry you didn't get to play in it. That's tough.
But, you know, really cool stuff. But just yeah, football wise, what was kind of your experience there? Cuz I think kind of in a similar vein. I don't think anybody was expecting a lot of him, right? When everything happened and and he just said, "All right, whatever." and just eight and five year one.
That's big time. Dude, so I mean obviously Coach Fitz recruited me. He's my guy. Savage animal. Everyone loved him, you know. Every everyone loves Yeah.
Everyone who knows him loves him, you know what I mean? And unfortunately, we all know what went down. Um Braun stepped in though. Was supposed to be our DC, but ended up obviously becoming the head coach. Came in and dude, it was nuts. Like we were shock.
We were honestly, we were all amazed at how how easily he made it seem the transition, you know what I mean? he wasn't really, it's hard to explain, but there wasn't really any sense of any sense of doubt in his mind or our mind that we weren't going to have a great year. And you know, we were fighting for wins at the time, you know what I mean? We had some we didn't have we had some, you know, back toback not the best seasons before that. So, we're like, "All right, let's try to get a bowl this year. Let's do it for Fitz.
Let's do it for the program. Let's do it for Braun." And he stepped in and he really, it was unbelievable, dude. That was a great year. Went to the Vegas Bowl, obviously beat Utah, you know, so it was a great year, dude. Great wins that year, too, at Wisconsin.
bunch of just gritty wins at Illinois, too, if I'm remembering correctly. Like so many gritty wins and yeah, Braun was definitely an X factor in that for sure. I'll never forget that situation. Ended the year with four straight wins. Okay. Yeah, it was Purdue at Wisconsin, Purdue at Illinois, and then Utah.
Yeah. Yeah, that's big time, man. 4543 at Illinois. That was crazy. And even your losses, I mean, at least the last two, only by eight to Nebraska, only by three to Iowa. I mean given the circumstances hurt.
Yeah, I bet. 107's tough. If we It was at Wrigley Field. Oh, is Yes, it was. It was damn near like a gamewinner. I think like a minute left.
Like a 52 yard kick if I'm not wrong. I remember this game actually. I think the overunder was like 20. So, here's the Yeah. No, it was so low. Here's the crazy thing, though.
If I'm remembering correctly, I think we did the math back in 2023. Whatever. If that that was back when there was still Big 10 West, Big 10 East. If we would have won that game, we would have been in the Big 10 Championship. Really? If I'm remembering correctly, I mean that that checks out to me.
Nuts. No, that's tough. That does. Obviously, not at the moment, but like if we still play the last four games like we did, right? Yeah. No, I hear you, dude.
Crazy. But any but yeah, I I just remember going into that year and it's like, all right, well, this Braun guy, you know, tough assignment, like probably not going to work out and they'll just go on to the next thing and he's still there and it's, you know, I've heard a lot of Big 10 coaches talk of the respect level they have for him. So that's I think that's just a really cool thing cuz it's not an easy situation that you're right. He did make look easy, you know. Yeah. Seven, eight wins, nine wins at at Northwestern.
It's it's really good stuff, man. This just popped in my head and I hope he's listening. Do you know uh Joe Bergen by chance? Oh my gosh. The Bergen brothers. Yes, I know the Bergen brothers.
Yes. I'm not really too familiar with Joe specifically, but I know his younger brother Owen. Okay. Joe uh is my guy. He and my his wife and my wife grew up together. No way.
Um and that just popped my head. And I hope you're listening, Joe. You're the man. Love that. Uh but yeah, cuz he uh we talk all the time, too, about about Fitz in Northwestern football. Obviously, tough situation, but I have heard that Fitz is is the man.
I'm glad he glad he's on his feet now at Michigan State. I think that was a really good hire for them. Um yeah, right. Fun to watch, right? I am just happy to have him back. I see clips all the time.
It's like, yeah, we miss this guy. College football. um along your journey, man. Did people just say, you know, I'm I I have a fair amount of confidence that there was a group of people and the people you hung out with and associated with had nothing but support and positivity for you, right? Mhm. Were people along the way telling you though, you can't you can't do this, you know, you you I don't think you'll be able to do that, that type of stuff.
Yeah, it wasn't really it wasn't really the people I was close with, obviously. Um, but it was more so the, you know, outsiders, the competitors, you know, um, people I'd play against in games in high school, people I'd see, I guess, out on the street, you know, little little things like that, little comments, stairs, glares, kids looking at their parents like, "Hey, what is that?" You know what I mean? Obviously, hinder my confidence a little bit, but that's life. You know, you're going to you're going to deal with ups and downs. Life's a roller coaster.
So, of course. Was that was that frustrating or more motivating for you when that type of stuff happened or I mean both? Probably. Both. Yeah, both. both.
It depends on the, you know, which one, you know, but um definitely both. You know, what's the best piece of advice maybe your parents or someone, a mentor, someone gave you to help you kind of deal with stuff like that? Oo, that's a really good one. I would just say honestly, this is going to sound really not applicable, but be the hammer, not the nail. You know what I mean? Don't let those situations hammer you.
Hammer them back. You feel me? So, I would say that that's that's good stuff, man. And how like throughout your football journey, how has that game that's already just like lesson after lesson after lesson, but what has football taught you that maybe has helped you with this situation as well, right? I mean, football is a game of just, you know, you fall, get back up, you know? Um, that's where we're taught at a young age and you kind of just carry it on as you get older through football and then obviously on to life when football's over.
So, I would say honestly just that, you know what I mean? Just keep getting back up, keep fighting. You got a bunch of brothers that will support you, your teammates, and you I mean, if if everyone's together, you know, you can accomplish great things. Yeah, absolutely, man. Okay, so while you're at Northwestern, you got a chance to sit down with Tom Raldi, who did a uh kind of feature story on you and uh your journey getting a chance at at Northwestern and all that. First of all, before we get into that, what's it like talking to Tom Rald?
I mean, that guy's a legend. It was It was awesome. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So, I knew a decent like a decent amount about him. obviously of course before the interview, but I didn't know fully everything about him.
And I did that purposefully so I wouldn't be like, you know, nervous or like, you know what I mean, during the interview. So, I kind of just I didn't really research a lot about him before the interview. It was pretty funny actually. So, I talked to him naturally and yeah, you know, have just normal sit down conversation, you know? Um, obviously after the fact, I truly when I really learned how big he was compared to how big I thought he was, I was like, "Oh, okay, cool." You know what I mean?
So, it was pretty funny. But um I'm glad I kind of handled it that way because it allowed me to be more myself and it was easier, you know. So, but it was awesome. It was a great story, man. You and your parents, it was just really, really cool. And yeah, I mean, Tom Raldi, yeah, when he's doing a story, you know, it's a big it's a big time story.
All right. He's he's a legend. He uh he's a guy who started his career in Southbend, Indiana, actually. When that story came out, I mean, again, we're talking a guy who has a lot of reach and Fox with a lot of reach. Did Did you hear from people that maybe that touched or inspired that maybe reached out and said, "Hey, thanks so much for being so vulnerable, sharing your story." Things like that, dude.
I I I opened my phone. It was on fire. It was lagging. Ton of follows, ton of Instagram DMs, ton of text messages. I was like, "Dang." Just flooded with a bunch of positivity.
It was awesome. And one person who reached out was uh Jason Benetti, if you're familiar, Southside commentator. Yes. And it's actually hilarious cuz at the time I didn't really know too much about him either. Yeah. I responded to the text.
He's like, "Hey, like you know, I live in the Chicagoland area. Like, let's meet up sometime and let's chat." I was like, "Oh, yeah, of course." And then I was like, like I responded without like looking at him. And then I looked him up. I was like, "Hold on.
I actually do know this dude. I've seen him before." I was like, "Dang." Met up with him and we've we've had lunch a couple times, talked. He's a great dude, too. Yeah.
It was unreal. Talk about a guy who's just anyone who said you can't, you know, just an absolute stud. That's really cool. Jason Benetti. I've heard he's one of the nicest guys there is. I mean, what Yeah.
What's that been like just having that relationship? So, I've actually been able to twice now. So, I love sports broadcasting. Obviously, I have an engineering degree and I'm obtaining an NBA here at Butler, but I love sports broadcasting. So, twice now, I've been able to sit with him in the booth. What?
Yes. And uh and just, you know, see what he does and stuff. Once was at a White Sox game. It was White Socks Tigers like last summer, whatever. And then the second one was actually this past January. I was at the Panthers Rams wild card game in Charlotte.
No way. Sick, dude. I was just sitting there watching him do his thing. He's standing up like, "Oh my gosh, dude. show me all the notes. We're on the field pregame.
I'm like dapping up uh Jared Verse and Devonte Adams Puka Nu. It was crazy. No way. Met Greg Olsen. It was fire, dude. Luke Keequley.
It was unbelievable. For him to reach out to you after seeing that story. And then you guys get to have this relationship. And then the second thing is get to be in the booth with him a couple times. That's electric. That's like speaking my language.
I love that. And yeah, I've just heard nothing but great things about him. So So cool that you guys have that relationship. And you keep in contact pretty regular 100%. He's always asking me, "Well, how's it going? What are you up to?"
And I'm, you know, reciprocating, of course. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool, man. Well, what what a journey for you and what a I'm just so happy that that story and that's a lot of times what you see when someone becomes vulnerable and their story is kind of magnified. It really it means a lot to a lot of people, you know, and I'm sure you saw that when that after that story came out.
So, that's that's really cool, man. Okay. So, from Northwestern to Butler, why was why was Butler here in Little Indianapolis right for you? Sure. Obviously, you know, Butler, it's it's a big network community, whatever. You know, like they're huge in basketball.
You just That Butler name is beautiful. You know what I mean? If you're right in the heart of Indianapolis, it's pretty cool. You know, big big city, whatever. Big sports city, you know, in the middle of the Midwest, you got a lot of people with a lot of passion who love the game. So, when I heard there was an opportunity here, I was like, you know what?
Let's jump on it. You know what I mean? So, yeah. And so, getting your MBA, it's very, very cool. So, you graduated from Northwestern? Yes, sir.
With a degree in mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineering. That's going to be awesome. So, what do you want to do? What do you want to do with your your degrees here? So, ideally, I have a prosthetic arm that I use for bench pressing only.
Really? I would love to That's cool. create, make, design them for athletes like myself in the future, hence the NBA. Yes, you got me. Got to create my own business would be Hey, that's really cool, man. Phenomenal.
That's really, really cool. Yes, sir. this. So, it's really helpful for you then. Totally 100%. Yeah.
Did you make it yourself? No, I didn't. Uh, my guy uh David Roder Prosthetics, his company um down in Joliet carbon fiber arm. It could hold up like 225. That's crazy. It's great, dude.
That is so crazy to me. So, that so that was attractive to you. Butler NBA program and then the football piece obviously. Honestly, pretty sweet. What was it like meeting Kevin Lynch for the first time? Love it, dude.
Love that reaction. He's very passion. He's very passionate. He loves the game of football, you know, and he's been around, so he, you know, he understands it. He gets it. So, I was like, you know, this is going to be a fun time.
Yeah. Butler is beautiful. Yeah, dude. I mean, truly. Hle. Hle is out of this world.
Uh, I actually love the Butler Bowl so much. Dude, it's pretty cool. Like, I like it a lot. I like it a lot. Uh, high schools play there a bunch. Um, so that's why I get there a lot.
Just like when Cathed Cathedral just plays this past Friday, it was Cathedral in the Oil of Chicago. There you go. Was that Butler? Okay, cool. There you go. I was there.
It was cool. Yeah, that's really cool, man. So, Butler, you're going to get your NBA. You have a plan for after college. And what has this football journey meant to you? And is it a little like this is the last last go, man?
I mean, it's meant everything. You know, my four years at Northwestern were unbelievable. You know, I appeared in a couple games special teams wise. So fun. It was awesome. I just love to compete, hit people, show them that I can, you know, and I'm I'm the ultimate competitor.
So, I was like, I want to use my last year eligibility. And I know it's the last dance, but I'm going to give it all that I got. You know, so I'm excited. What have you thought of Indianapolis so far? Indiana. It's cool.
I like Broadripple a lot. It's really cool, you know. It's a great area that we're in right now. You know, a lot of good restaurants lined up with, you know, shops, people, everything. So, in Indie, I mean, you you guys host everything. Final Four, Big 10 Championship, bunch of concerts, Lucas Oil, like I just love the structure.
Yeah, it's crazy. It's busy around here. It's there's never a time to just chill out. I mean, since I've started working here in 2023, I've done a couple final fours, six bowl games in backto-back years because of IU and Notre Dame both in two national championships. I knew Indie was like, "Okay, yeah, Indie loves sports, whatever." But when I got here, I was like, "Well, Indie loves sports."
Pretty cool, actually. And the Indy500. I don't know if you've ever I haven't, but I I need to tap in. I think before you go on to do great things next May, we got to we got to get you out there. It's going to be fun. But yeah, what what is it?
I mean, we kind of touched on it right there and kind of the one of the last things I'll I'll leave you with here. What makes sports and you you grew up close to here. I mean, it's not like you were far from Indiana, but what is it you think that makes sports special in Indiana? I would just say the family aspect behind it all. You know, when you have people that support you and have your back and, you know, want to succeed with you, especially people here in Indiana who are friendly, you know, Midwesterners. I mean, that's all they that's really all we have.
You know what I mean? Especially I feel like in Indiana, I don't really know too much about Indiana. Obviously, I'm more of an Illinois guy, but like I feel like in Indiana you have South Bend, which is like boom, notre Dame. You have Indianapolis, which is like boom, Pacers, Colts, boom, whatever. You got Bloomington, boom, IU. Then it's like everywhere else.
I don't want to like offend anyone, but you know what I mean? I feel like, you know, the major sports is what really unites Indiana. You know what I mean? I think that's a that's a great way of putting it. People I was talking to Steven Holder and he's like he he covered uh you know, teams in Tampa Bay and Miami. He's like, you know, you go and half 60% of the fans are for the other team and but you you go here to Indiana, they like care.
They really care and they do. And that's why I love it, man. And I don't know how like how much my wife tells me this all the time. Like we said, talked she's from Chicago and she's like couldn't cuz I've worked a couple different stations in Indiana and she's like can't comprehend covering high school football like we do cuz Chicago's so big and I kind of understand it. It's hard for them to get everywhere, but they don't cover it like they do here, man. It's like a humongous deal, and I just think that's so cool.
But what what would you what would you tell anybody dealing with something adversity in their life? You you've had ample experience dealing with adversity. I'm sure you've had a lot of conversations with family, friends, and just talking about things that that are on your mind or someone was not very nice to you someday and then you've had to navigate that and done so great. I mean, you truly, dude, awesome career. unbelievable path. We're so pumped for you.
But what would you tell that person or those people about dealing with adversity, overcoming it, and doing things people don't think that you can, but you do. Sure. I don't want to get too cliche or make it a long message, so I'll just keep it short. You know, this is what I tell everyone. Just keep fighting. You know what I mean?
Like just keep fighting. That's it. You know, just keep fighting. Believe in yourself and keep fighting. You know, that that's all it is, man. That's really cool.
All it takes. Well, Albert, thank you so much for coming on, man. Seriously, this has been great. Awesome getting to know you and your journey. We're big Illinois Indiana stands here. So, we love it for that for you.
And do you stay in contact with Coach Braun a little bit of course like that? Yeah, we we liking what prospects this season. I don't know what we were thinking. They have a really good schedule and you they're playing some really good teams. I'm pretty sure they're at Oregon, at Indiana, at OSU. So, they have a really good schedule.
They knock off one or two of those teams. They can easily be a top 15 team. Well, there you go. Why not? So, I'm excited for them, too. I'm going to be watching them for sure.
Hey, if IU did it, anybody can do it. You know what I mean? Like that's all I'm going to say, man. You know what I mean? Yeah. Totally.
That's good stuff. Well, thank you so much. That's Albert Kicas the third playing for Butler, running back and uh has just wonderful journey. So, be sure to to keep it locked on Get In Sports with Don Miranda. We have a ton of great episodes coming up. I mean, we have had his coach Kevin Lynch you want to listen to as well.
We're going to get Ronald Nored hopefully on during basketball season, but guys saying absolutely. So, uh it's a lot of fun here. Thanks so much for listening and uh be sure to follow us on all our social medias and YouTube.