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Transcript
My name is Darrel Pullie. I am 16 years.
My name is Charles Auman. I am 14 years old.
We interviewed Richard Portis on June 13th, 2018.
My birthdate is April 15th, 1944. I had a wonderful childhood growing up in Glen Hazel. Being able to witness a family unity, being able to witness great family models, being able to understand that as my family, my neighbors, and classmates, and others’ friends, were all part of my family, it was really one big happy family unit that was the positiveness of the community.
My brothers were always my heroes. Both of them were championship boxers. I was a championship football/basketball player, but they were championship boxers in and out of the United States military, but I always appreciated my oldest brother, who spent 28 years in the United States military, about his stature and his education and the fact that he traveled the world in the United States military.
I did go to college. I left Gladstone High School. I had a basketball scholarship at Robert Morris University. But then I found out two days later that Point Park was offering me a better scholarship. So I went down to Point Park and I played for two years on championship basketball teams, junior college championship basketball teams, but I did not graduate because of my economic circumstances. I went on into the United States military. Serving in the United States military is a quest and an endeavor that I… my two brothers also share. I also, serving in the military, know many people from Hazelwood, Glen Hazel, Glenwood, who served in the United States military. One of the things that I always say that the United States military is the greatest educational institution in the world. It can take a guy from Glen Hazel, Hazelwood, Homestead, California, and assist in making that person a leader and a person with great skills.
When I left Vietnam and came out of the military, I worked in Hazelwood. I was a community organizer, and then I went on to run a community organization to help people find jobs. The skills that I learned, in terms of my dreams, I was able to travel the country in two different careers that allowed me to help, assist, and be a partner in the elevation of people and communities, and I still perform that work. I am a national leader in the veteran business movement. I help veterans create businesses. I, in fact, developed a veteran business center, teaching entrepreneurship to veterans at Robert Morris University. I stayed at Robert Morris for 12 years as the director of a business development project that I birthed and organized at Robert Morrison, so I still do counseling for entrepreneurs. Currently, I am the President of 21st Century Industries. My company, we do consulting work and business development work for entrepreneurs, businesses, and we match make with industries to help our clients.
I can say that, aside from not being the President of the United States, I have met most of my goals, or at least have had the opportunity to participate and to be active into things of my dreams. I have had tremendous mentors. One of them was a guy from Hazelwood, Glen Hazel. Their name was Big Jim Smith. Big Jim Smith went on to be one of the world’s greatest basketball leaders. In his day, he was a super athlete, would have played for the Boston Celtics during his time, but he got drafted to the United States military. But he came back to be a community leader here in Pittsburgh, and he went on to be a leader in state government in terms of prisons and prison reform. So there are people like that who inspire me. And he was from Hazelwood. Hazelwood, and what I call the greater Hazelwood area, which includes Glen Hazel, Glenwood and Hazelwood, was the most phenomenal experience that I am able to look at a tremendous community and a nurturing community and a community that gave me a lot of confidence, a lot of friendships, and a lot of direction to be successful in my life.