Interview With Tom Boyle, Dave Wright
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: One hundred years ago, a court clerk in New York decided to do something to help young people choose the right path. He founded Big Brothers, which later became Big Brothers/Big Sisters, of course. Here to tell us about the organization and their personal story is Tom Boyle, who was Big Brother to our other guest, Dave Wright 40 years ago. I want to make sure everybody knows who's who. Tom in the blue sweater. Oh wait, they're both blue sweaters. Dave, closest to me. You guys have such a great story. Who wants to tell it? Dave, do you want to -- since you were able to track Tom down, it had been 40 years since you'd seen or heard from him. And you were wondering how his life was.</s>DAVE WRIGHT, LITTLE BROTHER: Well, and I had talked about, Heidi, quite a bit to my wife and just said -- and she finally just said, why don't you just try to find him? And so, I had written a letter to Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Detroit and just said, you know, this guy was very good in my life 40 years ago. Is there any way to find him anymore? And I had no idea, didn't know where he lived or anything. And you know, it was 40 years ago. So there is no computer records or anything like that.</s>COLLINS: Right.</s>WRIGHT: But a woman dug through. And she said let me see what I can do. And then got an e-mail from a fellow he used to work with in Detroit about 15 days ago or so, saying here's an e-mail address, I think. Try that and see if that works. And then I sat down and had then -- that was the easy part. The tough part was so now what do you say?</s>COLLINS: Right.</s>WRIGHT: You know.</s>COLLINS: What did you say?</s>WRIGHT: Well, I -- you know, it was, for a guy whose business is writing, it was hard to write. And I finally just said that, you know, when you're a kid, you never thank people enough for what they've done for you. And I said -- and you know, wanted to say, geez, I don't know if I ever thanked you enough for what you did. You know, I just wanted to, you know, say everything's turned out, I think okay. And you know, thank you for being there in my life. You know, when I needed you 40 years ago. And that that was that. And then we -- then discovered -- he sent me an e-mail back and discovered he was down in Atlanta area here, that he wasn't in Detroit anymore. He hadn't been there for a long time.</s>COLLINS: Right and you were able to hook up. Now Tom, when you first got that e-mail and he was able to express to you, even though it was a long time ago, how much you meant to him, I mean, you took him to basketball games, baseball games..</s>TOM BOYLE, BIG BROTHER: Oh, yes.</s>COLLINS: Bowl lanes, pizza, all of the things that we kind of think about with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, but we don't probably think about the impact that we have on these children.</s>BOYLE: You're right. My first reaction was not to open the e- mail. I said a message from Dave Wright, this can't be the one I know because I tried to find him once and I couldn't.</s>COLLINS: Really?</s>BOYLE: So I thought it was spam or something. And later on, I said well let's see what it is. And I couldn't believe it, after 40 years, here's little brother saying hello. And he said if you don't want to continue our old friendship, I'll understand. My goodness, not want to continue it?</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>BOYLE: We had a lot of fun together.</s>COLLINS: Oh, I'm sure you did. But you know, the similarities between the two of you now and what you have grown up to be, if you will, is really remarkable. You are -- or were -- are you still with Ford?</s>BOYLE: From Ford Motor Company</s>PR. COLLINS: Working in public relations. You are now in public relations for a fabulous Minor League baseball team, if I may mention, the St. Paul Saints. So you moved into PR as well. And there's also a Minnesota connection, a little bit obviously. You were up in International Falls for a while. And you guys have so much in common. Is that surprising to you?</s>WRIGHT: Well, very surprising to me. And when I started looking at it, I go, geez, maybe I got all this from here without even thinking about it.</s>COLLINS: Right.</s>WRIGHT: You know, I remember -- he reminded me the other day that when I was nine, 10 years old, I wasn't very good in spelling. And he used to, you know, rail at me about my spelling. And now, when I interview people...</s>COLLINS: He didn't remember that part.</s>WRIGHT: Yes, now but -- and when I interview people, now one of the first things I look at is their spelling, you know. And so it's been in my head. And just getting into the PR business in general and all, it had to be a little bit subtle. I mean..</s>COLLINS: Sure because you were a reporter in Detroit for a while.</s>COLLINS: And now you are a writer?</s>WRIGHT: I'm now a writer. And still do -- and did some reporting when I was younger. I was -- I did some freelance writing and still do occasionally still. There were all these kind of spooky similarities.</s>COLLINS: Right.</s>WRIGHT: And I think when you're a kid sometimes you don't think of that stuff. And then it, you know, shows 20, 30, years later, and you go, wow.</s>COLLINS: Oh, yes.</s>BOYLE: Those editors said his stories were good, but his spelling was outstanding.</s>COLLINS: Oh, really? See? The impact, I'm telling you, is incredible. Tom tell me, when you look back at the experience as we said before, oftentimes you don't think about the impact that you have, but what has he taught you? We hear a lot from Dave about how you helped to shape his life and his future, but surely you learned some things from Dave as well?</s>BOYLE: How about persistence to start out, when you want to find an old friend. How about some persistence? We wouldn't be here today if it weren't for that. He was always something. I'd walk away from a ballgame, saying nice ballgame. 10, 20, 30, 40 years later, he'll tell me the details of the game.</s>COLLINS: Remember?</s>BOYLE: He remembered a lot more than I thought. I thought we were taking a walk in the park, and he's analyzing the grass as we went. So...</s>COLLINS: Are you proud of him?</s>BOYLE: Oh, geesh, look where he's come from. He had a tricky start.</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>BOYLE: A mother who had four kids to handle, a full-time job, and a husband who wasn't present at the time. And she put it all together. And the way he's turned out is magnificent. This is a special reunion weekend through the Big Brothers group.</s>COLLINS: That's right. And you still want to remind everybody we're celebrating 100th anniversary for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And so you guys will have a couple of things to do. And there would be a book that's put out. And your story will be in there. And it's a great story. And we sure do appreciate you coming by.</s>BOYLE: When he says thanks to me, I'm sort of representing all these Big Brothers and Big Sisters, some of whom they are persistent enough to find, like you did. So it's a thanks to all those people who have given their time.</s>COLLINS: Right. Well, we appreciate you telling us the story so much, and hope that some people will get involved in the organizations. It's been around for a long time and it's a good one.</s>BOYLE: Thanks for having us.</s>COLLINS: Tom Boyle, Dave Wright, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate it.