AMERICAN ACHIEVERS celebrates ambition, commitment to excellence, risk-taking and tenacity in pursuit of the American Dream. Author and documentary filmmaker Keith Dunnavant, the biographer of Paul ”Bear” Bryant, Joe Montana, and Bart Starr, goes deep with a different guest each week—exploring the life of an accomplished individual who has relentlessly chased success and fulfillment, often battling through significant adversity and reflecting universal lessons that strike at the heart of the American experience. Featuring entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, astronauts, media figures and civic leaders. Join us at AmericanAchievers.us. Become a premium subscriber at patreon.com/AmericanAchievers.
Part 2 of 2: Robert Swan talks about the bittersweet climax of his South Pole expedition and his treacherous journey to the North Pole, the alcohol problem that pushed him to the edge, how Jacques Cousteau inspired him to pursue a 50-year mission, why he emigrated to the United States, and what he is learning from the son now following in his footsteps.
Part 1 of 2: Robert Swan talks about the boyhood fascination with Robert Falcon Scott that grew into a burning ambition to follow in the doomed explorer's footsteps and how he overcame various obstacles to become the first person to walk to both the north and south poles.
Tom Johnson, the former president of CNN and publisher of the LOS ANGELES TIMES, talks about the life-altering impact of one man's act of faith, the drive that propelled him to become one of the most powerful figures in American media—and the price he has paid for his raging ambition.
Chiropractor Flora Hyacinth talks about growing up poor in a Caribbean fishing village, dreaming of a better life, the athletic scholarship that brought her to the United States, the memorable day she set a world record in the triple jump, and the injury she sustained while training for the Olympics that changed her life.
Former NASA engineer Homer Hickam talks about growing up in West Virginia coal country, his complicated relationship with his father, the influence of a special teacher, and the inspirational story that resulted in the best-selling memoir ROCKET BOYS and the popular film OCTOBER SKY.
Jeff Miller, who owns a dry cleaning business in Hendersonville, North Carolina, talks about the World War II veterans, including his father, who imbued his upbringing with patriotism and a sense of community, and the fateful spark that led him to co-found the Honor Flight Network.
Part 2 of 2: Bill Rasmussen talks about the skepticism he and his partners faced in selling a 24-hour sports channel to cable operators, rights holders and advertisers, and the various financial, technological and logistical hurdles they overcame while founding a media brand that would fundamentally change the sports world and the television industry.
Part 1 of 2: Bill Rasmussen talks about his formative years as a local broadcaster, being fired from his front-office job with hockey's New England Whalers, and how, working with his son, Scott, and insurance agent Ed Eagan, he began to develop the revolutionary idea that became the cable channel ESPN.
In an interview conducted two years before his death in 2021, war correspondent Joe Galloway talks about the pivotal event that led him to a life in journalism, covering the Kansas murder case immortalized by Truman Capote, the landmark Vietnam War battle that profoundly marked him, producing the best-selling book that was adapted into the Mel Gibson movie WE WERE SOLDIERS, and the surreal night he spent on the same battlefield 28 years later.
Fox Sports football analyst Spencer Tillman talks about the missionary mother who shaped his view of the world, the lessons he learned while playing football for Oklahoma and in the NFL, the keys to his long career in broadcasting, and the motivational power of rejection and pressure.
