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.
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Steve Bartkowski talks about being selected number one overall in the 1975 NFL Draft, why he began to second-guess his decision to choose football over baseball, how losing his starting job changed him, why a 1980 playoff loss to the Cowboys still haunts him, and the athletic lessons that he has applied to the rest of his life.
Grammy-nominated songwriter Adam Wright talks about his early musical influences, the impact of his family legacy, the art of writing a country song, and how it feels to hear his work interpreted by artists including Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood and Alan Jackson.
Part 1 of 2: Retired General Charles Bolden Jr. talks about navigating around a cultural roadblock to win an appointment to the Naval Academy, the influence of his educator parents, and the lessons he learned as a Marine aviator and test pilot on the way to outer space.
Tinesha Ross talks about the trauma that devastated her childhood, the power of one thoughtless sentence, and the lessons she learned while battling against the odds to make her dream come true, becoming a rocket scientist for United Launch Alliance.
Alana Shepherd talks about the catastrophic accident that paralyzed her son and how this personal tragedy became the catalyst to the defining cause of her life, the Shepherd Center, which has treated more than 40,000 people who have sustained spinal cord injuries and acquired brain injuries since 1975.
Retired General Steve Ritchie talks about struggling to hang on during his first year at the Air Force Academy, the deal he made with a superior officer to reach flight school, mastering the F-104 Starfighter and the F-4 Phantom, and his fateful decision to volunteer for a second tour in Vietnam, becoming the only Air Force pilot ace of the war.
Caricature artist Robert Risko talks about the pivotal day he met Andy Warhol, how LSD altered his perspective, the origins of his widely celebrated retro airbrush style, and how he has endeavored to turn icons into real people in the pages of magazines including VANITY FAIR and THE NEW YORKER.
Part 2 of 2: David Hartman talks about why he reinvented himself in middle age by becoming the first host of ABC's upstart program GOOD MORNING AMERICA, the philosophy he employed while interviewing presidents, kings, and movie stars, and the most gut-wrenching experience of his broadcasting career.
