Benny G Show, Ep. 3: The Rick Clark-Ben Gregg charitable connection, a Tonight Show appearance and looking ahead to UConn
From staff reports
Rick Clark and Ben Gregg are quickly becoming the John Stockton and Karl Malone of charitable work around the community.
Known around Spokane for his generosity and tireless efforts, Clark shared his own inspirational journey on Wednesday’s “Benny G Show,” a podcast starring Gregg, the Gonzaga basketball standout, and co-hosted by Spokesman-Review reporter Theo Lawson.
Clark talks about his escape from poverty, sleeping in a van at Spokane Community College and doing his homework with a flashlight, and the inspiration behind his Giving Back Spokane, a nonprofit that provides resources to people who are homeless.
From the time he provided that first backpack to a homeless man in 2015, Clark has become the city’s unofficial assist leader. And he’s found a perfect running mate in Gregg.
“I could tell right away, with the conversation me and Ben had, that his mom and dad had already shown him a life of giving back. I was like, ‘This is cool.’ I don’t ever want to have to go out there and beg somebody to come work with me. If you have those skills, and that’s something you are interested in and you talk to me about it, I want to hone in on that and be like, ‘All right, let’s go do something.’ And so that’s how it sort of started with Ben.”
The conversation touches on the generosity of GU players, some of the charitable work, and how they’ve helped make a difference in the community.
On a side note, Clark also shares how Spokane native, actress Sydney Sweeney, wound up with the signed Gonzaga basketball she presented to Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” on Monday.
Among other highlights from Gregg:
On finals week: “My procrastination is getting the best of me right now. I’ve got a bunch of assignments I need to make up now. It’s been a little bit of a stressful week.”
On the mood after losing to Washington on Saturday: “We have a really positive group. No one was hanging their heads. Obviously, it sucks to lose the way we did, just knowing that the mistakes we made lost us the game. But we had a good film session on Sunday, and bounced back … and got a win on Monday.”
On Gonzaga’s game against UConn on Friday: “It’s going to be a challenge for us, guarding the outside shooting as well as they have a really good center (7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan) that can score inside. So guarding both of those and just getting stops.”
Catch the entire third episode at www.spokesman.com/podcasts/benny-g-show/.
The ”Benny G Show” is available wherever you get your podcasts.