In 1993, John Thomas created the 411 Knowledge & Entertainment Show which is a talk show that allows successful individuals from popular culture an opportunity to share their journey with young adults beginning their own journey. Since then John has decided that it was time to give back to the struggling city that had made him the driven individual that he had become. He achieved that by hosting the annual 411 All-Star Weekend in his childhood city, Buffalo, New York. The purpose of the weekend is to bring together the Western New York community through several events including the 411 Golf Academy, 411 Basketball Academy, 411 Fitness Day and the 411 All-Star Basketball Game.

Now the 411 Media Group LLC is a company that is designed to create develop and produce educational, athletic and entertainment programs for young adults (7-24). Current programs include: 411 Basketball Academy, 411 Golf Academy, 411 All-Star Weekend, 411 Bowling Academy, 411 Knowledge & Entertainment Show and the 411 Session a mentoring program for teens ages 13-17.

To talk John Thomas will motivate you to go beyond your limitation and remind you to go and help someone else.

Charles Clark: I start all of my interviews off with saying thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time out, particularly on a Saturday, after you’ve had a busy morning, for talking with me right now. I really do appreciate it, Mr. Thomas.

John Thomas: No problem. I appreciate the invitation.

CC: It is not very often, even though I live in the city of Buffalo, that I get the chance to interview too many people in Buffalo or who are from Buffalo. Since [this] is the city where I was born and raised – where Nebo Publishing is home-based – I get an extra kind of a little thrill to kinda talk to someone from Buffalo, so I’m doubly excited today. This has been my question of all questions. It really helps me know more about you… So, the question is who is John Thomas?

JT: John is a father. A husband… A great son… A great friend… And an overall, trying-to-be-great human being.

CC: That’s excellent. I haven’t heard that one yet. What constitutes a great human being?

JT: Being respectful, mindful of your environment… Um, the people around you, the people who love you and the people who may not love you... I think in becoming a great human being, you have to take into consideration everything outside of yourself and put your best foot forward as you entertain, as you come in contact with others. And I think if you put your best foot forward, you are taking that step to become great.

CC: Wow… Now, being born and raised in Buffalo, what high school did you go to?

JT: I went to Bennett High School.

CC: Okay, I went to Riverside [but] I won’t hold that against you. [Laughing] I’m just messing with you. I thought you might like that one…

JT: [Laughing] Everyone’s always taking shots at Bennett so I’m used to it.

CC: Being born and raised in Buffalo, what journey led you to Atlanta, Georgia? A lot of people go to Atlanta and get lost there, but can you tell me your journey?

JT: Well, I’m not sure if you knew, but growing up in Buffalo, basketball was a high passion of mine. I played basketball at Bennett. I was an All Western New York player and had an opportunity to select colleges that I wanted to attend based off scholarships. I went to a junior college. Once I graduated in ’87, played a couple years there, and was given an opportunity to come down to Samford University, which is in Birmingham. It was a total different experience going from Buffalo – urban area, I grew up on the east side of Buffalo – to going to Alabama and going to a prestigious school. Although it was a Division I school, high competition, but it was a Baptist school where we had to go to religion classes and it was 95% white. So, the world was totally different; but I felt that I fit in automatically once I got there because it kind of had the best of both worlds. But once I graduated there, I got an opportunity; I was invited to play in the NBA Summer Camp, which is in Los Angeles. I received an opportunity to try out for the Atlanta Hawks. Came to Atlanta – had a couple of family members here – and decided to make it my home.

CC: Wow… So what led you to youth development – because everyone doesn’t go into this willingly?

JT: Well, I’ve always had a passion and a talent – from what I was told – for working with kids. I graduated with a Journalism/Mass Communications degree and ironically, once I decided that I didn’t want to pursue basketball as a future, I wanted to create a television program that kinda combined all my loves which was entertainment, education, athletics and youth. So in creating this program, I wanted to try to push all these things together and I saw a show… Teen Summit was on back then… And watching that show, I felt that we could do it better. So that’s when I started talking steps in that direction. And I’ve been working with kids for almost 20 years now. I truly love watching kids go from not knowing to knowing and watching that confidence in between.

CC: What do you think is the – particularly with young, Black men… Do you think we are misinterpreted?

JT: I think there are a lot of different answers to that question. One is that a lot of kids don’t understand their true value. They don’t understand – especially our Black kids growing up in an urban environment – they don’t understand how valuable they are and they’re not being told. There might not be a lot of role models… Maybe something in the home… But they just don’t have the confidence to go out and be successful. In turn, there becomes an approach where they’re not as confident, so they make up for it with aggression; they make up for it with acting like they know; trying to look a part but not really be[ing] the part. And I think, in that lifestyle, it kinda creates holes that continue as they get older and those things are pointed out.

CC: You said that you made the decision not to pursue basketball and that is something that I’ve never heard. I work with a lot of young people and they wish that they had that opportunity. I would like to know, what have you learned from the discipline of basketball that you still rely on and now teach other young people?

JT: Well, basketball, to me, I always equate it to life. In basketball, there’s offense and defense. You have to be aggressive in order to become successful. You have to create a goal. You have to work with others. You have to accept defeat. You have to be humble in victory. You have to deal with different environments. If you really sit back and look at the game of basketball and it’s moving from one place to another and dribbling, with obstacles in front of you… And if someone comes out – if you’re double-teamed – how do you react? Do you panic? Do you find a different way? Do you utilize your teammates? Do you call a time-out and take a break and regroup? So I really look at basketball as life and fortunately, I was talented enough to play at a very young age and learn these things through a lot of mentors and role models who really spoke into me from a basketball standpoint and I was able to make that transition into life. So that’s how I speak to young people who are a part of our basketball academy.

CC: Do you feel that the current wave of athletes should be looked at as role models or are they just talented brothers who are playing a game?

JT: I think they can be used as role models only because they had a goal and they attained it. A lot of times kids don’t realize what it takes to attain the goal. They see the end result and want to have that end result but they have no idea what it takes to achieve that goal and then maintain that goal. So I think athletes are role models; but I don’t think they’re the be all end all. They are a piece of the puzzle; they are not the entire puzzle. So it’s up to other role models, mentors, parents that are in these kids’ lives to explain that. Yes, look at what LeBron James is doing, but you’re not LeBron James. Understand that. And then take his work ethic and take that success and use it as a sampling of you can achieve it. You know, he probably grew up in similar situations as you and made different decisions to become successful. No, I wholeheartedly feel those guys are role models. Some of them are not ready for it, but they definitely are.

CC: Yes, sir. How can media be better at being a service to young, Black men, particularly?

JT: Well, I’m not sure how much you’ve read about our brand or what we do. We have a talk show where we bring those successful individuals in popular culture together to share their journey of how they attained success. The highs, the lows… That really has nothing to do with what you have but how did you attain it… And what has to happen is that message has to be embedded in these kids going forward. Our motto or what we say is: We bring successful people to share their journey with the generation beginning their journey. Sometimes, when we grow up, you don’t have that inside the household so you’re almost starting from scratch. And like I mentioned earlier, we need successful people surrounding us in order to become who we want to be. There’s a lot of work on the kids’ part as well: having a goal, not getting distracted, watching your surroundings… So I think that to answer your question, we need to create environments where we can share information, especially for young adults and kids so that they can create the confidence to become successful.

CC: Yes, sir. Share with me the genesis of the 411 Media Group.

JT: It started 18 years ago as a program where, as I said, we wanted to create an environment where we brought together successful people and kids who want to become successful. Once I stopped playing basketball, I had a job at V103 Radio, which is a very large radio station here in Atlanta. My job was more promotion. My cousin, Carol Blackman – who’s also from Buffalo, was a morning show personality. She wanted to go into the school for a career day so I told her about this concept. I said well let’s have the kids speak about what they want to talk about or let’s involve them or let’s create a talk show inside that school instead of doing the same ole career day. So, she was game and gave me the information to the school. I pitched the idea to the school and they grabbed it right away. So we adopted that school and that school became our studio. So we brought artists from Usher, Monica, Outkast, Goodie Mob… all these guys that came up in Atlanta during that time, we brought them to that school to share their journey. So then other schools started hearing about it [and] we ended up touring all the Atlanta schools. Then it grew even more where we partnered with Magic Johnson Theaters and brought five schools into the theaters at a time just to maximize the show. Then it grew from there where we partnered with Sprite™ and toured the country in a ten-city tour. So now we felt we were ready for television. So we just kinda prepared ourselves for television; but as you know, television is really not interested in educating but generating money by any means necessary. So there’s a lot of programs that you see on television now that garner high ratings because of foolishness… Because of fighting… Because of drama… And that, unfortunately, is making a lot of money for that network because it’s a business. Once we got to that point we kinda pulled back. I wanted to tap into other loves that I had, so we created the Basketball Academy, where now we are partnered with the YMCA here in Atlanta. We have a Golf Academy where we take kids who never played golf onto the golf course and they learn etiquette. They learn to keep their shirt tucked. They learn how to hold a golf club. They learn how to shake a person’s hand and look them directly in the eye because there’s a lot of business that is done on the golf course. And a lot of our kids are talented but never have [been] given that opportunity you have no idea how your reach or the things you can tap into as a kid… So we created that Golf Academy. We also have a program called the 411 Session where we bring people behind the scenes. Where you look at Usher or LeBron James but there are people behind the scenes – producers, PR people, business owners – that aren’t put in that limelight. We invite them on to share their back story as well, just to showcase there are other jobs. You don’t have to become a[n] NBA player. You can become a[n] NBA owner. You can become a coach. You can become a trainer. There [are] other jobs that exist that kids have no idea about so we break down those barriers as well.

CC: So where do you see the 411 Media Group in the next five years?

JT: Well, right now, we’ve partnered with New Era to produce the show in their retail stores across the country as well as the world. New Era, as you know is based in Buffalo, grabbed onto our concept. They have stores in Tokyo, London, Germany, Toronto, as well as seven other states here in the United States. So our goal is to become a global brand. Our goal is to show that there really aren’t many differences between the young adults and the kids coming up today; it’s just their environments. So our goal is to create an environment in the classroom, in entertainment, in the basketball court and the golf course… Those will be our environments where we will invite kids to participate to learn about life as well as those other skills.

CC: Do you have any goals personally that you want to achieve in the next five years?

JT: Personally, I’d like to travel with my family more. My wife is completing her Masters’ now and she went over to Tanzania and she did a mission group and they did HIV and AIDS testing over there. She came back and shared her experience and was really hit by this international bug and wanted to do more over in that area. So I would like to travel more with my family… Take my sons over to see kids in Africa, over in Japan and just kinda see those cultures for my family. You know, I have an eight-year-old and he already has a global mindset so I want him to experience that within these next five years.

CC: How important is it for you to continue to come back to where you were born and continue to do your basketball weekends like you’ve done for the past few years? Not too many people come back and give the way you give.

JT: It happened on a fluke. I was there visiting my family. And I usually come in and visit for a week and leave. My sister was a part of this sports camp and the basketball instructor left and left them without anyone. So my sister said my brother’s here, he might want to do it. So I told here, I’m only here for a week. It’s an eight-week program. So she said just come and talk to the people and just see. And it was on my spirit to actually do something with kids at this time. So I went and I immediately saw the need. I said I need to be here more and share my experiences with these kids. There was a big gap between my generation and the one after mine but I became successful because the generation before me was tangible. They were there every day working out in the Boys and Girls Club. I could talk to them and see them and have a look at their work ethic. But my generation [wanted] to leave Buffalo as soon as possible because we saw other opportunities, which put a strain on that generation following me. [T]hey didn’t see that work ethic; we weren’t as tangible. So it’s extremely important for me to come back and we are coming up on our tenth year. We’re really seeing a profound impact because we had a game there and the gym was packed. There was no room – over 600 people for this basketball game that we didn’t even really promote. We put out a flyer two days before the event and we had 600 people there. So we know there’s a need, and now we just want to take it to another level. We just want to bring in some of our sponsors and resources here in Atlanta to kinda shine more light in that Buffalo area.

CC: So you think that the mass exit is still happening?

JT: I’m not sure. I would like to think so only because all I hear when I go back is there is nothing here for us. And now with television, with music, with videos… For kids being able to look at television and see success everywhere else, I think kids want success and if they don’t see it around their neighborhood… If there’s shootings here, gangs here and their peers aren’t doing anything, they want to leave. But I think they’re not preparing themselves to leave like you mentioned earlier. A lot of people come to Atlanta for the wrong reasons. They want what they see on television but they don’t realize there’s a lot of work to attain what they see on television so once they get down there, they realize it’s really no different. It’s like someone not liking an environment because they’re not doing well and [they] want a change. But then you go to that other environment and you’re not doing well there either because the common denominator is you. You’re not working hard. You’re not preparing. You know, Buffalo is a great city if you really buckle down and figure out what it is you wanna do… I think that’s why we’re successful every year because we’re tapping into a need. And now we’re partnering with the Boys and Girls Club that I grew up in – Masten. I mean, we’re gonna do year-long programming starting in 2012. So 411 wouldn’t just be there in August when we come; we’re gonna crate programming throughout the year so that we have a bigger impact on that city.

CC: Wow. That’s fantastic. Sir, I could talk to you forever but I know you have to go so I really, really appreciate you talking to me today. Thank you so much.

JT: No problem. Thank you, again.