“Balls in the Air with Charlie Rymer” Podcast Episode 36 with “Invincible” Vince Papale

It’s not every day that Mark Wahlberg portrays you on the big screen, but that’s exactly what happened with former NFL player Vince Papale in 2006 when “Invincible” became a box office hit. Vince joins Charlie in this episode to talk about the inspirational film, the impact it’s had on his life, and the common ground he and “The Big Timer” now share in overcoming recent adversity.

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Transcript:

Charlie Rymer (00:11):

Hi, and welcome into The Charlie Rymer Golf Show. I’m your friendly neighborhood host, Charlie Rymer. We’re coming to you from our beautiful studio in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the golf capital of the world. It’s been a lot of fun putting this show together. We get a lot of amazing guests, and it’s people I want to talk to, because after all, it’s The Charlie Rymer Golf Show. If you want to talk to different guests, you get your own show. This is my show, I’m talking to who I want to talk to, and today, I’m talking to Vince Papale who is a man… he and I have a lot in common. Vince, I have this dream that one of these days, they’re going to make a movie about my life, and Mark Wahlberg is going to play me. That’s my dream, but that’s your reality. See where I went with that? You to have a lot in common, right?

Vince Papale (01:05):

There it is right there, man. Charlie, I’m still pinching myself. It’s been the craziest experience in the world. Anybody wants to talk about golf to me, you must be thinking about Wahlberg. You talk about a guy that can hit a golf ball, that’s Mark Wahlberg.

Charlie Rymer (01:23):

I’ve seen him out on the golf course play, and there’s no doubt about it, he can get around a golf course. I’ve seen the pictures of his house out in LA, with the whole big fake golf hole up in the back, and all of that. He loves his golf, no doubt about that. I think you like the game, too. You’re coming to us from Jupiter, Florida, I think you probably get out on the golf course a little bit yourself.

Vince Papale (01:44):

Every once in a while. It’s pretty cool. My wife Janet, I was hoping she’d be here right now, that’s the one that wore that USA jersey, not a Giants fan, in the movie, but Janet is out on the course right now. I’m in Jupiter, you’re saying that Myrtle Beach is the golf capital of the world, I think the 50 or 60 professional golfers down here would probably think Jupiter might be, but it’s all good. I’m a hacker, man. I’ve got an 18 handicap. You know what an army golfer is, right? Left, right, left, right.

Charlie Rymer (02:18):

I’ve got all of that. I’m very familiar with it.

Vince Papale (02:22):

Give me a cold beer, give me some good country music and a cigar, and man, I’m on a golf course, and I’m in heaven, especially when I have my kids. I don’t take it all that serious. Actually, I got down here in Jupiter because of a charity golf tournament maybe we’ll talk about. I just love golf, and I like being outside.

Charlie Rymer (02:43):

You mention kids, and they got you into golf. For me, golf has done so much for me in my life. It provided for my education, career plan A, plan B, plan C, lifelong relationships and friendships. There’s really hardly been too much happened to me good in life that didn’t have something to do with golf. I’m very passionate about getting kids out on the golf course, playing. Talk to me about your kids, how they got you involved, what are they up to now? How has golf helped their game, and their life?

Vince Papale (03:19):

Because of the experiences and things of the sort, Janet was the one that actually got me in golf. When I first met her in ’92, she was living down here in Boynton Beach, which is right near Delray Boca, so everybody knows where that is. She lived on a golf course, and was actually a pretty good golfer. I didn’t start, Charley, until I was 30 years old, when I made the Eagles. Coach Vermeil came to me, and everybody’s saying, “Hey, you’re going to get invited to a million outings, so you better start playing golf.” I used to hack around in the neighborhood we had. Look what I just found? Look at this. That is my father’s six iron.

Charlie Rymer (03:55):

Wow.

Vince Papale (03:56):

These were the clubs. Look at this grip, this wooden handle. That’s what I used to hack around with when I was a kid. I grew up in a neighborhood right around the corner from a pig farm. Golf was not what we did. You just went to the shore, you went to the beach at the end of the summer. Ron Jaworski, my buddy, my teammate, he has five or six golf courses in the greater Philadelphia area, and this one, we just took our kids there for lessons, thanks to Ron, and they grew into it, they’re 25 and 28. Just last week, because Vinny went off to go to training camp, he’s with the USFL, with the Tampa Bay Bandits and Todd Haley, doing very well, but we all went out and played golf. My daughter Gabriela was with the Sixers, doing their entertainment, and now she’s in new Orleans, helping out with the entertainment for the Final Four. Go Cats by the way, Villanova, we’ve got to root for them.

Charlie Rymer (04:53):

I imagine from your part of the world, you’d have to be a Villanova fan for sure.

Vince Papale (04:57):

It’s tough, because I’m a Saint Joe’s Hawk, we are arch fricking rivals, man, with Jay. Hey, it’s all good. The beautiful thing is, we golf as a family. I brought a couple of props, I know I sent you some pictures. That’s the Papale Cup. We play every year, a couple of times a year. On Mother’s Day or Easter we’ll play for the Papale Cup, and there’s a lot of jabbing going on. It’s Janet and me against the kids, and we’ll either go scramble, we’ll go match play, whatever it was. Whichever way they think they can cheat the best with, that’s how we go.

Charlie Rymer (05:36):

I’m sure in your family, there’s definitely a lot of competition.

Vince Papale (05:41):

There’s a lot, and there’s a lot of trash talk going on, as it should be. It’s almost like being in Arizona, out there at the 16th. It’s pretty fun. Golf is part of our life now, and we’re surrounded by it, and it’s a beautiful thing. It’s a life sport, and it’s a great connector. Just the other day, Gabby and I wanted to go play nine, and don’t you know, we run into a guy that used to run the PGA. The Honda Classic is right around the corner from us, it’s in PGA, and I know the guy, Ken Kennerly, that runs it. He belongs to our golf club, in Tequesta. It’s around you all the time. Everybody in the neighborhood has a golf cart, and I love it.

Charlie Rymer (06:27):

Yeah, it’s a great lifestyle around golf. Interesting, you mentioned Ken Kennerly, he’s a great friend, he was actually my agent for about 10 years, and he’s done a wonderful job in the community down there, especially with that event, and getting the Nicklaus family involved, the Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation as well. Ken Kennerly, he is amazing.

(06:46):

I want to go back a little bit. We were, at the top of the interview, talking about the movie, “Invincible,” and Mark Wahlberg playing you. I’ve spent a little bit of time in Philadelphia, everybody that I know from Philadelphia, the first thing you think of is just how much pride they have in that city, their sports teams, the history that’s there.

Vince Papale (07:08):

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer (07:08):

I couldn’t imagine, after your background, being age 30, didn’t play college football, you make the team. Obviously, the movie’s about that, but just the sense that you must have had for those three years, and afterwards, the reaction that you got from all the folks around Philadelphia. Literally, talk about a hometown hero, and carrying the town on your shoulders-

Vince Papale (07:35):

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer (07:35):

That had to be an amazing time for you.

Vince Papale (07:35):

It was pretty cool Charley. They called it the real life Rocky thing, and Sylvester Stallone was real cool with it, and that’s actually how the movie got started. I actually got four years in, because I got into my fourth year, and I blew both my shoulders out. The ultimate last laugh is, I got a pension out of it, and then did a little TV and radio. Between that, and doing TV and radio in Philadelphia, there aren’t too many places where I had to stand the line, or buy a beer.

Charlie Rymer (08:02):

I was going to ask you that. When’s the last time you ever had to buy a beer in Philadelphia?

Vince Papale (08:10):

I’m in Jupiter, Florida now, but I have what’s called a pit stop. A matter of fact, I’m going to be in there at the end of the month, doing some stuff. Of course, we’re going to be playing in the golf tournament while we’re doing it. I’m just getting a text right now with one of my golf buddies, as we’re speaking, I see it on the screen here, one of my golf buddies here at Tequesta. It’s that life sport, and it’s exciting to be around, but with the movie, it has just totally changed my life.

(08:44):

The pandemic shut a lot of courses down. We were able to keep everything pretty much alive here, but it shut me down, because I make a living speaking, and now, the speaking is all starting to come back, and I’m starting to travel around the country again. It’s just been a crazy, amazing experience. If you know my background, my mom and dad never got beyond the eighth grade, my father was a pig farmer. My mother was a great athlete, my dad played golf back then. This was before World War II. I’m the product of that. To be thrust into that thing, the NFL, when I’m just out having a good time, chasing my dream, the movie just was the icing on the cake. To have a guy like Mark Wahlberg, who is just so well respected, so much respected everywhere, every time he goes out and talks about a movie, or he talks about “Invincible.” Right before the Super Bowl, who’s he talking about? He is talking about “Invincible.”

(09:45):

It’s just the greatest, coolest thing in the world, and has opened up a lot of doors for me. That’s what got me down here. A guy invites to come and speak at a golf tournament for the police, concerns of police survivors, for those fallen police officers, let’s take care of the kids. We came here, Janet’s the golfer, and she says, “Oh my God, I love this neighborhood.” Like I said, she was down in South Florida when I met her, and it was a perfect blend. That last piece of the pie, or whatever it was in that circle that needed to be closed, this closed it. This is where we call home. But, Myrtle is pretty cool, I love it. I was a cancer survivor, I know we’ll talk about that, and I rehabbed in Myrtle, that’s what I did.

Charlie Rymer (10:33):

As I mentioned, we’re the golf capital in the world. We don’t have the 50 or 60 PGA tour players, but we’re sneaking up on 100 golf courses. We’ve got more golf courses than we do have PGA tour players. There’s a few of us around in the area, but thank you for mentioning. It’s home for me, and I love it here.

(10:49):

One of the things I wanted to ask you about, you were obviously a heck of an athlete your whole life, going back to when you were a kid, and you played multiple sports. Now, when I look out at kids, you’ve got all this pressure from these coaches to have them specialize. I’m not a big fan of that. I just wonder, had you specialized early on, would you have ultimately been able to get on an NFL field? Do you look at young players and talk to coaches about, let them play all different sports, and cross develop? What are your thoughts on that?

Vince Papale (11:27):

I agree with that. Don’t focus in on that one, maybe you can find a compatible sport, or whatever it might be. This theory that you put all the eggs in one basket, I think actually, in a lot of cases, is setting some of these kids up for failure. What happens if they don’t make it? Where’s their fallback? I lettered in four sports, baseball, track, football, and basketball, even though I was small, I was a small school, but I’m so proud of that. I think, each one of those sports gave me a characteristic, or an aptitude, or an attitude that led to me being successful not only in sports, but also in business and some other things, and also, being a coach.

(12:12):

The real story is, I was head track coach, assistant football coach at my Alma mater, in suburban Philadelphia. I became a bartender and a substitute teacher after I had the tryout. I had an opportunity to train for three months prior to going to training camp. In order to do that, I had to make money, so I got to leave of absence from my teaching job. My daughter Gabriela played multiple sports, eventually, she wanted to dance and cheer. She did very well, went to Syracuse, and wound up working with the Sixers, involved in sports. My son Vinny, he played them all, but he focused on the complimentary sports, and that was football in the fall, and lacrosse in the spring.

(12:59):

God, he could have played soccer. I know he could have played basketball. He could have swum. If we had a golf team, he’d probably be on the golf team, he had his mother’s gift you. I believe in multiple sports, and to just pigeon hole them, and doing that one thing, sets them up for failure, and it’s a tough thing. There’s so much stuff these kids are going through, my God. It’s so confusing. What’s right, what’s wrong. Instead of letting your parents tell you what’s right and what’s wrong, now, they’re being told by other people that this is the way it should be done, and it’s really confusing for these young kids. Thank God my kids are out, really, that they make decisions on their own.

Charlie Rymer (13:39):

Yeah, definitely a tough time to be kids. Imagine trying to finish up high school or college, just the pandemic alone, over the last couple of years, what it has done to their social life, and all of that. A tough time to be a kid, no doubt. I wanted to talk to you about, you’ve been very supportive and vocal in your experience with colorectal cancer. You were diagnosed back in 2001, at age 55. I was just hoping maybe you could share your experience with that, or maybe some advice that you might have for folks, in terms of trying to make sure you get the screening, and looking at early detection, and that sort of stuff.

Vince Papale (14:21):

Most importantly, the key is the screening, and getting the early detection. I was lucky, even at the age of 55 now, we didn’t have colon cancer in our background, but my father died of lung cancer. That would’ve been a natural, because he was smoking since he was five years old, and he worked in Westinghouse, with acetylene torches. The stuff he was inhaling, and the asbestos and all that stuff, you don’t even know, but we didn’t have it. Now they’re saying at 40, 45 years old… and certainly, you want to make sure you understand what your family history is with it. I did it only because Janet told me, “If you don’t get a colonoscopy, I’m trading in for a couple of 30 year olds.”

(15:01):

Basically, she threatened me. I didn’t even know how to spell it, let alone say it. As you know, you’ve been through the experience, the prep is just not a joyful experience, but they found it. They found that they found that one polyp, and that was the one. I was lucky, because I had an advocate, and my advocate was one of the guys, the head of GI at Jefferson Hospital, Tony Infantolino, and he took it, and he sent it out to all these pathologists, and they came back and said, “It’s totally encapsulated.” I was lucky, they did a resectioning, and took about 12 or 14 inches out, through my navel, and that was it. No chemo, no radiation.

(15:43):

I was a Guinea pig for that, by Dr. Goldstein at Jeff, I was a Guinea pig. That was weird, because every day the cameras would be coming, and they’d be taking pictures of my stomach, and how I was healing. I was lucky, after I got all the tubes taken out, I was walking in the hallway, and doing laps in the hallway, thinking I was on a football field in the stadium. They said, “We’ve got to get this guy out of here, he’s going to hit someone.”

(16:09):

They kicked me out after three days, and here’s the great irony of the Final Four. Jay Wright, who is a good buddy of mine, he’s the head coach of Villanova. He saw me down the shore, the Jersey shore, on the boardwalk, riding my bike. You’ve got a boardwalk right behind you, and I’m riding my bike. He said, “Vinny, weren’t you just in the hospital?” I said, “Yeah, man. How cool is this?” I was lucky, no complications, no chemo, no radiation. This month, I’ve just done several things. You’ve just got to stay on top of it, it’s very simple.

Charlie Rymer (16:41):

I appreciate you sharing that story. I haven’t shared publicly, but I was recently diagnosed with colon cancer, and went through a resection. I was going to say that I had 12 inches of my colon taken out, but you said 12 to 14, so I’m going to say I had 15 taken out. But no, it was about 12 inches. My procedure wasn’t maybe as simple as yours, I had a few complications, and I’m about to head down to see the folks at MD Anderson, in Houston. It’s very early for me, and that’s what I tell people, I wasn’t having symptoms. I wasn’t feeling bad. There wasn’t any pain. I just know, when you’re 40, you go in for the colonoscopy. When you’re 50, you go in for the colonoscopy. That’s what caught mine before I feel like I’m actually sick.

(17:26):

I’m going to have to take a little bit of chemo, but I’m doing it when I’m healthy. I’d much rather do it when I’m healthy, and I feel like I can have a better chance of letting the medicine do what it’s supposed to do, and my body help. I’m convinced that my early detection is what’s going to get me through this whole process. I know, for a lot of people going in and getting that colonoscopy, there’s some embarrassment to it, there’s some stigma to it. Between it saving your life, and I feel like it’s going to save mine, it’s something that, we’ve got to get the word out. “Get in, let these great medical people do what they do. Find these things early. They’ve got tools to treat it.” While I’m not happy about the situation, I feel like I’m blessed in that they got it very early.

Vince Papale (18:14):

The same thing for me. They got it early enough, and I was lucky, no chemo, no radiation. Let me tell you, the key is, and we were doing this off air before, because I had known. The thing is, you have that team behind you. When I go out and I speak, I always talk about that invincible team. The only way you’re going to be successful, in anything that you do, you can’t do it alone. You’ve got your wife, she’s the RN. I had my Janet, with the greatest positive attitude in world. Janet, in real life, was a world class gymnast on the USA world gymnastics team that competed in Munich, for crying out loud, and she’s one of them. She’s the most positive, aggressive… she wasn’t letting the hospital take charge, she was taking charge for me. She says, “All right Vince, get over your pity party.” I have this whole thing of things that we think that people should do. I’ll send it to you, Charlie.

Charlie Rymer (19:08):

I’d love to see that, and we’d love to share it through our show, as well.

Vince Papale (19:12):

Please do that. Basically, the first thing is, get over your pity party, get over feeling sorry for yourself, and let’s go. Just get your head out of your rear end, no pun intended, and let’s go. Let’s beat this damn thing.

Charlie Rymer (19:24):

Yeah.

Vince Papale (19:25):

Surround yourself with that invincible team. You’ve got your advocates, you’ve got your social workers, you have your insurance company, you’ve got your meds, you’ve got your surgeon. You have all of these people, and your friends and family, those that love you the most, and those are going to make you feel good about yourself. You surround yourself with them, and there you go, that’s your invincible team. That’s the way to do it.

Charlie Rymer (19:48):

What a great piece of advice. Put me in coach, I’ve already got the ball, I’ve just got to run with that.

Vince Papale (19:53):

One of my favorite songs.

Charlie Rymer (19:59):

The people that you love, let them love on you. Let the experts do their thing. Stay positive. You whipped this thing, I’m going to whip it too.

Vince Papale (20:05):

Yeah, that’s what it’s all about. You can’t do it. Just like you were saying, just the way you were talking, you can just tell, because you have the proper attitude. Success in anything that you’re striving to do, whether its it’s trying to get a goal, defeat something, beat something, whatever it might be, it’s right here, that is so much the key. When you surround yourself with the right people, you can do just about anything. You’re only as pretty as [inaudible 00:20:31] Charlie, it’s as simple as that.

(20:35):

Be in shape, man. When you’re going down there, you get your butt in as good as shape as you can. I know your wife’s going to do it. Get on that proper diet, do some exercising. I was in fantastic shape when I was 55, I felt like I could have done anything still, and that’s what enabled me to get out of the hospital in three days. We got everything once the resectioning worked.

Charlie Rymer (21:00):

Those are words that I don’t want to hear, but I need to hear. I’ve got a little bit of work to do on the shape. I’ve been up and down, and doing a little bit better with it now. I definitely think going through this will end up changing some lifestyle decisions that I make. I get hungry Vince, I get hungry. There’s a lot of good eating down here in Myrtle Beach. I’ve got to push that plate away a few times. We’ll get to that another day. I want to finish, and let’s circle back around to golf. You’re you’re an 18 handicap.

Vince Papale (21:29):

Right.

Charlie Rymer (21:32):

I love asking athletes this, what’s the best score, and what course? I’ve got to know that, I’m always curious about that.

Vince Papale (21:40):

The best score at which course was one of the Jaworski courses. I lived on a golf course when I was playing for the Eagles, back then it was Ramblewood. That is now part of the Ron Jaworski, it’s in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. I used to run that course all the time in the off season. The best score that I ever scored, ironically, was an 83, and it was at Ramblewood, and it was pretty good. Down here with all the water and stuff I have in Florida… I’m a bogie guy. I strive for that bogie golf, that’s it. Something that’s manageable. We belong to a beautiful Arnold Palmer course, Doug Pederson’s a good buddy of mine, he’s down here with us.

(22:21):

We belong to the same golf club, along with Daniel Becker, and Tiger just joined, because his son Willie plays with all his high school buddies here. That’s pretty cool. My goal is to just bogie, man, and I’m a happy guy. If I break 90, 95, I’m there. Let’s go.

Charlie Rymer (22:41):

That’s a good day.

Vince Papale (22:42):

It’s just going out. I have to compete when I go out and speak, because for me, I’ve got to be a Super Bowl quarterback. I’ve got to be that Tom Brady. I can’t throw an interception, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do. To me, to go out on the golf course and compete against somebody, it’s not my deal. I’ve done all that, and I’ve done it at the highest level. If you want to compete against me in golf, and give me two strokes whole, go ahead, have fun with it. That’s the way it is. To me, it’s about having fun.

Charlie Rymer (23:11):

It’s about being in a beautiful place, and being with people who you want to spend time with, because other than about 15 people on the planet, let’s face it, there’s none of us that are really very good at this game.

Vince Papale (23:20):

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer (23:22):

It’s aggravating. Just being with the right people, in the right place… in this day and age, how are you going to get four, four and a half hours with people you want to spend time with, doing anything else other than golf? It’s just not going to happen.

Vince Papale (23:35):

Being outside, on the lake in Myrtle, it’s always a chamber of commerce day there. Here, it’s fantastic. It’s always spectacular weather. Maybe you have to deal with the wind, a rainstorm will come through, but it ain’t no big thing. Just enjoy it. Enjoy life, enjoy everything around you, enjoy the beauty of being on a golf course, enjoy the creativity. Have you ever thought about that, what it takes these guys that have built these golf courses, and all the woods around them, and how, all of a sudden, this thing is created? How do they create? When did they put that tree there, why did they put that there? They put it there to piss me off, that’s why they put it there.

(24:11):

Just enjoy everything around it. It’s part of nature, and to me, it’s just a fulfillment of life. I love it, and don’t take it too seriously, and enjoy having it. We see some guys, everywhere I go, I go to a coffee shop, go to a restaurant. My favorite golfer down here is JT, Justin, and he did a really super thing for me. He was in the same restaurant I was in, my birthday party, and he bought everybody drinks, which was really special, he didn’t have to do that. Just nice guys, and it’s really cool.

Charlie Rymer (24:48):

Vince Papale, thank you so much for sharing your story, sharing your inspiration. It’s been really neat getting to spend a little bit of time with you. I look forward to maybe, one of these days, you and I getting to tee it up on a golf course somewhere, and spend a nice day together. Thank you so much for being with us here, on The Charlie Rymer Golf Show.

Vince Papale (25:07):

I’ll have to tell Ken that I was with you. Maybe we can make that happen. I’m driving up through the north, and I do that, I’ll just swing over to Myrtle, and hang out with y’all.

Charlie Rymer (25:17):

Vince, we have always got a golf course, and a bed, and a great meal for you here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Vince Papale (25:24):

Let’s go.

Charlie Rymer (25:25):

Anytime you’re getting this way, let us know.

Vince Papale (25:27):

All right. Good luck in your treatment as well. You can do this, you know that.

Charlie Rymer (25:31):

Thank you.

Vince Papale (25:31):

You’re welcome.

Charlie Rymer (25:32):

Appreciate it Vince.

Vince Papale (25:33):

Yes sir.