Part 1 with Devin Driscoll of D1 Knoxville

Devin Driscoll (0:03)

And the other guy, my son's a couple of years older than me, and he was like, hey, but our boss comes in and goes, this is a make or break for you call. If you screw this up, you're probably gonna lose your shit. Correct, yeah. And he had already been on SmackDown and did it so well, and so he was kind of trying this new character out. And so he looks at me and he's like, hey, I think the way to get this over with is we should actually really fight.

And I said, got it, I'm gonna be sweet.

Paul Sponcia (0:32)

From the IT Company, it's Made Right Here, the stories of East Tennessee founders, creators, and builders. From the idea behind it to the impact it had on the community, their employees, and their personal lives, we're taking you behind the scenes of the movements they built.

Did you have a dream as a kid to do something, but nobody believed that you could actually do it like it was so far-fetched that nobody believed it could ever happen? Hey, I'm Paul Sponsia with the IT Company. Thanks for joining me on the Made Right Here podcast. Today, I've got Devin Driscoll of D1. And this story is just awesome. I love Devin. And the crazy thing about what I said to begin with is Devin wanted to be a WWE wrestler. And that happened. He became that wrestler. And so we get to hear the twists and turns as he led up to doing that growing up in Knoxville, kind of really pursuing that dream the whole time while doing other stuff.

We also get to hear something really cool. Someone who lived through 9-11 in New York City while they were in college, and how that affected just everything about them in the future. So listen in to episode one from Devin Driscoll.

Devin Driscoll (1:49)

I was born in Inglewood, New Jersey.

We moved here when I was seven. My dad got a job at Whittle Communications downtown. We moved here for that, and I remember like it was yesterday, my dad, mom, when I told my sister and I that we were moving to Tennessee, I was, you know, six or seven at the time. I was like, huh? Now where is that? You know, like we were in a little bubble up in the New York area.

So we moved here when I was seven. I went to Sacred Heart School over here off North Shore. Went there, and then after Sacred Heart, went to Knoxville Catholic when I was here off Magnolia.

SPEAKER_3 (2:18)

You went to this campus?

Devin Driscoll (2:19)

I went to this campus for the first three and a half years, and my senior year was the year in January that we moved to Cedar Bluff.

SPEAKER_3 (2:25)

So you spent one semester at Cedar Bluff?

Devin Driscoll (2:27)

One semester. We were the first class to graduate, which is kind of cool. And then, yeah, so I grew up, I was seven, I grew up here. I don't remember anything before living here.

SPEAKER_3 (2:36)

Where's Englewood?

Devin Driscoll (2:37)

Englewood is right outside the New York and Jersey area. So my mom's, my mom's from New Jersey. So her, all of her doctors were there.

By the time we were living in the city.

SPEAKER_3 (2:45)

Now, what do your parents do?

Devin Driscoll (2:46)

So my dad has a company called Madison Media Works here in town. So he still has this company. My mom is a stay at home mom. Has been since my sister was born. My sister's younger. She's three years younger and she works for my father now. You know, my dad and I, my dad was successful in his career and was very involved in his career. So he was, he was very focused on that as I was a child. And I got to see what it meant to put the work in and hard work. And I think what I took most from him was that, was that he was, he was always, you know, first up, early up and then, you know, at home late. But he always found time to still make my games and make my practices. I'll never forget that about my dad. And then I think my earliest memories for them was, you know, I was very into sports. That was kind of my thing, specifically basketball. So when I was growing up, I was constantly, this is kind of pre-AAU becoming like the thing to do. So I was constantly doing, whether it be three and three tournaments, pickup, you know, high school, whatever it was, I was constantly going. And they were always supportive of that. And so I think some of my earliest memories growing up was really just spending time with my friends playing pickup basketball and doing the tournaments and just doing the fun stuff that you do as a kid.