We were lucky to catch up with Steve Spurgeon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Steve, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
My dream had always been to play professional baseball. In fact, I attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln on a baseball scholarship. A life playing music was the last thing on my mind. However, my parents had a piano in our home. I was never serious about learning to play, but I learned to play well enough to sound okay, and I even learned to play a little guitar as well. When I was in high school, I had written a song or two to entertain myself or to try to impress someone I was interested in. But besides performing in show choir and a talent show in high school, I had never performed for an event of any kind by myself and sharing original music. My first semester at the University, I saw a sign in the Student Union advertising for the Homecoming Talent Show Try-outs! I had just met a girl that I really liked a lot and had just written a new song. I thought, if I made it past the tryouts and could get her to show up, it would be helpful in getting her to notice me. The show was in the main ballroom of the Student Union. The night of the show, the room was full! It seemed as if there were at least 1000 people in the room! I was one of the first to perform. The girl I liked was there too. After my performance, I received a nice round of applause, and she had a big smile on her face! I thought I did pretty well, and maybe even had a chance to place. But that feeling didn’t last very long. As I watched the show, I sincerely enjoyed the performers that followed after me. I liked most of them better than I liked myself! A baseball player singing a goofy song and playing the piano with one finger for the bass on the left hand, and three fingers on the right to produce a chord wasn’t going to win anything that night, but the one I wanted to impress seemed to be, so I kept my fingers crossed. I knew pretty quickly that my chances of placing were over! When the performers finished, I started to head back to my dorm room. I paused as I opened the door to leave the ballroom to listen to the announcement of the winners. I thought, Why not? Anything’s possible! And if I were going to place, 3rd place was my ONLY hope. “In 3rd place….” It wasn’t me. I left the ballroom and started down the hall. As I was walking toward the exit, I heard the announcer, “In 2nd place…. I didn’t catch the name, but it wasn’t me. Now, I picked up my pace! As soon as they announced the winner, people were going to be coming to my room for the after party. I had to get there and get the room ready. As I started down the stairs to the door that exited the building, I could still hear the MC in the ballroom on the 2nd floor. I had one foot out of the door to leave when I heard, “Tonight’s 1st place grand prize winner…….STEVE SPURGEON!!” I couldn’t believe it! I sprinted back up the stairs, down the hall, and opened the door leading back into the ballroom. As I walked in, the audience was on their feet cheering and clapping their hands. When they saw me come in the door, I was rushed by the crowd! Some with tears in their eyes, some hugged me, others shook my hand. It was humbling to say the least. Did I really have some REAL musical talent? That was a great feeling, but I was still thinking more about “the girl.”. It wasn’t long before I realized that the big smile she had on her face was the “Forever in the Friend Zone” smile. Oh, well. At least I won $250!!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My family comes from humble beginnings. We are direct descendants of slaves. My grandfather was a sharecropper. When my father graduated from high school, he joined the United States Air Force and served for 31 years, retiring as a Chief Master Sergeant. His courage to take risks opened up a whole new world of opportunities and experiences for my family that his father was not able to give him. His example instilled in me the courage to take the risks necessary to live the dreams God has put in my heart, and a love for a nation that protects our right to do so. From being a husband and a parent, a professional athlete, and a musician, I have achieved almost everything I have dreamed of at some level. However, I had never been more fulfilled until I started using my gifts and talents to serve the needs of others. The day after 9/11, I wrote a song called “Wake up in the USA.” The tragic events of that day woke me up to realize how I had taken for granted, and how selfish I had been with the freedoms that we have in America. It also reminded me of the sacrifices that have been made, and the sacrifices that are made every day by the men and women who protect our freedoms and keep our communities safe. In 2018, Donald Trump came to Council Bluffs, Iowa. The following day I saw a friend who had attended the event. He, being familiar with my song, “Wake up in the USA,” and my heart for America, told me that there were more than 20,000 people in the parking lot who couldn’t get in and all of the national media were there. He suggested that I find one to go to, walk into the crowd with my American flag guitar, and start playing my songs. I had never done anything like that. It’s one thing to be invited, I believed in the message in my songs so much that I was willing to risk it all. I looked online for the next Trump rally and 2 weeks later decided to give it a shot. I kissed my wife goodbye, and told her that I would see her the next day. I left Omaha with $200 on my way to Misonee Wisconsin thinking that I had enough for gas to get there and back home. After eight hours in the car and spending $170 on gas, I arrived with $30 left to get back home. But I really didn’t have much time to think about it because there were cars and people with American flags everywhere I looked! I finally found a place to park about a half a mile from the line into the event. I would guess that there were about 30,000 people! I got out of my car, loaded my equipment on a cart, and headed towards the crowd. When I arrived at the back of the line, I stopped. That’s when I heard a voice inside me say, “Did you come here to see Donald Trump?“ I answered, “No.“ And then I felt like he said, “Then get to the front of the line!“ So I stepped out and started to walk towards the front of this incredibly long line of people. Before I made it to the front, I was approached by five state patrol officers. As they approached me, they wished me good luck and parted ways so I could get through. I thought for sure they were going to turn me back or ask for some type of identification. I just showed up, walked to the front of the line, and plugged in my guitar and microphone. I turned to the crowd and shouted, “I’m Steve Spurgeon from Omaha, Nebraska, and I’ve got new songs for America!” I started playing my music, and the crowd began to cheer! At some point, a vendor grabbed my guitar case, opened it, and shouted to the crowd, “Give this man some money!” At the end of the night, I counted the money in my guitar case and had $178! I was relieved, thinking that I could get myself back home without having to call anyone for help. But at that moment, I heard that voice again. “I thought you wanted to save America. I just showed you if you go, I’ll provide.” Shortly afterward, the vendor who had grabbed my guitar case approached and invited me to follow him around the country to more events. He said that there would be crowds like that everywhere we went. After talking with my wife about it and getting the OK, I slept in my truck for the next 30 days while I traveled the country to the rallies, attempting to do my part to wake up our nation with a message of unity. “We are better together in America!” What was amazing to me was that during that 30-day period, I never put my guitar case out again, and I never asked anyone for any money, but every day someone would come up and give me a hug, pray for me, shake my hand, and give me some money. Every time it happened, I would hear that voice inside me say, “I just showed you that if you go, I will provide.” One day it occurred to me that every time military personnel and first responders would show up, the crowd would cheer like someone scored the game-winning touchdown on a Super Bowl Sunday. That’s when I began to realize what it is that we all have in common in America. All of us have a relative, a friend, or neighbor who has served or is serving in the military or as a first responder. They are from all ethnic groups and backgrounds. They hold a variety of different beliefs, yet they are able to put their differences aside every day as they put their lives in each other’s hands and sacrifice themselves to keep our communities safe and protect the freedoms we have in America. I have always loved comic books and superheroes and grew up dreaming of being one. As I began to think more about what our first responders and military personnel do, it became clear to me that they do what the comic book superheroes do and more! But unlike the superheroes in the comic books, they are America’s REAL Superheroes! That’s when I decided it was time to break away from the crowd and go to New York City to honor the first responders of 9/11. I literally just showed up and started walking in and out of police and fire stations with my guitar in hand, requesting to talk to their Chief, Community Affairs officer, Public Information officer, or anyone that would listen to my story so I could thank them for their service and honor them as real superheroes. As a result of my efforts, I was invited back to speak to the firefighters at Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9, the firehouse that lost the most firefighters on 9/11. I was also invited to speak to a group of police officers at Manhattan‘s 1st precinct. I was so excited that when I came back to Omaha in December, I reached out to the local first responders and asked for an opportunity to visit their departments and fire stations as well. The week before Christmas in 2018, I had the honor of addressing every police roll call and every fire station in the Omaha Police and Fire Departments. Two days after Christmas, I received a message on Facebook from a lady who had just retired from the police department. As I spoke with her on the phone, she told me that she had seen the coverage of what I was doing on one of the local news stations that week and it saved her life. She had planned to end her life that week. That’s when I began to do some research and was made aware of the mental health crisis in the first responder community. I discovered that first responders attempt to commit suicide at 10 times the rate of the general public. They are successful at a rate 20% higher than that of the general public. It really began to weigh heavy on my heart that if we are going to see our nation healed, we need to come together to save the ones that we depend on to protect our freedoms and to keep our communities safe. After my conversation with the recently retired officer, I said, “Lord, if that’s all it takes to make a difference, then that’s what I am going to do. I began a campaign in 2020 to address the mental health crisis in the first responder community and change public perception so that we all officially start to recognize them as America’s real Superheroes! At the same time, my mother moved in, and I became a full-time caregiver until she passed just recently in December. During the same time frame, the nation was mostly shut down due to Covid. It seemed like just as I had found my purpose and was on fire to keep going, everything was coming against me, giving me every legitimate excuse to put that dream on the shelf. But I had so much confirmation along the way I just couldn’t stop. Since I started the campaign in 2020, I have visited approximately 125 groups of first responders at police roll calls and fire stations in 23 states. My goal is to visit all 50 states by the end of 2024. At the end of June, I will be hitting the road, traveling the nation for the rest of the year, visiting first responder groups as I complete my 50-state goal by the end of 2024. I have also created a new superhero, Captain Dreamer, who will join Omaha’s first responders in their school programs to instill the foundational values of our first responders: kindness, service, sacrifice, courage, and respect, into children, and to encourage them to live their dreams. DC comics has given us a proposal to create a custom comic book of Captain Dreamer for the program and will make available their social media and marketing platforms to promote Captain Dreamer as well. We look forward to seeing Captain Dreamer join first responders in schools all over the country in the next five years. Now it’s time to raise the funds. I will also be promoting a new album featuring “Wake up in the USA.“ My goal for 2024 is to complete the campaign boosting the morale of first responders and military personnel all over the country, change public perception so that they are officially recognized as America’s real Superheroes, and share music that inspires hearts, awakens dreams, and feeds souls so that the listener is inspired to love God, love others, and to live the dreams that God has put in their hearts.
If you would like to schedule a visit or support the USA Superheroes national campaign and Captain Dreamer, please visit:
https://usasuperheroes.org/
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I loved singing in a band but I had always dreamed of returning to my old high school to one day be the varsity baseball coach. Eventually, the coaching job was posted! The school district is SUPER diverse when you looked at the kids. But when it came to the staff, I’m not saying that there weren’t any minorities working, but not so much among the proffessional staff and coaches. Race should never be I was well known in the district, and city at large, and the team had not been to the state tournament since I pitched my first no-hitter in 1983. I had been a player asnd as coach on every level including a player/coach professionally. It looked like the timing was perfect for me and righht in line with what I believed God had prepared for my life. In early Spring that year I applied for the job.
As the end of the school year approached, I decided to go visit the the principal of the school to ask for recommendation for a job in the district. I had known him for years, so I knew he would be happy to do so. When I asked, he said “Absolutely!” That’s when I told him that I wanted a recommendation for the varsity coaching position that he had open. He looked surprised, apologized, and told me he weasn’t aware that I was interesterd in the job and had just hired someone the day before. I confronted the AD. He assured me that he had passed the information along, the day that I came in to see him more than 2 months earlier. I was angry for a while, but I got over it.
During the winter of 2018 the other high school in the district was looking for a new varsity baseball coach. By this time, I had been working for years in the district as a substitute, and had great relationship with kids from elementary through high school. I really had given up on coaching baseball. I had just transferred my son to that school to play baseball because I liked the coaches they had.
That I had been working with some of the baseball players before school to time help them get ready for the season. The Principal and the AD had been telling me, that they did not like what was happening in the baseball program, and that they were about to make some changes.” I thought, that maybe they were considering me for the job when they make those changes, otherwise, it would be way too unprofessional to tell me that. So, when I applied, I thought for sure I would at least get an interview! I applied for the job three days after it posted in February and it was filled in April. Once again, no interview!
I’m NOT saying that I should have been hired, but I felt that my resume was strong enough, to get an interview for a high school coaching job, anywhere in the nation! I had playing, AND coaching experience at the high school, college, AND the professional level! My references were also stellar! A major league scout, a minor league manager, and a university head coach! They all had known me for most of my life!
They seemed to be almost as excited as I was about the possibility of me coaching. They all insisted, that I give them the AD’s phone number, because they wanted to call and speak to him directly on my behalf! I was so excited! So, to not even get an interview was really disapointing. I thought for sure that is what God had planned for my life. I asked the AD about, it and he told me that they wanted a coach with a teaching certificate. I asked why that requirement wasn’t in the posting. My coach’s certification was all that was required by the state, and the majority of coaches in the didn’t have oner either.
This was the second time that I had applied for the one job, that I believed I was most qualified for and I couldn’t even get an interview I wrote a letter to the Executive Director of Personnel, expressing my concerns. She responded thanking me and letting me know of their priority to have coaches with teaching certificates. ended the email:
“We thank you for your dedication to the district as a Local Substitute and look forward to your continued work in this area.”
Now, technically, I did, and still do have a teaching certificate. Although it only allows me to be a substitute, it met their requirement of wanting a coach with a teaching certificate.
I responded by asking, if it was always a priority, why wouldn’t you put that in the job posting? Besides, the coach they hired for the job I had previously applied for at the other high school didn’t have one when he was hired. According to the district’s, “Priority of preferences”, the coach they hired at the other school, shouldn’t have been interviewed either. When it came to baseball my resume was better. My positive influence on the kids and families longevity in the community is well known. I could accept not getting the job, but not getting an interview really bothered me a lot. i started to think about the history of a lack of diversity among people in professional positions and coaches. Some would think qualified minorities are not applying. But I’m a minority, I applied, and I was more than qualified. So in my response to her email I askerd “Does that mean if you’re white, and you don’t have a teaching certificate, not only will you be interviewed, you can get the job. But if you’re black, and you don’t have teaching certificate, you can’t even get an interview?!” I didn’t create that perception. They did so I called it out.
She reponded:
“Thank you for the email”
I wanted to believe that the process was fair but what does it mean when I am required to have qualifications to even be considered that others don’t need to get the job. At this point, the only way I could think of to describe the way I felt, was rejected and demorilized You could always find new faces of color working as custodians, or working in the cafeteria. But when it came to teachers, coaches, and administrative staff, it didn’t come close to representing the diversity of the kids in the community. I took my complaint to the Superintendent of Schools. My only goal now, was to at least, make the district aware of what I believed to be unfair hiring practices at the highest level, so that maybe, it might benefit someone else in the future.
I never stopped believing that coaching baseball was in my future. I love boosting the moral of first responders and the military but traveling around the country visiting them had wiped out my personal finances. I was angry for years until October of 2021 when I had the honor of addressing the morning roll call of the Phoenix Police Department. Before I left, I was approached by a large, intimidating looking officer with tears in his eyes. He gave me a big hug and said, “Thank you Steve. You don’t know how bad I needed that today.” Ancd the tears started to fall from my eyes I heard a voice inside me say, ” So Steve, is that all you want to be in life. A high school baseball coach?!” That’s when I closed the door on my baseball coaching dreams and fully pivoted into addressing the mental health crisis in the first respoinder and military personnel communities through USA Superheroes. I finally became a 501 C3 in 2022. it ended up being the very experience I needed to finally let it go and do what I am doing now. The truth is, it doesn’t matter if the obstacles in your life are perceived or real. No one can stop God from revealing his purpose for your life! The only one that can stop it, is YOU!
James 1: 1-6
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I truly care about people. That is apparent when first responders hear my story and realize that I have traveled the nation spending my limited finances, when they come available, sleepinging my truck to bring boost morale hanking them for protecting the freedoms we have in America and keeping our communities safe. They are America’s REAL Superheroes! As a result, I now have advocates in departments in 23 staes that encourage other departments to invite me in.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://usasuperheroes.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevespurgeonsr/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/USASuperheroes?mibextid=uzlsIk
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mestevespurgeon/status/1333831505530015752?s=21
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@stevespurgeon2646?si=M_9yCIoxO8ADkpHH
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/stevespurgeonofficial?mibextid=PtKPJ9 www.stevespurgeon.com https://open.spotify.com/album/4BARWwR1Urc9bwsxe3hYiA?si=4mZA9FpoSF2Ql1wWxIV_1g