Full Transcript for Reginald D Sits Down With Celebrity Prof. Athlete Wally Green: From A NYC Gang To Prof. Ping Pong Player To North Korea Diplomacy Maker (Inspirational)

place. And when I got there, I saw people playing. It was like half pool ball, half ping pong. And I saw people playing and it was unbelievable. Like you're standing back from the table, and we're making these crazy shots, making noise, yelling and screaming. And I was like, wow. And more importantly, the people that I saw playing look like me. And that was like, wait a minute, black people don't play this. Like, what's going on here? Like everyone who was playing at that time was black. And I was just like, shocked. It's like, wait a minute, what? We play this? And that's what got me interested. That was the first interest that caught my attention. I saw people that looked like me who actually play.   Now, let's talk about this. How did you feel? Because I know it's a long story behind this. I got to be respectful all your time. But how did you feel when you had the opportunity to go and play ping pong table tennis in a competition and in other countries? How did that make you feel growing up from where you came from?   I had to pinch myself a couple of times. Is this real? Man, it had all kinds of emotions. Like had all kinds of emotions. Because I was able to play because I originally had went to Germany. So someone wanted to save my life. They paid for me to go to Germany to learn ping pong. And that's how I got to actually really learn. And even during that time was tough because even though I went to Germany, it didn't mean that that violent, aggressive kid just changed overnight. So I had to get adjusted. And it took a little while. There's a saying called killing you with kindness. I got killed with a whole lot of kindness. And eventually I figured out that not everyone's out to get you. There are people genuinely like you. Not because you can pick up your gun for them, but because they like you just because you're you. So once I was able to figure that out, that was the first mindset change. And then I was like, okay, all right, can make friends with other people outside. But when I first started to like really play around the world, I mean, that whole thing was just crazy, right? Because the way I got to play around the world was I made a video game with a very famous video game company called Rockstar Games. Rockstar Games scouted me at a tournament. So at this tournament, I'm playing this Chinese kid who was visiting. And as we were playing, the Chinese kid would make a point and even go, yeah, let me these crazy noises that I was getting tight because I know what he was saying. So I started bringing the ghetto to the sport. I started talking trash and the Rockstar Games happened to be there. And when Rockstar Games saw this going on, they got interested in the kid was made this is a do you know Rockstar Games? I'm like, yes, of course I know Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto, of course. And they're like, well, we're going to make the world's first ping pong game. Are you interested? I was like, 100% because I was thinking about, you know, playing pro later on. And if I work with a big company like this, I could get sponsored. And that's what happened. I made this video game with them and won all kinds of awards. And then I asked them to sponsor me and they did. And they paid for me to play all over the world. And as I was traveling all over the world, it was really interesting because this is a kid who came from the projects with actually nothing, like zero. Like, I mean, in reality, I kind of had no business being there. What am I doing in China and Japan and Korea, Germany and all these countries, like playing pro level at the highest level of any sport? Right. Most people don't even make it out. And so sometimes it didn't even feel real. Sometimes I had to like sit back and be like, wait, is this really happening? Like, is this for real? Like, I'm really traveling. You know, I never left Brooklyn. I never left Brooklyn. I played how many sports I played? I played every sport in school, every single sport. I never left Brooklyn. Brooklyn. Now I'm all over the world. So it was definitely very eye opening. It was, like I said, I always had to sit back and think and be like, man, is this really real? Am I really like all over the world now? You know? So yeah, it's just, it's crazy. And it always seemed crazy throughout the whole time.   Man, I'll tell you what, I can't even imagine that. I can't imagine that. It had to be crazy, like being in North Korea. I heard your story about that. Like, man, it was crazy, right? Yeah. So let me ask you this, Wally. So how did playing ping pong open up doors for you? Because I read that you have been on all these international magazines, top magazines. You've been on TV shows, all of the stuff on the Today Show, the early show, Steve Harvey show. I mean, you've been on all of the stuff. How did that open doors for you?   Man, through the journey of being a pro athlete in a sport where I didn't belong, because if you looked at me and you took every ping pong player in the world, that if you took me and you took the world of ping pong pros and you put me somewhere in the middle of these millions of hundreds of thousands of people, you could easily say, hey, wait a minute, that guy doesn't belong there. Like you could and say that guy doesn't belong there. Right? So like I was saying, you could easily just point me out. And so through the journey, I had to figure out what I wanted to do in this sport. When I first came into the sport, I would say, I'm going to be the best in the world. I'm going to be number one. Right? And that was an unlikely goal. Right? Sometimes we get way ahead of ourselves. We make these goals that actually don't make sense. And that actually didn't make sense. So I started very late, started at 17 years old. I'm fresh on the pro circuit. Everybody's better than me. But I was thinking like, I'm going to be the best. Right. And because I didn't make goals that actually made sense, I was actually a failing all the time.

Like I was getting beat so badly. I would travel from America to China to Germany, all those countries. And I would lose in the first day of my competition badly. And there was a point where I had to figure out, what am I going to do? Like, what's my part in this sport as a pro? Because at some point, there has to be some kind of realization that, no, you're not going to be number one. Right. And sometimes we have to really understand like, what's real. I started at 17 years old. People started at three. They're playing how many hours a day. And so things started happening. And it started happening because I just started being me. I was like, you know what? I'm not going to conform to what this ping pong culture is about. I'm just going to bring the ghetto hood into the sport. I'm going to bring the flair. I'm going to bring the fashion. I'm just going to bring the craziness. And no one was doing this. And then once I started doing that, then I started noticing crazy, weird things. Like normally in a pro competition, there's a loser and there's a winner. Who gets the interview? The winner. Of course, the winner gets the interview. But I started noticing that I would lose and I would get the interview. I thought that was weird. Like, why am I getting the interview? And the interview would be, where are you from? We heard you're from New York. We heard you grew up this way. How did you ever get to play ping pong? Like some serious interviews. And it would happen all the time. And I started thinking like, hmm, you know what? Maybe I don't need to be the best in the world. I just need to be myself. And I found my niche just by being myself. Right? Just being this outgoing, crazy dude from the projects and playing a sport that he doesn't even belong in. Right? And just showing up and everything would just happen. Like from that, like the interviews started coming. I think a funny story. I would play in China. This is crazy. I would play in China. And the way the formats go for these pro tour tournaments, first there’s a group. Right? So in the group, you can have four people. One's going to play each other. So you'll get three matches. The one with the best record goes to the first round. Right? Now, normally in the group, you don't get a TV table. Right? Because there are TV tables. And TV tables are going to be the live tables that whatever country you're in or wherever you are in the world, you're going to see this match live. Right? And normally in the group, you don't get a TV tape. It's very rare a player gets a TV table in the group. Right? So I would go to China. And then I would notice that in the group, right, the qualification, I'm on a TV table. I was like, this is crazy. And then my next match will be on a TV table again, which is impossible. And so one day I got really pissed off, right? Because I actually did not want to be on the TV table. I was the worst pro. I was the worst pro in the world. Like, I was the worst pro in the world. Why do you want to put me on the TV table? It's crazy. So everyone in the world can see me get beat. So I didn't want to be on the TV table. So I went to the Chinese Association before a match I was playing, Hey, listen, you guys keep putting me on the TV table. Can you take me off this table, please? And put me just like on a normal table? I don't need to be on the TV table. Right. And the organizer said, Wally, Wally, oh, you have to be on TV because you are good for TV. He said it just like that. And when he said it, it clicked. It clicked immediately. It clicked. I was like, wait a minute. First of all, I'm black, right? There's not many black players in the world that play this sport. There are no black players like me from my background. All that play the sport. Right. I got the crazy hair with the designs in it. I'm always wearing a chain with diamonds, like bringing some fashion to it. And I realized I said, wait a minute, you know what? I bring the cool into the sport. I bring the hip. I bring the fashion. I bring that little kind of ghetto thuggish kind of aura that they don't have in this sport. And that's why they wanted me on TV because I was entertaining. And then once I figured that out, I was like, wait a minute, hold on. I don't need to be number one in the world. Right. There are players in every sport or most sports that I like, not because they're the best, because when I see them, I know them that I'm going to leave there saying what the hell just happened. So for example, let's take tennis. There's a guy that I really like a lot. His name is Gael Monfils. He's from France. He will never be number one in his life, but he is incredible. And the stuff that he does is just wild stuff. So I had that wow factor. Right. And because of that, that's how I started getting interviews because people couldn't believe. And then not to mention, I started getting better. I started getting better. I was able to compete. I was able to keep up. I couldn't win, but I was able to keep up and compete. And that's all I had to do was keep up, compete, play as hard as I can, make as much noise on the table and just be myself and be out there. And then things started coming. It was just snowballed. It was like, hey Wiley Green, Wiley Green, Wiley Green. And listen, every player respected me. And I'm talking about the top, top players in the world. I'm talking about the LeBron James, the Jordans. Those people, when they saw me come in, they would say hi to me all the time, all the time, because they knew I wasn't their level. But I worked really hard.   When I would lose my match. Right. Picture this. You travel from America. You go to China, 16, 18 hours flight. Right. You arrive. The next day is your competition. You play two matches, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Guess what? Competition's over. So you flew 18 hours from America to China. You played only two matches. Competition's over. You still got five days there. I used to just find

everyone to practice with. I would go say practice. I went and practiced and I would spend my whole time in the practice hall, just hitting, hitting. And everyone saw that. And they saw that I worked hard and they respected it. And all the top players in the world, top. I'm talking about the Michael Jordan, LeBron James. And they see me. They say, hey Wally an they would say hello. Even the Chinese, even the Chinese, best in the world. I used to walk into the hall. They used to call me, you know, Hey Wally and they would laugh and say hello. Right. Because I didn't have to be the best in the world. I didn't have to be their level. I had something that they didn't have. And it was that flair. It was that swag that nobody had. So they had the skill. They had the ranking. But I had swag, had that swagger. And they loved it because it brought something different to the sport. And because of that, that's how I started getting all these interviewes. And the media just went crazy with it. Then once people heard my story of where I actually came from and how I even got to playing pro. I mean, technically I shouldn't be traveling around the world. Right. I mean, technically I should be dead or in jail. I mean, because that's where I was going. And I was able to escape that and be able to travel around the world to play. And that's why I ending up getting all the media and things like that. Just overcoming and staying strong and persevering. And that's why I was able to do all the media stuff.   Man, that's truly amazing. You know, I always say being you is your power when it's all said and done. Being you is your power.   Now, let me ask you another question. How do you feel about the youth today and what drives you to reach out to them?   [E-Commerce Documentation commercial break]  Oh man. So, I think the youth today, they need people who are willing to reach out to them and guide them. I talk about this a lot, especially in the inner city. Like the youth, they're hurting. They're really hurting and people aren't really listening to them. You know, they're hearing, but they're not listening to them. They're really not listening to them. I did a world keynote speech actually, and this is a global speech. They had some younger kids on. And one of the questions we asked them is what is the biggest struggle being your age? And everyone said that people don't listen to us. Like they hear us, but they don't listen. They listen to us, but they're not really hearing us. I just think that people like me who's been through a struggle, we need to help these kids out. A lot of times people come from a really dark, really dark background and they get better. And then they just go on with their lives and that's it. I think that's wrong. I think that we need to help these kids, right? Because these kids, if they're going to listen to anybody, they're going to listen to people like me who's actually been through a struggle. My mom sent me to a psychiatrist or whatever,

social psychologist, whatever you want to call it, when I was really out there gang banging hard. And she sent me there, I don't know why, but she thought it was going to help. And I remember sitting down with this guy and I asked him, I said, at the time I think I was like, I was probably like maybe 14. And I asked the guy, he says, hey, have you ever had a gun put to your head before? And the guy said, oh no, he's never been in that situation. I said, have you ever seen a gun, have you ever touched a gun? And the guy says, no, never been in that situation. And then I said, why the hell am I here with you? Like, what could you possibly have to tell me that I want to listen to? Right? And that goes for the kids of today as well. So many times they're seeing these specialists and these therapists who haven't been through anything. And I call them, like, because I'm so against it, I call them textbook therapists. Everything they learn is from a textbook. But if you didn't live that life, if you weren't in the projects, there's no way you can begin to understand it unless you go there and live there. So I think that people like me who's really been through it really need to go back and help these kids. And there's so many ways to help them. You know, you don't have to be actually there. You can use social media by the messages you post, by the things you say, by doing podcasts like right now. Keep telling your story. The more you tell your story, people will hear your story. And they will be like, oh, man, you know what, that guy went through hell in his life. I'm going through the same thing. You know what, let me listen to him. So I think that right there is definitely one of the most important things, like for the youth. And I'm all about helping the kids always.   Outstanding. Yeah, that's very important. That's one of my passions in life, is helping the youth. Let me ask you this. Tell us a little bit about your SPIN New York company.   Oh, yeah. So, we used to have a party. So, before the party, the beginning story is really funny. And it's so funny because all through my life, it was about being at the right place at the right time. For some reason, I've always been at the right place at the right time, which is crazy because everything in my life happened because I was at the right place at the right time. And this was another one. I was at a tournament playing someone and the coach of the kid was being really obnoxious to me, making all these noises. And I got really upset. And I told the coach, I said, listen, if you don't shut up, I'm going to punch you in the face for 10 minutes. And then three guys were standing by the side. They started laughing. They thought it was really funny. The three guys came up to me and said, hey, we're documentary filmmakers and we love ping pong. We're not good, but we have a ping pong table in our apartment. Would you come and play with us? And I was like, hell yeah, let's go. So I would go to these guys' apartment, this loft apartment, play ping pong with them. I wind up living in this apartment. Now I'm living in this apartment. We started a ping pong party. People come over and just play ping pong and have fun, just enjoy life. The party got really big. Then we decided, you know what, let's make this party official. Right. Let's call it Naked Ping Pong, because naked was a state of mind. Meaning live life free, no worries, just enjoy life. Life is too short for the BS. Let's just have fun. So the website got a lot of hits. It started to get really big. to where we started getting sponsors, Red Bull sponsored us, alcohol companies, beer companies. They were like, we can't give you guys any money, but we'll give you all the product you want. So now we got all this product. We got a fridge in our apartment, of Red Bull. We got bottles of vodka, unlimited beer bottles. And then we figured out, how can we make money from this? How can we make money? You can't sell alcohol in an apartment, it’s illegal, you’ll get kicked out, but you can give it away for free. You can give as much alcohol as you want to anyone, just can't sell it. So we said, you know what, let's make, within this party, we'll make a tournament and we'll charge everyone $20 to get in for the tournament. As part of the tournament, you get unlimited drinks all night long. So our parties got so big where it was around the line, like we were in the New York Times, we were in the Daily News,, we were behind taxi cabs. You know, the party's getting really big. In the process, we met Susan Sarandon and every great thing comes to an end in the beginning. So we had to get out the apartment, the owner wanted to sell it. Then we were like, you know what, let's take this business, let's just take this idea to another level. Let's make it a business. And we came up with a concept and we came up with a business plan. We gave it to Susan Sarandon and she helped us get the investors. And that's how we started our first club in Manhattan, 23rd Street. And now we have nine. So it's been pretty crazy. Yeah.   Wow. Wow. That's amazing, man. That's crazy.   I think it's about having fun. We took a sport that's very serious. That's not fun. If you've ever been to like a real ping pong club, like not my club, because my club is a party spot, right? We got alcohol, food, we got DJs coming. But if you've ever been to a real ping pong place, a real ping pong place, it's not fun. If you took your date there, it'll probably be the last date you had with them. It's not fun. It's very serious. No one's playing around. People are angry if you're in their way. So what we wanted to do, we wanted to remove all of that. And we wanted to take the sport, and make it fun for everyone. And that's how we came up with the concept.   Okay. So tell me this, Wally. I read something about you trying to get your own show. Yeah. So what's the goal with that? Yeah. So my ultimate goal is to have the Wally Green show. And the

reason why I came up with that is, like I said, been on a couple of talk shows. And then what inspired me the most was I saw, I think it was during the pandemic, or before, there was an artist. Well, he was a, I don't know what he was, a DJ or producer or something. And he got his own show on prime time. But I couldn't believe it. And then his background story was my story. Like, it was my story. Then I'm like, yo, I know this dude, he like didn't go through all that stuff. Then so they gave him a prime time channel, prime time. But it was bad. And the reason why it was bad was because I don't know, not everyone is for TV, right? Not everyone is made for TV. And for me, he wasn't made for TV. And I knew the show wasn't going to last, because when I watched him, I felt like he wasn't natural. I felt like he was just thinking too much. Right. And then I thought, man, you know what, if this guy got his own show, prime time, using the same background story as mine, why can't I have my own talk show? Right. And my talk show, what I want to do is I want to interview people who are doing real stuff, the people that we never hear about. Think about it. If you didn't meet me, if you never met me, you wouldn't know my story. You wouldn't know that I went to North Korea to do a diplomacy for world peace. That's not like saying like, hey, you know, I got a job at Microsoft. No, going to the most dangerous country in the world and doing diplomacy for world peace. That's big. That's huge. But you wouldn't know about it if you didn't meet me or if you didn't hear about me. Right. So on my talk show, I want to have people on that are doing huge things that we don't even hear about., you know, Stephen Curry, Stephen Curry has a podcast, right. And it's under his media company called Unamious. And they chose about four or five people around the world to be on it. And I'm one of them. The name of this series is The Greatest Sports Stories Never Told, Never Told, or Untold, Untold or Never Told. I can't remember exactly, but it just goes to show like, these are the kind of people that I need to have on my talk show so that everyone can see like, yeah, there are people doing big things. They may not be in your media, on your social media or in front of your eyes all the time, but behind the scenes, people are doing huge things. So that's the kind of talk show I want to have.   I really like that concept. Now, I'm going to do something different with you. Okay. I got three questions that I want to know or the audience needs to know about Wally. Simple questions. Okay. Love it.   What's your favorite food? Oh, favorite food is going to be Japanese. And I think Japanese food, I think my favorite food is going to be a food called Niku-Jyaga. Which is like potatoes and carrots with this kind of stew. And some beef. So that's my favorite food.   Okay. Okay. Where did you go on your first date? Oh, man, I was a bad boy. I don't know if I should answer that question. Play it

safe, man. Oh my God. The first date, let's put it like this. On my first day, both my parents were not home at the time. So I got it.  Not a good boy. [laughs]  All right. Let's move on to the third question. What is your favorite car? Oh, that's tough. I don't really have a favorite, favorite. I don't know. I'm going to say Lamborghini for some reason. Lamborghini is one of those cars that like, I wouldn't buy it unless if I spent money on it in full, I'm not missing that money. That's the only way I'm going to buy that car. But that's a car that, you know, when I think of a car, like what kind of car that I would want to just ride, it would be a Lambo for sure. Right. With some weird color.   So check this out. When I said I was going to ask you that question about your favorite car, I said Lambo. Really? I'm saying that's what you were going to say. Oh, wow. I don't know why it just came to my mind. I said he's going to say Lambo. So yeah. Yeah.   But finally, Wally, what would you say to someone that grew up with less and they are struggling with finding their purpose in life? Yeah. Oh man. So the finding your purpose thing is really difficult because we don't know when we're going to find our purpose. Right. Sometimes it comes to you early in life. Sometimes you may think that's your purpose and you find out it's not. And then sometimes it may come later. But I think more importantly, be authentic, like be an authentic individual, be passionate, be authentic, be you, be truly you and believe in yourself. I think if you do those things and you live those things, you know, authenticity, believing in yourself 100 percent, whatever you have in your mind, you believe it. I think will make it a lot easier to find what your purpose is because I didn't really find my purpose until pandemic. I didn’t really find it until the pandemic. But because I live authentically every day, I'm real every day. I'm me every day, no matter what platform I am, no matter what TV show I'm on, no matter what interview I'm doing, whatever you see today, you're going to see tomorrow. You're going to see the next day. You're going to see the next day. It doesn't change. It never changes. And I think that's how I was able to find what my purpose was. Right. Because I really didn't know. I had no idea until the pandemic. And then I was like, yes, this is my purpose. This is what I'm here to do. This is why I went through such a hell of a life for So yeah.  There you have it, man. Wally, I really appreciate you stopping by to talk with us today. I've been waiting on this for the last couple of weeks, man. I've been so excited. I can't wait to talk to Wally. So it's been great. And I really appreciate you stopping by and taking the time out of your busy schedule, man, just to hang out with me. And we got to do a part two later on, talk about North Korea. Yes, sir. We'll definitely do that. We'll definitely. You're welcome anytime, anytime. We're definitely going to get back into that. Definitely, definitely, definitely. All right.   Well, I appreciate you, Wally. Appreciate you as well, man. Thanks for having me. Yes, sir.   Thanks for tuning in to Real Talk with Reginald. If you enjoyed the show, please share with anyone you think that needs to go on this journey with us on making you a better you.   See you next time.