Beyond the Game | The Journey of Dana Pump

Join us for an inspiring interview with Dana Pump, a renowned entrepreneur and basketball scout, who has made significant contributions to grassroots basketball and philanthropy alongside his identical twin brother, David. In this episode, we explore the foundation of Double Pump Inc., established in 1987, which has provided thousands of high school athletes with opportunities to gain exposure to college recruiters and pursue scholarships. Dana also discusses the impactful work of the Harold & Carole Pump Foundation, which raises millions for cancer research and treatment, and his role as President and CEO of The Pump Group, connecting brands with key influencers in sports and entertainment. Additionally, we'll touch on Dana's commitment to empowering young women through the LadyLike Foundation, founded by his wife, Leah Pump. Tune in for an engaging conversation about leadership, community, and the positive influence of sports! 

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Remember, your journey might have its challenges, but with grit and determination, you can rise above and achieve your dreams. Keep grinding, and we'll see you next time!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And so Muhammad and and uh Lonnie said, Who are you honoring? This is a great pump story. I said, We're honoring Denzel Washington and Hank Aaron. I walked outside the restaurant and I said to David, we haven't even spoken to those guys yet. And we just said we had them. Sometimes you gotta pump fake, Thurrow, and make it happen. We we pump fake and then it hits it. We've been known to pump fake once in a while, Thurrow.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

I'm Thor Bailey, your host. But this is a weekly conversation about how people like you find the thing that wakes them up before dawn. How they push through the days that that test them, and how they turn drive into purpose. Got a very, very special guest today. One that, even though he's shorter than I am, I look up to him in a lot of ways. Dana Pump is a well-known entrepreneur and basketball scout, recognized for his work with his identical twin brother David in grassroots basketball and philanthropy. Dana and David founded Double Pump in 1987 to provide opportunities for high school student athletes to gain exposure to college recruiters and scouts. Check this number out. More than 20,000 athletes have participated in their camps and tournaments, and many going on to earn college scholarships, and also a bunch going on to play at the next level in the NBA. He and his family's love for basketball and people have created some philanthropic endeavors that we'll get into during our time together. But right now, I want to welcome to Rise and Grind, Dana Pump. Dana, how are you, my friend?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

I'm doing great. Thank you so much. The real Twin Towers, not Akeem and Ralph, the Pump brothers.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Hey, you have an identical twin brother. How do I know you're not him? Oh, he doesn't have the ring. That's how you that's how we tear you apart. Right there. Absolutely. Dana, you've got um man, you you've got a great story to tell, and that's what this podcast is all about. It's about the journey. So I want to jump right into it because I think that every person has a call, something that calls them into what their passion ends up being. Uh talk to me about the the moment you've you if you can remember that you felt called to do what you do.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

You know, I um if you're really passionate about something and you have a love, like what we do for my mom and dad, that's all passion. That's 25 years of a strong love to keep their legacy alive. So that's easy. You know, nothing's hard raising money, but I mean, that's just a love and a passion, and we got that rolling at the highest level, which you saw in August. What we did in the basketball space, you know, we were ahead of the game. You know, whether we started our scouting service, you know, 30-something years ago where nobody was doing that, uh tournaments, uh, our AAU teams, the pump and run team. We had a pump and run Utah. You know, we we would never be the Maloof, so we had teams in almost every city. And at one time we had so much leverage, we created a search firm where the former president of the NCAA worked for me, Cedric Dempsey, and we hired coaches, Bruce Pearl at Tennessee, uh Ole Miss, et cetera. So that was all just real passion and love for the game of basketball, and it's been so good to me and my family.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

But then I want to go deeper than that because I mean you had to get that passion. I mean, did were you were you a hooper? I mean, were you like so in entrenched in the love of basketball?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

I was a little white Jewish boy that went to a uh uh high-end private school belly with Jason Pickett. So so my brother and I used to go to the park every day. We'd play, you know, we'd be at the gym all day. We had a love for basketball. Larry Brown's uh brother, Keith Glass, coached me when I was seven years old. And uh and I just took a love for the game of basketball. I love all sports, but basketball is something about it. So we weren't good enough. We went to a little private school. Um we played, we they called us the Twin Towers. So uh that was our first love. Then we went to junior college, and and then then we started, we just keep creating different revenues through the game of basketball that we loved. And uh it all it all started with a seed. You know, we seeded our identity when we were little kids in basketball, and then we just always had good people around us, smart people, and people that were passionate, and it grew into the you know, double pump. And uh, you know, we're we're removed from that world now with basketball and uh for the better. You know, that was just a great run, and I don't have that passion for that anymore. And uh, but it was a great. I mean, you know, we had probably 50 NBA players. I love going to the All-Star Weekend, all you know, my guys are there, whether it's Clay Thompson, Paul George, Paul Pierce, all the holiday brothers. We have incredible stories of people. I love when kids come up to me and say, Dana, you know, I played on your AAU team, you really helped me.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

So we're gonna get a lot more into I didn't even tell you the real one.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

When we would play the colleges, Utah, BYU, EA Sports, we sold our naming rights, and we would have 80 games in three weeks. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Duke, NC State, Carolina, why you have to mention Duke in that. You know, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

We uh we definitely uh then we would have our coaches retreat, and I invite athletic directors there and explain to young coaches it's all about relationships. Well, getting a job is about a relationship. So that's the most important point.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

I want to get into that that relationship, and we're gonna get into your your philanthropic side too a little bit later. But um, of course, you know, basketball seemed to be the root and the purpose, but it it's it's carried you into other things. But I want to ask you this nobody that I know has ever been successful without bumps in the road. So what if you can maybe fill us in on some of those bumps and and maybe how you got over them, how you continue to push through. Maybe you had some naysayers behind you.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

You know, um the pumps are like the Yankees, you love us or hate us. And I think when people would say that, they really don't know us because we're very genuine. I was never in the the business of selling my players because that's that bad business. But like, you know, we didn't make a lot of money in our tournaments and camps, but it created a brand for us. And we were always hustling, you know, it was a struggle. It was a grind, wasn't it? It was a real grind, and we got lucky at the young age. LA Gear gave us like $600,000 for grassroots basketball. And then from there, Sonny Bakero, who's my mentor, opened up the door for me. So, like when people call me, I always want to open up doors just like I was blessed. My first big speaker on my day camp, Don Cheney. Wow. David and I thought, wow, we made it. Here he comes. I call Coca-Cola. And uh Obi Reid said, yeah, we'll pay for it. And uh it just all those seeds are all nurture now and the fruits of our labor.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Can you remember your hardest setback you may have faced during that time?

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I think money financially, you know, we were never making money. You know, we would get sponsors, but we just kept moving ahead. Um What was it?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

What was it that kept you showing up and when when quitting would have been easier?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Because uh the love, our reputation, our integrity. I remember going into those best of the summer tournaments, our referee bill was like 35,000, 40,000. And we just that's what made Dana was David, and what makes David is Dana. Together we're stronger. And um, you know, I just the run we've had has been incredible. I mean, I remember Pat Kennedy would say, Dana, I don't think there's anyone in basketball that every coach in the country knows of or knows like you and your brother. I thought that was a great compliment. And, you know, all you know, all the new athletic directors now are our boys. Brian Santiago played on my exhibition team.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

You know, the athletic director now at BYU.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah, I've known him since he was a young kid and so proud of him. Um Rob Higgins at South Florida now. The new AD LSU has been rolling with the pumps. I used to run these 80s conferences with my coaches' retreat, and those were the little fish, and now they're big fishes.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Do you have did you have a particular daily routine, you and your brother? You had what kind of habits did you have to kind of keep you through those long stretches?

SPEAKER_01 10:27

We were very unorthodox. You know, uh at early years we worked out of our house, you know, uh, and then we'd get we had an office in the house, and uh then we got uh the habits we were always grinding. You know, I hate thorough when people say I'm out of pocket. What do you mean you're out of pocket? I've never been out of pocket. If I don't answer my phone, I don't want to talk to you. But I'm all I'm 24-7, and the way I am with the foundation is is 24-7 touching people for the relationships for the foundation. I just think we grinded it nonstop.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Did you guys have a particular, you know, some people when they're they're grinding, they have this particular mantra. Uh for some people it's a spiritual thing. Did you have this mantra, maybe family-wise or business-wise, that you you continue to follow?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah, George Ravling taught me, if it's the B, it's up to me. That was my first early mentor, too, was George Ravling. And what he meant is if it's the B, it's up to me. It's like it's up to the pump boys to get it done. And we had so many great mentors. We have great stories. Uh I went to Michael Jordan's fantasy camp. George let me and my brother go, who was 20 grand for three days, and naturally we got the pump hookup rate. I played for Chuck Daly and David played for Doc Rivers. We're trying out John Thompson, Dean Smith, are evaluating me. It was like the Maccabees, though. 100 Jewish people. Mark Cuban was there. And I I wasn't, you know, when you're in your 40s, you don't move like you used to. But I mean, we've we've we've met everyone. I mean, we've had Magic Johnson on a yacht, south of France, all through basketball. You know, Denzel Washington, kid playing on my AU team through basketball. We raised and given over 15 million to Northridge through basketball. So the game has been incredible, incredible to us. We're two boys with one ball and a big dream.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Wow. I love that. I love that. Now, you know, obviously uh we we did mention the journey. Were there any people along the way? You know, don't specifically have to to name them, but I'd like to know if there's anybody that you had to distance yourself from because a lot of times there are people that come in your life that are that bring that negativity, that bring, you know, that skepticism. Yeah, we we and that's not easy sometimes because sometimes they're close to you.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

No, we would just uh we were on a full speed attack, David and Dana. And I was raised by a great family. My I knew right from wrong. I never drank, never smoked. You know, I I just I was raised by great mom and dad that taught me values. So now as a parent late in life, I'm doing the same thing, teaching my kids values. I am who I am because of Carol and Harold Pump.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

You know, that's a really good transition. Um, when we come back, we're gonna talk about Harold and Carol Pump and the Harold and Carol Pump Foundation. We're gonna be right back here. Stick with us on Rise and Grind. I'm Thor Bailey. Hey guys, time out. You know, you give your best to your work, your family, and your responsibilities. But to keep showing up strong, you've got to stay dialed in. At Game Day Men's Health, the nation's leading men's clinic, they help you get back in the game. With a custom game plan built around your labs, your goals, and your performance. Testosterone, peptides, real optimization. Come in today for a free testosterone test and consult. Tell them Big T sent you, and you get 50% off your first year membership. Game Daymenshealth.com. Victory starts within. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Rise and Grind. I'm Therol Bailey, your host, and our conversation today is with Dana Pump, basketball entrepreneur and philanthropist. Um, and I know, Dana, that family's important to you. I can hear him in the background, which I like that sound. Uh, every every father loves the sound of his family. Uh, I want to talk to you about, first of all, your parents, before we get into more the philanthropic and the purpose part of what you're doing now. Talk to me about let's let's go back in the time machine again and talk to me about your parents, Harold and Carol.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

My dad was from Oshkosh, my mom was from Buffalo, Jewish family, not really religious, but real values. I couldn't play till I did my homework. My father was at every one of our games with his members-only jacket. I wouldn't change anything the way I was raised. Because I am who I am because of my mother and father. They taught us values, right from wrong. I get my heart for helping others. My playbook and David's playbook is simple. Help others. Don't keep score. I met a guy, you might have met, uh, one of the special men of my life. His name's Big Bill. He was Doug Moe's assistant. And Big Bill is just one of the most incredible human beings who really taught me a lot of, and he's he's getting up there in age, and I love this man. I started at my foundation. Someone sent an anonymous $25,000. There was no Google. I had no idea what anonymous meant. You know, I might be from the valley, but I needed to find out what anonymous meant. The reason why I say that, Thorough, that man invested $25,000 in these pump boys. I believe in you before anybody. That's just met him through basketball. Big Bill Ficke from Denver, Colorado.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

What was uh a typical day as a teenager like with Harold and Carol?

SPEAKER_01 17:04

School. My mom had a meal every day. We came home with my dad. You know, you know, my parents adopted two kids, didn't work out great. So we had a lot of that in the problem in the family. Drugs, police, you know, everyone thinks I live an easy life, and they see all the stuff. But I mean, yeah, we had some adversity in my family. But man, my mom and dad, Daryl, they would see what we've done for them. Three wings, name Harold and Carol Pumcology, Pump Family Infusion Center, and I mean the Carol Pum Women's Center. This is gonna go on for the rest of the life. So Dane and Cassie, my twins, can see what the legacy. So at the end of whenever I'm done, I know I've done a great job in my community, and I've really seeded some great plants.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

What was the genesis of uh the foundation?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

I know your parents are the namesake, but Dad died of cancer. He is in hospice dying, kind of like Brian's song. I walk in with David, I get pictures all around my his bed of us when we're a little older. I said, Dad, I'm gonna start a foundation. And you know, like my wife, who's very religious, you know, we prayed, and Earthling sent me 25 grand. You know, I didn't know Earthling, I didn't even know Earthling was around. And I was you know, 26 years ago, and I just think we're so blessed. I mean, you were in that room last year at Theryl. I was think of all those people that are there, Magic, Shaquille. Those are real relationships. You know, uh it's just we're blessed. That's all I can say.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Well, I was at that event and I was blown away. Um, and it's not really about the number of people. Uh and of course, you had a an A-list of folks who supported you, but the love, the genuine love that those people in the room have for you and what you're doing and your purpose. And it's it's just fantastic to see how a passion has brought you to what I feel like maybe is your real calling in in the in the giving back part and honoring honoring your parents. Um how do you celebrate? How do you celebrate the fact that you stayed? Do you ever take time to you and your family to just acknowledge that?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Yeah, I love when people say, I'm at the Carol Palm Women's Center, and you know, I've been at Northwest Hospital. It gives me a lot of encouragement. But we have incredible stories, Daryl. Like, I call Lonnie Ali and Layla says, call my stepmom. She said she'll meet with you. So Dave and I fly to Phoenix. We go to uh Houston's, Lonnie Ali and Mohammed and the twins. And Lonnie looks at us and says, Boy, you boys are really cute. Now, most girls don't say that. So I tap Dave and said, Let me handle it from here. And so Mohammed and and uh Lonnie said, Who are you honoring? This is a great pump story. I said, We're honoring Denzel Washington and Hank Aaron. I walked outside the restaurant and I said to David, we haven't even spoken to those guys yet. And we just said we had them. Sometimes you got to pump fake, Thurlow and make it happen. We we pump fake and it happened, you know. So we've been known, we've been known to pump fake once in a while, Thurrell.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

That's awesome, man. And and you I I don't know any successful person who hasn't taken those kind of risks. And um, I like what you call them. Dana Pump and his pump fake.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

I love that. Um this is 26 years. We're gonna honor the Dodgers.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

They have a day off in August. August 20th.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

So an invitation.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Oh, you're you're uh 100% renewable.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Just you know, but you bless people and a lot of Utah guys there, a lot of people. When you you don't know the impact, even like when Witt came, like Wittenberg, like my favorite documentary. I think I told you this, is Jimmy V. I loved it. I was a young kid, Sonny Vicero would take me on the Nike trip. I was a young kid, and I met Jimmy V late in life, and he had a huge personality. Witt used to coach at Long Beach State, so I've known Witt, you know. know I've known Went 35 years and uh you know and that that whole thing with you guys uh you were on a special run. I had dinner with Coach Herrick last night and you know we were talking about like Pepper Knight should have won that game. Yeah they should have and the hotel in Corvallis you guys stayed in.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

With the mirror and the corner you put beside the bed. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

But um life is great. Um I love what we're doing on the philanthropic side. That's just uh pure passion and we're on a whole different level and the key mom and dad's legacy alive at 26 years is something very special. But we've had some good people working with us. My good friend Brian Hamill, Leslie Tarloff, we have a dream team. I I do the lifting but I have people behind the scenes that are putting it together.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Well you know we have a lot of listeners out there who you've mentioned some of your mentors people that you admire um anyone else out there or any particular I don't know if you're a reader or not any particular books that you would advise or no I I I give credit to my wife who's really uh you know she's really into our faith and uh you know really uh you know we got we were courting her sh she's all into faith just changed my life and we tried for 10 years to have children and the Lord blessed us uh Sarrogate with a a boy and a girl so I mean that that's incredible first day I have kids Thor I go to the deli the lady says hey Mr.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Pump I haven't seen you in a while I say I just had kids she said your first grandkids I was like oh no from that day on Thoro Oh that is awesome man well as we wind down here Dana um you know I I I started this podcast because I wanted to have conversations with people with purpose um because there's people out there who are going to be watching this who are ordinary people that want to do extraordinary things and and I want them to learn from the journey.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

So if you could go back and maybe talk to your younger self uh during the toughest time what would you say to that younger Dana keep moving ahead stay staying with your purpose I wish I had a I had Leah back in my early life you know I ran around I'm good I have a great wife with real purpose I think young kids you have to figure life out you know I I wasn't bad at all I never got in trouble the twins never but just you know you want to find your partner and your faith and I think I did that when I met Leah she explained to me everything about God and you know being good to the Lord and really changed my whole outlook on life and helping others and I know you've transitioned I know basketball I would think you would say is kind of the root of your passion and it's really spawned in a lot of different things but I want I I really want to talk about um the state of basketball today it's changed. What I try not to do as a broadcaster and I broadcast for the jazz and I see other teams come in I see how the game has evolved I try not to compare try not to say well my era was better the game has changed and I've tried to evolve with it but you started in those those early days of AAU you've seen the game change you've seen what's happened with NIL in college and you've seen um how the pro game has really started to depend on the three point shot it's I feel like maybe it's coming back to you know the the unique big now we played Alper and Shengun and guys like Nikola Jokic out of Denver talk to me about what your thoughts are on the on this game and the evolution of it because you were there uh at a very important time um AAU's out of control NIL I I've lost my real passion um you know I have friends that are coaching these kids you know at Southern Utah are making nothing against kids making money but you can't create cultures you can't discipline kids so it's very difficult even paying kids doesn't mean you're gonna win the NBA game is totally different there's no fives like when you played you you know you had Kareem you had Lambert you had Sigma Artis Gilmore there's no more fives you know in the NBA lost my love for the NBA game I just think it's uh I just don't you know I root for my friends that are coaches but I just lost my passion you know high school I remember you were involved with the Utah prospects and uh it's just it's crazy you know the the the AU all the shoe companies are paying to create their own circuits new balance I don't know how you change it because the the cat's out of the bag for sure with all the money now and um it's just I don't know I think you got to get some real you know people involved that are are smart and figure this out shoe companies are a big part of uh where everything's going because these kids are touching the paper early and uh you know uh recruiting kids that my coaches are all telling me there's no recruiting anymore there's no calling the parents how much pay the play how much multiple years when do I get the paper have we signed today? So that's a tough deal I have a lot of friends in college college football you're dealing with masses look at the money they're paying the coaches in in college football to go away.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Yeah crazy interesting time and and you're right I was kind of in that AU game for a while and I got a sour taste in my mouth with coaches poaching players and trying to incentivize them to jump teams it just was it wasn't who I was all about so I understand um completely thorough what BYU football has done is incredible I hope he stays because he's one of them he's their culture he's LDS he's part of the church that's incredible he brought BYU football now Penn State's trying to poach him more money more money yeah exactly right um and I also remember the college days when the great the great players stayed right I know NIL wasn't a thing but we created rivalries when we played North Carolina they had James Worthy and Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins and Brad Doherty and we we've stayed at least three to three to sometimes mostly like myself all four years to get that development and of course NIL it's you don't really see that anymore but I think the kids who do stay a little longer you can see the maturity if they happen to get to the next level we have a kid here Walter Clayton Jr that uh came here with the jazz and you could you could see I knew his I knew Walter's dad uh is it Clayton or Claxton? Clayton no I knew Claxon played at Georgia yeah but finish your thought no I was just saying how how you don't really see that anymore because of things like NIL these kids are really one and duns um and and and they try to carry that over to the NBA so I understand kind of how you feel about I I think the games evolved to a way that it's still fun. You look at guys like Steph Curry I mean KD was in here last night um playing the jazz and and there's still some great ones out there that are obviously going to be Hall of Famers but um I appreciate you man I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you to maybe leave us with some words of wisdom to our listeners.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

I think everything in life is about relationships people help people and I think if you do what you say you're gonna do and your word is great and I really think the Pump brothers have a great reputation and we and our playbook is to help others and uh that's that's what I would I that would be my seed I would draw. I love that playbook Dana and I I I appreciate you and uh you know uh again I'll say it again I may be twice your height but I look up to you my brother that's awesome will you send me the a little thing I could put on my IG today absolutely that would be awesome thank you guys so much Dana Pump ladies and gentlemen thank you thanks for joining us here on Rise and Grand and we will talk to you next week