Rep. Burgess Owens: America Is The Land Of Second Chances 52:51

It's time to take the quiz. Five questions, five minutes a day, five days a week. Take the quiz every weekday at thequiz.fox and then listen to the quiz podcast to find out how you did. Play, share, and of course, listen to the quiz at thequiz.fox. Welcome back to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz. Thrilled that you joined us this week because we have an awesome guest. We're going to phone a friend and talk to

Burgess Owens. This guy, 10 years in the NFL, got a Super Bowl ring on there, one of the best safeties to play. He has an amazing story.

And now he happens to be a freshman member of the United States Congress. And I think when you hear his story and we get a chance to chat with him, you will be inspired like I am that there is a reason why this guy has been successful throughout life. But you know what? He's gone through some hard times. And I think you're going to love this discussion.

I've talked to him before because he's a congressman from Utah and I was a congressman in Utah. So I've had the honor and privilege of getting to know him, but I think you're going to like our upcoming discussion. So we got a little stupid that we're going to highlight because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. But let's take a little riff on what's going on in the news because it's

I want to talk a little bit about HR1 and SR1 because I think you've probably heard about that in news and you're scratching your head thinking, "What in the world are they talking about?" So the way it works in Congress is there are numbers that are next to bills. So you can introduce a bill. There's legislative staff to help you do this. But the speaker usually takes the bill numbers 1 through 10.

And in this case, Nancy Pelosi, those are her signature bills. She's basically signaling to everybody else, these are the most important things for me. And so it's no accident for the last two Congresses, the 116th Congress and the 117th Congress, that Nancy Pelosi's H.R.1, House Resolution 1,

has been what she calls the For the People Act. And pardon me, I cannot help but laugh because this has nothing to do with being for the people.

This is about securing elections. See, what Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, for that matter, and the Democrats want more than anything else is to continue to be in power. I wrote about this in the second book that I authored called Power Grab. And then I took a whole other chapter in my latest book, They Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste, The Truth About Disaster Liberalism, that just launched this

And I take Chapter 8, and it's called Rigging Elections for a Generation. And that's what they're trying to do. Don't tell me it's all about voter suppression. Don't tell me that this is about, oh, well, you know, we're trying to fix some wrongs. That is smoke and mirrors, folks. And I got to walk you through what this bill, House Resolution 1 for the People Act, actually does.

So with some help from the Heritage Foundation, a lot of this content written out in this order I got from the Heritage Foundation. But I've written about this extensively. I'm very familiar with these bills.

And let me just very quickly try to summarize what this does and then go back again to why Nancy Pelosi, more than anything else, what she wants is power. She wants to be in power in perpetuity. She wants to secure Democrats winning forevermore. It's why she wants D.C. to have voting rights. It's why she wants to do a lot of things. But H.R. 1 is what she wants to do because it basically says,

is an effort to nationalize local elections. It's a one-size-fits-all election run by D.C. partisans for their own electoral benefit.

You know, in this country, it's really down at the county level on how you actually run an election. Now, the state has laws. And I think one of the criticisms and concerns during the last election was those laws were not adhered to. Or there were lawsuits that went out and said, hey, you changed those laws unilaterally by judicial fiat or some other thing. That's a whole nother discussion, folks. There are legitimate questions that should be had there.

But what she's trying to do is say, oh, look at the chaos. Now what we want to do is we want to run those. The last thing you want are Washington, D.C. bureaucrats and people like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris running elections.

So it mandates 15 days of early voting, even by the way, even though Georgia is longer than that, requires automatic voter registration for those who get driver's licenses, welfare, social security. It mandates that you get a voter registration if you go to prison or receive Medicare, whether those votes, whether those voters are eligible to vote or not. It mandates online registration, which again, without,

Blockchain technology is vulnerable to cybersecurity issues. Mandates no-fault absentee voting, which many states already have, requires states to allow ballot harvesting. One of the most sinister things is ballot harvesting. That means that you get sent a ballot, but rather than having to send in or drop it in yourself,

You can give it to a third party. Who knows what that third party is going to do? Can you see the wave of people that would be going out to collect those ballots and saying, yeah, I might turn that one. I might not. Maybe I should see how they voted before I turned in turned in that vote or not.

To put somebody who is not authenticated, to put somebody who we don't know who is in the middle of this process is just fundamentally and totally wrong, but it requires the states to allow it to be done.

It also requires states to allow all felons to vote. I mean, how offensive. You want to mandate that Charles Manson can vote in California? That's what you're doing, Nancy Pelosi? Well, that's in H.R. 1. It prohibits election security measures. It bans voter I.D. requirements and signature notarization. It mandates same-day registration, which increases the possible vulnerability to fraud.

It forces states to count votes submitted up to 10 days after the election. So the election's done, and then they've got people that are voting up to 10 days after election. Boy, what could go wrong there? Oh, my goodness. Prohibits states from doing routine voter list maintenance. You know, good states with good operations are actually cleaning their voter rolls on a regular basis.

And they work with the United States Post Office. It's called the NCOA Database or Interstate Cross-Check Programs. So when somebody moves, like let's say you live in Iowa, but now you're moving up to Illinois.

Guess what? When you submit that to say, hey, I want to have my mail move from Dubuque because now I'm going to Springfield, then that's in the database, and you should be able to look at that. And so the people of Iowa can say, oh, you know what? They no longer live here. This prohibits that. Why would you prohibit authenticating the vote unless you wanted to manipulate the vote? But that's what this bill does.

It limits public disclosure on voter lists. The public should be able to see this so that you can have some accountants and some other people come in and look at this. And you want to have third parties that can go in and look at this and make sure that

that there's accuracy on these voting rolls. But it, again, it limits that. It prohibits the use of undeliverable election mail as the basis for challenging eligibility. It stacks the deck for the Democratic Party. It reduces the Federal Election Commission from six seats to five, ensuring that the party in power controls the enforcement. So why would you want to change the enforcement of the Federal Election Commission if you

If you want to do something other than, so if your party's in power, it's all the great and Democrats are thinking, oh, we're in power now. So we can stack that. And then they can all move in our direction. It transfers the right to redistrict from state legislatures to, I love this independent commissions. Are you kidding me? Like you're really going to go out and find somebody who's totally independent and that cannot be voted out and is not accountable for

I mean, at least with the state legislature, you can look at it and say, look, we can petition our government. We can go see that. We can hold them accountable. And ultimately, we can vote them out if we think they're manipulating things. This would prohibit it and get rid of all of that. It mandates the inclusion of illegal aliens in redistricting. It politicizes the Internal Revenue Service policy.

allowing them to consider political activities and policy positions on the basis for granting tax-exempt status. Didn't we just go through this in the Biden-Harris administration when we looked at Lois Lerner and what she did there and how they tried to prohibit people?

from actually getting a tax-exempt status because they were conservatives, this would allow them to actually make those challenges and to exclude people, discriminate them against them based on their political views. It expands censorship of political speech, imposing onerous costs and regulations. And the nonprofit disclosure requirements will subject donors to political harassment.

Again, I have scratched the surface on this, but I'm trying to give you an overview of why this is such a dangerous, dangerous bill. And so when you hear H.R. 1 and the voting bill, look, authenticate the vote. Allow every legal, lawful, eligible voter to vote and make it as easy as possible. But you need to verify who that person is. But for Nancy Pelosi, this is about division. It's about power and it's about keeping Democrats in control.

All right. Enough of that. It's time to bring on the stupid. So one of the craziest things I saw out there. Now, look, I'm not a big Barack Obama fan. I did not vote for him. But you know what? I have respect for a duly elected president. And I'm not a big fan of Barack Obama.

I can see where he was an inspiration to a lot of people. But I find it fascinating and interesting that in Chicago, according to ABC7 in Chicago, District 60 was considering changing the name of Thomas Jefferson Middle School

in favor of Barack Obama. He was the first black president, and they thought that, hey, maybe he would be really a good president, and let's rename this school. Except District 60 school board member Edgar Castellanos said, I will not be part of renaming a school after someone who did not and does not represent the undocumented community.

Oh my goodness. Talk about bringing on the stupid. You've got to be kidding me. He didn't do enough for illegal immigration, so that's why we're going to do here? Oh my goodness. All right, I did have another candidate. The first one was stupid enough, but I've got to go back to this thing I saw on the smoking gun the first part of April. And this was...

Florida man, have you ever heard that story about Florida man? Anyway, Florida man is in jail and he was preparing to leave after he posted bond. Okay, so he's getting ready to leave jail. Okay, he's got to get out. And what does he do? Evidently, the allegation is that there was a $60 webcam that was sitting on the desk of the county lockup. He went over and took it, put it in his pocket and walked out. He stole a $60 webcam.

So Stephen Moran, 35, was rearrested, brought back in there, and evidently while he was awaiting release in the booking area, they saw him or figured out. So he got rearrested, and anyway, now it's a $500 on misdemeanor theft count. He's scheduled for arraignment in May. We'll see how that, if the allegation is true, but anyway,

Dude, you're getting out of jail. You're walking out of jail. You steal a $60 camera and now you got a $500 problem and you're back in jail. I think that qualifies as bringing on the stupid because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. All right.

Time to tell a little story from the halls of Congress. This is a short story, but it's one of my favorites. So when Republicans gained control of the House, John Boehner became the Speaker, one of the great things, great honors you get to do as a member of Congress is you get to preside over the whole body. You know, you go up on the dais there, and you get the gavel. And it's amazing. You get a little nervous. Even though there's not many people, and they're there on the floor of the House, you get a little nervous.

Suddenly, you're the presiding officer there as you fill in and take on that role. Well, they have clerks and they have a parliamentarian. And what I was told was 90 plus percent of the rules of the House of Representatives are exactly the way they were written at the time by Thomas Jefferson.

a smaller percentage have changed, but they give you all kinds of cards and you'll see them flipping through here. And they basically tell you what to say. And after a while you learn it and you get more comfortable with it and you don't have to use the cheat sheets, so to speak. But the first time you get up there, it really is awe-inspiring. You get that little, you know, it's just amazing, right? And you just think, how did I get here? And you're up there and

And so I was given the honor and asked to go do it. And I was fortunate to do it a lot of times while I was in Congress because we were in the majority for a while. So, but the very first time I get up there, I've got the gavel, I'm standing up there

and people are going to come in for the first vote. And as they come to the floor, there was a congressman at the time named Dean Heller. For those of you from Nevada, he went on to become the Senator Dean Heller. But at the time, he was in the House of Representatives. And I promise you, this was a very funny scene because...

People are now milling in there, and he went right up on what's called the well, the floor of the house there in the well, which is as close as you can get to where those clerks sit. And kind of with his hands cupped around his mouth, he started yelling. And there's a lot of commotion on the floor. It's a rambunctious place. This is not a place of serenity. It is not reverent.

It's kind of what gives it its flavor and its history, and it's just the way it is. And so Dean's looking right at me, and he kind of points to me, and then he starts yelling at me, shame, shame on the House of Representatives. And he was basically mocking that I was there in the chair, and it made me laugh and smile like I could not help it. So he kept doing it. Shame, shame on the House of Representatives.

And it was just one of those great moments that, I don't know, I thought I'd share with you. It's one of the things that happened in Congress. All right, time to phone a friend. And I'm honored and privileged that we get to phone a new freshman member of Congress from Utah's 4th Congressional District. You know him probably for his 10 years that he played in the NFL as one of the best safeties to ever be in the game.

Played, I think, seven seasons with the New York Jets. I know he spent time with the Raiders because when he was at the Oakland Raiders, they won a Super Bowl. And when you meet Burgess Owens at some point, the first thing he does is takes off his ring and says, here, try it on. And it's a big ring and quite impressive if you haven't seen a Super Bowl ring. But he's got an amazing story. And so let's dial him up here and get Burgess on the line with us.

Burgess Owens, hey, this is Jason Chaffetz. Jason, good talking with my friend. Looking forward to our conversation. Absolutely. Well, thanks for letting me call you. I should be calling you a congressman now because congratulations, you're the freshman congressman from Utah's 4th Congressional District. I was the congressman in Utah's 3rd Congressional District, but congratulations.

We're thrilled to have you along, not only because you spent 10 years in the NFL and were a Super Bowl champion, which a lot of us remember along the way, but you've had an amazing background and amazing history, and I just find it fascinating that you're such a rock-solid conservative. But as I look at your life and what happened along the way,

I was just fascinated to dive even deeper with you and understand why and how you became a conservative. So I want to go way, way back, if it's all right with you, and start with, you know, look, I was born and explain your family, the setting, where it was and what life was like when you came onto this earth.

Well, we'll do. And I'll say this. One of the greatest blessings for me to be here in Utah to represent the values I grew up with. And you'll see that as I talk about my past. For me, it's kind of

like taking my next breath of air to stand for the values that we have here because I grew up around them. It's what I knew, what I appreciate, what I look back and recognize helped me through all the good and bad times. So I'm looking forward to chatting about that. The other thing is I have all six of my kids, a miracle, all six of my kids found a way out this way to go to college.

I thought they'd be coming back home to the East Coast. They decided not to. And so they're all here now, 15 grants. The reason I came out eight years ago was to join them. The greatest decision I've ever made. And so I'm all into Utah. This is my state. I want to make sure that it will continue to be the, I guess, the pioneer state to show people what innovation looks like, what love of country looks like, what diversity, all those things that defines our culture.

is here in Utah. So I'm just thankful to be part of a really great team that's representing us now. Where were you born? I was born actually in Columbus, Ohio. My dad had come back from World War II.

And those are days of segregation. Jim Crow. He grew up in Texas. He could not get his postgraduate degree in Texas because of Jim Crow laws. And part of the story I didn't realize until after he passed away. I ran across a box of letters after he passed. And I recognize all these rejection letters from colleges across our country, particularly Northeast, that he and his brother had filed to go to.

And there were rejection letters. And the point I want to make about that generation that came before us, negative for them, rejection was motivation. They believe that if you tell them that they can't, they're going to work, they're going to double down to show and prove that they can. And so he ended up continually trying to find the right college, ended up getting accepted to Ohio State.

Columbus, Ohio. So that's where I was born while he was getting his PhD. He got into agronomy. His brother got his degree in economics. He spent the next 40 years as college professors, as entrepreneurs, business owners. We traveled the world. At five years old, I was actually living in Liberia, Africa because he was doing a research project in Swakoko Village.

So my experience was one of the many different people across this country, the millions of Americans from different cultures, that even though we were not assimilating during those days, we had one thing in common as American people. Again, whether it be the Italian community, Polish, it made no difference. At the end of the day, we all were very proud to be Americans, number one. We loved our country.

We believe in meritocracy. We figured that's the way if you're going to win, respect, command respect of others, you do that by winning. And it was real simple in my community.

I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida in the 60s. And it was really simple. The message we got from my parents' generation, very simply, is that we were taught to love our country, God, country, family, respect of women, and authority. So it made life pretty simple. And if we deviated from that, we just had dad to deal with. He made sure we stayed on track. It was an old-fashioned way. How many brothers and sisters did you have?

At five of us, I was the oldest of five, one brother and three sisters. And we just had a very, very close-knit family. Family was everything in that community I grew up in. And let me just kind of describe that community real quickly, Jason, because I think it's important for those who are listening to

to realize one thing about our country. It really doesn't matter how you get here, when you get here, what language you speak. There are certain tenets that I was raised with that that generation taught us that basically said that no matter who you are, you're literally one generation away from being part of the middle class. And those tenets, again, I grew up around very simply. It's what I found here in Utah is faith, family, free market, and education.

If you put those together, someone who does that and you treat people right, you get back up when you fall flat on your face. And Jason, as an athlete, you know what I'm talking about here. We learn that sometimes the biggest hits we get is where we learn the biggest lessons. And at the end of the day, you learn those lessons and you apply them. Anyone literally can become part of the middle class. And one thing about the middle class I think is so important for us to remember and think about. If you wonder what's made our country so unique, so great,

attraction from around the world is that we have a robust middle class and that middle class is powered by small business owners who take risks. And at the end of the day, it comes down to this. We learn through those business owners how to take risks, how to be and embrace all different type of people, to be patient because we want people to come into our store with a bad day and leave with a much better day. So we come back again next. That's the concept. And

And so you put that into a community, all of a sudden you have a community that feels that way. And it's very, very tragic. So middle-class is everything. I got to go back to a point of clarification there. You were very generous to call me an athlete. I was a place kicker. I mean,

Guys like you would salivate to hit a guy like me. And if you did, you know, if he didn't touch the ball, they'd throw a flag. So I wasn't exactly an athlete. You were an athlete, but I was, you know. All right, so let me go back here. I want to go back. Can I just real quickly on that comment? Yeah. I've had this comment more recently because, you know, playing in the NFL, in particular the team that went to the Super Bowl,

I've come to understand how valuable every position was. We had a kicker named Ray Guy who would be deep in our territory, 10-yard line, and he would kick us out so we were on the other side's 10-yard line. That one or two times that one game made a difference for us. So if I can tell those who are listening, every single person that's listening, you're part of a great team. Whatever your talents are, whatever your passion is,

Bring it forth because right now we need you. Yeah, no, Ray Guy is one of the best punters in the history of the NFL. I'm just saying not many people call me an athlete, but that's okay. We'll keep going. All right, so –

Go back. You're growing up in Tallahassee. Paint us the picture there. I mean, is it your school? Is it segregated? What's it like back then? And then you've got to learn these lessons. I mean, you epitomize the American dream. You're serving in Congress now. But my guess is when you're seven years old, not many people thought that was going to happen. Well, it was an environment, again, a segregated community, Jim Crow, KKK,

But because of that great community I grew up in, that segregated Black community, the sky was the limit. And I can't emphasize this enough. When you think about growing up in a community that literally around you, every place of business owners, whether it be Perkins Service Station, Baker's Pharmacy, Speed Grocery Store, the Black Hospital, Black Nurses,

Every place you saw was success. So as a young man, what you realize is that success is available no matter what the parameters or the barriers were, because we saw it firsthand. The other part about that segregated community is that everybody was all in. So whether it be mentorship, whether it be examples, whether it be a parent to make sure that you stayed on track. And here's the other part. The other part was that those who were succeeding, the money stayed in that environment.

So there's a reason why the Black community in the 40s, 50s, and 60s was leading our country in the growth of middle class because we were all in. We turned ourselves within to our communities and not look out for somebody else to do it all for us. So I would say the great thing about that experience

Again, I mentioned before, my dad was a college professor. He was an agronomist. He was in research. So I would spend my teenage summers working in his laboratory and getting a little bit of money just to save and all that type of thing. But it allowed me to have this idea that literally I could do anything I wanted to. So when I left university, by the way, when I was in Tallahassee, if you remember the movie, Remember the Titans, right?

That was kind of my high school experience. I was one of four blacks to join this all-white high school. And it was quite an experience, these cultures coming together trying to figure out who we were. And the first year was pretty tough. But as we moved on toward my -- that was my sophomore year in high school, my junior and senior year, what we found out as we worked together -- and this is what happens on the football field, this is what happened in the military.

At the end of the day, when the focus becomes winning, nothing else matters. So it's not that we became really, really good friends with a lot of my teammates, but we began to respect each other because we had that one thing in common, which is winning. So my experience in my community with my dad's profession and doing what I did during the summer, my thought was when I left Tallahassee to go to University of Miami to become a biologist, a marine biologist. So that was my goal.

And in those days, NFL was not the end game. In those days, if you had a good education, that would be your chance to kind of break through the next phase. If I found my talents as a football player, it just had to be a really nice serendipity. I was so thankful for that. But my goal was to be a marine biologist. And again, this is the way we were taught. My senior year in high school, and again, those days, Jason, the difference, it's amazing how far we've come. In those days, blacks were not thought of being very intelligent.

We were not thought to be very disciplined and all those kinds of different things. So I remember my senior in high school, there's a white guy who was actually Florida State

He was a biologist major. And I got the word back that he didn't think I could become a biologist. And for the next four years, Jason, I lived in the library of university of Miami. I literally lived there to prove this guy wrong. So I don't, I don't know if you ever, ever, ever got the word out that I did graduate in that area, but, but I tell you what, I was so motivated to prove that guy wrong. And I'm just glad that I heard that he didn't believe me. So that, again, that that's the environment I grew up in is that,

When someone says you can't, you just prove, you just go for it and make sure that they're wrong. And I'm just so thankful to have that remarkable generation that raised me. And I just wish that we were teaching those same lessons today.

But again, that's another story. So help me with your being a conservative in your approach. There's some fundamental differences between the conservative approach and the more liberal or socialist type of approach. And you had to have seen some poverty. You had to have seen some poverty.

some heartaches where people like, hey, you know, if government's going to come in and solve my problems, hey, let's do that. I mean, why did the whole principle of self-reliance and self-determination and liberty? I mean, where did, for Burgess Owens, Congressman Burgess Owens, where did that take root? It took root in that same household that I just talked about. Even though my parents voted Democrat, and I was a Democrat up until the Reagan days,

The conservative values were always there. It was about work ethic, it was about honesty, about faith. It was about the idea that the American dream was alive and well. I mean, listen, at 70 years old, it's that seventh grade, I remember the opportunity being selected by my school, my segregated junior high school, to walk to school every single day early to raise the flag and at the end of the day to lower the flag with my good friend Smith Sir Williams.

And I was taught in those days that you do not let the flag touch the ground. So here's that patriotism that I'm talking about. That conservatism was always available. And what made my community what it was is just that we did not tie it. We tied it to one party. And it wasn't until when I retired from the NFL

I left NFL as a very, very cocky liberal, by the way. I left the NFL thinking I'm going to start a business and become very, very successful. And all I needed was a lot of money and my hard work, and it was going to work out. Part of the missing ingredient is you also have to have a good idea. That's very important when you start a business. But in the process of the next nine years,

Building that business, I learned a lot about our country's ability to give our second chances. Because at the end of the day, I don't know if you know this story, but nine years after I left the NFL, I failed. My business went under. And I had to start all over again. I left that beautiful home in Long Island, New York, with an in-ground pool and beautiful cars in the driveway and a good reputation to living in a one-bedroom apartment with four kids in Brooklyn, New York, for a few months. But here's a lesson that my parents taught me.

My parents taught me very simply is a man does whatever he has to do. It's honest and hard to take care of the family and ego has nothing to do with it. So for that little period of time, I didn't really know what I was going to do. I had gone from football to business ownership. I had no idea what my talents was. I looked around and I found I could be a chimney sweeper in a day and security guard at night. I did that for a few months. And I remember at a very poignant night, standing in my little basement apartment, looking out the traffic level window,

And just saying, how in the world did this happen? I mean, seriously. And the answer came to my mind. First of all, this is temporary and it's going to be for my good.

And that was actually that little bit of hope that I needed at that particular point. A few months later, through a tremendous coincidence, I ran into a friend of mine who was working with WorkPerfect. And they were looking for a position to open up. And I took that position. And that began my next 25 years as a corporate account executive with WorkPerfect and finished up with Motorola as a national account executive. So my message is, and I look back on that period of time now.

Very humbling time. One of the most humbling moments was standing on somebody's roof, cleaning their chimney. And in New York, a guy who comes out, he recognized me as who I was playing NFL with just for seven years. And it was a very humbling time. But I look back on it.

And of all the careers I've gone through, the one I'm most proud of, to be honest with you, is my decision to do what I did during that period. And I can now tell young people, particularly as I talk with them in colleges and they say, well, you're very lucky you played in the NFL. That's why you are where you are. I say, well, no, I'm very fortunate to play in the NFL, but I'm talking to you right now as a former chimney sweep, as a security guard. And my message, very simply, is the all-American message. If I can do it, you can do it.

This is a place of second chances. And I had a chance to actually live that. So for me, it's not hypothetical when I made that point to Americans across this country that we live in the greatest country in the history of mankind because we have second chances. We get up the next day and start all over. And all of us go through tough times. None of us are immune. As a matter of fact, that's where you get some of the greatest lessons is when you have to sit there and figure out how in the world is this happening to me? Yeah, I think that's right. I think people...

the ups and downs of life the lowest times the hardest times you know I look at the time I went through with my family we went through divorce my parents got divorced and I didn't see that coming you know my mom battling cancer for years but then eventually passing away my dad fighting cancer you know these are places you don't want anybody else to go but they also they either chew you up and spit you out or they make you a better person with a better heart

You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Burgess Owens right after this. This is Jimmy Fallon inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at foxacrossamerica.com. How old were your kids when you were a chimney sweep? How old were your kids and what do you think they saw in their dad at that point?

Okay, good question. Let me just say this real quickly, Jason, as you just went through, reflected a little bit on your background. I tell you what I can say came out of it for you, just like my experience came out of it for me, is something called empathy. And that's what's made our country the great country we are. We are the most empathetic country in the history of mankind. We take our experiences, we want to help other people through it. So just want to make that point. When I became a chimney sweep, I had at that time, there was four kids.

I now have six. There was four at that time. My oldest was 12. And my youngest was less than a year old. So it was a very young family. And they never had a chance to experience what it was for me to be an NFL football player.

They've heard stories and all that kind of stuff, but they've never had a chance to experience that. But I would say what drove me during that time and what I think my kids, even today, respect is they hear the stories and I don't hide the failure. I think it's important that we share our failures with friends, neighbors, family, friends.

And my kids have experienced that. They understand that. So they're very, very proud of the things I'm doing now. As they were growing up, I've talked about my dream. My dream was never, ever to be a politician. Never came across as a conversation. My dream was to work and help at-risk kids, to help those kids grow

understand our country the way I understood growing up in the 60s. I realized when I retired in 1983 that my community particularly was losing that. We were not raising the same kind of positive and anticipating love of country type of environment. So my goal was to get that back. So when I came here, one of the first things I did was to start a non-profit called Second Chance for Youth where I was working with at-risk kids coming out of the juvenile system.

And that was actually my moment in which my children saw the obtainment of a dream that I had been talking about with them forever, since they were kids. So for them, it was a confirmation that you work hard enough, you overcome obstacles, and you talk about the dream long enough that some things will happen. And this has been kind of icing on the cake, to be honest with you, what I'm doing now. And this only happened, by the way, Jason,

Because about a year and a half, two years ago, I recognized that the kids I'm working with and the means across our country do not have a chance if we don't do something about the policies that's putting them in this position. If they can't believe in our country, if they can't read and write, if they can't think, if they can't understand what commitment is, and the policies do that.

So that was my decision to some kind of way get to another level of giving a voice to this at-risk group of kids. And this was the way to do it. And I'm just glad right now that I'm actually doing what I'm doing. So let's just explore that just a little bit more. But, you know,

You've had success. You kind of reached the bottom. I mean, business doesn't work out sometimes. And you make that transition. You're fighting back. Now you're helping out-risk kids. But what was the moment where you said, you know what, family, I think I'm going to go dive in the deep end here and run for Congress? And I remember hearing about it. I'm in Utah. First of all, I thought, Burgess Owens lives in Utah? Yeah.

Oh, cow. All right. So this will be interesting. Let's see how he wins this. And look, you beat an incumbent in a guy named that was in office. It wasn't supposed to lose. Not only did you get the Republican nomination, but you beat the Democrat along the way in a tough race. But what was that moment where you said, hey, family?

Let's do this. What another good question, because again, for someone who said for years, I would never ever be a politician, literally with emphasis on that never part. What happened is I was I had written an article with Wall Street Journal against reparation and talked about the pride of my community, the success of my community, that we do not need anybody's pity, that we need to be excited about where we are. So I put that in the Wall Street Journal. This will happen again.

They held on to it and a couple months later they posted it. At the same time we're doing a committee in the House for against reparation. I was invited to come up and be one of the conservative voices. After that particular hearing, a

A good friend of ours, Chris Stewart, said, Burgess, you need to, why don't you run for office? I said, Chris, that's not going to happen, buddy. There's no way it's going to happen. A few months later, he talks about it again. And I said, you know what? He says, just think about it. I mean, either way, I'm good. Just think through it. So I did. I did what I've done in the past for major decisions.

I literally took a couple weeks, did a lot of fasting. We have temples here that I'm a member of the church, as you know. So I had a chance to really spend time really seeking some answers. And my conclusion was very simple as this.

If it's meant to be, it'll work out. If it's not meant to be, I'll continue to work with my kids. It's a win-win either way. So that was how I entered this process. And then the more I got into meeting the people in Utah, meeting more people in my district, the idea of winning became very, very important. And because I wanted to give voice to not only what I grew up around, but what I'm representing here. So that was kind of the process. And we just, we just, we did our best to run a campaign based on policies and

And I'm thankful for District 4 that my message of the way I grew up resonated.

So my goal right now, Jason, I plan on doing a lot of hustling. I don't know if you read the book, The Five Love Languages, but my language is service. So I love to serve. If I can do it 24-7 and try to find another hour some way, I would do that. And playing with so many losing teams, but only in the last couple of years in the NFL did I finally win, from high school to college to pros, my last two years. So I learned through that process that you cannot control the scoreboard, but you can control the hustle. So

So between service and learning to hustle, I'm just going to enjoy the time I'm here and just meet as many of the Utahns as I can to get that voice back to DC. Well, good for Chris Stewart. He's the congressman and another congressman here in Utah for helping us to spark that thought.

But and you certainly have earned a reputation of working as hard as anybody in Congress and have seen you all over the place. And I was down at a meeting in Utah County and you didn't have to show up. Not only did you show up, you stayed, you did the whole bit. And I just think voters across the country, no matter whether it's Utah or wherever you might be.

People understand authenticity, and you either have it or you don't, and you can't fake your way through it. And I love that you bring your heart to what you're doing because I think you've become not only such an important voice here in the Intermountain West but across the country and an inspiration to a lot of people that need it because they see a country that's broken, that's fallen apart, that –

They don't see justice, the equal application of justice. I mean, you and I could spend hours talking about the problems and challenges, but I think you feel like I do that at the end of the day, the United States of America is the greatest country on the face of the planet. And to have you, you know, rise up and have your type of experiences, bring that to Congress. That's a really important thing. Now,

I don't have much more time with you, but I do this thing at the end of the podcast where I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions. Rapid fire. Oh, boy. The pressure's on. Watch out. You can't study for this. I don't care how many marine biology classes you took there at the University of Miami. That is not going to prepare you for these questions. All right? Okay. Let's do it, buddy. Let's do it. All right.

Rapid fire. Whatever comes to mind. You can't get these wrong, I promise. Okay. Let's see what Burgess Owens, the congressman from Utah's 4th District, comes up with here. All right. Ideal time to go to bed? Midnight or after. Good for you. Favorite actor or actress? Oh, gosh. Denzel Washington, actor. Good choice. Worst thing you did as a kid? Be honest. Worst thing you did as a kid?

Oh, my goodness. I've only got time for one here, Burgess. Okay, okay, okay. Oh, gosh. Huh, huh. Jason. You're passing the statute of limitations, and your kids are going to hear this anyway, so. Okay, okay, okay. Gosh. Okay, I'll say this. One of the greatest things that I learned about courage is something happens when you make a mistake and you're not courageous about a stance,

And then you say, okay, I'm never going to do that again. So in some of our relationships, there's a time where I did not stand up as courageous as I did, maybe as a teenager. I felt so bad about it. I said, okay, next time I get a chance to stand. And I grew up in a time when there was black and white issues going on. And there was one time I just didn't make the stand I should have stood. I didn't stand up like I should have. So that lived with me. And I made sure as I continued to go through life that I'll

be as courageous as I can and take the consequences as they come. And, and I guess, boy, I had to work on that one, Jason. That's good though. You know what it is? Sometimes those, those things where you just think, Oh, I totally blew that. And they stick with you. Seriously. Won't mistake that mistake again. All right. Unique talent. Nobody knows about. I don't know if it's a talent, but I'm extremely, I was, I was extremely shy.

And I had to work to come out of that. And I still consider myself somewhat of an introvert, even though you see me all over the place sometimes talking. I like my alone time, to be honest with you, with a book. So if you don't see me a whole lot, I'm really good with somebody. Introvert is usually not a quality you see in an NFL safety. But I...

I'll buy it. Okay. All right. Well, you know what happened, Jason? If you get good at something and football is something I got good at, you get some confidence. And then I did a lot of reading along the way, so I was able to kind of come out of that little shell I had. I'm glad I'm out of it. Oh, let me ask you then. In football, you either get hit or do the hitting. So what made you learn that you wanted to do the hitting? Good question. Good question.

And it dealt with a bully. It dealt with a lesson my dad taught me. I was a running back in high school. An older bully just continued to come at me. My dad told me how to deal with him. He says, Burgess, when you run through the line, you find Larry, and you run at him as fast as you can and hit him as hard as you can.

So I did it and it made a world of difference. Especially I don't know how this is going to end up. But my lesson out of that is when it comes to fear or bullies, you run at it as fast as you can and hit it as hard as you can. And that's what helped me to be a defensive back, a very productive one in terms of tackling, because I just, I learned to attack my fear. And I said, everybody out there, it works. Try it out. And you'll find out you get better and better at being courageous about things that might never have thought you would ever do before.

Well, you were one of the best and one of the toughest sports there was. All right. Person you would most like to meet. They can be alive or dead. Ronald Reagan. I missed the opportunity to meet. He's my transitional president. He's one that I went from a Democrat to Republican with a capital C. And that journey has not ended yet. So, you know, I had a similar I kind of grew up in Chicago.

Said I was a Democrat, but boy, then I started, you know, I got a job, got married, got a wife, got kids, got a nice paycheck. And I realized I'm pretty conservative, but I actually got to meet Reagan. He came to Utah in 1991.

Sorry, 1990 and February 15th. And I got a picture with him. He was so nice to me. I got a great story about it. I'll tell you about it sometime. All right. Favorite sport? Yeah, that was a good one for me because I was just a young man and won an honor because he was one of my favorite presidents ever.

Favorite sport other than football? Basketball, hands down. If I could have shot straighter and jumped higher, I would have been a basketball player instead of a football player. I bet you'd be pretty good. I bet you'd be pretty good. All right, so if you went to the Winter Olympics, what sport would you compete in? The bobsled.

That seems like fun. Yeah, because you could run. You know, you get off to a good start. That's a good one. We have to go back to days when your body didn't respond. So, yes, if I used to respond to what my mind told me, I would do a bobsled. Nowadays, I'd be a spectator, buddy, big time. Three more questions. If you could be the first person to land on Mars but you would not return to Earth, would you do it? Only if I had my family with me.

My family was with me, and then I would have to do a little checkout for everybody else, but I think I would do that if my family was with me. Other than that, no. What was your high school mascot? Ricketts Redskins. It's now the Ricketts Raiders. They've changed that over the years. All right, the Raiders. All right, Redskins, now Raider. All right, that makes sense. Most embarrassing moment?

Oh, good question. My senior year in high school, I was asked to say a prayer in front of the entire school. Got up to the stage. I had a friend that told me not to write any notes because

It would not be genuine. This guy had never written, said a prayer before in his life, by the way. So I got up there and I started my prayer, got into it thinking I'm really on the road here. Then I left everything left my mind, including amen. So as I sleeped off off the stage, I made a decision. I'll never talk in front of more than two people one time ever again. That's where my shot has started in a big way. Well, that'll do it. That'll do it.

it. Burgess Owens, the congressman from Utah's 4th Congressional District, making a huge impact in Washington, D.C. Thank you for what you bring to the table. Thanks for sharing some of your thoughts and thanks for being with us today. Can I just say this real quickly? We are a team. We really are. Every single individual counts. So don't count yourself out.

Engage yourself, educate yourself, be part of this process, and we'll get our country back. And Jason, thanks for everything you're doing, my friend. I really appreciate it. Big time. All right. Thanks. Burgess Owens. Appreciate it. Thank you. That was, it's an amazing story. You know, when you go from the highs and the lows and the ups and the downs, and you're in the Super Bowl and you win a Super Bowl ring, and then you're

Then you're a chimney sweep in New York and you get recognized. And then to make it back and go through that success and you're raising kids with a family and then decide, you know what, I think I'll run for Congress. And then he does. It's just an amazing, amazing journey. And I'm glad that we could hear Burgess share that with us. All right. I want to make a couple of predictions, then we'll close it out.

July 4th will be rocking. I know that's not a bold prediction, but I think people are so tired of COVID and their masks. It'll be warm. It'll be hot. The barbecues will be out there. The smoke will be in the air. People will be jumping in the water, out on the boats, out at the lake, by the pool. I just think it's going to be a wonderful time in this country. I just think 4th of July will be rocking. For those of you that are soccer, the true football, if you will,

Manchester City will sit atop the tables there in the English Premier League. Man City is awfully good. Pep Guardiola is one of the best managers out there. And then when we get to football, American football, the Las Vegas Raiders, still hard to, just doesn't flow off the tongue like the Oakland Raiders, and I remember them, and then the LA Raiders, but now the Las Vegas Raiders with one of the coolest new stadiums

We'll still be a very mediocre team. That's my prediction. All right. Thank you so much for hearing us out here. This is the Jason in the house podcast. Thanks so much for listening. You can find more on,

from the Fox News Podcast Network over at foxnewspodcast.com. That's foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. I would love it if you'd like it, rate it, and review the podcast. It's important to the apples of the world and they look at their algorithms. So click on those five stars if you don't mind. And we'll be back more next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and this has been Jason in the House. ♪

The Fox True Crime Podcast presents Crimes on Campus. Sharing chilling stories of scandal, corruption, and murder. New episodes available every Tuesday this month. Listen and follow at foxtruecrime.com.