Rob Hale Co-Owner of the Boston Celtics Joins on Day 1 of the WEEI-NESN Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon
Rob Hale has put out an incredible challenge to our listeners: $775,000 match donation
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00:00It is my pleasure to welcome our friend Rob Hale back to the show.
00:05He is one of the most generous guys I know and a loyal listener of this program.
00:12And I think every year that I've been doing this, Rob has been among our first guests
00:18and the first to step up and talk to us about this fight.
00:23And Rob, good morning and thanks for being on.
00:25Thanks, Jim.
00:26Delighted to be here.
00:28Rob is the president and CEO of Granite Telecommunications and co-founder of Copley Equity Partners.
00:34And I know this fight, this fight that we will hear about over the next couple of days
00:40is very important to you because you went through it with your dad and you have done
00:46so much since then to help those who are trying to beat cancer.
00:52A gift to the Jimmy Fund is really, in my way of thinking, it's probably three different
00:56gifts at once, right?
00:58It helps our community.
00:59It'll help people like my dad and every member of our community.
01:02It will help our world because the doctors that we're funding, they're going to create,
01:07they're going to research, and they're going to find medicines that are ultimately going
01:11to cure these insidious diseases.
01:13And it's a gift to Boston because medicine is what we're best at.
01:17So it makes our city best.
01:18So being generous to you is really three gifts in one.
01:22Rob, I am in awe of your generosity and the manner in which you so quietly do so much
01:30for so many.
01:32And just on this specific case of the Jimmy Fund of Dana-Farber, the ability to prolong
01:40life I think is one of the more under-discussed topics with cancer care, where if someone
01:46gets a terminal diagnosis, we all just think, oh, it's over.
01:51The money that you raise, that we raise, that we donate can really help a second grader
01:56make it to fifth grade or a 70-year-old make it to 75.
02:01The ways in which the treatments have developed to allow people who may not be able to overcome
02:08the illness but may be able to live a good life for many years with it.
02:13I think that's one of the foremost strengths at Dana is that research that we just talked
02:18about.
02:20Research where hundreds, if not thousands, of scientists and PhDs and doctors are finding
02:25ways to create medicine to prolong life is one of the, if not one of the most impactful
02:32aspects of all of this research and all this funding, because as you mentioned, kids get
02:37to go to the next grade or grandparents get to spend more time with grandchildren.
02:43It's powerful stuff.
02:44Rob, something we were talking about off-air yesterday actually about you was the fact
02:49that anytime anybody ever gives you any credit or commends you, you always make it a family
02:53effort.
02:54You always bring up your wife, Karen, or you say, yeah, the Hale family.
02:58You never take the credit for yourself.
03:01As a family, is this something that you guys talk about pretty frequently of how to give
03:06back and the resources you guys have and the places you want to put it?
03:11It is part of our life.
03:14Maya Angelou said, too much is given, much is expected.
03:17We hope to live our lives that way.
03:19We do talk about it as a unit on a pretty consistent basis.
03:23Karen and I expect to and hope to be able to do things like this for the rest of our
03:28lives.
03:29Well, you've been a huge supporter of this effort, at least as long as I've been here
03:35at WEI.
03:36You and I spoke briefly about this today, and you said that you wanted to do something
03:41that you hadn't done before, Rob.
03:45Well, I'd like to do something powerful with you.
03:49I admire your show and the generosity that you have in our community is powerful.
03:54Please don't underscore how generous your show and your listeners are.
03:58And of course, we'd like to help Dana.
04:00So what we'd like to do, but the one thing we need to talk about, Greg, last year is
04:04how much did we raise last year?
04:07I think I can look at Kent Laird.
04:09Was it seven, six, six, seven, seven hundred, seven hundred and fifty.
04:16Yes.
04:17So don't you think we should have a reach goal this year?
04:21I would love to have a reach goal.
04:23I would.
04:24I would.
04:25I think that everybody's listening.
04:27They're ready to go.
04:28I think you can motivate them to give even more than than they've given in the past,
04:33Rob.
04:34Well, if we I know that last year we had a matching gift and I thought the number was
04:37750.
04:38I knew it was in the seventh.
04:39Why don't we shoot for 775?
04:43Seven, seven hundred and seventy five would be our match.
04:48OK.
04:49Do it.
04:50All right.
04:51I think.
04:52What's that?
04:53If the listeners if you and the listeners rate seven hundred seventy five thousand the
04:55next two shows, Karen, I would be delighted to be honored to match.
04:59OK, so we will.
05:01We will.
05:03This is extraordinary.
05:04It's unbelievable that you do this, Rob.
05:06And so we can get seven hundred.
05:08If the listeners can give over the next couple of days, can give seven hundred and seventy
05:14five thousand dollars, then you will match that.
05:18With pleasure.
05:19That's great.
05:20Great job, Rob.
05:21That is extraordinary.
05:22Incredible.
05:23Extraordinary.
05:24Janice of you, Rob.
05:25We appreciate that.
05:27And I know the final question that probably all of us have.
05:32We haven't talked about this.
05:34Has Greg ever paid for dinner?
05:36I don't know the answer to that question.
05:41Yes.
05:43We haven't talked about this, but any chance you want to buy the Celtics?
05:47Has Greg ever paid for dinner?
05:48The answer is no.
05:49All right.
05:50That's about.
05:51We're just trying to get anybody.
05:52We want somebody local.
05:53Rob.
05:54Yeah, that's what we're trying to do.
05:55Fine.
05:56We want you.
05:57We're pulling for you.
05:58So whether you want it or not, we're pulling for you.
05:59All right.
06:00Rob Hill, you're the best.
06:01Thank you so much.
06:03Thank you guys.
06:04I'm honored to assist you.
06:05Have fun to next couple of days.
06:06All right.
06:07That is Rob Hill and stepping up and giving us a match of $775,000.
06:08So if we can raise that over the next couple of days, then Rob and his wife and his family
06:09will match it.
06:10Great job.
06:11It's unbelievable that he does this every year, but it's never been easier to give.
06:12So I'm going to give it to you.