Suiting Up at 61: Tom Green Aims To Become The NCAA's Oldest, College Football Player
Second Act Stories
Football is a difficult sport. It demands physical strength, speed, endurance and mental toughness. So it surprised us when we heard about Tom Green, a 61-year-old man focused on becoming the oldest football player in NCAA history. Tom is now a sophmore at McDaniel College, a few minutes away from his home in Westminster, Maryland. He is on the practice field as a defensive lineman playing against athletes who are one-third his age. If he gets on the field for just one play in the upcoming season, he will tie the record as the oldest college football player in history. But what makes his...
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"Stand By Me" Made Andy Lindberg Famous; Nature Gave Him a Calling
Second Act Stories
If you’re of a certain age, you may not know the name Andy Lindberg. But you definitely know his most famous role. Andy played Lard Ass Hogan in the legendary Rob Reiner film “Stand By Me,” one of the most beloved coming-of-age movies ever made. His scene, the unforgettable “barf-o-rama” at the pie-eating contest, remains one of the most memorable movie moments of the 1980s. It was gross. It was hilarious. It was impossible to forget. Andy was 14 years old when he filmed the scene in Oregon, a local kid doing local theater who suddenly found himself working on a major motion picture...
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Restoring Dignity One Load At A Time: Retired Cop Creates Mobile Laundry Service For Homeless
Second Act Stories
Wade Milyard worked as a police officer in Frederick, Maryland for nearly 20 years and planned to retire from the force in January 2025. As retirement approached, he had no idea what he was going to do next. In his final year as a police officer, he and his partner were called to a domestic dispute with a homeless couple living in a tent. “As we were leaving the campsite, God put it in my heart to ask a simple question: where do you do your laundry?” And that was where the idea of “Fresh Step Laundry” first began to take shape. Fresh Step Laundry provides free laundry service to...
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David Pogue Says Yes to Everything
Second Act Stories
If you know tech, you know . His resume includes 13 years as the top personal technology columnist for , and prior to that, 13 years as a columnist for magazine. Today he’s a full-time correspondent for the venerable weekly news program . His work there has earned him seven… SEVEN… Emmy Awards. He’s also a five-time speaker, and he’s hosted 20 NOVA science specials on . David is also a prolific author. He’s written or cowritten more than 120 books, including dozens in the Missing Manual tech series, which he created in 1999; six books in the For...
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Second Servings: Paul Giannone
Second Act Stories
Some people change careers. These people rewrote the menu. This week on Second Act Stories we highlight an incredible group of entrepreneurs who traded in wildly different first acts for lives spent building bold, food-focused brands. What connects them isn’t a straight line or a master plan, but the moment they realized it was time for a second serving: to take what they’d learned, trust their instincts, and build something deliciously their own. These are stories of reinvention, risk, and recipes. Proof that sometimes the most satisfying work comes after you decide to start over. Paul...
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Second Servings: Anna Vocino
Second Act Stories
Some people change careers. These people rewrote the menu. This week on Second Act Stories we highlight an incredible group of entrepreneurs who traded in wildly different first acts for lives spent building bold, food-focused brands. What connects them isn’t a straight line or a master plan, but the moment they realized it was time for a second serving: to take what they’d learned, trust their instincts, and build something deliciously their own. These are stories of reinvention, risk, and recipes. Proof that sometimes the most satisfying work comes after you decide to start over. Anna...
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Second Servings: Steve Lewis
Second Act Stories
Some people change careers. These people rewrote the menu. This week on Second Act Stories we highlight an incredible group of entrepreneurs who traded in wildly different first acts for lives spent building bold, food-focused brands. What connects them isn’t a straight line or a master plan, but the moment they realized it was time for a second serving: to take what they’d learned, trust their instincts, and build something deliciously their own. These are stories of reinvention, risk, and recipes. Proof that sometimes the most satisfying work comes after you decide to start over. Steve...
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Second Servings: Andrew Pudalov
Second Act Stories
Some people change careers. These people rewrote the menu. This week on Second Act Stories we highlight an incredible group of entrepreneurs who traded in wildly different first acts for lives spent building bold, food-focused brands. What connects them isn’t a straight line or a master plan, but the moment they realized it was time for a second serving: to take what they’d learned, trust their instincts, and build something deliciously their own. These are stories of reinvention, risk, and recipes. Proof that sometimes the most satisfying work comes after you decide to start over. Andrew...
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Author! Author!: Dann McDorman
Second Act Stories
Have you ever dreamed of becoming a successful writer, but wondered if the moment had already passed? This week, in our “Author! Author!” series, we’re sharing stories from people who answered that question by simply starting - often much later, and after building careers elsewhere. These conversations show how the path to authorship isn’t something you find so much as something you clear, step by step, by leaning into the life you’ve already lived. Together, these episodes capture the heart of Second Act Stories: the idea that reinvention doesn’t have an expiration date, and that...
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Author! Author!: Marty Herman
Second Act Stories
Have you ever dreamed of becoming a successful writer, but wondered if the moment had already passed? This week, in our “Author! Author!” series, we’re sharing stories from people who answered that question by simply starting - often much later, and after building careers elsewhere. These conversations show how the path to authorship isn’t something you find so much as something you clear, step by step, by leaning into the life you’ve already lived. Together, these episodes capture the heart of Second Act Stories: the idea that reinvention doesn’t have an expiration date, and that...
info_outlineHave you ever dreamed of becoming a successful writer, but wondered if the moment had already passed? This week, in our “Author! Author!” series, we’re sharing stories from people who answered that question by simply starting - often much later, and after building careers elsewhere. These conversations show how the path to authorship isn’t something you find so much as something you clear, step by step, by leaning into the life you’ve already lived. Together, these episodes capture the heart of Second Act Stories: the idea that reinvention doesn’t have an expiration date, and that sometimes the most meaningful work begins after you’ve already lived a few chapters.
Dann McDorman always dreamed of writing and publishing a novel. After graduating from Columbia University, he spent a decade pursuing that dream with little impact. “Not only was I never published, I never heard back from a single publisher. I had zero success.”
As he hit his 30s, he found his way to a career in broadcast journalism initially working for Fox News but then climbing the ladder as a producer at MSNBC. Starting a family, his dream of being an author was put on the back burner. Today, Dann is the Executive Producer of “The Beat With Ari Melber” that airs weeknights from 6:00-7:00 pm.
During the Covid-19 Pandemic and without a daily commute to the MSNBC Studios, Dann had some extra time on his hands. He started thinking about writing again. With his wife’s encouragement, he wrote a full length mystery novel called West Heart Kill. And at the age of 47, his book was published by Knopf Publishing.
Dann’s advice to aspiring authors and second act pursuers: “Don’t give up…Stick with it and don’t think it’s too late to be successful.”
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Second Act Stories theme music: “Between 1 and 3 am” by Echoes.