Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] KELLY WALKER: 200 y'all. Welcome to the 200th episode of Hustle and Pro. I'm your host, Kelly Walker. And for this milestone episode, we have a very, very special guest. It's Frisco's top cop, Chief David Shilson. Enjoy this episode.
Chief Shilson. Thank you for joining us today.
[00:00:20] DAVID SHILSON: Glad to be here.
[00:00:21] KELLY WALKER: All right, we can tell by looking at you that we're rolling around the end of 2024 here. So tell us, like, what your year looked like professionally and personally and sports wise.
[00:00:34] DAVID SHILSON: So, first of all, yeah, it's a holiday season, so this isn't my typical uniform, so hopefully, forgive me for that. But now 2024 has been a very busy year for us as it is for most every department in the city of Frisco. But, you know, here at the police department, you know, we focused a lot of our efforts and attention on growing with the city. And hiring police officers and staff to support our police officers is not an easy thing because we can't just hire anybody. We have to make sure that we're hiring really qualified people. And we want to be very selective in who we choose for these positions. But we've hired close to 60 people this year, which is really an incredible feat that I have to give all the credit to our folks in our personnel unit. They are constantly working, doing police tests just about every month. And so their efforts are certainly paying off and we hope paying off long term here. As far as the sports year for me, well, it's been an up and down sports year for me. I'm a big A and M fan because, of course, I graduated from Texas A and M and, you know, A and M really started their football season over performing like I didn't really have much of expectations. Brand new coach, Coach Elko, who I think is going to be a great long term fit for us. But, you know, they played very well at the beginning of the season to the point where after we beat lsu, everybody's thinking, wow, we've got a chance to go to the SEC championship game, right? And so, of course, we didn't finish the season very strong. And, you know, it's painful for us to lose to Texas in the first year back of that game, but I had a chance to be be at that game. My son, who's a student down there, he's a freshman this year, was able to get me a guest ticket. So I stood with the 12th man and got to experience that environment, which was absolutely crazy.
That's definitely going to be one of those things that I remember for the rest of my life. But I wish the game had turned out better. But it was still an amazing experience and I'm so glad the two schools are playing again.
[00:02:57] KELLY WALKER: Yeah. When you think back to your time as a student there, did you. Did you have like those big or was. Was the football culture like it is now when you go back and get to experience it as a parent of an Aggie?
[00:03:11] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah. So it's definitely gotten bigger. The following for A and M football has grown dramatically. The stadium, of course, is much larger. I think the capacity of the stadium back when I was a student there was maybe 80,000.
[00:03:25] KELLY WALKER: That's still pretty big for college
[00:03:27] DAVID SHILSON: Yes.
[00:03:28] KELLY WALKER: Not that it was a long time ago.
[00:03:29] DAVID SHILSON: Right. Yeah. Now the capacity that the announced attendance at the Texas game this year was 109,000.
[00:03:37] KELLY WALKER: 109. I was going to say they hit 100, right.
[00:03:40] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah. Yeah. Which is crazy.
[00:03:41] KELLY WALKER: It's bigger than a lot of NFL stadiums.
[00:03:43] DAVID SHILSON: Oh, yeah. It was absolutely crazy.
[00:03:46] KELLY WALKER: Kyle field is just something else.
[00:03:47] DAVID SHILSON: Yes. And you know, when I was a student there, we played some pretty big games. I mean, I remember 1998, we won the Big 12 Conference Championship in an overtime game against Kansas State. I remember that game very well because we weren't supposed to win that game. We came back and won it in the fourth quarter, tied it in the fourth quarter, won it in overtime, and then we ended up going and playing in the Sugar bowl against Ohio State, which I was at that game as well, and we got killed by Ohio State, unfortunately.
[00:04:21] KELLY WALKER: What other sports besides football are you like, watching and then playing? I know you do some basketballing a little. So what are you playing and watching?
[00:04:31] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah, so watching. You know, I've been an avid Astros fan because I grew up in Houston. I know I get a lot of, you know, negative reactions around here when I say I'm an Astros fan, but I'm a die hard Astros fan. The Astros, you know, they went to the playoffs this past year, got knocked out by the Tigers, which nobody was expecting.
But you know, I'm always kind of a fan of the underdog too. And the Tigers were kind of an underdog team.
[00:04:59] KELLY WALKER: Detroit's having a year.
[00:05:00] DAVID SHILSON: Yes. Yeah. So, you know, hated that they. They lost. But yeah, I'm an Astros fan. The team's kind of in flux right now. We're waiting to see if they re sign Bregman.
You know, they've got an offer out there, but I don't think ultimately it's going to be enough, so we'll see what happens. But so, big Astros fan, as far as what I'm playing. Yeah. I mean, if I'm playing a sport, it's probably going to be basketball. My son, you know, he's got a group of friends, and we'll sometimes organize a pickup game and.
And enjoy playing basketball. He had a group of his friends, some from Reedy, some from other schools that they kind of put together an AAU team. And we had a lot of fun with that. We played in a few tournaments, won one of the tournaments. We're not supposed to win one of the tournaments, but we ended up. That team has been so fun. I mean, that's probably been one of the funnest things that I've ever done, sports wise, was coach that team because, you know, most of them were probably half the team was varsity basketball players from Reedy. And so there wasn't any coaching going on. I was just controlling the substitutions more than anything.
[00:06:12] KELLY WALKER: You're just the adult in the room, right?
[00:06:14] DAVID SHILSON: Yes.
[00:06:14] KELLY WALKER: That was my next question was, I know you've done some coaching. What's your track record as a coach? And then, like, do they respect your authority appropriately with your. With your job title?
[00:06:25] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah. So it's been a lot of fun. You know, I've head coached my son's teams and my daughter's teams.
And, you know, what I've learned through all of that is, yeah, the dynamic of me being a police chief definitely is kind of, you know, sometimes they don't even think about it, and sometimes it's like, you know, wow, like, the police chief is our coach. Right. And so it's a unique dynamic. But, you know, my son, he played a lot of. He played soccer, baseball, basketball. Growing up, I coached his. I helped coach his baseball team.
Really? And I coached his basketball team, I think one season.
Had a lot of fun doing that. My daughter has played softball, basketball. She actually played flag football one year, but I've been involved in coaching her softball team and, you know, kind of had to back off and be more of an assistant coach since becoming chief. But, yeah, you know, it's one of those things that the sacrifice of the job is I've kind of had to step back since I've been chief because I don't want to be the coach that can't make a practice or can't make a game and us have to forfeit. So I'm offering to, you know, I always offer to help out whenever I can.
And, you know, we have Some great folks that are leading that team, but I help out whenever I can.
[00:07:57] KELLY WALKER: Yeah. In the front, the head coach, it's a big commitment. And, like, you sound like you're like, we are. When we were head coaching, if we can't do it fully and be at everything and really think about, you know, the lineups and the this and the that and the playing time, all that, like, let someone else who might have the time jump in there and take over with the energy they can.
[00:08:17] DAVID SHILSON: Absolutely.
[00:08:18] KELLY WALKER: They can give. We can't.
[00:08:19] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah. And my daughter is now getting to the age where, like, I can't coach her anymore. Like, she doesn't want to listen to me.
[00:08:24] KELLY WALKER: All right, shifting gears a little bit. Coming back to what you mentioned up at the top about hiring and growth, but Frisco Sports. So I want to know if being a leader in the Sports City USA is the way you drew up your career game plan.
[00:08:40] DAVID SHILSON: It is not. I've always been an avid sports fan, and, you know, the sports teams here in Frisco and the sports presence here in Frisco as it's grown has really just been an incredible bonus to me being here. Right. Because, you know, I grew up certainly following, you know, the NFL, NBA, you know, wasn't. Wasn't really tuned in. I was a soccer player growing up, but I never really was tuned in with Major League Soccer.
[00:09:10] KELLY WALKER: No one was.
[00:09:11] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah. It's certainly grown in popularity.
[00:09:15] KELLY WALKER: You know, you were a big part of that.
[00:09:16] DAVID SHILSON: Yes. I mean, it's.
[00:09:17] KELLY WALKER: This market is a big part of it.
[00:09:19] DAVID SHILSON: Yes. And so really just, you know, having the sports presence here has been just an incredible bonus. I remember working deep nights here as a patrol officer when the Rough Riders ballpark was being built. And I remember, like, let me go check this out. And I would walk the construction site that is now the Rough Riders Ballpark. And. And I remember thinking, this is kind of cool that there's a double A baseball team going in here. And then seeing the same thing happen with Toyota Stadium, where FC Dallas plays, and seeing that facility. And I remember the first time I walked in there after it was nearing completion and seeing all those seats, I thought, oh, this is a game changer.
And then I was actually the. The kind of the project lead from the public safety side for the police side related to The Star project. And I just remember one of the first meetings for that project as it was kicking off. You know, I'm in there, and then, you know, Chief Renshaw at the time was in there, and in walks Jerry Jones and Steven Jones and George Purifoy. And I'm like looking at myself like, what am I doing here? Right? You know, and so I was a lieutenant at the time and that was just really kind of a surreal. Like this, this place is something special.
[00:10:40] KELLY WALKER: Yeah, it's happening. And I guess though, it all worked out, you were in there for a reason. You didn't know at the time.
[00:10:47] DAVID SHILSON: That was a really neat project to work on.
KELLY WALKER And, you know, seeing what the Star is now and then, it's an incredible piece of our city. Whether you are a Dallas Cowboys fan or not, it is an incredible piece of our city.
[00:11:00] DAVID SHILSON: I remember the day the Star opened when they had the.
It was the back, I think it was four high school football games, maybe five high school football games that they played. I remember having an interaction with Jerry Jones that day and he was very emotional about, you know, what this facility meant to our local athletes, our high school kids. And, you know, he was just very proud to see, you know, what, what this was going to be, you know, and kind of full circle moment. I had a follow up conversation with Jerry Jones right after my son's junior year of high school and he played football at Reedy and I remember telling him like, it was extremely special to see this open and then see my son benefit from it and have an opportunity to play in the Star. So it is so unique.
It's. I think our kids are spoiled. They have no idea how lucky they are to.
[00:12:05] KELLY WALKER: You're right, they don't. They don't. Okay. So I know that that activity presents plenty of challenges for the police department just because there's the influx of people and activity and all that good stuff. But what about on the positive side, I'd wonder, does it help in recruiting when you talk about hiring? I mean, is it a cool thing to get to tell people, come to Frisco, like, these are some of the things that we support.
[00:12:31] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah, no, absolutely. We're utilizing that messaging in our recruiting efforts because it is a challenge, but it's a unique challenge within law enforcement. There's not very many agencies that get the opportunity to work sporting events like we get to work sporting events. And it does require a commitment from our people, but they're certainly willing to take that on and they appreciate the opportunities to work in these unique environments. Whether, you know, it's a Cowboys training camp because they're down there on the field, you know, working security for Cowboys training camp, or, you know, we have a number of people that they played collegiate baseball. So Getting an opportunity to work at Rough Rider Stadium, you know, is kind of a treat for them.
[00:13:21] KELLY WALKER: You know, I love that stadium, and I love baseball, so I feel like I live there, like, on Frisco College Baseball Classic weekends. The doubleheaders.
[00:13:29] DAVID SHILSON: Yes.
[00:13:29] KELLY WALKER: By the way, some epic A & M games.
[00:13:31] DAVID SHILSON: Oh, yeah.
[00:13:32] KELLY WALKER: In the past. But, yeah, I'm like, I just live here for half the. You know, basically the whole day. For three days in a row, because I love it so much.
[00:13:38] DAVID SHILSON: And I hear from our people that, you know, having Rough Riders, perfect example, they can take their family to a Rough Riders game for cheaper than it's to go see a movie. Right. And so to have that there. I hear that quite a bit from people that are just starting here, and people that have been here, like, they appreciate the, you know, the ability to go and watch one of these sporting events and be a part of this department and working at those different venues, it's something that most agencies do not have that ability to do.
[00:14:12] KELLY WALKER: Right. That's great. I was hoping you'd say that, but I didn't know. I didn't know if it's just a thorn or if it's actually, you know, there's some benefit, which is. Which is awesome. That's why I love, you know, my life and my job here as well. All right, last thing. What's on your bucket list of a sporting event you haven't attended that you do want to get to?
[00:14:29] DAVID SHILSON: Hmm. Well, I guess I would say, like, a close second to the A and M Texas game was my son and I actually went to the divisional championship series between the Astros and Rangers over in Arlington.
It was game three, which we won, and we were wearing our Astros attire in, you know, Arlington, which, you know, was kind of. Kind of risky, but enemy territory, for sure. We eventually ended up losing that Series, of course, but the Astros did win the game that we went to.
[00:15:01] KELLY WALKER: I forgot who went on to win the World Series?
[00:15:04] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah, the Rangers did. Yeah, that was painful to watch. But I don't root against the Rangers. I only root against the Rangers when they're playing the Astros. So I used to prefer when the Astros were in the National League and the Rangers were in the American League. I could root for both teams and then the World Series, but that's close second. You know, I don't know. I think one of the things on my radar that I might have an opportunity to do in the coming year, A and M plays at Notre Dame next season, as, you know, early in the season, and we actually got Some family that live up that way. And so we might take an opportunity to go catch a game at Notre Dame and root for A and M, and hopefully it works out better than the Texas game for us.
[00:15:48] KELLY WALKER: Very cool. It's all very A and M and Astros specific. I thought you were going to say World cup, because now hearing you say you are a soccer, youth soccer fan, which World Cup's on my list? Yes, I go to a lot of soccer games, but that's a big one. I can't wait. Hopefully I'll get the opportunity to be in the building during a World cup game.
[00:16:08] DAVID SHILSON: Yeah. Well, and the World cup coming is certainly a big challenge for us. And, you know, we've begun the preparations for that already. We've been doing stuff for several months. And so it's definitely going to be very unique. And, you know, people I don't think that aren't soccer fans don't recognize. The World cup is like the equivalent of 10 Super Bowls. I mean, it is that big of a deal. And there's going to be so many people here in our region taking part in watching matches here. And it's a big deal for Frisco to be a base camp. And it's going to be a base camp for, you know, a big team, more than likely. So we're excited about that.
And PGA Championship, that's another bucket list thing that we've got coming to Frisco, and that's going to be a tremendous event for Frisco when it comes
[00:17:05] KELLY WALKER: Yeah, I've quickly just kind of like, I quickly jumped into being an F1 fan when I was there on site. Definitely quickly become more of a golf fan, being at these golf events and being at PGA Frisco so much. Yeah. We're so lucky that we have all this.
[00:17:18] DAVID SHILSON: Yes, we are definitely blessed here in Frisco.
[00:17:20] KELLY WALKER: Well, cool. Well, this is my 200th episode, so for my 100th episode, I had Mayor Chaney on. And in between there, I have mostly athletes, mostly pro athletes in the market or former pros or standout high school athletes, but sometimes coaches and fans or front office guys, whatever it is. And so for 200, I was like, I need some other special Frisco guy. And so I'm excited that you said yes, because I don't know the extent of all your sports life. So I'm happy to learn about it and get to share that with people. So thank you.
[00:17:58] DAVID SHILSON: Well, I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate you putting up with my Santa sweatshirt today.
[00:18:02] KELLY WALKER: It's festive.
[00:18:03] DAVID SHILSON: I love it. Yes. It's the holidays, and everybody's getting ready for the holidays, so I had to had to be festive, play the part.
[00:18:12] KELLY WALKER: Well, thank you so much for your time.
[00:18:13] DAVID SHILSON: Thank you, Kelly.
[00:18:15] KELLY WALKER: That's all we've got for you Today on this 200th episode of Hustle and Pro. Whether this is your first time listening or you've been listening for all five years, I appreciate you and I hope that you will subscribe on YouTube so that you can get alerts for the next episode. Follow me on Instagram Hustle and Pro, and we'll see you next time.
