This is the Truth Network. Satan's Nightmare, Nakia Kolof. This is a war! This is one warning. Needs to be settled.
What a brawl! The fight! And it's out of control here! That's a bad man. No, that's a bad man.
No, that's a bad man. Anytime, any place, night, day, I don't care. I'm only a phone call away, my friend. Welcome to another episode of QA with Koloff, the Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back, QA with Koloff, Questions and Answers, where you get the opportunity to ask me questions, maybe a personal phone call from the Russian nightmare, or sometimes it got folks in the studio.
But today, An extra special interview for me today because one of my old college football buddies going way, way back to the 70s, is with me today, Kenny Norman. Kenny, welcome to QA with Koloff.
Well, hey, thank you, Nikita. It's good to be here.
Well, great to have you, Kenny. I know you're up there. Are are are you are you staying warm? Let me just ask you you're up there in Brainerd, Minnesota. How cold is it in Brainerd, Minnesota?
Well, today it made it above zero, praise the Lord. And I'm. On Friday, I just told one of the residents here at the house. That the high is predicted to be 11 degrees below zero. The high.
Yeah, that's the high, the low of twenty four degrees below zero. And that's not counting wind chill, man. It is just flat out gonna be cold. Oh, Lord have mercy on Kenny Norman and his family, and all those who live in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Well, Kenny, we were recently not that long ago, reintroduced to each other when at our college football reunion, Golden Valley Lutheran College. They're in Golden Valley, Minnesota, way back when, as I mentioned, into the 70s. But Kirk Talley, a dear friend of ours, put a reunion together and now groups of us get to gather on a, really on an annual basis and reconnect and just share. Old stories and so fun to see you. And of course, take a minute, just share with our listeners.
Just take a quick minute and tell them about your family. I know you've been married 38 years, you've got four kids, six grandkids, but just real quick, just tell our family. They're all serving Jesus. How that happened?
Well, um We're blessed. They've made They've made good choices. I talked about my son Jericho, who I just think the world of. And he's the one that's wrestled most with his walk with the Lord. But What he does is he works for the American Indian Community Development Corporation in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis.
And the native population down there faces an incredible amount of hardships and things. And he's uh he's the director of a a housing program that houses Folks that would be out on the street in this below-zero weather if it wasn't for a place like the AIDC working.
So even as he's unsure about his walk with the Lord, he is doing something that I know without a doubt makes Jesus smile every single day. And I think I told you about the rest of the kids. They're all following the Lord and serving him, doing things that That hopefully they learned growing up with us are the most important things that we can try to do in life. Yeah, I'm rem I'm reminded, you know, reminded of a familiar scripture: train up a child in the way they should go and where they're old, you know, they won't depart from it. And he's your youngest, right?
You said Jericho? Yeah, he's my only boy. He's the third of four kids.
Okay, well. With a name like Jericho, he doesn't stand a chance. He will be serving the Lord with all of his heart, not just doing charity work or good work, but he'll be serving the Lord with all of his heart here sooner than later. And so that's pretty amazing. I know your daughters are all successful.
You adopted a daughter from Ecuador, right? Yeah, we were involved in a ministry down in Ecuador and Uh my wife was was involved. I I was a very much uh uh back behind uh behind the scenes kind of guy. And one of the women in the in the uh in the ministry got pregnant. And um It uh You know, it went from, hey, we're going to, we want to help her with this.
We want to help Anna and and help her, you know, raise this kid. To She's not going to be able to take care of this kid. That was her telling us that. And eventually, I caught on to my wife's idea that. that she wanted to consider adopting Abby, and we were able to do it.
And we were able to do it in Spanish, which was quite an interesting affair. But it's one of the times, Nikita, where God most clearly spoke into my life. If you got time, I can tell you exactly how that happened, man. She my wife tells me. Tells me this idea, and I'm like, man, we got two girls and a boy.
We're set. I've actually made it so I'm not having any more of my own kids. I don't know, honey. This doesn't seem like it's going to make sense, but I'll pray. I'll look into the word.
I'll see what God says. And the next morning, Nikita, the verses I read as I got up in the morning and got into his word. were uh the verses when the angel comes to Joseph. And tells Joseph that it is okay for him to take Mary and baby Jesus home. because the baby is of the Holy Spirit.
I read that and I went, wow, I can't duck that. I can't avoid that. I can't get around that block. As Nikita Koloff is coming out here as the tight end to block me on this option, I can't get around this one, man. I have got to I've got to do what Joseph did.
I've got to take this baby in. And from that moment on, she has been a. Clearly called by God to be in my life, and we have a relationship like you just couldn't imagine. That's awesome. And for those who don't know, Kenny played defensive back, or maybe you didn't pick up on that.
He played defensive back. I played tight end there at Golden Valley Lutheran College. And that's right. There would be times in practice when I'd have to block you, right? You know, just part of what we did.
And Kenny, you know what's amazing about that story? What blesses me about that story is my youngest daughter, Colby, and her husband, Andrew, this year are getting ready to adopt their third child. their third child. They adopted a little boy uh in 2024. They adopted a little girl in 2025.
And in 2026, they're adopting another little boy. And um And so it just blesses my heart to hear anyone like yourselves, you and your bride, you know, when you're willing to adopt. I know God, I know, I just feel confident to say it blesses God's heart to know somebody's willing to step in, you know, and in a sense, take this unwanted child, right, into their home and train them up and raise them up.
Well, let's before we run out of time, let's talk about, let's fast-forward here. I know your wife's successful. All your children are successful. God's got his hand on your life. And currently, you're working village ranch, right?
Yeah, it's been a it's been a really cool transition. We were in Minneapolis or, you know, the suburbs for Since we got back from being overseas, and I was working at Hope Academy, a Christian school for uh different Christian school under for under resourced families. You know, typically Christian schools are in the suburbs, and rich people send their kids there. And a guy had a vision of let's make this possible for poor families. And so Hope Academy in Minneapolis is doing an amazing job of that.
They've been doing that for 25 years, and I loved it there. But my wife got the job up here at Central Lakes College. And at first she moved up here, lived in an apartment. We only saw each other on weekends and we kept our home in Minneapolis kind of going, hm. Let's see if this works.
And eventually I got real sick of not being with my wife full time, and so made the decision to move up here. and had really no idea. I mean, a guy our age, Nakia, looking for a job is not uh is not normal. And so I looked, I got turned down by places you wouldn't believe, Quick Trip, Home Depot, man, I was getting shot down every time I turned around. And then the way God does things, the football coach up here at Central Lakes College, Toby Thurman.
who has since moved on, but we'd connected. I'd helped him with some scouting and doing some work up in the booth while the games were going on to help him see what was happening. He'd connected with this guy who was starting a new nonprofit up here in the In Brainerd, and Toby knew that I had worked in some nonprofits with under-resourced families, so he thought it might be a fit. I called the guy at first. He's like, no, as I told him my story, he's like, no, this won't work.
He says, I need people on evenings and weekends. You're moving up there to be with your wife. She works days. He says, Bike, go ahead. Tell me some more of your story.
And this is Village Ranch's CEO. His name is Scott Bakeberg.
So I got to tell them some of the things that we talked about last week and we've talked about of just, you know, the opportunities God's given me. And he says, well, eventually he says, well, do you have supervisory experience? And I'm like, man, Scott, most of my life has been supervisory experience. Yeah, I got a ton. And he says, well, we've just it's been ridiculous.
We've had the hardest time trying to find a program director. for our new house house up in Baxter, which is right next door to Brainerd. Brainerd and Baxter are across the highway from each other. And so they offered me the position being the program director here as they opened a new house. Up here in Baxter.
Village Ranch is an organization that, since the eighties, has been caring for Teenage boys who are in trouble. Specifically, we work up here as a resident group home. Boys are sent to us either by the courts or by the Department of Human Services, or there can also be voluntary. Um voluntary placements. And these are teenage boys who have had trouble with the law or trouble in other circumstances so that they're no longer being able to really function in their home setting.
And so we opened up in November. There's so much to learn. We got a good staff. Up until just last week, we only had two boys in the house.
So we're just getting started. But we got two more that have moved in in the last couple of days, and we got another one coming in later this week. The most we'll be able to hold is twelve beds. And what Village Ranch does such a good job of is like we teach them what it's going to take to. Reconnect, reunite with their families and in their communities successfully.
We teach them virtues. which don't have scripture tied to them. But you could sure find scripture that ties into each and every one of them, you know, putting others before yourself. having integrity, being thankful. Just day-to-day things that will make a difference in your life as you.
As you approach life, yeah, and they're with us, you know, 24/7. Their families can come and visit. They do phone calls. Eventually, if they are doing well in our program, they get to go home. They get to spend some time at home.
As we try to work with them, the provide families, thir provides families uh therapy and things like that. to help get them back on track. And Yeah, it's it's uh it's incredible. Really Really hard work. And the sad part is, you know, they're not all going to be success stories, but for everyone that is, angels are going to celebrate.
Well, that's what I'm counting on. Yeah.
Well, and, you know, obviously you got your work cut out for you, but what a great, rewarding job that you have. And I want to encourage people, too, you know, I had an incredible. Full-length interview with Kenny over at the time to man up show. And I want to encourage you to go over and just listen to that story. I'll just kind of tease you with this.
You're going to get to hear more of his story from. from our college days, his party life. Getting married, having his first child, which led to his sobriety, which then in turn led to him surrendering, fully surrendering his life to Christ, and then all that transpired from that decision.
So, well, Kenny, it is called QA with Koloff. And so. Let's shift gears here in our last few minutes together. And I do want to give you the opportunity to throw a question or two my way and flip the tables.
So let's do that. I have no idea, Kenny, what you're going to ask or what you want to know, but. Let's roll with it. First question for me. What do you do with your spare change?
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That's T-R-A-N-O-M-T.com slash Koloff to learn more. Nikita, we uh we talked over some heavy duty stuff at the reunion. And I was a big fan of wrestling when you got into wrestling. And I remember I remember another friend that played with us, Jeff Carlson. Calling me and saying, Hey, turn on channel 43 or whatever it was.
You gotta see this. You gotta see this. And I turn you on and here you are, your first appearance with Uncle Ivan. And uh and And uh And you can't speak any English and all of those things. Right.
You're like, wait, I went to college. I played college football with that guy. Wait, what?
Well, yeah, but. you looked as scary there on T V as you did looking out of your helmet back on the Tuesdays when I didn't feel like working very hard and you still were going one hundred percent like you always do.
So So I guess like ha I guess my questions would question would be, Nikita, like. More detailed. And how your commitment to Christ First came about, and then how you have kept it so strong. for all these years Since You know, you told me about your choice of Of leaving Leaving wrestling when you did and other personal life things. But what's been the key for you?
Man, it's great the great great questions. Great questions. You know, thinking thinking back to those football days and even all the days all the days in in in the wrestling Uh in the weight room. And eventually, the wrestling ring and all the effort I put on the football field. You know, when you first said that to me, like, you're bad, you had the intensity in that wrestling ring.
I remember in practice, you know, what you just said, you know, those eyes peering at me through that helmet. And so that's always been kind of a part of my makeup: I phrase it this way: that I'm an all-in kind of guy. And And so, whether it's on the football field, on the gridiron, in the wrestling ring, or in the weight room, or whatever it is I've done, I've just always, I guess, really had that intensity and believed in putting in the full effort, right? And so then. When I give my life to Christ, 17 October 1993, it's what I know, right?
And so I'm like, okay, I'm all in. I'm all in. And at one point, Kenny, really the Lord kind of challenged me a couple different ways that if I could put that much effort in on a football field and a wrestling ring and a weight room, could I put that same amount of effort in into serving him? What brought me to him was, back up just for a minute, what brought me to him was knowing I was successful. And in some people's eyes, I was the superstar wrestler, you know, known all over the world.
But yet unfulfilled. And I met a Christian couple in business who had invited me to their church. You know, you and I went to a Bible college, but I didn't go to learn about Jesus. You know, I went to church occasionally, but it wasn't to learn about Jesus. I went for all the wrong reasons.
I'll just leave that right there for now. But. That couple, when they invited me and I said yes, was kind of my aha moment. I knew what was missing in my life. Why was unfulfilled?
Successful, unfulfilled. And that was, I didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I knew the story, but the story had never made the 18-inch trip from my head. down to my heart until that day, 17 October 1993. And then, and then part two of your question is: I then began to put in the same effort and intensity.
In fact, at one point, Denny, the Lord said, Look, you can put an hour in the gym. Uh every day. Can you give me an hour every day? Like and it wasn't What's helped me kind of grow spiritually and grow my faith. And my trust in him is taking up that challenge from him and putting the effort in.
And he wasn't specific, like, he didn't say, you got to read the Bible for an hour every day. Or you gotta pray for an hour every day, or you gotta listen to worship for an hour every day. He didn't say that. He just said, Can you give me an hour? Can you give me a focused hour each day?
You know, or Equal time that you put in the gym to train that physical body, which is only temporary. But your s your your spirit and soul, which are Eternal. And so that's what I did, Kenny, is I took up his challenge. And so from day to day, I am intentional to spend time with him. And that's what has helped me grow in my faith and my walk with Christ.
So yeah. Yeah, great question. Nobody ever really asked me it that way before. That's a great question. And for anyone out there listening, you know, if you want to grow your faith, Um, you have to be intentional, you have to be intentional, and you have to, and you need to do all those things.
Don't get me wrong: read the Bible, pray, listen to worship, go to church, fellowship with others. become part of a Bible study. Uh all of those things. Are important components to you growing as a Christ follower.
So. That's it. That's it, Kenny. That's it. Wow.
That's awesome. Yeah.
So We've got time for one more if you have it, and if not, that's okay too. All right.
So here's what I'd like you to know: shift gears into the wrestling side of it. Because I was. I was a big fan.
Okay. And I think most people listening probably know that Animal from the Road Warriors was also a Golden Valley guy. He was one of our teammates, yeah. Yeah.
So when Joe and Mike came up to Um up to the AWA for a while. Uh Joe was good friends with uh Gordy Wigdahl, who, you know, who you friends and played with us too. And I mean, he was the best man in my wedding.
So we got invited, or Gordy got invited, out to an open house that was happening at Joe's house. And um And before their first matches, they were coming they were coming in and they were going to wrestle Wrestle the Crusher and Baron von Rossen for the AWA tag team title.
Okay. And so we go out for these, we go out for this deal and And it's not the tough streets of Chicago that Joe talked about. His mom mocked him about that quite a bit. There's a swimming pool out in the backyard in New Brighton and things. Right, right, right.
And then we talked to Joe a little bit and said, well, what's the match going to be like on Saturday or whenever it was? You know, we're excited. He says, well, it should be pretty good. He says, the only bad thing is we can't do any of our big high-impact move on these guys because they're too old. Right.
Yes. And And I'm just wondering what is one of the uh most interesting or humorous Uh, things that you had to adjust to in the ring because of something like that, where they're saying, Nikita, here's the limitations you got to have, or here's what you got to do to make this work. You got any good stories about that?
Well, that's pretty fun. That's a pretty funny story. I had never heard that story before. I do remember them wrestling Baron Vodrosky and the Crusher and thinking, Man, I hope they don't hurt those guys because they had a rep, you know, they were, you know, they were strong guys and had a little reputation for you know, for not intentionally, but guys getting hurt because of their high-impact moves. And uh, I remember, I think one time I saw either Joe or Mike press slam, I think, the crusher, and I thought, oh my gosh, I don't know if Crusher will get up from that or not.
But he, he did, he did. And hey, for the record, side note, I was in the ring with the Baron myself. He was actually a teammate of mine at one point, but which made him even older than when Joe and Mike were wrestling him.
So, but that said, again, another great question. I guess for me, the one story that comes to mind, I'll tell this one story, and then I've got one last question for you before we sign off.
So it was against a guy, and he was in, I will say, the twilight of his career.
Okay. So he was nearing completion of his career. And we were wrestling in Orangeburg, South Carolina. What was his hometown? That's where he grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
And so we're wrestling, and I'm jacked, right? I'm 285, you know, 8% body fat. I mean, I'm jacked. And he's in the twilight of his career.
So he's looking at me going, I don't want this guy to hurt me, right?
So he says, and so, of course, you know, we wouldn't. 20, 30 years ago, we would have never had this conversation, but we can now, right? And the conversation.
So the promoter says, We don't want him to lose because he's, I mean, we don't want you to pin him because he's in his hometown.
So just throw him over the top rope and you'll get disqualified, right? And I'm like, really? I'm like, okay, okay, fine, fine.
Well He comes to me, Kenny, and he goes, Now, now, now, now, now, let me share something with you. I'm like, okay. He goes, now, now, now, when you run me across the ring. You just kind of let me go and I'll take my own bump, right? Which, for those who don't know, you know, bump is his own fall, whatever, right?
And I'm like, yeah, dude, no problem. Out of respect for him, I'm like, not a problem. Yeah, whatever you need, Rufus.
Well, Kenny, and I'm going to do my best to illustrate this for the audio, for the listening audience. It comes the time to, as we called it, to go home, take it home. You know, it's time for the DQ, right? And so he reminds me, no, no, no, no, just let me go, let me go. I'll take my own bump.
I'll take my own bump. And I'm like, uh-huh. I let him go, Kenny, if you can picture about. Halfway across the ring, right? Got him by the back of the hair, got him by his tights, and kind of just give him the shove.
I promise you, Kenny, he runs one in slow motion. Two Two, he literally stops at the ropes. basically climbs over the top rope. Falls to the apron, and then we're at an outdoor football, high school football field, and then kind of tumbles out onto his feet on the floor. And the referees leave is like, ring the bell, ring the bell.
He's just quiet. I was so, I was furious. Had Uncle Ivan in my corner. I was furious. And I got out of the ring.
I'm like, Ivan, he just made me look like an idiot. Ivan's like, calm down, Nikki. He used to call me Nikki. He's like, calm down, Nikki. It'll be okay.
No one will ever remember this match in Orsburg, South Carolina with Rufus R. Fray Trey Jones. I was still a rookie in my career. And oh my gosh, kid, I was so mad. But yeah, you just let me go.
I'll take my own bump. I'll take my own bump. And I'm like, uh-huh. So anyway, so there, there's the one funny story that comes to mind.
Well, Kenny, I think we're out of time here, but man, it has been so. Thank you for being on the show today. And thank you for your questions. Great questions for real.
So. I got to tell you, Nikita, I just have enjoyed. Talking with you so much. It was so week talking at the reunion. and learning more about your story And seeing you go from somebody who, yeah, like I was a fan, man.
I was quite impressed. I still brag about knowing you. And we'll find out about your heart and where it's at. And it's just a blessing to be able to do this with you.
Well, that's actually what I was getting. Before we go, I got to ask this before we go.
So, so was it, I mean, just kind of funny, like to see Joe, see Roadwarry Animals, see the Russian Nightmare to Keenacova, go, wait a minute, I played college football with those guys. Was that weird? Was that kind of funny? What was that experience like?
Well, I mean, it all happened right after the whole WWF Hulk Hogan explosion of wrestling. Yeah.
And I'd loved wrestling since Vern Gagne and the AWA since I was a little boy. That's crazy. And then, you know, I'd gone down to Texas. We found out there were other wrestling associations. What?
Yeah, right, right. And so it was just exploding on the scene. And then, and then, like I say, that moment when Jeff called and said, turn on TBS, whatever channel it was. Right. And there you are, and that look in your eyes.
And I went, this is incredible. I'm going to brag about this for the rest of my life. Here we are, 50 years later, and we're still doing it. Crazy, right? And you're like, I know that look.
I know that look right there from the football field.
Well, Kenny Norman, man, God bless you and your family and all the work you're doing up there in Brainerd, Minnesota. And I look forward to. to hopefully seeing you at the upcoming reunions, okay? Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Nikita.
And let's plan around that. Like, let's get you preaching, like at the breakfast and stuff like that. Yeah, let's do that. Thank you so much for being in touch, man. All right.
Well, bless you, man. Love to the family, and stay warm up there. Yeah, thank you. Good luck. All right, man.
You too. See ya. All right, bye-bye. If you are a business owner and would like to advertise your company or product on the Man Up Show and/or QA with Koloff. Contact me directly, Nakita Koloff at Koloff.net.
