When Samford President Beck A. Taylor debuted his “Beck’s Bench” video series in August 2021, All-American high jumper Justin Stuckey became the first featured guest.
Three years later, with Stuckey hosting a podcast of his own, Taylor enjoyed a full-circle moment by appearing on a recent episode.
Their wide-ranging interview on “Stuck in My Thoughts” touched upon Taylor’s career in higher education, Samford’s enrollment growth and a certain basketball call that will live in March Madness infamy. It also featured deeply personal revelations about Taylor becoming a child of divorce at age 3, a trauma that impacted the relationship with his wife Julie even as their marriage surpassed three decades.
“As a product of a broken home and a broken family, that experience—which was not easy and caused quite a bit of heartache and hardship—that made me doubly committed to ensuring that Julie and I give our marriage top priority, that I’m a good father to my children, and that we seek for stability and good relationships,” Taylor said.
The comic highlight of the interview: Taylor acknowledging he copied Julie’s phone number off a Calculus I roll-call sheet when they were freshmen at Baylor University.
“I was kind of a stalker and I’m kind of embarrassed now when I tell students,” Taylor joked. “The #1 great thing about college for me was I got to meet Julie. We ended up dating all four years and getting married right after graduation.”
Stuckey graduated from Samford University’s Brock School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2022. Now he’s pursuing his MBA at Auburn University with aspirations of becoming an on-air talent in sports media and marketing.
The “Stuck in My Thoughts” episode was recorded inside Taylor’s campus office, a venue described as “a home to greats” by Stuckey. His undergraduate experience at Samford spanned Taylor’s hiring after the retirement of beloved former president Andy Westmoreland.
“I got the best of both worlds,” Stuckey said.
Amid a 16-year string of record enrollments, Samford stands out in higher education, Taylor said, by nurturing Christian students and embracing others who are being exposed to the Gospel for the first time. He aspires to practice “humble Christian leadership” in order to maintain the university’s mission over challenges from people “who want to conform this place to their own set of ideals and priorities.”
Said Stuckey, “I always tell people that when you come to Samford, you should know what you signed up for. It stands on its principles.”
Find the complete episode of “Stuck in My Thoughts” on Spotify.
