A few weeks after graduating from Lindale Middle School, Mo Gaba had the chance to host his own radio show with 105.7 The Fan. The July 2 show lasted more than four hours and featured some notable names in Baltimore sports.
Jeremy Conn of The Fan was responsible for organizing the show, and to him, it was well worth the effort for a close friend. Conn was the co-host of the Scott Garceau Show when Mo made his first appearance calling into the show in 2015. Mo has become one of the biggest names in the Baltimore area in the five years since.
Mo has battled cancer for most of his life. The 14-year-old was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer called retinoblastoma at 9 months, and he lost his vision when he was a year old. He’s battled cancer ever since, but his infectious personality and smile have made a lasting impact in Baltimore.
Conn set up a makeshift studio in the Gaba family’s apartment in Glen Burnie, Md. The show lasted from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
“It was just one of the more amazing nights,” Conn said on Glenn Clark Radio July 6. “… There’s something different every single segment. You never know what he’s going to say, what he’s going to do.”
“It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of, and it’s something I’ll never forget and I’m so happy we got to do it for him,” Conn added.
During the show, Mo’s personality was on full display for the listeners, including his sense of humor. Some of the notable names to call in included John Harbaugh, Trey Mancini, Derrick Mason and Ray Lewis.
Former Orioles outfielder Adam Jones also called from Japan. Jones is currently playing for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball. He spent 11 seasons in Baltimore from 2008-2018 and was named an All-Star five times as an Oriole.
One of the highlights for Mo was when Lewis called in toward the end of the show and prayed for him.
“Once Ray was praying for Mo, Mo after the show said, ‘Man, that was so cool, I never thought Ray Lewis would pray for me” Conn said.
To begin the show, Mo asked to have a moment of silence for a 17-year-old friend who had passed away the previous evening. Conn was surprised when he realized during the show that he met the friend at an event with former Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb. Conn had a picture taken with him and everyone in the room started crying when it all hit Conn.
As the show went on, Conn was impressed with how well Mo was doing. He said that Mo was a natural and was doing riffs. Conn said he joked with Mo during commercials about how well he was doing and said to take it easy.
“Don’t worry — as long as I’m doing a show, you’ll always have a job,” Mo told Conn.
Organizing Mo’s show is enough of a story, but Conn’s week became even more memorable. Conn recently started betting on golf after some of the founders of Run Pure Sports appeared on The Low Down, his evening show on The Fan.
After taking their advice and doing some research, he won about $136,000 on DraftKings by betting on the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which took place in Detroit July 2-5. Conn doesn’t know much about golf but said he was a point away from winning $300,000.
He drafted six golfers who competed at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, including Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Wolff and Mark Hubbard. DeChambeau won the tournament with a score of 23-under. Wolff came in second place (20-under), while Hubbard tied for 12th (14-under). Conn used one of the website founder’s suggestions to strategize before the tournament.
“Most of his advice is for DraftKings, so I said, ‘Let me try it on DraftKings,’” Conn said. “… Let me try it on the site he says is best for his analytics. … This is the first week I’ve tried DraftKings and of course I have this.”
Conn’s wife celebrated her birthday July 6, and he plans to buy her a new car. He said that she’s had the same car for 12 years and he’s always wanted to do buy her a new one.
“I told her to pick out what she wants and she said, ‘We don’t need a car,’” Conn said. “… If you’re not going to pick a car out I’m going to go buy one for you and you’re going to have to learn to like it so you might as well pick out what you like.”
For more from Conn, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jeremy Conn on Twitter @JeremyConn1057