Catholic Sports Radio

His story was told in a 1993 motion picture that USA Today ranked as the number one "Best Football Movie of All Time," centering on his time trying to get into Notre Dame and on their football team, and eventually into a game against Georgia Tech when he sacked the quarterback with less than 30 seconds to play in the game. He is a U.S. Navy Vietnam Veteran and has gone on to be a motivational keynote speaker, including having spoken at the White House under two presidents. He has co-authored several books and offered his message in his original production live on Broadway. He also is the co-founder of the Rudy Foundation.

She is a highly accomplished figure skater, including being a U.S. Figure Skating Quadruple Gold Medalist. She has been both a national and international competitor in her sport, finishing Top 10 at the 2014 US National Solo Dance Championships, one year after having been US National Champion, Senior Theatre on Ice. She was also the 2013 Nation's Cup (World Championships) Silver Medalist, Senior Theatre on Ice and the 2012 US National Bronze Medalist, Senior Theatre on Ice. She has even performed at Central Park as well as in the US Synchronized Championship Opening Ceremonies. On the faith side she is a Catholic novelist with two books out and another coming in September. Plus, she has written for multiple Catholic publications, including America magazine, among others.

The Senior Associate Sports Communications Director at Louisiana State University, serving as the primary media contact for the men's basketball team and assisting in the overall Sports Communications office in other sports as needed. He is about to celebrate 34 years as a member of the LSU Sports Communications staff and has also written an award-winning bowling column for The (Baton Rouge) Advocate for more than 25 years. In 2018 he was inducted into the Louisiana State Bowling Association Hall of Fame for his service to the sport. Prior to working at LSU, he had served as the publicity director for Louisiana Downs racetrack. He is also a past president of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

He serves as the president of Servants of Christ, which defends life, family, and the Holy Faith through media and activism. He is a past leader in young adult ministry in the Diocese of Providence. His first book, "Because of Our Fathers," was published last year. His second book, which he is co-authoring with Abby Johnson, is titled "Life to the Full" and will be published early next year. On the sports side, he played college football at Brown University.

He is the Director of Athletics and Activities at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He has been supporting student-athletes as a member of the CCHS staff for ten years, and one year ago was promoted to his current role after having been Assistant Athletic Director and Athletic Trainer. In total he has had an 18-year career in secondary school athletics, working with hundreds of coaches and thousands of athletes. He did his undergrad in Athletic Training at Merrimack College and earned his Master's in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation -- with a concentration in Athletic Training and Athletic Administration -- from Western Michigan University. As a student-athlete himself, he had played football in high school.

She is a former professional tennis player who is now a speaker, an author, and the tennis coach at Holy Spirit Prep in Atlanta, Georgia, with an amazing story of a nervous system disorder that left her quadriplegic. She had been the Number 1 tennis player in her country of origin, Costa Rica, including having been Central American Champion for nine years and representing her country at the Central American Games. She has written a book called "40 Gifts of Hope: Encouragement in Times of Sickness and Suffering."

She was the University of Dallas' first NCAA cross country two-time All-American. She holds the five thousand meter and ten thousand meter school records at the University of Dallas for track and field and the 5K and 6K school records for cross country. She was the only female NCAA Division III cross country All-American in the state of Texas in 2019 and 2021. She is headed to the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota to study for her master's degree in Theology, and she writes and authors Catholic children's books.

It's amazing to hear what she ALMOST did, given that she is an elite marathon runner, having competed in the Boston Marathon, the U.S. Track and Field Marathon championships in California, and winning the 2017 Maine Marathon, which qualified her for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. She currently coaches cross country and outdoor track at a Catholic high school in Maine. She was also the head women's basketball coach at an NCAA Division III school for four years. This all followed a career as a student-athlete that culminated with her having played college basketball for four years at the University of Maine, serving as a captain in both her junior and senior seasons after the team had made the NCAA tournament in her freshman and sophomore years. In high school she had been Female Athlete of the Year and earned MVP honors in three sports.

She has had an extensive career in volleyball. The sport has seen her in roles from head volleyball coach at Shawnee Mission East, a high school in Prairie Village, Kansas, to being a volunteer coach at the college level with the Kansas Jayhawks, and even coaching a club team, plus, having been a student-athlete at the University of Texas where she played for four years and was a member of the 2012 NCAA National Championship team. Prior to her time with the Longhorns, she played on the U.S. Girls' Youth National Team that competed at the 2011 International Volleyball Federation Girls' Youth World Championship. She led her high school to two Colorado 5A State Championships and was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year.

He is a veteran Major League Baseball pitcher. He has appeared in over 540 games and pitched close to 860 innings and is in his 13th season of MLB, with 2022 being his sixth season with San Diego, making him the second-longest tenured Padre. He spent seven years with the Washington Nationals, who had selected him in the 2005 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Dayton, where he made 60 pitching appearances after also having pitched for his high school baseball team as well.

To serve Jesus he walked away from being a pro soccer player, having been with both the Colorado Rapids and then the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. That followed four years of having played soccer in South America for teams in Chile. In two of his four years there he was selected the league's Most Valuable Player at the fullback position. As a student-athlete he had made the United States Under-17 National Team and was a High School All-American before going on to Clemson University. In college he was a four-year starter and helped the Tigers to an ACC Championship and four NCAA tournament berths, including two Elite Eight appearances. He is the Vocations Director for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria in Illinois. Next week will mark eight years since he was ordained to the priesthood.

He is the Vice President of Community Outreach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, having now worked for the team for 25 years. He had served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 22 years, retiring as a Commander in 1997. He played football, basketball and baseball through his high school years and during his 22 years in the Coast Guard. He also coached basketball in military and youth leagues, and officiated basketball for 20 years. He serves on the boards of the King County Municipal League, Camp Patriot, and Empower Youth Network.

He is the head women's basketball coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, with next month marking the nine-year anniversary since he was introduced there to that position. Just over three years ago -- during his sixth season -- he became the program's all-time winningest coach. Under his guidance the Crimson Hawks have won two PSAC tournament titles, and back-to-back Atlantic Region crowns and Elite Eight national semifinal berths. He had come to IUP with more than 25 years of coaching, game management and player development knowledge learned after spending time on the coaching staffs of six colleges. At one point during his professional career, he was the Director of Youth and Campus Ministry for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. In addition, he founded and directed The Word and the Rock Basketball Camp and was the Director of Camp Zacchaeus. As a student-athlete he had played basketball at two different colleges.

He has been running for almost 49 years and has run over 72,000 miles, which means he has averaged running four miles a day for almost 49 years. Three years ago, he won the State of Washington 6K Cross Country Championship and the Regional Championship. Back in his college days he started at the University of Oregon and participated in multiple intramural sports and ran on his own, including running his first marathon, before transferring to Oregon College for his junior year, running cross country and track there. He had been a wrestler in high school, although did end up doing cross country as well. He has also coached extensively, including getting a job in the fall of 1984 at Redmond High School, where he coached cross country and track and didn't retire until June of last year.

He served for 42 years at Villanova University as the head women's basketball coach, tied for the most seasons at one school at all divisions in the history of NCAA women's college basketball. A private, Catholic school, Villanova saw their women's basketball team record 783 wins during his time as coach, which started when he was just 22 years old -- the youngest coach to ever head a women's varsity program at Villanova. He played his college basketball at Lycoming and went on to become a student assistant coach and coach of the junior varsity team before starting his four-plus decades career with the Wildcats. He also has a strong spiritual connection with someone considered to be arguably the greatest player he coached and whose faith story came to be told nationally.

He is an award-winning actor whose newest film comes out this Wednesday, April 13th, and is called, "Father Stu," based on a true story. He is a devout Catholic and the youngest of nine children in his family. On the sports side he is very well known for his passion for fitness, having appeared on the cover of countless magazines such as Muscle & Fitness, Men's Health, and Men's Fitness, among others. He has also had numerous roles in films connected to sports. (A video version of this episode is available on the Catholic Sports Radio official YouTube channel.)

She was inducted last year into the Athletic Hall of Fame at DeSales University, a Catholic school where she was a standout runner on the women's cross country and track & field teams. During her time at DeSales she was a part of three Cross Country PAC Championship teams, earning PAC Runner of the Year and All-PAC First Team honors twice each in 1994 and 1996. She was named to the PAC/CSAC 25th Anniversary Cross Country Team and was a member of the 4x800 meter relay team that continues to hold the indoor school record. Before DeSales she had been All-Catholic for the Philadelphia Catholic League every year of high school – in cross country as well as indoor and outdoor track. She had been awarded MVP in her junior and senior year, the latter also seeing her win Female Athlete of the Year, which encompassed all sports at Cardinal Dougherty High School. She has also coached at a high school.

He is a racing icon, considered by many to be the greatest race car driver in the history of the sport. He had an illustrious career that saw him win in every discipline he entered – midgets, sprint cars, dirt track cars, stock cars, IndyCars, Formula One, Formula 5000 and sports cars. He won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and ultimately the Formula One World Championship, an unprecedented trifecta in that no other race car driver has ever won all three titles. He took the checkered flag 111 times during a career that stretched five decades and across six continents. The Associated Press named him Driver of the Century.

He was a tight end and long snapper who was drafted by the NFL's Buffalo Bills and went on to play for them, the New York Giants, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had played his college football at Notre Dame, where he was captain in his senior year, when the Fighting Irish played in the BCS Fiesta Bowl Game. After college he played in the Hula Bowl, all of which followed a high school football career that saw him play on three state championship teams, two of which were national championships. As a senior he was rated the #1 tight end in the country.

He is a world champion power lifter. Since 2018 he has broken nine state records in dead lift and bench press, along the way taking first place at the World Championships last year for the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters for 220-pound 50–54-year-olds. In college he had been a middle linebacker on the football team at the University of San Diego, a Catholic college where he also ran track for them, setting the school shot put and discus records. For approximately 25 years now he has been running a chiropractic sports clinic in the Pacific northwest where for years he has served numerous sports teams and events in roles such as medical director, team doctor, head drug tester, and team chiropractor.

He played two years for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and also spent time in the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts organizations. In addition, he played many years in the Canadian Football League and was a two-time Grey Cup champion as a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who won the league title game in both 2007 and 2013. In 2009 he earned the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award and in 2013 he led the league in sacks. He would also play in the CFL for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Edmonton Eskimos. As a student-athlete he had played college football at Utah State. Nowadays he is all about helping men become on fire, fit, and free.

He is what you might call a late bloomer with an amazing story of being far more active in sports now than he was at traditional youth, student, and post graduate ages, due to his upbringing. An adventure traveler, present day he participates in running, biking, hiking, and skiing. His devotion to his Catholic faith can be seen in that two months ago he put out a book that is designed to help business owners determine both when to sell and how to sell their companies, YET, by sharing his *personal* story, he achieved #1 Amazon New Release status in the Catholic Self Help category. (NOTE: This episode contains sensitive and emotional subject matter.)

He is the Chaplain for athletics at the University of Mary, a Catholic institution in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he works full-time with 19 athletic teams and around 450 scholar-athletes. Ordained as a priest in 2010 in Minnesota, he is a graduate of the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City. Raised around sports, he began to letter in ninth grade as a multi-sport athlete in football, basketball and track & field, including having been a two-way starter for his high school football team which advanced to a state championship, AND earning a trip to the state track & field championships his senior year. He also hosts various radio shows and has even done a podcast of his own.

He has been involved in various sports-related capacities. Most recently is his foray into the sport of triathlon, which has seen him compete in over 20 long-course, Olympic, and Sprint triathlons, including reaching the podium six times in the past two seasons. On April 2nd he will compete in the Ironman Oceanside 70.3 in San Diego, and in preparation for that he will complete a training ride next week in which he will tackle the 10,068-foot, 35-mile climb to the summit of Maui's Haleakala Volcano dubbed as the "World's longest paved climb." He had been an All-Pac 10 and national champion rower in his 20s. As a competitive sailor, he was a member of the winning crew at the 1998 Swiftsure International Yacht Race. Plus, he has held administrative roles in sports with the Seattle Goodwill Games, the Washington State Olympic Committee, the Seattle Sports Commission, USA Canoe/Kayak, and even US Lacrosse, among many others.

He will be inducted this year into the St. Ignatius Athletics Hall of Fame. For 20 years he has run a basketball camp in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and has coached both basketball and track at two different high schools, plus he also coached AAU basketball. As a student-athlete he had played basketball on a full athletic scholarship at St. Francis College of Pennsylvania, which followed a high school career during which he was a four-year letterman in track and three-year letterman in basketball. Prior to his senior season of basketball, he was selected as one of the top players in Ohio by USA Today. Last year he published a book called, "A Penny's Thoughts: Sometimes All You Need is a Change of Perspective."

He is a current candidate for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2022. He is the Referee Development Performance Director for NBA Referee Operations, following a career as an NBA official from 1977 to 2016, officiating more than 2,500 regular season games and a record 344 playoff games. Fifty of those playoff games were in the Finals. In the all-time NBA referee rankings, he is first in playoff games, Finals Game 7s, and total games, plus he is tied for first in total seasons officiated. Along the way he also officiated three All-Star Games and even worked the McDonald's Championship in Germany in 1993. He is also in three Halls of Fame.

She has been playing soccer professionally, including with last year's Danish League Champions as well as with the Chicago Red Stars Reserves, who reached the 2019 national quarterfinals and the 2016 national semifinals after having been 2015 WPSL national champions. This all followed a collegiate career that saw her at Texas Christian University where she was a four-year starter, senior captain, two-time Team MVP, and her team reaching one Big 12 Championship Final.

She is in her fourth season as the head women's basketball coach at NCAA Division I St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, New York, a Franciscan and Catholic college. She had previously spent four seasons as head coach at Binghamton University. Prior to that she'd spent eight years as the head coach at a Catholic-Dominican school, Caldwell University, where she was also the Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator. She has also held roles as assistant coach at Adelphi University, head girls' varsity basketball coach at Calhoun High School, and head coach at Queensborough Community College. From 2016 to 2020 she served a four-year term on the NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Committee. In 2019, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Hall of Fame. As a student-athlete her name continues to appear in the record books in numerous categories for the Adelphi University women's basketball program. In high school she had been All-State in both basketball and softball.

She was an Olympic silver and gold medalist at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics and a three-time world rowing champion. She had won four NCAA national titles while rowing at the University of Washington and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame as well as the National Rowing Hall of Fame. The highlight of her career came at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she was the only American woman to race in two events. In one of those, she and her teammates won gold, which was USA's first in that discipline since 1984 and the first time ever with a race distance of two thousand meters.

He has been an NCAA women's basketball referee since 2004 and has been officiating since working intramural games in 1994 at the University of Scranton. Along the way he has officiated in a number of conferences and in 2018 worked his first national championship. He has also been a part of eight consecutive Final Fours. As a student-athlete he played basketball, and then in his 20s he ran three marathons.

The executive director of CYO for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis where he oversees 24 thousand youth and seven thousand adult volunteers. He spent 27 years as the head football coach of the ten-time state champion Royals at Roncalli High School, a co-ed Catholic high school in Indianapolis. He led the program to seven Indiana football state championships and was named Coach of the Year twelve times. He has been inducted into three Halls of Fame and in 2017 was the recipient of the prestigious National Football Foundation "Distinguished American Award." After a successful football career at Butler University, he attended training camp with the Cincinnati Bengals.

He was an International Softball Federation-certified fastpitch umpire, working seven World Cup events and the World University Games. He continues to work Division I, II, and III college softball games, including having worked the NCAA Division III World Series. Additionally, he assigned and worked in the National Pro Fastpitch League for 12 years. He currently assigns softball for seven college conferences & Independent. He had even assigned umpires for the Rebel Spring Games, which is the longest-running spring collegiate program in the nation. He also played men's fastpitch softball and coached summer softball teams.

He is in his 21st season as an NBA referee, having officiated more than 1,100 regular season and over 50 playoff games. He also worked the 2015 NBA All-Star Game in New York. Before joining the NBA, he officiated for seven years in the CBA, where he worked the Finals and All-Star Game. In addition, he spent four years in the WNBA. He also has two years of college officiating experience and ten years of experience as a high school official. Back in his days as a student-athlete in high school he played basketball, football, and golf.

The Director of Football Operations and Special Teams Coordinator for the ten-time state champion Royals at Roncalli High School, a co-ed Catholic high school in Indianapolis. He is in his 22nd year at the school and has had seven kickers go on to play collegiately at notable schools, and, players under his direction hold ten team records. Next month he will be presenting at a Football Coaches Clinic for the seventh time. As a student-athlete himself he had participated in numerous sports, including his college years when he competed at Ball State University in intramural sports.

He competed for the U.S. National Bobsled Team from 2004 to 2014, qualifying for three Olympics (2006, 2010, 2014). On the four-man team, he earned two Olympic medals (gold in 2010 and silver in 2014) and nine World Championship medals. During his years as a student-athlete he played football for the University of Nebraska as both a running back and linebacker, earning Academic All-Conference honors along the way. Present day he is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and this past May was appointed as Director of Sports Performance at USA Bobsled and Skeleton.

She was on the Division I George Mason women's soccer team and then served in a Student Assistant Coaching/Manager role with the team. Earlier on as a student-athlete she had competed in three sports in high school: field hockey, track, and soccer. Now doing missionary work on a college campus, she was an all-state field hockey player and captain of her travel/high school soccer team. Injuries in her athletic career played a key role in the growth of her faith life, as she talks about here.

The Assistant Athletic Director, Head Girls Basketball Coach, and Summer Camps Director at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. She is also the founder of IAmHer Basketball and had attended Kent State, where she played club soccer for four years, having been captain/manager for three. During that same time, she was driving back and forth every day to coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary, where she had been a three-sport athlete, earning eleven letters (four in soccer, four in softball, and three in basketball). She was an All-Ohio soccer player during her high school years as well.

The Assistant Track & Field Coach and Recruitment Coordinator at Belmont Abbey College, also studying (through Divine Mercy University) to become a licensed sports psychologist. Previously she was on staff with the track coaches at Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami. As a student-athlete she competed in the 200m and javelin at Belmont Abbey College, having also competed in track and field in high school. There was also some very notable sports involvement in her family, which she talks about in this episode.

She played professional basketball in the WNBA, FIBA, and European Super League, being named the latter's Player of the Year in 2009. After her playing career she spent seven years as the Associate Head Women's Basketball Coach at Seattle University, a Division I level school. During that time, she also earned her master's degree in Sport Business Leadership. As a student-athlete she had been a four-year starter and three-year captain and Defensive Player of the Year at the University of Washington, following a high school career during which she was an All-American and Gatorade Basketball State Player of the Year.

She was a two-time All-American at Notre Dame, reaching the Final Four three times in four years. She went on to excel as a professional soccer player for seven years and was part of championship teams and earned the opportunity to train at the highest level with the US Women's National Team. Listen in the second half of the show for her powerful story, overcoming eleven surgeries, broken ribs, and concussions, all while moving to seven different states. In addition to being a former pro athlete, she is a mentor, coach, speaker, and massage therapist. There is also an amazing story in the second half of the show about her trip to the Holy Land last year.

A NASCAR Hall of Famer who was the 1983 champion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and had three Daytona 500 victories, among numerous other titles and championships. He won on 27 different tracks and had at least three wins in every NASCAR major. He ended his career with 85 victories and was named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers." He was also a seven-time Most Popular Driver Award-winner.

The Director of Cross Country, Track and Field at Manhattan College in New York. In July 2016 she had been named head coach of Manhattan's men's and women's cross country, mid-distance and distance programs. An elite-level professional runner, she represented the United States in the 1500 meters at the 2015 IAAF World Championships. She had finished third in the 1500 at the USATF Outdoor Championships to qualify for the World Championships in Beijing, China, among other international competition. In her days as a student-athlete she set six school records and won four Atlantic 10 titles competing for Fordham University and was named to their Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

The founder and president of FIERCE Athlete Inc. She played Division I soccer at UConn and is involved in competitive rowing. Her sports participation background also includes ice hockey as well as track and field. She has worked for Catholic non-profits and has a Master's in Catholic Psychology and has been pursuing certification in strength and conditioning AND theology of the body.

A Jesuit priest and an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Detroit Mercy, having previously taught in the Theology and Religious Studies department at Seattle University for 13 years. He is also the author of a book called, "Catholic Perspectives on Sports: From Medieval to Modern Times," and the editor of a book on sports and Catholic youth that was just listed as one of the top ten books on sports and Catholicism in the last decade. He was also on the Papal Commission at the Vatican for Sport & Spirituality. And, not only has he coached sports at the high school and college levels, but, he was a captain of his college football team and an All Conference free safety.

He coached 132 games in eleven seasons at Notre Dame, leading the Fighting Irish to the 1988 national championship. After Notre Dame he coached at South Carolina. Prior to Notre Dame he coached at Minnesota, Arkansas, North Carolina State, and William & Mary. Along the way he also spent one season as the head coach of the NFL's New York Jets. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and has been seen for many years on television as an analyst on ESPN. This all followed his days playing football at Kent State.

He has been coaching at a tennis academy and after school program in southern California for over five years. He has had tennis coaching related jobs over the years and had been a successful high school tennis player. His college degree is in psychology, and he has combined that with his passion for sports in launching a website where he publishes weekly posts about sport psychology, for athletic success and mental health. He is also getting ready to launch a website called The Catholic Path, where he intends to publish weekly book reviews and blog posts.

The Director of Athletics AND the Head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, where he has led those two teams to a combined seven conference championships and been named the Coach of the Year five times since taking over as head coach for the 2016-17 season. He had previously worked at a Catholic high school and is currently pursuing a Master's of theology.

She played college basketball under the famous coach Geno Auriemma at the University of Connecticut after a high school career as a student-athlete that saw her set records in basketball, plus she competed in soccer as well. Presently she is a missionary at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as part of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students and a part of Varsity Catholic.

She has been the head coach of the women's softball team at LSU for ten years, following a stint leading a National Pro Fastpitch team, having previously been in the same position at Florida International University. Prior to that she had been the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Houston. She had started into coaching as an assistant coach at Stetson University in 2000. As a student-athlete she had been a pitcher at the University of Florida. In her current role she has established an active community service function within the softball program as the LSU players regularly visit hospitals and schools in the Baton Rouge area.

For more than four years now he has been the head women's soccer coach at Ave Maria University, where last November he was named the Sun Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the team to the best season in the history of the program. He also last year became the winningest coach in conference play in program history. Before taking the job at Ave Maria he was the head coach of the Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School girls' team for three years. He is licensed by the United States Soccer Federation and is an alumnus of his current employer.