Catholic Sports Radio

The Vice President for Athletics at De La Salle High School, a private Catholic school for boys in California. He started there as Assistant Athletic Director in 1999 before taking over in 2006 as Athletic Director. He is an alumnus of the school and has also coached boys golf as well as basketball there. He is also both the founder of the Catholic National Athletic Association AND the commissioner of the East Bay Athletic League.

His name is synonymous with wrestling success. He won six consecutive world championships as a competitor from 1987-92, including gold medals at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Additionally, he owns five national championships as head coach of Oklahoma State's men's wrestling program, a role that he has held for 30 years. During that time, he has coached 33 NCAA individual champions and five Olympians. He was recognized as the National Wrestling Coaches Association coach of the year in 1994 and 2003 and is a 15-time selection as his conference's coach of the year. Most recently, he led his squad to its ninth consecutive Big 12 tournament title, with three of his student-athletes claiming individual Big 12 Conference titles in 2021. He has an .863 winning percentage for his career dual match record as a head coach.

He played close to 300 games over eight seasons with seven different National Hockey League teams and he was the MVP of the 2016 NHL All-Star Game. He had played college hockey for four years at Michigan Tech and has an autobiography called, "A Guy Like Me: Fighting to Make the Cut." He also has his own podcast, called, "Dropping the Gloves."

He played over 250 regular season and playoff games combined in the National Hockey League with two different franchises in addition to playing overseas in the Swedish Elite League. He went on to be a scout for the Vancouver Canucks and later joined his fourth NHL franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets, as an assistant coach. He also was an assistant coach in the American Hockey League and nowadays has been the head coach of the University of North Dakota men's hockey team since just over six years ago. In 2016 he became the first rookie head coach in NCAA men's ice hockey history to win a national championship.

He was a tight end in the National Football League, having been the twelfth overall pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, with whom he played for two years before going on to play two more seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, all following a collegiate career as a four-year starter for the University of Notre Dame where he led the Fighting Irish in receiving each of his last three seasons and was first-team All-American as a senior. During his time with the Bills, he made the NFL's All-Rookie team. Plus, during his NFL career he won a division title and got within a game of the Super Bowl, and along the way he played alongside future Hall of Famers.

The North Lawndale Kinship Initiative Director for Old St. Patrick's Church in downtown Chicago, directing a ministry of community development. In that role he has set up a neighborhood sports collaborative called the North Lawndale Athletic & Recreation Association. Many people know him as coordinator for youth and young adult parish ministry, which he started doing 35 years ago and to some degree still goes on now. As a student he was the football manager for the team at his Catholic high school where he was able to learn the skills and the science of coaching, which he used when his parish started and needed a coach for a CYO football team, and that led to a whole career of coaching youth athletics across a variety of sports.

The author of "Crossing Parish Boundaries: Race, Sports, and Catholic Youth in Chicago, 1914-1954," a book which reveals the history of CYO. He is a professor of history at Salve Regina University, a private, Catholic, coed school founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1934 in Newport, Rhode Island, where he teaches a course on U.S. sports history. As a student-athlete himself he had played baseball, basketball, football, and tennis, including club basketball in college in Ireland.

The CEO / Executive Director of Arizona Sports Foundation, Valley of the Sun Bowl Foundation and Fiesta Events, Inc., community-based organizations that operate the Fiesta Bowl, Guaranteed Rate Bowl, and numerous charitable and community events throughout the state. Prior to heading the Fiesta Bowl, he spent eight years with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes and Jobing.com Arena, most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer. Before joining the Phoenix Coyotes in January 2006, he spent four seasons with the NHL's Minnesota Wild. He has also been both a football coach and a basketball referee.

He spent 25 years as a referee in the NBA, officiating over 1,400 regular season games, 240 playoff games, 23 NBA Finals games, and two All-Star Games. He has also been a rules analyst for ESPN/ABC. Earlier in his career he was a referee in the CBA, which followed time that he had spent as a minor league baseball umpire, himself having played in the Baltimore Orioles organization at the minor league level after pitching for Temple University. In high school he had achieved All-Catholic honors in both baseball and basketball in his Junior and Senior years. Four years ago he was inducted to the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame, and last month he was the recipient of Sports Faith International's Father Smyth Award. In 2019 he was ordained a Deacon in the Catholic Church and just celebrated the two-year anniversary.

A professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 13 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing. He began his racing career in 1996 and by 2001 was the American Speed Association Champion and Rookie of the Year. In 2009 he was NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year. He also builds and races his own late model cars. And, he and his father and two brothers became only the second family in NASCAR history to have four members compete in a national series race.

He spent six decades in basketball, coaching high school, college, NBA, WNBA, and internationally. In the NBA he was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks, and Orlando Magic, and was an assistant coach with those three franchises as well as the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers. He also served as a consultant with the Boston Celtics. He is enshrined in the hall of fame at William Paterson University for TWO sports. Late last year he put out a book called, "Havin' a Ball: My Improbable Basketball Journey."

Faith-wise, she tells a story here of having a reversion to the faith with her husband after a significant life event. Sports-wise, she worked for college football's Fiesta Bowl for two years, the National Hockey League's Arizona Coyotes for eight years, and at the Central Hockey league for seven years. As a student-athlete she had played both softball and volleyball, and, present day, she still participates in a couple sports recreationally. She is the Executive Director of the Arizona chapter of HopeKids, which provides ongoing events, activities and a powerful, unique support community for families who have a child with cancer or some other life-threatening medical condition.

This interview includes the guest sharing from his personal life about having gone through something that no parent ever wants to experience. On the vocation side, he has worked in youth and young adult ministry and CYO athletics for 37 years, including five years in the Diocese of Columbus. He has worked for Catholic Charities in Cleveland for 26 years. On the sports side, he played high school and college tennis, coached high school girls' volleyball and coached Special Olympics teams in Pennsylvania and Texas. He is a tennis teaching pro and has coached boys and girls' varsity high school. Plus, he was a Head Tennis Pro at a camp and resort north of Toronto, Ontario, for five summers and in the North Shore area of Chicago at a private club. He also even served on the U.S. Olympic Committee.

He was a wrestler for Saint Benedict's Prep School - ranking #2 in his senior year, when he was undefeated in dual meets - and then went on to become the coach of their freshmen and JV wrestling teams. Earlier on he had played baseball and basketball. Presently he is a deacon in the Catholic church and travels across the U.S. and around the world speaking at conferences, workshops, retreats, parish missions, high schools, and young adult events. He has a Master of Theological Studies Degree and, among other works, is the author of the best-selling book, Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality.

Currently the Director of Amateur Scouting for the NHL's New York Islanders. As a player he had a long career in the National Hockey League, having originally been chosen by the Washington Capitals in the 1989 NHL Draft and going on to appear in close to 800 regular season games over almost 13 seasons, plus an additional 74 playoff games, competing throughout his career with four different franchises, including making a Stanley Cup Finals appearance with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1997. He has also done some coaching in hockey as well. Listen near the end for his emotional report on his oldest daughter's calling!

He was a running back for four years at North Dakota State University, capped off by a senior season in which he was named All-Missouri Valley Football Conference first team as a fullback. In high school he had been an all-state running back and was even named to the 2012 Minnesota Vikings all-state team and Associated Press all-state second team. In addition, he was an outstanding wrestler in high school, winning the 2012 state championship. Along the way he, unfortunately, went through a major event in his family. Nowadays he is the co-founder of and head trainer at Rise Training & Fitness in Minnesota.

An amazing conversion story filled with a series of mystical events - not to mention a serious medical diagnosis - from a man who officiated over 1,900 regular season games, the most in NHL history, plus an additional 261 Stanley Cup playoff games and even two NHL All-Star Games and one Winter Olympics. "Referee" magazine selected him as one of the top ten officials of the century in any sport. Following his retirement, he stayed involved in the game by participating in a blog for TSN called, "C'mon Ref!" and by serving as an analyst on TSN's hockey highlight show.

The President and Executive Director of the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association for more than 20 years, AND he is the President of the Association of Catholic Coaches and Athletes, which he formed ten years ago. He played, coached, and umpired baseball at the collegiate level and at one point even traveled to England, Germany, Brazil, and Nicaragua as a Major League Baseball International Envoy (Diplomat) Coach to teach and promote baseball. During this interview he also mentions having a brother who is a priest.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. He has run 24 marathons in 17 cities, three of those in Europe. He is nicknamed "the holy goalie" for -- to this day -- continuing to play that position in hockey. In 2013 he was inducted into the Sports Faith International Hall of Fame. He has just put out a brand-new book called, "Running for a Higher Purpose: 8 Steps to Spiritual and Physical Fitness," which follows a book he had previously written called, "Holy Goals for Body & Soul: 8 Steps to Connect Sports with God and Faith."

An eight-time CrossFit Games competitor. In college she had been a volleyball player at the University of Nebraska Omaha, following a high school career that saw her compete in both volleyball and track. Today she is the owner of both CrossFit Omaha and Go Far Fitness.

He grew up playing basketball but is known for tennis, having been a two-time regional champion, two-time all-state selection, and a state semi-finalist all in just his junior year of high school alone before going on to play at Spring Arbor University where he competed in both the singles and doubles lineups, finishing his college career with a 62-32 combined record. Today he is on the officiating circuit of local and national junior tournaments as well as college tennis matches, the latter to include officiating mostly for Big Ten and ACC teams, including numerous top 25 teams.

A pitcher currently in training camp with the New York Yankees, having been a fifth-round pick of theirs in the 2017 draft. In college he pitched at Rice University in Houston, leading the staff in earned run average three years in a row. Prior to that he played at Concordia Lutheran High School, which is also in Texas.

The only coach to win a championship in the NBA and the WNBA. Over a career that spanned more than 40 years, he was the head coach of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Denver Nuggets, plus he went on to be an assistant coach with Golden State, Orlando, Seattle, and Oklahoma City. His WNBA Championship came with the Phoenix Mercury. Plus, he coached men and women's basketball collegiately, at LaSalle, Loyola, George Mason, and Oregon. He even coached in Puerto Rico and in a pro basketball league in Japan. And, last November he put out a book called, "The Speed Game: My Fast Times in Basketball."

She played college basketball at Rice University, where her team won the Women's Basketball Invitational Championship four years ago this month. One year later they made it to the second round of the NIT before losing to New Mexico. Growing up, in addition to basketball, she had also played soccer and boys baseball, and she ran track and field. Faith-wise she shares testimony regarding dealing with major sports injuries, plus, a powerful and emotional story from within her immediate family.

She drew national attention just under two years ago when she was nominated for an ESPY for "Best Viral Sports Moment" for when she threw out a ceremonial first pitch before a Chicago White Sox game. She has been a nun for more than 25 years and is part of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield. In her days as a student-athlete she played softball, volleyball, and basketball. You'll also hear mention in this interview about her having trained for a half marathon. Last year she concluded 13 years at a Catholic high school in Chicago, including teaching theology there.

He is in his 15th season as the head men's ice hockey coach at UMass Boston, where he is the winningest coach in program history. Along the way he has earned National Coach of the Year honors and has guided his team to the NCAA Frozen Four. Prior to his current role he spent nine years with Division I University of Connecticut as an assistant coach. As a student-athlete he had been a four-year letter winner with UConn.

A pitcher getting ready for spring training with the Chicago Cubs. He had been with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization from 2016-2020, having initially been drafted into Major League Baseball as a second round pick by the Miami Marlins. As a student-athlete he had played his college baseball at Arizona State University. He is also co-founder of an organization called Project Thirty Four. He's a very dedicated member of the Knights of Columbus too.

Catholic Sports Radio hits its two-year anniversary -- to the exact day -- and, ironically, this episode takes a turn that is a first in the show's 100-plus episode history. Listen for that as well as some data about the listenership that the show has enjoyed.

A PAC-12 Conference Football supervisor, having previously been a PAC-10 and PAC-12 Conference football referee for 34 years, including having officiated over 20 bowl games, which saw him do two Cotton Bowls, two Sugar Bowls, and two Fiesta Bowls. In addition, he spent nine years as a softball coach at a Catholic high school in Tacoma, Washington.

An orthopedic surgeon who sees a lot of athletes, she is an avid runner, not only having ran track in high school and college but she has done three IronMan races and approximately 20 marathons. In her college days she was also a student athletic trainer at Notre Dame. (Have tissues handy for her story about halfway through the interview.)

The new head men's tennis coach at Eastern Illinois University after having been assistant men's and women's tennis coach at Belmont Abbey College. Previously he had been a volunteer assistant coach at Wright State University while also teaching professionally at a tennis club. He also taught professionally at the Michigan State Indoor Tennis Center, was an assistant varsity tennis coach at Lansing Catholic School, and was an instructor at Michigan State Nike Tennis Camps, all after having played collegiate tennis at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

The Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, including serving as the sport administrator for men's soccer, women's basketball, and men's & women's swimming and diving, among other responsibilities. Previously she spent 14 years as the head women's volleyball coach at Milwaukee, where her teams compiled a remarkable 118-14 record in Horizon League play over her last ten seasons. In 2017 she was inducted into the Milwaukee Athletics Hall of Fame. Earlier in her career she was an assistant coach at three different universities, after having been a standout volleyball player at the University of Notre Dame.

The Head Football Coach at Perquimans County High School in North Carolina. He was a successful NCAA head football coach for 21 years, being named conference coach of the year seven times and being inducted into the Hall of Fame at four different universities. As a student-athlete he was the MVP of the Northern Michigan University national championship team, which was the first team in any sport to ever go from a zero and ten won-lost record to national champions the next year.

The Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning for football at Ohio State University. He previously worked in similar positions at the University of Maryland and at Mississippi State University. As a student-athlete he was a three-year member of the Michigan State football team after having been an all-state football player for Detroit Catholic Central High School. Listen for the extremely powerful testimony that he shares about suffering a career-ending injury!

He has run 63 marathons and hand cycled an additional twenty. He had coached Cross Country at Holy Name Seminary in Madison, Wisconsin, for ten years, including winning a state championship. He was also head coach of the Holy Name Seminary track team for eight years, also winning a state championship. In 2000 he was inducted into the Wisconsin Cross Country Association's Hall of Fame. He has also been an auto racing photographer and journalist, and has written seven books. He has been a parish priest since 1966, including St. John's in Princeton, Wisconsin, where he has been for 35 years, and St. James in Neshkoro, Wisconsin, where he has been for 20 years.

He was a three-time World Police Olympics boxing champion and is a former USA middleweight kickboxing champion and he is a member of the Sports Faith International Hall of Fame. He has a Master's Degree in Catholic Theology and is an author, radio host, and evangelist. He is also a retired veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The former president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, having served in that role for 35 years. He has long been known as one of the foremost promoters of NASCAR auto racing and was inducted into 14 halls of fame. Back in his days as a student athlete he played college football at the University of South Carolina. His athletic career also included time as an outstanding boxer, posting a 40-2 won-lost record. He co-authored a book called, "Growing Up NASCAR: Racing's Most Outrageous Promoter Tells All."

The Associate Head Coach for the women's basketball team at the University of Akron. She previously was an assistant coach at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, after having spent ten seasons as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) University, where she had competed as a student-athlete, being a four-time letter winner there and three-time team captain. She has since been inducted into the Miami University Hall of Fame for her success on the court.

Originally from Antigua, and now living in Arizona, as a young child her dream was to be a Catholic nun. She is a Benedictine Oblate and has also made her Cursillo weekend. She also served in the U.S. military for 12 years. The list of sports she has competed in is quite lengthy, and she even won a Presidential Award for Athletics. Nowadays she is a coach with the North Phoenix Christian Soccer Club and also hopes to one day compete in wheelchair basketball as part of the Paralympics.

Currently an offensive lineman at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Prior to that he was a two-time all-state and two-time all-conference selection with St. Mary's Central High School in Bismarck, North Dakota, a private, Roman Catholic co-ed school where he also competed in boys' varsity wrestling.

He grew up playing hockey and football, including competing in the latter sport for four years at William Penn University in Iowa, where he helped his team win a conference championship and broke the NAIA national rushing record. He went on to coach the offensive line at Dakota State University before going on to his current position as head football coach of Pierre TF Riggs High School. PLUS he is Head Coach of the Oahe Capitals High School Hockey team.

He recently directed a Catholic men's conference in Texas and is currently studying for candidacy for a Permanent Diaconate program in his Diocese. On the sports side, he spent many years in athletic training, both with college teams as well as the then NFL Houston Oilers.

He fought (Kyokushinkai) (Japanese karate) in the Tokyo Dome in Japan in 1995, representing USA, and continues to compete to this day. He had also played football in high school. He is a movie producer and -- among numerous other projects he has done -- was the Executive Producer of a TV documentary called, "Mother Marianne: Portrait of a Saint." He is also the founder of Movie To Movement, which promotes the incomparable dignity and beauty of the human person through the power of film. They just released a documentary that longtime NFL tight end Benjamin Watson is the executive producer of.

He is in his 20th season as the head football coach at Wingate University, where he is the program's all-time winningest coach. Previously he was an assistant coach at the University of Buffalo, and before that he was an assistant coach at Gettysburg College and a graduate assistant coach at Georgia Tech. As a student-athlete, he had played offensive line at Gettysburg College after having played football (and two other sports) in high school as well.

She spent ten years with the U.S. national team in gymnastics. Over the three Summer Olympic Games of 1992, 1996, and 2000 she won four medals, including gold at the Games in Atlanta and bronze at all three. In world championship competition she had won three silver medals and a bronze. In 2010 President Barack Obama named her as Co-Chair of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. And, earlier this year she opened a gymnastics academy in Clarksburg, Maryland.

He coached for 35 years and, at De La Salle High School, a private, Roman Catholic school for boys in California, finished with a 399-25-3 record, including a national record 151 consecutive victories, which became the subject of a major motion picture. A number of his players went on to play and/or coach in the NFL. He had played college football himself as a running back at the University of Utah and then San Jose State, and he is the author of a book called, "Chasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way." He also is a speaker who gives talks to parents, teachers, students, and even corporations.

A pro football player who made his NFL debut last year as a tight end for the 2019 Washington Redskins team after initially having been with the Indianapolis Colts. In college he had played for four years and won a national championship at Alabama after having been a top prospect following his high school football days.

An assistant coach for Belmont Abbey College's men's track and field. As a student-athlete there he became the school's record-holder in the decathlon and earned All Region honors. He has also coached an NCAA DII All-American in heptathlon as well as a male and female freshman athlete of the year for their respective conferences. Growing up he had competed in football, baseball, and basketball.

The Director of Player Development and Recruiting Coordinator for the Tulane University men's basketball team, a position that he took approximately a year-and-a-half ago after having been special assistant to the head coach at Georgia State. Before that he served as an assistant coach at Henderson State, which came after a two-year stint at Northwood University where he finished up as associate head coach. He has also been Director of Basketball Operations at Miami University in Ohio, where he had played for four years.

He played baseball in elementary school, soccer in high school, and now in his adult life is an avid marathoner, including having participated in events from southern California to New York City to Naples, Florida, and even Rome, Italy. Meanwhile, he wrote a book called, "100 Ways John Paul II Changed the World" and has won more than two dozen awards from the Catholic Press Association. He met Pope St. John Paul II five times! He also talks here about having gone five times to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.