Life of Fitz | A Cancer Warrior's Conversations about Life

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his new friend and former Kansas State University quarterback from the 1980s, Donnie Campbell. Some listeners may remember Campbell playing at K-State from 1980-84, but what has now made him well known is the fact that in the 1990s he coached a player named Jason Sudeikis, who went on to become a comedian, a cast member of Saturday Night Live, a star in movies and now the star of the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso. It's a brilliant show, but Sudeikis has now credited Campbell for being part of the inspiration for the Ted Lasso character, an American football coach who is hired to coach an English Premier League team despite knowing nothing about soccer. The character, and the show, is charming and funny. Since Sudeikis credited Campbell, he's now done many interviews and even appeared recently on NBC's The Today Show. A coach and teacher, Campbell started his career in the Shawnee Mission school district, moved to the Blue Valley School District, and now has moved across the state line in Kansas City to the Lee's Summit, Missouri, school district. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and former Kansas State University president Jon Wefald, who altered the downward spiral of the university while serving as its leader from 1986 to 2009. Wefald and his wife, Ruth Ann, now live on Bay Lake, which is about two hours north of Minneapolis. During Wefald's tenure in Manhattan, he lifted enrollment from around 16,000 to 24,000, he elevated the University's ability to fundraise and earn research funding, built a new library and art museum, but he also refused to give up on the school's tragically bad football program and hired one more coach: Bill Snyder. Without Jon Wefald, what we now know as Kansas State's reality would be dramatically different and the school certainly wouldn't be a member of the Big 12 Conference. Why? Well, aside from the fact that dropping football would have pushed K-State out of the Big Eight, it was in big part thanks to Wefald's vision that the Big 12, a combination of the Big Eight and four former Southwest Conference schools, became reality. In addition to all of that, Wefald and former United States Senator Pat Roberts were the driving forces behind Manhattan landing the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which is nearing completion due east of Bill Snyder Family Stadium on the edge of the Kansas State campus. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend SiriusXM host Ari Temkin. Fitz and Temkin met through Temkin's show Big 12 This Morning on the Big 12 channel (SXM 375) and they quickly hit it off. Temkin, a 2007 graduate of Kansas, has spent a majority of his career in Texas, hosting shows in Austin and San Antonio before moving to SiriusXM to co-host his show with former Iowa State and NFL quarterback Dave Archer. Temkin also hosts the pregame and postgame shows on the Dallas Cowboys radio network. Fitz and Ari recently saw each other in Arlington, Texas, at Big 12 Media Days and Fitz's pledge to have him on his podcast has now come true. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State receiver Curry Sexton, who now practices law in Kansas City. Sexton is a former walk-on from Abilene, Kansas, who developed into a special pass-catcher during his career. He currently sits at seventh on the school's all-time reception list and made many key plays during his career from 2011-14, but a remarkable one-handed touchdown catch against Texas Tech during his senior season is worthy of any highlight reel. Now working for the firm Seigfreid Bingham in Kansas City, Missouri, one of Sexton's areas of law deals with sports and entertainment, so he's keeping a close watch on recent developments with the NCAA concerning name, image, and likeness rights, as well as the recent unanimous Supreme Court ruling against the NCAA. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his former employee, Matt Hall, who became a competitor in recent years. Fitz and Matt had a public falling out when GoPowercat left the Rivals.com Network to join 247Sports and Matt became part of the new Rivals team that competed against GPC. Their relationship soured and their feud became public, but in the spring of 2020 everything changed. As Matt explains, he reacted poorly to some medication and it led to what his doctor now believes was a manic episode. He was either fired or quit his job at K-State Online, the Rivals site, and his divorce from his boss was also public. He moved to Las Vegas and when an expected job didn't work out, he came back to Kansas and now lives in Newton, Kansas, to gather his life together after a divorce, career change and personal financial ruin. However, when Matt began to struggle emotionally, Fitz and Matt reconnected as he tried to sort through what he was experiencing. Now, a year later, his one-year restriction on talking about K-State sports has expired and he's become a member of GoPowercat.com. It's been quite a journey. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Manhattan businessman Larry Weigel, a former Kansas State basketball player and assistant coach. Weigel played for Coach Tex Winter and was a member of the 1964 Final Four team starring Willie Murrell. He went on to serve as an assistant coach for Winter, then Cotton Fitzsimmons and Jack Hartman. Last week's guest, Lon Kruger, was recruited to come to K-State by Weigel, first under Fitzsimmons and then Hartman. Weigel left coaching to work for Kansas State in different capacities until he entered private business. Since around 2010, Weigel has shared a newsletter with friends called Triangulate News with the intention of updating people on Coach Winter and then eventually educating people about the history of Kansas State athletics. He is a walking encyclopedia concerning some of the greatest days in K-State basketball history. If you would like to be included on Weigel's mail list for Triangulate News, send him a request to [email protected]. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball player and coach Lon Kruger, who retired from coaching this fall when he stepped down at the University of Oklahoma. Fitz was a senior at Kansas State in 1986 when Kruger was hired to replace the legendary Jack Hartman, and his official hiring was a story Fitz scooped as the sports editor of The Collegian, K-State's student newspaper. Kruger stayed at K-State just four years before heading to Florida and then Illinois. Kruger then moved into the NBA for four years before returning to the college game in 2004 when he was hired as head coach at UNLV. Then in 2011, OU hired Kruger and provided him with his longest stretch as a coach in his entire career. Kruger and his wife, Barb, still reside in Norman but they will eventually make Vegas their retirement home because their son, Kevin, was named UNLV's head coach this spring. Their daughter, Angie, is a doctor who recently moved with her family to Puerto Rico. The Krugers have five grandchildren. In addition, Kruger has long been involved with the organization, Coach vs. Cancer, and hosts an annual golf event each summer in Las Vegas on behalf of the organization. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State assistant coach Mark Mangino, who went on to win a national title as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and then became Kansas' head coach for nine seasons, leading the Jayhawks to a historic Orange Bowl season in 2007. Two years later, KU athletics director Lew Perkins fired Mangino and Kansas football has never been the same. Mangino served as associate head coach at Youngstown State for a season and then was offensive coordinator at Iowa State for two seasons, but now is retired with his wife Mary Jane in Naples, Florida. His son, Tommy, coaches high school football now in Austin, Texas, where he and his wife have four sons. His daughter, Samantha, lives in Oklahoma City with her husband and three daughters. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former receiver/quarterback Kody Cook in Hutchinson, Kansas. Cook is now the wide receivers coach at his alma mater Hutchinson Community College, and after playing a spring season this year due to COVID-19, the Blue Dragons captured the national title. Before going to Hutch and eventually Kansas State, Cook was the quarterback at Louisburg (Kan.) High, a town of fewer than 5,000 people just south over the Kansas City metro area. Cook played both receiver and QB at Hutch and after coming to K-State and redshirting in 2013, he ended up doing the exact same thing in Manhattan, ending his college football career by starting at quarterback for the Wildcats in the 2015 Liberty Bowl versus Arkansas. Now back in Hutch, Kody and his wife Kylie, the daughter of K-State football legend Michael Smith, are preparing for their life adventure in football coaching. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State defensive end Darren Howard in Tampa, Florida. Howard came to K-State from the Florida prep ranks in 1995, playing for Coach Bill Snyder during the 1996 through 1999 seasons. During that span of time, Howard asserted himself as one of the more disruptive defensive ends in college football, and then he was drafted in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the board New Orleans Saints. Howard played 10 years in the NFL, completing his career in Philadelphia before returning to his home state and settling in Tampa, meeting his wife, Lyani, and starting a family. Professionally, he dabbles in a lot of different area, including owning a professional audio post-production company. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State quarterback, baseball player and football coach Matt Miller. Miller was the quarterback for the 1995 Kansas State team and was named the second-team All-Big Eight quarterback after a record-setting senior season. Miller directed the program to its first 10-win season and into a Holiday Bowl berth that is best known for Miller suffering one of his numerous concussions and being relieved by junior Brian Kavanagh, who proceeded to play one of the best games in the bowl's history at the Wildcats beat Colorado State, 54-21. Miller has overcome battles with alcohol and now has been diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, which has brought Matt and Fitz together. This episode of this podcast is Matt's first public discussion of his dire medical situation. Matt has two teenage daughters and a five-year-old daughter, Dani. He's been living in Pittsburg, Kansas, but will soon be moving to the Kansas City area to be closer to his doctors at KU Med. When he spoke with Fitz over the weekend, Matt was visiting his parents in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Of course, Matt's father, Les Miller was the Kansas City Chiefs’ director of player personnel for 13 years. He also worked also for the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, and Cleveland Browns, and also was involved in NFL Europe. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State placekicker Mark Porter. Porter redshirted in 1984 and then played for the Wildcats from 1985-88. Older fans may remember Porter as a player, but all fans now know him as the father of two walk-on receivers in the K-State program, sophomore Seth and incoming freshman Shane, who is better known for having a million followers on a social media app called TikTok. Mark Porter is a great person to speak about the past of K-State football and what the future holds for Chris Klieman's program. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter! Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Stitcher To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald turning over the hosting duties to his employee Ryan Gilbert. To set the stage for the start of the second season, and to reset the direction of the podcast that is now growing beyond the boundaries of the COVID-19 pandemic and Fitz's lockdown, Ryan asks Fitz about his health, his plans for the show, and his thoughts on the fall's arrival of a new season of Kansas State athletics. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Kevin Lockett, the most prolific receiver in Kansas State football history and the first of the Locketts to come to K-State. Kevin came to Manhattan in 1992 from Tulsa’s Booker T. Washington High School and he quickly became known for flying high to make an endless string of aerial receptions for the Wildcats. During his career, Lockett rewrote the entire K-State receiving record book and if he doesn’t still hold a record, there’s a good chance the mark was surpassed by either his brother, Aaron, who followed him to K-State, or his eldest son, Tyler, who played for Snyder from 2011-14, and broke his father’s career receiving yards mark. Kevin was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 1996 and was drafted in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, eventually spending time with four different franchises before putting down his family’s roots in Kansas City. Since retiring from football, Kevin has worked for both the Kauffman Foundation and the Kansas Bioscience Authority before taking his 20 years of experience fostering early-stage businesses to become a partner in Fulcrum Global Capital, which invests with entrepreneurs in the fields agricultural, ag-tech and animal health. And the great news for football fans is there are three more Lockett boys on the way, with Sterling, a prospect in 2022 class recently receiving a Kansas State scholarship offer, while 11-year-old twins Jacob and Jordan are, of course, budding athletes. Kevin and his wife, Cheryl, also served a term on the Kansas State University Foundation’s Board of Directors. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Mark Simoneau, a former Kansas State and NFL linebacker. During his time at K-State from 1995-1999, Simoneau became a dominant force for the Wildcats during the late 1990s. He was named the Big 12’s defensive player of the year after the 1999 season and went into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012. After leaving K-State, Simoneau was drafted in the third round of the 2000 draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He spent three seasons in Atlanta, followed by three seasons each with the Philadelphia Eagles the New Orleans Saints. Mark completed his career with a final season with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2010. Mark is now the strength coach at Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School in suburban Kansas City. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Brien Hanley, an offensive lineman on the historic 1997 and 1998 Kansas State football teams. Hanley was part of a junior college recruiting class for Coach Bill Snyder that forever changed K-State football, as well as college football by proving a program can recruit juco players and still be a national title contender. Brien now works in banking in Frisco, Texas, but he also hosts his own podcast — Let's Talk Ball with Big B — and serves as the analyst alongside Fitz on the Powercat Postgame Podcast following every K-State football game. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Michael Smith, the first breakout star of Bill Snyder's Kansas State program as a highly productive receiver. Smith completed his K-State career in 1991 as the second-leading receiver in Big Eight Conference history and after a brief stint in the NFL, Smith entered coaching. He spent 17 seasons at K-State working for Snyder, first leaving in 2005 when Snyder retired and then returning in 2009 when Snyder returned. He departed again in 2013 working at Arkansas and Kentucky, where he stepped down just prior to the pandemic to seek another coaching position. Until he returns to the field, Coach Smith, and his family, is back in his hometown of New Orleans. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Jamar Samuels, a former Kansas State basketball player for Coach Frank Martin. Over his four seasons, Samuels averaged 9.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a game, including a points average of 11 during his sophomore season. Samuels was always in motion, hustling, fighting, and too often fouling, but the fans loved him. When Samuels departed K-State, he was just the third Wildcat to exceed 1200 points and 700 rebounds in a career. The first two were Bob Boozer and Ed Nealy. Jamar has been playing overseas since graduation, with stops in Spain, Italy, Israel, Romania and Angola during his career. Now Samuels has decided to make Manhattan his offseason home. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend, fraternity brother and former Kansas State football player Al Jones. Jones walked onto the K-State football program under Stan Parrish and played two years as a tight end. Then when Bill Snyder arrived in December of 1988, he put Jones and his teammates through a trial by fire. Jones and those who survived the process are honored now as members of The Foundation for all that came after them. K-State football as it now is would not exist without the work put in my Jones and his fellow Wildcats. A model and talent scout since leaving K-State, Al Jones now lives in the Las Vegas suburbs. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his dear friend Claire Coggins, a former Kansas State women's basketball player and assistant coach. Claire was the focal point of the Kansas State women’s team in the mid-2000s, twice earning second-team All-Big 12 recognition before playing the 2007 season with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and then one season professionally in Greece before deciding to retire from the game. She went on to coach, spending time on both Deb Patterson’s staff before becoming a full-time assistant coach for current K-State coach Jeff Mittie. She decided to get out of coaching after meeting the love of her life, former Texas head coach Karen Aston. The two now have a three-year-old daughter, Marilyn. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Wyatt Thompson across town in Manhattan. Thompson is entering his 19th school year as Kansas State’s Voice of the Wildcats, the title carried by a long line of sports play-by-play announcers. Being called the Voice of the Wildcats comes with incredibly high expectations from a fan base who has enjoyed some of the best talents in the radio business. Thompson came to K-State from Colorado State, following athletic director Tim Weiser from CSU once he threw the door open to a negotiation for the athletic department’s radio rights, and K-State fans have grown to love his style. It’s his voice associated with the highlights from Kansas State’s historic 2003 Big 12 football championship victory over Oklahoma, numerous big bowl wins and a couple of trips to the Elite Eight of the NCAA basketball tournament. For every current Kansas State student, it was Thompson’s voice they heard if they listened to a K-State sporting event on the radio during their childhood. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his former student and Kansas State baseball player BJ Kissel, who now is an in-house reporter for the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. The former K-State athlete was one of about 15 students in a sports writing class offered in the spring of 2006 by K-State's AQ Miller School of Journalism, which was taught by Fitz. After leaving K-State and moving to KC, Kissel worked on the edges of the industry for years, writing a blog as more of a hobby but he was honing his craft. Then six years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs created a job for an in-house reporter and Kissel landed the job. He was in the right place at the right time and had prepared himself the right way to earn a unique spot in the journalism industry. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State football player and coach Joe Bob Clements who now coaches the defensive line at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Clements was one of the players who was the heart and soul of the 1998 Kansas State Wildcats, who went unbeaten in the regular season. After completing his playing days, Clements launched right into coaching, paying his dues as an unpaid assistant coach for four years and then sliding onto the full-time staff in 2003 as part of the school’s Big 12 title team. Clements departed after Coach Bill Snyder retired following the 1995 season, but returned to Manhattan in 2009 to join Snyder’s new staff, and he then shocked the K-State world by jumping to Oklahoma State prior to the 2013 season, where he remains. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball player Clent Stewart in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Stewart came to Kansas State to play for Jim Wooldridge and ended his career with seasons under Bob Huggins and Frank Martin. That was like taking a college masterclass in basketball coaching and now Stewart is a high school coach in Oklahoma, but that’s just his side gig. When Stewart left K-State to work for Phillips 66 in Bartlesville and he’s been climbing the ranks with the company ever since. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Bobby Burton in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood. Bobby and Fitz go back 25 years when Bobby, who was then working for the National Recruiting Advisor in Austin, Texas, served as Fitz's first national recruiting expert to help him cover Kansas State football recruiting. Burton eventually helped launch the original Rivals.com, enticing Fitz to join the network as K-State's site, and then he went on to become one of the founders of 247Sports in Nashville, the network with which GoPowercat is now affiliated. Burton now owns a Texas-style barbecue restaurant in Brentwood named Judge Bean's BBQ. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Ryan Abraham, publisher of USCfootball.com on the 247Sports Network. Abraham has always offered a truly multimedia experience in one of the nation’s largest media markets. And the quality and quantity of his work helped Abraham’s site stand out, even in the Los Angeles market. From being one of the first to enter the podcast realm in our industry to offering live video programming for his subscribers and fans, Abraham's site is always one step ahead of the rest of the industry, let alone his competition. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State tight end Thomas Hill in the Phoenix area. Hill came out of Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as a 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end who was filled with athletic talent and was short on actual playing experience. Still, Hill earned a scholarship offer from Kansas State coach Bill Snyder after his senior season in 1998 and even after new Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops sat on his family’s couch and offered to make him part of the rebuilding of the Sooners’ tradition, Hill stuck with the Wildcats. And during his four seasons on the field, Hill was an ideal fit for Snyder’s offense at the time. He could both block and get downfield as a receiver. After a brief flirtation with the NFL, Hill settled into private life, landing in the Phoenix area where he discovered that he had the spirit of an entrepreneur. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State strong safety Maurice Mack in Houston. Maurice was the running back who followed Darren Sproles at Olathe North High School in Kansas City and there was no drop off in production at the position. He then followed Sproles to Kansas State, but he switched to the defensive side of the ball, donning the No. 24 jersey for the Wildcats. First a strong safety and then an undersized outside linebacker, Mack was one heck of a football player who went from winning a Big 12 title as a freshman to playing his senior season in the first year of the flawed Ron Prince era of K-State football. Now, he coaches at Humble High School in Houston and he also is using his new podcast, In the Life of a Mack, to speak about issues he sees in the world in which we live. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his longtime friend Dana Dimel in El Paso, Texas. Fitz covered Dimel in the 1984 and '85 seasons when Dimel was an offensive lineman and Fitz was a student journalist. Dimel transitioned into coaching and Fitzgerald began covering Kansas State football on a full-time basis in 1995, overlapping for two seasons with Dimel serving as K-State's offensive coordinator. Then, at age 34, Dimel became the head coach at Wyoming in 1997, going 22-13 in three seasons before taking on the task of rebuilding the Houston program in 2000. Three seasons into that project, Dimel went 5-7 but a change of leadership led to his unexpected firing right as the program was building momentum. He eventually ended up on Mike Stoops’ staff at Arizona and returned to K-State when Bill Snyder came out of retirement in 2009, again as offensive coordinator. Then, in 2018, he took over the UTEP program head coach. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his sports writing colleague Vahe Gregorian in Kansas City, Missouri. Gregorian earned respect as one of the great college beat writers in the Midwest after covering the Big Eight and Big 12 during 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but in 2013 he joined the Kansas City Star as a sports columnist. Vahe now covers the Kansas City Chiefs, Royals and area major college sports, among other topics. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Dr. Dan Kuester across town in Manhattan. Kuester grew up in southern Missouri, attended Drury College in Springfield and then earned both his master’s and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Missouri. After teaching at the University of Arkansas for four years, he arrived in Manhattan in the fall of 2004 and this Missouri man has found himself at home in the heart of the Flint Hills of Kansas, where he's best known on the K-State campus for teaching a very popular sports economics class. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Jaime Mendez, a former Kansas State safety who arrived in Manhattan in 1989 and started for the Wildcats from 1990-93. By his senior year, Mendez was a consensus All-American who started every game of his four-year career, culminating in the 1993 Copper Bowl, just the school’s second bowl game and first bowl victory. Mendez still holds the K-State career record with 15 interceptions, including four against Temple in 1992. In 2002, Mendez was one of the six inaugural members of K-State’s ring of honor at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Sam Mellinger, one of the sports columnists for the Kansas City Star, who has carried on the Star’s rich history of talented sports columnists. Sam graduated from the University of Kansas in 2000, and went to work at the Star and began climbing the career ladder. Sam has been a sports columnist at the Star since 2010, covering both a World Series championship for the Royals and a Super Bowl title for the Chiefs, but in a span of a few months back into 2010, the Star went from having nationally-known columnists Joe Posnanski and Jason Whitlock to just Mellinger. They soon after added Vahe Gregorian, once again giving them a dynamic one-two punch as columnists. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Vic Lombardi, a veteran television and radio host who previously worked in South Bend, Austin, Phoenix and most recently the sports anchor for Denver CBS4. For the last four years, Lombardi has covered professional sports in Denver for Altitude Sports. With 25 years of experience in the sports industry, Vic is a 32-time Emmy award winner. He is also the co-host of the Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 morning show. And, like Fitz, Lombardi has used his public platform to openly discuss his battle with prostate cancer. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Lisa Horne, an experienced sports journalist based in Southern California. She’s worked for entities such as Bleacher Report, The Sporting News and Fox Sports covering topics as varied as college football and NASCAR. She now spends her time covering Southern California football, a school that is also her alma mater. Lisa and her husband went through a battle with cancer, something Fitz finds inspiring. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Brad Underwood, who is the head basketball coach at the University of Illinois. Underwood grew up in McPherson, Kansas, just south of Fitz's hometown of Salina, and both graduated high school in 1982. They have known each for much of their lives, but 20 years after playing at Kansas State, Underwood returned in 2006 as an assistant coach. It set in motion a quick climb in the coaching profession, leading to his third season in Champaign, Illinois, abruptly ending when college sports were shut down due to the pandemic. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Nick Leckey, whose final year of football at Kansas State came during the Wildcats’ 2003 Big 12 Championship season and then in the 2004 NFL Draft, the offensive lineman was selected in the sixth round by the Arizona Cardinals. Leckey played six seasons in the NFL mostly as a center, ending his career as part of the 2009 New Orleans Saints Super Bowl championship team. Leckey now works in medical sales and offers his football analysis for the Kansas City Chiefs' official website and podcast, while living in the suburbs of Kansas City. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Andrew Smith, a Kansas State University, who as the coronavirus swept the globe, found himself with his wife, two daughters and seven students in London. As he prepared to return he wasn’t feeling well, but the tell-tale symptoms of COVID-19 didn’t settle in until he arrived home in Manhattan. Smith, however, is more than simply the first coronavirus case in Riley County, Kansas, he's a veteran of sports broadcaster with a thirst for travel and a love for the stage. Smith talks about it all as he completes his recovery from COVID-19. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Sean Lowe, a former Kansas State football player who found love on The Bachelor. Lowe was originally cast as one of the men on the eighth season of The Bachelorette, but a few months later Lowe returned for the 17th season of The Bachelor, and at the center of attention of a houseful of women who were hoping to become Mrs. Sean Lowe. Lowe offered his final rose to Catherine Guidici and after being wed in a televised ceremony in January of 2014, the couple is happily living in Dallas with their three young children. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Greg Sharpe who now serves as the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Nebraska football and baseball games. Sharpe, though, served as the Voice of the Wildcats for Kansas State football, calling games between 1996 and 2002, During that seven-year stretch, K-State averaged 10 wins a season as K-State football rose to prominence under Coach Bill Snyder. Sharpe and K-State parted ways in 2002 but prior to the 2008 season, he became Voice of the Huskers and settled in as Voice of the Huskers. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Johnny Kane, who now works for Fox Sports Detroit. Kane spent nearly nine years working first in the Topeka and then the Kansas City markets before he moved to Detroit, which is much closer to his home on northwestern Ohio. Kane does play-by-play, reports and anchors coverage of Detroit’s professional sports franchises, but he’s most known for what he should be doing right now — serving as the field-level reporter for Detroit Tigers’ baseball broadcasts. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Michael Bishop, the runner-up for the 1998 Heisman Trophy. After Coach Bill Snyder took over the program in 1989, the historically downtrodden Wildcats began to improve. When Bishop arrived from Blinn College in 1997, he came as part of a historic junior college recruiting class that would elevate Snyder’s program and prove that college football programs could compete for titles by recruiting junior college talent. During the 1997 and 1998 seasons, K-State went 22-3 and 15-1 in Big 12 action. At the heart of it all was Bishop, who was a running and throwing whirlwind on the field. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls fellow site publisher Gabe DeArmond of PowerMizzou.com. Fitz and Gabe always viewed their sites as news outlets that practice journalism, which for many years was not how sites in their industry were viewed by outsiders. The customers are fans, but they're not at games to be fans. Their sites cover recruiting, but they are much more than recruiting sites. Both sports publishers practice community journalism, but while all of Fitz's community wears purple, Gabe’s dons black and gold. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Ben Leber, a former NFL linebacker and currently an analyst for Fox Sports. Leber was a star running back coming out of high school in Vermillion, South Dakota, but when he came to Kansas State in 1997, he switched to linebacker. It was a very good decision. Leber went on to become a two-time All-Big 12 linebacker, and then a third-round selection by the San Diego Chargers in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played 10 seasons with three different franchises, but after four years in San Diego, Ben and his wife Abby settled in Minneapolis when he played five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Jenni Carlson, a columnist for The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. Carlson was part of a national story when back in 2007 when Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy took exception to a story in the Oklahoma City newspaper. On the receiving end of Gundy’s "I’m a man, I’m 40" tirade was Jenni Carlson, one of the kindest, most professional people in the sports writing industry. Carlson has now been in OKC for more than 20 years. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Chip Brown, a sportswriter and radio host in Austin, Texas. Brown, a heavy hitter in one of college sports' most-important markets, and Fitz became friends through the industry and now both are part of the 247Sports Network. The two share common backgrounds and an interest in past and possible future conference realignment in college athletics. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Mick Shaffer, sports director at KSHB-41, the NBC affiliate in Kansas City. Fitz isn't sure when exactly the two became friends but they bonded one summer at a Big 12 football media event in Dallas, eventually breaking greasy bread that night at a Whataburger. The two share a sarcastic sense of humor as you will quickly discover in this episode. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, former Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin. Martin seemed ready for a long stay in Manhattan until a new university president hired John Currie to be athletics director. A toxic relationship between Currie and Martin drove Martin after a loss in the Round of 32 of the 2012 NCAA Tournament to become the head coach at South Carolina. Martin built the Gamecocks from the ground up and put the long-suffering program in the 2017 Final Four, something no one in Columbia, South Carolina, expected. *** Tim Fitzgerald is sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his colleague Tom Keegan in Boston. Tom is now the sports columnist at the Boston Herald, but he and Fitz go back to not long after he was named sports editor of the Lawrence Journal-World, where he covered the University of Kansas. The Lawrence cable channel wanted to launch of new locally-driven sports talk show called The Drive and they were part of the four-person cast. Four became three and then five years ago WIBW-13 in Topeka bought the show and pared the cast down to just the two of them. Then in the fall of 2018 Tom took a new job and jetted off to Boston, but not before the two friends recorded more than 350 weekly episodes of the show together. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Kelly Stewart in Las Vegas. If you’re not familiar with Kelly, who is best known by her social media moniker KellyinVegas, she’s a respected sports handicapper who now works for WagerTalk.com among others. Her resume includes her own podcast, the Kelly and Murray Show. Her area of expertise is football because growing up a Kansas State fan in Manhattan, Kansas, during the heyday of Bill Snyder teams at K-State, Kelly fell in love with the sport. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices