Noah Kararo
Episode 371
16 MAR 2026
He currently plays for the ChiCity Orioles, as part of the Chicago Premier Baseball League. He is also Director of Baseball Operations for the Illinois Hawks, having previously served as their Director of Youth Development and having coached at multiple age levels within the Hawks organization. A former middle infielder, he played five varsity seasons at the University of St. Francis, appearing in 193 games with an on-base percentage of .346 in his career with the Fighting Saints. Prior to that he had been a student-athlete playing high school ball for Crossroads Christian Academy.
Notable guest quotes:
“Our faith life continued to grow and strengthen, especially with prayer throughout the day. So those are some of the hallmarks of my childhood faith journey.”
“The Mass was something earlier in my life that was more an obligation rather than something done out of love. As I grew older and my parents grew deeper into the faith that is something that we have held very, very dear to us on a week-to-week basis, even amongst the busyness of life… And even now that I’m in my working career, trying to make an attempt to make a daily Mass as much as I can, it’s been extremely important.”
“I started at Holy Angels Catholic School in Aurora from kindergarten through third grade.”
“While I did play other sports, I played a couple seasons of soccer. I played basketball up until I was a freshman in high school. I was best at baseball, and it really stole my heart. So, I ran with it and never looked back.”
“It was a big goal of mine to achieve an athletic scholarship in college. I was very much an undersized player. So, I didn’t have as many options on the table as some of my peers. Being a Catholic, having a Catholic institution at the center of my education was important, and just those combination of factors – the smaller school size, just to make sure that it was a fit for me athletically and then making sure that faith was somewhat of a presence – yeah, really led me to really considering those smaller Catholic universities.”
“I couldn’t see the path forward, didn’t know what the next step was going to hold, but it was just putting my head down, continuing to control what I could control, putting in the work day in and day out. And yeah, leaving the outcome up to God.”
“The way I live, my faith is not very loud, it’s often by example. So, people will see me praying before games or in the car, before or after something is going on, and just the way that I carry myself and the language that I use.”
“It’s very evident to the people that come in and out of the facility, the kind of character that I try to carry myself with, and it rubs off on people, especially those that I directly coach; they know what kind of standards that I have. I don’t let people swear during my practices.”
“It’s important that we really become attuned to how we handle failure, because especially in baseball, it’s a sport of failure, and that kind of mirrors what life is going to be in some regards as well.”
“I now attend a Bible study every Thursday night, regardless of what’s going on, that precious block of time from 7pm until 10pm on Thursdays, that is for Bible study, and I’ve grown so many fantastic relationships from being a part of that.”
Related link:
Noah Kararo on baseball-reference.com