Kelsey Gillespy
Episode 321
24 MAR 2025
She was just inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at Indiana State University where she twice was first team all-conference, led the country in free-throw percentage in her senior year, and ranks in the top eight in four categories in the history of the women’s basketball program at the school. In high school she had been a three-time all-state, all-metro, and first team all-conference selection. In addition, she was an assistant coach for three years for a different high school, with that team winning two Class 5 Missouri state championships during her time there. She has a Master’s degree in sports psychology from the University of Missouri. On the faith side, she is the author of a book called, “In the Trenches: Finding God Through Raising Littles” and another, released last year, called, “Real Life with Mary: Growing in Virtue to Magnify the Lord.”
Notable guest quotes:
“My mom, she was really good at telling us about Jesus and reading us Bible stories and stuff like that. But if I want to be honest, growing up, I think sports was kind of my God. And that’s kind of what I lived and breathed.”
“That’s kind of like my love language is sports. And that’s the way that I find community and just a fun way to build each other up.”
“I played through high school at a really great school in St. Louis, called St. Joseph’s Academy. And after graduating, I was fortunate enough to realize that dream of going to college and played at Indiana State.”
“Something that I very quickly discovered is that the dream of college basketball and the reality of college basketball don’t always see eye to eye. It becomes very business-like. And I don’t think I was quite ready for that.”
“Fortunately, I had some pretty good teammates and coaches who … helped … And so, we were definitely able to have some fun. And the fun translated into a fruitful career, thanks be to God.”
“In college is when I started to kind of take more ownership of my faith and try to figure out who this Jesus guy was.”
“That’s when I started to really kind of open up to the idea that, man, if I’m a Christian, like I’ve been saying I am my whole life, then that means that I need to know who Christ is, right? And not only know who Christ is but be like Him. That’s what the word Christian really means is, like Christ.”
“Jesus can be the center of your basketball world. And Jesus can be the center of your school world. And He’s not just like a little sliver off to the side. Like he needs to be the heart and soul of everything.”
“What happened through Catholic doctrine and tradition and learning so much through the Catholic faith, it deepened my roots where they were and made me so much stronger in my love for Christ.”
“Accomplishments are great. And it’s great to use our God given gifts to excel in a certain area, but life is about people. And people come first always, people are always more important than things no matter what the thing is or who the person is. The person is always more valuable and to just love that person.”
“Then I had a baby. It was like constantly it felt like a wedge between me and God.”
Related link:
Kelsey’s author/speaking website
