Episodes

Fr Don Calloway

He is closing in on 21 years since his ordination to the priesthood. He is Vicar Provincial and Vocation Director for the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. He is also a well-known conference speaker AND leads pilgrimages to Catholic shrines around the world. He is the author of 18 books and has a RADICAL conversion story that he tells here. On the sports side, he has been surfing since he was eight years old and has surfed all around the world.

Notable guest quotes:

“We started always living near water and the first place was Virginia Beach, and, I was young, and went to the beach, saw some kids surfing and I wanted to try it and was able to start and I was eight years old  and it just blossomed from there and then everywhere we moved, near water, I just continued to do it and have done it my whole life now… And I was always involved with beach volleyball.”

“We went to Japan, my stepfather’s new assignment was in Japan, which I loved, right, because it’s an island – and lots of islands – so I got to surf in Japan a lot… I was surfing beaches that had never been surfed before.”

“I was in my teens, and I got in a lot of trouble and got involved with a criminal organization called the Yakuza, which is like the mafia – and I was only 15 – eventually I ran away from home and caused a huge international scene and one thing led to another and I ended up actually getting deported from the country because of the stuff that I was doing… so they kicked me out of the country.”

“It was torture for my mom.  My mom’s a saint (for) what I put her through… I didn’t even know that my mother didn’t live in the country anymore.”

“Eventually they apprehended me, threw me in jail, and then kicked me out of the country.”

“They sent me to rehab, so I went to two – drug and alcohol rehabs – and, they didn’t work, I actually got worse.”

“I was following the band The Grateful Dead and going to all these shows and doing so many drugs it was insane.”

“I was down in New Orleans around Mardi Gras time and tried to beat up a police officer, and pulled a knife on him, and, it was crazy, and so I got thrown in jail.”

“I had no morals, I had no compass, I had no real consequences to my actions, I didn’t believe in heaven or hell, I just wanted to have fun… And so, I didn’t have anything that was stopping me, that was holding me back from hurting others.”

“I picked up a book… about the Virgin Mary, and I didn’t even know what that was or who it was.  I was clueless about Christianity.”

“When I had this huge conversion experience I just fell madly in love with Jesus Christ.  I was so in love with Him because He unlocked meaning for me, for why I was here and what life was all about, and I just wanted to serve Him, I wanted to be as close to Him as possible.”

“I love the rosary and I promote it and write about it in those kinds of terms and categories and… I try to bring that – I guess you could say athletics, sports, that – battle kind of scenario into my spirituality… Even the scriptures describe our Lord, the psalms say, ‘The Lord is a warrior’.”

“We’re normal people.  We pray hard and we play hard.”

Related link:

Fr. Calloway’s website

Dan Torpey

He is a competitive Masters Athlete for Olympic weightlifting and strongman competitions, AND he works as a referee, plus he is on the Board for USA Olympic Weightlifting. He has won bronze and gold medals at local and Texas state meets and even did a strongman competition in late 2019 and finished in third place for the master’s group and qualified for Nationals. He also dabbled in “Vintage Baseball” – baseball played by the original 1860’s baseball rules – and he played on such a team for about three years. On the faith side, he is managing partner of Virtuous Leadership LLC, working with bestselling author Alexandre Havard. He is also a Legatus member, serves as a national board member for Young Catholic Professionals, served on the Board of Catholic Charities Dallas, and was a member of Regnum Christi for eight years.

Notable guest quotes:

“We all went to Catholic school… we all had jobs… we helped… pay for our Catholic school education… I went to Catholic grade school, high school, and then ultimately to St. John’s University.”

(was an altar boy at) “Our Lady of the Snows parish in Floral Park (New York).”

“I went to Archbishop Molloy High School, which was about an hour and 25-minute bus ride… from my house.”

“I believe I’ve been a very faithful, devout Catholic, going to Mass and things to that nature, and would volunteer on retreats in high school and college, and help out and go on retreats and different programs like that.”

(when) “My kids went to the school here… my wife and I did participate more with Regnum Christi… I just really rediscovered my faith… I never really moved away from it…  It was kind of a reawakening… for me.”

“When you get close with God, when you practice your faith, when you’re trying to be a better person, often times there’s obstacles too that are pushed in your way – more temptation, more distractions.”

“My wife and I… we’re really working on virtue, growing in virtue.”

“I realized where God was working in my life, He’s moving me and introducing me to these people – I just felt more alive, more empowered, more responsibility to be the best person I could be.”

“I ended up volunteering for the 5am Saturday time slot and I did that for almost a year – I did Eucharistic Adoration – and it changed my life.”

Related links:

Dan Torpey on LinkedIn
Alex Havard website

(This episode contains a prayer adapted from one by an unknown Confederate Soldier, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Jay Romig

He is the Team Administrative Director for the National Football League’s New Orleans Saints and has the distinction of being the organization’s longest serving employee, having started with the team in 1977 as an assistant athletic trainer. In 2017 the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame presented him with the Joe Gemelli “Fleur-De-Lis” Award, and he has affectionately earned the unofficial title of “Vice President of Everything.” He had been a football manager all through high school, having attended Brother Martin High School, which is a private, Catholic, all-boys college preparatory school run by the United States Province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

Notable guest quotes:

“Both my parents were born and raised Catholic… We went to Catholic grammar school, St. Dominic’s, St. Louis King of France… my brother followed me to Brother Martin (High School).”

“My dad also was the stadium announcer for the New Orleans Saints, starting in the third year, 1969… back in Tulane Stadium… I’d spot for him, I’d sell programs at the games.  I’ve been doing stuff for the Saints since the early 70s and getting a job to work here out of college was like a dream come true for me.”

“I lived at home all through college and being around two parents who were so heavily into their faith kinda helped.  There’s no reason to stray or not be interested.”

“(New Orleans Head Coach) Hank (Stram) liked me ‘cause I was the only one in the (Saints’) organization that was smaller than him.”

“God does put people in your life for certain reasons.”

“We have a Mass scheduled most of the time the day before the game, sometimes it’s the day of the game if we’re playing that night… Depending upon the season a handful of players, a handful of coaches, some staff (will attend).”

“The owner of the team, Tom Benson… actually went to St. Aloysius High School.  We had a special friendship… He was a strong Catholic.”

“It’s good when you have leadership in the coaching staff.  Our head coach here, Dennis Allen, is a Catholic and definitely wants to make sure we have a Mass.”

“At St. Dominic’s I was on the committee to help start (an adoration chapel)… My hours were 2-3 in the morning on a Tuesday morning, 2am-3am.  And I’ve done it for 23 years now, the same hours.”

“I love it.  I mean it’s great and it’s an hour that you’re in peace with God in the chapel.”

Related link:

Press release including “Fleur-De-Lis” Award announcement

Bennett Lee

A catcher who this past June was chosen by the Detroit Tigers in the sixth round of the 2023 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft after having played collegiately, first at Tulane University and then at Wake Forest. Prior to that, he was a four-year letterwinner on the baseball team at Jesuit High School in Tampa, having been part of the team that ranked No. 1 in the nation in 2020, at 9-0, and that won the state championship in 2019, posting a 27-5 won-lost record.  Away from sports, he is a convert to the Catholic faith, as heard in this discussion.

Notable guest quotes:

“My family’s Christian, and I went to St. Mary’s Episcopal Dayschool, so I was kind of raised in an Episcopal household and I learned a lot at St. Mary’s, and it was awesome, but my faith never really exploded the way it has until I got to Jesuit (High School) and was introduced to Catholicism.”

“Going into Jesuit (High School) as a non-Catholic I was not well read and well learned of the Catholic faith, and I had an incredible religion teacher my freshman year in Intro to Catholicism class.”

“Two really good friends of mine went through RCIA and converted to Catholicism… Seeing those two guys go through the process and ultimately get confirmed really sparked an interest in my heart to do it.”

“I’m very close with Father Hermes, who is the president of Jesuit (High School), and he has had a great impact on me as well.”

“Going into the season I was the third string catcher and then a couple weeks in I earned the starting role and kind of just went from there.  It was really a blessing.”

“God has opened up a lot of doors and a lot of help from a lot of people that… it’s very significant and I’m very grateful.”

“Looking back on that time, it was all just God reeling me back in, just saying, ‘Hey come back to me.  We know baseball isn’t all that important.  I’m more important.  Eternity’s more important.’  And all that kind of helped me, kind of grounded me and helped me to realize all that.”

“The Wake Forest (University) Catholic community was big for me in helping me stay in line with the faith through the whole season, through the whole year, and even today.”

“The Catholic faith wasn’t given to me from birth.  I kind of discovered it – well, through the gift of God, but – on my own and I take ownership of it and that’s why I really appreciate all the things that Catholics have access to, all the sacraments and everything.”

“Now I feel very compelled to just walk one step at a time with God and allow wherever that takes me to take me.”

Related link:

Bennett’s page on MLB.com

(This episode contains a prayer by Fort Worth Christian Football League parent Linda Fleshman, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Dr. Dobie Moser

A special episode, of sorts, he returns after having previously been on this show way back on Episode 120, more than two-and-a-half years ago.  He is the Senior Director of Mission Integration, CYO, and Social Action for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Cleveland.  Earlier this year he was awarded St. Ambrose parish’s Servant Leader Award.  Over two years ago he had started a parish-based mental health ministry at St. Ambrose, and, as we hear about during this conversation, back in January of THIS year CYO began training their athletic directors regarding the mental health crises of children and teens.

Notable guest quotes:

“My parish… we were seeing and hearing of some pretty significant mental health issues in families with young people.”

“I went to the pastor… and said, ‘I think we need to do a mental health ministry here in the parish.’  And talk about great pastoral leadership, his response was, ‘I love it.  You have my support.  What do you need’?”

“That led us to say, ‘We need to start training our (athletic directors), who are wonderful folks, and they really care about kids, but this is a different landscape than the one many of us have in our background’.”

“Catholic Charities has an ongoing support network of services, counselors, support groups, et cetera, for anybody of any age.  Well, that led us to say, well what does that look like with the young people entrusted to our care in athletics?  And the front-line people in that are coaches.”

“It is really problematic when individuals with good intention spiritualize mental illness in a negative light, i.e., ‘If you only had more faith.’  i.e., ‘If you prayed more.’  And I would just use the analogy to say, what parent who had a child with a broken arm would say that that is because of lack of faith?”

“Can coaches see themselves – ‘Yes, I coach basketball.  I coach flag football, track and field,’ whatever the sport.  Yes, we value that for the gift that it is.  It is the tool and the needs, but the heart of the matter – are you as a coach willing to be a loving, caring, and trustworthy adult for kids?”

“The See, Judge, Act piece comes from our Catholic social teaching… We should look at any challenges in our world through that framework and connect it to our Catholic faith.”

“I actually think part of being a Christian is we do not look at human suffering and look away.  We actually look toward it and say, ‘What is God calling me to do as a response’?”

“I like the line from St. Don Bosco.  It’s, ‘Because you are young is reason enough to love you.’  Not because you score baskets or because you’re a good or bad athlete.”

“How can we give that pain and loss to God so it’s transformed into something that gives life and hope to the world?”

Related link:

How to Start a Parish Mental Health Ministry (webinar by Dr. Dobie Moser)

David Belfield

He is the head men’s basketball coach at Belmont Abbey College — a Catholic institution. Previously he had been an assistant coach at the United States Military Academy (Army West Point). As a student-athlete he had played collegiately for two seasons at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, before moving into a student-assistant coaching role. He had earned his first coaching position in 2018 at UNC-Charlotte and is a graduate of Charlotte Catholic High School.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was baptized (Catholic) at a young age… as I transitioned my junior year of high school to Charlotte Catholic, that’s when it kind of picked back up for me and I was a member of RCIA.”

“As a junior in high school I was actually in the class with some of the younger children and that’s when I did my first confession, first communion, confirmation, and all that as a high school student.”

“Maybe I was worshipping the game of basketball.  I don’t think it was until I got into the coaching side that I put a lot more thought into using basketball as a vehicle.”

“(My dad) saw basketball as a way to help those kids make better decisions, to take them off the street and kind of give them something to strive for.  So that was probably one of the big pieces for me early on, seeing that you can use the game to really help people.”

“Thankfully, the two coaches that I worked for first, their faith was really important to them… (they) constantly were connecting faith and basketball, and who they were as a coach kind of was a direct correlation of their faith.”

“I played for two coaches in college who were both Christians.”

“This is a Catholic college.  When I interviewed for the job, they didn’t ask me any questions about Xs and Os, what we’re going to do, how I was going to run practice, style of play.  It was all about, ‘How are you going to help develop these young men in body, mind, and spirit.’  That’s all they cared about.”

“For us, personally, as a team, obviously we pray before and after a contest.  The biggest thing for us, though, with myself and our staff is we just try to pour into our young men on a daily basis and we try to know who they are as people so that we can help them grow in all areas of their life.”

“What I like to tell guys, ‘If you’re faith is important to you, regardless of if you’re Catholic, Muslim, Baptist, whatever it is, this is a place where you can grow’.”

“I feel like I’ve grown the most in my faith when I’m around people who also prioritize their faith.”

“Be thankful for the hard times.  It’s easy to be thankful when things are going well.”

Related link:

David’s bio on Belmont Abbey website

(This episode contains a prayer from the National Catholic Coaches Association’s “The Leadership Papers,” although originally credited in there to The Coach’s Bible.)

Rick Eckstein

He has been working in baseball for parts of four decades now, including having been the hitting coach for the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates as well as the player information coach for the Los Angeles Angels AND the minor league hitting coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. He was also on the coaching staff of the 2008 Team USA Olympic baseball team, plus he coached at the collegiate level, including the University of Kentucky, as well as the University of Florida, having played for the Gators during his years as a student-athlete.

Notable guest quotes:

“We were a very strong Catholic family… I was born and raised with a very strong faith and at the very young age of around seven I started doing the altar boy (duties).”

“Everything about our faith, ya’ know, praying and relying on the Lord and everything, was very strong in our household.”

“I started playing baseball.  I was, at the time, six (years old).  So, I did the Little League Baseball thing.  I was an avid surfer… And then I did gymnastics.  I did the rings in gymnastics… And I also did basketball.”

“Definitely my faith was a big component in that because when you’re sitting in the silence of your own head, thinking about what your future looks like, what just happened, I just said, ‘Ya’ know, Lord, everything always happens for a reason, and it’s always turned out for the best’.”

“That’s how my faith got me through the injury, is, I just said, ‘Okay, Lord, maybe I was meant to be a coach, not a player’.”

“I can remember going to Sunday church in Gainesville, Florida, at the University of Florida, and I would pray – I had my own prayer in my head that I said daily – and I started that that year because I didn’t know that what I did was any good at coaching, so I prayed to be a good coach.”

“If I have a plan and I show up ready to execute that plan and I’ve done my homework and put everything out there, then I know the good Lord’s gonna, whatever happens is best for me.”

“In the process with that, when you get to know me, you get a sense of my faith as well.  You get a sense of who I am as a person and what I value and a lot of times the conversations in the (batting) cage do have a faith-based message behind it.”

“We went on a retreat… we hired a bus and… went to Miami to see Pope John Paul (II).  So, we made the trek down to Miami from the Orlando area… When I always, when I see the word ‘holy,’ I think of that day, and I don’t know why.  But when I think of ‘holy’ I always think of seeing the Pope riding through the crowd… It was fascinating; truly, truly moving.”

“We started bringing in one of the local priests to do Catholic Mass inside the locker room so guys wouldn’t have to miss ‘cause Sunday day games are tough to go to Mass.”

“I could tell you the story about being at Dodger Stadium and Vin Scully reading the first reading and second readings to us as a congregation inside Dodger Stadium.  You talk about super special?!”

“I went and saw Pope Benedict.  I took my mom to Rome, Italy … and we did Mass with him and, just phenomenal, fantastic.  One of the best trips I’ve had.”

(This episode contains a prayer from the National Catholic Coaches Association’s “The Leadership Papers,” although originally credited in there to The Coach’s Bible.)