Episodes

Erin Broestl

She is a skier, participating in downhill, cross-country, and waterski as well as snowboarding.  At the University of Michigan, she had competed in giant slalom, which followed her junior high and high school years when she ran the mile in track, half mile, and the 2-mile, for a combined total of six years in track, including lettering in track and field.  Plus, she even did three years on the swim team in junior high. She is a mom of a large Catholic family yet still ice skates, swims, and hikes.  She is also a blogger and the author of a book called, “God Made the Moonlight.”

Notable guest quotes:

“I sort of feel like that was my very first experience of God’s miraculousness in my life.”

“It was further proof for (my parents) and new proof for me… that yes, the Lord is watching, the Father in heaven sent my own father back to get me because that was pretty important right then.”

“I was talking to God and walking around campus, going, ‘Okay, Lord, where do you want me to go’… and I, finally in my travels, my steps took me to the Newman Center right off campus, and I went to Mass there, and it was this indescribable feeling of being home.”

“I’m Irish-Catholic, I should continue the tradition, the heritage, the family, my one grandmother was Irish-Catholic.”

“We just loved naming our kids and having them is such a blessing.  I can’t say enough how letting God plan your family is hard, yes, but it’s worth it.”

“I had a friend in high school… she and her older sister and both her parents… I appreciated their sacrifice and their service to other skiers, and I love this sport so much that I want people to be comfortable on the slopes, but I also want to be able to help them.”

“It occurred to me that God is really calling me to this because when you’re surrounded by accidents or if you’re an EMT or a paramedic or whatever, there’s always somebody in the background hopefully who’s praying for you in an accident even if you don’t know it and we’re all connected as human beings and while I’m down there bandaging somebody up in the snow on my knees as a ski patroller, I can also pray for them and they don’t even have to know about it, but it’s between me and God, and God and them.”

“I’ve always been kind of that prayer warrior type.  I have a longstanding prayer conversation with God.”

“‘Be still and know that I am God,’ that is the quote that keeps coming back to me.”

“You don’t want to get to heaven and stand in front of Jesus and have Him say, ‘I wanted to give you these gifts of children and you said No’.”

“God will give you the gift of understanding when you need it.”

“We pray with (the saints) to Jesus for His intercession because we can’t do anything without Him.”

Related link:

Erin’s website

(This episode contains a prayer by Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Bill Hanzlik

He was an NBA first round draft pick, being chosen 20th overall by the Seattle Supersonics, playing two seasons with them and then eight with the Denver Nuggets. During that time, he earned an NBA All-Defensive Second Team honor and would go on to serve as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets and the Atlanta Hawks before becoming the head coach of the Denver Nuggets.  He had played his college basketball at Notre Dame, helping lead the Fighting Irish to the Final Four, and was selected for the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team, although they did not compete due to the Americans’ boycott of the Moscow Games. Many years later he received a Congressional Medal of Honor created especially for those athletes. Present day he does pre- and post-game TV for the Denver Nuggets game broadcasts, and he is the CEO and Co-Founder of the Gold Crown Foundation, a non-profit whose tagline is, “Preparing kids for the game of life.”

Notable guest quotes:

“I grew up in the Catholic faith… my mom would cart us off on Sunday to go to church.  The Catholic faith, she said, that’s what we were gonna do and that’s what we did.”

“I ended up going to a Catholic school called St. Ignatius… so that was part of building my faith.”

“I started my freshman year and part of my sophomore year still in Mobile (Alabama), went to McGill–Toolen Catholic High School there, before moving out west.  So, all those were instrumental in my Catholic faith and how it just evolved.”

“The great thing about basketball, if you didn’t know anybody, you had a ball you went to a park or a gym you could play by yourself, you could play with one other person, two others, it was sort of the common ground that created a language that you talked with others with and made friends.”

“Everybody’s life sort of has this story to tell and somehow when you look back you go, ‘Oh, God had a plan in this!  Okay, now I got what He was trying to tell me’.”

“My faith grew there.  It’s great, every dorm had a chapel and Mass, and you became friends with, there was usually a priest assigned to each dorm, and you became friends with those.  And then the basketball, before every game we had probably a 20-, 25-minute Mass.”

“It evolved.  Like everything else in life, the struggles and the different things that go on, I think my prayer life grew and I realized what really is important in life.  Yeah, it’s great playing in the NBA and all that going on, but that’s not what life’s about.”

“As we’d go to major cities around the country and play games, play other teams, especially on Sunday, I would try to go to the cathedrals and, I don’t know how many, there are thirty teams in the league, I probably hit 25 cathedrals in different cities and it’s just so interesting the different ones, and I would just do it on my own.”

“We serve about 18 thousand kids in sports and enrichment programs… We try to fill voids.  And our mission statement is educating youth through sports and enrichment… We’re very big about life skills.”

Related link:

Gold Crown Foundation

[This episode contains a prayer (poem) by Central Catholic High School (Pittsburgh, PA) Principal Ed Bernot, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

Dr Kevin Cummings

Back in his days as a student-athlete, after having played for the well-known Rockhurst High School, he attended Missouri Western State University on a four-year football scholarship and would go on to be inducted into their Hall of Fame.  He was also selected as the Missouri Western 25th Anniversary Scholar-Athlete Award by the university in 2001.  Later in life he would serve as the Kansas City Chiefs Team Dentist for 23 years. Meanwhile, he was ordained as a Deacon in the Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph, but is currently assigned to the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas. Concentrating much of his efforts in the Ministry of Respect Life issues, alongside two other non-profits that he is a part of, he has co-founded a 501(c)3 called Deacons of Hope, aimed at organizing the Ministries of Deacons into a community of Deacons who emphasize pro-life initiatives. It has even gotten the seal of approval from the Vatican and Deacons of Hope aims to reach Deacons and parishes around the U.S., if not internationally too.

Notable guest quotes:

“I had six brothers, there were seven boys, and we all were two blocks away from our Catholic grade school… we all graduated from there.”

“I had two brothers that went to high school seminary and one of ‘em went to college seminary to be a priest.”

“We had a park at the end of our block that was about 100 yards long and about 50 yards wide… We acted like it was put there by God for us.”

“I went to a high school that was a Jesuit high school, all boys and I learned early on I could do nothing without prayer.”

“I couldn’t begin a game.  I couldn’t miss a weekend Mass on my own or otherwise and it was just because it was part of my life.”

“I felt lucky to have been blessed with any ability.”

“I learned early on, God ought to be appreciated.”

“These (Kansas City Chiefs) players would also be the most outgoing and most sincere and authentic people you’d met in your life.  They held a very strong Christian lifestyle or background with their discipline.  I think they went hand in hand.”

“When I became a deacon, I realized I was supposed to do that.  I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

“(God) made me a healer and because of that I realized He could make me anything.”

“God’s telling me where to go as long as I listen.  And so, I try to listen daily, and I love the church.”

Related link:

Deacons Of Hope website

Samantha LaMar

She was a late bloomer athletically, save for one sport that she competed in during her high school years. In her adult life she discovered bodybuilding and fell in love with the discipline of the sport and continues to this day to train like an athlete. She became a certified Personal Trainer and helps others not be intimidated by the weight room and think of themselves as athletes in training. However, the sport they are training is the race of life itself. The story that she tells at the end of this interview might just be the strongest part of her testimony! (UPDATE: Since this interview was recorded, sadly, Dr. Kevin Vost passed away.  He is mentioned in the second half of this episode in conjunction with an event that was being planned for later this year.)

Notable guest quotes:

“That’s what I love about Christ and how He did go into the places that we would be like, ‘How dare you talk to those people’!”

“Because of that I felt like, ‘Well, I guess I could talk to God.’  So, when I would go to bed at night, I just started having conversations with the Lord.”

“I quit going to the nightclubs.  I had no need for that or any kind of life outside of Christian virtue.”

“I know, without a doubt, each person has a particular calling in their life… It’s so important to be what God has made you to be and to live out that particular purpose.”

“To me, the way that God was preparing me to really live out even more fully what He’s called me to be, physical fitness was a big part of that, like, I had to be physically strong.”

“I’m always obedient to what I feel like God’s calling me to do.”

“Because I was able to tie that in in my spiritual life, it made it easier for me because it was like, I’m offering this up, this is part of Lent.”

“I’ve had over 20 surgeries on my abdomen, so, it just shows you can do anything, like, your body just will heal and it’s a miracle.”

“It’s like the Lord opens up different passages of possibilities and He’s already placed in our hearts what he wants us to do but sometimes we’re so blocked because we don’t think it’s possible.”

“I believe that as people become stronger, physically stronger, then they start to develop a hope that God wants us to have.”

“I felt like I was going to battle with the devil.  And I would praise and worship as I was working out and it would make a huge difference and then I would step off of there and so it became prayer.”

“What the Lord has placed on my heart is to really pull out of other people what He has placed in their hearts.”

Related links:

Samantha on the Roundabout Fitness website
Samantha on the Synergize website

(This episode contains a prayer originally from catholic.org, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

John Knuth

Providing some emotional testimony in the second half of this episode, he’d won eight consecutive state championships and nine overall as the volleyball coach at Marysville High School in Michigan where he had three consecutive undefeated seasons, registering 192 straight wins. He won 20 consecutive district and regional championships and over ten seasons had an amazing won-lost record of 584-9. In 2015 he was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He coached three sports for 27 consecutive years at Marysville, and all together, he coached football, girls basketball, boys basketball, track & field, and volleyball. He is the author of a book titled, “Coaching 100 Days With Jesus.”

Notable guest quotes:

“We see scripture during Holy Week of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples and He’s modeling behavior and I would say that was my mom.  Sometimes when things weren’t going well with our family or our lives, I would walk by her bedroom and there she would be, on her knees praying the rosary and it just had a big influence.”

“Even through all my sinfulness I went to Mass every Sunday at Central Michigan University.”

“I had the faith, and I kept the faith and God kept loving me through it.”

“That freewill thing kicks in and somehow my freewill told me that I need to stay close to the Lord.”

“Sports had such an influence on me and the coaches that I had in my life, I wanted to give back, I wanted to provide that kind of guidance for young people and teach life lessons.”

“Athletics is such a great avenue to provide that life lesson of the team is more important than yourself.”

“When I heard that, I began praying John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life’.”

“She said, ‘I’m just telling you, I was praying so hard,’ and she said, ‘This verse came to me and it’s Psalm 118:17 – you will not die but live and proclaim what the Lord has done’ and that became the motto for my life.”

“I just made this vow that if I go in to do prison ministry or if I speak or religious education or wherever it happens to be, I always start out with covering and speaking about John 3:16.”

“If you know everything about the Bible, John 3:16 is a good place to go and if you know nothing about it, it’s a good place to go.”

“To be in persistent quest of excellence really means to be in persistent quest for God.”

Related link:

John’s book “Coaching 100 Days With Jesus”

(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.)

Abraham Lucas

He was chosen one year ago this month in the third round of the National Football League Draft, 72nd overall by the Seattle Seahawks. He is an offensive tackle who appeared in all but one of Seattle’s 17 games this past season and was named to the All-Rookie Team. He also played his college football there in the Pacific Northwest, having been a four-year starter at right tackle for Washington State, starting 42 consecutive games. He was the first Cougars offensive lineman in program history to earn All-Pac-12 Conference honors four times and would go on to play in the Senior Bowl. During his student-athlete days in high school he was named All-USA Washington second-team by USA Today.

Notable guest quotes:

“Two weeks after I was born, I was baptized on All Saints Day, which is kind of a way to kick off my ministry, I guess, being Catholic.”

“I did my Montessori school at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Bothell, Washington… And then I went to St. Thomas More in Linwood, Washington, for kindergarten through eighth grade, and then I went to Archbishop Murphy from ninth to twelfth (grade).”

“I’m a cradle Catholic… and… our family was the Catholic family, that’s what we did, it’s who we were, it’s who we are still to this day.”

“Those retreats that I went to, they were always times where I really connected and had great experiences just being in front of the Blessed Sacrament and hearing from priests, hearing from the bishop, about, just, the faith and deepening my understanding of it and the Catholic religion as a whole, and I think it was very formative for me in my youth.”

“It really kind of put things into perspective for me of, like, yeah, (Confirmation) is just the start and if I’m going to do it, which I am, then I have to be as committed as I can be and essentially be in line with it.”

“Looking back at it now I can see that that obstacle was God calling me to push myself to the limit and maximize my potential and be who I’m supposed to be through football, and football, in a way, has become like a ministry for me.  And, granted, being a football player is not my identity, it’s just what I do to glorify God – it’s one of the things that I do to glorify God.”

“I lost people in my life.  That was really where, kind of the faith-based stuff really, really came into play and where I really, really relied on it more.”

“If you want to get spiritually stronger, well you lift heavy spiritual weights and that involves heavier adversity.”

“Ask the Lord to prepare you for the challenges that He has in store for you, and that you may meet them with grace and trust in Him fully.”

“I try to be active in my church community back home as much as I can.”

“I was heavily involved in the Newman Center for the later half of my college career… It was great.  The priest up there, Father Paul, is fantastic… we did a lot of one-on-one work together.  And I could call him any time of the week.  If I needed to go to confession twice I week I could call him, and he’d make it happen.”

Related link:

Abe’s bio on Seahawks website

(This episode contains a prayer by Gregg Easterbrook from the NFL.com and ESPN.com column “Monday Morning Quarterback,” as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Seth DeMoor

He has been a professional mountain runner, winning the Pikes Peak Marathon in back-to-back years (2020 and 2021). He also competed for the United States at the World Mountain Running Championships in Argentina in 2019. And he continues to train for road marathons and ultra marathons, with the hopes of qualifying for the 2024 marathon Olympic Trials. Collegiately he had competed for the University of Colorado and helped contribute to National Championships in cross country. After graduating from there he went on to start a Catholic apostolate after graduation called “One Billion Stories,” which he talks about here.

Notable guest quotes:

“I’m a cradle Catholic, baptized in Colorado Springs and received all my sacraments in the Diocese of Colorado Springs.”

“A big part of my journey growing up was attending World Youth Day.  I was able to go to three or four World Youth Days, starting with Paris in 1997.”

“For all the youngsters… if you might be a little on the smaller side, it’s okay, God has a sport for you and it just might take you a little while to discover it.”

“Because of those injuries, it allowed me more time to pray, to go to daily Mass, to discover Adoration, and honestly just to figure out and ask the Lord, ‘Why am I getting so many injuries and what’s going on here,’ so it was, as they always say, a blessing in disguise actually, all these running injuries.”

“Pope Benedict XVI said, ‘It falls in particular to young people who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this digital continent’… I read those words and I thought to myself, ‘Ya’ know what… I’m going to get out there in the world and… interview some of the one billion Catholics on earth’.”

“My life was forever changed because of the students and the priests that were willing to share their story with me about the faith and their personal journey.”

“If you watch any major marathon, whether it’s New York City or London, and you watch the elites cross the finish line, most of them – not all of them, but many of them – will make the sign of the cross when they are finishing because it’s so difficult and I think they turn their race into a prayer.”

“The Catholic journey that we’re all on, it’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint, it’s a long-term investment into our spiritual lives whether it’s weekly confession or the rosary or spiritual direction.”

“Through the YouTube channel a lot of people always notice my scapular that’s flying in the wind when I’m out running or I’ll often have rosary beads in my hand as I’m out running.”

“I will actually, before all my big races, I’ll especially write on my wrist with a marker, two or three people I want to basically pray for through the suffering of the race.”

Related link:

2023 DeMoor Global Running Distance Classic