Episodes

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

Tim McCormick

He was drafted in the first round, twelfth overall, by the Cleveland Cavaliers and went on to play ten seasons in the NBA, playing for Washington, Seattle, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Houston, Atlanta, and the New York Knicks. He had been on the NIT Champion University of Michigan basketball team and was named the NIT MVP. Earlier he had been a McDonalds All-American. In addition to being a longtime color analyst on ESPN, he has worked as a consultant with NBA players over the last two decades teaching strategies to improve performance and achieve greatness. He also runs the NBA Players Association’s TOP 100 Basketball Camp for the elite 100 high school players in the nation.

Notable guest quotes:

“I… went to school at Guardian Angels, which is a Catholic school in Detroit and each time we moved my parents prioritized getting us into a Catholic school.”

“I grew up Catholic and my faith was very important to me.  My parents taught me that as a Catholic that every Sunday my job was to be in church and to pray and ask forgiveness.”

“My whole life I had been in church on Sundays.  I felt like I knew God.  I prayed every night when I went to bed and I needed more.”

“There was no fellowship in my life, and this really opened up a whole new belief system for me.”

“I remember in that first meeting I read my favorite verse, and it’s Romans 8:28; In all things God works for those who love Him, who’ve been called according to His purpose.”

“I kept asking God, ‘What is my purpose? What am I here to do?  I have all this ability.  I have this size and I’m not using it.  I need help.’  And so that was a real turning point in my life and I’m very thankful for that.”

“I waited almost three months until I was able to get an answer from God.  And I remember Proverbs 16 says, Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed.”

“Really for the first time I started to gain hope and I felt like this was a message from God.”

“That was a real turning point for me.  And it gave me hope and it gave me confidence.  And I kept thinking about Luke 12 where it says, To whom much is given, much is required.”

“Psalm 118 says, This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad.  And I think that I did a pretty good job of always telling myself that, ‘You’re in the NBA.  And you have it made.  Focus on what you can control and just do the best you can’.”

“I believe that when I tell people I believe in God, that Jesus is at the center of my life, that somewhere God is smiling.  He likes that.”

Related link:

Tim’s official website

(This episode contains a prayer originally excerpted and adapted from Day By Day: The Notre Dame Prayerbook for Students by Thomas McNally, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Ted Karras

He is an offensive lineman who has played seven seasons in the NFL, most recently with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was a sixth-round pick by the New England Patriots in the 2016 National Football League Draft and spent five of his first six seasons with New England, including being on two Super Bowl-winning teams with the Patriots. In 2020 he appeared in all 16 games as a member of the Miami Dolphins. As a student-athlete he had started 43 games during a career at the University of Illinois, including being team captain in his senior year, 2015, and in high school he helped his team to two state titles. On the faith side, he will be a speaker this coming weekend at the National Men’s Conference in Cincinnati.

Notable guest quotes:

“Comparison is the thief of joy… expending any energy on things that aren’t productive.”

“I attended Catholic school all the way up through high school… My father has been a football coach at both the high school and collegiate levels, mostly for Catholic programs… We played a lot of Catholic football and I’ve had a lot of amazing teachers, (and) a lot of amazing priests.”

“I have had a very fun life with a lot of great people, but I’ve always found time to pray and give thanks and be very thankful and grateful.”

“At that point in my life (NFL Draft) I actually had just gotten confirmed.”

“There is a Catholic church that is on campus, and they have actually a large Catholic community, they have a Catholic dorm.  University of Illinois is a humongous school, and it was an amazing opportunity to see, there’s all sorts of different organizations and they had a strong Catholic presence on campus.”

“My family and I, personally, we’ve said the Prayer of Jabez now for 20 years, almost every day, I say it every day.  I think my family does as well.  I do find time in the morning to pray every day.”

“I’m turning 30 in two weeks, still playing football, that’s never lost on me that that’s a blessing.”

“Athletics also brings communities together, a lot of good fellowship.”

“The Damar Hamlin situation this year united the country in prayer, which I thought was extraordinary.”

“I walk to the 50 (yard line) and back on our side, probably about four or five times, in prayer, and then I warm up and (then) it’s time to play the game.”

Related links:

Ted’s page on Cincinnati Bengals’ website
National Men’s Conference

(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)

Dr Kevin Vost

He has competed in a variety of strength sports including Olympic weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, Highland Games Heavy Athletics, and team tug-of-war competitions.  He worked as a weightlifting and fitness instructor in college and has written several articles for fitness magazines and four books on strength training. His most recent book from 2022 is “You Are That Temple! A Catholic Guide to Health and Holiness,” and in total he has written twenty-seven books for Catholic publishers on a variety of topics.  Although retired, he continues to do heavy strength training almost every day.

Notable guest quotes:

“My middle name is Gerard, after St. Gerard Majella, the patron saint of expecting mothers.”

“It was there in the beginning from an Irish-Catholic mother.  My dad had converted to the faith when they got married… We went to church every Sunday… I went to Catholic grade school, taught by some wonderful Dominican sisters (and) a Catholic all-boys high school.”

“I thought, ‘Boy, if all this stuff I’ve been taught about Jesus is really true, then there’s nothing more important in the world and I should really kind of make sure I try to live my life according to the faith’.”

“I never wanted to go out and try to rob anyone of their faith… I might just vaguely say I’m Catholic, or I was raised Catholic.”

“I took this teaching course on natural law, which I was interested in, and it was actually taught by a Catholic priest… and he was talking about the ancient Greeks I really admired and respected.  Then he moves into St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.  Now these, of course, were names I knew by being raised Catholic.”

“When I read St. Thomas Aquinas in particular, I was just kind of shocked to find that the specific arguments that modern atheists would use against God, I thought wow, Thomas, boom, blew those away over 700 years ago, using arguments from church fathers and philosophers who lived before him.”

“Faith does not have to go against reason, it can fulfill reason.  But you don’t have to give up your mind, you don’t have to give up your reasoning and critical thinking to follow Christ and to become a Catholic.”

“God permits evil only that from it a greater good may come.”

“I also intertwine the theme of the relationship between virtues and health and fitness.”

Related link:

Kevin’s official website