Episodes

Tom McConnell

He is the head women’s basketball coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, with next month marking the nine-year anniversary since he was introduced there to that position. Just over three years ago — during his sixth season — he became the program’s all-time winningest coach. Under his guidance the Crimson Hawks have won two PSAC tournament titles, and back-to-back Atlantic Region crowns and Elite Eight national semifinal berths. He had come to IUP with more than 25 years of coaching, game management and player development knowledge learned after spending time on the coaching staffs of six colleges. At one point during his professional career, he was the Director of Youth and Campus Ministry for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. In addition, he founded and directed The Word and the Rock Basketball Camp and was the Director of Camp Zacchaeus. As a student-athlete he had played basketball at two different colleges.

Notable guest quotes:

“I am the oldest of eight.  We grew up in Pittsburgh, and, Catholic all our lives.  We went to Our Lady of Loretto grade school in the Pittsburgh area and then onto Seton LaSalle High School.  When I was there it was South Hills Catholic High School.  So, it’s just been a big part of our family and (I) just really feel fortunate to have those twelve years of Catholic education.”

“I saw the ability to teach and to motivate, inspire, more than Xs and Os, but just to really impact young people through sports.”

“I was very blessed to have opportunities to go to Marquette University in Milwaukee, then on to University of Dayton, and then eventually as the head coach for seven years at St. Francis in Loretto, Pennsylvania.  And I just loved being in that (Catholic) environment.”

“It was probably not until I went to St. Francis and really got close with a lot of the friars there that my faith really began to grow.  And it was at that time that I knew that the more that God was working in my life, that I needed to now incorporate my faith into my coaching.”

“As my faith began to grow… I saw what God was doing in my life and I wanted to be able to share this with other players and coaches and so we started The Word and the Rock Basketball Camp.”

“Each morning and each afternoon we set aside time and we had sessions where we now talked about our faith and how to bring that into the sports world.”

“I was getting way, way more out of it than they were because I just saw what God was teaching and doing in my life and able to take those values, those principles, those gospel lessons and bring them into sports and everyday life.”

“When you look back on it you could really see God’s hand at work.  I thought I was going to St. Francis to try to win a conference championship and find a good place for my family to live and to raise them, and God put us in a neighborhood with some amazing faith-filled people who were very devoted.”

“Me, him, and two other guys went to Medjugorje for ten days and it was just so impactful.  And from that time on – and so moving – I just have tried to really incorporate into my life the five stones of the Medjugorje message of prayer, fasting, the Mass, the Bible, and frequent confession.”

“I just would encourage more Catholics to know the true role that Mary plays in our lives and how she just is a mother to us and just brings us to her son and he refuses her nothing, as we know.”

Related link:

Tom’s bio on IUP Athletics 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.)

Denis Villeneuve

He has been running for almost 49 years and has run over 72,000 miles, which means he has averaged running four miles a day for almost 49 years.  Three years ago, he won the State of Washington 6K Cross Country Championship and the Regional Championship. Back in his college days he started at the University of Oregon and participated in multiple intramural sports and ran on his own, including running his first marathon, before transferring to Oregon College for his junior year, running cross country and track there.  He had been a wrestler in high school, although he did end up doing cross country as well.  He has also coached extensively, including getting a job in the fall of 1984 at Redmond High School, where he coached cross country and track and didn’t retire until June of last year.

Notable guest quotes:

“Both of my parents were cradle Catholics and so I was born a cradle Catholic… and so I grew up from the church and just never left and attended Mass pretty much on a regular basis for all these years and no matter where I’ve been or what I’ve done I’ve kept that kind of going along and it’s a very comforting part of my life.”

“My parents were very devout, and they always made sure we were either in a school or in a CCD program or something of that nature, and then, going to Mass and practicing the sacraments.”

“My parents moved, and I went to a Catholic school in the nearby city and then we moved back to Eugene, and I went to a different Catholic school.”

“I like running alone more than with a group… I like my time out there in nature, just me and my thoughts.  And certainly, many prayers and meditations… have occurred during those countless miles.”

(running alone) “it’s a good stress reliever and it feels like a good connection with God.”

“They had a Newman Center at (University of) Oregon and so that was fun to go to to meet like-minded people… so it was nice to have a place to go to meet with people that were… more in tune with the things that I was interested in… And then when I transferred to Oregon College of Education… they also had a very nice Newman Center… Our priest there was wonderful, and he actually presided at my wife and I’s wedding later in life.”

“My focus in coaching was always the healthy mind-body connection and I always taught virtues and values that you could apply to running but also to the classroom and then to relationships, your job, your personal life, et cetera.”

“It turns out that she was Catholic, and that she was going to the Newman Center also… and then we went on a Newman Center retreat and started going out after that and haven’t stopped since… It will be 42 years (of marriage) in July.”

“We’ve been doing a Sunday night rosary every Sunday night at 8pm (virtually)… and each family dedicates intentions to whatever… So, it’s a good end of the day for Sunday.”

“I joined the (church) choir initially… and then I decided I’d rather lector, so I’ve been lectoring for, like, 30-plus years, and then I did a bunch of other stuff with St. Vincent de Paul and parish council and RCIA… We’ve been on church retreats… We’re very much involved… We’re always chipping in one way or the other.”

(This episode contains a prayer originally from prayers-and-poetry.blogspot.com, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Harry Perretta

He served for 42 years at Villanova University as the head women’s basketball coach, tied for the most seasons at one school at all divisions in the history of NCAA women’s college basketball. A private, Catholic school, Villanova saw their women’s basketball team record 783 wins during his time as coach, which started when he was just 22 years old — the youngest coach to ever head a women’s varsity program at Villanova. He played his college basketball at Lycoming and went on to become a student assistant coach and coach of the junior varsity team before starting his four-plus decades career with the Wildcats. He also has a strong spiritual connection with someone considered to be arguably the greatest player he coached and whose faith story came to be told nationally.

Notable guest quotes:

“Our faith was pretty strong within the family… we followed the sacraments, we went to Mass regularly.  So, it was a decent kind of a faith within our family.”

“I went to Our Lady of Angels grade school… and I formed my religious background basically by the Immaculata nuns who taught us there and we also had a strong pastor.”

“For some reason, when I got older, like seventh and eighth grade, I started to get an attachment to the Blessed Mother, and I actually started saying my rosary back then.”

“I attended Monsignor Bonner High School and there I met up with the Augustinians, who ran the school.  And the Augustinians really laid down a solid faith foundation and I got to be friendly with a lot of the priests and that’s how I kind of continued on my path.  I continued to say the rosary.”

“There were people on the different teams who knew my religious background who would push themselves towards me.”

“We always prayed in the locker room before a game, and a lot of schools don’t do that, but that was just something that I felt that I wanted to do, so I did that.  And I always had a chaplain with us, and a lot of schools don’t really do that, but we always had a chaplain with us… So, that’s how I kind of spread my own faith, or faith in general, to the players.”

“We had some players who actually converted to Catholicism who were not Catholic, but a lot of that came from not just me but certain players that I had… that just radiated a strong religious background.”

“I was wearing my scapular when I went in for the (recruiting) visit and I pulled it out during the visit.  And, for some reason, a week later, two weeks later, the mother started to believe… that hey, this guy might be genuine.”

“I managed to convince the Mother Superior, when Shelly was entering the Poor Clares, that I would be able to visit her once a year.  And she kept that promise and passed it on to Mother Superiors after her and I’m the only non-family member that’s allowed to visit her once a year.  So, it’s a unique experience.”

Related link:

Harry’s bio on Villanova 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.)

Mark Wahlberg

He is an award-winning actor whose newest film comes out this Wednesday, April 13th, and is called, “Father Stu,” based on a true story. He is a devout Catholic and the youngest of nine children in his family. On the sports side he is very well known for his passion for fitness, having appeared on the cover of countless magazines such as Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, and Men’s Fitness, among others. He has also had numerous roles in films connected to sports. (A video version of this episode is available on the Catholic Sports Radio official YouTube channel.)

Notable guest quotes:

“(Father Stu) just has such an amazing story and it’s so inspiring.  I mean, I found it inspiring, and I knew that it would touch and inspire a lot of other people.”

“I started doing… the training to play a priest.  I would kind of perform these Masses at my house with Father Benioff… and so, it’s all about the preparation.  I always want it to look as realistic as possible.”

“I am really committed to continuing down this path and making more faith-based content.”

“When praying about getting the movie made, I always prayed about bringing people to church and the vocation of the priesthood and anything in between.”

“I always approach everything that I do as an athlete just because that’s what I was and that’s still how I approach everything that I do, in all of my training, my preparation, everything.”

“…the Michael Jordans of the world, where the guy, in high school, those are the guys that kind of inspired me.  And I was never supposed to be the guy in this business, but I was always willing to outwork everybody and just try a little bit harder and go a little bit deeper.”

“The movie being so powerful and affecting so many people and being so needed and people starving for something that’s really uplifting and hopefully will inspire them and renew their faith and give them hope is… not a coincidence.  That’s the guy up there working that out.”

“With everything going on in the world I’ve had my ups and downs and my faith has been challenged.  It’s completely normal.  But at the end of the day where else do you look to be able to really deal with all of the difficulties that life faces you.”

“It always gets a little bit longer, the prayers.  I mean, a lot more to be grateful for and a lot more people that I’ve encountered along the way that I personally want to pray for and keep in my prayers.”

“That’s the only way to start the day, me getting on my hands and my knees and then the daily devotionals and things that I read.”

“It’s faith, family, fitness, film… philanthropic, all those things.  It’s the most important thing.  And again, starting on my hands and my knees reminds me of the most important things that I need to do on a daily basis.”

Related links:

“Father Stu” official website

Trailer for “Father Stu”

Film clip used on this episode courtesy of Sony Pictures

Special thanks to Carmel Communications

Amy Brooks

She was inducted last year into the Athletic Hall of Fame at DeSales University, a Catholic school where she was a standout runner on the women’s cross country and track & field teams. During her time at DeSales she was a part of three Cross Country PAC Championship teams, earning PAC Runner of the Year and All-PAC First Team honors twice each in 1994 and 1996. She was named to the PAC/CSAC 25th Anniversary Cross Country Team and was a member of the 4×800 meter relay team that continues to hold the indoor school record. Before DeSales she had been All-Catholic for the Philadelphia Catholic League every year of high school – in cross country as well as indoor and outdoor track. She had been awarded MVP in her junior and senior year, the latter also seeing her win Female Athlete of the Year, which encompassed all sports at Cardinal Dougherty High School. She has also coached at a high school.

Notable guest quotes:

“We would… go to church every Sunday as a family.  We often walked to church and my dad would have us sit in the front pew.”

“We always prayed before meals, grace before meals, but we also prayed the Sacred Heart of Jesus prayer for our family.  And that was really important.  I was always grateful for that, to have that faith in my life.”

“I started teaching at a Catholic school.  I taught seventh and eighth grade for four years… And then I got a job teaching at a Catholic high school.”

“I’ve been educated in Catholic schools my whole life and I also was an educator in Catholic schools for 14 years.”

“My faith, I guess, was always so much a part of my personality.”

“When I started teaching high school, I decided that I was going to start every class with (the St. Francis Prayer).  And all my students, I would give them a copy of that.  They’d put it in the back of their notebook and that’s how we started every day.  And then often I would say, ‘St. Francis,’ and they would say, ‘Pray for us’ and then I would just randomly say (different) saints.”

“And then I started questioning God, like, ‘(running) isn’t helping anyone.  Why can’t I have, like, this dynamic personality where I lead people to serve you or a great voice where I can lead people in song to praise you’?”

“I definitely see that God had a plan that I didn’t see.”

“I wanted to make sure when I gave a speech, I witnessed to the fact that the school was Catholic and that I was able to go to Mass every week and that my faith was able to be a part of my life there.”

“I remember thinking, ‘Okay, if Jesus can carry His cross to His death, I can run up this hill.’  And that was the thought that would keep me going… As I look back, God was giving me the opportunity to offer up suffering and unite it with His suffering.”

“Every time I held onto my faith, and I chose a choice that was what I thought God wanted more than what I wanted, I learned who God wanted me to be.  And my faith really helped me to learn what it means to be yourself and how God has a plan for everyone.”

Related link:

Amy’s books on Amazon

(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)

Mario Andretti

He is a racing icon, considered by many to be the greatest race car driver in the history of the sport. He had an illustrious career that saw him win in every discipline he entered – midgets, sprint cars, dirt track cars, stock cars, IndyCars, Formula One, Formula 5000 and sports cars. He won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and ultimately the Formula One World Championship, an unprecedented trifecta in that no other race car driver has ever won all three titles. He took the checkered flag 111 times during a career that stretched five decades and across six continents. The Associated Press named him Driver of the Century.

Notable guest quotes:

“We were, as a family, a product of World War II.  Where I was born… Our region was occupied by hardline communism… We were refugees in our own country for seven-and-a-half years.”

“This is when you put yourself in the faith of God too, because the future is very cloudy at best. Again, your heart goes out to these people, honestly (in the Ukraine).”

“We had a priest in our family until we left Italy and, to me, I loved that man more than I loved anyone in my life.”

“My dream began of becoming a race (car) driver when I was still in the refugee camp, like, the impossible dream, it’s something we never gave up on.”

“I put myself in the hands of God in so many ways… I always had a prayer just before every single race.”

“Every single race I was always thinking, I used to put myself in the hands of my uncle priest.  I’d say, ‘He’ll take care of me.’  And that gave me the courage, that gave me peace and tranquility in what I was doing, which was all-important.  You have to have a serene mind when you’re doing something that requires so much focus… and I had that because of my faith.”

“…today.  I have a two-seater car, I have a passenger behind me, and I feel very confident of my own ability that we’re safe, but at the same time, it’s a mechanical thing that we’re relying on.  There could be something mechanical happening that could hurt us, but I feel that we’re protected in the way that I put myself in the faith of God and that’s what has kept me going.  That’s what keeps me going today.”

“I had a situation in 2003 at Indianapolis, which could’ve been the end of it all.  I had a big flip at over 200 miles an hour and should not have survived that.  I did.  And that was by the grace of God, for sure.”

“I’ve been spared in so many situations and I don’t take it for granted.  I know how blessed I’ve been, and I always say this, I count my blessings every day because of that.”

Related link:

Mario’s official website

Dan O’Leary

He was a tight end and long snapper who was drafted by the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and went on to play for them, the New York Giants, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had played his college football at Notre Dame, where he was captain in his senior year, when the Fighting Irish played in the BCS Fiesta Bowl Game. After college he played in the Hula Bowl, all of which followed a high school football career that saw him play on three state championship teams, two of which were national championships. As a senior he was rated the #1 tight end in the country.

Notable guest quotes:

“My mom, she took me to Mass every single day at an early age.  I think it was, this was every day pretty much before preschool and kindergarten.  That’s kind of where my faith and spirituality began.”

“When I look back and think about where God’s played a major role in my life, it happened at an early age… I remember, specifically, Confirmation… that was pretty powerful for me at the time… From that point on you’re in this conversation with our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Saint Ignatius (high school) did an unbelievable job of talking about what is God calling you to be and being a man for others.”

“I began to start setting like, just different scriptures and making that the theme of each year.”

“My theme for this year is GREAT, ya’ know, be great.  And the acronym, G stands for God – and this is all in the importance of what’s important to me in life, priorities – but it would be God, relationships – with my family and with my friends, E is for exercise, A is for abundant life… and then the T is for thankfulness.”

“(The Catholic aspect of Notre Dame) was big… For me it was an easy decision.  I’ve always loved Notre Dame.  My parents, my family have always loved Notre Dame.  Ya’ know, the campus itself is just, it’s so serene, it’s so peaceful, the grotto, the lakes there, the basilica, it made sense for me.  I’m Irish Catholic.”

“If I look back in that time, it could’ve been very, very easy for me to quit but I had to rely on my faith that I knew this was going to get better.”

“I just kinda felt like, ya’ know, Our Father, ‘Thy Will be done,’ God’s Will – whatever it is, if it is to play football, it’s gonna happen.  If it’s not, then it’s time to switch gears.  So, I was just okay with whatever happened.”

(upon getting drafted into the NFL) “There was definitely a feeling of thankfulness and there were prayers that were said right after that.  That was obviously His Will for me.”

“There was a lot of fellowship before and after football games, and once a week just fellowship meetings that we would go to.”

“God didn’t create any one of us to be average.  My belief is God created every one of us to be exceptional in our own way.”

“It’s one thing to go to Mass… but I think it’s another thing to be in a real conversation with your creator, sitting down with Jesus and talking with Him.”

(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)