Episodes

Dr. Mark Webber

He is a world champion power lifter. Since 2018 he has broken nine state records in dead lift and bench press, along the way taking first place at the World Championships last year for the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters for 220-pound 50–54-year-olds. In college he had been a middle linebacker on the football team at the University of San Diego, a Catholic college where he also ran track for them, setting the school shot put and discus records. For approximately 25 years now he has been running a chiropractic sports clinic in the Pacific northwest where for years he has served numerous sports teams and events in roles such as medical director, team doctor, head drug tester, and team chiropractor.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was raised Catholic, but my dad… went into the monastery. He was a Trappist Monk… He felt called to go into that life and he was there for three years.”

“I visited a Trappist monastery many times and it was an amazing place.  I even considered going into it at one point, but I did feel more called to be married.”

“Then I said, ‘So God, do you really exist?  Do you really exist, God?  If you really exist, please show me a sign.  Show me a sign.’  And so, then I just felt this peace come over me.”

“I remember after kicking field goals one day saying, ‘Well, if I really believe in God and I believe everything that is around it, shouldn’t I want to go to Mass?  Shouldn’t I want to go to church?  Shouldn’t I be taking advantage of going to church?’  And at that point it became clear that yeah, I should be taking advantage of this.  So, I started going to Mass every morning.”

“I was also the founding member of the University of San Diego Knights of Columbus.  So, we started the Knights of Columbus on campus, and I became a third degree, and I was the first warden they had.”

“I stopped competing because… priorities change when you get married and have kids.”

“My dad had a third stroke, and he went into the hospital the day I found out my sister had cancer.”

“I said, ‘God, please help me to handle this.  Please help me to embrace it.  Give me grace.  I know they say You don’t give us more than we can handle.’  And, at the time, once I said that and I accepted it, it became much more bearable for me.”

“I thought of Jesus on the cross and I’m thinking, ‘Well, I don’t have nails through my hands and nails through my feet.  This is a lot easier than what He had to do.’  And I found there’s a certain peace when I gave it up to God, my suffering up to God.”

“When I do my dead lifts, the movement of a dead lift from the ground up, I think of Jesus on the cross, walking, when He’s carrying His cross and when He falls, and He has to stand up with the cross.  And I visualize myself doing the same movement with the dead lift like I’m picking up my cross.”

“We do a Bible study.  It’s about two to three hours on Thursday nights… Once a month we also go down and we feed the homeless in Seattle.  We cook up a meal, we put it all together, and then we serve.  So, it’s giving back.”

Related link:

Mark’s bio on his chiropractic sports clinic website

[This episode contains a prayer from the Play Like A Champion Today Coaches Manual (University of Notre Dame), as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

John Chick

He played two years for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and also spent time in the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts organizations. In addition, he played many years in the Canadian Football League and was a two-time Grey Cup champion as a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who won the league title game in both 2007 and 2013. In 2009 he earned the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award and in 2013 he led the league in sacks.  He would also play in the CFL for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Edmonton Eskimos. As a student-athlete he had played college football at Utah State.  Nowadays he is all about helping men become on fire, fit, and free.

Notable guest quotes:

“We were at church every Sunday and I grew up (with) many powerful experiences in the faith… We were serving soup kitchens every month.”

“Fortunately, I just had good doctors, great people (who’d) come and visit, and just was raised in a home that I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”

“I went to school at Utah State University and… what I found out is, I knew my faith, I had this conviction, but I wasn’t great at apologetics.”

“There was only a Newman Center (at Utah State)… that, at max, could hold three hundred people, and that’s where I was every Sunday.  And I found early on that I wanted to know how to defend my faith.”

“I can see in my story going back, every time I got knocked down it was, God blessed it more abundantly than you can imagine.”

“I called the Jaguars – who had asked me to sign with them the year before – and I ate some humble pie and said, ‘Hey, ya’ know what?  This isn’t what I thought (in Indianapolis). I’ll sign to your practice roster.  I believe I can come make your team.’  And it went back and forth, and they brought me down there.”

“My second year in Saskatchewan I had a season filled with injuries… And those down times were my best times of faith.”

“In 2008… that began a lifetime journey of getting to know Jesus in the scripture, getting to know the Word of God and really leaning on my faith.”

“Would I have had all of those accomplishments, achievements, all those things, without the cross… I don’t think so.”

“I always believed in mind, body, and spirit, that it’s all one.  We are not divided.  Jesus Christ is a hundred percent man, a hundred percent God.  We are created in His image and likeness.”

“All I knew, in my world, is the pursuit of greatness using my body to glorify God in my body.”

Related link:

John’s “Iron Will” 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)

Ed Valaitis

He is what you might call a late bloomer with an amazing story of being far more active in sports now than he was at traditional youth, student, and post graduate ages, due to his upbringing. An adventure traveler, present day he participates in running, biking, hiking, and skiing. His devotion to his Catholic faith can be seen in that two months ago he put out a book that is designed to help business owners determine both when to sell and how to sell their companies, YET, by sharing his *personal* story, he achieved #1 Amazon New Release status in the Catholic Self Help category. (NOTE: This episode contains sensitive and emotional subject matter.)

Notable guest quotes:

“We actually went to Catholic elementary school the first eight years.”

“When I was writing the book – I began 18 months ago – and I had been pushed by God.”

“At times I would say in my mind, I’d say, kinda, ‘Could ya’ keep it down, I’m trying to worship you here’.”

“As my faith grew stronger, when I got married… my wife and I agreed we were going to raise our kids in the Catholic faith… and we were going to go to Mass every week, we were going to live a stronger faith life.”

“My 40^th birthday I read the Bible cover to cover that year.”

“I knew God had forgiven me, but I still hadn’t forgiven myself completely.”

“My best thinking would happen during Mass and (I) came up with Cause For Courage, and the name came from the fact that if there’s any reason to have courage, it’s a child.”

“I have a deep love of nature, so, being outdoors and in the wilderness is certainly a high priority, and I think God’s presence is there and an opportunity to pray and meditate and enjoy His presence.”

“God’s gift to us certainly is Earth and the nature and the beauty of it all.  And, when I run or participate in other activities, I’ll often say a prayer and thank God for the ability to run.”

“It’s about living each day full out and serving God’s Will and helping us all get closer to Christ.”

Related links:

Ed’s book “Exit Like a Winner” on Amazon

CauseForCourage.com

Fr Craig Vasek

He is the Chaplain for athletics at the University of Mary, a Catholic institution in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he works full-time with 19 athletic teams and around 450 scholar-athletes.  Ordained as a priest in 2010 in Minnesota, he is a graduate of the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City. Raised around sports, he began to letter in ninth grade as a multi-sport athlete in football, basketball and track & field, including having been a two-way starter for his high school football team which advanced to a state championship, AND earning a trip to the state track & field championships his senior year.  He also hosts various radio shows and has even done a podcast of his own.

Notable guest quotes:

“This didn’t convert my life to the Lord at all, but it was like this sort of athletic redemption thing.”

“By the end of it I had opened my entire life before God through the priest.”

“The only thing that I knew at the end of that retreat and from that moment forward was that Jesus died for me, and He just saved my life and now I’m going to live for Him ‘cause I love Him.”

“Jesus just whispered right through me pretty, I mean, it was kind of a loud whisper, ‘This is what I want you to do’ as I’m looking at the priest.”

“To have a priest walking around in the athletic department, when I first arrived, it was kind of funny.  I mean, I almost felt awkward.  I’m usually fine walking around in clerics, but I almost started feeling awkward ‘cause, like, I’d come around a corner and there’d be students walking and they would immediately, like, clam up, these football players or whoever they were, they’d clam up… because they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, God just walked around the corner’.”

“The world of athletics needs conversion because these are the people that, for better or for worse, are the ministers, are the pastors, of a generation of youth… We need a conversion so that, like, we can proclaim the gospel through sport rather than trying to convert people away from sport so that we can get the gospel to ‘em.”

“The purpose of sport is not to win.  The purpose of sport finds itself within the greater purpose of all human endeavors, which is that I become who God has created me to be so that I might inherit eternal life.”

“A lot of our mental health struggles, that I find, is that people don’t have any virtue, and that’s why they’re struggling.  And because they’re clamoring for their identity in their sport or they’re clamoring for their identity in their friends rather than in the Lord.”

“First Corinthians chapter nine in the heart of it, ‘Run so as to win, for a crown that is imperishable rather than one that is perishable.’  It’s magnificent work by Saint Paul, he who is in Greece, understanding the Olympics, understanding that Gentile way, and then leaning in with this kind of drawing together two principles: the one of the pursuit of eternity… and then also this objective that you run instead of win.”

Related link:

Fr. Vasek’s bio on U. of Mary website

Mike McQuaid

He has been involved in various sports-related capacities. Most recently is his foray into the sport of triathlon, which has seen him compete in over 20 long-course, Olympic, and Sprint triathlons, including reaching the podium six times in the past two seasons. On April 2nd he will compete in the Ironman Oceanside 70.3 in San Diego, and in preparation for that he will complete a training ride next week in which he will tackle the 10,068-foot, 35-mile climb to the summit of Maui’s Haleakala Volcano dubbed as the “World’s longest paved climb.” He had been an All-Pac 10 and national champion rower in his 20s. As a competitive sailor, he was a member of the winning crew at the 1998 Swiftsure International Yacht Race. Plus, he has held administrative roles in sports with the Seattle Goodwill Games, the Washington State Olympic Committee, the Seattle Sports Commission, USA Canoe/Kayak, and even US Lacrosse, among many others.

Notable guest quotes:

“In growing up, mom surrounded us with Catholic families, and we attended Mass… and throughout my early life, being Catholic was always a part of my identity.”

“As we were preparing for that game a local priest came in and we held hands and had a prayer, a blessing prior to the game.  And that was something that was very, very monumental for me, to understand and explore the power of faith and the power of God as you approach competition.”

“I was working on a program that helped athletes acclimatize prior to competition, it’s very common prior to games.  And I wanted to connect Philip Boit with Kenyans in the local community.  So, there’s a priest that I was very close to, Fr. Stephen Okumu, who was quite a successful soccer coach and athlete himself.”

“We see this in 1 Corinthians 9:24, which essentially says, ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.’  And if we look a little deeper into that verse, we really understand that it’s at the heart of the Olympic creed and it’s more about effort and dedication and the journey, and the reward is beyond the hardware that you can put around your neck.”

“It’s very much about competing with integrity.  It’s not about winning at all costs or abandoning your values, and really, it’s about, yes, we will lose sometimes.  We’ll get beat sometimes, absolutely.  But by performing with honor, we can always be victorious in the eyes of God.  And I think about that before every competition.”

“I can recall just the comfort that praying quietly… It brought me a sense of understanding, a sense of absolute calm, a sense of reconciliation… and a connection with God and understand that God was indeed there.”

“Prayer has helped tremendously.  I know God loves me and I know God is guiding me.”

“Prayer and… patience is important to Catholics and anyone, that the signs are there, and the path of peace is there.  We just have to be patient and be willing to work through some of the challenges along the way.”

“I think that if it wasn’t for the Catholic Jack Kelly and his quiet demeanor and patience, that experience might not have played out that way.  And I think that’s a tremendous metaphor for life in a lot of ways, that if we have that kind of patience and if we have that kind of trust, we can have wonderful opportunities.  We see this in Proverbs 3, 5 and 6.”

“He implored on me, as a very last piece of advice he gave me, he says, ‘Trust in your training and have patience and trust in God’.”

Related link:

Mike’s bio from his company’s website

[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]

Tom Fox

He will be inducted this year into the St. Ignatius Athletics Hall of Fame. For 20 years he has run a basketball camp in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and has coached both basketball and track at two different high schools, plus he also coached AAU basketball. As a student-athlete he had played basketball on a full athletic scholarship at St. Francis College of Pennsylvania, which followed a high school career during which he was a four-year letterman in track and three-year letterman in basketball. Prior to his senior season of basketball, he was selected as one of the top players in Ohio by USA Today. Last year he published a book called, “A Penny’s Thoughts: Sometimes All You Need is a Change of Perspective.”

Notable guest quotes:

“I grew up in a large Irish Catholic family… we lived actually right up the street from St. Luke’s grade school… Big part of the parish. Parish life was everything to our family.”

“(I attended) St. Luke grade school in Lakewood, Ohio, St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, and St. Francis College… in Loretto, Pennsylvania.”

“My dad started an initiative called Varsity Coats for Needy Folks… he noticed our three varsity coats — my younger brother, mine, and my older brother, for Ignatius — were just hanging in the closet and he thought, there’s a lot of homeless individuals, folks that can’t afford coats, and why not refurbish these coats and get them out to the poor.”

“He’s just a very holy man and a great basketball coach at the same time. So, I’m very blessed to have played for someone like him.”

“In my college career I actually tore my ACL… Basketball was everything (to me), but had my folks not really instilled a deep faith, I don’t know if I would’ve gotten through that very tough time in my life.”

“Faith has been my constant and without my parents establishing that early on and having great godparents… I don’t think I could’ve weathered those storms.”

“The Holy Spirit, really, I was very blessed to come up with the concept and the words really came (for the book).”

“Every morning I get up, the first thing I say when I put my feet on the ground is ‘Thank you, Lord, for another day.’ I know that every day is a gift.”

“The prayer that I wanted to tell you about, the prayer of abandonment, is a prayer by Charles de Foucauld, is his name.  I’m pretty sure he’s just become a saint.”

“The rosary I say every morning… I have a rosary in my pocket and I will say a decade for something different every day.”

Related links:

Tom’s book on Amazon

Tom’s blog “The Empathetic Fox”

(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.)

Joey Crawford

He is a current candidate for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2022. He is the Referee Development Performance Director for NBA Referee Operations, following a career as an NBA official from 1977 to 2016, officiating more than 2,500 regular season games and a record 344 playoff games. Fifty of those playoff games were in the Finals. In the all-time NBA referee rankings, he is first in playoff games, Finals Game 7s, and total games, plus he is tied for first in total seasons officiated. Along the way he also officiated three All-Star Games and even worked the McDonald’s Championship in Germany in 1993. He is also in three Halls of Fame.

Notable guest quotes:

“At one time… it was the largest Catholic school in America.  It was called Most Blessed Sacrament in Philly.  It was huge.  And we lived… right across the street from it.”

“I went to St. Pius X… (and then) in high school… I went to Cardinal O’Hara.  We were that Catholic family.  It was a tremendous upbringing.”

“When I was pursuing the (NBA), I would pray… I would go to Mass on Sundays… Where we were raised, my father always went to Mass on Sundays and, I’m assuming because I saw that, I did also.”

“I figured it out, that there was importance in other things, and I was going through some trials and tribulations… in my personal life and in my work life and I think that’s when I actually got serious… about my faith.”

“Referees have to learn to serve the game.  And, I think sometimes as referees, you get caught up with serving yourself.”

“As you evolve it starts to become you’re taking (the approach), ‘It’s about the game, it’s about the crew, and then it’s about you.’ And if you can take it in that order, you can see that your career is getting better and better because you’re putting yourself on the back burner. And to me it’s actually life too, where you’re trying to be that better person and you’re looking out for someone else instead of yourself.”

“I’ve been to Serbia. I’ve been to Japan. I’ve been to China… We get the opportunity to go in there and try to teach their referees in their country what we do in the NBA… My most favorite thing to do in a year is go on one of those trips.”

“When you run these camps, a lot of time they’re money makers.  And that always got in my gut about the money aspect of making money off of refereeing… So, what we decided to do as a group, is, each referee… the money that we collected, we all had our own individual charities.”

Related link:

ESPN video for story Joey told of Villanova player-of-the-year-turned-cloistered-nun