Episodes

Art Hill

He was an International Softball Federation-certified fastpitch umpire, working seven World Cup events and the World University Games. He continues to work Division I, II, and III college softball games, including having worked the NCAA Division III World Series. Additionally, he assigned and worked in the National Pro Fastpitch League for 12 years. He currently assigns softball for seven college conferences & Independent. He had even assigned umpires for the Rebel Spring Games, which is the longest-running spring collegiate program in the nation. He also played men’s fastpitch softball and coached summer softball teams.

Notable guest quotes:

“My mother was Lutheran.  My dad was Catholic, though… In the summers (mom) would send us to the summer Bible classes that were offered”

“I played… football, basketball, baseball… and sometimes I would have to run track… I got an Honorable Mention All-State playing football.  And I had, at that time, a gentleman who was on the Detroit Lions, I remember him handing me my award.”

“It was a rewarding experience, playing football.  It taught you perseverance and self-gratitude.”

“The Scout Master… was Catholic.  And every time we went on a weekday camping trip, or we took a three-month summer tour, every time we went to church, we always went to a Catholic church.  So that gave me an opportunity to see the other religion.”

“I went and found the chaplain and as we talked, I asked to be converted (to Catholicism) and I have and still am.”

“I thanked God that He saw fit at that time not to bring me home… As they say, everybody wants to go to heaven, but maybe not right now.”

“Obviously God has a plan for me, but I have no idea what it is, but He keeps taking care of me and I appreciate it.”

“It was a gesture that, it made your eyes swell.  It was so beautiful.  And it was unexpected.  I was blessed to be there to witness that.”

“We’re empty nesters — three boys and a girl… between all of them, they’ve blessed us with 13 grandchildren.  And I always tell people… my two oldest sons believe that biblical prophecy ‘go forth and multiply’.”

Related link:

(video) Home run/ESPN sportsmanship moment Art mentioned

Pat Fraher

He is in his 21st season as an NBA referee, having officiated more than 1,100 regular season and over 50 playoff games. He also worked the 2015 NBA All-Star Game in New York. Before joining the NBA, he officiated for seven years in the CBA, where he worked the Finals and All-Star Game. In addition, he spent four years in the WNBA. He also has two years of college officiating experience and ten years of experience as a high school official. Back in his days as a student-athlete in high school he played basketball, football, and golf.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was a cradle Catholic.  I went to Catholic grade school, K through 8… complete with the nuns.  My family had season tickets for church.  My grandma even got us the extra Holy Days of Obligation package.”

“I got hired (into the NBA) in 2001.  So, we have twenty (years) in and this is the 21st.  All glory to God.”

“There’s a saying that we all have a God-shaped hole in us and nothing will fill it except for Him and I believe that was His point to me.”

“I researched the ego and during my research I realized that the ego touches every part of our life, including our faith.”

“I would call this how I was kind of brought back to the fold, so to speak — Fr. Larry Richards and his book Be A Man.”

“When I talk to a referee I like to find out, what’s the most important thing in your life.  And a lot of times the answer is going to be family; which is a good answer, but, it’s not the right answer.  God should come before that.”

“You put God first, what does He want you to do with your family?  Take care of your family, love your family.  So, you don’t have to pick one or the other.  But priority makes all the difference because anything above Him is an idol.”

“After I… gave my life back to Christ… I wanted some divine revelation as to what was next… I woke up with the idea of REF, which is Referees Embracing Faith.”

“I received an email from a guy… and he was just starting his ministry, SOS, which is Sports Officials Surrendered.”

Related links:

Pat’s bio on NBA Referees Association website
Sports Officials Surrendered website

Chris Strykowski

The Director of Football Operations and Special Teams Coordinator for the ten-time state champion Royals at Roncalli High School, a co-ed Catholic high school in Indianapolis. He is in his 22nd year at the school and has had seven kickers go on to play collegiately at notable schools, and, players under his direction hold ten team records. Next month he will be presenting at a Football Coaches Clinic for the seventh time. As a student-athlete himself he had participated in numerous sports, including his college years when he competed at Ball State University in intramural sports.

Notable guest quotes:

“Throughout our grade school years, our high school years, for me personally that Catholic element was really, really important.”

“I really kind of took off as a coach, and, who I am today is really because of a gentleman by the name of Bruce Scifres… And ultimately his overarching goal for everything, the way he sees it is, we have a responsibility as Christians… that our job is to try and bring as many people to Jesus Christ as we possibly can.”

“We’ve been having a pregame Mass every single week, whether we are at home or on the road… Just finding ways to make sure that we get that in and make sure that that is a big part of what we do has become a big part of my job, part of what I believe is really, really important about what we do.”

“We also include a program we call Senior Scripture… We have a different senior each week will give sort of a reflection… We hook them up with some people in our theology department… to kind of help guide them.  But the idea is to find a scripture passage, kind of tie it into that week’s game, and try to draw parallels between what the Word of God is with what it is that we’re trying to do each week with these young men.”

“I have just some reminders of the things that I want to make sure that I pray for each time.  So, as I’m going out to the field.”

“I always pray for three specific things… I pray for wisdom… The second one is for courage… and, finally, for strength.”

“On the way back into the locker room… I’m thanking God for allowing those things to come through me.”

“At Roncalli… that discussion of Catholic faith, that discussion of our relationship with Jesus Christ, that role that He plays in our lives, it’s always been something that’s been kind of front and center.”

“At the end of each practice, we pray as a group.  At the end of each game, we pray as a group.  Before each game, we pray as a group.”

“I also serve the parish as a lector and a Eucharistic Minister.”

“We went to Italy and we went to different locations that would’ve been important to (Pope) John XXIII.”

Related link:

Bio on Chris from Roncalli football webpage

(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.)

Curt Tomasevicz

He competed for the U.S. National Bobsled Team from 2004 to 2014, qualifying for three Olympics (2006, 2010, 2014). On the four-man team, he earned two Olympic medals (gold in 2010 and silver in 2014) and nine World Championship medals. During his years as a student-athlete he played football for the University of Nebraska as both a running back and linebacker, earning Academic All-Conference honors along the way. Present day he is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and this past May was appointed as Director of Sports Performance at USA Bobsled and Skeleton.

Notable guest quotes:

“I have one brother… and then my parents… pretty typical Catholic family… (I) was an altar boy for ten years and was participating in the Mass quite a bit that way.”

“I was understanding that God’s plan just didn’t include the NFL for me.”

“The Newman Center at the University of Nebraska… there’s a lot of activities and associations… I became an acolyte while attending those programs.”

“Through the football team… we always had Mass available to us before games.”

“My faith was a big part of my college life.”

“People hear that I spent ten years on the bobsled team.  So, I’ve started to use that platform a little bit to try to use it to spread a positive message about my faith.”

“When I started bobsledding, I kind of had a few things that I would do in the morning; read a short scripture, be prayerful … but it… really became part of my daily routine… after my first crash… I’m kind of proud of this, actually.  But, my first instinct was, when I felt my head hit the ice, there was a big impact, and immediately I started saying Hail Marys.”

“Every time I’d walk to the line, I’d pray about safety for myself and my team but also my competitors and everybody involved.  And that really became kind of my bobsled prayer routine, was to think about safety, think about all my competitors and athletes that are there more than just winning and losing.”

“I kept having these moments of ‘What should I do next?  Where do I go?  What should I do?  How do I have that same kind of fulfillment in my life?’  And that’s kind of when I talked to a priest… and he always told me whenever things are difficult… go back to God.”

“So many athletes, part of their story is overcoming some kind of injury or adversity that way.  And I was very blessed, and I always tell people that, in fact, I’ve never pulled a muscle.”

“I was offered an opportunity to attend this Christians Encounter Christ weekend… leaving there, I’ll tell anybody that ever asks, how rejuvenated and excited I was.”

Related link:

Curt’s bio from U. of Nebraska

(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)

Erinn Black

She was on the Division I George Mason women’s soccer team and then served in a Student Assistant Coaching/Manager role with the team.  Earlier on as a student-athlete she had competed in three sports in high school: field hockey, track, and soccer.  Now doing missionary work on a college campus, she was an all-state field hockey player and captain of her travel/high school soccer team.  Injuries in her athletic career played a key role in the growth of her faith life, as she talks about here.

Notable guest quotes:

“Born and raised Catholic and have always been.  Both my parents are Catholic and that’s how they raised us.”

“What I found with each injury and the intensity of it, there were so many ways that I was able to enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus in that.”

“Our suffering is always an invitation to die to ourselves for the sake of others.”

“He loves meeting us there.  That is what’s echoed in scripture.  He’s going to those who are in poverty, the weak, those who are poor.  And at this rate I was extremely poor.  I was suffering severely in my injuries.”

“It’s one thing when you can live into the faith when things are good.  But it’s a whole ‘nother thing when you’re choosing that in the darkest days of your life.”

“There were plenty of days where I ended in the chapel, with tears, and just emotional, but being very consoled by Jesus and it actually being life changing for me.”

“I was still empty, and I had everything that the world told me that I should have, and nothing could fill that infinite longing in my heart until I met Christ.  It’s as simple as that.”

“When the Lord revealed that the ‘why’ that I was asking Him — ‘Why didn’t you give me the platform.  I could’ve done this, that, and the other for You” — He made it very clear.  He said, ‘Erin, you wouldn’t have chosen me, and I wanted your heart so bad.  It would’ve got so lost.  You would not have chosen me, and I wanted you too much’.”

“I’m very thankful, very thankful, for the suffering I’ve gone through, and the degree that I did because I wouldn’t be the person I am, I wouldn’t have the heart that I do, and I wouldn’t know Christ in the depth that I do either.”

“I was so used to kind of being the anchor for most of the people in my life that I needed someone who was going to sprint with me towards heaven.”

“I dove completely into just greater healing, consistent prayer life, sacramental life, this new community, the people I surrounded myself with.  And then I was able to dive into that with my soccer team, lead them in Bible study, and accompanying my closest friends on the team.”

Related link:

Erin’s FOCUS profile

(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)

Carley Whitney

The Assistant Athletic Director, Head Girls Basketball Coach, and Summer Camps Director at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio.  She is also the founder of IAmHer Basketball and had attended Kent State, where she played club soccer for four years, having been captain/manager for three.  During that same time, she was driving back and forth every day to coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary, where she had been a three-sport athlete, earning eleven letters (four in soccer, four in softball, and three in basketball). She was an All-Ohio soccer player during her high school years as well.

Notable guest quotes:

“I’ve been a product of Catholic education my entire life.  Played CYO sports.”

“When you say, ‘How does my Catholic faith play a role,’ I guess it’s not so much a role it’s a part of me.”

“St. Vincent-St. Mary High School has allowed me to innately be myself; to live my faith, to talk about faith, to use it as a tool and a vehicle, to ingrain faith and sports.”

“I have a strong foundation.  I was raised in a Catholic household where your rent payment was, going to church on Sunday.  There was no expectation.  You didn’t sleep in.  That was an expectation.  If you lived at home you were getting up and going.”

“I’ve always been one to kind of give it to God.  I live my faith in my own unique way.”

“Before games I go sit in the church parking lot, and I have my quiet time inside the church.”

“When you have large, large changes in your life… that is God… God only gives you what you can handle and He was preparing me… and has for the last eight years.”

“I’m trying to make young women better than when, how they came to me.  I also think that’s kind of God’s work.  You don’t get paid enough for all the hours you put in.  You get paid in heaven points hopefully.”

“I am a Catholic woman who is a faith-filled person who is allowed to use their faith as a tool.  If that wasn’t who I am that might be different.”

“Within my own (summer) camp I run my camps just like I run my program.  You’re getting a taste of what we do.  We pray before everything.”

Related link:

Carley’s bio page on St. Vincent-St. Mary website

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

Linda Randazzo

The Assistant Track & Field Coach and Recruitment Coordinator at Belmont Abbey College, also studying (through Divine Mercy University) to become a licensed sports psychologist. Previously she was on staff with the track coaches at Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami. As a student-athlete she competed in the 200m and javelin at Belmont Abbey College, having also competed in track and field in high school.  There was also some very notable sports involvement in her family, which she talks about in this episode.

Notable guest quotes:

“There was kind of no question for my parents that… my brother and I were going to be put in the best schools that we possibly could be put in, and these, of course, were all Catholic.”

“Every time there was a tryout at St. Theresa, I tried out for the team and by the grace of God I made the team.”

“For a lot of Italian-Americans heritage and faith go hand-in-hand.  So, that greater glory to God and I think just being around all of these men and women who emphasized the importance of sport and virtue in conjunction with one another, as a little girl that kind of gave me the guts just to go out there and play with the guys.”

“They served as professional mentors, of course, teaching me all about the practicalities of being a coach.  But also, they served as spiritual directors as well for me.”

“Coaching and athletics, the physical element of everything has its limits… But when you’re working with these student-athletes… there is a point where it does always turn to spiritual direction because we are a body and spirit all in one all the time.”

“I think at every point in some Catholic’s life you’re going to be challenged.  Your faith is going to be challenged.  And I think that’s unfortunately a byproduct of our fallen nature.”

“I remember thinking, ‘My gosh, this is so much more than just rosaries on the mantle or pictures on the wall.  This is truth.  This is something that is actually something that people would, without hesitation, give their life for rather than renounce Christ and His truth and the beauty that is Catholicism’.”

“We have to cooperate with grace and go where God and the Holy Spirit beckons us.”

“There’s no such thing as coincidences, only Divine Providence.”

“I have never been let down in my prayerful petitions to the Blessed Mother’s intercession.”

“Christ felt every human emotion… Nothing we struggle with is unfamiliar to Christ in such an intimate way.”

(This episode contains a prayer attributed to legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)