Episodes

John Scott

He played close to 300 games over eight seasons with seven different National Hockey League teams and he was the MVP of the 2016 NHL All-Star Game. He had played college hockey for four years at Michigan Tech and has an autobiography called, “A Guy Like Me: Fighting to Make the Cut.”  He also has his own podcast, called, “Dropping the Gloves.”

Notable guest quotes:

“That’s what I did for my whole childhood, just skate in the winter and play baseball and lacrosse in the summer.”

“Sometimes I did go out of my way to fight when maybe I shouldn’t have.”

“Nowadays there’s so much hate and just people being separated by the religion and politics, all this stuff.  If you just kind of realize, like, hey, you know what, I can help that person, whether it’s in a grocery line letting someone go in front of you or when you’re driving not beeping your horn, be like, ya’ know what, go ahead, I forgive you, move along.”

“I just chalked it up to I’m pretty lucky, I’m pretty lucky, but looking back now, obviously I found my faith and I found the reason behind all of that; it was God, it was the Holy Spirit kind of weaving me through my life.  And it took taking a step back and realizing, gosh, I could’ve never done this on my own, and there was a driving force there.”

“My wife, she’s very good at reminding me… ‘You have 15 guardian angels because you should not be where you’re at right now’ and I totally agree with here where it’s just like, golly, God is great because I have so many blessings.”

“You really try to pay it back and you try to do the right thing and you’re like, ‘Okay, you’ve given me so much, Lord, I’m gonna go out and try to spread the gospel, spread the Word, raise my kids right, do the right thing, and just be a good human being.”

“Everybody is given so much and it’s just amazing that God doesn’t want anything back, but it’s nice to try our best.”

“I kind of delved into the history of the faith and it was really great where I didn’t just do it because I had to.  I ended up doing it because I wanted to.  It’s such a beautiful faith and the history is so rich.”

“I couldn’t imagine myself being not Catholic.  I try to go to Mass every day.  I do all these things at the church.  I try to involve myself any way I can.”

“The faith is my whole life now.  Everything we do, my wife and I, just kind of revolves around God and our faith and trying to be in tune with that and that’s what I want to talk about… Our whole life is kind of encompassed by the church and it’s so great.”

“I now serve three days a week at the Carmelite monastery.  It’s a traditional Latin Mass.”

“You will never regret going up and serving our Lord just any way you can.”

“Faith is such a strong part of my life, it would be hard to hide it.”

Related links:

John’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)

Brad Berry

He played over 250 regular season and playoff games combined in the National Hockey League with two different franchises in addition to playing overseas in the Swedish Elite League. He went on to be a scout for the Vancouver Canucks and later joined his fourth NHL franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets, as an assistant coach. He also was an assistant coach in the American Hockey League and nowadays has been the head coach of the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team since just over six years ago. In 2016 he became the first rookie head coach in NCAA men’s ice hockey history to win a national championship.

Notable guest quotes:

“There’s a lot of things that are coming at ya’ when you’re away from your family that, ya’ know, trying to do the right thing.  Trying to stay on that narrow and focused road.”

“You talk about being a servant leader, of serving others, and just trying to be a good person, and I really feel that my faith was a big reason why I’m where I am.”

“There was some adversity… I got sent to the minors a couple of times… I think adversity, it’s how you handle it… Faith got me through it.  It was one of those things where God’s in control, and you control certain things but He’s the ultimate control of your life.”

“When you’re kind of busy or focused in that side of it, there’s tendencies to, not forget, but, put on the back burner of the belief and the faith and going to church on every Sunday and serving God… as a young person that’s very easy to do.”

“Through the Catholic religion of my wife and her parents it was a big driving force that made it strong.”

“You want to be the best at what you can do but you can’t leave the people in your life behind, you can’t leave God behind, and you gotta take time for that.”

“I always believe God has a plan, and it’s not one that you know with certainty what that is.”

“Never keep looking over the fence at what could be or should be or whatever.  Be blessed and be grateful for what you have.  And blessed and grateful is what I am.”

“Part of being a Christian is always giving back, being a servant of God.”

“I always wake up every morning and I have two or three things that I recite to myself here.  And there’s one that really hits home for me and it’s the great commandment of Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4.”

Related link:

Brad’s UND bio page

(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.)

Tony Hunter

He was a tight end in the National Football League, having been the twelfth overall pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, with whom he played for two years before going on to play two more seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, all following a collegiate career as a four-year starter for the University of Notre Dame where he led the Fighting Irish in receiving each of his last three seasons and was first-team All-American as a senior. During his time with the Bills, he made the NFL’s All-Rookie team. Plus, during his NFL career he won a division title and got within a game of the Super Bowl, and along the way he played alongside future Hall of Famers.

Notable guest quotes:

“My mom was a single mom of four who basically dedicated her life to the betterment of her children.  That’s my angel.  She passed about six years ago.”

“(Gerry Faust) was talking to me about coming to (Archbishop) Moeller (High School).  I had been in public schools my whole life up until that point, but Moeller was a private, Catholic school that was a part of the Greater Cincinnati Catholic School League.”

“I decided I wanted to give Moeller a shot, and… it turned out to be the best decision I ever made in my life… And while at Moeller I converted to Catholicism.”

“A lot of people who saw me play as a youngster… felt like I could’ve played pro baseball as well as play football.  And also basketball… I was a two-sport All-American in both football and basketball in high school.”

“Coach Faust was a devout Christian Catholic, very spiritual person… watching how he worshiped and the kind of human being that he was, he really took on a fatherly role for me in high school.”

“I used to go in for prayer by myself.  They had a little chapel in the school that was basically open all the time and I would go in there in high school.  And at Notre Dame… I was right next door to the school church, which was always unlocked for the most part.  And I would always go in and sit down there and be at prayer.”

“It’s tough, when… basically your full-time job is playing football and being a student at Notre Dame… It was very tough at times and… I think it was my spiritual foundation that really got me through that.”

“It was a blessing.  It was a great time for me and my family.  I was the twelfth pick taken in the first round (of the NFL Draft).”

(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)

Vince Guider

The North Lawndale Kinship Initiative Director for Old St. Patrick’s Church in downtown Chicago, directing a ministry of community development. In that role he has set up a neighborhood sports collaborative called the North Lawndale Athletic & Recreation Association. Many people know him as coordinator for youth and young adult parish ministry, which he started doing 35 years ago and to some degree still goes on now. As a student he was the football manager for the team at his Catholic high school where he was able to learn the skills and the science of coaching, which he used when his parish started and needed a coach for a CYO football team, and that led to a whole career of coaching youth athletics across a variety of sports.

Notable guest quotes:

“I’m a cradle Catholic; baptized as an infant, lived in a Catholic household, pretty much in the pews on Sunday and in the pews of the world every other day of the week.”

“I grew up on Chicago’s south side.  Two great parents, two great Catholic parents… we always lived a short few blocks from our parish and our life pretty much centered around Catholic life.”

“That experience taught me the ministry of athletics, the ministry of coaching.”

“Somewhere a seed was being planted in me saying, you know what, I’m going to be around sports the rest of my life and I’m going to do this too.  I’m going to be a coach.”

“It was about more than sports, it was about relationships.  I was molding young lives… it turned into a whole career.”

“People don’t come to Old St. Patrick’s to go to Mass.  People come to Old St. Patrick’s to be disciples and to be church outside of church.”

“We knew that we weren’t going in there to drop in and be the knights on white horses saving that neighborhood.  We knew that that neighborhood could help save us as a congregation too.”

“That’s been absolutely central to my life and that is direct contact with the young people of God and those adults who work with them.”

Related links:

North Lawndale Kinship Initiative
North Lawndale Athletic and Recreation Association

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

Tim Neary

The author of Crossing Parish Boundaries: Race, Sports, and Catholic Youth in Chicago, 1914-1954, a book which reveals the history of CYO. He is a professor of history at Salve Regina University, a private, Catholic, coed school founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1934 in Newport, Rhode Island, where he teaches a course on U.S. sports history. As a student-athlete himself he had played baseball, basketball, football, and tennis, including club basketball in college in Ireland.

Notable guest quotes:

“I went to CCD at St. Margaret Mary’s, my parish where I had all my sacraments and was involved in CYO… and have great memories of meeting friends, having coaches that taught us how to play the game but really taught us about life and about our faith.”

“I think about values of teamwork and cooperation and I remember, for example, on the basketball court, right before we were to play we would all put our hands together and say, ‘Lady of Victory, pray for us’.”

“The Jesuits talk about faith and reason going together… so, (at his college prep high school) I was able to feel like I had role models of how to live out my faith.”

“It’s great to have degrees and learn and go to college, but what are you gonna do with it?  Are you gonna go out into the world and try to make the world a better place, try to connect with people, try to live out the gospel?”

“I think the life lessons (sports) teaches are pretty profound.”

“I think sports is one of those places where even if neighborhoods and parishes are strictly segregated by race, sports is a place where people come together.”

“I think Jesus in the gospels wasn’t about excluding, he was about inviting people in.”

Related link:

Tim’s book “Crossing Parish Boundaries: Race, Sports, and Catholic Youth in Chicago, 1914-1954”

Mike Nealy

The CEO / Executive Director of Arizona Sports Foundation, Valley of the Sun Bowl Foundation and Fiesta Events, Inc., community-based organizations that operate the Fiesta Bowl, Guaranteed Rate Bowl, and numerous charitable and community events throughout the state. Prior to heading the Fiesta Bowl, he spent eight years with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes and Jobing.com Arena, most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer. Before joining the Phoenix Coyotes in January 2006, he spent four seasons with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. He has also been both a football coach and a basketball referee.

Notable guest quotes:

“That was my first opportunity to be able to be part of a Catholic school system… I think on many fronts that was a positive influence that you could get with the teachings there.”

“I look back and my whole life I think I’ve been very fortunate… God… puts people in your life for reasons.”

“As a young professional out of college I lived pretty close to downtown near the basilica, St. Mary, and started attending much more regularly.  They had a youth group, young professionals’ group, that made it another reason to get involved with people that were like-minded, of Christians.”

“You can see when your life is going the wrong direction versus the better direction that you know when God has been more at the center of your life.”

“A group of us got together, collected medical supplies, and huge boxes, and flew over there… we stayed with some host families… When we landed there, the families that we stayed with picked us up… The first place — literally before we even went to where their home was — is they brought me to a church.  And how special is that?”

“I like to think that I bring my faith (into the workplace) in the way I act and how I treat people.”

“The goals that I put forward for our organization lie in: how do we treat people’s integrity, how do we support each other, are we enhancing people’s lives, dignity.  Those types of things are the core of the goals that I bring forward in my organization now.”

“I had a basketball coach that… was a leader in the FCA, the Fellowship of Christian (Athletes), and he took a direction to me and really asked me to start joining him in prayer.”

“(The Positive Coaching Alliance) is really about developing better people, through athletics, making better athletes better people… The power of using sports to develop character and having character, and a lot of that is based in, obviously, religion is a strong base for treating people well and doing the right thing.”

“Faith is a big part of keeping you humble.”

Related link:

Mike’s bio on Fiesta Bowl 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)

Steve Javie

He spent 25 years as a referee in the NBA, officiating over 1,400 regular season games, 240 playoff games, 23 NBA Finals games, and two All-Star Games. He has also been a rules analyst for ESPN/ABC. Earlier in his career he was a referee in the CBA, which followed time that he had spent as a minor league baseball umpire, himself having played in the Baltimore Orioles’ organization at the minor league level after pitching for Temple University. In high school he had achieved All-Catholic honors in both baseball and basketball in his Junior and Senior years. Four years ago he was inducted to the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame, and last month he was the recipient of Sports Faith International’s Father Smyth Award. In 2019 he was ordained a Deacon in the Catholic Church and just celebrated the two-year anniversary.

Notable guest quotes:

“My grandparents came over from Poland, and, very Catholic.  As a matter of fact, my dad’s brother was a Catholic priest for almost 70 years… in the Philadelphia archdiocese.  Great guy — one of my favorite uncles.”

“We went to confession every two weeks, Mass every Sunday, we sat in the first row every Sunday.”

“People, they work hard at their job.  They put 40 hours of work in, 60 hours of work in.  And they reap the rewards.  But they think that 45 minutes to an hour a week is enough to satisfy them in their faith journey and it really isn’t… It just doesn’t work that way in anything.  So, you get, obviously, out of something what you put into it.”

“No matter where we are in our journey, no matter how bad we think we might be right now, God’s forgiving mercy … is there waiting for us if we just open our hearts to His grace.”

“I still vividly remember sitting in Los Angeles having lunch one day and it was just coming up on my second knee surgery and I said, ‘Ya’ know, there’s gotta be more to life than just blowing a whistle on basketball players’… I was blessed to provide for my family… but… At the end of my life, to say that I refereed professional basketball, so what?”

“My wife and I had formed a foundation, The Javie Foundation for charity… we helped raise money for local charities… and I said… ‘I think the Lord wants me doing more than just raising money’.”

“I still remember looking up… in the stands and I remember saying to myself, ‘I wonder what the Lord has planned for me now’.”

“I was discerning and praying about the Lord and asking Him to speak to me in a way that He can tell me what He wants from me ’cause I wanted to give back to the Lord something because He had blessed me so much in my life.”

“The Lord blessed me with a family and friends and my profession and the talents He gave me, and I just said, ‘I have to serve Him somehow’.”

“It’s been the most incredible journey of my life, my spiritual journey.”

“I just want to explain to men and to people that God can do anything, He really can.  If He can mold me and make me into what He wants me to be, which is to profess my faith and to preach the truth on Sundays and so on and proclaim the gospel, He can do it for anybody.”

“I know a lot of people don’t hear about referees, all they do is yell at them… But there’s quite a few referees that are into their faith… So, there’s a lot of guys that I’ve come across in my profession that are just great, great men; family men, great men in their community… and a lot of times we sit and we talk about the faith and talk about the Bible.”