Episodes

Johnny Sauter

A professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 13 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing. He began his racing career in 1996 and by 2001 was the American Speed Association Champion and Rookie of the Year. In 2009 he was NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year. He also builds and races his own late model cars. And, he and his father and two brothers became only the second family in NASCAR history to have four members compete in a national series race.

Notable guest quotes:

“Cortney and myself, we were married in 2007… We have four children… The three oldest ones are in Catholic school… We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I was a cradle Catholic, grew up in a really good Catholic family and did my time in Catholic schools, from kindergarten to twelfth grade.”

“You hear all the jokes about — when you tell somebody how many brothers and sisters you had, they say — oh, you must be Catholic… But I wouldn’t have traded it for anything… (I’m) very, very blessed to have had that.”

“I’ve known Father Grubba for a long time, and it turns out that the parish we belong to, Monsignor was actually a student of Father Grubba’s back, way back in the day… But, he’s a big race fan, Father Grubba, and I had him serve at my wedding… And… I actually raced in… Father Grubba Night a few years back and actually won that race.”

“We tried to say family rosaries and I saw a really good example of the value and the importance of prayer.”

“Things happen in your career, sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t.  And there’s really only one place to turn and that’s to prayer.  I’m trying to carry that tradition on with my kids today, saying a family rosary.”

“I pray before every race.  I pray every day, but, primarily just for safety and to bring me home in one piece.”

“I just give credit where credit’s due.  At the end of the day, I’m smart enough to know that I’m not doing this on my own.  Not only are there a lot of good people helping me along the way but obviously I know you’ve gotta be in the right trajectory faith-wise to make smart decisions.”

“No matter what you think you’re doing in life… that’s always in the back of your mind, is, trying to get to heaven and doing the right thing.”

“I think people, they know there’s a God and they know they should serve Him, and I think it’s good.  I think the sport has embraced that.”

“I’ve had race fans, for sure, come up to me and say, ‘Man, I love what you say after the race, thanking the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Mother,’ and I’ve heard that several times throughout my career.  So, to me, that means that at least you’re reaching somebody and maybe putting that thought in their mind.”

Related link:

Johnny’s official website

(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)

Richie Adubato

He spent six decades in basketball, coaching high school, college, NBA, WNBA, and internationally.  In the NBA he was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks, and Orlando Magic, and was an assistant coach with those three franchises as well as the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.  He also served as a consultant with the Boston Celtics.  He is enshrined in the hall of fame at William Paterson University for TWO sports.  Late last year he put out a book called, “Havin’ a Ball: My Improbable Basketball Journey.”

Notable guest quotes:

“Very Catholic (household), I mean, there was no question about it… It was our whole neighborhood.”

“I knew all the guys who were Catholic, because on every trip that we went.  If it was a weekend, we found a church nearby.  There was no question about that.”

“The Catholic guys, we did everything together.  Every time we landed in another town, if it was the weekend… we either made 6:30 Mass… We were true Catholics all the way.”

“I’m a Virgin Mary person.  I just went over yesterday and put the flowers down.  And I make sure I get the flowers where she is every other Sunday.”

“I really feel it’s been great, great for my success.  The Virgin Mary has always come through for me.  Those candles have been great.  And the flowers even better.”

Related link:

Richie’s book

[This episode contains a prayer by Oldenburg Academy of the Immaculate Conception (Oldenburg, IN) Athletic Director Tim Boyle, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

Kimberly Trichel

Faith-wise, she tells a story here of having a reversion to the faith with her husband after a significant life event. Sports-wise, she worked for college football’s Fiesta Bowl for two years, the National Hockey League’s Arizona Coyotes for eight years, and at the Central Hockey league for seven years. As a student-athlete she had played both softball and volleyball, and, present day, she still participates in a couple sports recreationally. She is the Executive Director of the Arizona chapter of HopeKids, which provides ongoing events, activities and a powerful, unique support community for families who have a child with cancer or some other life-­threatening medical condition.

Notable guest quotes:

“I think there’s something to be said to have the fellowship among other students and athletes and it does give you goals, you have attainable goals that you want to reach.”

“It’s funny how God just leads you in certain directions, right?”

“In my office at the Coyotes I had one of Mother Teresa’s quotes right there in my office.  It’s one of my favorites… That always spoke to my heart… and maybe a little bit of evangelizing if people would come in and ask about it too.  Any opportunity you can, right, to share the Good News of the Lord, right, and to bring people into the church hopefully, and maybe people that have fallen away.”

“We both moved out (to Arizona) in 2001, actually September 11th, 2001… we were driving… any plans that we kind of had made, you just drop everything.  We went to church.  We found a Catholic church right away in Mesa… It definitely was a day of prayer and consideration.”

“My husband is also a cradle Catholic.  I did happen to meet him when I was 18 years old, which was God looking out for me.  So, I pretty much stayed out of trouble (laughs).”

“I really strongly believe — especially now where I am with my faith walk — that it was just being poorly catechized and not understanding the urgency and the intimate relationship that you need to have with the Lord and especially the Eucharist.”

“I can remember when the Holy Spirit actually entered my husband, and it never has left.”

“We definitely wanted to have a different formation for our children and to be very engaged and make sure they knew how engaged we were in the church and what a beautiful blessing that was.”

“For me it is making sure that these kids get to embrace these wonderful lives of the saints, to have the opportunity to do monthly adoration and monthly confessions, and hopefully we’ll get to the point of even daily Mass.”

Related link:

HopeKids website

Dr Dobie Moser

This interview includes the guest sharing from his personal life about having gone through something that no parent ever wants to experience.  On the vocation side, he has worked in youth and young adult ministry and CYO athletics for 37 years, including five years in the Diocese of Columbus.  He has worked for Catholic Charities in Cleveland for 26 years.  On the sports side, he played high school and college tennis, coached high school girls’ volleyball and coached Special Olympics teams in Pennsylvania and Texas.  He is a tennis teaching pro and has coached boys and girls’ varsity high school.  Plus, he was a Head Tennis Pro at a camp and resort north of Toronto, Ontario, for five summers and in the North Shore area of Chicago at a private club.  He also even served on the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Notable guest quotes:

“We started CYO tennis in the middle of a pandemic.  It actually is a great pandemic sport — you’re 80 feet from the other side!  And the kids can stay away from each other.”

“We’ve kind of taken that approach throughout the pandemic and this whole current year of, what can we do to invite parents and kids and coaches to be engaged with each other, to be engaged with CYO sports, and, most importantly, engaged with their Catholic faith.”

“There’s a line in my work about how to have courageous conversation, and the line is this, that, ‘Reflection and prayer is what turns experience into insight, and insight into intentional, compassionate action’.”

“…Embrace the healing that is available to us, through God’s grace, God’s spirit, and, through our sacramental life.”

“We integrate prayer into our beginning and ending of every session.  We’re very mindful about coaches training and formation in ALL of our CYO programs… And the centerpiece of that… is the coach seeing athletics as a ministry by which to help young people and families go as disciples of Jesus Christ.”

“There are SO many opportunities to experience God’s love and grace in athletics, that frankly, we have to have coaches who are trained and aware so they can see those and use those and do it in a way that says, wow, sports in a Christian context really can be very powerful.”

“I was working at a job… running a large Special Olympics program… I taught kids with physical and mental disabilities how to be physically active.  And I’ve got to tell you, it was my ministry.  As a Christian, at that time, that’s where God had me called to be.”

“The development of the child as a human being and as a Christian disciple is definitively more valuable and important to us than winning any championship or game.”

“One of the things that life teaches us if we’re open to learning it, is that we do not choose our own sufferings.  They choose us.  And we do, by the grace of God, choose how we respond to them.”

“Who does Jesus favor, and it would be the least, the lost, and the left behind.  So, we have mentored refugees, literally have lived in our home with us.  And I’ve got to tell you, we have received far more than we’ve given in that process.”

Related link:

CYO website/programs in Cleveland

(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.)

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers

He was a wrestler for Saint Benedict’s Prep School – ranking #2 in his senior year, when he was undefeated in dual meets – and then went on to become the coach of their freshmen and JV wrestling teams.  Earlier on he had played baseball and basketball.  Presently he is a deacon in the Catholic church and travels across the U.S. and around the world speaking at conferences, workshops, retreats, parish missions, high schools, and young adult events. He has a Master of Theological Studies Degree and, among other works, is the author of the best-selling book, Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality.

Notable guest quotes:

“I had a heart condition, heart murmur… So, the doctors wanted to play it safe and told my mom, ‘Let’s not let him play football, but he can do pretty much any other sport.’  And so, I was not allowed to play football.  So, when I got to high school, I wrestled.”

“Any good athlete knows that ten percent of the sport is physical, 90 percent is mental.”

“Part of the reason why I was coaching (was) ’cause I was also discerning monastic life at the time.  So, I was actually a postulant in the monastery, in the very early phases of joining the monastic community.”

“It was great to be a mentor for those kids and not just ‘Here’s how you do this move,’ but also be like a big brother or in some cases maybe even a father figure to some of those kids.”

“I’m actually the first baptized Catholic in the history of our family.”

“If you ever come from a household where alcohol is an issue, I don’t have to tell you about the hurtful and the painful and the embarrassing moments when you come from a household like that — often when you wished you lived in your friend’s house than have to go home to your own house.”

“She had been praying a rosary every day for twenty years.”

“In 2012 I left my job in law enforcement — I was in law enforcement for 23 years — left my career to start speaking and writing full-time on the Catholic faith.”

“How could people not believe in God?  When you hear how God can work in someone’s life; the power of God’s grace, when they’re open to receiving what God wants to give them.”

“Even as an athlete, I tacitly wanted my father’s approval.  I wanted him to be proud of me, and the things that I was doing on the (wrestling) mat.  But even more, to be proud of the man that I’d become.”

“Malaysia… it was actually illegal for me to come there and talk about Jesus publicly.”

“What I’ve found in countries where they have to fight for their faith — where their faith is under some oppression — that’s where the faith is most alive.”

“God’s the musician, I’m just an instrument.”

Related link:

Deacon Harold’s website

Trent Klatt

Currently the Director of Amateur Scouting for the NHL’s New York Islanders.  As a player he had a long career in the National Hockey League, having originally been chosen by the Washington Capitals in the 1989 NHL Draft and going on to appear in close to 800 regular season games over almost 13 seasons, plus an additional 74 playoff games, competing throughout his career with four different franchises, including making a Stanley Cup Finals appearance with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1997. He has also done some coaching in hockey as well.  Listen near the end for his emotional report on his oldest daughter’s calling!

Notable guest quotes:

“There was a time I got sent (down) to Syracuse in 1999, I’d already played 400 games in the NHL.  It was one of the greatest lessons I’d ever learned.”

“I can honestly say I didn’t want to be there.  Ya’ know, everybody was wrong because I was sent there.  I’m gettin’ screwed — all that type of stuff.  And we ended up talking about God.”

“We would go have, on an off day, we’d have happy hour, have a beer, and we would end up talking about God and family and all that.”

“At that point in time, I had to start making decisions for God and not for me, ’cause I was just one selfish individual at that point in time.”

“It turned my career around completely, as far as hockey is concerned, and even spiritually it just sent me on a path that I needed to go find answers, and at my weakest moment, Darby Hendrickson was there and so was God.”

“Sometimes you don’t even realize you’re jumping over a hurdle or you’re walking through a mud puddle and the Lord’s gonna clean you up, but when you get beyond it and you look back, you go, ‘Oh, I totally get it now.  I had to be there.  I had to go through that’.”

“The benefit for me as a coach is, I had learned so many lessons as a player that I was able to just stay relatively calm on the bench.”

“As a coach you have time to think, ‘Okay, Lord, what do you want me to do here?  What do you want me to say?  How do I get through this problem?  How do I get through this mess?’  You had time to prepare a response and act accordingly.”

“When I was coaching everybody knew that I was a follower of Jesus Christ and I wasn’t afraid to tell people that and show people that and, ‘You’re gonna go to church on a Sunday morning… and then you’re gonna act differently in public’?”

“I was asked to kind of just come and speak at the men’s conference and give my own testimony and I’d never done that before.  I was scared to death.  My wife would say, ‘Well just tell your story, tell your story!’  And I’d look at her and I’d go, ‘I don’t have a story’!”

Related link:

Playing career from NHL.com

(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)

Chase Morlock

He was a running back for four years at North Dakota State University, capped off by a senior season in which he was named All-Missouri Valley Football Conference first team as a fullback.  In high school he had been an all-state running back and was even named to the 2012 Minnesota Vikings all-state team and Associated Press all-state second team.  In addition, he was an outstanding wrestler in high school, winning the 2012 state championship.  Along the way he, unfortunately, went through a major event in his family.  Nowadays he is the co-founder of and head trainer at Rise Training & Fitness in Minnesota.

Notable guest quotes:

“At the end of the day, really what mattered was just coming down to the sacrament of marriage, and getting to marry my wife, Heidi, was the best day of my life and… celebrate that amazing sacrament.”

“I was so plugged in at my church and just getting to know priests so well was just, it was just special.”

“(I) was raised Catholic, baptized Catholic… We went every Sunday… I grew up altar serving and I grew up doing all the Confirmation classes.”

“I think… there’s three big questions that I think almost everyone asks themselves at some point… Where do you find meaning, where do you find value, and where do you find purpose?”

“I think it’s just super special and cool how God kind of works and can prep you for getting your heart and mind ready for crazy things that are about to happen.”

“My quarterback in college, one of ’em, was Carson Wentz… I was having lunch with him one day and he’s the person that really stirred my heart… He just came out with a really bold question… He just said, ‘Hey Chase, how are you doing spiritually,’ just kind of out of the blue.  And nothing crazy happened in that moment, but it just got my wheels spinning.”

“We have a team priest at NDSU, his name is Father Jim Meyer.  I’d known him, I had attended a lot of Masses in college.  We do pre-game Mass before games, and I was always going to those… Father Meyer was by my side… and he still is to this day.”

“I was going to… for a long time… Fellowship of Christian Athletes… and then we had a guy come in and invited us to go to this Ultimate Training Camp and this is basically a non-denominational, just, Christian camp… and there’s athletes that come from all over the country.”

“Jesus was a real person and we can have a real connection to him… He sacrificed himself to suffer for what I did wrong.”

“I was reading books.  I was talking to pastors.  I was talking to different priests, just to, like, pick their brains. I just put a ton of research into studying.”

“I think a big piece of the Catholic faith that I really, really love… is just all about loving, serving, caring, and just doing these amazing works.”

Related link:

Rise Training & Fitness

(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)