Episodes

Patrick Doerr

He grew up playing basketball but is known for tennis, having been a two-time regional champion, two-time all-state selection, and a state semi-finalist all in just his junior year of high school alone before going on to play at Spring Arbor University where he competed in both the singles and doubles lineups, finishing his college career with a 62-32 combined record.  Today he is on the officiating circuit of local and national junior tournaments as well as college tennis matches, the latter to include officiating mostly for Big Ten and ACC teams, including numerous top 25 teams.

Notable guest quotes:

“We grew up Catholic, going to Mass every Sunday, and that was the expectation.  So, it was pretty cut and dry; if you weren’t ready to go to Mass when mom was leaving, you weren’t going.”

“I attended Queen of the Miraculous Medal elementary school for kindergarten through sixth grade and then for middle school I went to Jackson Catholic Middle School and then high school went to Jackson Lumen Christi.  So, that’s basically Catholic schools through and through.”

“The, kind of, unbreakable faith that (my father) had in God’s plan for his life, it gave me the best example I could have had at such a young age of how to take the faith seriously, and really, how it can be the baseline during hard times.”

“I’m not just playing tennis here.  This was a gift that I had from God.  And the best thing that I can do with this gift is give it my all, every single day I’m out there.”

“It was kind of a soft whisper of God just being there saying, ‘Even without all these things, Patrick, I am enough.  Sports is never going to satisfy you.  There’s nothing that you can do in life that’s going to satisfy you enough, except me’.”

“No matter what you do or how many times you win… you have to accept that God is enough for you.”

“I knew what I believed, but I didn’t know why I believed it.”

“Fortunately, with the Catholic faith… you have a return on your… investment.  The more you research the faith, the more you see how beautiful it is and the more you see the fullness of truth.”

“They voted me most likely to be a priest.”

Glenn Otto

A pitcher currently in training camp with the New York Yankees, having been a fifth-round pick of theirs in the 2017 draft.  In college he pitched at Rice University in Houston, leading the staff in earned run average three years in a row. Prior to that he played at Concordia Lutheran High School, which is also in Texas.

Notable guest quotes:

“It’s definitely a test of faith and baseball is just one avenue where that’s come up to me the last couple years.  Injuries are never easy.  You definitely start questioning, ‘Am I in the right place?  Am I on the right path?’  And my faith is what really keeps me centered in those moments.”

“Without my faith it would make it even more difficult ’cause I want to be out there every day.  I want to be doing my job.  I want to be climbing the ladder.  And I’m looking at it the wrong way at times ’cause God is just moving different things in my life to put me right where I need to be.”

“It’s always going back to prayer, going back to reading the Word, and being around those individuals that point me in that direction that I’m comforted in those difficult times.”

“The end of baseball is not the end of the world.  I’m on this earth to worship God and push other people to the feet of Jesus.”

“Everybody respects you in the organization as a player, and in return, as players, we respect everyone on staff.  That’s always been one of our core values here and it shows throughout the organization.”

“I had professors that really helped my faith walk and our chaplain was a great guy that I’m still in touch with today.”

“It was a really good opportunity just to get with those students that were Christians and get to know those people as people, not just as student-athletes.”

“This is one of the things I’m most proud of — I was baptized (and) confirmed in the same church that I was married in.”

“The Catholic way of thinking is the ‘both and’ — personal relationship with Jesus and your involvement in the church and community with others.”

“I’d love to be involved in other people’s faith walk and help them with the RCIA process, help them with their marriage prep.”

Related link:

Glenn’s pitching career/statistics

[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]

Paul Westhead

The only coach to win a championship in the NBA and the WNBA. Over a career that spanned more than 40 years, he was the head coach of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Denver Nuggets, plus he went on to be an assistant coach with Golden State, Orlando, Seattle, and Oklahoma City. His WNBA Championship came with the Phoenix Mercury. Plus, he coached men and women’s basketball collegiately, at LaSalle, Loyola, George Mason, and Oregon. He even coached in Puerto Rico and in a pro basketball league in Japan. And, last November he put out a book called, “The Speed Game: My Fast Times in Basketball.”

Notable guest quotes:

“I lived in Philadelphia.  It was just my brother and I, Peter and Paul.  My mother decided that she’d pick two famous saints of all-time.”

“After West Catholic (High School) I did go to a prep school for a year.  I went to Malvern Prep, which is run by the Augustinian Fathers.”

“I really wasn’t thinking the NBA.  I saw myself as a teacher and coach.”

“If there’s something to be learned from my career, it’s, you’re gonna have a lot of bumps and a lot of downtime, but, if you could just find one friend to pick you up, that’s all you need.”

“We knelt down in the locker room before games at St. Joseph’s and said the rosary.”

“Most of my basketball coaching was two to three years or less in the same city.  And it’s difficult for the family, difficult for my wife in particular… But in each city, we would establish a parish that we’d get involved with.”

“The center of our spiritual life was always in the local parish church.  And sometimes they were on campus.  Like, we would go to the campus ministry at the University of Oregon, which was delightful.”

“We just celebrated our anniversary.  February 23rd we were married 58 years.”

Related link:

Paul’s book, “The Speed Game: My Fast Times in Basketball“

(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.)

Gabby Otto

She played college basketball at Rice University, where her team won the Women’s Basketball Invitational Championship four years ago this month.  One year later they made it to the second round of the NIT before losing to New Mexico. Growing up, in addition to basketball, she had also played soccer and boys baseball, and she ran track and field. Faith-wise she shares testimony regarding dealing with major sports injuries, plus, a powerful and emotional story from within her immediate family.

Notable guest quotes:

“Even though I didn’t go to any Catholic schools growing up, Mass was still really important in my family.  Every single Sunday we were at church in the morning or we’d go to the 5:30 Life Teen kids Mass.  And then just growing up and playing sports, a lot of times you have tournament games Sunday afternoon.  And no matter what, we were finding a church in the local area that the tournament was hosted in and going to Mass pretty much no matter what so that we were able to receive the Eucharist.”

“Mass was kind of the center point of our family, somewhere that, when you have four kids schedules are always crazy, but it was the one place that we could kind of always be together and worship together.”

“That was definitely a really tough time that kind of tests your faith ’cause it’s a goal you’ve been working for, literally, almost your whole life.”

“I look back and it’s a blessing that I didn’t tear my ACL or blow my knee out playing basketball ’cause I think just mentally that would’ve been a whole ‘nother obstacle to overcome.  So, looking back, in retrospect you can always see the blessing.”

“I had to rely on my faith a lot of the time just to kind of just even get me through that season.”

“I think anytime you go through something hard like that you kind of lean into the friendships around you and you surround yourself with people that are going to uplift you and point you to the cross.”

“In my time at Rice (University) I became very active in… Fellowship of Christian Athletes and that was probably the single most influential thing in my faith walk in college.”

“If you talk about watching a parent love their child, it was just one of those things that you look back and you’re like, ‘That is what love is.’  And ultimately, that’s what Christ did for us.”

(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)

Sister Mary Jo Sobieck

She drew national attention just under two years ago when she was nominated for an ESPY for “Best Viral Sports Moment” for when she threw out a ceremonial first pitch before a Chicago White Sox game.  She has been a nun for more than 25 years and is part of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield. In her days as a student-athlete she played softball, volleyball, and basketball. You’ll also hear mention in this interview about her having trained for a half marathon.  Last year she concluded 13 years at a Catholic high school in Chicago, including teaching theology there.

Notable guest quotes:

“Mom was just rock solid in her prayer life and in her trust in God.”

“We learned that, and that everything happens for a reason.  And so, that sense of listening to God’s voice and finding out, ya’ know, what does life really mean for us in the events of life as they happen, and as they shape us.”

“My mom was a real proponent of the rosary.  We prayed the rosary together as a family during the month of October and May.”

“My dream was to be in the Olympics.”

“Sports grounded me in a sense of discipline.”

“It was on one of our last days of a retreat that I really felt overcome with this sense of God just pouring God’s life into me and God’s love into me.”

“God invited me to this and my life has never been the same and I couldn’t be happier.”

“The red carpet was just a real, that was a moving moment for me too, ya’ know, I’m in the midst of this worldly, ya’ know, all this glamour and glitz, and, what came to me was, God sees the soul, not the swag.”

“I had a profound gift and opportunity to take a group of kids to Lourdes on a pilgrimage.  Well, we went to World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011 to see Pope Benedict.  But, prior to that we went to Fatima and to Lourdes.”

“I had a profound experience of God’s love again for me in the Eucharist.  And… in the Eucharist I thought to myself… I thought, ‘I’m going to make a triathlon of sacraments today. … I’m going to find a priest and go to confession… and then, of course, to renew my baptismal vows’.”

Peter Belisle

He is in his 15th season as the head men’s ice hockey coach at UMass Boston, where he is the winningest coach in program history.  Along the way he has earned National Coach of the Year honors and has guided his team to the NCAA Frozen Four. Prior to his current role he spent nine years with Division I University of Connecticut as an assistant coach.  As a student-athlete he had been a four-year letter winner with UConn.

Notable guest quotes:

“Very religious, ya’ know, growing up at Mt. St. Charles Academy, being, just, ya’ know, I spent all my days with the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.”

“My faith through mom and dad… and St. James, just, my memories are in that church with my family.”

“The bond that we had… it’s just divine intervention when you think of the whole story between my family and hockey, okay?  My brother David gets cut by Lou Lamoriello at Providence College after playing, I think it was his senior year, and he was down, and dad hired him as an assistant coach, and they go on to win 26 state consecutive titles.  And I was a little kid… so I saw that all that in front of my eyes… being on the bus as a stick manager, equipment guy.”

“My mom was the rock… She had ETWN, the Catholic channel, TV channel, on all the time, religiously, like, every day, 24 hours a day, and just a woman of faith, church every Sunday, church every day after my dad had his skull fracture.”

“I’ve been so blessed in my life with my parents and my sport of hockey because of my family.”

“Looking for my calling I didn’t know, and then, I said, ‘Maybe I do want to get into coaching hockey’ … and I got an opportunity at the College of Holy Cross to go back and work as an assistant coach and it was one of the best years of my life.  I was, like, so passionate about, ‘This is what I want to do’!”

“People ask me my coaching philosophy and it’s easy.  I want to make better men through the game of hockey.”

“There’s so much you can take from the game and really implement into just good lessons in life and what Jesus wants us and how He wants us to be.”

Related links:

Peter’s UMass coaching bio

Interview with Peter’s brother (David) on CSR 54

(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.)

Trevor Williams

A pitcher getting ready for spring training with the Chicago Cubs. He had been with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization from 2016-2020, having initially been drafted into Major League Baseball as a second round pick by the Miami Marlins. As a student-athlete he had played his college baseball at Arizona State University. He is also co-founder of an organization called Project Thirty Four.  He’s a very dedicated member of the Knights of Columbus too.

Notable guest quotes:

“Born and raised Catholic… I am the oldest of three boys… We grew up going to CCD classes.  We grew up going to Mass every Sunday.”

“It wasn’t until high school, for me, it wasn’t really until my Confirmation class in my junior year of high school is where I started taking more serious CCD and the church.  And, really, Catholicism was part of my life for so long and it was always there, I just never reached out and dove into it as much as I should have when I was younger.”

“I had an experience where I full gave my trust to the Lord and fully kind of just dove in and made the decision where like, ‘Ya’ know, what is the most important thing in my life.’  It was at an intersection in my life where baseball was becoming real.  It was becoming tangible.  I was going through some family tragedy, and it was where I just had to kind of look within myself and know, where am I getting this strength and what do I need to look upon and what do I need to do, and it was Christ’s church and the sacraments and making that decision.”

“The first immediate thing is, why did this happen to him?  Why didn’t it happen to me?  And why did this guy who had such a bright future in baseball, why did this happen to him?  And you spiral down those thoughts.”

“It made me reflect that, what is the most important thing in my life, and would I be okay with it if it was taken away from me?”

“It’s a reminder when I put the jersey on every day during the season that this is special and this is a gift and this is something that will be taken away from me, either on my own terms or something else.  But, it’s something that I’m constantly reminded of where that this is a gift from Christ and it’s a gift that there’s a reason why I’m still playing and I’m constantly searching for that answer and I’m constantly everyday taking up that cross and saying, ‘Lead me to what You want me to do’.”

“You can find a of parallels to your faith life into sports.  Just as sports can teach you a lot about life, I think there’s always stories from the church and our tradition and with saints that have gone through literally everything that we’ve gone through and more.”

“Over the last ten, fifteen years they’ve been pushing to have Mass at every MLB stadium on either Saturdays or Sundays.”

“The prayer I pray before every start is Jesus, I trust in You.  And it’s a humbling prayer and it’s a prayer of humility.”

Related link:

Project Thirty Four

(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)