Episodes

Randy Awrey

The Head Football Coach at Perquimans County High School in North Carolina. He was a successful NCAA head football coach for 21 years, being named conference coach of the year seven times and being inducted into the Hall of Fame at four different universities. As a student-athlete he was the MVP of the Northern Michigan University national championship team, which was the first team in any sport to ever go from a zero and ten won-lost record to national champions the next year.

Notable guest quotes:

“When I was young… we’d go to church but that was kind of like ‘Check, done’ thing and move on.  And I think that as I’ve grown, I’ve obviously matured a whole lot more into my faith and have gotten a lot closer to Jesus Christ.”

“The older I got, the more I saw that that hole in my heart had to be filled and Jesus was the only one that could do it.”

“My father was in Knights of Columbus and he distributed Communion to the local nursing homes.  He also was an usher… My mom taught CCD classes.  My brother and I were altar boys.”

“The athletic part of it, that’s where — as a child and even as a young adult when I got into high school — that becomes your god, ya’ know, your athletics, your newspaper clippings… and everybody’s patting you on the back… You put other things more important.”

“That’s where we fall into that trap, is, we start reading our own press clippings and we start believing in how good we are and really don’t realize that God gave us those talents and God gave us those abilities.”

“Throughout my sporting career I went from praying to win games and then praying to not get hurt… to praying to do well, to be able to be a good teammate, to eventually praying that what I did would be a glow in God’s eyes.  And so, you go from ‘it’s all about me,’ to showing God to other people.”

“In my life when I seemed to want to do it myself and I wanted to try to do everything because I was big enough and fast enough and strong enough and good enough, it’s like pushing a car uphill.  And when I would let God drive and I’d let God do the work, it’s like pushing it downhill.”

“I wasn’t good enough to make it in the NFL.  And, I thought I was and I thought that’d be my career and I thought that’s what I’d be doing with the rest of my life but God had a different plan and He had a much better plan and He always does.”

“When I recruited, when I hired coaches, everything involved with the program, your managers, your trainers, everyone has to be on the same page, and I always felt if we didn’t have the right philosophy we couldn’t be on the same page.  So… we said your priorities are going to be with your faith, your family, your education, your football team, and yourself.”

“I had a chaplain come in and he would — ya’ know, God provided at every one of the schools, a different man each time, who was able to come in and — put together chapels before the game, FCA… type things one day a week… We’d have study halls with our kids, but we’d allow ’em to go to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting instead.”

Related link:

2-minute video: NMU 1975 National Championship Team (Randy was selected MVP)

(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.)

Niko Palazeti

The Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning for football at Ohio State University. He previously worked in similar positions at the University of Maryland and at Mississippi State University. As a student-athlete he was a three-year member of the Michigan State football team after having been an all-state football player for Detroit Catholic Central High School. Listen for the extremely powerful testimony that he shares about suffering a career-ending injury!

Notable guest quotes:

“The thing that was really exciting for me was I was in all these sports, all these different activities, with all these guys and they were my friends, but they were going to the high school that I was going to, and they were also parish members at Our Lady of Victory Church in Northville, Michigan… It kind of all was a perfect transition into a path into the church.”

“I was blessed enough to get a full ride scholarship to Michigan State to play football there… It was divine… it was a miracle.”

“They really do an incredible job of teaching you what it looks like to be a man of God… and to exude that in everything you do.”

“I was blessed enough and I do honestly believe that I was put to Michigan State… potentially not even to play football but to get into my career path.”

“My identity was based on who I was as a football player.  Unfortunately, the reality was that it was part of who I was.  It was part of how people identified me.  It was how I kind of communicated myself to others, was that I played football.  And it was a part of who I was.”

“I drove back to my apartment, punching the steering wheel, cursing God.  I was furious.  I was crying.  I was upset.”

“I just remember going and just praying, and just praying and being still and it allowed me to just be still in the fact and God really kind of spoke to my heart, and I just prayed that whatever His intentions for my life was, that I trust it and allow Him to work through me.  And it was a simple prayer, but I just remember feeling a lot of peace.”

“When you play college football, when you play college athletics, when you play athletics in general, it’s very stressful because a lot of times you’re performance-based.  But you’re performance-based because you think that your success determines your value.”

“In the spring of 2013, me and my best friends, we all went to South Africa… on a mission trip and it was incredible.”

“What are you worshiping?  Are you worshiping your sport?  Are you worshiping your career?  Are you worshiping your value or your worth or whatever?  Your reputation?  What are you valuing?  What are you worshiping?”

“(My wife) has actually been leading an Advent reading every Sunday.  And I think that’s really cool because a lot of times in our relationship I’ve been the one that’s been leading our faith life.”

Related link:

Niko’s bio on OSU website

Fr. Dale Grubba

He has run 63 marathons and hand cycled an additional twenty. He had coached Cross Country at Holy Name Seminary in Madison, Wisconsin, for ten years, including winning a state championship. He was also head coach of the Holy Name Seminary track team for eight years, also winning a state championship. In 2000 he was inducted into the Wisconsin Cross Country Association’s Hall of Fame.  He has also been an auto racing photographer and journalist, and has written seven books.  He has been a parish priest since 1966, including St. John’s in Princeton, Wisconsin, where he has been for 35 years, and St. James in Neshkoro, Wisconsin, where he has been for 20 years.

Notable guest quotes:

“I can’t tell you how blessed I’ve been.  I could never have picked a better vocation just simply because the Holy Spirit has always been with me to push me to new boundaries and to new adventures.”

“My choice was really to go and to be with people.  And I’ve loved doing that in my parish life and I’ve loved it also in my racing life.  I consider the auto racing part of my life a third parish that I have.”

“I always thought of those sports – like whether it was running marathons or whether it was coaching, but especially in the field of auto racing – I always thought that those were my way of connecting with people, and especially with people that might not be going to church.”

“So he was lying there in his coma and I said, ‘Bobby’ – ’cause I flew with him in his private plane quite often – I said, ‘Bobby, let’s do what you do when you take off in your airplane,’ ’cause he would always invite everybody, Catholic or non-Catholic, to make the Sign of the Cross.  And so I said, ‘Bobby, let’s make the Sign of the Cross.’  And he made the Sign of the Cross!  And that was his first coordinated movement after being in that coma for a long, long time.”

“What Kurt (Busch) wanted me to do was to say Mass for him in the morning, but then stand right by his car and give him a blessing before the start of the race.  And I was to be the last person that left his car.”

“For the millennium, I was in New Zealand running the first marathon of the new era.  But not only that, I got up at midnight – and I don’t think there are many Catholics in New Zealand – so I got up at midnight and said Mass.  And I thought to myself, ‘I’m the first priest to say Mass in the new millennium’.”

Related links:

Books Fr. Grubba has published

Jesse Romero

He was a three-time World Police Olympics boxing champion and is a former USA middleweight kickboxing champion and he is a member of the Sports Faith International Hall of Fame. He has a Master’s Degree in Catholic Theology and is an author, radio host, and evangelist. He is also a retired veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Notable guest quotes:

“I always had a sense of, I wanted to be on the side of good… Even since I was a kid, I’ve always had an understanding of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies, vice and virtue.”

“I remember as a Catholic school boy just hearing that gospel, the Sermon on the Mount, over and over again, ‘Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called the Children of God,’ Matthew 5:9.  That stood with me ever since I was a little kid – peace maker, peace maker, peace maker.”

“I learned how to box, how to do martial arts.  Why?  Not to hurt people, not to be a bully.  So, I could be a peace maker.”

“I think America’s, uh, we’re suffering from truth decay and that’s why I felt called to be a sheepdog in the world of speaking and promoting the absolute truth of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Catholic church.”

“I think all the training I did in martial arts and in boxing, all that did was strengthen my resolve to realize that life is a battle; politically, intellectually, in our faith walk, it’s adversity, it’s climbing uphill.  And I think boxing and karate, it prepared me for the adversity of life.”

“I think it’s very Catholic to work out because our body affects our mind directly.  So, it’s our responsibility as Catholics to keep our bodies healthy.”

“I think what exercise is to the body, prayer is to the soul.”

“I was saying, ‘Wow, you can be a man of faith and a man of God, and also an athlete and also an effective police officer and a sheep dog.’  And so, those three, they’re not mutually exclusive.”

“I just had this explosion in my heart where I just said, like, ‘Wow, Jesus is amazing.  I LOVE Him!’  A switch just flipped in my heart… where I just said, ‘Man, I LOVE Jesus.  I want to follow Him’.”

Related link:

Jesse’s “Catholics Wake Up: Be A Spiritual Warrior” book

Jesse’s website

(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)

Humpy Wheeler

The former president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, having served in that role for 35 years. He has long been known as one of the foremost promoters of NASCAR auto racing and was inducted into 14 halls of fame. Back in his days as a student athlete he played college football at the University of South Carolina. His athletic career also included time as an outstanding boxer, posting a 40-2 won-lost record. He co-authored a book called, “Growing Up NASCAR: Racing’s Most Outrageous Promoter Tells All.”

Notable guest quotes:

“Today, there’s a tremendous Catholic population in the south, particularly in the big cities because of the migration from the north.”

“We went to Mass in the bay of a filling station!  And it was common to go in theaters on Sundays.  The blue laws, you couldn’t show movies on Sunday in a lot of places in the south, so, they loaned the priest the movie theater for the day and so we would go there.”

“I would line fields and cut grass and he even taught me how to tape ankles and all that kind of stuff.  So, I was around the monks.  There’s a Benedictine monastery there.  I was around them all the time.  And it made me feel extremely comfortable, even to this day, with priests.  And I have a lot of dear friends that are priests who I talk with regularly.”

“I’ve been very fortunate to have spent over 50 years in the auto racing business and doing the thing that I really love to do the most, and also the ability maybe to serve a – what I call it – an underground ministry.  You don’t wear a collar.  You just be a good Catholic and you try to minister to those around you in a subtle way.”

“There’s a great deal of Christianity and Catholicism in helping other people handle grief.”

“All kinds of moral things come up race week.  Something happens to somebody… and having Fr. Grubba there was wonderful, ’cause I could ask him anything.”

“One of my ministries, my own personal ministries, I don’t raise money for it or anything else, but… One of my ministries is to try to help young black kids who have grown up without a father.”

“The Benedictine monks set a great example for me, having been around them as a kid all the time; work, pray, and pray.”

“I have a wonderful relationship with the Blessed Virgin.  She has helped me so many times when I’ve been at the bottom of the barrel.”

“We have kept the faith as strong as you can as the real anchor to our marriage.”

Related link:

Book – Growing Up NASCAR: Racing’s Most Outrageous Promoter Tells All

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

Colleen Day

The Associate Head Coach for the women’s basketball team at the University of Akron. She previously was an assistant coach at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, after having spent ten seasons as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) University, where she had competed as a student-athlete, being a four-time letter winner there and three-time team captain.  She has since been inducted into the Miami University Hall of Fame for her success on the court.

Notable guest quotes:

“I grew up in northeast Ohio… going to St. Columbkille for… first through eighth grade.  I have five siblings, a traditional Irish Catholic family.”

“We had a really active campus ministry (in high school)… They really allowed us to run a lot of things, whether it was just prayer group, Bible study.  They always held Masses on Sunday where the student body could just attend, which was really neat ’cause our chaplain was able to really direct his homily and conversation around things that really mattered to us.”

(at college) “We had… right in town… a church… and I was able to get involved with that right away, lectored and also was a Eucharistic Minister there… It was great for me because I knew Sundays we usually had basketball off so I could still get there… I felt like it really kept me grounded… to be able to make sure I was going to Mass and kinda able to reset myself for the week.”

(she and her husband) “we’re both so centered in Jesus through our ministry through coaching… I definitely think both of us see it as a ministry… but we try to keep our players and our service to them at the forefront of it.  So, we’re able to remind each other a lot what’s important and not get caught up in the things that we shouldn’t.”

“There are a lot of athletes who have strong faiths, so that alone sometimes can just be a connection with them.”

“We can get so caught up in winning as college coaches.  And yes, we do get paid to win, but we also get paid to serve our student-athletes.  And, again, between myself and my husband, we try to keep that at the forefront of what we do and not get caught up in the egos that a lot of times can overtake this profession.”

“Yes, I love getting a defensive stop or drawing up the play to win a game or something like that, that’s all fun, but, the day-to-day, I love the relationships with the players and I love some of the things that we’re able to do with the community.”

Related link:

Colleen’s U. of Akron bio

(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.)

Evvere Anthony

Originally from Antigua, and now living in Arizona, as a young child her dream was to be a Catholic nun.  She is a Benedictine Oblate and has also made her Cursillo weekend.  She also served in the U.S. military for 12 years.  The list of sports she has competed in is quite lengthy, and she even won a Presidential Award for Athletics.  Nowadays she is a coach with the North Phoenix Christian Soccer Club and also hopes to one day compete in wheelchair basketball as part of the Paralympics.

Notable guest quotes:

“My home was right next to the Catholic school… so my mother enrolled me over there.  And, as I entered the rooms where the nuns were, I saw a picture of Jesus on the cross, which I had never seen before… and I just wanted to know more about Jesus after that.”

“I was lucky enough to grasp the Bible so that I could teach Sunday school to the little ones.”

“I went to Rome… and I prayed with the Pope, John Paul II, and even though I was kind of going to church I wasn’t in the church like I was before, and he said ‘Catholics come home’ … so I decided I needed to get back involved more fully than just going.”

“I went to the Mass and that’s when I met Monsignor O’Grady … he invited me to come back the next Sunday, and I never stopped going… I was able to become Minister of the Word there… I became an Assistant Sacristan.  I was also a Eucharistic Minister.”

“They needed a Catholic chaplain assistant to join up with the different groups that were there… Your premise is, for the Catholic faith, you’re going to fill in as a Minister of the Word because there’s not a priest there every Sunday, so we still tried to have something.  So, every Sunday in Iraq we would have Minister of the Word.”

“I was lucky enough where I started talking to the aviators that we need to schedule the priest to come every week and not every month.”

“The Ugandan guards were so amazed because they knew me as the lady that does the ministry, who’s a soldier who does Ministry of the Word in the Catholic church, and from that point on they were like, ‘You’re a nun with a gun’!”

“I get to work with young men and women, mostly the female team that I have… and we’re able to assist them with the Christian faith.”

“The Lord is foremost in what we’re doing in terms of training because we don’t want them to have an attitude of, ‘I’m winning, I’m playing to win and I don’t care about anything else.’  Teaching them that if you put the Lord first, everything else will fall into place.”

“People think you have to win all the time, it’s all about winning.  There’s lessons to be learned in losing.”

“Your faith is… a team sport in the sense that we’re all trying to get to heaven but we’re all going in a different direction, but we’re working together.  That’s the church, the bride of Christ.  So if we’re working together we should be respecting each other whether we’re on the field or whether we’re in our normal lives.”