Episodes

Sue Medley

Fifteen years ago she was told by doctors that she had six months left to live!  She was the Head Volleyball Coach at Saint Mary’s College in Indiana, then moved on to be the Assistant Volleyball Coach at Kansas State University, and then was the Head Coach at Cornell University before moving on to the University of Maine where she established the first NCAA Division I volleyball program in the school’s history.  She is also the founder of the Maine Volleyball Coaches Association, and in USA Volleyball’s Iroquois-Empire Volleyball Association Region she serves as Director and Head Coach of the High Performance Volleyball Program there.

Notable guest quotes:

“In athletics I think all of us are somewhat tempted.  It’s a very insular type of world.  You can very easily live your days based on a competitive schedule, a practice schedule, and wins & losses… You’re giving your best effort but at the end of the day those things are not really what we’re here for.”

“I have always kind of felt that, regardless – win, lose, or draw – my faith and my relationship with God will always be the bedrock of what I do.”

“I want to be somebody that students can come to, my fellow coaches would approach, when things get tough.  And when things get tough you need the Lord.  You need Him in good times but you really need to know you have Him in bad times.”

“That’s really been my approach, is to try to love my neighbor as myself… Because I think with love you keep a door open.  Sometimes I think with proselytizing and speaking we can sometimes close doors.”

“I think as a Christian we have an extra duty to walk our walk and not just talk our talk.”

“The opportunity for me to attend the University of Notre Dame is one of the greatest blessings that has happened to me in my life for sure.”

“The greatest gift that Notre Dame gave me was just the strengthening of my faith and the demonstration and just daily living of people who lived their faith out in their daily actions.  So, it’s a place I think about just about every day of my life.”

“In that time period (dealing with health issues) I really leaned on the Lord to show me the way out because I knew that He had a different plan for me than what the doctors had.”

Bill Hogan

Currently at St. Joseph’s College in Indiana, his alma mater, he previously was the Director of Athletics for ten years at Seattle University after having held the same position for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, both of which are Jesuit schools.  Before all that he was the Athletic Director (and was even the basketball coach) at St. Joseph’s, where he had played basketball during his college days.  Active with the Knights of Columbus, he also served on the Executive Board in Seattle for the Special Olympics and was part of the decision to host the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games there.

Notable guest quotes:

“We have probably the most beautiful grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on our campus as you’ve ever seen.  It was done by the seminarians back in the, I think, late 1800s or early 1900s, and is still stunning, and it’s a great place for reflection and spiritual awakening and just a wonderful, beautiful, spot.”

“I try to exercise every day by walking – a 35, 40-minute walk – and I always stop by the grotto to say a quick prayer, almost every day.”

“I went to Catholic grade school, Catholic high school, Catholic college, and I’ve worked the last 35 years at Catholic universities.  There’s something special about being devoted and… I enjoy that a lot, it just fits me.”

“I feel very privileged to have had this long experience in Catholic higher education.”

“You would get chills listening to his homilies.”

“In Seattle they had a chapel on campus that’s world-renowned.  It’s one of the top 25 – I saw it in a book – it’s one of the top 25 religious houses in the world, because of the architecture.”

“We were fortunate enough to make it to the national championship in 1974… But… I don’t remember even hearing anything about a steroid or anything like that, enhancement-type things… You didn’t have the type of things that are going wrong now back then.  It was a much more pure existence, it seemed like.”

“I always seem to end up where I can do the most good.  And it’s not always my choice.  I think the Virgin Mary, when I was five years old, I was the guy in charge of the ceremony, the May Day, at St. Ann parish in Hamilton, Ohio, and she has always been there with me… So, it was, trying to do the Will of God and doing the best you can.”

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

Joe Paterick

He has done 52 marathons and has been a triathlete for 24 years.  Back in the day he also played football and basketball.  The day before this interview was recorded, he did a 240-mile bike trek from his home in Milwaukee to a Catholic school in Michigan.  In addition to that journey, he also talks about a book he’s writing – but not about his athletic endeavors.

Notable guest quotes:

“I really found, even in life, when you really do for others, it’s the old adage, ‘Do unto others as you want them to do for you’… There is a lot of strength in that.  There really is.  That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?”

“Even as a kid, people used to say, ‘You’ve got that Catholic conscience,’ and I would say, ‘Well what’s wrong with that’?  It’s not a bad thing at all.”

“It’s that character that you don’t give up, but you learn a lot from it with sportsmanship.  Think about it, at the end of a game – in football or basketball or soccer – you shake hands with the person you just defeated.  It was just a game.  Okay?  And, I just think that in the end it doesn’t matter because it’s just a memory – how many wins and that’s good and that – but you don’t have to feel bad because you lost.”

“I could tap into that spiritual consciousness that (my mother) had.  She couldn’t go to church anymore.  There wasn’t a priest to visit her.  Okay?  But there was something very special.  She didn’t even have her legs anymore, but she grabbed my hand one day and she said, ‘I still want to help people’.”

“(My mother) lives within me, but also, with my father, both of them, that spiritual connection is just very powerful.”

“I was a young Catholic growing up, and maybe I wasn’t paying attention I’m not sure, but it didn’t seem like there was enough on the spiritual side.  It was always about proving things.  Not taking Jesus out of it, but it was still the Holy Ghost and God the Father.”

“You don’t need to have Jesus appear in front of you and say, ‘I’m still alive.’  He’s still alive, we just don’t seem him!”

Related link:

Holy Name Catholic School project

[This episode contains a prayer from the Play Like A Champion Today Coaches Manual (University of Notre Dame), as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

Image credit: Miami Dolphins

Cam Cameron

He spent many years in the National Football League, as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, plus he was the offensive coordinator for both the Baltimore Ravens and the then-San Diego Chargers.  He was also quarterbacks’ coach of the Washington Redskins.  In addition, he has many years of experience coaching in college football as well, most recently as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks’ coach at LSU.  He also went through two health scares in the form of serious melanoma and later a prostate cancer diagnosis.

Notable guest quotes:

“Prayer life has been a huge part of my life and my wife, Missy, and our families… I would just encourage everybody, don’t wait until you have a (medical) moment like that before you start praying.”

“My quiet time in the morning is how I start my day.  And I was just very fortunate that I developed some solid habits spiritually and, Proverbs 3:5-6, it’s all about trust, and I just trusted God and the process that I had to go through.”

“I’ve just been really fortunate throughout my career to be around a lot of men of faith, and some of those that come to Mass and our Bible studies.”

“The faith communities I’ve been involved with in sports, especially football, has just been tremendous over the last 35 years.”

“As long as you’re learning, and you don’t repeat those mistakes, that’s what forgiveness is all about.”

“When I was with the (San Diego) Chargers and the (Baltimore) Ravens, in particular, and the (Washington) Redskins, the places I’ve been, and when I was the head coach of the (Miami) Dolphins, that was a huge part of our day, whether it was the coaches’ Bible study, whether it would be – and this is for Catholics, Christians… there’s Bible studies, there’s coaches Bible studies, there’s player and wives’ Bible studies, there’s just a wives’ Bible study.  There’s all sorts of ways that everybody connects spiritually.  And there’s a ton of prayer, before practice, after practice, on the field, on the teams thatI’ve been associated with, and it’s always been a spiritually awesome experience.”

“I went to Cursillo this past Spring… and that was just off the charts.  And then I have a, every Tuesday morning at 6am I have a Cursillo group that, we meet, a group of men, a prayer group, so that’s kind of the routine now.  Cursillo was hard to do when you’re in coaching, but now that I’m in business instead of coaching I’ve got time to set my own schedule, so I get to do a lot of cool Catholic things now.”

“Our traditions are so awesome in the Catholic church, but for some of the younger teenagers and young adults, sometimes they’re looking for a little bit more, I’m not saying evangelical, but I’m gonna tell ya’, this… Cursillo, and just everything with that movement,… I can’t express how exciting it is.”

(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)

Sue Moucha

A four-time member of Team USA for the Paralympics, winning seven medals – two silver and three bronze in swimming, and two GOLD in running.  She set one world record in swimming and holds two American records in swimming.  In all she has amassed an amazing 250 trophies from able-bodied competitions.  A lifelong Catholic, she was also a 1996 Olympic torchbearer.

Notable guest quotes:

“Back when I was growing up, in elementary school, you had a disability you were put sort of to the side a little bit, so I was always a spectator.  And when I started participating in sports, it was like, ‘Wow, I’m good at something.’  And … one thing leads to another, it helps your self-confidence, it brings you out.  I had something to share with people in conversation.”

“I was Catholic, I went to Nativity Catholic School and… I received the Distinguished Alumni (Award) from every single school I’ve attended – elementary, high school, college, and graduate school.  I went to Tampa Catholic High School.”

“What bothered me a little bit in high school was, I was still trying to accept my disability.  I did not participate in the Paralympics until I was age 21.  So, I was still trying to work at accepting my disability, so I didn’t participate in sports in high school.”

“For myself, being disabled and handicapped, to see something concrete that says, ‘Wow, you’re good at something.  You received first place,’ it just carries over.  It helped my self-confidence in the way I carried myself.”

“When I was little I’d say, ‘Oh God, I wish I could do that.  Ya’ know?  Why can’t I do things like everybody else?’  And God introduced me to the Paralympics and this was His way of telling me, ‘Sue, you’re good at something and you can share this with others’.”

“I have said that tremendously, quite a bit.  When I was little I’d say to God, ‘Why me’?”

“My mother was the one that got the sign (language) interpreter person involved (at Mass).”

“I present an award every year named after me, the Sue Moucha Overcoming Adversity Award, and I think that that is so neat because I’m disabled and this is an able-bodied field.”

“I’ve had to ask God to help me to accept it.  And once you accept something you can move forward… I just pray to God 24/7 to help me through life… God’s helping me all the time.”

Tom Scott

A Team USA competitor in karate, he has participated in a long, long, LONG list of events ranging from Pan American Games to World Championships, the World Games, and more, having won numerous gold, silver, and bronze medals nationally and internationally.  He attended Texas Christian University where he met his now wife, who is also Catholic.

Notable guest quotes:

“The way I really see sport is, it’s always been my number one communication tool with God.  He’s always pointed out to me where I can improve my life in becoming a better person.  So, not just a better athlete.”

“Sometimes that fear of losing, when sport weighs so much on athletes’ hearts, it can hinder their ability to perform at their best.  So, really, my faith does allow me to let go of some of those fears of winning, losing, and just play the game to please God.  So, it really is the backbone and safety net for me.”

“Even while you’re winning doesn’t mean your faith life is strongest.”

“Reach out to the saints.  I think it was four years ago, exactly – four or five years ago – that I really started to build a relationship with Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes, and he really just took over for me.”

“Sometimes I used to wonder, ‘Is sport – does it really even matter at all?  Does Jesus care if I’m winning or losing or all this time that I’m spending on it?’  And it took time for me to realize that, yes it actually does.  It pleases Him to see His creation do something that they love to do, whatever it might be.”

“Whenever I travel international, I always get an opportunity to, in another country, to meet and maybe even help someone in need – on a street corner or someone asking for food or money and I can walk right into the store right there and count my blessings and, I’m getting Gatorades for the tournament anyway, so I turn around and ask them what food they need for themselves or their families.  Those are the moments too that come out just through sport.”

“Something that’s neat about karate is that the entire sport is built around control… In karate, if you can keep a cool head, it is such an advantage and I think my temperament, a lot that comes from my Catholic faith, helps me to stay so calm.”

Related link:

Tom’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)

Rich Donnelly

Currently the manager of the Kingsport Mets, he coached in the major leagues for over 25 years, most recently as third base coach with the Seattle Mariners but other stops along the way that included a World Series ring with the Florida Marlins in 1997.  He was even a part of the Team USA coaching staff two years ago at the World Baseball Classic, which was won by the Americans.  Rich talks about tragedy that he and his family had to overcome, as well as coming back to his Catholic roots after he felt pressure to pick baseball over his faith – this despite being born and raised Catholic and at one time even considering going into the seminary.

Notable guest quotes:

“I had visions of being a priest until I went to the seminary and found out they didn’t have a baseball team.”

“When I got into pro (base)ball, I had this fallacy that you couldn’t be a man of faith and be a baseball player.”

“I would crawl on my hands and knees… all the way through a parking lot… to get into my car so nobody would see me go to church.”

“There was something inside of me that said, ‘Rich, the place where you love to be, besides a baseball field, is in church’.”

“When I was ten years old, I used to go after church, after Mass I would go down in the basement in my house… and I would celebrate the Mass with my Daily Missal… I would put on a robe and pretend I was a priest up on the altar.”

“I said, ‘Tell me the bottom line.  Quit beatin’ around the bush,’ and (the doctor) said, ‘Rich, she has nine months to live’.”

“I was blaming God for her getting the brain tumor.”

“The Lord was sending a message to me that, okay, now do you believe?  Now are you satisfied?  Now do you want to change your life?”

“When was I most happy?  The first 16 years of my life, when I was in church every day, when I was praying.  I said three decades of the rosary every day.  I said my morning prayers, my evening prayers.  I talked to God all day.  And, I had a patron saint, Saint Jude, the patron of hopeless cases, which I surely was.”

“I have a saying that I use daily… I say there’s two kinds of people; those that are humble, and those that are about to be.”

“You can’t reach perfection.  You can’t reach perfection in sports and you cannot reach it in your life.”

“No parent can call up a major league organization and say, ‘Could you put my kid in the big leagues?’  It doesn’t work that way.  It’s like, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die to get there.”

Related link:

“The Chicken Runs at Midnight” book

[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]