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Catholic Sports Radio
Catholic Sports Radio
Author: Bruce Wawrzyniak
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Helping listeners find the right balance and priority when it comes to their faith life versus their sports life, interviews are done with guests who are Catholics in sports - current or former athletes, coaches, officials, clergy, administrators, and more, from the pro, amateur, and scholastic ranks. Whether you're an athlete or a fan, youth or adult, Catholic or not, this show will deliver content that speaks to you and provides opportunities for ongoing reflection for your daily life.
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He is a left fielder in the Baltimore Orioles organization, having played last year for both the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. He had been chosen in the fourth round of the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft by Toronto following a collegiate career at Creighton University where he hit .307 with 30 home runs and 147 RBI. During those years he was a Second Team All-BIG EAST selection in 2017 and First Team All-BIG EAST in 2018. And he was named Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American in 2017. Back in high school he had earned four letters in baseball, helped guide his team to the Class 3 State title, and was a three-time All-State First Team selection and earned First Team honors in district and conference.
An Athletics Administration Leader & Educator who authored a book published last year called, "The Good Sport: Reflections on a Full Life in College Sports." He is one of the most accomplished and respected athletic directors in American sports history. Over his 47-year career, he has shaped some of the most prominent programs in the nation, from Notre Dame to Duke, earning countless accolades and the enduring loyalty of those he mentored. As a testament to his unparalleled influence on athletics, 32 of his former assistants now lead sports programs across the United States, and four of his children head college sports programs. Sports Illustrated has dubbed his family the "First Family of Athletic Directors."
She played tennis at Furman University, with the program consistently finishing as a ranked team. They won the regular season conference championship for DI Southern Conference four times and the tournament three times and attended the NCAA tournament every year except for her senior year, when she was named MVP. She ran cross-country her senior year and a month after graduating ran her first marathon, finishing second in Italy. She had two opportunities to run professionally and has run four 50 miler races, finishing 3rd in the American River 50 Miler and winning several 50k's. She had grown up playing tennis since age three and played tournaments in England and Italy. She came to the Catholic faith while in college, which she talks about during this interview.
He grew up a four-sport athlete, including having been a highly recruited football player out of high school. Present day, he continues to train and compete across multiple sports. He is a Board-Certified Sports Clinical Specialist who has worked with elite performers across a wide spectrum: from semi-professional rugby players and Division I collegiate athletes to former NFL players and nationally ranked senior Olympians. A convert to the Catholic faith, he leads Hope Not Nope's human performance initiatives, serving military special operators, elite athletes, and driven entrepreneurs. Plus, he has also authored a book by the same name, Hope Not Nope.
He played 13 seasons with Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, who chose him in the first round of the amateur draft. He appeared in a combined total of close to 1,500 regular season and playoff games combined, winning two World Series and being a two-time All-Star -- all of this coming in a Dodger uniform. He went on to 19 seasons as manager of the Angels, winning the World Series in 2002 and twice being named American League Manager of the Year. He was also the manager for the U.S. Olympic baseball team that took home the silver medals at the Summer Games in 2021 in Tokyo. Plus, he was at the helm of the U.S. national team at the 2024 WBSC Premier12, with the Americans finishing third.
In recently completed NCAA Division I play, she led the nation and set a Florida Gulf Coast University single season women's soccer record with 21 goals during her just completed senior season, becoming the unanimous Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, among other honors she received for the 2025 season alone. Her prolific season included scoring in ten straight games. In high school she had scored 170 goals in her career, leading her team to the Division III state championship as a junior. Having just graduated, her plan now is to play soccer professionally in Europe. Listen for her testimony about when she "struggled a lot with (her) faith."
He is a seminarian in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, attending St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He was actually not born into the Catholic faith and, as he talks about here, his sights were actually fixed squarely on basketball, which he played as a youth, with a focus on making the freshman team at the high school he would be attending. He even later attended a basketball camp. In the seminary he participates in tournaments in billiards and chess. Listen for his thoughts on the 2025-26 NBA season thus far!
She is an assistant coach for women's swimming and diving at Northern State University, plus she does triathlons and trains for ultra-runs. Her coaching career ranges from high school and the club team to Dakota Sports and Fitness to a USA swim coach with a team in North Dakota and another, later, in South Dakota. She has also provided private coaching for collegiate athletes. During her master's program she completed an internship at the University of Texas, coaching their youth Longhorns swim camp all summer, and at the University of Kansas camp. As a student-athlete she competed for three seasons at the University of Mary after having been a varsity swimmer all four years of high school, when she was a regional and state qualifier.
SPECIAL EPISODE – An exclusive interview upon his decision to publicly share his story, this conversation contains tears as well as (caution) mention of suicide. He just finished season number 27 as a Major League Baseball umpire, including having been the crew chief for the Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series, for which he was the home plate umpire for Game 3. As a youth he had played baseball and was on his high school's team, including winning back-to-back state championships. He umpired in the minor leagues for seven years before being hired full-time in MLB. He has umpired three World Series, five Wild Card series, ten Division Series, five League Championship Series, three World Baseball Classics, and two All-Star Games, including having been the home plate umpire and crew chief of the 2018 All-Star Game. Listen for his amazing testimony about a trip to Lourdes!
(LISTEN FOR HIS REVERSION STORY NEAR THE END!) He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball, playing for eight teams and being a part of three teams that reached the World Series. He also played in the league in Japan that is the highest level of baseball there. He is a member of eight Halls of Fame and was a manager in the MLB Draft League. After serving as hitting coach and manager for a team in the Philadelphia Phillies system, he went on to become the Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coordinator and then their hitting coach and later became the hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox and after that the minor league hitting coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles. He currently is the head coach of the Conwell-Egan Catholic High School baseball team in Pennsylvania, having been named 2024 Courier Times/Intell Baseball Coach of the Year.
An Emmy Award winner who fans know as the lead game analyst for FOX Sports' college basketball coverage. Before joining FOX Sports, he spent 32 years covering basketball as an analyst on television and radio for CBS, ESPN and CBS Radio. He has covered the sport's premier events, including the NCAA Tournament, Final Four, the BIG EAST Championship, Big Ten Championship, ACC Championship, SEC Championship and New Jersey Nets telecasts! He began his broadcasting career in 1982 with ESPN, where he served as a game analyst for college basketball through the 2012 season. From 1970-81, he was the head basketball coach at Seton Hall. He served as president of the BIG EAST Coaches Association from 1979-81. Prior to his time at Seton Hall, he coached five years at Fairleigh Dickinson, earning Coach of the Year honors from the New Jersey Basketball Writers Association in his final season with the program. He had played three seasons at LaSalle and following his senior campaign, was drafted by the New York Knicks.
He played college football, first at William Penn University and then at Missouri Western State University, including playing in a combined total of three bowl games. After college he played club lacrosse for several years and became an avid cyclist and swimmer and even competed in two short-course triathlons. In high school he was team captain for varsity football and was a three-time Missouri state qualifier in swimming and senior year state qualifier in discus. On the faith side, he is a convert and serves as Deacon and Minister of Evangelization at the Church of the Nativity in Leawood, Kansas, and was recently appointed to the Archdiocese Synodal Team.
He played college football, first at William Penn University and then at Missouri Western State University, including playing in a combined total of three bowl games. After college he played club lacrosse for several years and became an avid cyclist and swimmer and even competed in two short-course triathlons. In high school he was team captain for varsity football and was a three-time Missouri state qualifier in swimming and senior year state qualifier in discus. On the faith side, he is a convert and serves as Deacon and Minister of Evangelization at the Church of the Nativity in Leawood, Kansas, and was recently appointed to the Archdiocese Synodal Team.
He is an established voice-over and on-air and venue announcer/sportscasting talent who is known for his voice presence at Los Angeles Rams football games since 2016. He traveled the nation and world as the on-site voice of AVP Beach Volleyball for most of the 1980s and 90s. Additionally, he announced tennis, volleyball, and roller hockey at The Forum in L.A. He has provided his voice for many commercials over 30 years and announced USC, Pepperdine, and CSUN collegiate basketball and Avengers Arena Football at Staples Center in the 80s, 90s, and 2000's. He serves on the Boards of the John R. Wooden Award Foundation, the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, and West Coast Sports Associates. He was the recipient of the 2025 Humanitarian Award from Catholic Charities.
She coached for the New Jersey Pride softball organization and served as a private catching coach. In addition, she has coached bowling and volleyball. She had been the assistant varsity softball coach at Mount Saint Dominic Academy and played softball at Seton Hall University. As a student-athlete at Mount Saint Dominic Academy she had played volleyball, basketball, and softball. Presently she is the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Leadership at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, a preschool to Grade 12 private school in Princeton, New Jersey designed just for girls.
He specializes in covering Notre Dame athletics using emerging media technologies. He has been recognized as the Indiana Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association, from which he also received the association's national Powerade Award for his audio feature on the Notre Dame-USC football rivalry. Last year he authored the book, "Teddy and The Gipper: A Notre Dame Friendship," and now his newest book is releasing, called, "Vision, Values, and Victories: Notre Dame-Style Leadership: Forging Champions in Faith, Character, and Commitment." He was the guest on this show six-and-a-half years ago way back on Episode 11.
He has been playing soccer since the age of five, although in high school he also played travel baseball. Following four years of high school soccer he played the sport at Belmont Abbey College. He played rugby after college and made a semi-pro soccer team, plus he spent six years as a soccer referee and has spent time coaching in the sport as well. He also is presently in a competitive volleyball league. He is the Director of Advancement at The St. Austin School, which is a pre-K - 8 Catholic school in St. Louis.
He appeared on Season 15 and Season 17 of American Ninja Warrior on NBC, having reached the finals and participated in the bracket of 32 athletes remaining. This year he competed in the Barbados Ninja Throwdown, after last year having competed in the USA National Championships. For two years now he has competed on the Ninja Sport Network in both Season 3 and Season 4. Since 2021 he has competed in the World Ninja League, seasons 7-11, all after having competed in four seasons of the Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association. In elementary school he had played soccer and CYO basketball, and then in high school started participating in ninja warrior competitions. He is currently a student at the University of Notre Dame, where he is regularly running, lifting, bouldering, and top roping on campus. Through it all, he is using his platform to advocate for an end to world hunger.
He played football, basketball and ran track, and then in high school played football, going on then to be on the football roster for Catholic University in Washington DC. He went on to become the offensive line coach at Georgetown Prep from 1984 through 2023, retired from coaching after the 2023 season, but came back this season to help the new offensive line coach transition from having been their tight ends coach. On top of all that, he also coached his own children in youth basketball and lacrosse. Along the way, in 2014 he received the John W. Voight award from the Maryland Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, was inducted into the Georgetown Prep Sports Hall of Fame in 2019, and last year was a Georgetown Prep Insignis Medal Recipient, which is the school's highest honor.
He started into taekwondo as a youth and by age 15 won his first Canadian National Championship as a junior and later earned the senior title at 21 years old. That same year he had the honor of representing Canada at the World Championships in the Philippines. Over the years he has competed in numerous countries under the Canadian flag. In addition to competing in the sport, he spent several years teaching taekwondo. He has also led seminars in Mexico and Greece, sharing martial arts and mentorship across cultures and communities. On the faith side, he has a personal story of coming face to face – literally – with a Pope.


























