Catholic Sports Radio

The Flying Fathers were a hockey team of Catholic priests originally started back in the early 1960s. There is optimism of-late for the team's resurrection, according to Father John Perdue, Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Peterborough in Ontario, Canada. He not only is playing for the team but leading their return. He talks about it during this conversation that was recorded while he was in Rome for the canonization of the five newest saints.

He is a champion of numerous surfing events. He is also a licensed scuba diver and licensed private pilot. Plus, he is a skydiver and has rappelled off mountains. He has even been a mentor on the adventure reality show "Clean Break" on the FOX network, as well as been a guest star and stuntman on "Hawaii 5-0." He also has been seen on EWTN television and heard on EWTN Radio and has led pilgrimages to places such as Greece and Israel. Plus, he wrote two books, including one called, "Deep Adventure: The Way of Heroic Virtue." He also is a Benedictine Oblate to the Mary Spouse of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Hawaii. He is also an inductee in the Sports Faith Hall of Fame.

He played 15 years of pro soccer, having retired last year from the United Soccer League after having initially been drafted into Major League Soccer. He had played the sport collegiately at Seton Hall University (a Roman Catholic university). Although he founded a program that teaches basic soccer skills to kids, he is now working for a pro-life organization. He is also in the Knights of Columbus and has started a men's ministry. He also has a faith-based line of apparel.

In college he played Division I baseball and was being scouted by the New York Mets, going on to play at another college before eventually made his way out of the sport. He remains an avid surfer and has also found success in comedy and films, including a movie released earlier this year that he says is, "Littered with Catholicism." He and a friend are also going around college campuses giving talks, which was spawned from his having participated in FOCUS.

He has been a sports TV anchor and sports reporter in Seattle and many other markets, and he has been a sports radio host. He even still does some work for media outlets that need him for the visiting teams that come in to play the Seattle Seahawks. He has two daughters, one of which just finished a four-year scholarship in golf at a Catholic college in southern California. Matt himself played football in high school.

Finished her softball career at Nicholls State University (in Louisiana) as the program's all-time leader in victories, following a career at Central Catholic High School in which she played three sports, which included (as a pitcher in softball) over 1,000 strikeouts and multiple no-hitters. In high school she was a leader of Sisters in Christ and Retreat Team Leader. And, in college she was leading a Bible study as early as her sophomore year. Since graduating from Nicholls State University, she has become an on-campus missionary elsewhere. In this interview Megan also talks about how tearing her ACL became a wake-up call for her as well as the challenges she faces in where she is and what she's doing now.

Fans taking sports too seriously. Parents being WAY too involved in their son or daughter's sports. Superstitions that fans carry out. Sports betting. Hear about these and other issues from a professional and spiritual perspective via the Clinical Psychologist at Saint Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska, where part of her work includes meeting with priests, religious, and lay men & women who are seeking faith-based counseling. With a sports background herself, she also works with seminarians attending the Institute for Priestly Formation and conducts psychological evaluations for individuals interested in entering seminary, the deaconate, or religious communities. She is a member of both the Catholic Psychotherapy Association and the Catholic Medical Association.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A five-time Olympian, he won a gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Games and then a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics. He is also a five-time world champion. Born in New York to Nicaraguan parents, he has had a lifelong walk with Christ as a Catholic and uses this CSR appearance to witness to such, including having had to get through an unfortunate incident last year.

A four-sport athlete in high school, he ran track in college, at a Catholic university -- including competing against some Olympians -- and today is a coach for the boys track team at a Catholic high school in Texas, where he has guided them to a many "firsts" in school history, such as district champs, regional champs, and medals at the State meet. A father of three, he also is a full-time missionary and hosts a Catholic podcast too!

An attorney who is now an agent certified by the National Hockey League Players Association and has a long career in hockey as a front office executive, including as the Assistant General Manager and Director of Hockey Administration and Legal Affairs of the NHL's Minnesota Wild (2000 to 2009). He wrote the book, “How to Build an NHL Franchise from Scratch: The First Era of the Minnesota Wild.” He talks here about overcoming the stigma - the labels that people put - on being an agent, plus he gives insight on steering young athletes toward charitable considerations, and even how he has to practice what he preaches to his clients in similar decisions that he has to make with his own (six) children.

He played college hockey and now coaches in that sport, while serving as the Board President for Catholic Sports Camps. (His father had run a hockey camp in the 1980s with the Chicago Blackhawks.) All that despite having also attended (for graduate school) the largest Catholic university in the United States, because, he talks here of being called back to the church after falling away after he left his parents' house, having been raised a cradle Catholic.

The head football coach at The Catholic University of America, which is located in our nation’s capital, although he has – in his words – experienced the differences of being a practicing Catholic in seven states and the District of Columbia. He is a lector in his current parish and did so – along with being the Chair of the Finance Council – at his previous parish as well. He begins his third season at Catholic University of America in 2019. In his first season the team tied a program record with three d3football.com all-region players, the most for Catholic University of America in nine years.

A 25-time Guinness World Record holder for free throw shooting, he began coaching basketball in 1982. He had played high school basketball and went on to play in recreational leagues until he was 44. Born and raised Catholic, he is a member of the Knights of Columbus and joined Teams of Our Lady with his wife a couple years ago. Listen to hear how he connects with the Bible story about the five talents. Bob's accomplishments have taken him to "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," a TV program in Beijing, China, an appearance at NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, and more that are told during this interview.