Catholic Sports Radio

He was a running back for four years at North Dakota State University, capped off by a senior season in which he was named All-Missouri Valley Football Conference first team as a fullback. In high school he had been an all-state running back and was even named to the 2012 Minnesota Vikings all-state team and Associated Press all-state second team. In addition, he was an outstanding wrestler in high school, winning the 2012 state championship. Along the way he, unfortunately, went through a major event in his family. Nowadays he is the co-founder of and head trainer at Rise Training & Fitness in Minnesota.

An amazing conversion story filled with a series of mystical events - not to mention a serious medical diagnosis - from a man who officiated over 1,900 regular season games, the most in NHL history, plus an additional 261 Stanley Cup playoff games and even two NHL All-Star Games and one Winter Olympics. "Referee" magazine selected him as one of the top ten officials of the century in any sport. Following his retirement, he stayed involved in the game by participating in a blog for TSN called, "C'mon Ref!" and by serving as an analyst on TSN's hockey highlight show.

The President and Executive Director of the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association for more than 20 years, AND he is the President of the Association of Catholic Coaches and Athletes, which he formed ten years ago. He played, coached, and umpired baseball at the collegiate level and at one point even traveled to England, Germany, Brazil, and Nicaragua as a Major League Baseball International Envoy (Diplomat) Coach to teach and promote baseball. During this interview he also mentions having a brother who is a priest.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. He has run 24 marathons in 17 cities, three of those in Europe. He is nicknamed "the holy goalie" for -- to this day -- continuing to play that position in hockey. In 2013 he was inducted into the Sports Faith International Hall of Fame. He has just put out a brand-new book called, "Running for a Higher Purpose: 8 Steps to Spiritual and Physical Fitness," which follows a book he had previously written called, "Holy Goals for Body & Soul: 8 Steps to Connect Sports with God and Faith."