Catholic Sports Radio Bruce Wawrzyniak

He was a pitcher on his high school baseball team, including being All-State AND having thrown a no-hitter at a tournament where he made the All-Tournament squad. He went on to college baseball at both Bradley University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth.  He also played in the Northwoods League for the Alexandria Blue Anchors.  Almost immediately after his baseball career he delved into the world of skiing, with notable runs such as Jackson Hole and Big Sky, among others. He even combined skiing with faith, as he talks about here, plus he also served as an adaptive ski instructor.

He is a veteran of 12 years in the NFL as an offensive tackle, including having come out of retirement three times - as recently as this past December!  He was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft and, in addition to that team, went on to also play for the Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, and Indianapolis Colts, appearing in a combined total of close to 130 games, counting regular season and playoffs. He even spent time in the New England Patriots organization. He had been a First Team All-American in college and is a fitness and health enthusiast who just launched the "Big Serious Show," which he is releasing weekly on his YouTube channel.

He was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the eighth round of the 1983 NBA Draft. He has been enshrined in both the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Valley Conference Hall of Fame. He is the Lewis University men's basketball all-time scoring leader and helped the program to its first conference championship and to their first two NCAA Tournament berths. Present day he is the president of Marist High School, a Catholic institution in Chicago where the SportsPlex was named after him this past December, having been their principal for 22 years and a basketball player back in his days as a student-athlete there.

He is a former Major League Soccer player with over 100 MLS appearances throughout a six-year career that took him to four continents and more than ten countries. He spent ten years in locker rooms of the highest level, from the University of Maryland, to D.C. United, to the U.S. Men’s National team.  On the faith side, after living a life apart from God for many years, he experienced the unique challenges of converting from within a professional locker room. Nowadays he is the Vice President of Content at the Augustine Institute and is co-host of the catechetical series "Symbolon," which has a new version launching on the Formed app on July 17th.

This is something of a special edition. This guest was on the show before, more than a year-and-a-half ago, back on Episode 190 in September 2022.  He is a professor and Kule Chair at St. Joseph’s College, a Catholic college at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada.  And since we met him then – and you can go back and hear his story on that episode – this conversation instead gives us all the chance to learn all about a fascinating individual from the world of sports and our Catholic faith, because this guest just last month had a book come out that is a Number 1 New Release on Amazon in Canadian Historical Biographies, a book called, "Hockey Priest: Father David Bauer and the Spirit of the Canadian Game," published by The Catholic University of America Press.

She has coached for FC Dallas Juniors and for TOCA -- which is an official soccer training partner of MLS -- in addition to being a private trainer / entrepreneur for soccer skills, camps, and events.  She has six years of training in Krav Maga, Karate, Jiu-jitsu, and other forms of self-defense and now teaches private lessons to individuals, groups, churches, and monthly women's seminars.  She received ISSA certification in fitness and nutrition and worked with dietitians for five years, plus 25 years of experience working with various coaches and instructors. She played division I college soccer at McNeese State University, where she was First Team All-Conference and earned the Golden Boot Award.  She had been varsity soccer MVP in high school and also competed in club and other soccer programs.