On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Sam Mellinger, one of the sports columnists for the Kansas City Star, who has carried on the Star’s rich history of talented sports columnists. Sam graduated from the University of Kansas in 2000, and went to work at the Star and began climbing the career ladder. Sam has been a sports columnist at the Star since 2010, covering both a World Series championship for the Royals and a Super Bowl title for the Chiefs, but in a span of a few months back into 2010, the Star went from having nationally-known columnists Joe Posnanski and Jason Whitlock to just Mellinger. They soon after added Vahe Gregorian, once again giving them a dynamic one-two punch as columnists.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Vic Lombardi, a veteran television and radio host who previously worked in South Bend, Austin, Phoenix and most recently the sports anchor for Denver CBS4. For the last four years, Lombardi has covered professional sports in Denver for Altitude Sports. With 25 years of experience in the sports industry, Vic is a 32-time Emmy award winner. He is also the co-host of the Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 morning show. And, like Fitz, Lombardi has used his public platform to openly discuss his battle with prostate cancer.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Lisa Horne, an experienced sports journalist based in Southern California. She’s worked for entities such as Bleacher Report, The Sporting News and Fox Sports covering topics as varied as college football and NASCAR. She now spends her time covering Southern California football, a school that is also her alma mater. Lisa and her husband went through a battle with cancer, something Fitz finds inspiring.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Brad Underwood, who is the head basketball coach at the University of Illinois. Underwood grew up in McPherson, Kansas, just south of Fitz's hometown of Salina, and both graduated high school in 1982. They have known each for much of their lives, but 20 years after playing at Kansas State, Underwood returned in 2006 as an assistant coach. It set in motion a quick climb in the coaching profession, leading to his third season in Champaign, Illinois, abruptly ending when college sports were shut down due to the pandemic.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Nick Leckey, whose final year of football at Kansas State came during the Wildcats’ 2003 Big 12 Championship season and then in the 2004 NFL Draft, the offensive lineman was selected in the sixth round by the Arizona Cardinals. Leckey played six seasons in the NFL mostly as a center, ending his career as part of the 2009 New Orleans Saints Super Bowl championship team. Leckey now works in medical sales and offers his football analysis for the Kansas City Chiefs' official website and podcast, while living in the suburbs of Kansas City.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Andrew Smith, a Kansas State University, who as the coronavirus swept the globe, found himself with his wife, two daughters and seven students in London. As he prepared to return he wasn’t feeling well, but the tell-tale symptoms of COVID-19 didn’t settle in until he arrived home in Manhattan. Smith, however, is more than simply the first coronavirus case in Riley County, Kansas, he's a veteran of sports broadcaster with a thirst for travel and a love for the stage. Smith talks about it all as he completes his recovery from COVID-19.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Sean Lowe, a former Kansas State football player who found love on The Bachelor. Lowe was originally cast as one of the men on the eighth season of The Bachelorette, but a few months later Lowe returned for the 17th season of The Bachelor, and at the center of attention of a houseful of women who were hoping to become Mrs. Sean Lowe. Lowe offered his final rose to Catherine Guidici and after being wed in a televised ceremony in January of 2014, the couple is happily living in Dallas with their three young children.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Greg Sharpe who now serves as the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Nebraska football and baseball games. Sharpe, though, served as the Voice of the Wildcats for Kansas State football, calling games between 1996 and 2002, During that seven-year stretch, K-State averaged 10 wins a season as K-State football rose to prominence under Coach Bill Snyder. Sharpe and K-State parted ways in 2002 but prior to the 2008 season, he became Voice of the Huskers and settled in as Voice of the Huskers.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Johnny Kane, who now works for Fox Sports Detroit. Kane spent nearly nine years working first in the Topeka and then the Kansas City markets before he moved to Detroit, which is much closer to his home on northwestern Ohio. Kane does play-by-play, reports and anchors coverage of Detroit’s professional sports franchises, but he’s most known for what he should be doing right now — serving as the field-level reporter for Detroit Tigers’ baseball broadcasts.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Michael Bishop, the runner-up for the 1998 Heisman Trophy. After Coach Bill Snyder took over the program in 1989, the historically downtrodden Wildcats began to improve. When Bishop arrived from Blinn College in 1997, he came as part of a historic junior college recruiting class that would elevate Snyder’s program and prove that college football programs could compete for titles by recruiting junior college talent. During the 1997 and 1998 seasons, K-State went 22-3 and 15-1 in Big 12 action. At the heart of it all was Bishop, who was a running and throwing whirlwind on the field.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices