Today we preview the 2022-23 Xavier Hawks Boy's Basketball team with Head Coach Matt Klarner in his 12th season.

Today's special guest is Kully Kollath the founder of Samaritan's Hand a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center in Sheboygan Wisconsin.

From early on in his youth, Kully got lost in drugs & alcohol & it didn’t take long for it to become a slippery slope of full blown addiction. After many trials he faced, dangerous situations & near death, Kully found sobriety, but it was just that. Plain, nothing special sobriety. He began his studies to become an AODA counselor while also sponsoring others along the way & at times even sitting with them while they detoxed. Many years later, faith was introduced to him & then the light bulb clicked on. While he knew about God, he thought his sins were too much to be forgiven. He was then told about Jesus, being saved & then he knew he was a new creation in Christ. It was then that he knew he had to tell others like him about this news. Samaritan’s Hand, Inc was born & this is now his passion!

Samaritan’s Hand, Inc is solely based on faith & Jesus’s love. We pray for those in need, we give clients bibles if needed, we teach forgiveness, love & mercy. Our hope is that we reunite families, get individuals back in the work force & make them want to be important individuals in our community! Our counselors’ passion for people’s healing & Jesus is unmistakable & we take being clean seriously.

Our special guest today was a wide receiver in the NFL for nine years – including six Super Bowl appearances and one championship – Beebe is widely known for his “never-say-die” grit displayed in Super Bowl XXVII when he denied Leon Lett an easy touchdown.

After retiring from the NFL, Beebe founded House of Speed, in Aurora, which specializes in training athletes to perform better by enhancing speed and character. He also coached Aurora Christian High School to two state championships.

Beebe grew up just down the road from Aurora University in Sugar Grove, Ill., graduating from Kaneland High School. He attended AU and played Spartan basketball for one season. While playing football at Chadron State College in western Nebraska, his speed caught the eye of NFL scouts. He was invited to NFL combine trials in Indianapolis in 1989 where he (and Deion Sanders) ran the 40-yard dash in a record-setting 4.25 seconds. Beebe was the Buffalo Bills’ first pick in the draft.

Beebe was the first NFL player to take the field in six Super Bowls -- four with the Buffalo Bills and two with the Green Bay Packers, one of which they won. He holds numerous records, including the Buffalo Bills record for most touchdowns in a game (four). Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy said Beebe “showed what a fighting heart is all about. He gave everything he had all of the time.”

After retiring from the NFL, Beebe founded House of Speed in Aurora with Dr. Jeff Schutt in 1998. House of Speed has trained 100,000 athletes of various levels and sports, including more than 40 professional athletes such as Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo and Michael Turner of the Atlanta Falcons. Beebe coached football at Aurora Christian High School from 2004 to 2013, leading the team to three state championship appearances and two championships.

Don is currently the head football coach at Aurora University.

Today's special guest on the Sportsfaith Podcast is Nancy Kraszewski of Stephen Ministry at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Nancy has served in Stephen Ministry since 2009 and is currently 1 of 3 Stephen Ministry Leaders at Pilgrim Lutheran Church.

We talked about the role of Stephen Ministries and how it serves people that are struggling with different life events.

If you want more information on how you can get involved or if you need caregiving yourself contact Nancy at [email protected]. You can also visit www.stephenministries.org

Today's special guest was Jordan Wack of Passages Connecting Fathers and Families. Jordan gave some great perspective on the importance of fathers in today's society and how many families have fathers that are not in the picture of their child's lives.

We also talked about his love of baseball and his stint as a bullpen catcher in the MLB minor leagues.

Jordan has provided services for over 600 fathers in his short time with passages. Jordan resides near Columbus Ohio and is the father to a 6 month old daughter.

Elliot and Serena Derricks are missionaries serving in Cameroon in Bible translation and literacy. They arrived in Cameroon in March 2018 and their mission is to work alongside a local language group that doesn’t have the full Bible in their language, revising their New Testament, translating the Old and increasing literacy rates community-wide.

Elliot talked about his near death experience when he contracted "African Tick Bite Fever". Him and his family have experienced some great relationships with the Subula people of Cameroon.

Before beginning service with LBT, the Derricks served in various fields with LCMS International from 2010 – 2016, including Slovakia, Macau, and South Korea. They welcomed their daughter, Lydia, in March of 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. Their second daughter, Josephine, joined the family in January 2017 in Dallas, Texas. Their son, Chikodi, joined the family in November 2019.

Our special guest today was former NFL player Marques Ogden on Episode #30 of the Sportsfaith Podcast.

Growing up in a single parent home with a father that inspired perseverance and fairness, Marques Ogden learned how to define his values and set goals. Ogden attended Howard University from 1998-2002 where he played Division I football. He then followed his dream and his brother Jonathan’s footsteps, eventually getting drafted into the NFL in 2003. Overall, he played for 5 years as an offensive lineman with the Titans, Bills, Ravens and Jaguars. Even during the off season, Ogden helped train football players in Europe, both physically and mentally.

Bill Gosse Episode 29 by Criag Bohn

Scott Knudsen our special guest on Episode #28 of the Sportsfaith Podcast. Scott is a AQHA Professional Horseman and Ambassador. Host of the Cowboy Entrepreneur show. Based in Fredericksburg, Texas, at his Lightning K Ranch, Scott is a 5th generation cowboy and rancher with a business degree. He’s ridden rough stock to race horses, team roped, penned, and sorted. A powerful motivational speaker, Scott is a lighting strike survivor who relearned how to read and write after lighting struck him in the head and came out his hand. Scott is Host of the Cowboy Entrepreneur Show and a public speaker.

Today's special guest on the Sportsfaith Podcast is Jon Szalonek. We catch up with Jon after our first visit back in May of 2020.

on is a graduate of Jacobs High School in the Chicagoland area and also Western Illinois University where he earned his undergrad degree before joining the Army in 2015 as an infantry officer. From 2015 to 2016 Jon completed the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Ranger School, the Stryker Leader Course , and the Airborne Course. He became the Rifle Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer at Fort Lewis, WA which was his first assignment. In 2018 Jon was hired by Joint Special Operations Command and deployed with the 75th Ranger Regiement to Afghanistan. Upon returning from overseas Jon moved to Fort Benning GA for the Maneuver Captains Career Course. Jon has earned his Master's degree in Master organizational leadership in August of 2020.

Jon now is living in Clarksville Tennessee and is the Company Commander of the 101st Airborne Divsision.

On this episode Jon talks about servant leadership along with what faith looks like in the military. We talked about the importance of adapting to changing environments while training and leading his soldiers.

Jon gave some thoughts on the current war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.