Sports Spectrum Podcast

Episode 336 Matt Forte and Justin Forsett joined us on this episode of the Sports Spectrum podcast.  Matt was selected in the 2nd round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears and played 8 seasons in Chicago and then signed with the New York Jets, where he played two more seasons before announcing his retirement with Sports Spectrum in March of 2018. He is a 2-time Pro Bowler in 2011 and 2013....

Episode 335 Bethany Hamilton is our guest today on the show. She was thrust in the spotlight at just 13 years old when she was attacked by a 14-foot Tiger Shark and losing her arm. The traumatic injury seemingly ended her dream career as a professional surfer.  However, one month after the attack, Bethany returned to surfing and within two years had won her first national surfing title. Bethany’s...

Today on the podcast we throw it back to February 2018 and a conversation we had with 3-time NAIA Division II National Champion coach Greg Tonagel of Indiana Wesleyan.  Coach Tonagel just finished his 14th season as the head coach of the Wildcats and is a 3-time NABC/NAIA Division II National Coach of the Year. On this throwback edition of the podcast, we talk to Coach Tonagel about discipleship i...

Episode 334 Jimmy Mellado is the president and CEO of Compassion International. Compassion is a sponsor of our podcast and partner with us as we help them release children from poverty. Jimmy is a graduate of SMU where he was a member of the Division 1 Track and Field championship team in 1983.  He competed in the 1987 Pan American Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea as a deca...

Episode 333 Zerbin Singleton has experienced the highs and lows of life. The Marine Corp Major was born to a mom addicted to drugs in a home surrounded by domestic violence, drugs, poverty and even homelessness. At the age of ten, Zerbin's mother was incarcerated.  At the age of fifteen, Zerbin met his father for the first time. Just seven days before graduating from high school, he was in a head-...

Episode 332 Patrick Dimarco is a fullback with the Buffalo Bills. He played his college football at South Carolina under Steve Spurrier before entering the NFL in 2011 as an undrafted free-agent. His football journey would take him from San Diego to Kansas City and then to Atlanta, where he would spend 4 seasons with the Falcons. In 2016, he helped the Falcons to the NFC Championship and a berth i...

Episode 331 Chris Norton went from talented 18-year-old college football with a promising future to flat on his back with a broken neck and a 3% chance of ever moving or feeling anything below his neck, much less walking again. Determined to prove the doctors wrong and to find love, Chris pushed himself through grueling, daily workouts until four years later, when he walked across the stage to rec...

Today we look back to Episode 7 of the podcast from May of 2017 with Ernie Johnson from TNT.  A 3-time Emmy award winner, Johnson joined TNT in 1989 and is most notable for his hosting of the NBA on TNT with Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith.  On this throwback edition of the podcast, we talk to Ernie about adoption and his son Michael, whom he and his wife adopted from Romania and...

Episode 330 Casey Sadler is living the life of a professional baseball pitcher right now. He is currently with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization at AAA Oklahoma City.  He played his college baseball at Western Oklahoma State University before being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 25th round of the 2010 MLB Draft. After going through the grind of the minor leagues, Sadler made his MLB d...

Episode 329 Life hit Harvard team chaplains Pat and Tammy McLeod hard when their son Zach collapsed on a high school football field—he had sustained a severe brain injury. Two emergency brain surgeries later, Zach began waking up. Slowly the entire family woke up to the reality that life would never again be the same. The fallout of his injury would reshape their marriage, their family, their futu...

Episode 328 Mitchell Traver is a former professional baseball pitcher who was selected in four different MLB drafts. He was selected by the Astros in the 39th round of the 2012 MLB Draft. He was selected by the Cardinals in the 28th round of the 2015 MLB Draft. He was selected by the Reds in the 17th round of the 2016 MLB Draft and in 2017, was selected by the Angels in the 20th round.  He played...

Episode 327 Steven Elliott joined the military in 2003 and served as a member of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment. After being deployed to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border in 2004, Elliott found himself in the midst of an enemy ambush. He was one of four Rangers who mistook Pat Tillman's position for that of the enemy and fired there. He is one of two Rangers considered likely to have fired the fatal...

Today we look back to Episode 54 of the podcast with Chad Robichaux, a former Marine and professional MMA fighter.  Chad is the president and founder of Mighty Oaks Foundation, a leading military nonprofit serving the US military active-duty and veteran communities with highly successful peer-to-peer, faith-based, combat-trauma programs and combat-resiliency conferences. Chad and his team are dedi...

Episode 326 Justin Simmons is a safety with the Denver Broncos. He was selected in the 3rd round of the 2016 NFL Draft by Denver out of Boston College.  In college, Simmons named Second Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association and ACC head coaches. He was named to Phil Steele's All-American Fourth Team and ProFootballFocus.com All-America honorable me...

Episode 325 Matt Brown is an evangelist, author, and founder of Think Eternity, a ministry dedicated to amplifying the gospel every day to millions through podcasts, devotionals, videos, live events and more.  He is the author or co-author of 8 books including his latest release, "Truth Plus Love: The Jesus Way to Influence." Matt has built a large following on social media with over 1 million peo...

Episode 324 Rick Barnes is the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers Men's Basketball program. In 2018-19, Barnes was named the Naismith College Basketball Coach of the Year for leading Tennessee to a 31-6 record and an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.  Barnes began his head coaching career in 1987 with George Mason. After that, he has had stops at Providence, Clemson and Texas before coming to t...

Episode 323 Hunter Kemper is one of the most decorated U.S. triathletes in history. A four-time member of the U.S. Olympic triathlon team, he was one of only two men in the world to qualify for the first four Olympic triathlons (2000-2012). His best finish at an Olympics was seventh in the 2008 Beijing Games. In 2005, he was ranked No. 1 in the International Triathlon Union world rankings, one of...

Geoff Blum played 14 MLB seasons with Montreal, Tampa, Houston, San Diego, Chicago and Arizona. He was a World Series hero in 2005, hitting the game-winning home run in the 14th inning of Game 3, leading the White Sox to a victory and their first championship in 88 years. He joined us in October 2017 for Episode 49 of the show where he looked back at his 2005 World Series moment, previewed that ep...

Episode 322 Ryan Succop is the kicker for the Tennessee Titans. Ryan was selected as the 256th and final pick in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.  The 2-time All-SEC Second Team kicker played 5 seasons with Kansas City before being released on August 30, 2014. Two days later, September 1, 2014, he signed with the Tennessee Titans, where he has been ever since.  Ryan holds the NFL reco...

Episode 321 Nick Hays is not your typical Navy SEAL. After cutting weight as a wrestler, his growth was severely stunted. Standing just over 5 feet tall, he was often bullied as a kid and was laughed at when he told others of his dream to become a member of one of the world's most elite units. Hays learned that what first seemed like a deficiency was indeed his greatest strength because it made hi...

Episode 320 Jefferson Bethke is a New York Times-bestselling author and speaker who has written three books. In 2012, Bethke’s YouTube video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus,” went viral and has since received more than 34 million views. After the video, he decided to write the book “Jesus > Religion,” which would go on to become a New York Times bestseller. He has since released two more boo...

Episode 319 Johnny Quinn is an author and speaker who went from NFL football player to Olympic bobsledder.  He is the author of the book "PUSH: Breaking Through the Barriers" which was released in February of 2018.  In college, Johnny was a wide receiver with North Texas, where he was a member of 3 Sun Belt Conference championship teams, ultimately being inducted into the North Texas Hall of Fame...

Inky Johnson is a motivational speaker, author and former college football player with the University of Tennessee. He joined us back in May of 2018 on Episode 112 of the show to talk about his journey of faith, how the worst day of his life actually turned into the best day of his life, why it’s important to have a “relationship” with God, why there’s a lesson and blessing in everything that happ...

Episode 318 Lauryn Williams is an Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter and an Olympic silver medal-winning bobsledder. She is one of six athletes to have won a medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as well as the first American woman to do so. At the age 20 in her first Olympics (after winning gold medals at the junior world championships, Pan American Games and NCAA Championships), Wi...

Episode 317 Matt Mooney is a former college basketball player who played at Air Force, South Dakota and, most recently, Texas Tech. His one season with the Red Raiders saw him make second-team All-Big 12, the Big 12 All-Defensive team and the 2019 Final Four All-Tournament team in helping Texas Tech reach its first-ever national championship game, where it lost in overtime to Virginia. Mooney scor...