NAPERVILLE—Brian McCaskey’s journey through the worlds of sports, business, and health challenges has shown him good days and bad days.
Through it all he has learned to surrender each day to God.
The senior director of business development for the Chicago Bears talked of his ups and downs, wins and losses at a business breakfast program sponsored by Relevant Radio at the Catholic Order of Foresters facility in Naperville, May 19.
“You go through adversity, but you can rely on your faith, as I did, to help get you through,” he told a crowd of about 70 business people.
“We all have adversity and we all have the opportunity for faith. Therefore, if you can tap into our faith you can get through whatever is troubling in our lives,” McCaskey said.
He spoke about his health concerns, including hearing loss and how he gave all his difficulties to God.
“The NFL is very competitive. Hearing loss is something that can kind of hold you back. It’s hard or difficult to hear in meetings or presentations — or even to talk to somebody on the phone.
“Fortunately,” he said, “technology has helped me quite a bit in those areas. So I have been able to keep up with my co-workers and been able to strive in that respect.”
But he also has help from his Catholic faith.
“Certainly my faith has helped me,” he said. “Not every day is easy; everybody has adversity. There’re good days and bad days. If you lean on your faith, I think God will come through for you and help you out.”
McCaskey began his career as a ball boy for the Chicago Bears in 1974, while attending high school at Notre Dame College Prep.
His bachelor of arts degree in education and athletic training from Chicago’s North Park University in 1982 helped prepare him to become head student trainer and then assistant athletic trainer for the Bears.
“As a ball boy I saw what the athletic trainers were doing and I liked the fact it was a combination of sports and science and I just felt that was a good path for me.
“I was fortunate to do that as a student in high school and then as a student in college and be able to study athletic training and get my degree in athletic training,” he said.
‘Everybody is on a journey’
“I think everybody is on a journey. When you are a child, you’re immersed in Catholicism either through school, or continuing ed, or Catholic ed. I think there is an ebb and a flow in our faith.
“Certainly when you get married you come back to the church. Then when you come back to the church and have children you realize how important your faith is, and you want them to embrace it as well.”
He pointed out that the popularity of many sports can be a springboard for people to help others who are less fortunate.
“The NFL is probably the most popular, which is good for us. But it is also an opportunity to help young kids stay on the right path either by playing sports or being involved in sports or seeing football players as role models, or people who work for the Bears as role models.”
McCaskey is also involved in charity organizations, including Bears Care, which he said has given more than $25 million over the years to causes working for the health, education and welfare of children, as well as for cures to breast and ovarian cancers.
However, it was his advice about faith that seemed to resonate most with the audience.
Max Striedl, a parishioner at Holy Cross in Batavia and a conference coordinator for “Walk the Talk,” said he found McCaskey’s talk was refreshing.
“I really thought this was encouraging. There’re too many athletes that go the wrong way. It’s nice to see people in those kinds of organizations that feel faith is still important.
“We can’t all set the world on fire,” Striedl said. “But if we can change one person or help one person … then we are successful. You never know what is going to happen because of one word or one sentence.”
North Aurora resident, Mark Oleferchik, came because he wanted to meet groups of people who are trying to live their Catholic faith in a better way each and every day.
“There is always something that kind of spurs you on and gets you back on track if you are off track. It’s never too long or too late to start on that path,” Oleferchik said.
Colleen Seiter, of Chicago, enjoyed the presentation as well.
“It was just great, especially to hear his journey on how he was kind of a part-time Catholic but it took his hearing loss to change. We have to surrender to God because we are not in control. God is in control.”
“It’s really nice to see successful people out in the business world how they can make a lot of impact on people — to talk about God and that God is with us at all times,” said Juan Castillo, of Orland Park, who made the trip to Naperville to hear McCaskey’s witness.
Besides serving on the board of directors of the Chicago Bears, McCaskey has also founded McCaskey Sports Medicine Clinic, where he has led teams of professionals in assisting patients with sports-related injuries for more than 10 years. During that time, his business has expanded to four locations.
In 1993, he merged his practices with Joyner Sports Medicine, growing to 21 clinics in four states. That same year, McCaskey was named player liaison/operations assistant for the Bears.
This business-minded Bear has shown that faith and football can go hand in hand to create success.