John is a beloved son of the Father and loves his Catholic faith. He is blessed by his amazing wife Catherine and their 9 wonderful children.
John grew up in Gillette, Wyoming in a blessed home immersed in the faith life and was surrounded by an unbelievable support network.
He attended Utah State University as a 4 year starter for the Aggies where he was named First-Team All-WAC for football and graduated with his Bachelors in Exercise Science.
He then signed as an undrafted free agent with the Houston Texans and onto a 12 year professional football career in both the NFL and CFL with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and the Edmonton Eskimos.
He would win 2 Grey Cup Championships with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in which he was a big impact. John was a 3 time ALL-Star, 3 time nominee for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player capturing that honor once. He also earned the Ed Block Courage Award while playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
His more cherished accomplishment during his football career was in the way he was able to serve the communities he lived as a national advocate for JDRF and Medtronics diabetes of Canada, as well as Indianapolis and Jacksonville chapters, while inspiring people with diabetes; a condition in which he proudly has conquered daily since the age of 14.
He’s also lead in Anti-Bullying, Safety, and Health Initiatives in that time. His greatest blessing through all the moves, besides his ever growing family, was the constancy of the Church and countless opportunities to share his testimony.
In 2018 John stepped away from football to provide a more stable life for his growing children and resides in St. John’s Florida where they’ve held a home since 2011.
Upon his retirement, John started 2 businesses; Iron Will Fitness where he specializes in empowering men through a Christ-centered approach to becoming men; on fire, fit, and free.
Iron Will also operates group fitness and performance training. John’s other business, Kickin It Coed, hosts several adult coed sports leagues and tournaments throughout the year whose mission is to be a league of fun and fellowship and to serve the community they live.
He also gets to travel 3 or 4 times a year to go and share his story, his witness, or help in some pretty amazing charities or fundraisers. He was blessed to get to coach football at a local High School this past season.
John’s hobbies are his kids hobbies and he wouldn’t have it any other way. His family loves to
boat, fish, beach time , and traveling to see family. He loves to study the faith.
He’s also still very competitive and has a deep desire to compete and overachieve; something he’s done daily since his youth, overcoming diabetes, asthma, Bell’s palsy, vitiligo, alopecia, 9 surgeries, broken bones, torn ligaments, cuts, trades, and loss and has a great passion to help instill that in
others.
He loves to workout, play board games, cards, pick up basketball, and just submitted a
video for The Titan Games because of his belief in himself, his family, and in Jesus Christ.