For Faulkner coach and his wife, love for ‘adoption’ extends from their home to the team’s players.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Patrick and Katie Beth McCarthy’s oldest son, Miller, once told a reporter his family lived at the ballpark.
“We just go spend the night at our house sometimes,” he quipped.
Baseball is extremely important to the McCarthys. Patrick is the head coach at Faulkner University, leading the Eagles to the 2013 NAIA World Series title and national runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2017. Katie Beth, the coach’s wife of 21 years, serves as Faulkner’s unofficial “team mother.”
Related: The story behind the story of Patrick and Katie Beth McCarthy
But even though Patrick has posted a 552-163 record at Faulkner (a stellar .772 winning percentage), he and Katie Beth don’t measure success in wins and losses, fellow Christians say.
Rather, the couple see the baseball diamond as a mission field — a way to introduce players, many recruited from difficult backgrounds, to Jesus.
“The biggest gift they have is just to make you feel like a part of their family,” said Jonathan Villa, 25, a former Faulkner catcher now serving in a team chaplain role. “They were a big influence on me changing to the man I’m striving to be still. I’m still working on it, but it’s been an amazing journey.”
This story appears in the November edition of The Christian Chronicle.
The Ross News 