Stories of life transformation from the pro sports world
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As a little girl in Texas, Leslee Holliday remembers watching her grandmother sing at church so beautifully that she thought, “I want to be like that when I grow up. I want to have an authentic relationship with Jesus like my grandmother does.” But after moving to Oklahoma a few years later, Leslee “got a little sideways.” She made regretful decisions and found her identity in useless things. Then one day as she was leaving a party, a song came on the radio and stopped her in her tracks. She suddenly remembered who Jesus is, and prayed right then for Him to rescue her. She’s been on a worthwhile “journey with Jesus” ever since.
Watch the video above to hear Leslee Holliday tell her “I Once Was” story.
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We’re all in the middle of a story, and whether we admit it or not, we want our stories to matter. It’s those stories of deep and lasting impact that come to life when a person encounters Jesus, and responds to Him by faith. “I Once Was” invites those in the pro sports world to share their own transformational stories, describing the very moment that changed their lives forever.
UNC head coach Scott Forbes, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)
The 2026 North Carolina Tar Heels and head coach Scott Forbes are hoping the baseballs bounce their way in the program’s 13th trip to the College World Series (CWS). North Carolina has fallen short in its previous 12 appearances in Omaha, Nebraska, the second-most appearances on college baseball’s biggest stage without a national title.
Now, with the perennial powerhouse Tar Heels back in familiar territory, Forbes believes this is the team that can finally break through and bring a national championship trophy back to Chapel Hill.
“I’m happy for them, because they get to go. I’ve been to Omaha before,” Forbes said in his postgame press conference Sunday after ousting USC in the super regionals. “I get to see the joy on these guys’ faces of coming back in here tomorrow and preparing to win UNC Baseball’s first national championship.”
North Carolina proved to be one of the best teams in the country all season, earning the No. 5 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. But after sweeping through the Chapel Hill Regional in three games, the Heels dropped the opening contest of their super regional with the Trojans. They staved off elimination with a 4-0 victory Saturday, but in Sunday’s winner-take-all Game 3, they found themselves trailing 3-1 with only four outs left to mount a comeback.
Two clutch doubles in the bottom of the eighth inning drew them to within one. Then a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth tied the game, setting up the heroics from junior outfielder Owen Hull.
Hull’s walk-off double sent the Tar Heels back to Omaha for the second time under Forbes and the second time in the past three years, the only program in the country to accomplish that feat. The win also marked North Carolina’s 50th win of the season and Forbes’ 250th career win. The longtime UNC assistant was named to the head coaching position ahead of the 2021 season after the retirement of legendary coach Mike Fox.
Since being elevated to head coach, Forbes hasn’t been shy about mentioning his faith in Jesus. He did it once again in Sunday’s press conference.
“I’d written a Bible verse on my card today, that no matter what — everything that I do — just make sure I do it like I’m supposed to do it through my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I’m just thankful that He gave me the opportunity to be here and be around these guys. I’m the one that gets blessed by their presence,” Forbes said.
Moments after North Carolina punched its ticket to the 2024 College World Series, Forbes’ first as head coach, he made sure to deflect all praise that was sure to come his way.
“It’s not them getting me to Omaha, it’s me hoping to get them. That’s been my prayer all year,” Forbes said in an on-field interview with Raleigh’s CBS 17 News. “I changed the thought process of how I coached in 2022 and I made a decision that, if I’m a Christian believer, I’ve gotta coach through that avenue.”
“If I’m a Christian believer I need to coach through that avenue.
In that year of Forbes’ paradigm shift as a coach, he was featured in the Heart of a Coach Q&A in the Spring 2022 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine. There, he spoke about how his faith affects his approach to his job.
“My faith in Christ impacts everything I do as a coach,” he said. “I try my best to make every decision through Him and coach so that others will hopefully see Him in me daily.”
He continued later, “Keeping perspective as to why I coach, I am challenged the most in making sure I remind myself daily that you win in many more ways than just the final score.”
Today and every day we honor and remember the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
North Carolina begins its CWS journey on Friday evening in a matchup with Ole Miss (41-21), which advanced past No. 4 Auburn to get to Omaha. In 2022, the last time the Rebels made it to the CWS, they left with a national championship.
Auburn baseball chaplain Mason Maners prays with the team. (Photo courtesy of Mason Maners)
Auburn (42-20), the No. 4 national seed in the college baseball NCAA Tournament, is preparing to host fellow SEC foe Ole Miss (39-21) in the best-of-three super regionals this weekend for a chance to advance to the College World Series (CWS). It would be the seventh time in program history the Tigers reached college baseball’s biggest stage.
And while head coach Butch Thompson guides the Tigers toward the CWS on the diamond, it’s former star player and current chaplain Mason Maners guiding the Tigers toward a deeper relationship with Jesus during their postseason run.
As a child, Mason was given the nickname “Mustard Seed” by his parents — a reference to Matthew 17:20 and a reminder to never lose faith, even when hope is bleak. After enduring multiple failed rounds of in vitro fertilization, Martin and Allison Maners continued to hope that God would bring them a child.
Mason was already a miracle child at birth, yet Martin and Allison didn’t realize just how true that moniker would end up being. He was inches away from his athletic career — and life — being permanently altered when a football injury during his freshman year of high school nearly left him paralyzed.
Growing up in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, near Birmingham, he was inundated by Auburn Athletics from an early age. Martin took a young Mason to a Tigers football game, where he had the chance to stand on the sidelines.
“I think that just blew his mind and enamored him with it,” Martin said in the video. “So football became a real exciting part of his growing up. Baseball as well.”
Martin was a football star himself at Vestavia Hills High School in the 1980s, and Mason spent his Friday nights at the stadium watching the high school team play. He envisioned himself on that field one day.
He didn’t have to wait long for that chance, earning a spot on the field as a freshman, but that chance was soon snatched away.
He remembers it well — the last day of spring practice his freshman year. The team was playing a live scrimmage. One of the last plays of the day. Playing the outside linebacker position, Mason heard a coach bark that the play was coming to him.
“As soon as I made the tackle, I felt a tingling, burning sensation go throughout my whole entire body,” Mason said. “I lost feeling in my feet and my hands.”
Coaches did their best to stabilize him until paramedics arrived. When they did, they loaded him on a stretcher and secured his head and neck. When he arrived at the hospital, he was able to walk over to another room to get X-rays, and the doctor reassured him it was likely nothing too serious.
“Really, what I was thinking was that the new ‘Captain America’ was coming out that night and I had tickets,” Mason said in the video. “I hope we can hurry this up.”
But the appointment was beginning to take longer expected.
“Once the X-rays came back, we had the ER doctor tell us the neurosurgeon would be in here in a moment to speak to us, and that kind of rocked our world,” Martin said.
The doctor said Mason’s X-rays showed that his injury resulted in broken C-1 and C-2 vertebrae, what’s known as the “Hangman’s break.”
“Really by God’s grace and mercy, I didn’t look down or turn my head a certain way, because any minor movement or any of that could’ve caused me to be paralyzed or dead,” Mason said. “God’s hand was just over it the whole entire time.
“Apart from Him, I don’t believe that I’d be sitting here today wearing an Auburn uniform or even walking or being alive.”
After his injury, Mason found himself in neck braces for weeks on end in an attempt to heal. And it worked.
“I went back to get X-rays and the doctor was just astonished to see that the bones healed perfectly back and everything looked almost better than it did before,” he said.
Though his bones healed, doctors wouldn’t sign off for him to play football again. But baseball was still in the cards, so he joined the baseball team the following season.
“But we never imagined after that,” Martin said, “that Division-I baseball, let alone Power-5 baseball, would be in his future.”
Mason began his collegiate career at Jacksonville State in 2021 and excelled for three seasons before transferring to Auburn for the 2024 campaign. As a senior, he ranked third on the team with a .296 batting average and added seven home runs and 17 RBIs. He was also a perfect 7-for-7 on stolen base attempts.
Now that his eligibility is exhausted, Mason is the chaplain for a Tigers team that has its sight set on a CWS appearance. Current players rave about his spiritual impact in his new role.
“Mason does an unbelievable job,” sophomore pitcher Christian Chatterton said on Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast last month. “It’s kind of crazy because three years ago, he was playing for Auburn, and he was also really good here. He’s done a great job. He’s somebody that we can all go to talk about faith and other stuff.
“I think this team is also special in the way that a lot of our guys on our team are just all-in for Jesus. I think a lot of that credit has to go to Mason, for sure.”
Junior infielder Ryne Farber agreed.
“Outside of team Bible studies, [Mason will] just come up and talk to you. He wants to know how you’re doing. He wants to know how your walk is going,” Farber said. “I think community is so important, and to have people that are all wanting to be great baseball players, but more importantly, be great people and grow toward the Lord is awesome.”
Last June, Mason posted on Instagram about how grateful he is for this role in leading young athletes in their faith.
“Glory and praise to the Lord for this incredible year!” he wrote. “Serving as Chaplain for this team has been one of the greatest privileges and deepest joys. I’ve been continually overwhelmed by the goodness and grace of the One who is faithful in every season. He is truly worthy of everything. Grateful for all He’s done—excited to be back in August!”
THIS IS SPORTS SPECTRUM’S WHAT’S UP PODCAST
WITH ANNABELLE HASSELBECK
On today’s episode of Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast, we have Tanner Tessmann!
Tanner joins the show to talk about playing for Lyon (Olympique Lyonnais) in France’s top league, his soccer journey, and his relationship with Christ. (This conversation was recorded prior to the U.S. men’s national team World Cup roster announcement on May 26.)
Central Florida's DeAmez Ross, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Central Florida Baseball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, and a big reason why is center fielder DeAmez Ross. The senior is batting .281 with three home runs and 34 RBIs, but perhaps his most important asset is his speed. He leads the team with 16 stolen bases in 18 attempts.
The Knights (31-21) earned an at-large bid and the No. 2 seed in the Auburn Regional, and face North Carolina State on Friday. Ross played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Florida State, where he started 36 total games and hit .287 with 41 hits, two home runs and 17 RBIs. He ended his freshman season with a 12-game hitting streak.
But he also missed 18 games due to an injury one season. That has since become a major part of who he is as a player, as well as his personal testimony.
Rather than turn inward, he turned outward. And upward. That season helped him become less focused on himself and instead learn how to be a better teammate. If his teammate needed a glove, he’d get it for him. When someone struck out, he was the first one there to keep their spirits up.
“I realized that it opened my eyes to understanding that this game of baseball can be taken away just like that, so be grateful for every moment that you put your cleats on, for every moment you get to be in the lineup,” he said on the podcast. “That truly changed my heart and the way I thought about baseball from my freshman year to now.”
He also started attending Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings regularly, where he was encouraged to get back in the Word consistently.
“It was a process. It took a week, and I grew deeper in my faith and my love for the Lord, just understanding that through this adversity, through these trials, that I was going to grow in my faith and learn something about myself, which was not to put my identity in baseball,” he said on the podcast. “I’m so glad that happened to me because I wouldn’t change it for the world. I became a better teammate, a better person.”
“I grew deeper in my faith and my love for the Lord.”
Now at UCF, he’s experiencing a more mature faith and he’s also seen as one of the leaders on the field. With the Knights in the postseason, he said he and the team have adopted an “attitude of gratitude” and they are playing for one another.
“We’re just grateful to put on this jersey and play with each other again,” he said while speaking with media after the NCAA Tournament selections. “We say that we have so much fun at practice, so we’re going to keep playing as long as we can because we just love each other. We’re brothers for life.”
And he’s continued being involved with FCA while at UCF.
“FCA at UCF is amazing,” he said on the podcast. “It’s something that is so much fun, and being athletes — especially baseball — we play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so Sundays are literally filled with baseball. We don’t have time to go to church in the morning or do these things, so FCA on Monday really allows everyone to get the Word in and be in that community.”
He recently spoke at an FCA event on campus, where he shared his journey and encouraged athletes that their identity is in Christ, not their sport.
“Your sport is not who you are. Your sport doesn’t define you,” he said from the stage. “Your sport fills your journey, but God is what builds your everlasting — your character, the friendships you make.”
