Life of Fitz

GoPowercat publisher Tim Fitzgerald was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, with his original prognosis predicting death before age 60. On the day of his 60th birthday, Fitz recorded the first episode of his Life of Fitz podcast's fifth season with the doctor who performed his prostatectomy on July 3, 2018. Rosso has expertise in treating surgical removal of the bladder, kidney removal surgery, and prostate cancer, among other conditions. Dr. Rosso graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2008 and is a partner at Associated Urologists in Manhattan, Kansas. In addition to his doctor and surgeon skills, Rosso is an accomplished musician.  *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic Stage Four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dennis Dodd has covered college football for CBS Sports since it was CBS SportsLine in 1998. Prior to that, Dodd worked alongside Fitz publishing college sports magazines for Kansas State, Missouri and Kansas. In 1998, they both sought a different direction, with Fitz and his wife, Becky, establishing Spirit Street Publishing (the publishing company behind GoPowercat.com and formerly Powercat Illustrated), and since joining CBS, Dodd has covered nearly every BCS/CFP postseason in the championship era. He is one of only seven media members to cover all 16 BCS title games. Dodd has chronicled conference realignment as well as the start of the College Football Playoff. He's dabbled in March Madness, NFL, MLB, and Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he believes the College World Series is severely underappreciated. A Missouri graduate and former award-winning FWAA president, he previously worked for numerous outlets including The National and the Kansas City Star. Dodd lives in Kansas City but also owns a vacation home in Arizona, where he was wrapping up his final vacation before the college football season kicks off. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Kurtz went directly from being a Kansas State student to joining the media covering Kansas State athletics as a member of the KMAN 1350-AM sports staff, covering K-State and Manhattan area sports. John eventually moved up to sports director and established himself as one of the leading voices in the K-State sports media. Everyone recognized John's talent and knew he would move on, but after 10-plus years in Manhattan, the breaks never fell his way. So, John Kurtz left traditional media and took a corporate PR job in Kansas City. He had, however, started a YouTube channel on the side, and his coverage of Big 12 expansion and conference realignment ballooned his channel into a force in the marketplace. Now, more than ever, Kurtz is at the forefront of covering K-State sports via YouTube. Kurtz left the traditional media to find even great success in an emerging area of the sports media world. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Lenexa native who grew up watching channel 5, Marleah Campbell has been with KCTV5 since the summer of 2022. She returned to her hometown after starting her TV career at WIBW, the CBS affiliate in Topeka, where she served as sports director, where she and Fitz quickly became friends. Prior to that, Marleah played Division I basketball at the University of Wyoming. A four-time Academic All-Mountain West team member, her passion for equity in sports led her to write an award-winning master's thesis on Title IX in her final year of NCAA eligibility. She'd use that framework to create a year-long weekly feature series at WIBW highlighting the pioneers who came before her, titled “IX at 50: The Trailblazers of Women's Sports in Kansas.” Outside of KCTV5, you can listen to Marleah's Chiefs coverage on 101 The FOX, 94.9 KCMO and 95.7 The Vibe. She's a host for KC Sports Network and leads their storytelling channel. In her free time, Marleah enjoys yoga, reading, and spending time with her family, friends, and her cat, Dolly. At least that's her official bio. She also loves living her best life as a young professional living in downtown Kansas City, Mo.   *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this summer, the K-State Alumni Association board of directors named Adam Walker, Ed.D., '04, '09 as the Association's next president and CEO. Walker began his duties on July 24. In this role, Walker is responsible for the overall management and strategic planning of the Alumni Association. Walker is the staff liaison for the Association's board of directors and serves as secretary of the board. Additionally, he is a part of the Association's fundraising team. Prior to returning to his alma mater, the former K-State track athlete served as executive associate athletic director for administration at the University of Memphis. In this role he provides leadership, oversight, and management to various units within the Memphis Athletic Department, working in all phases of departmental management including communications with coaches, administration, Name, Image and Likeness, game and personnel contracts, corporate sponsorships, scheduling, budget, capital projects and policy and strategic planning, and he manages and directs all external units. He also is the sport administrator for the nationally ranked and prominent Memphis men's basketball program and men's and women's cross country and track and field programs. Additionally, Walker serves as the department's liaison to University Advancement and the University of Memphis Alumni Association while working collectively on external engagement for Memphis Athletics. Walker also previously worked as associate athletic director for development at the University of Central Florida. During his tenure, he fundraised several six- and seven-figure gifts for athletics. Walker and his wife, Rebecca, have two daughters, Addison Kay and Landree Adele. Rebecca, also a K-Stater, earned a bachelor's degree in public relations in 2008.   *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike Clark, former Kansas State baseball coach, retired from his duties in the K-State athletics department at the end of June. Clark coached K-State baseball from 1986 until 2003, winning 432 games for a program that was barely funded. For 16 of Clark's 17 seasons, K-State baseball only had a field. Tointon Stadium was built prior to his final season, but for those first 16, there was no stadium, no locker rooms, so plumbing and barely a budget. After retiring, Coach Clark found himself learning the fundraising and banking ropes before being asked to come back to K-State athletics to help with the department's fundraising efforts following the retirement of legendary K-State athlete and administrator Ernie Barrett. Then at the end of June at the age of 70, Clark retired to spend time with his family and grandchildren. After a brief scare with colon cancer, which was thankfully caught early, Clark realized there was more to life than work, even though he loved all of his jobs in Kansas State athletics, the last of which was serving as K-State athletics' Senior Director of Development. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fitz needed to book a guest on short notice so he pulled the card out of his back pocket he's been saving and called his sister, Amy. Amy Fitzgerald is a Kansas State graduate with both her undergrad and master's in industrial engineering. She eventually decided that she wanted to get into medicine, and instead of heading to medical school at age 29, she went to physician assistant school at Wichita State. After many years of working as a PA in area emergency rooms, she returned to school to earn her doctorate and joined the faculty of Kansas State's new PA school, where she serves as academic director and a clinical assistant professor. The mother of two, she also is active in the Bernese Mountain Dog community and spends time traveling the world, both for pleasure and as a traveling medical professional. Amy, who is three years older than Tim, now lives in Manhattan, Kansas, after many years of living in and raising her children in Lindsborg, Kansas. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Award-winning anchor and reporter Jeff Vaughn serves as an evening news anchor KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles since November 2015. Vaughn joined KCAL/KCBS news team after serving as an anchor at WXYZ-TV, the ABC affiliate in Detroit, since January 2013. A four-time Emmy winner, he won a California Emmy for anchoring Wildfire Relief in 2017, a Michigan Emmy in 2013 for anchoring breaking news, a Texas Emmy in 2012 for anchoring continuing coverage and a Michigan Emmy in 2006 for Best Large-Market Anchor. A Kansas native, Vaughn spent his childhood in Kansas and Colorado and later graduated from Kansas State University in 1989 in political science. He started his career in broadcasting with KNSS Radio in Wichita, Kansas, before making his transition to television news. Vaughn's broadcasting career includes anchoring and reporting experience with WDIV-TV (NBC) in Detroit, KENS-TV (CBS) in San Antonio, Texas; KSHB-TV (NBC) in Kansas City, Missouri; KCBD-TV (NBC) in Lubbock, Texas. Vaughn loves spending his time outdoors and includes mountain biking, hiking and cycling as his biggest hobbies. A foodie, Jeff loves to eat his way through the Los Angeles culinary scene, trying new dishes whenever he gets a chance. His community involvement includes supporting charity events for those living with multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's. Jeff finds his greatest joy in spending time with his wife and their son. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Eilert grew up in Osborne, Kansas, and then played basketball at Cloud County Community College and Kansas State. When Bob Huggins came to K-State in 2006, Eilert was ready to head into his second year as a graduate assistant coach for the program. Huggins kept Eilert on, and when he left K-State after one season to head home to West Virginia, his alma mater, Eilert went him. After 16 seasons at Huggins' side. Serving under numerous titles, when Huggs retired suddenly this summer after a DUI arrest in Pittsburgh, Eilert was tasked with keeping the roster together. And on June 24, 2023, Eilert was named the interim head men's basketball coach at West Virginia University by Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker. During his time at WVU, Eilert has handled a wide variety of duties, including directing WVU's wing and post players, on- and off-campus recruiting, on-court scouting, opponent scouting, film preparation, scheduling, coordinating the day-to-day internal operations of the basketball program, travel arrangements, camps, film exchange, fundraising, and other special projects. This past season, Eilert moved into a coaching role as an assistant coach and served as an interim assistant coach during the 2016-17 season. Eilert and his wife, Brandi, have two sons, Brendan and Tristan, and a daughter, Emri. All of his children were born in West Virginia. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pat Bosco, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., came to Kansas State as a student, became student body president a few years later, and after graduation began to work for K-State. He served the university until his retirement in 2019, working under five university Presidents in a career that culminated in the titles of Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students. In 2004, the Student Governing Association named the plaza outside the K-State Student Union in his honor. It was the only time in the school's history that a person still employed at K-State received such recognition. His dedication to Kansas State students and to his university played a vital role in K-State's resurgence under former President Jon Wefald. Under Bosco's leadership, K-State became the No. 1 choice for Kansas high school seniors and remains so today. He is a recognized national leader in student life, enrollment management, and student affairs, with his expertise, knowledge, and perspectives sought by state and national organizations. He's now a grandfather, youth coach, and poker player, and he will forever be a K-State icon. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coach Jerome Tang promised to elevate the Kansas State basketball program when he was hired and he certainly kept that promise in his first season. Picked for last in the Big 12 Conference, Tang's Wildcats' competed for the conference title and then ended the season with a run to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, losing to Florida Atlantic one step short of the Final Four. It was remarkable for Tang, who was selected as the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year after guiding the Wildcats to a 26-win season and its 13th trip to the Elite Eight in his inaugural season. Picked 10th in the preseason Big 12 poll and armed with just two returning players, Tang guided the Wildcats to a 26-10 overall record. Now he's putting together his second roster. He has two open scholarships and is still seeking to fill those openings. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coach Bill Snyder doesn't really need much of an introduction. After all, he was the engineer of the greatest turnaround in college football history and is now part of the College Football Hall of Fame. Coach Sndyer arrived in Manhattan in 1988 after serving as the offensive coordinator under another legend, Hayden Fry, at Iowa. His long career, separated by a failed three-year retirement in the middle, started in 1989 and by the 1998 season, Snyder had his Wildcats in contention for a national title. That was also the year that Powercat Illustrated, the predecessor to GoPowercat.com, was launched. Coach Snyder retired after the 2018 season and remains a remarkable man at 83 years of age.  *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Klieman arrived at Kansas State in December of 2018 after winning four national titles in his five seasons at FCS-level North Dakota State. The athletics director who hired him at NDSU was Gene Taylor, who in the spring of 2017 became the new AD at K-State. Taylor went through the search process and kept coming back to Klieman, not just as a coach who would win football games in the Big 12, but one who could deftly take the reins from the legendary Bill Snyder, fit into the K-State culture and might, just might settle in at Kansas State for a very long time. Well, Klieman is four seasons into his time in Manhattan, his Wildcats won the 2022 Big 12 championship, and he just signed an eight-year new contract offered by Taylor that Klieman says will keep him in Manhattan for the rest of his coaching career. On top of all of that, Klieman is one of the more likable coaches you will ever meet, and he seems to understand how to navigate these changing times in college football. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Kansas State's Director of Athletics, Gene Taylor. Taylor was named the Director of Athletics at K-State in April 2017. During his tenure K-State has seen the football program qualify for three bowls, the men's basketball team win a Big 12 Championship, earn an Elite 8 appearance and advance to two NCAA tournaments and the women's track and field team win back-to-back Big 12 Outdoor championships. Additionally, Taylor and staff have fundraised and begun to implement a department-wide facility master plan that will benefit all Wildcat teams including the newly completed baseball and soccer projects in addition to Building Champions, a $105 million initiative focused on the South End Zone of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, a new volleyball arena, an Olympic Training Center and a football indoor practice facility. As Athletics Director at North Dakota State, Taylor immediately spearheaded a comprehensive evaluation of the Bison athletic department in 2001, all while successfully guiding the athletics program through the unpredictable waters of reclassification to NCAA Division I from Division II and securing conference affiliations for all 16 sports. In 2014, Taylor accepted the role of deputy athletics director at Iowa where he has been responsible for the administrative oversight of the department's day-to-day operations. Taylor is a 1980 business management graduate of Arizona State, and he received his master's degree in sports administration in 1985 from St. Thomas University in Florida. Taylor and his wife, Cathy, have one daughter, Casey, and a son, Jared. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State punter Nick Walsh, who wrapped up his playing career in 2017. Four years ago, Walsh left his family home in Lyndon, Kansas, and headed to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in songwriting. Since then, Walsh has built an impressive catalog of songs that he performed and has written with some of the most accomplished songwriters in country music. Walsh's newest song, "Kinda Like Kansas," can be found on all streaming platforms. He also recently co-wrote "Blood" with Texas country artist Jon Stork. The song broke onto the Texas country charts.  *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Adam Stanco, the new boss at the 247Sports Network. Stanco's official title lists him as a vice-president of content & executive producer for 247Sports. He moved to Nashville from San Francisco, where he spent years as an executive with the Pac-12 Network. Stanco started his TV career at WIBW-13 in Topeka, but quickly returned to his hometown of Philadelphia, where he covered national high school sports, which led to a stint as a producer at ESPN as he continued his coverage of high school sports, specifically basketball. Stanco has hosted his own podcast and been a guest on many others, often appearing as a recognized expert in NBA Draft evaluations. Stanco has been with 247 for a year or so and is about to lead the network into an exciting new phase of its existence from his new headquarters in downtown Nashville. He and his wife, Caitlin, have four children. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball coach Jim Wooldridge in Dallas, Texas, where he and his wife, Anne, recently moved. Wooldridge coached the Wildcats from 2000 until being let go by athletics director Tim Weiser after losing in the Big 12 Tournament to end the 2005-06 season. Wooly was born in Oklahoma City and played basketball at Lousiana Tech. He landed his first head coaching job at Central Missouri State in 1985, coaching there for six seasons before moving to Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) and then to his alma mater. Wooldridge won 73% of his game at CMSU but never found that level of success again. When K-State looking for a new basketball coach after firing Tom Asbury, Wooly was serving as an assistant for the Chicago Bulls under good friend Tim Floyd. Wooly's program went 83-90 in his six seasons, and his final roster was the foundation for Bob Huggins' one season in Manhattan. After leaving K-State, Coach Wooldridge went on to coach at Cal-Riverside, then became the school's athletic director and then he completed his career during a fulfilling five-year run as the AD at Riverside City College. He retired from athletics two years ago and is now 66 years old. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his new friend and media colleague David Smoak in Waco, Texas. "Smoaky," as he's known in Texas, has been honored as a TV reporter and anchor, and radio play-by-play broadcaster by the Associated Press. He is now part of the staff of SicEm365, a Baylor website, hosting their three-hour weekday radio show that also live-streams on YouTube from 3-6 p.m. Smoak is the owner of one of the longest-running websites in Texas, Smoaky.com. A member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Texas High School Football Hall of Fame ballot committee and has a vote for the Heisman Trophy and Biletnikoff Awards. Inducted into the East Texas Coaches Association Hall of Honor and a member of the Football Writer's Association of America, Pro Football Writer's Association. Smoak, whose father was a Naval Academy graduate, is a graduate of both Tyler Junior College and Stephen F. Austin State University.   *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and media colleague Taylor Estes in Round Rock, Texas. Taylor has helped cover University of Texas athletics as a video and audio producer for sites on the Rivals, Scout and now 247Sports Network as a Texas staff writer, managing editor of Horns247, and co-host of The Flagship Podcast with her longtime colleague Chip Brown. She was a pioneer in the school-specific journalism site industry as a female and she's weathered some interesting storms along the way. She's also seen life changes, including meeting and marrying her husband, Ty, who is somehow a Texas A&M graduate. Taylor is the daughter of Rod Gaspar, a member of The Miracle Mets, which won the 1969 World Series.   *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and media colleague Bruce Haertl in Denver Colorado. Haertl is a living legend in Kansas media. He is a 33-year veteran in the sports television industry, spending most of his career in Wichita at KWCH after getting into the world of sports media at KFH-Wichita. Haertl landed Denver's FOX31 and Channel 2 in May of 2016, after four years of freelance play-by-play. During that time he did college basketball, baseball, and softball games for ESPN, Fox, Cox, the Missouri Valley Conference Network, Sooner Sports TV (University of Oklahoma TV Network), and Oral Roberts Basketball Network. In addition, Haertl spent 10 years on the Kansas State Football Radio Network and for 15 seasons was the television voice of Wichita State basketball and baseball. A former baseball player at Wichita State, Haertl broke into the television industry as Sports Director at KWCH in Wichita in October of 1984, a job that he would hold for 28 years. In that time, he covered three World Series, seven College World Series, seven Final Fours, 24 NCAA Tournaments, 19 bowl games (including four BCS games) – in between, he's never lost his love for telling stories. In fact, Haertl continue to co-host a daily radio talk show, despite being located in Denver, on Wichita's KFH. Bruce is a member of the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame and is married to Sarah, they have four children – Bo, Evie, Jake and Kate.   *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and former media colleague Dani Welniak in Kansas City. Welniak is a graduate of the Oklahoma State sports journalism program who started her news career in Dodge City, Kansas, covering high school sports for Catch It Kansas. After two years, she moved up to Wichita's main station, KWCH 12, before moving to Kansas City in 2016 to join KCTV5, where she became the Sports Director in 2017. For the past six years, Welniak has reported at KCTV5 in Kansas City, recently serving as the station's Sports Director and host of The Locker Room Show on KSMO-TV. Welniak is also a former professional women's football player, the sideline analyst for the Chiefs Radio Network from 2016 through 2019 and she recently was a member of the first all-female TV broadcast team for an NCAA FBS bowl game. On June 26, 2022, she was introduced as the new Executive Director of Communications for the Kansas City Current, the new professional women's soccer franchise, which is owned by Angie and Chris Long, as well as Brittany Mahomes. The Current recently released new renderings for the first stadium purpose-built for a National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team. As part of a 50-year lease agreement with Port KC, the stadium will be built on a 7.08-acre site on the east end of the park in Kansas City, Missouri. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State quarterback Brian Kavanagh, who played for the Wildcats in Fitz's first days of covering Kansas State athletics full-time. Kavanagh came to K-State in 1991 from Naperville, Ill., to play for Coach Bill Snyder, and he is believed to be the first college football player to use an NCAA rule loophole that is now known as "grayshirting." He played for the Wildcats starting in 1993, K-State's first bowl appearance under Snyder and the school's first bowl victory at the Copper Bowl, and then stepped in for starter Matt Miller at the 1995 Holiday Bowl when Miller suffered a concussion. Kavanagh completed 18 of 24 passes and threw for four touchdowns in K-State's 54-21 victory over Colorado State, a performance that earned him a spot in the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame. He then went on to lead the Wildcats to a 9-3 record and a berth in the Cotton Bowl as the Wildcats' starter in 1996, his senior season. He now lives in Salina, Kansas, where he and his wife raised four children, the youngest of which, Parker, is set to be a walk-on quarterback for the Wildcats beginning with the 2022 season. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald speaking with Kansas State associate head football coach Van Malone about his life, hopes for the upcoming season, his philosophies on coaching and lift, his own podcast "Leaders Lead & Winners Win," which he also launched in 2020 during the pandemic, his recent TedX Talk and his ongoing journey to becoming a head coach. Malone, 51, has worked his way through the coaching ranks and in 2019 was named K-State's cornerbacks coach under Coach Chris Klieman and then after one season, he was elevated to associate head coach for Klieman's Wildcats, which are coming off an eight-win season and a victory over LSU in the Texas Bowl. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Marty Miller, brother of former Kansas State quarterback and assistant coach, Matt Miller. On January 8, 2022, Matthew Lee Miller died peacefully at the age of 49 at the Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, after an 18-month battle against prostate cancer. Matt Miller was a guest on last season's Life of Fitz, during which he shared his message about men's health and making sure men 45 and older regularly ask their doctor to check their PSA score, the strongest indicator of problems with the prostate. As you may know, Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, but he was declared in remission last December after more than four years of treatment and monitoring. Les Miller, the father of Marty and Matt, died on January 5 shortly before Matt's passing last holiday season. Les Miller was a longtime player personnel director in the NFL, including stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. Marty Miller has been a West Coast scout with the Jacksonville Jaguars for nearly 20 years, working out of Boise, Idaho. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This special edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his former Kansas State and NFL receiver Jordy Nelson. After 10 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and one with the Oakland Raiders, Nelson retired from the NFL following the 2019 season, returning to Kansas with his wife and two sons to help tend the family farm in Riley County, Kansas. The K-State Ring of Honor member at Bill Snyder Family Stadium is holding a charity softball game on Sept. 12 at the stadium to benefit Young Life Manhattan and to help fun a K-State football scholarship intended to be given to a walk-on. Nelson was a non-scholarship walk on to the K-State program in 2003 out of Riley County High School, just outside of Manhattan. Held in conjunction with the Wildcats' home opener against Southern Illinois on September 11, the Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game will feature several K-State legends, including Kevin Lockett, David Allen, Michael Bishop, Jon McGraw, Jaime Mendez, Martin Gramatica and Kendra Wecker. Full rosters featuring Wildcats from numerous sports will be announced later this summer. Proceeds for the event go to Manhattan Young Life and will also fund a K-State football scholarship reserved for a walk-on. Gates open at 10 a.m., followed by a sponsor game at 11 a.m., and a home run derby at noon. First pitch for the seven-inning Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game will be at 1 p.m. More Details on the Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game came be found here, and tickets are now on sale. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Kelly Stewart in Las Vegas. Kelly was the first person Fitz called when this podcast debuted in March of 2020 and now he ends his second season of Life of Fitz by making Kelly his first and 50th guest to appear. Kelly is a Kansas State graduate who rose to fame as an oddsmaker and sports gambling analyst in a predominately male-dominated profession. She has worked with a number of national media entities through the years, but earlier this year, she was hired by ESPN. That came undone before it started when some online trolls dug up some tweets from 2012 that were long ago deleted. ESPN terminated her before she started and Kelly soon found herself in demand by other sports media entities. Recently, she was hired by Barstool Sports to join their gambling team, and with Barstool known for its no-holds-barred approach to media entertainment, it seems as if Kelly, who is known to be outspoken, has found the right place for herself. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his new friend and former Kansas State University quarterback from the 1980s, Donnie Campbell. Some listeners may remember Campbell playing at K-State from 1980-84, but what has now made him well known is the fact that in the 1990s he coached a player named Jason Sudeikis, who went on to become a comedian, a cast member of Saturday Night Live, a star in movies and now the star of the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso. It's a brilliant show, but Sudeikis has now credited Campbell for being part of the inspiration for the Ted Lasso character, an American football coach who is hired to coach an English Premier League team despite knowing nothing about soccer. The character, and the show, is charming and funny. Since Sudeikis credited Campbell, he's now done many interviews and even appeared recently on NBC's The Today Show. A coach and teacher, Campbell started his career in the Shawnee Mission school district, moved to the Blue Valley School District, and now has moved across the state line in Kansas City to the Lee's Summit, Missouri, school district. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and former Kansas State University president Jon Wefald, who altered the downward spiral of the university while serving as its leader from 1986 to 2009. Wefald and his wife, Ruth Ann, now live on Bay Lake, which is about two hours north of Minneapolis. During Wefald's tenure in Manhattan, he lifted enrollment from around 16,000 to 24,000, he elevated the University's ability to fundraise and earn research funding, built a new library and art museum, but he also refused to give up on the school's tragically bad football program and hired one more coach: Bill Snyder. Without Jon Wefald, what we now know as Kansas State's reality would be dramatically different and the school certainly wouldn't be a member of the Big 12 Conference. Why? Well, aside from the fact that dropping football would have pushed K-State out of the Big Eight, it was in big part thanks to Wefald's vision that the Big 12, a combination of the Big Eight and four former Southwest Conference schools, became reality. In addition to all of that, Wefald and former United States Senator Pat Roberts were the driving forces behind Manhattan landing the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which is nearing completion due east of Bill Snyder Family Stadium on the edge of the Kansas State campus. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend SiriusXM host Ari Temkin. Fitz and Temkin met through Temkin's show Big 12 This Morning on the Big 12 channel (SXM 375) and they quickly hit it off. Temkin, a 2007 graduate of Kansas, has spent a majority of his career in Texas, hosting shows in Austin and San Antonio before moving to SiriusXM to co-host his show with former Iowa State and NFL quarterback Dave Archer. Temkin also hosts the pregame and postgame shows on the Dallas Cowboys radio network. Fitz and Ari recently saw each other in Arlington, Texas, at Big 12 Media Days and Fitz's pledge to have him on his podcast has now come true. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State receiver Curry Sexton, who now practices law in Kansas City. Sexton is a former walk-on from Abilene, Kansas, who developed into a special pass-catcher during his career. He currently sits at seventh on the school's all-time reception list and made many key plays during his career from 2011-14, but a remarkable one-handed touchdown catch against Texas Tech during his senior season is worthy of any highlight reel. Now working for the firm Seigfreid Bingham in Kansas City, Missouri, one of Sexton's areas of law deals with sports and entertainment, so he's keeping a close watch on recent developments with the NCAA concerning name, image, and likeness rights, as well as the recent unanimous Supreme Court ruling against the NCAA. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his former employee, Matt Hall, who became a competitor in recent years. Fitz and Matt had a public falling out when GoPowercat left the Rivals.com Network to join 247Sports and Matt became part of the new Rivals team that competed against GPC. Their relationship soured and their feud became public, but in the spring of 2020 everything changed. As Matt explains, he reacted poorly to some medication and it led to what his doctor now believes was a manic episode. He was either fired or quit his job at K-State Online, the Rivals site, and his divorce from his boss was also public. He moved to Las Vegas and when an expected job didn't work out, he came back to Kansas and now lives in Newton, Kansas, to gather his life together after a divorce, career change and personal financial ruin. However, when Matt began to struggle emotionally, Fitz and Matt reconnected as he tried to sort through what he was experiencing. Now, a year later, his one-year restriction on talking about K-State sports has expired and he's become a member of GoPowercat.com. It's been quite a journey. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Manhattan businessman Larry Weigel, a former Kansas State basketball player and assistant coach. Weigel played for Coach Tex Winter and was a member of the 1964 Final Four team starring Willie Murrell. He went on to serve as an assistant coach for Winter, then Cotton Fitzsimmons and Jack Hartman. Last week's guest, Lon Kruger, was recruited to come to K-State by Weigel, first under Fitzsimmons and then Hartman. Weigel left coaching to work for Kansas State in different capacities until he entered private business. Since around 2010, Weigel has shared a newsletter with friends called Triangulate News with the intention of updating people on Coach Winter and then eventually educating people about the history of Kansas State athletics. He is a walking encyclopedia concerning some of the greatest days in K-State basketball history. If you would like to be included on Weigel's mail list for Triangulate News, send him a request to Larry.Weigel@KeatingInc.com. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Follow @LifeofFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball player and coach Lon Kruger, who retired from coaching this fall when he stepped down at the University of Oklahoma. Fitz was a senior at Kansas State in 1986 when Kruger was hired to replace the legendary Jack Hartman, and his official hiring was a story Fitz scooped as the sports editor of The Collegian, K-State's student newspaper. Kruger stayed at K-State just four years before heading to Florida and then Illinois. Kruger then moved into the NBA for four years before returning to the college game in 2004 when he was hired as head coach at UNLV. Then in 2011, OU hired Kruger and provided him with his longest stretch as a coach in his entire career. Kruger and his wife, Barb, still reside in Norman but they will eventually make Vegas their retirement home because their son, Kevin, was named UNLV's head coach this spring. Their daughter, Angie, is a doctor who recently moved with her family to Puerto Rico. The Krugers have five grandchildren. In addition, Kruger has long been involved with the organization, Coach vs. Cancer, and hosts an annual golf event each summer in Las Vegas on behalf of the organization. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State assistant coach Mark Mangino, who went on to win a national title as offensive coordinator and then became Kansas' head coach for nine seasons, leading the Jayhawks to a historic Orange Bowl season in 2007. Two years later, KU athletics director Lew Perkins fired Mangino and Kansas football has never been the same. Mangino served as associate head coach at Youngstown State for a season and then was offensive coordinator at Iowa State for two seasons, but now is retired with his wife Mary Jane in Naples, Florida. His son, Tommy, coaches high school football now in Austin, Texas, where he and his wife have four sons. His daughter, Samantha, lives in Oklahoma City with her husband and three daughters.  *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former receiver/quarterback Kody Cook in Hutchinson, Kansas. Cook is now the wide receivers coach at his alma mater Hutchinson Community College, and after playing a spring season this year due to COVID-19, the Blue Dragons captured the national title. Before going to Hutch and eventually Kansas State, Cook was the quarterback at Louisburg (Kan.) High, a town of fewer than 5,000 people just south over the Kansas City metro area. Cook played both receiver and QB at Hutch and after coming to K-State and redshirting in 2013, he ended up doing the exact same thing in Manhattan, ending his college football career by starting at quarterback for the Wildcats in the 2015 Liberty Bowl versus Arkansas. Now back in Hutch, Kody and his wife Kylie, the daughter of K-State football legend Michael Smith, are preparing for their life adventure in football coaching. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State defensive end Darren Howard in Tampa, Florida. Howard came to K-State from the Florida prep ranks in 1995, playing for Coach Bill Snyder during the 1996 through 1999 seasons. During that span of time, Howard asserted himself as one of the more disruptive defensive ends in college football, and then he was drafted in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the board New Orleans Saints. Howard played 10 years in the NFL, completing his career in Philadelphia before returning to his home state and settling in Tampa, meeting his wife, Lyani, and starting a family. Professionally, he dabbles in a lot of different area, including owning a professional audio post-production company. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State quarterback, baseball player and football coach Matt Miller. Miller was the quarterback for the 1995 Kansas State team and was named the second-team All-Big Eight quarterback after a record-setting senior season. Miller directed the program to its first 10-win season and into a Holiday Bowl berth that is best known for Miller suffering one of his numerous concussions and being relieved by junior Brian Kavanagh, who proceeded to play one of the best games in the bowl's history at the Wildcats beat Colorado State, 54-21. Miller has overcome battles with alcohol and now has been diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, which has brought Matt and Fitz together. This episode of this podcast is Matt's first public discussion of his dire medical situation. Matt has two teenage daughters and a five-year-old daughter, Dani. He's been living in Pittsburg, Kansas, but will soon be moving to the Kansas City area to be closer to his doctors at KU Med. When he spoke with Fitz over the weekend, Matt was visiting his parents in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Of course, Matt's father, Les Miller was the Kansas City Chiefs’ director of player personnel for 13 years. He also worked also for the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, and Cleveland Browns, and also was involved in NFL Europe. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State placekicker Mark Porter. Porter redshirted in 1984 and then played for the Wildcats from 1985-88. Older fans may remember Porter as a player, but all fans now know him as the father of two walk-on receivers in the K-State program, sophomore Seth and incoming freshman Shane, who is better known for having a million followers on a social media app called TikTok. Mark Porter is a great person to speak about the past of K-State football and what the future holds for Chris Klieman's program. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1! Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!  Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Stitcher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald turning over the hosting duties to his employee Ryan Gilbert. To set the stage for the start of the second season, and to reset the direction of the podcast that is now growing beyond the boundaries of the COVID-19 pandemic and Fitz's lockdown, Ryan asks Fitz about his health, his plans for the show, and his thoughts on the fall's arrival of a new season of Kansas State athletics. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Kevin Lockett, the most prolific receiver in Kansas State football history and the first of the Locketts to come to K-State. Kevin came to Manhattan in 1992 from Tulsa’s Booker T. Washington High School and he quickly became known for flying high to make an endless string of aerial receptions for the Wildcats. During his career, Lockett rewrote the entire K-State receiving record book and if he doesn’t still hold a record, there’s a good chance the mark was surpassed by either his brother, Aaron, who followed him to K-State, or his eldest son, Tyler, who played for Snyder from 2011-14, and broke his father’s career receiving yards mark. Kevin was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 1996 and was drafted in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, eventually spending time with four different franchises before putting down his family’s roots in Kansas City. Since retiring from football, Kevin has worked for both the Kauffman Foundation and the Kansas Bioscience Authority before taking his 20 years of experience fostering early-stage businesses to become a partner in Fulcrum Global Capital, which invests with entrepreneurs in the fields agricultural, ag-tech and animal health. And the great news for football fans is there are three more Lockett boys on the way, with Sterling, a prospect in 2022 class recently receiving a Kansas State scholarship offer, while 11-year-old twins Jacob and Jordan are, of course, budding athletes. Kevin and his wife, Cheryl, also served a term on the Kansas State University Foundation’s Board of Directors. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Mark Simoneau, a former Kansas State and NFL linebacker. During his time at K-State from 1995-1999, Simoneau became a dominant force for the Wildcats during the late 1990s. He was named the Big 12’s defensive player of the year after the 1999 season and went into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012. After leaving K-State, Simoneau was drafted in the third round of the 2000 draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He spent three seasons in Atlanta, followed by three seasons each with the Philadelphia Eagles the New Orleans Saints. Mark completed his career with a final season with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2010. Mark is now the strength coach at Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School in suburban Kansas City. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Brien Hanley, an offensive lineman on the historic 1997 and 1998 Kansas State football teams. Hanley was part of a junior college recruiting class for Coach Bill Snyder that forever changed K-State football, as well as college football by proving a program can recruit juco players and still be a national title contender. Brien now works in banking in Frisco, Texas, but he also hosts his own podcast — Let's Talk Ball with Big B — and serves as the analyst alongside Fitz on the Powercat Postgame Podcast following every K-State football game. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Michael Smith, the first breakout star of Bill Snyder's Kansas State program as a highly productive receiver. Smith completed his K-State career in 1991 as the second-leading receiver in Big Eight Conference history and after a brief stint in the NFL, Smith entered coaching. He spent 17 seasons at K-State working for Snyder, first leaving in 2005 when Snyder retired and then returning in 2009 when Snyder returned. He departed again in 2013 working at Arkansas and Kentucky, where he stepped down just prior to the pandemic to seek another coaching position. Until he returns to the field, Coach Smith, and his family, is back in his hometown of New Orleans. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Jamar Samuels, a former Kansas State basketball player for Coach Frank Martin. Over his four seasons, Samuels averaged 9.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a game, including a points average of 11 during his sophomore season. Samuels was always in motion, hustling, fighting, and too often fouling, but the fans loved him. When Samuels departed K-State, he was just the third Wildcat to exceed 1200 points and 700 rebounds in a career. The first two were Bob Boozer and Ed Nealy. Jamar has been playing overseas since graduation, with stops in Spain, Italy, Israel, Romania and Angola during his career. Now Samuels has decided to make Manhattan his offseason home. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend, fraternity brother and former Kansas State football player Al Jones. Jones walked onto the K-State football program under Stan Parrish and played two years as a tight end. Then when Bill Snyder arrived in December of 1988, he put Jones and his teammates through a trial by fire. Jones and those who survived the process are honored now as members of The Foundation for all that came after them. K-State football as it now is would not exist without the work put in my Jones and his fellow Wildcats. A model and talent scout since leaving K-State, Al Jones now lives in the Las Vegas suburbs. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his dear friend Claire Coggins, a former Kansas State women's basketball player and assistant coach. Claire was the focal point of the Kansas State women’s team in the mid-2000s, twice earning second-team All-Big 12 recognition before playing the 2007 season with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and then one season professionally in Greece before deciding to retire from the game. She went on to coach, spending time on both Deb Patterson’s staff before becoming a full-time assistant coach for current K-State coach Jeff Mittie. She decided to get out of coaching after meeting the love of her life, former Texas head coach Karen Aston. The two now have a three-year-old daughter, Marilyn. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Wyatt Thompson across town in Manhattan. Thompson is entering his 19th school year as Kansas State’s Voice of the Wildcats, the title carried by a long line of sports play-by-play announcers. Being called the Voice of the Wildcats comes with incredibly high expectations from a fan base who has enjoyed some of the best talents in the radio business. Thompson came to K-State from Colorado State, following athletic director Tim Weiser from CSU once he threw the door open to a negotiation for the athletic department’s radio rights, and K-State fans have grown to love his style. It’s his voice associated with the highlights from Kansas State’s historic 2003 Big 12 football championship victory over Oklahoma, numerous big bowl wins and a couple of trips to the Elite Eight of the NCAA basketball tournament. For every current Kansas State student, it was Thompson’s voice they heard if they listened to a K-State sporting event on the radio during their childhood. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his former student and Kansas State baseball player BJ Kissel, who now is an in-house reporter for the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. The former K-State athlete was one of about 15 students in a sports writing class offered in the spring of 2006 by K-State's AQ Miller School of Journalism, which was taught by Fitz. After leaving K-State and moving to KC, Kissel worked on the edges of the industry for years, writing a blog as more of a hobby but he was honing his craft. Then six years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs created a job for an in-house reporter and Kissel landed the job. He was in the right place at the right time and had prepared himself the right way to earn a unique spot in the journalism industry. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State football player and coach Joe Bob Clements who now coaches the defensive line at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Clements was one of the players who was the heart and soul of the 1998 Kansas State Wildcats, who went unbeaten in the regular season. After completing his playing days, Clements launched right into coaching, paying his dues as an unpaid assistant coach for four years and then sliding onto the full-time staff in 2003 as part of the school’s Big 12 title team. Clements departed after Coach Bill Snyder retired following the 1995 season, but returned to Manhattan in 2009 to join Snyder’s new staff, and he then shocked the K-State world by jumping to Oklahoma State prior to the 2013 season, where he remains. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball player Clent Stewart in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Stewart came to Kansas State to play for Jim Wooldridge and ended his career with seasons under Bob Huggins and Frank Martin. That was like taking a college masterclass in basketball coaching and now Stewart is a high school coach in Oklahoma, but that’s just his side gig. When Stewart left K-State to work for Phillips 66 in Bartlesville and he’s been climbing the ranks with the company ever since. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Bobby Burton in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood. Bobby and Fitz go back 25 years when Bobby, who was then working for the National Recruiting Advisor in Austin, Texas, served as Fitz's first national recruiting expert to help him cover Kansas State football recruiting. Burton eventually helped launch the original Rivals.com, enticing Fitz to join the network as K-State's site, and then he went on to become one of the founders of 247Sports in Nashville, the network with which GoPowercat is now affiliated. Burton now owns a Texas-style barbecue restaurant in Brentwood named Judge Bean's BBQ. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices