He played hockey growing up and then went on to not only play junior hockey in Dallas for the Texas Tornado, but from there earned a D1 athletic scholarship to Niagara University. During his freshman year at Niagara, he and two teammates set an NCAA record and made number 2 on SportsCenter's Top 10 when they scored three shorthanded goals on one penalty, in 69 seconds. He still today plays in a weekly men's league hockey game. He is the author of the best-selling memoir, "Saving Sam," about his having been taken hostage and wrongfully imprisoned while in Syria, as part of his travels to every country in the world - all 193 United Nations Sovereign States, having attended Mass in 65 countries and visited Catholic churches in approximately 115. Listen as he mentions having even coached hockey in North Korea!