September 24, 2025 • 52 mins
Imagine not making your high school varsity basketball team, standing just 5’7”, and thinking your dream of making it in the game you love is unrealistic. That was Ryan Carr’s reality. But what seemed hopeless, was really the beginning of a bigger story—one that would take him from writing a bold letter to coaching legend Bobby Knight, to working side-by-side with Larry Bird, and eventually to his role as Senior Vice President of Player Personnel for the Indiana Pacers. Ryan’s path proves that when God has a plan, no obstacle is too great.
Ryan was one of hundreds of amazing basketball (and life) success stories that came out of NBC basketball camps founded by Fred Crowell our guest on Episode #10 of Amazing Greats. (if you haven't listened to it yet, you need to check it out.). Fred passed away of cancer in August of 2021.
In this episode of Amazing Greats, Ryan Carr shares how God’s fingerprints have been all over his journey—not just in the surprising career breaks, but in the valleys as well. He opens up about the moment he gave his life to Christ at age 30, how faith carried him through personal loss and depression, and why he now sees every success as an opportunity to glorify God. With honesty, humility, and wisdom from years inside the NBA, Ryan’s story is one of perseverance, grace, and the transforming power of faith.
If you’ve ever faced setbacks, wondered about your purpose, or questioned if God could really use your story, this conversation will inspire you to trust His game plan.
"Amazing Greats" is a library of interviews with highly successful people who have amazing career and life stories and who share how God has impacted their journey. Hosted by broadcaster Ric Hansen & produced by Klem Daniels. Available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Google and our YouTube Channel.
Please help us grow our audience by "liking", "subscribing and "Sharing". Thanks so much.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Rick Hansen here on Amazing Greats with Indiana
Pacers Vice President Ryan Carr.
SPEAKER_00 (00:10):
From the heart to the mic, on the field, on the
stage.
Faith in their step as they turnthe next page.
Athletes, actors, musicians,authors, and more sparking the
flame.
Lifting up Jesus unashamed ofhis name.
Life stories of struggle,redemption, and grace.
Victories rising from a brokenplace.
Legends of life with a purposeto show how God shows up when
you let him flow.
(00:32):
Amazing grace, shining bright.
Living the faith in thespotlight.
Hearts on fire, now let it go.
Turn it up.
All
SPEAKER_01 (00:42):
right, welcome to the Amazing Grades podcast,
where we share the powerfulstories of athletes, authors,
actors, musicians, and leaderswhose lives have been
transformed by the grace of God.
And today, we have the pleasure,our guest is a key decision
maker for the Indiana Pacers.
(01:02):
They're very red hot IndianaPacers.
And you've not only been therein recent years, but for two
decades.
as senior vice presidentcurrently of the player
personnel.
And you've worked alongsidelegends like Larry Bird and
Bobby Knight.
(01:23):
Incredible story there.
But beyond the scouting reportsand the pics and the bright
lights of the NBA, Ryan Carr,our guest today, has built his
life on something far greaterthan all of that.
He is a faithful follower ofJesus Christ.
So, That's where we're at todayand that's who we're going to
talk to.
And I'm so excited, Ryan, thatwe have an opportunity to chat
(01:45):
today.
Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_02 (01:47):
It's my pleasure, Rick.
I'm honored to have thisconversation with you.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
Cool deal.
Well, we were talking a littlebit about and we are going to
talk about your past and how youall got started in the whole
area of basketball.
But tell us, first of all, forthose of our audience who are
not into to what these titlesmean, what does a senior vice
president of player personneldo?
What's your job?
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Yeah, essentially it's really to help put our team
together, the guys that are onthe court for...
I would say my mainresponsibility to the team is
the draft and making sure thatwe're prepared for the draft and
working with our scouts to getready for that.
That's my number oneresponsibility as I've been
(02:37):
fortunate to be trusted to kindof jump into some of the higher
level decisions the last coupleof years in terms of other
things as well and grateful.
for that uh but but essentiallyjust making sure we're ready for
the draft would be the would bethe main thing
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
so scouts you have multiple scouts that work in uh
for you in that whole area of uhplayer personnel right how many
scouts uh what what do they dowhat are they what's their job
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
yeah so they we have about 10 guys and we have them
really all over the world aroundthe cut we have most of them
around the country but then wehave two that are that are based
in europe um and they basicallytravel around and watch players
and, uh, joke around that halfof their job is also to be like
an FBI agent and find outeverything about the players off
(03:30):
the court.
Um, they're writing reports,they're ranking players.
We're working together again to,to find the best prospects, um,
to add to our team.
Um, it's a, it's a hardworkinggroup of guys are kind of nomads
all winter as they travel aroundand, and, and fulfill their
responsibilities.
Super grateful for for thoseguys and how hard they work and
(03:55):
and uh yeah it's it's kind of ii started when i came back to
scout started doing that we wedivide up the country into to
different regions and then um in2009 uh got the chance to lead
the group and i've been leadingthe group ever since i'm
recently kind of handing offsome of the day-to-day
(04:15):
responsibilities so i can be apart of some some higher level
stuff which is is really fun forme to be a little bit more with
our team than just, again, kindof out all the time seeing other
players.
So this past year, being able tobe around the team most of the
time when we made that run tothe finals was just surreal and
(04:37):
just a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
Yeah.
So to be an Indiana Pacersplayer, is there like a
checkbox, things that you lookfor specifically to fit your
style and your team?
SPEAKER_02 (04:49):
For sure.
We have a lot of discussions interms of that to make sure that
the guys that we bring in, youknow, on the court and off the
court, there's certainly certainskills on the court that fit
with what Coach Carlisle andwhat our team does, but also off
the court.
And we've really dove deeplyinto that side of it and kind of
(05:13):
hedged our bets on really goodguys.
And it's worked out well, whichaligns with with me as a person
and kind of what I believe.
So it's just a great fit.
I'm super fortunate.
I've been back here.
I think this will be my 23rdseason, my second stint here,
(05:33):
but 23rd season.
And that's really just unheardof in anything, but in
particular professional sports.
So very grateful.
God has been kind to keep me ina place where I've been able to
raise twins.
They're in college now, theirsecond year at Liberty.
(05:55):
I've got a 14-year-old thatmaybe she'll even be able to
grow up in one place where we'renot moving around.
And in athletics, that's pretty,pretty rare.
So super thankful for that.
I do not take that for grantedone day.
SPEAKER_01 (06:09):
Well, let's go back into the early life of Ryan
Carr.
And you were a Northwest guy, aSupersonics fan back in the day.
Yes.
And you've also been self- as a5'7 scrappy basketball player
who didn't get to play varsityat his senior year.
(06:29):
He didn't make the team.
It's a very unlikely scenariofor a guy who's doing what you
do today, for sure,
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
right?
Oh, man.
Yeah, I think about that.
But I guess the benefit of beingso many years down the road is
you can look back and see howGod uses all of that but nobody
loved basketball more than megrowing up if you could go back
and talk to kids I grew up withor whatever I'm pretty sure they
(07:01):
would say that I knew fromprobably the time I was 11 or 12
years old I wanted to be a coachI'd spent every waking hour as a
kid trying to be a goodbasketball player but yeah you
mentioned it like sizeathleticism limitations you know
no matter Yeah, I grew up inSumner, Washington, transferred
(07:32):
to Rogers High School in themiddle of my junior year, which
is a little wild.
It's not an opportune time totransfer schools, but did it as
much for culture reasons fromone school to the next as
others.
Wanted to go to school with someclose friends, still one of my
best friends.
I was a point guard on thatRogers team.
(07:54):
His dad was actually the coach.
So I knew why I wanted to gothere, but they had a really
good team coming back.
They had eight seniors comingback my senior year.
I knew all of them.
I had grown up going to campswith them and was friends with
many of them.
So I knew it was going to be atough task to make that team.
They ended up, that team went tothe state tournament, won the
(08:17):
West Central District, wasreally, really a really good
team.
team.
I was devastated after two orthree days of tryouts.
My name wasn't posted on thelocker room door.
It kick-started this wholething.
The coach there, Rod Iverson,knew I loved the game.
(08:41):
He had, again, known me since Iwas much younger, probably in
middle school.
He allowed me the chance to be astudent assistant coach and And
that was a great experience,being able to be around the
coaches and learn from them andhim trusting me with doing some
things that maybe he wouldn'thave trusted other students to
(09:02):
do.
And kind of in that timeframe,still wanting to pursue being a
coach and trying to writeletters to colleges and figure
out where I could go to be acoach.
So it was a really good time.
There was some adversity there,but again, like looking back,
God had that all as part of theplan.
SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
Basketball was God's gift.
Faith is his passion.
We're talking with IndianaPacers Vice President Ryan Carr.
Then there was that fatefulletter that you sent.
From out of nowhere, you sentletters to several places, but
one was to Bobby Knight.
(09:42):
Tell us that story.
SPEAKER_02 (09:46):
Again, getting to that point, I was going to
graduate from high school in a Iwanted to coach.
I actually had an opportunitythat I had set up with the head
coach of the University of PugetSound to go there and be a
student assistant with him.
But then this opportunity withIndiana came up where, again,
(10:09):
one of my, I'll call him ateammate, but one of the players
at Rogers High School, JamieHaag, his grandfather owned
Bodden Basketballs.
And Bodden Basketballs andBodden Ball had Coach Knight
under a commercial agreement touse the balls and do commercials
for him and all this stuff.
(10:30):
And when I wrote all theseletters, I really...
As an 18-year-old, Coach Knightwas not on my radar.
I love North Carolina.
I loved a bunch of other teams,but my dad was a Marine, and he
loved Indiana, and my mom lovedIndiana.
They're the ones that reallypushed me to write a letter to
(10:54):
Indiana.
Indiana wasn't on my originallist of places to send them, but
lo and behold, that is, and Ihave the letter hanging on the
wall back here.
that he wrote, you know, thatthey kind of described the
manager program that they had atIndiana.
And if I went to school there, Icould interview and all this
(11:16):
stuff.
And Mr., And Jamie's grandfatherwas really nice enough to go out
of his way without even knowingme to talk to Coach Knight and
kind of get it all arranged soit was all set.
And I didn't have to interviewand do all that because back
then, Rick, Indiana was the topof the world in college
(11:40):
basketball.
And when I showed up in the fallto go to school, there was well
over 100 kids trying to be amanager at for that team.
It was, you know, for, like,four spots.
Like, if I would have just wentwithout Mr.
Schindler's help, there's nochance that I would...
(12:00):
There's just no chance that Iwould have had that opportunity.
So, again, like...
you know, looking back again,you know, just, just an amazing,
um, just an amazing thing that adoor that opened up.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
Yeah.
And, and what's interesting isthat you, you didn't have a real
Christian, uh, childhood.
So there was, God wasn't in thepicture in your mind at that
point.
He definitely was in thepicture, but you didn't know it
until much later, right?
SPEAKER_02 (12:29):
Yeah, for sure.
Like I, it's funny, like my, myparents both, um, both grew up,
I guess, in in homes, theyalways said where they felt
forced to go to church andforced religion and, and
whatever, which makes sensebecause anytime that my brothers
and I would stay the night withour grandmothers, we would
definitely be in church and bereading the Bible and stuff.
(12:50):
So that, that was an influenceon me.
Um, I, I, in the summertimewould go to NBC camps, which is
big in the Northwest, uh, bigaround the whole country world
is a basketball camps.
It's Christ centered.
So my best friend at Rogers, um,Coach's son, Kyle Iverson, he
just is and was a strongChristian, and we would tool
(13:13):
around and do different things,and he'd have Toby Mack or DC
Talk.
We'd have all kinds ofChristians.
I wasn't opposed to it, but Iwasn't...
It definitely hadn't...
The spirit hadn't taken hold ofme.
I did not have a regeneratedheart or anything like that.
I stayed out of trouble.
(13:33):
I was moral.
I was pretty black and white onon right and wrong, but
definitely not until even muchlater was I saved.
SPEAKER_01 (13:44):
So let's freeze frame there for just a second
and go back to NBC camps.
It's a basketball camp.
We had Fred Kroll, who was thefounder and ran the camp for
decades on the program, onAmazing Greats.
It's one of our episodes.
And if our audience hasn'tlistened to that, they
definitely should.
But And that's how I came toknow you.
(14:08):
Yeah.
So let's talk about Fred Krollas a role model, a mentor, even
though he's himself said that hetaught basketball, but it was so
much deeper than that.
He was a devout Christian andhad Christian principles, but he
didn't necessarily influence youin that way.
(14:31):
But tell us how he did morallycharacter wise.
SPEAKER_02 (14:35):
Yes.
So he had a huge influence on melater as a middle school kid,
high school kid going to hiscamps.
Obviously, you hear the gospelpreached on Thursday night.
The counselors were youngChristian men and women who were
(14:55):
in college and players orwhatever.
There was definitely thatmessage being sent.
But what kept me coming back washow good the basketball camp
was.
was that I got better in fivedays.
Like, and, and for me, and, andeven though I, you know, my
limitations, uh, physically, Icould tell that I was getting
(15:17):
better and, uh, and I just lovethe encouragement and, and, and
people help, you know, um, youknow, that, that you felt like
believed in you.
So I went there growing up.
It, it had, it had an enoughimpact in me that when in the
summers, when I'd come homefrom, from, IU, um, I would
(15:37):
spend all summer working atthose camps.
I would, I would coach, I wouldspend all summer traveling all
over the place, coaching asthose camps as a counselor
before my senior year incollege, I had to do an
internship.
I did my internship with, um,with the camps and during,
during those summers, I, when Iwas a, when I was a camper, Fred
(15:59):
was super intimidating.
Um, he was, you know, he wasintense and, you know, He was
the Christian version of CoachKnight, maybe.
But then when I came back tocoaching the Summers, we really
started to develop a goodrelationship, a much closer
(16:21):
relationship.
And that just grew all the wayup until a few years ago.
And it got deeper and deeper anddeeper until the very end.
Whatever he said about himself,I guarantee was very humble
because there was hundreds ofpeople that he was like a first
(16:43):
or second father to, an uncle, agrandpa, whatever.
He was a heck of a man and wecould probably do several of
these episodes speaking abouthim.
In
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
fact, we have planned several other guests
that are that we're going to betalking to here as well.
But he was even at one later inlife, and this is not that long
ago, your father passed away,and that was a very emotional
and grief-stricken time for you.
(17:18):
But Fred was there for you then,too.
Am I right?
SPEAKER_02 (17:20):
Yeah, for sure.
So, you know, just backing up alittle bit, I think I was saved
in 2004, which is the year Iturned 30 years old.
That's when I...
I can't tell you that it was anexact But I feel like that's
what it was.
And so really from that point,not too much later than that, he
(17:43):
really, maybe right aroundthere, he started getting
treatment for some cancer thathe had.
And that's when we reallystarted to deepen our
relationship.
And that went on for quite sometime.
Between September of 2017 andMarch of 2018, I lost both my
(18:05):
parents.
so within six months of eachother and in March of 2018 yeah
definitely yeah definitely thatwas a start of a tough period
for me and I just remembergetting a call from Fred you
know I was in the airport on theway home from Seattle back to
(18:28):
Indiana after probably buryingmy father and he just said,
Ryan, I'm your dad now.
And he was sick.
He was not doing well.
And I...
And then for the next severalyears, I've, I've probably
talked to him two or three timesa week, at least.
(18:50):
Um, he, I mean, the wisdomwe're, we're raising kids.
I had a son, his, his wisdomand, and helping me raise my, my
kids, um, the, and just me andmyself getting through things.
Um, you know, I, I, I'm sure I,if, if you spoke to him, he
(19:11):
talked a ton about gratitude andhe'd We did a lot of that stuff.
He helped me a lot with focusingon gratitude and just biblical
truth to the point where, again,up until the last time I spoke
(19:35):
to him in 2021, he...
After COVID, the draft was...
Everything in the NBA was pusheda month back.
And he called...
and left me a message to tell methat he really liked who we
(19:59):
picked in the draft.
It was a player from Oregon, andI think he left that message on
a Friday.
I was wiped out, and so I thinkI called him back on a Monday
afternoon, the next Monday, andhe was telling me he really
wasn't supposed to be speakingon the phone, but things were
(20:20):
getting pretty tough for him,and he was getting into hospice
and I was like what you justleft me you know but just a
testimony to even as sick as hewas getting he was just giving
and giving and giving you knowand then just a month later
August 11th 2021 I know the dayI remember I was sitting in a
(20:43):
hotel room in Las Vegas gettingready for summer league when
when Jennifer his daughtercalled you know kindly let me
whisper some some last thankyous to him and pray for him uh
before he passed away it was asuper sweet but that man again
like we could go on and on and iwould love to to tell you that i
(21:05):
was some special special personbut but he was doing that kind
of stuff for for so many peopleyou you couldn't even track them
all down i'm sure i don't knowhow he did it i i mean he must
have he must have been on thephone all day every day you'd go
to you'd go with him to pick uphis drug And he would, you would
(21:26):
become best friends with thelady, you know, just handing him
his clothes everywhere you went.
And it was such a gift.
And I'm, you know, I'm a littlebit more of an introvert than
him, but one example of, ofrepresenting Christ everywhere
you go and, and boldlyproclaiming the gospel and, and
just, you know, not eventhinking twice about it.
(21:50):
He's, he was a gift to me inmany ways.
and in particular through thattime, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
A Cinderella story that has brought him to the top
of the ranks in the NBA, RyanCarr from the Indiana Pacers on
Amazing Greats.
The classic example from what Iknow, and you are obviously very
close to him, but he's the kindof guy who never avoids the
opportunity to share the gospel,but he lived the gospel every
(22:20):
single day.
And I think that's what sellsthe love for Jesus is seeing
somebody apprentice after Jesus
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Amen and the thing Rick that was super like as I
think about now one of thethings that he was so good at
was asking forgiveness and thestories within his family are
amazing about he and Susie andjust kind of the relationship
they had and how he would askforgiveness and even with his
(22:52):
kids it's been a huge becauseFred could lose his temper like
Fred was not you know perfect byany means and you'd be with them
and you know he'd get real madabout something or or whatever
but immediately like he would gointo he would ask forgiveness he
would he would want to make surethat people understood that like
(23:14):
yes you're gonna make mistakeyou're gonna do something that
you know in a moment maybe youdon't want to do but you can
turn right around and heal thatand and That was a big, big deal
to him.
And he lived that out probablybetter than anybody I've ever
seen.
SPEAKER_01 (23:31):
Really?
Well, let's jump back now toback into your story and what
happened in March of 2004.
As you'd said earlier in thisinterview that you loved UNC.
And so you'd followed them, butyou'd never actually seen them
live in the deep end, right?
Yes.
(23:52):
And that was...
your 30-year-old turnaroundright there.
Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:59):
Yeah, so I got this job in July of 2003, and
obviously it was a dream.
I had worked for the Pacers fora couple years, working for
Larry Bird when he was coaching.
Again, like I said earlier, Ihad always dreamed of being a
coach.
I had a chance to go intocollege coaching at the to do
(24:24):
that, which is probably not thebest decision I've ever made in
my life.
But it was what was on my heart.
It was a desire that I had hadsince I was a little kid.
So I went and did it.
Those four years there were upand down, a couple of decent
years, good years, a couple ofreally bad years.
(24:45):
But in 2003, Larry came backafter retiring from coaching to
run the Pacers as president Andhe and I had, had kept in touch
from when I had worked for himbefore.
And, and, uh, so he, he knew Iwas struggling a little bit, but
he, he called to, um, yeah,called to tell me like, Hey, I,
(25:06):
I'm not sure I could go back towhere I'm going back to work.
It's going to be, you know, oneof a few teams.
I can't tell you who it's allkind of secret, but wherever I
go, like you're coming with me.
It was more like a statement,um, which was pretty crazy.
And, uh, But, you know, and younever, you never know.
(25:27):
Like, I mean, I'm just me.
Like, Larry doesn't ever owe meanything.
So I just kind of waited to seewhat happened.
And then one day, you know, he'sback with the Pacers and it hit
CSPN.
And it's obviously huge news inthe sports world.
And so I talked to him later inthe day, later in that day, just
(25:48):
kind of hoping that he wouldremember what he said and do it.
And he did.
He said he'd have somebody callme and he wanted me to come up
in the next week and we'd talkabout what I was going to do.
And and so I did.
And and so he put me in scoutingand all that.
So to get to this is the longwinded answer to to your
(26:12):
question.
Got to started scouting,traveling around.
I mean, amazing job.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, kind of surreal ina way.
And in March, I had a chance togo see a game at University of
North Carolina, which as youalluded to, and I said, it was
(26:34):
my favorite team growing up.
Even posts like Michael Jordan,but players like Jeff Lebo and
J.R.
Reid and Pete Chilcutt and allthese different guys that I had
watched growing up just Justloved it.
So went to a game there, wassuper excited.
(26:56):
sat down in my seat kind of gotthere really early for the game
and and as soon as i sat down atthat game um just felt a massive
hole in my just my soul like aimmediately a thought like i'm
here but this is it like this islike i i guess i was expecting
(27:18):
something more i don't know godgod definitely used that um
almost like in a panic attack umkind Yeah.
(27:42):
The amazing part was we talked alittle bit earlier about all
those different seeds that hadkind of been planted.
My grandmother's NBC camps, mybest friend, Kyle, you know, I
immediately knew what to do.
So I got I had one more one moregame on that trip at Georgia
(28:04):
Tech.
And then I got home and my wife,Kim, and I still kind of joke
about this.
I walk in the door.
I don't even say hello oranything.
And I just look at her.
I remember she was sitting righton the couch, and I told her, I
was like, we have to find achurch, and then I went kind of,
you know, went on a huge searchto find a church in the area,
(28:25):
met with local pastors, youknow, said a prayer of
repentance, and, you know, Idon't know if it was that exact
prayer or whatever, but in thattime was definitely what I think
I was saved.
I was still, like any of us atthose moments, You look back,
you're like, man, I was just ababy in the faith and I didn't
(28:46):
know.
And I had a long ways to go,still do.
But in particular back there,back then.
But yeah, that, that game atNorth Carolina was
life-changing.
Interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (29:00):
Isn't that crazy?
And it happened, your favorite,I mean, I love those stories.
Some people, you know, kind ofgradually work their way into
the faith, and that's how Godplanned it.
Others, it's like, bingo, that'sdone.
It's a done deal.
And then, like you say, you'restill learning, and you're still
(29:21):
maturing, and we all are, right?
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Yeah, for sure.
There's been, even in the pastfive years, for sure, I think
one of the things that Ilearned, Rick, that's a real
burden on me, I will say thatthat church that we ended up
going to for a long time endedup not necessarily being the
most biblical church, And thenduring COVID, God really used my
(29:46):
kids and some different thingsto move us to a really sound
biblical church, which issomething now that I'm
incredibly thankful for.
So, yeah, he continues to work.
He continues to move.
It's amazing to end up when yourkids get to a point where
they're...
(30:09):
you know, they understand, they,you know, figure things out.
They're almost in some waysyou're looking, looking to them.
Like my kids, I think in, inmany ways are, have already
taken the baton of the faith andthe two olders and in particular
the twins.
And, and man, it's a lot of fun.
Like my, my daughter's atheology major at Liberty and I,
(30:32):
I love, love, love just hearinglike what she's learning and her
sending me her notes and justbeing able to devour like good
teaching over the past fiveyears, I think, you know, I've
come a long ways in terms of,um, just God's character, like
it's true character, who he is,um, and all of that.
Um, my, not to leave her twinbrother out, he's, he's at
(30:56):
Liberty.
He's managing the basketballteam there for Richie McKay,
who's a incredibly godly man.
I would, uh, he, he actuallywent to college at, at Seattle
Pacific and I would, I would, Iwould, uh, I would come to maybe
have a conversation with him atsome point.
I'm really, really excited thatmy son gets to, in his college
(31:18):
years, be influenced and led bya man like that, even as a
student manager.
So,
SPEAKER_01 (31:25):
yeah.
How amazing for you to, at theage of 30, which is a little
later in life, now introducingyour tribe to the love of Jesus
Christ.
uh at an early age so that theyhave a longer life with him yes
and it's a testament to uh youto dad for sure yeah
SPEAKER_02 (31:49):
yeah you know kim and i because this was all like
they were born in 2005 so thisthis is all happening like right
before like she she's pregnantwith the twins and as we really
dove deep into it and and praisegod for my wife who when i
walked in and just belted outlike we need to find a church
(32:11):
she she was all for it and idon't think we had really talked
about going to church one timebefore that um and and and us
sitting down and and reallytalking about she was she was
raised catholic kind of um youknow my very very limited
background and us really likejust just um really being
(32:35):
together on let's let's try tohold back whatever whatever the
the stuff that we had in ourpast whatever and let's let's
try to I always picture my uskind of holding back a wall that
could crumble and that's kind ofall the you know all the
generational stuff that thatmaybe we've had and just and you
(32:58):
know God willing hopefully theyjust have a much clear cleaner
path they'll they'll havestruggles we know that they'll
they'll you know but let's nottry to add in extra you know
that we that by hard work or youknow by being faithful and
obedient we can kind of we cankind of keep from them and and
(33:20):
praise god you know to thispoint it's it's work work like
that for those two and brianwho's 14 they you know we don't
we we're blessed we don't haveany prodigals at this point and
um may it may it stay that way
SPEAKER_01 (33:35):
rick hansen here with a chance to share the faith
story of of Indiana Pacers VicePresident, Ryan Carr.
So now that you're where you'reat in life, is there certain
spots where you could say, therewas God, there was God, there
was God, even though you didn'tknow who God was at the time?
What would be maybe the twohighlights of where you said,
(33:56):
that was really God workingwithin me, for me, and I didn't
even know it?
Man,
SPEAKER_02 (34:02):
I think I probably, I couldn't tell you why.
I think there's a ton of them.
I think it starts, I mean,through good and bad.
I think, you know, I was born inthe Bay Area.
My mother and father weredivorced when I was somewhere
(34:22):
around kindergarten.
And just the fact that I endedup moving to Seattle, my
stepfather ended up being a hugebasketball fan.
And so that's where I gained mylove of basketball through him.
So then that and then thebasketball camps and my grandma
like I don't know where to startthere like I don't the the line
(34:45):
like opening a door for me tocome to Indiana University and
serve that basketball team atthat time to to to out of the
blue get a call from the IndianaPacers and they need a video
intern at the exact year thatLarry Bird was taken over you
(35:05):
know there there's so manydifferent ways is that he's
sovereign.
He has everything under control.
This past week in this countryis crazy.
God is in control.
There is not one thing thathappens that surprises him.
(35:27):
And so I think as I've...
as I've matured in my view ofhim and his character, you look
back at all of these things andhow do you not worship a God
that would choose to do that.
I mean, let alone his son on across.
(35:48):
I mean, at the bottom line of itall.
So, you know, it's humbling.
I think, you know, basketballisn't everything in life.
Basketball is a, you know, buthe has used it.
And to this, you know, I wouldsay that the last few years in
particular, just opportunitieslike this, other opportunities
(36:12):
I've had to speak publicly I gotasked to give a chapel address
at Grace College up here inIndiana last year.
Just different opportunities,the different people he's
continued to put in my life.
Even through basketball, there'sa ton of basketball fans in this
world, and a lot of them loveChrist.
(36:33):
And so it's a lot of fun, and Ijust continue to be amazed and
also really wonder what otherthings maybe uh will come up and
i i pray every morning you knowevery morning you know i end my
my prayer when i wake up with umyou know help me deny myself
(36:57):
taking my cross follow you andwhatever happens today help me
to be faithful and obedientwhatever happens like and i i
fail at that for sure but i ithink that he's you know i've
been able to to carry thatbetter than maybe I would have
in the past as well.
(37:17):
So, yeah, just, I mean, eventhat I'm sitting here talking to
you, Rick, is a testament toGod.
And, you know, if a 5'7", ifthere was another 5'7",
110-pound high school basketballplayer in Seattle in 1990 to
1992 that's in professionalbasketball, that, you know, all
(37:43):
of this, and is now talking toyou like or will talk to you
like I want to meet him I don'tI just don't think you know so
and that's and it's not becauseof me it's not it's all Christ
and it's through me and howeverwhatever he wants to do if he
wants to take this career away Iused to I used to worry a lot in
just in this profession becauseit can be very volatile yeah and
(38:07):
yet he's kept me in the sameplace for 23 years and and
allowed me to lead others andhopefully do that well.
I certainly make mistakes,but...
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
Have there been challenges being in the
whirly-swirly world ofprofessional basketball and
working with superstarbasketball players and coaches?
Is there times when you feltlike you had to make a stand on
your faith that was maybe...
a little bit questionable?
SPEAKER_02 (38:42):
Yeah, I think in the last few years as Christians,
there have been certain thingsthat our society and world want
to normalize or whatever thatare not biblical.
And I think there's times whereyou are putting spots in grace
(39:09):
and truth you know speak truthand I try to do that for sure
like I don't ever want to denyChrist like I don't want to do
that I don't think that there'sanything that makes me feel
worse than when I feel like I'vedone something to deny him or
(39:33):
you know obviously we're told inscripture not to do it or else
he'll deny us and that's apretty scary thought so you know
grace covers a multitude of sinsso we're all it's okay but just
try not to do that so yeahthere's times like even you know
(39:53):
the NBA is a very worldly placeand I try to live you know a
biblical based life and try torepresent Christ well, like I
said, whatever happens that day.
SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
The superstar Tyree Halliburton has been outspoken.
A couple of spots that I foundin my research where he's very
Christian himself.
And that's not always been thecase.
I think he's, you mentioned inone interview that he was kind
of a seeker, kind of close.
But clearly he is a believer.
SPEAKER_02 (40:36):
Yeah, that's exciting for our team.
Tyrese, uh, he was on theOlympic team, uh, a couple of
summers ago or last summer.
And, and, uh, the, uh, chaplainfor the U S Olympic team is, is
based in that he, he works forathletes in action, which is
(40:56):
based in Dayton, Ohio, which isonly two hours from here.
And so, um, so he's come overand, and taking an active role
in, in, uh, in being a chaplainfor our team along with some
other partners here in town anduh and it obviously anytime
anybody shows interest in jesusyou get really excited we um you
(41:20):
know there's there's we haveseveral other guys on our team
in fact an mbc tie-in a playerthat we signed uh or this or
traded for this summer jay huffjay's dad was like a vice
president for mbc camps when iwas going there as a camper.
And so now we have another NBCtie-in with the Pacers.
(41:44):
But there's several guys whoprofess Christ and are
Christian.
So we have a great culturearound our team.
We have a servant culture.
We have a culture that theseguys play for one another.
And it's really a fun group tobe around.
SPEAKER_01 (42:05):
Basketball was God's gift.
Faith is His passion.
We're talking with IndianaPacers Vice President Ryan Carr.
(42:39):
the one challenge, the challengemaybe of your life through those
periods that you kind of alludedto earlier when your parents had
passed away and you had someserious bouts with depression at
that point, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02 (42:55):
So right after we talked about when my parents had
passed away, I had gone on, mydoctor had prescribed some
antidepressants, some daily, youtake them daily, whatever, And I
was on those for about a yearand a half.
And they definitely helped mymood, but my brain felt foggy.
(43:17):
I didn't feel like I could thinkas quickly.
You know, a year and a half wentby, I went back to my doctor and
I just asked him, I said, Ithink I'm doing okay.
Like, you know, a fairlysignificant time had passed.
Like, you know, can we look atgoing off of these?
So I followed the directions andwent off of them.
And initially it felt, felt feltfine felt good um and then a few
(43:43):
months later just crashed into auh yeah big big big time this
was in like february or march ofof uh 2021 um and Yeah, just
just just really this was allcoinciding, Rick, at the same
time, kind of moving churchesand which was a which was a
(44:08):
blessing.
But, yeah, just reallystruggling with like, man, I
mean, I've been a Christian atthat point for 17 years and I
feel feel really awful.
But why is my faith like failingme?
And again, almost like that,almost like that experience.
UNKNOWN (44:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (44:26):
with the, with the North Carolina game immediately
was, was drawn.
I was like, I need, I need toknow God.
I need the scripture.
I need the, my Bible.
And so as hard as those dayswere, and they lasted, um, you
know, I, I, I mean, up untilpretty recently, honestly, like
(44:47):
not, not to that degree, butit's, it's been a long kind of
slow process.
It's, it's, um, taking a lot ofpatience and, and again, um,
discipline and, and, uh, andjust, just really diving deep
into God's word.
But, um, yeah, just, just reallyhard days.
(45:08):
And, uh, God is good.
Like his, his word, hischaracter, um, is enough.
Like you, there is peace inthat.
Um, and, And it, and it's, youknow, this whole world, you
know, is always searching for,you know, what's going to,
what's going to make us whole,right?
(45:30):
Like, and you can chase amillion different things and
there's, all you have to do isin some ways, just watch the
commercials of any, any show orsporting event or whatever.
And really it's a lot of stuffto that's, that's kind of put
out there to help you feelfulfilled or whatever, but
there's only one thing that fitsthat whole.
And, And so I'm still working onthat.
(45:53):
I wouldn't say that every dayI'm still perfect, but I know
where the answer lies.
I know where my hope rests.
And that was, again, kind of,again, why I'm really burdened
by being in a really good churchwith good biblical teaching, you
(46:14):
know, really being committedto...
to the word.
This is a crazy world.
It's a broken world.
Depravity is real.
There's battles that we can'tsee going on.
All of that's true.
You live enough life, and youunderstand it, and you see it,
(46:37):
and the more biblical you are inyour worldview, the more clearly
you see it, I think, becauseit's all in the pages of
Scripture.
It really is so So just really,you know, by God's grace,
there's some great, that wasstill kind of during COVID time
and stuff, found some reallygood teaching, John MacArthur
(46:58):
and Vati Bakum and Alistair Beggand just some really, really
gifted Bible teachers that Iwould just devour that stuff and
still do.
Like, you know, I love learningmore and more about it.
I love just understanding thedepth of the word and yeah so I
(47:21):
would still I would say that I'mprobably like 90 to 95% like I'm
pretty pretty good but there'sstill those moments where stuff
creeps in like that's a it'sreal like when I you know I
never understood the depths ofdarkness until then for sure I'd
always kind of been a bulldozera little bulldozer like put your
(47:44):
head down and you know battlethrough whatever it is And in
that, you know, God has taughtme a lot.
God has taught me patience.
God has taught me discipline.
You know, He's still doing that.
God has taught me to love HisWord and rely on that.
SPEAKER_01 (48:09):
Well, Ryan, you're such an inspiration.
It's just been a pleasure to getto know you a little bit, even
in this short amount of time.
And because you've kind of beenthrough this and you're now a
seasoned, what, 50-year-old?
Yeah, 51.
51.
Maybe is there things that youwould maybe offer up, maybe that
(48:31):
you have already offered up toyour teenage kids, to young
people who might prepare themfor living in a competitive
world, a world with Jesus as thefoundation?
SPEAKER_02 (48:47):
Yeah, I think what I've learned, I think the thing
that even being saved at 30 thatI worried about was would I have
to compromise?
And what I've learned is thatyou can be a follower of Christ,
do a phenomenal job, work veryhard at your job, try to be
excellent at your job.
(49:08):
I think as Christians, we'recalled to perform whatever it is
that God's gifted us to do.
at a high level and but you youcan be different you don't have
to live by the the rules of theworld and the you know you know,
(49:30):
the win at all costs mentality.
I think that you can havecharacter and end up, like, at
the end of the day, peoplerespect that.
People may not be Christians.
People may not see eye to eyewith you on your core beliefs
(49:53):
and why you do it, but they willrespect the discipline and the
way you go about it Grace andtruth is a powerful thing and a
way to live that people are,even if they're not they may not
(50:14):
know it, but they're intriguedby it.
They wonder, and thoseopportunities then hopefully
lead to a chance to share thegospel and see if the Holy
Spirit will do to them what it'sdone to you.
So I would just say, be boldwith love, with grace, but be
(50:39):
bold, be unashamed.
I'm inspired by younger peoplenow that do that naturally.
I feel like because I came tofaith later, there was more fear
in doing that than hopefully,like we talked about, my kids
would have.
I don't think my kids arefearful at all of it, but we had
to...
(50:59):
I felt like I was reorienting mylife in midstream and kind of
how that would work.
What
SPEAKER_01 (51:07):
will people think?
SPEAKER_02 (51:08):
Yeah, exactly right.
Will I be judged?
SPEAKER_01 (51:11):
Yes.
All those things.
For sure.
totally get that.
And I was raised a Catholicmyself, but my kind of
reconversion happened when I wasin my early 60s.
So I'm a later bloomer than youare.
SPEAKER_02 (51:25):
Well, let's stick together.
SPEAKER_01 (51:27):
Let's do it.
Thank you so much for your timeand for your inspiration and
your story.
I know it's going to resonatewith all kinds of people in our
audience.
And it's just, to me, it's It'sa gift that you shared your time
with us today.
So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02 (51:47):
Well, I'm honored you would ask.
And I never want to say no if Iget to talk about Christ.
So that's kind of my philosophyon that.
All right.
SPEAKER_01 (51:57):
Have a great day and God bless.
You
SPEAKER_02 (51:58):
too.
SPEAKER_01 (51:59):
Thank you.
Wow.
What an inspiring conversationwith Ryan Carr from the Indiana
Pacers, his earliest dayschasing basketball dreams to now
his leadership in the NBA.
Incredible.
Ryan reminds us that successisn't all about the stats and
the titles and the glare and theexcitement, but about living
every day with Christ.
(52:19):
If today's episode encouragesyou, share it with a friend, and
don't forget to follow uswherever you listen to podcasts
so you won't miss our next storyof faith and inspiration.
I'm Rick Hansen, and this hasbeen Amazing Grace.
Thanks for joining us.
And remember, God's amazinggrace is for all of us.
Rick Hansen here on Amazing Greats with Indiana
Pacers Vice President Ryan Carr.
SPEAKER_00 (00:10):
From the heart to the mic, on the field, on the
stage.
Faith in their step as they turnthe next page.
Athletes, actors, musicians,authors, and more sparking the
flame.
Lifting up Jesus unashamed ofhis name.
Life stories of struggle,redemption, and grace.
Victories rising from a brokenplace.
Legends of life with a purposeto show how God shows up when
you let him flow.
(00:32):
Amazing grace, shining bright.
Living the faith in thespotlight.
Hearts on fire, now let it go.
Turn it up.
All
SPEAKER_01 (00:42):
right, welcome to the Amazing Grades podcast,
where we share the powerfulstories of athletes, authors,
actors, musicians, and leaderswhose lives have been
transformed by the grace of God.
And today, we have the pleasure,our guest is a key decision
maker for the Indiana Pacers.
(01:02):
They're very red hot IndianaPacers.
And you've not only been therein recent years, but for two
decades.
as senior vice presidentcurrently of the player
personnel.
And you've worked alongsidelegends like Larry Bird and
Bobby Knight.
(01:23):
Incredible story there.
But beyond the scouting reportsand the pics and the bright
lights of the NBA, Ryan Carr,our guest today, has built his
life on something far greaterthan all of that.
He is a faithful follower ofJesus Christ.
So, That's where we're at todayand that's who we're going to
talk to.
And I'm so excited, Ryan, thatwe have an opportunity to chat
(01:45):
today.
Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_02 (01:47):
It's my pleasure, Rick.
I'm honored to have thisconversation with you.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
Cool deal.
Well, we were talking a littlebit about and we are going to
talk about your past and how youall got started in the whole
area of basketball.
But tell us, first of all, forthose of our audience who are
not into to what these titlesmean, what does a senior vice
president of player personneldo?
What's your job?
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Yeah, essentially it's really to help put our team
together, the guys that are onthe court for...
I would say my mainresponsibility to the team is
the draft and making sure thatwe're prepared for the draft and
working with our scouts to getready for that.
That's my number oneresponsibility as I've been
(02:37):
fortunate to be trusted to kindof jump into some of the higher
level decisions the last coupleof years in terms of other
things as well and grateful.
for that uh but but essentiallyjust making sure we're ready for
the draft would be the would bethe main thing
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
so scouts you have multiple scouts that work in uh
for you in that whole area of uhplayer personnel right how many
scouts uh what what do they dowhat are they what's their job
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
yeah so they we have about 10 guys and we have them
really all over the world aroundthe cut we have most of them
around the country but then wehave two that are that are based
in europe um and they basicallytravel around and watch players
and, uh, joke around that halfof their job is also to be like
an FBI agent and find outeverything about the players off
(03:30):
the court.
Um, they're writing reports,they're ranking players.
We're working together again to,to find the best prospects, um,
to add to our team.
Um, it's a, it's a hardworkinggroup of guys are kind of nomads
all winter as they travel aroundand, and, and fulfill their
responsibilities.
Super grateful for for thoseguys and how hard they work and
(03:55):
and uh yeah it's it's kind of ii started when i came back to
scout started doing that we wedivide up the country into to
different regions and then um in2009 uh got the chance to lead
the group and i've been leadingthe group ever since i'm
recently kind of handing offsome of the day-to-day
(04:15):
responsibilities so i can be apart of some some higher level
stuff which is is really fun forme to be a little bit more with
our team than just, again, kindof out all the time seeing other
players.
So this past year, being able tobe around the team most of the
time when we made that run tothe finals was just surreal and
(04:37):
just a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
Yeah.
So to be an Indiana Pacersplayer, is there like a
checkbox, things that you lookfor specifically to fit your
style and your team?
SPEAKER_02 (04:49):
For sure.
We have a lot of discussions interms of that to make sure that
the guys that we bring in, youknow, on the court and off the
court, there's certainly certainskills on the court that fit
with what Coach Carlisle andwhat our team does, but also off
the court.
And we've really dove deeplyinto that side of it and kind of
(05:13):
hedged our bets on really goodguys.
And it's worked out well, whichaligns with with me as a person
and kind of what I believe.
So it's just a great fit.
I'm super fortunate.
I've been back here.
I think this will be my 23rdseason, my second stint here,
(05:33):
but 23rd season.
And that's really just unheardof in anything, but in
particular professional sports.
So very grateful.
God has been kind to keep me ina place where I've been able to
raise twins.
They're in college now, theirsecond year at Liberty.
(05:55):
I've got a 14-year-old thatmaybe she'll even be able to
grow up in one place where we'renot moving around.
And in athletics, that's pretty,pretty rare.
So super thankful for that.
I do not take that for grantedone day.
SPEAKER_01 (06:09):
Well, let's go back into the early life of Ryan
Carr.
And you were a Northwest guy, aSupersonics fan back in the day.
Yes.
And you've also been self- as a5'7 scrappy basketball player
who didn't get to play varsityat his senior year.
(06:29):
He didn't make the team.
It's a very unlikely scenariofor a guy who's doing what you
do today, for sure,
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
right?
Oh, man.
Yeah, I think about that.
But I guess the benefit of beingso many years down the road is
you can look back and see howGod uses all of that but nobody
loved basketball more than megrowing up if you could go back
and talk to kids I grew up withor whatever I'm pretty sure they
(07:01):
would say that I knew fromprobably the time I was 11 or 12
years old I wanted to be a coachI'd spent every waking hour as a
kid trying to be a goodbasketball player but yeah you
mentioned it like sizeathleticism limitations you know
no matter Yeah, I grew up inSumner, Washington, transferred
(07:32):
to Rogers High School in themiddle of my junior year, which
is a little wild.
It's not an opportune time totransfer schools, but did it as
much for culture reasons fromone school to the next as
others.
Wanted to go to school with someclose friends, still one of my
best friends.
I was a point guard on thatRogers team.
(07:54):
His dad was actually the coach.
So I knew why I wanted to gothere, but they had a really
good team coming back.
They had eight seniors comingback my senior year.
I knew all of them.
I had grown up going to campswith them and was friends with
many of them.
So I knew it was going to be atough task to make that team.
They ended up, that team went tothe state tournament, won the
(08:17):
West Central District, wasreally, really a really good
team.
team.
I was devastated after two orthree days of tryouts.
My name wasn't posted on thelocker room door.
It kick-started this wholething.
The coach there, Rod Iverson,knew I loved the game.
(08:41):
He had, again, known me since Iwas much younger, probably in
middle school.
He allowed me the chance to be astudent assistant coach and And
that was a great experience,being able to be around the
coaches and learn from them andhim trusting me with doing some
things that maybe he wouldn'thave trusted other students to
(09:02):
do.
And kind of in that timeframe,still wanting to pursue being a
coach and trying to writeletters to colleges and figure
out where I could go to be acoach.
So it was a really good time.
There was some adversity there,but again, like looking back,
God had that all as part of theplan.
SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
Basketball was God's gift.
Faith is his passion.
We're talking with IndianaPacers Vice President Ryan Carr.
Then there was that fatefulletter that you sent.
From out of nowhere, you sentletters to several places, but
one was to Bobby Knight.
(09:42):
Tell us that story.
SPEAKER_02 (09:46):
Again, getting to that point, I was going to
graduate from high school in a Iwanted to coach.
I actually had an opportunitythat I had set up with the head
coach of the University of PugetSound to go there and be a
student assistant with him.
But then this opportunity withIndiana came up where, again,
(10:09):
one of my, I'll call him ateammate, but one of the players
at Rogers High School, JamieHaag, his grandfather owned
Bodden Basketballs.
And Bodden Basketballs andBodden Ball had Coach Knight
under a commercial agreement touse the balls and do commercials
for him and all this stuff.
(10:30):
And when I wrote all theseletters, I really...
As an 18-year-old, Coach Knightwas not on my radar.
I love North Carolina.
I loved a bunch of other teams,but my dad was a Marine, and he
loved Indiana, and my mom lovedIndiana.
They're the ones that reallypushed me to write a letter to
(10:54):
Indiana.
Indiana wasn't on my originallist of places to send them, but
lo and behold, that is, and Ihave the letter hanging on the
wall back here.
that he wrote, you know, thatthey kind of described the
manager program that they had atIndiana.
And if I went to school there, Icould interview and all this
(11:16):
stuff.
And Mr., And Jamie's grandfatherwas really nice enough to go out
of his way without even knowingme to talk to Coach Knight and
kind of get it all arranged soit was all set.
And I didn't have to interviewand do all that because back
then, Rick, Indiana was the topof the world in college
(11:40):
basketball.
And when I showed up in the fallto go to school, there was well
over 100 kids trying to be amanager at for that team.
It was, you know, for, like,four spots.
Like, if I would have just wentwithout Mr.
Schindler's help, there's nochance that I would...
(12:00):
There's just no chance that Iwould have had that opportunity.
So, again, like...
you know, looking back again,you know, just, just an amazing,
um, just an amazing thing that adoor that opened up.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
Yeah.
And, and what's interesting isthat you, you didn't have a real
Christian, uh, childhood.
So there was, God wasn't in thepicture in your mind at that
point.
He definitely was in thepicture, but you didn't know it
until much later, right?
SPEAKER_02 (12:29):
Yeah, for sure.
Like I, it's funny, like my, myparents both, um, both grew up,
I guess, in in homes, theyalways said where they felt
forced to go to church andforced religion and, and
whatever, which makes sensebecause anytime that my brothers
and I would stay the night withour grandmothers, we would
definitely be in church and bereading the Bible and stuff.
(12:50):
So that, that was an influenceon me.
Um, I, I, in the summertimewould go to NBC camps, which is
big in the Northwest, uh, bigaround the whole country world
is a basketball camps.
It's Christ centered.
So my best friend at Rogers, um,Coach's son, Kyle Iverson, he
just is and was a strongChristian, and we would tool
(13:13):
around and do different things,and he'd have Toby Mack or DC
Talk.
We'd have all kinds ofChristians.
I wasn't opposed to it, but Iwasn't...
It definitely hadn't...
The spirit hadn't taken hold ofme.
I did not have a regeneratedheart or anything like that.
I stayed out of trouble.
(13:33):
I was moral.
I was pretty black and white onon right and wrong, but
definitely not until even muchlater was I saved.
SPEAKER_01 (13:44):
So let's freeze frame there for just a second
and go back to NBC camps.
It's a basketball camp.
We had Fred Kroll, who was thefounder and ran the camp for
decades on the program, onAmazing Greats.
It's one of our episodes.
And if our audience hasn'tlistened to that, they
definitely should.
But And that's how I came toknow you.
(14:08):
Yeah.
So let's talk about Fred Krollas a role model, a mentor, even
though he's himself said that hetaught basketball, but it was so
much deeper than that.
He was a devout Christian andhad Christian principles, but he
didn't necessarily influence youin that way.
(14:31):
But tell us how he did morallycharacter wise.
SPEAKER_02 (14:35):
Yes.
So he had a huge influence on melater as a middle school kid,
high school kid going to hiscamps.
Obviously, you hear the gospelpreached on Thursday night.
The counselors were youngChristian men and women who were
(14:55):
in college and players orwhatever.
There was definitely thatmessage being sent.
But what kept me coming back washow good the basketball camp
was.
was that I got better in fivedays.
Like, and, and for me, and, andeven though I, you know, my
limitations, uh, physically, Icould tell that I was getting
(15:17):
better and, uh, and I just lovethe encouragement and, and, and
people help, you know, um, youknow, that, that you felt like
believed in you.
So I went there growing up.
It, it had, it had an enoughimpact in me that when in the
summers, when I'd come homefrom, from, IU, um, I would
(15:37):
spend all summer working atthose camps.
I would, I would coach, I wouldspend all summer traveling all
over the place, coaching asthose camps as a counselor
before my senior year incollege, I had to do an
internship.
I did my internship with, um,with the camps and during,
during those summers, I, when Iwas a, when I was a camper, Fred
(15:59):
was super intimidating.
Um, he was, you know, he wasintense and, you know, He was
the Christian version of CoachKnight, maybe.
But then when I came back tocoaching the Summers, we really
started to develop a goodrelationship, a much closer
(16:21):
relationship.
And that just grew all the wayup until a few years ago.
And it got deeper and deeper anddeeper until the very end.
Whatever he said about himself,I guarantee was very humble
because there was hundreds ofpeople that he was like a first
(16:43):
or second father to, an uncle, agrandpa, whatever.
He was a heck of a man and wecould probably do several of
these episodes speaking abouthim.
In
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
fact, we have planned several other guests
that are that we're going to betalking to here as well.
But he was even at one later inlife, and this is not that long
ago, your father passed away,and that was a very emotional
and grief-stricken time for you.
(17:18):
But Fred was there for you then,too.
Am I right?
SPEAKER_02 (17:20):
Yeah, for sure.
So, you know, just backing up alittle bit, I think I was saved
in 2004, which is the year Iturned 30 years old.
That's when I...
I can't tell you that it was anexact But I feel like that's
what it was.
And so really from that point,not too much later than that, he
(17:43):
really, maybe right aroundthere, he started getting
treatment for some cancer thathe had.
And that's when we reallystarted to deepen our
relationship.
And that went on for quite sometime.
Between September of 2017 andMarch of 2018, I lost both my
(18:05):
parents.
so within six months of eachother and in March of 2018 yeah
definitely yeah definitely thatwas a start of a tough period
for me and I just remembergetting a call from Fred you
know I was in the airport on theway home from Seattle back to
(18:28):
Indiana after probably buryingmy father and he just said,
Ryan, I'm your dad now.
And he was sick.
He was not doing well.
And I...
And then for the next severalyears, I've, I've probably
talked to him two or three timesa week, at least.
(18:50):
Um, he, I mean, the wisdomwe're, we're raising kids.
I had a son, his, his wisdomand, and helping me raise my, my
kids, um, the, and just me andmyself getting through things.
Um, you know, I, I, I'm sure I,if, if you spoke to him, he
(19:11):
talked a ton about gratitude andhe'd We did a lot of that stuff.
He helped me a lot with focusingon gratitude and just biblical
truth to the point where, again,up until the last time I spoke
(19:35):
to him in 2021, he...
After COVID, the draft was...
Everything in the NBA was pusheda month back.
And he called...
and left me a message to tell methat he really liked who we
(19:59):
picked in the draft.
It was a player from Oregon, andI think he left that message on
a Friday.
I was wiped out, and so I thinkI called him back on a Monday
afternoon, the next Monday, andhe was telling me he really
wasn't supposed to be speakingon the phone, but things were
(20:20):
getting pretty tough for him,and he was getting into hospice
and I was like what you justleft me you know but just a
testimony to even as sick as hewas getting he was just giving
and giving and giving you knowand then just a month later
August 11th 2021 I know the dayI remember I was sitting in a
(20:43):
hotel room in Las Vegas gettingready for summer league when
when Jennifer his daughtercalled you know kindly let me
whisper some some last thankyous to him and pray for him uh
before he passed away it was asuper sweet but that man again
like we could go on and on and iwould love to to tell you that i
(21:05):
was some special special personbut but he was doing that kind
of stuff for for so many peopleyou you couldn't even track them
all down i'm sure i don't knowhow he did it i i mean he must
have he must have been on thephone all day every day you'd go
to you'd go with him to pick uphis drug And he would, you would
(21:26):
become best friends with thelady, you know, just handing him
his clothes everywhere you went.
And it was such a gift.
And I'm, you know, I'm a littlebit more of an introvert than
him, but one example of, ofrepresenting Christ everywhere
you go and, and boldlyproclaiming the gospel and, and
just, you know, not eventhinking twice about it.
(21:50):
He's, he was a gift to me inmany ways.
and in particular through thattime, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
A Cinderella story that has brought him to the top
of the ranks in the NBA, RyanCarr from the Indiana Pacers on
Amazing Greats.
The classic example from what Iknow, and you are obviously very
close to him, but he's the kindof guy who never avoids the
opportunity to share the gospel,but he lived the gospel every
(22:20):
single day.
And I think that's what sellsthe love for Jesus is seeing
somebody apprentice after Jesus
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Amen and the thing Rick that was super like as I
think about now one of thethings that he was so good at
was asking forgiveness and thestories within his family are
amazing about he and Susie andjust kind of the relationship
they had and how he would askforgiveness and even with his
(22:52):
kids it's been a huge becauseFred could lose his temper like
Fred was not you know perfect byany means and you'd be with them
and you know he'd get real madabout something or or whatever
but immediately like he would gointo he would ask forgiveness he
would he would want to make surethat people understood that like
(23:14):
yes you're gonna make mistakeyou're gonna do something that
you know in a moment maybe youdon't want to do but you can
turn right around and heal thatand and That was a big, big deal
to him.
And he lived that out probablybetter than anybody I've ever
seen.
SPEAKER_01 (23:31):
Really?
Well, let's jump back now toback into your story and what
happened in March of 2004.
As you'd said earlier in thisinterview that you loved UNC.
And so you'd followed them, butyou'd never actually seen them
live in the deep end, right?
Yes.
(23:52):
And that was...
your 30-year-old turnaroundright there.
Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:59):
Yeah, so I got this job in July of 2003, and
obviously it was a dream.
I had worked for the Pacers fora couple years, working for
Larry Bird when he was coaching.
Again, like I said earlier, Ihad always dreamed of being a
coach.
I had a chance to go intocollege coaching at the to do
(24:24):
that, which is probably not thebest decision I've ever made in
my life.
But it was what was on my heart.
It was a desire that I had hadsince I was a little kid.
So I went and did it.
Those four years there were upand down, a couple of decent
years, good years, a couple ofreally bad years.
(24:45):
But in 2003, Larry came backafter retiring from coaching to
run the Pacers as president Andhe and I had, had kept in touch
from when I had worked for himbefore.
And, and, uh, so he, he knew Iwas struggling a little bit, but
he, he called to, um, yeah,called to tell me like, Hey, I,
(25:06):
I'm not sure I could go back towhere I'm going back to work.
It's going to be, you know, oneof a few teams.
I can't tell you who it's allkind of secret, but wherever I
go, like you're coming with me.
It was more like a statement,um, which was pretty crazy.
And, uh, But, you know, and younever, you never know.
(25:27):
Like, I mean, I'm just me.
Like, Larry doesn't ever owe meanything.
So I just kind of waited to seewhat happened.
And then one day, you know, he'sback with the Pacers and it hit
CSPN.
And it's obviously huge news inthe sports world.
And so I talked to him later inthe day, later in that day, just
(25:48):
kind of hoping that he wouldremember what he said and do it.
And he did.
He said he'd have somebody callme and he wanted me to come up
in the next week and we'd talkabout what I was going to do.
And and so I did.
And and so he put me in scoutingand all that.
So to get to this is the longwinded answer to to your
(26:12):
question.
Got to started scouting,traveling around.
I mean, amazing job.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, kind of surreal ina way.
And in March, I had a chance togo see a game at University of
North Carolina, which as youalluded to, and I said, it was
(26:34):
my favorite team growing up.
Even posts like Michael Jordan,but players like Jeff Lebo and
J.R.
Reid and Pete Chilcutt and allthese different guys that I had
watched growing up just Justloved it.
So went to a game there, wassuper excited.
(26:56):
sat down in my seat kind of gotthere really early for the game
and and as soon as i sat down atthat game um just felt a massive
hole in my just my soul like aimmediately a thought like i'm
here but this is it like this islike i i guess i was expecting
(27:18):
something more i don't know godgod definitely used that um
almost like in a panic attack umkind Yeah.
(27:42):
The amazing part was we talked alittle bit earlier about all
those different seeds that hadkind of been planted.
My grandmother's NBC camps, mybest friend, Kyle, you know, I
immediately knew what to do.
So I got I had one more one moregame on that trip at Georgia
(28:04):
Tech.
And then I got home and my wife,Kim, and I still kind of joke
about this.
I walk in the door.
I don't even say hello oranything.
And I just look at her.
I remember she was sitting righton the couch, and I told her, I
was like, we have to find achurch, and then I went kind of,
you know, went on a huge searchto find a church in the area,
(28:25):
met with local pastors, youknow, said a prayer of
repentance, and, you know, Idon't know if it was that exact
prayer or whatever, but in thattime was definitely what I think
I was saved.
I was still, like any of us atthose moments, You look back,
you're like, man, I was just ababy in the faith and I didn't
(28:46):
know.
And I had a long ways to go,still do.
But in particular back there,back then.
But yeah, that, that game atNorth Carolina was
life-changing.
Interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (29:00):
Isn't that crazy?
And it happened, your favorite,I mean, I love those stories.
Some people, you know, kind ofgradually work their way into
the faith, and that's how Godplanned it.
Others, it's like, bingo, that'sdone.
It's a done deal.
And then, like you say, you'restill learning, and you're still
(29:21):
maturing, and we all are, right?
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Yeah, for sure.
There's been, even in the pastfive years, for sure, I think
one of the things that Ilearned, Rick, that's a real
burden on me, I will say thatthat church that we ended up
going to for a long time endedup not necessarily being the
most biblical church, And thenduring COVID, God really used my
(29:46):
kids and some different thingsto move us to a really sound
biblical church, which issomething now that I'm
incredibly thankful for.
So, yeah, he continues to work.
He continues to move.
It's amazing to end up when yourkids get to a point where
they're...
(30:09):
you know, they understand, they,you know, figure things out.
They're almost in some waysyou're looking, looking to them.
Like my kids, I think in, inmany ways are, have already
taken the baton of the faith andthe two olders and in particular
the twins.
And, and man, it's a lot of fun.
Like my, my daughter's atheology major at Liberty and I,
(30:32):
I love, love, love just hearinglike what she's learning and her
sending me her notes and justbeing able to devour like good
teaching over the past fiveyears, I think, you know, I've
come a long ways in terms of,um, just God's character, like
it's true character, who he is,um, and all of that.
Um, my, not to leave her twinbrother out, he's, he's at
(30:56):
Liberty.
He's managing the basketballteam there for Richie McKay,
who's a incredibly godly man.
I would, uh, he, he actuallywent to college at, at Seattle
Pacific and I would, I would, Iwould, uh, I would come to maybe
have a conversation with him atsome point.
I'm really, really excited thatmy son gets to, in his college
(31:18):
years, be influenced and led bya man like that, even as a
student manager.
So,
SPEAKER_01 (31:25):
yeah.
How amazing for you to, at theage of 30, which is a little
later in life, now introducingyour tribe to the love of Jesus
Christ.
uh at an early age so that theyhave a longer life with him yes
and it's a testament to uh youto dad for sure yeah
SPEAKER_02 (31:49):
yeah you know kim and i because this was all like
they were born in 2005 so thisthis is all happening like right
before like she she's pregnantwith the twins and as we really
dove deep into it and and praisegod for my wife who when i
walked in and just belted outlike we need to find a church
(32:11):
she she was all for it and idon't think we had really talked
about going to church one timebefore that um and and and us
sitting down and and reallytalking about she was she was
raised catholic kind of um youknow my very very limited
background and us really likejust just um really being
(32:35):
together on let's let's try tohold back whatever whatever the
the stuff that we had in ourpast whatever and let's let's
try to I always picture my uskind of holding back a wall that
could crumble and that's kind ofall the you know all the
generational stuff that thatmaybe we've had and just and you
(32:58):
know God willing hopefully theyjust have a much clear cleaner
path they'll they'll havestruggles we know that they'll
they'll you know but let's nottry to add in extra you know
that we that by hard work or youknow by being faithful and
obedient we can kind of we cankind of keep from them and and
(33:20):
praise god you know to thispoint it's it's work work like
that for those two and brianwho's 14 they you know we don't
we we're blessed we don't haveany prodigals at this point and
um may it may it stay that way
SPEAKER_01 (33:35):
rick hansen here with a chance to share the faith
story of of Indiana Pacers VicePresident, Ryan Carr.
So now that you're where you'reat in life, is there certain
spots where you could say, therewas God, there was God, there
was God, even though you didn'tknow who God was at the time?
What would be maybe the twohighlights of where you said,
(33:56):
that was really God workingwithin me, for me, and I didn't
even know it?
Man,
SPEAKER_02 (34:02):
I think I probably, I couldn't tell you why.
I think there's a ton of them.
I think it starts, I mean,through good and bad.
I think, you know, I was born inthe Bay Area.
My mother and father weredivorced when I was somewhere
(34:22):
around kindergarten.
And just the fact that I endedup moving to Seattle, my
stepfather ended up being a hugebasketball fan.
And so that's where I gained mylove of basketball through him.
So then that and then thebasketball camps and my grandma
like I don't know where to startthere like I don't the the line
(34:45):
like opening a door for me tocome to Indiana University and
serve that basketball team atthat time to to to out of the
blue get a call from the IndianaPacers and they need a video
intern at the exact year thatLarry Bird was taken over you
(35:05):
know there there's so manydifferent ways is that he's
sovereign.
He has everything under control.
This past week in this countryis crazy.
God is in control.
There is not one thing thathappens that surprises him.
(35:27):
And so I think as I've...
as I've matured in my view ofhim and his character, you look
back at all of these things andhow do you not worship a God
that would choose to do that.
I mean, let alone his son on across.
(35:48):
I mean, at the bottom line of itall.
So, you know, it's humbling.
I think, you know, basketballisn't everything in life.
Basketball is a, you know, buthe has used it.
And to this, you know, I wouldsay that the last few years in
particular, just opportunitieslike this, other opportunities
(36:12):
I've had to speak publicly I gotasked to give a chapel address
at Grace College up here inIndiana last year.
Just different opportunities,the different people he's
continued to put in my life.
Even through basketball, there'sa ton of basketball fans in this
world, and a lot of them loveChrist.
(36:33):
And so it's a lot of fun, and Ijust continue to be amazed and
also really wonder what otherthings maybe uh will come up and
i i pray every morning you knowevery morning you know i end my
my prayer when i wake up with umyou know help me deny myself
(36:57):
taking my cross follow you andwhatever happens today help me
to be faithful and obedientwhatever happens like and i i
fail at that for sure but i ithink that he's you know i've
been able to to carry thatbetter than maybe I would have
in the past as well.
(37:17):
So, yeah, just, I mean, eventhat I'm sitting here talking to
you, Rick, is a testament toGod.
And, you know, if a 5'7", ifthere was another 5'7",
110-pound high school basketballplayer in Seattle in 1990 to
1992 that's in professionalbasketball, that, you know, all
(37:43):
of this, and is now talking toyou like or will talk to you
like I want to meet him I don'tI just don't think you know so
and that's and it's not becauseof me it's not it's all Christ
and it's through me and howeverwhatever he wants to do if he
wants to take this career away Iused to I used to worry a lot in
just in this profession becauseit can be very volatile yeah and
(38:07):
yet he's kept me in the sameplace for 23 years and and
allowed me to lead others andhopefully do that well.
I certainly make mistakes,but...
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
Have there been challenges being in the
whirly-swirly world ofprofessional basketball and
working with superstarbasketball players and coaches?
Is there times when you feltlike you had to make a stand on
your faith that was maybe...
a little bit questionable?
SPEAKER_02 (38:42):
Yeah, I think in the last few years as Christians,
there have been certain thingsthat our society and world want
to normalize or whatever thatare not biblical.
And I think there's times whereyou are putting spots in grace
(39:09):
and truth you know speak truthand I try to do that for sure
like I don't ever want to denyChrist like I don't want to do
that I don't think that there'sanything that makes me feel
worse than when I feel like I'vedone something to deny him or
(39:33):
you know obviously we're told inscripture not to do it or else
he'll deny us and that's apretty scary thought so you know
grace covers a multitude of sinsso we're all it's okay but just
try not to do that so yeahthere's times like even you know
(39:53):
the NBA is a very worldly placeand I try to live you know a
biblical based life and try torepresent Christ well, like I
said, whatever happens that day.
SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
The superstar Tyree Halliburton has been outspoken.
A couple of spots that I foundin my research where he's very
Christian himself.
And that's not always been thecase.
I think he's, you mentioned inone interview that he was kind
of a seeker, kind of close.
But clearly he is a believer.
SPEAKER_02 (40:36):
Yeah, that's exciting for our team.
Tyrese, uh, he was on theOlympic team, uh, a couple of
summers ago or last summer.
And, and, uh, the, uh, chaplainfor the U S Olympic team is, is
based in that he, he works forathletes in action, which is
(40:56):
based in Dayton, Ohio, which isonly two hours from here.
And so, um, so he's come overand, and taking an active role
in, in, uh, in being a chaplainfor our team along with some
other partners here in town anduh and it obviously anytime
anybody shows interest in jesusyou get really excited we um you
(41:20):
know there's there's we haveseveral other guys on our team
in fact an mbc tie-in a playerthat we signed uh or this or
traded for this summer jay huffjay's dad was like a vice
president for mbc camps when iwas going there as a camper.
And so now we have another NBCtie-in with the Pacers.
(41:44):
But there's several guys whoprofess Christ and are
Christian.
So we have a great culturearound our team.
We have a servant culture.
We have a culture that theseguys play for one another.
And it's really a fun group tobe around.
SPEAKER_01 (42:05):
Basketball was God's gift.
Faith is His passion.
We're talking with IndianaPacers Vice President Ryan Carr.
(42:39):
the one challenge, the challengemaybe of your life through those
periods that you kind of alludedto earlier when your parents had
passed away and you had someserious bouts with depression at
that point, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02 (42:55):
So right after we talked about when my parents had
passed away, I had gone on, mydoctor had prescribed some
antidepressants, some daily, youtake them daily, whatever, And I
was on those for about a yearand a half.
And they definitely helped mymood, but my brain felt foggy.
(43:17):
I didn't feel like I could thinkas quickly.
You know, a year and a half wentby, I went back to my doctor and
I just asked him, I said, Ithink I'm doing okay.
Like, you know, a fairlysignificant time had passed.
Like, you know, can we look atgoing off of these?
So I followed the directions andwent off of them.
And initially it felt, felt feltfine felt good um and then a few
(43:43):
months later just crashed into auh yeah big big big time this
was in like february or march ofof uh 2021 um and Yeah, just
just just really this was allcoinciding, Rick, at the same
time, kind of moving churchesand which was a which was a
(44:08):
blessing.
But, yeah, just reallystruggling with like, man, I
mean, I've been a Christian atthat point for 17 years and I
feel feel really awful.
But why is my faith like failingme?
And again, almost like that,almost like that experience.
UNKNOWN (44:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (44:26):
with the, with the North Carolina game immediately
was, was drawn.
I was like, I need, I need toknow God.
I need the scripture.
I need the, my Bible.
And so as hard as those dayswere, and they lasted, um, you
know, I, I, I mean, up untilpretty recently, honestly, like
(44:47):
not, not to that degree, butit's, it's been a long kind of
slow process.
It's, it's, um, taking a lot ofpatience and, and again, um,
discipline and, and, uh, andjust, just really diving deep
into God's word.
But, um, yeah, just, just reallyhard days.
(45:08):
And, uh, God is good.
Like his, his word, hischaracter, um, is enough.
Like you, there is peace inthat.
Um, and, And it, and it's, youknow, this whole world, you
know, is always searching for,you know, what's going to,
what's going to make us whole,right?
(45:30):
Like, and you can chase amillion different things and
there's, all you have to do isin some ways, just watch the
commercials of any, any show orsporting event or whatever.
And really it's a lot of stuffto that's, that's kind of put
out there to help you feelfulfilled or whatever, but
there's only one thing that fitsthat whole.
And, And so I'm still working onthat.
(45:53):
I wouldn't say that every dayI'm still perfect, but I know
where the answer lies.
I know where my hope rests.
And that was, again, kind of,again, why I'm really burdened
by being in a really good churchwith good biblical teaching, you
(46:14):
know, really being committedto...
to the word.
This is a crazy world.
It's a broken world.
Depravity is real.
There's battles that we can'tsee going on.
All of that's true.
You live enough life, and youunderstand it, and you see it,
(46:37):
and the more biblical you are inyour worldview, the more clearly
you see it, I think, becauseit's all in the pages of
Scripture.
It really is so So just really,you know, by God's grace,
there's some great, that wasstill kind of during COVID time
and stuff, found some reallygood teaching, John MacArthur
(46:58):
and Vati Bakum and Alistair Beggand just some really, really
gifted Bible teachers that Iwould just devour that stuff and
still do.
Like, you know, I love learningmore and more about it.
I love just understanding thedepth of the word and yeah so I
(47:21):
would still I would say that I'mprobably like 90 to 95% like I'm
pretty pretty good but there'sstill those moments where stuff
creeps in like that's a it'sreal like when I you know I
never understood the depths ofdarkness until then for sure I'd
always kind of been a bulldozera little bulldozer like put your
(47:44):
head down and you know battlethrough whatever it is And in
that, you know, God has taughtme a lot.
God has taught me patience.
God has taught me discipline.
You know, He's still doing that.
God has taught me to love HisWord and rely on that.
SPEAKER_01 (48:09):
Well, Ryan, you're such an inspiration.
It's just been a pleasure to getto know you a little bit, even
in this short amount of time.
And because you've kind of beenthrough this and you're now a
seasoned, what, 50-year-old?
Yeah, 51.
51.
Maybe is there things that youwould maybe offer up, maybe that
(48:31):
you have already offered up toyour teenage kids, to young
people who might prepare themfor living in a competitive
world, a world with Jesus as thefoundation?
SPEAKER_02 (48:47):
Yeah, I think what I've learned, I think the thing
that even being saved at 30 thatI worried about was would I have
to compromise?
And what I've learned is thatyou can be a follower of Christ,
do a phenomenal job, work veryhard at your job, try to be
excellent at your job.
(49:08):
I think as Christians, we'recalled to perform whatever it is
that God's gifted us to do.
at a high level and but you youcan be different you don't have
to live by the the rules of theworld and the you know you know,
(49:30):
the win at all costs mentality.
I think that you can havecharacter and end up, like, at
the end of the day, peoplerespect that.
People may not be Christians.
People may not see eye to eyewith you on your core beliefs
(49:53):
and why you do it, but they willrespect the discipline and the
way you go about it Grace andtruth is a powerful thing and a
way to live that people are,even if they're not they may not
(50:14):
know it, but they're intriguedby it.
They wonder, and thoseopportunities then hopefully
lead to a chance to share thegospel and see if the Holy
Spirit will do to them what it'sdone to you.
So I would just say, be boldwith love, with grace, but be
(50:39):
bold, be unashamed.
I'm inspired by younger peoplenow that do that naturally.
I feel like because I came tofaith later, there was more fear
in doing that than hopefully,like we talked about, my kids
would have.
I don't think my kids arefearful at all of it, but we had
to...
(50:59):
I felt like I was reorienting mylife in midstream and kind of
how that would work.
What
SPEAKER_01 (51:07):
will people think?
SPEAKER_02 (51:08):
Yeah, exactly right.
Will I be judged?
SPEAKER_01 (51:11):
Yes.
All those things.
For sure.
totally get that.
And I was raised a Catholicmyself, but my kind of
reconversion happened when I wasin my early 60s.
So I'm a later bloomer than youare.
SPEAKER_02 (51:25):
Well, let's stick together.
SPEAKER_01 (51:27):
Let's do it.
Thank you so much for your timeand for your inspiration and
your story.
I know it's going to resonatewith all kinds of people in our
audience.
And it's just, to me, it's It'sa gift that you shared your time
with us today.
So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02 (51:47):
Well, I'm honored you would ask.
And I never want to say no if Iget to talk about Christ.
So that's kind of my philosophyon that.
All right.
SPEAKER_01 (51:57):
Have a great day and God bless.
You
SPEAKER_02 (51:58):
too.
SPEAKER_01 (51:59):
Thank you.
Wow.
What an inspiring conversationwith Ryan Carr from the Indiana
Pacers, his earliest dayschasing basketball dreams to now
his leadership in the NBA.
Incredible.
Ryan reminds us that successisn't all about the stats and
the titles and the glare and theexcitement, but about living
every day with Christ.
(52:19):
If today's episode encouragesyou, share it with a friend, and
don't forget to follow uswherever you listen to podcasts
so you won't miss our next storyof faith and inspiration.
I'm Rick Hansen, and this hasbeen Amazing Grace.
Thanks for joining us.
And remember, God's amazinggrace is for all of us.
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