Mike Jeremiah and his prayer with BSM sports teams is a long-standing tradition at BSM that has seen many struggles and success stories. Jeremiah has always been a part of the prayer side of BSM. He plays a huge role in the organization of mass. Anything prayer or religion-related at BSM has his mark on it. When a coach asked Jeremiah to pray with a sports team, it added a whole new role to his job.
Jeremiah has been a friendly face in the BSM halls since 1975. He knows the school inside and out seeing many changes and nuances during his time at BSM. Sports have been around at BSM forever. When Jeremiah arrived, he added a new element. Jeremiah helped to connect the Catholic prayer and religion with the community of sports at the school. He was approached about it by some coaches and it took off from there. “I was simply asked by a couple of coaches and I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to,” Jeremiah said
I was simply asked by a couple of coaches and I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to.”
— Mike Jeremiah
He has helped with many different sports such as hockey, football, lacrosse, basketball, and many others throughout the years. The football team had a successful season this year, battling their way into the state tournament after a big defeat to Holy Angels in the section final game. Junior Tommy Staples, the starting center, talked about the positive effects Jeremiah had on the team throughout this past season. “I feel like including the Bible quote before every game. It gives you something to think about and focus on,” Staples said.
With Jeremiah leading the way with the football team this past season is one of many examples of him having a positive impact on the success of a BSM sports team. Jeremiah’s most notable time praying with a team was with the hockey team during the 2012 season. This season was full of ups and downs surrounded by the traumatic neck injury of Jack Jablonski. It was a terrible injury that made Jeremiah’s job even more important to help keep the team positive. This helped to lead the team to win the State Championship. “Even the prayer that we had that season. Yeah, it was just a different experience,” Jeremiah said.
Overall, Jeremiah has truly started a unique and special culture at BSM for the sports programs. Jeremiah continues to find new ways to help in whatever he can through prayer and the positive attitude he carries. He hopes he can continue to expand the team’s prayer to as many different sports and clubs as possible. “I’m open to doing it with all teams and activities, and so I’m open to doing it with everybody,” Jeremiah said.