The True Story of Father Stu, the Boxer Who Became a Priest
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 5 September 2025
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, before he was known as Father Stu, Stuart Long was a Golden Gloves boxing champion with dreams of fame. A near-fatal motorcycle accident changed the course of his life, leading him toward faith and eventually the priesthood. Diagnosed with a rare muscle disease, he continued to serve others with courage until his death in 2014. His story later inspired the film Father Stu starring Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson. In this recording provided by the Diocese of Helena, you’ll hear directly from Father Stuart Long himself as he shares the journey that transformed him.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:14.3 | And we continue with our American stories. |
| 0:18.2 | Father Stew is a motion picture starring Mark Wahlberg, who plays Father |
| 0:22.8 | Stu and Mel Gibson. It's based on the true life story of Father Stuart Long, the Golden |
| 0:28.7 | Gloves heavyweight boxing champion turned Catholic priest. Warburg first heard about Father |
| 0:34.6 | Stu's story while out to dinner with two priests, |
| 0:42.4 | and he, a devout Catholic, put his own money into financing this film. |
| 0:47.9 | Walberg intentionally gained 30 pounds in six weeks to portray Long in the film, |
| 0:50.7 | eating up to 7,000 calories a day. |
| 0:51.5 | Sounds like fun. |
| 0:55.2 | We'd like to thank the Diocese of Helena, Montana, for providing the footage you were about to hear of Father Stuart Long himself sharing his story with us. |
| 1:01.8 | Let's take a listen. |
| 1:05.0 | I was born out in Harbor View Hospital out in Seattle, and then my dad was discharged for the |
| 1:09.8 | Navy, so they came back to Helena. And I grew up there, and we used to go and hike around in the hills, and there were |
| 1:14.6 | all kinds of abandoned mine shafts. And you're not supposed to go in there, but we sneak around. |
| 1:19.6 | Oh, it was just an adventure. And I really enjoyed that when I was a young man. And we used to get |
| 1:25.6 | in trouble. We had apple trees in our yard |
| 1:27.7 | we'd sit up on our on the roof of our house when the tour train and come by we'd throw apples |
| 1:31.8 | at the people on the tour tree they didn't like that so much when you're a kid it's funny what |
| 1:36.9 | you think but I went to I attended central school we lived up on the south end of Helena and I looked to the kids kids, man, that building is so big. It's got to be shorter to cut through the middle and then to walk around it. So I'd walk through there, and there's this grumpy old guy, and he'd always see me in there. He'd start chasing, you damn kids. And he'd come running after us, you know. It was like, eh, he. It was like a gang, we'd run off. |
| 2:02.4 | And I did it probably about, you know, |
| 2:04.1 | 10 times come in my life. And sometimes you come up and you open the door and he'd be standing there with his arms, folded across the chest, and you'd say, out, he wouldn't let us in there. Sometimes you get in there and he'd chase you. Other times he'd be busy talking to people, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.