Body and Spirit: Chaplain Serves Charlotte FC and Davidson College Athletes
July 29, 2026
- Author
- Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis
Davidson College Associate Chaplain Daniel Heath gives the invocation at a Carolinas Panthers game.
Daniel Heath started his chaplaincy at Davidson College with a sweet invite.
He set up a sign on a table in Vail Commons that said, “A Chat with Chaplain Heath,” and put out a bunch of mini–Heath Bars. No one took him up on the chat, or the candy.
He kept coming back and finally one day, some women’s basketball team players walked over with their lunch trays and asked if they could join him.
“I think they felt sorry for me,” he said with a laugh. “Here I am putting myself out there and nobody’s coming, and then I have these popular basketball players sitting down with me. It was very humbling.”
Daniel Heath and members of Davidson's women's basketball team.
How Daniel Heath Became the Sports Chaplain at Davidson College
Their conversation, and subsequent chats with other athletes sparked an idea. Today, Heath serves as Davidson’s first sports chaplain, alongside his roles as associate chaplain and director of descendent community outreach. Last year, he also became the inaugural chaplain for Charlotte Football Club (Charlotte FC), Major League Soccer’s local franchise.
His guiding principle is simple: “I’m here to support all humans.”
It’s a big week for Charlotte FC, which will host the MLS all-star game July 29 at Bank of America Stadium — a first for the relatively young club.
Before joining Charlotte FC in 2023 as Director of Player Engagement and Welfare, John Wilson played at Clemson University and enjoyed a long professional soccer career, including time in MLS and the USL. Wilson met Heath through a mutual friend, and after many meaningful conversations a friendship developed. Recognizing Heath’s heart for serving others, Wilson asked him to consider becoming Charlotte FC’s chaplain.
“As a former player, I realized even later in my career that I sometimes needed someone who was not a coach or a staff member that I could talk to or bounce ideas off of about life,” Wilson said. “So much of what’s going on off the field connects to what’s happening on the field.”
A Caring Presence
One in four Davidson students is a scholar athlete. They juggle challenging academic loads, high-level sports competitions, families, friends and college life. They can face performance anxiety when they’re not meeting their own — or others’ — expectations. An injury can ruin a season or a career. They struggle with loss and heartbreak outside of sports.
In this brief and impactful video, Chaplain Daniel Heath shares the three core truths he holds in his heart for every athlete he meets with: understanding that their identity is not defined by their mistakes or past, knowing that they are loved, and realizing that they embody love themselves.
Sports chaplaincy offers crucial support tailored specifically to the unique struggles scholar-athletes face. Discover how chaplains create confidential spaces where athletes can be vulnerable, overcome isolation, and remember their intrinsic worth as human beings, not just human doings.
“We focus on fostering an environment where scholar-athletes can become their full, holistic selves because they are so much more than just the sport they play,” Vice President and Director of Athletics Chris Clunie ’06 said. “And the work Daniel does helps support this approach.”
Former track athlete Chris-Ann Nelson ’26 experienced that support first-hand when her father died suddenly the summer after her freshman year. Returning to campus was gut-wrenching, but Heath provided a safe space.
I was having a really hard time. Daniel was the first person I wanted to talk to when I came back to campus. If I needed to talk to him, he’d answer my questions, he’d listen, he’d cry with me, he’d pray with me. He’d block off time where we could talk in his office or take a walk. He created a space for me to express my emotions and thoughts.
Not every conversation involved grief. Sometimes she talked with Heath about leadership challenges when she became the team captain her senior year. And sometimes they just dished about sports in general.
When other teammates struggled with deep emotions and loss, she’d suggest they visit Heath. She assured them he wouldn’t “shove religion in your face.”
Heath works closely with Madison See ‘16, the college’s director of mental health for athletics. A former women’s soccer team member and assistant coach, she turned to a counselor during her senior year after suffering a concussion the previous season.
“I wish I had somebody like him when I was in college. I was nervous to meet with a counselor and put it off,” she said. “If I’d had contact with a sports chaplain like Daniel, I wouldn’t have waited so long to reach out to a counselor.”
Some athletes turn to Heath first, and he may suggest they also talk with See. Others approach her first, and when she thinks Heath can help, she’ll refer them to him.
“Those athletes often come back and say, ‘I met with Daniel, he’s amazing, he’s hilarious, and I’m going to talk with him again in two weeks,’” See said. “Him being able to meet with our athletes one on one provides another person who cares about them. He’s so approachable and so personable — and he has such professionalism in what he does. He can talk about anything and everything with anybody, regardless of faith tradition.”
Supporting All Humans
Charlotte FC is back from their World Cup break to start the second half of their season.
The team’s roster features players from more than 14 nations, ranging from veteran U.S. Men’s Team co-captain Tim Ream to teenage debutant Nimfasha Berchimas. Heath stays in the background during game days, choosing instead to drop by around practice hours so players can approach him on their own terms.
He takes a similar approach at Davidson, where he often attends practice and sticks to spectating from the stands during games. And yes, he loves sports.
Heath grew up as a fan in Charlotte, with team posters covering his bedroom walls. He passionately followed the Charlotte Hornets when Dell Curry racked up three-pointers on the court and his young sons Stephen ’10 and Seth Curry got a headstart on their NBA careers as team ballboys.
Heath played football and basketball as a kid and was named all-county and all-state as an Independence High School sprinter but chose not to pursue a track scholarship when he attended Morehouse College.
After graduating from Morehouse, he earned a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill’s law school before obtaining a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He joined the staff at Davidson in 2022.
He and his wife, Katrina, have two sons, Jackson, 17, and Jordan, 13, and have first-hand experience as parents of a college-bound athlete. Jackson, a rising senior and football standout at Hough High School, recently committed to attend and play for The U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Chaplain Daniel Heath shares his journey to becoming Charlotte FC's first team chaplain and why he chooses to work behind the scenes rather than in the stands. Learn about his inclusive philosophy.
Many professional teams have sports chaplains, though it’s less common for colleges. In Charlotte, Heath is part of a local network with chaplains representing other professional teams. As much as he loves sports, he approaches sports chaplaincy as a call to be a supportive presence, not a fan.
“He’s an example of how I hope other chaplains approach their role,” Charlotte FC’s Wilson said. “He’s very unassuming, he walks in the building and he’s just there, and he has a way that makes people feel comfortable. I believe it’s because he wants to serve people. There’s nothing in it for him.”
Not all players will seek Heath out, but many do, Wilson said. He added that he sometimes turns to Heath to get a different perspective on challenges he’s facing on and off the job.
“It takes a special, experienced individual like Daniel who can navigate all that,” Wilson said. “It starts with being someone who’s trustworthy, someone who listens, someone who cares, no matter what faith you are.”
Nelson, who currently works with children on the autism spectrum, said she draws inspiration from how Heath interacts with people. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in psychology and someday have her own practice as an adolescent psychologist.
She hopes to carry his example into her future practice.
“He emphasizes the importance of presence,” she said. “It’s having people know that you’re there, that they can come to you, that they can talk to you about anything, and that you’ll listen.”
