That's My Dad!: Honoring the Fathers Who Shaped Our Lives

by Joe Battaglia, Joe Pellegrino

Overview

To succeed at the highest level of any profession requires not just skill, but also confidence and mental toughness. Many men and women have natural skills, but many would also be the first to say that without the affirming love and support from their fathers or a father figure, they would not have made it to the top of their fields.

In That’s My Dad! authors Joe Pellegrino and Joe Battaglia look at father models, both positive and negative, that helped to shape the lives of successful men and women in the competitive worlds of media, arts and entertainment, and professional sports. Included are:

• Joe Girardi, Manager, New York Yankees
• Allan Houston, former NBA all-star and Assistant GM, New York Knicks
• Gretchen Carlson, Author and Fox News commentator and host of “The Real Story” with Gretchen Carlson
• Jeff Kemp, former NFL quarterback
• Lee Rouson, former NFL Running Back
• Michael Franzese, former New York mobster with the Colombo crime family, inspirational speaker and author
• Tina Cervasio, New York television sports anchor with Fox 5 and ESPN radio sportscaster and commentator
• Darryl Strawberry, former Major League Baseball All-Star, ordained minister and author
• Frances Hesselbein, President and CEO of The Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute and former CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA
• David Tyree, former NFL wide receiver with the New York Giants • Roderick Caesar, senior pastor of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, Queens, NY
• Chris Broussard, ESPN and ESPN.com basketball analyst, writer and commentator
• Kelly Wright, FOXNews reporter and co-anchor of America’s News Headquarters
• Rita Cosby, television news anchor and correspondent, WABC radio host, and best-selling author

Whether these role models were hurt or helped by the choices of their fathers, they have chosen to learn from their past and portray exemplary qualities like courage, honor, joy, authenticity, and integrity to make them the role models they are today. This book demonstrates the power of true fatherhood and the difference it makes in the lives of children. All of us want to, or yearn that we could, stand up and shout, “That’s my dad!” 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781424552207
Publisher:	BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Joe Battaglia is a broadcaster, author (The Politically Incorrect Jesus, That’s My Dad, Fathers Say), and founder and president of Renaissance Communications, a media company whose mission is to provide media platforms for gifted communicators of biblical truth.
His clients include Dr. Steve Brown and his nationally syndicated radio program Key Life, Prison Fellowship, Affirm Films/Sony Pictures Entertainment, Provident Films, Pure Flix Entertainment, actress Shari Rigby, and author and speaker Jeanne Nigro.
Joe is also an executive producer and General Manager of the nationally syndicated radio program Keep the Faith, the number one faith-based music radio program in the nation with a weekly audience of over two million.

For over sixteen years, Joe has also been involved in the promotion of highly successful hit movies to the faith-based marketplace, such as The Passion, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, The Polar Express, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, Soul Surfer, Son of God, God’s Not Dead, Heaven Is For Real, Miracles From Heaven, Risen, War Room, The Star, and I Can Only Imagine.
Highly active in the Christian music industry, Joe served on the board of Gospel Music Association (GMA) for twenty years, was chairman of the National Christian Radio Association (NCRS) for fourteen years, and currently sits on the boards of the National Religious Broadcasters and WAY Media.

Prior to forming Renaissance in 1992, Joe was VP of Communicom Corp. of America, the parent company of WWDJ/New York, WZZD/Philadelphia, and KSLR/San Antonio. He was with Communicom for over eighteen years, eight as General Manager of the flagship station WWDJ from 1982–1990. From 1979–1995, he also was a partner in Living Communications, parent company of WLIX/Long Island and WLVX/ Hartford, CT.

In 1991, Joe penned his first book, A New Suit for Lazarus (Thomas Nelson). He attended Boston University, graduating magna cum laude with a BS in Journalism.

Joe lives in New Jersey and is the parent of a twenty-nine-year-old daughter, Alanna.

JOE PELLEGRINO is the President and founder of Legacy Minded Men, a ministry whose mission is to raise up Godly
men. He is also the Publisher of Life & Leisure, LLC, a bi-weekly local publication circulating to 50,000 homes in northern New Jersey and the President of Not Just an Average Joe, LLC, a unique marketing company. Joe and his wife Bethanne have three children and reside in northern New Jersey. 

Editorial Reviews

This book is not only entertaining, it is also beautiful, honest, and tremendously important. That is because fatherhood  the most tragically underestimated and misunderstood issue in our culture today. Please be a part of changing that by reading this book and sharing it with your friends.

- ERIC METAXAS, New York Times best-selling author of Seven Men: And the Secret of their Greatness and host of the nationally syndicated Eric Metaxas Show. 


That’s My Dad! is an insightful look at the important part fathers play in the lives of their children as told from the perspective of many leading figures from the world of sports, broadcasting, and ministry. It is a book meant to be shared with those important father figures in your life!

- DELILAH, National radio host 


I am honored to tell the story of my dad in the must-read book That’s My Dad! It is an amazing peek inside the lives of people you may have heard of before, who share in such a personal way details about their dads—the good and the bad. Participating in the book made me realize once again how blessed I have been to have a father who was ever present in my life—a father who always guided me by living the life lessons he preached, with faith and family as his foundation.

- GRETCHEN CARLSON, Award-winning journalist and host of Fox News Channel’s The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson 

In this day and age when one of the world’s greatest, most vital institutions—that of fatherhood—is under attack, Joe Pellegrino and Joe Battaglia have done us a huge favor. By capturing such varied accounts of fatherhood experiences, they have touched on the topic in nearly every way imaginable, and in so doing, show us the importance and necessity of dads.

- CHRIS BROUSSARD, Internationally known NBA analyst for the ABC and ESPN television networks as well as an award-winning journalist for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com

Why read this book if you’re like me and you never had a father you could look to as a model of faith and love and blessing? Because, like you, I want to be the kind of father this book talks about and models in the life stories described here! Even if you come from a broken family or background like me, you can find real examples of godly, imperfect, but totally committed fathers pictured here that you can follow. And one day you’ll hear those awesome words, spoken with love from your children, “That’s my dad!”

- JOHN TRENT, PHD, President of StrongFamilies.com and author of The Blessing and Life Mapping 


From my early days in professional baseball to working with college kids afterward, one thing was always obvious: the caliber of any individual is shaped tremendously by the presence or absence of a father in that young person’s life. In That’s My Dad! my friends Joe Pellegrino and Joe Battaglia illustrate how vital that father figures are and how the ultimate Father, God, can help fill a void left by absentee fathers. It’s a book well worth reading.

- BOBBY RICHARDSON, Former New York Yankees star second baseman 


There is no clearer view into the heart of a father than through the eyes of his children. That’s My Dad! gives us an extraordinary gift of heartwarming stories from national world changers about their dads. Serving as a fathering guidebook to those who want practical wisdom about how to turn their heart goals into action, this book is one of the most powerful fathering books I’ve ever read. It doesn’t just tell; it shows how to be an invested parent. If every dad in America took to heart the lessons taught by these mentor dads, it would positively change the landscape of our entire country.

- DR. MICHELLE WATSON, Author of Dad, Here’s What I Really Need from You: A Guide for Connecting with Your Daughter’s Heart 

From the Publisher