Being a student athlete at JCU can look like many things but, for Bryan Fialkowski, it looks like friendship and community. 

The John Carroll University Athletics community continues to grow and remains one of the strongest aspects in both current students’ and alumni lives as past Blue Streaks work hard to make a positive impact and a difference in the lives of current students. Fialkowski is the prime example of this.

Fialkowski is from a small town in East Central Ohio called Bridgeport, which is across the river from Wheeling, WV. At his private school, colleges would come to their school and a John Carroll representative went down. 

“What I was looking for at the time, the two things that were important to me were, a great business school and a football program that had a rich history and I could be competitive in,” Fialkowski told The Carroll News. “John Carroll struck both those boxes, so made the decision, and it was the right one.”

While at JCU, Fialkowski studied Business Administration and he joined the “Men of Carroll” football program.

“I can’t think of John Carroll without thinking of football just because of the relationships. The first people I met were football players and we became a family. That’s not to say that I didn’t have other friends who didn’t play football, because that was certainly not the case. I was in a fraternity and involved in other things, but the core of my experience was driven around the team and the commitment.”

Fialkowski left a resounding impact on the Blue Streak football team as he was later inducted into the class of 2017 Hall of Fame. 

This honor was bestowed upon him because he “was a two-time all-conference offensive lineman and an All-America selection as a senior for the John Carroll football team. The only true freshman to start on offensive line for head coach Tony DeCarlo, Fialkowski at one time held the record for most games played by a position player in program history (42). The team accrued a 32-10 record during Fialkowski’s playing career.”

“A freshman starter on JCU’s 1997 NCAA Division III playoff team that reached the national quarterfinals; his efforts helped the Blue Streaks break records for passing yards, touchdown passes and net total offense in his senior year and victories his freshman year.”

“His postseason honors included Football Gazette third team All-America in 2000, first team All-OAC in 2000 and second team All-OAC in 1999. Fialkowski was also the 2000 Cleveland Touchdown Club JCU Player of the Year.”

“Thinking about this honor as a student-athlete became a reality and, athletically, it’s the greatest honor I think I could have. It’s a very proud moment and I’m just lucky and blessed to be a part of it. It was cool.”

When asked to reflect back on his experience with the Blue and Gold, Fialkowski reminisced about the Jesuit ideals ingrained in his experience. 

“I necessarily didn’t pick John Carroll because of its Catholic and Jesuit components, but I’m sure glad that it ended up that way. The whole Jesuit element of who we are as a university and as a student body and as an alumni, it’s real and the alumni network is real post-John Carroll. It’s not just about being spoon fed religion from a textbook. It’s about how you live your life.” And that he did. 

Fialkowski took a couple months off after graduation to bike across the country to raise money for his high school. In what could possibly be the coolest story ever, Fialkowski began in Florence, Oregon and made his way to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware as he gave back to his high school community and teachers. 

Biking an average of 100 miles a day, Fialkowski and his friend traveled across the country on a road bike for 45 days. 

“I had no idea what I was getting into. I was a football player. Growing up, I would ride bikes, but nothing like biking across the country was. I biked around campus in the spring for a couple of months as the weather turned, but I maybe had 100 miles under my belt by the time we started. That’s nothing when you are going on a 4,000 mile trip.”

John Carroll actually sponsored part of their trip as the school helped supply many of their power bars and Gatorade. On their way back through Ohio, the two made it a point to stop at Fialkowski’s alma mater before continuing to the east coast. 

“They had balloons on the quad set up for us on campus. I literally biked across the street where the football team was practicing. I still knew 90% of them because I had just graduated. Coach stopped practice and I walked out there to talk to the team in my bike gear. It was awesome. It was just super cool.”

Fialkowski remembers this trip as a time of reflection after graduation as he and his friend talked about their future throughout the journey. 

“We talked a lot about careers and what we were going to do. I had two or three opportunities that were available to me from my time at JCU and I ended up doing none of them. When I got back I ended up working at Morgan Stanley for a little bit, I quickly realized why I got into it. But then I realized a lot of the reasons why I didn’t want to do that particular line of finance and that’s when I started to explore the things that potentially I would like doing. I found that commercial banking was a great fit because you’re analyzing and figuring out companies financially and their strengths and weaknesses, but you’re doing it with respect to loans versus equity and it’s in a relationship setting where you’re working with those companies directly.”

Fialkowski has moved throughout the banking industry, but is currently the Executive Director of Commercial Banking at JPMorgan Chase where each day is different for him in terms of tasks and responsibilities. 

“It’s primarily about generating revenue for the firm, but also protecting our shareholders and managing risk. The whole process can take months for just one deal to happen. There’s never two days in a row that are the same. One day I could be at the finish line with one transaction, but that afternoon I could get a call from an attorney to talk to me about a potential new client. You just have to be able to multitask and switch gears rapidly. I get to work with a great group of people who help me with all of those tasks. I have credit oriented people who are helping assess risk, then I have people on the development side that are helping me open new doors and look for new opportunities.”

Even with his busy life, Fialkowski still makes time to continue to be involved at John Carroll where he serves as President of the Blue and Gold Club for Athletics. 

“Being the Blue and Gold Club President is one of the coolest things I get to do because I get to have an inside perspective to the state of athletics that most of the alumni don’t get to see. It’s also a way for me to give back and volunteer as a thank you to the university for my experience. When I got approached to be on the board, it was a similar reaction to being in the Hall of Fame, I was flattered and of course I said yes.”

The Blue and Gold Club focuses on providing new opportunities for current Blue Streak student-athletes in both a financial and resource way. 

“To summarize our group is to say that we help support current student athletes in tangible ways. One of our most recent purchases was the shooting machine. What happened was the basketball coach came to us with a proposal for the machine and we found a way to provide it.”

While reminiscing on this time as a Blue Streak, Fialkowski stated he believes he learned many beneficial skills on what it takes to be successful in the professional world. 

“I think one of the best skills I learned was the ability to collaborate and almost be a chameleon if you will. You have to work with difficult people and you have to learn to adapt from one client to another. One client is in jeans and another is in a suit and you have to be able to mold and be that chameleon. My experience being in a large group of people like a football program taught me that or helped advance me down that path. That skill has allowed me to be more successful than if I had not been on a team.”

Being with the Blue and Gold has not only impacted his professional career and experience, but also provides a major support for Fialkowski’s personal life. 

“Personally, John Carroll has made me a more enriched person. It’s made me a better friend. It’s given me life long friends. It’s made me a better dad, a better husband. It’s at the backbone of everything for me personally.”

Fialkowski was asked what the best piece of advice he received was and after a minute of thinking he knew exactly what it was. 

“I came back for my MBA and those classes were the most meaningful for me because having real world experience and then coming back in the classroom setting, I was much more engaged, I had real world examples to ask or challenge professors. I was more mature and approached it differently. One of my professors gave me the piece of advice ‘if you’re comfortable in the professional world and your career, you’re falling behind.’ He’s absolutely right. The minute you are comfortable doing what you’re doing, someone is on their way to pass you up.”

Similarly to all John Carroll grads, Fialkowski cherishes his time as a Blue Streak and is still very much involved in the community. While not working in professional sports, his love and passion for sports has continued to impact him in his career as being a student-athlete provided him with many life lessons that continue to be showcased in his life today.  

“If I had to do it all over again, I would do it the same way. It was a great experience and I’m proud to be an alum and happy to give back and be a part of it.”