Wayne Caparas
Encyclopedia
Wayne Caparas is an American
performing artist, writer, and award-winning entrepreneur. Caparas is also a journalist and photojournalist, and has been involved in the creation and launch of several non-profit organizations and Christian ministries. He has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild
since 1995. Most notably, the former outspoken atheist became a born-again Christian in 1998.
-born career sailor in the United States Navy
who became a naturalized citizen, and his mother a second-generation Bostonian of French-Canadian and Irish
descent who worked primarily as a civilian employee for the US Navy. His parents have since divorced and both have remarried. For most of his father's navy career he served on the historic USS Observation Island, the first naval vessel to successfully launch a Poseidon Ballistic Missile from sea. Though Wayne spent the first 3 years of his life in Boston and New London, CT, the Navy moved the Caparas family to Cocoa Beach, Florida
while the Observation Island was stationed at Cape Kennedy (NASA
) from 1966-1971 at the peak of the Apollo moon-shot years. The Navy then relocated the Caparas family first to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, then New Orleans, Louisiana
, and finally to Charleston, South Carolina
in 1975.
, business writer, and brand
consultant who has concurrently developed a career as a performing artist and writer in several disciplines. Over the past decade Caparas entered the field of digital media production and internet concept innovation at the head of Caparas Media.
His business career began in the wake of Hurricane Hugo
in 1989, when Caparas led two different partnership teams to develop seven Charleston, SC area health clubs under two different brands, the latter of which was LifeQuest Fitness, a brand that would go on to win 90% of the local market share while gaining international acclaim as the most innovative health clubs in America. In addition to the health clubs Caparas led a team of young entrepreneurs to expand and license the brand while developing a fitness equipment and flooring company, a newsstand magazine (Vie magazine), and a women's fitness competition (LifeQuest Triple Crown) that aired worldwide on ESPN
. Caparas also licensed the brand to media giant Guthy-Renker
and Olympic Gold Medal winner Bruce Jenner
for use in a series of infomercials that aired nationwide. During the LifeQuest years Wayne received global recognition in numerous business publications including featured/cover stories in Entrepreneur Magazine
, Japan's Pocket Company magazine, Nation's Business magazine, Club Industry magazine, and Fitness Management magazine. Caparas also served on several national faculties including the American Council on Exercise
and lectured across the US for these organizations. In the late '90s Caparas sold his interests in LifeQuest to allow more time for family, writing, and spiritual pursuits while also recovering from a thyroid
condition. Within ten years of his departure LifeQuest collapsed under mismanagement, and today the brand exists as a single small health club in Myrtle Beach, SC.
in 1988 in the motion picture "Quiet Victory, The Charlie Wedemeyer
Story." He was originally hired as a featured extra, then was hired to recruit and wrangle all the athletes needed for the football related film, and was ultimately given minor directorial and script change responsibilities as the technical advisor
for most of the on-field football scenes. Following encouragement from director Roy Campanella II
and actors Michael Nouri
, Peter Berg
, and Dan Lauria
, Caparas began studying stage performance with Michael Conyers and voice with Metropolitan Opera
star June Bonner who soon had Caparas working in professional shows as a soulful baritone
soloist and stage actor, most notably in the Charleston Ballet Theatre and Charleston Symphony Orchestra collaboration "Charleston's Broadway." After a three year hiatus where Caparas focused on family matters and the development of his business interests, Caparas landed principal roles in the films "Mother of the River," "Silent Steel," and "Other Voices Other Rooms," the latter of which earned Caparas membership into the Screen Actors Guild
(SAG) in 1994. Over the next six years Caparas worked as a principal actor in nearly a dozen motion pictures (see Caparas's detailed filmography and other Film/TV credits at the Internet Movie Database
). Also during the mid-'90s, Caparas began writing, directing, and performing in major Passion Plays, Musicals, and other stage shorts for large church audiences in Charleston, SC.
(for the 1995 Christian Coalition
national conference), but the majority of his performance time since 1994 has been as a praise & worship
vocalist and soloist for Christian concerts and special events.
and also as a business journalist with more than 30 published works to his credit. For most of these articles he also produced all original photography. He first gained publication
in several trade journals during the mid-90s, and by the late 90s he was a Co-Publisher and Contributing editor
to the newsstand magazine Vie (a women's fitness magazine), which led to an instrumental role in the development of Oxygen Magazine as a Contributing editor
, featured writer, and photojournalist during its first three years on the newsstand. Among Caparas's works in the genre of fitness journalism were research pieces on Human Growth Hormone (hGH) and the Soybean
. From 1998 to 2000 Caparas was also a major contributor to the Charleston Regional Business Journal, where he landed the lead cover story
on numerous issues. During this time Caparas also founded the non-profit Carolina Film Alliance and served as its first Executive Director
while exposing mismanagement in South Carolina government film agencies and sparked a media firestorm that eventually led to changes in state film policies and tax incentive laws pertaining to the film industry.
During the 2000s Caparas shifted to web-based photo/video journalism, digital media
production, and broadcast journalism
. In the wake of 9/11 Wayne leveraged his experience in journalism to manage and negotiate his brother Rally Caparas's transition from Federal Air Traffic Controller
to full-time CNN
Correspondent
and co-anchor as their Air Traffic Expert. Author Stephen King
applauded Rally's calming demeanor in his "My Morning People" article published in Entertainment Weekly
Magazine.
for Coach Steve Gambrell's Goose Creek Gators, a AAAA powerhouse whose cross town rival was the nationally ranked Summerville High School
Green Wave led by John McKissick
, the winningest coach in football history. Caparas was also a scholar student who garnered many academic honors including Furman Scholar designation and induction into the Goose Creek High School Hall of Fame. In addition to academic scholarships, Caparas received full scholarship offers for both football
and track & field, but chose to follow brother Rally to play football for the Furman University
Palladins under Coach Dick Sheridan
. At the time Furman was an NCAA Division I program. While at Furman Caparas earned Scholar Athlete honors and played for several assistant coaches who would later become head coaches for major universities, including Bobby Johnson
and Robbie Caldwell
.
The combination of his parents' divorce and worsening knee problems led Caparas to transfer to the College of Charleston
where he could be closer to his mom and avoid the temptation of returning to football, as the college has no football program. In 1986 he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science
degree in Business, and soon began studying in the Master of Business Administration
(MBA) program at the University of South Carolina
. It was at this time that he began acting, in the film "Quiet Victory, The Charlie Wedemeyer
Story". In 1989 Hurricane Hugo
and the birth of his only child sent him instead into his early life as a health club entrepreneur
.
for the first time in his life. Though he immediately began serving as a performing artist in a number of large ministries, he continued living his private life as an unbeliever, and four years passed before he accepted the full gospel message and became a born-again Christian. At that point he continued serving as a vocalist or dramatist as needed, but he stopped pursuing fame or wealth as goals in themselves and began investing his entrepreneurial skills into the development of organic ministries while helping plant churches that promote racial and class unity and service to the needy. He also began to seek deeper theological scholarship through post-graduate study, and began attending major conferences on Gospel-based church development, creative communications, and innovative outreach efforts. In 2004 Caparas shifted his service efforts outside the church walls to serve a number of organic ministries, most notably serving as a guest speaker and student evangelist for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
and similar ministries that reach out to students and student athletes. Caparas also served 5 years as a volunteer Track & Field coach at West Ashley High School
. While there he was instrumental in the creation of the Sandlapper Track & Field Classic as an explicitly Christian sporting event, and it quickly became the largest season opening track meet in the Southeastern United States.
Caparas and his daughter sponsor three orphaned children in Africa through Compassion International
and World Vision International
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
performing artist, writer, and award-winning entrepreneur. Caparas is also a journalist and photojournalist, and has been involved in the creation and launch of several non-profit organizations and Christian ministries. He has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
since 1995. Most notably, the former outspoken atheist became a born-again Christian in 1998.
Early years
Wayne Keith Caparas was born to Rolando Sorné and Patricia Doucett Caparas in Boston, Massachusetts. His father is a FilipinoFilipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
-born career sailor in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
who became a naturalized citizen, and his mother a second-generation Bostonian of French-Canadian and Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
descent who worked primarily as a civilian employee for the US Navy. His parents have since divorced and both have remarried. For most of his father's navy career he served on the historic USS Observation Island, the first naval vessel to successfully launch a Poseidon Ballistic Missile from sea. Though Wayne spent the first 3 years of his life in Boston and New London, CT, the Navy moved the Caparas family to Cocoa Beach, Florida
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,482 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates of 2008, the city had a population of 11,920...
while the Observation Island was stationed at Cape Kennedy (NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
) from 1966-1971 at the peak of the Apollo moon-shot years. The Navy then relocated the Caparas family first to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, then New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, and finally to Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in 1975.
Business career
Caparas is an award winning entrepreneurEntrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, business writer, and brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
consultant who has concurrently developed a career as a performing artist and writer in several disciplines. Over the past decade Caparas entered the field of digital media production and internet concept innovation at the head of Caparas Media.
His business career began in the wake of Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo was a classical, destructive and rare Cape Verde-type hurricane which struck the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Montserrat, St. Croix, Puerto Rico and the USA mainland in South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane during September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season...
in 1989, when Caparas led two different partnership teams to develop seven Charleston, SC area health clubs under two different brands, the latter of which was LifeQuest Fitness, a brand that would go on to win 90% of the local market share while gaining international acclaim as the most innovative health clubs in America. In addition to the health clubs Caparas led a team of young entrepreneurs to expand and license the brand while developing a fitness equipment and flooring company, a newsstand magazine (Vie magazine), and a women's fitness competition (LifeQuest Triple Crown) that aired worldwide on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. Caparas also licensed the brand to media giant Guthy-Renker
Guthy-Renker
Guthy-Renker LLC is a direct-response marketer known primarily for selling products in the United States via infomercials. The company also sells products direct to consumer through a variety of media channels via offices in numerous countries...
and Olympic Gold Medal winner Bruce Jenner
Bruce Jenner
William Bruce Jenner is a former U.S. track and field athlete, motivational speaker, socialite and television personality. He won the gold medal for decathlon in the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics....
for use in a series of infomercials that aired nationwide. During the LifeQuest years Wayne received global recognition in numerous business publications including featured/cover stories in Entrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur is a publication that carries news stories about entrepreneurialism, small business management, and business opportunities. It is published by Entrepreneur Media Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California....
, Japan's Pocket Company magazine, Nation's Business magazine, Club Industry magazine, and Fitness Management magazine. Caparas also served on several national faculties including the American Council on Exercise
American Council on Exercise
The American Council on Exercise is a nonprofit fitness certification and education provider.Established in 1985, ACE now operates as a full-service entity with a staff of more than 40...
and lectured across the US for these organizations. In the late '90s Caparas sold his interests in LifeQuest to allow more time for family, writing, and spiritual pursuits while also recovering from a thyroid
Thyroid
The thyroid gland or simply, the thyroid , in vertebrate anatomy, is one of the largest endocrine glands. The thyroid gland is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage...
condition. Within ten years of his departure LifeQuest collapsed under mismanagement, and today the brand exists as a single small health club in Myrtle Beach, SC.
Acting
Caparas got his start in the film industryFilm industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
in 1988 in the motion picture "Quiet Victory, The Charlie Wedemeyer
Charlie Wedemeyer
Charlie Wedemeyer was a high school teacher and football coach, famous for continuing to teach and coach after contracting Lou Gehrig’s disease. He died on June 3, 2010, from pneumonia, a complication caused by a recent surgery. He was 64 years old.Charlie was the last of nine children born to...
Story." He was originally hired as a featured extra, then was hired to recruit and wrangle all the athletes needed for the football related film, and was ultimately given minor directorial and script change responsibilities as the technical advisor
Technical advisor
A technical advisor is an individual who is expert in a particular field of knowledge, hired to provide detailed information and advice to people working in that field...
for most of the on-field football scenes. Following encouragement from director Roy Campanella II
Roy Campanella II
Roy Campanella II is a television director and producer.-Biography:Born Roy Campanella II, he is the son of professional baseball great Roy Campanella. After directing some short films, the younger Campanella began directing episodic television...
and actors Michael Nouri
Michael Nouri
Michael Nouri is an American television and film actor. He may be best known for his role as Nick Hurley, in the 1983 film Flashdance. He has had recurring roles in numerous television series, including NCIS as Eli David, the father of Mossad officer Ziva David, The O.C. as Dr...
, Peter Berg
Peter Berg
Peter Berg is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock and Battleship. He also developed the television series Friday Night Lights, which was adapted from the film he directed. As an actor...
, and Dan Lauria
Dan Lauria
Daniel Joseph "Dan" Lauria is an American television and film actor.-Early life:Lauria, an Italian-American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Carmela and Joseph J. Lauria. He also lived in Lindenhurst, New York...
, Caparas began studying stage performance with Michael Conyers and voice with Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
star June Bonner who soon had Caparas working in professional shows as a soulful baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
soloist and stage actor, most notably in the Charleston Ballet Theatre and Charleston Symphony Orchestra collaboration "Charleston's Broadway." After a three year hiatus where Caparas focused on family matters and the development of his business interests, Caparas landed principal roles in the films "Mother of the River," "Silent Steel," and "Other Voices Other Rooms," the latter of which earned Caparas membership into the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
(SAG) in 1994. Over the next six years Caparas worked as a principal actor in nearly a dozen motion pictures (see Caparas's detailed filmography and other Film/TV credits at the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
). Also during the mid-'90s, Caparas began writing, directing, and performing in major Passion Plays, Musicals, and other stage shorts for large church audiences in Charleston, SC.
Music
Caparas released "Gospel Project," his first CD of all original material in 2008 to strong reviews among the independent Christian Contemporary Music scene. He had previously contributed songs and lead vocals to several independent recordings, including Saxophonist Robert P. Williams' "Change My Heart" (1999), which contains three of Caparas's original songs and lead vocals on several tracks. As a vocal soloist Wayne has performed in a variety of settings, from small clubs to arenas as large as the North Charleston ColiseumNorth Charleston Coliseum
The North Charleston Coliseum is a 14,000-seat multi-purpose arena in North Charleston, South Carolina. It is part of the North Charleston Convention Center Complex, which also includes a Performing Arts Center, and is owned by the City of North Charleston and managed by SMG...
(for the 1995 Christian Coalition
Christian Coalition
The Christian Coalition of America , originally called the Christian Coalition, Inc., is a US Christian advocacy group, which includes Christian fundamentalists, evangelicals, neo-evangelicals and charismatics. , the CCA stated that its membership was 2.5 million supporters.The Christian Coalition...
national conference), but the majority of his performance time since 1994 has been as a praise & worship
Contemporary worship
Contemporary worship is a form of Christian worship that emerged within Western evangelical Protestantism in the twentieth century. It was originally confined to the charismatic movement, but is now found to varying extents in a wide range of churches, including many that do not subscribe to a...
vocalist and soloist for Christian concerts and special events.
Journalism
Caparas has gained wide publication as a health & nutrition journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and also as a business journalist with more than 30 published works to his credit. For most of these articles he also produced all original photography. He first gained publication
Publication
To publish is to make content available to the public. While specific use of the term may vary among countries, it is usually applied to text, images, or other audio-visual content on any medium, including paper or electronic publishing forms such as websites, e-books, Compact Discs and MP3s...
in several trade journals during the mid-90s, and by the late 90s he was a Co-Publisher and Contributing editor
Contributing editor
A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. The contributing editor regularly contributes articles to the publication but does not actually edit articles, and the title...
to the newsstand magazine Vie (a women's fitness magazine), which led to an instrumental role in the development of Oxygen Magazine as a Contributing editor
Contributing editor
A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. The contributing editor regularly contributes articles to the publication but does not actually edit articles, and the title...
, featured writer, and photojournalist during its first three years on the newsstand. Among Caparas's works in the genre of fitness journalism were research pieces on Human Growth Hormone (hGH) and the Soybean
Soybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
. From 1998 to 2000 Caparas was also a major contributor to the Charleston Regional Business Journal, where he landed the lead cover story
Cover story
Cover story may refer to:* a story in a magazine whose subject matter appears on its front cover* a fictitious account that is intended to hide one's real motive, e.g. when a terrorist pretends to be farmer to buy fertilizer or to provide an explanation in case it is found; the story in the case of...
on numerous issues. During this time Caparas also founded the non-profit Carolina Film Alliance and served as its first Executive Director
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
while exposing mismanagement in South Carolina government film agencies and sparked a media firestorm that eventually led to changes in state film policies and tax incentive laws pertaining to the film industry.
During the 2000s Caparas shifted to web-based photo/video journalism, digital media
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
production, and broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio , television , and, especially recently, the Internet generally...
. In the wake of 9/11 Wayne leveraged his experience in journalism to manage and negotiate his brother Rally Caparas's transition from Federal Air Traffic Controller
Air traffic controller
Air traffic controllers are the people who expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. The position of the air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized skills...
to full-time CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
Correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
and co-anchor as their Air Traffic Expert. Author Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
applauded Rally's calming demeanor in his "My Morning People" article published in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Magazine.
Education
Caparas graduated from Goose Creek High School, 15 miles north of Downtown Charleston. He earned 8 varsity letters in three sports, and was a standout wide receiverWide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
for Coach Steve Gambrell's Goose Creek Gators, a AAAA powerhouse whose cross town rival was the nationally ranked Summerville High School
Summerville High School
- History :In 1924, a brick building on Main Street, which is now Rollings Middle School of the Arts, was the only high school in the Summerville area. As Summerville’s population increased rapidly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a larger campus was needed. In 1969, the present building on...
Green Wave led by John McKissick
John McKissick
John McKissick is the football coach of Summerville High School in Summerville, South Carolina. In 2004, he became the first American football coach in history to win 500 career games. His 500th win came against Mount Pleasant's Wando High School...
, the winningest coach in football history. Caparas was also a scholar student who garnered many academic honors including Furman Scholar designation and induction into the Goose Creek High School Hall of Fame. In addition to academic scholarships, Caparas received full scholarship offers for both football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and track & field, but chose to follow brother Rally to play football for the Furman University
Furman University
Furman University is a selective, private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is one of the oldest, and more selective private institutions in South Carolina...
Palladins under Coach Dick Sheridan
Dick Sheridan
-External links:...
. At the time Furman was an NCAA Division I program. While at Furman Caparas earned Scholar Athlete honors and played for several assistant coaches who would later become head coaches for major universities, including Bobby Johnson
Bobby Johnson
Robert Alan Johnson is a retired American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at Vanderbilt University, a position he held from the 2002 season until his retirement in 2010....
and Robbie Caldwell
Robbie Caldwell
-External links:*...
.
The combination of his parents' divorce and worsening knee problems led Caparas to transfer to the College of Charleston
College of Charleston
The College of Charleston is a public, sea-grant and space-grant university located in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States...
where he could be closer to his mom and avoid the temptation of returning to football, as the college has no football program. In 1986 he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in Business, and soon began studying in the Master of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
(MBA) program at the University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
. It was at this time that he began acting, in the film "Quiet Victory, The Charlie Wedemeyer
Charlie Wedemeyer
Charlie Wedemeyer was a high school teacher and football coach, famous for continuing to teach and coach after contracting Lou Gehrig’s disease. He died on June 3, 2010, from pneumonia, a complication caused by a recent surgery. He was 64 years old.Charlie was the last of nine children born to...
Story". In 1989 Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo was a classical, destructive and rare Cape Verde-type hurricane which struck the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Montserrat, St. Croix, Puerto Rico and the USA mainland in South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane during September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season...
and the birth of his only child sent him instead into his early life as a health club entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
.
Christian Ministry
Caparas converted from atheist to Christian in 1994 after being challenged to read the four Gospels of the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
for the first time in his life. Though he immediately began serving as a performing artist in a number of large ministries, he continued living his private life as an unbeliever, and four years passed before he accepted the full gospel message and became a born-again Christian. At that point he continued serving as a vocalist or dramatist as needed, but he stopped pursuing fame or wealth as goals in themselves and began investing his entrepreneurial skills into the development of organic ministries while helping plant churches that promote racial and class unity and service to the needy. He also began to seek deeper theological scholarship through post-graduate study, and began attending major conferences on Gospel-based church development, creative communications, and innovative outreach efforts. In 2004 Caparas shifted his service efforts outside the church walls to serve a number of organic ministries, most notably serving as a guest speaker and student evangelist for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a non-profit interdenominational Christian organization founded in 1954 and that has been based in Kansas City, Missouri since 1956. It falls within the tradition of Muscular Christianity. Although established by evangelical Protestants, the concept has...
and similar ministries that reach out to students and student athletes. Caparas also served 5 years as a volunteer Track & Field coach at West Ashley High School
West Ashley High School
West Ashley High School was created in 2000, when Charleston County School District merged Middleton High School and St. Andrew's High schools. The school is a part of St. Andrew's Constituent District #10.- Notable events :...
. While there he was instrumental in the creation of the Sandlapper Track & Field Classic as an explicitly Christian sporting event, and it quickly became the largest season opening track meet in the Southeastern United States.
Caparas and his daughter sponsor three orphaned children in Africa through Compassion International
Compassion International
Compassion International is a Christian child sponsorship organization dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world. Compassion International, headquartered in Colorado Springs, functions in 26 countries such as Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Haiti, Kenya, and...
and World Vision International
World Vision International
World Vision International, founded in the USA in 1977, is an evangelical relief and development umbrella organization whose stated goal is "to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good...
.
Awards
- 1997 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blue Chip Enterprise Award
- 1996 Ernst & YoungErnst & YoungErnst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
Entrepreneur of the Year finalist for South Carolina - 1996 South Carolina Governor's Medallion for notable service to the Governor and the State
- 1995 Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Small Business Man of the Year
- 1995 Fitness Management Magazine Nova7 Award for the Most Innovative Health Clubs in America
- 1995 Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year finalist for South Carolina
- 1994 Fitness Management Magazine Nova7 Award for the Most Innovative Health Clubs in America
- 1994 Trident Chamber of Commerce Trident Outstanding Performer Award
- 1993 Fitness Management Magazine Nova7 Award for the Most Innovative Health Clubs in America
External links
- Caparas Media website and archives of published works
- "Gospel Project" online album, lyrics, reviews, & liner notes
- Wayne Caparas Filmography at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...