Category: Faith in Sports

1963

In 1963 I was 12 years old.  My self image was based entirely on my athletic ability and my stage was Henry and John Long’s backyard for neighborhood football, basketball or wiffle ball games nearly every afternoon. When it rained we would compete in ping pong, pool or shuffle board in their basement.  My security was based solely in how well I competed every day.  Creation and conscience had not begun their work in my heart. Less often I would take my self esteem on the road and I would compete against players from other neighborhoods at Bryant Field, or Woodley Hills Elementary, or other fields where Little League baseball was played.  I still did well for the most part but chinks in my armor were revealed to me along the way.  Richard Lamb, a hard throwing left handed pitcher was one of my chief rivals and truth be known he scared me to death.  No one else was aware but every time I faced him I was afraid.  We became high school teammates at Mt. Vernon High School in football, basketball and baseball and very good friends.  But creation and conscience were not yet at work. The Beatles In 1963 I first became aware of the Beatles.  I was a Beach Boys fan, although I knew very little about music, I loved their songs “Surfin”, “Surfing Safari”, and “Surfing USA”.  But then the Beatles invaded and everything became about the Beatles.  I was very disappointed but there was very little impact because everything that mattered to me involved competing with some kind of ball.  Still creation and conscience had not begun to work. The Fallen Hero Then in November of 1963, my hero and more importantly my father’s hero was assasinated in Dallas, Texas.  John Fitzgerald Kennedy was gunned down and we saw the shooting on the nightly news.  The handsome, young President had been killed.  I will never forget being at Walt Whitman Junior High School (currently Mt. Vernon High School) shortly after lunch and hearing rumblings in the hall.  I was asked to run upstairs and verify what had happened and I cried as I returned to my classroom to report the tragic news.  Creation and conscience were beginning to work. A Family Destroyed Our family life never recovered from that day.  I know none of the details but the death of President Kennedy was the most significant event in the downward spiral of my father’s self esteem and mental health.  His reaction to the event led to him losing interest in work (Department of Defense, Pentagon) and to begin to drink excessively and for days at a time.  We eventually lost everything and my mother had to go back to work in order for us to be able to keep our house.  My self image was shattered and my life became a life of hiding the truth from everyone and lying when necessary in order to not be found a fraud.  Athletics were my only lifeline.  But creation and conscience were now hard at work. The Bus Stop and the Ball Because we had lost our car, when my father was home, he would take a bus to the Pentagon.  The bus stop was conveniently located right out our front door on Mt. Vernon Memorial Highway.  I would watch him get on the bus and my stomach would immediately go into knots, afraid that he would not come home for days or even forever.  Nearly every evening, I would stand outside our house, usually bouncing a tennis ball off our side wall just below the picture window in our living room, waiting and watching as the successive buses came and left our stop.  Eventually the last bus would come around 8:00 PM and if my father was not on that one we would probably not see him again for several days or weeks.  Every night I bounced the tennis ball against the wall and waited.  Creation and conscience were about to break through. One evening while I was waiting, it became so dark that I could no longer see the ball.  I went out to the end of our sidewalk and laid down on my back.  My heart was sinking inside me as it was time for the last bus.  It came and went and no one got off.  I cried again as I stared into the night sky.  I was afraid and angry.  I was confused and ashamed.  I was lost.  But on this night, creation and conscience were about to break through. A Starry, Starry Night As I stared into the sky I was amazed.  It was one of those nights when I could see a million stars in the sky.  As I gazed at all the stars I became afraid.  For the first time in my life I thought, “How is it possible that I am even here on this rock, swirling through the universe and not flying off into oblivion?  And now I was more afraid.  I literally froze in fear as I considered how minuscule I was compared to whatever I was staring at in the night sky.  I never felt so alone.  And then it dawned on me.  THERE HAD TO BE A GOD!  On that night, alone and afraid, I knew that if there were no God I couldn’t be laying on a big rock spinning about in our galaxy.  Without a God everything couldn’t possibly hold together.  From that moment going forward I thanked God for every good thing and I talked to God in every circumstance.  My most alone moment became my benchmark moment of belonging.  My most afraid moment became the place where I found the essence of security.  Creation and conscience revealed the truth about God. Isaiah Chapter 6 I now know that I was having an Isaiah 6 moment.  In Isaiah Chapter 6:1-8, we read, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”  Creation and conscience were at work in Isaiah’s life. The parallels in Isaiah’s life and my experience on that star filled night are incredible.  Isaiah had his moment of utter fear in the year that King Uzziah died.  I had mine in the year that President Kennedy was killed but more significantly, in the year that I lost my father.  King Uzziah was the man in whom Isaiah found his security and his significance.  President Kennedy and my father were those things for me.  When Isaiah felt most alone God revealed himself to him.  God had done the same for me.  God had revealed himself to me so that I could honor him as God and give him thanks.  To honor him as God is to simply acknowledge that he is God and I am not.  To give him thanks is to thank him for who he is in all things. Romans Chapter 1 This is exactly what Paul tells us in Romans Chapter 1.  Romans is the most complete exegeses of the Gospel in the entire Bible and it begins with an interesting thought about how many people to whom God has revealed himself.  In Romans Chapter 1:18-21 it says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Man has No Excuse Notice that men are without excuse because God has revealed himself through at least two things – Creation (the things that he made) and conscience (his divine nature).  There is an interesting connection between God’s revelation of himself through creation and his revelation of himself through conscience.  Once you have become aware of God’s existence through the things he has created (in my case the stars in the sky) you become aware of how far short you fall with regard to his holiness.  You see that if there is no God then we would not have a conscience.  If there is no standard by which we measure right and wrong intuitively there is no way we can have an internal voice within us that condemns us when we are rude.  And if we are simply a random set of atoms who have against all odds become living beings then there is no standard of right and wrong.  Especially an internal governor.  If right and wrong is relative then there is no conscience.  But because we all have been shown the reality of God by the things he has created, we must acknowledge that there is a God and listen to that still small voice inside us that we call conscience.  Let creation and conscience have their way in your life.  I did. Atonement and Shame When we surrender to the creative power and the holy nature of God, he promises to change us from the inside out by his power through the finished work of Jesus on the cross.  Look what happens to Isaiah after he has his moment of revelation and conscience in Chapter 6:6-8.  “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.  And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me!”  Notice that his sin is atoned for and that his guilt is taken away.  In Jesus we are not just forgiven.  Our shame is removed. Nearly twenty years after God revealed himself to me on that starry night, I responded to the good news of the gospel and acknowledged that Jesus is who he claimed to be.  Creation and conscience had their way in my life and at just the right time an angel took coals from the fire and touched my heart by which my sin was atoned for and my guilty conscience was removed.  Then God said, “whom shall we send?” and I replied, “Send me!”  Let creation and conscience have their way in your life and find the peace that passes understanding.  

The Commonwealth of Virginia has been blessed by God with beautiful mountains, fruitful valleys, incredible rivers and a wonderful coastline.  The state is also filled with wonderful institutions of higher learning and great athletics on many levels.  But still one of the most amazing things about the Old Dominion is the head basketball coaches at the two ACC schools within the state.  Tony Bennett at the University of Virginia and Buzz Williams at Virginia Tech are two of the finest college basketball coaches in America but more importantly they are two of the finest men in coaching in all the world.  They are very different men and yet their core values are very similar.

Tony Bennett was born in 1969 (the year I graduated from high school) and has seemingly done everything well for 47 years.  He played college basketball for his father Dick Bennett at Wisconsin – Green Bay from 1988 to 1992 and was twice named conference player of the year, was a two time Academic All American, was named the best player in the nation under 6 ft tall and still holds the record for NCAA percentage 3 point shooting – 49.7%.  He was then drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA and after 3 years in Charlotte, Tony tried other levels of professional basketball before beginning his coaching career.  Once he determined he could coach without the stress he had seen in his coach/father while maintaining his integrity and patience, he decided to become a coach.

Tony Bennett’s college coaching career actually began in 1999 when he agreed to be his father’s manager at the University of Wisconsin so they could spend more time together.  Stress led to Dick Bennett’s retirement from coaching in 2001 but his replacement, Bo Ryan asked Tony to stay on his staff.  Tony stayed at Wisconsin until his dad decided to come out of retirement and when Dick Bennett became Washington State University’s head coach in 2003, Tony left Wisconsin to become an assistant at Washington State.  A year later Tony Bennett was named his dad’s successor and promoted to associate head coach.   He became head coach in 2006.

Since becoming a head coach Bennett has achieved as much success as any coach in America, having been named the Naismith Coach of the Year,  having won the Henry Iba Award as the best coach in the Nation twice, having been named the ACC coach of the year twice and having earned the reputation as the best defensive coach in college basketball.  His teams have won 70% of their games and his teams hold the records for most games won in a season at both Washington State and the University of Virginia.

But Tony Bennett is not defined by his success as a basketball coach.  Bennett is married and has two children, one son and one daughter. Bennett met his wife at a church in nearby North Carolina, while he was playing for the Charlotte Hornets.  He is a Christian, and has spoken about his faith saying, “When you have a relationship with the Lord, there’s a peace and perspective you have. The world didn’t give it, and the world can’t take it away.”  Bennett also has cited his faith as impacting his coaching philosophy, in particular his use of his father’s “Five Pillars”: humility, passion, unity, servanthood, and thankfulness.  Tony Bennett is a terrific basketball coach but he is a far better man and Virginia is blessed to have him in her midst.

Brent Langdon “Buzz” Williams was born in 1972 (when I was a junior at Virginia Tech).  He earned his nickname because of his boundless energy as a student assistant in  college.  Williams is one of the rare coaches in college basketball who has never set foot on the floor as a college player. He makes up for that now as a coach as he spends most of the game walking up and down the floor in front of the bench encouraging his players.

Buzz began as an assistant coach in 1994 and remained an assistant coach for 12 years at several schools until he was named head coach at New Orleans in 2006, just seven months after Hurricane Katrina.  By then he had earned the reputation as a great recruiter and after only one year at New Orleans he was lured away by Tom Crean at Marquette.  A year later, Williams was named Head Coach at Marquette.

Immediately after being named Head Coach, Buzz went right after the big three (Wesley Matthews, Dominic James, and Jerel McNeal) the same way he did Bo McCalleb at New Orleans, always pushing, proding, and demanding their best every day. Buzz always went after the best players, forcing them to set the tone and pace for the rest of the team. Lazar Haywood, Jimmy Butler, Darius Johnson-Odom, Dwight Buycks, Jae Crowder, all NBA players that were never top 100 high school players. Buzz forced them to lay it all on the line and it made them the professionals they are today. A magazine article one time read,”With Buzz Williams you have to Practice” practice, you better not miss your turn in line, every drill, every day is a much better synopsis of a Buzz Williams practice.

At Marquette Williams led his teams to NCAA bids in each of his first 5 seasons as head coach and his teams won 67% of their games.  His NCAA tournament record is 8 – 5, having reached the Sweet Sixteen twice and the Elite Eight once.  After 6 years as Head Coach at Marquette Buzz shocked the nation in 2014 by accepting the job at Virginia Tech.

In his first season at Tech, the Hokies finished 11 – 22 (2 – 16 in the ACC) and people were sure Williams had made a huge mistake in coming to Blacksburg.  But by working hard and recruiting harder, Buzz led the Hokies to an NIT berth in his second year with an overall record of 20 – 15 and an ACC record of 10 – 8.  This season while playing with only 8 players most of the season, the Hokies are 18 – 7 and  7 – 6 in the ACC.  Until Chris Clarke was injured in a double overtime victory over UVA, Virginia Tech appeared destined for an NCAA berth.

But like Tony Bennett, Buzz Williams is a better man than a basketball coach.  He and his wife, Corey, have established a program called Buzz’s Kids first at Marquette and now in Blacksburg.  Buzz’s Kids works with children with disabilities and invites these special heroes to several games a year to be introduced before the game and honored during the game.  At Virginia Tech the Williams have also established a Buzz’s Kids scholarship program for students with disabilities.  Buzz Williams also tweets profound wisdom nearly every day @TeamCoachBuzz on Twitter and I invite you to enjoy.

We are truly blessed to have these two young men in our midst for this season of our lives.  They are true leaders of men and true examples of humility with boldness.  May God bless Tony Bennett and Buzz Williams!

 

Golf needs Jordan Spieth to win, win regularly and win majors.  But more importantly, we need Jordan Spieth to win.  Jordan Spieth is the kind of hero we need right here, right now.  But who is Jordan Spieth?

Jordan Spieth is 23 years old, born in 1993 in Dallas, Texas.  His parents are both former college athletes and Jordan grew up playing golf, football, basketball, baseball and soccer.  At age 9 he mowed a spot in the his family’s lawn as short as he could to practice his putting.  He won the U.S. Junior Amateur at age 16 and age 18, joining Tiger Woods as the only two time U.S. Junior Amateur champion.  At age 17, Jordan was invited to play in the PGA Tour event, The Byron Nelson Championship and finished 16th.  He enrolled at the University of Texas and was named College Player of the Year as a freshman leading the Longhorns to the NCAA National Championship.  At age 19 he was Low Amateur in the 2012 U.S. Open and at year’s end he turned pro.

Since turning pro Jordan has tasted much success, winning both the Masters and the U.S. Open and being ranked Number 1 in the world for a time.  More recently however he has struggled a bit by his standards, having blown a big lead in last year’s Masters and finishing 37th, 30th and 12th in the other 3 Majors.  He helped the United States win the Ryder Cup last fall but seemingly lost his swing for most of the year.

As good as Jordan Spieth is as a player when on top of his game, his excellence is not why we need him right now.  When Tiger Woods was golf’s hero it was all about his greatness as a player and our fascination with his astounding ability.  That’s not why we need Jordan Spieth right now.  So why do we need him?  We need Jordan Spieth to be our hero because of his sister, his caddie and his heart.

Ellie Spieth, who is 16 years old, was born prematurely, with a still undiagnosed neurilogical disorder that has left her developmentally challenged.  But she remains the brightest star in the Spieth household and Jordan Spieth’s hero.  When people tell Jordan how much they admire his devotion to his sister he replies, “You might as well compliment me for not robbing the bank.  Loving Ellie is the most natural thing in the world and she is my hero.”  Ellie doesn’t care if Jordan wins or loses, she just loves him.  Life in all of its fullness is seen by Jordan Spieth through the lens of Ellie Spieth and it’s keeps him humble, respectful and appreciative.

Michael Grellar was a 6th grade math teacher in Washington State when in 2006 he was watching the U.S. Public Links Championship at Gold Mountain Country Club near his Gig Harbor home.  Having played NAIA golf in college, Michael offered to carry the bag of a player he saw carrying his own bag, Matt Savage of Florida State.  Savage advanced to the quarterfinals of the championship and never forgot Grellar’s kindness.  When the U.S Amateur was played at Chambers Bay in 2010 Savage recommended Grellar to Justin Thomas as his caddie and when the U.S. Junior Amateur came to Gold Mountain in 2011, Thomas recommended Grellar to 18 year old Jordan Spieth and together they won the U.S. Junior Amateur.  Ironically, on the first hole that Grellar caddied for Spieth he gave Jordan bad information forgetting that they had started on the 10th hole instead of the 1st.  They have been together ever since, Grellar leaving his $55,000 per year teaching job supplemented by caddie fees at local courses in exchange for making over $2,100,000.00 as Jordan’s caddie in 2015.  At age 39, Michael is able to keep Spieth grounded and focused when together they face difficult times.

But most importantly we need Jordan Spieth to succeed because of Jordan Spieth.  He is a great athlete.  He throws left handed but he swings right handed.  As he says, “because that’s how my dad did it.”  But it’s not Jordan’s athletic prowess that makes Jordan special.  It’s his heart.  It’s how he lives his life and how he works hard to be the best he can be.

Jordan Spieth does not have a naturally fluid or perfect golf swing.  When Tiger Woods was at his best his swing looked effortless.  But Jordan has to work at his swing mechanics and he has to work at the game just like you and me.  He gets out of rhythm and fights to keep the ball from hooking or hanging to the right.  Spieth does not hit the ball as far as the really big hitters on the PGA Tour.  He is a terrific putter but even his putting excellence is not so much mechanical as it is his will.  Jordan works his way around a golf course in the same way a great chess player wins a match or Greg Maddox pitches a shutout.  He does it with guile and grit and the person he is is the reason he wins.

Jordan Spieth is grounded in the security of the unconditional love of his family, in the incredible relationship he has with his sister Ellie, in the depth of his friendship with his caddie and in the comfort of his faith in Jesus Christ.  Jordan is driven by a desire to be the best and by a competitive spirit developed by playing other sports on a high level.  Jordan Spieth is the perfect hero.  He is humble and bold.  On the course he wants to win as much if not more than anyone else, but he never forgets that other people are more important than he is and that love is the most powerful force in the universe.  We desperately need a hero to step forward who is humble because he is secure in who he is and who cares more about the people around him than he does about his own ego.  Jordan Spieth is that kind of man.

 

Many of my high school teammates and classmates will be surprised to hear this story but it is true and illustrates the basis for my strong faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I did not become a believer for many years after this event but the lessons learned have been crucial to my understanding of the Christian faith.

In August of 1966 I was alone, standing in my kitchen in Mt. Vernon Terrace having decided that I was not going to play football on any level at Mt. Vernon High School.  A year earlier I had played freshman football and at the end of the year Larry Hartman and I were brought up to stand on the sidelines and wear oversized jerseys for the final game or two of the varsity season.  But now as my family was falling apart, I had decided I was not going to play football because I was afraid – not of injury but of failure.  I knew I couldn’t measure up and had no one to talk to.

But then the phone rang.  I answered it, and to my astonishment and terror, it was Coach Miller.  He said, “Steve, where are you?  Practice started today and we missed you.  Did you just get back in town or what?”  I said, ” No, I have been here but I have decided not to play football.”  There was a long pause on the line.  Then Coach Miller said, “Steve, I have you penciled in to start at safety.  Why have you decided not to play?”  I said, shaking and tearing up, “I just don’t think I can.”  After another long pause, Coach Miller said, “I am coming to get you.  You are my starting safety and you do not need to be afraid.  I will teach you what you need to know and I will be there for you at every step.  Get your cleats and I will be over to get you.”

I found out later that some of the other coaches were concerned about coach Miller’s boldness in declaring me as his free safety.  But he had predestined me to be the starting safety and he called me.  He lowered himself to be my rescuer and he placed his affection upon me.  I didn’t earn it or deserve it when he chose me but because he did, I slowly but surely became the player he had foreseen me to be.  I made many mistakes along the way but at each step he was right there to pick me up, to encourage me and exhort me until I was living up to the measure of his grace.

I became a Christian in exactly the same way.  I was a hopeless sinner until God called me to himself.  He set His affection upon me and declared that I was His son.  I neither earned it nor deserved it.  He promised He would never leave me nor forsake me and in good times and in bad He would be right there beside me encouraging me and exhorting me.  I am slowly but surely becoming the man He has made me to be and I am endeavoring to measure up to His grace, pursuing that for which I was pursued.

Coach Miller was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ for me and for that I will be forever grateful.  May he Rest In Peace in the arms of His Lord until we are reunited in Him.