Spirit Moves Them: `Super’ Coaches Rely on Deep Faith

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The call came to Tony Dungy’s office on a Tuesday morning. It was Pastor Jeffery Singletary on the line with a message from above _ one so poignant and appropriate that it would have to wait until game day, when the two normally share Scripture passages before kickoff. Dungy […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The call came to Tony Dungy’s office on a Tuesday morning. It was Pastor Jeffery Singletary on the line with a message from above _ one so poignant and appropriate that it would have to wait until game day, when the two normally share Scripture passages before kickoff.

Dungy told Singletary he had received a message as well _ one he would use in a team meeting.


“Giant slayers,” Dungy said. “David and Goliath.”

Singletary laughed. It was a curious response, so Dungy asked what was wrong.

“I told him, `Nothing’s wrong. That’s confirmation,”’ said Singletary, the senior pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla. “It was the same text, same passage that we were both dealing with.

“We kind of chuckled together at the affirmation of the Lord.”

Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts did slay the giants _ well, actually, the three-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots _ Jan. 21 in one of the greatest conference championship games in history. Now, Dungy and his team are in South Florida for Super Bowl XLI, where on Sunday (Feb. 4) they will face the Chicago Bears and another coach with deep religious convictions: Lovie Smith.

For all the hoopla about Smith and Dungy being the first African-American head coaches to reach the Super Bowl, there’s also a common bond in the two friends’ spirituality.

“What makes it even better is that they are both men of humility, they are both men of God,” said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. “They never trash-talk. They are not yellers and screamers on the sidelines. They are just a couple of class individuals.”

In a league where the object, as taught by many coaches, is often to “kill” the man with the ball, Dungy and Smith have maintained a Christian approach to their jobs. While other coaches _ some of whom proclaim to be religious men _ berate players on camera or use curse words within earshot of fans or reporters, these two have led their team to the NFL’s biggest game with no more than a few euphemisms.

Former Jets coach Herm Edwards, a close friend of Smith and Dungy, said the order of operations for all three men is “faith, family and occupation.”

Dungy said that hierarchy once cost him a head-coaching job.

“One guy did ask me in an interview, `If you get this job, is it going to be the most important thing in your life? Are you going to treat my team as the very most important thing?’ I said, `No, I’m not,”’ Dungy said. “I didn’t think I was going to get that job and I didn’t.


“For your faith to be more important than your job, for your family to be more important than that job … We all know that’s the way it should be, but we’re afraid to say that sometimes. Lovie’s not afraid to say it and I’m not afraid to say it.”

Dungy’s faith had been tested on the field with eight early playoff exits before this season. But all of those disappointments combined cannot add up to the tragedy of losing his son, James, who committed suicide in December 2005.

“When I called him that morning, we talked for a while, and he just broke down,” Edwards said. “I said, `Hey, don’t worry, I’ll be there. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be there for you, you know that.’

“You never get over it, but his strength was his faith, and Tony knows that and that he can make a difference to a lot of people because of what he does, who he is and what he stands for.”

Dungy hadn’t spoken much about his son’s death until recently, when he opened up to the media during a press conference in which he said he also drew upon his faith when wide receiver Reggie Wayne’s brother, Rashad, died in a car accident in September.

“I think God gives you tests to see if you’re going to stay true to what you believe and stay faithful,” Dungy said. “For me, that’s what it was, having to continue to believe. Sometimes when you have disappointments, it makes that final destination that much sweeter.”


For Smith, it was a near-tragedy that strengthened his beliefs.

In 1988, while an assistant coach at Arizona State, his son, Matthew, then 2, nearly drowned in the family’s swimming pool. Smith didn’t realize Matthew had followed him out of the house. Smith dove into the pool _ even though he didn’t know how to swim _ and rescued his son. Wife MaryAnne then performed CPR to revive Matthew.

Dungy, who can recite entire chapters of the Bible verbatim, according to Singletary, believes God helps him even when it’s not immediately apparent. After last year’s second-round playoff loss to the Steelers, only a few weeks after James’ death, Dungy was distraught.

“But the Lord knew Lauren needed a husband and your children needed a father. As much as we wanted you to win, He knew what was best,” Singletary said he told Dungy. “I know it sounds corny and contrite, but we’ll get ’em next year.”

Singletary and Dungy both feel they know why now is the right time. On football’s grandest stage, Dungy and Smith will get a chance to publicly profess their faith. And after the game, while holding the Lombardi Trophy in front of millions of viewers, one of them will thank his Lord for giving him the strength, courage and faith to succeed.

“I told him, `Tony, for such a time as this, God has called you to be his ambassador,”’ Singletary said. “Not just to the Colts or to Indy but to the nation.”

(Mike Garafolo writes for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. Staff writer Paul Needell contributed to this story.)


DSB/PH END GARAFOLO

Editors: To obtain photos of Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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