Players use prayer to reach their Sunday best
It's no secret that a growing number of players in the NFL have given new meaning to the terms Hail Mary pass and "on a wing and a prayer." As many as one-third of players are openly devout, say observers.
Post-game prayer huddles, end-zone devotions, and praising the Lord in interviews with broadcasters only hint at the depth of belief off the field.
Religious fervor, which existed quietly in the National Football League until the 1980s, began to catch fire with the public Christianity of defensive great Reggie White, who died in December. He was an ordained minister who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and later the Green Bay Packers.
The Rev. Herb Lusk, who played three seasons for the Eagles before leaving to start a church in Philadelphia, is believed to have been the first player to kneel in prayer on the field after a touchdown, in 1977.
He says that Bible studies and fellowship groupsamong playersare three to four times as popular now as they were in his day, and credits the superstar stature of White for allowing other players to embrace religion openly.
"Reggie was the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, and the best. And if the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, and the best could be a Christian, they could be a Christian," says Mr. Lusk. "He made it easier for them to come out of the closet, so to speak."
Lusk estimates that the number of openly devout players has grown from a handful in the mid-1980s to at least 33 percent of the league now. Most of them are Protestants. "About 80 percent of NFL players are African-American," he says, "and a lot of these boys were raised in church, got out of it in college, and went back in, in the NFL," as they observed team veterans who prayed openly.
One such player is Eagles cornerback Ike Reese. Eager and focused, he won a Pro Bowl slot this year from an unlikely spot on special teams. "I became a born-again Christian [at a players' Bible-study group] a little over three years ago," he says.
Teammates Brian Dawkins and Troy Vincent (now with Buffalo) invited him to attend, he recalls. "I was fond of the way Brian and Troy carried themselves on and off the field, and I wanted to emulate them - they were modest, not boastful."
Though Reese's father was an ordained minister, he died when Reese was a toddler, and the family strayed from its Christian underpinnings.
Reese himself fell into some bad habits. "You pick up a lot of misconceptions of what a man should be like," he says simply. He tries to clear them up for his own sons, ages 13 and 1-1/2. "It's not about how fast I can run or how hard I can hit. It's about praising God" for the opportunity to excel. "Being a Christian is not a sign of being soft."
Today, Reese taps a variety of spiritual resources. Some, like Sunday chapel services and weekly Bible studies, are connected with the team. Others are run by his home church. A wealth of such activities exists in the NFL, players say, a boon to those who want to live lives of integrity in the face of temptation and who seek greater meaning amid the trappings of fame.
"It's very easy to be caught up in the fast life the NFL provides," Reese says. "It's me, me, me - me first."
Plenty of others agree. "There are far more players who are believers and who are involved in Bible studies and chapel services than when I started," says the Rev. J. David Hoke, the Eagles' Protestant chaplain for the past 12 years. "There's far more [spirituality] happening on teams and among players than most people realize."
In addition to informal mentoring and fellowship groups, there are nondenominational chapel services in the team hotel prior to games. There are also Bible study groups not only for players, but, on many teams, for wives, coaches, and staff, too. And there is pastoral care.
Although team chaplains tend to be Christian, the chaplains serve all, and will locate non- Christian clergy to help when there's a need, Mr. Hoke says.
On Sunday mornings, the Rev. Thomas Barcellona hears confessions and then says mass for a Catholic congregation that tends to include more coaches and referees than players.
Regardless of job title, stress and travel take their toll in the NFL, says the priest, and spiritual sustenance matters to those who can't get to their home churches.
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