Fall 2014 DigiMag #1 by Sports Spectrum

RASHAD JENNINGS

INSIDE: HEISMAN AWARD WINNER DANNY WUERFFEL AND HIS DESIRE TO SERVE OTHERS

A JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY ANOTHER ANGLE: THE IMPORTANCE OF SOLITUDE AND DISCOVERING THE 'INNER ME' UNPACKIN' IT: TWO-TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION CHASE BLACKBURN TALKS ABOUT HIS SEASON WITH THE CAROLINA PANTHERS

24 CLOSEUP: PACKERS WR JORDY NELSON, REDSKINS QB KIRK COUSINS, TIGERS SLUGGER TORII HUNTER AND DODGERS PITCHER CLAYTON KERSHAW SPORTS SPECTRUM ~ DIGIMAG 2014

CONTENTS FEATURES

CLOSEUP:

In the News: Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson (p6); In the News: Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins (p8); In the News: Detroit Tigers slugger Torii Hunter (p10); In the News: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (p12)

JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

From struggling to find himself as a kid, to asking deep questions about God as an adult, New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings is making his place in this world BY STEPHEN COPELAND

UNPACKIN’ IT: CHASE BLACKBURN

THE WHISPER OF TRUTH

Faith and sports radio host Bryce Johnson talks to Chase Blackburn, two-time Super Bowl Champion and linebacker for the Carolina Panthers BY BRYCE JOHNSON

Al Bello / Getty Images

Slowing down and listening to the whisper within BY STEPHEN COPELAND

DESIRE TO SEE CHANGED LIVES

Danny Wuerffel didn’t place his identity in winning the Heisman Trophy or playing in the NFL; he followed God and his desire to help others BY GAIL WOOD

Courtesy of Danny Wuerffel

Al Bello / Getty Images

OPINION

Victor Decolongon / Getty Images

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Have you ordered the

2014 pro book?

OPINION

UNPACKIN’ it

B Y B RY C E J O H N S O N

b r y c e j o h n s o n r a d i o @ g m a i l . c o m | F o l l o w @ B RY C E R A D I O

Each week, host Bryce Johnson interviews intriguing guests on his syndicated faith and sports radio show UNPACKIN’ it. We highlight a portion of that interview for your enjoyment and encouragement. This issue, Bryce is joined by two-time Super Bowl Champion, Chase Blackburn. Chase played for the New York Giants from 2005-2012, and is in his second season as a linebacker for the Carolina Panthers. You can listen to the full interview here: www.unpackinit.com

BRYCE JOHNSON: Chase, we are glad to have you on the show today. How do you balance family and football now that the season has started? CHASE BLACKBURN: It gets tough. I have three boys and as far as balancing the two, we have “family days” on my off days, and when I get home late, I try to play with them and help out with bath and bed and that kind of stuff. Thank God I have a wife by my side that understands what I do and is a great mom to our George Gojkovich/Getty Images boys. BRYCE JOHNSON: How difficult is it to turn off that football mentality when you’re playing game after game, but then being in the moment and present with your family at home? CHASE BLACKBURN: Honestly, not too hard for me. I’ve always been able to do that, as far as balancing my personal life and football. As far as my attitude and how I play aggressively on the field and then coming off the field, I am blessed with the characteristic of turning it on and off and keeping football on the field and the rest of my life as a separate entity. I think that’s important because a lot of times the aggressiveness as an athlete and a competitor can be carried over to our personal lives and be disastrous as times. BRYCE JOHNSON: What is on your heart today, and what has God been recently teaching you? CHASE BLACKBURN: Just continuing to grow with the guys in our locker room. Reaching out to guys and getting people that aren’t involved in our Bible studies and chapel and trying to reach out and gather more people and bring them in and let God reveal Himself to them. I think that is my main focus. And then, obviously, as far as football goes, to stay focused and have persever4

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ance throughout the season because it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon and you have to be patient and understand that not everything is 100% and easy all the time; and God is going to be with you on the walk. BRYCE JOHNSON: There are always position battles in sports and especially in football. You have a young linebacker, AJ Klein, fighting for that starting position, and you have set an example by saying you want to compete, but also want to help him as well. What goes into that mindset and the importance that you feel to still have character and be a team player even throughout a position battle? CHASE BLACKBURN: That’s just the way I think God wants me to live my life, as far as trying to do the right thing all of the time, even when it’s not easy. I think the right thing to do is help everyone around you and no matter what, in the end, God will work it out. I’ve been blessed to play this game for 10 years now...going on my 10th season...so it’s been a great run, and as you grow in this business roles change and that’s the way it goes. BRYCE JOHNSON: Either way, whether you’re starting or not, what is your leadership style or role with the Panthers in the locker room as that 10-year vet? What do you take on and say, ‘This is what I need to make sure that I’m bringing to the table in this locker room’? CHASE BLACKBURN: I’m just going to try to bring leadership and I try to lead by example through my work ethic and my energy. I try to lead through knowledge of the game and explain it and share that information with other players. Just any way I can, even when I’m not starting, by taking a special team’s role; whatever it is, I’m willing to do it. I think that’s another way I can show guys who were always “the man” in college that you have to accept different roles to be a champion caliber team. BRYCE JOHNSON: So glad you were able to join us today, Chase.

BRYCE’S BEST Album: Lecrae “ANOMALY ”

It’s easy to recognize how the sports world and hip-hop music are closely connected. Unfortunately, there are many negative aspects to that influence…that is, until Lecrae came on the scene. Lecrae is an amazing rapper who is taking his gospel-driven hip-hop to the mainstream music world, while positively impacting people along the way. His latest album, Anomaly, is his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. He was also invited to be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which has expanded his platform and reached even more. I think the quality of the sound and purpose behind his lyrics in Anomaly are fantastic. If you aren’t a fan of Lecrae’s style of music, you can still be thankful that God is using him to impact culture through hip-hop. What I’m Convinced Of... • I’m convinced…LeSean McCoy will bounce back this season and start looking like a top running back again. • I’m convinced…the top four quarterbacks in the NFL right now are Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson. • I’m convinced…it won’t take very long for this season’s Cleveland Cavaliers to click, and they will climb quickly to the top of the Eastern Conference. • I’m convinced…the next head coach for the Oakland Raiders will be the right fit and will turn the franchise around by getting the most out of their young quarterback, Derek Carr. • I’m convinced…my Super Bowl pick of the Broncos and Packers is feeling pretty good after the first part of the season, despite the Packers getting off to a slow start.

Wesley Hitt

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to read a previous SS cover story on Jordy Nelson...

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Jonathan Daniels / Getty Images

IN THE NEWS: JORDY NELSON

Jordy Nelson GREEN BAY PACKERS RECEIVER JORDY NELSON CONTINUES TO LEAVE IMPRESSIONS ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD, BUT HE HOPES THE BIGGEST IMPRESSION IS IN HOW HE LIVES HIS LIFE

hree years after Jordy Nelson won a Super Bowl as a third-year NFL player with the Green Bay Packers, he remains one of Aaron Rodgers’ favorite targets, and one of the NFL’s best receivers. Through the first third of the season, Nelson has averaged more than 100 yards per game and is second-best in the NFL with 525 yards receiving. With a Super Bowl ring to his credit and fame as an NFL player, some would think Nelson is all about football. But his faith and family remain his focus. He regularly shares his story in churches and Christian events, like Lifest, a Christian music festival in Oshkosh, Wisc., this past summer. People who love the Packers or the NFL already know about Nelson’s football accomplishments, but many may not know how much of an emphasis Nelson places on his faith, which in turn puts a focus on his family. “The Super Bowl is the pinnacle of football…but there’s more to life,” he shared with Sports Spectrum after winning Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6, 2011, when the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25. “I’ll probably be done with football in six years, so if that was the pinnacle of my life, my life wouldn’t stand for much. (Football) gives you a platform, but it’s a question of what you’ll do with it.” He expanded those remarks later to talk about his family as being part of that focus, but his purpose remained to share Christ with others. “Now, as a husband, father and, most importantly, as a Christian, I can see the ‘Super Bowl Champion’ label with a greater perspective,” said Nelson in a statement for the Lifest event. “I know it’s an opportunity to share the most important truth of life: the gospel of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

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IN THE NEWS: KIRK COUSINS

Kirk Cousins

WHETHER ON THE FIELD OR OFF THE FIELD, KIRK COUSINS IS STRIVING TO PLEASE GOD

irk Cousins hasn’t had the easiest backup duties since entering the NFL. A star quarterback at Michigan State who led the Spartans to a share of the Big 10 title in 2010 and finished runner-up in 2011, Cousins was selected by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. The problem? Washington used its first pick (and second overall) on Baylor star and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, who won the starting job for the Washington Redskins that next season. Though Cousins played in only three games that first season while Griffin led the team, Cousins took over briefly near the end of the 2013 season, and again this season when Griffin dislocated his ankle early in the Sept. 14 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. In that game, a 41-10 Washington victory, Cousins passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns. And even though Cousins’ second game was a loss (37-34 to Philadelphia), statistically he was more impressive. In that game, he passed for 427 yards and three touchdowns. Though Cousins has had mixed results in the win-loss column, his play on the field has been solid. And off the field? He’s more determined to live a life that pleases God than he is to pile up statistics while throwing a football. “For men, one of the top struggles is pride,” Cousins said in an “Average Joe” video produced by Game Plan for Life. “You can look at so many sins, and they originate in a sin of pride, thinking that I know better than God, I have this figured out…When you’re in the NFL, you’re making a good income, lot of people cheering you on, support you, pat you on the back, the pride thing can creep up pretty easily… it takes God’s grace.” “I have so many verses that I think pertain to my on the field football career, but that also carry over to life. Proverbs 3:5-6, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don’t lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and He’ll direct your steps.’ That can be challenging, to trust and to stay faithful and to wait on God, but whether it’s Him bringing me here to Washington, D.C., and being drafted to a place I didn’t expect to come to, whether it’s an injury, whatever setback you may have, you keep trusting Him and trust that He’s going to direct your steps.”

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

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to watch Torii Hunter talk about faith and baseball...

13 8 10

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IN THE NEWS: TORII HUNTER

Torii Hunter TORII HUNTER’S FAITH IS INSPIRATIONAL TO PLAYERS, FANS, AND MEDIA, AND CAUSES HIM TO GIVE GENEROUSLY TO OTHERS

etroit Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright are a few of the stars in Major League Baseball’s postseason who proclaim Christ. Each have their own faith walk, their own accomplishments, their own highs and lows, but despite having personal goals and playing on different teams, they also share a strong faith that ties them together. Hunter, whose Detroit Tigers were swept by the Baltimore Orioles, is a five-time All-Star, a nine-time Gold Glove winner and two-time Silver Slugger award recipient. His accolades are well known, as is his faith—by media, fans and fellow players—which is why he is considered one of the most upstanding and likeable players in baseball. Why? Because he’s always contemplating how his life will affect others. “With me being a Christian, I always think about what would Christ do in any circumstances,” Hunter told Belief.net. “When I think about Christ’s life on earth, He worked hard. He was a carpenter. Christ lifted up his teammates, the disciples. Christ was always victorious. Christ left it all on the field. He died on the cross. And Christ always had a passion for whatever He was doing. That’s how I try to define myself as an athlete. That’s the example I try to follow.” He also told Sports Spectrum in 2012 that he knows Christ is the reason for anything he has. For someone who grew up in poverty, a crime-infested and drug-infested neighborhood in Pine Bluff, Ark., he knows how true that is in his life. “Without Jesus, I promise you, I couldn’t do anything,” Hunter told Sports Spectrum. “In everything I do, I ask Him to guide me. Some guys who really don’t have faith actually feel like they want to commit suicide. My faith allows me to go on, day to day, and not worry about what’s on and off the field.” It also inspires him to give, as he does by providing scholarships for underprivileged children, helping repair urban baseball fields and by working with organizations like Athletes in Action, Boys and Girls Clubs and Big Brothers and Big Sisters. “Anytime I receive something, I try to give it back,” he says. “That is a blessing, to be a giver. Some people are just takers. I want to be a giver and not a receiver.”

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

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to watch Clayton Kershaw talk about his walk with Christ...

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Victor Decolongon

IN THE NEWS: CLAYTON KERSHAW

Clayton Kershaw AFTER A START THAT SAW L.A. DODGERS ACE CLAYTON KERSHAW SIDELINED FOR MORE THAN A MONTH, HE HAD ONE OF THE BEST SEASONS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HISTORY

ess than a month into the 2014 Major League Baseball season, it seemed as if Clayton Kershaw would be watching his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates chase a pennant as he sat on the bench, rehabbed his back and thought about what could have been. Six months later, though, he was savoring his team’s division title, playoff appearance, and was the leading candidate for the National League Cy Young Award as the league’s best pitcher (the award would be his second straight and third overall) after leading the majors in wins (21), ERA (1.77) and strikeouts per inning (239 strikeouts in 198.1 innings). His dominance caused reporters to call it the best season by a pitcher in league history. Kershaw, though, reminded the New York Times that the team was the focus, not him, after he recorded his 20th victory. “I’ve always said that wins are a team stat,” Kershaw said on Sept. 19 after the Dodgers won 14-5. “Twenty’s always something that’s a benchmark for a starting pitcher, kind of a cool thing. I wasn’t great today and we scored 14 runs. Years happen like that. I don’t take it for granted. It’s obviously awesome, a huge honor.” He ended the regular season with seven straight victories, but the beginning of his season wasn’t as smooth. Kershaw, who was first featured in an exclusive interview by Sports Spectrum in 2011 after his annual mission trip to Africa, was the Dodgers’ opening day starter for the fourth straight year, this time playing in Australia on March 22 and earning a 3-1 victory against Arizona. But a muscle strain in his upper back before his next start forced him to the disabled list, and he didn’t return until more than a month later, on May 6.

Even though he won that game (8-3 against Washington), his next two starts were disastrous. After a no-decision on May 11, he was pummeled on May 17 and lost 18-7 to Arizona with his ERA ballooning to 4.43. After going 1-1 in his next two starts, everything changed. Kershaw won 11 straight (from June 2 to Aug. 10), including his first no-hitter (an 8-0 victory on June 18 against Colorado where he struck out a career-high 15 batters) and five games in which he allowed no runs. In between, he appeared in his fourth straight All-Star Game. Despite success, he understands his platform is to influence others the way Christ did, which is why he and his wife, Ellen, began Kershaw’s Challenge, “a Christ-centered, others-focused organization.” He carries that belief to his job as a Major League Baseball player, as well. “You definitely have to keep things in perspective,” he told Belief.net. “I know that baseball is something I’ve been blessed with to get to do. When you have success and when you struggle there’s two ways you can take that. For me, it’s just a game, or another platform to get to do other things with God. Sometimes you want to make baseball your everything, especially when you’re at the field 10 hours a day, (or) there for 162 games. You just can’t make it your No. 1. That goes with a lot of people and their jobs. You just have to keep Christ in the center of what you are doing. You might not have time to read the Bible at work every day, but if you have Jesus in your heart and you’re thinking about Him constantly at work, that’s how I think you kind of combat that.”

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

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JOURNEY of

Discovery From struggling to find himself as a kid, to asking deep questions about God as an adult, New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings is making his place in this world BY STEPHEN COPELAND

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Al Bello/Getty Images

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ashad Jennings sits inside his New Jersey home across the Hudson River. Two days before, he rushed for a careerhigh 176 yards in the New York Giants’ 30-17 victory against the Houston Texans in Week 3. He dedicated the game to his father, Albert Jennings, a double amputee who lost his legs to diabetes. Jennings looks down at his blank piece of paper, silent and reflective. Here he is, the starting running back for the New York Giants, in the biggest city in the country. It’s been a long road for Jennings, 29, a seventh-round draft pick out of Liberty University in his sixth year in the NFL—from two consecutive years on injured reserve for the Jacksonville Jaguars, to having a breakout season for the Oakland Raiders in place of injured starter Darren McFadden, to finally signing a four-year, $14 million contract ($3 million guaranteed) with the New York Giants in March. From a career backup to this: Tom Coughlin’s go-to running back. Jennings picks up his pen. Without a doubt, he is experiencing one of the most exciting years of his football career. But it’s here, in the quiet, in the stillness, that he sees the world for what it really is, himself for who he really is, and gets lost in something that breaches into the complex and unfathomable. He begins to write.

leader, and I grow as a follower—when I am forced to express the way I feel.” In a world where athletes are stereotyped to be shallow and only admired for their freak-of-nature athleticism, Jennings shatters the mold. He also plays guitar and is known to perform magic tricks in front of his teammates. It is a bit odd, even, to hear a premier running back in the NFL talk about feelings and expres-

“He’s my shield; He protects my joy even when I attempt to steal it. He’s my peace, keeps me calm, when my anger tries to unleash. He’s my strength, keeps me running when my body is spent. He is my light; He helps me navigate from sleepless nights. He is my breath, the Owner of time, Owner of life, the only One who knows my death. He is my food; every moment that I spend with Him, my strength is renewed. He sits on His throne; there will be many false witnesses, plenty mimics, but never to fall. He is my Creator, no random chance or happening stance could have given me so much faith. He is my compass, my destiny is heavenly and guided by His promise. He is my perfection, I am just a man but in His hands, I am promised no rejection.” “THE INNER ME” For Rashad Jennings, writing is like football. “It’s like my escape from reality,” he says. “To get lost in thought is to be separate from the world for a minute. That’s where my filter continues to grow and I process the winds ABOVE: Rashad Jennings, No. 23 of the New York Giants, carries the ball against the Houston Texans at in life that are blown at me. I get to know MetLife Stadium on September 21, 2014 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. RIGHT: Jennings attends the myself more. I grow as a man, I grow as a Athletes Quarterly | Avion Lounge NFL Draft Party at Gilded Lily on May 6, 2014 in New York City . 16

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Al Bello/Getty Images

sion and poetry. It’s admirable nonetheless. As Jennings’ favorite author, C.S. Lewis, says, “Your real, new self will not come as long as you are looking for it; it will come when you are looking for Him.” Jennings takes this quote to heart, taking time each day to focus on God and allow his soul to be searched by the Almighty. “I get philosophical and get in tune with my inner me,” he says. “I allow myself to rest upon God and allow my thinking to find that ultimate thought…I just reflect on whatever it may be—to get excited about life, to see where I can continue to grow, to look at my mistakes and learn from them, to empathize with other people around me is something I’m trying to do more. Overall, I’m trying to become a better person. While playing this game of football, I want to see how many lives I can impact along the way and hope at the end of the day that I’m leading people to Christ—not to look at myself.” It’s this introspective look at his soul that allows him to return to something constant—his faith— in an inconsistent world. “There are a lot of things that are all happening at one time in my life,” Jennings says. “You can get pulled in so many directions—so many emotions pulling at you. More than you can imagine…It takes a lot of denying of self. It takes a lot of hiccups, as well. A quote that I pass by every single day in the hallway is from Nelson Mandela, and it says, ‘Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.’” “Writing brings me back to my checkpoints, rather than my goals. I am a bigger believer in setting checkpoints…so then it falls on falling in love with the process rather than the outcome.”

“While playing this game of football, I want to see how many lives I can impact along the way and hope at the end of the day that I’m leading people to Christ— not to look at myself.”

Learning in the Process So far, the process has led to a pretty good outcome. Growing up, Jennings was never the most talented player and never the most physically fit. One day in high school, he says he woke up and realized that he weighed 270 pounds (now he is 6-foot-1, 231 pounds) and rode the bench—not a good start if he wanted to one day achieve his goal of playing in the NFL. “I was a chubby kid, overweight, dorky glasses, asthma, 0.6 GPA, and told what I could or couldn’t do,” Jennings says. “I had to overcome a lot of giJohnny Nunez / Getty Images

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ants to become a Giant. I’m thankful because through it all, I’ve done nothing but learned. I’m able to relate to more people because I’m just the average Joe who decided to do things differently, one day, as a kid.” He is so disciplined today in his workouts, dieting and even sleeping, perhaps, because he knows how far he has come. “His warmup lasts probably until the middle of practice, making sure his body is primed and ready to go,” Giants rookie Andrew Williams told the New York Post. Jennings never eats anything from the Giants cafeteria— rather, he pays to have organic and gluten and casein-free meals dropped off at the team facility. And instead of purchasing, say, a new car after his first contract, he bought a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to sleep in once a day, which he says heals his body on a cellular level. It took five years for Jennings to get to this point, and he is determined to do everything in his control to stay there. “To the true heart of me, I love to learn,” Jennings says. “I’m a learner by nature. It enjoys me. Because of that, God has never allowed anything easy for me. God has always taken me through the furnace of everything—just because I learned through it…You never really stop learning.” Discovery This learning, of course, applies to his spiritual life, as well. “He asks a lot of questions,” says Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara. “He doesn’t do anything spur of the moment—everything is well thought out. Everything he says—he definitely thinks before he speaks. He has challenged me in my faith so many times. He makes me question why I believe what I believe in. Even though he’s a Christian, he asks questions. It’s great to learn from him.” Since his youth, Jennings has shown a deep desire to learn. He used to be afraid to ask questions while reading the Bible because the concepts he learned at church seemed to imply that “if you questioned God, something was wrong with you.” One day, however, when he was in junior high, he mustered the courage to ask his mother a question about the book of Job, from which Jennings quoted in-depth in his interview with Sports Spectrum. His question was rooted in Job 1:7 and 2:2, of which both read, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you been?’” “With the story of Job, everyone kept talking about perseverance and sacrifice and so forth and so on. I only had one question,” Jennings laughs. “It’s silly because I was a kid. But I remember hearing the story and asking my mom about it. I said, ‘God knows everything, right?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘So why would he ask Satan where he has been? I don’t get it.’ “That was the first time I asked a question.” “God suddenly revealed to me that He doesn’t ask questions so He knows; He asks questions so we know.”

“I was a chubby kid, overweight, dorky glasses, asthma, 0.6 GPA, and told what I could or couldn’t do. I had to overcome a lot of giants to become a Giant.”

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Glenn Johnson / Texas A&M Athletics

Rick Diamond / Getty Images

surrender—that’s a quote from John Wooden.” “But God is teaching me that He never withers. He’s still. He’s a man of order and principle. God is perfect. I’m learning something every day.” Stephen Copeland is a staff writer and columnist at Sport Spectrum magazine.

Courtesy of Rashad Jennings

Jennings enjoys diving into the waters of spirituality, where knowledge knows no depths, beckoning for a lifelong journey of God-discovery—where pleasure in Christ is so ineffable, He can be enjoyed throughout all of eternity. “We aren’t perfect, none of us are perfection,” Jennings says. “Only Christ is. It’s a journey and I mean that because it’s a daily devotion of growth, and you never get to the point where you figure it out. There is no cushion seat to sit on. It’s tough sometimes, but the harder you work at something, the harder it is to

ABOVE: Jennings on Fox and Friends, a morning news show, discussing the importance of education on September 30, 2014. LEFT: Jennings at the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration 2014 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on January 31, 2014 in New York City.

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DESIRE TO SEE CHANGED LIVES DANNY WUERFFEL DIDN’T PLACE HIS IDENTITY IN WINNING THE HEISMAN TROPHY OR PLAYING IN THE NFL; HE FOLLOWED GOD AND HIS DESIRE TO HELP OTHERS BY GAIL WOOD

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Rob Saye

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here were so many other places Danny Wuerffel could have been. With a Heisman Trophy and an NFL career on his resumé, he could have been coaching at his alma mater, the University of Florida. Or coaching with a NFL team. He could have been on TV, doing color commentating. Or hosting a radio call-in show. But there he was, behind a cluttered desk, pushing paper in his office in Atlanta. After his NFL career ended in 2003, Wuerffel turned down more lucrative job offers to work with Desire Street Ministries, a nonprofit, Christian outreach organization that helps the poor. “If I had five lives to live, I’d do a lot of different things,” Wuerffel says. “But when you have one life, you have to choose very carefully.” For Wuerffel, who threw 39 touchdown passes his senior year to lead the Gators to a national championship while winning the 1996 Heisman Trophy, that meant helping the less fortunate. As executive director of Desire Street Ministries, Wuerffel partners with ministries in five southern states. His ministries’ mission statement is transforming neighborhoods two steps at a time. It’s a metaphor for walking along with someone in need, helping them as they go. Wuerffel says it’s the way to love your neighbor. “That’s how we’re called to love people as Christians,” Wuerffel says. “The Word and the deed. The heart and the hand.” When his NFL career ended in 2004 after he walked away from the Washington Redskins, Wuerffel told his wife, Jessica, he was going to work for a Christian outreach. She says, “I thought that’s what you were going to do.” Wuerffel, despite his fame (“In Florida, there’s God and there’s Danny Wuerffel,” says Phil Mondy, a friend of

Wuerffel.), has chosen the road less traveled. Wuerffel had a life-changing moment when he first met Mo Leverett, the missionary who founded Desire Street Ministries in 1990. During his rookie season with the New Orleans Saints in 1997, Wuerffel asked Leverett to speak at the Saints chapel service. That led to Wuerffel’s visit to Desire Street Ministries and a walk through the Ninth Ward, an area in New Orleans that’s been called the murder capital of the country, and was labeled by criminologist Peter Scarf, “the murder capital of the murder capital” in a 2004 story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. As Wuerffel walked through the impoverished neighborhood, he saw a little girl, who was hold-

“That’s how we’re called to love people as Christians. The Word and the deed. The heart and the hand.”

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ing a doll, walk out of a building he thought was empty and condemned. “I couldn’t believe someone was living there,” Wuerffel says. “I was shocked. That’s when I realized something needed to be done.” In Wuerffel’s rookie season with the Saints, he first got involved with Desire Street Ministries as a volunteer. In 2003, with his seven-year NFL career behind him, Wuerffel did the unexpected. He walked away from lucrative career offers in broadcasting, business and coaching. Instead, he became the development director for Desire Street Ministries and the Desire Street Academy for boys. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed Wuerffel’s home in New Orleans and the ministry’s school in 2005, Desire Street Ministries began to take a new shape and eventually moved its headquarters to Atlanta. The Tom DiPace / Getty Images

school closed and the ministry’s emphasis shifted from starting new organizations to partnering with existing outreaches, walking alongside ministries and helping them through the traumas and challenges of living in an impoverished inner city neighborhood. Bryan Kelly, pastor of Common Ground ministry in Montgomery, Ala., has partnered with Desire Street for about eight years. Living in the heart of an impoverished neighborhood, Kelly has walked alongside those he’s helped. The challenges—gang violence, domestic violence—are close and real. “Frankly, Danny and his program help me and others like me not quit,” Kelly says. “What they’ve done for me is really walk alongside me, guiding me for about eight years now. They’ve guided me through a lot of personal struggle and a lot of neighborhood challenges.” Ciera, a young girl who lived across the street from Kelly, is an example of the life-changing impact of the partnership of Desire Street and Common Ground. Five years ago, while Ciera was

at an overnight summer camp put on by Common Ground, her mother was shot and killed in her home. Common Ground played a crucial role in that young girl’s life, as a hardship led to an open door. “She came to know the Lord in the next year or so,” Kelly says. “We were able to help that family and walk with them for the last five years now.” Next spring, Ciera, who moved into her uncle’s home, will become the first in her family to graduate from high school and she plans on going to college. All of her sisters were pregnant by age 15 and out of school. “It’s a big deal in terms of the trajectory of that family,” Kelly says. A week after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005, uprooting half a million people, Wuerffel sought refuge in a church. It was 5 a.m. His split level home in New Orleans was underwater, destroying nearly everything he owned. Several of the students from Desire Street Ministries school were still missing. But there he sat, alone in a church, playing the

LEFT: Former Washington Redskins quarterback Danny Wuerffel in action during preseason. ABOVE: Wuerffel playing for the Floirda Gators during the Nokia Sugar Bowl against the Florida State Seminoles at the Superdome in New Orleans, La. Florida won the game, 52-20. Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

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Lexi Namer / Courtesy of Danny Wuerffel

LEFT: Danny Wuerffel with the Wuerffel Trophy, college football’s award for community service, and the Heisman Trophy that he won in 1996. RIGHT: Wuerffel with a group of children in the early days of Desire Street Ministries.

piano and singing old hymns. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he sang, “On Christ the solid rock I stand.” “As I sang in that church, I had such an overwhelming sense of peace,” Wuerffel says. Peace should have been the last thing he felt that day. And yet Wuerffel found peace as he played the piano and sang gospel hymns. It was like a Peter-and-John experience, similar to when the two disciples sang praises while shackled in prison. “The song says that in every flood, in every high and stormy gale, his anchor holds,” Wuerffel says. At a moment he had lost so much—his home was going to be bulldozed—he saw what was important. “How much time do we spend thinking we need this and that and worry about what we don’t have?” Wuerffel says. “I have my wife, my son, and we have food and shelter as I stayed at my parents.” Possessions, he realized, don’t bring lasting peace. A relationship with God does. Throughout the hardship of Katrina, Wuerffel saw God’s hand moving. Everything seemed to be unraveling for Desire Street Ministries after Katrina damaged the academy’s 36,000-square foot building. But the ministry is going strong today, lifted by ongoing prayer and donations. “God has proven himself to be gracious and kind,” Wuerffel says. “My wife and I have felt an incredible, overwhelming sense of God’s provision.” As the son of an Air Force chaplain, Wuerffel grew up in a Christian home and in his sophomore year in college his faith became his own when he made a personal commitment and confession of need to God. “I didn’t know what an authentic relationship with God was,” Wuerffel says. “I had a reassessment of who I was in God’s eyes. And I became more aware of who I was and the sin in my heart.

That led me to seeking the cross and Christ in a deeper way.” But even as a young man, Wuerffel always had this everyoneis-my-friend personality. Even though he was the big jock, the popular sports star, he got along with everyone. He wasn’t cliquish, thinking he was better than someone else just because he was the star athlete. “He got along with everyone,” says Lana Wood, his ninth grade English teacher. “He was everyone’s friend. He talked with everyone.” Using his “social capital,” Wuerffel now spends a lot of his time fundraising. He wears many hats as the executive director. “There is no typical day,” Wuerffel says. “Which I like. Every day is a little different. I get to spend some time with our leaders and people in the ministry in the neighborhoods. And that’s one of the favorite parts of my job.” A big part of his job is interacting with groups, sometimes sharing stories of his celebrated college career. Wuerffel, who was inducted into the NCAA’s Hall of Fame in 2013 and was named the Gators’ offensive player of the century by the Gainesville Sun, often adds a little humor to his stories. In a talk with a group at Mobile, Ala., Wuerffel got a chuckle when he said people always warn him to be careful when he goes to Alabama because people there will give him trouble. “I always say, ‘That’s funny. They never gave me any trouble when I was playing,’” Wuerffel says. The crowd with their Crimson Tide roots chuckled. “A big part of my job is raising the resources to keep the work going,” Wuerffel says. Desire Street is more than an evangelical outreach, more than sharing the salvation message. They also help with health care,

“God has proven himself to be gracious and kind. My wife and I have felt an incredible, overwhelming sense of God’s provision.”

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housing and economic development, youth development and things that help make a thriving community. “We have launched and helped start schools,” Wuerffel says. “We’ve helped start several churches. We’ve worked with medical clinics, with housing initiatives and job training initiatives. Our mission now is to come alongside people who are trying to do those kinds of things.” In turning a neighborhood around, Wuerffel says there isn’t just one, big challenge. It’s overcoming many challenges, including drugs, gangs, divorce, bad grades and bad attitudes. But it begins with the family. “When you have such a breakdown in the family structure and there’s few positive male role models, it’s hard,” Wuerffel says. “A lack of hope and a lack of opportunity are the biggest challenges to overcome.” Recently, Wuerffel was at a birthday celebration for a young man who had just turned 25 and had been supported by Desire Street Ministries. “It was a huge birthday party and I asked him why it was so important,” Wuerffel says. “And he said he never thought he’d live to be 25.” Wuerffel’s success on the football field, the fame he earned, has impacted his ability to help others today.

“The platform of being a former Heisman Trophy winner is quit broad,” Wuerffel says. “I’ve heard it said that one could win the Nobel Peace Prize and be introduced as the Heisman Trophy winner. It just opens a lot of doors. Opens a lot of conversations.” Wuerffel’s emphasis since leaving the NFL has been giving that helping hand. Not chasing the big buck. At least, not money for himself. Solutions to the challenges inner city families face begin with the dollar. “One of the struggles a lot of leaders have in an inner city is that they don’t have access to resource networks,” Wuerffel says. “So, we like to invest our time and energy in what we call social capital.” Changing lives takes money. Wuerffel has 11 on his staff. Then counting the ministries his outreach networks with, he figured there’s about 100 people. That networking requires a lot of travel, which is another experience. And the mission is the transformation of the hearts of the people and the transformation of their neighborhood, making it a safer and better place to live. It all starts in the hearts of the people, but it also has an outward focus on seeing a neighborhood actually change,” Wuerffel says. “A lot of times, people try to help kids beat the odds by getting them out of their neighborhood. Our dream is to change the odds right where they’re at and they’ll end up in a good spot in that community.” Now 40, Wuerffel admits there are times he still misses football. But other things, things more important than a game, motivate him today. “There are times when I miss the competition, the adrenaline and the challenge of playing sports at a high level,” Wuerffel says. “But the part I loved most about football was the dynamics of team. And I really feel that’s a big part of my life now. I still get to work with a wide variety of people. Different races and cultures. Different economic backgrounds.” And he tries to unite people who are very different around a common goal. “That’s very exciting to me,” he says. “So, I still get that. And when I go to bed at night, I want to know that I invested my life, my day, in something that mattered.” And to Wuerffel, people matter. Gail Wood is a freelance writer and contributor to Sports Spectrum.

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to watch Danny Wuerffel talk about Desire Street Ministries SPORTS SPECTRUM ~ DIGIMAG 2014

ANOTHER ANGLE

BY STEPHEN COPELAND

OPINION

stephen.copeland@sportsspectrum.com | Follow @steve_copeland

tried to enter complete solitude. It was a Saturday morning, and I had just finished a cup of coffee—my third, I think. I walked out of my favorite coffee shop in Charlotte, N.C., and climbed up the stairs to the top floor of a parking garage. Sitting on a cement block in the parking lot, I looked out over the shopping complex, then up at the sky. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes…then opened them…then closed them again. My phone was nowhere near. I didn’t listen to music. The book I was reading remained in my backpack. I simply sat, as the engine in my brain stopped and began to cool. I sat there, head tilted back, one with the breeze, grinning slightly—quite proud of myself I could enter into a lonely place and not find it terrifying. I sat there in the stillness. Six and a half minutes later, I began to feel restless. The engine revved up, but it seemed to be powering a Porsche. I noticed persperation on my forehead, my hands twitching (probably from the caffeine), and before I knew it, I was throwing my backpack over my shoulder and making my way back down the stairs of the garage, hurriedly walking back to my apartment to watch College GameDay. I confess that I do not know what all of this means—all I know is that I made it six and a half minutes. I think I fear the silence, though I do not know why. I like noise, I guess. Chaos is this paradoxical battleground where I feel both content and stressed—much like writing, I suppose, where I feel God’s presence more than ever but also the evil one’s discouragement and lies. I long for some form of consistency, but judging by my fear of solitude, I guess I’d just rather be distracted. Thomas Merton once said, “Who am I? I am one loved by Christ.” Author Brennan Manning relates Merton’s quote to solitude in his book Abba’s Child: “This is the foundation of the true self (one loved by Christ). The indispensable condition for developing and maintaining the awareness of our belovedness is time alone with God. In solitude we tune out the nay-saying whispers of our worthlessness and sink down into the mystery of our true self.” New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings talked about this as well when I interviewed him at the end of September—the importance of solitude and the examination of oneself. I found it especially interesting coming from him, a man in the limelight, whose performance is constantly being dissected, who has so many people pulling at him. If anyone would be too busy or stressed for solitude, I figured, it would be him. And yet, he tries to find time every day to slow down and get lost in something bigger than himself. “To get lost in thought is to be separate from the world for a minute,” he says. “That’s where my filter continues to grow and I process the winds in life that are blown at me. I get to know

Al Bello / Getty Images

Whisper of truth

myself more. I grow as a man, I grow as a leader, and I grow as a follower—when I am forced to express the way I feel.” I fear solitude, perhaps, because I don’t always like who I am. Most of us, I’d guess, would fit this category. Manning says that, “one of the most shocking contradictions in the American church is the intense dislike many disciples of Jesus have for themselves.” I also think I fear it because I think there are far more important things for me to do. Places to be. People to see. Stories, columns and projects to complete. What I’ve recently learned in my own life, however, is that nothing is more important in this lifetime than awakening to my truest self and my purpose of what theologian Henri Nouwen calls, “The Life of the Beloved.” This is why Nouwen will say that the spiritual life primarily consists of simply saying yes more and more to what is already true of us—that we are loved by God. This, he would argue, is most quickly understood in solitude, when we listen for the whisper of the Almighty. “I get…in tune with my inner me,” Jennings continues. “I allow myself to rest upon God and allow my thinking to find that ultimate thought.” Maybe the “ultimate thought” Stephen Copeland comes from slowing down and lisis a writer at Sports tening to the whisper within, the Spectrum. Follow One who calls us His beloved chilhim on Twitter dren. I long to hear it more. @steve_copeland.

SPORTS SPECTRUM ~ DIGIMAG 2014