Speaking to the Sports Spectrum Podcast about his Christian faith and how he tries to embody it, former NFL defensive back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Dungy explained how he came to the realization that his Christian faith needs to be part not just of bits of his life, but of all of it, infusing and imbuing all aspects of his life.
Beginning the interview with Sports Spectrum, Dungy commented on how his parents taught him a particularly valuable lesson about being a certain type of person early in life, saying, “They [his parents] talked about being who we are and representing the Dungey family and doing things the way that we were taught no matter what, no matter where.” He continued, “So, as a young person you get that, and that’s not easy when you’re 10, 11, 15. You want to just fit in and be well-liked, but that was their message.”
Building on that memory, he described how he applied it to his time on the Steelers, saying, “Then I got to the Pittsburgh Steelers as a 21-year-old rookie, and Art Rooney Sr. was our owner.” He continued, “And when as a rookie when you made the team, Mr. Rooney invited you in and said congratulations, but then he said something that was really unique.”
And, commenting on how the Steelers had much the same attitude, he said, “You’re a Steeler now and we have high expectations of you. You’re going to represent our family. You’re going to represent the football team. You’re going to represent the city and we want you represent it the right way. Because whenever you do anything, from now on it’s not going to be Tony Dungey, but it’s going to be Pittsburgh Steelers Tony Dungey or former Pittsburgh Steeler Tony Dungey. So, that’s a responsibility and we expect you to do that really well.”
He then got to his Christian faith and how he realized he needed to apply it to everything. He said, “Then a couple of years after that, we had a chapel service, and Tony Evans was our chapel speaker, and he talked about being a Christian all the time. He said, ‘I’ve got to be a Christian when I’m at home. I’m a Christian dad. And when I go to the grocery store, I’m a Christian consumer.’ He went on and on. He said, ‘I’m a Christian all the time. How about you? Are you a Christian all the time?’”
Speaking to Movieguide previously about how he has tried to apply that Christian faith to his coaching, Dungy said, “I think the world looks at us in our times of disappointment much more so than they look at us in our times of triumph. If I see someone who wins the Super Bowl and they give credit to God, I’m going to say, well, that’s normal. That’s a natural thing.”
He added, “How is that person going to be when it doesn’t go well? For me, that was always convicting. I have to model my behavior and model my dependence on Christ even when we don’t win.” He continued, “So how are people going to look at me when I get fired? How are they going to look at me when we do lose the game on a bad call at the end of the game?” he added. “That to me is much more important than how I act when things are going smoothly.”
Featured image credit: By Jeffrey Beall – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28147774