09/22/2026
Amen 🙏
Tony Dungy, the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach who led the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl victory, says football once occupied nearly his entire life.
Dungy grew up hearing his mother, a Sunday school teacher, emphasize the importance of putting God first. But the lesson became real to him when he was 21 and had joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as a defensive back.
At his first Steelers rookie meeting in 1977, head coach Chuck Noll told the young players, “You’re now being paid to play football so that makes it your profession. But don’t make football your life.” Dungy said the words immediately challenged the way he had viewed the sport.
Dungy also began spending time with Christian teammates who invited him to Bible studies and chapel services. He said there were about 20 committed Christians on the team who helped him begin taking his faith seriously.
Matthew 16:26 took on new meaning for him:
“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
Dungy eventually win a Super Bowl as a coach when the Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. He was later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But the lesson he learned in Pittsburgh remained foundational to him:
“You’ve got to have eternity in mind. You can’t just focus on the sport.”