Posted on 02/05/2007 5:56:58 AM PST by Sam's Army
MIAMI - OK, it didn't rain 40 days and 40 nights, but the deluge was Biblical enough. Anyway, if someone had built an ark, they would have slapped blinking lights and Hooters girls on it and had Prince sing from the crow's nest. It's the Super Bowl, after all.
And then there would have been the problem of finding two of every kind.
There's only one Tony Dungy.
The morning Bible reading earlier in the week, before a walk on the beach with Indianapolis Colts assistant coach Clyde Christensen - yes, that Clyde - was about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, you know, that 40-year scoring drive. They got there just the same.
And so did Anthony Kevin Dungy on Sunday night in the heavy rain at Dolphin Stadium. His Colts won the Super Bowl over the Chicago Bears.
Eleven years after he became a head coach, five years after another rainy night, when he carried his belongings from One Buc Place, and hardly 14 months since he buried his oldest son, Tony Dungy, to use a term his doubters loved, took a football team as far as he could.
To a world championship.
Like he told his players:
"There's going to be a storm. The Lord doesn't always bring you straight through."
Tampa is not in Indiana, but there were doubtless thousands of people rubbing lucky horseshoes Sunday for a good man. Now you can have your Super Bowl trophy and Tony's, too.
This one was for a true believer.
He believed when he turned a joke into a contender in Tampa. He believed when the Bucs kept coming up short, and when he was fired, and when the Colts came up short, too. He believed this season after Jacksonville runners trampled his team, after New England took an 18-point lead in the AFC title game, even after the Devin Hester returned Sunday's opening kickoff for a lightning-quick touchdown and Bears lead.
And those don't even crack the Top 100 in Tony Dungy beliefs.
He Did It His Way He used this week as a platform because he believed it mattered to young coaches everywhere, to people everywhere, that he and his friend, Bears coach Lovie Smith, were African-American coaches making history in Black History Month. There was more, he said.
"Christian coaches showing you can win the Lord's way - that's what I'm more proud of."
He believed that what mattered all his life mattered now. He never changed. He did it his way. Sunday night, his way went all the way.
Most of all, Tony Dungy believed it was all part of God's plan, even losing the Bucs job.
"I remember the TV news showing Tony loading his boxes in the car," Christensen said during the week. "He'd turned a crap franchise into Super Bowl or Bust, and he's loading his own boxes on that rainy night, pitch black, not a soul helping him."
That test was nothing.
The darkest night began with a phone call in the middle of the night. It ended with a funeral.
I went to the visitation for James Dungy. Like everyone else, I received a hug from James' father. Tony Dungy spent the night comforting people. At the church the next day, he spoke.
Bucs personnel executive Doug Williams was there.
"What Tony did the day of the funeral, eulogizing his son, I don't care if you're white, black, green or yellow - it was powerful," Williams said.
Trent Dilfer lost his boy Trevin before Dungy lost James.
"It's a wonderful healing power that Tony's words have had," Dilfer said.
It was part of Tony Dungy's journey.
"Sometimes the Lord tests you with something that looks impossible," he said this week. "To me, one of the joys of going through the battle is keeping the faith and seeing if you can make it. If it's always right there in your hands, you don't have to have faith."
'It's Our Time' At halftime of the AFC title game, he told his players, down 15 points, that he still believed.
"It's our time," Dungy said.
So was Sunday.
Sunday was for Tony Dungy and his players, the guys he'd huddled with in the back of the church at James' funeral, the guys he'd returned to as soon as he could, sooner than any of them could have believed. They mattered like family to the man. All his guys always have.
The Bears' lead faded in the downpour. The Colts powered past them. Even Peyton Manning, Super Bowl MVP, hopped aboard the Deliverance Express.
It didn't validate or vindicate the head coach. He insisted that he didn't need this for that. And that this isn't an end-all. There are bigger things.
We believed.
It was enough to see a good man unfold those arms and raise them in triumph, to smile for everyone there and everyone who wasn't - like mom, dad and James.
Dungy went for another walk Sunday morning. He got lost along the way. He meant to walk a mile, but made a wrong turn.
"We ended up walking about two-and-a-half hours," he said.
It gave him time.
"I thought about just the journey."
His celebratory baptism was Gatorade. And it was out of Tony Dungy's hands when all those souls lifted him onto championship shoulders for a victory ride in the rain.
Now that's part of the journey too.
Let it rain.
My husband and I heard Tony speak at a small Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting many years ago.
What a gracious and courageous man.
Hallmarked by humility, which the LORD loves, and is a light in this present darkness.
It was in the broadcast. Clear as day.
I gotta figure he mis-spoke, though. Not going to hold it against him.
It was during the broadcast that he said they were the first. But those speeches are always pretty chaotic, so it's not surprising that things don't come out right every now and then. I wouldn't hold it against him.
Aw, c'mon. Don't make me go find this silly thing on You Tube. It doesn't really matter though. Don't get hung up on that.
Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have been part of the title of the published article.
I played it back and he did not say that they were the first Christian coaches.
NFL ping.
Pehaps the first outspokenly so.
Ah yes, you had your Superbowl over there didn't you. It didn't really get much airplay over this side of the pond, they mentioned it on one of the radio stations I listened to yesterday. Hope you all enjoyed it anyway.
Every Chriatian who cares about football even a little bit knows about Tom Landry and his unwavering testimony for Christ. It doesn't make sense that Tony said he was first does it......even by mistake? Maybe you just inferred it because they were talking about his being the first African American?
I'm not trying to make a 'big deal' out of it. Just aiming for accuracy, that's all.
Joe Gibbs/Redskins?
Vince Lombardi, the driving force behind the concept of a Super Bowl was a devout Christian. So devout, in fact, that he would not allow the Packers to play on Thanksgiving, as he believed they belonged at home with their families on that day!
Does anyone know who the beautiful woman is?
I saw this start on the thread last night.
He most certainly did NOT say first. And the way he deflected all of the media hoopla, to a Christian reference was absolutely wonderful.
Appreciate the ping!
Wonderful! Thanks, J.
Always a pleasure!
Tom Landry, Don Shula, and Vince Lombardi; all very devout Christians.
Thank you. Your page became our morning devotion. In His Name. Peace I leave with you. Tony: storing up Treasures in Heaven.
The "Look Out Bart" block was established!
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