Record Crowd Attends 2007 AIA Super Bowl Breakfast

Weeks have passed since Super Bowl XLI. The hoopla has died down and game commercials are no longer new. Not many people are talking about it any more.

Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy knew that would happen, as with any big event. And he knew the message he was about to deliver at Athletes in Action’s 20th annual Super Bowl Breakfast was bigger than the outcome of the world’s biggest football game his team would play the next day.

Dungy wanted the crowd of 2,002 sitting in a Hollywood Beach, Florida, hotel ballroom to know the importance of that message too. Although honored to be at the event, Dungy’s attendance proved, that even in the midst of one of the biggest games of his coaching career, his faith mattered enough to tell two thousand people about the God who has changed his life.

For the past three years, Dungy has been a special guest speaker at AIA’s Super Bowl Breakfast, an outreach to business executives, even speaking at the 2006 event, just weeks after the tragic death of his son, James. This year, however, he had the honor of attending as a participating Super Bowl coach.

“It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here,” said Dungy, the third in NFL history to win a Super Bowl both as a player and a coach. “I’ve spoken at many of these as a representative of Athletes in Action and Jesus Christ but I’ve never spoken as a representative of a participating team. It is a big, big thrill.”

Dungy also noted how honored he was to attend, both as an African-American coach and a Christian.

“I’m very, very proud to be here as an African-American coach, but more than that, [I’m excited] to show that you can hold firm to your Christian values and coach the team the way you think God would coach them and still be successful,” said Dungy, whose words were followed by long applause from the crowd.

“For him to come to this event on the eve of the Super Bowl represents what Tony is all about,” says John Lynch, safety for the Denver Broncos. A former player of Dungy’s at Tampa Bay, Lynch believes it’s not a coincidence that he is the fifth former player of the coach to win the Bart Starr Award. Named after Bart Starr—the legendary Hall of Fame Green Bay quarterback and two-time Super Bowl MVP—Lynch was selected by his NFL peers because of his great character and leadership on and off the field.

Dungy rearranged the Colts’ schedule in order to bring 65 players to the breakfast. However, 30 minutes before the breakfast was to begin the buses scheduled to transport the team hadn’t yet arrived, so they had to scramble to find other transportation. Instead, 20 players and coaches came in two vans to the event.

Each time Coach Dungy has spoken at the NFL-sanctioned event, he clearly communicates with the audience how an individual can have a personal relationship with Jesus. This year he had to leave midway through the 2007 event because of Super Bowl team responsibilities, but was still sure to offer the most important message the audience could have received—how one can know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

He preceded the prayer of salvation by telling the crowd his own story.

During his second year as a player in the NFL, a fellow Pittsburgh Steelers teammate asked if Jesus was the number one priority in Dungy’s life.

“I thought Christianity was going to church, a Sunday thing,” says Dungy, who had accepted Christ as his Savior but put Him in the background of his life.

As he and his teammate talked, Dungy realized there was more to Christianity than an assurance of eternity and decided to make his relationship with God his number one priority.

“God is in the driver’s seat and [became] the head coach of my life,” says Dungy.

That same year, the Steelers won Super Bowl XIII in 1979. But the win isn’t his favorite memory of that year.

“If we’d won the Super Bowl but I’d not made the decision to put Jesus Christ in the driver’s seat, these last 28 years [of my life] would have been totally different.”

“Winning the Super Bowl was an awesome thing but not many people would have remembered who won 28 years ago if I hadn’t reminded you,” says Dungy.

He then led the crowd in a prayer, giving people the opportunity to respond to his invitation of making Jesus one’s first priority. One hundred thirty people prayed in response to that invitation.

Dungy expressed that his platform as an NFL coach is one that drives him and one that he loves. Before departing from the stage, Dungy left the crowd with one last thought.

“As a Christian you can influence others whether you have a public platform or not,” he said.

As Dungy held the Vince Lombardi trophy with his wife Lauren by his side after the Colts beat the Bears, 29-17, he told CBS announcer Jim Nantz on national television that he was proud to win by doing it “the Lord’s way.”

His influence will continue to be felt—even now, weeks after the Colts’ victory is no longer at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Though it’s safe to say Super Bowl XLI talk has died down just weeks after the game, Dungy will undoubtedly continue to talk about his faith in Jesus Christ.

And that’s what drives him to be the man that he is.