Tony Dungy Delivers Powerful Faith Message at Super Bowl Breakfast

Leah Marieann Klett : Feb 10, 2016
The Gospel Herald

"If football is your entire life, and you don't have a relationship with the Lord, you're going to be messed up, no matter how your life turns out. Even if you achieve fame and riches, if you forfeit your soul, it won't profit you." –Tony Dungy

(San Francisco, CA)—During his address at the Super Bowl 50 breakfast, 2-time Super Bowl Champion and TV analyst Tony Dungy opened up about how his faith has influenced his impressive career and exhorted his fellow athletes to make their spiritual lives the ultimate priority. (Photo via Gospel Herald)

Speaking as part of a panel moderated by three-time Super Bowl winner Brent Jones, Tony Dungy, who has won Super Bowls as both a player and a head coach, revealed that playing for Steelers head coach Chuck Noll in the 1970's transformed his outlook on life.

"He was a great role model for me... He taught us how to play well and all that, but he taught us about living and doing things the right way in the community," he recalled of his former coach. "Playing for [Noll] changed who I was as a person."

Dungy, who was the first black head coach to win the Super Bowl, with the Colts in the 2006 season, told the audience gathered at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel on Saturday that his experience with Coach Noll significantly impacted not only the way he played the game, but eventually, the way he coached his players.

"The Lord was preparing me to be a coach," he said. "Because of the guys I played for, I understood that it wasn't just teaching them to be better players, but helping them be better men."

Following remarks from New Orleans tight end Ben Watson, Dungy, who will become the 24th coach inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, then delivered closing remarks, and invited those in attendance to come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. He shared a particularly touching story about his...

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