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Nashville’s not unknown to Tim Tebow. He played football against Vanderbilt here when he was leading the Florida Gators. And he’s spent much of the last few months preparing for the upcoming NFL draft by training at D1 Sports Training, in Cool Springs, just south of Nashville.
(BULLETIN: Thursday night, April 22, Tebow was home in Florida, watching the actual draft, carried live on ESPN. While there was some question by the experts as to whether he would be drafted in the first round, he was picked up by the Denver Broncos.)
Last Saturday though he was in Nashville, spending the day at Lipscomb University, speaking to kids and adults about his faith, his foundation and his future.
Tebow is different from many college and professional athletes, in that he is an outspoken Christian, committed to his faith and to giving back to the youth of the world.
At the midday press conference, reporters were interested in what Tebow has been doing to hone and improve his quarterbacking skills since his college career ended, but Tebow kept changing the subject to other people. One reporter asked why he chose to do this daylong series of events so close to the National Football League draft.
“I try to manage my time very carefully and do things that are very close to my heart—things that really make a difference,” said Tebow. “People want to make it all about me right now. But I want to take the attention off of me, and focus on others.
“I want to give back, to inspire someone or to give someone hope. That’s why I love doing events like I’m doing today.
Tebow’s parents, Bob and Pam, were also at the press conference, answering questions posed by numerous media outlets.
Pam Tebow said that she and her husband weren’t feeling overly anxious for their son during this challenging time in his life, but instead said they are excited.
“We encourage him by believing in him, just like we always have,” said Pam. “We trust the Lord. He’s got the perfect plan for Timmy.”
Tebow’s parents also spoke about some of his most prominent characteristics.
Tebow’s father addressed his son’s work ethic and drive.
“He is one of the most focused people I’ve ever known,” said Bob Tebow. “It’s very difficult to distract him from his aims and goals. He has also developed the greatest work ethic I’ve ever seen anybody possess. He’ll outwork just about anyone.”
Tebow’s mother talked about a trait that makes her son stand out in the world of competitive football.
“If you ask his siblings, they would tell you that a word that would describe Timmy is ‘kind,’” said Pam Tebow. “That might go against what some people’s view of a football player is, but Proverbs says that what’s desirable in a man is his kindness.
“He really is kind, and we’re thankful that he’s remained that way. It means a lot to me as a mom.”
Lumination correspondent Hunter Patterson asked Tebow how his commitment to community and Christian service would be displayed in his NFL career.
“Being an NFL football player gives you a platform for whatever you believe in,” said Tebow. “For me it’s a responsibility and an obligation to be a good role model and to set a good example.
“The NFL is not an end for me, but it is a means to an end. It gives me the opportunity to make a difference in a generation.”
Tebow started a foundation two years ago at the University of Florida. Now known as the Tim Tebow Foundation, it holds benefit dinners and powderpuff football tournaments on campus to raise funds for underprivileged kids of Gainseville, Fla., and kids in orphanages around the world.
“We took 12 underprivileged kids from Gainseville, Fla., on a trip to Disney World, just so they could have a fun day,” said Tebow. “We’re trying to make a difference in kids’ lives, and that’s my No. 1 one passion.
“We don’t promise to make their dreams come true, but we just try to give them a brighter day.”
At 2 p.m., Tebow spoke at an unpublicized event. Lipscomb Athletic Director Phillip Hutcheson led Tebow in a question-and-answer session for an audience of local middle and high school kids.
For example, Hutcheson asked Tebow when he started playing football, and how he became the successful football player he is today.
“I grew up on a 44-acre farm where I had a lot of chores and a lot of work to do, so that’s where I learned my work ethic,” said Tebow. “When I got to be 10 or 11 years old, I knew that football was my dream. I had a passion and I was going to do whatever it took to get a college scholarship.
“I started working and training harder than anyone else. I set my goals right then, that I wanted to be a quarterback in college and I wanted to be a quarterback in the NFL. I had confidence in myself because I had people who believed in me.”
Tebow mentioned that his parents are his two biggest role models, and that he has looked up to former University of Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel.
“He was a great football player because he handled himself well, both on the field and off the field,” said Tebow. “He handled himself with humility and character, and put God first off the field, and on the field he was still a tremendous competitor.”
At 7 p.m. in a packed Allen Arena, the 2nd Annual Don Meyer Evening of Excellence opened with Marty Roe, lead singer of Diamond Rio, and his wife Robin, both alumni of Lipscomb University, singing songs from Diamond Rio’s new release and first Christian album and a song written by Robin.
Roe left the stage by reading a prayer and a blessing over Tim Tebow, letting him know how proud the Christian and the Lipscomb communities are of Tebow’s accomplishments and commitment to his faith, and challenging Tebow to live up to high expectations set by his faith family.
After taking a few shots at the University of Tennessee’s football program, recent head coach issues and in contrast touting his own alma mater, Tebow reflected on Don Meyer’s speech given at the Espy awards when the coach won the Jimmy V. Award. That award is named for late, great North Carolina State basketball coach Jimmy Valvano, who fought a long and public battle with the cancer that claimed his life. The annual award recognizes perseverance in the face of great obstacles.
“If every coach was like this, then the youth of America would be totally different,” said Tebow of the former Lipscomb head coach Meyer, whose major health obstacles did not keep him from pushing himself to the limit at Northern State University in South Dakota, where he recently retired.
At the awards, Meyer “spoke of how he wanted to be remembered, and as a young adult I was thinking that I, too, wanted to be remembered like this.
“So on that night when I was receiving an award, I was inspired. I was inspired by a man I never knew, a man that I’d never really heard of but a wonderful man and a man who has changed many lives.”
Tebow’s keynote speech revolved around three things he calls imperative to live a life of success, or a life of excellence.
The first is the power to stand alone. Tebow told the story of his controversial pro-life Super Bowl commercial and said he lost endorsements because of the things he stood for.
“Two people who had already offered me a pretty significant contract for an endorsement pulled them,” said Tebow. “They said they couldn’t be associated with that.
“I said ‘thank you. That means I don’t want to be associated with you.’”
Next, Tebow encouraged listeners to live with passion.
“Have some juice about you,” said Tebow. “Every time I step onto the football field, the weight room, the practice field, I want there to be something different about it. I want there to be something different about me, and I don’t want to look like everyone else.
“I’m going to be passionate, I’m going to love what I’m doing and I’m going to give my whole heart to that, because that’s what separates me the others.”
He went on to say that his father taught him that passion is contagious, that when people around you see that you’re living full of passion and that you truly care about something, they will be inspired to do the same.
“Wow, it takes no talent to be different,” said Tebow. “All you have to do is live your passion, and other people are going to want to be on your team.”
“And as Coach Don Meyer said, ‘fake it till you make it.’ If you don’t have juice, fake it till you have some, because it’s contagious and it will grow in you and you’ll learn to love it.
Tebow closed with his third step to living successfully: Finish strong.
He told a story about the national championship game his junior year at the University of Florida. With a tight score going into the final part of the game, he threw the touchdown pass to lead the Gators over Oklahoma.
“All year, all offseason leading up to that game, we put in the effort to finish,” said Tebow. “Knowing everything that our team had done, how hard we worked to win that game and to see Coach Urban Meyer pull off his headset, walk up to me and give me a hug and say, ‘Hey Timmy. Great job, you finished. That a boy.’
“As a player, that is it. That’s like the ultimate. It’s one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in my life. But you know my ultimate goal? When I die and I’m standing before Jesus Christ, for him to walk up to me and pull off his headset and say, ‘Hey Timmy. Great job, you finished. That a boy.’”
Tebow added that “I know that football is not everything.
“It’s my passion and my goal, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many championships you win or how many trophies you have, because that’s not what’s going to last forever.
“And although I love football and I want to play it for a lot of years, having that perspecpective lets me know that football is just a game.”