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FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript

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Living in the Midst of Success

Day 1 of 3

Guest: Tony Dungy

From the series: Quiet Strength

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Bob: You've seen the locker room celebrations that take place after somebody's won a big game, right? Well, last year, when the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl, there was a part of the celebration that most of us didn't get to see. Here is Indianapolis Colts coach, Tony Dungy.

Tony: Several of the players came to me and said, "Coach, we've got to finish this the way we always do. We're waiting to do the prayer."

Well, the Super Bowl is so different. There's so much coverage, the media is in there already, and people are just all over the place, and I just kind of held my hand up and said, "If you would just excuse us and turn the cameras off for three minutes, and let us finish our season the way we always do," and I think the reporters were really baffled because they thought they'd see the champagne and the celebration, and it was really our guys doing what they always do.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today. Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. We'll find out today that there is a lot that is different about the kind of football team that Coach Tony Dungy runs. Stay with us.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Dennis?

Dennis: Bob, today we're going to talk about the lord of the rings.

Bob: The movies or the books or …

Dennis: Neither.

Bob: Okay.

Dennis: The lord of the rings, and I happen to know a man who is here in the studio with us who has three rings, and we're going to talk about those three rings.

Bob: All right.

Dennis: Let me see your hands, Coach.

Bob: Well, he's just got one.

Dennis: Only one ring is on.

Tony: Only one ring, the most important ring.

Dennis: Where's the Super Bowl rings?

Tony: The Super Bowl rings, actually, both of them I wore for about a month right afterwards. Everyone wants to see the, and you kind of show them off, and it's exciting, and then after that there's another challenge, so you kind of look forward to winning the next one.

Dennis: Also, you're only going to allow yourself a month to wear the ring?

Tony: That's been the history. Now, if we win another one, maybe I'll bend that rule a little bit.

Dennis: Well, that's the voice of Coach Tony Dungy, who coached the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl title, and I must mention you have another Super Bowl ring from your time with the Steelers.

Tony: Right, as a player with the Steelers in 1978 and then last year, 2006, with the Colts.

Dennis: You've written about the story of your life in a book called "Quiet Strength," and I want to tell you about reading your book, Tony. Barbara and I had some extended time off. We actually had a sabbatical. We've been in ministry for 37 years, and the board of directors of FamilyLife graciously allowed us to take 75 days, Coach. I hate to say that to a coach who works so hard year 'round, to cause you to stumble.

Tony: Ten years of vacation time.

Dennis: But I received a copy, you graciously sent me one, and I read it in about the first 48 hours of my sabbatical, and I have to tell you, it set the tone for my sabbatical and for our time together with the Lord and with one another, because your book is about your journey, and your journey of faith.

And I do want to talk about the lord of the rings, and there are those three rings we want to talk about, but I want to take you back to a confrontation you had with Donnie Schell.

Tony: Okay, yeah.

Dennis: And how he confronted you about your lack of faith. Because I believe the quiet strength you write about in your book is really built upon the family you came from and then some key intersections in your life.

Tony: Absolutely.

Dennis: And one of them occurred with Donnie.

Tony: Yes, sure did. Donnie Schell was my roommate. He was four years older than me with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had gotten saved through a meeting with Dr. Paul Esserman [sp] at chapel before a game – really a neat, on-fire Christian.

So I come to the Steelers as a young rookie, 21 years old, and I get put in with this guy, and it was really life-changing for me because he was one of the first guys that I met that was on fire for the Lord, where you saw it in everything that he did.

And he mentored me for a year and a half, and I'm listening to him, reading with him, getting into my Bible, getting in heavy discussions at night, and, all of a sudden, I had an illness coming into my second year. I had mononucleosis, wasn't able to practice, starting to get frustrated, and he stopped me one day at training camp and said, "You know, you're professing that you believe in God, but I don't see it from your actions, I don't see it from the way you're handling this. God is trying to find out if He's in first place in your life or your career or football or something else, and that's what this is all about."

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