Feature

In 1988, the day before Super Bowl XXII would toss its determining coin and grant the opening kickoff at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego—the NFL’s home of the San Diego Chargers—a tradition was born. It was spawned in faith, propped up by the hope of something better, and girded dutifully in unconditional love, set within the prescriptions of Christian belief. It was built as a means to recognize athletes of the National Football League who served as compassionate, giving, role models.

Athletes in Action that began its outreach of committed Christian faith in 1966, successfully launched its first annual Super Bowl Breakfast event that year, which has been held every year since then at the host city for the NFL’s annual Super Bowl championship extravaganza. In 1989, following its inaugural launch the year before, the Bart Starr Award began its tradition of honoring a current NFL player for demonstrating outstanding character, integrity and leadership in the home, on the field, and in their community.

This year’s Super Bowl 50 breakfast takes place in the host city of San Francisco, at the elegantly adorned Hilton San Francisco Union Square. The emcee for this year’s edition is Brent Jones, the former NFL 11-year veteran, three-time Super Bowl champion tight end and a 2013 (BASHOF) Bay Area Sports Hall Of Fame inductee, plucked enthusiastically from San Francisco 49ers.

Joining Brent are fellow NFL stars and coaches including Super Bowl Champion coach/player, NY Times bestselling author and NFL analyst, Tony Dungy; legendary NFL Hall of Fame, “knuckles in the turf,” guard from the Green Bay Packers, Jerry Kramer, and Hall of Fame inductees Roger Staubach and “Iron Mike” Ditka.

With them will be newly-minted NFL Hall of Fame inductee from the Oakland Raiders, “Mr. Raider” Tim Brown; current New Orleans Saints and earlier Super Bowl Champion XXXIX tight end, Benjamin Watson, and the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, Clark Hunt.

More football luminaries, yet to be announced at the time of this writing, will come from the ranks of other NFL teams, athletes, and coaches, supporting the AIA’s 2016 Super Bowl 50 Breakfast this year.

Last year’s recipient of the Bart Starr Award was the newly crowned, NFL’s all-time leading passer, multiple All-Pro Super Bowl XLI Champion and current quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Peyton Manning. The honor roll of past recipients is star-studded, with its “Who’s Who” list of NFL greats. Included is Seattle Seahawks receiver Steve Largent, the initial Bart Starr Award recipient; NFL Hall of Fame offensive tackle Anthony Munoz; the Green Bay Packers revered “Minister of Defense,” the late Reggie White, as well as quarterbacks Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Warren Moon.

When the Athletes in Action roundtable leadership made its decision to create an award to honor a current NFL player who best exemplified their representative Christian faith-filled qualities of committed beliefs that forged its organization’s foundation, they felt there was but one man whose name should grace their prestigious honoring award–Bart Starr. AIA approached the former Super Bowl Champion and NFL Hall of Fame quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, and quite humbly, Bart agreed to lend his name to the award. The fit, with its catch-phrase cliché, was indeed, “a match made in heaven.”

Starr’s legacy of accomplishment, along with his off the field servant’s heart, exemplifies the standard for the AIA’s Bart Starr Award.

Bart Starr was elected into the NFL and Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1977, following his brilliantly forged 16-year career as the Packers quarterback. Four years later, in 1981, he would be enshrined in the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. During his tenure as the Packer’s signal caller, he played in six pro bowls and led his team to five world championships; was honored as the Most Valuable Player in Super Bowls’ I and II; tabbed as the NFL’s MVP in 1966 and selected as the NFL Man of the Year in 1969. He is one of six players from the Green Bay Packers to have his number—15—retired.

Starr has the highest playoff passer rating of any quarterback in NFL history–104.8–and a playoff record of 9–1. In 1967, Bart became the inaugural recipient of the Byron “Whizzer” White Award that is given annually by the National Football League Players Association for work in the community, and for being the player who best displays the qualities of a true professional athlete.

On October 17, 1970, at a testimonial reception honoring Bart Starr held at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, Wisconsin — the following was conveyed in a speech by then President Richard Nixon:

“We honor him as a very great practitioner of his profession, the proud profession of professional football… And as we honor him for that, we honor him not only for his technical skill but, as I’ve indicated, also for something that is just as important: his leadership qualities, his character, his moral fiber… But I think the best way that I can present Bart Starr to his friends is to say very simply that the sixties will be described as the decade in which football became the number one sport in America, in which the Packers were the number one team, and Bart Starr was proudly the number one Packer.”

Two years later, Bart Starr would retire from his prolific signal calling duties, hang up his well worn black leather cleats once and for all, and depart his beloved Green Bay Packers — that is, as an honored and revered player on the field; for the following two years, he would serve as a game analyst for CBS-TV.

Sitting in the booth pushed him to step back onto the hallowed turf endowed by his mentor and coach, Vince Lombardi, to walk the home team’s sideline at Lambeau Field again as the coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1975 through 1983.

In 1965, the year before AIA would strike its founding charter, Bart Starr with his wife Cherry would begin a spiritual sojourn of servitude by co-founding a faith-based, non-profit community outreach program for at-risk teens–Rawhide Boys Ranch in New London, Wisconsin–along with their friends, John and Jan Gillespie.

Heading south from New London, where the scenic Wolf River cuts through the 500-acre ranch facility, the Rawhide Boys Ranch provides a safe haven of enabling support for juvenile court-referred boys ranging from ages eight to seventeen. Their dedicated mission statement reads:

Being dependent on God, we inspire and equip at-risk youth and families to lead healthy and responsible lives through family-centered care, treatment, and education.

Academic, as well as vocational classes align the student curriculum at the Starr Academy. Rawhide Boys Ranch programs, include intensive residential care for troubled young men. For those of you curious about the work that began among four faith-filled friends over fifty years ago, you can take a little stroll of its grounds, by visiting their website at: www.rawhide.org.

“This guy is the most decorated, as far as championships go quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. But the first thing you hear about Bart when you talk about him, is not the incredible talent and ability that he has, but the kind of person that he is.”
Aaron Rodgers ~ 2014 Bart Starr Award recipient

Bart Starr is a man of admitted and committed Christian faith, who dutifully aligns his life, both on and off the field, with a spiritual playbook — The Bible. He is an individual of impeccable character, and an honorable man who has served his family and community faithfully throughout the years. He is a giver, and an exemplary role model for athletes, business owners and their support staff alike, so it’s no small wonder that the leadership of Athletes in Action unanimously chose Bart Starr as the person to name their award after.

This year’s Super Bowl 50 breakfast honoree waits in the wings. Who will it be? Which NFL role model to follow in the legendary footsteps of Bart Starr will find his name inscribed at the bottom of the AIA Bart Starr Award?

And let us not lose heart in doing good; for in due time, we shall reap; if we do not grow weary ~ Galatians 6:9

To learn more about attending, and being a part of this year’s gala Super Bowl 50 Breakfast, please visit the website: http://www.superbowlbreakfast.com/

To view the promotional video filmed at the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX Breakfast, go to this YouTube presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em61LO9teOI&feature=youtu.be

And to learn about Athletes in Action and its worldwide outreach within the realm of athletics, you can find them here: http://athletesinaction.org/

 

January 1st is like a big giant Do-Over for every one of us. No matter how rosy or crappy the previous year was, New Year’s Day is our chance to spring out of bed and do it all over again—365 days of infinite possibilities. Granted our days aren’t all going to be filled with rainbows and unicorns, but hopefully we’ll have more good ones than bad. I have decided that my philosophy for the New Year will be heavily influenced by the release of the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Hopefully it will awaken a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year for yours truly.

The seventh installment of the Star Wars franchise or first release of the third trilogy opened on December 18th, 2015. Take this Wookie’s word for it, The Force Awakens will set every box office revenue record ever recorded in this world or one in a galaxy far far away. Even though we’ve never met, George Lucas and J.J. Abrams are kind of like my spiritual mentors in this journey so the first thing on my “to do” list is to see the movie.

January – Since there’s no way any normal person (a non Star Wars geek) is going to be able to get a ticket to the movie in December 2015, the month of January 2016 will be devoted to viewing what promises to be a cinematic masterpiece. Watching this mega block buster should provide me with some clarity and direction for the coming year. Once I see the film six or seven…teen times, the rest of the year will be on Millennium Falcon cruise control.

February – On February 7th, the Super Bowl will be played at Levy’s Stadium in Santa Clara, but unless the Jedi Knights play the Galactic Empire, the game could easily be forgotten. Rumor has it that for Valentine’s Day, Cupid plans to wear an Imperial Strom Trooper costume this year and instead of a bow and arrow, expect him to be wielding a light saber. Love is in the “outer space” air.

March–I totally plan on channeling my inner Yoda and trusting “the force” to guide my NCAA basketball picks this year. Last year, I was mathematically out of contention after the first day. Sadly, I was all-in with the Cal State Northridge Matadors, but that was because I didn’t have Yoda weighing in on my picks. Since monitoring my March Madness bracket is pretty much an all-consuming endeavor lasting the entire month, I hope my job doesn’t expect a lot out of me.

April–Last year’s Star Wars Celebration 2015took place at the Anaheim Convention Center and I missed it while touring college campuses with our oldest daughter over Spring Break. So, this year’s annual Spring Break travel adventure is to attend this year’s convention via a family road trip. Once there, I plan to network with my fellow Star Wars brothers and sisters in a supportive and embracing social environment. The wife and kids can go to Disneyland.

May–The start of Baseball season might be the only thing that could shake me from my “All things Star Wars” monthly agenda.

June–The start of summer and a good time to get cracking on my summer reading list. There are about a million Star Wars books available to read. Just the Jedi Apprentice series alone has 20 volumes. The Rising Force,The Dark Rival,The Hidden Past,The Mark of the Crown, The Defenders of the Dead, The Uncertain Path, The Captive Temple, The Day of Reckoning, The Fight for Truth, The Shattered Peace, The Deadly Hunter, The Evil Experiment, The Dangerous Rescue, The Ties That Bind, The Death of Hope, The Call to Vengeance, The Only Witness, The Threat Within, Special Edition #1: Deceptions, and Special Edition #2: The Followers. Once I’m done with this series, I plan to start in on The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

July– Like every soon-to-be 54 year old, I plan to have a Star Wars themed birthday party with all my friends where we’ll all dress up like their favorite SW character. I of course will be Hans Solo. I may even invite my arch nemesis and least favorite co-worker to the party just to play the role of the evil Kylo Ren. I have seven months to teach my dog to walk on his hind legs in hopes of playing Chewbacca.

August – Summer vacation is just about over. No more star gazing at outdoor sleep outs. No more lightsaber battles with flash lights crammed inside an empty holiday wrapping paper role. No more spending days watching Star Wars marathons in a blacked down play room imagining we’re battling Darth Vader for space supremacy. I didn’t mean me doing this type of stuff. Why would you think it’s me? It’s just an example of what some kids might be doing before school starts up again.

September—Back to school. Even young Jedi Knights had to go to Rebel Alliance school before they could unleash the Rebel Fleet (kind of like their football team) on the Dark Side at the second Death Star stadium. I just hope that the current line-up of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron can ball like the old guys. Don’t be so quick to rush to judgement. You don’t know me!

October –Halloween, hello? You get three guesses what I’ll be dressed up as and C-3PO would be wrong. If anyone guessed Jabba the Hutt you just hurt my feelings. I actually lost three pounds in 2015. I’m already building my BB-8 robot friend to accompany me to all the cool parties we’ll be invited to this year.

November – Our wedding anniversary. Refer to birthday party ideas in July.

December– Santa Skywalker and Princess Leah Claus will be spreading Christmas cheer throughout the universe during the month and that’s the approach I’ll take. My mission will be to share holiday greetings and Ewok cheer throughout the universe or at least the Tri Valley.

Certainly there is nothing funny about telephone scams which pry untold amounts of money away from honest, unsuspecting people, quite often senior citizens. When one has just sent $2,147 to bail out a grandson in prison in Finland and the grandson drops by to visit two hours later, most of us would probably be too embarrassed to even talk about the loss. If we do talk about it, the money and perpetrators will have disappeared into a labyrinth of anonymous electronic caves.

Newspapers, magazines, and lecturers warn us about a variety of scams, but when our emotions get involved, we tend to blot out the intellectual parts of our personalities. The usual advice tells us not to answer the phone if we do not know who the caller is. If we do answer and it is a stranger, we are instructed to hang up. The majority of us, however, have been brought up to understand that it is impolite to hang up unless the person threatens or is impolite to us. With email curiosity also comes into play: “Why is John Doe writing to me?”

Several years ago I received a call from New York asking for money for a religious organization. I, politely, informed the person that I do not accept telephone solicitations and that his choice of religions was definitely not mine. He then said that he hoped I would get on airplane to New York, the plane would crash, and I would be killed. I called the telephone company and the police, both of whom informed me that unless the person actually threatened me, there was nothing they could do. The moral to the story: if you listen and get angry at the caller, you can call names, but DO NOT THREATEN, much as you would like to.

At times I decide to have some fun with those who think they have the right to invade my home and privacy so they can make a buck. I do not advise this action for those who are shy about speaking or do not have the background to pull off a deception. In other words, “do not try this at home.”

I have an excellent background in theater and as an actor. I have studied and practiced improvisation for countless hours. Not improv for entertainment, but improv to understand better a character and improv for the inevitable moments in live theater when something goes wrong. Occasionally an actor will have an incident in which he/she unconsciously breaks away from the script and may jump ahead, or behind, two or three pages of dialogue–often the part containing the focus of the rest of the play. Improv teaches, or attempts to teach, an instantaneous way of seeing a variety of paths to get back on track with the audience being unaware of the change.

Also, I am, or was, fairly competent with a variety of non-American accents and the ability to speak gibberish and nonsense for short periods of time. For example: We recently had a rash of calls from a contractor, whose name appeared on “Caller ID,” almost every day and sometimes more than once a day.

After the first experience, we usually just let the phone ring, but this time I was just sitting around, so I answered it speaking total nonsense. When he asked if anyone spoke English, I replied with some sort of accent, “No Anglish.” He then asked about Spanish to which I replied, “Kazakhstan.” I then said without accent, “Actually, I speak fairly good English but you call here everyday and I thought you might get the idea that we are tired of it.” He did not hear most of the end because he had hung up, but I felt better. He has not called back.

A heating and air conditioning contractor called and I let him make his pitch about cleaning ducts, etc. I then asked, “Do they come in dozens?” He then repeated his pitch, so I diverted to, “Can they be gift wrapped?” No return calls.

Another called from some sort of business service. I let him speak, then with my finest Irish tenor and accent began singing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.” A man with an almost unfathomable Indian accent called identifying himself with a totally Anglo name like John or Fred. He continued saying, “I understand you take medicines including Cialis.” I interrupted to inform him that I was ninety-three years old (exaggerating by nine years), I took absolutely no medicines, and that I had sex three times everyday. He hung up somewhere in the middle of my last sentence, but my wife in the other room called out, “With whom?”

My last part in professional, non-educational, theater was that of a Soviet spy who escaped from a mental institution in England. It gave me a chance to hone my Russian accent which I have found to be the most confusing to unwanted calls. It beats English, German, or French, and my Spanish sounds too much like “Frito-Bandito.” I make them keep repeating themselves while I challenge “angrily” with totally unrelated arguments until they hang up.

If the IRS, PG&E, or some other reputable (?) organization calls and demands money to be sent to some exotic address, hang up and hide under the bed. People, it’s a scam! From personal experience I can assure you that the IRS will let you know by mail when they want your money.

I have not yet gotten the “grandson in trouble and needs money somewhere on the other side of the world” phone call. I am, however, prepared. I plan to ask, “Johnny, are you in trouble again?” Whether the answer is yes or no, I will reply, “That’s strange. I have no grandson called Johnny.” At that point I plan to state that the caller is a rotten liar and insinuate that his mother has four legs, a tail, and is quite hairy. (Obviously if you have a grandson named Johnny, you will need to pick another name.) I enjoy bantering and making these intruders feel foolish.

Again, however, for the person with no theatrical or improvisational background here are three rules for annoying phone call:

1) If you have caller ID and you do not know the person, DO NOT
ANSWER;

2) If you do answer and strangers want money or to come to your
home, HANG UP IMMEDIATELY. If it is legitimate, they will get
back to you.

In conclusion, if you have even a partial solution for the flood of mail requests from organizations, legitimate or not so legit, please let all of us in on the secret. We and 78 jillion trees will appreciate your suggestions.