I was listening to “Elvis Radio” in the wee hours of this
morning when the aged George Klein, Elvis boyhood friend and the primary DJ,
introduced this week’s special guest. I always look forward to these
interviews, and from my point of view they are just so compelling.
As usual, I was not disappointed.
As it fell together, today’s interviewee was none other than the
former Washington Redskins quarterback, Joe Theismann. It seems he was and
continues to be a big Elvis fan.
Old Joe proceeded to talk more about himself than about Elvis,
as the DJ’s questions were directed towards his professional career, and the
life-changing injury which permanently ‘took him out of the game.’
Theismann was the fourth-highest paid player in the NFL at the
time, in his first year of a five-year, $5 million contract. But he had lost
sight of God and His blessings until the injury.
“The game was tied at 7-7 in the second quarter. At the time the
Redskins had been attempting to run a ‘flea flicker’ play. Theismann had handed
off to fullback John Riggins who subsequently lateralled the ball back to the
quarterback. The New York Giant’s defense, however, was not fooled, and they
attempted to blitz Theismann. As Taylor sacked him, Taylor’s knee came down and
drove straight into his lower right leg, fracturing both the tibia and the
fibula.
‘The pain was unbelievable, it snapped like a breadstick. It
sounded like two muzzled gunshots off my left shoulder. Pow, pow!’
Theismann said during a 2005 interview. ‘It was at that point, I
also found out what a magnificent machine the human body is. Almost
immediately, from the knee down, all the feeling was gone in my right leg. The
endorphins had kicked in, and I was not in pain.’
As Theismann lay on the field, a horrified Taylor frantically
screamed for the emergency medical technicians. Initially, however, many
Redskins personnel thought Taylor's screaming and pointing directed at their
sidelines was a taunt over the fact that he had successfully stopped their
play.”
I can tell you as I listened to Mr. Theismann’s reminiscence of
that day I found myself as impressed over the man’s testimony, as I have ever been
about any such sports account.
Pt. 2
Following is a transcript of a speech the former quarterback
delivered during a commencement exercise at Liberty University, and which has
much the same flavor as that recent radio monologue.
“I said, ‘Tonight, your life is about to change, Joe,’”
Theismann recalled. “Little did I realize I was into prophecy. My world was
about to change like I could never imagine.”
“The Lord gave me athletic skills. He gave me the ability to
throw a football. He moved me to the highest perch I could be at.”
“But when I was there, the only thing that mattered to me was
what I could get for me.” He went on to say that he now realizes that he is
merely a vehicle for God’s work.
“God noticed that I used those skills and was abusing those
skills and it was time for me to not do that anymore, but to talk about the
great graciousness of our loving Lord and the opportunities that He presents
every day.”
“The man who stands before you today, I hope and pray, is
significantly different than the man that played professional football. You
cannot, will not, nor ever hope to be a true success in life if you think you
do it by yourself because the Lord is present in our lives. You cannot and will
not survive in life if you don’t have a foundation and a belief. You can build
the greatest monuments, but they will all crumble at the foot of the Lord
because He is almighty.”
I would like to have had a recording device with me as I
listened to the Elvis Radio broadcast, but the following paraphrase provides a
bit more insight into the life of a changed man.
“Yes, the injury ended my hard-won career, but I had developed
an ego a mile high and just as wide. I was the best of the best, and I knew it.
I had a career going on that wouldn’t quit. And then, …this. Suddenly, I was
facing an uncertain future and there would be no coming back to everything
which had become all too familiar to me.
As strange as it may seem to your listening audience, George, I
think my injury was a blessing in disguise. Whereas it had been all about yours
truly, money and my adoring fans, and what I could get out of life, it caused
me to look up, and it rearranged my priorities. I embraced a vertical
relationship with God and a horizontal one with man. Life simply was not all
about me.
I could empathize with those who hurt, I could give to those in
need. I experienced a humility and a concern for my fellow man which had, prior
to my injury, been absolutely foreign to me. I was a changed man. And for that
I am thankful.
That injury sharpened my spiritual eyesight a thousand fold, and
literally turned my life around.”
(• Leonard Shapiro (2005-11-18). "The Hit That Changed a
Career". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
• • Stone, Kevin (18 November 2015). "Ten things you might
not know about Joe Theismann's injury 30 years ago". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved 12
December 2016.
• Sonny Bunch (2009-11-20). "Movie Review: The Blind
Side". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2015-02-04)
By William McDonald, PhD. From (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 47. Copyright pending
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