Johnny Unitas is my hero.
I became a Colts fan when I was 8 years old.
To me, Johnny Unitas embodies loyalty.
My love of football comes from my respect for Johnny U’s dedication.
Find out why I love the Indianapolis Colts by watching this Truth in Two (full text below).
My boyhood hero, his life, his character, still speaks to me today.
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from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Wikipedia, personal memorabilia
FULL TEXT:
Sometimes people ask me if I became a Colts’ fan when I moved to Indianapolis. I tell them this story: “When I was eight I found out that Johnny Unitas shared my birthday. When you’re eight, birthdays are pretty important; so my love of the Indianapolis Colts began with Johnny Unitas in 1965.”
I purchased an autographed picture of Johnny. I spent the money out of loyalty: loyalty to a team, to an exceptional football player, and loyalty to an ideal. We live in a day when athletes are paid millions of dollars just for signing to play with a team. Johnny Unitas simply played football for the love of the game.
The weekend after Johnny’s death, Peyton Manning, famed Colts quarterback, had a chalk-line circle drawn behind the end zone during a home game, placing Johnny Unitas’ black high-top football shoes in that circle, paying homage to the man who had inspired him. For those who know football, Johnny Unitas gave us the two-minute drill and made the NFL a permanent fixture on fall Sunday afternoons.
The players in those days received very small salaries for their gridiron efforts. When players went home, they opened doors next to neighbors living in row houses in the city where the fans lived. Like Unitas, players played for love of the game, loyal to their hometown. That kind of loyalty inspires me still. I’ll never engineer a fourth quarter come back to take a championship like Unitas did in 1958. However, that signed picture of Johnny in my office reminds me to practice loyalty, with the same love of the game I’ve been given to play every day.
At the Comenius Institute we believe what Johnny U. believed: loyalty, dedication, and respect is how we play the game of life.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.