Great American Christian Athletes

George Foreman was born on January 10, 1949 in Marshall, Texas. Forman is a retired professional boxer who is a two time boxing Heavy Weight Champion, an Olympic Gold Medalist, and an Ordained Baptist Minister.

He also has become one of America’s great examples of an entrepreneur selling the George Forman grill for healthy cooking as his contribution to building a healthier America. He has proven to be an incredible example for the next generation to follow.

Kurt Warner was born on June 22, 1971 in Burlington, Iowa. He played football all through high school and college, but didn’t make the draft into the professional NFL. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers, but didn’t make it to the regular season having to compete against super stars like Brett Farve, Mike Brunell, and Ty Detmer (a Heisman Trophy winner).

Kurt was stocking shelves at a local grocery for $5.50 per hour when he was playing Arena Football. In 1998, he was signed by the St. Louis Rams as their quarterback. He won the Super Bowl MVP twice while playing for the Rams and achieved many other records and awards. He converted to Christianity in 1997, just before his football career took off.

Jeff Gordon was born on August 4, 1971 in Vallejo, California. He is a professional stock car driver for NASCAR. Jeff has been known to have a Biblical scripture taped to the steering wheel or dashboard of the race car he drives at each NASCAR race. He has proven to be extremely competitive, and has won 4 Winston Cup (now called Sprint Cup) Championships.

He is a self proclaimed Christian, and was saved when he started going to church with some of the other drivers in the early 1990’s.

It’s no secret that Tim Tebow is a devout Christian by the behavior he has displayed on the football field while playing for the University of Florida in college, and more recently the Denver Broncos Professional Football Team.

He was born on August 14, 1987 in Makati City in the Philippines to Baptist Missionary Parents who were American. His father is a Pastor. During his mother’s pregnancy, she developed a life threatening infection and was given dangerous drugs in order to bring her out of a coma. Doctors recommended she abort the fetus as they expected a stillbirth in any case. She refused. Having faith in Jesus, Tim was born healthy and strong. He has set many records, many positive examples, many charitable contributions, and will now be the quarterback for the New York Jets.

Jackie Joyner was born on March 3, 1962 in East St. Louis, Illinois. She was named after Jackie Kennedy. She married her track coach, Bob Kersee in 1986 and became Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Jackie attended UCLA and is an American icon winning 3 gold, 2 bronze, and 1 silver Olympic Medals, as well as 4 gold medals and World Championships and 1 Pan American Games gold medal in various track and field events.

She along with many other athletes founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization in East St. Louis. Jackie also is the recipient of the NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards nominee for 2010.

Meadow Lemon (Meadowlark Lemon) was born on April 25, 1932 in Wilmington, North Carolina. He tried out for the Harlem Globetrotters in 1954 at the age of 22. He also played for the Bucketeers, the Shooting Stars, and was partial owner of Smoky Mountain Jam of the American Basketball Association.

Meadow, a born again Christian, became an ordained minister in 1986 and received a Doctorate of Divinity degree from Vision International University in1988.

These super stars are just a few that set such great examples for generations to come. Not only are they talented and generous, most have beaten the odds just by living on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As always, I always appreciate your opinions, comments, and suggestions. Please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

"Be kind to one another" ~ Ellen

God Bless You ~ Margaret Sullivan