Football Is Like Life

"Football is like life; it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority."

~ Vince Lombardi

Last Saturday night was the end of an era in the life of my son, Richard. His fourteen-year football career culminated in Saturday night's end-of-season banquet for the Wheaton College football team. My husband Tim and I watched proudly while Head Coach Mike Swider talked about the contributions each of the twenty-six senior players have made to the team during the past four years. As I listened, I reflected upon what football has taught Richard about life.

I thought about Richard's grandfather who died suddenly on December 19, 2008, at the end of Richard's freshman football season.  My son, Richard Graham Jacobson, is the third generation of Jacobsons to play football for Wheaton College, a tradition that began with his grandfather and biggest fan, Richard Virgil Jacobson. 

Richard Virgil Jacobson, Richard Graham Jacobson and Timothy Richard Jacobson

That fall his grandfather, despite his failing health, did not miss a single one of Richard's games.  I believe he even showed up to watch a couple of the team's practices. 

Richard and Richard

Richard V. Jacobson was passionate about football and when the Wheaton team made the Division III playoffs at the end of that season, he was delighted to witness their success. 

Tim is at the right in the last row and Richard is beside him.

I also recalled how my husband Tim signed our son up for Pop Warner football when Richard was seven years old and then devoted the next seven years to coaching our son's team.  Tim's coaching commitment demonstrated sacrifice and hard work to Richard while forging a love for the game that bonded this father and son together. 

Tim and Richard

Richard responded to his dad's commitment by dedicating himself to learning to play the game well.  Those Pop Warner years were fun because the team worked hard to create a tradition of winning.  Twice the team won the playoffs to advance to the regional championship games held over Thanksgiving in San Diego, California. 

Richard, #41 and Tim

High school football, however, was a different story.  A new football coach was hired and fired each year during Richard's four football seasons at Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson, Arizona.  Desparately trying to develop a winning football program, each new coach demanded greater performance from the players while offering them little in return.  Only Richard's love for football compelled him to persevere at playing the game.  Richard sacrificed many hours to attend practices during the season and worked to maintain his competitive edge during the off-seasons.  Those years were lean, but they were rich in teaching life lessons such as respect for authority even when the person in authority is not always worthy of respect, doing one's best to promote teamwork among one's peers and maintaining one's focus in spite of hardship to reach a goal.

When Richard decided to attend Wheaton College and play football there, both Tim and I were surprised that he was not ready to hang up his cleats. Even more startling was Richard's choice to attend his father's alma mater when he'd always sworn that he would never go to Wheaton. 

Coach Rod Sandburg and Richard

Perhaps the recruiting visit Rod Sandberg, Wheaton's defensive coordinating coach, made to our home caused Richard to reconsider all the benefits that a small, private college like Wheaton could offer.  Certainly, the weekend trip Richard made to Wheaton during the spring of his senior year in high school was the tipping point.  The Wheaton football players he met that weekend impressed Richard as they shared with him how Wheaton's football program builds teamwork through small group Bible studies led by upperclassmen and overseas mission trips taken each spring break.  Richard returned home with a renewed enthusiasm for the game, convinced that Wheaton's approach to football as preparation for life could teach him much.

The ruthless competition that Richard experienced in his high school football years now stands in stark constrast to the comaraderie he has found with his teammates at Wheaton. Between the Wheaton coaches and players, there is a level of trust and commitment that has resulted in winning seasons every year Richard has been privileged to play for the Wheaton Thunder. Advancing to the Division III playoffs in Richard's freshman and junior seasons, the Wheaton team missed this year's selection by a single touchdown in their loss to Illinois Wesleyan University.

So, what will Richard take away from his time at Wheaton?  A renewed love for the game of football, of course, but even more life-changing is the way Richard's Christian faith has deepened during his college years.  Traveling twice to Dakar, Senegal to work on construction projects at the Beacon of Light mission compound has shown Richard the needs of a predominantly Muslim and poverty-sticken area of the world.  Though Richard is still uncertain exactly what he will do with his communications degree after graduation, he has developed many characteristics that will help him succeed in the game of life.   

"Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

~ Vince Lombardi