Updated from the January 2004 article

Ordained ministers, and certainly players of faith, are not a new concept in sports. For the players and die-hard fans of football, the game is almost a religion unto itself. To name a player in the 70's there was football great Roger Staubach. He placed his faith in God and the Dallas Cowboys. They both delivered in their own ways.

Irving Fryer of the Eagles was an ordained minister in the 1980s. So was Chris Carter of the Minnesota Vikings. The only thing they lacked was a religious title.

That took a birth in December of 1961 in Chattanooga, Tennessee for a true believer to make even nonbelievers wonder how he did that. The "that" being sacks. The "that" being done by a man we know as Reggie White. It was his "that's" which brought still-standing records to the game of football.

Along the way he became an ordained minister. In short time he became known as the "Minister of Defense."

As for football he had a record thirty-two sacks while playing for the University of Tennessee. That just whetted his appetite. After college he played the 1984/85 season with the United States Football League (USFL) Memphis Showboats. In quick time, he had 23.5 sacks, and set new records. The National Football League took notice and Philadelphia Eagles signed him in the NFL. For the Eagles, a defensive end prayer had been answered. The sacks continued.

Times were giddy for Philadelphia fans during the 1985 through 1992 seasons. Reggie not only had a gridiron he ruled, but a pulpit to speak from. Reggie in his spare time preached from a church. People listened to his sermons, even more gathered to watch him play.

A calling lead him to the Green Bay Packers in 1993. It turned out to be for the best in Pastor White's mission and Green Bay's hopes. The visibility lent urgency to his mission of faith, and the sacks helped Green Bay win a Super Bowl in 1997. At the end of 1998 his original four-year contract of seventeen million dollars was well over. So some thought was the Minister of Defense's football usefulness.

He sat out for a year before the Carolina Panthers gave him a try in the year 2000. However, time had caught up with his football soul. Meanwhile his spiritual side gave him comfort. Most of the time. Minister White had poured a lot of his money into his faith, and little was coming back. Not that money was most on his mind, but he did need to eat. He did need it to take care of family. A church he founded in Tennessee was burnt down. Someone or somebody of hate did that. He reacted in a noble manner and mowed down that deed as he would errant quarterbacks. He moved on. He continued to preach, spread the good word, and learn the art of his religious skills.

In football he left behind being an All-American from Tennessee in 1983. While with the Philadelphia Eagles he was a seven time "All NFL" player from 1986 to 1992. In 1987 he set the NFL records of twenty-one sacks in a year. There are also his eleven Pro Bowl appearances, ten or more sacks for nine seasons, and the fact he alone had sacked seventy-three different quarterbacks during his NFL time.

When he left the NFL he held the title of the most sacks. That being 198 in fifteen seasons. Only recently, in December of 2003, did Bruce Smith of the Washington Redskins best him by one. However, it took him nineteen seasons. The USFL time slowed Reggie down. As I mentioned he had over twenty-three sacks during his time there.

Did I mention he alone holds the title for three sacks in a Super Bowl game? Mr. White exhibited football sense many players and fans wished they had. He also had some religious sense. As football wound down he looked at his life. It was time for growing after football. It was a time for a return to what helped him with football. It was time for faith.

But, you probably knew that.

The Pastor left the Pulpit at the end of his Panther days. In his own words "People only came to the church to see him." His "Big Doggie Records" production business went bust. It was intended to present only family quality records, films, etc. Nobody, it seemed, wanted that from the Chattanooga baby of 1961. They wanted to talk or hear about his time on the field meeting the knees, arms, and legs of opponents he brought to earth in a football game.

Not that Reggie White left football or the pulpit to crawl underneath a helmet. That is not his style. Today he says he is studying the bible and learning Hebrew. He hopes it will help him explain faith better to those wondering. It seems to be working. At public appearances those in attendance want to hear more about his religious self, and less about life with shoulder pads. Faith outlasted his football prowess.

Today he no longer rules out a return to football. Not as a player but in a different position. There is little doubt he could preach knowingly on football and faith. Again he just waits for the call.

But, you probably knew that.

The connection between a minister, football player and canned food is something you may not know. In 1898 Herberton Williams was an executive with a growing soup company called Campbell's. During that time, he attended the yearly fierce football game between Philadelphia Pa.'s University of Pennsylvania and Ithaca New York's Cornell University football teams. That year marked the start of Cornell's uniform color changes to red and white.

The striking colors of Cornell's field uniforms impressed Mr. Williams. He managed to convince the rest of Campbell's upper management to change their soup cans to red and white. It worked and Cornell and Campbell's have kept the colors.

It was years later that Reggie White, along with hockey great Wayne Gretzky, became the first two people featured on a Campbell's soup can. During that year, 1997, Campbell's also pledged to donate 20,000 cans for every tackle White made. Another 50,000 cans for every sack. Campbells made similar pledges to other sports figures and at the end of the year ended up donating over one million cans of soup to feed the hungry. Many of them as a result of the Minister of Defense's efforts.

Reggie, the man, left his imprint on prayer, football and hunger. For Reggie White his work and prayer, it seems to me, have all been "MMM, MMM, GOOD."

Last month he moved onto another calling. Another challenge.

Will it be good? Yes, but I think we all knew that.

Sports Lore offers our sympathy to the the family and friends of Mr. Reggie White. While many like him may grace heaven few like him ever graced a gridiron. Thanks for sharing him with us.