And he does it with action rather than words. For those unfamiliar with the accomplishments of this outstanding young man, an article from four years ago, published just prior to his mid-year graduation from the University of Florida, follows these pix at the bottom. You will find no mugshots or any arrest record for assault and battery, robbery, rape and abuse — all of which seem to be the semi-civilized savagery trend of the current crop of Florida quarterbacks.
Haley was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome when she was only 15. It is a life-threatening illness that she refuses to let bring her down.
Haley is a huge Tim Tebow fan, so on behalf of the Tim Tebow W15H (Wish) Foundation, which “fulfills the dreams of children with life-threatening illnesses whose wish is to meet Tim Tebow,” the football player flew Haley and her family out to Scottsdale, Arizona for the royal treatment.
‘Princess Haley’ was greeted by Tebow, treated to a luxurious stay in the Presidential Suite of the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess hotel (which included pampering at the spa), received an airplane ride over the Grand Canyon, threw out the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game, and participated in an array of other amazing activities
She also spent a lot of one-on-one time with Tebow; tossing around a football and training with him. Tebow even prayed with Haley and her family.
However, fulfilling Haley’s wishes didn’t stop with what was on her schedule. Tebow gave Haley a big surprise by joining her and her family for dinner.
By giving others strength, hope, and encouragement, Tim Tebow defines what it means to be a true role model.
Tebow More than “The Best Footballer Ever”
by Pat Shannan
It was late November and the University of Florida football stadium in Gainesville was jammed to its capacity as the Florida Gator fans anticipated witnessing a memorable and historic occasion. While this would be but another ho-hum victory over a not-so-equal opponent (most have already forgotten by now what the score was), the pre-game buzz was over the final home appearance of one of their own – Tim Tebow – the one that sportswriters and coaches all over the country were already referring to as “the greatest who ever played the game.”
When number 15 came jogging out of the dark tunnel, the cameras flashed, the band played and the 91,000 erupted into a several-minutes-long tribute that soon welled the eyes with tears of pride of most there and many in the national TV audience. As those cameras scanned, at least one placard was seen to say, “Tebow for President.”
When Tim finally reached the mid-field bench, the bear hug inflicted by head coach Urban Meyer, not to mention his tear-stained cheeks, reflected the admiration that he and the fans have had for this young man for the past four seasons. In that time, Tim Tebow had become an icon.
As a freshman, Tim was already the backup quarterback who often outshone the senior starter on Florida’s team that won the national championship that year. In 2007, he became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy – awarded to the nation’s most outstanding college football player – in its more than seventy-year history. As a junior, he led Florida to another national championship; and as a senior this year, he almost made it again before a stronger Alabama team beat the Gators for the SEC title.
But as we have reported on these pages in the recent past (Dec.’07, Sept. ’09), Tim Tebow is more than just a football hero. It is a sport he loves and one he says that he will pursue to the professional ranks, but it is not something that rules his life.
Tim’s admirable parents, Christian missionaries who established multiple missions in the Philippines before he was born, instilled a strong Biblical grounding in their youngest of five children that does govern his life. While Papa Bob was tending to his mission work, Mama Pam was homeschooling the brood. She speaks proudly of the academic achievements of her older four and can now boast that Tim graduated in December with a degree in Family, Youth and Community Sciences from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Through four years of college he maintained a 3.66 grade-point average – another amazing feat that he juggled between football and extra-curricular activities.
As a result of inheriting this Christian devotion and social conscience, young Tim has been a prison and orphanage minister, visited the less fortunate in hospitals and leper colonies, and even launched his own missionary work in the Philippine Islands during his summer breaks from college. He has never been ashamed to exhibit Biblical cites on the glare-reducing black patches beneath his eyes on game day, knowing that these will be seen by millions via TV, and has never done a fatuous, celebratory jungle dance after running for one of his 57 touchdowns, the most ever by a quarterback.
Perhaps the most unusual trait about this unique young man is his Biblical commitment to celibacy. As one of the most sought-after bachelors on campus, this permissive age in which we live notwithstanding, Tim has determined that it is God’s will that he not sleep with any woman until he is married to her.
Package that wholesome decency into a 6’3”, 240-pound body that can traverse 100 yards in less than 10 seconds, and then add instinct, caring for others, natural leadership and an inextinguishable will to win, and you have not only a winning athlete but a young man who was raised for greatness.
Tebow for President? Maybe – in another twenty years or so.
At this year’s Super Bowl, Tim and Pam are scheduled to make a pitch on National television for the activist Christian group “Focus on the Family.” Certainly, the Right to Life messages will clearly strike a nerve with many, but with Tim having been a potential victim of the abortion forceps himself – for health reasons, his mother was advised to end the pregnancy in 1987 but refused to do so – there can be no better spokespeople for the right to life than these two remarkable people.