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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2008 > June > 16 > Entry
BLOG: A Florida Gator even Buckeye fans can admire
Here’s a guy who has turned his Heisman Trophy award into a real vehicle — and by that I’d don’t mean a stretch limo filled with girls for a club-to-club cruise of The Flats and downtown Cleveland.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it seems like kind of a pedestrian ride when compared to the journey University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow has been on since he won the Heisman six months ago.
Even though the Gators turned out to be a thorn in the side of a splendid Ohio State football team and its Heisman quarterback, Troy Smith, two seasons ago, Buckeye fans who are open-minded have to give some props to Tebow, who’s spent his off-season touring the globe as though he’s a cross between Mother Theresa, the Rev. Billy Graham and one of those dreamy/steamy docs from ER.
A devout Christian who’s the son of missionary parents — and a college student with a 3.68 g.p.a. — Tebow has visited the Philippines and Croatia and spoke at prisons, schools and community gatherings in Florida. He exchanged hand-written notes with President Bush, who commended him as a role model. He rallied sororities in Gainesville to raise over $10,000 for orphans, has visited sick kids in a Jacksonville Hospital and next month heads to Thailand to do good deeds and speak about his faith.
All this has been documented in media reports, especially by Matt Hayes’ of The Sporting News earlier this month. Hayes caught up to the rarely-idle Tebow and over lunch — “I haven’t had a meatball sub in a long time and it tastes good,” the quarterback said — got some of the details of the iconic 20-year-old’s travels.
Tebow told of his week-long trip to the Philippines, the place where he was born and where his parents, Pam and Bob, run an evangelistic association.
During his stay in March, Tebow visited a poor village outside General Santos City, where, he said, swamped doctors got him to help them with various procedures, including a circumcision.
“You don’t have time to get nervous,” Tebow said, “those kids need you.”
According to Florida officials, Tebow is getting thousands of requests to help the needy, come speak or lend his name and presence to worthy causes.
“God gave me this gift for a reason,” Tebow told Hayes. “There’s a sense of purpose in everything I do. It’s not me in control; He is. There’s a great amount of comfort knowing that.”
Whether you are religious or not, whether you are a Buckeye or a Gator, whether you follow sports or not — you’ve got to admire a guy like Tebow, who appears as good off the field as he is on it.
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