Posted on January 6, 2008
Submitted by Jim McElwain

The book “Quiet Strength” by Tony Dungy, head coach of the NFL champion Indianapolis Colts is a good read for both football fans and people who appreciate positive energy and values. The book chronicles Dungy’s life story, beginning as a child in Jackson, Michigan. Both parents were teachers and instilled in him his sense of direction and values right from the start. Dungy states “Our parents encouraged us to follow our dreams and told us that if we wanted to do something, we could do it.” He also states “They allowed us (children) to figure out things for ourselves and to explore and grow.”

Dungy’s passion was sports – football in particular – but he is quick to point out in the book that football is not the most important thing in life. His life-long challenge to himself is to keep his priorities in the right order – values and character come first for him, football second. With humility he points out that, among his siblings, he is the one who is a football coach, while the other are in the medical field doing “truly important work.”

He goes on to chronicle his life journey, as a football player in the NFL for a few short years before turning to coaching. He worked with some greats in NFL lore – Chuck Noll of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings, for example. All along the way, Dungy details lessons he has learned, and that his learning never stops. Most of the book focuses on his time in Tampa Bay as head football coach there and in Indianapolis as head coach.

Along with the many football anecdotes which NFL fans will love, the book shines most brightly when he describes tough moments he went through, decisions he had to make and how his values guided him through those decisions – though, he frankly admits, he didn’t always get it right, even at that. In these stories, Dungy shows his human side – the one that reflects the many unknowns in life and his struggle to find the guiding light to move forward. He also discusses his involvement with All-Pro Dads which emphasizes fathers’ involvement in their childrens’ lives, and in a prison ministry in Tampa Bay where he was shocked to discover that so many inmates were young men who, given some different direction and support, might still make a better life for themselves. In fact, right after he was released as the Tampa Bay head coach, he considered whether he should go into this prison ministry full time.

Dungy also describes how he and his wife Lauren developed a passion for adopting children, including one with a disability. The book becomes most poignant in detailing the death of his 18 year old son, by suicide, in 2005. The emotions are human and raw and Dungy expresses them candidly in the book along with his slow journey back to faith and joy – though, as he says, the grieving never completely ends. In other parts of the book, Dungy forthrightly discusses the problems of race he has encountered as an African American and how he is proud to offer inspiration, now as an NFL champion head coach, to those who might need some hope, to show that great success is possible if one perseveres, regardless of race.

One significant caveat to readers: Although Dungy does not drone on and on about it, he does have a specific theological perspective and this comes through in the book. It is worthwhile to note, however, in his description of meeting Glazer family (owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), that although he was Christian and the Glazers were Jewish, that Dungy describes them as “wonderful people of faith.” With this in mind, readers can tune into the universal aspects of Dungy’s narrative and get a strong sense of his personal center and values, and find inspiration from them. The book is filled with positive spirit from beginning to end and I recommend it.