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Spiritual Lessons on Victory and Defeat

Mike Holmgren, as told to Greg Asimakoupoulos | Outcomes, May/Jun 2006

Like many attendees of First Covenant Church in San Francisco, California, I was raised in a Swedish-American family. We lived above my grandfather's bakery, where Scandinavian breads and pastries kept us well fed. But on Sundays, all three generations of the Holmgrens were found at church, where the bread of life was generously dispensed.

As a child, my appetite for spiritual things wasn't substantial. Raised in the shadow of Kezar Stadium (home of the San Francisco 49ers), I was more fixated on my dream of one day wearing a 49er jersey than Sunday school lessons. Then, when I was 11, Billy Graham held a three-week crusade at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. My parents took my sisters and me almost every night. On the final night, Cliff Barrows led the audience in singing "Just as I Am." I couldn't stay seated and went forward to accept Christ just as I was: grubby tennis shoes and all.

But even as a Christian, I remained determined to make a name for myself on the gridiron. After leading my high school teams to the state championship, I was offered a scholarship to play for the University of Southern California Trojans. Unfortunately, injuries kept me sidelined much of my college career.

I was gratefully surprised when I was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1970. But four weeks later, I was released. The New York Jets picked me up as a backup quarterback to "Broadway Joe" Namath, but beforethe preseason was over, I was cut again. My dream of playing professional football was over before it ever began. I was devastated.

About this time, a girl I had met at Mission Springs Bible Camp the summer after I became a Christian reemerged in my life. Kathy had taken her faith much more seriously than I. She attended a Christian college, became a nurse, and was serving as a short-term missionary in Zaire. Her inspiring letters helped me realize how much I needed to trust the Lord in my disillusionment. As a result, I recommitted my life to Christ.

Proverbs 3:5-6 became the personal line of scrimmage at which I dug in: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."

Kathy and I married in 1971, and I began my coaching career at the high school from which I graduated. As our family of four daughters grew, so did my professional opportunities, and I moved up into the college coaching ranks. But ambition wasn't the demon it had once been for me. My wife and kids were a daily reminder of both God's blessing on my life and his priorities.