I was talking to Coach Steve Wilson recently and I asked him what he thought the top quality was that distinguished great quarterbacks. His answer surprised me. “Imagination" he said. "The ability to see things that aren’t as though they are." I had never thought of imagination as a characteristic of greatness for a quarterback, but that made a lot of sense. And Coach Wilson would know: he played 3 years as a Dallas Cowboy with the legendary "Captain Comeback", Roger Staubach; 7 seasons with the Denver Broncos and Hall of Famer John Elway; and had further exposure to "QB Greatness" through the men that quarterbacked his father’s teams, including Hall of Famers Fran Tarkenton, Norm Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield and the incomparable Johnny Unitas. I remember playing golf with one of Coach's first quarterbacks, former Howard University All American, Jay Walker, now a Maryland congressman and an ESPN sports announcer who told me that Coach would always preach "in order to be it, you have to be able to see it!" And if Coach Wilson could see something in me that got me to the NFL, then he really must know what he is looking for!
When I asked Coach to elaborate, he talked about two situations: the first being the ability to imagine a completed pass to a receiver that appears to be covered. That includes throwing the ball with an arc and a velocity, at an angle, and to a spot that doesn’t exist in the moment; but having the trust, faith, and confidence that it will. A player with great imagination can, in a split-second, see and then throw the ball into a future that doesn’t yet exist, because the receiver has not yet even made his break for the ball. Coach then described a second type of imagination; when the situation in a game is appearing bleak, desperation has presented itself to the team, and it looks as if a loss is eminent. Great players have the ability to imagine things, and inspire others, to produce outcomes that seem highly improbable and almost impossible.
I remember asking the great NBA Hall of Famer James Worthy, a fellow Tar Heel and All American basketball player at UNC in the early 80’s, what it was like to play against my idol Dr. J, Julius Irving. I will never forget his answer. He said "Doc has great imagination. When he goes up in the air, you have no idea what he is going to do, and I don’t think he does either, which makes him that much more dangerous." Dr. J didn’t know what he was going to do, but he trusted and had faith in himself that he could figure it out before he hit the ground. And he usually did in spectacular fashion.
Reflecting, a scripture came to mind. Hebrews 11:1 - "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Followed by "...God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did" (Romans 4:17)
It seems to me that this is what faith implores us to do, to live with imagination; imagination for the good, for HIS good, and for our good. To look at things not as they are, but as He said they should be, and one day will be. To not be surprised when things unfold in a supernatural way even when nobody else can see the possible outcome. Like the saying "HIS super, to my natural." We have a term for that, we call those moments miracles. I think miracles take imagination, and I think that is part of faith.
Every day I think about my life with cancer, and therefore my mortality. And every day I apply my faith to thoughts of my family and also to football (mostly because of Shawn's dreams and career unfolding). And every day, I realize more and more, that all three areas of my life are saying the same thing. Imagination and faith go hand in hand and seem to be key ingredients in a recipe for success, to see the whole field, the ‘bigger picture’, even beyond this life and into eternity.
On Saturday I enjoyed Brett Favre’s acceptance speech to the Packer Hall of Fame. Talk about a quarterback who had great imagination and the ability to make impossible plays, that WAS Brett Farve. But how he ended his remarks struck me most profoundly. He said "when I was younger, I prayed for what God could do for me. But now, a little bit older, I pray for what I can do for God."
And I went to sleep thinking; if imagination is a characteristic of a great quarterback, then perhaps it should be part of greatness in life too. And I wondered, how sharp is my imagination? How can I grow it and expand what is possible with faith in order that I might access moments and outcomes that seem so impossible, so far from reality, but somehow….still within reach?
Like maybe a cure for leukemia? Wouldn’t that be something?
Amen and amen