Bob Timberlake (American Football) - Religion in Timberlake's Life

Religion in Timberlake's Life

Timberlake was outspoken during his time in the limelight about the importance of his Christian faith. Timberlake taught Sunday school in Ann Arbor while attending the University of Michigan and said he intended to become a Presbyterian minister. At a speech in Mansfield, Ohio, shortly after winning the Rose Bowl in January 1965, Timberlake said, "I couldn't have played football if it hadn't been for Jesus Christ." He continued, "God changed my life. He promises the abundant life, which he has given me, and eternal life, which if I die I'm sure I will have. There's peace associated with being a Christian."

Timberlake also spoke openly of his personal conversion as he walked in a parking lot while on a night watchman's job at a Chevrolet plant in Warren, Michigan. Timberlake defined a Christian as "one who has Christ as his personal savior," and not just a person who was brought up in a Christian home or goes to church.

When he signed a professional football contract with the New York Giants, Timberlake stated that he intended to take ministerial training at Princeton Theological Seminary during the off-season. He noted, "I don't really want to play professional football, because there is no privacy and no time to be alone when you're a famous athlete." He emphasized that, if he were ever forced to choose between professional football or studying for the ministry, he would give up football: "I see no reason why I can't do both, but if I have to give up pro ball, I'll certainly do it." Timberlake said the thing he would always remember about playing football was the 20 minutes before kickoff. He recalled that those 20 minutes were "horrible." "You want to go home. You want to quit football. It is times like these when something happens to me. I can't explain it. I put my face in my hands and ask God to come into my heart and give me courage. He gives me peace."

When a boy asked Timberlake for his autograph at the Giants' rookie camp in 1965, Timberlake signed his name but also wrote citations to two Bible verses: John 3:16 and 1 Peter 1:5–9. The boy asked, "What's that?" Timberlake explained they were Bible verses, and he told reporters he started doing it about six months earlier, hoping the kids would look up the verses. In 1965, such public religious expressions were not common among athletes, and columnists made note of the fact that Timberlake "packs a Bible in his suitcase and keeps one in his locker."

While playing for the Giants in October 1965, he told an interviewer: "I'm playing football to convey Christianity either indirectly or directly and to give me access to you people. The eye of American is upon the sports' field, so I can reach more people playing football. I guess you can say my goal is to spread a Christian message." At that time, he was attending Princeton Theological Seminary once a week and planned to attend full-time after the football season. Asked if the violent nature of football was inconsistent with his Christian beliefs, Timberlake noted that "you don't need to hurt anyone to get by" in football and that the game involved skill, timing and execution more than violence. He then joked, "There's nothing really wrong with good, clean violence."