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Metaphysical Fitness
According to Lorenzo Romar, the UW men’s basketball coach, says there are as many reasons why athletes go to chapel as there are athletes in chapel. For some, it’s just how they were raised. Others “can’t get enough of learning about the Lord,” he says. “Then you’ve got some that are going through difficult times: last year of their contract; an injury, maybe a career-threatening injury; not playing very well. Subconsciously, they’re looking for help, so they go to chapel. I think for some others, it’s a straight rabbit’s foot. Good-luck charm. As one man said, ‘I’ve got a pair of dice, I’ve got a rabbit’s foot, and I’ve got a cross that I keep. So between the three I should be okay.’”
Faith also appeals to those seeking a sense of acceptance, says Mike Rohrbach, ’78, who played but didn’t star for the UW football team in the 1970s. The constant scrutiny that student-athletes endure can be more punishing than any physical test.
“Every Husky football practice is taped, and every play is monitored and looked at—kind of an eye-in-the-sky, if you will,” says Rohrbach, who now directs the Run to Win Christian sports ministry and serves as a volunteer chaplain for both football and men’s basketball, as well as for the Sonics. “Your performance is evaluated, and sometimes it’s comforting to know that God accepts you just the way you are. It’s not based on your performance. It’s based on your trust in him.”
And just as some athletes crave relief from the pressure to succeed, Romar says, some crave relief from success itself. He believes that most athletes who use press conferences and post-game interviews to thank God for their spectacular play—as self-important as they sometimes sound—are actually trying to keep their own heads from getting too big.
“I think some people who are really strong in their faith will always give credit to God, as a way of preserving their humility,” Romar says. “There is an understanding that whatever we have, we only have it because of the Lord: I don’t ever dare take credit for what I’m doing, because I know this is of God.”
Lorenzo Romar on life after the NBA
“I’m guarding Magic Johnson one year, and the next year I’m playing in front of maybe 600 people for Athletes in Action, guarding a player that is never, ever going to be looked at by the NBA. And some people would look at me almost in pity. They’d say, ‘So, are you enjoying what you’re doing?’ Kind of with that tone, like, ‘How have you been making it since you’ve been paralyzed?’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah, I am.’ ‘Well,’ they’d say, ‘at least you’re still playing.’ In other words, this is a waste of time. One coach contacted me and wanted me to be his assistant at the Division-1 level. And he said, ‘You know, you’re just running in the mud doing that thing you’re doing with Athletes in Action. That’s not going to amount to anything.’ What those people who felt sorry for me didn’t understand was, that was seven of the best years of my life. I learned as much in those seven years as I had learned in my entire life, through Bible studies, conversations, conferences, where I just learned the Bible. I just learned the Word.”—Eric McHenry*Lecture Series “Religion in Sports: Tensions and Opportunities,” a panel discussion featuring Tyrone Willingham, Lorenzo Romar, Professor James Wellman and former UW athletes, will take place May 9 in Kane Hall, Room 120. And this month, Professor Christopher H. Evans of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School will speak on “Baseball: An American Religion?” in Kane 220. Both events start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for UWAA members, $10 for non-members and $5 for students. For more information about the comparative religion program’s lecture series, “Religion and Sports: Pilgrimage, Ritual and Piety in American Life,” and to register, visit UWalum.com.
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