{"id":40859,"date":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/football-coach-disciples-his-team\/"},"modified":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","slug":"football-coach-disciples-his-team","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/football-coach-disciples-his-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Football Coach Disciples His Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For four decades, Amos Alonzo Stagg coached football at the University of Chicago. They were the original Monsters of the Midway, long before the Bears borrowed that moniker. For decades during and long after Coach Stagg&#39;s heyday, you couldn&#39;t go too far on campus without bumping into his influence. Not only did he lead the Maroons to two national titles in 1905 and 1913, but his football legacy includes the huddle, the Statue of Liberty play, onside kick, the T formation, the end-around, and the forward pass. In other words, he practically invented football as we know it.<\/p>\n\n<p>But that isn&#39;t his true legacy. When he accepted the invitation to coach the Maroons, he gave the university president an acceptance speech of sorts, saying, &quot;After much thought and prayer, I decided that my life can best be used for my Master&#39;s service in the position you have offered.&quot; Amos Alonzo Stagg coached until the age of ninety-eight, but he didn&#39;t just coach his teams. He discipled them.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3793,3850,3908,4245,4350,4351,4352,4353,4458,4459,4610,5066],"tax_ctp_topics":[401],"class_list":["post-40859","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-discipleship","tax_ctp_tags-elder","tax_ctp_tags-example","tax_ctp_tags-influence","tax_ctp_tags-leader","tax_ctp_tags-leadership","tax_ctp_tags-leadership-development","tax_ctp_tags-leadership-of-the-church","tax_ctp_tags-mentor","tax_ctp_tags-mentoring","tax_ctp_tags-pastoring","tax_ctp_tags-sports"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Football Coach Disciples His Team - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/football-coach-disciples-his-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football Coach Disciples His Team - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For four decades, Amos Alonzo Stagg coached football at the University of Chicago. 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