Belmont and Belcourt Biographies - Aaron Rodgers. An Unauthorized Biography

A ARON R ODGERS

An Unauthorized Biography

Copyright 2012 by Belmont & Belcourt Biographies

All rights reserved. Neither this book nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission.

eISBN: 9781619841642

Table of Contents

Introduction

Aaron Rodgers, quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, is soft-spoken, but what he doesn't express with his words is conveyed by his actions. He is a person of incredibly high standards, in every area of his life. He has a well-chronicled commitment to his family, in particular to his parents and his brothers. Perhaps even greater, he has a commitment to his teammates. He feels he is personally responsible for all of them achieving their maximum as players and as people. He believes that all people have that responsibility to each other. Rodgers does not think less of those who don't do their part. Instead, he works his best to help them achieve their own success. In his mind, part of that success includes helping others. He is the kind of person who believes in the best in all of us. He believes that we are all part of something much larger than ourselves, that we are all connected, and that by caring for one another we are also caring for ourselves. He thinks that the good deeds of man carry over from person to person, generation to generation, and lifetime to lifetime. He thinks that the knowledge and wisdom acquired by any one man is transferred to us all and that there is a form of connection between us that is beyond explanation. Part of this is just a testament to who he is as a man, but part of it also speaks to his faith.

Rodgers grew up with two great Christian role models in his parents, his father being the primary one. Rodgers is active in his service when the lights go off and his season is over, spending much of his offseason working in his community in both religious and non-religious capacities. In a recent interview, Rodgers said that he loves to use his fame and celebrity to make a more soft-spoken and indirect impact on charities and organizations. Troy Murphy, pastor at his church, says, Aaron will not stand on the bleachers and shout, but he will privately live that life consistently with Jesus. I love that about him.

There was a time in his youth, as so often happens, when he began to stray from the teachings of the Bible. Fortunately for him, he had two mentors to help steer him back in the right direction. Pastor Andrew Burchett was the local youth pastor when Rodgers was a teen and Matt Hock was leader of their church youth group, Young Life. Rodgers credits the two of them for helping him get back on the righteous path and being true to what he believed. Their influence prompted Rodgers, at age sixteen, to dedicate his life to living for Christ and to be baptized. When asked about this period of his life, Rodgers said, When our family had its ups and downs, I knew my parents relied on God for everything and He always got us through those rough spots.

As awareness of how important Rodgers' faith is to him becomes increasingly evident to the public, many have begun to draw comparisons between him and Tim Tebow, the current quarterback for the New York Jets, who is considerably more overt in the expression of his Christian faith. The difference is that Rodgers keeps his devotion private, whereas Tebow, for example, prays openly on the field and uses eyeblack to cite scripture. In a November 2011 with NBC Sports, Rodgers commented at length about what has happened with Tim Tebow and the comparisons made between them.

In that interview he said, Well, I started playing before Tim, so these are things Ive thought about for a long time, and I think one thing that I try to look at when I was a younger player, and I mean, in high school, junior college, and Division one, I was always interested in seeing how guys talked in their interviews, talked about their faith, or didnt talk about their faith. And then the reactions. I know Bob Costas at one point was critical about a player thanking Jesus Christ after a win, questioning what would happen if that player had lost, or do you really think God cares about winning and losing. I feel like my stance and my desire has always been to follow a quote from St. Francis of Assisi, who said, Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. So, basically, Im not an over-the-top, or an in-your-face kind of guy with my faith. I would rather people have questions about why I act the way I act, whether they view it as positive or not, and ask questions, and then, given an opportunity at some point, then you can talk about your faith a little bit. I firmly believe, just personally, what works for me, and what I enjoy doing is letting my actions speak about the kind of character that I want to have, and following that quote from St. Francis.

After leading the Packers to their fourth Super Bowl victory in franchise history, Rodgers used his time to address the sports world to give credit to his teams defensive line for the victory. While many in the sports world heaped praise on Rodgers, he preferred to confer the glory that the media and others bestowed upon him to his teammates, content to just be part of his team.

Aaron Rodgers is who has achieved the pinnacle of professional success in his sport. He has achieved that same success and happiness in his personal life. This is the story of Aaron Rodgers.

Early life

Aaron Charles Rodgers was born on December 2, 1983, in Chico, California, about two hours north of Sacramento. His parents are Darla Leigh and Edward Wesley Rodgers. The Rodgers family, including Aaron and his two brothers, Luke and Jordan, moved to Ukiah, California, when he was very young. There, Aaron attended Oak Manor Elementary School. Aarons father, a Texas-born chiropractor who played football as an offensive lineman for California State University, Chico from 1973 to 1976, taught all three of his sons how to throw a football. He also taught his sons to steer clear of drugs and alcohol and to embrace their faith as much as possible. He drove that message home by teaching them that getting into trouble and being around the bad element could keep them away from sports. When Aaron was ten, he won a local basketball free-throw competition, his first athletic award, and was featured on the front page of the Ukiah Daily Journal.

Later on, his family moved to Beaverton, Oregon, where Rodgers attended Vose Elementary School and Whitford Middle School, and, in the Raleigh Hills Little League, he played shortstop, center field and pitcher. In 1997, he returned to Chico and attended Pleasant Valley High School, right near the center of town and what would later become the town square. While at Pleasant Valley High, he started at quarterback for two years and threw for 4,421 passing yards. He also set single-game records of six touchdowns and 440 all-purpose yards. In 2001, Rodgers set a single-season record with 2,466 total yards, before graduating in the spring of 2002. Rodgers completed his high school academic career with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and scored 1400 on his unofficial SATs.

Not the normal path: junior college 2002

Rodgers garnered little interest from Division I college programs even though he had record-setting high school statistics. He believed that his height and weight, 5'10 and 165 pounds, were the reasons for the lack of interest. (Ideally, quarterbacks are at least 6'0 tall.) Rodgers had dreamed of going to Florida State University and playing under legendary coach Bobby Bowden, but the university was not interested in him. The only major collegiate program to offer him a scholarship to play football was Illinois, and that was only an offer to walk on to the team. The school didn't even guarantee him a scholarship unless he made the team. He decided to pass. At that time, he wasn't sure if he would even have a future in football, so he considered quitting the sport altogether in favor of attending law school. Then, he was recruited by the local junior college, Butte Community College. That school was very close to where he lived at the time, about fifteen miles south of Chico.