Griffin Robert - Griffin, Robert, III: athlete, leader, believer

PRAISE FOR ROBERT GRIFFIN III

Robert Griffin III captured affections of the football faithful in the nations capital and beyond during his wildly successful rookie year with the Washington Redskins. In this book, Ted Kluckone of my favorite writersprovides a compelling glimpse into Griffins life and young career. The jury is still out on Griffins long-term impact on the NFL, but his story is certainly worth reading. Kluck has done sports fans a great service in telling it.

TIM ELLSWORTH, COAUTHOR OF

PUJOLS: MORE THAN THEGAME

Big WE .... Little Me Roberts mantra for Leadership is succinctly captured within the spirit of this book.

TERRY SHEA, FORMER NFL AND COLLEGE

COACH AND QUARTERBACK MENTOR

Ted is more than a great Christian writing about sports. I think hes one of the best sportswriters period. I found his reflections on RG3 relentlessly interesting and his ruminations about faith and superstardom wise and measured.

KEVIN DEYOUNG, SENIOR PASTOR,

UNIVERSITY REFORMED CHURCH, EAST

LANSING, MI; AUTHOR OF CRAZYBUSY

2013 by Ted Arnold Kluck a/k/a Ted Kluck

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013937530

ISBN: 9781595555748

Printed in the United States of America

13 14 15 16 17 18 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Tris and Maxim, because football is
for little boys and their dreams

CONTENTS

by Jim Kelly

I ts good to see good people succeed. I had the chance to spend some time with Robert Griffin III last year at an awards ceremony and found him to be a great kid with great parents. You root for people like that.

Robert and I really couldnt be more different as far as quarterbacking style and background are concerned. I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, whereas he played for a high school powerhouse in Texas. I was a pocket passer and ran when I had to, usually paying a huge price for it. I basically donated my body to this game, and now every time I take a step I feel it. I know that Robert knows what hes getting into, but this game at this level can take things away from a person that you cant even imagine.

Theres a newness and a freshness to his game that connects with fans who are in a constant pursuit of perfection. He makes defensive players look ridiculous with his world-class speed and athletic ability. His style is fun to watch, and its probably fun for him to execute. I think it will catch up to him eventually, but I definitely enjoy watching it.

Robert is a part of a rookie quarterback class that is taking the league by storm this year. Along with Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson, he seems to be breathing life into the position and in some ways redefining how it is played. And for now hes doing so with class and integrity. I hope and pray that his integrity continues and remains strong, as I know firsthand the kind of temptation and compromise that can come with success on an NFL stage.

Robert is taking center stage this season and is in the crosshairs of a media frenzy that extends beyond the most political city in the world. His every word and action is analyzed in more detail than at any other time in pro football history. When I think back on my years in the NFL, it was truly a different eraan era without Twitter, Facebook, and twenty-four-hour online coverage of our league and its teams. Then, there was still a private life that for the most part remained private.

What Ted has written is a respectful, thoughtful book that is not only a book on Robert Griffin but also a book on quarterbacking and faith. Ted is clearly a student of football, and his passion for the game is visible throughout these pages. He breaks down film. He crunches numbers. He takes what is in many ways a difficult subjecta rookie quarterback who is still largely unprovenand provides shape and context to what Griffin has done and what hes capable of; and he does it respectfully, with a perspective on what the men who have quarterbacked before him have done.

Its strange that we live in a world where there are books contracted on players who havent even finished their rookie yearsand, more importantly, who havent yet faced the spiritual and emotional challenges that come with adulthood, marriage, and family or the pressures of being the long-term faces of their franchises. Ted acknowledges this strangeness honestly, but then dives headlong, joyfully, into the RG3 quarterbacking fray. With Ted, youll learn about football on these pages, and youll ask important spiritual questions, all in the context of a young player who is thrilling us on Sundays.

Enjoy,

Jim Kelly

NFL Hall of Fame

I consider myself a sort of archivist of football experiencessome meaningful to the masses, and some just meaningful to me. I remember my first live NFL gamean Indianapolis Colts exhibition game against the Houston Oilers in 1984. I hyperventilated when I walked through the concourse and saw the green Hoosier Dome AstroTurf for the first time. I would play on that field eight years later. I remember the first time I cared about my team losingin 1985, when the Chicago Bears lost on the road to the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football and I was allowed to stay up late to watch it.

As an adult I no longer care about or cheer for teams. Rather, Im on a search for the singular experience: for a player or team special enough to merit consideration and watchfulness. I have a houseful of these experiences. I have the Doug Williams Super Bowl on VHS. I have the entire 1985 Bears season on DVD. I have some Barry Sanders games on DVD. I have DVDs of teams (Los Angeles Express vs. New Jersey Generals, or Steve Young vs. Doug Flutie) and leagues (remember the WLAF?) that have almost no meaning to anyone anymore, but for some reason trigger memories for me. I have a closet full of old jerseys that are themselves more of an homage to fabrics (remember Sand-Knit and Durene?) and NFL Draft Busts (remember Rashaan Salaam?) than anything quantifiably great. Football, like music, was made for archivists. Its made for that little rush of serotonin that comes from finding the perfect jersey, or the perfect old bootlegged DVD on eBay.

Thats why I take the study and archival of Robert Griffin III so seriously. These will be some kids first memories of the NFL.

We live in the kind of world where three weeks into a players rookie season, books are already being written and speculation is already being made about a rookie player altering the landscape of the league. While Im resolute in thinking that this is jumping the gun, Im also excited to be involved. As an author, Ive been roped into these kinds of projects before. About a year ago, I was one of about fifty-five authors to sign to do book projects on thenNew York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, who was a flash in the pan of epic flash-in-the-pan proportions. Seemingly the day after we all signed our contracts, Lin blew out his knee and was on the shelf for the season, but Im still glad I did it, because I enjoyed Lin and enjoyed delving into his story.