Not many, I suspect...
Well, I'm here to tell you about a guy named Johhny Evans, a pretty good football player. It's the kind of story that appeals to me because it epitomizes character.
Johnny was an all-American punter and quarterback who played college football at North Caroline State University. When he graduated, he was drafted by the Clevland Browns of the National Football League. He played three seasons with the Browns before being traded to the Buffalo Bills who released him after only six weeks with the team.
Naturally devastated, Johnny spent the first Fall in 17 years not playing his beloved football.
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| Johnny Evans |
At the time of his release, he was married and had family responsibilities. While his college degree equipped him for a good career, he could not immediately find a job in the field. Instead of feeling sorry for himself or accepting handouts from friends, or refusing to work at a job well below his qualifications, Johnny went to work selling shoes at a sporting goods store for minimum wages.
His wife said that in the evening when she would pick him up at work she would find him vacuuming the store's floor or down on his knees at the feet of an eight-year-old, fitting the child with a pair of soccer shoes.
Within a year, however, Johnny received the opportunity to continue his football career with the Montreal Concordes (1982-'83) and Edmonton Eskimos (1984'85) of the Canadian Football League. He would play a total of four seasons in the CFL, utilizing both his kicking and quarterbacking skills. He not only got back the football job he wanted and trained so hard for, but he had the satisfaction of maintaining the support of his family through his dedication to holding down a job, no matter how menial, during a low point in his life.
While friends may have felt it demeaning for someone of Johnny's stature to work as a shoe clerk, he knew it was an honorable position. And he believed it was much more desirable than to disregard God's pattern for the discipline of his life by not working at all.
You see, since 16 years-of-age Johnny had been a committed Christian. After his football career ended he became a color commentator for North Carolina State football games, but more importantly, he also became the Eastern NC director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Johnny and his wife, Beth, still co-lead an FCA Adult Chapter Bible Study for nearly 800 people in the Triangle community of Durham, North Carolina.
The Evans have four adult children—quadruplets—and three grandchildren.
Now you know the other side of the Johnny Evans story.
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