Faith and football

Published 10:11 pm Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Faith, football and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes — that was the focus of Bill Curry’s speech Tuesday night at the Plaza.

The head football coach at Georgia State University was the guest speaker at the FCA spring banquet. After 14 years away from the sidelines, the veteran coach expressed excitement about his return. He was just as excited about coming to Thomasville to speak about his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“I love (speaking),” Curry said. “It’s one of the things I look forward to, the privilege of using the athletic format to share our faith”

Early in his life, Curry didn’t envision playing football at all. He eventually did at Georgia Tech and then in the NFL as an offensive lineman with the Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and Baltimore Colts. Curry credited Green Bay defensive legend Willie Davis for his development as a player and person. Davis saw the potential in Curry and encouraged him to succeed. Curry did and played 10 years in the NFL.

“It was an act of his Christian faith,” Curry said. “God in Christ in Willie Davis changed Bill Curry forever.”

Once Curry’s NFL career ended, he turned his focus to coaching. He eventually coached at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky. Curry’s latest stop, though, is one he hasn’t encountered before.

The former ESPN announcer will guide Georgia State in its inaugural football season next fall.

“I knew it would be really hard,” Curry said. “I thought it would be much harder to recruit. I thought it would be much more difficult to get the administration to understand the needs of a football program but I was wrong. Our administration gets it. We’ve been working hand in hand, the president, the director of athletics and our staff, every day. I am actually joyful going to work.”

Georgia State’s season will begin on Thursday, Sept. 2 against Shorter College at the Georgia Dome. It’s the first of seven home games for the Panthers, who conclude their season on Nov. 20 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. against the defending national champions, Alabama Crimson Tide.

“My kids are already excited about it,” Curry admitted. “The best thing that having that game on our schedule does is it causes our guys to work harder and prepare harder. Yes, we want to do well on our schedule, but everybody comes up and talks to one of us, talks about that game. We don’t want to get over there and get blown out of the stadium. We’re working hard just so we can go over there and represent ourselves, respectively.”