76-10-B6
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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Sports and Religion[edit]
Transcript[edit]A few weeks ago having covered the news section, then the comics and the editorial page of the morning paper (and I do it in that order), I turned to the sports section. This doesn't mean that sports come last on my list of priorities -- far from it. I'm just a creature of habit, set in my ways. My eye was caught by a four column photo of a basketball team and coach on the bench, heads bowed, or resting, on their crossed arms. I read the caption, thinking this must be a team that had just suffered a terrible defeat. I was wrong. Their heads were bowed not in grief but in prayer. They play under the title "Athletes In Action" (A.I.A.). And, as the caption writer couldn't resist pointing out, they are a team that prays together and plays together. A.I.A., the sports arm of Campus Crusade for Christ, is headquartered in Tustin, California and hopes to represent the United States at the world championships in Manila in 1978. They may very well make it. Recently they overwhelmed the country's leading team, the University of San Francisco, 104 to 85; then rode over the highly ranked Nevada (Las Vegas) 104 to 77. Nevada went into the game averaging 53 rebounds a game - they got only 33 and A.I.A. had 64. This is an amateur team that plays colleges and universities who can take the defeats handed them because they don't appear in their win/loss record. A.I.A.'s record at the time of the photo was 78 wins, 14 losses. Their total record for the season is 25-6 -- all on the road. They have no home base. One of the players turned down a no-cut, two-year contract with a pro team that would have brought him 230,000 dollars. There are other former university stars who were high draft choices for pro ball. Their income is 700 dollars, if single, 900 dollars if married and it is not for playing basketball. They are ministers. When half time comes they don't go to the locker room for the coach's input on what to do in the second half. The towel themselves off, pick up microphones and tell the crowd of their belief in God. The news article said the reaction is mixed. Sometimes they get attentive audiences but sometimes, on college campuses, they are booed, jeered and cursed by small, noisy groups. As one of them said though, "We just try to rise above it". And they must succeed, because between two and three thousand people have responded to their halftime messages by accepting God. In addition another 10,000 have responded by mail, asking for more information. Wherever they are, at home or on the road, they address civic groups, speak in churches and hold clinics in high schools and with coaches. And, they have a basketball team that some say could go up against the pros and give a good account of itself. After all, they have beaten the number one college team and, in the Midwest, broken a 48-game home winning streak of another top ranked university team. They have a faith that has enabled them to gamble that they can buy television time for thousands of dollars and put their games on television as delayed telecasts. I'm going to start looking for them. They just may be the best amateur team in the country and can get even better. Some of the nation's top stars are interested in joining them when their college days are over and the bait isn't basketball -- it's faith in God. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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