Gratitude For Tim Tebow: Perhaps A Panacea For A Hurting Gator Nation

How do you describe Tim Tebow in a single word and sentence?

“Transcendent. He is the most genuine celebrity I’ve ever met and the best player I’ve ever covered in the SEC.’"-- Paul Finebaum,

“Passion. Incredible passion for the game of life and the game of football but most importantly an incredible passion for people.” -- Jeremy Foley

“Charismatic: Success hasn’t changed his core values.” -- John Adams Knoxville News Sentinel

Tim Tebow Receives Award at UF vs FSU in the Swamp - Photo by Brenden Martin

In these dark days of contemplation about the future of Gator football, silver linings are hard to come by and the harsh dialogue online is not meant for the Mary Poppins feint-of-heart crowd. I realize things are grim after the news of Billy Napier’s recent defections, but there is also a trail of tears from Athens to Tallahassee. It’s a familiar theme in lots of Burgs and Villes of college football today.

So where do inhabitants of The Gator Nation find solace? Let’s not blow smoke – it’s been a tough few weeks for Florida football fans. In the midst of all the misery, I’d suggest looking past the darkness and harkening back to the glory days for a temporary respite -- celebrating the final piece for the canonization of the Greatest Gator.

We all should be full of gratitude for what Tim Tebow brought his university – for that matter, what he brought college football. He was the greatest college football player I ever covered. Also one of the greatest people.

I was honored to have seen Tebow play every play since he first bounced on to the field as a baby-faced freshman and soared right into super stardom. I’ve covered quite a few superstars in my many years of sports journalism and not all of them were of great character, pleasant people or necessarily good role models. I grew close to several of those superstars and remain friends with them today. But one was not Tim, for whatever reason.

Tebow epitomized all that was just and good and right about college football. And boy could we use a dose of that right now!

Nobody topped the charts like Tim, who also infused such incredible joy and enthusiasm into the game. So much so that many of us so-called jaded scribes had to put a governor on the adjectives to keep from gushing.

Though I interviewed him for multiple articles and for a major chunk of a book, attended most of his press conferences, was sitting five feet away that day after the Ole Miss loss when he tearfully delivered The Promise, walked down Broadway in New York after he won the Heisman Trophy -- despite all that there was never an occasion to bond with him or get to know him better on a personal basis. My misfortune, not his. Tebow lived up to everything.

One day during the height of his popularity, ESPN counted more than 100 mentions of Tim Tebow in one day by its network. Thus Tebow Mania was born.

“The word: genuine … The sentence: The greatness of Tim is he is genuine; who you see -- the commitment to kindness, to helping others, to hard work and accountability, most importantly to his faith -- is very real. He is genuine.”-- Frank Frangie, 1010 XL 

“Genuine. Timmy is everything we want our children to grow up to be.” -- Pat Dooley

"Wonderful!" -- George Solomon, UF grad and former Washington Post Sports Editor.

"Inspiring," UF Booster Jeffrey Meldon

I marveled at his “Braveheart Face” during the win over FSU when he rode a scrum into the end zone and came up with what looked like a facefull of blood, but was in fact garnet end zone paint awash from the rain.

And then there was that frightening night in Lexington when his own offensive lineman tripped him, he fell so hard that he suffered a concussion and was hauled away in an ambulance.

My cameraman/producer son Brenden and I literally chased the ambulance after the game and reached the University of Kentucky hospital late, where we were ultimately kicked out. Gator fans kept trickling in and met the same fate, most of them terrified about Tim’s health. I remember one young Christian woman pleading, “I just want to go to his room and pray with him!”

About 2 a.m. I stood in the street with the UK hospital behind me and Brenden rolled as I talked about who was in the lighted room behind me without knowing his fate. The video went viral and may have prompted thousands of prayers. Tim flew home the next day and eventually passed concussion protocall.

“Competitor. From when he got to UF until he left there wasn’t one time where he was challenged and he didn’t live up to it, and I’m not just talking football I’m talking golf, bowling, marbles, rock/paper/scissors. It’s just how he was wired, he just wanted to WIN.” – Tate Casey.

Most notable was the day I dined with Tim one-on-one during the team’s Family Night. We talked about life and football but not the Heisman. He was not the favorite. But when QB Marcus Mariota of Oregon went down with injury that night on Thursday Night Football, it all but ensured Tim as the next Heisman man.

Then there was the night I walked down Broadway behind Urban and Tim just after he had won the Heisman. It was like a scene out of a Ben Affleck/Matt Damon movie, as they strutted and strode arm-in-arm,9 leaving a trail of testosterone all over New York City.   

Another magical day Tebow gave a head fake like he was to leave for the NFL draft, turned back around as he was exiting the stage and announced he was coming back for another year to the delight of 60,000 screaming fans at Ben Hill Griffin.

“For me I’d say, it was competitiveness. And work ethic.” -- Chris Doering 

The magic of his persona captivated people from all walks of life and all age groups. I once rode the team bus Tebow was on bound for the Gator Walk. He was the last to get off. Walking behind him, I watched as he broke ranks three times to hug women – all three middle age.

I commented about it to a middle age woman who was also an admirer of his with two daughters. “I’ll bet all three of them had daughters about his age,” she said, “and would love to see someone like him come to their door to ask for their hand in marriage.”

‘Timmy Tebow always will be unique person/athlete.” -- Woody Paige

He was like a son to Urban Meyer. I asked his former coach for his word to describe his Hall of Fame quarterback.

“Ruggedness. He is the toughest player I ever coached. And his consistency every day. He got a lot of credit, deservedly so, but I don’t think people realize how tough he really is because he’s such a nice person. His pain threshold – he was a freak -- he was in such great pain and would fight through it. Most guys couldn’t do it.

“So yes, he’s a great leader. Yes he was a great runner. He was a good enough thrower to do all the things we asked him to do. But it was his toughness. Fighting through injuries most people didn’t know he even had. The majority of people wouldn’t even have put on a helmet.”

Perhaps it is time for Gator Nation to stop with the crying and gnashing of teeth for what it doesn’t have and be thankful for what it HAS had.