I started reading the book Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy. Tony Dungy was a Super Bowl winning NFL coach for the Indianapolis Colts. Now, he's an analyst on NBC's Sunday night football pregame show.
I like the way that Dungy opens up the book. He says that he wants the book to be more about life, rather than football. Dungy has been a strong Christian man for the majority of his life and decided to share his experiences through this book. Personally, I love this because I've grown up in a Christian home and I love football. It's a win-win situation for me!
As Dungy opens, he opens with him returning to the Tampa Bay stadium to empty out his office. He was fired at Tampa Bay after six years with the team and is reminiscing on his career, so far. Dungy then moves on to give some background details. He grew up in Michigan with his very successful parents. His father, receiving a PhD at Michigan State, taught philosophy at Jackson Community College and his mother, receiving an MA in English at Michigan State, taught at a high school. He was one of four kids, all smart and athletic.
Moving on, Dungy was great in football and basketball in high school and hoped to play football at Michigan State someday. After some turmoil at the school and a great high school career, Dungy went on to the University of Minnesota to play quarterback. His collegiate career was also fantastic, becoming fourth all-time in total offense in the Big Ten, a two-time team MVP, and a captain during his senior year.
As the NFL draft came along, Dungy waited for that life-changing phone call that would forever change his future. He waited with another teammate, Mike Jones, who was also supposed to be drafted. Jones' call came along, but after waiting and waiting, the call never came. Once the draft was over, teams were trying to fill their roster spots for training camp and Dungy received a few calls, but none for quarterback. In Dungy's words, "I was crushed."
I like this book in the way that Dungy is very descriptive and very relatable. These first few chapters have been a lot of background and I'm waiting for Dungy to get into his deep topics. So far, this has been a good book.
I read for ninety minutes and I read it all in one sitting.
