MELBOURNE, Fla. – Once a Gator, always a Gator.
Tim Tebow, who graduated from the University of Florida nearly eight years ago, spoke to a crowd of about 800 people decked out in orange and blue Sunday night who attended a fundraiser at the Clemente Center on Florida Institute of Technology, News 6 partner FLORIDA TODAY reported.
But Tebow told them he wasn’t there to tell football stories – he wanted to talk about what really matters.
“We remember and know what’s most important is people,” Tebow said.
Tebow won the Heisman trophy and two college football national championships before he was chosen as a first-round pick in the NFL draft and played with the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and New England Patriots. Since then, he became a college football analyst for the SEC Network and signed with the New York Mets, playing minor league baseball with the St. Lucie Mets in Port St. Lucie.
He also has written two books, “Through My Eyes” and “Shaken: Discovering Your True Identity in the Midst of Life’s Storms” and founded the Tim Tebow Foundation.
After former UF athletic director Jeremy Foley introduced the famous athlete, Tebow explained how he’s spent his life trying to figure out what it meant to be part of a team.
At 4 years old, he was so excited to play sports for the first time with T-ball. When he fielded the ball, he threw it to the first baseman, who dropped it. The next play, instead of throwing the ball, Tebow ran over and tagged the bag himself.
His coach wasn’t happy and told Tebow he should’ve thrown the ball.
“I said ‘why?’” Tebow had responded. “The kid can’t catch!”
After that, his parents created a new family rule. Before he or one of his siblings played any game, they had to memorize a Scripture verse.
“When you’re on a team,” Tebow said, “you fight for a common goal.”
Proceeds from the evening benefit Coastal Community School, a nonprofit private Christian school in Satellite Beach not associated with any specific denomination, and Trinity Fitness, a chain of Christian-based gyms with 12 locations across five states, including five in Brevard County.
The event also benefits Brevard Rescue Mission, which provides transitional supportive housing to homeless women with children and transforms families from dependency to self-sufficiency.
Tebow told stories of when he thought sports and winning were the most important things but learned it’s actually about people.
When he went on his first mission trip at age 15, Tebow met and carried a boy who couldn't walk because his feet were backward. Tebow was focused on playing sports at that time, but that experience put everything into perspective when he learned life isn’t all about winning.
“It’s rallying people together to change lives,” Tebow said.
Before Tebow’s talk, the evening featured a sit-down dinner and silent auction with several Tebow-themed items, including football and baseball jerseys. As the general public filed their way into the bleachers, singer Patrick Gibson played country songs on his guitar.
At one point, children from the school sang as a backup choir while Gibson played a Christian song.
Tebow ended the evening by asking the crowd to bow their heads and pray with him.
“You’re not in it alone,” Tebow said. “Church isn’t a building we go to on Sunday. It’s people we get to do life with every day.”