Wirthlin used sports to explain faith to former Utes Coach Urban Meyer
Coming to Utah as University of Utah's football coach in 2003, Urban Meyer knew his popes but nothing about Mormonism. So Meyer read all he could, and then attended the LDS Church's April General Conference, where he posed questions to everyone. Meeting LDS apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin, Meyer thought he had finally found a real expert on the faith. "I wanted to talk about LDS history and those types of things," the popular coach said this week. "All he wanted to talk about was Utah football."
In his sermons, Wirthlin returns again and again to the lessons of football. His coach, Ike Armstrong, believed the game required "not only football prowess, but also courage, duty, dependability, perseverance, integrity and enthusiasm, which resulted in physical, emotional, and even spiritual conditioning at the highest level," Wirthlin said in a 1978 speech. "The end product was to be nothing less than character of the most solid kind." These are the feelings Wirthlin now shares with his friends, Urban and Shelley Meyer, and the young Ute players. "He obviously has a passion for his Mormon beliefs," Meyer says, "but he also has a passion for Utah football. He knows it and I know it and the players know it."
Updated: 12/02/2008 10:45:48 AM MSTPosted: 8:19 AM- (Readers note: This story originally ran in The Salt Lake Tribune in 2004)
3 comments:
"All [Joseph B. Wirthlin] wanted to talk about was Utah football."
That's pretty funny - but somehow I think he had more to talk about than football.
absolutely he did. what a great apostle and teacher he was. I added in a little more of the article. SUNNI
What an awesome article! Thanks for sharing it with us :)
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