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Book Details

I Believe

28.6% complete
1975
1983
1 time
Book Cover
Has a genre Has an extract Has a year read Has a rating In my library 
396
No series
Copyright © 1975 by Grant Teaff and Sam Blair
To Donell, a perfect wife, who happens to be my best friend
Tammy, Tracy, Layne, who make me proud to be a father
Bill and Inez Teaff, whose son could not have asked for better parents
A loving God, who gave life, friends, opportunity and all that I have
None on file
None on file
No comments on file
Synopsis not on file
Extract (may contain spoilers)
One player who had been in deep thought spoke up.  " I have the perfect name for our club," he said.  "Since we're the McMurry College Indians, let's call ourselves the Brotherhood of Indian Belly-Landing Experts."  Everyone in the room laughed.
    I said, "Hey!  That's a long name but I think it's a great one.  How do you guys feel?"  They all yelled their approval.
    Another young man said, "Coach Teaff, why don't you have a Scripture put on the cards that always will remind us of this experience"  Everyone liked that idea, too.
    That afternoon I went to a printer and told him what I wanted.  McMurry wore maroon and white but the closest we could get to a maroon card was red.  So I said, "Well, that's great.  We'll print it on red and everybody will that it's supposed to be maroon."  He laughed and asked me, "What else do you want on the card?"  I told his we wanted a Bible verse, the name of McMurry College and the date of the crash.  "Which verse do you want, Coach?" he asked me.
    "I'm sorry, but I have no idea," I told him.  "Do you know a good Bible verse?"  He said, "No, but I have a Bible here.  Take it and find a verse."
    He handed me the Bible and I nervously opened it to Romans.  I put my finger on the page just to start reading to see if I could find something appropriate.  I found myself in chapter 8 and my finger squarely on verse 31.
    It said, "What shall we then say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us?"
    "Use that," I told the printer.
    I was pleased when I left because I had found someone who could print the cards quickly, and because I had found with such ease a verse that would mean so much to all of us involved in that experience.  The next day I went by after lunch to pick up the cards.  They were wrapped in brown paper and I didn't open them.  I just took the package to our dressing room and waited for the played to arrive.  I was wondering what I might say to them when I presented the cards.
    Nothing had really come to mind when I heard the players gathering for our meeting.  I walked in with the package in my right hand and said, "Fellows, at your request I had the cards printed.  I found the Bible verse and found it a very unusual way and I want to tell you about it because I think it further emphasizes the point that God has made in all our lives: that God is reel and that he has a plan and a purpose for us."
    After I explained it, I handed the package of cards to a young man on my right and asked him to pass them out.  As he circulated them, all of the players looked at their cards in amazement.
    "Coach Teaff," one of the players said, "the name has been changed."
    "Oh," I said, "I forgot to tell you.  The printer called and said the name was too long and he wanted to abbreviate it.  I told him fine, because we all knew what it meant."
    The player said, "Coach, the abbreviation turned out to be B.I.B.L.E.  We have formed the Bible Club."
    Just one more signal that Gad was saying something to all of us.  Since that time a well-worn card has been in my billfold in my hip pocket.  I've told this story to thousands of people and every time I tell it it touches deep into their hearts because it's stranger that any fiction.  It's true.

 

Added: 25-Feb-2003
Last Updated: 07-Apr-2020

Publications

 01-Aug-1975
Key-Word Books
In my libraryI read this editionOrder from amazon.comHas a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
Cir 01-Aug-1975
Pages*:
219
Read:
Once
Cover Link(s):
Internal ID:
263
Publisher:
ISBN:
0-876-80832-1
ISBN-13:
978-0-876-80832-0
Printing:
3
Country:
United States
Language:
English
I Believe
Grant Teaff

"I believe."  That phrase captures not only the words, but the spirit and soul of the man who led Baylor University to its first Southwest Conference football championship in fifty years.

Grant Teaff is a man who radiates warm human qualities - on and off the field.  He is a football coach who maintains a loving concern for people, a quiet confidence in others as well as himself, and the desire to do his best at anything he undertakes.

I Believe is the story of Baylor's efforts to gain the SWC championship - and yet it is more than that.  It is the story of the man behind the team, the man from Snyder, Texas, who began his collegiate coaching career at McMurry College.  It is the story of a man dedicated to his team, his family, and above all, to his God.  The impact of Grant Teaff's career - and his life - reaches far beyond the scoreboard as he influences and molds the lives of young men.

Sam Blair, sports editor and daily columnist for the Dallas Morning News has won awards for his football, golf, and baseball writing.  His articles have appeared in Sporting News, Pro Quarterback, Golf Digest.  His work has been selected for the anthology Best Short Stories which is published nationally each year.

He is a ten-time winner in the annual Golf Writers of America competition, having been honored in the three divisions: news writing, column writing, and magazine writing.  This is his third book.
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Notes and Comments:

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Author(s)

Sam Blair  

Grant Teaff  
Birth: 12 Nov 1933 Hermleigh, TX
Notes:
From the Official Baylor Athletics Site

Perhaps no individual is as responsible for advancing the cause of Baylor football as legendary head coach Grant Teaff.

Teaff was hired to coach Baylor's program in 1972 when many people said the Bears should drop out of Division I. When the final gun sounded on the 1992 John Hancock Bowl - Teaff's last game as a head coach - he had accomplished one of the most distinguished coaching careers in history.

Teaff finished his career 170-151-8 overall in 30 years as a head coach. He was 128-105-6 at Baylor, 83-74-4 in the Southwest Conference and 4-4 in bowl games.

He was named SWC Coach of the Year six times and national coach of the year once. He coached 16 first-team all-Americans and 83 all-conference performers.

Teaff finished his career as the nation's second-ranked coach for tenure at his present school, the fourth-ranked coach for SWC wins, third-ranked coach for games in the SWC, second-ranked coach for seasons in the SWC, sixth-ranked coach for wins by an SWC coach, ninth-ranked active coach for career wins and 20th-ranked active coach for winning percentage.

He coached 12 postseason all-star games, including the East-West Shrine Game, the Blue-Gray Game, the Hula Bowl, the All-American Bowl and the Japan Bowl. The other SWC schools went through 38 different head coaches during Teaff's tenure at Baylor. He coached against such giants as Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Darrell Royal, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Vince Dooley, Shug Jordan, Tom Osborne, Frank Broyles, LaVell Edwards, Bill McCartney, Lou Holtz, Barry Switzer, Bill Yeoman, Jimmy Johnson, Johnny Major and Hayden Fry.

Teaff currently heads the American Football Coaches Association as the organization's executive director. The AFCA is widely recognized as the game's driving force in terms of promotions, legislative matters, ethics and professional standards. And the organization's driving force is Coach Teaff.

Teaff moved into his position as the "coaches' coach" after his highly successful 22-year stint as the head coach of the Bears. What Teaff has done with the AFCA has mirrored his accomplishments at Baylor.

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*
  • I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
  • Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
  • When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
  • When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
  • Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.






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