One Yard Short
Les Steckel Talks Faith, Coaching, and Finding Peace After the Closest Loss in Super Bowl History
Les Steckel’s story takes us through his experience as a marine, a vietnam war vet, a football player, and a football coach.
We got to talk to him about all of it, where his faith came into the picture, and what his experience was like being a coach for 8 different NFL teams.
He also shared with us the story behind one of the most famous plays in Super Bowl history. For more info on that, you’ll have to listen for yourself.
Episode Transcript
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Henry Kaestner: Welcome back to The Faith Driven Athlete podcast. Today, we've got Coach Less Steckel with us less. Thank you very much for joining us.
Les Steckel: Absolutely. I'm pleased to be with you.
Henry Kaestner: You've had probably some of the most unique life experiences of any guests we've had on the show. People might not realize that before the NFL, you served as a Marine in Vietnam in the war, and retired with a full bird, the full rank of Colonel. Talk to us about that experience and how it shape you as a leader.
Les Steckel: You know, I really believe that the Marine Corps experience was tremendous. I graduated from college in 1968. The next day I went down to Kansas City to the recruiting station and joined the Marines. And next thing you know, I went through 10 weeks of officers, candidate school and 26 weeks of infantry training. And then with a 30 day leave, I was shipped over from Vietnam. But the one thing about the Marine Corps that I'm so pleased to say is it taught me incredible discipline and it really showed me what teamwork truly looks like. And I got to understand what the words service and sacrifice meant. So I'm blessed to be a part of the Marine Corps. We've had reunions, 40 reunions, 45th reunions, fiftieth reunion last year of men that I served with that fortunately made it back from Vietnam. Many of them didn't.
Henry Kaestner: Tell me. When you look back at that time in history and then that experience as a very, very, very young man. How did that shape you in your faith? And then how did that shape you as a football player and coach? Maybe we'll start with the faith first.
Les Steckel: Well, my first flashback, when you ask that question, I picture myself with another lieutenant late at night with a little 10 light reading the Bible together. I think we both knew that, you know, each day was critical. You hope to make it to the next day. I learned quickly there was a sovereign God in charge of every detail, and that's who I relied on. And then secondly, I have to tell you, the training that I was given prior to embarking on Vietnam was outstanding by the Marines. I really just put my whole trust and faith in the Lord. And it hasn't left.
Henry Kaestner: So you're what age? 19, 20 years old.
Les Steckel: I was 23 years old.
Henry Kaestner: 23years old. And you're in the middle of the jungle. You're in God's word by penlight.
Les Steckel: I had 250 Marines and 80 Vietnamese soldiers under my command and to be 23 years old. That's quite a responsibility in a short time.
Henry Kaestner: How did your faith, obviously, you just spoke to it about how it impacted you as an individual. How did it impact you as a leader? Was there an opportunity when you've got all these people that are looking to you, people from your culture, people probably who have your faith tradition, people who don't. And yet even 80 people from Vietnam. How did your faith impact your leadership and how you shared about the mission and how you shared about what was going on real time, the real dangers, the opportunities, the objectives and all that?
Les Steckel: Well, you know, I've been involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes since I was a young coach, and I'm sure we'll talk about that. But I heard someone at one of these events say values are caught, not taught. And the Marines were trained extremely well. I've always told audiences when I've had opportunities to speak that, you know, we as Christians are to exercise immediate obedience. You know, when Jesus walked along the shores and said, come follow me. People would instantly drop their nets and come follow him. It was instant obedience. And I've always said the only place I've ever seen instill obedience in my lifetime was with the Marines.
So I took the values are caught, not taught that I learned the FCA camps and use that with my Marine leadership, knowing that there would be instant obedience if I gave them the right model. And as their officer commanding officer, I had to do that. So it wasn't a picnic at times, but it without a doubt, I was blessed to have a platoon sergeant and tremendously trained, disciplined Marines with me. So, you know, it was a challenge each day. I think the biggest challenge was the morale because the war wasn't very popular in the 60s. Sixty nine was the toughest year. Were more lives lost? Many. And I was there in 69. And of course, when these young Marines get their letters from their girlfriends and their mother saying, what are you doing? Come home? And there were guys trying to get out of it. You know, they would do stupid things to blow their hand off of their foot or whatever to get medevac and go home. It was quite an amazing journey.
Henry Kaestner: Did you find that people under your command were just trying to really understand? So obviously, you've got all the conflict back home and I'm limited to just my experience is just watching movies. But there's obviously these letters are coming in, but you've got young men in real harm's way. Did you find it that crystallized a sense of meaning and purpose with these young men? And just the question of what's this all about anyway? And did you see people coming to faith or to question their faith or losing their faith? What's that like on the battlefield?
Les Steckel: I think a little bit of all those things you mentioned. I think what comes about is, you know, the old saying the survival of the fittest. It was, you know, every day I mean, we all had calendars, calendar. We check it off every day because we all had 12 month tours. I've always said I didn't know one infantry officer that ever re up. You know, I've met people said I've had two and three tours of Vietnam and, you know, kind of shrugged my shoulders. As I say that, you know, I kind of know where they were stationed because I didn't know an infantry officer that went back more than one tour. But without a doubt, you know, your dependance upon the Lord was crucial. There were days where you just wondered what was all about, but you took, as you've heard, said before, one day at a time. And that's what you did. And like I said, I felt blessed. Come back and, you know, I don't want to paint some horrible picture. It wasn't a picnic. But like I tell my wife and my family, all I tell them about is that I did my job. And that's what that's about as far as I could go talking about it.
Henry Kaestner: Well, thank you for doing your job. So you returned from battle. You return from Vietnam in 1970 in your station in Quantico, and you played football for the Quantico Marine football team until 1971. What was that like? Is the Marine football team still in existence?
Les Steckel: You know, that was one of the highlights of my life. It was so special. Without a doubt, Henry, we were a college all star team. There were only two places in America at the time where you could play college football and your eligibility was up. That was the Quantico Marines, the football team that was started back in the 50s and the Pensacola. And I mentioned the Pensacola team that was stationed in Pensacola, Florida. That's where Roger Staubach played quarterback for two years. People always said, you know, how did you go from the Naval Academy to Vietnam? And then two years later, after Vietnam starts for the Dallas Cowboys, where he played 24 football games for the Pensacola guy Sharks and the Quantico Marines, the two years I was starting running back, we played other colleges and a lot of teams didn't want to play us because we were now 20. I was a twenty five year old running back my second year, and that was pretty special experience. So we would play a 12 game schedule. Can do quite well. And to this day, those guys that were coaches and or players on that team were still my dearest friends. We were all Vietnam vets, and I was blessed to be given the leadership award, along with my best friend, Pete Kaminer, who was a star player at Holy Cross and earned a whole lot more medals in combat than I did. And he and I are still very close and dear friends.
Henry Kaestner: So tell us about your faith journey. Did you grow up in a Christian home? We know, that it was operative when you're in the battlefield and obviously very, very, very much since. But how did all come about and how has it grown?
Les Steckel: Well, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I grew up in a Blue-Collar neighborhood in Pennsylvania. It was my mom and dad. And it's kind of a challenging, dysfunctional family. A little bit. It was just me and my mom and dad and my brother and sister came along. Ten years later, I went to Kansas University to play football. I'd hoped my dream was to go to the Naval Academy and I flunked the physical. Surprisingly, I passed the physical for Vietnam within about five minutes. But I went to Kansas University because the chancellor of the university was from my hometown in Pennsylvania, and I went out there as a walk on. Got involved with Golden Gloves boxing my sophomore year and a dear friend of mine on the football team who I still stay in touch with, who's been battling cancer now for over three years, said you need to come hear this gentleman speak. And where I came from, if you could beat everybody up, you were a pretty tough guy. I had won a Golden Gloves title and he said that I just want you to come and hear this guy speak. And I asked him what it was about. He said it was about religion. And I said I told him I didn't need that religion, jazz and next thing you know, I'm sitting in an audience listening this man speak and I'll never forget what he said, and I've used it numerous times to share my faith.
He said, if you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, you'll receive peace, purpose, power and pardon. I knew nothing about Peace. I wasn't interested. Pardon? I always said I never did anything wrong. Which was so foolish. But purpose. I wanted to know why I was here. What's the purpose of my life? And this gentleman made a lot of sense. And two weeks later, I accepted Christ. And as I tell people, Henry, I accepted Jesus as my savior. At age 19, I accepted him as my lord at age 44. When I became broken and I went through a 13 month broken process. But I hear people say when they were nine or 10 years old, they accepted Jesus, our lord and savior.
And I I always say, wait a minute now, do you really understand what that means? As Jesus to be your Lord at age 10, I didn't know it when I was age 42. But I did know he was my savior. And when you come to totally surrender your life to Jesus Christ, as I challenge audiences all the time, when you do that, life is rather special, even though it has got a lot of roadblocks and speed bumps. It's a special experience when you walk and let the Lord lead you.
Henry Kaestner: What happened at age 44?
Les Steckel: Well, my wife and I were just talking about it just moments ago, how I was blessed to be a young coach in the NFL and had opportunities with but Grant Hall of Fame coach possibilities with coach Tom Landry and the Cowboys and so forth. And I finally had an opportunity to be a head coach with the Minnesota Vikings. I was second youngest ever to be a head coach at that time. And then later went to New England after I was fired after one year and worked for a gentleman named Raymond Berry, the Hall of Fame player. Who he was the receiving end of Johnny Unitas, the Hall of Fame quarterback.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah, I grew up in Baltimore. Big fan.
Les Steckel: I've lived now almost 74 years, and I've only been around one person in my entire life who lived each and every day by the Holy Spirit, and that was Raymond Berry. And he was such a model in front of me and kind of a hero. And as I was working for him and calling plays and we went to Super Bowl 20, my first year calling plays for the Patriots. I saw a man live the Christian life moment by moment, and I'd never seen that before my entire life. And one day he called me and he said Les, you know, nineteen eighty five. The Lord told me to hire ya. And today's telling me to fire you. And I couldn't believe that we'd just come off and four straight 11 win seasons and playoffs and everything. But it was the greatest thing that he ever did. I wrote a book called One Yard Short Turning Your Defeats into Victories. And in that book, I talk about my brokenness. And I said, Raymond Berry fired me. And I said, he should have fired me. I would have fired myself. Never did I realize I was such a driven individual at the time, trying to prove more than I should have. And I think it all comes back, as my mentor, Raymond Berry, said. Tell me about your dad. I talk about it in the book because I think we're so influenced all of this men and women by the father figure. And that's what's so special about the almighty God, the father and the son. Jesus, our earthly fathers have such an impact on her life. And we never realized it. Those that have been adopted and never met their dad or, you know, having a wonderful father who is in his life all the time or a disgruntled alcoholic father or someone who punished you and treated you harshly. And I was trying so hard to impress my dad, I think. And so I was quite the driven man. I must confess. But through that experience, God took me off the merry go round and set me on the sidelines and said, I need to visit with you for about 13 months and you get my full attention. And at that time, I totally understood what was the surrender to Jesus Christ. And from 1990, December 1st, 1991, I tell you, I have had an amazing ride and now I understand what it is to give your life to Jesus and to call him your lord and your savior.
Henry Kaestner: Since that journey as an adult, when you gave up wardship of your life, when you're 44, have you circle back with Raymond Berry and let him know about the impact he had on your life in that particular instance?
Les Steckel: No question. We've talked about it several times and we live in Nashville, Tennessee, now after moving around compliments of the NFL. And sure enough, Raymond has his daughter here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which is 45 minutes south of us. And I'll scoot down there. Take him to lunch and we'll have time together, so Chris and I and Sally and raiment together, but I've shared that with him numerous times and I thank him every single time for waking me up, if you will, by firing me now.
Henry Kaestner: So go back to the time that you're now back into coaching. Faith is the center of your life. How did faith impact the way that you coached? And what would you say is a difference between how a player might have received you before you're 44 and then afterwards, as your coaching career progressed, but now faith was at the center of your life?
Les Steckel: Well, without a doubt. I've always stood in front of the team. Fortunately, I had the position of offensive coordinator for a lot of those teams, different college and university of Colorado for Bill McCartney. And you know, I was with Tony Dungy at Tampa and Jeff Fisher with the Titans. And I would say to the men the first night they would come into the room, I'd say, put your playbooks underneath your desk, we're not gonna talk about football right now. We're going to talk about the most important thing to me, and that's relationships. And I used to go to the board and I would write a giant capital I and a capital T. And I said relationships are built on two things. And then I would yell as loud as I could. That's it. And I'd pound the board. And I said, That's the last time you ever hear me raise my voice with you. I said, All I care about is building relationships with you. And when we have an honest relationship, one that's built on integrity and trust. That's what the I.T. stand on. I said the scoreboard will take care of itself. But I said, you need to know something. I care a lot about you and I'm going to have to earn your respect and I'm going to have to prove that. But without a doubt, I'm in the business. Yes. To win football games. More importantly, make a difference in your life. And I said, I hope I can do that. Now, I've had the pleasure of staying in touch with players that I've coached. Beginning in 1972, all the way up to my last year in the league in 2003.
And I can tell you that I hear from a lot of players and one of the things I always hear from them is, coach, we were too young to understand what you were telling us at the time, but now we do. And that's rewarding to hear. But without a doubt, I coached based on two things integrity and trust in building relationships with them. And I never wanted to be a coach in my days playing ball in the 60s and 70s. Coaches would belittle you, berate, you, curse, you come in, just make you feel miserable.
And I said, as my girlfriend and now my wife of forty five years, she said, all your Marine buddies said you'd be a great coach. I said, Honey, that's the last thing I'll ever do. And then seriously, in February 15, 1970, to the day I was discharged from the Marine Corps on active duty, I prayed or as I said, I begged you, Lord, please tell me why you put me on this earth. What is it you want me to do? And next thing you know, I was a graduate assistant coach at Colorado University, getting paid 150 dollars a month. That that's where God started, man. I'm so grateful for it.
Justin Forman: Coach, to take us through that, God gives you this time out moment in life for this 13 months, and you can hear the way that he got a hold of you in that season. You know, you talk about your book One Yard Short, and obviously those who have followed your career can can piece together where that comes from. Take us back to the Super Bowl after when you get back into coaching. You're the offensive coordinator there at the time. Final play the game. You're down by a touchdown in the red zone. Take us through what happened and then take us through just kind of where God had you before and where he had you in that season prepared you for those moments after.
Les Steckel: You know, I learned fast that as I totally committed my life to God in 1990 and then all of a sudden it's nineteen ninety nine. So that was nine straight years of seeing how the one person who knows the future that no one else does is Jesus. And so I can honestly tell you every day, or I should say every Sunday when I stepped in that press box to call plays or on Saturdays when I was at the University of Colorado, I was at total peace.
So that play that we ran on the last play of the game, that ended up one yard short of winning the world title. You know, I tell people I was at total peace before the game and I was a total peace after the game because this was a sovereign God who I totally believe in. And I found out that when you're calm in crisis moments and I learned that early in life and later in life, you can handle things a whole lot better. Only God knows the future. And he knew who was going to win before the game ever started.
So that gave me great confidence. It was my job to be alert, allow the Holy Spirit to work in me and to be extremely prepared in every detail. I always share with people when I have chances to go to clinics. And a lot of times I hear coaches say, really, you do that. But we would have situations called gotta win place. And we practice this particular play three times before the game. And it was the play we were going to run against the St. Louis Rams. If we were on the 10 yard line and we had to win the game, we knew exactly what they were going to do if we gave them this formation. And later in my life, after the game several years later, my youngest son, who was our football player, was North Carolina, was interested in him coming there and played. We went there and took a visit the summer before his junior year, and the staff asked me to coach him up a little bit on offense. And then when a moment this receiver coach said, tell me about that last play, would you draw it up and explain it? And as I was explaining it, their head coach, who was the defensive coordinator for the Rams, said he had us dead. Right. And I said, yes, we did. But there was human error on that play. And I'm sure you and I know right now we can go back in our lives the numerous times when somebody made a mistake and that one person made a mistake, who I never have called out since I never called him out before or after. And we had that problem. But I'll just take a moment and brag. Only one time in the history of the NFL did anyone score every single time inside the 20 yard line. The 1998 Tennessee Oilers. Only one time did we fail from scoring that particular year, but they don't keep track of one less. We had a great Green Zone offense and we were blessed to be there. And I left that stadium totally at peace, which my wife and I wrote about it in our book.
Justin Forman: So take us a little bit in those moments after the game, because in those moments, unfortunately, as you said, we don't keep score of the other side of the coin. We tend to want to look for somebody or something to blame. When your team or the media or other people saw how you guys handled that, what were their reaction? And when you didn't point the finger and you weren't blaming somebody else, what kind of an opportunity was that?
Les Steckel: There was a time, I think, to be loyal. I used to always tell the players, you know, offensive guys would complain about the defense or special teams. And, you know, I would always say, hey, we win together, we lose together. And this time we looked like we lost the game. But I have to say, I felt extremely sad for the players and coaches. I didn't feel sad because I was so grateful prior to the season. The owner came out and it was on the headlines of The Tennessean newspaper layoffs or pink slips for the coaches. And in 1997, we came here from Houston. We played in Memphis in the Liberty Bowl. And folks that are listening, if they're football fans, we were the home team. And every time they introduced the starting lineup, they booed us. And every time we introduced the visitors, they cheered them because they wanted a team in Memphis.
Nashville never asked for a team, but got one. So they didn't cheer for us and yet we were playing in a stadium where nobody cared. So we were known as the Road Warriors because we won most of games on the road. And then when we came home to Vanderbilt Stadium the next year, nobody came to the games. But the visiting teams. So we had a great road record. We weren't getting cheered for by too many people. And it's an emotional game, to say the least. So now we didn't have a losing season both times, but we didn't make the playoffs. And so the owner came out and said, playoffs or pink lips. And the next thing you know, my wife and I said we were going to pray and that this particular season and the one thing we wanted to happen is God would get the glory for this year. And sure enough, it did. After the game, Kurt Warner, who was the MVP quarterback for the Rams, hired all these people to hand out his football cards and football cards, talked about his Christian testimony on the back of them. And my wife told me that after the game. And she said, you know what? God did get the glory.
Justin Forman: That's a powerful perspective, Coach. When you talk about that, before we move into some conversation about some of the opportunities that God had you in after your career in coaching. Talk to us a little bit. Just give us perspective on the pressures that some of these young coaches are facing. And I think you've already done some of that. But, you know, you're leading in the Marines as a colonel at a young age. You're getting a chance to be a head coach at a young age. God grabs a hold of your life. If you had the chance to sit down from across the table from a Coach McVay, Coach Kingsbury, somebody that's getting these opportunities at a super young age. What would you say to them?
Les Steckel: Well, you know, I heard a saying years ago about when you're climbing up the ladder as a young man. Don't forget about the ones coming down. And I think that what I am sensing at my age, when our boomer generation, we sense that people kind of have put us off to the side. And what I smile about is having 30 years of Marin experience and 32 years of coaching. I'd love to be able to share that. And today, I really get anybody to say, hey, would you mind visiting with me and talking a little bit about football or talk about leadership or whatever? I do get speaking engagements, which is great, but you don't get the one on one thing. And I would encourage and reach out to some people and continually be inquisitive. I think that's when you learn. And I think that's so important. You know, without a doubt. I know for me personally, I think I was ready to be a head football coach. I was rather immature. And at times, I think the only time I ever got a positive statement about my career as a head coach was I was the one who brought in drug enforcement into the NFL because I was testing my players on a weekly basis before you could ever drug test. And then I sent 17 players during the season to drug rehab and actually had to talk to Pete Roselle and Gene Upshaw, the president, the players association, every Friday. And I apologize each time I hung up on them because they kept telling me I couldn't do it. And I said, that means you're telling me I can't care about my players. So Peter Ueberroth, who is the commissioner of the major leagues at the time, said I was the pioneer drug enforcement. And that's today. Why they have drug enforcement is because I started it before they ever started it. And I just experienced that Vietnam. And when I saw it just clearly a day as an assistant coach at Minnesota and trying to get somebody to hear me when I was head coach, I said, now we're going to take charge of this. And so I would say to them to be alert. Ask questions, be inquisitive, be sensitive to people who've come before you and know that you have a model here. You can make a difference what the players have told me. Coach, I didn't quite get what you were trying to teach us. And I hope that these coaches, even though they I hear so many times I'm not a role model. I think they need to recognize that. You know, my role model was Tom Landry, the Great Hall of Fame coach of the Dallas Cowboys. I just got to know him personally one day and we stayed in touch over the years. But I got to tell you, I just wish there were more coaches like him and Dabo Sweeney at Clemson. We just don't have those. Tom Osborn's and Bill McCartneys and Bobby Bouton's anymore out there. And I wish we did.
Justin Forman: Coach, you've talked a lot about transitions and the journey that God had you on and all the different coaching stops. Talk to us about how that next chapter came about. You're finishing up your coaching opportunities and then another opportunity emerges.
Les Steckel: Well, you know, my last year in the league was the Buffalo Bills, and it was not the offensive coordinator and I was praying earnestly, as I did back in 1972, Lord, show me what you want me to do. And without going into any of the details, Chris and I move back from Buffalo to Nashville, where we live now. And I really felt it was Super Bowl Sunday. And I was praying and I went to church and the senior pastor who had a relationship with and still do and he just stopped me in the hallway and he said, hey, coach, you ever get tired of coaching and I got a job for you here at the church. So I went and got my prayer logs, I'd gotten to know Charles Stanley over the years. The pastor at First Baptist in Atlanta. So 've kept prayer log since eighty five. So I grabbed my prayer log for nineteen ninety nine, which was that Super Bowl year. And I started paging. And I thought, well my birthday's July 1st. I'll start July 1st and went through it and it was July 11th. It said at four o'clock in the morning, the Lord woke me up and I still remember vividly being on a Charles Stanley Cruise with my wife. And at 4:00 in the morning, I got on my knees and I prayed and said Lord I'm wide awake and this never happens. I said, there's gotta be something you want to tell me. And I heard clear as a bell. Justin Henry, I'm telling you, you will be in the ministry in five years.
And I just went, oh, my goodness. And I went, ding, ding, ding, ding. And here it was, 2004. And I said, OK. Across the street was Mike Munchak, who was my line coach in the finals football coach ever work was having Super Bowl party. And they were looking for an offensive coordinator. And they wanted me to come to the party. And the GM and head coach were there. And my wife said, you know, her best friends, Marcy, and mine was Mike. We're going. I said, no. And I said, because I know what's going to happen. I said, I'm not going. I said, I'm positive I'm supposed to take a job at the church. And so that's what I did. And I became in charge of the men's ministry for a year. And then one day I got a phone call from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which I think is the greatest Christian organization in the world. And they said we'd like to interview to be the president and CEO. And after three interviews for me and two interviews with my wife and I, they offered the job and it was one of the greatest things that ever happened to our marriage in our life. So I became president and CEO of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Henry Kaestner: Talk to us about that and talked to us about FCA. It's a big organization doing important work across lots and lots of different sports. I think that probably most of our listeners are going to be somewhat familiar with FCA what it stands for. But give us an overview. Drive over. Give us size scope and what that type organization looks like.
Les Steckel: Well, I can tell you this, Henry. We started FCA in 2005 and we recognized that it was a ministry that was strong in Southeast and we wanted to take it nationwide and it was to be a national ministry, even though at the time the vision statement, the impact the world for Jesus Christ, we never were international. But our first goal and I kept using the phrase across America and Christian, I began to travel over 200 days a year and I'm not exaggerating. We lived on the road and we met more amazing men and women. A lot of major donors who love the Lord, who loves sports, who loved FCA and who wanted to get involved. And we did get them involved by spending time with them, staying in their homes, having dinner, going out to dinner, speaking to banquets, doing desserts and homes. We just constantly were basically the public relations department for SCA and abundant gifts continue to come in. We were overwhelmed with generosity. Next thing you know, it was across America.
We were in all 50 states. My last three years as presidency of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We took the ministry internation. And I can tell you today we're in eighty four countries and that's saying something. It's just amazing how quickly that grew. Chris and I were on the National Board of trustees.
She was asked to be on the trustees in 2000 and I wasn't. And we kiddingly laugh because my ego was crushed. And she told me that she'd put a good word in for me. And so the next year I got on the board and the two of us served together on the board. And we used to hear these incredible debates. I say arguments. How no one wanted to take it internationally. And I thought, you know, if that's the vision statement, what are we doing about it? So my last three years, after having enough, I think, credibility with our board and with our donors, they said, let's go for it and look what's happened. God has done an amazing job, but I say this to work alongside faithful followers of Jesus Christ in FCA. It was a tremendous honor. You know, I'm always asked about going to work with ego maniacs and high paid multi-million dollar players. And I would always ask the audience when asked that question. Tell me. Do you go to work with 53 players who love what they do and you're good with what they did and who work hard at what they do and every day try to get better? I say, do you? And they would say, oh, no, we don't. I say, well, better yet, I go to work every day with seventeen hundred people. We started it were 500 staff with people who love what they do, who are good at what they do, work hard at what they do every day, get better and go out and raise money to pay them selves to do what they do. That's why our donors and our board members said, Coach, you got to slow down. You can't travel like this. I said, Are you kidding me? We got all these people living on donations. I can't get over their faithfulness and I want to help them. And so that's what we did. And we were so blessed by this ministry and always will be.
Henry Kaestner: Coach, tell us about what you're reading in God's word these days. One of the things we love to do is as we close out with every guest that we've got is get an understanding about what they're learning from God through the reading of his word. And maybe it's something came through this morning, maybe something last week. But just like he spoke to you back when he called you into ministry. Are you getting a sense of what he's saying to you right now and something you might be able to pass along with us?
Les Steckel: Oh, yes. You know, just recently I've been listening to a series about Joseph. I've done it before in my life. And I have enjoyed going through this and smiling and saying, look at all the setbacks. Look at the time when they called you in and your first two tight ends were first team, all Americans. And look at the number of players you coached at Colorado. They were all first and second-round draft choices. And what? We're all getting fired. What?
Or we said seven franchise records at Tampa with Tony Dungy and we went to the playoffs. And I'm getting singled out and fired. What? And so we laugh about that because I've always said, you know, how does a young man who is a walk on at Kansas University, I only played one year of high school football? My parents my dad wouldn't sign for me. Let me play baseball and basketball. And that's what I got recruited by Naval Academy before. But I flunked the physical to go to KU. I never suited up for a game, never stepped on the field, came home from Vietnam, played running back for whoever heard of the Quantico Marine football team, never heard of it.
And then o call plays in two Super Bowls. And to be a head coach. But better yet, coach my son's high school team in 2002 here in Tennessee. And win the five state title. I said who wrote that script? But as Chris and I look at the setbacks and like Raymond Berry said to me Les, I can't believe you're getting fired. But Tony Dungy, your dear friend, he said, I know but God told me to let you go and you couldn't quite give me a reason. He said, I just heard from God and supposed to let you go. Well, next thing you know, we move to Nashville and I coach my son's high school team or state title. I mean, what kind of incredible script and story is that? So when I share my faith, the people, they go really all that happen. So what we're studying now is about going from the pits to the palace, if you will, in Joseph. But also, I've been reading Mark and you know, you read the gospels, the four gospels in the difference. There's not a lot of difference. It's fascinating how these four writers have the same information. And do you hear about how Jesus made all these moves, these miracles, how we save people, and just how calm he was? I always tell people he would have been a tough linebacker.
I think he would have called the signal in the huddle and everybody would listen and done so. And I just I am so blessed to know him personally. And for those that are listening. If you're a coach, please know that you're role, your platform to me and to Billy Graham is the most powerful platform anyone can have, because there's a quote now in the new president's office that I used to use all the time, and that is that a coach can influence more people in one year than most can in a lifetime. I didn't say it. Coach Tom Landry didn't say it. The great basketball coach John Wooden, who was involved FCA and a great Christian man who lived to be 99 didn't say it. Billy Graham said it. The life of the coach has such an impact on so many. And those coaches that are listening, I hope you realize the platform God's giving you.
Henry Kaestner: Thank you very much for sharing that. I have actually, one last question I want to ask you about FCA, as I think about reaching the nations with the gospel and the people. Can you just give us a little bit of a perspective about why a listener to this should care about international sports ministry?
Les Steckel: Well, I can tell you this, that what we learned was I've always said this. If you love sports and you love Jesus, there's no greater place than FCA. And in different parts of the world, you throw a soccer ball out there and people come running, you get a basketball out there and people come running. And you talk about different sports. You know, you see the Olympics in the winter and summer and all over the world, sports is a big deal. I mean, today, ESPN, everyone's struggling. How do we entertain the sports world members? And everybody is hungry for something. And I think about how the vehicle of sports has gone international with FCA now combining their love for sports already before FCA showed up in combining those two in different parts of the world. It's amazing what's happening and to know the hunger that these folks have for the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ. It's exciting to see how quickly it spread. It would have been nice to say, well, we came on board in 05 and all 50 states meet. We had FCA to think about in just a very short time. It's in 84 countries already. And we have staff all over the world now working with athletes and coaches. It's a God thing. It never was us. And we're so grateful to be a small part of it.
Justin Forman: Coach, we are so grateful for the time, such a diverse, diverse career. But no accident by any stretch the journey that God's had you on, Colonel. Coach, Super Bowls, FCA and that high school championship that you maybe you came up one yard short elsewhere, but you got it done there. And to do that with family. And what an experience. Coach, thanks for being with us. Thanks for sharing the journey that God had you on.
Les Steckel: I appreciate it so much. And to tell you about that high school, I didn't mention our son Luke was captain of the team that made it even more special. And he intercepted a pass at the end of the game to secure the victory and dropped his knees and pointed to the sky. And tears flowed down our faces. Honest to goodness.
Henry Kaestner: Wow, what a great end. Coach, thank you very much for being with us, for your encouragement, your support of what we're doing and what God is doing through us. And thank you for making a major contribution and bridging a lot. Military to ministry to coaching bridging some generations to. We haven't had any type of experience like that. It resonates with me personally. My dad was a good athlete and ended up in a lacrosse hall of Fame and his tour of duty for Vietnam was he was drafted and then ended up being the assistant lacrosse coach at West Point, where he served with Bobby Knight and Bill Parcells was his roommate. And so some amazing, amazing athletes. And yet I think that it's just amazing that, you know, you served and it made you into who you are. And it's just interesting for me to just hear a little bit about your story, because it could've been my dad's story or, you know, it could have been my dad's story and maybe I wouldn't be alive. So it just kind of resonates with me as I just I hope that this is a program that bridges the generations the way that your story just did.