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| Munoz here to share his amazing journey |
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8/29/2014
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
Anthony Munoz is a big, big man.
He has an even bigger message.
The National Football League Hall of Famer who starred for 13 seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals came to Mt. Sterling on Sunday.
There was the usual fanfare, expertly done might I add, of pictures and autographs.
But then the mountain of a man with an easy smile, spoke to a crowd of over 400 at the Mt. Sterling First Church of God, sharing his life’s journey that carried him from a bare existence upbringing with what seemed like little hope to the pinnacle of the sports world followed by the opportunity to help thousands through his foundation that benefits young people.
Almost two decades removed now from the athletic environment he dominated as arguably the greatest offensive lineman in the history of the game, Munoz uses that history of greatness on the field to influence young people to achieve their dreams through their faith and hard work.
The Munoz story began not far from Los Angeles where his mother single-handedly raised Anthony and his seven brothers and sisters.
There was little money, no automobile, a mother working multiple jobs so the family could survive and a disenfranchised father that Anthony never knew. His father, a drug abuser, died in a halfway house.
The story might well have digressed from that tough beginning.
But inspired by a mother who “could hit ground balls better than any coach I ever had,” according to Munoz, he began early on with the dream of playing professional baseball as his way out of the ghettos and as a way of taking care of his mother.
As it turned out, baseball was merely the athletic springboard to a three-sport high school career that ultimate found him better suited for football.
“I grew a lot,” he says simply of the transition of interest from the college recruiters from Anthony Munoz, star baseball player to Anthony Munoz, rising football talent.
Ultimately, football was to be his ticket out and John Robinson, the coach at the University of Southern California, one in a line of “father figures” for Munoz who greatly affected his life.
Once he had cast his lot with the USC, Munoz ran into more obstacles.
His seemingly perfectly trained body went through three knee surgeries in four years at USC, causing him to miss more games than he was able to play in.
It was at USC that he made what he calls the two greatest decisions in his life.
The second was to marry his wife of now 36 years, DeDe, and the second was the accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of his life.
“I had never heard anything about Jesus Christ until I was 18 years old and it was through a representative of Campus Crusades that I made a decision that would dramatically change my life.”
As a senior, after already going through two major knee surgeries during his collegiate career, it happened again.
Munoz suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second series of the opening game against Texas Tech.
Already knowing he wouldn’t take a medical redshirt and return for a fifth season, Munoz set about on yet another rehab project that would culminate with him returning to the Trojans’ line-up and earning a starting berth when USC defeated Ohio State in the 1980 Rose Bowl.
The Trojans would finish second in the nation that year to Alabama but Munoz had already been a member of both a NCAA football championship and an NCAA baseball championship during the 1977-78 seasons.
Despite having played in only one game during his senior campaign, Munoz was drafted third overall in the 1980 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.
During an amazing 13-year NFL career, Munoz played in 11 Pro Bowls and was named to the all-NFL team nine times and the other two years he was on the second team.
The awards and honors are simply too numerous to mention but suffice it to say that in a sport where statistics dominate and offensive linemen have little in that reference to speak of, NFL.com ranked Munoz the 12th greatest player in the history of professional football.
Enough said.
Then, in his mid-30s and out of football, Munoz became a television commentator and then he embarked on a mission of helping young people through the Anthony Munoz Foundation. The organization has raised millions and millions of dollars to fund camps and scholarships for young people to try and give them the chance to fulfill a dream as Munoz has done.
Sunday morning here in Mt. Sterling, a giant of a man presented a fantastic journey that was surrounded by words of humility and thankfulness.
Quite a story from quite a human being. And a very big human being at that. The only thing bigger here in Mt. Sterling Sunday morning was the message of inspiration and hope that he shared.
Note: Munoz came to Mt. Sterling as the guest of Pastor John Henry of the Mt. Sterling First Church of God. The two men became friends when Munoz was participating in a fund-raising event several years ago.
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