Running Back for the Lord

Seattle Seahawk running back Shaun Alexander has accumulated quite a list of accomplishments as an NFL player. He’s the only player ever to score 15 or more touchdowns in five straight seasons. He’s the only player ever to score five touchdowns in one half-four rushing and one receiving. He was the first player ever to score 19 rushing touchdowns in only ten games. He was the AP NFL MVP in 2005 and has been to four straight Pro Bowls. He scored the most touchdowns in one season ever for the Seahawks at 28 and has career records for the Seahawks for career rushing yards at 7,817 and career rushing touchdowns at 89. On January 1, 2006, he won his first NFL rushing title with 1,880 yards. The previous season he had rushed for 1,696 yards and lost the rushing title by a single yard to Jets’ running back Curtis Martin.

Through it all, however, being a football player is only a small part of who Shaun Alexander is, as he is also an outspoken Christian and is eager to share is faith. He is also a humanitarian who loves to help people.

His football statistics are impressive, however. Alexander, who was born August 30, 1977 in Florence, Kentucky, was a star player for Boone County High School in Kentucky, as he rushed for 3,166 yards and 54 touchdowns. As a freshman for the University of Alabama in 1996, Alexander set a school record, rushing for 291 yards against LSU. Although an injury might have kept him from winning a Heisman Trophy his senior year, his 25-yard touchdown against third ranked Florida helped the Crimson Tide win the SEC championship. He was also dominating against Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

In the NFL Shaun Alexander rushed for a team record 266 yards on 35 carries in his second season in 2001 against the Oakland Raiders. He led the league that year with 14 rushing touchdowns. He led the league the next year with 16 rushing touchdowns and on September 29 against the Minnesota Vikings rushed for four touchdowns and caught a pass for another. In 2003 his 1,435 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns helped lead Seattle to its first playoff spot since 2000.

Shaun Alexander suffered a concussion in a playoff game during the 2005-2006 season against the Washington Redskins. In the NFC championship game against Carolina, he rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries, his best playoff performance. In the Super Bowl, although the Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-10, he was the leading rusher in the game, with 95 yards.

Alexander has had a lot of success as a football player. In March of 2006 he signed an eight-year $62 million contract with Seattle, making him the highest paid running back in history. Despite all of his success and riches, however, Alexander has publicly said that his Christian faith is the most important thing in his life. He shows his faith not only by telling others, but also by helping others.

He said on the 700 Club television show, as reported on www.cbn.com, that he is a Christian that just happens to play football.

“I play football for the sole reason to give God glory,” Alexander said on the show.

With all the success he has had, opposing coaches no doubt spend a lot of time figuring out how to stop him. Shaun Alexander doesn’t let that bother him, however. He said he does his best and doesn’t worry, because God is in control.

He takes every chance he has to share his faith. Alexander is not ashamed to talk about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and his belief that Christ is God’s Son.

While many consider him just a great football player, he says it is his job to give “truth and be a light.”

Shaun Alexander became a Christian at the age of ten and has never looked back.
Besides publicly sharing his faith, he tries to live out his faith by staying in the hotel his team is in. He doesn’t go to the clubs his teammates do.

His favorite Bible verse is Psalm 37:4: “Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

Alexander shares his faith in another way too, by helping people. He founded the Shaun Alexander Foundation to help young men who have been following the wrong role model. On the official website of the foundation, www.shaunalexander.org, it was reported that more than 40% of children in the United States do not live with their father. That can be because of deadbeat dads, divorce, workaholic fathers, or other reasons. It was also reported that fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.

That Shaun Alexander Foundation teaches leadership and character through various programs. Young men get the chance to develop new interests, set and achieve new goals, build character, and gain important knowledge.

The Club 37 Mentoring Program is a national program in which young men from different states mentor and teach other young men who need a role model.

The Shaun Alexander Foundation in 2002 alone aided nearly 20 causes and donated 30 different autographed items to help raise money to help people. That year Alexander donated his time 45 different times to help others. His giving has helped people not only in Seattle, but also in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and New York.

Examples of his involvement have included helping in a Christian leadership conference and a charity basketball game.

Many might consider Shaun Alexander to be a huge success as an NFL player, especially as a player who has not been in the league that many years. Others might say the way he lives his life as made him a success as a person as well.