Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow became a college football phenomenon for the University of Florida before going on to a professional football career as notable for the ballyhoo around his religion as for his on-field performance. The son of evangelical missionaries, Tebow came of age in Florida and garnered his first national looks as a Florida Gator. He proved dominant as a run/pass quarterback and won the 2007 Heisman Trophy. He guided the Gators to the national title in 2008 and drew as much media attention for his on-field proselytization of evangelical Christianity. Graduating in 2009, Tebow was drafted by the National Football League's Denver Broncos. He mostly rode the bench in his first season - his less-than-stellar passing skills proving a wet blanket on early media adulation - but became Denver's starter early in the 2011 campaign. He led a string of comeback victories that briefly reignited his Golden Boy status and gave rise to the internet meme and neologism, "Tebowing," e.g. publicly kneeling in prayer. With Denver's acquisition of future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning in 2012, the Broncos traded Tebow to the New York Jets, where he saw little playing time. Hailed by fans as an exemplar of "American values," derided by critics as an overpaid backup, Tebow's religious celebrity made him as much an icon of America's "culture war" as a star athlete.

He was born Timothy Richard Tebow on Aug. 14, 1987 in Makati City in the Philippines, to Bob and Pamela Tebow, Baptist missionaries then working in that country. The family returned to the U.S. and settled in Jacksonville, FL, where the Tebows home-schooled their five children. Growing into a strapping athlete, Tim took advantage of a Florida law allowing home-schooled kids to participate in local school sports and in 2005 joined the nearby Nease High football squad. He became a rugged running quarterback, leading Nease to a Florida state title his senior year and winning all the state's top football accolades. In summers, he returned to the Philippines to assist with his father's missions. Matriculating at his parents' alma mater, the University of Florida, in 2006, the 235-lb. freshman occasionally took snaps on quarterback-run plays and played a part in the Gator's championship run, highlighted in early 2007 by a two-touchdown performance in the team's BCS National Championship Game win versus Ohio State. Though possessing unwieldy throwing mechanics, his arm proved effective against college opponents the next season, as Tebow threw for 3,286 yards on a 177.8 passer efficiency rating, rushed for 895 (including 166 in one game), and recorded SEC season records for rushing touchdowns (20) and total touchdowns (55). He drew the first of two consecutive consensus first-team All-America honors, won the Davey O'Brien Award (given to the best college quarterback) and the Heisman Trophy.

The Gators went 12-1 in the 2008 season, and though Tebow continued to post impressive numbers, Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford won that year's Heisman. Florida nevertheless advanced to the BCS Championship against Bradford's Sooners and downed them 24-14 to take the title. His senior season, Tebow broke Herschel Walker's record for career-rushing touchdowns (on the way to 57 total), but Alabama unseated Florida as SEC champ. Along the way, Tebow made himself a fan favorite of Born-again Christians by inscribing Bible verses on his game-day eye-black, and praising Jesus in all his interviews, and avowing that his football skills simply served as a platform to forward his ministry. During the ensuing 2010 Super Bowl broadcast, he appeared in anti-abortion ads for conservative fundamentalist organization Focus on the Family. Some football wags saw Tebow's game as problematic for quarterbacking in the NFL, but he remained a media darling and Denver drafted him that spring, signing him to a five-year, $11.25 million contract with performance bonuses. He saw limited playing time in stunt plays until starting three games at the end of the abysmal 4-12 season. The Broncos' 1-4 start with QB Kyle Orton in fall 2011 prompted Denver media and fans to call for the Broncos to start Tebow. They did so in Week 7 and, while tenuous at start, he managed to lead a come-from-behind victory against Miami. It established a pattern. While his passing was spotty and kept a minor part of Denver's playcalling, Tebow found his stride as both a rusher and passer in clutch situations and, in 11 starts, engineered six thrilling 4th quarter comeback wins before the team stumbled in the stretch.

Tebow's tendency to kneel in prayer mid-game also began a meme, pegged to the neologism "Tebowing," in which the Tebower went to one knee with a bowed head and earnest expression. The Broncos won a weak AFC West on an 8-8 record and faced off against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. Tebow posted a better-than-average passing game (236 yards) to tie the Steelers at 23 and send the game into overtime. On the first play in OT, he sealed it with an 80-yard touchdown strike to Demaryius Thomas to ice the sudden-death victory. It put his total passing yardage at 316 yards, which, Christians positing his Chosen-One-status pointed out, matched his oft-proselytized chapter-and-verse, "John 3:16." The New England Patriots routed the Broncos 45-10 the next week. After signing legendary QB Peyton Manning between seasons, the Broncos shipped Tebow to New York. Tebow again was relegated to stunt/run plays even in spite of the Jets' starter Mark Sanchez showing conspicuous incompetence throughout the disastrous season. Tebow was injured mid-season and, when Sanchez was finally benched late in the season, coach Rex Ryan opted to play ostensible third-string QB Greg McElroy. In February 2013, Tebow agreed to speak at a Dallas mega-church renowned for xenophobic hate-speech and demonization of gay people. He canceled the engagement a week later as the news media picked up on the story. Mere months later, Tebow was released from the Jets, ending his unfortunate tenure in New York.