Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/88420
Freddie Scott finds his calling as an advocate for paternal involvement FAMILY MAN F | ormer Penn State wide receiver Freddie Scott was in church when the message came. Where better to hear God's instructions? It was five years ago, and he was serving as the senior assistant pastor in a Nashville church, and he very clearly heard the Lord tell him to write a book. Not just any book. God was very spe- cific: Write a book titled "The Dad I Wish I Had." Not long after the church service, Freddie Scott Sr. got a call from his son. "He thought because of the title," Scott Sr. said, laughing, "that it would be a good thing to engage me early on." Scott Sr. was on board. Because just as his son had followed in his footsteps to become a NFL wide receiver, he had also followed his father into the min- istry. And as part of his ministry, Scott is making a special effort to repair what he sees as a crisis of fatherhood. "The majority of men," Scott said, "are not modeled or mentored in fa- therhood, or how to be a husband." In Scott's book, he writes that 40 percent of children are born to unwed parents, including 72 percent in the African-American community. He wasn't one of those children; his father was busy and often physically tired during his 10-year NFL career, but Scott Sr. was around. Scott Sr., however, was raised by a single mother, and both father and son say there are lessons Scott Sr. missed by not having a father around. That's what Scott is doing now – teach- ing those lessons to men who weren't blessed with teachers. "How effective are you going to be as a football player if you have no play- Photo courtesy of Freddie Scott book, no coach and no game film?" Scott asked. "Well, goodness, it doesn't matter if you throw 60 yards on the field. Or run a 4.3 40. If you don't have someone to show you how to steward that, to work at it, to help you get the best out of yourself, you're not going to maximize that opportunity." So, accordingly, Scott is maximizing his ability to teach those lessons. He's still an assistant pastor, working at Word of Faith Christian Center in Nashville, Tenn. His book, on sale since 2009, is still selling. He's a national spokesperson for All- Pro Dad, the organization headed by former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who wrote the forward for Scott's book. (Dungy writes that Scott "is not only providing an honest look at the problem, but giving sound Bib- lical solutions for overcoming it.") Scott also does seminars for the NFL Players' Association, and he just formed a new foundation, Unlock the Cham- pion, to focus directly on fatherhood issues. "A champion doesn't mean you're undefeated," he said. "A champion doesn't mean perfect. A champion just means that I'm not going to accept de- feat – even if I lose one game, I'm not going to lose the entire season. "If you fumble the ball, you're not going to let one bad play turn into an entire bad game. And just because you had a fight yesterday with your wife, that doesn't mean your marriage is going to end." Through a better relationship with God, Scott believes, men can transform themselves into better husbands and fathers. He'd known since before he arrived at Penn State, where he played from 1993 to 1995, that he was headed for the ministry. The undefeated 1994 sea- son put Penn State's players in the spotlight, and as the team's starting flanker, he got lots of opportunities to talk – youth groups, churches, fellow college students. So Scott preached. Until his pastor, back home in Michigan, told him to FREDDIE SCOTT "What I'm doing right now, it doesn't matter what happened yesterday or didn't happen yesterday. The only thing that matters is what is happening right now."