NBC’s Tony Dungy Speaks at March For Life About Prayer and Miracles After Damar Hamlin Collapse
NBC’s Football Night in America analyst and NFL Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy gave a speech about the power of prayer at the March For Life rally on Friday and was met with praise from some, and harsh criticism from others.
Dungy retired from coaching in the NFL after the 2008 season and joined NBC’s Sunday Night Football coverage in 2009. He tweeted Thursday that he and his wife Lauren would attend the massive pro-life rally in Washington, D.C.
“Tomorrow Lauren and I will be in Washington DC attending the 2023 March For Life. It will be my first time at the March and I’m looking forward to joining my friend @BenjaminSWatson and thousands of others who will be there to support those unborn babies who don’t have a choice,” Dungy wrote.
Dungy spoke before the crowd Friday and brought up the power of prayer, weeks after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest in a dramatic and frightening on-field collapse.
The coach said it was something that “impacted our entire country.
It’s amazing to me that God actually used football to shine some light on the subject of life for all of us. Three weeks ago, during a game in Cincinnati, something happened that impacted our entire country. A young man named Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills made a routine tackle, and his heart stopped beating right on the field. It could’ve been tragic, but something miraculous happened. Team medical staff rushed out and they got Damar’s heart started again, but you know what? That wasn’t the miracle.
The real miracle was the reaction of everyone to that. The announcers on the broadcast, what did they say? “All we could do is pray.” And all across the country, people started praying. Lauren and I were having dinner with friends of ours, and we stopped what we were doing, and we prayed right there.
Dungy explained that when he coached in the 1990’s players wanted to pray after the game, and the NFL sent the teams a memo not to allow players to pray on the field. The crowd at the March For Life began to boo after Dungy exposed the league’s former stance. The first notable postgame prayer occurred in 1990 between the New York Football Giants and San Francisco 49ers.
Well, those prayers were answered, Damar’s recovering now, he’s home, he’s been released from the hospital, but what’s the lesson in that? An unbelievable thing happened that night. A professional football game with millions of dollars of ticket money and advertising money on the line. That game was canceled. Why? Because a life was a stake, and people wanted to see that life saved. Even people who are not necessarily religious got together and called on God.
Well, that should be encouraging to us because that’s exactly why we’re here today because every day in this country, innocent lives are at stake. The only difference is they don’t belong to a famous athlete, and they’re not seen on national TV. But those lives are still important to God and in God’s eyes.
Dungy had supporters of his pro-life views.
But there were also many others who did not approve of his making an appearance at the March For Life rally, especially so soon after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson.
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