Discipline of football can form character

Recently my husband, Grit, and I ran into Todd Britsch, an emeritus professor from BYU who went to high school with Grit.

He

is a man well-versed in the humanities but a sports enthusiast who once

wrote an article on football and opera. Pulls you right in, doesn't it?

We

had an opportunity to visit with him a recent dinner party, and during

the conversation, Todd recalled watching a BYU game in which Grit

scored three touchdowns and kicked an extra point.

I guess Grit owned the field that day.

Needless

to say, Grit was pretty astonished to think someone other than him

remembered that game more than 50 years later. It got him reminiscing.

Todd's mother, a piano teacher, tried very hard to make Grit into a musician — at the insistence of Grit's mother.

Grit's mom also made him wear some kind of a stocking cap to bed to train his hair into a pompadour. Neither effort worked out.

My

husband loved sports, and he especially loved football. He loved it so

much that even today it is his favorite event to watch.

After

that game half a century ago, Grit was feeling indispensable to the

team. His mother, however, hadn't given up on trying to remake him.

She and Grit's bishop wanted him to go on an LDS mission.

After some serious soul-searching, Grit finally put life into perspective and did go on that mission.

This

small-town Provo boy went on an ocean liner far away to Australia,

wondering if football would ever be a part of his life again.