Impact Player

photo credit:Todd Langley

Teeing off on receivers is Broncos safety John Lynch’s job; teeing off for good causes is his life’s work.

You’d never think a 73-year-old quarterback would intimidate a ferocious-hitting safety like John Lynch. But it happened with one telephone call—a call that left the Denver Broncos’ captain feeling star-struck.

Or better yet, Starr struck.

For the past 19 years, the Bart Starr Award, named after the Green Bay Packers’ Hall of Fame quarterback, has gone to the NFL player who exhibits exemplary character and leadership in the home, on the field and in his community. In January, Starr personally called to congratulate Lynch on being named this year’s winner.

“It was an unbelievable experience,” Lynch says. “When you play in this league for a while, you stop being awestruck, but for some reason, Bart Starr has that legendary aura about him. He’s always been associated with class and the way he’s carried himself aside from what he’s done on the field.”

Lynch received the prestigious award at the Super Bowl Breakfast, held the day before Super Bowl XLI in Miami. Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who once coached Lynch with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, took time from his game preparations to attend the ceremony and congratulate his friend and former player.

Nine years ago, while playing for Dungy in Tampa Bay, Lynch established the John Lynch Foundation to develop tomorrow’s leaders by providing programs that assist and motivate and recognize achievement and excellence. After signing a free-agent contract with the Broncos in 2004, he started a chapter in Denver.

"The city of Tampa was devastated when John left, wondering how the Buccaneers could let him go," says Maggie Robinson, the foundation’s executive director. "Within a day after they got the news, John made it known the foundation still would have a presence in Tampa—and that he would establish programs in his new community. The community of Denver has embraced him in the same manner."

Each month, Denver-area students are nominated for the Lynch Foundation’s Star of the Month awards, which recognize athletic, academic and community achievements. To date, the foundation has awarded 44 scholarships, valued at $186,000.

“When we give our kids a scholarship or an award, we tell them that with leadership comes responsibility,” Lynch says. “To receive an award like the Bart Starr Award, I understand that if I show up in the papers the next day for something wrong … oh man! This year, in particular, we’re hearing so much about everything going on, player conduct off the field. But there are a ton of guys in this league that do great things.”

On the field, Lynch has done plenty of great things during his 14-year career: 26 career interceptions, eight Pro Bowl selections, one Super Bowl championship ring and dozens of highlight-worthy, tooth-rattling tackles. Yet for all his punishing on-field accomplishments, Lynch beams with pride when he speaks of the impact his numerous acts of kindness have had away from the gridiron.

“I had great role models,” he says. “My parents (John Lynch Sr., president and CEO of the Broadcast Company of the Americas, and Cathy, who recently appeared with her son in a soup ad) taught me by showing me—not by talking about it but doing it themselves. They always were very involved, whether it be at the church, the local high school, the local Little League. I think more than anything they showed me that you could do it in a number of ways, with your time or financially.”

Lynch says he understands his position as an NFL player provides “a tremendous platform to make good things happen. I watched guys that were mentors to me, guys like Hardy Nickerson, who was very involved with the community in Tampa. I started the foundation, and my wife has the same core values. It’s really been a blessing because, hopefully, we’ve been able to help people. You get inspired by the kids, to see them smile when you honor them. It’s worth it and then some.”

Lynch played the hometown hero, making good in winning a championship ring with the Buccaneers against the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. The game took place in his hometown, San Diego. Lynch played baseball and football at Torrey Pines High School, where his football coach was Jack Neumeier, before attending Stanford University.

Let’s see now … It seems there was another football/baseball star who entered Stanford after being coached in high school by Jack Neumeier. Does the name John Elway ring a bell?

Like Elway, Lynch entered Stanford as a quarterback. His right arm was strong enough to get him into Major League Baseball—as the second player ever drafted by the Florida Marlins. As a member of the Triple-A Erie Sailors, he threw out the first pitch in franchise history, and the cap and uniform he wore hangs in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Baseball hasn’t left his system. “When I play golf, everybody says I have a baseball swing,” he says. “I didn’t start playing golf seriously until I was in the NFL. In Tampa we had some real good golfers—Casey Weldon and Trent Dilfer. But they were playing five days a week, and I played once. And that still hasn’t changed.”

The Lynch family grew to six in March when Linda Lynch gave birth to the couple’s third daughter, Leah. With a newborn in the household, eight-year-old Jake, six-year-old Lindsay and four-year-old Lilly will give their dad the best chance to lower his handicap, which hovered around 10 last year.

“I was thinking … ‘avid golfer’ and ‘parent of four’ don’t really go in the same sentence,” Lynch jokes. “But last year I got to play a lot of golf because, well, you can sneak out of the house if you bring two of the kids with you.”
He takes them to the par-three course at Cherry Hills Country Club. “It’s fun teaching the game to them at a young age; it’s a great gift.”

Lynch’s gift for big hits on the football field has followed him onto the golf course. He says he can drive a ball nearly 400 yards. “He’s serious,” teammate Domonique Foxworth says. “John is serious. He plays golf the way he plays football games.”

Replace the driver with a wedge and you’ll find that Lynch has a pretty good touch—something spectators found out in 2004 during a charity golf tournament hosted by Broncos coach Mike Shanahan at Omni Interlocken Resort Golf Club.
Even though he had not yet played a game for the Broncos, Lynch scored big with his coach—and won an automobile—by scoring a hole-in-one from 142 yards on the second hole of the resort’s Eldorado nine. “I hit it about 150 yards, over the pin and sucked it back,” Lynch boasts. “There were four groups there, so everybody knew I wasn’t pulling their chains. It was the second car I’ve won.” 

The first was at a celebrity tournament hosted by Cris Collinsworth in Cincinnati. “I flew the red-eye there,” he says. “It probably was 10 years ago. This was for closest-to-the-pin. There were all these great golfers, like Johnny Bench and Rick Rhoden, who got there early to practice. I got off the red-eye, had no practice … There was a gallery with people sticking their heads out, and I was worried about hurting somebody. I ended up about six inches away from the pin and won a Corvette.”

Unlike many pro athletes, who have become obsessed with honing their games, Lynch views golf as a means to relax. “It’s just the challenge,” he says. “Most athletes are pretty good at whatever they pick up. Golf is one where it amazes me. You can’t try hard or you’ll squeeze the club and it makes it worse. It’s just a humbling game, and it’s good to be humbled.”

One of those moments came at Pebble Beach, where he was playing with Herman Edwards, now head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. “It was his tournament, and he’s from Monterey,” Lynch explains. “On the first hole, people knew Herm was there, and they recognized me, so we had a little gallery. I’m playing Pebble for the first time … I had to back up from the ball because my stomach was nervous. Gallery golf is one of the most humbling experiences in my life.”

How humbling? Lynch once played at a Buick pro-am in his hometown. Paired with fellow San Diegan Craig Stadler, he played even par through four holes. “‘What are you doing? You’re killing me with this 15 handicap,’” Lynch remembers Stadler saying. “‘I’ve seen a lot of golf swings, and that’s not a 15.’ I told him, ‘Just wait.’

“Sure enough, I got in the rough on the fifth hole. I got the yips to where I could not get the ball off the ground the rest of the round. My brother was my caddie, and he was so embarrassed he threatened to leave me out there with my own bag. I finally picked up on No. 16. It was the worst experience of my life. I wanted off that course.”

Since 1998, Lynch has staged an annual tournament with his brother-in-law, former NFL tight end John Allred, at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. The event has netted $1.5 million, most of it going to fund a new Boys and Girls Club in the San Diego area. 

Lynch would like to break 80. “I’ve shot 80 five or six times, but never broke it,” he says. “Someday I will.” He also knows that after his football career ends, he will consider coaching high-school football, taking a front-office job in the NFL or possibly going into broadcasting. With four children, he doesn’t think coaching in the pros is likely.

What is likely is his continued philanthropy and recognition for it. In addition to the Bart Starr Award, in January he received the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, which recognizes professional and amateur athletes who have made a difference in the lives of others. On April 12, the NFL Players Association presented him with its highest honor: the 41st annual Byron “Whizzer” White Award, named after the late Supreme Court justice and football player (and University of Colorado standout) and given to the player who personifies the ideal of scholar, athlete, patriot, humanitarian and public servant  to which professional football players aspire.

This month Lynch will host his annual Salute the Stars luncheon in Denver. Teammate Nick Ferguson is the keynote speaker. For Lynch, giving back to the community is the biggest hit he could ever deliver. “I think we live in a society where everybody talks about what’s wrong with our youth,” he says. “When we started our program, the Salute the Stars in particular, we wanted to show what was right. We get letters, and not just one or two. I think what’s most rewarding when we get letters now is, the cycle has sort of completed itself. Our first scholarship recipients in Tampa have gone through and graduated from college, and gone on to work.

“When you receive letters from them thanking you for the opportunity, saying that maybe they couldn’t have done it without the help of the foundation … that’s an awesome feeling. I can’t wait for the first group of Denver kids to go through, and start hearing about what they go on to do.”

Rocky Mountain News columnist Sam Adams profiled Rod Smith in the Fall 2006 issue of Colorado AvidGolfer.