Jason Fife’s teammates stopped asking long before the season was over.
They just knew he didn’t want to hit the bars. Or hit a party. Or hit a bong.
“There’s always the peer-pressure thing, where the guys may want me to come out and celebrate after a game,” Fife said. “But for the most part they understand that I don’t want to go drinkin’, I don’t want to go smokin’, I don’t want to do any of that stuff.”
Fife is a devout Mormon and, like any Mormon college student, wrestles with issues that pit fun against faith. It just happens that Fife started every game at quarterback for the Oregon football team last season.
“It’s helped me because I’ve been able to take care of my body and make sure that I have the energy and strength I need to get through practice,” Fife said. “But I also think that emotionally it’s helped, too, because there’s been some rough times.”
Fife is one of a handful of Mormons on the religiously diverse football team. The makeup of the team reflects the religious diversity of the Athletic Department. Many different faiths are represented, but nothing is more telling than the sheer number of religious athletes.
Danny O’Neil, a former Oregon quarterback and current pastor at Eugene’s Calvary Church, said he has run chapel services for several teams. He also speaks at a weekly Bible study run out of senior wrestler Tony Overstake’s house and routinely attended by 20 to 25 athletes. He said that the study’s attendees represent a wide variety of teams, everything from football to volleyball to men’s tennis.
“I’d say the number of Christian athletes around college campuses are all the same,” O’Neil said. “What happens is, you get some good leaders that start a Bible study or start hanging out, and then they all start to enjoy that camaraderie. Something unites them.”
Santiago Lorenzo, a star decathlete on the University’s track and field team, said many college athletes are still growing into their faith, as he is. Lorenzo, who is Catholic, regularly attends mass but said it hasn’t always been so important in his life.
“It’s something you don’t gain overnight; it’s been marinating since you were a kid,” Lorenzo said. “The more you marinate it, the better it tastes.”
Lorenzo needed his faith last year when he injured a quadricep, forcing him to redshirt the season and leaving him unable to defend his 2001 national decathlon championship.
“When I got injured last year, being able to pray and feel God close to me was important,” Lorenzo said. “It helps to connect with God. (Mass is) one hour you forget about problems, grades, injuries, that kind of thing.”
Lorenzo talks about his faith only if you ask him directly. When he was injured last year, he never mentioned anything about “God getting me through,” or “I’ll just put my faith in God,” even if he might have been thinking those things. That’s representative of most Oregon athletes, who won’t invoke their religion unless you ask them to open those doors.
“I’m not that kind of person who wears Jesus shirts, that kind of thing,” Lorenzo said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that — I’m not ashamed of it. I just leave it for myself.”
Both Lorenzo’s and Fife’s coaches keep their own faith off their teams. Football’s roster is usually about 100 players, while the track and field team hovers around 45 members. That makes for some diversity. Football coach Mike Bellotti runs separate chapels for Catholics and non-Catholic Christians before games, and O’Neil runs an optional prayer session after football’s Thursday practices.
The religious diversity is a shock for Lorenzo, who comes from Argentina, where almost 95 percent of the population is Catholic. The Eugene phone book lists 73 different categories of churches in the area.
“Here, there’s a different church on every block,” Lorenzo said. “You have to find what’s right for you.”
Within Oregon’s Athletic Department, the same mantra applies: Find what’s right for you.
Even if it means passing up drinking every now and then.