Eight years ago, former Oregon quarterback and current pastor Danny O’Neil threw for a Rose-Bowl record 456 yards in the granddaddy of all bowl games.
Two and a half years ago, O’Neil returned to Eugene and started a Bible study with five members.
And now, O’Neil has come full circle. The Bible study turned into a church, the church turned into a success, and O’Neil now works with the Oregon Athletic Department to bring faith back to the group he was once a part of: Duck athletes.
“I’d like to think I don’t have any agenda or vision — I just like to be there for the athletes,” O’Neil said. “I think that when athletes know I’ve been there, and that I believe in the truth of scripture, I think they identify with that, so it makes our relationship easier.”
O’Neil works closely with the Duck football team. Head coach Mike Bellotti holds two separate chapel services for Christian and Catholic athletes before every game; O’Neil speaks at the Christian chapel and also runs an optional prayer session after Thursday practices.
What O’Neil is to the football team, Pastor Keith Jenkins is to the men’s basketball team. Affectionately termed “Pastor Keith” by the players, Jenkins runs pre-game chapel services for the basketball players and counsels individual
players on matters of faith, life and basketball.
“I give them a different voice than the coaches, because I’m coming from a different perspective,” Jenkins said. “I’m not yelling at them like Coach (Ernie) Kent. I don’t control playing time, I’m not checking grades, I’m an out. You can tell Pastor Keith.”
Jenkins, who has been a good friend to Kent since the coach came to Eugene five years ago, calls himself the “court jester” of the basketball team. Since he’s an “outsider,” he can lighten a situation the Ducks treat as too melodramatic.
He told a story about Oregon’s bus trip to Sacramento for the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season.
“Coach Kent is tense. You could just feel the tension in the air,” Jenkins recounted. “So I proceed to sit behind Coach Kent and pluck him in his ear. I’m just flicking his ear, and he’s like, ‘Will you please stop.’ And I just keep pluckin’ him, and a few minutes later I give him a Walkman with some music on.
“And his whole countenance changes from, ‘We got to win the game,’ to — you just see his huge afro movin’ back and forth. And it changes his approach.”
Jenkins has personally counseled athletes from Akili Smith to A.D. Smith to Freddie Jones. And the athletes themselves notice it when he is or isn’t around.
“Pastor Keith brings that aspect where he’s like, ‘Yeah, this is business and this is basketball, but there’s life outside of that, there’s an eternal life that you’re working toward at the same time,’” Marcus Kent, son of coach Ernie Kent, said. “‘So be joyous in what you’re doing.’ It brings that sense of peace to the team.”
Both pastors warn their pupils about the dangers of devoting their lives solely to sports. Jenkins said when he first met with Akili Smith, he asked the Duck quarterback what he would do without his right arm, what would happen if he lost his passing cannon in a car accident. Smith pondered the answer for a long time before Jenkins pointed to a football on his desk and made the point that an athlete’s entire life can’t be consumed by his sport.
O’Neil said he wrestled with that very concept when he was the Ducks’ starter.
“The outcome of a football game should not determine my character,” O’Neil said, remembering the feeling of being an Oregon athlete. “If I won, I shouldn’t be walking around town like I’m special because I won. I think winning and losing should be part of sports because that’s part of the game. But I don’t think they should be part of the fabric of your being.”
O’Neil said that for many athletes, it comes down to motivation.
“When you give your heart to Christ, the benefits of success — which include money, fame, fortune — aren’t as appealing to you as before you found Christ,” O’Neil said. “So now the prize of success isn’t as valuable. But you’re able to deal with the pressure better because you’re trusting God rather than yourself and the outcome.”
They sit across town from each other, but both pastors head relatively young churches. O’Neil heads the Calvary Fellowship while Jenkins leads Jubilee World Outreach. They both work closely with athletes. They both have similar messages as they pertain to those athletes. And they both hope to continue their relationships with Oregon in the future.
“My purpose to come up here is to share what God has placed on my heart,” O’Neil said. “And if people respond to that, and people enjoy that message then, well, I’m willing to keep on doing that. And that goes for the athletes. If they enjoy it and think what I’m saying is true, then I’m more than willing to talk about it.”
“Ultimately the mission is about the young men,” Jenkins said. “I would definitely want to pursue that.”
Ultimately, the mission for both pastors is about the athletes. It’s about faith, it’s about wisdom, and mostly, it’s about life.