Chad Lewis

June 9, 2010—Through vision, hard work, endurance, and an unwavering faith in God, Chad Lewis—the former BYU Cougar and Philadelphia Eagles star—has always strived for greatness in his life. Ironically, the more telling part of his character, is his ability to recognize and appreciate greatness in others, which is evident in his book, “Surround Yourself With Greatness.” Photo: Lewis hurdling over an Arkansas State defender in 1996. BYU teammate Levi “K.O.” Kealaluhi makes a block in the background. Courtesy of Shadow Mountain Publishing.

LatterDaySports: What was the experience like writing the book? I’m guessing it took a little while.

Chad Lewis: Yeah, it took a year to write. Sometimes it was overwhelming to take on a project like that. It’s the first time that I’d ever done anything like that. I had to take just small pieces at a time and just keep going, and keep going, or else it became too big. My wife was very supportive and encouraged me to keep going. My mom was very supportive. My mission president, Kent Watson was very supportive. I’m glad that I did stick it out and I kept (writing) it down because I felt a real obligation and responsibility to share the message, Surround Yourself With Greatness. Also the stories in the book, I felt like they could be of service to other people.

LatterDaySports: Are you a good journal writer? How did you remember all those stories?

Lewis: I’ve always written a journal. The story about my dad’s stroke, I met with the two main doctors involved. I met with Doctor Nielsen, the brain surgeon and Doctor Moody the internist. They came to my dad’s house for three and a half hours. We talked about the stroke—it was recorded, it was dictated. So that was very helpful on that first story. After that, I went thoroughly over old articles of games. I would watch the video of games over again just to make sure I got everything just right. The attention to detail was a pretty thorough process. I learned a lot through that.

LatterDaySports: As part of the NFL you worked on Sundays. From reading the book though, it was obvious to me that you were able to maintain your spirituality. How were you able to do that?

Chad Lewis lending a hand to one of his Philadelphia Eagles teammates, Charles Johnson. Photo courtesy of Shadow Mountain Publishing.

Lewis: Well, the issue of playing on Sunday was definitely not easy. It was never comfortable. It was probably the hardest part about playing in the NFL. Ultimately it was a decision that my wife and I made—to pursue my profession. The second part of your question, how do you maintain your spiritual strength while you’re in that environment? It took everything I had and more. It took a lot of prayer. Many, many, many blessing from family, bishops—Bishop Sikahema. Vi Sikahema (Another former BYU Cougar and Philadelphia Eagle) was my bishop in New Jersey. He was an incredible resource for me. We visited every week—my whole career—at his house.

One of the great things that helped was listening to good, powerful music everyday driving to work. I can’t even stress enough how much strength that gave me. My favorite group is Motab, so to be able to crank up the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and listen to strong music before I went to work was a pillar in my life.

LatterDaySports: How regularly were you able to attend church?

Lewis: If we had a Monday night game, I could go on Sunday after practice. Normally, through the responsibility of my bishop, and with some of the other Mormons on the team, we had sacrament meeting during the week, which was a great blessing to me and to my family.

My wife would take the kids to church each week. If there were a home game, then after church, she would then come to the game. But it was a big loss because when you’re not there—regardless of the reason—you miss out on the songs of the restoration, the spirit, the testimonies that are shared, the instructional learning, and you know, I was sad to miss out on that.

LatterDaySports: Yes, I can understand that. Regarding your book, one of the experiences that I thought was really interesting was your interaction with President Bush. It was so interesting to read about.

Lewis: Well it was certainly a moment I’ll never forget. Anytime you meet the President of the United States it’s pretty humbling. When Michelle and I met him that first time it was very exciting. I loved president Bush. I loved what he stood for. I thought he had courage and faith during one of the greatest media onslaughts against a sitting president. I was inspired by his leadership, for doing what he believed in his core was right. That’s how he operated.

And then to meet him, to see how personable he was and then to be with him a couple of times, reaffirmed the first meeting. He was grateful, truly grateful that the people of this country prayed for their president. He was touched by that. It was quite an experience for me, to see him at the Valentines Day dinner at the White House—to have him take charge of the meeting and say, hey I’d like to offer a blessing on the food … and he did. He said a prayer and it was obvious that he spends a lot of time in prayer. It was obvious that he was so grateful for our country and the liberty of our country and the people who sacrificed every day to make sure that we are a free country.

LatterDaySports: I always felt that President Bush was one who would take his concerns to the Lord, and reading about it in your book just reconfirmed that for me. I always admired him for that—for seeking that strength.

Chad Lewis' book "Surround Yourself with Greatness". Click on the image above for a review by LatterDaySports.com. Photo courtesy of Shadow Mountain Publishing.

Lewis: Yeah.

LatterDaySports: You have seven children?

Lewis: Yeah. It’s quite a house full. It’s a lot of fun.

LatterDaySports: Are your children involved in sports?

Lewis: They like playing sports. They like soccer and baseball. My boys like basketball and football, so they’ve had a fun time playing so far, being involved.

LatterDaySports: They obviously have good genes.

Lewis: (Laughing) Yeah, they certainly do, mostly from Michelle. She was an exceptional athlete. My dad reminds me that he is not coordinated with ball sports, and he never was a basketball player even though he was tall. He played football one year in high school but was not comfortable doing it. So he reminds me all the time, “Look, if I can have a you, then you can have a me.” So it’s a reminder to me not to put too much pressure on my kids. Just support them and encourage them to do what they enjoy doing. If they want to excel at piano, go for it. Or if they choose a sport, then either way I’d love to support them.

LatterDaySports: Are you still involved with the NFL and their efforts in China?

Lewis: Yes, I go there a couple of times a year, but the last thing we did was go to New York City. The NFL contracted with the hottest band in Asia. It’s a group of five young men in their twenties called Mayday, and I taught the band members—in Central Park—how to play football through fun games like catching eggs and catching water balloons … then catching real footballs. Then we filmed several segments that aired in China all through the season. It was kind of like a series of challenges where at the end of the season they were able to win Super Bowl tickets. So that was a fun way that the NFL involved a very popular band in Asia to promote the game throughout China and the region, and that was a lot of fun to do. I really enjoy going to China to speak my language and to visit with the people who I love, and share the game that I love.

LatterDaySports: From what I understand there are specific restrictions when it comes to sharing the gospel in China.

Lewis: Yeah, the church instructs all members who are working in China to be very careful—to obey all laws pertaining to religion. The prophet has made it very clear that the Mormon Church does not go through the back door or the side door. The church will always go through the front door. I respect that and I think that’s perfect counsel, so I will always be very careful.

Now with that being said when I was there a year and a half ago, I was interviewed by Sports Illustrated China. They wanted to know what I taught as a missionary in Taiwan. So I made sure that I checked with the people that were with me. I asked them if it was appropriate to answer those questions and they said, yeah you can answer whatever questions you want. So, I shared with them basically what we taught them in Taiwan, about the eternal nature of God and families and that’s where the conversation went. They were very respectful and appropriate and it was on their terms. It was their own writers doing it. It wasn’t me pushing it or promoting it.

Donovan McNabb placed this ball perfectly over the head of New York Giants linebacker Michael Barrow. Photo courtesy of Shadow Mountain Publishing.

LatterDaySports: It’s an exciting thing because it seems like when the church does enter China it will just explode.

Lewis: Yeah, I have asked church leaders—since I care about it—when China will open and how it will work, and they reminded me and counseled me that when it does, it will be very measured, and it’s not going to be an explosion. They will be just as careful doing it there, as they are anywhere else.

LatterDaySports: Yeah, I guess what I meant by explosion is a lot of people there are waiting for it.

Lewis: Oh, man, I totally agree. Those are some great, great, humble people. Elder Oaks in China said, “I know that God loves the Chinese people because he made a lot of them.” As a former missionary it would be a dream to be able to share the gospel over there.

LatterDaySports: You’ve accomplished a whole lot of different things in your life so far and you’re still relatively young. What are you presently involved in and what are your plans for the future?

Lewis: That’s a great question. There are four main things that I’m doing right now. I’m writing another book. It will be published by Deseret Book, (and it’s) similar to Surround Yourself With Greatness, but it will be more geared to an LDS audience. I wrote Surround Yourself With Greatness to a general audience, so that Philadelphia Eagles fans and young men preparing to go on missions, all of them, would appreciate the book. This one I’m gearing more towards the youth of the Mormon Church. That’s one thing.

I do a golf tournament each year to raise money for cystic fibrosis and I’m also on the board for the American Indian Services to help raise scholarship money for Native Americans. The last thing is, I still represent the NFL in China. I do that a couple of times a year, and with seven kids there’s always a lot going on. So there’s plenty of work to be done.

LatterDaySports: Thank you. I appreciate your time and look forward to your new book.

Lewis: You’re welcome. Thank you.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 10:42 pm. It is filed under Football and tagged with BYU Cougars, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.