Danny Wuerffel Credits a Strong Family Upbringing to His Faith
Despite life's transitions, Danny's family stayed true to their faith.
By Faith on the Field Staff, November 2, 2022
Danny Wuerffel was the 1996 Heisman Trophy winner when he led Florida to the national championship. He played six seasons in the NFL with Chicago, Washington and Green Bay. Danny now leads Desire Street Ministries, a nonprofit organization that seeks to help impoverished neighborhoods through spiritual and community development.
Danny’s dad was an air force chaplain, and as a family that moved quite a bit, that presented some challenges.
“Growing up and moved all around, you know, I think my dad in general is a unique amazing man in that he's done so much for so many people. He's a chaplain in the Air Force, and he's maybe one of the most fiercely competitive people you'd ever meet.”
Danny’s dad was competitive but also shepherded his kids towards another important virtue: humility.
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“He also valued a strong sense of humility. So I've got all these memories of wanting to win. But then you know if I was caught bragging that was not something that was part of the Wuerffel culture. So there was this competitive part. There was this part where we moved every couple of years, which really was challenging in a lot of ways. I think it really helped me recognize that there are lots of different ways people do things.”
The frequent moving helped the Wuerffel’s see life from a different perspective.
“A lot of times when you see people doing things differently, you may think it's wrong, but sometimes things are just different. I got a really neat experience of that. The sports really helped me. Each place we went, make new friends and so that really validated how important sports was.
“And through all this, just kind of the undergirding of our faith. That sort of was the nucleus of our family, was always a part of it. Kind of directing how we thought about things like competition and how we thought about what we did with our money and helping people.”
