In the pattern of Tim Tebow, a local article documents the faith of Andy Dalton, the long-running quarterback of the TCU Horned Frogs.  After an already championship season (including a handy defeat of Air Force), Dalton’s finale was leading TCU to win the Rose Bowl on New Years Day — but, Dalton’s “legacy” is more than football.

But Dalton will not only leave a massive football legacy behind at TCU, he’ll leave a spiritual mark as well. 

Along with 10 other TCU students, he helped create Ignite, a weekly nondenominational gathering. The first Monday meeting was held April 5, which happened to fall on the same day of the NCAA men’s basketball championship. The group wasn’t sure if anyone would attend.

“Lord, if it’s just us in here, it’s OK,” Dalton recalled the group praying just before the doors of the Brown-Lupton University Union Ballroom opened that night. “He placed it on our hearts to do something like this. And we walked in there and the place was packed. We had around 400 people the first night.”

Some of his fellow players admired his faith in action:

“His faith plays a major part in his life, and everything he does revolves around it,” [TCU center Jake] Kirkpatrick said. “He has views and morals he sticks to. That’s why he’s such a leader on this team. I think it shows on the field.”

And Dalton has seen that there is more to this life than football:

The most rewarding thing for me is people coming up and thanking me for being a great character guy for their kids; for being a class act off the field. That is the kind of person I want to be. It’s very fulfilling.

It’s encouraging to see Christians living their faith wherever they happen to be — and succeeding in their professional lives.